from Moshable #9, 1991
By Peter Markham
Poison Idea are one of the most controversial punk bands right now, people either love 'em or hate 'em, and they don't really ive a shit. This massive punk rock nightmare has continued for over 10 years now, and the more records they put out the better they get. Especially with their new brilliant album "Feel the Darkness". And I won't deny the fact that they're my favorite band, and personally I wanted to make this rag into a Poison Idea fanzine!! (but Lars and Simon won't let me).
Finally for the first time in March '91 we had the pleasure of seeing P.I. on tour in Europe, after a lot of problems with change of agencies and cancellations (unfortunately they didn't make it to Denmark, but I caught 'em in England with the Hard-Ons and Les Thugs). An exciting show of pure unpolished aggression, drunkenness, blood, sweat and fire breathing. A rush for sure! Unfortunately Jerry A. fell sick, and they had to cencel their last four UK shows. They however plan on returning to Europe soon.
In August '90 I got the chance to interview P.I. punk rock god, vocalist Jerry A. - my mentor, at his home turf in Portland, Oregon, sharing a 12 pack of malt liquor. And we had a long chat about his and the band's views on many subjects; record collecting, their "bad" reputation, the Portland scene, tour stories, politics, inspiration for lyrics, and much more.
They always have different people dristing in and out of the band, their current line-up is: Jerry A. (vocals), Tom "Pig Champion" Roberts (guitar), Mondo (guitar), Myrtle Tickner (bass), and Steve "Thee Slayer Hippie" Hanford (drums). Originally I promised you this interview in the last Moshable, but due to things I won't go into, here you have it. Enjoy...
After having different people in the band, on the last couple of records, do you think you have now settled a permanent line-up?
J: It depends, I mean I just sing, I'm not gonna switch over to bass. But if our guitar player happens to wake up tomorrow and decides he hates our guts, and leaves. Or the bass player might fall down in front of a bus and get run over, 'cos he's a known drunk. But we're pretty stable as we are right now, we're having fun we've searched all over for these deviants. It took 10 years to find the most degenerate people to get in the band, and I think we've finally fournd them. We're pretty happy.
You got Mondo back in the band, on guitar?
J: Yeah, Mondo couldn't stay away, he tried to go but he got cold turkey and had to come back with the filth and the booze. He went to a monastery, he was trying to become Mondo the Monk, ha ha. But he didn't want a God 'cos of his true calling towars Satan, for all you people in Denmark - King Diamond rules!
I'm surprised you didn't do any cover tunes on "Feel the Darkness"?
J: We did record a couple of covers, but we didn't press them on vinyl. We're saving those, for - I don't know, a 12: maxi single or some shit like that, y'know trying to milk people for as much money as we possibly can get. Then the other side is going to be a 45 minute version of me taking a shit, ranking on the toilet, ha ha. I hope it sells, it'll be in Kerrang's top 40, y'know "I'll give it 5 K's"!
You had a lot of members during the years, what has been the problems with the ex-members, they just didn't fit in the band?
J: Yeah, I mean you and me and sitting here right now having a great time, but I'm sure if we were locked up in a van together for 60 days we'd start to get on each others' nerves eventually. Maybe you don't like the way I get drunk and act like a fool, maybe I don't like the way your socks smell, but everyone has their own problems. I could sit right here and slag the ex-members forever, but then I'm just being a hateful person and no one's losing except me. And I like to be full of love and I like to be happy instead of being pissed off all the time. That's one thing I've learned to overcome, is being pissed off. I used to hate nazi's, but it's their problem if they're ignorant, I used ot hate yuppies but it's their problem if they're greedy, I used to hate christians but it's their problem if they're brainwahsed and followers like shep. They can do whatever they want, I have my own karma and my own life to deal with. And obviously the ex-members of the band had theirs, but they didn't seem to be groving on the same vibes as us, so they're off trying to find their salvation wherever it may lie. I don't hate them and I don't love them, they're just there and they can do whatever they want.
You just did your first US tour in a long time?
J: Well, I mean we've been down to California numerous times, we've been as far as Denver, we've played Seattle since day one in '81. We've played all over the West Coast for years and years. But we've finally made it as far as Boston, I think that's as far east as we got. Also Rhode Island, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, all over, and we went out there and that was really fun. Great response, a lot of people. Sometimes people would follow us for 6-7 shows, 'cos if one show is off out of 6 shows you're bond to see something inspiring, some kond of blood or wild stuff on stage. A lot of crazy stuff happened. I saw one guy do a stagedive and broke hyis neck, and we stopped playing and I went down and tried to give him punk-first aid, "Don't move him!" There was always a fun time for all, y'know bring the kids. There was some great stories, but I'm saving them and doing a tour-diary for Suburban Voice magazine. It's like an episode of "The Three Stooges" (old American comedy series a lá "Laural and Hardy", just funnier - Ed.) only lasts like 10 minutes, this thing lasts 60 days. And it was funny and it was like "The Three Stooges", except I don't think they smoked angel dust, ha ha.
You toured with Sloppy Seconds?
J: Yeah, they're good guys, I won't badmouth them even though one do work in a police station. They're pretty straightforward blokes y'know, not the kind of guys I could sit around getting pissed out of my head with. They got jobs and work in banks and shit like that, they're good guys but a little bit too straight for me. I'm kinda more into being fucked up and being like a waste, not like "well, we wanna have something to fall back onto if we don't make it in music". And I don't really care if I can or not, but if you start doubting yourself then right away you're not gonna do anything because you don't think you can. If you think "oh fuck, what if I can't." I just think I'm doing it now and have done it for the last 10 years, and tomorrow who know, maybe the bottom will fall out and I'll suckin' hit skid row and become a bum. But that's fine, I'll rather be on skid row with my sanity than working in a bank having some asshole telling me what to do, and making me a nervous wreck.
Well, I like having a job so I can be able to do things, like travel over here.
J: Sure that's fine, I mean some people can juggle the separate. I know girls who have blue hair, and then wear a wig to their job in the daytime, and put on glasses and put their hair up in a bun. And then come home at night and put their nosering in and take off their wig and go out and party. But that's fine if you wanna do that y'know. But like I say my motto is "don't be unemployed, be unemployable." Well I got this tattoo on my neck, and it's the first thing I start thinking about, here goes my chance of getting a job. What can I do anyway, am I gonna fuckin' wash dishes? If you practice since you were 12 years old being a professional distributor of peace, ha ha. I think I have pretty much reached my plateau of obnoxiousness now, so I'm pretty content seriously.
You have plans about coming to Eurpoe in January?
J: Yeah, we'd love to go over there, I'm European, I'm American. But a lot of Europeans tend to hate Americans, and say "what a bunch of capitalist bourgeois fat pigs", and we are. Y'know I pretty much despise the government more than any European, 'cos they have their own country to deal with and they just see the bullshit we do like in Central America and in Iraw. But we have to stay here and live with it, I have to live with these flag-waving assholes everday, all this patriotism shit and it makes me sick. I really hate and despise the government here, but like I said I can't let it get to me because then I'll just be a bitter fucker all my life. And I'm looking forward to seeing different cultures. That's one thing when we went on tour in America, like when we went to New York "it'll be great, people are so much cooler over there". Basically it's the same wherever you go, there's cool people there's fuckers, there's peace punks and there's racists. But they don't have absinth like they do in Spain, it's a narcotic liquor that Van Gogh used to drink all the time, made of wormwood and it's degenic and it makes you insane. So we wanna get over there and have drinking contest with it, get a couple of gallons of it and slam it and see how far we can go.
Compared to other "hardcore" bands, you have a stage show, you blow fire and cut yourself up?
J: Oh, I just do whatever's there y'know.
Is it something that has been there for 10 years or what?
J: No, it just kind of evolves. Our first shows the shit used to go crazy, peope used to light off a quarter of sixth of dynatime in the crowd and stuff like that. It's just pretty much the music, it kind possesses people and there's always chaos and aggravation and agression. Whatever happens to be on stage, because it's boring just playing straightforward music, people would like soething else to look at. If there's a folding chair on stage when we're playing, I'll try to do the thing from "Flashdance", I'll like jump around and do the little dance and have fun y'know, ha ha. If there's a mike stand I'll use it for a cane and pretend I'm blind or whatever's there, we just use what we have. And the fire is cool 'cos it's very dangerous, and it's always great to be the sense of danger at a show, because it's not some safe thing like Fugazi where everyone sits down and eats their foju and goes "wow man, that's revolutionary". We like things that reflect what we have to live with, it's like a violent expression of music through what we see being raised on TV and stuff. The first word that I said when I was a child was "Vietnam", that was the first word that I ever spoke. So of course you put it to music, what else am I gonna do? Stand there and strum a guitar and go "aahhh" like that, I'd rather go "aaarrgghhh!" I don't care if I bleed, that's just cleansing my soul on stage, I don't even feel it. Somebody could come up and chop my arm off on stage and the adrenalin would be pumping. Have you ever seen "Scarface"? At the end where he is blowing away these people, and screaming "come on and get me!" That's what it's like. I got stabbed in the leg, I've been fucked up real bad being hit in the head with full bottles before. I'be had my head split open, I've jumped P.A. columns into the crowd where everyone moves and landed on my head and split my head open. Fucked myself up bad, but it never hurts you know.
Pig's actually said that when the music gets really intense and the crowd is going crazy, he says he's seen me levitate before! He's seen me fall back, and he's seen me get off the ground and for a couple of seconds levitate in the air. Now, I'm not saying that I believe in magic, and I'm not saying that I don't, but I've seen some crazy shit that goes on. Like the snake handlers in the South of United States, they do stuff where the frenzy of the music works them up to such a frenzy, that they drink strychnine, they handle live rattle snakes, they hold flames under their hands and hold them there for 3 minutes, where it burns right into the flesh. It's pretty much like being possessed, and it is, I think it's cool.
I've pretty much done every drug there is in the world, I've stood up on the hoods of cars going down the freeway doing 100 mph and surfed on cars, I've done a lot of crazy stuff, jumped form building to building, 5 story buildings back and forth. But just to play loud fast aggressive music, is just the most radical thing I've ever done. It's a complete different experience, it's really wild, it's a trip, ha ha.
Tell me about when you were on tour, you got stabbed in the leg?
J: In Toronto, I don't actually know if I fell on some glass or somebody did it. I was standing up and kinda falling into the crowd back and forth, and I looked down and noticed there was a 2" sliver of glass stuck into my leg all the way to the bone. And I just reached down and grabbed it with my fingers and pulled it out, and I expected it to go "pop!" But I pulled it out and it kept coming and coming and then the blood just kept on flowing right out. That was in Toronto, we played with the band Bunchofuckingoofs, and Austrian band 4 1/2 Reansons, and some band from Japan, Ash To Ashes which we had great expectations about. That's just like us being stereotypical think "oh, they're from Japan they must be great," but you forget that Loudness is from Japan too, ha ha, and that was kinda what they were like.
So you went to the hospital with the leg?
J: Yeah, I went to the hospital in Denver 3 days later. I went to a plary at these people's house, Bunchofuckingoofs, the Fort Goof. I was all bloody and they had these big dogs either Dobermans or Rottweilers, some huge dongs and they sensed that I was bloody, this big confused bloody drunk animal standing there. And the dogs were spooked at me, and they started licking my legs and arms 'cos I was covered with blood. And I was scared man, I thought they were gonna stop licking me and get hungry, and start taking bites out of me. And the guy from the Goofs goes "no, they can sense that you're hurt and they're trying to take care of you", and I was drunk and I go "okay, I'll buy that, that sounds alright." So I went to the hospital a couple of days later, my leg swelled up like a balloon, it was black and I got blood poisoning and got a fever, and couldn't walk. And the people at the hospital flipped out 'cos they saw me all cut up and covered with tattoos and they were scared, and they were gonna put me in an insane asylum. So I told them I was a performance artist, 'cos if you're an artist you can do anything. I can take two pieces of canvas and put a live rat between them, and smash them with my hands, and go "da daa - art!" And people will give you a standing ovation, and y'know, "he portrays the modern pain of today's society," ha ha. So they thought I was some kind of nut, which I am, but they fixed me up and let me go.
The last two shows I played on crutches, and after the show they kept calling us back for encores, and I would have to hobble down the stairs and it would take me 15 minutes to get down the bottom of the staris and the band starts playing. So I coimb back up the stairs again, then play one more song, and finally after the 3rd encore I go "you guys must really like seeing people in pain don't you" and I was like "arrrggh," and people were saying "wow, how does he hit those notes," ha ha.
You seem to be influenced a lot by the early Californian punk bands like the Germs, as well as a lot of English bands such as Motorhead and Discharge?
J: Oh, I was influenced by everything. I was a little rocker as a kid, into Alice Cooper and Bowie and stuff like that. And then I heard punk and it turned me on, and punk has been just like a child in a candy store. If people ask me what bands I'm into now, well pick a contry and then I'll tell you what bands I'm into. I'm into all these bands from Japan and Sweden - like Rövsvett, Bristles, Black Uniforms, stuff like that. Even different states, I can't say I'm into one band, it's too narrow. Then I'm into different types of music too, I love thrash, but we're all into different things. Tom likes Jerry Lee Lewis and some rockabilly stuff, and he even likes classical, Müller or Mozart. Our guitar player listens to everything from Chemical People to Van Halen and shit. The only music I don't like is bluegrass. But basically what was the most outrageous happening thing at the time when we were starting out was the L.A. stuff, Black Flag was the most intense shit, New York was crappy art stuff with saxophones back then. And now of course they've got the Cro-Mags and Sheer Terror, I like a lof of N.Y. bands now - they're like harder than thou. There's a lot of great bands everywhere.
It's funny seeing your record collection, you've got everything from Public Enemy and Hanoi Rocks to the Sisters Of Mercy!
J: Yeah, it depends on what kind of mood I'm in, if I'm just back from church or what, ha ha.
Did the speed metal and crossover explosion influence you at all?
J: Not really, I remember when S.O.D. came out and everyone was into that stuff and I used to just slag 'em, I used to call them "Strap-On Dicks" 'cos I hated that stuff. I takes a while to frow on me. I like metal like Sabbath, 'cos when I was a kid I liked that stuff and I still like it, bands like Hanoi Rocks and shit. But I'm not gonna say I like fuckin' a bunch of sissies like Napalm Death or whatever. It's got no soul, all style and look but no guts, no feeling, I don't buy it. Give me some fuckin' blues guy like Charlie Patton over that shit any day, something I can believe in. I've seen too many of those speed metal crossover guys on the street wearing suits, and I go "well, what happened to you? Five years ago you were in a speed metal band," and they go" well, I'm out of that stuff now, blah blah." It's not sincere, I don't believe in it at all. Sure they can play great, and I like Metallica 'cos they're a great band and they were original. I like some Broken Bones stuff, I love the Accüsed and they're metal as fuck, and they're really cool. Not because they're friends but because their music is good. I like some Sore Throat stuff, they're rad but they're also funny. That's basically what it boilds down to, if it's good it's good, if it's bad it's bad.
I don't know, I think everything goes in circles, just like Darby said (Darby Crash, singer of the Germs - Ed.). That's why the punk thing is getting big now, with the Dwarves and us. And a couple of years down the line the metal thing will get big, and the straight edge, then the hippie thing again and the psychodelic thing, and the Stooges garage thing.
Has the scene changed for the better for you, you're now bigger than you ever where?
J: It's gotten bigger. But in our own town here, at one time we were one of the only hardcore punk bands going on and people liked us and we went to parties to hang out and stuff. Then all of a sudden there's all these people that got into us, and there's a lot of people who don't like us because of that. And there's a lot of lies going around, like we're junkies which is a lie, that one guy in the band is a rapist, and people start believing this stuff. We're probably the least popular band in Portland than in any town in the world, and this is our hometown. I've got my ass kicked here numerous times for defending what I believe in, getting knifes pulled on me, being chased home for having bleach-blond hair when I was 15 years old, for being a punk and I didn't change. We try to do something, we put out Portland compilation records, we put on our own shows and we brought a lot of bands to town who never played here, like A.O.D., Toxic Reasons, The Dicks, Battalion of Saints and Raw Power. And we put them on and gave them the whole door (price) and we didn't take nothing. And we did it 'cos we were involved in the scene, and we loved the music and we thought the bands and the people were cool. And now people here think we're asholes and believe all these lies about us. But we're still here and when all these people are out of it, which they will be ina couple of years and go onto whatever the next trend will be, then we'll still behere doing the same thing we've been doing for 10 years. So it doesn't really bother me.
But the scene has gotten cooler all over, it's bigger, and fuck - 10 years ago we couldn't go to Europe and play 'cos everybody was into Crass and shit like that back then. And people are a little more open-minded to American music now, which I don't know is good or bad, but it's good that we can go there and play, get drunk with our friends. And it blows me away when we played in Philadelphia, and I look down where some girl is standing in front singing the words to the songs I wrote about personal experiences, my poems put to music. And I handed her the mike and go, "here you sing, you deservie it, this is your moment," and pulled her up on stage. I wouldn't trade for a million dollars... well maybe a million, ha ha.
This is a pretty obnoxious question, but how did you form the band?
J: OK, I was sitting at Smegma's house, the first band I was in, they just put out a brand new record on Sympathy For The Record Industry. I had just got thrown out of the other band I was in, I won't mention their name 'cos they don't deserve it, they had a couple of records out but they sucked. I was starting this punk band, 'cos I was into the punk rock thing. And I was sitting at Smegma-house looking throught a magazine to find out what can be the name of my band, it's the true story. So I was looking through the magazine, and Poison came up, "Poison, the name for a bond?" It was kinda cool but simple, but Poison wouldn't cut it, which little did I know, ha ha. I turned the page, "poison, poison... poison harvest", and I got "what do you think of POison Harvest, Brad?" and Brad goes "it sounds like a Grateful Dead song!" So I read on, "poison, poison, poison idea - that's kinda funny, what do you think of that?" and Brad says "yeah, that's a good name" and I say "okay, that's my new band - Poison Idea, I'll go out tomorrow and start getting people to play with me." And people ask us now if our ideas still are poisonous, I don't know is your girlfriend faithful?
Then you did your first single "Pick Your King?"
J: Yeah, Elvis or Jesus - both self-proclaimed kings. Then we did the "Record Collectors..." LP, in between that and before that we were always going to the studio recording, and we did the demos that came out (the "Darby Crash Rides Again" single) plus we did some other demo stuff that hasn't been released yet. All a bunch of songs that probably will be released eventually, like I say a 35 minute thing of me trying to open a can of soup or something, ha ha. Some of that stuff is really good, and if people wanna hear it they should.
You're the only one who's been in the band form the start?
J: Yeah, I'm the only one, I mean Pig wasn't in the band at first, not for a year or so.
That line-up with Dean Johnson and Chris Tense went on for a while?
J: That went for like 3 records.
So why did you call your 2nd LP the "Kings of Punk"? Any particular reason for that?
J: Because we are the Kings of Punk! I mean we're no marketing scandal like the Sex Pistols. What is punk rock? The freedom of expression, rock n'roll and whatever people like Youth Of Today and shit, think that, well that's what it was. But I think punk rock is the MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, the Ventures, early 60's stuff, old Elvis. Punk has been around forever, old jazz and rhythm n'blues, those guys are punk man. Anything that goes against the rule, it's like terrorism - not somebody with a bomb, but anybody who goes against the fuckin' modern day christianity and stuff.
My own interpretation of that, is refusing to conform to anything.
J: Exactly, and we didn't then and we haven't now. And if we ever do, please somebody come up and stick a gun in my face and blow my head off. But I don't think we ever will, I know I never will no matter what. People slag us, and of course we're not the Kings of Punk, we don't squat - you see where I live. I'm not someone completely against society, but I've never paid taxes, I have a police record, I don't use my real name. I'll always fuck the system as much as I can, and just be revolting and subverse. And at the same time have fun, get drunk, live your life and be free, stay free - stay punk!
You have a lot of older stuff coming out in Europe, like "Record Collectors..." and "Ian MacKaye", and you do about three 7"ers a year or something. So do you think it's fair being big record collectors yourselves, that you make some of your records really limited like the "Getting the Fear" EP, and difficult for people to get hold of?
J: No. See we wanted to put out these songs and we had them recorded. And this guy who owns this record store, Rockport Records here in Portland, said he'd pay for it. And the guy turned out to be kind of a pirate, so that's why there's only 1000 of them, and that's why we also re-released it for Kalv's In Your Face label because we wanted the songs out and we didn't want to re-release a 12" single on colloured vinyl, that bullshit's kind of a waste. We wanted to get those songs out fast because we had new people in the band and thought they were good songs, and we didn't have enough songs to put out on a whole album. We didn't have no intention to make some ultra collectable 12". And we're doing the same thing with the Sub Pop thing though, but that's gonna be up to 5000 I think or something like that. There's only a couple of thousand people in the Singles Club, so they send those out and send the rest to the record stores. I'm not a member of the Singles Club, I just buy them at record stores for fairly cheap, except for L7 and Lazy Cowfirls which goes for $20 or shit like that.
That's our whole plan for our American Leather Records thing, we're selling the singles to the distributors for really cheap, to move that stuff and keep it pretty much in print too. Because this collectable shit has gotten out of hand, like I told you earlier I was getting rid of all my old records for pennies practically a couple years ago when I got heavily into drugs and stuff.
You got a lot of criticism for the "Ian MacKaye" 12" from the straight edge kids and Maximum Rock N'Roll?
J: Oh yeah, but MRR didn't used to slag us and the other bands, that were honest, working class Joes, just people who didn't have any political thing to say. Like those guys, the Vancouver 5 (see D.O.A. interview in Moshable no. 7 - Ed.), who were going around and blowing up fuckin' porno shops and shit like that. So what happens when they get caught? They turned into christians, they turned state witnesses and turned into rats, snitches. These political people who were with them they were like "yeah, smash the bourgeois state and the right wing" blah, blah. And how people that MRR used to like turned into shitheads. Then they started to glamourize the straight edge kids, and saying how great and healthy they were for the scene. Then all the straight edge turned into a bunch of militant violent little assholes, and when they didn't turn into that they turned into Krishnas and religious nukes. They've slagged us for years, then they figured "these guys are still doing the same thing and they're honest."
We're just people, and we're not going to change overnight, we're into it because we love it and this is our life. We're not nazis, we're not assholes, we're not sexist, we're not junkies. We're just people playing music that gets us off. And finally MRR caught up with that and thought, "well, maybe these guys aren't so bad after all," after they met us and hung out with us a few times. And when we toured with the Hard-Ons, and we were sitting in the hotel room drinking, they were saying "so why aren't you guys smashing up the hotel room?" and I go "fuck, y'know I'm 27 now I don't do that shit anymore." I could do it if I wanted to, but why should I? Destruction just for the point of being destructive is worthless. Sure I believe in destroy to create, I just like having a good time and taking care of my friends.
So I guess you're not going to set Tim Yohannan's house on fire, ha ha?
J: That was a complete lie. We were doing a tour with this band, Morbid Angel, and their road manager started saying all this stuff about us. How we burned down some promoter's house, but things get passed down the line. I blew flames on stage, and one guy at a party tries to explain it to somebody else who's drunk, and he tells his friend that I set a club on fire, and tells somebody else that I set the promoter's house on fire. And sometime down the line people don't know what exactly they're talking about, it's like the gospel, "you tried to set Tim Yohannan's house on fire, and don't tell me you didn't!" It's people who have no right speaking their shit.
If there's a fistfight at a club and I happen to be there. And if somebody sees me there, then it's like I started it. We were on tour when this big riot happened at this club, the Satyricon here in Portland. And one of the bouncers went for a cop's gun, and the guy got his arm broken. And we heard about it we were saying "thank god we weren't there, because no matter what happened it would've been our fault." Well you can see, we're sitting here having a beer, and I'm no different than you. I'm a little older (and a few pounds heavier! - PM), but you have a magazine and I'm in a band.
Is Tom Pig still writing a column for MRR?
J: He was writing for it, but he started getting slag about it and people started misunderstanding him. And he felt he couldn't do anything without being over negative so he just quit. That wasn't what he set out to do, he just wanted a reaction.
About this collecting thing, I heard that Tom wanted a single from the Fix so bad that he followed their old tourdates?
J: This band, the Fix came through on a West Coast tour and they only put out like 500 singles apiece, and they sent some out as promos to the club owners. So Tom traced their tour and called the towns and found the club owners and asked them, and they just gave them away practically for $2.00 or something. And now that stuff is really rare. Some German label is repressing both the Fix singles and their demo tape. It's just what you're into, I personally wouldn't do it myself.
You used to have a lot of stuff?
J: When I was like 16 and was a punk, I lived at this house with a bunch of people. And the bands would come through, The Weirdos, The Bags, Crime, Fear, and I'd go to their shows and get their records and hang out. The first Germs singles would come out and I would buy those. Stuff I was into at the time. Then I would rip off my landlord and trash my house and move, and I'd take my clothes and my boots and leave. When I see stuff now that I used to have in magazines, that's worth a fortune I just cringe. But that's for being a collector.
Record collectors are pretentious assholes.
J: Yeah, they are. I had some rare Sex Pistols record, a 12" single or something. And I was sitting at my house getting drunk, and my friends were there playing records, spining them and throwing them around. And the next morning I got up and this record was on the table under a dry coat of wine. And I pulled it off, and it was completely ruined. And I thought I could either be really mad or just laugh about it, and I seriously started laughing. It's just a piece of vinyl, it's nothing to get upset about.
I think it's funny people spend loads of cash buying old Misfits singles, and that early stuff is really cheesy.
J: Oh yeah, it's just because Metallica wear the Misfits on their shirts, and then it's like the second coming of Jesus or something. A bunch of played out shit. The Misfits were a bunch of rich suburbanites who their parents bought them cool clothes. Those guys haven't changed, he's showing his true colours now in Danzig.
I think Danzig is good though.
J: My girlfriend does too. I don't know, I still think money and shit is all about evil. Sure I've heard about Danzig pulling his ego trips on tour. I doubt it, but if we ever get big, no matter what, you can guarantee if you wanna find me, look for the nearest alley where the punks are hanging out drinking wine. That's where I'll be. That's what we did on this last tour, wherever we went, in every city I was in the alleys with the punks, with the people who couldn't get in. And if I couldn't get the people on the guestlist, whatever money I had from the show from the night before, I'd pull out of my pocket and give it to those people 'cos they're my friends and my people to be there having a good time, and I couldn't really give a shit about tomorrow.
There's a lot of skinheads around here, and you just did this anti-nazi thing on the "Discontent" single?
J: "Discontent" we got some praises for from different people, and we got some flack. They said we were painting by the numbers and being anti-racist and "how boring, why are they saying this now, here's a band that used to play rock n'roll, now they're stooping down to this level." And Tom said "I wish those people have been there a couple of years ago, when that was background music to people carrying the dead out of our shows." People were actually getting stabbed at our shows. And then MRR thinks we're nazis too, who has accused us of that in the past, which is the most absurd fuckin' thing I've ever heard in my life. We were just gonna say once and for all - we're NOT fuckin' nazis! A skinhead nowadays is a wide term, you're either the most evil person in the world, or the moust rightious, love filled person. There's two different kinds of skinheads, there's anti-racist and nazi skinheads. Since they both look exactly the same it's hard to pick 'em out, you got to talk to them and watch what they do when a minority walks by and how they look at them. I don't really give two shits about either group 'cos I'm not involved myself, it's just kind of old and that skinhead shit has been going on since the 60's.
Didn't the original skinheads listen to reggae music?
J: Yeah right, I like music that's classic stuff. It's better than being into hippies and Grateful Dead and shit like that, but it's basically the same thing, and punk is too. It's like these kids spiking their hair and having mohawks, why don't you just comb your hair down and wear a fuckin' headband and tie-dye t-shirts and bellbottoms. It's not quite as old, but it's getting there. But the thing is, there's no powerful hippy bands coming out today, whereas there's these powerful punk bands coming out. It hasn't really lost the piss as the hippy movement did. And it's still relevant now, because as long as there's corruption and hate there's always gonna be a great need for punk rock, it's always gonna be there. As long as there's problems, injustice, police brutality, rape, drug abuse and racism. And it's a good modern day protest, it's like folk music 100 mph and some crazy fuck with a mohawk singing it. It's great, I love it.
It's kind of weird being into peace and stuff as you're growing up, when you had a father that beat the shit out of you every day, and a mother who was never there. Coming from the "dream American family," you're just a product of this fuckin' society. When I see punk girls at our show who're pregnant, and punk couples who're bringing their children to shows, I try to talk to them, and I go "please, love this kind and raise her right, don't let the kid grow up to be like us." I've seen people bringing babies to punk shows, and that really upsets me 'cos there's so many fuckin' jerks and some of the dirtiest people in the world. Most people have got their shit together, but there's people who're just dumb enough not to wear a cap or not to take the pill and get knocked up and go "yeah, I'm gonna give it a mohawk when it's one year old." Great, that kid is gonna grow up to be a fuckin' stockbroker that hates your guts. Like I say, you can't change the world, you can just change yourself. But I don't see no reason to change myself, ha ha.
Where do you get your influences to songs like "Just to Get Away" and "Ballad of Pre-Op"?
J: "Just to Get Away" - this band Big Stick from New York, who're personal friends of mine. They kept saying, "why don't you write a song about cars and booze and girls, the American dream." They kept bugging me, and Big Stick has a song on their record that mentions Poison Idea. And the chorus of their song is "leaving in the morning, just to get away, just to get away." So I ripped that off and wrote a song about that.
"Ballad of Pre-Op" is a true story about a friend of ours, who was very confused. All our songs are true stories.
What's "Jailhouse Stomp" about?
J: It's about me and being in jail. And seeing this guy across the cellblock who was fucked up and said he had a headache, so they gave him medication and he wouldn't take it. He saved it and crushed up the aspirin and rolled it in his tobacco, and smoked it, and he was just freaking out in the cell. And the guards came in and just worked him over, two guards held him while this woman guard was beating him so hard, that her arm snaped and broke. The guards walked out, and two hours later the paramedics came in and carried this lifeless body out on a stretcher. I never saw the guy again, and I could just imagine what the police said he was trying to do, escape or make a claim for a gun. Like I say another life ends in the cell, he was just some tramp who was fucked up, so they killed him. Everoyone saw it, but didn't say anything, so that's kind my tribute to him.
And on our new record there's this song called "Alan's On Fire", about this guy who my friend knew. He worked all his life for this company, he had a family, three kids who grew up and went to college. And he was treated like shit all the time, he was like a nonassuming person who was just used all his life. So one morning he invited his family over and they all had dinner, with their kids and everything. And there's Grandpa Alan, he's been pissed off all his life. And he makes them sit down at the table and have coffee with him, and Alan went in the backyard, sat down and poured a jug of gasoline over his head and ignited himself in front of his family! "So for once in my life I will be heard, you won't ignore me now, you've fucked me all my life, this time you're gonna pay attention." It's very powerful, so we wrote a song about it.
Well, I'd just say thanks a lot for your time.
J: No problem, it's been my pleasure Peter, when we play in Denmark you can invite me over to your house and buy me a six pack.
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