Evan Farmer – Tool Time

Q.  What are the current projects that you are working on?

A.  Well, I’m still working on the show “While You Were Out,” I just finished a documentary called “Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp.”  Which, I think it airs October 2nd at 9 p.m. on TLC and it basically is like a baseball fantasy camp except it is with rock stars.  People get to come and basically play in bands with their rock star idols like Roger Daltry, guys from Night Ranger, a member from KISS, Bad Company.  It was pretty cool, I got to literally hang out with rock stars for about five days and then we culminated with a Battle of the Bands at the House of Blues.  Campers all paired off in bands, it was a lot of fun, I got to emcee that as well as well as basically hang out with all of these guys.  It was a great opportunity for me to sort of combine my music and television again.  I’ve been very lucky as far as that’s concerned actually, with the MTV thing, if you remember the MTV show called “2gether.”  That was another fun opportunity when we got to tour with Britney Spears and record two albums, do a lot of that.  It’s rare to be able to do a lot of television and music and get away with it, a lot of filming becomes super cheesy.  Unless, you’re doing one of those reality win your fame kind of shows like “American Idol,” it’s really kind of a rarity.  I’ve been very fortunate in that aspect! 

Q.  What is it about the show “While You Were Out” that you think keeps bringing in viewers?

A.  Well, for one I think a fair amount is the chemistry of the same people working together every show.  So, about the same people working together every show, so not the same exact people.  We have a small group of cast members that have been there for quite a while and it’s almost like watching a sitcom or drama unfold every time we do a show.  Because, it’s really as much about relationships as it is about doing the work itself.  You know I think it’s something that has changed over the course of the shows history is that it’s become very funny.  There is a lot of light entertainment value in it, it’s not just a how-to show; we’re not out to shock anybody by destroying anybody’s house.  We have a really great time on the show, a lot of the people I work with are very comically adjusted so we tend to have a really great time.  So, I think that translates and when people tend to watch television, especially this show, they want to be entertained.  They’re not studying and taking notes, it’s not a how-to, and that sort of thing, but they want to be able to have a relaxing hour of television knowing that they are going to get a good time.  That’s one thing we’ve sort of found as a cast, which is one thing that people want to have on television, people want to laugh, it’s not sex or violence, they want to laugh.

Q.  What kind of construction background do you have?

A.  I grew up doing basically like house repairs with my dad; that’s where I started.  Then I went to architecture school, I worked as a carpenter’s assistant.  I was my landlord’s super basically all the way through college.  I kind of learned everything on a project to project basis of the type of things that I got to do.  It’s around the house kind of skills that I mainly brought to “While You Were Out” and of course I sort of added to that exponentially.  I learned more being on the show then I have in all my years culminating before this so it’s more of a hodgepodge of know-how and the ability to get in there to figure it out in the midst of things.  That’s how most people approach their home repairs and that sort of thing, they have to figure it out on the spot.  Because they don’t have hours and hours of experience doing the same thing over and over again.  It’s kind of cool because everyone else on the show is a professional in their craft and for me I kind of bridge the gaps with these smaller elements or crafty type approaches. It’s sort of a way I hope to translate to the audience what’s going on.

Q.  What makes this show different from others such as “Extreme Makeover” and “Renovate My Family”?

A.  “Extreme Makeover” basically ripped off our format, I don’t know how they did that without getting sued.  They basically added a ton of money to it and you know changed it just slightly.  What they don’t have however, is a small cohesive team that you see over and over again.  They have this big sort of faceless team of people that you don’t get to know through the course of that show.  You know, on the flip side they do these tremendous, eye-popping transformations, the other show I’m not that familiar with.  Ours, like I said, has survived a lot of cutbacks in the genre, they’ve cancelled a lot of these types of shows throughout the networks.  It became sort of this overkill type of thing, again I think it comes back to the fact that people feel comfortable watching, it’s like watching a sitcom.

Q.  What made you want to be a part of this show?

A.  To be honest I didn’t know that this kind of show existed when they asked me to do it.  I had seen Bob Villa and the how-to shows, and I thought they were great, and it was also something that I was personally interested in.  Just because I grew up doing that sort of thing, growing up how-to shows were really appealing to me.  They had to really explain to me the concept behind the show and I was a little bit skeptical to be quite honest.  I wasn’t quite sure how it worked, I watched a few episodes and then I met the cast and crew.  When I met everybody I was going to be working with I realized they were all professionals, some of them got into this to be famous or be on television as in the case of a lot of reality television these days.  They actually were doing their thing and the opportunity came up and I decided to hop on it, I was going to end up working with some really cool people.  I figured if I was going to go back into entertainment that would be the kind of way that I would want to do it.

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment from being on “While You Were Out”?

A.  Cutting a finger off was probably unforgettable, we have a lot of laughs, we play a lot of jokes on each other so there is a lot that is on camera that gets seen and there is a lot that is off camera.  Probably some of my most memorable moments happened after the show is done taping; we’re all hanging together and we all go out as a group.  It’s like a completely functional dysfunctional family and we all have a great time.

Q.  Why is including a journal on your website an important aspect for you to have?

A.  You know I actually wanted to do that as almost something for myself.  I don’t have an opportunity now to, there is no way I can take emails from the fans and I’m very grateful to have a lot from this show and from 2gether that sort of thing.  There is no way it is feasibly possible to answer all of their questions, so it’s a sort of way to kind of reach out and kind of connect, answer some questions that they might have.  Just sort of let them be a part of my day to day experience, so what I try to do is journal as much as possible about my day to day experiences.  Keep it on that level, I have my own personal journal that I would put up there, I think what’s intriguing to a lot of people is what my life must be like, there is a lot of myths about television or this kind of show.  So, you know it’s my way to bridge the gap and it’s the only way I can do it without disappointing people I guess.  Course you know now that I started doing it, I have to remind myself to go on and write and I’m really bad about that.  Time wise it’s a tough thing to do, it’s a good exercise because it  makes me actually take a step back and say what’s been important to me this week, what has struck me as something that if I weren’t here what would be interesting to hear.

Q.  Do you keep in touch with your former 2gether band mates at all?

A.  I keep in touch with Kevin Farley and Michael Cuccione’s family, it’s really because both Kevin and I are really big into charities.  Of course Michael Cuccione’s family has the Michael Cuccione Foundation that we both do a lot with and I try to be a part of a lot of things that Kevin does with the Chris Farley Foundation.  Likewise he tries to help out with things I’m really close to like breast cancer and that sort of thing.  So, that’s pretty much the group I’ve kind of held in close contact and it’s kind of basically visa vi the charity aspect of it.  I haven’t really heard from any of the other guys; I don’t know where they are or what they are doing.

Q.  As a musician, what’s in your player at the moment?

A.  Wow, you know I just did the documentary for the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp and it strangely enough brought me back to an interesting place in music.  So, a lot of the guys from Night Ranger and one of the songwriters named Gary Burr who was there, live in Nashville.  At the time I was getting ready to move to Nashville, so I was sort of listening to a lot of their music, outside of what music made them famous.  A lot of it country, a lot of it alternative rock, so I’ve been kind of just actually been going through the people that I’ve met and listening to their music.  Now I have a face to put it to and now I sort of have a personality and it makes the music more meaningful to me.  You know like Kelly Keagy from Night Ranger who wrote “Sister Christian” and it’s really weird that I hung out with him and to hear the song and ask him about how he wrote it and the story behind it.  Get all the tidbits from the horse’s mouth, so I’ve got a lot of Night Ranger, some KISS, Bad Company, The Who I was never a big fan of growing up.  Now that I’ve spent some time with Roger Daltry it’s really intriguing to listen to, and you kind of enjoy it from a different perspective.

Q.  What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A.  Well, right now I don’t have any spare time so I am digging into my non-spare time.  I just bought a house and I’m getting married in October, so that’s been obviously a huge part of my life.  Recreationally, I’ve always done anything that’s involved flying, I’d like to get my pilot’s license soon.  I’m a paraglider and I just bought a paramotor, which I can fly pretty much anywhere around the country without a giant mountain.  I’m still playing music, I write a lot on the road, even though I haven’t had the opportunity to record or the time to do that recently.  I try to keep busy but not too crazy busy!

Q.  What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A. What can you say to people who have given you such amazing opportunities?  It’s because of the fans and the people who watch the show and enjoy it and what not that kind of allow me to continue doing what I doing.  If there was a way to say thank you I would do it, but I’m not sure there is, so I will just have to leave it with thanks.