Pheaturing Josh Benash From Kiss Kiss

Hello, welcome to another entry of the Phile. Thanks for stopping by. This past Friday I went to MegaCon in Orlando and had a really great time. I met a lot of cool people and hooked myself up with a few interviews, so watch out for those soon. Rush Limbaugh says if the healthcare bill passes, he will leave the country. The Democrats are upset, because if they knew that, they would have passed the bill years ago. On “The Early Show” Harry Smith received the first live TV colonoscopy. CBS was very excited; they’re already planning the spinoff show, “How I Met Your Rectum.” It’s been a rough year for Toyota. They’ve launched a big PR campaign to assure customers that their cars are OK to drive, which is an important quality in a car. Toyota says they’re standing beside their vehicles — because that’s the only safe place to stand. Have you been watching "Idol"? The judges on “American Idol” are complaining that all of the contestants sound like they’re doing Karaoke. Because if there’s anything “American Idol” is not, it’s Karaoke. Former Democratic congressman Eric Massa is all over the news; he resigned on Monday amid allegations that he groped staff workers, but then claimed he was being forced out over his healthcare vote. Glenn Beck had him on his show the other night. Now, out-crazying Glenn Beck is no small task. Sure, we’ve all had tickle fights with our male coworkers, we’ve all played “Kill the old guy.” In fact, Dick Cheney used to play it with a gun.
If you’re wondering why we don’t have healthcare, it’s because there’s too much tickling in Congress. The Miami Herald is reporting that the city of Miami will host the next season of “Jersey Shore” on MTV. If there’s one thing the city of Miami has been lacking, it’s half-naked idiots with spray tans. Tiger Woods is reportedly planning a return to golf. It will be nice to see him getting back to what he does best, or at least second-best. A new study says that women who drink moderate amounts of alcohol every day lose more weight than women that don’t drink at all. At least, that’s what your wife will slur to you after she forgets to pick up the kids from soccer practice. Heidi Montag has fired her husband Spencer Pratt as her manager, and hired a psychic instead. Do you really need a psychic to tell you that you can’t dance, sing, or act? Do you like Confucius? He said some smart things. Like "Woman who gave birth to baby boy gave him head." So, I mentioned I went to MegaCon... guess what? They sold inspirational posters like this one.

Peter Graves
March 18, 1926 - March 14, 2010
You ever been in a casket before, Joey?
Merlin Olsen
September 15, 1940 - March 11, 2010
14 time Pro Bowler and 1968 Pro Bowl MVP with 94 career sacks - and he'll still be remembered as a mildly retarded guy on "Little House on the Prairie".
Corey Haim
December 23, 1971 - March 10, 2010
You know you are in trouble when Corey Feldman refuses to talk to you until you clean up your act.

Below is the 7th book in the Peverett Phile Book Club. The author Paul Parsons will be the guest on the Phile this coming Sunday.

16
St. Urho's Day, Patron saint of Finnish vineyard workers. Attributed to him is the miracle of banishing grasshoppers from Finland which he accomplished with a few choice Finnish phrases, thereby saving the season's grape crop. But in reality a bunch of very drunk people made this up in 1956.
1190
More than 150 and perhaps as many as 500 Jews, secured in Clifford's Tower at York, die from suicide and massacre after they are sieged by townspeople under Richard Malebys. Malebys was a nobleman who owed money to the Jews; after their siege all records relating to moneylending were destroyed. It is the largest massacre of Jews in the history of the United Kingdom.
1792
At a masquerade ball, a disgruntled Captain Jacob Johan Ankarstroem shoots Swedish King Gustav III near the heart with a bullet composed of lead and carpet tacks. The king dies twelve days later, and as punishment the Captain is decapitated, drawn, and quartered.
1949
Erik Estrada's birthday.
1968
Soldiers of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade Americal Division massacre over 300 civilian men, women, and children in the village of My Lai in South Vietnam.
1978
Italian Red Brigades kidnap former Italian Premier Aldo Moro for release of imprisoned comrades. Moro was murdered and his body found on 9 May 1978.
1984
The CIA's station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, is kidnapped by the Islamic Jihad and later murdered.
1994
Figure skater Tonya Harding arrested for obstruction of prosecution during the fallout from the Nancy Kerrigan figure skate clubbing.

Alice is about to be shoved into an arranged marriage with a chinless British lord. And when she should be accepting her corseted fate, she chooses to duck out of her own engagement party and chase that waistcoat-wearing rabbit down its hole instead. What follows is half fantastical and half predictable: she's been to "Underland" before but doesn't remember it, so this time she has to slay the Jabberwock, bring down the evil Red Queen and fulfill her destiny as a strong, bloodthirsty female who calls her own shots. In other words, lessons you already learned from watching Spice World. I'm all for any oddball with the power to make any kind of movie he wants to make. Tim Burton's done that, it's very cool to look at, Depp is entertaining, Helena Bonham Carter is memorably crazy, and the too-conventional you-go-girl plotline is just an add-on to the visual cake. As far as the 3D goes, the problem is Avatar. It blew the curve and now everybody is going to have to bring it in a serious way from here on. This one was, I understand, turned 3D after the fact. So it feels like they didn't think of that technology while creating the stuff you'd be looking at. And if I heard wrong then that just means they were even less imaginative with its use than I thought. If you are a middle school-aged boy reading this, you should know that your needs, based on all the marketing research available, have been met. The product features "chasing" and "peril" and "yelling" and "bloodshed" and "decapitation" and "weapons" and the entire last chunk of the movie is "battle." So you're good to go. From 1 to 10, it gets a 10. And yes, I will but it when it comes out on Blu-Ray.


Okay, today's guest is the lead singer of indie rock band Kiss Kiss. Although their music is primarily indie in style, it also includes an electric violin that adds an orchestral sound to many songs. Their new album "The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left" is now available on iTunes and they'll be playing next tomorrow at Amsterdam Cafe in Austin, Texas during SXSW. Please welcome to the Phile... Josh Benash.

Me: Hi there, Josh, welcome to the Phile. So, how are you?

Josh: Super tired. How are you?

Me: I have to tell you I am pissed. You played in my own town the other day which is Clermont, Florida and I didn't even know. I would've stopped by and said hello, even though my life has been hectic lately. Anyway, how was the show?

Josh: It was pretty nice. They made us a giant salad and we ate pasta. And hey, the show has been listed on our myspace for a month! You have no excuse. Also we played in Orlando a few days later.

Me: Did you get to hang out in Clermont at all? What did you think of the town and where did you guys eat there?

Josh: No, we drove through the night some to stay with some people we met on couch surfing. Turned out to be a farm where these really nice folks live off the grid and collect road kill to eat and turn the skins into clothing. Then we rode in a refrigerator on a swamp and ate fresh fruit from the trees. It was an oddly magical day.

Me: You guys are based in New York, right? Is that where you're originally from?

Josh: Yeah, we are all from NY. But scattered. I was born in White Plains, Jared in Binghamton, James in Yonkers, Mike in Long Island, Rebecca was born in Redding PA, so we don't like her that much.

Me: You kids have been playing a lot of shows. Do you like to tour?

Josh: Its a love hate relationship. Sometimes its great. Sometimes it is awful and all you want to do is go home. What would make touring best is a matter transporter. Basically from a hub in your home you can leap through a vortex, appear at a venue anywhere in the world, and then hop back in and into your own bed.

Me: I have to ask you about the band name. It's like calling your band name Foghat Foghat. Are you Kiss a Kiss fan? Where did the name originate from?

Josh: I think Gene Simmons has the talent of a turd. Bragging about sleeping with over 5,000 women is more of a reason to fire bomb his genitals than actually respect the guy. Our name came from a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl.

Me: Josh, who is in the band with you? Congrats for having a cute girl in the band by the way.

Josh: Rebecca is not really a girl. She will be soon, but the $ for being truly post-op is still running low. We hope in time the band can help pay for that final surgery. Her looks seems to be generating interest in our music, and like any respectable group of men we plan to fully exploit that.

Me: How did you guys all get together and become a band? Are you all close friends? And which one is dating Rebecca?

Josh: Well we all kind of date Rebecca, but I don't think you can really call it that. You know when you have a soda and one of your friends is also thirsty, sometimes you will share it.

Me: I purchased the album "The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left" and really liked it. By the way, great album title. This one is your latest release, but you had two releases prior. How do you think your older music compares?

Josh: So far I think its safe to say we have never released anything we were not proud of. Each album seems to take a bit longer to come out then the pace set by other bands, but in the end we always end up with a product that is the best it can be for the moment in time and circumstances we recorded it. The Meek was a slight departure from the more poppy sound of Reality, although the songs still retain some elements of our prior hooks and melody. For me "The Meek" is more of a concept album, texturally, emotionally, and sonically I feel "The Meek" is a has a solid theme of catharsis and release. Expelling what is negative in your life and ending up somewhere new.

Me: When did the album come out, and how long did it take you to record?

Josh: The Meek has been out since the summer of 2009. It took about 9 months to record.

Me: What's the deal with the title to track 7? It's "IIIIIIIIIII", right? Or is that to many I's?

Josh: Correct. 11 i's.

Me: Does the band write all the songs, or does everyone pitch in?

Josh: Up to now the songs have been written by myself. I will write the basic form, chords and melody, and then Jared will work with me and we will come up with interesting rhythms. He is the rhythmic master. Then Rebecca will join us and we will construct melodies for her that work well with the vocals and general mood of the song. Then Mike will help by adding his guitar and ideas. We like to work in small groups before all 5 of us get together. This way its more precise and we have more time to focus on smaller details.

Me: I have to ask you about the video for "Innocent l" that a Phile reader can check out on the band's Myspace page. What the hell? What a crazy video. Who came up with the hundred concepts in it, and did it take a long time to make? It looks like you kids had fun with it, but also it looks like a lot of hard work. And what's with the cow and frog having sex? LOL

Josh: "Innocent Part 1" is a commentary on the male sex drive. Its about how even though you can be a moral and ethical human being, respect women and people in general, their is this animalistic chemical side that will at times have to be battled. So the overall theme in the video for innocent is that. We try to display many tactics and manipulations men will use to convince women to sleep with them. From the Bro dudes we are in the beginning, to the false and reassuring boy band sensitive types, to the blatant no games guy at the bar who we have bypass what all bar interactions and games really are about, wanting to fuck. The heads floating in space, the gecko and cow sex, and the weird dance party. Those are just funny.

Me: I know you guys are big Pat Roberston fans... just kidding. If I was to interview him what is the one question I should ask him?

Josh: Why are you such a piece of judgemental shit?

Me: You guys have some cool t-shirts. Who does the artwork, and who came up with the idea? Tell the readers of the Phile what the artwork represents.

Josh: Well the artwork for our latest album was done by one of our favorite artists Alana Fitzgerald. I had known her personally for a while and one day saw some pictures of her latest work online. For me what I saw visually summed up the entire mood and aesthetic of the music we had just made. It was basically chaos, well detailed and organized chaos. Which is something Kiss Kiss is very familiar with. The tee shirts were made by our friend Cory Barber. One of which is a girl riping out the heart of a baby calf, and another of a unicorn whose end trails spell out Kiss Kiss in bloody intestine. The images are all really cute and could be in a children's book if only the themes weren't so violent. We have always been a fan of juxtaposition.

Me: Josh, your band is very creative and I look forward to the next album (a live album would rock). Mention your website and anything else you want to. I wish you all the best of luck and keep rocking and do what you do. Tell the other kids I said hi, and I hope to interview you again soon, and maybe Rebecca. Thanks again.

Josh: Our Website is MYSPACE.COM/KISSKISS. We are also on Facebook, Purevolume, etc.
And hey, your crush on Rebecca is out of control. We are basically her brothers, stay away or we will have to kick your ass! Thanks so much for your questions.

Man, I really hope Josh doesn't kick my ass. Anyway, thanks to Josh for a great interview. I really like the band so check it out. Also, thanks to Wikipedia. The Phile will be back on Sunday... yes, Sunday again, with Peverett Phile Book Club author #7 Paul Parsons. So, spread the word, not the turd. Bye love you bye.