Labor Party is a trio
of veteran hard rock n’ rollers influenced by bands like The Stooges, MC5 and
the Dead Boys that reside in the Phoenix metro area. Their music is fast, loud,
guitar fueled rock n’ roll with enough power in the backbeat to run the city
they’re playing that night. Their experience really comes into play when you
see this band live. They seem very
much at ease on stage allowing them to put on a highly energized, highly
entertaining show as they hurl their music at their audience like boulders on
catapults. They have a look in
their eyes like all they do is start the engine and where the music is going to
take them is anybody’s guess. And that’s what makes Labor Party so undeniably
great at what they do.
Interview
by J Castro
Who’s all in the band and
what do they do to keep the Labor Party rolling?
Buck
Ellis - Drums, backing vocals.
Sharon
Labor – Bass guitar, backing vocals, poetry.
Frank
Labor – Guitar, vocals.
Tell me a bit about your
musical careers and how you ended up here in Phoenix, AZ. I know you guys have
some other musical projects going on now too.
FRANK:
Buck is a Phoenix native believe it or not. He’s got a long history in the
phoenix punk scene going back to the early ‘90’s. He has been in bands like:
Hunky Dory, Sam the Butcher, Punk Rock Karaoke, The Shifters, and Balls. I
started playing in bands back in Pennsylvania in the late ‘70’s. After playing
in a few cover bands, I was in a punk band called The Speds. I think every show
we did we played to people who were seeing punk for the first time. In the
early ‘80’s I was in a Mod band called The Tickets. I met Sharon at that time.
She had a band with her cousin Karen Lynn and the late great Lisa Wack, playing
some ‘60’s inspired rock n’ roll. By the mid ‘80’s we were working together in
a neo-psychedelic band we called 8Five Kalidocolor. We got an offer to go to
San Francisco so we left PA and headed west. We stopped in Phoenix to visit my
family who had moved out some years before. We noticed there was a really good scene
here for original bands so when things fell apart with our San Francisco people
we decided to try it here. Our first band here was The Now. I think we stared
that around ‘92. Sharon played keys, we had a good friend of mine who was in
The Tickets and 8Five Kalidocolor to play bass and my brother played 2nd
guitar. After that we formed Hubcap, in the mid 90’s, and once that ran its
course we started Labor Party in 2001. We picked up Buck in 2005 and he’s been there
ever since. I played lead guitar for Jeff Dahl for a few years from 2005 –
2008. Last year Sharon started a band called Battered Suitcases and we are both
in that now.
Frank and Sharon; with all
the tragic stuff that happens to couples that are in a band together, how have
you two managed to keep it going for so long? Any secrets/strategies you wish
to share?
FRANK:
We’ve been doing this since we were in our early 20’s so it’s hard to imagine
it any other way but it seems to me that it’s better for a couple to go out
every weekend together rather than one going to play a show while the other is
stuck at home or going somewhere else. You can’t really be mad at your spouse
for spending so much time working on a band if you’re in it to. Ha-ha.
SHARON:
I think it’s because we truly support one another and appreciate that we share
the same interests and dreams, that’s priceless. I always thought it’d be
tougher to be with someone who isn’t a musician, we’re a strange breed! Aside
from all the romance it helps a lot too that we’re best friends!
Tell me who you consider to
be the biggest influence on your music and tell me about the first time you
heard this individual’s music and how it changed your life?
FRANK:
I have so many big influences each one as important as the other. Far too many
to cover here so I’ll just mention one that just popped into my head: Robert
Quine.
I
think I was around 17 or 18. A radio DJ who was a fan of The Speds took us to
his place in a shitty ass neighborhood in the north end. Everything was dark
around there. Not just the streets but even inside there were just a few little
lights, some of them covered with cloth to purposely keep them from being too
bright. It was a strange place with a bunch of people living there, most of
them DJ’s or musicians or both. We were all drinking and high which may have
played a role in the experience. We all jammed into a tiny bedroom with a high
quality, really loud stereo. He played us a bunch of records most of which we
were all familiar with but then he put on Richard Hell and the Voidoids’
Blank Generation. The whole song is
great but when that Robert Quine guitar solo hit… HOLY FUCK! That shit just
blew me away, so fucking nasty and harsh. Absolutely gut wrenching. It sounded
like the amp was inside one of those metal trashcans in the alley. I thought
this is it! This is what lead guitar is supposed to sound like! I never thought
of guitar solos the same after that.
You guys have been in bands
and playing music for a while now. What do you think of promoting music through
social media? Is it a better, more efficient way to get the word out or just a
huge pain in the ass?
FRANK:
Well it is a pain in the ass but it so much better than the old days of handing
out flyers and going on a long flyer hanging trip. The only flyers I do now are
just for the bar where the show will be and sometimes for the area just around
the bar, if the neighborhood is right for that. I do look forward to the death
of Facebook and I hope that whatever takes its place will be more band
friendly. I know there are some better sites for bands out there the only
problem is only bands are on them.
I feel that the trick to releasing a live
recording is to try and capture a quality recording that still accurately
portrays the unique energy signature of a band’s live show. I feel that the Live 6 EP Labor Party put out a few
years ago does just that. Can you
tell me a bit about that record (where it was recorded etc.)?
FRANK:
Thank you! That’s exactly what we were going for. We even left in a few flubs
here or there. There’s one song where my mic was knocked over by some guys
acting up in the front. The vocal drops out for a couple seconds but we thought
it added to the feel so we left it in. There’s a spot where you can hear
someone busting on Buck for wearing an American flag shirt. There was no way
that wasn’t going on the final cut. We recorded 2 shows for that. One was at
Jugheads and the other was about a week or 2 later on the 4th of
July at the Chop and Wok. We set up a bunch of mics on the front of the stage
facing the audience and one above the crowd about half way back. We were just
as concerned about capturing them as we were about us. Andrew Roesch produced
it for us and did a great job. Him and our road manager at the time Kody Thames
did all the engineering and set up. They did all the hard work we just had fun.
It was set to be released as a 10 inch vinyl record. Our record label fucked us
over and dropped us right before it was going into production. We had a show in
Baltimore with our former label mates The Jukebox Zeros from Philadelphia. They
had just left the label because of discrepancies over digital sales. We were on
an east coast tour and the label told us we were not allowed to play with them.
Of course we did the show. And that was the end of that.
We
liked it so much we put it out ourselves. We couldn’t afford to do vinyl so we
just did it as a CD.
Tell me about a record that you own and
enjoy that you feel Labor Party fans may be surprised you are in possession of?
FRANK:
I got a lot of ‘em but the one
that seem to surprise people the most is The Allman Brothers – Live at the Fillmore East. They started
a genre of music that I am not a fan of but I love Duane Allman.
SHARON:
Madeleine Peyroux – Careless Love.
Describe the music scene here in the
metro Phoenix/Tempe area now as compared to when you guys first got here?
FRANK:
The scene here always flows
in waves. It’s up then it’s down. We’ve been lucky enough to ride a couple of
those up waves. Things have been slow for the last couple of years but I do
think they are picking up.
What types of things usually inspire
Labor Party song lyrics? Are there any subjects you guys purposefully avoid and
have you ever written a song that in hindsight you regret writing?
FRANK: I write a shit load of songs I regret.
The good thing is they don’t make it on to any CD’s. If they never got recorded
they never happened. I never know what’s going to inspire me but it seems a
good portion of my writing comes from working class struggles. Right now, we’re
working on some song inspired by things like street art, the under belly of
society, mental break downs and age. The only subject we avoid is politics. Not
everyone in the band has the same opinions so it best to just lay off that
subject.
What’s coming up in the near future for
Labor Party? It’s been a while
since the last LP, any new recordings coming out soon?
FRANK: We are
pretty close to finishing a new album. Hopefully we will find a label
interested and get it released soon. If not we’ll just release it ourselves.
We’re hoping to get back on the road in 2015. It’s been a while since we toured
and we really miss it.
