"Yeah, it won't die," laughs Phillip Rhodes. "Believe it or not, I haven't seen any big money yet. I don't even own a car, but I've got a great mountain bike. At least I don't have to worry about where the rent's coming from, and the phone bills are covered. Those long-distance calls from the road will wipe you out."
Rhodes' brashly loose style is a combination of attack and playing what the song requires. "I bash pretty good--I usually change my snare head after three gigs." In fact, Rhodes says he's looking for a good plexiglass snare drum, "so the volume will reflect back at me. My snare drum takes their heads off."
Rhodes, explaining his role in the band, offers, "I follow Jesse's [Valenzuela, guitar and vocals] rhythm for feel. He likes to hear 'the tough guy'--quarter notes on the hi-hat, simple 2 and 4 on the snare and 1 and 3 on the bass drum. He'll use little catch phrases from other bands to let me know what he wants: 'Throw a Stan Lynch thing there, or some Stones,' and I act like I know what he's talking about."
Currently working on materiel for the follow-up to New Miserable Experience, Rhodes says he isn't worried about the band competing with the success of their debut. "I _was_ worried about it, but not anymore. We're a good band. Our live show is consistently strong. Jesse and Robin [Wilson, vocals and guitar] have stepped up to the plate as far as songwriting [after the suicide of Doug Hopkins, founding member and writer of the band's hit, "Hey Jealousy"], and we've played long enough to know what works. Plus, we don't take ourselves seriously. This is all about having fun.