Flipside Interviews 7 Seconds Kevin was interviewed at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, in July 1986. Al: Kevin how come every time 7 Seconds comes to L.A. (which is quite often) it is a different band? Kevin: A lot of it was finding what was working for us, what was happening with Steve, because he just had a baby. Steve wasn't sure if wanted to make the commitment to tour, because we want to go to Europe and another big U.S. tour, and just stay as busy as much as possible. We may even possibly re-locate, move out of Reno. Al: Really, to where? Kevin: A couple of possibilities; maybe Seattle, Washington, we even considered Washington D.C. Reno is just so terrible right now, it's ugly, everybody is going backwards, the whole scene is into ughhhhh…. The main thing is getting about 7 people and just pulling our roots out of Reno – going. Right now we just need a new base to start fresh. But the main thing was getting Steve situated, he decided he was not into the big touring thing. So we said fine, now we can get the line-up solid. This line-up is probably the strongest, and I've probably said this before, but it’s the strongest since the 3 piece, back in 83 or whatever. Everybody likes each other and we all get along. The new guys are writing material – we have 4 songs that they've written already. We are making major plans now because we are solid; I’m not being the ring leader anymore because it's all four of us. With Troy back in the band – he had time off to get all his things squared away. The two new guys are unbelievable. Bobby Adams is the guitar player; he used to be in bands from Reno called Criminal Mischief and Informal, he's 17. Joe was also in Criminal Mischief. We were good friends for a long time, they were gonna join a while back but other things happened, we got Ron and Belvy… It's really a pleasure to be in a band with these guys, everybody is in good spirits, and working hard... A lot of people think it's a cop out that I do keep finding people to get involved with 7 Seconds. But 7 Seconds is something that I'm just too much into – it's there more than it ever has been, with other bands it's just been the opposite. What matters is that everyone still feels it. Al: What about this new record, it's a bit of a change… Kevin: It’s not a departure, that's what Belvy would call it, it's a growth. For the longest time, even when we play fast songs we try to keep melody in it, always a melodic edge. And a lot of the time we didn't always have the most competent musicians – not slagging anybody, but a lot of the times some of the stuff we wrote just couldn't do right. So we held back a little bit. I love playing the old stuff along with the new stuff – we are not giving up the fast stuff, we are just working with the influences that we had now, because now we can. We have a good following and a lot of times we were afraid to break away and do something a little new. Some people look at it as a crime. It's not a departure, it's just what we're doing now, our newer stuff is even more different. We love our records but we're the kind of band that has a hell of a time in a studio, live is where it's at. Joy: It has a lot more mature sound… Kevin: Yeah, I hope that is something that people can realize – it's not like "Lets go metal, or new wave, or whatever"... I feel we have a big enough following of open minds that they will give it a chance. If they don’t like it that's ok too. Printed in Flipside #50 (1986)