What's the name on your birth certificate? Robert Hoover Hitt o Tyler Scott Rambone o Heath Matthew Saraceno o Gabriel Eduardo Saporta Where and when did you guys meet? Tyler: we all new each other previously, but midtown formed in New Brunswick NJ in 1999 o Gabe: It was like magic. my eyes and robs' eyes met from across the room at the blue oyster. before we knew it, we were grinding it up on the dance floor. the next morning, (well afternoon, really--we hardly got much sleep that night!), rob told me about this couple he knows from Bridgewater, Tyler and heath, who rock out on guitar, and so we decided to start midtown (which is after all, the part of the city that has the most gay clubs). What's in your cd player right now? Rob: Saves the Day and Grade o Tyler: either Travis' "The Man Who" or a burned Radiohead mix CD o Heath: a burned copy of some smoking popes songs o Gabe: yanni and ricky martin Favorite movies? Tyler: Braveheart, A Clockwork Orange, Raiders of the lost Ark, any James Bond movie, the Matrix o Heath: Fight Club, American Beauty, Kentucky Fried Movie, Amazon Women on the Moon, Clerks, Mallrats, Project X o Gabe: Mrs. Doutfire What are some of your bad habits? Rob: Making jokes, but I think the band is the only one who thinks it is a bad habit o Heath: smoking cigarettes o Gabe: not sleeping (ahem, it's 6 am now) How do you, as an artist, feel about all this napster shit? Do you think those who use napster are stealing music and does it make you angry that people are getting your songs for free? Rob: Napster, well lets think of it this way... If it is banned then the rich continue to get richer and the poor continue to get poorer. It helps little bands and medium bands get noticed and generate an audience that they might have never had. Bands across America can now tour to any city in America and there is a possibility that they will have people singing along at every show because of mp3's. I've seen it first hand. As far as the big bands like Metallica, don't they have enough money already. They are being greedy to say the least. It is every bands dream to be able to tour and have tons of kids singing along and if napster helps that dream, then more power to it. Plus, has there even been any evidence that cdr's and napster have any huge effect on record sales. People still love to be able to hold an original cd and flip the pages through the layout and people will still buy the cds. o Tyler: Music is meant to be enjoyed, to form a bond or connection between artist and listener, what ever that may be, however that may be. I would love it if everyone could enjoy our music, regardless of how they heard it. This is a question of musical intentions...either make great music for everyone to enjoy or sell lots of records and make lots of money...but the more i write this the more i am changing my mind o Gabe: i think napster is the greatest promotional tool for any artist. it does diminish record sales to a small extent (which hurts mainly the record COMPANIES [evil, evil]), but it gains a band a wider audience. so bands that are looking to grow as a touring entity (and from touring is where bands derive most of their revenue), will only gain from napster. i find it unfortunate that a band like metallica uses napster as a scapegoat (and thus jeopardizes its existence) for its dwindling career. that is, metallica isn't selling as many records as they used to because everyone knows that 40 year-olds can't rock, but they blame it on napster: "wah-wah, napster takes away our record sales. bitch-bitch." Do you have any pets? Tyler: my dog Ted Theodore Logan he is fat and yellow o Gabe: when my brother and i lived with my divorced father, we had a dog, Oreo. and then i found two kittens on the side of Route 80. one kitten, Thurston, died in my hands a few day after i found him (it was really sad .. . he was sick), the other, Theodore, grew healthy. Unfortunately, when my father remarried, we had to give Theodore away as my step-mother was allergic. We gave him to a nice old lady who was so overwhelmed (Theodore supposedly looked just like her old cat who had recently died--though i find this hard to believe since Theodore had one blue eye and one brown eye--it was fucking the coolest thing) upon receiving him that she begin to sob. My step-mom had two dogs, Max and Mandy, who are both purebreeds. but unfortunately, since purebred=inbred, Max and Mandy are dumb as shit and have the most bizarre habits (e.g. Max will lick the inside of mandy's ear for hours on end--fucking gross). yeah, so they're no where near as cool as my dog, Oreo (who is actually my brother's since he was given to him as a birthday present), and no where near as smart (Oreo is bilingual--for real!) oh yeah, plus my step-mom has a bird, harry (what a dumb name for a bird). i can't imagine that this was at all interesting for anyone to read.