California's Inland Empire is an area that is hard to pin down. It is not as flashy or fashionable as its neighboring locales of Los Angeles and San Diego. Part tumbleweed, part urban sprawl, it never picked one thing and stuck to it. Similarly, the three members of Rock Paper Scissors are hard to pin down. They make soaring, sonically inspiring music reminiscent of great British rock bands like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis and Pink Floyd, but in person they are three comfy-clothing wearing guys. Like their hometown, part suburban comfort and part urban edge.
Their music is equally hard to classify. A band friend described it best after listening to some demos with bass player Eddie Cornejo.
"My friend Kip called us Emo, which is short for emotional and I think that is kind of fitting. We were driving home, we were leaving here, I had showed him a couple of songs and he said 'dude, I am down with RPS. You guys are Emo, dude, Emo.' And I said what do you mean? And he said 'emotional, man.'" said Cornejo.
Formed back in 1993 when Ed Huston met California State University, Fullerton student Steve Liapis and introduced him to his high school friend Cornejo. Huston and Cornejo wanted to put together a band, but their inability to find a singer had hindered them. Luck, or just chance would send Huston and Liapis on a road trip together and when they returned that elusive signer problem was solved.
"I remember listening to him singing in the car one day coming home from the beach, that is when I remember thinking he actually can sing." said Huston.
From there Rock Paper Scissors was born. Unable to come up with a suitable band moniker they settled the debate by playing a game of Rock Paper Scissors, when it dawned on them that should be their name.
Developing their sound, the band played gigs in the Inland Empire, Orange County and Los Angeles. Eventually they would record three compilation albums though not necessarily to garner a record deal. Thinking they might have to move closer to California's entertainment hubs, the band pondered a move to more hip locations like LA or the San Francisco Bay area, but it never panned out.
"I guess the Inland Empire is as good as anyplace. With the way things are moving now, technologically, I don't think it is that essential to be in the entertainment Meccas." said Liapis.
Gathering in Huston and Cornejo's La Sierra living room one late December evening Rock Paper Scissors took a collective deep breath and jumped into the rock n' roll spotlight. Symbolic of their laid-back approach, singer Liapis brought his golden retriever puppy, Buddy, along for the interview. While the puppy napped contentedly next to Liapis, RPS talked.
A popular band on the Riffage.com web site, RPS' following grows exponentially everyday through the power of the Internet. The band was a featured artist on http://www.riffage.com. User traffic to their site shot up after the riffage.com feature but it is their music that gets listeners to come back for repeat visits. In addition to placing music on riffage.com, they have also uploaded songs at http://www.rollingstone.com and at http://www.mp3.com.
A Rock Paper Scissors web site is on the planning board for 2000. As RPS' music is visually oriented the band has tossed around several ideas about their new web site including adding an interactive rock paper scissors game.
The new year is shaping up to be busy, as plans include finalizing a cd to shop to major record labels by the spring. Not looking for major label support at all costs, Huston still acknowledges that the resources a major label offers would be nice.
Like their music, the members of Rock Paper Scissors have three distinct personalities. Quiet, bespectacled Huston is the technical guy behind the band's melodic, electrical sound. Energy ball, Cornejo, the self-professed "band whore" is the instrumentalist of the group picking up and playing musical instruments as the whim suits him. Tossled-hair Liapis is the group's primary songwriter.
Liapis' face breaks into a large grin when asked to describe his favorite RPS song and the inspiration behind writing it. Describing the popular Riffage.com song "Love Yourself" he explains it was written for a friend who at the time needed reinforcement of the concept of self love. "Love Yourself" is unique to Liapis' song writing repertoire because it deals with a single person, compared to most of his other material filled with "experiences of more than one person, different situations, people I might know."
RPS doesn't shy away from contemporary issues. Currently the band is perfecting a new tune called "Disembowel" which Liapis wrote about the state of the educational system in America. As both Huston and Liapis currently work as school teachers in the Riverside area this song that addresses the "very impersonal beast compulsory schooling has become" from the perspective of two people in the system.
While the members of RPS are happy doing what they are doing, it doesn't mean that they aren't looking forward to a time when they don't need their day jobs. They're just looking forward to the day, as Huston puts it, when they can "do music for the music's sake."
RPS is optimistic that soon three laid-back guys from a quiet tree-lined street in the Inland Empire can survive making music. Like their hometown, RPS will remain difficult to categorize.
Currently the band can be reached via e-mail at RockPaperScissor@hotmail.com for those who would like more information about album releases and Mp3 uploads.

As always we asked Rock Paper Scissors to name their fantasy 6 band line-up.

1. Dave Matthews Band
2. Peter Gabriel
3. Sade
4. Seal
5. Radiohead
6. Rage Against the Machine