Is this your first time even attending Warped or have you ever been before?
Well, this is my first time playing, but I did some merch on Warped Tour 2000.

So you have some experience with what the tour is like.
Yea, it's hot! I think my body since then is not used to it, so I think I am going to go into a little bit of shock. My poor band, I feel bad for them. They are used to the Vancouver rain and I know they are going to get up on stage and just pass out.

Being the first touring experience as a band on Warped, how are you taking this tour? Is it a time to really work to find new fans or is it a time to have fun and win fans over who come to see Britt Black play?
Well, we have management on tour with us for some of it, so we have to do some work. But I learned that if someone puts posters up on doors or wherever, someone will come along and put them on top of the others. So we handbill for like four hours, we get on the megaphone to try and get everyone to not just watch us, but all the bands on the Shiragirl stage.

I remember getting the email from your label about checking out Britt Black, and it was a curious call because this is not typical Warped Tour music.
Yea, we are not really punk at all. At least I didn't think so, but everyone is seeming to like it.

Were you concerned at all about how your music may be received in this environment?
I was just worried about if they heard me on CD and had a preconceived notion of whom I am. I am definitely a lot harsher live and we play to fit the tour we are playing so I think seeing Britt Black live is a lot different than the CD, but I am not really worried at all about that kind of stuff. So far, the people have been awesome.

You have only played a few shows since getting here to Columbus, but have those shows gotten you more excited about the rest of the summer?
Oh yea. The reactions have been great and I am so excited about it. Especially about the pink stage, because it is so easy to tell everyone to go to the pink stage at like 4 pm. We had a good turnout yesterday and today was really good. I am just excited. I am a little scared of the heat in like Arizona, but that is the only problem. But everything else I am so excited about.

We you ever questioning the idea of being on the Shiragirl stage and just being considered a girl band and being categorized into that from the get-go?
I struggled with that all my life. My management wanted me to play the girl card and I really don't feel like screaming "Stay and watch me, I got tits!" I hate that. And it is not like I am bashing Shira or anyone else, but that is just not what I am about. I have guys in my band for a reason. I play like a guy and I sing like a guy ... almost. And that is what I have grown up liking.

When I heard a few songs on the Internet, it reminded me of a Boston band named Damone who will be on the tour later this year and they are fronted by a girl who is much more Joan Jett than Lita Ford.
Yea, I am not going to sit there and play my guitar up high and wear skimpy outfits. That is not what I am about.

Yea, she also has the guitar down by the knees and just rocks out.
Awesome, we are definitely going to have to hang out together.

I remember asking here about how her band reacts to her getting most of the attention. Obviously, just being the front person you are going to get it naturally, but there is always that undercurrent of being female as well.
Well, from the very beginning when I was holding auditions, I made sure that they knew this was for Britt Black, and I am a solo artist. I include them in writing and the usual things that a band would be included in, such as decision-making and they like that. But sometimes they may get on their high horse and I will have to get management involved to let them know that this is not the drummer's band or the guitar player's band or whoever's. It is just like any other band.

Was it hard for you to get used to having a band around and not making all the decisions based on just you, but an entire band?
I played guitar for 12 years and never sung in my life. I had to start singing last year and it was weird because you can't do your regular jumping around because there is a mike stand in front of you and you have to be in front of it to sing. For a while it was like, "I don't know how to do this." So it took me a couple of tours to get into the groove and I am really starting to like it. I am like, gimme the mike!

It is a lot easier on the body.
Exactly. That's true. My drummer is sweating by the second song and I am feeling fresh and ready to go. I may not start sweating until like the fifth song.

How has life changed once you learned you were going to be on this tour? That you are not going to be going from club to club playing at night, but playing 20 minutes or so in the heat of the day?
Well, we get a half hour and we usually don't play on the Shiragirl stage until 4 pm anyway, so we are not like some bands that may play at 11 am one day and 7 pm the next. And we just got off a two-month tour with Bif Naked, so during that tour I had to get all my album artwork together, and it was hard trying to find Internet in some of the small towns we were playing, but that was really the only problem we had on that tour. Which was pushed back until July 25. But Warped is actually a bit easier because everything is close by every day.

Was it frustrating to push it back?
No, not at all. It got pushed back because I got more buzz about the band than any other the label has worked with, so they wanted to have some more time to promote it. And it was only 20 days, so I don't care. It has been pushed back six months so far, so I am not complaining.

How excited are you about it coming out versus how much will just be relief once it is out since you have been waiting six months for it.
I guess more relief, but not so much about the fact it has been pushed back. But this is just the American version of the Canadian release, so the songs have been out there for about a year and a half. It wasn't good enough then, so I wanted to redo it and make it sound more like the band. But I just want it to get out and for everyone to hear it.

One of the other reasons I wanted to talk with you is because you are one of the few female-fronted bands that don't flaunt the sexuality. So from your perspective, even in these few days, how have you been able to interact with all these guys on tour?
Well, there haven't been any bad things happen yet. In fact, so far, the guys will help me drive my gear around and I have gotten to know their names and may play that up a bit. So I think I have gotten lucky in that respect. But in the end, I want them to respect me as well, and that is why I do get out there and try to rock as hard as I can every day.

For you, how has it been trying to get those kids who have probably never heard Britt Black and who are at the Shiragirl stage for whatever reason but to see Britt Black exclusively, how has it been trying to win them over?
It is definitely different. In Canada, we have played to 40,000 people screaming our names and wearing the outfits we have worn on our records, but it is also cool to play in front of a lot of people who have never seen us before because we can do it the right way now. We have made a lot of mistakes before, and we learned from them and can hopefully start doing things right. But we were young and obviously made some mistakes. I had all the decision-making before because we were on an independent label. So that was definitely a very different Britt Black then you see today. But we are learning and compromising and hopefully becoming a better band that we were even 18 months ago when these songs were first put out in Canada.