Life is pretty good right now for Family Force Five. In fact, the band are living it up in the early summer sun. "We are enjoying a very rare treat," exclaims vocalist Chap Stique. "We had a show in Miami last night. Some people we're friends with have a vacation home that they weren’t using. So they were like, 'Go enjoy it for a day.' We just got off the boat actually. To be honest with you, it's awesome! We’re really indulging and enjoying the day. We live this glorious rock star life all the time [Laughs]. Nah, we're normally on the floor when people call." Family Force Five have had a busy year. They just finished up their forthcoming record Dance or Die, and now, they're readying their personal brand of funkified, punky, electro-rock for Warped Tour. They also happen to have various tricks up their sleeve to get crowds grooving this summer. As the sun beat down on the Miami sand, Chap took some time to talk to Skelanimals about proper Warped Tour attire, set list choices and much more.

Are you psyched to be on Warped this summer?

Absolutely, we’ve had a blast on our last two years, and we’re looking forward to our third year. There are some incredible bands that we get to see everyday. We always make a lot of friends out there. After we get done playing, there are about 20 bands that we could go watch. It’s a really unique experience. We’re doing the entire tour. The first year we went out, we did about two weeks. Last year, we did half the tour, and this year, we get to do the whole thing. So it’s really cool. The catering is also delicious. It’s the best we’ve ever had.

What are the highlights of catering?

They have some really good seafood! I always enjoy the fact that it’s very healthy. They have some good salads. My personal favorite is breakfast. They have all of this organic cereal that rules—plus fruit and yogurt. We’re used to Wendy’s and McDonald’s so that’s pretty amazing to us.

Who are you looking forward to seeing?

I’m really curious about Cobra Starship. I’ve heard a lot about that band, and I haven’t had a chance to see them, yet. I’m looking forward to the Paramore shows, when they’re out on the tour for a few dates. I’ve heard Story of the Year does back flips, so that’ll be neat to check out. I think Angels and Airwaves will be pretty cool, too. I really like the stuff I’ve heard from them.

How do you choose your set list for the Warped Tour?

That’s a good question. We’re actually about to do that right now, within the next day or two. It’s tough. It used to be easy, because we didn’t have a whole lot of songs to choose from, and we could just pick the songs that people liked the most. Now, we’ve got a whole bunch of new stuff from our record Dance Or Die (Due out in September). So we’re trying to figure out which songs we want to start playing live, and which songs we want as treats for when it comes out. The main thing for Warped Tour is, you just want to make sure you get out there, kick booty and do something as original and over the top as possible, because a lot of bands are just screaming and going crazy the entire time. We try to create a little more of an experience. We try to have the momentum build to a climax at the end, where the crowd’s dancing and going nuts.

You want to get people dancing. It’s definitely not all about the mosh pits for you guys.

Yeah, absolutely. We try to create an experience that’s very unique. On the Warped Tour, so many bands are doing the whole metal, screamo and rock thing. It’s cool to have a funky, Michael Jackson vibe in there too [Laughs].

Is it hard to stand out on a bill with so many bands?

I don’t know. The guys in our band are pretty fun. Everybody dresses weird, and we have hair that’s crazy. Our music is different from a lot of the stuff that’s out there. It’s not our normal crowd, so it does stand out quite a bit. This year, we have some really fun tricks up our sleeve that I think will make the band stand out a lot. We’ve built some instruments that don’t exist. We’ll be playing those. We’ve got these outfits especially made for the tour, and they’re like Voltron suits. I think the band’s going to look like superheroes when we get up there. We have fun with it.

Is it difficult to incorporate that visual aspect during the daylight shows?

I definitely will say it’s a little bit more challenging. We looked up to bands like KISS that built this incredible encounter when you went to their shows. There’s smoke, lasers, lights and pyro. We have a lot of those elements on our own shows. At Warped Tour, if you’re playing at 11am, it can be kind of hard to have a big show, but we do what we can. We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves and we’re going to make it very special. If you’ve got a motorcycle helmet, a mask or any weird costume you want to wear just put it on and come dance with us.

What’s the after show scene like?

Family Force 5 is very interactive. We really appreciate our fans a lot, because they’ve done so much for us. To be hones with you, we spend a large majority of the day hanging out, signing autographs, taking pictures and giving high fives, basically. That usually is what we do the entire day. We take turns manning the station where we hang out with people. Then we go check out the bands we want to see and enjoy the food. We're nerds about how much we love working. We spend time writing songs our, and we’ll work on “The Really Real Show,” which is something we do every week. It’s like Spinal Tap meets The Office. It’s our show that we broadcast on YouTube and MySpace. It’s so much fun that we hardly consider it work.

What Skelanimals character would most likely be a fan of Family Force 5?

I think Diego the bat is probably the most rock and roll. If we all could choose to be one of them, it’d be Diego, because he flies. He’s menacing, but he’s kind of cool. He’s not totally “metal,” but he’s funky. I think he’d be the biggest Family Force 5 fan. I don’t want to spoil any surprises, but we’re trying to make sure that a few of the Skelanimals characters will be able to be a part of our show on this Warped Tour and hopefully come dance around with us. Definitely Diego.

By Rick Florino