(THS) The Hershey Squirts

The Mic: What got this band together and started in
this business?

THS: well, shamley and i (tyler) were in a band previously so we knew we could work together pretty well. i had moved to tacoma, wa and found another bassist and drummer. after booking a tour our bass player became sick and was unable to go so shamley flew up from kansas for the tour and never left.



The Mic:Who writes and produces all the material for
the band?

THS: its usually shamley and i


The Mic:The band played in front of or with any acts
our readers would know from the Mainstream?

THS: we have played with quite a few "big" acts... the lewd, Dr. Know, raw power, MDC, Off with their heads, and the dreadful children just to mention a few.



The Mic:Where can people access your music on the web?

THS: the best spot is www.myspace.com/thehersheysquirts and our newest disc, do or die, will be available on interpunk.com and a few other "punk" websites starting in june!



The Mic:Any embarrassing moments on stage?

THS: forgetting the names of the bands we play with when trying to plug them to the crowd.



The Mic:Any good stories you want to tell us?

THS: outside the central saloon in seattle washington a retarded homeless person drew our portraits and gave them to us. amazingly enough, the portraits looked nothing like us.



The Mic:Who is the bands musical influence?

THS: we are influenced by everything around us, not just music, the government, society, our friends (thats a big one!), our friends bands, frustration, alcohol, girls, poverty... etc



The Mic:How did the band get together?

THS: I (tyler) found our drummer miguel on craigslist who was in the musicians section looking for a band. he played bass at the first practice and afterwords told me he played drums in highschool AND college, so naturally he went to drums and we found another bass player.


The Mic: What is your musical background like?

THS: shamley was a music major in college and on a full ride schollarship to play bass. miguel played drums in highschool and college and i am pretty uneducated about everything. haha



The Mic:Any other members in your family that are
musicians?

THS: nope on all accounts



The Mic:What is the TOP reason why you want to play
music?

THS: its the only thing that makes sense to us. plus its really what keeps us from killing people.

what's your stance on file swapping?

THS: its great! it helps all the small bands out there! the only people that lose out are the corporate fat cats, and who's complaining about that?? not us!

what is the process of making a cd?

THS: for us??? thats a pretty funny question becuase we normally go into the studio and fight like hell for the first few days, then we realize how much we are waisting so we get down to business and get our shit done! then mixing and mastering then art then pressing. and bodda boom badda bing you got yer self a finished product.

The MIC:how do you get the word out about your music?

THS: we are always networking, everyone we meet or even come into contact with knows about our band. we ALWAYS hand out stickers wherever we are and we give out our patches to! (unless we are real broke!)flyers help alot and we happen to know a set of really cute punk rock twins that rock our shirts and are totally in love with us so they spread the word to! really! and that ALWAYS helps to have boobs on your side! and they run merch for us to! and of course we use myspace.com

The MIC:how is your local responce to your music?

THS: usually its really good. we always do things that are fun for the kids, like pillow fight night. so even if you are not into punk rock you can come and have fun even if you dont like the music. we like to think people like the music though.

The MIC:what is the farthers you have traveled for a gig?

THS: we just got back from a 6000 mile tour?? does that count?

The MIC:What tune on the cd are you most proud of?

THS: i would probably have to say Contageous Christianity. that song kinda wraps us up in a nice little package. its angry at christians, and musically it is well written. thats really what we strive for. we want to bridge the gap between punk rock and good musicianship!