An Interview with: Fiasco

There's probably an interesting coming of age tale somewhere in the story of Fiasco. The New York trio made quite the name for itself in high school by breaking into the Brooklyn DIY scene with an energetic live show. Now the band looks ahead to college and another album. While it's clear that Fiasco's music rings louder than their age, I happened to catch up with Jonathan Edelstein, Lucian Buscemi, and Julian Bennett Holmes at their recent show at Silent Barn right as Jonathan was in the middle of sharing what seemed like a cliche coming of age story...

TEoI: What did you do?
Jonathan: I accidentally got drunk.

TEoI: Accidentally?
Jonathan: I know it's weird; everyone says that. Well, my friend Oliver was having a little gathering at his house. I come in with some friends, and I'm really thirsty. I haven't drank anything in a while--I don't drink [alcohol] at all by the way like. I never like the taste. So my tolerance is very low. I run in and I see this big carton of orange, strawberry, banana juice--the Tropicana kind--and I just go, "Oh, my favorite juice in the world! I'm so parched!" There's a cup filled to the brim with what appears to be this juice, so I chug it. It goes down in one gulp, and then my throat all of a sudden burns. I feel this tinge of whatever, and my friend Ollie tells me it was filled with vodka.
Julian: I didn't realize you were talking about the Tropicana kind in the carton. I thought you were talking about the nector in the can.
Jonathan: Naw.
Julian: That stuff is amazing.

TEoI: Are you guys all 18 now?
Julian: I'm not.

TEoI: I'll ask the two 18 year olds, what it's like now that your 18, has anything changed? Has anything with the band changed? Or is it all the same?
Jonathan: We can't send people to prison for statutory rape anymore.

TEoI: Now you can get sent to prision for statory rape.
Jonathan: That's not a problem.
Lucian: For a while, [bank accounts] could only be in my name, and only I could have access to it. Now, Jon is 18, so he can get access it. Whenever we were signing contracts or waivers, only I could sign it, but now [Jon] can sign it too.

TEoI: Are you guys all going to college next year? Where?
Jonathan: New School
Lucian: Bard
Julian: I haven't applied anywhere. I might take some classes somewhere.

TEoI: Is the band going to continue as usual?
Lucian: I'm sure we're probably not going to play as much as we used to.

TEoI: At least in the City?
Lucian: Right now all our tours are on school breaks anyway.

TEoI: Do any of you have your licenses yet?
Lucian: June is the goal.

TEoI: I've heard the story of your driving tests.
Lucian: The first time I was nervous, so I made the very dumb mistake of not checking what gear I was in. I hit the gas and threw is backwards. That's what [failed] me. The second time, I learned a good lesson that if you drive how you normally drive during a driving test...it's just not a good idea. At first, I was doing totally find; I parallel parked! I pull out and there's a huge trailer blocking my lane. I was trying to get around [it], and I didn't think. [There is] this problem I have with driving at the moment where I come up to cars a little too close. The driving instructor stops me and tells me I'm too close [to the trailer]. I look around; there's no one behind me. This is New York; no one puts on their turn signal, but that's not the right attitude to have during your driver's test. So I didn't use my turn signal going around, and that was the second time I failed.

TEoI: Let's get back to the band. Native Candadians was released last year via Impose; it was instrumental. Before that you had "God Bless Fiasco" which was your CD-R release on your own--
Julian: Actually, it wasn't a CD-R. It was pressed in a pressing plant.
Jonathan: We re-released it by putting it up online for free. A lot of people ask for it, but we're not going to make any more.

TEoI: What's next?
Julian:A single and then another full length with vocals this time.

TEoI: Is the single going to be from [Native Canadians], or is it going to be a new song?
Julian: It's a new song. It's new to people now.
Lucian: We're like the Beatles...Let me explain that. We'll make a single of its own that won't appear on an album. That's the only way we're like the Beatles. That...and we're geniuses.

TEoI: What do you want to be the last word here?
Lucian: Fuck bitches; get money.

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