How are you?

Jason Bales (guitar, vocals): Magnificent.

Aaron Bales (guitar, vocals): Great! Thanks for your interest.

When did you first become interested in music?

Jason: Probably around the age of 9, when I would play around on the piano. My parents decided to have me take piano lessons. At age 11 I started playing guitar.

Aaron: Jason and I grew up surrounded by music, largely due to our Dad's ridiculously amazing record collection. I had piano lessons and sang in choir and musicals, so music was big in my life even before the band.

What was the first band or musical project you were ever involved in?

Jason: I had a friend who started playing drums when we were in 9th grade. We started off as a two piece and went through no less than 12 different lineups and almost as many band names by 12th grade, when he broke his foot playing football, effectively ending our 3 year musical collaboration. We had a few shows in friends' basements and one show at the Midland Community Center under the name "Captain Obvious." Flatfoot was born when I came to MSU, and Aaron, Tom, JP and I had our first coffeeshop shows.

Were your parents supportive of your interest in music aside from enrolling you in piano lessons?

Jason: Certainly--I've been very fortunate in that respect.

Was there one band or artist in particular that you claimed as "your" band/artist in regards to who inspired you?

Jason: I think the first artist that really 'inspired' me was Jimi Hendrix sometime around 8th grade. The other major artist was the Beatles -- I listened to 'Rubber Soul' and it completely changed the way I wrote songs.

What was the first song you ever wrote and do you have it recorded in some form or another?

Jason: 'The Monkey Song,' which is on a tape that my old band in high school recorded (one microphone and a tape recorder -- ultra low fi). Flatfoot played this song a few times, but I think it is officially retired.

The Monkey Song...what was that about? A distant cousin of Monkey Man by the Stones perhaps?

Jason: I would say it's closer to "Ape Man" by the Kinks -- escapism and all that.

Aaron Bales is your brother. Was there or are there any rifts between the two of you that were/are a source of contention within the band or do you play nice?

Jason: I thnk we play nice. There are certianly some differences of opinion, but those aren't family related.

It seems that you are both 'lead men' in the group. Do you collaborate on songwriting or is it more of a his song/my song arrangement?

Jason: We haven't collaborated yet -- it's definitely more of a his song/my song sort of thing, which is why our sound is so eclectic. We arrange the songs as a band, though, which is why there's some cohesiveness among our electic song selection.

The first time I recall seeing Flatfoot was after guesting on bass with Charlie Don't Shake at Macs after getting rained out from the outside gig. When Flatfoot took the stage a little later that evening Andy Leroy leaned over and said, "This band is so swarthy, they're awesome!" in that Andy Leroy way. How important to Flatfoot is the presentation of the band/music when performing live?

Jason: Well, that day we were extra swarthy. I remember that being a very drunken show -- I'm pretty sure every member of the band was visibly wasted. Not something we do often, but it's memorable when we do. We try to look the part, to an extent. We all have certain outfits that we wear on stage, and we have a couple of rules for stage clothing, the main one being 'unless you're the drummer, NO SHORTS.' We're not too anal about coordinating our outfits, though.

Does Flatfoot have a band ethos or mission?

Jason: 'Honest music for decent human beings.' That's the motto we used to put on our gig posters in the early days. Our mission is to out-rock the competition and to not suck too bad.