Westword: So, are you boys who like girls, or boys who are like girls -- you know, emo and empathetic?
Martin Johnson: It's boys that like girls -- just like girls like boys, or some boys like boys, or some girls like girls. It's just a fun statement. It's like what makes the world go round and the never-ending chase of guys against girls. Go to any bar and you see guys stalking their prey. It's kind of a play on that.
Most of your songs seem to have this high-school-romance quality, yet you also tackle issues like leaving home and growing up too fast.
A lot of the record is about my youth at the end of high school and then moving on and growing up. A lot of people have come up to me and said, "Oh, I relate to this so much." If anyone can relate to this stuff, that's really awesome, because that's what I live for in music: stuff that I can relate to, to help me get through my life.
Your big break came with a couple of songs placed on PureVolume.com and your MySpace page. A buzz spread, and eventually you got signed. There was so much hype. Were you disappointed when your album sold less than 1,500 copies the first week?
Not at all. I was really happy with that number. I know a lot of kids are downloading; you're going to get that, and that's fine. But I felt like this was a big stepping stone for us.... The biggest and best sign for us as a young band is that people are telling their friends, and [sales] didn't drop off after the first week.
Where do you think you would be without Internet exposure?
I have no idea. I can't even think of a world like that. The Internet was such a crucial part of how we developed a fan base and how we interact with our fans.... Word of mouth travels so much faster over the Internet. We used it to our advantage. I have no idea where we'd be at this point. Who knows if we'd even have a record out?
