What's in a name? A lot when it comes to Dexter Freebish! Be prepared to go on the Roller Coaster ride of your life with this hot "new" band out of Austin, Texas.

Recently, popYOUlarity got the chance to catch up with Charles of Dexter Freebish. Learn more about his ride on the roller coaster of life..

popYOUlarity:For those that have never heard of “Dexter Freebish,” introduce yourself and the other band members and say one interesting thing about each of you.

Charles:I’m Charles, I play lead guitar. There’s Scott on the other guitar. Chris Lowe on bass, Kyle on Vocals and Rob Schilz on drums. I can’t really speak for the other guys, I guess. I think that the interesting thing is that we all like different styles of music. That’s what is interesting about the band. We all have different taste in music. It’s interesting to see us come together and play together as a band. I think our sound is a little bit different when we all come together on stage. That’s the interesting thing, I think.

popYOUlarity:How did you guys get together?

Charles:We met up in Austin, Texas and Chris and Kyle met each other from a newspaper ad, in the Chronicle and I met up with Chris at a party. We played together for the first time and we met two weeks later in a bathroom and he remembered me from the party and said “hey, don’t you play guitar?” and I said “yeah!” and he said “well, lets get together tomorrow.” So, he called me up the next day and we got together. It was me, Chris and Kyle originally in the beginning. Then, two years later we added Rob on drums. He was a friend of mine. I brought him in the band and then a year after that we added Scott on guitar, which was a friend of Chris’. We’ve been friends for about six years.

popYOUlarity:Where did the name “Dexter Freebish” come from?

Charles:It was called the “Dexter Freebish Electric Roller Ride.” It was a roller coaster that we grew up riding as kids, in Houston Texas at Astro World. That was the original name. And, legend has it that Dexter Freebish was the first person to ride down a ski slope in a covered wagon.
Both:(laughs)
Charles:I don’t know. He’s not alive to tell about it, so.. that’s the legend!

popYOUlarity:What do you think makes you guys unique?

Charles:I think the first thing is Kyle’s voice. He has a really clean, unique voice. The second thing is the guitar texturing.

popYOUlarity:What feeling do you get when you see yourself on TV, or hear your music on the radio?

Charles:Surreal. You get excited. When we first heard ourselves on the radio, it was exciting. We were calling all of our friends and family and telling them about it. Now, when we hear ourselves on the radio, it’s been almost a year so it’s not as exciting anymore. In the beginning, last year, last summer it was really exciting.

popYOUlarity:There's a lot of controversy right now in the music industry regarding Napster. What are your views on the whole free music trade?

Charles:We are pro Napster. It’s a good way to advertise and expose your music to people that might not have necessarily heard it or been exposed to it. So, it’s a good thing.

popYOUlarity:Did you ever think this is where you'd end up, or did you just think music would be a part of your life?

Charles:I always thought music would be a part of my life. I definitely hoped one day I would be sitting here in the Capital Records building talking to you.
Both:(laughs)

popYOUlarity:What is it like touring with SR-71?

Charles:They are a really great bunch of guys. They are really fun. We’ve had a great time this whole tour. Hopefully we can tour with them again sometime.

popYOUlarity:What goes on back stage?

Charles:Oh, I can’t tell you that!
Both:Laughs
Charles:There’s a bunch of nonsence that goes on backstage.
Both:(laughs)
Charles:Rob burnt down, actually he caught the backstage in Indianapolis on fire. He was leaning over and he caught a plastic bag on a candle and the whole place almost burnt down. The fire trucks had to come and everything. That was pretty crazy!

popYOUlarity:What are you thinking when you are on stage and the crowd is singing back to you?

Charles:I’m thinking, how in the heck does everybody know our song?, and how amazing it is. It’s a good feeling.

popYOUlarity:Can we expect a Canadian tour anytime soon?

Charles:Can we expect a Canadian tour anytime soon? Oh, that’d be great! Maybe at the end of the summer. We did Toronto about a month ago, and we were two days there and we love Toronto and we hope that we can get back there for some dates. They were talking about setting it up for sometime at the end of the year. So, hopefully soon!

popYOUlarity:Who would you like to tour with?

Charles:I would like to tour with Metallica.
popYOUlarity:That would be cool!
Charles:Yeah, if I had to pick one band.

popYOUlarity:Other than playing shows, what do you do for fun on the road?

Charles:We play “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” on our computers. We all sit around and try to win the million dollars (laughs). Other things we do are like soccer, hacky sack and you know, it’s so busy that we don’t have a lot of free time, actually. It may be hard to believe we’re so constantly busy and our days are pretty much spent in a van driving to the next town. Sometimes it’s an all day drive, so very little time!

popYOUlarity:What made you decide to choose the type of music that you play?

Charles:I don’t think we chose it as much as it chose us. It kinda just happened.

popYOUlarity:What is on your mind when you go in to work on music?

Charles:When we go in and rehearse we know that we have a very short time to work and just go in and we pretty much focus and try to get all five of us on the same page and we try to knock it out and do our buisness and we barely have any time these days. When we go in, we try to do it quickly and effectively. When we song write, it’s different every time. There is never really a method for song writing.

popYOUlarity:For those people that have never seen you live, what are the live shows like?

Charles:The live shows are high-energy, loud and sing-a-long-able.

popYOUlarity:Your job is to create a theme park based on the experiences of your life. Tell me what your park would look like.

Charles:It would have a skateboard ramp, half pipe. It would have a roller-coaster. It would have the biggest roller coaster in the world. It would have a dunking booth..
Both:Laughing
Charles:And, it would have a food court with different foods from all over the world. And, it would have a beach and everybody would be naked.
Both:laughing

popYOUlarity:Do you have anything you would like to say to the readers of popYOUlarity?

Charles:Come see us live if you get a chance! We sound a lot different than we do on the CD, so you have to come see us live.