Ashley: Hi, all right, what is your name and role in the band?
Ryan: Ryan Fergus, I play the drums for LBC.
Ashley: How did you guys get together?
Ryan: Um in 1997, we were, we just graduated high school and, me and Stubhy were in a band together and Adam and Joe were in one together and we both kind of broke up around the same time. That summer, after high school ended, we kind of started jammin' together and writing songs and we started playing shows and kind of just chilled, just like an automatic thing. We got Jason, like a month later and we kind of just knew it was the right thing for us.

Ashley: How did you choose the name 'Lucky Boys Confusion?'
Ryan: Well, it's like, you know, we came from the Chicago suburbs, like, there's definitely a couple of different ways to interpret it. You know basically it's kind of like a reference to growing up. In the suburbs, and everything seeming like it's perfect but actually, there are a lot of issues, and a lot of just, you know, things that aren't, you know, so rosey and white picket fence about the suburbs. It's like a reference to that, in a way.

Ashley: What was the most exciting experience you've had in the band?
Ryan: Traveling, is always a really cool thing for us, we always get a kick out of that. We got, probably the coolest thing was that we got to go to Japan a couple years back. It was my first time playing gigs in another country. That was really cool, it was like a neat experience, I've never been that far away from home before. It was really cool.

Ashley: What's the major difference between 'Throwing The Game' and 'Commitment?'
Ryan: Well, a lot of songs on 'Throwing The Game' were written when we were probably in a range, ranging from, like, 18-20. That, you know, we're 24, 25, 26 now so that was given, I mean the record only came out maybe three years ago, two and a half years ago. Those songs were probably about 5 years old, not all of them, but the bulk of them. Mainly just growing up, and life experiences. You know, like our first record, written after being on the road, meeting lots of different people and getting a lot of influences, a lot of stuff, a lot of turmoil with relationships and friends, not being at home. Just trying to deal with that, trying to keep all the pieces together when we're home, you know, maybe two months a year. So, a lot of that came out, that's kind of where we got a lot of the ideas for 'Commitment.'

Ashley: Who is the most influential artist for you?
Ryan: Me personally? Or the band?
Ashley: You.
Ryan: We, we're all big Clash fans, and at least for Stubhy and me, specifically Nirvana was a big turning point for us. You know, bands like The Clash, The Replacements, stuff like that you know, kind of just raw rock, punk rock. Reggae stuff really shaped a lot of our musical stuff, you know, even to the present day.

Ashley: What was the most meaningful song for you off of 'Commitment?'
Ryan: Most meaningful... It's really, overall it's a really emotional record for us. It's the darkest record we've done. It's the most serious record we've done. Songs like "Closer To Our Graves" and "Mr. Wilmington." I didn't write them, specifically, but I knew where Stubhy and Adam were coming from and I kind of get that vibe, you know when we play the songs live, I kind of feel that kind of emotion throughout. Just overall, I think, the whole record means a lot to us. It's the most proud we've ever been of anything, so the whole things a really emotional thing for us.

Ashley: What was the most memorable part of the Never Heard Of It and Bowling For Soup tour?
Ryan: Those guys...most memorable part, uh, it was just so much fun. It was really like a traveling circus. I'm trying to think of a particular thing.
Ashley: Any pranks?
Ryan: No, we didn't do any pranks. We did, uh, Bowling For Soup had sound check everyday and someone came up with the idea to have a drum off between me, the drummer for Army Of Freshman, and the drummer for Never Heard Of It, Elmo. The trick was, Jaret, the singer of Bowling For Soup held this contest where basically everyday at sound check, the three of us would get up and replace their drummer Gary and play a Bowling For Soup, a different Bowling For Soup song and we had to nail it perfect and there was like, you know, he offered this big cash prize at the end of it if we got it. No one, you know, we had to nail it perfectly though. You know, a lot of us came close, like I almost nailed it one day, but we had to do it perfect, so that was kind of fun. It was kind of like, for like a good week we did this drum-off at sound check everyday and everyone just hung around and watched us. It was a little nerve racking. We had the whole tour, you know, 30 guys watch you, but, um, it was fun.

Ashley: How is the tour with Zebrahead going?
Ryan: The tour is great. We've known those guys for a couple of years, we did about a week of gigs with them, back in the day, a couple years back and so we kind of knew they were cool guys, we knew it'd be silly for us to pass up taking the tour and we've just been having such a good time because our fan bases are really similar, a lot of kids that are into us, maybe are also big Zebrahead fans, or vise versa. Things kind of, kind of just worked out really...really well. So, so, so far so good, we got, we've got about a week and a half left, and, uh, you know, I'm, I'm. I'm stuttering, I don't know why I'm nervous. I am going to be a little sad when it's over, it's a lot of fun.

Ashley: Is there any certain thing you do, right before you go onstage?
Ryan: Yeah, uh, I play very physically, I play very, you know, hard. ::laughs:: It's like a sport to me, in a way, so I stretch and stuff, and I kind of have a little routine, try to find a quiet corner in the dressing room, kind of stretch and primp you know. ::laughs:: You know, try to look halfway decent. Stretch out my legs and my arms and get loose, do a little stick warm ups. Just kind of get in the mode, maybe have a drink, loosen up a little, that's about it. That's kind of my ritual.

Ashley: What's your favorite song to perform?
Ryan: I like playing a lot of the new stuff. I like "Closer To Our Graves." As far as older songs, I like playing "Not About Debra" live, which I don't think we're doing this tour. What else, I still like playing "Breaking the Rules" live. I do like playing a lot of the new stuff though, just because it's new, and it's different. We haven't been playing it for three years, so it's a little fresher.

Ashley: Do you have any plans for after the tour ends?
Ryan: Well, we've been on tour on and off for the past four, five months so we're getting a little burned out, the record just came out, so we know we gotta stay on the road, but we're home for the holidays. I think we're going to be home most of January, but we might be doing a couple Midwest things, some college things or whatever when school gets back in session and then we're trying to land something for February. We're just really working on figuring out what tour we're going to be doing in February. From February on, you know, hopefully up until, we're trying to get, we're submitted to Warped Tour, so we're trying to get that. Hopefully from February on, we're just going strong until, uh, we just burn out, go crazy.

Ashley: What's the biggest audience you've ever played to?
Ryan: Um, that's a good question, we played a radio festival down in Florida with Jimmy Eat World and Sum 41 and Disturbed, just a million bands. We must have played in front of I don't know, nine, ten thousand people, so I think that's probably the most.

Ashley: What's the best live show you've seen?
Ryan: Um, God, that's a good question, it sucks, because, like, we're on the road so much, I don't get to go to shows that much anymore, so I'm trying to think back. Let's see, I saw, the best bill I saw was, uh, Weezer in this really small club in Chicago before they were really big, their first album, this band, my favorite band of all time, The Arches Of Loaf which no one knows about opening up, and The Smoking Popes, another band nobody knows about, opening up. It was a cool bill, because like, it was kind of underground at the time, but, that was a great bill. That's really tough, you know, there's just so many, there's a lot of things I like about a band, there's a lot of things that turn me off. So, it's kind of like, that's a hard question.

Ashley: What are some upcoming bands that you like and support?
Ryan: Um, these I should know. I should get my IPod out. I'm a huge Ryan Adams fan. I think the new album's pretty good. I like him. As far as like hip hop, there's a group called Atmosphere out in Minnesota. They have a brand new album out. Their album's amazing. It's like underground hip hop. Uh..what else. New bands, new bands.

There's talking in the background and
everyone laughs.
Ryan: Are you gonna play this live?
Ashley: Nah, I just have to type it up.
Ryan: Ok, good. Can we come back to that? I know I have better answers.

Ashley: That was the last-
Ryan: That was your last one? Hold on. [Yells to other room] Jason, what do I like? What new bands do I like? [Answer from background:You like, uh, Plain White T's]. Ah, fuck that. What have I been listening to? New bands, Adam. [Dude, Korn rules.] ::laughs:: [Weren't you influenced by like, 80's European retro pop?] I can't think of anything. [You really can't think of bands, dude?] I'm blanking right now. [New bands?] [Do I have too much on today or what?] No, it's good. [I think it's a little bit too much] I don't. The Exit. The Exit's good. [They got some Police kind of tunes.] Yeah. [Dude, you've gotta say bands that you like, you've never even heard of them.] No, I've heard them. I've heard The Exit. The Exit, A, this band A. Um, there's like a million, I listen to music all the fucking time. I'm blanking, I'm sorry.

Ashley: Anything else?
Ryan: Um, let's see, Lucky Boys dot com, that's the webpage, check it out, you know, blah blah blah blah blah.

Ashley: Thanks.
Ryan: Thank you.