Reggie and the Full Effect
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

James Dewees formerly of the now defunct Get Up Kids is the brainchild behind the hardcore Reggie and the Full Effect. Their new album is called Songs Not to Get Married To.

Check out the official site for Reggie and the Full Effect

Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey, how are you doing?

James Dewees: I’m good; I’m in New York traffic

DRE: Where are you? I’m in New York too.

JD: We are on our way to Fuse.

DRE: Have you ever heard of SuicideGirls?

JD: Yeah I’m friends with a bunch of them

DRE: Which ones?

JD: Katie and I did a photo shoot with Robin.

DRE: Everyone knows Katie, huh?

JD: My friend Carol was one of the original ones too.

DRE: Do you have any tattoos yourself?

JD: Of course. I have some crap on my arms.

DRE: When did you finally admit that you were Reggie?

JD: In the press somewhere. If I’m going to do Reggie full-time now I don’t want to have to wear a wig and a mustache every fucking day of my life.

DRE: Did you feel like Ziggy Stardust?

JD: Doing it every day like when I was still doing Get Up Kids was tough. I don’t mind jumping around and acting like an idiot but now that it’s full-time I just don’t want to wear the wig.

DRE: Do you feel like less than an idiot now?

JD: No, I’m still the same idiot, but the wig was more like an easy way to hide the idiot in me and be like “oh this is a completely separate idiot.”

DRE: The songs are on the new Reggie album are all about divorce, is that connected with the end of the Get Up Kids?

JD: We knew it was coming for the Get Up Kids about a year ago. We were just waiting for the right time to make an announcement about it and then it just turned out that I woke up one day and got an email that said there would be an announcement. Today’s a good a day as any.

But actually I got separated before we talked about the end of the Get Up Kids. I was all stoked because I knew I was going to be on tour with the Get Up Kids with all these hot girls coming up to me and I’m going to be single. Then it was like, oh we’re not going to tour anymore. I’m going tour as Reggie cause I want to be single and on the road.

DRE: Which one gets you the more hot girls the Get Up Kids or Reggie?

JD: The Get Up Kids because the Get Up Kids are an emo band so there are really cute little emo girls hanging out all of the time.

DRE: What kind of girls to you get for Reggie?

JD: Girls with dreads and tattoos everywhere, wasted and throwing up in their hands – that kind of shit.

DRE: [laughs] That’s gross.

JD: It sounds disgusting but there are really cute Reggie fans too. We get gay kids and the dark death metal lords coming out. We always had this joke about Get Up Kids where really hardcore guys show up at Get Up Kids shows and hit on the girls and at Reggie shows girls show up to hit on the guys.

DRE: Is there stuff on this album that your ex-wife is going to get that we aren’t?

JD: No because I was pretty vague about stuff and it’s not really a break up record. I was trying to make sure I didn’t get sued for anything else. When we got separated, the day that I came home from tour she’s like “if you write any fucking thing about me on your next record, I’m going to sue you”. So I kept her name out of the songs and very vague. The most evil thing on the record is actually about my tooth getting pulled out.

DRE: Can you talk about what happened with your wife?

JD: It’s just about being gone all of the time. It’s just not fair to one person. I was really tired of paying $3000 a month in bills for a place I never even ever slept in. I was paying for cars I couldn’t even drive. It was kind of like it seemed pointless because I’d been on the road continuously for two and half years straight, probably longer.

DRE: So she felt the same?

JD: She didn’t want to get divorced or anything but we both knew it wasn’t working out. We don’t stay in contact with one another but I imagine eventually we will try to start talking again.

DRE: Do you consider Reggie to be like a total metal album?

JD: It’s got some pop stuff but it’s got more heavy songs. It’s definitely more aggressive just because I’m going to divorce court and jogging back and forth to the studio. I just want to scream and shit because the judge hates my guts and I’m going to lose. Well at least I’m getting a lot of good material to write about.

DRE: Do you have anything like big to lose like a comic book collection or baseball cards or anything like that?

JD: I wasn’t allowed to go back to the house after everything was going on. I didn’t want to be like weird about anything but all the first Reggie costumes were there and some awards and shit like that. On tour I just had this one bag full of stuff that I like and I lose shit all the time anyway so I’m always buying new things and I’m just going to leave everything at the house.

DRE: When did you do this the Slayer cover?

JD: That was about four years ago.

DRE: So you already had that mindset of wanting to do really heavy stuff?

JD: Oh yeah from playing in Coalesce for the longest time. I love fucking heavy music and it’s so much fun to play live. We’re playing a lot more of the new record live because it’s so much fun.

DRE: Did you listen to anything that made you want to do heavier music right now?

JD: I’ve become such good friends with so many bands and the thing is like they’re all big Coalesce fans. It made me realize that I need to do more music that’s Coalesce style.

DRE: So is it a different mindset when you’re writing for Reggie?

JD: With some of the earlier Reggie stuff I thought it would be good for the Get Up Kids song. Now I really don’t have to worry about it.

DRE: What about a new video?

JD: Well the new video is supposed to be done by tomorrow but this fucking idiot director in Los Angeles totally screwed it up so we’re having it redone.

DRE: So is Klaus just another thing that you’re going to start wearing a wig for?

JD: No, Klaus is covered in blood.

DRE: Are you saying that you’re Klaus or what?

JD: No, Klaus is just a totally different dude. He’s real on stage. This is Tommy Shaw playing Lieutenant Bill Smith from future robot performers of America. But he’s also going to be Tommy Shaw playing guitar. But Klaus comes out just to be fucking covered in blood and scream at kids and scare any boy bands.

DRE: Do you do a good German accent?

JD: The funny thing is he’s supposed to be from Finland but he has a German accent. The only people who ever point that out are people from Germany and Finland. It’s stupid funny.

That’s the thing about Reggie; I can be as ridiculous as I want to be now. They let me put out records and kids are buying them.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Reggie+and+the+Full+Effect/