Steaming Rock Piles

'It was a very depressing scene," blogs Wasting June's keyboard player Jeff Domitrz about a summer gig at 'Canes (found on the band's myspace.com page). "A friend of mine described it as 'drinking beer at a funeral.' Yes, the whole ordeal was smothered in steaming piles of 'suck.' "

Not all was lost for the melodic five-piece North County act. They went back to 'Canes two weeks later and redeemed themselves. Next was a gig at the Jumping Turtle, which is gradually becoming a favorite club for new bands to showcase their sound in San Marcos. This event was a fundraiser for Vista's Goblin Studios, which suffered a fire on November 1, 2005, destroying the recording studio and 8 of the 16 practice rooms.

An unknown band member writes of the event: "I was a little disturbed, however, at the bathroom phenomenon. There was no line for the skirts...but there was for the pants. At first I attributed this to the comparative intake of alcohol in men and women, then I realized how much of a caveman I was being. Girls nowadays drink just as much as guys do, so maybe there were just more males than females at the show. I don't know. In fact, I don't care. All I care about is the fact that Vinnie the Sound Wizard said, 'In the 18 years that I've been doing this, I've never seen a band bring their own neon sign up on stage.' "

I spoke with Jeff Domitrz.

TRICKIEST PROBLEM PLAYING LIVE?

"When you rock as much as Wasting June, you have to be delicate with the sheer rocking power you possess. For the power to rock is laden with grave responsibility."

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT?

"We hate our guitars. They own us more than we own them."

BEST/WORST GIG?

"At our worst gig we kept getting pushed back later and later into the night. When we finally went on at one in the morning, the owner of the bar kept walking back and fourth across the stage holding a sign that read, 'Want to play? Call Ray.' "

HAD A BRUSH WITH ANYONE FAMOUS?

"Are you kidding? We hang out with all the famous people all the time. Famous, famous, famous...it gets boring after a while. Ordinary Everyday Joe, that's who we want to meet."

FAVORITE MUPPET?

"The Swedish chef, hands down."

TOP FIVE END-OF-THE-WORLD CDs?

"If it was the end of the world, we wouldn't have time to listen to CDs. That's because we'd all be running around on the streets naked."

WHERE DO YOU SEE MUSIC GOING IN THE 21st CENTURY?

"We predict that the music of the future will sound much like it does now. The only difference will be that you can smell it as well as hear it."

GIG DREAMS?

"We try not to sleep. If you were to stay awake throughout your entire life, technically you'd live twice as long. Think about it! We're not going to sleep our lives away."