Q:What was it like playing alongside an artist in Wheatus who's seen the highs and lows, the good and the bad and everything in between concerning the music industry?

A:Yeah it was interesting. The singer and guitarist Brendan is the only original member of the band from the "Teenage Dirtbag" era. They had a fairly big band for the show, with backing singers, keyboard players etc... I think it made us see that we want what they had, but we want more than one good song. Just kidding. Obviously their career has spanned a decade, it would be good to see us still doing something we love in ten years time.

Q:Was there a specific artist, influence or show that you witnessed or were a part of that gave you the motivation to start your own band?

A:For Scott it was when he first attended the Dartford Music Festival, there was probably about 1000 people there but from that moment he wanted to play shows, that was when he and Dan formed their first band. In later years they got to play that festival on the main stage and it was fun!

Q:How did you guys; Dan, Eliott, Pete and Scott all come together as a group? Had you known each other or did you simply find each other out of necessity?

A:This is a long confusing story! Scott and Dan originally started the band with a guy called Jimmy on drums, we were a 3 piece. Jimmy was in another band at the time and because we had just started they won the battle. Then our longtime friends' band split up so we pinched their guitarist and drummer Matt and Joe, They helped us really kick start the band and played on both of our CD's that are out now. However last summer priorities started to change, people had more family stuff to do which was cool, and we wanted for them to do that because it was important to them, so Matt stepped down and Pete stepped in, then in January of this year Joe stepped down and after a long hard search Elliot stepped into the fold. We'd known Pete for quite awhile and he'd actually been in the studio with us while we were recording the album. We'd known Elliot from our days in our previous band and he was the perfect fit. So yeah...confusing huh?!?

Q:Where did the name The Startover originate from and is there any deep meaning behind it or is the meaning fairly clear-cut?

A:I guess it is pretty clear cut, we played with a few names in the beginning, it was on a drive back from picking up a new guitar head that Scott and Dan decided on the name. There were some pretty awful names that had been floating about, having just come from being in a metal band they all sounded pretty brutal and not really us. The Startover seemed to fit what we were about at the time, a new beginning, fresh start.

Q:With the release of "Survivor's Guide" on the horizon are there any plans for another album or are you simply concentrating on touring?

A:We have a constant desire to want to do better and write bigger, better, catchier songs. We always seem to be writing and throwing ideas about in practice. We hope to have a three track digital release out in a few months off the back of Survivors Guide for everyone to hear. This will of course feature our new drummer and new guitarist. Two of the songs are already done and we are really happy with them.

Q:If you guys get the chance to tour the US are there any areas in particular that you hope to play?

A:San Diego, the home of Blink 182. That would be cool. There are so many awesome cities in the states, so it's hard to know where to begin. I'm pretty sure we could get into a lot of trouble everywhere, Vegas would be insane. New York obviously has a good vibe about it. We'd like to hit some of the smaller places though, we hear thats where you can find some of the real music fans. We've heard a lot of good things about American fans from friends bands who have been out there and the American bands we've played with over here. We are just itching to get out there.

Q:Are there any specific artists that you hope to be able to tour with in the coming years?

A:I think for us playing with Blink 182 would be a huge deal, They've written some great songs over the years and Travis is one of the best drummers in the world. To them it's not just a gig, Blink 182 put on a show and really think about every aspect of their performance. I could easily watch them every night on like a 2 month tour. There are so many great bands out there in our genre though; Four Year Strong, Paramore, The Swellers, New Found Glory, Panic! At The Disco...any of those would be fun to play with.

Q:Do you guys have a particularly memorable tour story or show mishap that you would care to share?

A:It all kind of blurs into one after awhile, it's like one giant hangover. We played a show once on St. Patrick's Day, it was in an Irish bar in our home town. We thought yeah it'll be a laugh, get drunk or whatever. Well two songs into our pop-punk set we were getting abuse from this guy and then the bouncer came and dragged us off stage because "we weren't irish enough" and the crowd wasn't enjoying it! We were like "it's one guy though mate what are you doing?" He said "No it's everyone." after we came offstage the pub pretty much cleared out in protest, apparently a fair whack of people were there to see us. So massive fail to the venue, they got a lot of abuse for that, people even started hate groups on facebook! We just thought it was funny. Mostly though we just party, drink a lot, dance...we love to dance. Pull stupid pranks, chat to people, meet new people etc...it's good times!

Q:Are there any fans of the ongoing World Cup games? If so what team are you rooting for and which country would you put your money on having a realistic chance at winning?

A:Yes, we are all big football fans, maybe with the exception of Elliot who probably doesn't live and breathe it as much as Dan and Scott. Pete's a late bloomer but he's getting there. We are of course rooting for England, although the first two games haven't been convincing, just got to wait and see what happens now I guess. We'd like to say England are going to win it but who knows, I couldn't say who might win it, going into the tournament I might have said Spain but they got beat the other day, it's pretty open right now. It'll pick up in the last 16 once we get into the knock out phase.

Q:Any last words?

A:Please check out our new CD Survivor's Guide available through Engineer Records (UK) and Pacific Ridge Records (USA).
www.myspace.com/thisisthestartover

Cheers guys :o)

Dan, Scott, Elliot & Pete. x