“When all else is stripped away and we are left with the primary essence of what separates us from the animals, we are left with little aside from hope and love, subjects The Exit tackle beautifully through their assessment of recent times. With sound ranging from danceable reggae pop to deep, dark rock, Home for an Island is a riveting album, boldly reminding us of what it means to be alive.” Altsounds.com Review of Home For An Island

To follow up the review I did for the record, I jumped on the horn with a sleepy Jeff DaRosa at his manager’s office in NYC to talk about the re-release of Home For An Island, the band, and what they have coming up.

Conducted by AJ, VP of Altsounds.com

Hey…Hows it goin?

Pretty good, how are you man?

Alright..let’s do this.

You sure? You sound like you’re about to fall asleep.

What? I’ve been up for hours!

I dunno man..you sound sleepy to me.

Well, the record comes out tomorrow and there has been a lot going on, so….

But the record came out a year ago already, so you shouldn’t be too nervous.

Haha, that’s true. This is different though. A lot bigger.

Does someone have a case of the Mondays?

Haha, something like that.

Ha..ok..let’s do this then so I can let you go. I’m actually pretty stoked to do this interview because I have been listening to the record a lot lately. It seems the right amount of time has passed or things are just ****ed up enough that bands are beginning to emerge that have a real message they want to get out there regarding the current state of America. It seems the majority of these bands are very angry about what is going on, however you offer up a different perspective…

I consider myself a really negative person, so that’s nice of you to say.

Haha…well you seem to put a positive spin on things. Glass half full type stuff.

Well, I wouldn’t really consider us a political band. I mean we touch on some things, but the record is more about life, love and loss. More social I guess. It’s the perspective of what’s around you. We just tell it like we see it.

Right, that’s kind of what I meant. Like you have the songs about the mess around us, like the title track being about 9-11, but when combined with the other tracks about love and everything it comes out like a ‘have hope message.’ Did I totally miss the point, or is that what you were tryin to say?

Yeah, that’s what we meant. Haha You got it. Is this a bad interview?

Eh, don’t worry about it. I am gonna make up all your responses later anyway. You’re doin fine.

Haha, excellent.

Haha..ok then, that’s settled…The style you use to get your message out there is a reggae-influenced pop rock. It’s very smooth. You seem to get a lot of comparisons to The Police. Do you think that’s a fair comparison? Who would you prefer to be compared to?

Oh The Clash, for sure. They actually did something you know? They were the only band that mattered. I’d imagine that we probably listen to a lot of the same stuff the Police did so we draw off similar influences. I dunno, the Police are a great band. Whatever. I don’t mind the comparison. I don’t care.

Having two great songwriters in one band is in a word explosive. Sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way. It seems you and Ben Brewer have a good working relationship and have somehow maintained balance. What do you attribute that to? How do you make it work?

It’s different every time really. Each song is different. Sometimes its easy, sometimes its difficult. Sometimes the whole band will be jamming and sometimes we’ll come in with a completed song. Like ‘Soldier,’ I just wrote that one with my acoustic guitar and came in with it. Sometimes Ben does that too. It’s always different though, really.

You’re definitely a show band. You play a lot of gigs and have for some time. Just recently you’ve played benefits for the Katrina victims, CMJ, and you’re about to go on the road with 311, yes?

Yeah, we did the Katrina benefit with a lot of great bands. Against Me! was great. You should check out this guy William Elliott Whitman. You’d like him, he has some cool stuff going on. We’re excited about the 311 tour. They have a good vibe and we haven’t played a lot of bigger tours. It should be a lot of fun.

Do you prefer to play with bands that have a similar sound?

Well no, I mean we could play with anyone. All kinds of bands. We want all kinds of fans. I’d like to play with a folk band, or a reggae band or funk. There are no rules. That’s the whole reason we started doing this. We wanted to do something different, so there are no limits to what we can do.

What is the ideal sized venue for a band like yours?

Small clubs, I guess. Like CBGBs-sized. I don’t know where you are, so…

I’m in Philly right now.

Oh, so the TLA. We have played the TLA. Maybe that’s too big though? Yeah. We could play the TLA all across the country. It would be great.

This record seems lightyears away from 2001’s New Beat. More mature and more intricate…

Well we did all turn 21.

Is that what you attribute it too? Hahaha

Haha, well we have been touring for 4 years and seeing the world. We’re older now, been living on. I was raised on television, and then I found out that TV was teaching me to be scared of everything. It really made me think. Those sorts of things have really changed us.

Like I mentioned before, this record came out a year ago on a smaller label but is being re-released on Wind Up. How did all of that come about?

We got these label offers and stuff and said ‘Noooo!’… wait…hold on.

Ok. *holding*

Alright..yeah…so we signed to Wind-Up and they wanted to re-release Home For An Island. We said ‘No!’ Because we weren’t totally happy with the way it sounded, plus we had already toured on it and wanted to give people something new. So they let us go in and rework a few of the songs and we put some new ones on there too.


I really like your video for Don’t Push.

Eh

Do you like it?

I haven’t really watched it that much to be honest. I like it though, yeah..it’s cool.

It seems to fit the vibe of the song. At least you didn’t end up with like a literal translation of the lyrics!

Haha, yeah we were kind of worried. We didn’t want it to be all cheesed-out. No cheesed-out videos. But it’s good…not cheesed-out.

The record comes out tomorrow and you have your show/release party in NYC. What are your plans for Wednesday and beyond?

Continue to live. Make a good example of myself. Keep touring and give people hope. Is that what you want to hear?

This isn’t a Miss America pageant, it’s a band interview. So…what I am asking is, are you going to keep touring? Have you been writing new material this past year?

Oh yeah, we have a lot of new material. We actually go into record some on Wednesday. Maybe get a couple tracks down, some ideas. Let our fans check it out and all that. The internet man…it’s great.

Awesome…you should leak them to me.

Haha, yeah, we can work something out.

I have 3 more questions for you before I let you go back to bed..haha… they are about dreams..your dreams. What is your dream tour? Any bands, dead, alive, together, broken up, whatever. What is your ideal tour?

Radiohead, The Beatles, Johnny Cash…no! Bob Dylan. Ok Johnny Cash AND Bob Dylan.

Would you open or be the headliner?

Ha, I think we could work out a switcharoo.

Dream Producer?

Um… that guy that did The Beatles. What was his name?

It doesn’t matter, I am quoting you as saying ‘that guy that did the Beatles.’

Haha, fair enough.

Dream for the people?

Hmmm, my dream for the people… peace and love in their hearts.

Awesome, ok thanks for doing this Jeff. Congrats on the re-release, haha… now get back to bed!

Haha, actually I have to go to practice now. We have that show tomorrow and everything.

Grab an energy drink or something? Get amped.

Yeah, I need to. I have already taken a bunch of vitamins and stuff though. I’ll make it. But yeah, we should hang out some time, get you out to a show or whatever.

Yeah, totally.

Oh, and congrats on your site

Thanks Jeff, take it easy man.

Home For An Island, in stores October 11th on Wind-Up