ÿþNO IDIOTS</br>
Teenage rock life with My American Heart<br>
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By Will Fresch<br>
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"They think we're a bunch of idiots," Dustin Hook says from a chair backstage at Soma. He's not talking about kids who have formed a long line outside of the all-ages venue to see Hook's band, My American Heart. "As far as fans go, [our age] gives people something to relate to because we're the same age as a lot of them. [But] whenever there are industry types around... it's hard to be taken seriously."<br>
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It's easy to imagine how a record exec might dismiss My American Heart. After all, none of the guys are older than 19. Yet the five members have spent the last three years playing for, traveling to, and speaking with their fans. It's a fan base that, says vocalist Larry Soliman, "has a momentum of its own-every time we play a place, the crowd is a little bigger."<br>
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My American Heart's growing audience is a reflection of the band's work ethic, which Soliman credits to the time spent on last summer's Warped Tour. "The bands on Warped work their asses off," he says. "We would wake up every morning at 8 a.m., find out our set time, make posters and flyers and flyer the hell out of the venue."<br>
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The constant touring has also given the guys plenty to write about, says guitarist Jesse Barrera. "We've been touring ever since we were 16," he says, "so we have a lot of stories to tell."<br>
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They shared some of those stories on their debut, The Meaning in Makeup, a 13-song exploration of the teenage self-images. The record was released on Warcon-a label co-formed by Concrete Marketing CEO Bob Chiappardi and Warped Tour creator Kevin Lyman-and got some brief airplay on 91X.<br>
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But some of the most fascinating stories, Soliman says, seem to happen here at home while the band is away. "You come back to [San Diego to] realize that all of your friends have grown up. People are on drugs. People have jobs. People have kids. These were my classmates, you know?"<br>
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Spending month after month with the same teenage friends-on the road, on the stage, in the practice studio-unfailingly leads to spats. And like any relationship, the tension usually boils over in the most inane circumstances.<br>
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"Last month, we got in a huge fight over where we were going to eat," Barrera recalls. "Larry wanted Carl's Jr. We wanted Jack in the Box and, uh, the shit went down."<br>
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"We all get in each other's faces and get annoyed at each other," Soliman explains, "but we also remember that we love each other."<br>
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There is an affectionate, sibling-like love when these five kids interact. After two years on the road, bands have been known to end up in rehab, in the beds of each other's girlfriend or on the brink of quitting on a nightly basis.<br>
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My American Heart have yet to become those idiots.<br>
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My American Heart play the Epicentre on June 23 before embarking on their second consecutive Warped Tour, which comes through Coors Amphitheatre on July 6.