Mike Winbun Interview from 2004

Mike Winbun from the band Ketchup-Stigmata is pretty well-known on the Factor 9 Message Board. He is known as fhqwhgads-panda (He has over 4,800 posts). He is pretty witty for a high school kid, so ....

1. You played bass for Ketchup-Stigmata, but the band seems to be broken-up
or you just decided you weren't interested in being in a band. What is the
situation with Ketchup-Stigmata right now ?

well as of now, everyone has kinda parted ways for awhile. when the band
broke up i hadnt seen any of the guys for quite awhile, being that kyle went
to college, nick goes to ballard, and rob and dustin both went off to north
oldham. i see dustin now every other day or so at my vocational school, hang
out with rob on the weekends sometimes, and see nick up at my work every so
often. kyle i havent seen for a while, last time i saw him was at the subway
by oldham county high school one afternoon. everybody in the band is still
cool with each other, we just dont see each other that often. oh and the
guys are thinking of starting another thing up, i will keep everyone updated
with that as soon as we decide what we're gonna do as far as putting another
band together.

2. Are you still on good terms with the other guys that were in K-S with
you ?

yes, as i said earlier we're all still cool with each other, as a matter of
fact i chilled with rob and a few other friends just this weekend, the
others i see occasionally, and as for kyle i haven't seen him in quite a
while but we still are cool and talk on AIM every once in a while.

3. Who are some of your favorite bands ?

hopesfall, transplants, reel big fish, glassjaw, thrice, mars volta, just to
name a few

4. What was the most fun gig you played with K-S and which was the worst ?

i would say the most fun i had at a gig was the show we played with flaw at
tek world. there was just so many people at that show, actually that was
the most people at any show weve played, there was so much energy, and i
was still surprised at the fact that people were digging our stuff. as far
as worst show, i wouldn't say it wasn't fun or anything, but our first show
with full-tilt( called soma back then) at this park in indiana. it was fun
as hell to play there, but as a band back then we were just not together
nor ready for playing shows. we actually ran through our entire set before
we did the show just because we were skeptical of whether we were ready or
not. also, i broke my E string during a cover of weezer's "say it ain't so"
at that show, which wasn't very cool. i ended up borrowing
morgans(ex-east146) bass, but as any bassist can tell you, the E string is
the WORST string to break, especially during a gig.

5. Who is your favorite bass player ?

without a doubt stu hamm. the guy is just amazing, i have a video of him
playing the Moonlight Sonata, and he is tapping out 3 different parts at the
same time, the bass line with his left and the two melodies with his right.
i know there are lots of people out there that can do crazy slap lines, tap
fast as hell, but it takes a hell of a good musician to play 3 different
things at once. that man just amazes me.

6. What are your 5 favorite CDs of all time ?

thrice- artist in the ambulance
reel big fish- why do they rock so hard?
mars volta- whatever the hell there newest CD is called
NOFX- pump up the valuum
hopesfall- the satellite years


7. What girl in the 502 would you like to lose your virginity to ?

well, a lot of them, but, not really any of them. lol, i guess what i mean
is i'd like to lose my virginity to someone that i can have a good
relationship with, not just some random whore. ive met quite a few girls who
i believe i could have a relationship like that with, but so far none have
felt the same way back. all i can do is wait for the right one......

8. You win a 10 day cruise for yourself and 5 other people. What 5 people
would you ask to go on the cruise with you ?

oh this one is easy :)

kenny cash- my best friend since 5th grade. overall good guy, funny as hell
at times, he'd probably the person i hang out with most during the cruise,
probably go with him to mess with the driver of the ship and such lol

jason emge- if kenny goes jay has to go, the guy loves asians, and i wouldn't
want to deprive him of kenny's presence

joel not-gonna-say-his-last-name (a.k.a. dildo)- the kid is funny as hell,
hangs with us big kids and he's only 14, so you know he's a hardass right
there. also for you coke heads out there this kid can get the best coke in
louisville, some kind of peruvian stuff or somethin. did i mention he's 14?

alex ward- he'd be the entertainment. good friend of mine from high school,
literally the funniest man i have ever met.

amanda hulvey- this thing was beginning to turn into a sausage-fest so i had
to throw in a female, and amanda is probably one of the nicest/coolest
chicks at my school. ahh with all these people we'd some high times :) (pun
intended)

9. What local band is the most underrated, which is the most over-rated?

as far as under-rated, i'd say a band called The Other Side would fit there. i
haven't seen them playing much shows, but these guys are ridiculously good.
after the panic and valley are two more bands that are the same way. I
wouldn't really say there are any over-rated bands locally, because the
bands here locally that are big, are big for a reason. they work their
asses off doing shows and writing and stuff like that and in return they
get what they worked for....a following. i don't really get why some people
talk shit about some bands like breckinridge or MSD, because there can only
be two reasons why your band isnt just as successful....1. your not working
as hard as them to get your name out, or 2. your band just isn't ready,
practice more.

10. How long have you been playing bass and what kind of equipment do you
use?

i've been playing bass about 2 and a half years, maybe 3. i don't really
know, its at least 2.5 though lol. my equipment, i have a fender squier 5
string p. bass with jazz pickups, a 4 string sammick something or other (which
belongs to rob, who sang for ketchup stigmata), and i play through a hartke
transporter 4x10 cab. my bass head is a SWR workingman 4004, 400W. i also
have a zoom bfx70somethin bass pedal, which has a lot of nifty effects, but
i mainly use it to tune up for gigs and rehearsals.

11. I will list some bands and you rate them on talent. 10 being the most
talented and 1 being not talented at all.
1.) Nirvana-7
2.) Good Charlotte-2
3.) Pink FLoyd-10
4.) Metallica-5
5.) Pearl Jam-8
6.) Kid Rock-0
7.) Slipknot-7
8.) Audio Slave-6
9.) Smashing Pumpkins-8
10.) Limp Bizkit-2(only reason they get a 2 is because of 3 dollar bill)

12. You get free passes to King's Island. You can take one girl, who would
you most like to go with you ?

there are a bunch i wouldn't mind taking, but probably i would end up taking
my friend kelly middaugh. i haven't seen her in a long ass time since she
went to college in MI, and i didn't even get to say goodbye or anything. miss
her big time, that'd be a great way to catch up on things with her.

13. What is the wildest thing you have done in the past year ?

hmm this is a tough one, im lazy, so i dont do much. hmm....over the summer my insomnia acted up huge and i didnt sleep for almost 6 days straight(5 days and 18 hrs i think it was), i bashed my friends mailbox by throwing a pumpkin from a car goin 60mph(tore the thing completely out of the ground, post and all.), i broke rob's windshield by punching it, once, ummm thats it i guess im pretty boring.

14. What are your favorites...
1.) Favorite Food - anything rally's
2.) Favorite Movie - american history X
3.) Favorite Bass Guitar - a warwick thumb, 5 string made out of ovangkol
4.) Favorite Band - thrice
5.) Favorite Local Band - hallowtide or EE9
6.) Favorite Actress - cameron diaz(she's REAL hot)
7.) Favorite Actor - Edward Norton (the undisputed badass)


15. What person in the 502 scene do you have the most respect for and why ?

depends on what we're talking about. as far as musicianship i have to go with joey, xmember of factorIX. he is a badass at bass, and i can only wish i was that friggin good, lol. as far as helping out the "scene" (bleh i hate calling it that) i would say shawn (cbass), julie, other shawn (bigguyatshows), and the people at the radio stations, all the people that do what they can to promote louisville music and make it a nice place for bands to play and for people to see shows.

16. Who has had the biggest influence on you as a person ?

as much as i dislike(hate is too strong a word lol) the guy, i have to say my father. we get into arguments all the damn time, can never agree on anything, and i get yelled at for this and that, but through all that i think i am mature enough to realize why he does all that, is because he wants me to have a good life and do whats best for myself. i really hate admitting it but he has taught me a lot, especially in the past few years. the only thing i wish is if he could go about these "life lessons" a little bit nicer, lol.

17. What would be the best Christmas present you could receive this year ?

an apartment from my parents, in my name, with the first 6-12 months rent already paid. of course that wont happen, but it'd be pretty damn cool to have a free apartment for half a year or so to get on my feet out there.


18. Has a woman ever really done you wrong ? If so, who was she and what did she do ?

nope, well actually yes. see i've been single for 17 years, so every woman out there that is single is doing me wrong right now.

19. If you could hang out for an entire day with someone famous, who would it be and what would you do ?

definitely stu hamm, and we'd probably just chill at a music store somewhere all day playin the basses, or mostly me watching him play. id probably ask him a lot about how he got so good, what and when he practices, stuff like that. maybe ask him to teach me some exercises to slap faster or something. then we'd finish it off by eating at rally's, because rally's is awesome.


20. What sucks more...

1.) Working at McDonalds
2.) Working at Meijer
3.) Being a teenager and having to drive a Lincoln Continental

I would say working at McDonalds sucked the most, its just a job that nobody wants to do, and the pay is barely above minimum wage, screw that. Meiers on the other hand, also a little bit above minimum wage, but its fun as hell because my friends work there, there's a lot of cool people that work up there i've met, and the bosses aren't dicks like they are at mcdonalds. and as for the lincoln, that car is a BADASS, leather seats, climate control, air ride, reclining chairs, HUGE trunk, and it has F.O.P stickers on it, a good deterrent for those pesky 5-0. i wouldnt trade my car for anything in the world, except maybe a brand new lincoln Mark VII, those things are clean as hell

This is a a question I forgot to ask and lots of people want to know...WHERE DID YOU GUYS GET THE NAME KETCHUP-STIGMATA ??

haha the "dreaded" question EVERYONE asks lol. anyways, its a short and dumb story, but rob was sittin at lunch with halley and one of them spilled ketchup on on of theirselves wrists(i dunno who did what) and rob exclaimed "Ketchup Stigmata!!!" shortly after he decided it'd be a cool name for a band, and the rest of us agreed.

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Let's recap...

Mike worked at McDonald's but the bosses there were dicks.

Mike drives a Lincoln Continental and loves his car.

He thinks Stu Hamm would be a fun guy to hang out with for an entire day.

He would also like to spend a day with Kelly Middaugh.

Mike gave some witty answers and he had some really nice things to say about some people in the 502 scene. He did a great job...

Thanks Mike !

Mike gets 5 out of 5 stars for his 20 Question Interview. êêêêê