Word. On the Edge of Chinatown PREV / 1 of 2 / NEXT After some conflicting schedules and cancelled meetings, Tweed finally caught up with Omer Leibovitz, Andrew Fritch and Sean Davenport of the band Word., on the edge of Chinatown. Bill Why don't you guys start off by introducing yourselves, who you are, what you play... Omer I'm Omer Leibovitz. I play guitar, sing, book shows write music with Word. That's about it. That's what I do. Andrew My name's Andrew Fritch. I play guitar and alto saxophone—sometimes sing in the band Word. I write some music as well... Sean Sean Davenport. I play keys—sometimes sing. And I am starting to write music for Word. Stew Can you just say something for the guys who aren't here? Sean There's Layton Weedeman—plays drums. Omer Liam Sullivan—he plays bass guitar and sings. Bill Where are they? Sean One's in Rhode Island, the other one's in class in Boston. Omer He had schoolwork today so, uh—he couldn't make it. Bill So are you guys still in school? Andrew I graduated Berkeley actually just this May with a degree in production engineering. Omer I graduated myself [pause] I fuckin' quit! I went to Berkley for 2 and a half years... I just didn't have the funds to go, so... I got a job. Bill So you guys are touring now? Omer Yea. We're doing like 2 weeks then coming back. It's like a dispersed tour. We're pretty much just traveling from Boston to Pennsylvania to New York, Rhode Island... Stew So you guys are all over. Bill We got your press package—the CD in there, is that your EP? What's your deal with recording? What's happening with that? Omer We just finished adding another three songs—I think you have the three-song one? Bill Yea. Omer So we added three more songs to that. What we do is, we do everything for free between Andrew and I—we do all the engineering, the recording and the mixing, you know... Bill So you guys have a studio or just some equipment? Omer We have some equipment and we usually do stuff at the studio I work at...which I get like, free access to. Works out pretty good—so we do that. And we do some stuff at Berkley. Bill So is that what you are sending out in your press packages? Or are you selling them too? Giving them out for free? Andrew We are dong all three. Omer Yea. If you're looking for it go to www.wordrocks.com and email us—ask for a CD. We'll send you one. Bill So you're selling them at shows? Omer Yup. We sell them at shows for five bucks—three if you're nice. It's getting to a pretty nice point where I call the club and I'm like "Word.—Check out the website." Or whatever. And they seem to be pretty satisfied with that. Andrew Yea—we have clips from the CD on the website. We have some live music, some random jams—just a couple things to check out. Bill So what's the deal with the name—Word.? [Emphatic] I like the name...a lot. Stew ...with the period on the end. Omer That's crucial. [Excited laughter] Bill I am so down with that. You don't even know...I love it. Omer We never really named ourselves. We would always just find ourselves saying, "Oh, word, word, word." Shit, why not? Bill So what's with the period? W-O-R-D-period Word. Omer Well, that was Andrew's genius—stoned idea...you know. He came over—he goes "I think we need a period at the end." Andrew I don't even remember saying that...but if it happened... [Laughter] Omer I remember. I guess it's a differentiating point I guess. There's like "The Word" and, ya know, "the Word of Christ." [Laughter] Bill I was gonna ask about that... Andrew I originally wanted to be called "Homosexual Jesus." But everyone thought it was too controversial. [Laughter] Bill I once started a band named "Full Metal Faggot" Omer Nice dude. That's a good one PREV / 1 of 2 / NEXT