MuchMusic.com: Are you tired of hearing the term "supergroup"?

Steve: Not really tired, cause it doesn't apply. It really doesn't apply. I'm a music fan, so when I hear "supergroup" I think, you know, a few people from one band and a few people from another band. This is three people from one of the greatest bands ever and one of my personal favourite bands, and there's me, who people largely don't know. So it's a different situation of a brand new band starting that happens to have some really great, talented guys who make a lot of great music.

MuchMusic.com: Do you feel like a newbie when you're with these guys?

Steve: No, I feel like I'm among friends. We've been playing together now for two years and the record just came out. We had to go through the whole learning each other process, we did a lot of demos, we did a lot of studio stuff, made the record, took a few months and the whole record company business took a lot of time. So I feel real familiar with these guys, especially since we've toured. Once you've toured with people, it's a magical, galvanizing, brotherhood gang type of experience. I feel really close to these guys now.

MuchMusic.com: Did you ever have that moment on tour where all of a sudden you're like, "I love you guys".

Dave: It happened many times. The whole tour was that moment for me. From beginning to end we had nothing but a f***king blast. The whole time.

MuchMusic.com: As a band, you're relatively new. What did you learn about yourselves and your artistic vision while you were on tour?

Steve: Getting to play your songs in front of people is a whole different experience. How people respond to certain songs makes you feel different about those songs. Where they go in the set, what they mean to the set, what they mean to people, if the song is the strong point or not - you learn all that. And just learning each other as people. It's a really crazy twilight world where there's really a day and night interchange. You don't quite know what the timezone is, you can't really trust your watch, you're trying to make phone calls and you can't get cell reception so it's like being in a strange other dimension. The other people with you in that vortex, you become really close with.

MuchMusic.com: Your songs have a lot of room for improvisation, so do they change every night you play them?

Dave: Sometimes. Stephen, Chris and I have a strong musical connection and history together, so we're very prone to leading each other in terms of standing parts or jamming out on things, we've really adapted to that really well. So there are some nights where a song will go on for a minute longer, or two minutes longer than it was originally recorded. And there are some nights where it'll even be shorter. It's kind of an intuitive understanding among the musicians on stage that comes from playing together.

MuchMusic.com: There's a Japanese band called Panic Channel - have you heard their music?

Dave: No!

Steve: That's a really weird happenstance that we have the same name as a Japanese band.

Dave: I want one of their t-shirts! That would be f***in' rad.

Steve: We should do a tour of Japan, The Panic Channel times two.

Dave: But they're Panic Channel and we're THE Panic Channel. It could be The Panic Channel and Panic Channel. They also have a pretty kick-ass look. I still can't figure out if they're girls or guys though. Sometimes I think they're f***in' smoking hot chicks, and other times I question my sexuality.

MuchMusic.com: Is it true that your name is alluding to the fact that you're a little critical of the media?

Dave: It's more of a commentary on the state of the media right now in terms of everything that's being shoved down our throats, this hysteria and panic and chaos. Rarely the top story - if it bleeds, it leads. It's a commentary on that. At the same time there's a spiritual aspect of it in terms of channeling our own personal panic and chaos through the music as a release.

MuchMusic.com: And you've also both been on TV as personalities. What do you think are the pros of mass media?

Dave: There's entertainment value for starters, people like to be entertained. When I work on television it's purely for entertainment value and I think that the world needs that.

Steve: And information, mass media is everything, It's the consciousness of the people. And then the internet came along and that added a whole cerebral aspect.

MuchMusic.com: Speaking of the Internet, I love how Dave's quote on MySpace is "F**k sparkle tags!" I hate them too.

Dave: I f***in' hate those things. It's a crime.

Steve: It's a crime against eyes, it's a crime against color and shape.

Dave: Did you see that picture I had up that said, "if you use sparkle tags, you hate baby animals"? It's really true. I have a group on MySpace called Dave Navarro's Anti Sparkle Tag Army.

Steve: Friends don't let friends use sparkle tags.

~Wendy Heisler

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