I was granted the opportunity Tuesday afternoon to speak withbassist Matt Rubano of Taking Back Sunday, headliner for the Blink182 summer tour, which will make its way into Dallas’Smirnoff Music Center on May 3.

If you could please state your name, for the record.

Matt. I’m the bass player.

How is being on the road and traveling with Blink 182 andCypress Hill going to be different than previous tours?

It’s the biggest tour that we’ve gone on, tons ofpeople, and lots of sold-out shows, so it’s pretty exciting.I’m not really sure what to expect yet, but it’s goingto be crazy. It’ll just be a big, long party.

How’d you hook up with them?

We did a thing with Blink’s side project Box Car Racer awhile back. We’ve always been friends with their managers.… We just kind of hooked up by being on the scene.

Do you get to drive the van ever?

We drove the van for the first week of the new tour — itwas rough. It was nine or 10 days of driving and sleeping in threeor four hotels.

I never really got to drive though … I, uh, conveniently lostmy license. Wink, wink.

What’s in the CD player right now?

All five of us have such different taste, that it’sanything from Nate Dogg to Ryan Adams, Quicksand, a little TribeCalled Quest.

And which was your contribution?

Tribe Called Quest.

You have two sold out dates at London’s legendary Astoria— any nervousness there?

I don’t really get nervous, it’s more like anxiousand excited. I’m psyched about Astoria, though. It’salways a treat playing in a place like that, but it doesn’tbug me out or anything.

Which bands are you most looking forward to playing withduring the Van’s Warped Tour?

I’m phsyced to see Thursday everyday and Atmosphere. MyChemical Romance is going to be there … everyone, really. Ilike to spend most of the day outside watching everyone else.I’ve never seen Thursday, though, so that’ll becool.

A question every college student wants to know — do youget any new vans out of that? I mean, lets talk logisticshere.

I hope so! We haven’t yet, but we’re doing the VansWarped Tour Kickoff party, so I’m hopping they’ll throwus some gear.

So, Matt … I was looking on the band’s Web site,and back in February you posted in the band journal thatyou’ve decided to begin work on your new Emo opera/broadwaymusical. How’s that comin’?

[Laughter] It’s, uh, coming good. It’s still in theconceptualizing phases, but it’s going real well.

Can I get a preview?

[more laughter] Uh… you coming to the show Monday?I’ll try to get something together by then, we’llsee.

Has being on the road kept you from watching some vitalTV?

We don’t really do the TV thing. We watch way more moviesthan anything else. We made a promise that we’d refresh ourmovie collection this time around, though. Last tour we watchedZoolander about 60 or 70 times and Goldmember about20.

I think this time we’ll get some ‘DaveChappell’ DVDs in there. Just no more Lord of theRings.

You’re not going to see the final episode of‘Friends?’

I’m not really down with “Friends,” I’mmore of a “Seinfeld” or “That 70’sShow” guy.

Who’d you rather do — the chick from‘Seinfeld’ or someone from ‘That 70’sShow’?

Oh, um … none of them are really my type. Did you seethat episode when Jessica Simpson guest starred? I’d do her.She looked pretty good on that show.

Do you really get all the fan mail we send?

Well, I don’t get much mail. I mean, e-mails and stuff,but that’s it.

Last year we had a band phone sponsored by Nokia on the tour. Wegot hundreds of calls a day from fans all over the world. It wasway cooler than getting mail because it was so interactive.

And, what’s the coolest thing a fan has done foryou?

I don’t know if I can really say the coolest thing, but,the nicest things; This girl made me a painting of me jumping offof something at one of the shows. That was neat. This other girl Iknow — she tries to make it out to a lot of our shows —did a japanimation drawing of me.

I think it’s pretty cool when they kick a little art workat you.

We got chocolate chip cookies, once. Yeah, those lasted abouttwo minutes.

What should we expect to be different in this newalbum?

It’s a little bit heavier, and even lighter in someplaces. There’s an acoustic track. The writing is a lot moreevolved. Everyone stepped it up on their instruments a lot.

The heart of the record is still the heart of Taking BackSunday, though.

Sen. Kerry has been caught playing guitar, and showing offhis music talents for the younger group of voting Americans. How doyou feel about politicians trying to “get in touch with ourgeneration,” and how much of an impact does that have on yourvote?

I’m a little bit dark on American politics. When it comesto electing and selecting, tactics like that are all just verycheap ploys. People will base decisions on whether they likesomeone before they even see their politics.

Tactics like that are pretty cheap, but hopefully they’llbe some bold student out there to throw some tough questions athim.

I mean, it’s like, “Bite me, man, tell me whatyou’re going to do about the horrible state of the world.Stop playing your guitar, ya clown, leave that to us.”

I’d just chuckle through most of that and wait for him tostart answering some real questions.

So then who do you think you’re going to votefor?

I’d vote for Adam [the guitarist in Taking Back Sunday]before I’d vote for Bush, defiantly selecting from thenon-Bush affiliated category this time around.

An hour later Matt calls me back, very serious.

Hey girl, I was wondering if I could change one of myanswers?

Yeah, sure, which one?

Who I’d rather do on TV.

[Laughter] Sure, go ahead.

I’d rather do Tina Faye, from “Saturday NightLive.” She is without a doubt my 100 percent answer.