Marcos Siega: My first video was for a band called C.I.V. The band was put together by a friend of mine named Walter Schreifels. He was in a band called Quicksand, and [C.I.V.] wasn't really a band. They had one song ("Can't Wait One Minute More" [RealVideo]), and I decided to do a music video, so Walter, Revelation Records -- a small label here in California -- and myself paid for it. We had one song and a video for it, and we took it to Atlantic Records and they got signed. The video went to MTV and became, at the time, a Buzz Clip.

MTV: I also read that you were doing some film work back in the day, like post-production work on "Sleepless In Seattle" and stuff like that...

Siega: I actually worked at MTV for many years. I was an audience coordinator on a show called "Lip Service," and I worked down at VH1 for one season of a show called "Rumor Has It." But basically I was in a band, and that's what I did. I was in a band for about eight years, a New York hardcore band called Bad Trip. I did a lot of touring the country, and recording, and in between being on the road and just playing at home in New York, I've always been into filmmaking, so I just started working on films like "Sleepless In Seattle," just working in production. I took any job I could get, basically. I worked for Lifetime in Queens. I worked on a number of television specials for random production companies. I was sort of bouncing around doing production assistant work and always shooting my own short films. I always had a video camera, always shooting anything I could get my hands on.

MTV: I've read where a lot of the bands that you've worked with like the fact that you're a musician and that it helps them work with you.

Siega: I only pretty much do rock music. I get other types of music in to do videos for, but I'm a fan of rock music. A lot of the bands, I've had the privilege of working with when they were on independent labels or when they put out their own records, so I have a history with these bands and we connect at that level, which is nice. I can talk to them about music that they listen to and shows that they played before they signed, and I was at the show. It's always nice when they know that I'm not just kind of riding some wave. I'm working with them, and I really do like their music. I think that helps.

MTV: How much does that knowledge of a band's past and where they're coming from come into play when you're thinking up ideas for a clip?

Siega: I think it helps to know where a band has been, historically, when you're gonna work with them. Before I had a chance to work with Blink[-182], I'd seen them in smaller clubs on some of their early tours, and I knew they were just funny, crazy guys who would pretty much be up for anything. That made it easy to come up with something, and I hadn't met them. I just kind of wrote the "What's My Age Again?" treatment with an idea that they would do just about anything.

MTV: We had interviewed you on the set of Sevendust's video for "Waffle," and you had said that there was one particular lyric in the song that inspired your treatment for the video. Is that how you usually find your inspiration and your vision for your videos?

Siega: Treatments are the hardest. I've said this many times, but they're the hardest part of my job, because even though I'm a fan of the music and I know about the bands, you're still always second guessing. You don't know what the lead singer or drummer is thinking this song means to them, and with that particular song, it was just one lyric. If you look at the video, it's really kind of taken out of context. It's really not what the song is about, although it's what I interpreted it to be. I don't think "Waffle" is a great example of a treatment and execution, because we ran into so many problems on that shoot that the video ultimately... I wasn't happy with it. I know I shouldn't be admitting that to someone like you, but it happens. I mean, we were fighting elements and things beyond our control: time and daylight and nighttime, just everything. My favorite [treatments] are ones when I write it and when I look at it, they work. You see the treatment, you see the video, and you say, "That works really well." That one was an example of... there were a lot of compromises, and it ended up not being the video I wanted it to be.

MTV: Is that one that you wish you could get back?

Siega: I've done a lot of videos, and there's only two I'd like to get back, and that's one of them. And it pains me to say that, because Sevendust are probably the nicest guys... one of the nicest bands I've ever worked with, and I really wanted to deliver something great, and it's hard for me to swallow that.

MTV: Are there videos that you passed on that you later regretted?

Siega: There are jobs I haven't gotten that I wish I'd gotten, but nothing I've passed on. If I pass on things sometimes, it'll be because I just don't have a great idea. It might be a band I love, but again, I don't want to get into a situation where I just write anything and you get the job and you're not able to deliver something great. I pass on things if I don't come up with something I think is up to par with the song, or if I just don't feel it.

MTV: Having had the kind of run you've had over the past year, are you now finding yourself getting pitched songs and artists that you're just not feeling, and things that you have to turn down because you're not into it?

Siega: I'm a fan of heavy music, but I'm also a musician and a fan of music, and as a director I would love the opportunity to do videos for bands that actually have the freedom to do what they want. Maybe that's 'NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys, the bands that'll spend a lot of money. I really haven't had an opportunity to write for any of that. I think in some ways a lot of people see me as the rock guy. I haven't had a whole lot of pop music come my way, so I kind of expected more people to say, "Hey, maybe you should try to do something different," but it really hasn't come my way. I hope it does.