Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: October 2006

Hey Brian how’s everything going?
Everything’s going great Blower how’s the tour?
It’s awesome; we just kicked off our headline tour.

Yeah, Mark recently did an interview with Rockeyez.com, which was posted on your forum and a lot of the fans are asking for interviews with Mike and yourself. So here we are.
Great man, great it’s my pleasure to do it.

What kind of kid was Blower growing up?
I wouldn’t call myself too much of a troublemaker, but always a big fan of music.

Who was your favorite band back then?
I was always in to G N’R and Motley Crüe stuff like that.

Do you remember the name of the first guitar you received?
It was a Fender Stratocaster red wood and that was stolen from me in high school.

What kind of kid were you in high school?
I had average grades, big into football and track and all that stuff. I wouldn’t call it a marching band because we actually never marched, but I was in the high school band.

What was the first CD or record you ever owned?

How about the first concert you attended?
It was actually the Rolling Stones and I said holy crap that’s what I want to do. I was blown away. I have to thank my parents for helping me out with that one.

Are you shooting any of the tour footage for a DVD or a live release?
We got tons of footage and I do believe we will have a film crew out to film a day or two with Hinder and we will compile all the footage and their will be a DVD coming out soon.

Can you tell me anything about new material you’re working on?
We just got some ideas here and there. Nothing has come together yet, but we do have three or four, which are looking good. We just keep banging on lyrics and hooks and record them. I would guess in three or four months we will go in the studio to record some demos

How is it touring on the bus? It’s madness a party every night.

On the Hinder official site your bio mentions you like doing filthy things for money. Like what?
Laughing! How PG13 do I have to keep this.

Blower we don’t censor anything, you go for it.
OK we have these pelt guns and they shoot me in all body parts. I would say I have these amazing nut crackers. I am a big aspiring Jackass fan (Laughing).

Also on the front page of the Hinder site, you always have hot chicks in a section called Catfights. How did that come about?
We always like to keep the website fun and entertaining and have the fans participate. They send in pictures and it seems there starting to get dirtier as they go. They all get sent to Universal first and then onto the site and its fun for us to look every week.

Between the band members, do any of you guys have some kind of competition on tour? Not really. Whenever we do things, we always like to do it as a band and we all get along pretty well and take pride in that.

Let’s get to your nickname Blower. Are you an exhibitionist?
(Both laughing) That was a fun day for me.

I bet you, it was!.
(Laughing)!!!
How was the girl? It was good; I don’t remember much except it was good.

At what age did you first sow your oats?
Damn!

I told you we ask everything. You gotta have fun.
(Laughing) I guess you do. I would say I was fifteen.

Are you keeping a log on all the women like Gene Simmons of Kiss does?
No I don’t. I just try to remember as it all fades away after I had a couple drinks (laughing)….

Have you ever awoken up with a beast next to ya?
No, thanks to our tour manager, who makes sure everything is looking good, (laughing)….

What does it feel like when someone asks for your autograph?
It’s crazy to me, lately with our recent single, the fans are getting younger and girls coming up to us-- shaking and crying for an autograph, it’s mind blowing. I’m just a regular guy, I love doing it and it’s our favorite thing to do after the show. Go sign autograph until the last persons done.

Do you get to read anything on your forum?
Yeah I go through it. There so many people now and I do go on, but most of the time the fans know things before we do.

So what’s the wildest thing that happened so far on tour?
There are so many stories. I would say lighting me on fire.

You were on fire?
Well one night we lit my nut sack on fire on the Nickleback tour (laughing)! I would say that was a pretty intense night (laughing)!

In the back of our bus we had a groupie and Mike was getting some service from her while a guitar was being played with some theme music and we video taped it (laughing)!

I wish I were a rockstar…
(Both laughing)
What are the plans for the rest of the year?
We tour the rest of the year with days off for the holidays. We have some big Christmas shows and by the end of January, we should be going to Europe.

Which guitar players do you admire?
Slash, James Hetfield from Metallica, and when I dug down deeper Steve Vai.

What’s the feeling like the CD to go Platinum?
It’s crazy, of course, that was our goal and we’re riding that wave.

Do you think the next release will be different in writing or change of direction?
We will keep it the same and just keep what’s working. Why change something that works but I’m sure it will be a lot of pressure to out do this one.

Have you met anyone with the success of the CD that you always wanted to meet?
It’s been crazy for last couple months just to share the stage with Chevelle, 3 Days Grace, Hoobastank, and Nickleback. It’s crazy to call them my friends now since I bought all their albums. The two people I want to meet who I haven’t yet are Slash and Tommy Lee and I haven’t accomplished that yet.

Who was the biggest impact on your career?
I would say my parents. My dad was in a band in high school. He was the reason why I started to playing guitar. I found and old acoustic of his and he taught me everything and then started taking lessons and went from there.

Blower it’s been great, would you like to say anything to your fans?
Thank you to all the fans, if it’s wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be here, rock on! Thanks man.