For the past couple of years, David Garcia, Paul Akers and Trevor Monks have been creating music under the name of Winston & The Telescreen. Based out of Southern California’s Inland Empire, this trio has been playing shows and recording demos.

Akers: Like maybe we're fooling people. I've only heard bits and pieces of them, which I remember liking, but I can't say I thought we sounded like them. I'm not really sure we were a band yet though so maybe I've got it all wrong.

Monks: I'm not sure...I haven't heard Belle and Sebastian, but I hear [they’re] pretty cool.

2. Who are your major influences?
Garcia: My influences tend to fluctuate quite a bit- for instance for about a week I was on a serious Yeah Yeah Yeahs kick, but as far as some constant major influences I would have to say Radiohead, Beatles, Björk, Ani Di Franco, Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Bob Dylan- all of the songs I hear playing when I'm out at brit-pop dance clubs, (you'll hear a lot more of that particular influence coming out of our newest material)- but most recently The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Who, and this band that we recently started doing shows with- Madman Moon.

Akers: From the time I started to identify with music I pretty much only listened to classical so I guess a lot of that still resonates for me. In the last four years or so, I've finally accepted that there's good rock/pop/etc. still being made and so I've latched onto certain staples like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Beck, but in general I prefer influences to be something that I notice after I've started writing a song. The Beatles are always surfacing, I suppose. Before I had my "own" music to listen to I heard a lot of 80s bands that my older brother and sister listened to so there's a part of that in my sense of pop/rock too. The Smiths are probably the only one that I really refer back to on occasion.

Monks: Medeski, Martin, and Wood, James Brown, N.E.R.D., D.J. Shadow, Phish, Radiohead, Postal Service, Miles Davis and many more *sings*

3. How did you meet?
Garcia: I met Trevor while I was playing at some local coffee houses in Riverside, at the time I was doing some folk pop type music. We played together for awhile but I started drifting away when I started dating this one girl. A couple years later he called me up to audition for this one project that he was working on so I came into the studio and met Paul and right there in the first few minutes of that first day we put together "Says She’s Sorry" and I could tell right away that this was a project that would always be exciting and be able to move in any direction we felt like taking it.

Akers: I had known Trevor since high school. We were both in the band, but I don't think I really knew him much until he started going out with this cute girl that I had classes with. We ended up with our first church job together playing in Corona. I went back east for college and really hadn't seen Trevor until I graduated and was back in Riverside, drinking one night with my cousin who was about to leave for Iraq. He was working with another keyboard player at the time, but thought I should come in, see if things might work out. The three of us played for a while, but we didn't see eye to eye and so Trevor played me a couple recordings of David and I liked his voice. Then we met.

Monks: I knew Paul from high school band and he got me a job working at a church. We worked together for several years. Paul went to Boston University to get his composition degree. I met David through a friend and saw him play at an open mic night at a coffee shop and I thought to myself: this man has that special something. He just needed the right musicians to bring it out of him. We did guitar and percussion sets at local coffee shops, but the music was plain and it lacked bottom. I tried pairing David up with different musicians, but it would either fizzle out because of our lack of musical knowledge or lack of theory I suppose or they wouldn't see eye to eye. So I ran into Paul four years later and he was telling me about all his experiences in college and all the different styles of music he was listening to and I thought he would compliment David's writing...so we all got together and it just worked.

4. Where did you come up with the name Winston & The Telescreen?
Garcia: I went to my bookcase and brought down a bunch of books that I thought might be appropriate. Franny and Zooey, Siddhartha, 1984, Demian, Brave New World, Steppenwolf, Nine Stories, Dubliners, Immortality, Lord of the Flies, At Play in the Fields of the Lord and some others. I just started flipping through those and sketching out some ideas on a notepad. Winston and the Telescreen came from 1984 and I really liked some of the possibilities for the name not only because of the current social relevance of the reference but also because I felt that it opened up some really interesting directions in design- at the time I had really strong desire to make some old Soviet style propaganda posters and put them up every 2 feet.

Akers: David comes up with the words. Leave me out of it, unless it's for vague things like the beginning of Cynicism.

Monks: David came up with it. I thought it sucked, but it stuck and I guess it grew on me.

5. How would you describe your music?
Garcia: I think that at this point I've resigned myself to just calling us indie pop rock- but really, I mean, we do a large variety of music. If you go to one of our two to three hour shows, or even just look at the diversity of our influences- we play all sorts of moods and styles, it just depends on the venue, and the crowd, and how we're feeling that day. If I was at this moment to attempt a relevant description I'd say something like- it’s melodic, dissonant, playful, educated, sad, pop, divergent dance rock - or something equally broad and confusing.

Akers: Sad, thoughtful, dynamic, playful.

Monks: Other than answering your question and telling you what I think the sound is like I'd like to tell you what I think the sound should be like. When we sit down and write tunes my only goal is to create a sound that I find interesting and would actually spend $12 to buy if I weren't in the group. Whatever.

6. What do you imagine it would feel like to have fourteen-year-old girls (or boys) screaming your name?
Garcia: At this point I think I would find that a bit creepy and disconcerting, but I suppose one day that would be a good thing- I'd like it more if people closer to our own age were really into us (17 to 30 or so). Screaming fourteen-year-olds have historically been the biggest supporters of terrible music that should never be heard. They really screwed us with that whole N'sync Britney Spears era, so they aren't really a target demographic of mine, but I feel happy when anyone likes us. So, I guess I'm saying that I would enjoy that in a sense, but in another sense it would make me really nervous- I'd be hearing the screams and thinking "Dear Lord, please let this be a Beatles type thing, I don't think could live through a Backstreet Boys style career arc."

Akers: Isn't that schizophrenia? That's how I imagine it anyway. I think it would be amusing though. There are plenty of people who like our music that I can't imagine communicating with by any other means than music so it would probably feel about the same.

Monks: Strumtrulescent.

7. Which band would you love to open for, still around or defunct?
Garcia: When it comes down to it for me I really just want to play with people who I respect and enjoy and who are just good people to hang out with. So we've already played some shows that I've been very happy with. Anytime that we're doing a show with the Michael Miller crusade, or Madman Moon that makes me really happy to be alive and doing music. We also played with a couple bands, Franklin for Short from Ventura, and The Disappointment from San Francisco whose sets I really liked, and so I enjoyed playing with them too. Anytime the show as a whole is going to be good I feel fantastic. As far as bigger names that everyone knows- basically everyone in my influences of course- I think it would have been fun to do a show with the doors just so I could go out with Jim Morrison afterwards and get really drunk and stumble around the city talking shit. Also I heard that the Strokes like to get really drunk and start bar fights, so that sounds like pure joy, I'd love to do a show with them and then have a large brawl after the show preferably against a bunch of white supremacists or something. I think that we could do an amazing set with Coldplay and I love those guys, so that would be a really good thing. Or it would also be great to play with the yeah yeah yeahs or Franz Ferdinand. I think if I played with Thom Yorke or Björk I'd probably just freeze and piss myself so I'd be scared to be around them. Our friend Jerome plays in Switchfoot and he’s a real cool cat- it would be fun to play a show with him sometime. Opening for Ani Di Franco is definitely a personal dream of mine and that's something I think about a lot.

Akers: Velvet Underground would be great...would have been an interesting/empty scene to be involved in. I'd love to open for The Polyphonic Spree, too; play a set that goes from loud to soft before the Spree bewitches the crowd.

Monks: Radiohead hands down.

8. What do you feel is wrong with mainstream radio?
Garcia: Shit, I don't even want to get started talking about this. It infuriates me even thinking about it. The whole "pay to play" system is just fucked. And that applies to both radio and many venues in southern California. It dumbs down music for everyone and everyone suffers. The radio should play good music. Period. I hate getting inundated with crap. I hate flipping through the radio and television and hearing nothing but "the reason" -to give you an idea of how I feel about mainstream radio you should know that in my car its 95% NPR, and I only listen to other stations that other 5% because those car guys really don't hold my interest. Music in general has taken a turn for the better lately so that's a good thing- but if you’re feeding me some "walk idiot walk" and I'm loving it and then switch me suddenly to something that sounds like Creed- I'm gonna be pissed- For now I place my faith in the internet where people choose what it is they want to listen to. And that forces the rest of us to focus on making some good music and not just some catchy single and then have the rest of the album be a bunch of horseshit. All the modern artists I like aren't really played on the radio except for a couple singles- (and because mainstream outlets play so much crap there’s some good artists that get crucified once they finally hit mainstream radio- think Modest Mouse- and that's bullshit too-all you elitists way too fucking concerned with how "hip" others think you are assholes, Modest Mouse is as good as they've always been- don't get pissed at them cause the nation finally decided to have a bit of good taste)

Akers: Bands are put on mainstream radio with money from major labels for the most part so the variety/lack of is dictated. I can't imagine it being particularly different though for a radio station that wants to make money. I hear plenty of crap on mainstream radio and then a few good songs. The same is pretty much true of independent stations too. The difference is just variety, but the problem is that the average listener actually likes hearing songs they've heard before. What's more soothing than something you know? I listen to the radio just to pick up trends, hear something that everyone refers to. It's much easier to hear about good music from people you know whose taste you trust or agree with. I always had it relatively easy because my brother and I have a big overlap with taste in music.

Monks: My thoughts are similar to Paul and David's.

9. You guys are pretty new. What's your fan base like?
Garcia: I don't even know how to answer that question- I guess, broad. Our fan base is all over the place, all ages, all styles, all types. I guess it makes sense because of all the different styles we do. Its kind of odd because people have all these different favorite songs and they come up to us and say " I love this song, you should really focus all your energy in THIS direction, and then the person next to them is like- um, that songs good but I like THIS song." You can pretty much tell what style the person prefers by looking at their clothes- tight pants, messy hair they’re going to want, "dancer", and "lets pretend we're lovers"- basic clothing that's not really part of any style is going to want "says she’s sorry", or "greens and blues" Older people are going to like "Chicago 1" or "down and out is only down and out"- artists are going to love "the crowned prince samo" and "Chicago 2" and anyone wearing a Radiohead shirt is going to be all about "metropolis" or "home". I mean, I'm serious when I say that our fan base is all over the place. We definitely don't fit in properly with any scene as a whole. But if we're going to do a 5 song set we can fit into any scene we feel like and no one would be the wiser. Its kind of fun to do a big show somewhere where we're having a lot of people get together and see how they react to each other. We just like to go in whatever direction interests us- I hear bands say odd things like 'we do it for the fans"- we're nothing like that- I mean, we love the fans- but we do this shit for ourselves and no one else. And that's what makes this project so fun and worthwhile, because we just do whatever we want, and focus on making whatever that particular song is good- and the next song gets the same treatment. So in practice its like, 80s dance, then blues, then alternative, then artsy folk- its just a big fucking mess, but it's a beautiful mess and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Akers: There's a wide range. I'm not too interested in a fan base that fits a mold so that's fine. I just want people to have a good time and enjoy the music. I'm pretty sure anyone is capable of that.

Monks: It's a pretty mixed bag of nuts. Mmm, mixed nuts.

Winston and The Telescreen can be seen on MySpace.com and sometimes dancing on Tuesday nights at Incahoots in Riverside.