Rockwell: Hey everybody it’s Rockwell Anderson at Extreme Thing in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I’m here with this f****r. Who are you?
Richard: I’m Richard from the band Secrets. That’s who this f****r is.
Rockwell: Tell us your best kept secret. Your band’s name is Secrets so you have to have some.
Richard: I wear weird underwear. I wear the whity-tighties but they’re actually an assortment of colors. A lot of people don’t know that, but I’m married so she’s (pointing to wife off camera) the only person that sees it and she’s okay with it.
Rockwell: I was gonna ask you “What’s the dumbest question you’ve ever been asked?” But I think I just asked it.
Richard: That was really on the spot, I’ve never told anyone that. Some people see my shit when I’m like changing in the green rooms, and they ask, “You wear that?” And I’m like, “Yeah! It’s comfortable.”
Rockwell: At least you wear underwear. Being on tour that’s an accomplishment. How many pairs of underwear do you take on tour?
Richard: I have so many. I just keep accumulating them because I hate doing laundry. So I just keep buying new underwear and new socks.
Rockwell: FYI, if you don’t know, bands stink.
Richard: Yeah some bands stink. It’s easy to let it slide.
Rockwell: Enough of that stupid shit, let’s talk about Secrets! What’s new for 2016?
Richard: We just finished our very first U.S. headliner. We’ve been a band for five years and we just now did a headliner.
Rockwell: You’re from San Diego, aka whale’s vagina.
Richard: Yup, a whale’s vagina. We toured around the US for the first time with just us headlining. We’re doing Warped Tour 2016 for the first time.
Rockwell: We’ll see you there…. Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis… one of those dates.
Richard: I think we’re going to work on a new song in between Warped Tour… all that good stuff.
Rockwell: Tell us where we can find you on social media and all that.
Richard: At secretsofficial.com.
Rockwell: I remember seeing you at Chain Reaction a while back. My daughter was in a band that opened for you guys.
Richard: I love playing Chain Reaction. You’re basically a part of the crowd, that’s how close you are. It’s amazing. Did your daughter have a good show? I know her right? I feel like I know her. Was she in Shot In The Dark?
Rockwell: Yeah.
Richard: Yeah I know her, she’s great! I’m a fan.
Rockwell: What do you guys have planned for the summer (other than Warped Tour)?
Richard: Warped Tour is the biggest part that we have right now. Right now we’re working on getting some fall tours but I can’t talk about it right now anyways. But something will happen.
Rockwell: Sure… just leave us hanging… tell us about your tattoos.
Richard: I don’t have as much as I want because they’re costly, but this one right here is a microphone and roses. The microphone because, obviously, I love to sing and the roses are because my grandma’s name was Rose and she passed away. I loved her dearly. So this whole arm is kind of a tribute to her and music, and my mother. And on this arm (I love video games) I have Link from Zelda, and Fallout. It’s gonna be just a whole bunch of video games, and then I have Let Live on my chest.
Rockwell: How old were you when you got your first tattoo?
Richard: I got my first one when I was thirteen.
Rockwell: Did mom approve?
Richard: I got an anarchy sign because I was super against the government and shit. She hated it. She freaked out. She saw it and I was just hangin out at our house with my shirt off and I just totally forgot that I had it. It was so bad. It was done with a pen and a little motor from a fan, a guitar string, and then ink. It was the worst decision I’ve ever made. But it looks great now (covered up).
Rockwell: Who’s you’re artist?
Richard: Steve Kidwiller. He was outta Merced (CA) which is where I lived. He’s a family friend of my wife’s. Now he lives in Arizona. Flagstaff? Somewhere in the mountainy area, which is a bummer because he’s a phenomenal artist. We travel through Phoenix and Mesa but not Flagstaff on tour.
Rockwell: You have to go through on Interstate 40 to get through Flagstaff. What do you have planned next for tattoos?
Richard: Finish this side (with the video game characters).
Rockwell: You’re gonna get a sleeve?
Richard: Basically. It’s going to be all of my favorite video games. I have stuff from Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Mario, Sonic. I started playing video games at a really young age. I’ve been enthralled with it. That whole entire arm’s going to go to that. I have another one here too. It says “I need you so much closer” which is a tribute to my favorite band Death Cab for Cutie. My wife actually, I got the idea from her, she has the connecting piece, so she has the house with the couple on it. And then I have it separated. This is me off on tour “sailing”, and then she has the connected one of us together at home.
Rockwell: So you definitely have a lot of music-related tattoos. So what came first, your love for music or your love for tattoos?
Richard: My love for music, and of course that anarchy sign. I actually got that stupid tattoo before I even knew how to play guitar. I think my love for music definitely came before tattoos.
Rockwell: Do you see tattoos as part of the music culture?
Richard: Yeah I think it’s just such a big part of the culture here and it’s a way to express what you care about. I’m totally for it as long as you don’t get shitty tattoos. Unless you like shitty tattoos, and that’s who you are. I honestly believe that you should wait until you’re at least 21 to get your tattoos because life changes a lot. When I was eighteen I wanted to get sparrows… Why? It was so cliche. I was so glad I didn’t have the money to do it. I would have regretted it forever.
Rockwell: Well thank you for your time. Great performance earlier today and we’ll see you on Warped this summer!
