
Direct Hit! is a pop punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, pretty fucking awesome.
I met it through Twitter, when Nick Woods - guitarist, singer and lyricist of Direct Hit! - Began to follow me there, out of the blue.
After a few months listening to the EP "#3" from his amazing band and changing some messages, I decided to invite him to give an exclusive interview here to Fish and Candy, which is for my happiness, the first given to a Brazilian blog.
So if you like Bomb The Music Industry!, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Lillingtons, Green Day, Blink 182 and bands like these and which talk about zombies, aliens and fun things, I recommend you know Direct Hit!.
Myspace | LastFM | Facebook | Twitter
And download the EP "#4" for free or donating: http://directhit.bandcamp.com
Read the interview that I did with Nick, on March 5, where we talked about various subjects, such as idols, inspirations and plans for future release on vinyl, zombies, aliens, Brazil and of course, That '70s Show.
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Angelica (Fish&Candy): First, I would like to know how the band started, when it happened and how many EP's do you have released [4, am I right?].
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): Direct Hit started while I was still playing with my old band, The Box Social. I had a few songs written that were a bit too loud and too fast compared to the rest of our material, and so our drummer, Brian, and I just did it on our own for a while, for fun, with our friend Jackson playing bass. Brian was actually the one who came up with the name, back in 2007 or something. Since then we've had a steady rotation of different members (Brian and Jackson aren't in the band anymore), and we hadn't really locked down a consistent lineup until a few months ago, but we've managed to record four online-only EPs that we sell for donations.
Angelica (Fish&Candy): Who are the band members? And they are your childhood friends or school/college...?
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): Direct Hit is Nick Woods, Danny Walkowiak, Mike Esser, Robbie Schroeder and Alex Hill. Direct Hit has had a ton of different members, so how we came to this lineup is a little bit convoluted... I met Danny at a show Direct Hit was playing with our friends Bust! while were kind of in-between drummers, but I had known he and Robbie's previous band, The Accidents, for a long time beforehand. So Danny tried out on drums, and joined shortly after that. And when our bass player at that time left the band, Robbie came in to play bass too. In the mean time, I was looking for another guitar player to make things sound a little bit bigger live, and met Mike through a friend of ours who introduced us. We played as a four-piece for a while, but I had started adding keyboard parts to what we were recording, so I asked Alex to play keyboard, who I had known since I first started going to pop punk shows when I was 15 or 16 years old. All of this took a pretty long time to come together, but things have been pretty steady for a while now.

Angelica (Fish&Candy): Now, recently, on March 2, you released the "#4" EP [which includes the song Monster In The Closet, which is incredible. It's my favorite of this new EP]. What are the plans for this release?
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): We don't really have plans for any of our releases to tell you the truth. Making and carrying out plans is a lot of work, and we try to distance ourselves from everything that feels like work. Having fun is pretty much the #1 goal with Direct Hit, so we just kind of record stuff when we have the time and money, and then put it up on the Internet for whoever wants to listen to it. That's pretty much what we did with #4, and I've been pretty surprised at how positive the response has been. It's weird how much you have to coerce people into listening to new music these days... There are so many bands compared to when we all were first learning how to play our instruments, and they all want attention. I think I got over that with my last band, so I've made an effort to care about as little as possible with Direct Hit besides writing catchy songs, and having good recordings of them to listen to when I'm old and boring.
Angelica (Fish&Candy): How came this partnership with the Death to False Hope Records and how you see the band's future?

As for the second half of your question, I purposely don't try to see into the band's future. Trying to achieve some kind of long-term goal would turn Direct Hit into a job, and I've already got one of those, so I don't need another. It's a lot easier for us to write cool tunes when we're not stressed out about not getting to a certain point in our "careers" in a certain amount of time. I've learned the hard way that thinking about music that way makes music totally uncool.
Angelica (Fish&Candy): What are your inspirations for the lyrics?

Angelica (Fish&Candy): When you started play guitar and whom influenced you to do that?
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): I think was 12 - My Mom bought it for me because she thought it would keep me from doing drugs, and because I was really into Metallica.
Angelica (Fish&Candy): What are your biggest influences and how you brought them to the band's sound?

Angelica (Fish&Candy): Would you like to share the stage with whom and how is to share the stage with other bands like Black For a Second and The Manix?

Angelica (Fish&Candy): Before the Direct Hit, what bands did you have? I know you play guitar with The Saltshakers [which is amazing too], but I don't know who born first. And do you have any other project besides these two?
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): All of us have other groups that we play in besides Direct Hit. Danny and Robbie play together, just drums and bass, in a group they call Johnny's Goin Heavy. Danny fills in on drums with Bust! sometimes. Robbie and I have been dicking around with a 2-bassists-1-drummer thing called La Tenia. Alex has a solo project that she's been working on for a long time. Mike has another band called The Latchkey Kid. And like you said, I play guitar with a group called The Saltshakers. I think we'd all go nuts if we could only play in one band at a time. I did that for five years with my last group, and it's been awesome not having to limit myself to just one project.
Angelica (Fish&Candy): I hope see Direct Hit! playing live one day. But until that day comes, tell me how are the shows. You guys do some cover, some version or just play the autoral work?

Angelica (Fish&Candy): What do you know about Brazil? I suppose almost anything, right? LOL
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): I know jack shit about Brazil, except that we've had a few people send us notes about how awesome it is. Buy us plane tickets, and we'll come hang out tomorrow.
Angelica (Fish&Candy): And finally, I must ask this: You are from Wisconsin... Do you watched That '70s show? I mean, do you liked? Because, in my opinion, was the best TV show ever!
Nick Woods (Direct Hit!): Hehe, I watched it back in the day. Mila Kunis is hot as fuck.
Well, thanks for this interview, Nick! Means a lot to me and I hope you enjoyed. Fish and Candy will always have the door open for your projects. And I really hope you come to Brazil soon, with The Saltshakers or Direct Hit!. I wish you the best of luck in your career with your bands. :D
Myspace | LastFM | Facebook | Twitter | Download "#4" EP
By: Angelica Albuquerque
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