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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LA Drugz

Photo by Emilio Venegas Jr.

     Hailing from different parts of the ever-growing metropolis better known as Los Angeles, LA Drugz have tapped into the cities roots of both punk and power-pop by mixing both The Beat and Nerves penchant for melodies while having enough grit to hold their own with any punk band that shares the stage with them. LA Drugz features an impressive resume of both past and present bands (Clorox Girls, Suspect Parts, Maniac, Bad Machine, Images) and received the EP of the year award from Lord Rutledge himself for Outside Place. If that wasn’t enough, their video for “Outside Place” is homage to one of the greatest cult classics of all time Repo Man, but the real cult classic might just be them.

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Justin Maurer (guitar, lead vocals)

Where is the band from?

We're an LA band from nearly every corner of Los Angeles County. I live in East Hollywood, JD in East LA, Cezar in San Pedro and James in Carson.

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Justin Maurer (guitar, lead vocals)

James Carman (drums, backing vocals)

Cezar Mora (lead guitar, backing vocals)

Johnny "JD" Reyes (bass)

How did the band start?

As the third lineup of Clorox Girls was breaking up, Cezar and I tried to form a Beach Boys cover band in Spanish. He had some connections in the Latino low-rider world, and we thought we could make some money by forming a cover band. Learning full Beach Boys songs with all of the harmonies in Spanish proved to be extremely difficult if not impossible. We opted to start a band that played originals instead. James plays drums in a band called Images. I was really impressed with his drumming and singing so we brought him onboard. JD is an old friend of James' so he brought him in on bass. With our powers combined, we are . . . LA DRUGZ!

Photo by Emilio Venegas Jr.

What bands did you have in mind when starting this band?

Shit, well, ‘60’s LA music like Arthur Lee/LOVE, The Seeds, The Standells. Also some power pop stuff like The Nerves and The Beat, UK stuff like Small Faces, The Who, early Stones and early Beatles. I guess the Nuggets comps mixed with poppy ‘70’s punk like Buzzcocks, The Kids and The Boys. 1966-1979, those are the years containing the music that we're into.

In an LA Drugz article written on the Ratboy ’69 blog, it seems like every member in the band had his or her lives altered and changed by music. I don’t mean in the typical way every musician does, I mean music gave him a mission/life choice from a potentially dangerous option.

Yeah, Ratboy is over in the Netherlands I think. Sure. Cezar grew up in North Long Beach on the border of Compton. He was literally down the street from Snoop Dogg. Cars full of people looking for a party would ask him, "Where Snoopy house at?" At that time there was a lot of gang shit going down. He told me that he could have gotten into the gang shit or music, and he chose music. James' older brother was involved in gang stuff in Carson and actually had a hit put on him. I think seeing what his older brother went through made James realize that getting into music was a better option. JD has told me that music saved his life. Me personally, I would have had a much harder time without it. I came from a pretty dysfunctional family and as a teenager got into a bit of drinking and drugs as well as some petty crime like shoplifting and vandalism, if not for falling into music so hard, I might have ended up in jail, who knows.

To piggyback off this question, how supportive are your families of playing in bands?

My dad played in an early 80s punk/new wave band in LA called The Defenders. My grandpa is still active singing in barbershop quartets. My sister played in a few bands out in New York. I come from a musical family. That said, my dad has told me "You have an expensive hobby, son." As painful as that is, he is probably right!  Ha ha!  Even though I spent ten years of my life releasing albums and touring the world with Clorox Girls, with every band you have to start over. Sometimes I have that internal conversation, "Is this really worth it?" But I'm getting off track. Yes, my family has generally been very supportive even though they like to give me advice on the reasons I should quit music and focus on a more sustainable career. We practice at James' parent's house in Carson.  They let him construct a rehearsal room and mini-recording studio, so they have been extremely patient and supportive.  Cezar's Dad has also been very supportive of his son and I'm sure JD's parents are proud of him as well.

Photo by Paul Silver

Do you think music can still be a vital force in such a disposable age?

I agree with you that this can be a very disposable age. We live in a free culture. People expect music for free via download, streaming and in person. Everyone wants music including advertisers but no one seems willing to pay a fair price for it. Music and the musician have become commodities that our society takes for granted. That said, of course music is still a vital force. I don't see the same kind of cult dedication for bands that existed in the ‘60’s, ‘70’s, ‘80’s, or even the ‘90’s, but when the right band comes along, they will inspire scores of kids to start their own bands. The Internet can instantly broadcast music across the world, but the problem is oversaturation. It's hard to get excited when we're over stimulated and oversaturated. Also, most of the bands now don't really match up to their forefathers, so musicians have to bring some balls to the table too.

Justin, you have lived in many different cities over the years, Portland, Seattle, Madrid and now Los Angeles. Have you noticed any similarities between each cities music scene or is each one completely different?

When I lived in Portland about ten years ago, it was a very close-knit incestuous scene and all of the bands really supported each other. There were great bands like The Observers, The Minds, The Triggers, and The Hunches. The Exploding Hearts' car accident had recently happened and that was still very fresh and very painful. I am very lucky to have taken part in a cool time in Portland's musical history. I went to high school on Bainbridge Island, which is near Seattle. I cut my teeth on punk shows in Seattle in the ‘90’s. It was an interesting time full of skinheads; punk, hardcore and 3rd wave ska.  Gradually everyone got into Murder City Devils and the whole greaser thing. In Madrid, when I lived there, Malasaña was still popping off as the Rock and Roll neighborhood with a ton of great bands, DJ’s and Rock and Roll bars. After Madrid, I was in London for a couple of years then LA. I'm coming full circle because I was born here, moved away when I was 11 years old, now been back for about 5 years.

Similarities?  For the style of music that I have played, punk, Rock N’ Roll, power pop, in all of the cities it is very much the same. You have a core group of people who end up in most bands. It's hard to find a good drummer and multiple bands share the same drummer. You have the same 50-100 people going to these shows in small bars or clubs. You become a part of small, but dedicated scenes and fan bases. The easiest town to play music in, I guess, was Portland because it was so cheap to live there. My rent was $280 a month and I lived in a huge 4-bedroom house with 3 roommates. I guess it has gotten a little more expensive. L.A. is a pretty tough town to make music happen in but that said there's still a ton of cool bands and cool people who shake things up from time to time.

Justin since you are an author in addition to being a musician. Do you notice the same struggles for a new writer to have work published in much the same ways it is for a new band to get songs released and noticed? Or are the music and literary worlds two different animals?

There are a lot of similarities and a lot of differences. I think to be successful in both worlds you have to do a lot of schmoozing, meet a lot of people, get to know the movers and shakers and work with them in some way. It's pretty much the same for any business although people are reluctant to look at writing or music as a "business." That said, most writers and musicians are terrible business people and lose a lot of money pursuing their passion. And yeah, it’s a similar struggle. You have to have somewhat of a reputation to get noticed by any sort of media, which is ultimately what you need for success. So for a new writer or new band, no one knows who you are, but my advice would be to keep on plugging away, it might take months or even years, but good work gets noticed. If you have faith in what you do, then others will have faith too. As easy as it is to be discouraged by lack of attention, just keep doing it if it makes you happy. It's not an easy road to take. The musician life and the writer life are really difficult and frustrating paths with few payoffs on the way. That said I have met some of the best people through music and through writing so it is equally a curse and a blessing.

Photo by Emilio Venegas Jr.

In the 2013 edition of the Lord Rutledge Awards, L.A. Drugz won the EP of the year for Outside Place, how excited was the band?

Lord Rutledge has been very supportive. What a great dude. Always honored to be included on anything he puts on his site. What an excellent music blog.

Is the band’s favorite movie Repo Man? The video for “Outside Place” is practically a shot by shot remake and homage to one of the greatest cult classics of all time.

Repo Man is one of my favorites for sure. It's one of the films that really personified the gritty side of Los Angeles as well as the wacky new age religion side. As a native Angeleno and as a punk I love the shit out of this movie. The co-directors Brett Roberts and Ardavon Fatehi did a lot of research and we managed to shoot at many actual Repo Man locations. And I got to drive a car in the LA River! Swerving around like a maniac! There's at least one bucket list item checked off!

Where can people hear the band?

We play out live in LA County all of the time. Songs can be streamed and downloaded here: www.ladrugz.bandcamp.com. Our video is on YouTube and links to everything are on our slavebook aka Facebook page as well.

What’s next for L.A. Drugz?

We're planning on recording some newer songs: "All Burned Down,” “Runnin',” and “Kids of Today" for a new single. We've also been invited for some European tour dates so watch out world!

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Paul Collins

     Paul Collins is a Rock N’ Roll warrior. He has been playing his brand of honest, infectious power pop, new wave, Rock N’ Roll, whatever you want to call it for almost 40 years. This man along with his band, are out there fighting for your soul. Traveling the world many times over and making new music using there own blood sweat and tears. Paul isn’t some fat cat making a couple of festival appearances a year waving at his fans like some kind of pathetic mascot, living off his royalties. This man is out fighting a war, dug deep in the jungles of battle, waging combat against all these posturing rock stars. These are the kinds of people that sour so many against guitar rock and driving them to dull, soulless electronic pop music. If in fact Rock N’ Roll was at proper war, and we were all it’s soldiers, then Paul Collins would be our commanding General!

Interview by Jay Castro

I read that as a kid your stepfather was a civilian in the military and you moved all around the world, Europe, Vietnam, Greece. At what age were you first stirred by music? What band or musician made you think, that’s what I want to do for a living?

I remember I was in Vietnam and I must have been about 6 ½ years old and I was in a taxicab, they looked like Volkswagen Bugs but they were smaller and it was pouring rain, which it does there a lot. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” came on by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons and all those vocals really knocked me out. Another song from that time period that really turned me on was “Lightnin’ Strikes” by Lou Christie. Those are my earliest remembrances of listening to music and being really turned on to it. 

Later on my dad had Hank Williams and Ray Charles in his collection, which were strong early influences.  I especially loved Ray Charles Country and Western Hits Vol. 1 which had like “Take These Chains From My Heart” on it and my mom had “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash which I also really loved.

When we moved back to the states I lived in Long Island and listened to AM radio every night and I would fall asleep with the little transistor radio glued to my head. It was a cocktail of British Invasion, the West Coast sound, the Detroit sound, the East Coast sound with The Rascals and stuff like that. That music really influenced me a lot. I would listen to all of those songs thinking it was so great and how do these guys do this. If I could do something like this it would be really awesome.

So your family finally settled down in New York, what made you want to get up and move across the country and start a band?

Later on when I was 17, I went to Julliard School of music as a composition major/piano minor but that was for you know, more serious honor music. I decided that after a year of that, I wanted to go someplace and be in a rock band. So my drum teacher said, you need to go to the West Coast, this is where the music scene is happening for young people, and so I did. That was the best decision I made. I made it out to San Francisco just before turning 18. On my 3^rd day there I saw a notice in a music store that said “Wanted: Drummer for an all original band ala The Beatles.” At that time there wasn’t a lot of bands doing original music in Rock N’ Roll. There were jazz-fusion bands or funk bands but it was really hard to find a band in Rock N’ Roll playing pop songs like the kind I listened to that I wanted to do. So I tore the sign down so no one else could call and it was Jack Lee and he said “Come on over” so I went right over there. In the first 15 minutes I was over there he played the demo that he had of  “Hangin’ on the Telephone” and it blew my mind. So I auditioned for him, I had my drumsticks and I started playing drums on a phone book. He started playing all these songs for me on his beautiful cherry finish Rickenbacker.  And that’s really where my career in Rock N’ Roll started.

So did The Nerves form before The Ramones and the whole CBGB scene?

Well, I don’t know if we actually started before them, I definitely remember never hearing about all of them when we started. I still remember hearing about this band from New York called The Ramones we hadn’t heard their music at all, and they were playing in San Francisco. So we called up the club they were playing at and we said “So is this band The Ramones playing there tonight?” and they said “Yeah, but they’re playing their last song right now.” And we said “Can you just hold the phone up so we can hear them?” And they did.  So the three of us crowded around the receiver and I remember Jack and Peter saying “They aren’t changing, they’re staying on the D, I can’t believe it!” We had never heard anyone attack music in that way which was similar to what we were doing.

 

So in 1979, The Nerves called it a day.  You actually had another band that a lot of people don’t really know about in between The Nerves and The Beat correct?

Yeah it was a short-lived band. When the Nerves disbanded it was pretty catastrophic, I thought we were going to go all the way. I was the youngest in the band and it hit me pretty hard when we disbanded. Peter Case and I did try to carry on with The Breakaways. We did a hand full of shows, at the time in Los Angeles, it was impossible to play anywhere live. There was just no support. No one was interested in booking this kind of stuff and there was no real fan base for it.  Especially if you weren’t living in that area or you didn’t grow up in that area and you could have all your school friends support your musical projects and stuff. So it was very difficult. A lot of stuff died on the vine just because there was no way to really do anything. Just no acceptance, we had no money and we were starving. 

So after the Breakaways came The Beat.  You guys did some television appearances including American Bandstand. Those performances are all on Youtube including the interview you guys did with Dick Clark. Was Dick really as personable as everyone says he was?

Dick Clark was such a professional and he was all-inclusive. If you watch interviews that he does, he talks to everybody. He doesn’t just talk to the lead singer or the cute guy in the band. He was such a pro; I mean you were in and out of there before you even knew what happened. He had the best technicians and cameramen. So you just roll in there and boom, it was over and done with before you even knew what happened. But yeah, he was a pro. We met Benny Goodman too and all the old top pros were all so gracious. They treated us so nice and they didn’t seem to be threatened by what we were doing and they were secure about what they were doing. I was lucky to meet people like that. It made me see that you could be this big star, this big important entertainer and still be very gracious and accepting of other things. 

So in the late 70’s and early 80’s the whole punk thing was blowing up. Do you feel that in some way you owed it to that movement, which finally shook everybody, awake and showed everybody what Rock N’ Roll was supposed to be about. 

Well, I never really thought of it what way but that’s quite possibly true.  The punk movement really historically pin points the “music revolution” that took place. The big difference with the punk stuff and what we were doing is we were aggressive, but not in the same way. They were really confronting to the status quo. We were trying to do this music with our own interpretation on it. We were heavily based in melody and classic song structures. Our staple was much more musical than sociological. The really interesting thing about the Nerves, which I didn’t figure out until much later, is that we were three strong men that went against the establishment, which was normal. But we also went against our peers. We went up against both sides. Our peers were the punkers, which were looking and dressing a completely different way. So we unwillingly became total outcasts. We were three guys in three-piece suits, everyone thought we were from the moon! 

Didn’t you guys have your own club out in California for a while? 

It was kind of like a roving club. There was no place for us to play, we couldn’t get any gigs at any legitimate clubs so we said, let’s make our own club and we called it The Hollywood Punk Palace. We presented the first shows in Hollywood, at least to my knowledge of The Germs, The Weirdos, The Dils, the Zippers. We knew them all from the rehearsal halls. So even though we were putting own these shows, we would come on and people were still saying “What the hell do these guys have to do with this stuff?” We had to do something; we had to make something happen, so we did it. 

I want to ask you about a project you started a few years ago called The Beat Army, what is it all about? 

I travel around, and I know a lot of people that say, “Oh I love Rock N’ Roll, I love new wave and power pop” and I said to myself, there has got to be a way to polarize these people to show some kind of numbers. We live in a world where everything is numbers, how many bids, how many likes, how many downloads. So that’s what the Beat Army is all about. It is my attempt to show the numbers so that people can say hey all these people like power pop, that’s encouraging.  And to also promote people going to shows and buying a ticket so that these bands can go out and play for more than 10 people at a show. On that end, things have gotten a lot better.  It’s past the point it was 10 years ago where people said, “Well it’s over and done with and we’ll never hear of it again.” Then with the advent of Myspace I started seeing all these young bands listing power pop as a reference. I said, “Wait its alive still!” These days power pop is an elastic term; I’m not a purist about it. There are power pop bands, there are punk pop bands, there’s garage.   The power pop genre needs awareness. I think if you are a purist and it becomes exclusive and you wind up playing for five people every night, you really haven’t done much. The better thing is getting the scope to be wider: play with garage bands and play with punk bands. Get the fans in the door and expose them to the music and get the bigger base. To me, power pop embodies the best in Rock N’ Roll, great songs, great hooks, great guitar parts and great melodies. That’s what every piece of Rock N’ Roll that I love has. 

We were talking earlier about power pop now having the ability to reach a lot more people.  Green Day feature the song “Walking Out On Love” in their Broadway production of American Idiot and Def Leopard covered “Hangin’ on the Telephone.” What’s the strangest cover you’ve heard of one of your songs or one of your former band’s songs?

Def Leopard was very, very cool about it. They put out an album of all covers, all their favorite songs, and they say a little bit about each song that they cut. About Hangin’ On The Telephone, they say, “We know that you think this is a Blondie song, but it isn’t. It’s by this little known band called The Nerves from L.A.” So I thought was very cool. A lot of people do think, in fact it’s a regular occurrence, where people are like “Hey great Blondie cover” and I’m like “What the hell are you talking about?” There’s this band from Oakland called Grass Widow and they cover “Walking Out On Love” and it’s such a bizarre version. There was this tribute album put out by this Australian guy that continues to put out tributes. I think he’s doing Dwight Twilley now. There were all these bands and all these versions and some of the bands were surprising.   You hear a rock band and they kind of did it the way we did it only they add a few things and that’s cool. But some of these bands did it radically different. One of the bands did an electronic version of  “That’s What Life Is All About” or something and it was very, very different. It’s always flattering as a songwriter if someone covers your songs; I’m always like wow that’s cool. 

In closing, what projects do you have lined up for the near or not so near future? 

I’m going to make another record and I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing, the Johnny Appleseed of power pop. Bringing the music to the people at ground level, in the trenches, at Rock N’ Roll clubs, down and dirty style. That’s where Rock N’ Roll lives and breathes. We’re trying to get people to get up off their asses, come to the shows and realize that you can pay just 7 or 8 bucks and have a good time. It’s completely unpretentious and it’s good.

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Sugar Stems

     When I hear a good power pop band, my heart feels like jumping out of my chest and doing a dance like John Cusack’s cheeseburger did in “Better Off Dead”.  It happened when I first heard Cheap Trick, then with The Beat, now The Sugar Stems!  The tunes are memorable, and the lyrics are emotionally authentic, which makes the entire package multi coated; so you never get worn-out listening to it.  “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears, ” you won’t be dissatisfied, because this is timeless pop music.  I am confident that decades from now, The Sugar Stems will still be in heavy rotation on many turntables, including mine!  

Interview by Jay Castro

Who’s answering the questions here?

It's me!  Betsy!

Who is in the band and what instruments do you all play?

Betsy - vocals/guitar

Steph - bass

Andy - keyboard

Drew - guitar

Jonny - drums

Are you all originally from the Milwaukee area?  How did the band come together?

We were born and raised in various places around the state, but we've all lived here in Milwaukee for a while except for Drew who has been between here and Sheboygan, WI.  We've all been friends for many years and have played in different bands/projects together.   We all got together to start this band about 5 years ago and everything just kind of clicked.  There were a few changes along the way, most recently we added a keyboard player, our good pal Andy Harris, which we are very excited about!

The bands second LP has just been released, are you surprised by the international attention you have been getting?  Where has there the band garnered the most interest that’s come as a surprise to you?

It is always exciting to see and hear the response from all of our fans over-seas.  It never gets old!  I think the response from Japan has been the most surprising, I think because it is just so far away and so different from here.  We really want to tour there some day.

Tell me about the cover art for the new album “Can’t Wait” and the issues it’s caused some people? 

We were very excited about it and had a lot of fun making it and putting it together, but we were a little surprised when we read some things online where people were saying how gross it was.  I guess they thought it was real worms in the picture.  No worms were harmed in the making of "Can't Wait!” 

The Sugar Stems had a write up in Spin Magazine where they described your music as having “Golden Retriever melodies”.  Do you feel this is an accurate metaphorical portrayal of your music as a canine breed or do you feel it resembles a different variety of pooch?

Ha!  I love dogs of all kinds, and as far as canines go Golden Retrievers aren't too bad.  They are not the smartest but loyal and playful and often get whiter as they age which I think accurately portrays our band.  I guess I'd rather be a Golden Retriever than a poodle or a yorkie or some kind of schnauzer mix that relentlessly humps peoples' legs.  My cousins had a dog like that when I was little and one time it was humping my leg and my sister said "Look! look!  He's dancing with you!"  So I guess for me music and dogs have always been linked...  Anyways, I think our third album will have more of a pit bull sound.   

You recently opened up for Paul Collins’ The Beat.  How was that experience?  Were you a fan prior to sharing the stage with them?

Yes we are fans!  It was really neat and a tiny bit surreal to play a show with someone who you spent so many years listening to.  A lot of his songs are so timeless and catchy and I think that is something that every musician, no matter what kind of music they make, aspires to do within their own "scene" or "genre."  

You just played Happenin’ Records “Happenin’ Fest” in Huntsville, Alabama and are about to play the Girls Got Rhythm fest in Saint Paul, MN with legendary ladies like Cherie Curry and Penelope Houston of The Avengers. On top of that you are scheduled to play Gonerfest!   How did you get involved in all of these festivities?  Do you enjoy playing shows like this with so many different bands?

We do, they are always tons of fun.  We like to travel and wish we could tour more, but because of our day jobs it's hard to get away for weeks at a time, so we decided to take as many long weekend type trips we could this summer to help promote our album and play for as many people as we can.  We have been so fortunate to have been asked to play all of these really cool events and we always look forward to them.  Something about playing a "fest" really makes it feel like a vacation and just makes it a lot more fun.  

I read that some of you grew up in households that embraced music.  Do you think Rock ‘N’ Roll can still be a vital and influential force for kids in such a disposable age?

I think there will always be kids out there who see and hear an instrument like a guitar or some drums and just have to pick it up and give it a try.   Parents just need to encourage their kids to play REAL instruments though and not some stupid bullshit plastic video game version.  Oh!  That sounded like a cranky old woman, didn't it?  Anyways, yeah, kids these days….

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water free; now people pay for water and get their music free. How do you think this affects the music industry?

I don't know fuck about shit when it comes to the music industry.  I reckon it's not good though!  I am REALLY inspired by all of the independent record labels out there in the world though, especially the little guys who aren't making billions of dollars but are still working super hard to get the music they think is good out there.  That's really admirable to me.   

Where can people hear the band or purchase Sugar Stems music or merch?

Welllllll, you can download both of our records on this thing called iTunes which I guess sells "MP3’s" or whatever.  And you can also download the first album and 2 other singles on Bandcamp.   

And of course you can always come see us play live and we will happily sell you records, t-shirts, lip balm, and other misc. merch type things!  We'll give you a button for free!  And if you just need a hug or some advice, we'll give you that too!  For free! At least I will the other guys might charge.  

What’s next for the band?

More travels - St. Paul, Memphis to name a few this summer, hopefully a West Coast, Europe, or Japan tour some day.  Working on stuff for a third album.  After that?  Who knows!  Video game soundtrack?  Nickelodeon show for tweens?  Or an animated series?  Maybe we'll market a Sugar Stems breakfast cereal?   Strange opportunities tend to present themselves to this band so a lot of times we never really know what our next step will be.

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