August 5, 2004
Summer Update 2004
First of all: I got really BIG news for you!!! Coolgrrrls.com has been covering punkrock and skateboard events since 1997. And as punkrock and skateboarding is just such a wicked and cool alliance we (or basically Frank) decided to do our own skateboard label. So, I am proud to announce:
COOL GIRLS SKATEBOARDS
 This will be the first skateboard label with a punk edge for girls only!!! WOOO-HOOO!!! So, if you want to show some of the guys that girls can ride just get one of our boards and kick some ass!! CGs is the worldwide girls guide to all that grooves. We have correspondents in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan,... so we decided to do Cool Girls Skateboards in the same tradition. The designers of our boards are from all over the world, too. We have a girl in Japan, a guy in Germany and we have some designers in the US, too. All of them are connected with the punk scene in a way. So Ross Feratu of the Spook did one of our designs. I have already seen some of the designs and I can tell you that they are extremely cool, very pink and very punk. Make sure to check them out!
It is Sunday today and tomorrow on August 2nd I will fly from Munich, GER to LAX. I will help Frank with Cool Girls Skateboards and I will, of course, do some writing for CGs magazine. As we really want to make our skateboard label a success, I’ll stay at the CGs headquarters for 2 months. I will also be in charge of our skateboard team. So if you want some info on the label or anything else, feel free to email me. California, here I come!
And here is my really big summer update:
Gluecifer Interview
http://www.gluecifer.com
I promised you to post the interview with Gluecifer I did in Toeging on March 26. Pleasure magazine wanted to buy it but unforunately they were a bit short on money, so you, my dear CGs readers, will have the pleasure to read what Biff Malibu and Captain Poon had to say:
Interview: Gluecifer
Can you introduce yourselves a little bit? Who is who?
C.P.: I’m Captain Poon. I sing and I play guitar in Gluecifer.
B.: I’m Biff. I sing, talk and dance.
When have you realized that you’re a good entertainer?
C.P.: He’s almost like a standup comedian.
B. to C.P.: Answer for yourself for Christ’s sake!
B.: I don’t know. Somewhere along the way I have realized that I have the gift of talking to people. At least some nights...
Did you enjoy the show tonight? Do you like performing in smaller clubs?
B.: No.
C.P.: It’s cool. But sometimes it’s just getting really difficult. People are coming so close that you have to watch out all the time.
So do you like touring with Monster Magnet?
C.P.: Touring with Monster Magnet is great. Sold out houses every night. Tons of people. And people really seem to enjoy this bill.
How did you get in touch with them?
C.P.: We’ve known them for a couple of years. We met them like here and there. They are signed to the same label as we are. And their record came out less than a month than ours. The record company thought it was the right thing to do to put both bands on the same bill. I think it was a great idea. It’s something different. And so far things worked out great.
B.: It’s like an arranged marriage. But sometimes arranged marriages can be good, too. Now we are on our honeymoon.
C.P.: A long honeymoon.
B.: Yeah, a very long honeymoon.
Do you watch Monster Magnet on stage?
C.P.: Yeah!
Do you like their 25min-ending of the show?
C.P.: To be honest with you. No, I don’t. I don’t think there are many people who enjoy that, but they are doing their show and we’re doing ours.
Raldo has got that really great guitar, that Plexiglas one. What kind of guitar is that? Is it custom made?
B.: Ampeg used to make guitars like that. Keith Richards used to play a guitar like that. Nowadays famous people who use it, I think a guy in Black Flag used a guitar like that. Dave Grohl used a guitar like that on the entire FooFighters tour. But it’s a 70ies Plexiglas-glitter guitar. Ampeg used to make guitars like these and now they are doing some reissues. But it’s a quite cool guitar.
Let’s talk about the new record. Who’s your producer?
C.P.: It’s a Norwegian one. It’s the same guy we worked together with on Basement Apes. We hooked up with him a couple of years ago. It worked great on Basement Apes and it worked even better on Automatic Thrill.
I’m asking because the new record sounds way different.
C.P.: It sounds more powerful.
I used to like your old stuff but the new record is really great!
B.: We got a new fan!
But a lot of people have a different opinion about it...
C.P.: No, everybody likes it!
Maybe that’s what they tell you because they like you.
B.: That’s the thing about this band. We have been on tour for so many years. So it’s like people who have seen us for the first time a couple of years ago. They have a sweet memory of that and they want us to reproduce that. They probably want us to play more old stuff on stage. But we took a decision that if it should be any fun for us to do this band we have to be up to date and we have to play new stuff. Because otherwise it would only be a reproducing of the stuff we already did 4 years ago. And, at least for me, I’d see no point in doing this. I mean, we’re playing for people. And if people don’t like our new stuff, I mean, I had that too with several bands. I liked their old records a lot but I don’t like their new stuff at all. But we can’t think of that. We have to do what we want to do. I mean, we don’t only play new songs on stage but it’s kinda natural that if you got a new record out you want to play as many new songs as possible.
C.P.: Otherwise it would be boring, you know.
B.: It’s only David Bowie that shouldn’t make new records.
Who came up with the title Automatic Thrill? And what’s the story to it?
B.: First we wrote the song Automatic Thrill and then we had to find a name for the album pretty fast and we thought this would be a good title for the album.
C.P.: It’s just a basic catchy title.
B.: We didn’t think about it too much this time.
What keeps your motivation level up to go out and play every night? Because you’re on tour so much...
C.P.: I don’t know. You get sort of addicted. We’re on tour so much. When we’re home for a longer period of time we just want to be back on tour, I guess. We play with a lot of good bands and we meet a lot of interesting people. Rock’n’Roll is a very direct thing. You need to get some feedback sometimes.
But not as much feedback as today, huh?
C.P.: No it was cool. I didn’t say the audience sucked or anything. It was just kinda rowdy. You had to watch out all the time.
Sandra: I was in the first row!
Yeah, she was fighting her way through the first row!
B.: It was fun. But it’s just like kinda normally what we do. But it was a good break from all these bigger shows. You just know what you’re worth. If you don’t have that big stage and the white lights and all. If you play well the audience will appreciate it. If you suck they’ll let you know.
Sandra: That’s so cool, I mean, you are living the rock’n’roll way of life and you actually want this feedback. I mean, there are so many bands that don’t care what the crowd says. Like Monster Magnet or bands like that.
C.P.: I know. It’s that long distance thing. But we’re not like that. We like to be in touch with the crowd.
B.: But I wouldn’t say that for Monster Magnet. I mean, we see them every night. And they are giving a 100% every night. They are never lazy. At those big sold out shows, of course, every band will do their best. But we did some smaller shows in Prague and Poland. There were like 400 people or something. And we thought Monster Magnet would be like, nah, this is too small for us. But they went out and BAM! Did exactly the same thing! But I get your point. There are these bands that are getting a little detached. They live in this bubble world and they never meet normal people. The people they meet go like: What do you want? Yes, yes, yes. All the time. Of course, that makes you a little strange. But what’s the point if you do music for people and you don’t care about the people that come to your shows. Then you can play in your own living-room with the people that are in your band if you don’t care about the people that come to your shows. Make records and don’t go on the road if that is what you like then...
An insider gave me the hint to talk about food with you. He said you could talk about food for hours.
C.P.: We can talk about Leberwurst.
Oh, you know Leberwurst?
C.P.: Yeah, I like that!
Is there a Norwegian word for it?
C.P.: Yeah Lieverpostey.
Sounds cool. But I’m not sure, if I can write it down..
B.: L-I-E-V-E-R-P-O-S-T-E-Y
Are you being served well on this tour? Is there anything special that you want to eat on tour?
B.: It’s always cool if you get something that you can’t get at home. Some bands are like they only want to eat what they know from home. For us it’s like, when we’re in France we want to have French cheese, when we’re in Switzerland, we want to have some Swiss chocolate. If you are in Germany you want to have a Leberwurst. If you are in the US you want to have some burgers. That gives you at least the feeling that you are not at the same place every day. And down here in Bavaria it’s absolutely crazy.
C.P.: Gutbürgerliche Küche!
So you have been to some Wirtshaus today, right?
B.: Yeah, it was crazy. Old people playing cards and everything. Some of our guys had Schnitzel today for lunch. I had some sort of steak with a lot of fried onions on top.
But there’s no one in the band who has special eating habits? You guys are not vegetarian or vegan or something?
C.P.: Our drummer is like into chips and fast food.
You’re not?
C.P.: Well, sometimes.
You’re the healthy guy.
C.P.: Yeah, I enjoy the better food.
Why is Raldo so skinny?
B.: His metabolism is very fast.
C.P.: Actually he eats a lot but he doesn’t gain any weight. It’s impossible for him.
What are your plans for the near future?
B.: Same as for the old future actually. That’s boring. We will play more shows, I guess. When we are done with that we will probably make a new record. I don’t know.
Then you’ll go on tour again...
B.: Yeah, it’s like a wheel. It turns and turns.
You’ll play at the Arctic Challenge this weekend. Do you know Terje Haakonsen?
C.P.: His manager is a good friend of us. Terje is a quiet, civilized guy.
Are any of you guys into snowboarding?
B.: Raldo used to be a very good snowboarder. Actually you (C.P.) and Raldo do some snowboarding.
C.P.: Yeah, I just picked it up a couple of years ago. It’s great fun.
So why don’t you snowboard?
B.: Cause I do cross-country skiing. When I was a kid I did some skiing but I got so sick with all these lifts and all those people. If I tried some snowboarding I’d probably really suck at doing it.
C.P.: It’s really easy to pick up.
What’s your favourite spot for snowboarding or cross-country skiing?
C.P.: I went to the Alps a couple of times but I only did some skiing there. I really want to go there again and do some snowboarding.
Isn’t there a good place in Norway?
C.P.: There are a couple of decent places but they are not that big, you know.
And what about our cross-country-specialist?
B.: Norwegian mountains. My family has a house in the Norwegian mountains. Cross-country skiing you can do anywhere, you don’t need a big mountain for it. The forest in Oslo is also pretty nice.
Anything you want to add for our girl readers and writers?
B.: You’re cool.
Well, we know that.
B.: I think that there are too many guys in rock. What I don’t understand is that girl band vs man band thing. Maybe it would be better if we did more stuff together.
Like Nashville Pussy.
B.: Yeah, like Nashville Pussy or the White Stripes.
Or like Duane Peters, he is on tour with Corey Parks in April.
B.: Or Pixies, or Cramps. It’s cool if people in a band don’t all look the same. If 5 people in a band look exactly the same it gets too uniform. So, boys and girls make bands! That’s one of the things that kinda sucks about rock. There are so many rules. You gotta look like this, you gotta do like that. And all the cool bands that bring rock to a new level, they don’t care about rules. If people followed the rules there wouldn’t have been Iggy and the Stooges or the Cramps. So if you start a band you shouldn’t try to imitate people. You should find out what works for you. When we started Gluecifer in 94 nobody liked our stuff. We played shows for 50 people. But those 50 people liked it. Then 10 more people came the next time. Then 30 more people came the next time. Suddenly people started liking it. They were like: This is not bullshit, those guys love what they do and they don’t care what other people say. If you lose that in rock, bands start to suck immediately if they start to listen to other people. Good advice from Uncle Biff!
The Lawrence Arms, April 16, JUZ, Grafing, GER
http://www.thelawrencearms.net
Fatwreck’s Wiebke asked Sandra and me if we liked to do an interview and a photoshoot with the Lawrence Arms from Chicago. Of course, we were up for it so we made our way to the JUZ in Grafing. The Lawrence Arms are an awesome band and they just put this fantastic record „The Greatest Stroy Ever Told" out on Fat. If you like punkrock with tricky , catchy tunes and smart lyrics you will love the Lawrence Arms. Unfortunately the JUZ was a very small club with a really shitty sound system (I could hardly hear any vocals) and the audience was lame. People were sleeping in the back of the club during the show... so I have to admit that it certainly wasn’t the best show the Arms ever played but, either way, they played all my favourite songs like "On with the Show" and "Porno & Snuff Films" and were very entertaining. They are really nice guys and we did a really fun interview that day in their tour bus:
Interview The Lawrence Arms
Can you introduce yourselves a little?
Chris: My name is Chris and I am in this stupid band called The Lawrence Arms. I play guitar not very well and I sing even worse.
Neil: I am Neil. I am the drummer.
Chris: He is also the backbone of this band. Without Neil we would be nothing.
Neil: That’s true.
You guys are from Chicago, right?
C.: Yes.
Are you friends with Alkaline Trio?
C.: Oh, yes! Brendan was in a band with Danny a long time ago. We have also been playing in the same scene for many years. At this point I really don’t see these guys that much because we both tour a lot. Matt lives in California. But yeah, we are friends with those guys cause we grew up in the same scene in Chicago.
Do you think there is something like a Chicago-punk-scene?
Both: Oh yeah, definitely!
Neil: I think it’s one of the strongest scenes in America.
And what is it like? Is it more melodic punkrock or maybe hardcore?
N.: I think it’s good that there are no real classifications to it. There is every kind of style in the Chicago scene. It is punkrock but it is a little more organic.
C.: I think a lot of bands that come from Chicago are organic.
N.: They don’t try to sound like New Found Glory. They try to be original.
C.: I think that a lot of bands that come from Chicago don’t try to sound like a certain type of music. What I like about bands and what I like about music is that there is a sort of organic process to the sound. We have never tried to be punkrock band. We just grew up listening to punkrock and stuff that was sort of independent. That’s why we formed the way we formed. And I think ultimately that’s why we sound the way we sound. And I think that our newest record doesn’t necessarily sound like a punkrock record or like a Fat record especially. What I’m trying to say is that Chicago has a really unique thing going on.
This is your second release on Fat. Why did you change from Asian Man to Fat?
N.: Basically what happened was we had been on tour for a year and a half on Asian Man and we racked up an incredible amount of debts. We were sort of on our way down. And the only way we could keep going was to find another label that could get us a little more support.
C.: We needed a label that could get us a little more opportunities in terms of touring.
N.: We were not looking for that much more. We were just looking for something that could offer us a little more. We were talking with a bunch of labels that we didn’t necessarily agree with. Just when we were about to sign with one of them FatWreck called us out of the blue and they were like: ‘We like your band we want to put out your next record.’ And we said ‘Ok.’ And that was how it happened. We didn’t call Fat Mike or sent in demos. It was so surreal.
C.: It was a lucky moment. It was a little timing and luck together. That’s what we have been doing from the beginning. We’re trying to jump on opportunities when we have them. We kind of do what we do and it’s paid off. Now we’re on a great label with a lot of great people working for it.
Fat has signed a lot of different bands recently.
C.: Yeah, I think that Dillinger Four is one of the greatest bands ever. None More Black are awesome, too. A lot of really cool bands that don’t sound FatWreck typical, you know.
Let’s talk about the new record. Whose idea was the circus thing? And what’s the meaning of it?
N.: After all the songs were written all the lyrical contents started popping out of us. The themes kind of ran through all the songs. One day when we were practicing I think Brendan or Chris said ‘ Have you noticed that there are lot of references to travelling and circuses?’ Then we kept talking about it.
C.: We kind of tried to exploit that idea.
N.: We just took the little ideas that were in there and brought them out.
C.: There are some references on this record, certainly, but I don’t know how many actually you would find.
N.: You say the word circus.
C.: The whole idea of being a travelling band. But in terms of the artwork we had the idea of a carnival sort of circus thing. We called our friend David who laid everything out. We told him all about it and he did some research and put it together. I think he totally surpassed all of our expectations of what it would look like.
Has David got a website or something?
C.: His name is David Holtz.
N.: He had a company called Liberation Media. I think the website is liberationmedia.net or liberationmedia.com. But I don’t know if that company is still going.
C.: I think when he’s got something new he puts it up on that.
N.: He does the NOFX website, he does the punkvoter website. He’s a webdesigner as well.
Who are the three guys on the cover?
N.: The actual pictures are just stock photos.
C.: Actually I think that Kaiser Wilhelm is one of them. The one on top is, at least I have heard that it’s Thomas Edison. And the one with the eyepatch, someone had told me who he is but I forgot his name. I am not sure about the other two guys but I am very sure that Kaiser Wilhelm is the one on the right bottom. I think the picture of Thomas Edison also looks a bit like Walt Whitman.
N.: The names underneath are different than the people.
C.: The names on the record are Gordon Shumway that’s Alf’s real name on Melmac, Ivan Nikolayevich is one of the characters out of a book that we were possessed with and the other name Ferdinand Magellan is, of course, the first one to navigate the globe.
Ok, and where’s the connection between them?
N.: They are all travelers and we are travelers.
Alf?
N.: Alf is a big traveler! He came all the way from Melmac!
So you have this circus topic. Do you like concept records?
C.: No, it is not a concept record. I would probably call it a thematic record. Because the idea of circus and carnival came after all the songs were written. We found all the stuff in the songs.
So you’re doing some clown show on stage tonight?
C.: In the States we actually come on stage with some sort of demented polka music.
N.: It is our entrance music, you know.
C.: I mean, our life is circus enough. We don’t need to dress up like clowns to be clowns.
(Interruption: Sandra came back in. We talk about beer.)
So Sean, who are you?
S.: I do merchandise for these guys.
C.: He s also spiritual adviser.
N.: My life manager.
S.: I’m Neil’s life manager. And I’m Doctor Happy. Grim smile coordinator. I travel with these guys, I sell the shirts and in the States I roadmanage them. They are my homies and I love these guys.
Ok, so how has the tour been going so far?
C.: Really really good. This is our 4th time in Europe and our 3rd time since we been on Fat. The first time we went here was in 2000.
N.: We don’t remember it actually. That was a heavy drinking tour. That was the most drunk Chris has ever been in his whole life. In Paderborn.
OH NO! In Paderborn! Every band we meet has a story to tell about this city.
N.: At Limericks?
Yeah!
N.: I had some shots where they light the glass on fire and put it on their nipples.
C.: Way too much Sambuca and Absinth. But the tour has been going really good--the best shows we ever headlined in Europe.
What are your plans for the near future?
C.: We’ll finish this tour then we’ll go home for a couple of months and we won’t play any shows cause we have been playing since September really hard. Maybe we’ll do a small tour in the States this summer. I’m not really sure. Write some new songs, vote against Bush in the election in the fall.
Are you a political band?
C.: I would not consider us to be a political band but right now is an important time to be into politics. Especially in America. I think we are not so overtly political but I think our values come across in our music anyway. So, go out and vote in November against George Bush!
Are you involved with Punkvoter?
C.: Oh yeah, Brendan has a column on the website and we played the Punkvoter show in Texas. We’re on the Rock against Bush comp. On the 2nd volume. It’s a new song.
What does it sound like?
N.: It’s very interesting you ask. We recorded the song and Brendan wrote it. We had never heard it. But the night before we heard it on a cassette tape.
C.: I wrote all my guitar parts the night before.
N.: We got to the studio and I did my drums, Brendan did his bass and vocals and Chris did his guitar. And we had never heard the song. We had never played it together. It has sort of this weird feeling that it’s 10 songs smashed into one minute. It’s only about a minute and a half.
I think that was it! Thank you very much!
Deconstruction Tour
http://www.deconstruction.de
Destiny’s tour booking must have said to themselves "same procedure as every year" and so they organized another Deconstruction tour including punk bands, fmx riders and skateboarders just like in the past years. This time the line up consisted of 1208, Anti-Flag, Pulley, MXPX, The Slackers, Strike Anywhere, The Movement and Pennywise. Sandra was part of the entourage and joined the whole Decon tour. I just showed up at 3 tour stops to witness some punkrock action live:
1st stop: May 28, Zenith, Munich, GER
The first thing I realized when I got out of my car in front of the Zenith: It was very cold!! It was FREEZING! The second thing I noticed was: the Zenith was HUGE! I was not sure if this was the right location for a punk show... even if the headliner was Pennywise... well, unfortunately I was right and the show was far from sold out. The second bad news was: Snapcase had cancelled their appearance at the Deconstruction due to private reasons. But the other bands were still an impressive line-up so I was sure that the tour would be great either way.
Tonight’s opener were 1208. The band name sounds pretty mysterious but it isn’t a PIN-code or some numeric combination. 1208 was the number of the apartment the guys were living in California in 1995. And 1208 actually sound a lot like California and the 90ies. Their setlist consisted of some tracks of their debut record "Feedback Is Payback" and also a lot of songs from their new record "Turn Of The Screw" that was released on Epitaph this year. There were only 30 or 40 people in front of the stage but those guys partied and sang along to 1208’s smash hit "Next Big Thing". Not a bad start for a festival.
The next band on stage were The Movement from Denmark. The power-trio from Copenhagen wore extremely cool black suits and impressed the audience with their wild stylemix. Their sound could maybe be described as.. uhm.. mod-punk.. they sound a little bit like The Clash or The Jam. Their latest record is called "Move" and that was exactly what the growing audience did.
Then I went outside to witness some FMX action. Unfortunately the portable jump ramp was not very good so the riders were only able to show some of their standard tricks like no-handers and heel-clickers. But Colin Morrison, Sean Nielson and Fredrik Berggren did a very entertaining show which was rewarded with big WHOO-HOOS by the crowd.
After the mx show Pulley entered the stage. Ex-Ten Foot Pole singer Scott Radinsky and his band mates had a lot of fun on stage and so had we. Their setlist included songs from their latest record "Matters" which was released in January. Pulley’s powermelodic motivated the first kids in the crowd to do some pogo dancing. Finally everyone was really getting into a party mood.
And we kept on partying because the Slackers got up on stage. I wondered if a traditional ska-reggae-band would fit into a punkrock festival. But those guys from NYC did. Everyone was moving their feet to the reggae-soul-swing-ska-sound. Their opener was "Have The Time" which is actually the only song I know because it is on Hellcat’s "Give Em The Boot II" compilation. The Slackers also did a real performance on stage as their singer and the saxophone player were dancing simultaneously to the groove. Way cool!
The next thing on the schedule was some skateboarding and BMX riding in the Red Bull vert ramp. Some big names showed their tricks like Tim Eichert, Zach Shaw, Pete King, Mattias Nylen and Cristiano Matteos. Cristiano had had a big car accident some months ago but he was already in a really good shape and had some big air time in Munich.
After the show in the halfpipe Strike Anywhere entered the stage. When they were playing the first few chords the crowd totally freaked out. Munich seemed to love Strike Anywhere. They are pure energy. And it’s hard to believe that their skinny and really small (just about 5’ tall) singer Thomas Barnett is spreading all this energy on stage. That’s why not only their songs but also Thomas’ political statements were frenetically applauded by the crowd. Strike Anywhere were musically the most hardcore band tonight. In the crowd I could see some hc kids doing windmills and stuff. So I guess that also the tough guys were not too disappointed that Snapcase cancelled the show. Thomas, Matt and Co. played a lot of new songs from their new fantastic record "Exit English" (out on Jade Tree records).
Unfortunately Strike Anywhere had to leave the stage 30min later as MXPX were getting ready to rock. MXPX were quite a contrast to Strike Anywhere as they sound very melodic and very poppy. Mike, Tom and Yuri played a lot of songs from their latest record "Before Everything And After" and some classic hits like "Today Is My Way", "Responsibility" and "Chick Magnet". MXPX were stylistically the most " trendy " band that night with their pink shirts and "trendy" hairstyle (the looked as if they just came out of MTV’s the Swan). But the crowd loved their melodic punk and that’s the main thing. Their last song was , as always, "Punk Rawk Show" and the crowd wanted more. But all the encore-screams did not pay off as Anti-Flag were already up on stage.
If you read my last update you already know a lot about Anti-Flag and how much I like those guys. So once again I was able to witness another fantastic live set. As they had just played a show in Munich which had included a lot of songs from "The Terror State", they decided to play a lot of old stuff like "Stars And Stripes" this time. And the kids awarded their decision by going wild in front of the stage. The four-forever-19-year-old-guys from Pittsburgh proofed once again that they are one of the best punk bands on this planet.
The audience was already heated up when the headline Pennywise entered the stage. Jim, Fletcher and co. played an awesome live set that lasted for at least one hour. They played all the good stuff from "About Time", "Unknown Road" and "Straight Ahead". And they played the best and most surprising cover song I ever heard: Outkast’s "Hey Ya"! "Hey Ya" in a punkrock version is simply grrreat! And I guess PW surprised everyone that night, even some of their long time fans. Traditionally their last song was "Bro’ Hymn" and they were the true winner of this festival day.
2nd stop: May 30, Rock Im Wald Open Air, Pirmasens, GER
Just two days later and 400 km away from Munich the weather was really hot. This had a very positive effect on the bands (especially the Slackers) and on the crowd, too. I don’t think I have to tell you once again about the setlists of the bands as they did not change much. The same bands were on stage as in Munich and they also played the same stuff (except Anti-Flag who played a lot more from "the Terror State").
The only bad news of that day was that FMX rider Colin Morrison got arrested by the police. He had had the fabulous idea to hop on his mx bike and to ride into town. Of course, he got immediately stopped by the police as his machine did not have a license plate and when the policemen wanted to check his personalia they had to realise that Colin did not even possess a driver’s license... Well, after a big discussion Colin had to pay 1000US$ and they set him free. Fortunately he was back at the festival area before the FMX show had started.
3rd stop: May 31, Tanzbrunnen, Cologne, GER
Today’s opening act were Yellowcard. They joined the Deconstruction tour for only a couple of shows so I was glad to see their performance. Yellowcard totally blew the crowd away (at 2pm!!!) mainly because of Sean Mackin who played on his violin as if there were no tomorrow! The acrobatic highlight of his performance was a superb backflip (with violin in hand) from the guitar’s amp. They played a lot of their hits like "Way Away" and "Oceans Avenue". So guys get really hyped over here in Europe and I am sure this was the last time they had to play as an opening act at 2pm.
The other bands showed pretty much the same stuff as in Munich and Pirmasens. But some of the skateboarders were in really good shape that day and they were rippin it off. Cristiano Matteos showed some absolutely crazy flip tricks. He also showed the best trick of the whole tour as he did a super high varial 360 flip!! I don’t know why all these skateboarders from Brazil are just so good... The best BMXer of today was local Tim Eichert as he did a couple of backflips and flairs. Unfortunately he got hurt a little and therefor had to skip the highest air competition. And once again, Cristiano was unbeatable and also won the highest air competition. Ingo Fröbrich placed second. Those Brazilians are really crazy...
As I had already seen all the bands live I decided to do an interview with one of the best bands at the Deconstruction Tour. I walked up to Matt and Garth from Strike Anywhere and they were kind enough to answer some questions spontaneously at the parking lot.
Interview Strike Anywhere
Could you please introduce yourselves?
Garth: I’m Garth and I play bass. I really am in the band. I swear.
Matt: I’m Matt and I’m one of the guitar players in Strike Anywhere.
How did you get in the band?
Garth: Well, they were actually together and practising. They had a different bass player and drummer at that time. The other bass player quit. And I worked with Matt Smith, the other guitar player, he was my boss and then he asked me to play and I played and the drummer wasn’t very good. So he left. Then we got Eric and we’re happy ever since.
Matt: In 1999 before the band had a name it took us a while to find everyone to play with. In the summer of 1998 I moved back to Richmond, Virginia. I have been friends with Thomas for like 18 years. Him and me we decided to start a band and so we started looking for other people. And it were basically the same people the whole time.
What do you think is more important about Strike Anywhere, the music or the message?
G.: I think they both are equally important.
And for you personally?
G.: For me? Well, I don’t write the lyrics...
But you are in the band. Do you agree with everything that Thomas has to say?
M.: Yeah, we do. We agree with his politics. I think one of Thomas’ greatest strengths is speaking spontaneously to the crowd. Sort of continually redefining our songs and relating them to everything that has happened in the present. I get really excited about that. I think he does a really good job. So, that’s pretty good. And we all do agree with the politics of the band. It’s pretty generous stuff.
Can you make a living on being in Strike Anywhere?
M.: This is pretty much our main job.
G.: I move furniture once or twice a week. We’re on tour so much that’s it’s hard to get a real job for a month. Then we leave for another month.
Do you like being on tour in Europe at the moment?
Both: Oh, yeah. It’s great!
G.: The Deconstruction is different from anything we have done because it’s huge.
M.: It’s very easy to be on this tour.
Do you like this combination of music, skateboarding and motoX? Do you think that punkrock and skateboarding goes together?
Both: Yeah! Definitely.
G.: I got into punkrock through skateboarding.
M.: Me, too. I think it’s both kinda youth culture in a way. I’m glad that punkrock can still be associated with those things. Skateboarding and punkrock have historically been associated with eachother. Skateboarding is now very much accepted in the mainstream. I would be very disappointed if it would be completely divorced from youth culture. If it losts ist punk edge.
Do you like skatepunk bands like Pennywise?
Both: Sure.
Do you listen to this kind of music?
Both: No.
M.: I don’t think anyone of us is still listening to punk a lot. I think you enjoy it sometimes?
G.: I listen to punk bands. I like Alkaline Trio a lot and the Weakerthans.
M.: New Mexican Disaster Squad is probably my most favourite punk band at the moment.
Do you all have the same taste in music?
Both: No.
M.: It’s radically different. I have been into Paul Simon a lot, Elliot Smith and Nick Cave. Pretty mellow stuff.
G.: We listen to punkrock everyday. Everytime we’re on stage. So we like to listen to different kinds of music in our free time.
M.: Anti-Flag is great. Pennywise is great. It’s just that.. uhm... I think a month after this tour is over I’ll put the CD into my stereo and think about it and enjoy it.
Do you think it’s important to be a political band at the moment?
G.: I think it’s good to have something to say. A lot of bands sing about... nothing.
M.: I think it’s good to be entertaining and also topical. Especially as you get a higher profile.
You’re on the Rock Against Bush compilation. Are you involved with punkvoter, too?
G.: Yes. On the last tour we did in the States we had a punkvoter table. You should really think about registering to vote and vote. Preferably against Bush.
M.: I think that John Kerry is a jackass but I’m gonna vote.
Do you think people should vote for Ralph Nadar?
M.: I think people should vote for whoever they think would make a good president. In Virginia, the way the electoral collage works, Bush will carry the state. No matter what. So the main thing for young people is to get out there and vote because they are underrepresented. They don’t participate in our government. Issues that are important to kids should become important to politicians. They want to win voters. So if kids vote politicians will pay attention to what is important to them. That’s why.
G.: Nadar has definitely something good to say so it’s worth voting for him but he’ll never win anything.
M.: My grandmother voted for Nadar in the last election. Ralph Nadar has no charisma unfortunately. He is kind of very flat person.
G.: A lot of winning has to do with personality.
M.: Not that George Bush has a great personality...
G.: Neither has Kerry. Kerry did hang with the Beatles that makes him in some way cool.
Do you think there is any chance of voting George Bush out of office?
G.: Oh yeah. But I also think that there is a good chance that he will get elected again.
M.: It’s going to be very close.
What are you’re plans for the near future?
G.: We gotta go home soon.
M.: When I’m home I gotta put a new roof on my house.
G.: We will do two weeks of touring this summer in Eastern Canada. We gonna play Hellfest which will probably be god awful.
M.: Terrible.
G.: But Danzig will be headlining one night.
M.: Great! I like Danzig but Hellfest is not that good. A lot of metal/hc bands.
G.: Which isn’t really our thing.
M.: I won’t name any of them like 18 Visions or Norma Jean. I won’t name them.
G.: Don’t name them. I like Converge.
M.: Oh, Converge is good!
I think that was it! Thank you for your time.
I have to mention that my ex-teacher from the Wilhelms-University in Muenster showed up. Her name is Caroline Coit and she was born and bred in Pittsburgh. And, as you already know, Anti-Flag are from PGH, too. So I thought it would be kinda cool if she were able to talk to some of her somewhat former neighbors and I was right ;-) Justin Sane (voc + guitar) got along with her very very well and they talked for almost one hour in the backstage area mainly about politics. He even mentioned her on his website. You can read about their "meeting" in his tour diary. It was really cool that Caroline showed up! So thanks for coming! And thanks a lot to Justin for putting us on the guestlist (once again)! Thx to Wiebke for letting me a part of it! Whoo-hoo! I’m already looking forward to next year’s Deconstruction Tour!
Rheinkultur Festival, July 3, Bonn, GER
http://www.rheinkultur.com
If you read last year’s summer update you already know what the Rheinkultur festival is. It is the biggest for-free music festival in Germany. About 60 bands were performing at the beautiful Rheinaue in Bonn and have I already mentioned that it was all for free?! ;-) Jessica and me got there pretty early as the bands we wanted to see were playing pretty early that day. Peter Pan Speedrock were the first ones up on stage. The highspeed rock’n’roll trio from the Netherlands are just an awesome live band. But unfortunately we were not quick enough and missed their set. So we went to the skateboard area where the Eastpak vert jam took place. Cristiano Matteos was there once again, so was the pro-rider Renton Millar from Australia, Tina Neff from Muenster and a lot of other riders. There was also a girls contest but unfortunately there are still only very few girls who can skate a vert ramp in Europe and none of them is as good as Tina so she placed first again as usual. I think Tina is the female Tony Hawk here in Europe. She showed clean fs and bs airs, boardslides and 5-0 grinds. And I have to mention that she did all that in a wet and slippery ramp as it had just started raining. She’s simply the best.
Then we went back to the red stage where we witnessed the extremely cool ZEKE from Seattle. I just love those guys. I was first row during their whole set and I partied the whole time. They are just sooo fast and sooo good! Three guys, fast, loud and dirty hyperspeed rock’n’roll what else could a girl need to be happy?! After that we watched the Von Bondies and Mando Diao from Sweden (strange name, cool retro rock). Then we walked to the blue stage to see the infamous glam rockers The Darkness from England. Actually I had refused to watch them live when they had been on tour before because I had thought that all the hype about them was senseless.. Well, I changed my mind. Now, I am a huge Darkness fan. Call me Darkling. They just did the BEST rock live show I have ever seen!!! Justin Hawkins changed his outfits three times and he is probably the funniest front man on this planet. He looks like a weird mix of David Lee Roth and Freddy Mercury. And he also sound like that with his extremely high pitched voice. Zeke and Peter Pan also watched the whole live sets and bought themselves Darkness t-shirts..that’s the proof: if Zeke likes your band, dude, you have to be really good. They played all their fantastic songs like "Love Is Only A Feeling", "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" and their best song, the furious "Get Your Hands Off My Woman". The chorus of this song is "get your hands off my woman motherfucker" and Justin sings the motherfucker extremely high and it sounds like mmoOOthheRffuUUUCKAAA! After the song he made the audience sing motherfucker a capella. HAHAHA. That was just so funny!!! But it’s really hard to describe a Darkness show. I guess you have to see them live as I will never be able to give you the right impression of that band. And if you don’t have it yet: go out and buy their record "Permission To Land".
The Bones, July 7, Silo 1, Toeging, GER
http://www.bonesrocknroll.com
What would be a Chicks Rule update without a Bones update? Sandra and me went to see them live once again. And this time they played my favourite song "Until I Die". I just love that song! They have just found a distribution in the US. Well, my American friends, you will eventually be able to buy a Bones’ LP at your local record store. They are probably the best punk’n’roll band from Sweden and their record "Straight Flush Ghetto" is a must have! I think they will be coming on tour in the US pretty soon, too. Finally you will be able to enjoy jaegermeister influenced rock’n’roll from Karlskrona live!
It’s already Sunday and I just cannot believe that I will be in Huntington Beach tomorrow... my California update will include my work at Cool Girls Skateboards, a report on the ASR trade show, showreviews of Social Distortion, Zeke, the Backyard Babies, Texas Terri and a LOT more.
There’s nothing left for me to say except: good night, good flight!
-Sabine Schenk |
