'Keeping A Close Eye On The Future!'

A great pop song does more for the soul in 3 minutes than a week’s worth of sunny days. It’s contagious, elating and mood altering. It helps you remember good times, good friends and makes you smile on the inside.

Meet THE LASHES: The freshest sound to come out of Seattle in over a decade – but don’t lump them in with their hometown predecessors; THE LASHES (Ben Clark: Lead Vocals, Scotty Rickard: Guitar, Nate Mooter: Bass, Vocals, Eric Howk: Guitar, Mike Loggins: Drums, Jacob Hoffman: Keyboards, Vocals) are a pop phenomenon waiting to happen. Their incredibly catchy and well crafted songs will take you back to the days of mix tapes and posters on your walls.

Hook infested rock ‘n roll, perfectly blended harmonies and danceable tunes keep the party in full swing on their debut full length album Get It, available February 21, 2006.

Chatting recently with founder and lead vocalist Ben Clark, I first noted that as it's already been self-admitted that when they started as a band that they "... weren't very good," what had they done to change that and ultimately end up here with Get It?! "Well anyone who says that they were good from the start are either lying or were a member of The Beatles! To become a great band we worked a lot of crappy jobs, dated a bunch of neurotic girls and most importantly, stayed in school. Oh wait, actually we didn't even do that! Oh well."

Your album title is short and to the point. But how does it relate to for you and was there another contender late in the process? "'Get It' is basically The Lashes' mantra. The Lashes are a rock and roll band who want to bring back the fun to the eternal teenagers of the world. Sometimes people are offended that a rock and roll band wants to have fun. Those people are jaded. Who wants to be jaded? Jaded is soooooo boring, 'cause you're at a party and Kelly Clarkson comes on and all your friends are like, "blah blah blah ... SINCE YOU BEEN GONEEEEE!!!" and you're standing against the wall all like, "Whatever dude, this girl doesn't even write her own songs!" And your friend is like, "Dude, shut up! You're talking over the chorus"!"

From inception, why has it taken eleven (11) drummers to finally get you honed and toned enough to stake a musical claim for Columbia Records? Just what was so damn wrong with all the others?! "Are we honed and toned? That's great! I have been waiting for someone to say that about us for years! Well, not waiting EXACTLY for "honed and toned", but I have always wanted someone to ryhme two words about us as a compliment! It makes the two separate compliments some new mutant-like compliment that no one has ever used before. So thank you. Oh, and Mike is our drummer because he was the chosen one!"

What was the atmosphere like there within the band when Columbia informed you that they were 'bumping' your album last year?! "Well, I ain't gonna lie ... we got drunk! But shortly thereafter we picked our pants up off the floor, plugged in the waffle iron and called a ron popeil infomercial at 3:30 in the morning to ask the operator lady if she'd ever been in love. I told you we were drunk! But our troubles were quickly over because our record label loves our record and gave us a great release date of February 21st! Plus, February is God's favorite month. Actually, I just made that up!"

The Lashes ... did this name indeed originate from the dying embers of a former relationship of yours?! "Dying embers? That sounds so morose. I would say that the name sprang forth like one of those waterfalls you see on the side of the freeway."

Are comparisons to bands like The Strokes a help or a hinder to you as you progress down the media way for this album? "People compare us to bands to give people who haven't heard us an idea of what they can expect. If you like The Strokes, then you know what you probably will like The Lashes. But you could put about 100 other bands in place of The Strokes and it would still be true. I think The Strokes are just smart enough to have a publicist who convinces rock critics to not only bring up The Strokes in articles about The Strokes, but also in articles about any other band either; a.) starting with "the"; b.) influenced by garage rawk; or c.) living in the world!"

For fun, and taking the titles of a few of your album tracks, please let us know:

'New Best Friend' - So, just who is your true Best Friend, in life ... and why? "All of The Lashes are each others best friends. I know that sounds a little weird or at least unbelievable, but we have spent years trapped in a van travelling the country together sharing everything short of toothbrushes. When it gets to the point when that is what your best friends are, nobody else even WANTS to be your best friend anymore!"

'Dear Hollywood' - What to you encapsulates Hollywood for all it is and all it ever will be? "I've been dreaming of all the plastic romanticism that is Hollywood since watching 'The Muppet Movie' non-stop as a kid! Hollywood is where all the beautiful, crazy, egotistical artists go to live their dreams of fame and fortune. Same thing for the ugly ones except most of them fail. Damn people like Pauley Shore and Screech for giving the ugly crazy people hope!"

'Please, Please, Please' - A little Beatlesesque, title-wise ... are you fans of The Beatles, perhaps?! "The Beatles are the Shakespeare of pop music. They didn't invent it, but they perfected it. But what are ya' gonna do? Stop trying to make good pop music? It's like, just cause someone wrote 'Romeo and Juliet' it doesn't mean you can tell Danielle Steele to stop writing romance novels! Even if you want to!"

What '80s (and possibly cheesy!) song would you love to cover today if asked ... and why?! "The best song ever written in the 80's is "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News! We play it at practice but have yet to break it out on stage. Someday ...!"

Lastly, I like Penguins ... do you?! "The Penguins were great! They had that song "Earth Angel" which funnily enough was used in 'Back To The Future' with the best 80's song ever, 'The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News! But if we are really going to talk great 50's doo-wop you can't deny The Platters. Not only were The Platters the first black group of the era to top the charts in America but were also able to have a seemingly endless supply of hits throughout the decade including 'Only You,' 'When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.' and my personal favorite 'The Great Pretender!"

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk

www.ColumbiaRecords.com

If you would like to win an AUTOGRAPHED copy of The Lashes' brand new CD, just answer this easy question: Singer Ben has always been at the heart of the band. He founded The Lashes in February of 2000, shortly after moving to Seattle from the backwoods of ... where?!