>My name is Joe and I play the drums.

We really enjoyed your new album "No Really, I'm Fine," how did the writing and recording process go with it?

>The process was so much fun. We took some time off at the end of November of last year and pretty much until April of this year, we were writing constantly. We ended up writing over thirty songs in the process. It was always a goal to write as many songs as possible and pick our favorites from those. The studio was such a fantastic experience; working with Neal Avron was such an honor. We spent April, May, and June in the studio in Los Angeles and NRIF was born.

Was it any different or similar then with your prior albums?

>We definitely didn't have near as much time for the writing/recording of "One Fell Swoop," and "Sunsets" was just basically a batch of remixed demos that Nick had put together when it was a solo project. We've tried to experiment a little more each record we do and this record totally falls into that pattern.

How was the transition from indie record label to major record label and what made you choose Sire?

>The transition was very natural. Sire is such a great label, making it so easy to get adjusted to major label life. It honestly felt like it was the next step we wanted to take as a band, and I really feel we made the right decision.

What are some of your influences for this album in particular?

>I think all of us were into a lot of classic rock when we were writing for this. Whether it be fleetwood mac, van morrison, zeppelin or peter gabriel, we love that stuff. I think we just didn't really want to listen to anything that is out there right now that way we wouldn't put a record everyone's already heard before.

What are some of your influence in general, either musically or lyrically?

>As a band, we're all into all kinds of music. We seriously listen anything. But as far as in a direct influence we all love saves the day, jimmy eat world, nickel creek, pink floyd, fleetwood mac etc...

Hopefully I'm not asking a touchy question, but what happened with Scott McGuire and has Landon Heil been able to fill with the band?

>As far as the Scott situation, it was just time that we part ways. Nick, Dan, and I were moving in a different direction than he was musically. So far, Landon has been able to fill that void.

Most Of you guys are from South Dakota, what is the music scene over there like? Is it a lot different then the CA/DC/NY scenes?

>There isn't much of a "scene" at all in South Dakota, unfortunately. The problem being that there aren't a lot of cool places to play here. There's a lot of good bands coming through the woodwork here but there's nowhere cool to play. It's a shame.

How has the touring for this album been going, and have you been playing any new songs?

>We kick off our headlining tour on October 4th, two days after the record comes out. We will be planning on playing lots of new stuff, but also lots of old stuff and some cool treats for our lovely fans.

What is the craziest thing that a fan has done for you guys, and where is your favorite venue to play at?

> These sweet people on the east coast brought us a huge box full of amazing food. it was the greatest and we'll always remember!

What is something you guys can't live without on tour?

>Probably the two biggest things we can't live without are our cell phones and our laptops.

What would you guys most like people to get from hearing this record?

>A theme throughout Nick's lyrics this time around is just honesty. We're just four simple dudes playing rock music from South Dakota. We're enjoying the ride.

Thanks so much for answering out questions, is their anything that you would like to say to the readers of Skylinepress.net?