Q & A with Tom Bailey

Q: Tell us about your craziest touring experience.
Tom: I ate a piece of raw squid and part of a fish that was still alive when we were in Japan. I've been yelled at by prostitutes who I wouldn't hire in Hamburg, Germany, right across the street from a police station. I saw the Pixies in Amsterdam before I had to go play a show of our own. I've slept in the van through a snowstorm. I've walked on stage with my pants down, and I once arm wrestled a Russian body guard on a dare and won.

Q: What type of college class would you most want to take and why?
Tom: In college, my favorite class was Modern American History. So much has happened here in the last hundred years. I think of people born in 1900 without cars, phones, TV, or radio who lived to see a man land on the moon in 1969. That generation saw Hitler and Hendrix.

Q: What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?
Tom: I think Austin [Texas] is really cool because it's such a music town and the food is spectacular.

Q: What's some of the best advice you were ever given?
Tom: Make sure your ass is covered. My dad always says that and it's always true.

Q: What's in heavy rotation in your mp3/CD player right now?
Tom: Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens, The Cult's Electric and Phoenix's It's Never Been Like That.

Q: The last good book you read or TV show you're addicted to.
Tom: On our last tour I read The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain. When I'm at home I have to watch Lost.

Q: What's the first concert you ever saw? How was it?
Tom: My first major concert was Guns 'N Roses at the Forum in Los Angeles. Trying to describe that show is like trying to describe getting laid for the first time; I don't even know what happened. I showed up I got rocked, I went home.

Q: What are three items you can't live without on tour?
Tom: My laptop is number one, followed by the iPod and then a decent book. Other important items include: Wet Wipes, WD40 and muscle relaxants.

Q: Who are your major musical influences?
Tom: Early U2, The Clash, The Replacements, The Afghan Whigs and The Jam

Q: Any random messages or tips you'd like to give to mtvU watchers?
Tom: It's not what you know, it's what you remember to write in the blue book.
(From www.mtvu.com)