Before the San Francisco date of the 2009 AP Tour, I sat down with Pat Kirch(drummer of the co-headlining act, The Maine) at a pizza parlor across the street from the venue. We discussed what the band has been through and upcoming plans.

PreachElectric.Net: Did you guys do anything fun for April fools?

Pat Kirch: Yeah! I guess there’s this show called The Girls Next Door on E! it’s like the Playboy whatever show. We pretended one of the girls from there, we had her make a video saying she’s the new keytar player for our band and she posted it online.

PE: Do you guys get a lot of demo tapes from unsigned bands?

PK: Sometimes, yeah we get a fair amount. We check them out.

PE: How was it producing with Matt Squire?

PK: It was awesome! It was completely different from anything we’d done before. He made us feel really comfortable and he helped us out a lot.

PE: It hasn’t even bee a year since our first full length came out, how do you feel about how far you’ve come?

PK: It’s insane. We’re just super grateful for every thing’s that happened so far. It’s happened really fast.

PE: What’s the best and the worst things that have happened on tour?

PK: I’d say the worst definitely was when we got a big chunk of money stolen from us, like our whole safe. We got a bunch of stuff stolen from us in a few of days. A couple iPods, our GPS, we got our window broken, the side of our van smashed in, or driver’s side window smashed in, our windshield cracked and our whole safe stolen with all the money we made. It was in our hotel room, someone broke in. The best thing is every day. We get to go out and play music for kids, and they actually show up and like it!

PE: What do you guys eat on tour?

PK: Pizza! Um…a lot of sandwiches because they give us bread, meat and cheese. I buy a lot of hot pockets and microwave them. And fast food, it’s healthy.

PE: How do you feel about your fanbase?

PK: I think without having fans and people who like what we do, we wouldn’t be here, so nothing but gratefulness.

PE: What got you playing music?

PK: The movie, That Thing You Do. When I was little, I used to sit on the couch and watch the movie on repeat with sunglasses and bongo drums.

PE: What are your future plans as a band?

PK: Warped tour is the only solidified plan we have as of now. We’re taking off a couple weeks after this tour to just relax. Besides that, we might be doing a new music video. We’re going to be keeping busy.

PE: Do you ever get tired of playing music every day?

PK: It gets a bit redundant after a while. Then you realize how lucky you are to be doing what you’re doing. It only really sucks when you’re sick. We do the best we can. I get homesick on tour, we usually aren’t at home enough to miss tour. If we were home enough to miss tour, that’s probably not a good thing.