We’ve been talking about it for the past week, and we finally got it done!!

LiLi and I were reunited for the Sam Bradley and The Men show in Dallas on Nov. 21, and we got the chance to sit down with Sam and fellow Men, Jeff and Dave, to talk about music, life and Sabers. It was kind of awesome, even though I giggled like a little school girl and LiLi made inappropriate jokes.  [Li Li edit-- yeah, I word vomited.  Bad.] Jen, AKA Garnet Gurl, our official photog, took plenty of pictures so that we could remember these happy/embarrassing moments forever. Yeah, that’s how we roll…

So, we bring to you, our very exclusive, very hilarious, interview with Sam Bradley!

Places to Play

Amber: Well, we’re talking about places to play, what is your favorite place so far?

Sam: I don’t know. Mmm… what was a good show? Last night [Houston] was a pretty good show.

Dave: Chicago was an awesome city.

Sam: Minneapolis, Minneapolis that was Rams Head? No, that was Annapolis.

Dave: Varsity was Minneapolis.

Sam: Oh yeah, yeah. Minneapolis.

Amber: Minneapolis?

Sam: No, that was good.

LiLi: Is that just cause it was a cool set up, the fans or what?

Sam: No, no, for me…

Jeff: We played better.

Laughing

Amber: I like that reasoning.

Sam: And also, I don’t think there were many people who came out to see us. And so, and we won over a crowd that was completely unaware of us.

LiLi: That’s cool.

Amber: Oh, wow.

Sam: So that was really good. It’s a good feeling when that happens.

Amber: That’s pretty cool.

LiLi: Now where would you like to play that you haven’t? Like have y’all looked around to play?

Dave: He said oh.

Amber: Pssh. Oklahoma City.

Dave: I want to go down to Florida.

Sam: Yeah, we haven’t done Florida.

LiLi: At all?

Collective no

After the Tour/”Fake” Sam Bradley

Amber: So after the tour. What are you guys thinking after the tour?

Sam: We’re recording an album. We may be planning a Canadian tour, but we are not sure yet. And I know we are going to record an album starting hopefully in January.

LiLi: Where y’all going to do that at?

Sam: We don’t know.

Amber: So y’all are going to all record an album versus just, like you are going to record with The Men?

Sam: I am going to record with The Men.

Amber: Cool.

LiLi: Why “the Men”?

Jeff: I don’t know. Don’t ask.

LiLi: Everybody was like, “What are we going to call ourselves? The Men.”

Jeff: It was available.

Sam: It was available?

Laughs

LiLi: Did y’all go to BandNames.com and it was like “the men, the men.”

Laughs

Amber: Awesome. Since y’all are new on Twitter, how are y’all, how has that been?

Dave: You should talk to Mark.

Jeff: Yeah, he’s the one that updates.

Amber: Mark. Is Mark the one doing it?

Jeff: Yeah. He’s really strange.

Dave: He’s taken to it.

Amber: Do you guys get it? Cause a lot of people I talk to are like “I’m on Twitter, but I don’t get it.”

Laughs

Jeff: We’ve been told that it sounds like a retarded robot.

LiLi: Are you kidding me? I love it. I’m like, Yes! I pretty much look forward to your tweets. I’m like yes. Oh there’s another one. I’m like yes. Anybody see that? But now to you [Sam], cause you actually do more tweets or whatever. Have you noticed that there is a fake you?

Sam: Yeah, yeah. I heard about that.

LiLi: And what do you think about that?

Sam: Well, I read it.

LiLi: Well, what do you think about that, cause you know you haven’t made it until you have a faker. I’m waiting for me to get a fake.

Sam: I think that’s great. No, it’s good that there is a fake me, however it’s when people think its me doing the fake me, that’s a little annoying. Like I know lots of people that think its just me pretending cause they think I have a lot of time.

Jeff: Is it friendly?

Sam: No, no it’s not bad.

Amber: No, it’s not.

Sam: No, its not bad at all.

LiLi: No, its just whoever is doing it sometimes likes to get dirty.

Sam: It’s like when I was in the Philippines, it [tweeted] “Oh nothing quite like a Manila sunrise.”

 

Hand gestures, drinking contests and whole lotta pics after the jump…

 

The Creation of “The Men”/On the Bus

LiLi: So now how did you all hook up? How did you all get together?

Jeff: You go, you start it…

LiLi:   C’mon. Tell me the story. How y’all met? How y’all started dating? Oh wait…

Dave: Sam was just looking for a band through whatever. He knew Mark, our drummer, from high school, he found Mark, Mark knew Jeff from college…

Jeff: I went to school with Mark.

Dave: And I just through a friend met Sam, so it just worked out.

Sam: It was only supposed to be for one show.

Dave: Yeah.

Jeff: I didn’t know that.

Sam: I didn’t know that either but you said that…

Dave: Then after that show we were like, ‘We should keep doing this.”

Sam: It makes a better story that way.

Jeff: Yeah, put that in there.

Sam: laughs Put that in there!

LiLi: So, now how is it in the big bus?

Sam: It’s wonderful.

Jeff: Amazing.

LiLi: No fights?

Jeff: No fights yet.

Amber: Not yet.

Sam: Some people get a little grouchy, but, like no fights.

LiLi: How is it different then?

Sam: Then a van?

LiLi: Yes.

Sam: Well, you get to watch TV. So, its like a bigger TV then we have at home.

Jeff: And if you sleep, you can rollover, too. No fear of falling 6 feet.

Last Man Standing

Amber: And I have to ask this, cause the first time you tweeted that link about the Last Man Standing… you won the contest.

Sam: I know.

Amber:  Which I think a lot of the reason is because you tweeted the link, which helps a lot.

Sam: I know. Laughing

Amber: I want to know if that’s legit. Is that…

Sam: Would that be legit?

Amber: Would those contest results be correct?

Sam: I know, I know I’d definitely beat Marcus. Um, yeah, I’d beat Bobby, too. I would.

Amber: Are you just saying that?

Sam: I’m not proud of it. Laughing It’s not…

Amber: I just want to know. It’s a highly scientific poll.

Sam: No, we grew up drinking young. Like in England, no one drinks to get drunk.

Amber: Right…

Sam: So like “I’m going … WOO!”

Laughing

Jen: The rest of the stupid Americans do that. The rest of Europe might disagree with you. My mom lived in England for 8 years, so…

Sam: Right. Yeah. Um, so yeah I would.

Amber: You win. You won actually, I’m sure you saw it, it was pretty significant…

Sam: Well, I tried to vote as many times as I could, too.

Laughing

Jen: We can ask Bobby next month.

Amber: Yeah, we’ll ask him.

Sam: Well, Bobby is going to say himself. I think.

Jen: You think so?

Sam: Yeah. It doesn’t matter.

Jen: We tried to buy him a shot of whiskey in Atlanta and he turned us down. He said he was cutting back.

Sam: He doesn’t drink when he tours very much. And I’ve been doing the same, not been drinking. Well… (looks down at his beer)

Dave: Yeah.

LiLi: Seriously, yeah right.

Jen: Is there a disagreement?

Amber: Are we seeing the first disagreement that might happen on the bus?

Laughing

Sam: We’re breaking up.

Laughing

Fan Art

LiLi: I was with some friends the other day and um, she showed me this drawing… she showed me this “fan art that she did of you and I was pretty much like “I’m just gonna need to take that” so that way I can show it to him on Saturday….so I took a picture when she wasn’t looking and I brought it.

Amber: Shut up– you’re not going to show it.

LiLi: Yes, I am.

Amber: It’s not mine.

–someone asks in the background if it’s a nude-

LiLi: Wouldn’t that be awesome if it was a nude? I’d be like, yes. [handing him the phone] Look, she drew you. A little pencil drawing.

Sam: Oh nice. Oh, there’s Bobby.

[Li Li edit-- For your listening enjoyment-- the audio of the whole Saber conversation! Read along too!]

Saber

Sam: I love a good saber?

Jen: Wait, maybe you should take the phone back.

–lots of laughing from us–

Sam: Saber? Is that what…yeah but, no…

Jeff: It’s a sword.

Sam: no, but it’s a…..

Amber: It’s a term and I don’t want to tell it.

Sam: it’s a type of woman?

LiLi: Well, there’s cougars and then there’s one that are older than cougars and we call them sabers.

Sam: Lovely.

Jeff: It’s true though.

Amber: Yeah, there were quite a few in Dallas, I’m sure.

Jeff: Is that a Texas thing?

Amber: No. Well, I don’t live in Texas, I let you tell it.

LiLi: Our friend, who lives here in Texas, so yeah it’s a Texas thing, she came up with it. I can’t wait to tell her that you saw it.

[Li Li edit-- holla @Krazy_Kidd for sabers and Noreen for the drawing!]

If Not Music, Then What?

LiLi: If you couldn’t be doing music what would you do?

Dave: Not music at all?

Sam: Dave actually has a real job.

Dave: I work in a studio.

Amber: You don’t do this [tour] all the time?

Sam: Dave is an engineer.

Dave: Yeah, I work in a recording studio as an engineer.

LiLi: Where are you based out of? Where is your main office?

Dave: In Vancouver.

LiLi: So they just let you have time off to do this [tour for a couple of months]?

Dave: It’s a pretty loose job. It’s all like, well, I work for someone, but like on contract, so I just kind of do my own thing.

Sam: Jeff is a model.

Jeff: (incoherent) I am not a model. Um, I always wanted to [be] landscape architecture.

Sam: Really?

Jeff: Yeah.

LiLi: Did you go to school for that?

Jeff: No. I went to school for, uh, jazz.

LiLi: For jazz? Where did you go to school at?

Jeff: Capilano College.

LiLi: Do what?

Jeff: It’s called Capilano College.

LiLi: Where’s that?

Jeff: North Vancouver

LiLi: Dang. Canadians all around.

Sam: There was never another option for me.

LiLi: So if you couldn’t do music there is nothing?

Sam: Uh, I’d try to be an actor. And if it was out of the arts then I’d probably open my own business of some sort. I don’t know what, maybe a restaurant? But I mean, you can’t just open a restaurant. You need money to do that, but I’d find a way.

LiLi: I could see you doing comedies.

Sam: Comedies?

LiLi: Yeah. You’re funny.

Sam: I, no, I’m really not.

LiLi, Amber: no, you are.

Texas Accents/College Football

Jen: Are you going to whip out your Texas accent tonight for us? Please?

Sam: No.

Jen: That’s part of the comedy we were talking about. We love the Texas accent.

Sam: Did I do that last time? Yeah, I think I did.

Jen: Yeah, you did, but I think you did it on a video.

Sam: I did it….yeah.

Jen: But you did it on the interview, the radio interview.

Sam: Yeah…I did….sorry…it’s just rude….

Amber: It’s okay.

Sam: Yeah, because you’re from Oklahoma.

Amber: Yeah, we have issues with Texans but that’s okay.

Sam: Really?

LiLi: Texas and Oklahoma really don’t like each other.

Jen: Well, Texas has issues with you too.

Amber: I don’t know how much you watch college football, do you watch any at all?

Sam: yeah, yeah, I have been getting into it.

LiLi: It’s a huge rivalry.

Amber: So, she went to UT, down in Austin and I went to OU, so, uh, we have issues.

Jeff: What’s OU?

Amber: University of Oklahoma.

Jeff: Right, of course.

Amber: Of course our team isn’t very good this year, so it doesn’t matter.

LiLi: So we fight to the death.

Jeff: Where’s TCU?

LiLi and Jen: Fort Worth.

Jen: That’s where I went to undergrad.

Jeff: Oh, okay.

LiLi: The Horned Frogs.

Jeff: They’re doing well this year though aren’t they?

Jen: They are actually.

LiLi: They’re getting better. They’re trying to kinda compete with the big boys but…

Jen: It’s okay, you won’t offend me.

Sam: Guns up.

Amber: Texas Tech.

Sam: Yeah, Guns Up.

Amber: Did you watch that earlier?

LiLi: I’m gonna need you not to…do that.

Sam: Huh?

Amber: It’s okay.

Sam: Guns Up.

Amber: It’s okay…let him do that. Shhh….Shush.

LiLi: I’m not working the blog anymore. I’m kidding. I quit!

Amber: Do you have a…I mean, since we’re talking about college football, just wondering….is it really? Or are you just saying that? You’re just saying that…

Sam: No, I’m not. I think that’s my, um, my uh….so what’s the uh, what’s that one [does hand sign]

LiLi: Ooo, [censored word vomit part] oh no, don’t do that.

Sam: No, no, no, no, no.

LiLi: That’s for ASU and I’m like, oooo, that’s getting a little…

Amber: Well, you can always do the OU one. [Holds up a number one sign]

There you have it! I think what we enjoyed most from this interview was the fact that it really wan’t anything like an interview. It was just a bunch of people sitting down, having some beer and talking. That’s pretty much the biggest reason why this took so long to pull together. But we had so much fun with the guys, and seriously Jeff, we are so hitting the Waffle House after the show next time!

Now sit back and enjoy some gorge pics– all courtesy of the equally gorge Jen!

Thanks again to Sam, Jeff, Dave and Mark for taking the time to talk with us and take pictures.  We had a great time at the show and are so grateful! <3!!

And while you’re here surfing the interwebs, why not stop by Sam’s Official Website? You can pick up a copy of his EP and check out great features like “Ask Sam” and Fan Photos! He can also be found on MySpace and Twitter.  Don’t forget to follow The Men on Twitter too!