Impo and The Tents

     Impo and The Tents play some of the catchiest, most endearing rock n’ roll music floating around today. When I first dropped their 2^nd LP, my pick for 2014’s album of the year; the fantastic Peek After a Poke available from Alien Snatch Records, I thanked the maker that someone still found interest in power pop influenced punk bands from the late ‘70’s and took them seriously for that matter! These Swedes crank out short, dizzyingly catchy bursts of candy coated audio razor blades. Two minute songs that are fast and fun to listen to that don’t seem like they’d be all that difficult to write and perform, right? Wrong, wrong you are so very wrong!  It is a fine line to walk the way bands of old walked without seeming like you’re following too close step by step, and to add your own influences and cut them into a timeless sound that still rings with the bells of yesterday and yet still sounds fresh and contemporary.  It’s not an easy job but Impo and The Tents pull it off and make it sound like it is.     

Interview by J Castro

Let’s start by telling me who is currently in the band and what everyone does in Impo and The Tents:

Rune: Vocals & Bass
Dan: Guitar (also answering the questions)
Lars: Organ
Victor: Drums

How did you all meet and decide to play in a band together?

DAN: Me and Rune are childhood buddies and played in other bands before starting Impo & the Tents in 2010. We were supposed to do a 7” as a one off thing, since we were engaged in another band at the time, but things kinda snowballed and I&TT became our main focus. Victor replaced Sanna on drums and Lars replaced Martin on organ. Anders has filled in on drums on two tours.

What band or musician influenced you to want to play/write music?

DAN: There´s a long and a short answer to that question, and since the long answer is really long, I´ll just go ahead and say Appetite for Destruction. That record changed everything. Made me interested in playing an instrument, thieving booze from my parent’s liquor cabinet, secretly smoking in the forest, growing my hair long and cutting holes in my jeans.

How would you describe what your band sounds like to someone that’s never heard you guys before?

DAN: Imagine a Beatles song played at double speed, with the gain cranked up on the amps and some delightfully squeaky vocals on top. We are obviously very influenced by ‘70´s power pop/melodic punk. Reviewers often compare us to Dickies and Undertones.

The band is currently based in the town of Södertälje, Sweden. What is it like playing shows there? Are there people there and other bands that support and understand what you guys are doing musically?

DAN: Both Rune and I are from Södertälje, but we have moved a long time ago. We are based in Stockholm now and part of a ”scene” loosely based around Push My Buttons, who arrange gigs and run a record store/label. Everybody does their own thing and has their own sound, which I think is great. It´s more like a gathering of (sort of) likeminded freaks. I have put out two compilations with contemporary Swedish garage and punk bands on my label Ooga Tjacka Tapes, that you can check out here:

https://oogatjackatapes.bandcamp.com/album/pickled-herring-punk

You guys list the Beatles, Raspberries, Big Star, The Nerves, The Shivvers, Ramones, Dickies, Undertones, The Gizmos, and the Real Kids as your main influences; bands that existed and were in their prime long ago.  Are there any current bands that inspire you?

DAN: I mainly look to old stuff for inspiration and especially love discovering old obscure power pop 7”s. As for contemporary bands in the same vein as us, we like Nobunny, Reigning Sounds and King Khan & Bbq Show, whom we have had the pleasure of opening for when they played in Sweden. Home Blitz is fantastic. Sheer Mag is a cool new band. Baby Shakes. Local heroes Bäddat För Trubbel of course. Perfect Fits released two criminally underrated power pop 7”s in 2008 (one was a split with Twinkle van Winkle, also great).

You guys put a lot of humor in your songs and records; it’s even in the band’s name. Is this important for you guys to do? Could you ever see Impo and the Tents doing a social or political song like the Ramones did with “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”? 

DAN: Sometimes too much it seems, since some people aren´t able to see past it. The band name especially has shown to be a turn-off for some people ha, ha! We´re pretty serious about our tunes but pretty unserious about the rest. It´s not important to be funny, but it´s important to keep the music playful and not take yourself too seriously. I think politics have no place in music.

You guys have toured Europe quite a bit.  Can you tell me about the most memorable show you can remember playing, good or bad and what made it so unforgettable?

DAN: I don´t know where to start, but let me say it´s more like the movie about Anvil, and less like the book The Dirt. It´s fun, chaotic and blurry. You get a great knowledge of Autobahn!

If you were stuck on a desert island with (A) one record, (B) one meal and (C) one person, what would they be?

DAN: (A) Velvet Underground - S/T (B) Vegetarian meze buffé (C) Maggie Gyllenhaal

Where can people go or log on to buy and listen to your music?

DAN: You can buy our latest LP, upcoming EP and listen to some tracks over at Alien Snatch:
http://www.aliensnatch.de/start.htm
https://soundcloud.com/aliensnatch/impo-the-tents-dead-giveaway
https://soundcloud.com/aliensnatch/impo-the-tents-peek-after-a-poke

Push My Buttons usually carries our old stuff on vinyl. Worldwide shipping:
http://pushmybuttons.se/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/35IU6hOXQcob43ma1XPRzm
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/impo-the-tents/id417964446

What lies ahead in 2015 for Impo and the Tents?

DAN: New 4 track EP to be released on Alien Snatch at the end of the summer! It´s called Anxious Times and we are very happy with it! It´s a natural development from our recent LP ”Peek After A Poke” in style, but with a bit more punch in the production.

Follow us for updates:  https://www.facebook.com/impoandthetents?fref=ts

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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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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!