The Audio Ammo apes chat with CC about all the rad bands he's been in, Vancouver and his globetrotting ways (including going into Mexican Cartel territory!) We also gab about his current band Autogramm as well as his upcoming project he's got cooking up.
Our featured song this episode is "Quiero Estar Sedado" by none other than Autogramm! It can be found on their fantastic EP Bad Day which you can listen to below or you can get the vinyl version from Jarama 45 records! Check out this episode!
Thank
you so much for listening to our humble show! Keep your ear holes on
high alert for more upcoming interviews with musicians, bloggers, DJ's, label owners and podcasters that we love and we're sure you will too!
If
you like (or even somewhat moderately enjoyed) what you hear in our
podcast, please take a moment to rate or review us or hit that little
"subscribe" button wherever you listen to your podcasts. That way you'll
be sure to never miss an episode!
Out of all the music that flows in and out of my hollow head, there are few genres that instantly cause my cynical ear to point up; 70's flavored punk usually does the trick. There's something about that music from that particular time period that's teaming with anxiety, restlessness and a whole host of other raw human emotions. Not to mention just the way it was recorded back then; the guitars sounded like power tools sawing flesh and the drums sounded like they were beating right on to your skull. With all the vigor punk music had then, most of the bands (the good ones anyway) didn't forget the importance of hooks and melodies. Bands like The Jam, Teenage Head, Generation X, and The Undertones were prime examples of this. Now fast forward to 2016 and in walk Berlin's The Not Amused, fishing from the same pond as the bands mentioned above but adding their own elements to the music that can only be found in the fuss and fluster of living life in the 21st century. So now there's a whole new breed of beast to contend with, which is every bit as formidable as before if not more so.
Interview by J Castro
Who is currently in the band and what does everyone do in it?
KIDNAP: Current lineup is Sir Harris XLV on vocals, Rosa
Riot on drums, Shockhead on Bass and me, Kidnap on guitar.
How did you all meet and decide to play music together?
KIDNAP: We first met in 2004 when Sir Harris and our
former bass player Hansi asked me to join their 60’s Garage Trash project. I
told them, that I'd pretty much prefer late 70s obscure Power Pop, Punk and Mod
Revival. And that's how it all started.
What band or musician first inspired you to want to pick up an
instrument and learn to play and/or write music?
KIDNAP: I started to spend all my money on records in my
early teens, so there've been lots of influences, mostly Punk Rock bands. I bought
the 2nd album by the Guttersnipes from Glasgow when it got out and
instantly fell in love with the 1st track “Already There”. Those
sharp, fast, tight and catchy rhythm guitars made me take one of my first few
guitar lessons! (Sadly their singer passed away earlier this year)
How would you describe your band to your grandparents?
KIDNAP: Loud & fast Rock 'n' Roll (since that's probably
the only music aside from German 'Schlager' and Folk music they could have had
an idea of what I was talking about)
What sorts of things do you typically enjoy writing songs
about?
KIDNAP: Our songs are about death (Hit By A Bus, Bazooka),
getting beaten up (Bovverbaby), love (Ethel, Watching You) and also politics
(Little War, Burn ’em Down), not to forget the Royals. We started the band with
the intention to write teenage songs without a special meaning like most of
those old Power Pop bands did, but writing about girls and cars got us bored
pretty soon.
I’ve heard people say that playing and writing music is therapeutic
to them. Have you ever found this to be
true?
KIDNAP: Absolutely! I'd have gone completely nuts if there
weren’t any bands in my life. Sometimes it can drive you mad, if you've got to
cancel a show at the very last moment because somebody in the band forgot to
tell you that he's on holiday and didn't have the show in mind that you've been
planning for months, but on the other hand there couldn't be anything better
after a hard day at the office (those days we all try to avoid badly!!!) than
turning up your amp and have some drinks together at the rehearsal.
Does it annoy you or distract you at all to see some of your
audience members fondling their phones while you’re up on stage performing?
KIDNAP: I hate it! If you're on stage, drenched in sweat
trying to entertain your audience and give the best you can while certain
people seem to be more interested in their Facebook chat sucks. I'd really prefer those guys to piss off and
even would pay them back their entry.
By Appointment To Her Royal Highness 12" released on Splinter Records/Queen Mum Records
After one of your shows, what sort of feeling or sentiment do you
hope your audience walks away with?
KIDNAP: A smile on people's faces is the best payment a
band could get. All we want is to have a good time and if the people coming to
our shows are having a great night out, it couldn't be any better.
What is your favorite album to listen to from start to finish?
KIDNAP: It changes from time to time, but one record I'm
never getting tired of spinning is Let
Your Fingers Do the Talking by Billy Karloff & The Extremes. If you'll
ask me tomorrow it might be a different one.
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you that you still
follow to this day?
KIDNAP: Linse, singer of the Bad News, once told me that
you can only do a good show if you do it for yourself in the first place no
matter if you play to either 2 or 200 people. That's what I keep in mind every
time I enter the stage.
Flaunting Their Talents 12" released on Splinter Records/Queen Mum Records
What is the best way people can hear and get a hold of your music?
KIDNAP: Music should be affordable for everyone so our
first 2 releases are available for free at thenotamused.bandcamp.com. Of course
we're very happy if people buy our records as well since we're pretty much a
DIY band and so a little support helps to keep it going.
What lies ahead for the band in 2016?
KIDNAP: There'll finally be new records! An 8-Track 12”
and a 7” that will hopefully be released this summer! And maybe there'll be
another tour in Spain in late summer.
Gulag Beach are a political powerhouse of a punk rock band from Berlin Germany. They walk the fine line between stripped down 77' style Punk and later, harder hitting Oi!/ Street Punk. Their music uniquely and exquisitely exhibits anxiety, high energy, and enough entrapping hooks to make the Cenobites in Hellraiser jealous. Unlike the Russian Gulag, these four Germans aren't here to force anyone into their beliefs. They offer their opinions on society and world events in lyrical form and they present them loudly. Weather you choose to listen or succumb to the pogo is up to you! Interview by J Castro
Let’s start out by introducing yourselves. Who is in Gulag Beach and
what does everyone do in the band? GB: We're the Gulag Beach Boys from Berlin and have been around since late
2013. So far we played nearly 50 shows in Germany, Poland and Greece, released
one demo tape cassette ("No ice above the DMZ") and two vinyl-LPs
("North Korean Sun" and "Favela Blues"). There is Hupe on
vocals, a smartass and weisenheimer, because he is that old. Then we have
Hässlon on bass, who always has to drive being the only one with such a cool
car. We also have Marcel on guitar, always tired and overworked and Nils on the
drums, always late and playing with broken cymbals.
How did you all meet and decide to play music together?
GB: Berlin is quite big and a lot of hedonists are stranded at this melting
beach so it's easy to find each other. Anyway, it all started as a project.
Hupe usually is a drummer and has been doing this for many years. He was bored
by playing drums and wanted to sing. He knew that Marcel and Nils share more or
less the same music taste like him and so they met. Hässlon usually plays
guitar and sings and joined Gulag Beach some weeks later after buying a bass in
a Berlin so called Späti (kiosk). We all knew each other (more or less) before
the band started and all have bands beside Gulag Beach.
Can you remember who it was that inspired you to want to pick up an
instrument and learn how to play/write music? Hupe: I remember when I was a kid and around 6 or 7 years I was very
impressed by Udo Lindenberg. My aunt listened to Udo's "Sonderzug nach
Pankow" behind closed doors because we had GDR and Stasi was everywhere. I
liked his cool voice, his sunglasses, his appearance at all and from this day
on I started playing air guitar on a battledore. As a teenager I started
playing drums after listening to NY Hardcore and Deutsch-Punk. I was always
autodidact and in my early 30s I started singing, after being inspired by Abe
(Bodies) or Greg Attonito (Bouncing Souls).
Nils: I may be a little bit hyperactive. Playing drums is probably a good way
to overexert myself in a good way. And that's the point. For me as drummer (by
the way, also autodidact), it's always impressive to see drummers hitting the
set so hard that they are already soaked in sweat after a few minutes on stage.
Harda Tider for example. You should see this band live and direct your
attention on the drummer. So powerful! In the end, it's too many bands that
could be mentioned. Besides, Hupe - our singer - he's a very good drummer as
well (haha)!
Hässlon: When I was 14 and I realized that most punk song structures are done
quite easily and most people that did punk rock haven't been real musicians, I
thought to do this by myself and started playing acoustic guitar. One year
later I had an electric guitar and played in my first punk rock band. Bands
that inspired me in those days were Slime and Die Toten Hosen and later all
those English punk bands from the late 70s.
Marcel: Yes, I can remember, but it's like a cliché story. When I was the age
of 9 or 10 and I saw Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen for the first time on TV performing
their songs "Schunder-Song" and "Kauf mich", it touched me
and I wanted to play an instrument as well. A few years later I got influenced
mainly by early German punk stuff.
How would you describe Gulag Beach to someone that’s never heard your music
before?
GB: We are a primitive melodic punk rock band that likes to play live. In our
opinion a punk song doesn't need much more than
verse-chorus-verse-chorus-interface-chorus. Just like the Ramones did many
years ago.
What sorts of things inspire your lyrics? Can you remember the
strangest person or event that inspired you to want to write a song about?
GB: An easy answer to the question as our demo and first LP was only inspired
by North Korea. We've been writing 13 songs about the Democratic Peoples
Republic of Korea because EVERYTHING there is so fucked up, so far away, so
special, so surreal. Like a sect. And so we remember the strangest person
everyone from the KIMnasty: Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and little fatty Kim
Jong-un. Anyhow we like to write songs about dictators such as the KIMs or
Putin or Pol Pot.
For us, Punk is a good way to express important things happening in the world
in a more simple way. Describing things in a few sentences. To put it in a
nutshell and to be subversive (at least we try). If we sing about the favelas
in Brazil in the first-person perspective, it's clear that we are not affected
by ourselves. Look at us. We are four white guys. We don't want to treat
someone like a child, we empty the artistic freedom that Punk enables! And we
think it's important not to care only about the shit going in our own lives.
I’ve heard people say that writing/playing music is therapeutic to
them. Have you ever found this to be true in your lives?
GB: Just try it Mr. Castro! We recommend it. Making music is fun and it helps
you break out of daily life. A band is always very special by meeting so many
different characters inside the band and seeing the result after the 1st song
is written and also by meeting so many different characters outside the band at
places where you never would have gone if a band wouldn't exist. Interesting
and maybe therapeutic but anyway something we all don't wanna miss.
What sorts of feelings or sentiments do you want your audience to walk away
with after seeing one of your live shows? GB: As we are a political band and playing pretty sad songs we are not
really entertaining our audience in the way that most bands do. But we
absolutely like to play live and hopefully people recognize this and share
this. We don't expect applause but pogo.
Can you remember how you were first introduced to punk rock music?
Tell me if you can recall who it was that first played it for you, where you
were and what song/album you heard?
Hupe: I discovered Punk when one of my distant cousins played this Toxoplasma
song "Pass dich an" on his tape deck that sounded as shabby as his
mohawk looked like. It was after school when we met at a secret spot to smoke
our first cigarettes and I liked the rough and pissed sound and the lyrics.
Toxoplasma was also one of the very first "bigger" punk bands that
played close to my village after the wall broke down. Anyway my first "punk
record" was Kreator's "Extreme Aggression" on tape as well after
my aunt bought this cassette in Hungary totally overpriced and one-side-only-recorded
(so the vendors at the black market ripped off my aunt) back in 1989. I will
never forget the first time I heard Mille shouting the chorus "Extreme
Aggression" through my little ghetto blaster. All I wanted was Volume Max.
Nils: That's easy. My eldest brother once gave me a Misfits record. I can't
remember which one. One of the releases from the 80's. I still love that music!
I went on with political HC/ Punk from U.S. like Dead Kennedys. Later all this
Skinhead/ Punk Bullshit from UK. Oppressed, Blitz, Angelic Upstarts. I still
love it! That is to say, I didn't start my love to Punk with German music like
Toxoplasma. I recognized all this good stuff from Germany a little bit later.
Hässlon: My first real punk album was Slime's "Yankees Raus". I liked
its lyrics and its forceful energy that you as an outsider makes you feel
strong and all you want is smashing your fist and spitting your snot in some
asshole's face. If you like this music you feel it.
Marcel: My first punk record was the Bloodstains across Germany-compilation. I
got it at a record flea market when I was still in elementary school. I was
really interested early on in music and wanted to get some vinyl records of
bands I liked so I introduced myself to punk rock. I was looking for a sound
that kicks me. I found this sound in early German punk, even if some of those
bands were singing in English. It really impressed me how punk bands shout out
their feelings, what they are thinking, this non-conformity, the aggression and
always that fast music. I still love all the songs off this compilation.
Maybe my favorite were the Buttocks with their song “Kreatur:, the Pack with
their song “Com'On” and the Cretins with their song “Samen im Darm”.
I don’t like using the term “guilty pleasure” just because I don’t think
anyone should feel guilty for liking something if in fact they actually do like
it. So with that being said, what record do you own and enjoy that you
think some Gulag Beach fans would be surprised you like? Hupe: I like Rio Baile Funk (Funk carioca) out of Brazil's Favelas. I'm
glad I don't understand Portuguese 'cause the lyrics must be very very stupid.
And I like everything CCR did - John Fogerty is the shit!
Nils: I personally like Hip Hop and rap music a lot! But not this
"Zeckenrap" bullshit (mostly rap from german "antideutsch"
guys). I like music that is authentic with good lyrics. There's a lot of great
Hip Hop and rap from the Banlieus in France. I love Keny Arkana! Or Jedi Mind
Tricks from the US.
Hässlon: For me there's no other kind of music that nearly has the energy that
punk rock has. But there are bands I like all by myself and don't match into
this "genre": Fehlfarben, Element of Crime or Die Aeronauten.
Marcel: I like some pop punk stuff like Cub or Tiger Trap. It's a hectic and
stressful world and I need music to relax and to calm me down and that's
exactly the right music for this! The acoustic stuff of Keven Seconds also
helps me to relax. I also like some new Indie bands from the States like The Babies
and King Tuff.
I hear a lot of old school punk influences in your music. Are there
any current bands you guys like listening to that inspire you from Berlin?
Hupe: Well, for me as the view from a singer - currently from Berlin I like
Mark Sultan singing in The King Khan & BBQ Show, Jasper Hood singing in the
About Blanks or Elli in the Inserts . But sorry, there's not only one band from
Berlin that inspires me in doing Gulag Beach.
Hässlon: Don't forget the Dreipunktbande (RIP) because of their nihilistic
attitude that you can even hear by just listening to their instruments. I also
mention The Shocks (RIP) that had a lot of energy and steam. But finally I am
more inspired by bands of Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover or ex-GDR.
Marcel: There are not many current Berlin Bands who inspire me. Maybe The
Shocks or NOXON did but I don't think that they inspire me in what I'm doing in
Gulag Beach.
Nils: All the bands my friends from Berlin play in. I don't care if it's not my
kind of music or simply bullshit. It's cool to see friends live on stage and
have high level talks (haha) about music afterward.
What’s in the future for the band? Any new recording or touring plans in the
works? GB: As just released our new LP in November 2015 we're currently writing
new songs and playing shows in Europe. Maybe we can also find a label in the US
to release our crap there. And maybe we buy Nils our drummer some new cymbals.
Berlin's Dysnea Boys play relentless, hard hitting punk rock as if they were in Southern California and it was the Reagan years all over again. The band recently answered some questions for us about how they all got together, what the band has coming up in the near future, and what exactly is a "Dysnea" boy!
Interview
by J Castro
Who are the folks that make up Dysnea Boys and
what do you all do to earn your keep in the band?
C.C.: I’m the bass player, and I do my best to
keep up my chops so the guys don’t kick me out of the band!
JASON: I
sing, do the words. Love to do graphics too.
CHRIS: I play guitar
TOM: I play drums and I am needed to
counter the West coast with some basic south Germanism.
Dysnea Boys are currently based in Berlin
Germany, but some of you aren’t originally from there. How did you all
meet and decide to play music together?
C.C.: None of us are form Berlin actually, but
most of us have spent a good number of years here
now. I’ve just put in my 5th
year. Although Chris is also from Vancouver, we didn’t meet until living here
through mutual friends. Jason and I met at a party in my first week of being
here. He was talking about the Germs and snorting a vodka shot. I knew I wanted
to be in a band with him immediately. Tom and I work together and met
there.
Jason.
Moved here about fifteen years ago. Two kids and a tone of other music too. I’m
from near San Jose, California.
CHRIS: C.C. and I wanted to get a band started pretty much as
soon as we started hanging out here in Berlin, had a few jams with Tom and
shortly after tricked Jason into singing for us.
TOM: I guess that´s how
it happened. For me it´s great that I was lucky enough to have run into people
that still appreciate the Punk and Indie stuff we all grew up with but on the
other side are totally open (and able) to create our own sound.
What band or musician would you say has been
the biggest influence on you? If you can recall, tell me a bit about the
first time you heard them:
C.C.: I had an older cousin who introduced me
to AC/DC and Van Halen when I was really young. Those were my heroes as a kid.
It wasn’t until the 8th grade that I heard punk, and that was life
changing. Obviously we all traded tapes and got our hands on everything we
could, but SNFU at that time was my favorite band. I can still sing every word
of their first two albums.
JASON: .The
Who, Zombies, Beach Boys, 70s rock stuff, Germs, Fall, oldies and cruise music.
As a kid I loved watching little RnB groups jamming in the band pavilion at
Flea markets. Guys my age actually pulling off listenable music. I’d get over
that later.
CHRIS: hmmmmm...
so many bands...
You recently released the Find Water 7”
earlier this year. Can you tell me a bit about the making of the
record and what led to the decision to release it yourselves?
C.C.: We
recorded it at the school Tom and I work at! It was recorded and mixed by
Brodie White (from Berlin’s The Sun and the Wolf)
JASON:
Compulsive need to give birth to music and songs. Get them out there in the
world. Sonic messages in bottles. Who’s gonna respond?? What opportunities will be created?
CHRIS: Releasing
it ourselves was the fastest way to get it out there.
You guys did a video for the B-Side to that
record, a song called “Mind Stories”. What was your experience like
making the video, were you pleased with the end results? Where were the
live cuts of the band filmed?
C.C.: Jason made this one happen!
JASON:
Bryan Ray Trucotte in LA did that. The guy from Kill your Idols who published
Fucked up and PhotoCopied. Punk is Dead Punk is Everything. Live footage is
from Schockoladen here in Berlin. That other stuff is stock US advertising and
Natl Geo stuff he’s been sitting on since God knows when. We had nothing to do
with the editing process; that was his
Frankenstein. I’m fine with it. Time to get some together for the other songs.
CHRIS: the live footage was filmed by Derek Howard at a Berlin venue
calledschokoladen.
You also just released a split 7” with a band
called Jiffy Marker on the Canadian label Debt Offensive Records. How did
you end up pairing up with the Jiffy boys and Debt Offensive?
C.C.: The guys in Jiffy Marker are long time friends
of Chris and I. Chris played in bands with some of the guys and everyone in
that band has a long resume in the Vancouver music scene.
CHRIS: Yeah, longtime
friends. So great to be on a 7” with such swell peeps!
What sorts of things typically influence your
song lyrics? Is there any subject out there you try to steer clear from
in your songs?
On the
contrary, I hyper focus on things I’m obsessed with, stuff that I really really
really only want to sing about, Atmosphere, quest, emergence, redemption.
Trying to carve out a space through voice, word and song.
Do you
feel like music is as much of an influential force to young people in this age
of instant accessibility and excessive consumerism as it ever has been?
If not, do you think it ever can be again?
JASON:
Music’s role in my life has changed drastically several times. I’m going to go
with the notion that this happens to most people. At first it might be aegis and
kinda like a life preserver. Then it becomes a social tool to help you
rediscover and invent yourself. Maybe even show you why you behave the way you
do. Music then might turn into a spring board to help hurl you into all kinds
of other arts and forms of expression. I’m hoping that’s what it can do for
someone.
CHRIS: Depends on the kid I guess... there's definitely a lot
of distractions in the world today but I would like to think being a music fan
runs a bit deeper than apps for your telephone. Also, these days anybody
interested in music has access to pretty much everything, usually for free or
very cheep. Music fans are just as crazy about music as they ever were.
TOM: Music is still really
present in young people´s lives. Festivals are sold out, everyone is hanging on
earphones. There is still a lot of great and shitty music out there. 30 years
ago too. Anyone who tells me that nowadays it´s so hard to find great music
just hasn´t checked properly. Maybe the great amount of choices and the
unlimited accessibility makes kids like their stuff for shorter periods, but
there are still lots that become seriously interested or even part of a
fan/sub- culture.
Like me, I’m sure you remember the days before
Social Media. Do you feel like it’s become an essential part of promoting
shows, records etc..? Do you think promotion can still be done
effectively without it?
C.C.: I think there are negatives and
positives. I’m grateful that I played in bands back when records still sold,
and little labels could support bands on tour, and with distribution and
promotion. These days with less and less money coming back from music sales, I
think social media is where promotion can be done cheap, or free and bands and
labels have to be fairly tech savvy. That’s where we could use a little help!
JASON: Had
a talk with a guy a couple weeks ago who I believe was born in ‘96 or so. He
asked me how we booked tours way back then without computers. I told him with a
straight face,’’ Telephones, post cards and moms cooking in kitchens next to
phones scribbling and dictating messages spoken by distant voices down on
sheets of paper. Sometimes that paper might have been pink or even yellow with
thin blue lines placed horizontally. It was best if you wrote between the
lines. Then I might call back and in turn give someone else a message if the
person I needed to speak to wasn’t there. We handled tons of dates like that.
Vast tours. Worked just fine. Bet you
could do it with a cell phone too.
CHRIS: It's definitely a good way to reach a lot of people at once, we
still make posters and hand bills for every show. There's a lot of people that
have nothing to do with social media and prefer to find out about gigs via more
classic means.
Tell me about the name Dysnea Boys, how did you
come up with that?
JASON: I
liked it because I thought it was an homage to the Bruce Johnson Beach Boys
song Disney Girls (1957). Thin White Rope has a track called that as well.
Chris came up with it.
CHRIS: it's a reference to a song by Blue Orchids. We originally spelt
it like the corporation does but figured we could avoid legal action if the
spelling was different. Now it reads more like dystopia and nausea, perhaps a
little closer to the shady dealings of the magic kingdom.
Where can people go to hear Dysnea Boys and to
buy your music?
JASON: Contact us and order a 7 ’’ Find Water” b/w “Mind
Stories”. There’s the split 7’’ as well but it’s extremely limited from what I
understand.
CHRIS: Bandcamp
would work. Your local record store hopefully!
What lies ahead for the rest of 2015 for the
band?
C.C.: We
have a new full-length record completed. We recorded in Berlin with T.V. from
the Radio Dead Ones. It was mixed in London by Andy Brook, and was mastered by
Daniel Husayn at the North London Bomb Factory. We’ve had some great people
work on it, and we’re super happy with the result. Now we’re looking for the
right label. Hopefully we can announce that soon.
JASON:
Yeah, our album’s done. Call us to come play your town!!
