When you combine charisma and wacky personalities with a hint of talent, you get the guys from A Loss For Words. A Loss For Words started off the festival with a fun and enjoyable set. I met up with a few of the guys from A Loss For Words to talk about their current tour and some sports entertainment wrestling.
Introduce yourself and what do you do in the band. I’m Nevada and I play guitar for A Loss For Words. I’m Mike and I play bass and sing back up vocals for A Loss For Words. I’m Christian and I play the drums for A Loss For Words.
How did the Vegas crowd treat you guys today? Nevada: It was awesome. I was kind of nervous at first because we had an early set time, but people showed up and kids piled in.
Mike: Yeah it was awesome. Everybody was really receptive and having fun. I was stoked.
Nevada: We haven’t played very many shows in Vegas and we had a decent crowd.
You guys are currently on the Glamour Kills Tour. How has it been so far? Mike: We jumped on it two days ago in Pomona, CA. and it’s been freakin’ amazing. We’ve toured with everybody on this tour and friends with them for years. It’s like a hangout session all the time. It’s going to be an awesome three weeks.
Nevada: We’ve toured and played with almost everyone already. It’s great. We should clarify that we weren’t suppose to be on the rest of the tour because some people were pissed that we didn’t show up.
Mike: My twitter, everyday since the tour started, says “Why did you guys drop off. Why didn’t you show up at the show. Where the hell were you?” We’re only on the second half. But it’s going to be an amazing tour. It’s the third day and it already has been. Except the Wonder Years are a bunch of “Burgers.”
So anything crazy happen during the tour, or the past few days you were on it?
Nevada: The day before the tour we got hit by a drunk guy.
Mike: We were playing in Reno.
Nevada: Yeah, Sparks Reno. We were parked outside this venue and I was watching this guy pulling out of this parking lot behind us. I’m looking at him in the rear view mirror and I’m saying, “This guys is going to hit us. There’s no way he’s going to make this turn.” All of a sudden, the van is crushed against the wall.
Mike: Keep in mind there’s like five feet between the van and the wall. He gets out, he’s in his mid-seventies, and he’s drunker than anybody I’ve seen in a long time. He says, “What the heck are you doing parked there?!” Nevada says, “What are you talking about? We’re loading in.” We’re parked. There’s obviously not enough space for a motorcycle. He says, “What?! You want to mess with me?” And starts coming after him.
Nevada: I was ready to kick off a guitar just so he can have it. I didn’t want to call the cops on him. His car was messed up really bad.
Mike: He says, “So are you gonna call the cops or should I get out of here?” He just drove off drunk as hell.
What can fans expect when they see you live or hear your music? Mike: We just try to be entertaining, have high energy. We try to sound better live than the album. We’re not like a bunch of bands that play to an Ipod.
Nevada: We’re just trying to sound as raw as possible. We don’t play with tracks or anything like that. We’re kind of like a pop up band but more of a rock band. We’re just trying to play the songs that we write and have fun.
Mike: With our music, if you’ve never heard of it, it’s not a copy of anything else. We’re just trying to do our own thing, [which is], high energy rock and roll. We’re not trying to mimic anybody or impress anybody. We’re just playing honest music.
If you were a stripper, what would be your stripper name? Mike: Jumbo Dicks. That would be my stripper name.
Nevada: We do this thing where we have wrestling names for everybody on tour that we do. I’d probably have Harley Roads as my stripper name.
Mike: (Talking about Christian) He’s the new guy so he doesn’t have a wrestling name yet. So I’m gonna give him one right now. This is ground breaking news. His name is Ratchet Clements…The Mechanic.
Nevada: The machinist.
Mike: The Meanest Machinist. Ratchet Clements, that’s good!
Three words to describe A Loss For Words. Stunning, handsome, muscle bound.
Favorite pair of shoes? Mike: I’m wearing $9 Walmart specials right now. Are they comfy? No! They hurt. But they were $9. I owned, when I skateboarded, I would say 7 consecutive pairs of shoes Steve Caballelors. He was my favorite skateboarder.
Nevada: I liked Cabs too.
Mike: Yeah everyone had Cabs.
Christian: Mine would probably be those tan shoes where you don’t have to wear socks with.
Mike: They’re like Vans boat shoes.
Christian: They’re made with this material that I don’t know, made of hemp.
Nevada: I get in trouble with shoes because I don’t like wearing sneakers. There’s something about wearing shoes that feels uncomfortable for me. I don’t like feeling what I’m walking on. So I always wear boots.
What’s next for A Loss For Words? Mike: We’ve got some good stuff going on.
Nevada: We’re gonna finish up the Glamour Kills Tour for another 2-3 weeks. Then go home for a few days and then to Japan and China and come back for a month and go on Warped Tour.
Mike: Hopefully we get a bigger tour overseas for the fall. That’s what we’re hoping for. We’re good up until the end of August.
Nevada: We might do another support tour in the fall in the US and hit the states again. Maybe Europe and a headliner. It’s pretty much up in the air after Warped Tour.
Anything else you guys want to say? Mike: Sports entertainment wrestling is not fake. It’s predetermined and scripted. But if you say it’s fake to my face, I’m going to give you a power bomb. A jack knife power bomb, a tombstone piledriver, and a cross face chicken wing. You won’t say it’s fake after that.
These guys had an early time slot but that didn’t stop them from turning up the craziness. The crowd jumped and sang to every song they played whether it was “Pirouette” or “Stamp of Approval.” The guys from A Loss For Words gave an energetic and simply fun show. They even played their cover of Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” A few chimes of the intro of “I Want You Back,” the crowd already knew what was coming. A Loss For Words fed off of the crowd’s energy and gave a phenomenal performance.
Make sure to check them out on Warped Tour this summer: www.facebook.com/aloss4words/
Lyrically Speaking 