I set up an interview with Ian, guitar player of Providence's own Pistol Shot Gypsy, shortly after listening to their debut album Smokin' Drinkin' Fightin'. (Review here). Ian had given me his number and I then forgot about the interview until I was sitting watching Oprah, drunk, and sans clothes. What?! It is the only way to watch O.

I picked up my phone to find out who I should drunk dial, when I came across Ian's name. "Oh shit, I forgot to do this interview." Armed with no questions, loaded on Miller Lite (I am a light weight), and without pants, I drunk dialed Ian. What ensued was an hour conversation about music, life, and a cure for herpes using fish. See for yourself.

Pistol Shot Gypsy is the name of your band, but what the hell does it mean?

Ian: The original band name was Soma City Ward. We took that from a Slash's Snakepit song. But believe it or not, there was a band out of Canada with the same name. This band basically wanted to sue us for using their name, so we dropped the Ward off the band name and told them to go fuck themselves. Our lawyer suggested before we go national and start copyrighting songs, that we change the name due to legal reasons. Nowadays just knocking off one word wouldn't hold up in court, I guess. We were at a loss for a while until my friend sent me this online website called Drunktionary. Pistol shot was on there and it apparently means to get hammered.

We like to party and this happens on occasion to us so it fit. But it still sounded gay just calling a band Pistol Shot. I was listening to Cinderella's Gypsy Road and someone suggested to stick Gypsy on the end of the name. This way we could do the Stone Temple Pilots thing and just shorten it to PSG. It worked great for them, why not us?

That's fantastic! Fellow fans of local favorites Cinderella. They are still together and still kicking ass.

Ian: I always liked Cinderella because they had that gritty rock n' roll sound. I can't say I was too into the glam look back in the day, but I always thought the singer had this cool AC/DC sound to him. They were one of my favorite glam rock bands.

Who have you toured with that you loved?

Ian: We have been very lucky. One of the X-factors that gains us opportunities with these bands is our songwriting. It is our greatest asset and I don't question it. It just works. This songwriting base has helped us play with such acts as Buckcherry, Finger 11, Chevelle, Saving Abel, and Sick Puppies. One of my proudest moments, I got to open up for Slash's Snakepit with my old band. I also got to hang out with him for the whole day. We had a mutual friend who did our website and she said we were cool. He even plugged my band on the radio before the gig. That was a big "Oh shit" moment for me….Slash plugging my band.

I have learned one thing from him and since have noticed a lot of other bands think this way. A lot of people think they are larger than life and they still can't get pick out in a crowd. Larger than life is Slash, Motley Crue, Bret Michaels. The larger they get, the more grounded they become. Back in the day, they weren't, but now they start to appreciate the fact that they accomplished something that is difficult to do - getting millions of people to like your music.

He changed his career when he switched managements and I think the kids really needs a rock guy to look up to.

We had a show with Days of the New where the band didn't show up and we had to do two sets. It wasn't too bad because it was a hometown crowd, but needless to say the crowd didn't have nice thinks to say about Travis Meeks. This was the NEW Days of the New.

I like how you went about reaching out to us. You seem up on the whole social media, internet marketing ideas that needs to happen now since big record labels are dying. We try to help unknown bands like yourself reach a broader audience in the hopes that someone when you visit their town will go to the show just because they like our review or whatever.

Ian: We have been trying to reach out to internet radio since we can't get too much traffic on FM thanks to the way the business is run. Internet radio, bloggers, and music sites have been supporting us well. We are really into online marketing and I know when you wrote that blog about us I hit up all our bookmarking site, microblogs, etc. Then I can see on Google Analytics where the traffic is coming from. I then know that if I promote it correctly I can push X amount of traffic over to bloging sites and vise versa.

This is the new way the business is run. It didn't used to be like this, but that is what it has evolved into. Bands have to do their own marketing, their own leg work. While it is more work, it is also allowing bands not to sell their music to a record label.

Ian: Here is my theory, when they started downsizing these companies and they started releasing all these talented A&R reps and agents. If I have enough money, I can solicit these guys who used to be untouchable. These guys, I believe, ran the show. It isn't the dinosaurs sitting in Capitol Records or something, it is these guys.

But as you said, the internet is a blessing in disguise for unsigned bands. If they use the internet correctly, they can make a lucrative career off it. You still need to make good business connections and then let your connections HELP you.

Let me inside your brain. Bring me into the recording studio with PSG. How do you guys pull a song from the creative ether?

Ian: Well that is the part I was talking about earlier, the part I don't question. It sometimes starts with a riff. Our singer, Ron, I thank God I have him in my band every day. He can take a riff or bits of songs and he can get us out of those writing jams that sometimes hem up other bands for weeks. Instead of sitting there "Hey what do we do next?" He can get you to the next part of the song.

It is more the band chemistry that works for us than a specific process. It is kind of like Legos, we start with a riff and build on it from there.

I appreciate that because then it truly is a BAND effort and not a one person show like Paramore or some stupid shit like that.

Ian: Exactly. That kind of song writing doesn't deliver to the fans in the right way. Like you said, it is a band. It is three, four, or five piece marriage almost. I think some bands try to force it a bit or egos get in the way. That is what's great about us, we have no egos. We get it done because we want to get it out there and tour behind it.

What are you guys doing now?

Ian: We are working on a bunch of new tunes in the studio. We are going to try and subcontract out a label to try and push Smokin' Drinkin' Fightin' out there. If any national touring band pops up, we'll take it. We just want to get that nationwide fan base set. It is starting to happen now because of the internet marketing. It is ideal if you go in front of a headliner that packs a 2,000-3,000 person club and you are direct support. We feel like we have something to prove and through that we get a good fanbase. We are in the process of building that fanbase hardcore.

That is what crumbles bands, trying to get that initial fanbase. Once you have it and you treat them right, they do all the work for you. That is how you start blowing up.

I was watching Oprah, as I am accustomed to do at 4pm on weekdays. They had this story about medicine men in Africa advising their tribe to have sex with babies to get rid of AIDS.

Ian: I don't understand that philosophy and that can one of two ways and I don't even know if we can talk about that for legal reasons.

Well lucky for you, this question has nothing to do with baby sex. The medicine man uses the tools at his disposal, which I think we can safely assume is not Westernized medicine. Let's say YOU are that medicine man and I came to you with herpes. How would you cure it as the tribal medicine man.

Ian: First you would have to find an extremely polluted North American pond next to an old factory that was dumping all their waste in. You will need to find a fish because that is where a lot of these medicines come from. In order to cure herpes, you are going to need plutonium or this fish.

The key is to let the fish sit out in the sun for a while and bake on the road. Let's say you are on the road with the guys in Texas and you can remove the fish from the cooler and let it bake in the Texas heat.

Then you have to wear the fish like a fig leaf on your jock, just to make sure. You will stink and depending on how big of a rockstar you are, you might get laid. But me, if I wore a fish, no one would come near my side of the stage that night. This is my best bet to get my herpes cured by about 9:00 so I could do another groupie.

That groupie might get you herpes again so keep the fish. If anyone is going to cure herpes it is me and the guys. That is on our agenda to do because it can get in the way of extracurricular activities. I think Pistol Shot Gypsy needs to take a stand and cure herpes for the greater rock n' roll good.

The agenda is becoming so clear: conquer the world, cure herpes.

Ian: Conquer the world, cure herpes, and after that cancer is no sweat after curing herpes. Then because we did all that we have a bunch of money and we party all day and night.

Back to the babies thing…I don't understand that. Babies are clean. You need something dirty to fight something dirty.

We want to thank Ian for talking with us and providing us valuable insight into the inner workings of Pistol Shot Gypsy. They create great music, have zero egos, and will treat your woman right. Make sure you check out Pistol Shot Gypsy's main site for tour dates, album news, and how you can purchase their debut album Smokin' Drinkin' Fightin'.

If there is one thing you can take away from this interview it is "You need something dirty to fight something dirty." That is not only sound life advice, but also sound LEGAL advice. Remember:

"You need something dirty to fight something dirty."