Once the great hope for the floundering Las Vegas music scene, 12 Volt Sex turned their infectious pop songs into a big fat paycheck when they were signed by RCA Records in July of 1998. Kind of.
     See, as much as we all wanted to see 12 Volt Sex become Vegas’ saviors - the guys who showed there was musically more to this town than Slaughter - 12 Volt’s road to stardom slowly turned into a dead end when RCA repeatedly delayed the release of their major label debut, Stereo Quatro - finally dropping the band in 2001 before the album’s release. The band carried on after their dismissal from RCA, but not for long, On November 3, 2001, 12 Volt Sex played their final gig at Las Vegas' historic Huntridge Theatre.
     Former members of the band didn’t fade into obscurity, though. Frontman Matt Chernoff continued his ongoing gig with 80’s cover band Love Shack, as well as forming dance project The Side Room. Bassist Jason Coleman relocated to Portland and began playing in indie-pop band, Dorian Crush. Guitarist Mike Stratton was instrumental in the reopening of the aforementioned Huntridge Theatre, and drummer Gary Wright joined punk act FFI, while continuing on as a member of The Las Vegas Nines and The Fremonts.
     Flash forward to winter, 2003. Rumors begin to circulate about a possible 12 Volt Sex reunion. With no warning whatsoever, the newly reformed 12 Volt Sex announce 2 high profile gigs in the Las Vegas area: February 28th at the Huntridge Theatre, and March 27th at Extreme Thing at Desert Breeze Skate Park (the band will also play February 26th at the Viper room in L.A.).
     Smash Magazine had the unique opportunity to sit down and chat with 12VS vocalist Matt Gucu (formerly Chernoff) and guitarist Mike Stratton about the reunion, the reasons, the music, and that certain Pop Formula which made them so damn fun in the first place.

Smash:
The obvious question: Why a reunion? Why now?
Matt Gucu:
Jason (Coleman - bassist) had become frustrated with his band, and with the Portland music scene in general. Not that Portland has a horrible scene or anything, it's just that playing with this band in Portland wasn't really as fun as what he was doing here in Vegas. So, he's the one who initially brought the idea of a reunion to us, as far as getting back together again and starting to write some material.
Mike Stratton:
Here's what I think, and this is speaking purely from Jason's point of view, he wasn't 100% happy with the band he was in. He moved away and his disappointment with the Portland scene wasn't necessarily that there were no good bands up there or that there definitely wasn't a thriving indie scene up there - which we're all envious of. I think it was just his personal experiences had yet to be matched of what he felt he had with us. And I think that the feeling was obvious with us as well. I think that was the initial spark that got us talking. We thought, "you know what? What if we can actually make this happen? What if we can do this for a living again? What if that's a realistic thought? Why not give it a try?"

Smash:
Is that a potential goal this time around? Doing it for a living again?
MG:
That's always the goal of any band. If anyone can get lucky enough to do this for a living, your life is rewarded 10 times over.

Smash:
So Jason's currently not living here. Will he be moving out here permanently?
MG:
There's no word on that at all. There really isn't. I think he's trying to feel out the direction of the band to determine whether or not this is even a permanent reunion...and feel out the material before he makes any decisions on that.

Smash:
So, going back to the breakup of the band, it's not like you guys hated each other right? You were getting burned out and things were getting somewhat repetitive. Were these feelings present before you guys left RCA?
MG:
I think it was like a slow draining, to be honest with you. I mean it started with the delay of the first single. Then they put us back into the studio to record more music, and that took a little more energy out of us. And then we had these new songs and we were excited about them, and then again they delayed it. And when they say "released it" they never actually released the record. It was just a way for the label to look as if they fulfilled their end of the contract but they never really did. There was no promotion behind it or anything.

Smash:
But they released the single "Hook It Up" to radio, right?
MG:
Yeah, but it was literally like if you shipped out all your CDs to all the radio stations but never called them and told them to play it. It was that level of promotion.
MS:
They were clearly not trying to make it look like they were doing anything. They were just fulfilling what they had to do in order to just get us out of their hair. They didn't really officially drop us, it was more like us saying "you guys are going to do what you're going to do, so let us go."
MG:
I had a meeting in New York with the GM of RCA at the time, and just basically asked him what was really going on. He said "What do you want us to do?" I said "I either want you to promote us or let us go because we're in limbo just floating around with no promotion or anything. Our lives are wasting away. Our music is just sitting on the shelves, literally." A week later they said "yeah, we've decided that it's better for you if we let you guys go." It was so obvious what their intentions were. It was just, like, I guess they have this really easygoing way of letting an artist go if they know they're not going to promote them. It's weird.

Smash:
So were your A&R's still at RCA when this all went down?
MS:
Our official A&R at the time, Ron Fair, was in the process of leaving, going to A&M Records, and kind of moving on. Over the course of the 3 year period, we were gone a lot. None of us could have a normal job situation, and yet we had a record label that didn't want to do anything with us. So, it put us in this really bizarre situation. At the end of the day, we were lost at the label, our A&R guy's contract was coming up and it was the end of his deal with RCA. So it kind of became the end of our deal too.
MG:
It happens to hundreds of bands on major labels. We just got lost in the shuffle.
MS:
Basically, you can't go anywhere else, but you're stuck at your label. You're just not moving at all. And we just wanted to be able to move and do something.
MG:
People always go "oh, whiney artists," but when your music is actually legally tied up with the label, and they're not doing anything with it, and you're literally just sitting there, that's the prison of it all.
MS:
It's like, "either pay to have me here or let me go." And that was what happened, and they let us go. That was exactly what we wanted. We didn't want to be on a label that didn't want us there. Kind of like being at a party you're not invited to. Nobody wants that.
MG:
I just wish they would have been more honest with us, you know? Just straight up, "this record isn't good enough" or whatever their feelings were, because they were really wishy washy. If they didn't like or want the record, they should have just said so.

Smash:
Do you think that maybe they just didn't know how to market the record? I mean, you guys didn't sound like the big pop bands like Matchbox 20 or Third Eye Blind, but you didn't sound like the indie pop bands like Built To Spill either. Maybe they just didn't know what to do with it?
MG:
I think that's a very good analysis of the situation. I think marketing was a major factor for them. And radio was changing at that time too. Not when we first signed. I think in hindsight if they would have released Pop Formula as more of an indie album in it's own right as it was recorded - maybe remixed slightly - we would have traveled a different path. But they locked us up for 2 years, and in 2 years, music can change. And by the end of our contract, rap-rock was on the rise. You know, the limpbizkits and what not. It's almost more our time now than it was back then.

Smash:
Are you writing new material? Are you working on new stuff, or are you sticking with the classic songs?
MG:
There's already new material. There are seven new songs that have been recorded and a few more in the works. I think the new stuff is just a little more mature, but I don't think we ever sit down and go "we're going to try to write this type or that type of song," we just start writing, and I think we get a diverse album that way as well, you know?

Smash:
Would you still consider yourselves a pop band?
MG:
Absolutely. There's always a pop tinge to our music. It's what we do. I don't even know how to write if it's not pop of some nature. I automatically hear melodies that are categorized as pop in my head. The new material is pop songs about girls, drugs, and rock and roll.

Smash:
You make reference to "the new songs that are recorded." Does this mean you're working on a new record?
MG:
I wouldn't call it so much a record..they're demo's right now. We recorded them quick just to get the ideas down.

Smash:
Are you planning on re-recording them to shop them around?
MG:
We don't want to repeat the same formula of what we did before. If it comes down to it in another year we might sit down and do that, but right away, we have a few connections from our past who we're going to utilize to try to shop the demos.

Smash:
Are you going to go after the majors again or are you going to shoot for more of an indie type label where you might get a little more freedom?
MS:
Whoever tells me "I'm going to pay your rent."
MG:
Whoever looks me in the face and convinces me that they believe in it. But they have to look me in the face for a whole year. And it's hard to look me in the face for like 3 minutes.
MS:
Here's the thing, if we're given another opportunity - and that's a big if - if somebody else comes to the table, I think we can all make this a career. Meaning the label is behind you and the band is behind the music, and the band is behind the label. I don't think who it's with that matters as much as what they decide to do with it. You just want to make sure, contractually, that you can focus on music. And that's what everybody's goal is. We're in the same boat as everybody else, but the only thing different is that we have that experience, and looking back we'll be able to be more careful this time.

Smash:
So, you've seen the ups and downs, so now you know what to watch out for?
MG:
Absolutely. That goes without saying. You can't go through what we've gone through and not be able to see the signs if they start to show up again.

Smash:
Any plans to tour?
MS:
I think our goal right now is to play a few shows, get warmed up. Play in front of some people...
MG:
Yeah, I think we might jump back and forth from L.A, but we don't have any major road plans or anything.
MS:
It's not realistic.
MG:
Yeah, it's not realistic without a budget right now unless we all drop down to one $200 a month apartment, and we all move in together.
MS:
I think now we're all at different spaces than we were intitially. You know, all of this started five years ago. I think we all had a little less to lose, and we just went balls out. Who cares, you know? And now it's more like, we write really good music and we deserve at least a shot to try to do this again. And that's just what we're doing - trying to get somebody to pay to put out a couple of records.

Smash:
If you were to tour, what national bands you guys would like to tour with?
MS:
To me there are always those dream bands that for me would be a no brainer. Like, I'd really love to play with them but I don't know if they'd want to tour with us. I would love to tour with Guided By Voices. Or The Hives. They're awesome. They put on a show. They're just cool, you know? But the bands that we always like collectively - that we think are the coolest bands in the world - aren't necessarily what comes out when we write music. It's just hard to say what band would take us under their wing. I have no idea.
MG:
Personal taste and marketing - as far as touring with the bands - are two different worlds. I mean, do you go with a band you really love or do you go with a band who's audience will be more accepting of you?
MS:
We don't know. We have no idea. People could hear the new stuff and think it's completely different from whatever we had done before. When you're in a band it's so hard to put that into perspective. It's the most uncomfortable thing, because bands I listen to - all the CDs in my car - maybe we sound just like those bands. Or nothing like them. I have no idea. So, really, any band that the audience wouldn't boo us off stage, we'd be happy to tour with. Well, even if we got booed off stage...that'd be fun sometimes too.

Smash:
Have you ever been booed off stage?
MG:
No.
MS:
No.
MG:
Well, not yet.