Photo by Al Overdrive
London’s Los Pepes
have been singing their anthems of heartbreak and despair at high decibels for
a few years now, releasing a few EP’s and a marvelous, critically acclaimed LP
last year titled Los Pepes for Everyone! on
Wanda Records. Now they’re getting ready to release their fourth EP called And I Know/Say Goodbye also on Wanda
Records. What this band has been
doing from their inception is taking Small Faces and Beatle-esque harmonies and
adding some angst and crunch to them, much like The Boys and The Jam did back
in the late 1970’s. They started out with that blue ribbon recipe since their
first demo tape and keep perfecting their own unique take on rock n’ roll with
each release. Los Pepes; they’ll make you wanna dance, they’ll make you wanna
break things, and when the dust settles you’ll wanna call the one that got
away.
Interview
by J Castro
Let’s start out by telling me
who’s all in Los Pepes and what everyone does in the band:
BEN: Los Pepes’ home is in London
but it’s an international organization. We have members all over world from Kyoto
to Los Angeles. Due to geographical constraints and various visa headaches you
never know who’s going to be there. Currently you’re going to see/hear some
configuration of these guys: Myself - Ben Perrier (vocals/guitar) Gui Rujao
(guitar/vocals/drums) Seisuke Nakagawa (bass/vocals) Kris Hood (drums) Adam
Smith (bass) Shaun Clark (drums).
How did you guys all meet and
decide to play in a band together?
BEN: Just over three years ago
now I started this up. I had a bunch of Testors style punk rock lying around
that I wanted to play. I got together with Jay (the original drummer) and
recorded it in an afternoon. That was all it was really gonna be. This was
under the name Los Pepes. It wasn’t until Seisuke got involved that the ‘Pepes
of today started shaping up and things got going. Back when Seisuke lived in
London lot of time was spent smoking cigarettes and listening to 45’s. That’s
when we got driven to do things properly. 100% drive to make something that we
really like. We should have played music together a long time ago so we’re
making up for lost time. That’s why we have to write a lot of songs. As long as
we write songs there will be Los Pepes. All the other guys have been met along
the way through a mutual love for the same music and the need to play it.
Did you have an idea of what
you wanted Los Pepes to sound like or did the music kind of take on a life of
its own once you guys all started playing together?
BEN: Well, like I said originally
it was very straight down the line high-energy punk rock. It’s completely
changed since then. I’m not even sure how it changed so much into a power pop
thing but it did. I guess smoking all those cigarettes and listening to those
45’s. I’ve always loved writing melodies but hadn’t done anything with that too
much in previous bands. The delivery is still real high-energy and punk and
that will always be cuz that’s who I am, same for the other guys. Only now the
focus is songs. We want to write the best songs we can that’ll do something for
someone somewhere. With guys like Seisuke and Gui around there’s a good team
working on that.
I don’t normally ask bands
about their names, just because it’s a bit of a cliché, but I find the name Los
Pepes particularly interesting just because it’s a bit political and you’re
music really isn’t. What was it about the group Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar that
you found intriguing, enough to name the band after them?
BEN: Ha. Yeah that’s exactly
where the name comes from. We have nothing to do with Columbia or Pablo Escobar
and you’re right we’re by no means a political band. I did read “Killing Pablo”
many years ago. It’s not even a very good book, more the kind of shit you would
buy at an airport or something. It is a great story though. I actually have a
friend whose family fled Columbia for the UK because of Escobar. He’s fucking
crazy unsurprisingly. More to the point Los Pepes sounds like a Spanish garage
band with a horn section or something, which is very misleading. Misleading
people is always good. Give them one more reason to write you off before they
listen to it.
What sorts of things
typically influence your song lyrics?
Are there any subjects you try to purposely try to stay away from?
BEN: It’s mostly stuff that
causes you trouble that you write about I find. You write a song and you feel
better. I guess love and all that stuff is one of the biggest sources of
trouble for human beings so that features pretty significantly. There’s other
stuff in there too. A drop of nihilism here, a fuck you there…sarcastic humor
about things but mostly its love songs. That seems to be where it’s at at the
moment. As far as staying away from stuff, we basically play rock and roll but
I hate all this self-aggrandizing bullshit. You know, that “hey bitch, I’m so motherfuckin’
rock and roll” business. I see that around and I know those guys are full of
shit. Unless you’re the real McCoy like GG Allin or something I ain’t
interested. I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks about me, I can’t understand
why you would want to tell everyone how “badass” you are. On the other end of
the spectrum overly sugary “I love you baby” stuff also gets annoying real
fast.
I was watching an interview
with John Lydon and he was talking about how much he hates Green Day because
“there’s nothing about them that’s original, they don’t do anything that’s
their own.” What do you think
about that statement? Do you feel
a band has to be “original” to be significant?
BEN: That’s good question. The way
I look at it more or less all the music I like is not from today. There are
exceptions but then even the new bands I like don’t really sound new. I got the
Sleaford Mods new album the other day and that is pretty original but it’s
basically still punk in many ways. The music we make is heavily influenced by
old music, most obviously ‘70’s/’80’s punk. But there’s a difference between
that and being contrived. We write a song, that’s a new song. It belongs to us
and it’s not some rehash carbon copy of something else just to be retro or cool.
It maybe inspired by other music but it has new energy. That’s because it was
written in an honest attempt to make something good that didn’t previously
exist. If that isn’t original I’d say it’s still significant somehow. Fucking
hell, it looks like the Romans ripped off the Greeks when they put up all those
pillars but who gives a shit. If I were lucky enough to be a figurehead of a
major musical and social movement in late ‘70’s Britain maybe I’d also wave my
finger at soft targets such as Green Day. My issue with Green Day is I think
they suck.
This is the “lightening
round” portion of the interview.
Feel free to elaborate as much or as little as you’d like to the
following questions:
1. What was the first concert you attended without your parents?
BEN: I’m pretty sure it was the
Melvins at the Garage in London sometime in the mid ‘90’s. I was born in 1981
by the way.
2. What was the first band T-Shirt you owned?
BEN: I think it could well have
been a Melvins t-shirt from that very show.
3. What was the first record you bought with your own money?
BEN: I can’t remember exactly but
I’m pretty sure it was an AC/DC record, probably either “Highway To Hell” or “Back
In Black.” It was definitely something that said “kid getting into rock and
roll for the first time.” More significantly, at a similar point in my life I
remember hearing “The Passenger” by Iggy Pop. I really liked it a lot. I went
to the record shop and asked for Iggy and the guy sold me Stooges Raw Power no less. My life was changed.
I was very young and I couldn’t believe what the hell was going on with that
record. I’m so glad that guy sold me the wrong record.
4. What was the first band or musician’s picture/poster that you put
up on your bedroom wall?
BEN: Something either grunge or ‘80’s
US hardcore punk, that how I rolled as a kid. I still believe Black Flag are
the greatest band of all time.
Where can people go to listen to or buy
your music?
BEN: You can buy records and listen to our
music on our bandcamp page: www.lospepes.bandcamp.com
and also from our label Wanda Records: www.wandarecords.de
we’ve also got all that facebook stuff here: www.facebook.com/lospepesmusic
What lies ahead in 2015 for Los Pepes?
BEN: Well, we never stop. Like tuna fish. We
got a new EP, “And I Know/Say Goodbye” coming out again on Wanda Records late
May and will be on tour in Europe at the same time (tour dates below). We’re
also recording a new album. In a weeks time from writing this interview we’ll
be hitting the studio with new songs and new ideas. Soon as that’s all done
will be putting it out and getting out playing to people as much as we can. We
really need to go to Japan too. That’s an important next thing for us to do.
Sayonara folks.
VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaAojUnu_nw
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