Love the Snow

Hello everybody! I hope you all have a rockin‘ 2005! As you probably all know, I’m back in Germany and it is really cold here. If I look out of my window, all I can see is snow, snow, snow. This is quite a contrast to my adventures in California. And I guess it’s also due to the weather, that I didn’t go to as many shows as I went to in OC. But quality counts, not quantity.

I think you all know that I met the infamous rawker Texas Terri during my stay in California. She is sooo cool. And just a couple of weeks after we hung out at a Denny’s in Hollywood, I met her in a little club on the other side of the ocean. I had the pleasure to see her performing live in my hometown Munich, Germany. This was the first time that I ever saw her performing, and all I can say is it was awesome, but also hard to describe. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many kids at the show, but it was fun anyway. Terri emailed me to show up early so we could do an interview. And here it is. I guess it is the easiest interview I ever did cause I hardly asked anything and Terri just kept on talking and talking about Europe, Sweden, and why she hates Gene Simmons. Enjoy!

Interview Texas Terri

Monofaktur, Munich, Germany

www.texasterri.com

How’s the tour going?

The tour is going great. The last time I had been to Europe was in 2000. I was very excited about going to Europe. That was in my wilder days when I was wearing TxT tape across my boobs. I was so excited because there’s no censorship here. People in clubs thought that it was really funny that I wore that TxT tape they said ‘ you don’t need to wear that here’ and I said ‘yeah, but I love the way it looks’. And they would go like: ‘no, no, no, let me peel it off!’ and I just went like ‘whatever’. I was very excited that I went on my Europeean tour. And I peed everywhere. I have it all on video. And all that stuff. It was fun. …

This time, many people… in Belgium for instance, there was this girl and she walked up to me: ‘I heard that you take your shirt off.’ And I said: ‘I don’t do that anymore.’ And she said: ‘ooh! Will you show me anyway?’ And I’m like: ‘maybe later…’ It was just so funny. One year ago I just stopped doing it. It just didn’t feel right anymore. I don’t do that TxT tape anymore because I think, well ok, that faze is finished. But it’s really funny because in the US they don’t even think about it if I take my shirt off or not. But in Europe people are still excited about that. That’s kinda cool because I forgot about that transition because I already went through it in the US. But it was really great with all that censorship thing. But what are you gonna do after that?! Then you have to outdo yourself and outdo yourself,.. I was just tired of it.

A lot of people who went to your shows in 2000 probably came to your shows this time, as well.

Yeah, which is kinda cool. But it seems to me that I have a new face anyway. I have a new band… For 6 years I had Demon Boy as my songwriting partner and everything. He was involved in the first record ‘Eat Shit!’ I am with this new band for about 3 years now. It’s become more about me and evolution and everything. I changed so much within these last 3 years. I’m really a square. All I want to do is write my songs and do my music. I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs. If other people do it I don’t care because it’s still their business. I still love drugs and alcohol I just can’t do it anymore. My life has changed and the biggest problem I have at the moment is money. If I had enough money to pay people I could be more specific. It’s kinda like you are able to buy what you want. But my musicians are always great. I always have great musicians and they just keep getting better and better and better. More responsible which is good. Uhmm.. see.. there’s is so much I can’t tell you. Usually I am just open and honest about everything but this time I cannot be completely open and honest because if the wrong person reads what I have to say…well, it’s no big secret but I just don’t want everyone to know what I’m thinking. It’s very, very strange. I am, in my opinion, not very popular. Maybe I am in the punk scene, but that’s really it.

Let me tell you this story when we were in Chicago, because I don’t care if that band reads it or not. There was this opening, opening band and we barely made it to our show in time because shit happened on the freeway and it was a long ass drive. And the singer of the first band got really angry with me because I missed his band. And I’m like shaking her head, so there’s this person writing on my yahoo Texas Terri digest list this whole long thing but it was really funny to watch the other people on the list responding to it, you know. They were like: You’re just expecting so much from her. I’m just trying to go out and see and do what I do. That’s my whole thing. That’s all I care about, you know. All I care about is.. I mean, it would be nice if I could make enough money just to stay on the road. That’s all I wanna do. I have a regular job like most musicians. Unless you meet the right person in the right time. I got a regular job and save all my money while I’m working on the band. This tour is insane. I’m about a year behind in what I have hoped to accomplish. But I’m having a blast.

I am able to go to Italy this time. I have never been to Italy. And I can tour Slovenia. And I gotta go to Prague. And I have never been here in Munich before. If you’re on tour so much, it’s kinda cool to go back home because there are new adventures to come there. This time I’ll go to Sweden for the first time, which is exciting. And I went to the UK, which gave me the opportunity to perform at the Wasted Festival in July. It was simply insane because I used a different band. I just couldn’t afford to fly my whole band over. So I flew over and hooked up with this pal in Birmingham. He said he would put a band together for me. We rehearsed like twice. We went on a train with all that shit to that festival. And it was really great! But I felt bad because I couldn’t pay the musicians. I mean, I paid for the train and the accommodations but nobody is crazy enough to just fly over to Europe to meet these 3 guys who you have never met in your life before, and to play a show with them. But they said: ‘We want you to look good!’ And a friend made these posters for us and flyers to pass out. It was just cool how much time and effort they spent on all that. We had the opening slot but we were lucky enough to play the opening night party that put a gig under our belts as a band. And on Saturday morning, well, it felt like morning because we were the first band on stage at 12.30. And everybody had been up all night on Friday night but we were constantly passing out flyers and posters and we were like: Ok, we did everything we can. And when the doors opened all these people came in. They were like, gosh, we were so hung over but we wanted to come and see you. That was one of the best feelings I ever had playing live with a band because I thought there would only be 20 people there, but instead it was like 500. Mission accomplished. It was kinda cool because we opened the main stage that day and the Addicts closed it. And almost every band on stage that day was just great. I don crazy things like that and the next thing I want to accomplish is going to Japan. That’s what I’ll plan as soon as I get home.

Let’s just talk about the new record a little bit because there are just so many people on it. The hall of fame of rock’n’roll seems to be on that record. I also heard that you wanted a song with Lemmy on that record?

There are a few people that weren’t able to be on the record. There was Lemmy of Motörhead but everytime I meet this guy he goes like ‘damn! I should have been on it! I’ll be on your next one, love, I promise!’ I am like ok, but I always tell people that there might be no next one. Maybe the world will blow up! Or maybe I’ll decide to live on Mars. You never know. I always think now, now, now, now, now! People think I’m crazy.

It’s like that thing with my booker. I told him, I have to go to Sweden. I have to! And I have to go to Italy! But they were like, well, Sweden is so expensive and dadada. But I was like, you know, I will lose my ass on this tour anyway, but let me lose it the way I want it. So they got me a few shows in Sweden, but I am still a little disappointed because I wanted to play Kopenhagen and Oslo because there live Turbonegro but at least we have two shows in Sweden, which is fine. Going back to I have to do things now. If our booking agent had not booked me for Sweden, I would be going around Europe with this thought in the back of my mind ‘here I am in fucking Europe and I am not able to go to fucking Sweden’. The first time we came over in 2000, the Berlin show got cancelled, and I got crazy. Because I told our booker, (a different booker), to book a show for us at Wild At Heart. And he said no because they won’t give you accomodation and dadada. I said, I don’t care. We’ll find places to stay, but I want to play Wild At Heart. So, of course, he booked us somewhere else. But the night before we were supposed to be there, or maybe 2 nights before, this other club got closed down because of noise complaints in the neighborhood. And my heart was broken during that tour because I didn’t go to Berlin. I went to Berlin after that on my own but not to play there. I went to the Wild At Heart just to see it. I went on a dead night but it was great anyway.

I went crazy on that tour because all I said the whole time was I didn’t get to go to Berlin, I didn’t get to go to Berlin,… and our booker said: next time and I said: THERE MIGHT BE NO NEXT TIME! That’s what I told Lemmy, but I have a promise from Lemmy to work with me on my next record. I was thinking about doing a 7inch just to get it done. And then Slash was the other guy who wasn’t able to be on the record. I told him to that this might be my last record and he said, don’t say that! But I said, dude, you just don’t know! Everyday of my life I’m one inch close to quitting playing punk rock because it’s such a pain in the ass, it really is. But on this record, Cherie Currie is on it. And we did the Rocker together, which is on that record but we also did a cover of Rock’n’Roll All Night by Kiss. See, I hate Gene Simmons. Because he’s a pig. YES YOU ARE! You know that record you did, Gene, called Asshole, I always thought that just other people call you an asshole but now you call yourself an asshole. Anyway, you’re an asshole, asshole! There’s a story to all that.

I was on flight to Cleveland, Ohio because there was a Dead Boys tribute show for the rock’n’roll hall of fame and it was a tribute to Stiv Bators and on the last minute I decided to go. And it was really worth it. I met Stiv’s parents. They autographed this Dead Boys picture for me. The show was great. Cheetah did a lot of singing. But just to hear that fucking band play together was unbelievable. So on the flight, I had to fly to Las Vegas and took a connecting flight to Ohio, and Gene Simmons was on the plane and I’m just like ‘Hello!’ And he looked at me like he knew me, well, he met me several times. Well, usually people do remember me.. well, I’m just not like the other girls he usually meets. But I thought that this was really funny because he’s so ugly. If you see him without the make-up you would never believe that a girl would get in bed with him. But anyway, I really shot myself in the foot because I should have released (Terri is coughing and I just don’t know what she said) but I have this phone message from Slash. It says, well, he couldn’t be on the record because that was during the time when he was recording with Ray Charles, which is really amazing. I never heard that, but I would love to hear it. Usually Slash is really professional when you call him he just goes like oh, I’m too busy. I’m recording here with Ray but on that message he is like ‘ This is a real challenge because I’m here with Ray Charles and I have to learn all these charts and I have never played that kinda music before in my life.’ And I thought that this was kinda cool that he was talking about all that. Anyway, Slash is really busy. But he’s really cool. He’s always leaving me phone messages and there is one that says ‘This is Slash and I really don’t think that I’m gonna have time but for what I hear your record has turned out great and you don’t need me to be on it anyway.’ I thought about taking that message and putting it at the beginning of the record. So I could have at least said, you see, Slash is on my new record! And then I thought about putting Rock’n’Roll All Night on that record. But this is where my resentments block me from my businesses. And at that moment, when my record was coming out, the idea of putting rock’n’roll all night on it was no option because I hated Gene Simmons so much. But it’s actually out on the vinyl in America. But if I would have been smart I would have put in on the CD also. Because all the Kiss fans and Cherie Currie fans would love to hear that. So if I reissue that record, which I probably will, there will be the Slash message on and that song. It’s a good song. And it was fun to do.

You told me before that the last part of your CD when a girl goes like ‘Terri, it’s ok, it’s ok’ that Cherrie Currie.

TURN THAT MOTHERFUCKER OFF! Yeah, that’s from that song! Hehe! Cherie Currie thought that I was serious. At the end of r’n’r all night I started screaming turn it off! Turn it off! And my bass player knows how much I hate Gene Simmons. So he was just smiling while I was freaking out. But Cherrie, she was just standing there like ‘T, T! It’s ok! It’s ok!’ I really thought she was gonna slap me. She thought I was hysterical. So that’s where it comes from. So then there is Duane Kramer on my record for instance and Marc Diamond from the Dwarves and the list goes on and on.

Thanks for your time Terri! Have a good show!

Eastpak Resistance Tour: Maroon, Walls of Jericho, The Bones, 7 Seconds, Sick of it all, Löwensaal, Nürnberg, Germany.

www.eastpak.com

The resistance tour took place at the Löwensaal in Nürnberg- probably one of the coolest locations I have ever been at. Löwensaal means literary translated, ‘lion’s hall.’ And it actually was a lion’s hall. It was in the center of the big zoo in Nürnberg, and the Löwensaal was the place where the lions used to be caged in this zoo. Of course, there were no lions on stage but a lot of punkrockers and HC kids… decide for yourself what’s more dangerous.

The first band on stage were real newcomers called Maroon from Germany. Unfortunately, I missed almost the whole set and just heard the last song. But from what I heard, they were pretty good!

The next band on stage was my favourite band this evening, and the real reason why I drove all the way to Nürnberg: Walls of Jericho! The leadsinger is called Candice and that girl can ROAR! She did such a great performance and she has got an amazing voice! One of the few hardcore bands I know that has a female lead singer… and a really good one. After the show we talked a bit about skateboarding, boys and tattoos. She is really nice and really funny.

Ok, what do I need to say about the next band??? Probably nothing since I mention them in almost every update: The Bones. They did a great performance as usual, and there is not much new to tell you about them. But don’t you think it’s funny that greaser-rock’n’roll-punks are in the middle of a lineup full of hardcore bands??! Well, you could tell who went to the Resistance Tour for the Bones pretty easily… kinda funny.

The next band up were 7 Seconds! I think this was their first tour in Germany ever. These guys are probably the founding fathers of hardcore along with Minor Threat and Gorilla Biscuits. Actually, I don’t know, although they are real heroes. I didn’t like their performance that much. But I am sure that a lot of hardcore veterans were really happy about their show. They played all the classic hits like „Not just girl’s fun” and „Young till I die”. They also played a cover song of the Nena’s hit „99 red balloons” Probably because they somehow wanted to sympathize with their Germany fans

The last band up were the infamous Sick Of It All!! WOOAAH! I love those guys. Although I have seen them many times, it’s still a lot of fun to watch them full of energy and power!

Well, there is not much else to say about that night, except that I hope the Resistance Tour will be that cool again in 2005!

Fun Stuff all over Germany

Of course, these weren’t the only two shows I went to this winter but due to too many rum&cokes and other reasons, I can’t remember too much about the other shows I went to, but at least I want to mention some of the fun stuff I did. I hung out with Jake Starr of Adam West. His band really kicked ass that night, and we talked a bit after the show. I saw the Sewergrooves from Sweden, whose tour manager and bus driver got busted by the police the same night, and the band probably paid all the money they earned that night to get him out on bail. haha. The roadies‘ name was Dave and all of you who know him can imagine the chaos which happened. hahahaha. More Swedish fun: I went to the Tinnitus Sound System Tour. Dregen of the Backyard Babies is on DJ tour all over Europe and he D-jayed in the Kings’n’Queens Club in Munich. It was a lot of fun, and it was good to see him again. I think you all remember the cool interview I did with the Backyard Babies in LA. Dregen is now a huge fan of Coolgrrrls.com. I also went to see the Spermbirds, Flyswatter and a lot more but I am little lazy (or probably too busy) and won’t write it all down, sorry. My next update will be more complex, I promise!

greeZ
Sabine