Rob, were you ever tempted to stay with Pro-Pain because it might be easier to be in an established band then begin a new one?
RM: It’s kind of always been a revolving door, Gary [Meskil, vocals/bass] has always been the main guy because he writes all the material, and pretty much tracks all the material. When I joined Pro-Pain Gray played bass, guitar and vocals and basically told the drummer exactly what to do. I got in on their third album and I started writing material, and the other members would say, ‘Why are you wasting your time? It’s Gary’s band.’ I said, ‘I am not just going to stand here and play what someone tells me.’
So I wrote some material, presented it, and we used it. Much to everybody’s surprise. I have a knack for writing for whichever project I am with. I wrote half an album with Billy [Milano] when I was in M.O.D, which wasn’t my personal style, but I kind of adapt. I kind of assumed that my role was a little more important in that band [Pro-Pian] than it actually was. It’s Gary’s band, Gary’s vision, Gary’s business, Gary’s life. It wasn’t mine. I am all emotion like I said earlier, when I am not feeling it, I don’t want people looking at me saying, ‘He is just going through the motions.’ Once I felt that, I said, ‘I gotta leave.’ Gary even said, ‘You are walking out on a lot of money this year.’ I understand that, but I never did it for the money, I do it for fun. The money is a bonus, I do it for fun and if I am not having fun, I might as well go sleep in my own bed and go get a normal job.
TM: That’s the first thing that started this band. I stopped doing music for four years. So the first reason was F.U.N. I heard he was up here through Billy Milano. Billy called me up and he said, ‘Tim, Moschetti is up North again.’
RM: Billy wanted to recruit me back. I was actually going to play on the last M.O.D record, but he wanted me to move to Texas. I just moved back to New York and that’s when Billy, not being greedy said, ‘Moschetti is in New York, grab him.’ [Laughing]
TM: We actually had people come down and try out. Even just to see if it worked out, but people had other things going on, or it just wasn’t the right situation. Carley [Coma] from Candiria came down. He is doing something else right now, and he’s really into it. But he was singing with us just for a moment.
RM: Eddie [Sutton] from Leeway showed up, too.
TM: Either it wasn’t the right situation for us, or it wasn’t the right situation for them. There is no love lost; it was just kind of cool that people came to check what I was doing.
RM: When he brought me in, it was originally just to play guitar.
TM: I wanted to get the Moschetti that goes off on stage.
RM: My first reaction was, ‘Yeah, I can play guitar on this, but I am more interested in the vocals.’
How has it come across onstage?
RM: It definitely comes across more aggressive live.
TM: You get to see the power of the band. Our drummer is like a power hitting drummer, I think he is one of the best drummers in this area.
RM: We opened for M.O.D in the city.
What has been the most gratifying part of this for you so far?
RM: I think the response from live and the CD combined. Usually, it’s like one or the other.
TM: We are waiting for that negative response and we haven’t gotten it yet.
Catch Full Scale Riot at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ, on April 17. For more info, visit myspace.com/fullscaleriotsquad.
