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Tuesday, December 05, 2006I did an interview for the upcoming tour. Here ya go.1. It would seem safe to say that many of the members of your band never thought this group would last as long and continue to evolve and grow as much as it has. Looking back to when you first started the group, what would have seemed like the farthest that the band could have gone? About half a mile. That's as far as I thought we'd go and that's as far as we did go. We started in a little restaurant in south Austin and right around a year later we played the Austin Music Awards at the Palmer Auditorium about a half mile down the road. 2. From your current vantage point, how far can the band go from here, and in what ways can the group further change and mutate without straying too far from its original intent? Well, the band started out as a side project for most of us. It's the side project that snowballed and turned into a monster that ate up our lives. The "original intent" flew out the window after the first year or so. This band constantly changes, so there's no telling what's gonna happen. 3. The Spankers have been doing what they do for over a decade now, and during that time, many other duos, trios and full bands have embraced the same basic catchall-acoustic-hodgepodge that you guys virtually minted. We seem increasingly to be in the midst of a growing Vaudeville/swing/hokum blues revival. Do the Spankers ever feel at all like elder statesmen of this burgeoning genre, or would it be inherently limiting for the band to even accept such a mantle if it were offered? What's unique about us is that we write original songs that sound like music from the 20s, 30s and 40s. An obvious example is Winning The War On Drugs, it's completely influenced by the song Ghost Riders In The Sky, which was written in 1948. However, the words are obviously steered toward a more modern theme. The elder statesmen of our musical style are folks like Spike Jones, Fats Waller, Blind Blake and Bessie Smith but we pull our influences from everywhere. 4. You guys seem to live fairly frugally while on tour. How has life on the road for this band changed since you first ventured beyond the confines of Austin? Would you describe the touring lifestyle at your band’s level as comfortable? The older I get, the less comfortable it becomes. I love travel, I love the road but this is a hard life. We travel in vans for an average of about six hours every day. Somedays it's two hours, sometimes it's twelve. We unload the vans, set up the stage, check the mics, choke down some food and then the fun begins. The people show up, the beer starts to flow, we get to play music and they actually pay us to do it. Not much but enough to keep ourselves alive. Then we pack everything back into the vans, drive to the hotel and unload everything into the rooms. The next morning we load everything back into the vans, slam down some breakfast and it's back on the highway. 5. What’s the single biggest (or most common) misconception that you find people have about the band? Some folks find it hard to realize that we're real people. We have good moods and bad moods just like anyone else. Some people get offended if we don't drop everything we're doing and stand on our heads for them. Now don't get me wrong, we have lots of great fans. It's just that some people think that since you are an entertainer, they have certain privileges beyond simple manners and decency. I've had people I don't know come up to me and start pulling my hair or whacking me on the back while I'm trying to eat my dinner. I'm serious. One guy smacked me on my back like I was his old high school buddy while I was trying to swallow a bite of linguini. I nearly choked to death and it didn't even phase him. He kept on getting in my face like nothing was wrong. I could have stabbed him in the forehead with my fork. If the jury had smelled the cologne stink that followed him around like a lost puppy, I would have been acquitted. He smelled like Ralph Lauren had just vomited on Calvin Klein. Of course I'm guilty of the same thing. I was a huge Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper fan and after one of their gigs I smacked Skid Roper on his bicep a little too hard. He wasn't even looking in my direction at the time but he turned and looked at me as if he was about to pull a razor from his boot. I felt like a douche but it was a good lesson. Even though you know who a performer is, you are still a stranger to them, so it's wise to show them the same courtesy you would offer to any stranger. 6. What’s the single worst gig the band has ever played, and why was it so awful? We've played a lot of shitty gigs but the worst was probably the one in Williamsport, Pa. It was so over the top horrible that one of the other band members and I got really close to killing each other out of sheer frustration. If I say any more, I'll start replaying the entire nightmare in my head. Another horrible gig was Fishcreek, Wi. These all happened back when we used no microphones or amplification. Every once in a while we'd play a place where the audience just didn't get it en masse. 7. It appears that all of the members of the group contribute in some way to the songwriting process, which gives the group a rather unpredictable nature and an off-kilter repertoire. Tell me a bit about what sort of process (if any) is utilized to ensure that there is a cohesive thread or feel that runs through such disparate contributions, so that everything comes out “appropriately Spankerized.” Christina and I are the song filters. If we think a tune doesn't match the band's style or if it isn't irreverent or funny enough, we tell the songwriter in the cruelest way possible. Usually by making them sit in front of the class in their underwear and taking turns poking them with pointed sticks. 8. Are there any hard and fast rules to being a Spanker that members dare not break on pain of torture? Every morning each Spanker has the choice of doing a shot of whiskey, a bong hit or being the band's sex slave for the day. Some of the guys like to do all three at once so they can have a couple of days off. Sometimes the rookie members will complain a little but when Christina puts on her prison guard uniform, they know she means business. Nevada (guitar) likes to dress like Boss Hog. Scott (drums) is more into the Tarzan/Conan thing, actually he likes anything that ends in "an." He'll come down from his hotel room covered in marzipan and flan. Sometimes he dresses as Uzbekistan. It's really hard for him to get in the van in that outfit. Sometimes he actually dresses as the van, then one of the guys will eventually try to drive Scott around. That's always good for a laugh. As for me, I like the simple things. You know, wearing my Burl Ives as Frosty the Snowman outfit and my raw veal boxer briefs. The same kind of stuff everyone does. 9. What is it about old-time Americana music that you find so appealing as a musician? As a listener? I think a lot of old-time American music shares an esthetic similar to punk rock. I'm a huge fan of what they used to call "race records", they have a do it yourself/ride the censors aesthetic that feels like underground stuff from later decades. 10. You shrugged off your metal roots once you were exposed to punk through the Sex Pistols. Now you channel that energy through music that’s much, much quieter, but no less intense (and maybe more intense, in fact). Tell me a bit about the similarities you’ve found between the attitude and musicality of punk rock and that of the type of anachronistic, acoustic tunes the Spankers are known for. I never shrugged off my metal roots. Hell, I bought The Essential Judas Priest CD on the last tour. I became enamored with punk rock and new wave in 1979 but that doesn't mean I stopped listening to Black Sabbath. I tuned out from metal when all of the Mtv hair bands showed up. At the time it was the antithesis of my Scratch Acid/Butthole Surfers/X/Black Flag/Dead Kennedeys mentality. Now I've gone back and watched all of those cheesy 80's hair-band videos and I fuckin' love 'em. My favorite TV show is Metal Mania on VH1 Classics and without a doubt, the funniest metal video ever made is Dokken's "Breaking The Chains." It's the Citizen Kane of unintentionally gay metal videos. 11. This band has something of a reputation for being brazen, satirical and blunt when it comes to political or social commentary. Is there ever any concern that the members’ political or societal views will have a negative impact on audience’s appreciation of the band’s songs? Conversely, is there any fear of the band becoming popular for the wrong reasons, and being seen as more of a snarky novelty act than as a dedicated group of ace musicians and songwriters? There's nothing wrong with novelty. I don't see us as a novelty band but sometimes we get lumped into that category by the press. We're a band that plays all kinds of music with all kinds of influences, that's why we often get described as "genre defying." I like that, you can't pin us down. As far as audience members that don't like the views we express, they are welcome to ask for their money back, as long as all forms are filled out in triplicate and signed in blood. As a matter of fact, they are welcome to drive their hummers off a cliff. We're not going to pull any punches to make the shows safe. The only safe Spanker shows are the ones we do specifically for children. 12. The group plays at such low volumes that you’re known for insisting on quiet, respectful crowds – simply so everyone can hear and enjoy the show. I’m told that virtually everywhere you go, the audiences readily get into the spirit of the event and focus their attention on the stage. How difficult is it to get that sort of concentration and respect out of crowds in 2006, most of whom are more accustomed to loud, chatty rock concerts? It's not too hard. We played without amplification for ten years. In that time we learned some tricks into getting folks to concentrate on the show. We finally had to break down and start using mics, the audiences and venues eventually got too big for everyone to hear. 13. Your tongue-in-cheek music video for “Stick Magnetic Ribbons On Your SUV” has gotten worldwide acclaim and airplay on YouTube.com. The song is obviously a poke at shallow U.S. citizens who would rather fall in lockstep and brandish patriotic symbols rather than educate themselves on the harsh realities of our current military conflicts. However, you had to know that plenty of folks would not get the joke, and instead misinterpret the tune to be a swipe at members of the Armed Forces themselves. What sort of response, both positive and negative, have you received from the video and the song? The response has been, for the most part, very positive. There are some nut jobs who have made negative comments on the web but then there have been some nut jobs who have made disturbing comments in favor of the song's message as well. Most people who get irate or verbally violent on the internet are just cowards that hide behind easy anonymity. At the live shows, people come up to me and thank me for writing the words to that song. They laugh and applaud - because the song is funny. That's the bottom line, it's a funny song and a funny video that makes you think twice about the statements your life choices are making toward the war, oil issues, etc... Every once in a while someone will storm out of a show or tear up one of our bumper stickers, that's cool too. It's still a relatively free country. 14. This show you’re playing in Savannah is actually inside of an historic American Legion Post, and in fact, it’s the home of the legendary Mighty 8th Air Force. In all your travels, have you ever played in such a venue before? We've played American Legions in the past. All of the folks have been really nice. They are one of the few places we've played where the majority of the audience can keep up with me, beer for beer. 15. Do any of the band members have immediate family members or close friends serving in the war, and if so, what sort of an impact has that made on the band’s attitude on the current conflicts? I think no one in the band has any family members in Iraq or Afghanistan at the present time. We certainly have veterans in our immediate families and one current Spanker is an honorably discharged US Navy veteran. We have some friends over there though. We get emails from the troops abroad, thanking us for the song. Plus, we've met quite a few folks who have come back from the war. Lots of them thank us for the song and tell us stories about how messed up everything is over there. It's overwhelming sometimes, our current administration has really screwed the pooch. 16. What can the Savannah audience expect from this upcoming gig? Will you be playing mostly newer material, or will you draw from your entire back catalog? Most of the songs in the current set list span from Hot Lunch all the way to the new kid's record, "Mommy Says No!" That's songs from the last seven years. 17. What’s next for the Spankers? We're working on a musical, I don't want to say much about it because it's still in the writing stage. All I can tell you is it's going to be disturbingly funny. Extra Question #1: What albums have the band been listening to lately on the road? We travel in two vans. One van is the quiet, neat van. One van is the loud, messy van. I can only attest to what gets played in the loud, messy van. The record we've listened to most as of late is Patton Oswalt's comedic masterpiece, Feelin' Kinda Patton. It's one of the funniest records I've ever heard. He goes right up there with Bill Hicks in my book. He just came to Austin to record a live album and the whole band went out to see him perform. He's a genius, a true force of nature and he's gut-bustingly funny. Other than that, we listen to everything, AC/DC to Zutty Singleton. Actually, I just checked my iTunes and it's 2Pac to ZZ Top. Numbers have replaced A as the first letter. Extra Question #2: What’s the best part about being an Asylum Street Spanker? Not having to rape the environment, rob, screw over or kill anyone to make a living. Plus we get to spank people on stage and the drinks are usually free. posted by Wammo at 5:42 AM Wednesday, May 31, 2006I just did an e-interview with a magazine in Ft. Wayne, Indiana called WhatzUp.1. How did you first arrive at your trademark no-amp sound when playing live? Somebody forgot to bring a PA to the first gig. We played anyway with no mikes and found out that if we got the audience to be quiet, they could hear us perfectly. It dawned on us that people had been playing that way from the creation of the first instrument till the day somebody assembled the first PA system. Why couldn't we? We did it for ten years. Of course it's a moot point now because for the past three years almost all of our gigs have been amplified. 2. (I had already answered question 2 in question 1.) 3. How large of a role does improv (either lyrically or musically) play in a typical live show? It depends on the show. I used to improv an encore at every gig. Most of the banter between songs is improv. There's a couple of prepared speeches. There's a space in the song, My Favorite Record, where I get to sing whatever song pops into my head. I've sung everything from Dio to Bee Gees to Butthole Surfers to Spinal Tap to show tunes in that spot. It's one of my favorite moments of the night. 4. Do you ever have anyone showing up at your shows expecting, I don't know, something sort of pleasantly old-timey and kind of tame, and then complain later because of some of the show's racier content? How would you respond to that? Besides smacking them upside the head? Anyone who walks into any situation with expectations is setting themselves up for disappointment. If you come to one of our shows expecting to get laid and it doesn't happen, how you gonna feel? 5. The band has a great website. I see from your blog that rock music plays an important role in your development as a musician. I was wondering how you think that has affected your songwriting or your performance in the context of the Asylum Street Spankers, since, on a superficial level, the influence isn't obvious. No one can stop the rock, dude. I hope nothing about the band is obvious at a superficial level. As a matter of fact, I hope we have no superficial levels. 6. This probably changes for you all the time, but what song do you particularly look forward to playing live these days, and why? I really look forward to playing Whipping Post, which is a shame because we don't know it. 7. What would someone who only knows about the Asylum Street Spankers from listening to "The Bob and Tom Show" be most surprised about if they came to see you guys live? That we play naked. No seriously, the Bob and Tom fans are usually surprised that we have more songs than Scrotum and Pussy Cat. 8. What's your feeling about the unlicensed downloading of your music online? Is it a problem? I say go for it. If you dig it, buy the CD or a T-shirt or something. At least by the band a round of shots (that's six Jameson and a Patron. The Patron's for me, the sixth Jameson is for Pat, our sound guy.) 9. I would imagine you have a pretty loyal and devoted fanbase. What's the craziest/most surprising thing a fan has ever done for/to you guys? One guy took the entire band skydiving for free. Another time we drank all of the Pabst Blue Ribbon in a bar in Neena, Wi. The next time we played there a guy gave us a bowling ball on which he had painted the PBR logo - except the words said, ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS. A guy in Florida made us giant magnets of the Spanky Logo to put on our vans. There have been paintings, dinners, weed, baked goods, dentistry, etc... Our fans have given us a lot of great things and I'm not even counting the blow jobs. 10. If the Asylum Street Spankers had to formulate a mission statement in a single sentence, what would it be? No war, legal pot, free beer and great tunes. (If that doesn't work we'll have to go back to dope, guns and fucking in the streets.) See, now if they edit me, there'll be a record of what I really said. Nyaa nyaa nyaa. posted by Wammo at 4:46 PM Wednesday, May 24, 2006I'm cross eyed tired. Just home from a twelve hour studio session. I'm producing the new Spanker record, so every day I'm not gigging is filled with an eight to twelve hour studio session. Legendary Austin blues fan, convict and club owner, Clifford Antone died today. I started and ended today listening to The Pogues album, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. This record starts and ends with two of the greatest songs ever written. No one can sing the words "lazy, drunken bastards" like Shane MacGowen. If you were here we'd crack open a bottle of whiskey and listen to The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn through And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. If the bottle wasn't gone by the end, we'd put on the record Small Change by Tom Waits to polish it off. Waltzing Matilda into Waltzing Matilda. Wanna dance?posted by Wammo at 1:54 AM Monday, March 27, 2006 Hi there, I'm working on getting my site up to snuff. Please be patient my friends. It'll be kick ass, I swear. posted by Wammo at 11:46 AM Sunday, February 05, 2006We're listening to Nirvana's Bleach in the van. I fell asleep to Mitch Hedberg and woke up to About A Girl. God, I love this record. I remember the day it came out in 1989, I was in Sound Exchange and one of the guys behind the counter said, "Hey Wammo, you're into Soundgarden, right?" I said, "Fuck yeah." He told me, "Well, you gotta check this out." He handed me a vinyl copy of Bleach that I still have in my record collection today. I took it to Cannibal Club that night and put it on as soon as I got there. With the opening bass riff of "Blew", I was in love. I played the entire record while the bartenders were hanging out waiting for the crowd to show. Everyone loved it. Later that night, I spun a few cuts again. During "Love Buzz" the owner/manager/booker, Brad First, walked up to the DJ booth and said, "This is fucking amazing, who the hell is this?" I showed him the album cover and his face went white. I asked him what was wrong and he told me, "They called me three weeks ago and I'd never heard of them, so I passed." We could have had Nirvana at the Cannibal three years before Nevermind broke. As it was, they couldn't get an Austin gig and blew off Texas altogether on that tour. I reviewed Nevermind for the Austin Chronicle, raving of course. I knew they were the future. I've done that twice in my life, so far. I predicted the big Swing resurgence in a Billboard article I wrote in late '96 or early '97. Maybe I should retire and become a record company bigwig scumbag.Now we're cranking AC/DCs Let There Be Rock. "Problem Child," my theme song. Sometimes nothing beats three chord rock. Yes yes yes. AC/DC is one of those bands that I can always count on to be there when I need them. Nothing can touch those wide open, chiming guitar tones. Hard rock at it's best. I challenge you to be bummed out and sulk through the entire Highway To Hell record. "Whole Lotta Rosie" is on. When Angus starts doing the old call and response with the rest of the band right before the solo, I get to jizz point. We've switched to Louis Jordan, "Five Guys Named Mo," amazing muted trumpet on "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby." Ah, life in the van. posted by Wammo at 9:45 AM Wednesday, February 01, 2006People don't really get older and wiser. They get older and know better than to repeat the fuck-ups of the past. I think that's one of the reasons why we're here, to put our souls through the experience wringer. Take a second, close your eyes and run a little montage in your head of your biggest mistakes. Now think about how you have altered your emotional and physical reflexes to keep from repeating those mistakes. Bingo. Those reflexes plus your accumulated learning are what your soul needs for the next plane. If you don't collect enough, you come back and try again.posted by Wammo at 8:55 AM Saturday, January 28, 2006I just watched an Yngve Malmsteen video, something about "Into the Light". It could be my favorite video ever. Now Iron Maiden is playing, Bruce Dickenson is screaming "666 - THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!" They've got these guys in red longjohns and devil masks and a couple ballroom dancing on stage in a tuxedo and ballgown. They each have a big 6 on their back as if they are in some sort of competition. The guy twirls the girl and at the end of the spin she appears with a wookie mask on. The beast indeed. I'm watching a two hour version of Metal Mania. Vixen is on. I love leather chick with lots of hair, who rock. hurray! Now it's Diamond Dave himself, singing "Crazy From The Heat." Every shot has him in a new leotard. Steve Vai is playing a guitar carved and painted to look like flames.Metallica doing their gay black tank top thing. Don't they know that black wife beaters are as much of a sign as back pocket bandanas? Not that there's anything wrong with it but I don't think that's the image they're trying to portray. Anyway they still rock. Hang on, Danzig's "Mother" is on. He really is the Metal Elvis Midget. Here comes Black Sabbath, old footage of "Paranoid", Ozzy moves around more now. I wrote a letter to Ozzy when I was about 14. I wrote it in cryptic script and burned the edges. Accept - Balls To The Wall. Holy shit, the german Bonn Scott. Didn't know he ever existed. Here comes Twisted Sister with "Hot Love Girls", cars, babes and Dee Snyder sans make up. The best is the chick with the TS logo lollypop. Wow, Great White's on. Poor bastards disregarded the very first rule of performance. NEVER KILL YOUR AUDIENCE. Once bitten, twice shy, three on a match. Now it's Europe with there mega-nowhere song, "Cherokee." Who knew they had another song besides "Final Countdown?" This is amazing, metal heads in the desert with their pretty boy lead singer singing, "Cher-o-keeeeee! Marching on the trail of tears! Oooaaaaahhhhhh yyyyeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" With a total Pinball Wizard rip off lick. Wait, there's David Lee Roth again doing "Yankee Rose". Holy pig fuck! What the hell is he wearing? Some sort of shiny silver unitard thong crotch thing. I can't type 'cause I'm laughing so hard. Alice Cooper, The Coop doing "Teenage Frankenstein." Terrible song but it's Alice, so we have some serious visuals going on. Motley Crue w/ their video remake of "Home Sweet Home." Power ballads. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet. If you haven't read their book, The Dirt, I highly recommend it. Hey Motorhead's doing "God Save The Queen." I didn't know they covered that. At least it's better than when Motley Crue covered "Anarchy In The UK", it was all over after that. The line between punk and hair metal was permanently smudged after that. Speaking of punk, watch the documentary Punk Attitude. It's fucking great. Okay, two posts on my blog in one day. Can your heart stand it? posted by Wammo at 1:03 PM My buddy left his cell phone alarm on and it woke me up at 6:30am. Saturday fuckin' morning. Normally this would be a bloodshot hangover tragedy but seeing as how this is day 8 of a 10 day cleansing fast, it's no sweat. And for a plus, I turned on the tube and the movie Tommy is on. Ann Margret's warbling, Oliver Reed's hatchet face, Jack Nicholson's singing, sure... but The Who, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Arthur Brown, Elton John as well. It's really one of the cheesiest movies ever made but it has serious nostalgic value to me. My sister bought the album in 1969 when I was 7, so I grew up with it. I remember the first time we listened to it, I asked her what "rape" meant. There are worse ways to find out. Anyway, my kid brother, Tommy, has the same first and last name as the protagonist, so he really dug the record. He and I went to see the movie in 1975 at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and there were two freaks smoking a joint in the aisle in front of us. An usher came down and confronted them. I thought they were gonna get busted for sure but the guy just told them, "Smoking is in the balcony only." They went upstairs and got stoned. It was a very different world back then. My friend Kent has some great stories about Oliver Reed and Keith Moon, one of my favorites goes a little something like this. While they were making Tommy, Moon and Reed threw a dinner party in an empty swimming pool. A huge wooden table almost the length of the pool was set up with the finest decorations, food and wine. A suit of armor was placed up on each end of the pool to loom over the guests while they dined below. All the guests were in place, ready to eat the banquet spread out before them but where were the hosts? Oliver and Keith were nowhere to be found. Suddenly each suit of armor dove into the pool and landed on the table, slid down its length and met in the middle. Everything was smashed, dinner was ruined and amidst the screams of the guests one could hear the howls coming from Reed and Moon, laughing inside their suits of armor. posted by Wammo at 10:50 AM |
