Crucifucks
from Task #1, March 1985
Greg C. interviewed The Crucifucks (Doc C. Dart, vocals and trombone; and Gus, guitar) over the telephone in Mid-August of 1984.
G: How long have the Crucifucks been together?
D: About 2 1/2 years.
G: Who originally formed the band?
D: Me and our original bass player Scott. That was in January of ‘82.
G: Who are the current members of the band?
D: Todd is playing bass, he’s from Columbia, Missouri. He used to be in a band called Causes Of Tragedy. Gus plays guitar and our drummer is Steve.
G: Who writes most of the material you perform?
D: Over 90% of our songs started with bass lines by Scott, who’s no longer with us. But like I said, those were bass lines and it’s been pretty much everybody puts in their 25%. It’s been a real flexible deal how we’ve thrown together the music.
G: When will the new LP be out?
D: Probably by October 1st. We’ve just mailed out the finished cover plans and everything. It’s going to be on Alternative Tentacles.
G: What studio did you record it in?
D: I can’t remember all their names. It was 13 separate ones in the L.A. area and we poured way too much money into it and came out with a product that probably could’ve cost us nothing in a basement. But then again it’s not as intense but you will be able to know it was done in a studio because Spot did a great job producing it.
G: How many songs are going to be on it?
D: 15.
G: How many of them are going to be new and how many will be repeats from your cassette?
D: The first half is going to sound similar to the tape. There’s going to be some of the same conversations because we figured there were people who would buy the album who never heard us before. There’s a couple new taped conversations on there too and then the second side is all new except for one song I think. All the songs from the tape except Leave Me Alone will be on the album.
G: Is the song Annual Report from Maximum Rock N Roll’s “Welcome To 1984” compilation going to be on it?
D: No we decided to let them have it exclusively. We figured that would have more integrity or whatever. Consequently now we don’t even have a cut for the new MDC compilation that they’re putting out. We want to be on it but we haven’t been in the studio in awhile so it’s going to be pretty hard.
G: How did you end up on that new Max RNR compilation? Did they come to you?
D: Yeah they just called and said that they wanted us on it. I think one of their main reasons for choosing us was that we hadn’t been on vinyl before and they wanted bands that hadn’t had any exposure before.
G: What’s the name of the new LP?
D: Just “The Crucifucks”. Maybe we have settled for less artistically but we finally had to say we just gotta get this out we’ve waited far too long already. We were trying to get this picture from the Diane Arbis collection of photos and we waited for 2 months to try and get permission from her estate and we finally found out we couldn’t use it. It was a really great picture of a little boy holding a hand grenade. It was taken in 1962 but it turns out we couldn’t use it so we just grabbed something for the cover.
G: It seems that you’re notorious for having problems with the cops in your area. What’s the story with that?
D: Well a lot of that we kind of let slide for awhile because we were getting so much attention and we didn’t want to have any overkill.
G: How did all of that start?
D: It all started with a flyer we made. MDC was coming to town and I’ve kept a file for years of obituaries of policemen and misuses of police power and such and such and I finally had a way to utilize them. So I put all these things on the flyer with our name of course and nobody had really seen our name in print in the area yet. That coupled with the red marker I used to put huge, gaping holes in the policemen’s heads and big pools of blood, that just didn’t sit well at all so ever since then we’ve been kind of a target.
G: Why did you provoke the cops like that?
D: Well at that point it was just from a limited personal experience which has been all very negative with episodes of brutality and abuses of power and the police pretty much letting their emotions take over where their duty should. I’ve had a history of problems with them since 1971. I’ve gone to trial and had them deliberately lie on the stand and things like that. You just loose respect for the whole system when you see things like that happen, when they do it just because of their own personal animosity towards you.
G: I heard you just got arrested again for disorderly conduct. It sounds like your problems have been many with the cops.
D: If it was for something that I really did you know I’d even plead guilty to get it over with, but it never is anything that’s that clear cut, it’s always something really silly. If I’m going to have this much of a hassle I’d much rather do something really destructive.
G: Does your name “The Crucifucks” have any special meanings?
D: I thought of it but it’s kind of like a new word. I just leave it for people to get from it whatever they do because it can be interpreted in a lot of ways, all of which go hand in hand. I just figure let it do for people what it does whether it effects them negatively or positively. The name was probably born out of a whole disdain for religion on my part.
G: You’re from the suburbs of Lansing, Michigan right?
D: Originally, but now I live right in town though. I walk down town 2 or 3 times a week where I usually get into trouble. There’s just so many cops here and they think it’s like a really big city and it isn’t. It’s a rural area. It’s a piss capitol of a shit state. It’s very small compared to any big city but they think if they’ve got 2 or 3 prostitutes that they’re crime city, and they’ve got to keep everything under control, and you shouldn’t be down town at this late hour you know. They’d be shocked if there was any real trouble.
G: You just did a mini Midwest tour with The Dicks and The Offenders. What kind of tour plans do you have in the future?
D: We’re tentatively playing one starting in mid September and probably head out west first and then come back home after a month or so and rest for a couple of weeks and then go east by November hitting as many major cities as we can.
G: How did the Crucifucks go over when you played in the Midwest? Were you happy with the shows?
D: It pleased me a lot better then when we went out west. I think half of it was being with The Dicks who we’ve played with before and we enjoy everybody in the band. They were all outstanding shows as far as I’m concerned. We love to play Madison and we played up in Green Bay and the support there was astounding. It was probably the most fun little tour we’ve ever done.
G: Do you have any specific musical influences or any favorite bands that could have an effect on your music?
D: Anything from Captain Beefbeart to Iggy and John Lennon to The Kinks. I listen to an awful lot of stuff and very little hardcore.
G: Well obviously you guys aren’t millionaires from The Crucifucks and I don’t mean that insultingly, but there’s a whole lot of money to be made out there. How do you guys support yourselves? Are you unfortunately part the capitalist world?
D: I think all of us are to some extent like it or not. I go to school and that’s a long story how I’m able to. Gus is looking for a job. Steve works in a restaurant and Todd was working in a restaurant. I have no plans for getting a job whatsoever. I hate work.
G: Have you ever had any unique experiences with or without the band that have really had an impact on you?
D: The one I remember the most is a thing out in Albuquerque, New Mexico that got out of hand before I knew what was happening. It has affected my behavior ever since. I can’t really say how but anyway we got beat up on a little bit. It was really unexpected and all because these guys were considering themselves punks but yet at the same time were patriotic and from my perspective that’s a contradiction in terms. So now anytime I find myself disagreeing with someone I get my hands out of my pocket and start to wonder whether they’re going to start swinging at my head. It’s just kind of a paranoia that’s set in. Athough I’m not scared of getting beat up, it’s happened before several times and I can run raster then anyone else so I’m not really worried. In case I get sick of getting beat up I can always run.
G: Beyond the album and upcoming national tour in the fall, what’s the future have in store for The Crucifucks?
D: We’re all in agreement we’d love to go to Europe and if we were to do that within the next year we’d need help. Maybe there’s a chance of another band taking us with them or pooling our resources or something. We’d love to go with The Dicks because we get along so well.
G: Any regrets?
D: When I look at the time that’s gone by we could’ve been three times more productive then we’ve been, but we had a bass player in Columbus for almost a year. We were trying to cope with him being that far away and we let that go for way too long.
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