Tunabunny Saccharine Trust
The Humpers Ginger Coyote Menace Chainletters Faz Waltz Neo-Kalashnikovs
Noelani Bradley Makeup & Styling by: Natasha Lizz
Photo: Wil Cohen
Editor’s Note
Saccharine Trust
Tunabunny
Chic: Noelani Bradley
The Humpers
The Neo-Kalashnikovs
Chic: Jen Nicole
Menace
Film BaBBle
Chainletters
Ginger Coyote
Faz Waltz
New Reviews and Rants weekly
visit FEARLOATHELB.COM Editor, Design, Writer: Kevin McGovern Rock Pulse, Writer: Mike Spent Sonic Archivist: Ed Huerta In-house Photographer: Wil Cohen www.wilcohen.com
Cover Model: Jen Nicole Photographed by: Wil Cohen
Editor’s Note: The older I get, the stranger people seem. Not the kind of strangeness I once welcomed, but an out of sorts type of hostility. When approaching this issue, I wanted to take bits and pieces of my subconscious and connect it with the talent I see in other artists and writers. The new look is an embrace of flowing imagery, candid conversations, and retro-futuristic perspective.
Kevin McGovern Fear & Loathing LB kevinmcgovern16@gmail.com
This final endeavor is a result of wanting to produce a piece of work similar to the mysterious 3rd album many bands create, that either intrigues or polarizes. California girls, kool new sounds of the underground, hidden punk gems, and influential personalities blur the landscape for summer. Summer in 2014 will be remarkable for some and unremarkable for others. Maybe I’m getting more in tune with the disconnected vibes that surround me and this is the result. A picture can contain a million words or substitute for a hand grenade. More to come on this front... Remember to crawl back out of your drink once you find yourself starting to drown.
I love the new record Kingdom Technology. In my opinion, it’s a primal garage scream of electronica, erotica, and neurotic impulse. What impact did you seek with the album and artwork?
Our friends Chris Nelms and Jason Matherly did the artwork, and aside from thinking they’re wildly talented we’re big fans of each other’s work so it seemed natural to ask them to do the cover. We don’t necessarily make music to have an impact—if anything, we have an impact because we make music. But if we could control the results of our intended impact, we’d all have swimming pools shaped like palm trees.
pleasing melody and harmonizing throughout your own compositions resembles pop/rock in anyway? We think our compositions resemble pop/rock in every way. But you know, all our pop friends think we’re hopeless weirdos, and all our avant-garde friends think we’re rock stars. Which is probably the best place to be.
You have addressed modern music as “over privileged boys and girls looking to manufacture an identity…” I personally think there are many unaddressed personality disorders clogging the creative air of unique artists and musicians. Why do music listeners pay so much attention and money to generic retreads of the past?
You have referred to pop/rock as a “played-out corpse” with Jack White being the Because they’re generic retreads of the best example of a derivative formula based present? More likely they’re just responding to musician. Do you feel that the inclusion of ear a conservative music press/music industry.
swimming pool, apparently. But it’s good to keep in mind that owning a swimming pool increases your risk of skin cancer. With your latest release, how did dumpster diving through the kingdom’s technology (recording equipment) affect the way the songs evolved or devolved throughout the recording process?
During recording we’d hear the songs played back and marvel at how pro they sounded (like The Go-Go’s or something), but a lot of critics have written about the $3000 piece of equipment as if that means we recorded it with lower quality equipment, which may say With so much music being made these days, it a lot more about the class background of your requires a lot of determination to sift through average music writer or expectations surrounding the cost of making music/ it on your own, and as a result people are recording than it does about our album. dependent on websites/critics/etc. to recommend stuff to them. If that stuff is backwards-looking and easily digestible, it’s more the fault of the music press/industry than the music listener.
Having said all that, we enjoyed going back and trying to warp the resulting clean recordings, more so than those that were recorded with a $25 microphone on What is the typical reaction to Tunabunny that reel-to-reel (which is already kind of distorted/ phased by its very nature). So yeah, we had a you encounter the most? lot of fun with our new toy. And as we’ve alConfusion and/or adulation. Also, an increase ready started working on the next record (a in the use of thesauruses. double album scheduled for summer/fall Do you think music in general should always 2015), we’re having even more fun with it. be undefinable or unpredictable? Does it In your individual experiences growing up, did benefit the band or the listener more? Top 40 music have a bigger impact than We don’t think there’s that much of a split between band & listener. We were (and are) music fans before we were musicians. And as listeners, yeah, we tend to get excited by music that sounds different than what we’re used to (recent examples of this would be Bastards of Fate, Blanche Blanche Blanche, and Micachu) than something that sounds like, say, The Stone Roses (though we all unabashedly love their 1st album). But should it always be undefinable or unpredictable? Not if you want a bigger
avant-garde or underground music? Of course it did. Our parents didn’t play Stockhausen around the house. Having said that, top 40 was/is great training for the ears to respond to avant-garde music. This idea doesn’t originate with us, but the line between Missy Elliott and Steve Reich—or Britney Spears and Pere Ubu—is a thin one, and is easily traversed. I think our listening habits tend to ping-pong back and forth between melody and dissonance and that’s reflected in our music.
If you had to cover an entire album of either the Carpenters or ABBA, which one would you pick and why? This may be the most difficult question we’ve ever been asked. Karen Carpenter is the queen of suburban soul, the Nina Simone of the overclass, but Abba would be more fun because they’ve got more better songs and they know how to bring the hooks. Do you feel you are still misunderstood as a band and how do you intend to destroy pop/rock? Anytime people can’t afford to make a living that’s bad, and we would trade any artistic benefits from the current gilded age we live in if it meant the average US worker could get paid a living wage. But politics aside, you would think that this newfound access to vast catalogs of music, whole entire genres that would’ve set you back hundreds and hundreds of dollars 15 years ago, would have resulted in music that was super-eclectic, bravely transversing boundaries and blowing people's minds. In a commercial sense, that hasn’t been the case (this is as true of the underground as much of the mainstream), and that’s probably because of the financial haemorrhaging the music business is going rough.
Oh Lorde, please don’t let us be misunderstood. Destroying pop/rock? We said that nearly five years ago when we young and naive, but if you take a look around you it looks pretty destroyed at the moment. So mission accomplished? All that’s left now is for us to save it—if they’ll let us. You’ve gotta deconstruct to reconstruct, wreck to resurrect. Do you think that the current American climate of low paying jobs, unemployment, and overreliance on technology is a blessing or curse for the modern artist?
A mood of barely concealed fear runs through the music industry, and when people are afraid...they tend to play it safe, and that’s probably most music you hear is the sound of someone hedging their bets, and most music writing is the sound of someone interlocking their fingers in prayer. Which is a damn shame because there’s lots of cool, passionate interesting music out there being made. You just have to dig a little bit harder to find it. Guess that’s it. Thanks for the interesting questions, Kevin. Keep fighting the good fight. -Kevin McGovern
What was your first experience with the LA music scene and what led you to start playing guitar and singing?
played live one time at an Air Force party. The first band I joined in SoCal was The Naughty Women in 1983….playing guitar…barely hahaha. I joined them because I liked that they were a cross between punk and glam (not Sunset Strip style glam, but 70’s trashy stuff like Dolls, Stooges, Runaways, etc).
Well, like most people, I started out as a fan… buying records and going to gigs. I moved to Southern California in 1980 (from Central California), so it was a great time for music. Black Flag, X, Adolescents, Weirdos, Was your first band the Suicide Kings? What Flesheaters, Social Distortion, etc etc etc… was the scene like at the time… filled with there were so many great bands. I sang with a debauchery, exciting, or dull? band in Merced called RH Factor, but we only
Suicide Kings started around 1984..after Naughty Women broke up…Mike Crescione (guitar player from Naughty Women) and I started it. The scene itself wasn’t debauched… by The Suicide Kings certainly were! Around that time most groups were either playing Hardcore or trying to be Red Hot Chili Peppers…so there weren’t a lot of punky rock and roll bands around…especially not in OC…we were based in Stanton.
background in punk rock at all…he was into Rush and stuff like that…but I guess he had fun playing with us, because he ended up drumming with the Humpers for good. Billy Burks we got through an ad in The Recycler (the only time that THAT ever worked)…and on bass at first we had Jaybird Blake, who became another drug casualty…and then Billy’s friend Mitch Cartwright took Jaybird’s place….we picked-up guitarist Mark Lee alongside the road in Sioux City, Iowa…he was a stowaway hahaha. I didn’t really like many of our early recordings to be quite honest…I’m very self-critical….the songs were good, we just didn’t know what to do in the studio…I don’t think we really started to get into a recording groove until “Journey…” which was our 3rd LP. I remember seeing the band early on, on tour in Philadelphia playing to a small crowd and at the end; you were playing to packed houses. What do you think led to the band’s rise to mass underground popularity?
The Humpers started when I broke up Suicide Kings. A couple of the guys were really strung-out and we just weren’t moving forward. I wanted to do something more high energy musically as well.
I think we appealed to a wide range of people. We always wanted to be “inclusive”. Like, if you like loud guitars with memorable riffs, 3 chords, maybe some funny / smartass lyrics… you’ll like us. You don’t have to dress a certain way, or have any certain politics…all you need is a love of high-energy rock and roll…and a few drinks probably helps.
I was first introduced to the Humpers through your landmark album “Journey to the Center of your Wallet”, how did the band form and what was your favorite early release?
After being signed to Epitaph, the band went into the studio and re-recorded fan favorites from past albums, what made you decide to redo certain songs?
At first, I intended The Humpers to be all new people, but Jeff Fieldhouse came over to my place and said PLEASE let me be in this new project…so I said okay, which is one of the best decisions I ever made! We met Jimi Silveroli through a mutual friend (I think it was Kerry Martinez?)…and Jimi had no
Well…the LPs we put out before only pressed 1 or 2 thousand copies….Epitaph was pressing 40,000. So the vast majority of people who bought that LP had never heard us before. We figured it would be wise to stack the thing with our best songs.
What led to the formation of the Humpers?
Cheers! The main thing that made me want to start a real band again was collaborating with Jeff Fieldhouse again. He’s by far my favorite person to write songs with…so when he expressed interest in starting something new I was very excited. He’s no longer with The
What are your thoughts on the last Humpers record you did with Epitaph? I’ve always loved “Ghetto in the Sky” and the different approach that song took… The last LP had some good songs on it, but it was pretty unfocused. We were burned out from touring and the band was on the verge of splitting up…so there were starting to be musical differences and everyone was just sick of each other to some extent. If I remember correctly, at a show in the mid-90s you told me that the band was going broke touring and owed the label money. Is it true that Epitaph wouldn’t let you record under “The Humpers” name after you left the label?
Well, they stopped supporting us MID-TOUR on our last tour. Our van broke down and we called them and asked for help and they said NOPE. So…their patience with us ran out and they cut-off the cash. But, no, they never said we couldn’t use the name or anything like that. We had a contract with them for 3 LPs and we gave them 3 LPs…then the band broke-up and that was that.g theme. Your newest band the Lovesores kicks ass! What made you decide to get back into the band racket again?
Lovesores (he left due to some family medical issues) but I’m really proud of the stuff we wrote together. And I really like all the other guys in the band… Will the Humpers make another record? Ahhh….the $64,000 question. I really don’t know. It’s up to the other guys. I’ve told them ey put some music together, I’ll write the words…and, so far….nada. Meanwhile, I have a working band in The Lovesores, so that’s where my energy is going. I have no qualms about recording with The Humpers…but there’s more expectation attached…so….I don’t want to put something out just to put something out. It’s got to be good. Any words of wisdom after serving your time in the rock n roll machine? Words of wisdom…well, if you go to the grocery store to grab a few items…and you need milk….get all the other stuff first and get the milk last. Because that gallon of milk is pretty heavy to carry around while you’re shopping…..That’s all I’ve got. Cheers! -KPM
Photography: Wil Cohen
Photo: Wil Cohen
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (Dir. Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
Finally, a vampire movie for adults! Adults who are into slow moody art films that is. Jim Jarmusch’s first film since 2009’s critically misunderstood THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Limits sets a hypnotic tone right off the bat with a pitch black sky full of stars that swirl clockwise behind opening red pointy titles that resemble the credits from those Hammer DRACULA productions from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The swirling motif continues as it fades into an overhead shot of a record playing on a turntable, then a mesmerizing close-up of a spaced-out Tilda Swinton (also from overhead) slowly falling backwards as the room spins around her. We soon learn that this is Jarmusch, via the sumptuous lens of cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, illustrating the sensation of instant euphoria that comes from drinking blood, sonically enhanced by the Velvet Underground-style droning of Jarmusch’s band SQÜRL. While Swinton swigs tiny wine glasses of O-negative in Tangiers, her husband of many centuries, a long-haired reclusive rock musician (a deathly downbeat Tom Hiddleston), toils in a dark rundown Detroit apartment. Hiddleston and Swinton are named Adam and Eve, but despite their advanced age and historical namedropping (“Remember when you gave that string quartet to Schubert?”), we’re not told if this is the original Adam and Eve. We just get that the deathly pale duo have lived through the ages gorging on, and influencing, art, literature (Swinton can’t travel without a suitcase full of vintage books), and science.
Hiddleston casually asks his gofer, an eager rock kid played by Anton Yelchin, to get him a wooden bullet for “an art project.” Sensing her hubby Hiddleston’s suicidal leanings over a video phone chat, Swinton hops a plane to Detroit. There, the long-time lovers luxuriate in each other’s company, slow dancing to Denise LaSalle’s “Trapped by a Thing Called Love” and sharing O-negative popsicles, until a flirty Mia Wasikowska shows up as Swinton’s reckless younger sister who needs a place to stay. All the while, Hiddleston refers to the mortal humans as “zombies,” and bemoans what society has become. This social commentary doesn’t go very far, but it doesn’t need to as there’s plenty of creepy atmosphere and ominous imagery to sink one’s teeth into. The spare cast also includes Jeffrey Wright, who previously appeared in Jarmusch’s 2005 Bill Murray vehicle BROKEN FLOWERS, as a doctor who illegally procures Hiddleston with blood, and the 74-year old acting legend John Hurt as Elizabethan-era playwright Christopher Marlowe, Swinton’s blood connection in Tangiers. Hurt has a great deathbed scene in which he speaks of being the true author of Shakespeare’s plays, labeling the bogus Bard an “illiterate zombie philistine.” Hiddleston displays layers not even hinted at in his popular portrayal of Loki in Marvel’s AVENGERS and THOR movies, while Swinton plays upon her icily alluring persona with a tongue-in-cheek slyness; they’re utterly convincing as this blood-sucking yet exquisitely cultured couple. It's also a bit amusing that Swinton followed spoofing her resemblance to David Bowie in his video for “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” (from the 2013 album The Next Day) with recalling Bowie's emaciated, pale presence as a dying vampire in THE HUNGER (1983) whether or not that was intended. Alongside the aforementioned tunage by Jarmusch’s band, Dutch composer Jozef van Wissem’s otherworldly score, which won the Cannes Soundtrack Award last year, adds greatly to the film’s tense trance-like tone. It reverberated in my psyche long after I left the theater. With its subtle wit and its engagingly erotic ambience, ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE is a welcome respite from the bombastic blockbuster fodder currently clogging up the multiplexes. It stands up nicely to Jarmusch’s ‘80s and ‘90s indie classics (STRANGERS IN PARADISE, DOWN BY LAW, MYSTERY TRAIN, DEAD MAN,) and is his best film since 1999’s GHOST DOG. It’s also the first vampire film in a long time fit for a evening of fine wining and dining - even if blood isn’t your particular poison. Daniel Johnson has an immense collection of regular reviews at the official Film Babble Blog...Check it out here http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/
It was a privilege to chat and question the elusive Ginger Coyote! We talked about the band, the zine, skating, and politics! Cool, OK here is how it went... by the way, most of this interview took place over a week late at night in the wee hours! So forgive our looniness! - Mike Spent
OK, Ginger please, tell us about the White Trash Debutantes and your role n the band White Trash Debutantes are a band that I seriously started in the late 80's for a birthday party that I was throwing for myself... We only did covers and were soon invited to open for GG Allin and then we played a show in New York City for Joey Ramone called "The Circus of the Perverse. Also on the bill was Joey Ramone and various members of The Ramones, Daniel Rey, Cheetah Chrome, Stiv Bators, Lemmy, Richie Stotts, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Bebe Buell, The Throbs, Andy Shernoff, Dick Manitoba,, Tish and Snooky, The Psycho Sluts From Hell,and much more. We also played a show at CBGB's... I remember looking out and seeing Joey, Lemmy, Daniel Rey, Richie Stotts and Lemmy in the audience... That was so exciting after the show I remember speaking with Stiv Bators about the upcoming show at The Ritz.. We stayed at Nick and Ariana Mardens apartment ion 13th street in the East Village. We had to pinch ourselves every minute to make sure i was really happening. My friend Thalia Drori recently reminded me that we were hanging out with Jon Bon Jovi backstage at The Ritz. It was surreal... It was the first show that Joey did which later become a regular event in NYC. I had met Joey when the Ramones had played in San Francisco and we remained friends‌ I credit him for really helping me form The White Trash Debutantes.
How did Punk Globe begin and why? I started Punk Globe in the late 70's when I was a mere child. There was only one fanzine that was happening in San Francisco at the time and that was Search and Destroy... I thought it was way to serious and very elitist. A lot of my friends had bands and they could not even get a letter printed in Search and Destroy . I remember seeing an issue of Sniffing Glue and decided that was something that I wanted to do so that is how Punk Globe began. We went to newsprint and Pete Moss helped me put the zine together. Lenore Real Cool Chick who was 79 years old took pictures for Punk Globe... The magazine caught on and people began asking about it. Ivy who did a monthly calendar with shows that were happening also let me print it as an added feature. I combined punk rock with soap operas, movies, nighttime TV shows, and different personalities that I liked and realized it really was a PUNK GLOBE that we lived in. What got you into punk? Moreover, what was your first punk gig? I have always been punk rock. I lived life on the edge, hated disco music and wanted something new so I was excited when I heard The Sex Pistols and The Ramones. My first Punk show was Crime at The Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, CA. There were very few "punk shows happening so most of us all hung out at The Bagel on Polk Street, some of the crew included Johnny Genocide, Olga Devolga, Chris Olsen, Don Vinyl, Lorna Doom, Sally Goldberg, Gary, Richard, Vince , Lenore Real Cool Chick, Dave Vacant, Blanche, Blondean, Jeri and Janie, Roz, Will Shatter, Joe Dirt and Tony Zero we would drink coffee at The Bagel and then hang out in front of The Palms because none of us except Lenore, were old enough to get in at night. We also would go in to The Raven/ Haven that is where we got ludes..Then punk shows began happening more regularly at The Fab Mab aka The Mabuhay Gardens. There was also a bar called The Rose and Thistle on California Street that had rock bands played we would try and get in there. But
most of us were all under 21 at the time. Another person whom was part of the early punk days was Andy Prieboy who rose to fame with Wall of Voodoo. But in the early days Andy had a band called Eye Protection and he lived in a building on Larkin Street that was the home of so many great artist. Don Vinyl lead singer of The Offs, Blondean who was an erotic dancer on Broadway and was a cousin of the actress Barbara Rhodes who was on Soap, Anne Miletelo who did lights at The Fab Mab. She went on to live with Richard Hell and later she had her own lighting company in Los Angeles.. I ran into Anne not long ago while walking in Hollywood. We looked at each other and screamed I know you! Another resident was Judith who was going to school and dancing at one of the clubs on Broadway. Judith now works as a trapeze artist. David Dean the drummer for Eye Protection also lived in the building. I lived on Bush Street and was paying $263 in the early 90's for rent. This included all utilities... Kathy Peck who was the bass player for The Contractions also lived in the building. Eddie Valentine a hair stylist and makeup artist lived across the street from me on Bush Street. Bomber who was in RKL also lived across the street. Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington lived in the same building as Dean Thomas who had been in Levi and The Rockats with his then girlfriend Sharon Leong.. Naomi Ruth Eisenberg from Dan Hicks and The Hotlicks also lived on Bush Street near The Boarding House. That is where Jobriath played when he came to San Francisco... Mark Twain lived in a building a block down from me. Isadora Duncan also had lived in the area. I loved SF then. The Tubes also played at The Boarding House often. I remember Naomi Ruth Eisenberg and I went to see Bobby Carradine who I was hanging out with there with his brother David Carradine... Those were the days‌ Sick! So after all these years you still love punk as much as when you were a child? Who is or was your all time fave band?
The Ramones are my all-time favorite band. I love Blondie, Jayne County, The VKTMS, Joe Jackson, L7, Betty Blowtorch, Jim Carroll, The Lewd, Bebe Buell, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Sham 69, The Duel, and X Ray Specs. There are so many bands‌ I know , me too. The Sex Pistols woke me up to my love of punk, before them it seemed vague for me they epitomized punk. I love so many bands the thing I liked was the diversity of sound but for me The Pistols did it. As I said, they were my punk format musically. Do you like print or digital better? Of course the Internet has helped reach far more people that the printed issues from the 80's. Distribution was hard to get and getting paid was iffy. Doing a zine is a labor of love. It is easier now because alot of the money that was being spent for half tones and printing can now be used for promotion and getting a good host for your publication. But either way it is very time consuming and both ways can be pricey... But I do like the Internet better for the reason that most people have access to a computer and you can reach people all over the world. Cut and paste had it charm. I am dealing with a young guy David who along with the fabulous Kim Dallesandro is helping me with a line of vintage Punk Globe tee shirts which will feature old Punk Globe covers.. David really likes the image that Xerox Machines from the 70's and 80's made.. I told him half tones were so expensive that often I would use high resolution Xerox copy for print that gave at the time a certain look a lot of people did not appreciate. However now it seems many of the younger artists really like that imagery.. Funny how things change!
I miss the cut and paste days too! Ginger can you tell us how large the readership is and anything interesting that's occurred over the years in your publication? On a average month doing Punk Globe we get 300,000 hits a month. Some months the numbers have doubled and other months we do not hit 300,000. There has been all sorts of exciting moments that have happened. In the 80's Punk Globe made the National Enquirer. I become friends with Matthew Asner son of the ultra-cool Ed Asner who was doing Lou Grant at the time. Matthew had a band called Insect Idol and they came up from LA to play a benefit for Punk Globe at The Berkley Square. Ed and his then wife Nancy came to see the show and someone from The National Enquirer contacted me about getting photo's so our photographer Julie Stein made some good money. Miss Guy doing interviews with Debbie Harry and Boy George was epic... Interviewing NCIS Star Pauley Perrette, Gigolo star Nick Hawk was good fun.. I did the Dead Kennedy's and Faith No More's first interviews in Punk globe which is iconic now... In the early years of Punk Globe it was very limited readership but it grew with in time we were getting 25,000 issues of Punk Globe printed..
That's insane I agree I like punk for the same reasons and that it's from the streets ,it's like less is more too me , like an abstract painting , for me it's not about being a rocks star per say but that it's anyone that can do this, by the way great work Ginger, your band is an original! When I started getting involved with punk there were just a few of us who dared to have crazy colored hair and dress in black. We would constantly be embarrassed and harassed by the cops and have things thrown at us and people would yell horrible things out of their car windows. Jocks hated us... The gay leather crowd were the first group of outcast to befriend us because they liked our fuck you attitude and I am sure liked the boys in the punk movement. People who liked metal despised punk rockers. We were a threat to many and we had a rough time in the early days.. I like punk because it is a lot more open minded the other styles of music . Sure there were some jerk skinheads but the majority of the people who were involved in the early days of punk were social outcast and we all migrated together with no real concern our color sexuality or age. Are you still located in SF? I live in Hollywood, Ca now. I moved to Hollywood during the dot com crunch in 1998. Rents were so high and someone bought the building I was living in . The options in SF were very slim. Rents were so high. Many people were moving to the East Bay but I had been in LA and had seen all these vacancy signs so I went south to Hollywood.. When I moved to Hollywood I started White Trash
Debutantes with people from LA and we played and toured a lot. Now all the members live in SF and I commute.. There were more clubs to play than the entire Bay Area in Hollywood alone... What is the music scene like in 2014 and who in your opinion are the relevant bands there today? Now it has been almost 15 years later and the music scene in Hollywood is weak.. But downtown L.A. is happening. I like bands like Black Sabbitch with Blaire n Bitch from Betty Blowtorch and Mary Powers, Prima Donna are fun.. I really like Erik Arcane.. Dime Runner are OK. Of course The White Trash Debutantes, Bite, Death On The Radio, Barb Wire Dolls, Imperial Teen, The Lewd, Margaret Cho, Julie Brown, Bebe Buell, Jayne County, DOA, Dead Kennedys, Jello Biafra, Rampage, JP5, The Real McKenzies, Rancid, The Insaints, My Son The Bum, 22nd Century, Jesse Michaels,The Independents, Pauley Perrette, ,Kim Dallesndro, Meri St Mary, Kathy Peck, Courtney Love, Faith No More all rule! Cool so can you tell us about the lineup of the band and changes over the years? I now have Pauli Gray playing guitar he has been playing with me for quite a few years now. Eric Borst plays drums, Jeff Risdon is playing bass and Chelsea Rose, and Lynne Eletra is also on vocals... Amy Talaska is on vocals when time and location permits... We also have Mike and Karla who live in Vancouver who play with the band when time and location allows... We have had various line ups and they have all had their unique charm. Margaret Cho was a singer at one point, Lynne Perko Truell from Imperial Teen and The Dicks played drums and Billy Gould of Faith No More played bass with us and produced our first record on Alternative Tentacles. Musically we have also been a bit of The Ramones with a little of the New York Dolls, a dash of Jayne County and a touch of The Tubes all mixed together.. Kurt Loder from MTV described us as a prom night gone bad. - Mike Spent
Joe Baiza of the legendary Saccharine Trust speaks with Ed Huerta on anything and everything from the very beginning until now. Original and full interview is at Jackaboutguitars
The first time I saw Joe perform was about 1982 maybe 1983 with Saccharine Trust at the legendary, now defunct Cathay de Grande in Hollywood. I believe Black Flag was on this bill also, because I remember seeing and talking to Henry Rollins and thought he was shorter in person than I imagined. At the time, I was in a psychedelia/pop/paisley underground band called Copper 7. We hailed from comfortable Orange County. I had no idea that bands like Saccharine Trust existed or sounded like this. Punk bands were supposed to be loud, in your face, obnoxious, 2 minutes of straight ahead thrashing. Saccharine defied all of this. Yes, they had some straight ahead punk songs but the singer shouted poetry to songs that were curving all over the place and tightly too! I never wanted to play drums again after seeing them. My band’s music seemed so contrived, so ordinary, stilted even, after witnessing this group. The guitarist looked like a serial killer and I didn’t want to even make eye contact with the guy. The singer was a possessed wild man that stalked and whirled and spouted Doors-ian style beat poems set to shimmering sheets of sonic energy. I later became friends with both of these guys, even playing in bands with the both of them, and they are the nicest guys in the world. But in 1983, they scared the sh*t outta me! I believe Joe Baiza still scares the sh*t out of a lot of guitar players to this day. I hope this article will open up some eyes and ears to this fellow musician that continues to electrify every time he is seen on a stage performing. EH: What got you interested in music? JB: I went through different periods…when I first got into music, I was about 4 years old. I used to get up early in the morning and watch t.v. I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s and we had this big t.v., like a big box, like it was a piece of furniture. So I’d get up in the morning, I wasn’t in school yet and my mother was asleep still and I’d watch like cartoon shows and “Captain Kangaroo” was on back then, things like “I love Lucy” then “Password” would come on and that was boring to me, I didn’t understand it (laughs) so one day my mother wasn’t awake yet and I was looking at the TV and there was like a drawer of some sort, a panel
under the screen and I pulled it open and somehow I figured out it was a record player. “WOW! What’s this thing?” so there were 45’s in there and I figured out how to work it and I put the 45’s on and listened to them. They had those little yellow, plastic inserts and there were only like three inserts and I could play three records. We had about 15 singles. Elvis Presley, I forget which song, Johnny Cash, Prez Prado, stuff like that, from that time and I remember struggling with that little plastic insert, trying to get it in and I remember listening to that Elvis Presley record and I felt weird. It got me all excited, like jumping on the couch and stuff, it made me want to jump all around the living room not sure, it might have been Jailhouse Rock.
Yeah, you had to have had something before you stepped into Saccharine Trust and to be this guy playing like you play JB: Yeah with these guys I learned barre chords, then we started playing T-Rex songs and stuff, then the drummer quit, he became a Christian. So I wasn’t very inspired to continue so I quit too, a few years went by then I met Jack Brewer. Everyone knows Baiza. Like in the late 80’s, I was in a band and the singer said to the guitarist “play this guitar part like Baiza.”
JB: Getting back to Saccharine Trust days, after The Obstacles, like with Rob Holzman, Earl Liberty, we started doing those Black Flag tours. Those tours built up the power of So I was kind of into music like that. So when the group. We had to play hard because we were with Black Flag. We created our own I started going to school, my mother would hardcore sound. People knew something was listen to the radio. I guess I liked that old going on. rock and roll so that was my first exposure. When I grew up there was a lot of great music Well Jack did the poetry/lyrics and you drove on in the 60’s. I guess the first record I got the rhythmic thing. Did Jack come up with the was the first Beatles record, everyone had the lyrics and you did the music? first Beatles record, Meet The Beatles. I JB: Well Jack would come up with this weird didn’t even know who The Beatles were. I Ramones type thing on acoustic guitar and he was about 12. We used to take the bus to would sorta sing along with it. So I said let’s junior high school and one Monday morning have the bass do that then I would layer everyone was all excited. I was sitting on the something over that, like a mood overrider. I bus next to Tom Crabbe and asked what was was approaching the guitar in that way. I was everyone talking about Beatles or something? taking the guitar like in a non-musician He said “oh yeah, they were on Ed Sullivan perspective, like an art experiment or last night.” I said “so what? a band I don’t get something. I didn’t want to rely on any kind it?” “ Well they’re a little bit different. They’re of foundation of music or any special from England, they wear funny suits and they guitarist or style. I wanted it to come from have funny hair.” And I said, “ what do you nowhere. mean funny hair??” “Well they sort of have hair like Moe Howard from The Three Stoog- Right, you’re very successful at that. Now that es!” And I’m thinking WHAAAAT??!!! guys in goes hand in hand with your painting or art. suits from England? with funny hair like Moe Do you have a website for your art? Howard from the Three Stooges?? Why is JB: No I should…someone once said in an inthat so exciting? terview that my guitar playing is like my drawing. Yeah it has that same expressiveWas Saccharine Trust your first band? ness. The notes I play are sorta staccato and a JB: Yeah it was…before that I had some little jaggedy, not really clear and when I neighborhood friends about 1969, 1970 they draw, I draw the same way with ink. I draw had all the rock albums, Cream...that’s how I with lines sort of impressionistic the same as got introduced to it. the guitar notes.
bar and there was this dude I was talking to in the bar that was all excited that Saccharine Trust was playing. “Like I can’t believe Saccharine Trust is here. I love you guys” So I said we’re about to start and he goes “naw, naw I’m gonna stay here and have a few beers.” So that’s our crowd…just the way it is.. (laughter all around) So let’s get into guitars…do you have a guitar collection? JB: I play a Fender re-issue, a 1983 Stratocaster, a reissue of some 60’s model or something. Your art is great! JB: Yeah, I’d like to do more of that. Don’t have the time but when I was in Mexico a couple months ago I did some drawings over there. So yeah, been asked to do shows but I haven’t gotten around to have an aesthetic focus, so been thinking about that now.
I remember seeing you and D. Boon in a guitar gunslinger face-off at anti-club. Now how was your relationship with D.?
JB: Well I was good friends with him before The Minutemen. I lived downstairs from him. Me and Jack used to rehearse, just the two of us and we had these little amps and one day we heard a knock on the door and I’m thinking sh*t it’s the landlady and I open the door I think you would draw a lot of people to one and it’s D. Boon standing there going (in funof your art shows. Oh, by the way, I read a ny white guy voice) “Hey, hi” and I’m thinkKurt Cobain biography and Saccharine Trust ing who the f*ck is this? He looked like a new was one of his favorite bands. Did you guys ev- wave guy, and he says, (in funny voice again) er talk about guitar playing? “I’m a musician too.” I said, “oh yeah I heard JB: No, I never met Kurt Cobain. Never knew he liked us but when we were on those tours with Black Flag, and we went to Seattle, the guys in Black flag said a lot of people liked us there in Seattle. Yeah, we had some fans out there. I just never realized he like us. Yeah, he called you guys out…now when you guys go to Europe, you attract people there right? JB: We played festivals twice in England, All Tomorrow’s Parties. We went to Germany last time around. The funny thing about Saccharine Trust is they know we are around, they like the idea we are around, but they won’t go watch Saccharine! (laughs) you playing that Who song the other day” and at the time I couldn’t understand why anyone For example, One time we had a gig in San would play The Who. I was anti rock and roll. Francisco, can’t remember the name of the It was just a phase I was going through then. place, but there’s this little room, then the
JB: Like during the Black Flag tours they were getting into metal and I just didn’t like that so they were going Dio! Yeah! and I really didn’t like that…like I gotta go outside right now. Well, when I saw you guys years ago at Music Machine with Black Flag and Meat Puppets, I thought you guys were more kin with Meat Puppets, as far as experimental, trying to be different. You guys always had The Doors references thrown at you but I never saw too much of that. You guys were always on the edge of punk rock. I never thought you guys were punk rock. JB: Well I was always trying to push the boundaries of that, try to do something different…maybe it was too much..they go what is this…kinda hard to take..like the 2nd SacThen I found out he was in The Reactionaries charine Trust record “Surviving You Always”, so I thought he was cool then. We did a lot of it’s a real bitter pill, that album. I can only listen to like one side then I have to take it gigs in Pedro and hung out. Then The off. It’s like a real ugly mood, like dark. Minutemen got more popular and we wouldn’t see much of each other. Then we It goes with that album cover (album cover both moved to L.A. and we saw each other photo is a black and white shot depicting a more. It was kinda like in waves, like we’d do woman on the hood of a car after jumping from several stories up) gigs with The Minutemen..he was busy touring...sorta like that..then he died…that JB: Exactly, dark, twisted…it was such a time was the end of that… bomb in those times trying to expand that it Yeah, that was a sad day alright…Okay, well, just finally imploded. Everyone had their own Who are some of your biggest influences or interests in what they wanted to do. favorite musicians in music? Saccharine today is much more compatible. JB: James Blood Ulmer…like the first time I We can play something old then something heard him it was like what the f*ck is that?? new. It all has a connecting thread now. I can enjoy that. I love Saccharine today. There Early James Blood Ulmer, the real outside stuff. Even though I don’t play like him it in- isn’t a lot of friction between us. We just go up there, relax and play. spired me to go that free guitar style, ya know...umm, certain blues guys, like Albert Postscript: I went to Joe’s latest art opening in Collins. I like the bite he had out of the guitar San Pedro a few months ago that was attended by the cream of South Bay musicians including that SNAP…guys like that inspired my Mike Watt, Jack Brewer, Henry Rollins, Philo tone...also like horn players…not too much rock. I’m not too much of a rock and roller, I Van Duyne, Bob and Ken Fitzer, Steve Reed, etc…many, many more…The art was fantastic try to be but don’t have it in me. and the turnout huge…and this goes to show Yeah, well you are lumped into that punk rock you the respect everyone has for this man Baiza. category, the cut and dried three chords and I am proud to have played with him and to have stuff like that and you are far from that. him as a friend…Baiza rocks! - Ed Huerta
Photography: Wil Cohen
With over a million views worldwide of your single “Gorgeous Baby” in 2013, how has life changed for the band and what is the story behind the song and video?
album. I love this concept. Why make it free when other bands charge for their music?
When you released “She’s on Heat” in 2012, you did the release as a free
differences between the U.S. and New Zealand?
F**k money, sometimes you just can’t be bothered. When you are getting yourself out Life is good, the music is grand & the weather there and making a name for yourself money is sweet here in NZ :) Things have become issues just get in the way. You’ve got all the more fun more exciting we are basically still utensils to do it nowadays and when you are doing what we love which is awesome. Its a self-developed band you just gotta get over nice to be known now that has been a change the perfectionism and peoples opinions I used to just say whatever I liked but now I because if you are dedicated you will get bethave to think twice because people are ter, you will mature in sound and in attitude. actually listening to what I say lol I still do We went with the Rap/Hiphop model of free exactly what I want I just make sure I really downloads & gaining fans without having to want it to be known! We did a collaboration worry about money getting us down. Just on a music video with a Starlet called Helen give your music to people and if they like it Flanagan and tricked the British media into they will stay with you. thinking she had started an indie rock career As a band that comes from Auckland, they fell for it hard :) It also made the news in New Zealand how did the local culture Spain, Ireland, Russia and Japan. influence you and what are the major
They both oozed this pure and staunch artistic credibility and proved you really don’t need to pretend to be something you are not. Both counter culture, both very ambitious. I can see why they became so popular as they had a true emotional depth to them like other artists such as Jim Morrison, Jeff Buckley, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix. That 'live for your art, die for your art, change peoples shitty lives and your own with your art’ ethos is very much missing in contemporary artists. In my view with top artists it doesn’t all come down to their musical talent it comes down to the person and what they are willing to give to their listeners. How much life they breathe into their music. It’s all about soul. It’s an island in the south pacific ocean... 'it’s a trap’ haha… nah I love NZ but being stuck on an island does make people here a bit bitchy. I just bitch back now. Thankfully I see heaps and heaps of international acts coming to Auckland now it’s almost getting to an american level of touring bands in town these days which is great for NZers. I think it’s because it is getting cheaper to travel here which is awesome. The 15-35hr travel time to get here was bad enough let alone the cost. NZ culture has influenced me to get off the island and be somebody. The Maori and pacific island culture of NZ is far more nurturing though, they love success and seeing people succeed and are truly happy when you do.
From their honest, imperfect & self-taught example I have been able to become a songwriter myself and have been writing for at least 10 years now. What do you like about Los Angeles and would you ever consider relocating here?
I love Los Angeles for the same reason Anthony Kiedis and the Chilli peppers loved LA because its got soul. A lot of people around the world have a certain Hollywood stereotype view of it but when you are there its the real people that are the stars, its got a grit to it that makes you want to try harder, the musicians are competitive but also want you on their team and all of the history there makes it magic. I absolutely love the Mexican The band enjoys living life to the culture in Los Angeles too. I would relocate if maximum and hot chicks. What are I could but I also love the U.K and NZ so I am your views on sex, art, drugs, and rock happy to rotate between them. n roll? What is your favorite Stooges album? I have found they don’t work unless you do Raw Power. Full stop. It’s a top 5 album for them all at the same time :) me. I think I love every single note on that What band influenced you the most in album. The stooges are a heavy influence on your decision to start writing music me and my music. 'The Chug’ as I call it, that and who does most of the writing? nasty continuous beat and riff is something I have been obsessed with for a long time, it’s I think Billly Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana had a hypnotic. huge impact on me from a very young age. They really inspired my rhythm guitar style Both were self taught and unapologetic about and I play a cherry red Gibson melody maker being honest and vulnerable in their music. in homage to them. The recording of Raw
Power was also very inspiring totally raw and unashamedly honest with such a beautiful result. I dig the single “Treat me Right”, what inspired the intense vocal and garage rock leads that fill this tune?
Do you feel that women are needed in rock n roll because the boys are getting boring? I think there is a lack of good rock music out there at the moment so regardless of gender you are more likely to get attention now because people are really sick of the same old, same old. Women are very interesting creatures and naturally people are going to be drawn to women in rock because they haven’t been as prevalent in the 2000s. I personally am defiantly getting bored of boy bands who have nothing to say lol I am very happy to be a woman in rock as girls need role models to look up to. They need to know that woman have a place in the rock music industry and that they are wanted. –KPM
It was a purely creative session for that song. We had never played the song together at all, i had only just written it was super brand new. I wanted to go into the studio and see if we could find something more to it and that was the first and only take we did of it. We took it home and just loved the vibe and then decided hey why not dust it off a little and The Neos Official Site release it. I am a big fan of Neil young and Bob Dylan’s writing & recording processes which are more natural and creative. I was really happy that it just happened so spontaneously and we stood by it instead of to a conservative music press/music industry. re-recording because of commercial pressures.
Menace Menace was probably the first true OI band in the UK! If you are not aware of their history, I suggest you Google them. They have survived since 1976 in various incarnations. The current band contains the first two members Noel Martin and Charlie Casey. Finn Panton joined the current line up in 2009,in January 2014 they recorded a new album titled "Too many punks are Dead “. Originally when they formed. the clubs they were playing would ban them but the fans loved them. During their short original reign from 1976 to 1979, they have earned a place in the annals of PUNK ROCK HISTORY! - MIKE SPENT
(MS) Cheers Noel … long time mate, please tell us how Menace began and who was in the band. (NM) Menace started around Sep 1976 when me Steve and Charlie got together with Morgan. This happened at the now famous Hope and Anchor pub on Upper St. Islington. What was your first gig? Now you are asking me to remember things which are almost impossible to remember. I think ,it would have been in 1973 or 1974 with a band called Stonehenge, the first band I gigged live in .We played in a pub called the Nags Head in Holloway Islington I was the keyboard player and I lived across the road. The first Menace gig was, I think, at the Hope and Anchor and the second gig which I do remember because it was at the Roxy. The facts unfortunately are a little hazy because alcohol played a big part of a young Irishman's life… How did the band get its style and what was the first show you saw? Fuck me is my memory right or not? The first punk gig was probably when we played at the
Mike I have to say it is brilliant, we play to all ages especially outside of the UK...We played the west coast this year and stayed with a couple who had been to see us at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood in 2003. They were 23 years old so had only been 13 in 2003. Check out the video in Santa Anna skate park. aA very young crowd. the amazing thing is they all knew the songs. Its really great to see all the younger crowd coming to see the shows. We are still gnarly old gits and still party with the best of them...some Guinness and Yager for fuel is all I need.
Roxy with Sham 69. We got to know them very well as we played many gigs with them all over the country. Our version of Punk came when we discovered we weren't fashionable, had no money to buy Kings Road stuff, the press hated us and we wore DMs. Its was called Street Punk or working class punk which we all now call Oi. Please tell us about Menace today! I know that you just played in Brussels with Karsten and the Nazi Dogs ...tell us all bout it! Menace today is pretty much being held together be me and of course Finn (The new boy 56 , lol ) The way it works now is that the band is a three piece me Finn and Rob (Original bass player on King Kurt) Charlie and Steve our original Bass man and Guitarist plays for us from time.
We also use a guy Called Martin who is a brilliant Ska bass player. The reason for all this confusion is that I want to keep the doors open for the original guys to come and play when they are able e.g. Japan 2011 when the original line played he tour (dvd coming soon). The gig in Brussels was great and it was good to meet Karsten and the Nazi dogs. We went into the studio back in January to record our album “Too Many Punks are Dead�. So here we are in 2014, what is it like playing to people, where guys like you and I could be there grandparents ?
So how did you come up with the name Menace? Were you guys soccer hooligans? Or did the hooligans follow your band? Charlie came you with it. Dennis the menace was a character in the Beano comic book here in the UK. We had a mixture of people following including some herberts as they were called then. We were never football hooligans ourselves but we were all Arsenal supporters except for Morgan who supported some ice hockey team . Noel, can you tell us about the best gigs you have ever played? Early days would be the Roxy and the Vortex. At the Vortex I do remember playing there one night with Pete Townsend and Keith Moon. We went upstairs where Keith was drinking a pint of Brandy., so I thought what's good for the goose and joined in. They were always packed and had a great atmosphere. Holidays in the sun (now rebellion) the Dome Morcombe in 1999 our second gig since we reformed...CBGBs the day before 9/11 great night followed by terrible disaster ( and we were right there in NYC to see it, fucked up). The 100 Club with the best stage invasion ever. The Japanese tour with the original line up (minus Morgan RIP) coming out on DVD soon. Amsterdam with the great Cocksparrer. OK mate! For our readers , should you want to know more about MENACE ,please see the official page MENACE PUNK , and drop Noel A note ! - MS
Power Pop returns from the dead to greet 2014. With a sold out single and instant cult following, Chainletters is a band to watch out for...
How did the band form and how were the 2 tracks point I was still thinking – is this a crazy thing to on your latest single recordwithed and written? attempt? But with those demos, I approached peoI’d never played an instrument or been involved ple whose work I liked, and I was very fortunate that Sophia, Johnny and Violet got what I was in music, unless you count obsessing about it since I was a kid. But I’d always wanted to make trying to do and wanted to make a record as much as I did. And once they were committed to it, I a record. They were magical things to me, ever since I was given a battery-operated mono record knew it was going to happen, even though I suddenly found out there were a million different player that played only 7-inches. The turntable things that had to be done before the finished recbegan rotating as soon as you lifted the arm, the speaker started to hiss… It was a toy, really, but ord was released.
that was the great thing about it. It wasn’t like us- Is Pogotime your own record label and do you ing the family stereo, it was mine to control, to have more releases planned? play things as many times as I wanted. Yeah Pogo Time Records is our label but we also So later, as an adult, one day I saw a guitar in a want to put out records by other bands, especially music store window and decided there and then to if we are involved in them… I like the idea of buy it and make a record. But first I had to learn side-project bands – I’m planning one right now how to play – which I did by completely avoiding but I need to find a singer. I’m really open to apanything difficult, like playing notes. Instead I proaches from musicians wanting to collaborate watched someone playing Blitzkrieg Bop on and labels wanting to put something together with Youtube. So with a couple of barre chord shapes I us. suddenly knew enough to record demos of the What types of things inspire the lyrics and music two songs that ended up on the 7-inch. At this of Chain Letters?
Do you prefer retro or current culture? I don’t romanticize the past, but all through the 90s and 00s I listened almost exclusively to 60s and 70s pop and punk rock, so for me that defines what a song should sound like. I have a 90s-shaped hole in my musical knowledge, apart from a few punk bands and the Rip Off Records stuff.
Four direct inspirations, additional to obsessing about music since the age of eight or nine: hearing The Donnas’ first album, which had great songwriting and terrific sloppy playing. It sounds like something thrown together in a garage but there’s an incredible artfulness to it at the same time. I was fascinated by Darin Raffaelli’s collaboration with the band and also the “extreme DIY” feel of his earlier records with Supercharger.
Although there are still places where there’s a critical mass of bands who appreciate each other’s music (Ottawa, Oakland, Denton), the great thing about this era is that scenes aren’t limited to a specific city at a specific time, because it’s so easy to connect with people who like the same kind of stuff you do without the limitations of geography. What type of reception has the band received with a single that sold out pretty quick with just an underground buzz going?
We’ve had some incredible reviews, which has been really exciting. It’s been great to get played on punk rock radio shows and to have our record reviewed in fanzines and blogs. We had no idea Another major influence was seeing Talulah Gosh how it was going to be received but right from the twice when I was a kid, just before they split up, start we had a lot of support from distros who when they were playing these delicate, unusual wanted to carry copies when they heard what it melodies with the pace and attack of hardcore. was going to sound like. We pressed 300 copies All the songs I’ve written ended up full of angst, and I was worried that I would end up with 290 but that isn’t what I intended at all when I started stacked up in my garage for the rest of my days. out. I was shooting for Shonen Knife meets the With current punk and power pop bands, what do Spoiled Brats, something like that. But the angsty you like and what do you dislike? stuff took over and now I find it hard to write anThere are so many great bands out there… ything without that little core of drama at the Mother’s Children, First Base, Heartburns and heart of it. First Times from Finland, Black Mambas, No What past projects have you guys been involved Tomorrow Boys, Neighborhood Brats, Midnite with? Snaxxx… I have never been in a band before, Sophia our What does the summer hold for Chain Letters and singer was in Young People With Faces, a teen other projects the band is involved in? punk band in Idaho – they put out a great LP and Working on the next 45! It may seem strange but a couple of singles… Bass player Johnny Bubblegum was in Tyranna in Toronto when he we don’t really talk about any of the other things was a kid, a terrific band fronted by the legendary going on in our lives. -KPM Vera Rabies… Violet the drummer has been in lots of bands and has toured with Vice Squad...
Faz Waltz: Wham Bam Glam! ‌
It really depends on the period and sometimes I listen to singles, sometimes to albums…so what I can do is give you just some band names : T.Rex, , Brother Susan, The Beatles, Angel, David Bowie, Jook, Gary Glitter, Blackfoot Sue, Cheap Trick, Daybreak, Slade, Five Dollar Shoes, Walkers and many more… Do you think rock n roll is dead, or does it need a good kick in the ass?
What made you decide to do a Glam Rock band?
Rock n’roll is not a fashion and we don’t need any chart to let us know how strong it is, so as long as there are people who love getting wild listening to real instruments playing real wild music from the heart, long live rock’n’roll.
Faz La Rocca: In 2006 the punk rock scene was so static and overfilled, too many bands with the same sound, so I thought it was time What do you think of bands who place for something different, time to dig in the “getting signed” before “writing good pond, right to the roots of punk. songs”? After three albums and hundreds of shows, do you think your latest record, Lately it seems more important to have a good booking agency rather than a record “Back on Mondo” is the definitive label, playing live looks like the easiest way to sound of the band? promote the band. Of course a record label Every album has its own soul, we’ve never helps in many ways, but just pressing the tried to achieve a definitive sound or a records is not enough. A band has to think of trademark. “Back On Mondo” is the many things, the look, the right contacts, the snap-shot of that period. Of course, in every right record label, the best booking agency … album you can hear a connection in the way but , most of all, you could be the greatest it sounds. musician around…but if you ain’t got good What do you think of other bands try- songs, you ain’t nothing. ing the glam rock sound in very comWhat is the wildest tour story that you mercial ways, such as the Arctic Mon- have throughout your years of keys and JET? What newer bands do extensive live playing? you like and which ones do you find I remember when we played in London for not so great. the first time and you know, the socket is Really? I’ve never heard a real glam influence different, but we forgot the adaptor for the in those bands, and I don’t really care. I just amp at the hostel, so we had just a few don’t think any kind of music should have an minutes left before it was our turn to play… exclusive right to an inner circle… Everything Marco popped out of the club like a a band should be is coherent. Newer bands I champagne cork looking for a shop… after 1 like? I think The Biters and our friends Giuda mile running in the wrong direction we are really good at the moment. noticed there was one just at the corner. He What are the top three records that came back breathless and soaking wet just in you listen to the most? time to get on stage … -KPM
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