Originally published in Verbicide issue #8

It’s a punk rock fairytale. After doing time as a roadie, the rapper gets picked to work with street punk legend and pop-punk superstar. They do an album that’s fresh, fun, and packed with talent. It’s even controversial from the start, as fanzines and indie magazines fall all over themselves to get the scoop on the neo-punk scene. Through it all is the roadie, who is having way too much fun.

Anytime a journalist gets an interview, he wants to biggest guy he can get. If I had been given the chance to talk to Tim Armstrong then I could have talked about the ever evolving state of real punk; if it was Travis Barker I could have quizzed him about what the scenesters call selling out. Instead, I got Rob Aston, and that was so much more fun.

What have you been up to since the CD came out?
Nothing much. Still writing. We just shot two videos, for “Diamonds & Guns” and “DJ DJ,” last weekend. Getting ready to go out on tour in April. That’s about it. Everybody else is busy; Tim’s working on the new Rancid record, Travis is working on the Blink record, I’m working on a solo thing.

Hip hop for you again?
Yeah.

Working with anyone else on that?
Yeah, a bunch of people, but I can’t talk about that to be honest, because the ink’s not dry on that yet and I don’t want to get myself in trouble.

Right. Working on Dre?
I think he’s a little busy right now.

Alright, I see how that is.
Wouldn’t mind that though.

I’ll bet. You did the roadie thing first, right?
Yeah, I worked with AFI and Rancid.

You miss that?
I still kind of do it, actually. I’m going with Rancid on the Warped Tour as their stage manager. It’s too much fun, you know? I’d rather be on stage than behind it, but it’s still fun.

How’s the live show going to work for the Transplants?
Well, see, we’ve only done nine shows so far, and we did it before the record came out, so we got to cheat and get away with it, but this time it’ll sound like the album. We’re figuring out how to get the loops and stuff on there, whether it’s triggered or somebody actually plays it.

When will you be ready to go out?
Second week of April.

So Tim writes these loops, and calls you up and says, “Want to write some lyrics?” Is that how it worked?
You mean in the beginning? Well Tim got this Pro Tools rig for his studio and he started making tracks. We were driving around and he threw it in, and it just blew me away, and he asked me to write for it, and here we are now.

How does that work, when you’re writing for beats that are laid out for you? You’ve just got it going through your headphones and you just write?
I don’t know, when I write I just write however I feel that day. Like if something happened and it sucked then I write about that, or if things are good then I write “Tall Cans.”

Some intense stuff there, you didn’t hold back your first time around anyways.
Ha, no, you know, we didn’t set to make an angry record or a funny record, just writing whatever we’re feeling that day.

In all the articles and interviews so far, everybody wants to talk about whether this is punk rock or not. What is the obsession with that?
I don’t know, I guess, because of Tim and Travis. It’s kind of weird because people always try to categorize, and we’ve been called like, rap metal and even death metal, and just everything. I don’t know how to describe us. The record definitely has a punk backbone to it, but it’s more than a punk record. We come from all types of music, we listen to all different types of music.

You don’t have a whole lot to worry about making this thing.
See that’s the cool thing, we can do whatever the fuck we want. I don’t give a fuck, you know? I’m not a punk rocker.

Who do you think will have a harder time with this, the Rancid fans or the Blink fans?
Both have actually been really accepting. You know, Rancid fans have some expectations, and Blink kids, too, but I’m sure there are lots of kids who like it.

Then there will be future Transplants projects?
Yeah, we’re definitely going to keep making records. Rancid’s going out on tour again, and I’m sure Blink is going out, so maybe by the end of the year we can get back in the studio again.

How do you like the business side of being in a band?
I’ve been kind of fortunate because I’ve been around bands so much, I’ve gotten to sit back and observe and learn a lot of stuff. It’s not like my first time through like some guy. Plus, it’s Hellcat, and those guys are great.

How’s the Hellcat family doing after Joe Strummer’s death?
Man, you know, that sucks. Losing him, and Jam-Master Jay just a few months before. Lost, like, two pioneers. You know what fucking sucks? I have yet to see any fucking magazines put either of those guys on the cover. They both did so much and to be disrespected like that sucks. It’s hard man, but that’s life, you know? People pass on and it’s unfortunate.

Those guys were pioneers in crossing the genres. Do you see those genres coming together?
It’s kind of crazy, you know. We get people who are into us from all different walks of life. That’s the cool thing about it, there are people who like us who aren’t necessarily into punk rock.

Is it just time for urban music to grow? Hip-hop and punk together, are people just more comfortable with that?
I think that it’s 2003 and kids are, you know, ready for that idea.