Interview with JUSTIN TRANTER of SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS
April  2009 in Cambridge, MA
By Lena Lamoray

SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS were awesome enough to do an interview with me.  The video is posted but since the restaurant was really loud and yes I am a low talker I decided to transcribe it, too.  I have to say how impressed I was with everything about this band.  They were all polite right down to their very helpful and well dressed tour manager.  It’s working with bands like this that make me really love what I do.  If you want to see a feel good show then make sure you check them out live, they are refreshingly good for the soul.  Thank you again SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS!

Lena:  How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?
Justin:  AC/DC but a lot more attractive.

Lena:  What was it like working with Toni?
(Toni Visconti  has produced SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS, DAVID BOWIE, T. REX, ADAM ANT, MORISSEY, etc.)
Justin:   It was great, we had EPs and stuff and we just worked with people that we knew and working with Toni was just the most relaxed thing that we have done.  Which was kind of weird at first.  He had seen our live show and loved our live show and working with him it was just like playing live.  He said, don’t worry about it, just play like you play live.  It was amazing just really casual and easy going. 

Lena:  Now, do you do everything in heels?
Justin:  Everything!  I do absolutely everything in heels. 
Lena:  You are a lot braver than me.
Justin:  I just love them.   It makes everything better.

Lena:  What would be your ultimate band to tour with?
Justin:  That’s tough, if COURTNEY LOVE, STEVIE NICKS and LIL’ KIM formed a super group that would be my ultimate group to tour with for sure.  Existing bands would be OUTKAST.  I think that would be a fucking blast.  So, COURTNEY LOVE, STEVIE NICKS and LIL’ KIM super group or OUTKAST.
Lena:  OUTKAST, I never would of thought of that. 

Lena:  Do you have a dance background?
Justin:  When I was in high school I took some dance classes for like two or three years,  I was really into it and that was it. 
Lena:  Are you going to get HUGH JACKMAN in one of your videos?
Justin:   Yeah right, that would be a riot.  I would really want him in the video and we could just have a high kick off.  I really want to do a dance video fully choreographed  with me and SHARON STONE and MARISA TOMEI.  That would be pretty awesome. 

Lena:  What is it like doing FETTY?  Do you do all your own casting?
Justin:  I assemble a lot of it by hand.  I don’t know how to cast but I’ll do a lot of the original waxes and then the waxes get cast.  I am involved in every step of it whether it be designing, producing and I have probably touched over one hundred thousand pieces of jewelry with my own hands before they were shipped  so that’s a lot but it’s fun.

Lena:  What’s the best practical joke that you have pulled?        
Justin:  Best practical joke, we don’t really do any.  Have we ever pulled any practical jokes on each other? (Justin asks his bandmates and they respond ) Yeah, our lives!    Yeah, I can’t think of anything specific .  We actually like each other more than most bands do but we just make fun of each other a lot but no there really aren’t any practical jokes.  I’m trying to think, oh we bought a 50lb salt bag and put it in Dan’s suitcase, that happened.  This isn’t really a practical joke but one night we were in Dallas and I did Stevy’s makeup so he looked like a Howdy Doody doll and he ran around the entire hotel terrifying people pretending to be an evil doll.  That was pretty good. 

Lena:  How was SXSW? 
Justin:  That was so fun.  We opened for JULIETTE LEWIS, she is awesome and then we headlined our own show at the Viper Room.  The Viper Room sets up shop in SXSW every year.  We headlined on Friday night which was amazing because the year before we were like the third opener on a Wednesday for the Viper Room so a year later to be headlining a Friday was pretty awesome.  We played the RACHAEL RAY party on Saturday.  It was great we opened for the NEW YORK DOLLS which we know them and they are fans of ours but we’ve never played on a show with them so that was the first time and it was amazing.

 
Lena:  Did she make you food?
Justin:  Yes, she made food and she gave me this shirt actually.  I had a red carpet yesterday.  Our music is in this movie called SERIOUS MOONLIGHT and I don’t know when it’s coming out but it premiered at TRIBECA film festival yesterday and MEG RYAN, TIMOTHY HUTTON, JUSTIN LONG, KRISTEN BELL and CHERYL HINES directed it and I needed something to wear on the red carpet and I opened my mail and there was a note that there was a gift waiting for you at the store go and pick it up.
Lena:  Is that hand rhinstoned?
Justin:  Yeah, it’s studded flannel.  Isn’t it amazing?  So, yeah the shirt is from RACHAEL RAY.

Lena:  If you won a Grammy what would your acceptance speech be?
Justin:  I would like to thank myself.  That’s what I would say.  People thank their manager and their agents and publicist but no one wants to hear that and most people do need to thank those people because they created them but I’ve worked way too hard and I am just going to thank myself. 
Lena:  What category do you think you would win for?
Justin:  Probably best rock vocal or best rock song but I’ll take anything, best packaging. 

Lena:  Now, what do your fans have to look forward to, what’s coming up?
Justin:  We are doing the PEREZ HILTON tour this summer which is only two weeks long but it will be great.  We are doing a series of shows/parties with Morgans Hotel Group and they are opening a huge one here in October and they have hotels all over the country.  They are offering free rock n’ roll parties at their 5 star hotel and it’s going to be awesome.  Hopefully, we are making a new record this summer which will come out maybe nine months from now.