Maniac Interview

(photo by Mandy-Lin)

The Gentlemen punks are back with their new LP, Dead Dance Club, and it’s available for all the bored and thirsty ears. If you’ve read this blog, you’ll realize the Maniac is no stranger to its digital pages for good reason. These CA natives/Pacific Northwest transplants have taken their brand of Briefs meets Dickies meets Weirdos into the sordid LA back alleys and made something entirely catchy and memorable. Listen up, turn on your ears and you shall not be disappointed.

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who is answering the questions?

This is Justin Maurer, guitar and vocals

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

Zache Davis - bass, vocals

Andrew Zappin - lead guitar

James Carman - drums, vocals

Justin Maurer - guitar, vocals

Give us the band’s origin story, some other bands the members have played in and currently do play in?   

Me and Zache played in bands in the Pacific Northwest in the early ‘00’s. Zache played in The Girls and Cute Lepers from Seattle. I played in Clorox Girls and Red Dons in Portland. Maniac was born in L.A. in 2012. Zache and Andrew worked in West Hollywood at a fetish shop, which is how they met one another. Ardavon Fatehi was the store manager.

Ardy played in Portland, Oregon’s Goons of Destruction and went to high school with the Exploding Hearts guys. He’s currently working on a documentary about them. Ardy was extremely busy working as a gaffer on some adult movies in the Valley, and I ended up replacing him as the rhythm guitarist.

Maniac’s original drummer Richie Cardenas played in Plastic Letters, Clorox Girls, Rough Kids, and Neighborhood Brats. James Carman from Images and LA Drugz replaced him. We’ve had this current lineup since about 2013. Fortunately, Ardavon stuck to filmmaking and DJing underground fetish parties. He’s also DJing our record release party this Saturday. Richie now works as a mechanic at the Post Office and is a rabid LAFC fan. Final note, Andrew officiated Richie's wedding as the padre, and I interpreted the ceremony in Spanish. Padre Zappin and I were a pretty damn good 1-2 punch so if anyone wants a wedding in English and Spanish, I still have the script in the trunk of my Honda Civic. Maniac is also available for weddings, bat mitzvahs, and quinceaneras.

 

(photo by Zach Mcaffree)

Describe the band’s sound in 20 words or less.

Cheap Trick and Wire meet all of our previous bands in a bar. David Lee Roth shows up with his entourage. We all have a wild night on the town spearheaded by Diamond Dave.  The night becomes a 3 day bender that is part feminist snuff film, part homoerotic fever dream set in the industrial wastelands of Los Angeles. We purgatory our torsos night after night with dreams, drugs, alcohol, cock, and endless balls. Sorry, I think that was over 20 words.

Some bands have a musical game plan when starting. For example, we want to sound like Buzzcocks meets The Jam. Did Maniac have any plan ahead of the time or did you just starting writing songs?

We all bring our own individual influences as ingredients into the Maniac kitchen and then prepare an exquisite hearty meal.

A lot of interviews, I have read have made note of the band having four songwriters. Sure, the band will never run out of song ideas, but how do you decide which writer’s songs get on the LP?

The best songs make the cut!

(photo by Kasey Elliot)

To piggyback of the last question, I think one of the secret weapons of Maniac is that the band has the three vocalists. It’s kind of like The Boys or a punk rock Beatles. On “City Lights” this multi-vocal attack works great. How do you figure who sings which songs? Or is it “I wrote it, I’ll sing lead and everyone joins in during the chorus.”

The second thing you said! Although it’s important to note that Andrew comes up with a lot of the original riffs too, and he only sings in the shower.

Why the decision to re-record some of the previously released songs like “Midnight Kino,” “Calamine” and “Precision Accuracy?”

Because after we played those songs on tour in the US, Canada, and Europe they sounded a lot tighter and tougher.

Maniac has been described as quintessentially a Los Angeles band. How do you feel about this considering LA is the adopted home of half of the members?  Before moving to California, did you have any preconceived ideas about the people or the state?  

¾ of Maniac were born in California. Andrew was born in Ohio but has lived in CA for about 20 years. I think people perceive Zache and I as being “from” the Pacific Northwest because we both lived there and started our music “careers” up there, but Zache was born in Oakland, me in LA, James in Carson. I moved to the northwest when I was 11. Moving back to LA 9 years ago was a trip, it was interesting to get a completely fresh perspective on the place as well as connect the dots on this massive sprawling map and how they related to the ghosts of my childhood.

Maniac is a friend to many labels. The band has worked with La-Ti-Da, Modern Action and No Front Teeth. At this point, do labels come to you with offers or does the band still send out new songs to labels?  How did you get together with Dirt Cult and Hovercraft?

We had to shop our stuff around. It’s real hard as most independent labels have their next 1-2 years of releases already committed. “Dead Dance Club” is a split release with Dirt Cult and Hovercraft. Our friends who play in the Portland band Piss Test had some really positive things to say about Chris at Dirt Cult and they were right. Clorox Girls and LA Drugz both worked with Tim and Mark at Hovercraft in the past, hopefully we have a winning combo! It’s fantastic to have both Chris and Tim in our court.

With a zillion digital avenues presented to musicians nowadays (Bandcamp, blogs, Spotify, YouTube, etc.) what do you feel are the best parts and worst parts of these digital avenues?

The best part is that people from around the world can hear your music. The worst part is over saturation. People don’t have much of an attention span these days and it’s very hard to get people to check out your music or get excited about your message. It's ironic because new music is easier to listen to than ever, but it's much harder to get people to take the time to listen.

There is a little trend going on with bands opting to hire a PR agency and self-release their songs through Bandcamp instead of sending songs to labels in hopes of a release. Some bands have had some success using this method, which have led to proper re-releases by labels. Maniac seems to operate in a more traditional method of label release, play live, tour. Can you talk about the reasons to stick to the more traditional method?

Hiring a PR is usually prohibitively expensive, so more power to the bands that can afford to hire one. It’s generally a solid investment, but like I said in the last question, the over saturation of underwhelming Internet bands these days is completely overwhelming. Every online music publication receives a gazillion emails per day from not only PR’s, but the bands themselves, labels, etc.. A lot of press coverage seems like it’s done as a favor, mutual back scratching. That’s how the world works!

More power to any band who has any success using any method! I think 95% of bands lose money, about 4% break even, and 1% or less actually make any money. The poverty line in the US is about $12K per year. For a band of 4 to break even and pay each member in their band a poverty line wage, they'd have to make $48K as a band per year after expenses. That is a pipe dream by far for most people. I personally lived under the poverty line as a touring musician for many years.

As far as the traditional approach: write a song, rehearse, play live locally, record in a studio, label release, then tour, We’re following in the tradition of our grandfathers. From Black Flag, Minutemen, and X touring in a Ford Econoline, to Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs touring in a hearse, to Van Halen playing backyard house parties in Pasadena. I know I’m getting long-winded here, but a band is like a political campaign, in order to get people excited about your message, you have to go to their town. Some politicians put millions of their own dollars into their campaigns and unfortunately substantially more impoverished musicians do the same. That’s why a lot of touring bands coincidentally happen to be trust fund kids. Maniac pays for our touring by working like 10 jobs between 4 guys. This band could be your life, but be glad that it’s not!

How has touring shaped the band’s view?  

This is a pretty vague question! :-) Touring is hard on the body and mind and expensive, but it’s usually fun, especially international touring! It'll knock a few years off of your life, but at least you'll have some stories to tell.

What are some of the best places/best shows the band has played?

Germany, Spain, and Canada I’d say are the highlights of Maniac’s tours so far.

(photo by Niffer Calderwood) 

When not playing music, what does the band like to do?

Eat, Drink, and be merry! Wine, women, and song! Andrew is a photographer, filmmaker and writer. Zache has studied lots of languages and is a fan of the Dodgers and Raiders. James and I both like playing pick-up basketball. A bunch of us are going to go see LAFC on Wednesday. LAFC games are a bunch of inmates running the asylum. I think it’s fair to say that we all are fascinated with women and their mysterious ways. James digs the ganja and recently has been engineering some bands in his home studio called IMG HQ AKA Carson Drift Studios. I’m a sign language interpreter, dig Latin languages, classic film, and all of the fucking amazing food you can find in LA… just watch the Jonathan Gold documentary “City Of Gold” and it will make you want to try every hole-in the wall restaurant in LA.

Where can people hear the band?

In a shitty bar, in your car, at home, on your phone, on your laptop, on Spotify, Bandcamp, on Jonesey’s Jukebox, Henry Rollins’ radio show, in a Carl’s Jr. Superbowl commercial, on endless loop in Urban Outfitters, and on your analog record player.

What’s next for Maniac?

We’re going on a west coast tour later this month, maybe an east coast tour in the fall. Probably Europe next year, hopefully Japan and Australia sometime in the near future! Also, our brand new tunes are sounding pretty bitchin’!  We’ll probably record ‘em at some point. Our demos at Carson Drift Studios sound killer so far.

Thank you very much Ed and Audio Ammunition, and thank you for reading! Be excellent to each other!

Pale Lips: A candy coating for the savage soul.

Montreal's Pale Lips play fun, hyperactive, stripped down rock 'n roll music with hints of 60's garage rock and girl groups, power pop, and late 70's punk rock.  As soon as you put it on it makes you want to dance to it at high decibels.  They just released their delightful debut EP Got A Sweet Tooth earlier this year on the famed No Front Teeth recording label with more on the way.  So make sure you floss and brush twice a day because Pale Lips are here to stay!

Interview by J Jordan Castro

Let’s start out with introductions!  Who are Pale Lips and what does everyone do in the band? 

Pale Lips are

Ilona Szabo - guitar

Jamie Radu - bass

Lynn Poulin - drums

Jackie Blenkarn - vocals

How did you all meet and decide to play music together?

PALE LIPS: Ilona used to play with her band Dagger Eyes, and when Lynn saw them play she knew she wanted to start a band with Ilona. Jamie was recruited by Lynn at a party after they bonded during a conversation about music. None of the three girls wanted to take on the role of lead vocals, but Ilona and Jamie were friends of Jackie, who happened to be a karaoke connoisseur...and voila! Pale Lips was born.

What band, musician or songwriter first inspired you to want to pick up and learn to play an instrument?

ILONA: The Cramps

JAMIE: Kim Deal from The Pixies and Matt Freeman from Rancid

LYNN: her brother Stevie Kicks from The Briefs, The Cute Lepers

JACKIE:  I can’t actually play any instruments, or sing really, but I’ll say Ronnie Ronette (because “Be My Baby” is a go-to karaoke song for me).

How would you describe Pale Lips “sound” to your Grandparents?

PALE LIPS: Rock and roll you can foxtrot to.

Got a Sweet Tooth 7" released May 7th 2015 on No Front Teeth Records

You came out with your debut EP Got a Sweet Tooth on No Front Teeth records.  Can you tell me a little about the record (where was it recorded, who helped out with it etc.) and how you hooked up with No Front Teeth in London?

PALE LIPS: We recorded at Raven Street Studios in Ottawa, Ontario with Rey Sabatin. Rey is a friend of Ilona’s who wanted some experience recording and mixing bands, so he gave us a great deal and did an excellent job with our debut EP. We had only been playing together for less than a year at that point, and we recorded five songs in two days (the three on the EP plus two others that we put up as demos on our Bandcamp), so it was definitely an interesting experience and poor Rey has the patience of a saint. No Front Teeth was suggested to us by Lynn’s brother Stevie, who had put something out on that label with his band The Cute Lepers. Once we got in touch with Marco at No Front Teeth, he was super stoked on the songs and more than happy to put the record out.

Tell me about the song “Rock n’ Roll Dipshit”.  Was it inspired by an actual person or just the idea of the typical rock n’ roll lunkhead?

PALE LIPS: Rock n Roll Dipshit was, indeed, loosely inspired by a real-life person, but the song itself is less about an individual and more about the rock and roll dipshit archetype.

There have been a lot of bands lately speaking out against their audience using their phones during their performances.  What sorts of things annoy or distract you when you’re playing?

PALE LIPS: Probably the only annoying or distracting thing is when people stand too far back from the stage. We definitely play better and have way more fun when people are really getting into it. Everybody should always move closer!

Pale Lips Demos released December 2014

There’s an old folk story about the first time John Lennon met Bob Dylan.  Lennon being a huge Dylan fan asked him what he thought of the Beatles and Dylan replied “you’re good but your music isn’t saying anything”.  John being totally mortified, started writing Rubber Soul shortly after.  What do you think about that story, was Dylan right?  Does music have to “say something” to be relevant? 

PALE LIPS: Music doesn’t have to say anything to be relevant, if it did we wouldn’t be considered relevant at all. Music can inspire any range of emotions, it can say something or nothing at all, and it just has to be enjoyable to listen to. Mostly we just want people to have fun when they’re listening to us.

What’s your favorite LP to play from start to finish and tell me about the first time you heard it, where were you and how were you introduced to it?

ILONA - King Tuff Was Dead. I was anticipating a big change in my life that didn’t end up happening.

JAMIE - Attack in Black Years (By One Thousand Fingertips). I had just gone through a breakup and was living in my friend’s apartment. I would just flip this record over and over again.

LYNN - The Monks Bad Habits. I briefly had a band way back in the day called Inner City Kitties, and my friend in the band introduced me to this record. I fell in love and still listen to it all the time, it’s one of my all-time favorites.

JACKIE - Ramones Leave Home. I first heard this album in the back of my friend’s car when I was about fifteen. We would drive around all the time listening to it on repeat. To this day it’s my favorite Ramones album, and probably my favorite album of all time. I never get sick of it and can sing it by heart.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve read or someone told you that you still follow to this day?

ILONA - My dad always says, “watch and listen.”

JAMIE - “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before

breakfast.” A quote from Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland.

JACKIE - My mom was a Scout leader so she taught me to always be prepared. Very practical.

LYNN - My brother always tells me, “Stay in your zone, breathe and have fun.”

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

PALE LIPS: We have a Bandcamp page! https://palelips.bandcamp.com

We have sold out of our 7” entirely but digital download (and streaming) is still available.

What lies ahead for Pale Lips, any more records or touring news coming up?

PALE LIPS: Our debut full length album, Wanna Be Bad, is coming out in early 2016 on Hosehead Records! Our great friend Max Desharnais from Sonic Avenues did an absolutely awesome job producing, recording and mixing the album and we are incredibly proud of how it turned out. Now we are just waiting on the vinyl so we really have no idea when the album will be ready - but it’s coming! We have no concrete plans yet, but are hoping to book some US dates and maybe a brief stint in Europe once we have the vinyl in our hands. We are playing a couple of shows with Paul Collins Beat in January in Ottawa and Montreal,  So 2016 is off to a great start and we are hoping to keep up the momentum.

Follow @AAmmunition

Nasty Rumours!

     Nasty Rumours are from Bern, Switzerland and they play one of the most infectious brands of punk rock around today.  They take their ques from the late 70's punk bands that had a pop edge to them. Bands like Generation X, The Vibrators and The Undertones. These guys aren't a bunch of mindless copy cats though, they've got a soul and an energy that's all their own and it plainly shows in their music.

Interview by J Castro

Let’s begin by telling me who is currently in the band and what everyone does in it?

Juli: We are 4 guys in Nasty Rumours; Danny / drums, Flo / bass & backing vocals

Jamous / guitar & backing vocals, Juli / lead vocals  

How did you all meet and decide to play in Nasty Rumours together?

JAMOUS: The four of us knew each other already for years. Growing up in a small town in the Swiss Alps, there was only one place to go to, one club where there was punk / metal / alternative music on a weekly basis – bands from all over the world passed by and literally showed us how music is done.  The place is called “Café Bar Mokka” in Thun (and by the way, it is the most beautiful club all over the world, travel to Thun and have a look yourself). “Café Bar Mokka” was the place for all of us to start chatting up other music freaks and so a lot of bands were founded in that environment in the late 80’s, early 90’s. Danny at the same time started his own label “Subversiv Records” and all those bands started to release their first efforts under the “Subversiv” flag. Bands came, bands went and in 2012 I was without a band, as my ’77 punk band of 17 years - Tight Finks - broke up. Danny always loved ’77 punk rock therefore he asked me to start a new project. At about the same time Juli asked me the same question. But here we were with 1 guitarist and 2 drummers.  Juli then just decided to step up to the microphone and to be our lead singer. A job he since then does in such a perfect way! An old friend of ours was happy to fill in on bass and there we were: Nasty Rumours!

"Rats In A Wheel" b/w "Wanna Be On Top" 7" released June 27th, 2014 on No Front Teeth Records  

Tell me about the first time you heard punk rock music?  What record or song was it, when was it, where were you and who first introduced it to you?  If you can remember all of that of course!

JULI: I remember at school the whole Skate-Punk and Melodic-Punk thing was very in trend. All these big bands from “Fat Wreck” and “Epitaph”.  At that time my older brother was introducing me to The Clash, telling me that this was punk of the first hour! It was also my brother who introduced me to the music of Tight Finks. Thanks to those guys I discovered the whole old school punk universe. I’m younger than my bandmates in Nasty Rumours, as you may already know. As a young teenager I was at their shows, going crazy. To be growing up with their music and now being in a band with them is kinda cool!  

JAMOUS: In school there was this guy Tony who was totally in love with The Beatles. The only other band he let “intrude” his ears was Die Toten Hosen out of Germany. In 1987 they released a live album Live – Bis Zum Bitteren Ende and this Beatles dude Tony taped the album for me, which then hooked me up with punk rock for the first time. It was also the first time I heard the word “Scheisse” (shit) in a song. It blew my mind, how great was that!!!! Soon after that the Ramones took over and all the other ’77 bands followed…

What sorts of things influence your song lyrics? Are there any subjects you wouldn’t write a song about?

JULI: A lot of things have an influence on the lyrics. I mean anything that creates an emotion is a possible inspiration for a new song. Whether it’s love, hate, boredom or whatever. We are not explicitly a political band but when I’m reading the newspaper or take a closer look at society, it’s clearly affecting me in writing the lyrics. We often end up singing songs about love and shit, though, hahaha.  I can’t think of something that I wouldn’t write about right now. As long as you got something to say, say it! And underlay it with a catchy tune.

Was the song “Barbwire Heart” (the B-Side of the newest EP on Wanda Records)  inspired by true events?

JULI: It’s fiction. But anybody who has been rejected and felt like a crushed bug knows what it’s all about. 

Nasty Rumours is currently based in Bern, Switzerland.  When I think about Switzerland and rock music, I think metal.  Maybe because of Krokus or Celtic Frost.  What is the music scene really like up there now?  Is there a supportive crowd that goes to punk shows?

JAMOUS: That’s really funny to read! When I was 9 years old I listened to Krokus a hell of a lot. Heroes they were... hahahaha! The problem in Switzerland is, that it is very very hard to earn your living with music. So there is very few bands that are known internationally. Like Krokus, Celtic Frost, Gotthard, Yellow, and Bonaparte.  But, like in every country of this world, of course there are thousands of musicians and bands in Switzerland, too. There’s a huge underground scene, a D.I.Y. scene. Bands work quite hard to be able to play shows and to release albums. There’s every kind of music scene in Switzerland, every kinda music played - so of course there is also a Punk scene here, but it’s not as big as in places like the U.K., West Coast cities of the USA, Washington DC, NYC, Berlin, big places like that. It’s a small scene, but when there’s bands touring through Switzerland people often travel quite a distance to catch the shows. But on the other hand it’s not uncommon that you can watch the U.K. Subs plus The Vibrators playing a show in front of just 30 people! Sad!

And speaking of metal I was reading an interview with Bruce Dickenson of Iron Maiden and he said that punk is rubbish, the people playing punk music can’t play and if given a choice, people in punk bands would rather be in metal bands surrounded by porn stars.   What do you guys think about that, is he half right?

JAMOUS: Nothin’ to say to this one… I’ll have to take a break now, as I have to burn all my Iron Maiden LPs… Strange quote! The first two Maiden LPs had a great touch of Punk in them… Next question, please…

What kind of feeling or sentiments do you hope your audience walks away with after seeing a Nasty Rumours show?

JULI:  I hope they’re all exhausted from going crazy during the best concert of their lives, haha! No seriously, of course I hope our audience is having a good time and that they enjoy themselves and our music.

JAMOUS: I hope they cannot think other than: “When are they playing next? When are they playing next? When are they playing next? …” For me it is important that people can leave their daily life outside the club and have some loose hours and when they walk home they have a smile on their face. And hopefully they think about when they can hit the local record store next time to get a shitload of wonderful old school punk records.

"Girls In Love" b/w "Barbwire Heart" released October 31st 2014 on Wanda Records

It seems a lot of the band’s influences come from punk and rock n roll bands that were in their prime decades ago.  Do any current bands influence you and your music?

JULI: Yes, of course. That’s the beautiful thing about music; you’ll always find new bands that will blow your mind. I’m a huge fan of 70’s punk bands and I listen to those old bands a lot. They made a lot of people to what they are today, including me. Those bands still matter.  But don’t close your eyes and ears on new bands. There are tons of inspiring new bands I could name you. Currently nonstop on my record player: Impo and the Tents, the Achtungs, Generacion Suicida.

JAMOUS: For me one of the biggest influences for the music I play are The Boys, Ramones and The Adicts - but they’re from the “old” scene and that was not your question… I’d say looking at current or “modern” bands I have to mention The Briefs and The Cute Lepers. Huge influences! They both brought a sweet side back to punk rock with cute melodies and bright colors. Thanx, Mr. Steve E. Nix!!!

Where can people go to hear or buy Nasty Rumour’s music?

JAMOUS: We play shows in Switzerland of course but always try to travel to other countries, too. So check our homepage regularly as in the “Show” section you’ll find out about when and where you can catch us live. To buy our music you’ll simply have to come to one of our shows and feast on the merchandise table or you’ll hit our Bandcamp site. Also check the shops of our Record Labels “No Front Teeth” and “Wanda Rec.” if they have some 7” left.

What is in the near future for the band, any touring or new records in the works?

JULI: There is going to be a release of another 7” single soon, it’ll be called Dilemma and will be out on Wanda Rec.  We’ll play a couple of shows in Germany, in the Czech Republic and Switzerland at the end of this year.

Follow Nasty Rumours! 

http://nastyrumours.com/

https://www.facebook.com/nastyrumours

Follow @AAmmunition

Modern Pets

Photo by Andrea Shettler

     Any ignorant fool that utters the words “punk is dead” needs to pick his ignorant ass up off the couch and direct his/her attention towards Berlin, Germany. It’s a land of culture, politics, science, and top-notch punk rock! This is the city where Modern Pets dwell. This band relentlessly hurls snarling, anxiety filled ‘77 style punk rock similar to bands like The Gaggers (R.I.P.) and American groups like The Stitches and The Briefs.  It’s fast, snotty, and the songs are driven in and pierce your eardrum just right, to ensure maximum pogo-bility. Modern Pets have been at their game and perfecting their craft for years now, releasing a number or EP’s and LP’s on various labels. Once you hear them you’re gonna want to gather them all and realize playing Modern Pets records at maximum volume is mandatory!   

Interview by J Castro

Let’s start off with introductions, who’s all in Modern Pets and what do they do in the group?

JAN: Its Axel, Tobi, Alvar, and Jan. Bass, guitar, guitar, drums and we all sing. Everybody is writing songs that we arrange together in our practice room. I am doing the main part of the organizing, Tobi and Axel do a lot of the recordings and help with organizing too and Alvar looks really good!

The band is currently based out of Berlin, Germany. Germany has a history of great punk bands back in the day, The Razors, PVC, The Pack just to name a few.  What’s it like there now, are people pretty receptive to what you guys are doing musically?

JAN: To be honest – All the bands you are mentioning are ok, but not our favorites if it comes to German Punk from back in the day. We´re more into The Buttocks, Neurotic Arseholes, A+P, Schleimkeim, Abwärts, Betoncombo, Chaos Z and the likes. Anyways, nowadays the most German Punk/Deutschpunk is really shitty if you compare it to the ‘80s or early ‘90’s, it actually pretty much sucks! The scene, especially in Berlin, totally changed, Berlin is a really international city and you have all kinds of influences and languages from all over the world. So nowadays you find all kinds of different subgenres of Punk in here: from UK influenced HC, American garage to Spanish post punk and back. The scene still is a much more political one than in the US for example as its roots are deeply connected with the squatting and antifascist movement. It’s also still really big, at least in Berlin and still you find loads of different venues and places to go if you are into Punk and anything related. To me it seems an active and vital movement. Getting back to your question: yes, people are and always were receptive to what we were/are doing, as most of them at least partly understand where our influences are coming from (people in the US seem to understand that way better though).

You guys toured Japan in 2014, how did that go? Was it your first time there?

JAN: We got invited to do a tour there together with The Kidnappers from Hamburg and Your Pest Band from Tokyo. The tour's been absolutely great and was a really special experience! None of us have been there before ever, but we all hope we can do it again someday!

Speaking of playing live, what has been the most memorable Modern Pets show, good or bad that you can remember?  Where was it and what made it so unforgettable?

JAN: That´s a really hard question, maybe the one in the end of a 40 show European tour in 2013 where we were punching each other on stage in Gothenburg/Sweden, a really bad memory though. Still we learned something out of it I guess and it was a great show for the audience!

When you guys are up there playing in front of an audience, what distracts you most?  What kinds of things annoy you that you see people doing during your gigs?

JAN: As we´re having a pretty solid experience in playing live I think it’s kinda hard to distract us from the outside. A bad monitor/stage sound is always something that sucks and kinda makes you feel uncomfortable playing, but that´s how it goes sometimes. What really annoys me are stupid people in the audience; people that dance too violent or disrespect others, smaller people with their acting and moving and also people who seem like totally not interested in what you are doing. I don´t get how you can pay money to enter a show and then just stand around and shake your head and build a semi circle in front of the stage. Luckily we don´t have any of these types in our audiences too often.

You guys have released a number of records on a bunch of different record labels including Modern Action and Secret Mission here in the U.S.  How did you hook up with these guys on a different continent?

JAN: They got in touch with us and asked if we wanna release something with them. Both labels are run by amazing people and we really like what they are doing, so we're really happy about that.

Do you remember as a kid, who made you want to pick up and learn to play an instrument?

JAN: As far as I can say, I started playing drums in the early ‘90’s, it was definitely Guns n’ Roses when I was an 8 year old kid. I know that´s a bit awkward, but they definitely were the first rock n’ roll band that I was ever listening to and had a big impact on me at least for 2 years. And of course when I was 13 and started to listen to punk I always denied that I ever listened to them, he, he. But yeah, if it comes to punk it was maybe popular bands like Green Day, Nirvana, Offspring, Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen, Bad Religion that first touched me and then later on bands like Slime, Spermbirds, Black Flag, Crass, Discharge and Minor Threat as well as a whole bunch of popular ‘90’s Deutschpunk like Wizo or Hammerhead that got me deeper into it and really made me play what I´m doing today at least kind of. That’s excluding all the much more specific ‘70’s punk, power-pop, Beat and HC stuff that I got in touch with later that clearly had an of an effect on what we are doing with Modern Pets now. Tobi and Axel are both about 5/6 years younger than me, so for them it must have been quite different and Alvar is my age – we have a couple of similarities, but he´s from Spain, so there´s loads of local differences too.

Do you remember where you were and who first introduced you to punk music?  Tell me a bit about that, can you remember what record or song it was? 

JAN: It was my uncle, it was on the south German countryside in a village called Sülzbach (that´s close to Stuttgart), it was in the mid ‘90’s and it definitely was “A Texas Cowboy” from the Spermbirds. I remember jumping around my uncle’s room (he is really young and by that time he was still living with my grandparents) together with my sister while we were listening to it.... Good times! 

When you aren’t playing or listening to music, what other sorts of thing do you enjoy doing, any non-musical hobbies or interests?

JAN: Music is definitely the thing for all of us. Every one of us is at least playing in 2 bands at the moment, so as sad as it is, I think all of us are spending most of our time listening and playing music as well as organizing shows for other bands or putting out tapes. If I don´t do that I´m reading a lot, doing a bit of sports, watching movies and smoking pot with my housemate. I think I can more or less speak for all of us that this pretty much sums it up, if you ask me what we are doing. Some of us are also recording bands or DJ-ing, man maybe I should change something in my life he, he.

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

JAN: Hopefully your local punk record store, definitely our live shows and at our labels, Secret Mission Records, Modern Action Records, Dead Beat Records in the US; P.Trash, Concrete Jungle Records, Rockstar Records, This Charming Man Records in Europe and Black Hole Records in Japan. We also have a Bandcamp site with almost all the releases we did so far. You can download there for free or at least listen to the stuff. Its modernpets1.bandcamp.com

What lies ahead in the near future for Modern Pets?

JAN: We're pretty much focusing on working on new songs at the moment that might end up on another record one day and we'll tour Eastern Europe this year for the first time as well as some smaller weekend things in Spain, the UK and of course Germany and then hopefully the US again in late 2015 or next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdwhmKo6_k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yN41D9ocV4

website: http://modernpetssuck.blogspot.de/

bandcamp: http://modernpets1.bandcamp.com/

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/modernpets

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