Dura-Delinquent: Hans Takes A Licking But Keeps On Ticking!

Originally published in Teenage Kicks #1 (1997)

Interviews by: Michael Cronin, Devorah Ostrov & Michelle Castro

Story: Michael Cronin

Dura-Delinquent (L-R): Philipp, Hans, Nicolas & Jason
Photo: Devorah Ostrov - San Francisco, 1997

Dura-Delinquent kick ass. As a result of their raucous live shows, they also get their asses kicked on occasion. Almost always, they generate an extreme reaction from the audience, especially in San Francisco. 

Singer Hans Murnau has a penchant for diving off stage and hanging onto some unsuspecting guy in the crowd. Almost always he is punched, kicked, shoved, or hit with a glass. Maybe because his pants are usually unzipped at the time. At a recent Bottom of the Hill show Hans got cut dangerously close to his right eye. He climbed back up on stage, wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand, and muttered, "Jesus died for you. I bled for you. I should at least be a fucking saint!"

Hans & Philipp
Photo: Devorah Ostrov - San Francisco, 1997

We made a valiant attempt to interview all four members (big mistake!) of the band after one soundcheck. Hans and Nicolas arrived early. Hans is quiet and reserved. It's Nicolas who greets us and sorts out problems at the door. Time went by: 90 minutes to be exact. The others missed the soundcheck. Jason arrives. He seems amused that someone actually wants to interview him. Finally, Philipp struts in on wobbly high heels, scarf trailing from his throat. What an entrance! 

We turn on the tape recorder. Hans is suddenly very vocal! The resulting interview was more like a photo op with quips, the boys trampling over most of our questions. Answers range from merely evasive to contradictions and outright lies. Mention the Stooges and a discussion of the 3 Stooges ensues. Can we take Philipp's raving about the merits of later-day Alice Cooper over his classic early albums seriously? Or Hans' preference for late '70s Ron Wood-period Stones over their classic work? The only thing we're told we can take seriously is Peter Pan.

Philipp: "That's the one thing we don't fuck around about — Peter Pan. Make sure to throw some Peter Pan into this motherfucker!"

Philipp
Photo: Devorah Ostrov - San Francisco, 1997

We subsequently bugged them individually to fill in the gaps. Somehow, through "divine forces," they all ended up in Monterey — Hans and Nicolas (guitar) are originally from outside D.C.; Jason Moore (drums) is from Oklahoma; and Philipp Stick (guitar) is from "the Mother Country." 

Nicolas and Philipp met at school. They knew Jason from a local record store. All of them being avid record collectors and "music fanatics," they decided to put a band together.

Nicolas: "We got together to play a show that was happening. We wrote a bunch of songs in like a week, that were sort of raw and just what we were inspired by at the time. Then we evolved into something more — our own style basically."

They've been kicking around the Northern California scene for about two years now. Their chaotic live shows are not to be missed. At a Purple Onion show, back in January, cups and ashtrays flew, instantly and constantly. 

Philipp dropped his pants and tossed them into the crowd — unable to find them later! He also demonstrated a knack for playing and humping the stage simultaneously. Hans did his best young Iggy/Lux impression — mic in mouth, dick in hand, he scaled the amps, jumped into the crowd and overturned tables. Nicolas and Jason kept a rock steady beat throughout the amped up antics. The messy aftermath was proof that this was easily one of the hottest, punkest, most fun shows of the year.

Hans
Photos: Devorah Ostrov - San Francisco, 1997

Hans: "People always throw shit at us in San Francisco. Especially at the Purple Onion. If I had a nickel for every ashtray thrown at me... The reaction thing is great, but I'd get bored if every time we played, I got a glass thrown at me. I mean, I'd get hurt, too. But it's only in San Francisco."

They've also done a brief U.S. tour, half with Chrome Cranks, half on their own; and last December they caused a commotion in Europe, playing two weeks' worth of shows in Germany, Holland and the U.K.

Hans: "Those were the best shows. I had the most fun. Not England — Europe. Just like, the crowds. A big crowd here is a small crowd there. The big night there, it was amazing! And they were totally receptive."

Nicolas
Photo: Devorah Ostrov - San Francisco, 1997

Nicolas: "We almost got banned from London!"

Phillip: "What are you talking about? It was the whole U.K.!"

Somehow a Christmas tree ended up in a backstage toilet, causing extensive damage.

Nicolas: "They didn't give us enough beer that night, so we broke a toilet."

Hans: "Just let that be a warning to all you other clubs. Don't fuck with us, man!"

Dura-Delinquent have released a self-titled LP/CD and a couple of singles — "Sick on You" and "Take Me to My King." Their fuzzy, decidedly lo-fi garage sound lies somewhere between the Cramps and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The catchiest LP track, "I Could Kick Your Habit," spotlights Jason's hopped- up Adam & the Ants/Bow Wow Wow-style drumming. Nicolas and Philipp strangle the two-guitar no bass sound for all it's worth on "All Lushed Up" (a "Sick on You" B-side). Han's sleazy, slurry vocals are consistent throughout. They also appear on the U.K. compilation 7" Gone, Got, Wretched. And a European-only single, "Kidnaped," was released as well.

Hans: "It's a different version, but we didn't mean it to be."

Philipp: "Shitty versions, badly mastered."

The band is not really happy with any of their recordings.

Philipp: "They're too clean. We're a lot dirtier than that!"

"Sick on You"
b/w "Head Ove High-Heels" & "All Lushed Up"

Nicolas: We've changed since the record. That was a year ago. I'm more proud of what we're doing now. Our next recording efforts are going to represent what we really are and what we're like live better. I think that's most important, being a good live band. We just want to write good music. That's what we're shooting for."

Their most recent demos are in fact among their best. "Lay it on Me" and "Her Caviar" solidify their early sound, while "The Hollywood Diet" and "My Baby Caught the Train" are longer, more jammy Stones-style blues. Nicolas' and Philipp's guitars are less at war here and more complimentary to each other. 

They hope to have some of the new songs out soon.

Before we wrapped, the band made a bid for our first cover. Regrettably, we informed them that it had already been promised to D Generation's guitarist, Howie Pyro. 

Philipp: "Howie Pyro?! You should have us on the cover!

Nicolas: "We're going to have a contract from now on. If you want us in your magazine, you have to put us on the cover!"

Philipp: "Howie Pyro came to see us in New York and bought our single. At least he knows what good rock 'n' roll is about!"

Clap if you believe!

Silver Jet Discuss "Pull Me Up ... Drag Me Down" & What They Learned From Touring With Cheap Trick!

Originally published in Teenage Kicks #2 (Fall 1997)

Interview by Devorah Ostrov

Silver Jet
(from the CD booklet)

Some people have called Silver Jet "the Cheap Trick of the '90s" (well, Jason from Dura Delinquent did). 

And it's not without reason. As evidenced by the dozen tracks on their Virgin Records debut Pull Me Up ... Drag Me Down, Silver Jet deliver tight, bright, hard pop tunes akin to the Trickster's initial efforts. At the same time, their catchy lyrics focus on girls, insecurity, girls, other people in bands, girls, loneliness, and mostly — girls!

It began in the '80s.

Lead singer/guitarist Luke Tierney was going to Santa Barbara High and fronting a glam/punk outfit called Lost Kittenz. He loved the New York Dolls and Jetboy. He was also known to venture down to Los Angeles whenever Guns N' Roses played.

Meanwhile, recent Chicago transplant, Jeff Gross, was also attending Santa Barbara High. And he was playing bass with the decidedly darker, female-fronted Under the Weather, which he describes as "kind of like Siouxie and the Banshees meet Killing Joke."

My autographed copy of Pull Me Up ... Drag Me Down

The two future bandmates weren't yet acquainted. "I knew about Luke's band," says Jeff, "and he knew about mine. But we had never met."

Neither of their groups went anywhere. But during a series of break-ups and realignments, Luke and Jeff finally met up, and the nucleus of Silver Jet formed about four years ago. 

With the addition of a temporary second guitarist and a part-time drummer, they entered Rick Parker's studio to work on their first demo tape. And this is where Grant Conway came in. 

London-born Grant moved to California when his father came over to open Island Record's LA office. Needless to say, Grant grew up surrounded by rock 'n' roll. He can, for instance, nonchalantly toss out Nigel Olsson's name, not just as an influence but as a teacher: "He introduced me to drums at an early age, like two or three. He used to live with us. His drums were set up in the garage."

Grant was working as a recording engineer at Parker's studio when he met the members of Silver Jet — their demo was his first project. And getting him to join the group was easy. "Our drummer was also playing with Rick [Parker]," says Jeff. "So, our band wasn't his main band. We were interested in finding a steady drummer. Grant knew that, and he liked our music."

Luke Tierney
(from the CD booklet)

With their drummer issue sorted, the guys carried on as a four-piece. But the revolving door of second guitarists got tiresome.

"We kept trying out other guitar players," emphasizes Grant. "When we'd play a show, we'd borrow a guitar player, either someone we were trying out or a friend from another band." 

"It was holding us back," agrees Luke. "So, we decided to go with what we had."

Trimmed down to a dynamic threesome, Silver Jet spent the next three-and-a-half years gigging around Los Angeles. "Waves of interest would come and go," recalls Jeff.

At one point, they came close to signing a deal with E Pluribus Unum, the indie label co-founded by Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz. 

"Adam was coming to every one of our shows," notes Luke. "He was going out of his way. He was leaving rehearsals early to come and see us. He was bringing his friends to see us."

Although they decided not to go with Duritz, his interest motivated them to hire a manager. "Things took off from there," says Luke. "We got a bunch of offers, and Virgin seemed like the best one." (They claim never to have played an intentional showcase; supposedly, Virgin didn't even see the group live prior to signing them.)

Before they released Pull Me Up ... Drag Me Down, Silver Jet issued a limited edition, four-song vinyl EP. "A novelty thing," as Luke calls it, which featured the sardonic "Plastiqa": "Collagen plastic silicone/Feel so real/But got a mind of their own/Soon they'll be making girls/Out of styrofoam..."

"The Boys" - acrylic on canvas
painting by Luke Tierney
(from the CD booklet)

The EP also included the optimistic "Meant to Be" ("It was meant to be this way/I just wanna sing every day...") plus demo versions of David Bowie's "Star" and the terrific Tierney-penned "Kid" — which once contained the perfect line: "She probably dates a future KROQ star." 

"KROQ" was later changed to the generic "indie rock star" over concerns that should "Kid" become a single, every radio station would want to fill in their own call letters. A great gimmick! But "it wasn't the route we wanted to go," states Luke.

All the songs from the EP, save the Bowie cover, made the transition to Pull Me Up ... Drag Me Down. 

Co-produced by the band and Tim Palmer (best known for his work with alt-rock outfits like the Cure, Sponge, and the Mission, as well as Bowie's Tin Machine), the CD is well-crafted, bursting with energy and propelled by memorable hooks at every turn. The group wanted to work with Palmer because of personal and professional reasons. 

"I was really into the Tin Machine record," says Jeff. "I thought that was a really exciting turn for Bowie, and I thought the production was cool — real aggressive, y'know. Plus, Tim had been a friend of ours for a number of years. He came and checked out the band a bunch of times; he'd seen us grow over different eras. So, when it came time to make the record, we felt comfortable that he knew what we wanted to accomplish. We didn't want to stray too far from what we do live. We didn't want a lot of production. We just wanted to capture the band in its simplest form."

Silver Jet
(from the CD booklet)

The record company bio states that Palmer told them to choose four "focus words" during the recording sessions. They picked "big, dry, youthful, and fun." While the last two adjectives are self-explanatory (and very well represented), perhaps "big" and "dry" could use some clarification.

"Dry in a production sense," explains Jeff (laughing at my allusion to soggy vinyl). "Dry in the sense of not sounding too reverby — like Back In Black is big and dry. We wanted it to sound big, but we didn't want it to sound big by using a lot of reverb."

As Silver Jet's main songwriter, Luke's lyrics tend to focus on clever boy-meets or sometimes doesn't-meet-girl themes, like "That Call" ("He's calling her/He's not so sure/He tries to stall/He's making that call...") and the hapless hero of "Kid" ("Sitting there with my jaw on the floor/Like a kid at a high school dance/Maybe she'd dig me if I was Thurston Moore...") 

Dogstar and Silver Jet at the Fillmore
San Francisco - August 1, 1997

"Most of this record was written right at the end of, and the whole time after, the break-up of a really long relationship," allows Luke. "So everything was new, and that was sort of my inspiration lyrically."

Maybe that explains why the hesitant "Kid" is followed by the arrogant "Free to Roam" ("I don't need a woman I can call my own/I just need a girl that can take me home..."). However, Luke insists that "as far as the order of songs, we were trying to keep a theme going musically more so than lyrically."

There's also the mocking sarcasm of "Master Plan," which is about "people who can't ever stick to one band," and a three-minute bout of lonely introspection simply called "Pain" ("I wanna help you/But can't you see/I'm helpless too...").

"Mostly, anything that sounds really depressed is probably me writing in the first person about someone else," reflects Luke. '"Pain" is about an experience I've had more than once, of being asked for change and literally not having any. And then getting hassled about it. I wanna feel bad, but it's like, what can I do? I feel like saying, "'Just be glad you're not in as much debt as I am!'"

In promotion of the album, the band filmed a video for "Plastiqa" (featuring a "cryptic mannequin theme"), which is airing on regional video shows. But so far, MTV is ignoring it. For the most part, Silver Jet is playing live — often and everywhere.

There were special appearances with the Presidents of the United States of America and Dramarama (members of both groups are Silver Jet fans), not to mention last year's support slot on several dates with Cheap Trick.

Jeff Gross
(from the CD booklet)

"That was a dream come true," enthuses Luke. "Although I don't know how effective it was for us as far as getting new fans. I think Cheap Trick's fans liked us 'cause they knew we really liked Cheap Trick. But they have a following that's like... it's people who already have all the records they need, and most of them are Cheap Trick records!"

Did they pick up any handy tips from the old pros?

"I definitely learned some things here and there on that tour," nods Grant mysteriously.

"They taught me that you can't just mope when things aren't going perfectly," remarks Luke. "Those guys go out and just floor their audience every night. They're insane live! And they never stop. No griping. They just keep going."

"And we learned to shop as much as possible," interjects Jeff. "Tom Petersson hits every music store and buys a new bass; picks up a couple of suits..."

This year, you might have seen Silver Jet at one of the 48 (!) cross-country shows they played with Keanu Reeves' Dogstar. I caught up with them at the tail end of the tour — gig #46 at the Fillmore, with just Palo Alto and Los Angeles left to go. 

Grant Conway
(from the CD booklet)

Luke comments that the tour has gone "really well." He adds that "there's been a few shows where it hasn't been totally packed, but those have been the exception. A lot of the shows were sold out!"

Finally, I wonder, are they sick of all the Cheap Trick comparisons?

"No," smiles Luke. "I love Cheap Trick, so that's fine. I'm sick of comparisons in general, but there's really no way to describe a band on paper. You have to come up with something tangible, so comparisons are inevitable. But it's all right. That's one of the comparisons I like, let's put it that way."

* * *

L-R: Grant, Luke & Jeff
(Virgin Records publicity pic)

On a side note: Silver Jet handled most of the CD artwork themselves! Luke designed the cover, which Grant photographed. In addition, Grant and Jeff took several other photos used in the booklet, and the caricature of the group on the back cover is an acrylic on canvas painting by Luke titled "The Boys."

Talking To CJ Pretzel From The Drags About "Dragsploitation...Now" Wasn't A Drag At All!

Originally posted in Teenage Kicks #1

By Devorah Ostrov

L-R: CJ, Lorca & Keith
From the back cover of Dragsploitation...Now!
Photos: Nick Tauro

The Drags — most people assume the name has to do with drag racing but as guitarist/lead "singer" (their quote marks, not mine!) CJ Pretzel points out, there's (at least) a quadruple entendre: "You have the cigarette thing, the cross-dressing thing, the racing thing, and the bummer thing."

In fact, the group chose its moniker with ambiguity in mind. "We liked the looseness of it," says CJ. "It's sort of solidified now, but in the beginning, people didn't know if we would come out in dresses, or what."

Estrus Records advert for
Dragsploitation...Now!

Formed in 1993 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the band centers around the threesome of...

CJ Stritzel/Pretzel: Originally from Arizona, he formed the group when he got tired of waiting for something to present itself. "After a while, I realized that I just had to do it myself," he states.

Lorca Wood: Originally from Oklahoma, this feisty onetime cellist was a novice bass player when she joined the band.

Keith Herrera: Described as "old school" New Mexico, in 1994 the drummer issued the Drags' earliest 45 on Resin Records, an indie label he co-founded with a friend.

The group's latest release is a fun-packed, eight-song 10-inch record called Dragsploitation...Now! (Estrus Records). Also highly recommended: the "Tales From Estrus" compilation EP featuring the Drags' cover of Crime's "Baby You're so Repulsive" and the Drags/PeeChees split 45 on G.I. Productions.

Teenage Kicks: Has the band always been a three-piece?

CJ: No, for a while we had two guitar players, but Robbie moved to Atlanta a few years ago. And there's been a couple of other side Drags — our friend Ray was a Drag, and this guy Tom was a Drag for a little while. But it's been pretty much just the three of us. There was a point where we really wanted a fourth person, but no one's come along who was ready, willing and able. Now, I kind of like it as three.

Teenage Kicks: Were you in any bands before the Drags?

Meet The Drags
Estrus Records promo postcard

CJ: No, this is pretty much my first band; I'd never sang before. And this is definitely Lorca's first and only rock 'n' roll band. She didn't even play the bass before we started; she played the cello as a kid. But we kinda wanted someone who couldn't play because a couple of us already sorta could. And I was trying really hard not to play guitar that well — or just to play it differently. I was trying to do things that sounded cooler. Not really anything that would freak out other guitar players, but just to be uglier. So, that was our idea at first, to have somebody that couldn't play bass, to add that certain spice to it.

Teenage Kicks: And what about Keith?

CJ: Keith just kind of came along. We lost our drummer, and we had a whole summer of just sitting around. I played the drums for a while just to keep it going. And then Keith presented himself, and we jumped at it.

Teenage Kicks: Do you guys consider yourselves a punk band?

CJ: Definitely! I mean... I dunno how to explain why. We do everything ourselves; nobody's gonna do it for us. And we're not making a shitload of money. We just do what we do. And I think that's as good an encapsulation of punk rock as any.

Teenage Kicks: Do you have a big following around Albuquerque?

CJ: It ebbs and flows. Sometimes it seems like we're doing really well. Sometimes it seems like no one gives a shit.

Gas Huffer, Clawhammer & the Drags at the Whisky
(Poster art by Chris Cooper aka "Coop")

Teenage Kicks: Is there a scene in Albuquerque?

CJ: Yeah, there's some bands that are really good. And there's a couple of places to play. That's all you need, really. But there's not enough bands so that you can go out every weekend and see a different combination of bands. The plan now is to make a record and be gone as much as we can. I don't wanna play there every two weeks.

Teenage Kicks: How did you hook up with Estrus Records?

Dragsploitation...Now!
(Estrus Records 1995)

CJ: We sent them our first record [the "I Like to Die" 45]. We'd seen the Estrus ads; they had great little monsters and stuff in them. And we thought they looked really cool. We were always stealing the stuff from their ads to make our flyers. So we figured, let's send 'em a record! So, we sent them a test pressing with a postcard from this breakfast restaurant.

   This restaurant... it's like a whole city block and it's in a barn. It's called the Frontier Restaurant. We discovered that they had these postcards with their Frontier Sweet Roll on them, which is their claim to fame. So, we wrote on the back of the postcard: "We just made this record!" I don't know what we expected; if we expected to get signed, or what. But they called us back and said, "We wanna sell the record." A good chunk of that first pressing was sold through the Estrus mail-order catalog. And then we went on tour through that. So, we were kind of halfway connected with Estrus even before we were signed. And when we got back, they offered to put out a record if we made one. 

Teenage Kicks: I know the Drags have played on some Estrus-package shows. Is that something the label tries to set up regularly?

Comic book version of the Drags included
in the "Tales From Estrus" Vol. 3 compilation EP

CJ: I don't know about regularly... We've done it a few times. We flew out to Chicago and played with Impala, the Lord High Fixers, the Mono Men, and the Insomniacs. And we've done it out here with the Mono Men and the Trashwomen a couple of times. But it's not like it happens all over. You've probably got an inflated idea of how much it happens, 'cause it happens here a lot. But it doesn't happen as much everywhere else.

   Dave [Crider, Estrus owner] was talking about going down to Texas and doing a show, but it hasn't happened yet. He was actually talking about buying a bus, and we'd all travel together — like the old soul revues. Each of us would play two songs and haul ass off the stage!

Teenage Kicks: Is the trash/sleaze culture something you guys are heavily into?

CJ: No, not especially. That's something that's sort of been put on us. It wasn't really about Rat Fink, or whatever. I have an appreciation for stuff like that, but it wasn't why we did it. I just wanted to have a rock band, you know.

   And the stuff we've done, like "Elongated Man" — it was a joke! This guy told us about Elongated Man, and we didn't believe it. Like I said, we're not really experts. But we ended up calling the song "Elongated Man" just because we thought it was a cool title. Since then, people have said, "Wow! You named it after Elongated Man. He's so rad!" But I still wouldn't recognize Elongated Man from... whoever!

Teenage Kicks: All the songs on the album are simply credited to "The Drags." How does the songwriting actually work?

CJ: We do it kind of collaboratively. I come in with something, and we mess around with it. And then I kind of scream until I find two or three words that go good together. And then we try to figure out what the song is about from there. 

The Drags 
(back cover of Can't Stop Rock And Roll - Estrus Records 1997)

Teenage Kicks: How did the split 45 with the PeeChees doing a Drags' song and vice versa come about?

CJ: Somebody sent us a letter asking to do a single. And we said, "Yeah!" before we thought about if we had any songs. 'Cause we write songs kind of slow. We called the PeeChees about something else and they said, "We just got this letter to do some single..." And they didn't know what song they were gonna do either. I dunno... It wasn't the most original idea on Earth, but we decided to do each other's songs. And when we presented the idea to the label, they said, "That's weird." 'Cause that's what they were thinking about doing.

"Tales From Estrus" Vol. 3 
featuring the Lord High Fixers, Impala & the Drags

Teenage Kicks: Do you purposely try to get a lo-fi sound with your recordings?

CJ: Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. There's been times when we wanted to add a little extra heat to it, so we did that. And sometimes it sounds really good, and sometimes we've been burned on it. And there's been times when we thought it sounded a little high-tech in the studio, but once we got the record, it sounded really neat. And there's other times where we thought it sounded really neat in the studio, but when we got the record back, it was a little grosser than we'd intended.  

Teenage Kicks: I've heard that the "Anxiety" single [the A-side of the group's recent 3-song 45 on Empty Records, which also features "Elongated Man" and a cover of "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll"] was recorded on the spur of the moment. Is that true?

CJ: We did that completely on the fly. We did it the day after Garage Shock [95]. Our van broke down, and we were sitting in some hotel. Blake [owner of Empty Records] had talked to us the night before about wanting to do a single sometime. Usually, that's like the rock equivalent of "let's do lunch." So, we called him up the next day and said, "If you can get a studio, we're gonna be in town." And we had a single recorded within 24 hours of when he asked us to do it!

Poster for Garage Shock 95 with the Makers,
Supersnazz & the Drags (to name a few)

Teenage Kicks: Are you inspired by other vocalists?

CJ: I have been since I started. But when I first started, I was mostly inspired by fear. Just straight-up fear. I figured, "I need to do this because no one's gonna do it for me." And it horrified me. I was in the bathroom for the whole night before we played our first show. It was such a horrifying experience. Since then... There's people whose singing I really enjoy, and I think you can be inspired by other people's singing. But you've got your own equipment. There's not really much I can do to sound like other people.

Teenage Kicks: I want to ask about the stories behind a couple of the songs on Dragsploitation...Now! One of my favorites is "My Girlfriend's in the F.B.I."

CJ: That was probably the quickest song I've ever written. It just kind of came to me when I was driving around one day. What was the word that I heard? Usually, that's the way it happens. I'll hear a word somewhere, and I'll start running with it when I'm driving around in my car. My car doesn't have a radio, so I have to keep myself entertained. So, I was driving around and it just came to me. I had it written by the time I got home. All I had to do was figure out how to play what was going on in my head.

Teenage Kicks: What about "Teenage Invasion"?

Mono Men & the Drags at Kilowatt in SF

CJ: Same deal. I just thought it was a really great title. I just thought "invasion" was a great word! That's actually the fourth incarnation of "Teenage Invasion." You know, there's the old philosophical question: If you change the head and you change the handle, do you still have the same axe? It used to have a different verse, but we thought the chorus was cool. So, we changed the verse. Then, we thought the chorus wasn't so cool. So, we changed the chorus, etc., etc. 

Teenage Kicks: The new "Tales From Estrus" compilation EP, (which includes the Drags' cover of Crime's "Baby You're so Repulsive") comes with a comic book featuring all the bands. How does it feel to be depicted in comic book form?

CJ: Oh, that was so cool! Dave told us that was going to happen, but it didn't really sink in at the time. But once we got the comic books back, it was really great! Although, for the record, I don't wear Converses. They make me look like I have duck feet.

Teenage Kicks: Why did you choose to cover "Baby You're so Repulsive" on the EP?

CJ: It was just kind of a neat song. I think one of Keith's friends had the record. We hadn't really heard of Crime. I mean, I knew that "Hotwire My Heart" was theirs — the song that Sonic Youth did. But that was about it.

Teenage Kicks: Have you heard anything back from Crime?

CJ: No, but you know, all our songs are ripped off from something else anyway. We keep expecting to hear from a whole lot of people. Haha!

★ ★ ★

Here's a link to the track "My Girlfriend's in the F.B.I." from Dragsploitation...Now.

The Groovie Ghoulies Reflect On Their Low-To-Mid-Profile In This 1997 Interview With Teenage Kicks

Originally published in Teenage Kicks #2 (Fall 1997)
Interview by Devorah Ostrov

Groovie Ghoulies/The Donna's split single (1998)

Teenage Kicks' photographer Sara Brinker took this fab
photo during our interview! 

Every time I see the Groovie Ghoulies, I'm knocked out by how much fun they are!

Lead singer/bassist Kepi is a non-stop bundle of pogoing energy. Guitarist Roach looks beautiful while tossing candy and toys to the crowd. And new drummer Panic (a Chicago native, he was formerly with the Queers, the Riverdales, and Screeching Weasel; he replaced Wendy earlier this year) keeps a fast 'n' furious beat with a big smile on his face!

Formed by Kepi nearly a decade ago, the Sacramento-based band named after a Saturday morning cartoon has developed a fanatical (and in large part teenage!) following. Their hyper poppy/punk tunes owe an obvious debt to the Ramones musically, while Kepi's hook-filled lyrics are populated by horror show heroes like Bigfoot, Pumpkinhead, King Kong, killer computers, a Beast with Five Hands, and Graveyard Girlfriends.

Poster for The Muffs/Chixdiggit/Groovie Ghoulies

show at The Middle East - July 23, 1997

Lookout Records signed the Groovie Ghoulies last year and released the super entertaining World Contact Day LP. The label has also reissued the group's first two albums: Appetite For Adrenochrome (1989) and Born In The Basement (1994).

Their latest offering, Re-Animation Festival, is due to hit record stores in September. But before all that...

An opening slot on the Muffs/ Chixdiggit tour brought them to the Fillmore — where we gave Kepi an adorable toy tambourine, met temporary fourth Ghoulie B-Face (who can usually be found with the Queers), and interviewed the band.

Kepi: B-Face joined us on tour...

Teenage Kicks: He just got onstage and wouldn't go away?

Kepi: Yeah, in Boston. He got onstage and we couldn't get him off.

Teenage Kicks: Since B-Face is playing bass, are you just singing tonight?

Kepi: Yeah... and playing tambourine!

Teenage Kicks: I'd like to go over the group's history. Other interviewers haven't really gotten into it.

Re-Animation Festival (Lookout Records - 1997)

Kepi: Because it's too messy; there are too many ex-Ghoulies.

Teenage Kicks: Were you living in Sacramento when you started the band?

Kepi: I had a Groovie Ghoulies in Sacramento, but it was very short-lived, and it goes way back. The band was pretty much formed in Los Angeles, and Roy McDonald [former drummer for Redd Kross, now with the Muffs] played the first show. It's been going pretty steady since the first album came out, and the singles just prior to that.

Teenage Kicks: What brought you back to Sacramento from Los Angeles?

Kepi: I started going out with Roach. We went to high school together. We were graduates of Roseville High School! And then we started dating again later.

Teenage Kicks: When did you get married?

Kepi & Roach: 1990...

The Groovie Ghoulies at Sin City Swingers Club (perhaps in Norway?)

Teenage Kicks: Roach, did you play guitar before you joined the band?

Roach: I used to play as a kid. Then I didn't play for about five years. The first time I played electric guitar was with the Ghoulies.

Kepi (to Roach): You rock!

Teenage Kicks: There was a big span of time between Appetite For Adrenochrome and Born In The Basement...

The Cramps & Groovie Ghoulies at the

Fillmore in SF - Halloween 1996

Kepi: Five years... There were some singles, something almost every year — a Ramones' tribute ["Pet Semetary"], a Troggs' tribute ["Girl in Black"], and a couple 7" singles. But y'know, it was real low-profile. It's less low-profile now. We're low-to-mid-profile now!

Teenage Kicks: How did your signing with Lookout Records come about? It seems like the perfect label for you guys to be on.

Kepi: All their bands put in a word for us — the Queers, the Smugglers, Pansy Division... They all said, "Sign these guys!" And they did. It's good; they take care of us.

Teenage Kicks: What's the story behind Wendy's departure?

Kepi: We went on tour with the Queers in February or March, and she couldn't do the tour. While we were on that tour, we met Panic. We were trying to plan the rest of our year as far as touring and recording, and she couldn't tour.

Teenage Kicks: Why not?

Kepi: She has a good job; she has a house and a car.

Teenage Kicks: She's a grown-up!

Groovie Ghoulies circa mid-1997 

(publicity photo)

Panic: I don't own any of those things.

Kepi: He was a homeless pedestrian. So we said, "You're in!"

Teenage Kicks: Panic, you used to be in Screeching Weasel and the Riverdales...

Panic: Yeah, but I just became really disgruntled not touring.

B-Face: But now he's gruntled!

Panic: I am really happy to get back on the touring circuit again!

Teenage Kicks: I saw your Halloween show last year with the Cramps...

Roach: That was fun!

Teenage Kicks: I think Lux is from Sacramento.

Kepi: Yeah, he has a degree from Sac State. When we played with them, he said, "Did you know there's a Groovie Ghoulies in LA?" I said, "Yeah, that's me!"

Roach (with Wendy in the background) and Kepi Ghoulie
Photos: Devorah Ostrov

Teenage Kicks: Is Halloween always a big night for you guys?

Kepi: This year we're playing in Holland. It's the start of our European tour. We're playing with the Smugglers and Mr. T Experience.

Teenage Kicks: It's a Lookout package tour!

Kepi: We're touring with Mr. T, and the Smugglers are either just starting a tour or finishing one up. It just so happens we're all in Holland that night. It'll be one big party!

Appetite For Adrenochrome 

(Crimson Corpse Records - 1989)

Teenage Kicks: Where else are you playing in Europe?

Kepi: All I know is Italy.

Teenage Kicks: Is the band well-known in Europe?

Kepi: We're low-to-mid-profile in Europe. The first record sold more over there than it did here. And we have a German single out, and we're going to do an Italian single. So, there's people who know of us.

Teenage Kicks: Out of curiosity, how have you avoided being sued over the group's name?

Kepi: I think we give the cartoon more fame than it had on its own in the last 20 years! And we spell it differently.

Panic: On this tour, some promoters have used their own creativity. We've been called the Groovie Goodies, and just Groovie.

Kepi: If they can't figure out how it's spelled, they can't sue us. "We're the Groovie Goodies! Why are you suing us?"

Lookout tour poster for The Mr. T Experience

and The Groovie Ghoulies

Teenage Kicks: I want to talk about some of the songs you cover — like "Singing the Blues." Black Oak Arkansas and Dave Edmunds both cover it...

Kepi: I know Marty Robbins, but I don't know who else did it.

Teenage Kicks: And you cover Herman Hermits!

Kepi: They're just catchy.

Teenage Kicks: And Neil Diamond, and the Partridge Family, and "She Hangs Out" by the Monkees...

Kepi: Yeah, people ask for that and "Singing the Blues." I hope we can turn them on to some songs like the Cramps do. Like 14-year-olds who are just discovering punk rock — if you can turn them on to the Stones or Neil Diamond or the 13th Floor Elevators...

Teenage Kicks: At least you guys pick songs that are fairly easily tracked down. With the Cramps, you have to do some major research!

Kepi: Yeah, you have to get into the R&B history of some one-armed blues guy who plays in a cardboard box or something.

Panic: I had a big argument with someone who said covers were a waste of time — the songs had already been done, and bands should just write all original material. But it's like, if people didn't cover songs, I wouldn't have found out about anyone, really.

World Contact Day
 (Lookout Records - 1996)

Teenage Kicks: Or if someone you like talks about other bands they like in interviews... That's how I found out about a lot of groups.

Kepi: The Stones did that! The Stones turned me on to a million blues bands.

Teenage Kicks: Mass from Squirt Gun produced your new album, Re-Animation Festival.  Did you know him before that?

Kepi: We'd met him once or twice. Panic knew him. Panic and B-Face have recorded multiple albums with him. He just told Lookout that he wanted to work with us.

Panic: What I like about Mass is, he's real patient with people. And he'll get the best performance that he thinks he can out of you.

Teenage Kicks: I love your cover of Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home" on Re-Animation Festival. I'm not familiar with the original version, but I'll take a wild guess that it doesn't sound like something the Ramones wrote.

Kepi: No, it's shockingly different!

Advert for the 2016 remaster of Born In The Basement

Teenage Kicks: And you do a song called "Maze Effect" by Daniel Janish. Who's that?

Kepi: He's a friend of ours in LA. And we do "If You Need Me"...

Teenage Kicks: The Stones!

Kepi: Yeah... Robert Bateman and Wilson Pickett wrote it. But it's pretty much the Stones' version.

Poster for a Groovie Ghoulies show in Spain

Teenage Kicks: Yet you make everything sound like a Groovie Ghoulies' song!

Panic: When I first heard Born In The Basement, I didn't think about which songs were covers. They really put their own spin on them, which makes it more interesting than just copying a song. It really impressed me.

Teenage Kicks: Are you guys ever gonna run out of monsters to write songs about?

Kepi: No! We have "Chupacabra" on the new record. As long as they keep spotting new monsters...

Teenage Kicks: What is a Chupacabra?

Kepi: It's a Puerto Rican, blood-sucking alien. It attacks goats and other farm animals.

Teenage Kicks: Have you ever seen a monster?

Kepi: I've seen one flying thing, a very fast object in the daytime. It was weird. But we don't have time to look for monsters, unless they happen upon the freeway while we're driving. Actually, there was a Bigfoot sighting in Florida last week, and it ran right into the middle of the road. So... if we're lucky!

Teenage Kicks: I heard that "Graveyard Girlfriend" is gonna be the first single off Re-Animation Festival. That's such a great pop song!

"Graveyard Girlfriend" b/w "Trick or Treat"

and "Devil Town" (Lookout Records - 1997)

Kepi: Thank you. I try to write songs that I want to hear. And y'know, if you do something you like, you play it forever! Like "Beast with Five Hands"... People ask me, "Aren't you getting sick of that?" No! There's no song we do that I'm sick of. If you write a song, you should be prepared to be stuck with it. When I write a song, I try to remember: This song's gonna haunt me and I better like it!

Teenage Kicks: I want to ask about the song "Punk Pt. II" [from World Contact Day]. Are you addressing it to Sid Vicious or someone else in particular?

Kepi: For me, it was actually Johnny Thunders and Stiv Bators, but it could be for whoever you miss. That's one of the few songs I've written that's reality-based. I was watching the Swinging Udders and thinking about how many great bands there are now. And I was wishing that these people could still be around to see... If they just could have seen the scene blow up — Rancid and Green Day, y'know. And it's just sad that all my heroes are fucked up or dead.

★ ★ ★

Click here to listen to the Groovie Ghoulies cover of "To Go Home"

from the Re-Animation Festival album.

Love AMERICAN HEARTBREAK Style

American Heartbreak's assault on the SF music scene perfectly coincided with our publishing schedule, and we featured this introduction to the band in Teenage Kicks #1. 

Originally published in Teenage Kicks #1 (Summer 1997)

By Devorah Ostrov

Billy Rowe & Lance Boone - American Heartbreak
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

"We're ready to conquer the world!" Lance Boone, lead singer for American Heartbreak, has no reason to doubt his enthusiastic proclamation.

American Heartbreak is:

Lance Boone
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Lance Boone: Dark-haired, good-looking, charismatic frontman. From New England. Used to be in Diamond Star Halo. Worries (unnecessarily) about sounding stupid in interviews.

Billy Rowe: Guitarist with superstar potential. Goes from blonde to redhead in the blink of an eye. Formerly with Mindzone and Jetboy. Credentials include two sadly overlooked albums on MCA. Can boast about a member of Hanoi Rocks joining his band!

Erik Lannon: Drummer par excellence. Curly hair and a mischievous smile. His résumé involves just about everybody from Mordred to House of Wheels to the Bay City Rollers. Big fan of the Sweet and thinks Phil Lynott is God!

Mike Butler: Dynamic bassist. Sports waist-length hair and a shy demeanor. Hails from Florida. Played in Exodus and Mindzone.

Curtis Grant: Tattooed and muscular. Plays guitar with a vengeance. Like Billy and Erik, he's a San Francisco native (the three have known each other since childhood). Spent some time with LA's Black Cherry.

* * *

Curtis Grant and Mike Butler
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Formed a little less than a year ago from the ashes of Mindzone and Diamond Star Halo, American Heartbreak has been gigging constantly, with the intention of "turning the City upside down," says Lance. They also want to "bring back the element of fun, which is desperately missing in a lot of the bands on the local scene."

Billy Rowe
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

The group took its name from the Girl song "Heartbreak America," and collective influences include the Dictators, D Generation, the Wildhearts ("I can't say enough about the Wildhearts," remarks Lance), the New York Dolls, and Blondie.

Lance describes American Heartbreak's sound as "very heavy, dark pop. It's rooted in punk, although it has an underlying pop beat."

Currently, the guys have three demo tapes in circulation, featuring such originals as "Methadone Baby," "Another Wasted Day" and "Nobody Likes Me," as well as "Richey James" — their tribute to the Manic Street Preachers' guitarist.

Lance's semi-autobiographical tune "Dead at Seventeen" is also included on the demos. Discussing the inspiration behind the lyrics, he reflects: "I remember not having any money, being bored on Saturday afternoons. And feeling like, shit, if this is all there is at 17, I might as well be dead."

They're already packing San Francisco clubs with an ever-growing following. And as one of their press releases points out: "A lot of people are about to pay attention to American Heartbreak." Be one of the first!