RockstarBaby.net had the chance to talk with Andrew Borstein from the band Monty Are I. Here's our interview:
RockstarBaby.net: So how did Monty Are I get together?
Andrew Borstein: Ahh well we all grew up a couple streets away from each other. We're all from Cranston Rhode Island. Steve our lead singer and Mike our bass player, we've been playing in bands together since 6th grade. And then in high school we wanted to start a real band together to play at the winter talent show. And everyone in the band was in band together, like high school band, and the band teachers name was Monty. We called the band Monty's Fan Club, which was a joke at the time, but we kept on playing together. After graduation we started to get serious, it wasn't just like jamming. And we shortened our name to just Monty, because it was a little less goofy. And then we got signed in 2006, and we had to change it again because of legal issues with Monty because there was another artist with that name. So at this point we're Monty Are I.

RSB: Do you think all the name changes over the years have confused your fans?
AB: Well I think, well I know some people got confused, but with retaining the name Monty with Monty's Fan Club, Monty, Monty Are I, there's not a lot of Monty bands that are well known. So a lot of people are like "are you the same Monty as the other Monty or whatever?". So we're like at least they found us, even if there not sure. But most people, like I said the biggest thing for us, over the corse of I don't know 2001 and 2006 with Monty's Fan Club and Monty we've already made more fans as Monty Are I after being on tour full time for a year, after being a local band and just playing regionally and stuff. So hopefully those people will stick around.

RSB: When did you first feel like Monty Are I had made it?
AB: Well I can remember way back in the day, I remember the first time I ever signed something for someone. It had to be 2001 or 2002, we played a show at Lupo's which is Providence's big home town club which is like 1,500-2,000 capacity, huge show. We opened up for Catch 22, MEST, The Riddlin Kids, and Mischa Sky or something like that. Like we played, we though as good as any of the other bands that were there, we made a lot of fans, and it was the first person that night that ever asked me to sign something, and I was like "wow". He asked "Are you guys famous", which is a really funny question though I didn't think about it at the time. It's kind of like we're not famous but we could have fooled them. But we need keep working hard to reach more ears one day. I mean there's been other things I guess, but thats always a memory that I will never forget. That and releasing our first album are two of the biggest accomplishments for me.

RSB: Because of your being in Monty Are I, have you met any bands/celebrities that you extremely admire and were star-struck over meeting?
AB: Very recently we actually played a show for some label industry type people, including Jay-Z . I was 20 feet from, and shook hands with, and offered chips from Jay-Z. I took a picture with him and I threw up the diamond. I was really psyched. This is a true story. We played a little showcase them, like three songs, we walked out of the room, and we heard Jay-Z coming out of the room humming "I Don't Want To Be Your Lover" which is like the hook from one of our songs. Jay-Z singing one of our songs, "Between The Sheets". I need to re-answer that question, thats when you know you've made it.

RSB: If you could be in any other band past or current, who would it be?
AB:If I could be in any band, like it would be really nice to be in a band, like if I could be in the RX Bandits except have them be playing arenas like Bon Jovi. There's probably three different bands I want to be in. One, I want to be Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest, I wanna be a rapper thats just the truth I want to be a rapper and I'd love to be in that band. And two, I want to play in arenas because I think that would be just amazing, being in Bon Jovi where every person on earth knows your lyrics. Three, a band that inspires me musically like RX Bandits. That would be three bands that I would love to be part of.

RSB: You've toured with bands like Cute Is What We AIM For, Jack's Mannequin, and Story Of The Year... out of all the bands you've toured with, who have been the best and worst tour mates?
AB:Well there's three different bands, that were all amazing for different reasons. Like totally different ways. We toured with RX Bandits, they're some of our biggest musical heroes and idols. I watched them every night for, our tour lasted 30 days or something, and I never got tired. They blew my mind every single night I watched them and every time I do see them still. They were just an amazing band to be on tour with, and it was just inspiring for sure. And Red Jumpsuit (apparatus), the shows that we played with them were the best shows, they were the most productive. The most likely for people to really get into our show and to buy our cd, and at the end of the day we really connected with the most people. In the big picture thats what matters the most. Us being successful on that tour, really felt good. Right now we're on tour with PowerSpace, and they're probably out of any band we've toured with, the guys that we've connected with personally. Those are the three bands that stick out in my mind.

RSB: So there's no worst band that you've toured with?
AB: (laughs) We'll thats I don't really want to say, because they're all amazing. So it's all relative, I mean I don't think there's been a single band that we haven't liked to be on the road with

RSB: What's your best tour memory?
AB: Oh man, this one gets more and more difficult. I guess I'm still thinking back to the firsts. Like the first time we played on Warped Tour, the first time we played in another time zone, the first time we played in California, the first time we played for like 2,000 or 3,000 people, and a lot of the time our home shows end up being the most memorable. Just being out on the road and going to places that we've never been to.

RSB: Monty Are I is playing Warped Tour this summer. It will be your 4th year on the Warped Tour. Do you prefer playing Warped or a smaller more intimate tour?
AB: This being our 4th time on Warped Tour it's lost some of it's novelty and excitement. Warped Tour for a band like us, which is a band that drives their own van & trailer, we play a stage that isn't listed on the schedule every day so people have to come and find us, and we don't have a captive audience most people still don't know who we are that come there. So we have to get up at 8 o'clock in the morning, and leave at 8pm and drive all night. We eat very little if anything, and we might not get catering. We're out in the sun all day hustling just to get kids to come see us, and handing out flyers. It's really really difficult. It's the thing we're looking forward to the least of the entire year of touring. But that being said, it's still the best way to get new fans. For how hard you work, there's a direct proportion to you'll make fans. And thats the unfortunate part, when we play with Jack's Mannequin in front of 2,000 people we get a captive audience we have to work hard for 45 minutes and then maybe hustle people at the merch table. But we get a cushy dressing room and we get to hang out maybe, we're aloud to drink later, we get to sleep at night in a hotel, but there's 20,000 people at the Warped Tour. If I spend all day hustling, getting people to listen to our music, we're going to sell way more cd's and make way more fans. It's a mixed bag, a double edged sword.


For further information on Monty Are I check them out at MontyAreI.com and MySpace.com/MontyAreI and out on tour this summer with The Audition and Warped Tour:
Jun 1 2007 - [The Door] w/ The Audition - Dallas, Texas
Jun 2 2007 - [Atomix] w/ The Audition - San Antonio, Texas
Jun 3 2007 - [Java Jazz] w/ The Audition - Houston, Texas
Jun 4 2007 - HOB - The Parish] w/ The Audition - New Orleans, Louisiana
Jun 6 2007 - [Jack Rabbits] w/ The Audition - Jacksonville, Florida
Jun 7 2007 - [Orpheum] w/ The Audition - Tampa, Florida
Jun 8 2007 - [Culture Room] w/ The Audition - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Jun 9 2007 - [The Social] w/ The Audition - Orlando, Florida
Jun 11 2007 - [Masquerade - Hell] w/ The Audition - Atlanta, Georgia
Jun 12 2007 - [Tremont Music Hall] w/ The Audition - Charlotte, North Carolina
Jun 13 2007 - [Harmony Grange] w/ The Audition - Wilmington, Delaware
Jun 14 2007 - [Ottobar] w/ The Audition - Baltimore, Maryland
Jun 15 2007 - [First Unitarian Church] w/ The Audition - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 16 2007 - [Knitting Factory] w/ The Audition - New York, New York
Jun 17 2007 - [Axis] w/ The Audition - Boston, Massachusetts
Jun 19 2007 - [El Mocambo] w/ The Audition - Toronto, Ontario
Jun 21 2007 - [The Hangout] w/ The Audition - Edinboro, Pennsylvania
Jun 22 2007 - [The Magic Stick] w/ The Audition - Detroit, Michigan
Jun 23 2007 - [House of Blues] w/ The Audition - Chicago, Illinois
Jul 28 2007 - [First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Chicago, Illinois
Jul 29 2007 - [Metrodome] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jul 31 2007 - [Marcus Amphitheater] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Aug 1 2007 - [Riverbend Music Theater] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Cincinnati, Ohio
Aug 2 2007 - [Tower City Amphitheater] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Cleveland, Ohio
Aug 3 2007 - [Tweeter Center at the Waterfront] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aug 4 2007 - [Nassau Colliseum] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - New York, New York
Aug 5 2007 - [Raceway Park] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Englishtown, New Jersey
Aug 7 2007 - [Verizon Wireless Music Center] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Indianapolis, Indiana
Aug 8 2007 - [Post Gazette Pavillion] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aug 9 2007 - [Tweeter Center] WARPED TOUR - ERNIE BALL STAGE - Boston, Massachusetts