According to The Actual's biography, the band has spent plenty of time “playing pretty much to anyone who would listen.”

Fortunately for the band, one person who was listening just so happened to be someone whose opinion truly mattered.

Since Scott Weiland — the lead singer of supergroup Velvet Revolver and former frontman for Stone Temple Pilots — signed The Actual to his record label, the band has seen its fortunes improve significantly. In addition to a new record deal, The Actual also opened for Velvet Revolver on the band's recent club tour.

Now, The Actual is branching out from under VR and venturing out on its own club tour. That includes a date at Rock Bottom on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

210SA caught up with The Actual lead singer Max Bernstein to talk about what it's like opening for legendary rockers and growing up the son of a journalism icon.

So what was it like opening for Velvet Revolver?
That was like a joke to us, to get to be on that tour. It was hilarious, like an out-of-body experience. We hung out with them a little bit. Those guys get shuttled from hotel to the show when they're needed, but they did hang out more than you'd expect.

Did you ever imagine the day when guys from Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots would play the roles of elder statesmen?
It was just strange playing with them. As performers, they've got more experience than anybody. It was amazing, and the whole thing was just very surreal. It was strange being on it, and I can't stress that enough. It was so different than any tour we'd been on before.
If forced to choose,

Who do you take: GNR or STP?
I have to say Stone Temple Pilots. I just think Guns N' Roses made one amazing record and floundered a little bit. Stone Temple Pilots made five amazing records. I love both bands, but there's something about STP that has a mystique ..... At the time (of their peak popularity), they were not considered on the level of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. But as time has passed, they've risen above those bands in the opinions of history.

What was it like having Scott Weiland produce your new album (In Stitches)? He seems like a pretty strange guy.
He's unpredictable but not volatile or anything. If he gets an idea for a song, he sort of fixates on it and going in that direction. But he ends up with the right thing ..... It was nothing out of the ordinary.

Your dad (Carl Bernstein) was one half of the reporting team that broke the Watergate story. Did kids growing up with you know who he was?
Not too many. It was mostly teachers. But outside of history teachers expecting extra-good work from me, that was about it.

Did journalism ever interest you, or were you more into music?
I'm where I always wanted to be — writing songs. I'm interested in politics and a bit of a news whore. Down the road, I'd like to start writing music that was in that vein. But that's about as far as I'd like to go.

Emo is big these days. As the lead singer for an up-and-coming band, is it hard to avoid that?
It's tough to avoid it, but it's not too tough to avoid doing it if you don't like it. On Warped Tour, we were one of the only bands that were neither emo nor metal, or some horrible combination of both. When you're trying to do your own thing, ..... I think sometimes it's hard to be that (different) kind of band, when it's not what people want or it's not a media craze. At the same time, I don't see myself going in that direction.
 
CLINT HALE | 210SA