ann beretta is an amazing band from richmond, VA. when i told people i was interviewing them for my zine, they either said "who's that?" or "really?! they are SO good and the nicest guys!" for that first group of people i tried to come up with some description but the best i could do was some mix of everything Social Distortion has ever done mixed with the catchiness of fifteen and the fun of avail. i dunno if that works really, but they rock in any case. i saw them a bit ago when they toured with Less Than Jake. it was one of very few times that i have ever bought a band's cd after only seeing them live. and i bought a hoodie too, they were that good. ann beretta is: russ-drums chris- bass leer- guitar/vocals rob- guitar/ vocals. this interview was done over email with rob.

I HAVE TO ASK WHAT THE NAME IS ABOUT AND BE RID OF THE LAME QUESTION FIRST.
the name is about a night drinking beer trying to come up w/ a name- leer and i were hanging out trying to think up a good name which is a pretty hard thing so a few hours later and many beers later we came up w/ ann beretta. the next day it was the only name that stuck so we kept it

WHAT IS THE WORST YOU EVER GOT HURT?
in 93 i was in a car accident - i had over 130 breaks in my body from my lower back to my feet- it pretty much sucked

HOW ABOUT A SHORT BAND HISTORY?
short version goes like this- we've all known each other for years, some of us most our lives- in 91 inquisition formed, russ was the drummer and leer was the bass player- early 92 leer quits i join a few years later leer starts up a new band called cloud 13-summer of 96 both bands break up- for a while russ and i had been writing songs in a side project and none of us wanted to stop doing what we were doing so the most natural and comfortable thing for us to do was start this band- we started ann beretta in oct of 96 and by dec were playing shows and out on tour and we haven't stopped since and don't plan to.

WHAT MUPPET OR SESAME ST CHARACTER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH AND WHY?
ernie- i have no idea why but leer's parents for some reason call him bert so i guess that would be his- russ is like animal and our bass player chris i would have to say reminds me of that blue eagle thing on the muppet show

WHAT FAMILY MEMBER HAS LEAST INFLUENCED YOU?
any of my cousins i guess

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR WORST SHOW?
show wise i would have to say the first time we played in jacksonville fla to no one but our 2 roadies and a couple of people who would have loved to throw beer at us except that would have meant less to drink- but not to diss jacksonville we've been back a couple of times and had really good shows

WHICH IS THE BETTER PART OF LIK-EM-AID, THE CANDY STICK OR THE CANDY POWDER YOU STICK THE STICK IN?
definitely the stick

WHY DO YOU PLAY IN THE BAND?
because it's the only thing i really love doing- i get to travel, i get to do so many things, i know and remember how much music has meant to me and how amazing it is to go see the bands you love and i totally love the fact that we meet people who tell us how much they love a song or how much a song means to them. it's a crazy feeling and i love the places we go where i see people in the crowds singing along- the 30 or 40 minutes of interaction we have between us and these people that we don't even know just blows me away every time whether its 20 people or 2000 it's the same

PUTTING "NOBODY'S HERO" ON THE BACK OF YOUR SHIRTS AND JUNK, IS THAT AN HOMAGE TO STIFF LITTLE FINGERS OR SOMETHING ELSE THAT I AM MISSING ENTIRELY?
the story w/ that is this: i had never listened to stiff little fingers until after the fact- and they're a great band- where nobody's hero came from was a time we as a band were having and definitely i was having when about 6 months after we started the band and the buzz was out around town and our shows here were great we faced two problems that we weren't ready for. one was popularity and the other was the backlash of shit that we were getting from other bands and people who we thought were our friends over it- that sounds rock star but it's not- it was hard dealing with hearing this people talking shit and putting us down whether out of jealousy or whatever- just as uncomfortable was not being able to hang out really without hearing about the band or whatever- i didn't really know how to take this i was used to being the bass player- no one cares about the bass player- now we were getting all this attention and even as flattering as some of it is i didn't know how to react- all of the sudden our shows began to fill up w/ little kids dressing just like we were and it was freaky. here they were telling us you rule and we want to be like you- what?? i'm not mike i don't want to be a hero i'm just a guy who likes to write songs- so i got nobody's hero tattooed on my chest- that's where the ep and the shirts came from- like i said the stiff little fingers thing i found out about later

IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE ONE FOOD FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
pizza- perfect food

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CURRENT POPULARITY AND MAINSTREAMING OF PUNK MUSIC AND CULTURE?
i think punk has become an acceptable term for the mainstream to use to classify or catagorize people or music or whatever- i think it's become something that mtv and radio have made acceptable and available to the mass youth culture in america- i don't really know what my opinion on that is, in some ways it's good in some ways it kind of sucks but my feeling is that no matter what mainstream america thinks, it's what i think that matters the most to me- whether or not the band or i get labeled as punk doesn't matter i'm not even saying we are or we're not it just doesn't matter

ANY THOUGHTS ON VAN HALEN GETTING THE VOCALIST FROM SLAUGHTER TO JOIN THE BAND?
it wasn't the guy from slaughter it's the guy from extreme- remember "more than words..."- i don't care i like the david lee roth stuff, i like a lot of the hagar stuff, i don't think i'll really like too much of the new stuff but that new single is ok the chorus rules.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE 4 RECORDS OF ALL TIME?
not in any order- kerplunk- green day, life's rich pageant- rem, joshua tree- u2 and i guess choice of a new generation - fifteen- that's hard i like so many records so much it's hard to only pick 4

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE INCREDIBLE RISE OF THE WWW AND THE COMPUTERIZATION OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL?
i was really not about it for a long time and tried to fight it- i had to get an email account for a class at school and after that i was kind of hooked- the band has done a lot w/ it. we have a web site and email- i do a bit of booking through the computer and i do a lot of letter answering and interviews over it too- so i guess i'm glad i got into it a little bit - i'm still pretty computer retarded though.

ANY GREAT LITTLE KNOWN BANDS YOU WANT TO PLUG?
i don't know how little known they are but we always send our love out to hot water music, hankshaw, discount, forever family crew, limp, avail and less than jake

IF THE MISFITS (WITH GLENN) WERE IN A STEEL CAGE NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH AGAINST SLAYER, WHO WOULD WIN?
glenn would win over all

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR ANN BERETTA?
a lot of touring - at least 6-7 months this year, a new record by beginning of next...who knows

ANY FINAL COMMENTS, SLOGANS, WORDS OF WARNING, ETC?
i didn't mean to be so long winded...we'll be touring the US from April 9 thru June 7, we'll be every wherethanks rob and all of ann beretta!