So Muttley, how has shit been?
Shit's been busy.... BCS is back, Martin is fully recovered from his surgery. District 9 is playing here and there, we'll be working on writing some new material. I've also been working with a band called All As One: I helped produce their EP and played the bass tracks, and I'm also helping them a little with writing and arranging songs and stuff like that. "Helping them a little" actually means showing up with a case of Steel Reserve, saying "hey, try playing fast there" and making fun of Mike and his edge. On top of that I'm working like crazy booking shows for both BCS & D9, working my day job, and when I'm not working I'm taking care of my kids. So yeah, shit's definitely been busy!
How has the response been since District 9 decided to reform to play the Superbowl?
The response has been tremendous from all over the world. It's funny... I wasn't involved in D9 when they got back together for the '06 Superbowl, but once Todd moved to Arizona I started working with the guys again (I played guitar for D9 for a few shows back in '96 or '97). We've been getting a lot of interest in the states and worldwide, especially now that the CD has gotten out there. So hopefully it will keep up and we can get around a bit.
You guys have any plans to get any new material out there to the folks?
The District 9 plan right now is to play a few more shows in August, and Myke will be out here for a few days around that time to work with us on writing a few new songs. Myke lives out in Denver now, he's got a good job out there so it's a different dynamic than most bands that just get in the room and write. Myke has a very good mind for writing, he likes to come up with hooks and things that really stick in people's heads, so his involvement is crucial. Our plan is to write and record a few songs for an EP and get it out by the end of the year or early next year.
How did the re-release of “Schoolahardknox” come about? Dignified Bastard definitely did an awesome job with the record if I do say so myself.
Dignified Bastard is basically Kevin Gill, who ran SFT records back in the day and put out the original 7-inch. He lives in Cali now and works for a video game company (look for him in the Backyard Wrestling games). Kevin and Myke started talking about putting the old 7-inch out on CD with some extra stuff. Glen BCS had the old recording of D9 on the Crucial Chaos radio show, and that's how that stuff ended up remastered and put on the disc. My only complaint about the disc is that I would have liked to see some pictures, but apparently it seems old D9 pics are few and far between, nobody has any! All the lyrics are there and I'm sure that's just as important for a lot of people. It's really the full history of the band up to the CBGB show in the summer of 2006.
Top five hard-ass-ghetto-forty-brews? Do you go for high alcohol % or taste?
Man if I wanted taste I sure as fuck wouldn't be drinkin that shit hahahaha. Top 5? Lemme see.... Crazy Horse is my #1, you can't find that shit anywhere anymore, I used to drink 2 40's and go to the hardcore show and cause trouble. Steel Reserve was my shit, I think you might see me for a sec in the NYHC documentary wearing a Steel Reserve t-shirt! Colt 45 and Old English are the classics, and the last spot is a tie between Private Stock and Ballantine.
You still smoking mother nature?
I fully support the legalization of marijuana. Let's leave it at that. I don't want this interview being brought up in a court case or something... it's happened before! Don't ask!
What’s up with Billy Club Sandwich, you guys have been writing some new jams if I remember correctly, right? Will you be working with Innerstrength Records again? And when can we expect this hardcore masterpiece to hit the streets?
We had a few songs in progress before Martin had his surgery. Right now our plan is to finish working on those songs and get some material together for an EP. We're also filming some video at the shows this summer for some enhanced cd-rom content for the EP. Between my job (I work for a CD/DVD manufacturer) and the friends we have that do video editing and stuff like that, we have the means to do something special. We want to get our music out there, but nothing gets us across as a band like our live show does, so we want to try to put that out there. If you've never seen or heard of Billy Club Sandwich, I want this disc to show you what we're all about, the serious side and the fun side. And especially the Martin side.
Our plan is pretty much the same as D9, try to get it out late '07 or early '08. As for who will put it out, I can't really talk about that until we dot the I's and cross the T's. It's business, know what I mean?
How was this year’s Superbowl? From what I hear BCS ripped shit up.
The Superbowl was tremendous. We could not have asked for a better reaction, especially after a year off. We had our friends from the 5 boroughs, from PA, Texas, Puerto Rico, worldwide, it was just amazing. We have video footage from the show so you may see that as part of the upcoming EP.
I know a magician isn’t supposed to reveal his secrets but could you please give us some of your White Castle eating tips that you have learned over the years. And what were your opinions on Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle?
Harold & Kumar was a classic. I can say I've definitely gone on missions like that before. Only I know exactly where all the White Castles are.
As for tips... hrmm...
-Unless you're in a contest or something, take your time. Those little burgers fool people, they plow them down and then wonder why they're so sick. You wouldn't pound a 1/2 pound burger in 2 minutes, why pound 10 White Castles in 2 minutes? PACE YOURSELF!
-Hot sauce on the chicken sammiches is crucial.
-Don't eat the Surf & Turf. Ever.
When attacking a BBQ, what do you go for first? Do you worry about keeping it clean and tidy or are you all or nothing?
I usually start off with 1 burger & 1 dog and then work from there.... I'm not too much of a messy eater so it stays fairly clean.
You were also playing bass in Mickeys Crew and 91War...whatever happened to them bands?
Mickeys & 91War both played in November of '06 and that was pretty much the last of it for both bands. We're not broken up, I guess you can say we're "on hiatus"... The problem with both bands is pretty much the same since it's most of the same people: dudes are just too busy. Herpes works all the time, Tim is playing with SubZero, Porno Dan is out all the time with Everything's Ruined, Sean Product went back to school upstate, and Tony & I are busy with BCS, plus I've got D9 too. Mickeys has a record completely recorded that was never released, so you may see us pop up one day to play a show and sell a few to make some quick cash. 91War might record one day just cuz we've never actually put those songs down, past that I don't know.
I know you like yourself a wide variety of music. What’s some good hip-hop/metal/hardcore you’ve been listening to as of late?
I've actually been listening to a lot of older stuff lately since I bought a 30GB Zen player and loaded it up with a lot of my collection. I'm totally out of touch with new hip hop other than what Tony BCS tells me about. He told me about the new El-P record, other than that I've been listening to older stuff. As for metal & hardcore, my favorite record right now is Broadcasting, the new album by Comeback Kid. Other stuff I've been listening to: Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Geto Boys, Everyday Dollars, NWA, Stillsuit, Kool Keith, Stout, Iron Maiden, E-Town Concrete, Crown of Thornz, Every Time I Die, Redline, Shadows Fall, Cyclone Temple, Steve Vai, Dream Theater, Van Halen, Neglect and Dio. Shuffle fuckin rules.
I like to hit up Infowars.com and shit like that to stay up on the conspiracy theories. What do you think of Alex Jones and do you actually believe the US gov’t played a role in 9/11?
Alex Jones has a lot of good points that make logical sense. The problem is that once you start making a lot of noise about something, especially something this heavy duty, people see you as a crackpot. He's on point with a lot of what he talks about with security and stuff like that. Maybe I'm being a pessimist here, but no matter how much noise any of us make, nothing will ever come of it. You can't win against the government, and most Americans are just too lazy to do a damn thing about any of that shit. They'd rather be spoon fed their music by Z100 and MTV, spoonfed their fashion choices by reading stupid magazines to see what's in style... they want to go to the mall and see what's cool. They don't care about what the government is doing. I think that Cindy Sheehan chick is a crackpot, she announced today that she's not gonna do this whole anti-war activist thing anymore, but she said something today that really goes with what I'm talking about: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it." Free thought is a rare thing nowadays. Middle America is filled with some complacent motherfuckers right now, so all these government guys just go wild.
Alex talks a lot about privacy but I have to say I think that's a dead issue. If you want privacy in 2007, cut up your credit cards and store discount cards, close your bank account, dump your cell phone and your land line, dump your EZ Pass and your Metrocard, and chuck your computer. All these things can easily reveal information about you, your recent whereabouts and your personal habits. And in this day and age, you can't live daily life without at least a few of those items. Privacy doesn't exist nowadays because of the technology we live with. It's just not happening. All that crazy sci-fi 1984 type shit that we used to laugh about is all coming true, just pray it doesn't turn into Skynet from the Terminator flicks.
9/11: Do I think the US government played a role in the attacks? It's tough to say. There's certainly enough information out there that you can really manipulate facts to argue either side. Do I think the government planted C4 charges inside the twin towers to bring them down? Absolutely not. Do I think George W's reaction to the news was a little odd? Hell yeah. Maybe there was some knowledge of something possibly happening, but other than that who really knows? We'll never know the full truth about the events of that day. I think the government definitely slipped up at various points and laid out the red carpet for these guys to do what they did. Not just George W either, this goes back to Bill Clinton and to George Sr.
I don't think most Americans understand the severity of the mistakes that were made over the last almost 20 years that led to 9/11. The immigration issue makes that clear. Securing our borders is a low priority, and most Americans are fighting to keep illegal immigrants from being prosecuted and/or shipped out. Why? Because of political correctness and because our economy depends so much on these illegal immigrants. Isn't that sad? As long as we let this continue, our national security will suffer for it. And this is part of why our culture is falling apart, because we tolerate what is clearly illegal activity and our children don't learn right from wrong.
It seems Hollywood has forgotten how to write and make a good movie and have resorted to rehashing the old classics. You think Rob Zombie’s take on “Halloween” will be worth watching?
I think Rob's take will be worth watching. I think he's one of the few who would do justice to remaking a flick like Halloween. He's an old school horror guy and I think he knows more about making horror movies than most people. That said, I have a love/hate relationship with Hollywood... I hate when they remake old movies or revive old franchises, which has been the big trend for a few years now. I mean come on, Stallone is that desperate that he brought back Rocky AND Rambo? And Bruce Willis is bringing back Die Hard? Please. At the same time, there's been some real quality movies recently: Sin City, Batman Begins, the Pirates movies, Spider Man 3, Transformers is coming, and there's some other movies in the works that really look good. Things are looking up a bit.
What is the one band you would say is being most neglected by today’s youth?
That's kind of a broad question... I have to say that I'm really impressed by the fact that a lot of the younger kids listening to hardcore nowadays are actually doing the research and schooling themselves on the older music. A lot of bands have been doing reunions and I'm so happy to see younger kids singing along and going crazy for bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Crumbsuckers or Negative Approach... for a long time a lot of the young kids in our scene were ignorant of the history of hardcore music and that's obviously not the case right now.
To answer your question, I'm gonna surprise people with this one, but I think The Who have been neglected by people in general. Looking at the 60s into the 70s everyone gives credit to The Beatles, the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin as the most influential bands of the time. I think The Who belong right up there with those guys because they wrote great songs, better than the Beatles or the Stones in my opinion. They also brought an anger element that didn't exist so much with the other bands of the time, and I think that was adopted into the punk rock scene that got off the ground not long after that.
I know you’re a fan of Cage. What did you honestly think of Hell’s Winter and the production work El-P did? And will you be buying his new album when it drops?
I thought it was a good record. He caught a lot of shit because he changed his game up and made an introspective record talking about things he was going through. The guy starts talkin less about smokin dips and more about other real life shit, and he grows his hair out a little and suddenly everybody screams "emo". Whatever. I will definitely get his new shit when it drops. I think the problem is he's just too intelligent for the average rap listener. They either wanna hear about dudes gettin shot or clowns talkin some horror movie juggalo shit. You start spittin intelligent shit and you're a sellout.
A lot of people (especially old heads) are saying that Myspace is ruining hardcore and music in general? I mean the shit is like crack but do you think it’s doing more good than bad?
Speaking as a guy who does bookings and business for my bands, it makes things much easier. You really have to wonder how people booked international tours before there was an internet or a Myspace. It's a lot of work even with that, I can't imagine what it was like before. It makes it easier to keep in touch with people in general, not just your fans but also labels, promoters, radio people, everybody. It's a combination website, mailing list, event calendar, email box and music player. It also really allows a band to get their music out there worldwide in the easiest possible way. A new song can be literally a click away, it's nuts.
The flip side is that people depend on it TOO much at times... promoters or bands will promote a show ONLY on Myspace and there are a lot of other ways to go. People don't want to go out to other shows and hand out flyers or anything. The legwork doesn't happen.
The music industry fears Myspace because suddenly you don't need the big label to get your music out there worldwide, you can do it on your own. As music goes more digital and less store-bought (which is inevitable), it will only get worse for the industry fat cats. I expect the industry to go through massive changes in the next 3-5 years.
Shit is done...if you have any parting shouts, go off.
I know most of you people look at Myspace all fuckin day.. check out these pages and go through their top friends, you'll find a lot of good music out there, maybe even some other stuff that might interest you:
myspace.com/garymuttley
myspace.com/billyclubsandwich
myspace.com/district9
myspace.com/mickeyscrew
myspace.com/allasonenyhc
Thanks for all the support people.