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Interview with Action Action
By: Meagan Rockne
 Once upon a time in an enchanted
land called New York City, there lived a wide-eyed
songwriter named Mark Thomas Kluepfel. Mark was already
in a successful band called The Reunion Show but he was
unhappy. Mark desperately wanted to write songs that were
more personal, but he couldn't. It wasn't until The Reunion
Show broke up and he got together with bassist Clarke
Foley, guitarist Adam Manning and drummer Dan Leo that he
was finally able to write more personal lyrics.
This band was called Action Action.
One magical night the band caught the attention of Victory
Records. It was a whirlwind romance of the musical variety.
The band did extensive tours of the United States, Europe,
Australia, Japan, Mongolia (you would not
believe how huge they got over there.) The band played to
sold-out shows and released platinum album after platinum
album, each CD being better than the last and their fans
never wavering as their popularity skyrocketed. The band's
end came just as Mark prophesized with the death of one of
its members. Although the band is no more, fans shouldn't
be sad because its members are living off the nice fat
royalty checks and drinking a lot of Starbuck's
Frappuccinos.
NowOnTour: I remembered seeing a commercial
for your CD, Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's
Fashion, and it was put in the same company as
Interpol and The Killers; how do you feel about that
association?
Mark Thomas Kluepfel: [sarcastically] Yeah, I
love it. To answer your question, no, I hate it. I don't really
think we sound anything like those bands and I'm not trying
to and I don't want to. It was a silly marketing campaign that
I think hurt us a little bit because I think fans of those bands
are just kind of like, "This doesn't sound anything like them."
It was a stupid marketing campaign that I disliked
heavily.
You've stated that the songs on the album are
more personal than your previous work. is there a subject
matter that's off limits.
No. I don't know what I'll write about next. It's up in the air.
This album was, I guess, more like a break through for
myself that I can write about anything really. I guess no
subject matter is taboo.
Why the contrast between dark lyrics and pop
hooks?
I don't know. I'm not a pop guy, I don't think. Maybe I am.
Well, they're catchy.
Yeah, I guess. Like, I guess I'm secretly a pop guy. But I
don't like pop, but I do. I don't know. I like darker lyrics
better. They're easier for me to write, believe it or not. I
can't write stupid, happy crap. I don't know how. I think it all
just sounds lame and clichŽd. So, I'm learning how
to do it. I'll take a class, 'How to Be a Pop Star'.
Do they offer those kinds of
classes?
I hope they do. I'm sure they will.
Why are "This Year's Fashion" and "Don't Cut Your
Fabric" the same song?
The original version was the first one on the CD, the slower
one ["This Year's Fashion."] It was a demo and then when I
took it to the band, it became really fast and more like the
rock one ["Don't Cut Your Fabric."] I was set on that one.
Then our producer overheard the demo and was set on that.
We were like, "You're out of your mind. You're crazy." So he
was like, "Just record it." And I was like, "All right.
Whatever.... And eventually ended up liking it more. So I
was glad that he made us do that.
In the scheme of continuity, wouldn't it have made
more sense to have "Don't Cut Your Fabric" before "This
Year's Fashion?"
I don't know. I like "This Year's Fashion" better. I like the
song better. So it got the better end of it. I didn't feel like
writing "Don't Cut Your Fabric ToÉ" See what it is, I also
didn't want to have a title track. I was so annoyed by it, but
I didn't want to change the name and I didn't want to change
the album, so I was like, 'All right, there it is." It kind of
dictated itself.
You recorded the album in a haunted mansion; did
you witness anything supernatural?
Yeah.
Like?
No, I didn't witness anything. I was spooked out the entire
time though. The guy who owned it had this billiard room,
which was in the wing that we were not in, we were
recording in a different wing, a completely different building
actually, and his billiard room was also a library - it was like
a study, a study/game room thing - and that room creeped
me out so bad. I was in it twice and each time I was like,
"Not for me. See you later." My buddy George, who
engineered, he liked to talk to ghosts so he believed there
were some unhappy souls trapped in the estate.
Did you ever get bored and break out an Ouija
board?
No. I'm not brave. It was really cool. You couldn't be bored
there. There's so much to do and so much to see. Aside
from all the instruments, there was a lot of old, cool crap
and the grounds it's on was just incredible too. I tried
playing tennis. I'm not very good at it. It was on this
professional, Olympic made [court]. The guy's loaded
apparently.
When will there be a new album?
I don't know. February, maybe. Our label wants us to put
one out in February. I don't know yet. I have to see what
we're doing in the fall. When we get home from this tour, I'm
gonna finish writing it and then see when we'll record.
They're thinking September but I'm thinking more like
January.
Will there be as many guest
vocalists?
I don't know yet. It was originally more like a project and
this has now morphed into a band. Probably not, I don't
really know. I kinda like recording with a lot of people. But
this is a band, so I don't really know yet.
Did you shop around for a label and Victory offered
you mounds of money, all you can drink Starbucks'
Frappuccinos and droves of girls?
They offered us zero girls, zero Starbucks, they didn't offer
us the most money. Our friends were on it, Taking Back
Sunday, and they did all right for themselves - a little-known
band. It came highly recommended from them and we were
noticing how the label was growing and we liked everyone
who worked there, so it kinda seemed like a good idea. I
believe we signed in August of 2001, but I'm a liar and I
have no idea. I'm making this up.
What's the strangest thing that you've had a fan
give you? Or do they not give you things?
No, they do. I don't know. I got a cooked chicken once. I
guess that's not very strange.
Was it good?
I don't know. I don't eat meat. Yeah, it was good. Why not.
It looked good.
While you're on stage, do you ever find yourself
going on autopilot and start thinking about what you're going
to eat for dinner or old 90210 episodes?
Yeah, that's not good if I do that though. When I do that, I
usually forget lyrics and I usually forget how to play songs.
It's always weird when it happens. You don't mean to do it
but you kind of get preoccupied with something and you're
like, "Holy shit, I'm on stage. What the hell is wrong with
me?" you know adult ADD in full effect. That's kind of
frightening 'cause I'll have this daydream sequence episode
in my head and I'll come back and be like, "Oh hey. Hello
buddy."
Is being on tour kind of like high school in the
respect that you are around the same people for six weeks
but after that you aren't really friends or do you keep in
touch?
It's kinda like high school, but it's more like junior high. I
feel like I'm on tour with 13 year olds. Everyone in the band
is 13.
Why 13?
I don't know. Just concerned with getting chicks, learning
how to drink and smoke pot and like, "Yeah, this is great."
Any more videos in the works?
Yeah, we're gonna do a video for "Photograph" at the end of
our Warped Tour dates, so mid-August. I don't know when
it's gonna be done.
Do you like how the video for "Drug Like" turned
out?
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't my vision, necessarily. It was all
right. It sucked because there was so much more to that
video that you didn't see because it should have been a
two-day shoot but it was only a one-day and there was a lot
of stuff that would have been awesome. It was gonna pay
homage to The Big Lebowski a little bit. There's
no story line, there was a really cool one. We just kinda
ended up in spider webs.
After you write a song, do you think about how you
want a video to look?
Yeah, sometimes. I've done three videos, no, four videos. I
might have done five videos in my lifetime. With this band,
I've done two and no, they don't ever look the way I want
them to.
How do you prophesize the end of Action
Action?
One of us has to die.
Which one?
I don't know.
You're not placing any bets?
It would be a good story though.
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