Patent Pending Interview

On his break from running Zebrahead's Tiki Bar at Slam Dunk South, we had a chat with Patent Pending's guitarist; Marc Kantor.

R13:For our readers that don't know you, please can you provide a brief background on Patent Pending?
MKPatent Pending is a pop-punk band from Long Island, New York, we have been around for 11 years and its been a fun ride. Finally, in October, we get to come to your beautiful country and play some shows with Bowling For Soup. It's going to be insane!

R13:You released the single 'One Less Heart To Break' a couple of months ago, how does it feel when people tell you that your music has helped them in a particular way?
MKBeing in music for the last ten years of my life, it is insane to have someone come up and know the words, let alone giving you letters and sharing personal stories. When someone comes up and says we helped them in the slightest way during their darkest hour, it is so heartfelt. When I go home thinking of that is what keeps me in this band, I see kids faces, adults faces, our friends faces, the fact that we can help anyone is the most beautiful feeling ever.
For a band who joke around a lot to release a song that serious because we've been through it is a great thing to help our friends. It turns out everyone that we deal with are our friends. We can't go to a show in New York, Pennsylvania, California and soon the UK, and see one of our friends faces missing because that would be absolutely miserable; especially when their friends are there. Everyone has to stick together and that's the main idea.

R13:Why do you think it is your fans feel able to share such personal issues so candidly with you?
MKWe made it very clear that we've all been through it, we all have some situation in our homes, in high school, everyone goes through it, and if our experiences can help just one person, then God bless us, we would love to help. We not martyrs, we're not saints but these are our friends and families, so if we can help them we want too.

R13:There is a scene in the video where a young guy is being bullied at school – what was school life like for you?
MKFor a few of us, absolutely. In the video the person getting bullied is homosexual. A big issue in America is that people are now coming out as homosexual in high school and not fitting in anymore. It is just insane because they are the same person they were before they admitted it. Their personality hasn't changed; it is just stupid to think that they change because their ideas of relationships change. We know what our friends have been through and wanted to portray that in the video. We saw people who are in the video getting emotional towards it, and that was incredible because it shows how real it is.

R13:Do you have a particular song that helps you get through the harder times in your life; and if so what it is about that song that inspires you?
MKYes, RX Bandits.... Damn! I've forgotten the name of the song! I have to tattoo on my leg, it's the song that says "The positive will always overcome the negative". It's on The Resignation, it has a reggae vibe to it, and whenever I'm bummed that song always makes me so much happier. I think it helps me because I listened to it when I was younger and going through a lot of hard times and I was able to fight through it, and I guess, still to this day it takes me back to that time. I also love The Beatles; they always help!

R13:You recently won Billboard's Battle Of The Bands, and had the opportunity to play at the Awards, how was that experience?
MKInsane! The fact that somehow Justin Beiber, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Usher were all forced to watch us because they had to be in the crowd is the craziest feeling. The fact that they would ever have to watch us makes no sense, but God bless them, they did. Afterwards Carrie Underwood came up to us and said we were great, she actually sat through it!

R13:What's the story with Whoopi Goldberg and Mike Tyson?
MKTwo different stories; Whoopi Goldberg was backstage afterwards and we were all like "Hey Whoopi! How are you?" She was the nicest woman in the world, she opened her arms to us. I think it was her daughter who said "You guys were fantastic!" They took pictures with us and everything.
Mick Tyson was sitting in front of Joe's fiancé, and he was loving it. He was fist pumping the whole way through our set, she took photos of him fist pumping just to have proof. It makes no sense that Mike Tyson would even see us in person, let alone fist pump to us. I loved it, it's great that you asked that, it was really a unique situation.
R13:Well, hopefully it's one you'll get to repeat time after time.
MKI hope so, I had to explain that to my mom. I was like "Mom, don't worry, it's going to happen again and we'll get you out to the next one!" Now I owe her one.
R13:It'll be fine, you'll get her out there and she can hang with Mike Tyson.
MKExactly! She can fist pump with him!

R13:You're featured on Crappy Record's Summer Compilation, how did that come about?
MKThe song we personally did, I'm a huge fan of. It has a lot of personal things in it. Our old bass player used to ding dong ditch all the time, we bring that up, we bring up the fact that we like to pool hop in the summer because Long Island gets so hot and so humid and if the pool is closed you've got to figure out a way to cool down. It's an overall fun song that makes complete sense on a summer compilation. I'm excited about this comp album, it's incredible, Bowling For Soup are on there, MC Lars, Erik Chandler, Janius and People On Vacation are all on there. It is a bunch of good friends all coming together.
I like to believe that we're on there because our band is good, but it turns out we may just be on there because we're good friends with Jaret! Either way, I'm not complaining.

R13:Jaret's video production company also made the 'Douchebag' video, how did you come up with the video concept?
MKBeing from Long Island the whole idea of the video is everyone from Long Island! We are born and raised with the people that go on Jersey Shore, if anyone who has ever seen that show knows it is literally a bunch of douchebags, so, we portrayed them and sang about them. Initially, I thought they song was about me but it's not, so that's good news.
R13:Are you sure? I'm not convinced!
MKWell, he claims it's not. I was like "Joe, you wrote the lyrics - is this about me?" He promised it wasn't, so hopefully he's telling the truth. Our good friends Heath and Jaret have a production company called Built By Ninjas and they were kind enough to film, edit, do everything for this video and they worked their asses off and it really shows. We'll have to work with them in the future because of how it came out. We were all so happy about the video.

R13:As you mentioned earlier, in October you'll be on tour with Bowling For Soup, what can UK audiences expect to see from you at a live show?
MKThe only way I can explain it is that we are going to be way more stoked than the crowd. Hopefully that energy will show off and hopefully the crowd takes that energy in because we are stoked to be coming over here. This will be our first time ever overseas and we want to make it count. I want to come back, so hopefully it goes well! We could never be more thankful to Bowling For Soup.

R13:When you're not on the road with Patent Pending, you work with Zebrahead, how do you manage your time between the two bands?
MKI am luckily enough to have the best band in the world and they understand that being in Patent Pending we make zero dollars, and I need to make a living somehow, and Zebrahead pays me just enough to live. So, if Zebrahead are on tour and we have a weekend show, we have a lot of close friends who will fill in, they are some of the best people in the world and I am so thankful to them. To be able to come out with Zebrahead while Patent Pending have shows is a blessing because it lets me continue to be in Patent Pending and that's my main concern. What I'm trying to say is, thank you to every one that helps me out back home!
R13:It sounds like you have some good friends.
MKThey're amazing, just the best!
R13:I don't know why....
MKYou're telling me, I don't do anything for them! Seriously though, they are the best people you could ever find in the world and I could not be more thankful.

R13:What can we expect to see from Patent Pending or Marc Kantor during the rest of 2012?
MKIn the world, we will be doing Warped Tour in the States for a week or so over summer. We have a new video coming out soon, the Have A Crappy Summer EP being released, we have the Bowling For Soup tour with The Dollyrots who also feature on the Crappy Records Compilation and I think after that we are going to start recording again. We're excited, you've got to keep working. In between all that, you'll probably find me on Zebrahead's Tiki Bar.

R13:Great, we'll see you in October. Thanks for your time.
MKThank you, oh, once again I just want to add a big thank you to everyone who fills in for me. I could never ever do anything without them.