Interview taken from ENIGMA an enterainment paper in Chattanooga.

The Features under the direction of singer/guitarist, Matt Pelham hail from just outside Nashville in Sparta. The Band plays addictive, frsh pop songs that have the band growing in popularity everyday.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of coming from a small town?

I don't know. I'd say the disadvantages are not really having an audience when you are growing up and starting to play. The advantages are maybe not having so influence of other bands. You're pretty much in that town. You develop your own sound from not having very much influence from other bands or musicians.

Your music has been called, the "New Wave" of the next generation. What musical influences do you have?

We all like alot of 60's pop and indie post punk like Television, Velvet Underground, the Kinks, Talking Heads, Roxy Music, and then we like your normal typical punk and rock stuff.

How has your songwriting shifted since the band got together?

Quite a bit. I had to figure out how to write a song. There was another guy in the band. He wrote alot to begin with, and there was a different singer in the band. After both of those guys left I had to teach myself really fast. It had to develop in a sense that I had to learn to write for a four-piece band instead of a five piece.

Adversity goes hand in hand with being in the music business. How has your split with Spongebath Records affected yor music catalog of stuff you perform live and record?

I think our departure from Spongebath took so long to happen, that most of the stuff we had written while at Spongebath we were already sick of playing. I guess that catalog was left behind along with the label.

Is rock and roll a healing thing or does it open the wound more?

Probably a little bit of both. It definitely has its ups and downs. It's especially trying at times; especially having daughters and all of us working full time. It's difficult do, but worth doing. We all love dong it.

How do you feel about comparisons to other bands?

I don't mind being compared to to other bands. I usually think they're wrong. I could see sometimes where there's certain elements they might be able to relate in another band. I don't think I've heard anyone yet make a good comparison as far as maybe grouping three bands that we might draw most of our influence from.

What have you learned from touring?

To play with a local band that draws. And never play anywhere unless you get some sort of guarantee.






well thats it. enjoy!

(Edited by ghostflower at 12:43 pm on Sep. 2, 2002)

Interesting. Thank you, ghostflower. For those of you keeping score at home, though, Sparta is not "just outside Nashville," it's over half way to Knoxville. Perhaps they meant Murfreesboro.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 8:28 pm on Sep. 2, 2002)

Very nice article, thanks ghostflower.

So, do they actually live in Sparta now and just commute to Murfreesboro for the shows, or do they actually live in Murf now???

thanks for the interview. it rocks.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to post this, ghostflower. Great interview!

Has anyone else ever wondered what the band members' day jobs are? I think at least one of them should drive a Krispy Kreme delivery truck.

i know matt lives in m'boro. and i'm pretty sure the rest of the band lives in the m'boro/nashville area. i've seen (or had friends that have seen) them too often in too many random places for them to not live close. but this is of course just speculation....

wow, really? a krispy kreme truck?

i, too, have wondered what they do for a living. i cant picture them having actual jobs. i only picture them writing awesome songs and playing shows.

As long as he has no beard or mustache, I think Roger would look the best in one of those Krisy Kreme paper hats.

I first started getting into Spongebath a few years ago, and was floored when I found out so many (all) of these people had day jobs. I still have to fight the image of the Features snorting coke and throwing constant parties with bikini babes like all rock stars do and should.

I have never imagined them having any sort of day job, although I know they do. I think that they should all post sometime and let us know.

i'm afraid ray davies would take to stalking them if he knew where they work...

of course i jest...

(Edited by damon at 11:14 pm on Sep. 2, 2002)

just for the record, i dont plan to stalk any band members.

seth timbs served me at Marinas a while back...........

i saw roger one day driving........i made a face and yelled "features rock!" atleast i thought that was him......

i would snort coke with them...

The Features still live in Murfreesboro. I promise.

i'm pretty sure this is correct: matt and roger work at a print shop. rollum does construction and parrish, i forget. maybe he's a mechanic... not sure. i mean, it would make sense.... i'm almost certain on the others though...

rollum...construction...HA! rollum's a former pizza boy. he's currently a layabout. roger recently moved back to sparta.

Yeah, seeing them at work would weird me out, just like I was weirded out at the Attic, when I sat and watched them load ALL of their gear into the venue on their own, up a very narrow and steep flight of stairs. I felt like saying "hey, you guys are rock stars, me and my friends will do this shit." But I didn't.

Then when I had to go to the bathroom, it was a couch that contained the entire band that collectively told me where to go. I was freaked out.

Will

Did Rollum at one point work at Hastings because I know I've seen him there at least twice. As for day jobs, this is something that I have pondered for a very long time about los Features. I honestly cannot imagine them having jobs other than rehearsing all day, recording, writing, performing...they manage to be so good and work full time jobs? That is insane...

And what's the sitch with Roger if he moved back to Sparta? That's a mighty-ways away...it seems that the commute would kill a lesser man.

(Edited by DigsySlattery at 1:44 pm on Sep. 3, 2002)

Wha? Why?

It would kill a lesser man. Luckily for us, the band, and Roger, he's the funkiest brother that you've ever seen, and thus can survive it.

Will

I hear Roger is training to run a marathon. No shit.

If in training for a marathon, why would one continue to smoke cigarettes? It's just not a good combination. Of course, it is very possible that he HAS stopped and I just didn't notice.

You have no idea how much I miss that man. I can always sit and have a bit of dialog with Matt Pelham w/no problem, but with Seth, I was always struck with fear from meeting my hero.

God bless Smee and let's all give her a big "thank you" for some accurate info.

I had a lengthy conversation w/Matt about a year ago at a show at "The End." At that point in time, he was working for Pillsbury.

I actually met him b/c I worked w/him at Go USA Funpark in M'boro. We worked together the summer of 2000 and he's the nicest guy you'll ever meet, if you don't really know him yet.

i've heard that Go USA used to be Golf USA...

could they not afford the lf anymore??

parrish fixes go-carts at go usa. he promised me free rides if i ever made it into the boro. i was never allowed to own a go-cart as a youth in alabama, so therefore i hope to make up for lost time.

roger is indeed going to run a marathon, and as far as i know, he still smokes. possibly the worst combination for one's heart, smoking and running....therefore, i prefer just to smoke.

An acquaintance of mine used to park cars with Rory in downtown Nashville.

i have no idea how to do the quote in the box thing.. but about whoever said about asking them the bathroom:
yeah my first features show i was actually dragged to and i had no clue who they were (it was at lipscomb last spring) but i left to go to the bathroom and took a wrong turn and wound up backstage. i asked the first guy i saw where the bathroom was and he steered me the right direction but when they started playing i realized it was rollum who showed me the bathroom lol. sorry im proud of that even though you all seem to have met them several times. oooh well.

Snap no, your story is very cool. I'm star struck by them for some reason. I mean, they aren't "celebrities" but I guess in my head they are. If I ever see any of them out in public I'm just like "wow."

I became extremely toungue-tied when rollum called my radio show the other night. he requested Wire, but , just my luck, i had left "pink flag" in my dorm. so after telling him almost every cd i had with me, he requested "isolation" by joy division instead. he seemed very pleased. i, on the other hand, was as happy as a clam because i had talked to rollum, quite possibly one of the best drummers i have ever seen.....(sigh), i cant wait until the boro show. i need a features fix.

(Edited by ray davies at 7:24 pm on Sep. 4, 2002)

That was me, and the quote in the box thing is done thusly:

FInd the post you want to quote and on the bar above the post, on the right, there is a button that says "quote." Click it and you immediately go to a new post that has the quote in a box below your post.

And be not embarassed about holding your brushes with the band in high regard. Few of us have met them very much, and we regard every moment as a brush with genius.

Will

Ray,

Out of curiosity did he mention who he was or did you confess your fandom?

Hmmm.. if he was listening to the show, he might be someone that reads the board...

And is your show webcast?

Will

well, judging by what i know about rollum and his musical tastes. i put two and two together (i also remember the sound of his voice). by the way, some of the features DO read the message board.

So if we do plan on getting them a cake or something the surprise will be ruined. Maybe we should start speaking in code. The code should look like this &*^%$#

See, that would mean "Let's get them a cake shaped like a buffalo ninja"

digsy~

the ferret flies the coop at half past eight. @#1&. you dig?

Word, but I have to add that "The Mancs are taffy like a duck flying left in the sea *&%$"

Keep it on the d/l....

some of them even post occasionally, or at least they used to.

digsy~

can i ride with you in your bmw? the ferret has landed. find the elephant stone. #@&*!.

over and out.

damon

Lord in Heaven...I disappear for a few days, and people start speaking in code.

Hmm it appears that Stephanie "sniffs it through a cane" if youknowwhatimean. Don't worry, the tallywhacker is in full scope...

Over.

beep beep beeeeeep blip blip. dyer know what i mean? tell it to a man who lives in hell. where are the spiders?

over and out

damon

My eyes are red, my money is in my big mouth, whatever you do, whatever you say, wonk wonk DJ Chaz.

clickity clack

dj chaz....red drawstring cargo pants. that's not code my friend, that's simply bad fashion.

Preach on sistah. That class is odd...he is so excited about computers. The labs are also odd because they're retardedly easy YET they can still confuse the heck out of me. It took me about ten minutes to figure out what section in the Windows XP book to read...

Darn computers!

ah yes. chaz is definitely a computer nerd. i always forget to bring my materials to that class.

You are correct, sir. Word around the campfire has it that during tornado-like winds, the "L" and the "F" got ripped off the face of the building and landed in like Smyrna. And instead of buying two new letters, they just decided to let it be. Gotta love the 'boro, huh?