John McDermott: What up!

VOX: How’s the tour going for you guys?

JM: The tour is going wonderfully.

Greg Gueldner: Amazingly well.

JM: We’ve sold out every show so far…

GG: Yea, us!

VOX: We hear there is always a pit full of 12 to 19 year old girls right up front…

JM: That’s true, yeah…

GG: It’s kinda funny, because we get a lot of these little girls coming right up front, and sorta "teeny-boppering" to us, but then there is this whole crew of dudes behind them, so these poor little girls are having guys landing on their heads from the mosh pit.

JM: These dudes want to check out these little girls.

GG: It’s very exciting…there’s all this teenage sexual tension going on out there.

VOX: It seems that you guys have made a serious effort to not focus on looks, with the album cover and all...

JM: Definitely. We’ve tried to keep our faces away from as much of the stuff that goes out as possible. We kinda want it to be where people hear the song first, then they get to know the band. I think it’s been like that, for the most part. I mean, cuz, so many people know the song "Little Black Backpack" before they know…have any idea who we are. We just didn’t want to that kind of band where you see them, and their faces are plastered everywhere, and you know so much about the band before you know anything about the music.

VOX: Speaking of "Little Black Backpack," we’ve heard many women say, "I love the song, but I really don’t like the words."

GG: The time when we wrote it, was when the backpacks were getting popular, and so we were just sort of jamming on the song, and Luke, the singer, just started messing around with words. He just going on little black backpacks because you just saw them everywhere the summer it was written. And then it’s partly based on a real experience, with seeing someone who has betrayed you at a party, and you want to use this in your personal life. And it’s this mass-marketed fashion that was forced upon people, coming into play in your every-day life. It’s kind of bizarre, you know…

JM: Yeah, there’s this thing of, with these little black backpacks, what the hell can you fit in them? You can’t fit anything in them. That’s where the line, "There must be some reason for your little black backpack"…

GG: And it turns out it’s to bash…

JM: Bash some guy’s head in, so that’s a pretty good reason.

GG: I think that’s what Donna Karan has in mind, right?

JM: Yeah.

VOX: Where does the band name come from?

JM: The name, Stroke 9, comes from a poem by T. S. Elliot called "The Wasteland." A lot of people have formulated their own ideas of what the name means. There are the obvious masterbatory references.

GG: Yes!

VOX: Are you guys prepared for the mobs of women? Has it been surprising, or did you expect it?

JM: We’ve had a lot of practice with woman. Just kidding.

GG: Are we ready for it?

JM: I don’t know. You mean like on a Duran Duran level? I don’t think so.

VOX: What should the fans expect from Stroke 9 live?