Dime Runner

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Brian Schickling

Where is the band from?

Fullerton, CA

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

Brian Schickling - Vocals

Rocky Rigs - Guitar

Danny Drumkiller - Drums

Ryan Page - Bass

Brian Taylor - Guitar

How did the band start?

Brian Schickling and Rocky Rigs met up in one of Orange County’s fine facilities. With not much to do, the two started to write songs and put the band together. There have been a couple line up changes, but they were short lived. This line up has been the longest-lived and hardest playing.

The band has been featured pretty regularly on Surf & Destroy. How did the band initially hook-up with the podcast? Did Hostage find the band or did you submit songs?

We hooked up with them a while back when we were supposed to play a Pushers show last summer. We sent them some songs and they have been into us since. We’d like to thank them for the love!

Black Vinyl Limited put out the band’s most recent 7-inch and it looks like an LP on the horizon. Explain the Black Vinyl connection. How did you meet them, etc.?

Black Vinyl WILL be putting out our LP and 7” very soon. Our debut 7” Recharged Rejects was put out by Wanda Records (DE) a German Record Label. We also have two songs on iTunes available. I work at Vinyl Solution Records in Huntington Beach so that’s where I met up with Drak from Black Vinyl LTD.

List your three most influential OC punk bands? Have these bands had any influence on the band’s songwriting?

1.     The Stitches

2.     US Bombs

3.     Smogtown

Yeah these bands have had an influence on the song writing process…but not much.

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

Music is everything. No matter what and how disposable things are in this day and age no one can ever dispose of the feelings music brings a person.

50 years ago people use buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects music in any way?

The only way it affects music is by bands and labels not getting paid for their work. Which affects the way music is put out.

Where can people hear the band?

On Facebook:  www.facebook.com/DIMExRUNNER

What’s next?

Playing shows here and there. A European tour is scheduled in March 2013 and the release of our full-length in the upcoming months.

Sell music on itunes at ReverbNation.com

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The Meka Leka Hi's

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Hey cool dude, this is Josh!

Where is the band from?

We are from Buena Park

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

Josh Grelock - guitar / lead vocals

Johnnie Magrann - bass / vocals

Loye Aubrey Jr. - drums

How did the band start?  Originally the band was a two-piece then later adding a bass player. 

About 5 years ago when we first started the band it was originally called The Merkins. The line-up was me (Josh) on guitar and vocals, Rosemary on drums, and Andrew King on bass. Andrew ended up getting asked to play guitar for the Crystal Antlers, which turned us into a two- piece band. This also prompted the name change to The Meka Leka Hi’s. After being a two-piece for a couple years we asked Johnnie (a long time friend of mine) to play bass with us. Johnnie is a really good guitar player, so when he picked up the bass he wrote some rad bass lines to our songs! This really made our sound full. We recently (about six months ago) got a new drummer, Loye Aubrey Jr. The first time he jammed with us I knew instantly we found our dude! I feel like the band has never sounded better!

I had read that the original influences were chicken nuggets, 1980’s cartoons, and Lucky Charms. Is this still true? Judging by the song “Chicken Nuggets, Pizza Party,” at least chicken nuggets still are.

Yes, chicken nuggets and 80’s cartoons still influence us.

What bands influenced the Meka Leka Hi’s?  Dead Milkmen?

When I started the band I wanted to sound like a cross between Link Wray and The Dead Milkmen. Not sure if that’s what happened, but I’m stoked either way.

How are excited are you guys about the LP coming out?

Super excited! We did it all ourselves, except for the recording, our friend Ryan Foster (and fellow band mate in Honey Badgers) recorded us at Johnnie’s house. We recorded the vocals in my bathroom, ha ha.  This is going to be our very first release, so we decided to go big and put out a full-length album. We probably have enough material to put out two albums, but we’ll start with one.

The LP cover art looks to be a Josh R’s painting?  When your singer is an up and coming artist, there is definitely no shortage of artwork.

Yes, I did paint the album cover. I’m stoked to have my art on the record!

50 years ago people use buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think affects music in anyway?

I still buy my music from record stores; doesn’t every one else do that too?

Where can people hear the band?

Best way to find out about any upcoming Meka Leka Hi show’s is to check out our Facebook page. There is also a link to our bandcamp on there too.

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Meka-Leka-His/109913039042046?ref=ts&fref=ts

Bandcamp:

http://themekalekahis.bandcamp.com/

What’s next?

Shows! We are ready to start playing a bunch of shows to support our album!

It would be nice to do a little west coast tour too!

Follow @AAmmunition

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