The Fighting 44s

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In “City Limits” you guys talk about Fullerton, where you’re from. You mention things like rich wives, wannabe thugs, and coming from a place that’s not well known. Tell us a little bit about Fullerton and growing up there: the cultures, the atmosphere, the people.

S: Fullerton is home to me. Before moving there, I stayed in places like Buena Park, La Palma, and even out in the mid-west. So finally settling down in a place like Fullerton was a trip. Fullerton is a middle to upper class suburban town with a grip load of Asians everywhere. It’s a place where all the Asian moms are driving around their Lexuses and BMW’s and trying to act all fashionable. Fullerton was cool though. You never felt like a minority there. In other places you would always have that group white kids and that one Asian guy, but in Fullerton you always had that group of Asians and that one white guy taggin’ along. There was some crazy role reversal going on there.

m: Yea. After immigrating to America and coming to terms with the cruel realities of discrimination, I finally found a place where I wasn’t a minority anymore: Fullerton. It’s like a little bubble with it’s own trends and slang, a real homey city. But nowadays with so much development going on and so many random people moving into the city, it’s become different than when we were growing up. Even though I don’t live there anymore, Fullerton was where my best memories were made. Want to see what it was like? Just listen to the track.

In “Once in a Lifetime,” a favorite of many of your fans, you say, “I wish I wasn’t stranded, wish I sang a new tune.” Can you describe a bit about what that means? How do you feel stranded? What’s the “new tune”?

S: I think everyone in life hits that point where you just don’t know where to go. That point where you’re so tired of walking around aimlessly that it leaves you kinda restless. For me personally, I think I was so sick of following the masses that it left me at a point where I was questioning my true goals and ambitions. I think that track hits home to a lot of people cause everyone has that fear. I think people kinda push their passions aside and take the safe road just cause it poses less risk. That’s what I wanted to address. The timeline only gets thinner and that feeling will never completely fade away. So, what I mean by stranded is settling with that comfort level and being scared of change. As far as new tune it’s having the courage to step outside so you won’t continue to ask what if.

m: I think at the time we wrote the song, we were really just being starving artists struggling w/our art and where to take it. I think a lot of peeps feel the track because those are real emotions coming out of the speakers. And like St. Eve said, a lot of people can relate to the theme.

You mention that you “hope that God remains a friend.” Are you guys formally Christian? Where do you stand on God, soul, religion?

S: In everything that you do, I feel that God has to be behind you on it. m[ ]ndless will be the first to tell you about Jesus having his back. I’m strong in my beliefs of Christianity and although I might not set the greatest example or even live my life they way I should be, I know where my heart lies and where I’m gonna end up. Religion plays a very important role in the music we put out. I think its played such crucial part in the way we live our lives that’s its become part of the music. For me, I was raised up as a Christian and its molded me into what I am today in respect to morals and beliefs. Its kinda that inner strength that tells you right from wrong. I know I question a lot of shit that goes on in the world, but it’s that blind faith that leaves me content without an answer.

m: That blind faith will get you thru the toughest of times. But that blind faith has to be backed by knowledge and a choice. Being a Christian is a humbling experience; I acknowledge that there is something greater than myself or anything around me. That greater good helps me to see past the minor flaws.

You lament that you’re not getting younger, and you wonder, “What’s left before it all goes wrong?” There’s a repeated theme of fear for an uncertain and inevitably dim future: whether God will remain benevolent, when things will go wrong. You regret “never jumping” and “never moving on.” This seems to be the core message of your album, the one you two most feel. Do you think a lot about mortality, about time passing? What are a few things each of you want to achieve/ experience before leaving this world?

In this stage of my life, I’ve kinda hit a standstill and been thinking a lot about which road to go down. I talk about it a lot on this album cause it’s been a constant worry in my mind lately. Growing up, I’ve kinda just followed the path in front me like going to through high school without any real career goals and not really thinking too far into the future. But as time went on and I got out of college, it hit me hard like “What am I suppose to be do now?” It got me thinking a lot and I started to realize that a lot of my time was wasted by just letting things be. I feel that this issue is something a lot of us go through. We walk through life one step at a time never really seeing the unpaved road up ahead and when you finally get there, that fear just comes over you. Everyone has that fear of failure. Especially growing up with that Asian culture, you automatically feel that pressure to succeed. I guess you could say I was just venting.

As far as achievements and experiences, I’ve always had one picture in my head since I’ve started doing this music. I wanna walk down the street one day and see a kid with his headphones on just bobbin his head to some Decyplz shit. Reciting lyrics and just feeling it. It’s a blessing you know? I think that’s the best thing that could happen to an artist. Not only are random people relating, but you yourself start to realize that “shit, I’m not the only one dealing with this.”

But yeah, the list of things I wanna experience is endless. To name a few, I wanna travel around Asia for a bit and see the sights. I wanna open up my own little record shop. Basically, I just wanna live comfortably and put out quality music.

m: Before I meet God in Heaven, I’m gonna write my name on the moon so big that people can see it every full-moon.

This theme is repeated in “Next Sunrise”: days end and disappear, time grows shorter, and you’re feeling “Insane from all this shit.” What’s the “shit”?

S: The “shit” could be anything. When I was writing that track, a lot was going on at the time. I started questioning why things have to be played out a certain way and why I need to do this and not that. The “shit” is society as a whole. How money and wealth depict success rather than happiness and passion. How the time-frame of marriage is controlled by parents and stability and not love itself. The list goes on.

In “How It Used to Be” are either of you guys referring to a specific girl?

S: What’s up Lu?

m: Who’s Lu?

S: Don’t worry about it

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 1:51 am and is filed under Exclusives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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