Interview conducted on October 22, 2006 @ Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg, FL.  The interview was conducted by Nick Zimmer and was done with Kyle Johnson the bass player for Misery Signals.

First can you state your name and what you do in the band.
Yeah my name is Kyle and I play bass in Misery Signals

You just released mirrors back in August, how was the writing and recording process for that?
It was long. At the same time we were looking for a new singer so over the course of seven months we wrote all of the material, got Jesse, got him up to date with all of the old material and the new material and went into the studio. It was good, I mean it was definitely a good experience. It was good, it was pretty long.

How did you end up working with Patrick stump and what was that like?
He’s in Fall Out Boy. Before they were even a band. I played with a lot of his old bands with my old band. I was in a pop band with and the drummer (of FOB). Actually we did a split with fall out boy when they were first getting started. It was kind of ironic. We just go way back. It was cool to do a collaboration with someone like that, someone so different from what were doing. I thought it sounded cool.

You guys just did a video, what was that like?
It was cool. I mean doing videos is always weird. it’s a long long day with a bunch of random people watching you and were not even really playing. Were just kind of going along with the recording. Its definitely a weird experience. Its cool at the same time

Who did the artwork for Mirrors?
The artwork was done by Portland. He works with Ferret. The photos were taken, I cant remember the guys name. He’s from Alabama. He took a couple promo shots of the band. He took the pictures. Portland took care of the rest.

I’ve been reading your tour blogs and the tour seems to be going well. How have the last few days been?
The past few nights have been really good.. Jacksonville, like one when we got into Florida it started to slow down a bit. Jacksonville is smaller. Once we hit Orlando, and we did for Lauderdale last night it picked up with it. It’s been really good so far.

After this tour your heading overseas, are you stoked for that?
Yeah, it will be our second time in the UK and its with Darkest Hour and Between the Buried and Me. Its going to be like a big fucking party for twelve days. It’s going to be awesome.

Do you have any touring plans for after you get back?
I think that we are going to Australia in the new year. I think that will be the first thing that we do. Then we have a couple things in the works but nothing concrete yet.

Have you done Australia before?
No. It’s going to be our first time there.

How did you guys hook up with Ferret?
We actually got recommended by our friends in Every Time I Die. We have know them since me and Ryan were in 7 Angels 7 Plagues, like we did some dates with them and when we broke up and started a new band they put in a good word to Carl and immediately he was interested. Basically he signed us before he heard us which is awesome.

Musically how do you think the band has progressed from the release of “Of Malice and the Magnum Heart” and “Mirrors”?
I think there’s been more progression on every record even from the EP to Malice. I think we’ve had more of a raw hardcore feel. We’re all totally into other kinds of music and it definitely comes out. You get kind of tired of playing the same hardcore shit that we’ve been playing for years. We’ve always just been about trying new things and experimenting and I think that we’ve done that on both records and maybe even a little more on this record, Mirrors. Messing around with different aspects of what we write.

Of all the tours you’ve done, who has been your favorite band to play with?
Probably Darkest Hour. As far as people go you can’t get much better. They’re a great live band too. Super fun.

If you could play a show with any three artists, past or present, who would they be?
I mean we’re a heavier band so realistically I think somebody like Metallica or the Deftones or, who would be the third one. Even like Meshuggah or a band like that, close to what were doing. I think that would make the best fit. I mean I have a different list personally, but as far as a group goes that’s it..

Do you guys have any pre show rituals?
No not really. We all kind of warm up a little bit, loosen up a bit. No crazy shit going down. No meditating or group prayers.

Where does the name Misery Signals come from?
Honestly, we were driving home from a show right after my old band broke up and decided to start a new band and we came up with the concept of misery. It rook us a couple months to come up with the second half of the name. I don’t even honestly know why it became signals. It’s something that Ryan came up with. He would have a better definition of it. I’m terrible at this question. I’ve never actually taken the time to think of an answer for this question so I kind of bullshit.

I’ve read about how bad the Six Feet Under tour was, and that Chris Barnes said he would kick your ass when you are in Tampa, obviously that hasn’t happened. Did you ever see the money from the last two shows of that tour?
Um no, well yeah actually we did. Their booking agent compensated us. We had a couple of shows after that tour up in that area and they paid us a little more for those shows to make up for it. We ended up getting money in the end. We’ve been to Tampa three or four times since then and nothing. We saw the guitarist, he came out to one show and didn’t say a word to us, he probably had no idea who we were. It was total bullshit though.

That’s about it, do you have any last words for the fans and readers?
Not really. Our new record just came out. If you get a chance pick it up and keep an eye out for us.