David Fairbanks, lead singer for the band Pomeroy, sat down with the Collegian to answer some questions about the band and its tour.

Pomeroy played the KatHouse Lounge on Halloween to a sold-out crowd mixed with first-time fans, longtime listeners and members of the band's family who still live in Manhattan.

What do you play? Percussion, leads vocals, keyboards. All that stuff.

You guys are named after Pomeroy Street here in Manhattan. Are you from Manhattan or Kansas City? Since you're interviewing us, we're from Manhattan. (Laughs) We are originally from Manhattan, but we now live in Kansas City. When we say Manhattan, people assume it's New York.

How often do you come back and play in Manhattan? It's usually been about once a semester.

How long have you been together as a band? Ten years in March.

When did you guys first sign with a label? We've only been with one label ever, and that was for a brief period of time. Right now we're still unsigned. We're doing this all independently. We were on a record label in 2000, when we released "Cocoon Club." Since then and before then, it's all been us.

Do you guys pursue getting signed? If the right deal came along, we're not going to say that we 100 percent wouldn't take it, but it has to be a good enough deal. After doing this by ourselves, on our own for 10 years and seeing the amount of success we can get out of it by ourselves, it would have to be the right kind of deal to get us to bite. It's getting more and more to the point where you don't need record labels.

What is it like to come back to the town where you guys got your start? It's great. It really is. It feels really good. It's awesome. It's such a good feeling. Nostalgia 101.

What is it like living on a tour bus for six weeks? It looks big from the outside, but once you get nine guys in there, you know the smells and the sounds.

Can you remember when you said, "We're doing well enough at this that I can drop out of school?" The spring of '99 when Matt (Marron, guitarist) and I were getting ready to graduate. We got to the point where we do what a lot of other bands do and keep going on with where life looks like it was going to take us and try and keep the band together and just play weekends or really take that step and throw caution to the wind and say "We're gonna do it." And we did.

-Compiled by Eric Davis