By Dylan Davis and Wendy Diamond
Pop band Honor Society is teaming up with the ASPCA and Ubisoft Entertainment to celebrate Petz Sharing and Caring Month as Ubisoft “unleashes” its new Petz video games for the Nintendo DS. The popular foursome, Andrew Lee, Alexander Noyes, Michael Bruno and Jason Rosen, sat down to discuss how they got involved in this event, who their influences are and what makes their tails wag!
WD: Were you all part of the honor society? Did you get good grades?
AN: It’s just like college, there are pre-requisites.
MB: We all went to great colleges. When the name came up, it really fit our vibe. We’re not a dark rock band, we’re all positive. We wanted something fraternal that involved our friendship, but something involving “fraternity” felt a little too exclusive to our fans and we wanted something more inclusive for them. Honor Society just fit.
WD: What kind of pets do you all have?
AL: I have two cats. My parents still have a cat of mine, so I guess I have three. When I grew up, I had dogs, I had cats, I had a turtle.
AN: I have a miniature Poodle named Willis. We actually do a lot of YouTube videos on our site, youtube.com/honorsociety and in those videos Willis is often times featured so the fans have really gotten to know her. She actually gets gifts at the meet-and-greets and stuff like that. She’s become part of the family.
MB: I actually haven’t had a dog in a super long time. We would either rehearse at Jay’s house or Alex’s house, so both of their dogs became kind of the band dogs. So, I consider them my own, basically.
JR: We got my dog, Cassidy when I was in high school. She’s just amazing. She’s always there when you come home. She’s always just happy to see you. That’s the great thing. Dogs don’t care if you had a horrible day or you’re feeling down. They always lift you up and lift your spirits. Cassidy was actually there at the inception of the band. We’d rehearse in my basement and Cassidy would come down many times and just hang out. I named her after a Grateful Dead song called ‘Cassidy.’ It was either that or Bertha, and we didn’t really like that.
WD: How did you all get involved in helping launch Petz and this whole program with the ASPCA?
AL: We were approached by Ubisoft and they told us about their involvement with the ASPCA and we just thought it was such a good opportunity to get awareness out there to kids who may not even be able to have real pets. But they have this line of games that teaches you the responsibilities of taking care of a pet. We thought it was cool that after so many video games that are about destroying and killing things, this is just the opposite. It’s a positive thing and it fits into our whole message.
WD: What’s the craziest thing Willis has ever done on the road?
AN: Well, she actually doesn’t come on the road with us, but she’s part of the band’s identity.
AL: His mom dresses Willis up a lot in some crazy, crazy outfits. Wonderdog, if you will.
WD: Why Wonderdog?
AN: It was for Halloween last year and I think she was just kind of going through Bed, Bath and Beyond and just saw it.
WD: If there was anyone you could go on the road with and perform with, who would it be?
MB: If it was a current artist, maybe Justin Timberlake. He puts on a great show and I think our music is similar enough that the audience can get what we do as well.
JR: Probably Maroon 5. That would be really cool.
AN: It would be great to tour with Rihanna.
WD: And you’ll be nice?
AN: Of course.
AL: We’re gentlemen. We’re Honor Society.
AN: Lady GaGa also. She puts on an incredible show. It would be quite an education, just to watch her and watch her do her thing every night.
WD: Do you think she’d be allowed in Honor Society?
JR: We’d let her in.
WD: Even if she had bad grades?
MB: Especially if she had bad grades. Just kidding. It’s more of a lifestyle than a GPA