and he effs up the title of AC/DC record that allegedly helped change his musical life

What made you pick up an instrument?

I think for me it was Hard Day’s Night. I saw that movie when I was a little kid and thought, “Ok, that’s what I want to do.” Growing up my dad played guitar and my mother’s brother was a long haired hippy guitarist, who I thought was really cool. Then I discovered KISS and I thought that that no one could be as good as them. I swore that I would only listen to their records.

Your poor parents, when did the KISS phase wear off?

I’m not sure. I grew up in Dubai and at the time you could buy cassettes for like buck. I would walk around with like ten dollars and be able to buy all this music. But I bought a lot of them based on the album artwork. I remember seeing the album cover for There Will Be Blood by ACDC. That album has a guitarist stabbing himself with the guitar. I think that’s the moment KISS became less important. Also around that time my good friend moved to Dubai and his brother introduced me to punk rock, specifically the Sex Pistols and the Specials. That guy changed my life.

the album is not called “there will be blood” as you can see, but fortunately the iPhone commercials will still help the submarines sell records mp3s. as you might recall when the subs came out in 2006 i was madly in love with them. still sorta am.

read the whole LAist vs dude from submarines interview here

update: a pleasant gchat friend reminds me of this scene in Empire Records