The New Trocaderos

     It’s no secret how much we love the New Trocaderos here at the Audio Ammunition underwater volcano stronghold. Their EPs have thundered throughout the halls here many times. As many of you know, we’ve already interviewed most of the New Trocaderos’ members in different capacities (Geoff with The Connection, and Kurt Baker) so what we have here is an interview with Mr. Mike Chaney, the “silent” member of the band who actually brought them all together and writes or co-writes all the band’s songs. He took the time out of his busy schedule to sit down and discuss their new album, which is stellar and is sure to cause a commotion from ocean to ocean. It’s called Thrills & Chills and comes out in two days, on August 20^th. Audio Ammunition has gotten a sneak preview of the album, but rather than us describing it, let’s let “Uncle” Mike take us by the hand to guide us through the stories of each song on the new record! Enjoy!

Interview by J. Castro

The New Trocaderos will release a new CD in two days, on August 20^th, a full album this time. Before we get to the tracks themselves, though, tell us how an LA criminal lawyer got hooked up with…

MIKE: The New England Mafia?

What’s that?

MIKE: I heard that’s what Little Steven Van Zandt calls the guys.

That’s pretty funny coming from Silvio Dante of Sopranos fame.

MIKE: It is. I love it. To answer your question, the short version is about three years ago I went looking for new music on the Internet and stumbled across Kurt Baker and was blown away. He recommended The Connection. I bought New England’s Newest Hit Makers and Geoff wrote to thank me. I ended up emailing with Kurt and Geoff about music and influences and found out we had a lot in common.

One time I told Geoff I had lyrics and chords I’d written years ago and he offered to demo it. That turned into “Money Talks.” I had only wanted to listen to it privately, but Geoff wanted to release it. He acted like it was the most natural thing in the world. Then he wanted a B Side. I didn’t really have another one. I wasn’t a songwriter. I can barely play basic guitar and my singing is atrocious. But I’d been getting and forgetting song ideas since I was a kid and Geoff pushed me to focus, not to throw anything away anymore, to finish what I started, and that gave me a real confidence boost. I came up with “The Kids” and that was the B Side. Geoff got Brad and Kurt to pitch in, those guys recorded the two songs, and we self-released the EP under the name The New Trocaderos. A few months later, Little Steven made “The Kids” a Coolest Song in the World, which gave all of us, especially me, another huge boost.

And The New Trocaderos were born!

MIKE: Right. Then after the Coolest Song, we decided to do a follow up EP. I’d had the lyrics to “Brain Gone Dead” (written as a joke) for many years, but no music. Brad used to be in a punk band, The Rydells. He came up with the music for it and we had one song. I’d had the “real gone kitty want a real gone cat” phrase for a long time, but nothing else. So I finished that one. Then the melody for “Dream Girl” just sort of fell in my lap, and boom, we had our second EP. And then “Dream Girl” became a Coolest Song and blew my mind.

Now you guys have recorded a full-length album. Tell us about the songs.

MIKE: Sure. The record is called Thrills & Chills. It has 12 songs on it. The band recorded 15 songs during the sessions, but we’re saving three for a future EP.

You want me to just go in order?

Sure, that’d be great.

MIKE: OK. The leadoff track and first single is a screamer called “What The Hell Did I Do.” It’s in the same neighborhood as “Get Out of Denver.” It cooks, and it tells the story of a harrowing experience a guy goes through. All of it his fault, of course. It’s pretty funny. The chorus is:

“Did I hit a parked car,

Did I do something worse,

The weekend was a blur,

I might have driven home in reverse,

Oh no,”

That’s what he’s thinking when he hears the cops are looking for him. Brad Marino sings it and wails on lead guitar.

The Dave Edmunds influence is clear, but there’s a little early Beach Boys sound in there, too.

MIKE: Dave is a god to The Trocs. I bought everything he ever released, on vinyl as it came out, on CD, compilations, whatever. He personifies the best of pure rock ‘n’ roll. Geoff especially is way deep into Dave, too. His music is one of the main things that links the band guys and me.

The Beach Boys. Yeah, there’s a background vocal on “What The Hell” that’s kind of like something they might have done. Or The Beatles, really. Like in the balls out version of “Revolution.” It’s a surprise when you hear it. Also, it sounds extra good because Line Cecilie Dahlmann harmonizes with the guys on it. I love her voice. Anyone who doesn’t know The Dahlmanns should check out an album called All Dahled Up. Every Ramones fan should definitely check out that album.

You have two other high profile ladies also singing on the album, Kim Shattuck and Palmyra Delran. How did that come together?

MIKE: Can I get to that when I get to the songs they sing on?

Sure. What’s the next song?

MIKE: The second track is a Stones-influenced ballbreaker called “I’m So Bad.” Brad sings lead on it. It’s an open tuning mid-tempo ass-kicker with attitude. It’s also pretty funny. Kurt Baker harmonizes on it, and Line also harmonizes in spots and kills it again. The first verse is:

“My Tele stings like a silver dagger,

Got the rhythm and I got the swagger,

I drink a lot more booze than Keith,

But I never slur, and I never stagger,”

I hear a great slide guitar on this song.

MIKE: There’s an interesting story behind that. We needed harmonica on another song and Brad thought of his friend Steve Philp, an older guy (my age—haha). Steve came in and nailed his harp part (on “Business To Tend To”), then hung around while Brad added guitar on “I’m So Bad.” Steve had an idea for a slide guitar riff and showed Brad and me. I had no idea the guy played guitar, too. Brad and I heard it and looked at each other and we both said, dude, you gotta record that right now. So Steve recorded the slide guitar parts you hear, all kinds of tasty fills throughout the song, and he took the song to a whole new level. Those licks remind me a lot of Mick Taylor.

It’s funny how sometimes a great thing like that will happen out of nowhere.

MIKE: You’re so right. It just fell into our laps and it’s one of the best touches on the album. When people who know music hear that slide, I think the reaction will be, “Yeah, baby, the real deal.”

Now we come to the first of the Kim and Palmyra songs.

MIKE: Yes. The third track is called “Crazy Little Fool.” Geoff Palmer co-wrote it with me--he added the bridge and had the “Peggy Sue” style drum idea--and he sings lead on it. It’s a mid-tempo British Invasion sounding little gem filled with hooks and harmonies. And like you said, Kim Shattuck and Palmyra Delran sing background. The overall sound of those three voices together gives me chills. I think fans will recognize that they’re hearing something pretty extraordinary.

To answer your earlier question, here’s how Kim and Palmyra got involved. A few months ago, when “Dream Girl” was a Coolest Song and was getting played a lot (thank you Steven and Dennis, and all the Underground Garage jocks), I saw a Facebook post from Palmyra saying she loved the song. And under it Kim Shattuck had commented that she loved it, too. I messaged Palmyra and thanked her. We met for coffee when she was in LA to record a new Bubble Gun single. I love her voice, so I just asked her if she’d consider singing harmony on a couple Trocs’ songs. And she was into it. She’s good friends with Kim, whom Geoff and Brad and Kurt have idolized forever, and Kim sang with Palmyra recently, so I contacted Kim about joining Palmyra to sing on the Trocs’ record. And she was totally up for it, too.

How about Line Cecilie Dahlmann?

MIKE: I’m a huge Dahlmanns fan. I love every song they’ve ever recorded. I love Line’s voice. So as long as we had Kim and Palmyra on board, I thought why not ask Line, too. Kim and Palmyra wanted to sing on the British Invasion sounding songs, and I thought Line would sound terrific on some of the rockers. The Dahlmanns covered a Kurt Baker song called “He’s A Drag” about 18 months ago (and it was named a Coolest Song), so already there was a relationship between The Trocs and The Dahlmanns. Line was totally up for it. She agreed right away.

Were you all in the studio at the same time?

MIKE: No. The Trocs recorded all the songs in New Hampshire, then I sent bounces to the ladies, the same four to Palmyra and Kim, and four others to Line. Palmyra recorded her parts at a cool little studio in New York City called 30 Below, Line did hers at a friend’s studio in Moss, outside Oslo, Norway, where she lives, and Kim did hers at her home studio in LA. Then we mixed everything in New Hampshire. It all worked out really well, although Kim was only able to sing on two songs. She was, and still is, in the middle of touring all over the country, and Europe, with both The Muffs and The Pandoras and was really jammed, as you can imagine. But she came through for us. She made a promise and she honored it, and The Trocs are grateful to her, just as we’re grateful for Palmyra and Line taking care of business, right on time. All three ladies are total pros and terrific people, aside from being great singers.

They do sound fantastic. They bring a whole new dimension to the band’s music.

The next song feature’s Kurt Baker on lead vocal.

MIKE: Yes, and on lead guitar, too. You think of Kurt as a bass player--and he does play bass on all the album’s tracks--but he can really play guitar, too. In fact, he plays lead on three of the songs he sings on and he kills it. This one, the fourth track, is called “Love and Hate.” I co-wrote it with Kurt. It’s an up-tempo rocker, again with humor and attitude.

“I’m lean, I’m clean, I’m the real deal,

Twisted steel and sex appeal,

You want me girl,

But you bring me down,”

Kurt’s vocals are superb, as always, but check out his lead guitar work, especially on the outro. Line sings harmony on this one, too. Also, Kris “Fingers” Rodgers’ piano on this one channels Jerry Lee Lewis throughout and really drives the song.

Fingers is a consummate keyboard man and vocalist. His main band, The Dirty Gems, had a Coolest Song a few months ago. He’s played on all of Kurt’s solo records and nearly all of The Connection’s records. He can play anything. One quick listen and a couple of words about what you want and BOOM, he’s all over it. He played keys on all three of the songs on The Trocs’ last EP, Kick Your Ass, shifting from neo-punk to rockabilly to British Invasion to nail them all in 45 minutes. He’s a wizard.

You’re a pretty lucky guy to be hooked up with players of this caliber.

MIKE: Oh man, don’t I know it. I never even would have written a song without Geoff’s initial encouragement, and none of my songs ever would have seen the light of day without the talent and enthusiasm of Geoff, Kurt, and Brad. I’m the luckiest guy in America. Those guys know all my influences. We all love the same music. And whereas I can barely play guitar and have a rotten singing voice, those guys are as good as they come.

Yeah, everything they put out is great. OK, what’s next?

MIKE: Next is one called “Like An Angel.” It’s another mid-tempo British Invasion-influenced hook-fest. Geoff sings lead. Kim and Palmyra harmonize on the chorus

“You are like an angel,

Descended from above,

Oh-whoa, here I go again,

Fallin’ deep in love,”

And Kim sings a sort of mini duet with Geoff on the last verse. The vocals, Geoff and Kim and Palmyra together, are transcendent. Another thrills and chills moment.

I agree, man. I got goose bumps.

MIKE: It’s that kind of rare song, isn’t it?! OK, the sixth song is “By The Balls.” When Thrills & Chills comes out on vinyl (hopefully in the second week of October it’ll be co-released in Spain by Ghost Highway Records and KOTJ Records in time for The Connection/The New Trocaderos tour over there), it’ll be the last song on Side 1. It’s a rowdy up-tempo rocker Brad sings about a guy who liked booze too much and what happened to him.

“I might be pukin', out in the hall,
Fallin’ through doors, bouncin' off walls,
If I can't walk, I'm gonna crawl,
Cause alcohol got me by the balls,”

Rick Orcutt, the newest Troc, starts it off with a careening headlong-feeling kinda drum roll, then Brad comes in with a sort of Georgia Satellites-AC/DC-sounding balls out rhythm guitar part.

Rick saved the sessions, by the way. Without going into too much detail, he jumped in the day before the sessions were scheduled to start and kicked ass non-stop till the last song was recorded. All of us are grateful to him. He’s a powerhouse drummer and a helluva nice guy. He played drums in The Guts, Geoff’s old band. He’s a total pro.

Also, Wimpy Rutherford, one of the original Queers, added vocals on the last chorus on “Balls.” He came by the studio on unrelated business and he was drafted to pitch in. That was pretty cool.

Wimpy and The Medallions.

MIKE: Right, another project with most of The Trocs playing behind Wimpy, before they were The Trocs.

Now we get to what will be Side 2 on the vinyl release.

MIKE: Yeah. It starts off with “Hey Big Boy.” It’s another Dave Edmunds style rocker about a guy who gets hit on by the babe of a lifetime, but fear of his girlfriend’s wrath holds him back. Line harmonizes with Brad in spots on this one and it’s electric.

She said, hey big boy,
Kiss me now, or I'm headin' on down the line,
I said, hey woman,
My girl's next door, you must be outa your mind,

The girl in the song is trying to lure the guy over the line. At one point she says, “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” You get the idea.

Fingers kicks ass on piano, and we have sax and a trumpet guys beefing up the rhythm, taking the overall sound to a new level for The Trocs.

Horns? That’s different.

MIKE: Yeah. There aren’t any horn solos, it’s all rhythm stuff, but man, it sounds good. It adds a whole new dimension.

Next up is another melodic British Invasion-inspired tune that Geoff sings with Palmyra called “She Don’t Know.” Palmyra is terrific on all three of the songs she’s on, but this one’s my personal favorite. She sounds so good on it. Listen to her harmonies and the “oohs” she sings behind the bridge. She sounds like an angel.

The song’s about a guy who wakes up one day to hear his girl say she’s out the door cause he’s changed so much, when he hasn’t changed at all.

All I know is she said she'd never leave me,
Now she's sayin' no way we stay together,
She said I changed, that I'm a different person,
But I'm the same, always and forever,
We worked so hard for five good years,
Now she's throwin' it all away,
She put an icicle in my heart,
Never thought I'd see this day,

This song is really catchy. Geoff’s guitar solo is short, but it’s a killer.

So Geoff sings three songs on the album, and they’re all mid-tempo British Invasion style songs, power-pop songs?

MIKE: That’s the way it worked out this time, although as long as we’re at it, I should say that we don’t love the term “power-pop.” It’s misleading, I think, because it puts some people in mind of lightweight, syrupy stuff, and The Trocs have nothing to do with that end of the spectrum. All of the Trocs songs have an edge, a RnR attitude. I mean, The Trocs “power-pop” songs are much more “Ticket To Ride” than they are “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter,” if you see what I mean.

Describing music can be difficult at times, but I think one listen to the songs Geoff sings and people will know exactly what you mean.

MIKE: Right, right. The proof is in the music.

OK, Kurt sings the next one, “Oh Boy (Today Is My Birthday). It’s a riff-driven rocker. Kurt came up with the bridge, which is one of my favorite parts of the song. It’s about a guy whose girl says she loves him, then he finds out the hard way that she’s duped him. "Too late, I finally see it, that girl's a pain in the ass." The horn guys are back to wail on this one, too.

Like you said earlier, most people think of Kurt as a bass player, but he tears it up on lead guitar on this song.

MIKE: He does, doesn’t he?

Kurt played bass in The Leftovers and he plays bass in The Kurt Baker Band, so it’s natural to see him as a bass player. But living over in Spain and playing live a lot with his other groups (The Kurt Baker Combo, The Bullet Proof Lovers) he’s become a terrific rhythm and lead player. He plays the guitar solo on this one and it’s really, really tasty.

Next we have “Love Anymore.” This one’s a lot different than the others. In fact, it’s a lot different than most anything I’ve heard that wasn’t recorded in the ’50s, or maybe in the ’60s by The Beach Boys.

MIKE: Well, it’s really a doo wop song. What usually happens, after I do a crude demo of the verse and the chorus of a new song, I send it to one of the guys, along with a lyric sheet and the chords, and they do a real demo. On “Love Anymore,” I wrote it and saw it as another mid-tempo hook and harmony song, like “She Don’t Know” or “Dream Girl.” But Geoff saw possibilities that had never crossed my mind. His demo was pretty close to what the finished song sounds like. It’s got doo wop style vocals, three separate three part harmonies in spots behind the lead vocal, and we added bass, tambourine, an acoustic rhythm guitar, and Fingers plays piano. It’s a gem. Geoff gets the credit. He took a pretty simple melody and the lyrics and turned them into a true musical tour de force.

I can’t think of any other current band that would do a song like “Love Anymore.” Especially along side all the rockers. But it fits in perfectly.

MIKE: Thank you. Yes, I don’t know of anyone else either.

Is that what The New Trocaderos are about, sort of recreating the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s sound?

MIKE: No, no, no. There’s no conscious attempt to recreate anything. But my main influences come from the best albums of that time period. For me, that’s when the best RnR music was made. For the most part, that music sounds far better than most anything I’ve heard since then. So it’s shaped the ideas I come up with. Like songs with lots of harmonies. But that’s not done because The Beatles or Beach Boys did it; it’s done because it sounds good.

I think everyone in the band would be happy to go with anything that sounds good, no matter what year it reminds you of, or what style of music it might be. I mean, we did a punk song, “Brain Gone Dead,” we did a rockabilly song, “Real Gone Kitty,” we do Chuck/Dave/Keith-influenced stuff, we did a 12-bar blues screamer this time, we do the melodic “power-pop” songs. We actually also had a sad/funny little country-rock song called “Present and Absent” that Geoff did a killer demo on, but we didn’t have time to get to it for this record. Hopefully next time. But my point is, The New Trocaderos ain’t one trick ponies; they’re diverse, and I think that really separates The Trocs from other bands. That and the fact that The Trocs have three terrific lead singers trading off, whereas most bands only have one singer.

Getting back to “Love Anymore.” You wrote the melody and lyrics, and Geoff arranged it and added parts. But Kurt sings it.

MIKE: Right. We got to the studio and Geoff just said he thought the song was perfect for Kurt’s voice. That’s the kind of guy Geoff is. He wants what’s best for the band, for the song. He’s a team player all the way. So Kurt sang it, Elvis style, ala "Good Luck Charm".

There’s humor in it, and in a lot of The Trocs’ songs.

MIKE: Well, amusing yourself is half the fun in writing lyrics. On this one, I wrote: "You’re getting calls from a whole lot of men, and one of them's older than Roger McGuinn." It cracked me up and we kept it. I wonder if Roger McGuinn will ever hear it.

Sometimes with lyrics, I do push past the limit, then get pulled back when Kurt or Geoff or Brad says they’re too much. Then I rewrite.

For example…

MIKE: Well, right now I’m working on a new one now that I was going to send to The Crush. I love Kira Wilson’s voice. I sent this to Kurt, half in jest and half testing the water. It’s written from a girl’s point of view.

My parents say stay away from you,

I guess they heard you’re huffin' glue,

Even though you went to jail,

Around the time I went to Yale,

I-I-I, got a crush on you,

Yeah I-I-I, got a crush on you,

No response from Kurt after more than a week. I guess that’s my answer!

Haha. Will you send it to The Crush anyway?

MIKE: Sure. I love the melody. It’s catchy. And if I need to rewrite the lyrics, I will. I love it when other bands are interested in covering a song. I wrote another one that Kurt did a demo on called “Girl Band.” I sent it to The Dahlmanns. They liked it a lot and recorded it. They’re putting it out. That will be very cool.

Why not save songs like that for The Trocs?

MIKE: Well, The Trocs just recorded 15 songs and won’t need any more for a while. Also, sometimes I get ideas for songs that wouldn’t work with The Trocs. Another example, there’s one called “Bubble Gum.” I sent it to Geoff and he wants to finish it and send it to an all female group, or else form a one-off group to record it. Just for fun. It’s not a song The Trocs would ever do.

Anyway, it’s a thrill to hear for the first time how real musicians take my low-rent demos and turned them into real songs. There are many great moments between getting the first idea for a song and getting the song released, but that moment when I hear a real demo for the first time is among the best.

Thrills and Chills?

MIKE: Ha! Yes, exactly.

OK, the next song is “Midnight Creep.” This one’s way different, too.

MIKE: Yeah. I wanted to break out of writing in a major chord, so I looked at minor chords and came up with this sort of moody melody that ended up being “Midnight Creep.” Now that I think about it, though, I believe I had the first two lines of the lyrics before that. “From a parking lot across the street, I watch her do a midnight creep.” I was thinking of all those old blues songs where somebody’s always doing “a creep.” You know, stepping out on her man, or his woman, as the case may be. And a variation on the term “midnight creep” is in one of my favorite Little Walter songs, “My Babe,” where Walter sings, “Oh yeah, she don't stand no cheatin' / She don't stand none of that midnight creepin’”.

Anyway, The Trocs’ song isn’t a blues song. It’s a mid-tempo rock song. I can hear late ’60s Ray Davies singing it, in that laconic voice of his. Kurt’s vocal on it is terrific, as always, and Fingers adds an organ part that’ll give you thrills and chills.

And the next song, the last one on the album, is a blues song.

MIKE: Yeah, there are all kinds of blues, and this one, “Business To Tend To” is in the style I like best, up-tempo, drivin’ 12-bar blues. I got hooked on this kind of sound listening to The Spencer Davis Group in high school, Stevie Winwood singing “Dust My Blues.”

Brad sings this one and wails on lead guitar. There are also solos from Geoff on guitar and Fingers on piano, with harp accents and riffs throughout. And the song closes with a very cool little harp solo from Steve Philp.

I said uh hey there, baby,
Have a seat at the bottom of the stairs,
Got my bidness to tend to,
And it ain't none of your affair,

The song kicks ass, just the way an album closer should.

The CD cover art is pretty cool, the lipstick and the stiletto. Whose idea was it?

MIKE: I think Kurt came up with the basic idea after we decided on Thrills & Chills as the album title, then Brad and Geoff made suggestions. Kurt enlisted his girlfriend, Rocio Cervera Ceberio, who’s a graphic designer, to put the cover together. She did a terrific job. It’s a grabber.

So what’s next for The New Trocaderos? Are there any plans to tour in support of the new album?

MIKE: Yes, but so far only in Spain. Kurt lives in Madrid 10+ months of the year, so touring in the US hasn’t been feasible. But The Connection will be touring Spain in October and someone, Brad I think, got the idea to have The New Trocs also play a set. Kurt juggled his schedule to make it work, and it looks pretty definite now that fans in 10 -12 Spanish cities will be seeing a Connection/New Trocaderos show.

Also, and this is pretty cool, Marco Padin, the guy who owns Ghost Highway Records, and Oscar Garcia, who owns KOTJ records—they’re co-releasing Thrills & Chills on vinyl in Spain—are also releasing Labor of Love, The Connection’s new album, and Play It Cool, Kurt Baker’s new album, on vinyl in Spain, and they’re planning a Triple Release Party in Madrid during the time the Trocs are all over there. That should be pretty wild. In fact, I’m thinking about flying over for it.

And last, where can people go to get Thrills and Chills?

MIKE: Right now, from the band’s perspective, the best place to get digital downloads is at our Bandcamp site: TheNewTrocaderos.bandcamp.com. But people can also download through iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, all the usual digital retailers. But those retailers all keep a piece of the action, whereas with Bandcamp, all the purchase money goes to the band. And that’s fitting, I think, since it’s the band that paid the money to get the music recorded and released, and it’s that money that’ll go toward financing another release down the line.

The Bandcamp site is also the only place to order the actual CD which, by the way, is housed in a special deluxe, 4-panel wallet, although pretty soon Interpunk will have copies. Also, in short order, Rum Bar Records, which is run by the great wild-man rock ‘n’ roll entrepreneur of Boston, Malibu Lou Mansdorf, will be distributing the CDs to dozens of retail outlets. Lou handles The Connection and Kurt Baker as well, so we’re in familiar hands. We’ll make announcements when that’s in the offing.

Cool. Well, thanks for taking the time to do this long interview. Thrills & Chills is exceptional and we hope it sells out quickly!

MIKE: Thank you, and it’s been my pleasure. I hope your readers find all this interesting.

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The Connection

     The Connection is a rock ‘n’ roll band with one foot karate kicking into the future and the other one has a black Beatle boot heel caught on the corner of the Wayback Machine.  These New Hampshire boys write songs with monster 1970’s style power-pop hooks, soaring harmonies like those mid-1960’s British Invasion bands had, and then all this is encapsulated into a Ramones rocket ship tempo. This unique sound fires down your ear canal and explodes at just the right time to produce dazzling fireworks in your brain.  You’ll be moved, you’ll be swayed, and you’ll be urged to get up and do the twist by a mysterious, unexplainable force. That’s where the name “The Connection” comes in.  Once you lay a needle on one of their records, this band makes an unbreakable bond with your soul and to quote The Borg “resistance is futile.”

Interview by J Castro

Ok Geoff, let’s start with who’s all in the band now and how everyone earns their keep:  

GEOFF: The Connection is Brad Marino - vocals / guitar, Geoff Palmer - guitar /vocals, Bobby Davis – Bass, Zack Sprague – Drums, with Kris “Fingers” Rodgers Keys/Vocals and Lil Zach Uncles - Pedal Steel 

What is the origin story of The Connection?  How did you guys all meet and decide to play this particular type of music together?

GEOFF: Brad and I had both played in bands around New England. Brad had a band called The Rydells and I had The Guts. Both of our bands started drifting apart as punk bands do. Brad had gone to school with my girlfriend, so even though our bands had played shows together it was really after that we started hanging out. We would go fishing or playing golf and talking music the whole time. We both love Dave Edmunds, The Chesterfield Kings, The Real Kids, The Byrds, and all of that stuff man! We wanted to start a band that was not pigeonholed into one sound. We can do a pop song and follow it up with a country song then into a Ramones tune, its all rock ‘n’ roll really. One day we said let’s start a band so we sat down and wrote our first song called “Stop Talking”. Two weeks later we recorded it along with two other original songs. We released it as a digital single. The single and video was a hit with the power pop blogs and podcasts. We later recorded five more songs and released all eight songs on a self released, one-sided 12” LP as our first album called New England’s Newest Hit Makers. We pressed 100 copies and they sold out in a few weeks. Later SP Records in Japan repressed it on CD and vinyl. 

As square as this may sound, I’m a big fan of Christmas music and I was delighted that you released a couple of great Christmas singles in the last couple of years (“Rock N Roll Christmas” and “Christmas Time Again”) both on Collector’s Club Records. What led to the decision to write and record Christmas music?

GEOFF: I LOVE Christmas music too man!! Our first album New England’s Newest Hit Makers was out and doing really well but it’s always good to keep the band alive and working, so I said “let’s do a Christmas song guys!” Everybody was into the idea so we wrote “Rock n Roll Christmas” and hit the studio. It did really well too, lots of good press. Little Steven’s Underground Garage still spins it a few times every December. Now it’s just a thing we do every year. Brad and I have been working on a few new holiday songs and plan to releases all the previous singles along with a few new ones on a limited 12” LP in November of this year. 

Tell us a bit about Collector’s Club Records?

GEOFF: Collectors Club Records started as a name I came up with so we would have a “label” name attached to self released albums or singles. My good buddy Kurt Baker and I have since released a few other 45’s on the label. We have released 45’s by Wyatt Funderburk, Wimpy and The Medallions, Kurt Baker Band and The Connection. I would like to someday work more on the label and release some records for bands I like. Right now, I just don’t have the time to do it right. All my attention is on The Connection or any project that I’m playing on. The next Collectors Club release will be this year’s Connection Christmas LP. 

You guys recently wrapped up another European tour (your second I believe), how did it go?

GEOFF: Yes, we LOVE going to Europe. We have done two European tours as The Connection and they are a blast. We have two different labels in Europe who release our records. Rumble Records and Ghost Highway Records. We hope to do our 3rd European tour after we release our next album in early 2015. We also like playing and touring in the USA too but Europe is a little different and a great once a year rock ‘n’ roll holiday for all of us! 

And speaking of playing live, you guys did a show for The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame/Museum earlier this year, can you tell me a little bit about that?

GEOFF: The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame / Museum does a show every year called “It’s Only Rock N Roll” to raise money for music education. They hold the event at the Cleveland public hall. It’s the same room and stage that The Beatles and The Stones played on in the ‘60’s! It’s really amazing playing in that room. They always have a band that’s in the Rock Hall and then other big name acts. This year they wanted to have a “fresh face” of Rock N’ Roll play too. Somebody high up at the museum is a fan of The Connection and asked us to play. It was a great night. It was The Connection and Hall & Oates only for live music. It was a highlight of 2014 for us for sure! 

I read that you guys met and wrote some songs with John Felice (The Real Kids), tell me about how it went and is there any chance of a collaboration record coming soon?

GEOFF: Yes! We are big Real Kids fans. We even cover a Real Kids tune on our second release Connection Collection Vol.1. We got to meet John Felice through his old drummer. It turns out that John is a fan of The Connection. He invited Brad and me over to his house in Boston to hang and we just started playing guitars. We had this old riff that we had always thought sounded like a Real Kids tune. John liked it a lot and started writing from it. The three of us finished it up right on the spot in John’s music room on all the Real Kids gear. It was pretty amazing. It’s a killer tune. We have gone down to his house a few times now and have two other songs that are half done with John. He has been really busy getting the new Real Kids album together. He’s also been pretty sick so his time is limited right now. We hope to get the other songs finished up this winter. No real plans for a release yet but we will be recording the songs someday, hopefully with John playing on them with us. Time will tell. 

Speaking of collaborations you guys did an EP with Kurt Baker under the name The New Trocaderos that was brilliant! Can you tell me how that partnership came about and is there any chance we will hear more of that soon?

GEOFF: The New Trocaderos! I’m happy you like that EP. That was very fun to record. The two songs were written by Michael Chaney. Michael is a lawyer out in LA and a BIG rock ‘n’ roll fan. We became friends with him after he started writing to The Connection and Kurt Baker. He was a fan of both bands and had all of our records. 

He had been sending us some demos of songs he had written over the years. We all thought the songs were great and told him that. He later asked if Brad, Kurt and I would ever work together and record a few of his songs. We all love being in the studio and really like Mike so we said YES let’s do this! It was a very fun and easy session. Kurt came down and stayed at my house in Portsmouth for a few days. The studio is just down the street from Brad’s house and a few blocks from my place. I love doing little side bands with friends. Little Steven’s Underground Garage put both songs in rotation and we even got a “Coolest Song in the World” for the song “The Kids.” Ghost Highway Records in Spain just released it on a 45 RPM red vinyl single. Mike was thrilled and we all feel very good about the whole thing. As far as doing another New Trocaderos recording: that is 100% in Mike’s hands. It’s his baby. We just bring the songs to life. I would totally get back in the studio and do more if/when he ever wants us to. The Connection plays “Money Talks” live at most of our shows. People really dig that tune!  

This is the lightening round portion of the interview that I like to call “The Fantastic Four” or “Four questions that I liked and stole from other interviewers.”  Here we go:

What was the first rock ‘n’ roll show you attended?

GEOFF: The Beach Boys: Mike, Carl, Al, Bruce and John Stamos! AMAZING! 

What was the first band t-shirt you owned? 

GEOFF: Ummmm, I think it was a hand me down Replacements shirt I got from John Clark of Sinkhole/The A.G’s fame! Followed closely by a homemade Dee Dee King shirt!  

What was the first album you purchased with your own money?

GEOFF: Guns and Roses and Ramones Loco Live, both on Cassette. 

What was the first picture/poster of a rock band/musician on your bedroom wall? 

GEOFF: The Beatles 

Where can people go to buy or hear The Connection’s music?

GEOFF: www.facebook.com/theconnectionrnr ,

http://the-connection.bandcamp.com  or Spotify, Itunes, Amazon, Youtube… 

What’s happening with The Connection in the near future?

GEOFF:  Brad and I are about done writing the next Connection album. We are starting rehearsals and setting up studio time, looks like early 2015 for the release and the new Christmas recording for a November 2014.  

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Kurt Baker

      In 2010, Kurt Baker released an EP called Got It Covered where he introduced the world to his greatest influences by covering their music.  This didn’t feel like a covers album though.  Kurt turned the volume to 11 and cranked out tunes by power pop titans The Nerves, Joe Jackson, The Vapors and many more.  He played those songs with such gusto and gumption I had to hear more of his songs.  That same energy continues to electrify piece of music he puts out.  I often ask the people I interview if there’s a certain song or album they put on to help them get out of a bad mood.  For me, Kurt’s LP Brand New Beat has been permanently added to that list.    

Interviewed by Jay Castro

You were born in Portland, Maine, where you still live today.  What was it like growing up there? I live in Arizona and Maine is a place I really want to visit before I croak.  I imagine rocky shorelines, foggy cold breeze, and lighthouses, just what I see in pictures, movies and such.

Hey there! Maine is great, it’s pretty much like the pictures. They don’t call it VACATIONLAND for nothin’! We’ve got scenic shorelines, big moose and awesome fishin’. I actually went way up to the north wood this summer and went fishing with some buddies. We caught some HUGE fuckin’ fish, lots of Coors Heavies were had and even got into a confrontation with a beaver. Maine really has it all. People think that we are Canada and we almost might as well be. In terms of music, it’s kinda off the map. I was really surprised when Bad Religion came to town because usually all we get is String Cheese Incident hippie fest hacky sack bullshit. There is a lot of that thanks to PHISH and their big festivals they throw up here. I tend to ignore that kinda stuff and it’s fairly easy to find great music in my hometown. Portland is the biggest city in Maine and it’s where I’ve spent my whole life up until now. Musically, we’ve got a very very rich scene. There is something for everybody from Stoner Rock to Hip Hop to free form polka. Lot’s of good venues throughout. They come and go, but we’ve still got Geno’s Rock Club. Portland used to be a much more gritty town. The Old Port was not unlike Hamburg, Germany, where the Beatles got their start. Along the cobblestone streets you had rowdy sailors, junkies, whorehouses and GREAT rock clubs. Those days are kinda gone and replaced with resort hotels and high end restaurants. This town is looking more and more like some gentrified suburb in Brooklyn by the day, I can’t stand it! However, that’s just me being a grumpy old local. Maine is nice. Come check it out sometime, we will eat lobsters!!!

What or whom inspired you as a kid to want pick up a guitar and write songs?

When I first heard the Beatles album “Rubber Soul” when I was around the age of 5, it be came extremely clear in my mind that my whole reason for being alive was to play songs. It seems kinda tacky, but we all have those moments when everything makes sense. You’re like “Holy shit, this is totally new, but I totally know it and this is what I’m going to do no matter what”. My five-year-old self had these thoughts rolling through my head when I first heard songs like “The Word” and “You Won’t See Me”. I mean I was so friggin’ adamant about doing music and performing on stage that I convinced a few of my 1st grade buddies to perform “Can’t Buy Me Love” at the school talent show. We dressed up like the Beatles and had mini guitars. “Ringo’s” dad made a fake drum set out of a home beer brewing kit. We did the performance and people really dug it. I can remember it really well. My memory is already totally screwed up and foggy, but I can still remember the feeling of being on stage and having people react to the performance. We were just lip syncing the song, but man I got the itch! After that there was a long time where I just couldn’t find people that were into the idea of starting a band. I guess everybody was just too young to take it as seriously as I wanted to. I jammed around with my cousins; we had a little group for a while. We never played shows, and I couldn’t really play guitar but I had ideas in my head of songs. I must have been 8 or 9 and me and my cousins out in Wisconsin would sit around a piano and come up with songs.  It was kinda like the Partridge Family, except we didn’t have a rad fuckin’ psychedelic bus, just a couple cases of soda pop and an out of tune piano. One tune was called “Missing You”, it was a real simple tune, but I can still remember the melody. I don’t have any brothers or sisters but my cousins are kinda the closest family I have. We would always listen to the Beatles, and then newer acts at the time, like the Cardigans and Green Day’s “Dookie”. By the time I got to middle school, I was starting to get into punk rock and, yes I will admit it, Ska music. Not that real deal rocksteady shit, but the dumb stuff like Reel Big Fish. I have a special place in my heart for those bands like Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger, but oh man those were different times when I was younger! Great memories. I pretty much picked up the bass because it was the only thing near me at the time. My mom’s best friend had a son that was a real troublemaker. He was always out getting chased by the cops, calling in bomb threats to the high school, smoking dope. While he was out doing that, I would go over to their house and play his bass for hours. He had tons of Victory Records hardcore CD’s, but also I guess he must have been a closet Ska fan, because he had those albums too. I would pop a Reel Big Fish or Bosstones CD into the player and play bass along to it. Ha ha, oh man.

Your music has timeless power pop themes coursing through and through.  I hear a lot of 1980’s Power Pop influence in it.  The new 7” Girls Got Money B/W Yeah? Yeah!  sounds to me like it has a touch of 1970’s Glam thrown into the mix.  Am I totally off the mark here, are you a fan of say T-Rex, Sweet, or New York Dolls?

You are spot on. I’m a big Glam Rock fan. Those records sound incredible. The drums are huge; the guitar is sounds like tons of chainsaws and lawnmowers exploding! Its dirty rock n’ roll music with a sort of bubblegum glean. I love the appeal. Groups like The Sweet and Slade are at the top of my list of favorite groups. New York Dolls are a groundbreaking group. Hell, even that old pervert Gary Glitter really has some incredible recordings. Joan Jett covered like 4 or 5 Glitter tunes on her first couple records. I kinda went back and did my homework and realized that those songs I was lovin’ on Joan’s records were originally singles by the Gary Glitter the Child Diddler himself. If you can get over the fact that some of those Glam singers and celebs, i.e Jimmy Savile, were the absolute worst kind of sex offenders, those tunes just rip. Take a song like Barry Blue’s “Hot Shot,” that’s like some kinda fucked up Octoberfest anthem. The movie “Beer Fest” should have used it. When I got a LP last year by the Italian band Giuda, I was blown away. The thing was recorded a couple years ago and it sounds like 1974. Those guys GET the sound of Glam and how it’s directly related to rock n’ roll music. A song like “Girl’s Got Money” was originally written as a Rockpile sounding song, but when I got that Giuda record, the decision was made to make it more Glam sounding. Even the early recordings by the Oi band Cock Sparrer are totally Glam influenced. Their cover of the Small Faces “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” was a big influence on “Girl’s Got Money”.

You started up your own recording label Collector’s Club Records a couple years ago, what led you to that decision?

Collector’s Club came out all the frustrations my bandmate and label co-owner Geoff Palmer and I were having with other labels putting out our records. My old group the Leftovers did not have a great relationship with our label, which I would also release some albums on as a solo guy, and we still continue to have issues. This label was no way a major label, but they also weren’t a bedroom label, who the Guts and the Leftovers had been working with prior. They had a nice office and stuff. The Leftovers had some high hopes, but it didn’t pan out. We didn’t have control over our music after it was released. Geoff and I were talking and we realized, hell, we really appreciate smaller one-man labels wanting to release our records, but let’s be honest, this is not THEIR music. They might care about it a lot, but nobody is going to give as much of a shit as we do about our own products, so why not just release em’ ourselves. We were both sick of not knowing how many records we were selling, you know. I could go on and on and on, but starting Collector’s Club Records was the right decision. We are a small label, and we really don’t have the capability to do much more except release records by our close friends and ourselves. The most important and also gratifying thing about having CCR is that we see where we are shipping records, who’s buying what and where. It’s an amazing feeling to know and see the outcome of all that hard work we put into the making of the music and releasing of the albums. The best thing to is that we know that we aren’t going to fuck ourselves over. “Brand New Beat” was originally released on CCR on digital and CD, but then we were able to license out the record to 4 other labels internationally. I can’t talk about labels without mentioned my friend Ryan at Jolly Ronnie Records. He really runs a kick ass label, and he’s probably one of the best guys I’ve ever dealt with when working with a small indie label, so I always ask him for advice and we’ve worked together on releases. I wish more label owners were like Ryan!

Your famous motto “Have a good time all the time” seems to be a theme with your music, that’s for sure.  Is this a personal motto as well? 

Oh hell ya. I mean, it’s pretty much impossible to have a good time ALL the time or is it? I think the best thing you can do is be positive. Our world is pretty screwed up, and who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow? We all get bummed out every now and then, but if you catch yourself and turn it around you can honestly have a better outlook on life. We are all here for some reason. I think mine is to promote positivity through Rock N’ Roll, gummy bears, and twelve-day coke binges! Ha, I’m not being entirely serious, but you catch my drift. Rock N’ Roll music is about feeling alive, being in the moment. If you’re gonna be a Deb Downs, it’s gonna get you nowhere. Nobody is going to want to be around you. Well, that’s what I think. So many people get off on negativity they don’t even realize it either. Sure, it’s real easy to be bummed out all the time and make others around you feel just as bad, but how is that making any progress in humanity? It’s not! Have a good time all the time, and put out the good vibes towards others, you’ll get it back too. I’m a big believer in Karma. Treat others the way you wanna be treated. All that “Life Is Good” t-shirt stuff, yadda yadda yadda, pass me a beer and put on that Motley Crue record dude! 

Speaking of good time music, I was recently reading an article in a magazine that said that out of all the forms of art music has the potential to change a person’s mood the fastest.  Do you agree with this and if so, what music do you put on when you need a good time booster?

I definitely agree with that. Take a good painting or something; you really need to look at it. Digest what makes it artistically so awesome. If it’s not some nude painting of a bunch of girls eating fruit, I can see how it might take a bit longer for it to change your mood. Once the music enters your ears it goes straight to your brain. It’s got a weird effect on people. I’m not sure how much we, or just me, really know about what music does to us, but it seriously has a strong effect on the way we act as people, our emotions and how our day can be completely flipped around if we hear a certain song. I was dating a girl that used to listen to Joy Division NON-STOP and all she would do would be bummed out and eat chocolate. I often thought about mentioning to her that maybe if she wasn’t listening to such depressing music all the time, she’d be a lot happier. I can’t pinpoint or describe accurately what exactly this feeling is, but when you first discover a record that truly blows your mind, it’s better than any other high, natural or artificial, on the planet. You become consumed with these types of albums. You wanna live in them. It doesn’t happen all the time but every now and then you discover a record so goddamn awesome it can have the power to totally change your entire year. That’s some crazy shit! Music is the best. Oh, I still gotta answer the last part of your question. Usually I put on the Andrew W.K “I Get Wet” album.

What music do you listen to that you feel would really surprise Kurt Baker fans?

I’m pretty vocal about all the weird shit I listen to. Whether it be ABBA or the best 80’s hair metal band on the planet, KIX. Ace of Base “The Sign” is really a super great electro-reggae record. I dig Claudine Longet, she was a smokin’ hot french chick but was bat shit crazy. Made some really spooky pop records. I don’t think it helps that she murdered her husband, a famous skier. She got off scott free! There is a great radio station that broadcasts from an island nearby Portland. They play pop music from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. Old sounds taken directly from 78 records. I love that music, and the lyrics are so far out. I’ve got a pretty open mind when it comes to music and I’m a firm believer that a good song is a good song. If Mumford and Sons actually wrote a good song I’d probably be a fan, but I’m still waiting for them to do that. Not to get off topic and rant some more, but this whole Folk Americana Indie music movement really grinds my gears. As a rock n’ roll and pop music guy, obviously the last thing I care to see is a bunch of dudes in suspenders playing mandolins. It’ s just not appealing to me, and I’m trying to understand why the majority of music listening folks eat this bung up. Maybe it’s a popular genre now because it’s kinda like a direct response to the Emo/Punk/Pop stuff that was pretty big in the 2000’s. Even that was a response to Rap/Rock of the late 90’s. My buddy Dan James and I wear talking and it seems that every musical movement and genre is a direct response to the past. The best example being Punk Rock and New Wave. Grunge was a response to Hair Metal. But what do we have now? A bunch of assholes looking like they are camping out at Gettysburg for vacation.

Following you on Facebook, I notice you are a pretty hard working dude.  It seems you play shows a lot and you regularly release records that never skimp on quality.  I was watching that Jay Reatard documentary Better Than Something and he was talking about putting out releases and writing and recording so much music because he felt he only had a limited amount of time before the well of creativity ran dry so to speak.  Do you follow a similar philosophy regarding your music?

I’ve yet to see that documentary, though I’d love to check it out. I don’t think I agree with Jay on that though. One of the most important things as an artist is to at the very least entertain the thought of changing what you do. Change is inevitable, and part of the fun of creating music is trying new things. If you feel like you aren’t creative anymore, expose yourself to new things maybe travel someplace new, read some different books, hang with people you normally don’t hang out with. As a musician I’m constantly trying to expose myself to different ways and walks of life, to see what turns me on and turns me off. I can kind of understand that when you are younger, your eager to create and make as much music as you can. I often catch myself thinking, “Oh snap, I just pretty much re-wrote an old song” and getting a little frustrated. Writers block happens all the time, and when you get older more things come into play that can take away from your output as an artist, but ones ability to be influenced and harness creativity to create should never run dry. It’s only if you want it to. A guy like Nick Lowe pretty much reinvented himself from a class A roots rock power popper to a shamaltzy smaltzer, but the guy still writes and releases quality music. He just had to change it up a little. I’ve been playing in a lot of groups recently and it’s opened me up to new ways to thinking about how I approach music. The last couple years I’ve been working with an old Portland, ME rock n’ roller named Kip Brown. He’s 100% no bullshit rock n’ roll through and through. I’ve learned a lot from him. Just playing in his group has made me want to try new styles, simplify a lot of things, get to the core of what the music is all about. You can learn a lot from your peers and mentors!

You played in the Pop Punk band The Leftovers from 2002 to 2010 (roughly) and have been doing the solo Power Pop records pretty much since that.  You have been carrying the Power Pop banner into battle pretty high for a while.  Do you ever feel like you may have painted yourself in a corner musically?  Like if one day you said “I wanna work with those dudes in the Mars Volta” but can’t because you’re the prince of power pop and what would people think?

The Leftovers always kinda had an idea that what we were doing wasn’t very popular at the time outside of the pop/punk circuit, at least here in the States. We always would say, “We’re to punk for pop, to pop for punk!!”  We saw a lot of bands around us change with the times and get modest success because they started a Screamo band or something close to that. That wasn’t our style though, we wanted to write music that we absolutely loved, and no matter how “hip” it was. I’m very proud of the records the Leftovers made and at its core it’s really “power pop” music played by a teenage punk band. Once I went solo, the songs came out as straight up Power Pop. I like wearing skinny ties and love the genre to death, especially the late 70’s and early 80’s golden era stuff. Unfortunately, it ain’t ’79 anymore and the reality is that Power Pop is the most accessible not accepted music in the pop music realm. If I wanna make music for my entire life, which I intend on doing, I’m going to eventually have to ring up, for example, a guy like Blag Dahlia and say “Let’s do a Blast Beat Surf album.” You just gotta grow and try new things and try to expose yourself to new listeners. I have no problem carrying the Power Pop banner because I love it, and always have though. I also don’t think it would make much sense for me to try and make another straightforward power pop record like “Brand New Beat.” My music at it’s core will always have the elements of what makes Power Pop what it is, but I also feel like I have the freedom to try something new. Maybe my next record will be more influenced by 60’s garage, or maybe I’ll do a 70’s disco record, or maybe I’ll do a NWOBH album. I could also do an album with all those genres mixed on to one. I probably won’t, but I don’t feel any pressure by anybody to stick to one genre and continue to fly the power pop flag forever, and I’m not cornered musically. Whatever music I do make I will love and stand behind 100%, no matter what kind of genre it is. You gotta be sincere and love what you do. Right now for me it’s Power Pop, so into battle we go!

If you could assemble the ultimate Kurt Baker Band, the Avengers of the Kurt Baker Bands if you will, consisting of any musicians living or not, who would you include in this group?

Well, I really gotta give some props to the guys that play in my group right now. I’ve been very very lucky to get to work with such great and talented dudes. We always have a blast no matter what. BUT, if I had to make the ultimate band... i’d definitely want Dan Vapid in the group. I’ve always been a huge fan of him, and over the last few years we’ve become good friends and worked on a song here and there. His vocals are incredible, and he’s one of the best songwriters alive right now. I’d want Ace Frehley on lead guitar, Flo and Eddie from the Turtles singing and hitting percussion, Clem Burke from Blondie on drums. I would ask Paul McCartney to play bass, but he quit using pot recently so I don’t think he’d have a very good time at rehearsal! Sorry, Paul.

What does the Kurt Baker Band have in store for us in the near or not so near future?

Things are looking good for us! Always staying fairly active. We’re probably going to play a few shows in New England and then in December we’ll be over in Spain and possibly France for a tour. After the tour my plan is to stay in Madrid! I’ve wanted to move for a long time, and Boston and New York City just doesn’t do it for me. I love Spain a lot and have some wonderful friends over there, so I decided I might as well have a little adventure over there. It could last 3 months; it could be longer. Spain is a Rock N’ Roll country, so I’ll be playing lots of shows and writing and recording a new album. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’ll most likely have a good time all the time! Adios!