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Interview
"Here's one from Flipside #85, 1993. It's long as
fuck, but gives a good run-down of their history. About
half way through the interview, I started getting real
sick of typing the fucking thing, so I might have made
a few errors. Sorry:"
After 13 years of sticking to their
roots and not the latest trend in England, Chaos U.K.
finally make it to the States to give us a dose of 100%
two fingers in the air punk rock! The band were interviewed
on May 18th, at Dogma Mundista house, by Thrashead and
Katz.
Chaos: Hi! I'm Smedley, vocals.
Marvin: Baron von Munchausen, on bass.
Pete: Capt. Vimvivee, chest drummer.
Vic: V.D. Boiler, second guitar... (in a silly voice)
...and Gabba... (LAUGHTER)
Marvin: Calvin? It's Cal of Discharge... (MORE LAUGHTER)
Roadie: Are ya doing a sensible interview again, are ya?
Can I sit in on that one?
Thrashead: Is this the first time you've been in the U.S.?
Marvin: Yup. Until Now.
Vic: I've been here all my life.
Thrashead: Obviously.
Marvin: Gabba as well... Chaos U.S.A. (LAUGHTER)
Thrashead: Has a US tour been attempted before?
Chaos: Basically, we've attempted to come over to America
since 1983, and it was the first time we were supposed
to come over, but that fell through. The second time was
in 1984, but that fell through. The third time was in
1986, but that fell through, and the last time was in
1988... but that fell through as well.
Thrashead: Visa problems?
Chaos: Private problems, basically. People would get tours
set up for us, and when we tell them that we're ready
to come over, at the last minute the get cancelled. No
reasons... The little promoters were always rude, basically
kept silent about the tour and stuff, and at the last
minute said, "No, it's finished".
Thrashead: Oh wow...
Chaos: Right. Just weeks before we were to leave, basically.
We even got the visa, at one point.
Marvin: As long as Vic was doing it, we would not have
had the guys together, won't we?
Chaos: Basically.
Marvin: Just because Vic has joined the band. God bless
him... He used to be in Nausea... used to be...
Chaos: But isn't.
Thrashead: How did you hook up with the people from Japan?
Chaos: We didn't really hook up with them... they sort
of hooked up with us.
Thrashead: They called you up one day, and asked you to
do a tour?
Chaos: Yeah. Sort of... basically.
Gabba: (Screaming from the kitchen) It was Lemmy from
Execute... No... Lemmy and Sakevi, from GISM and Execute,
used to write to me. I wrote a letter back to Lemmy asking
if we can come to Japan and tour. Later, we heard back
from the guys from Selfish, Toshi Okamoto, invited us
to come over and tour, and Toy Records (Toy Factory Records),
which was Jade Music at that time, took us over.
Chaos: What, the first time? (to Gabba)
Gabba: Yeah, the first time. Then the second time it was
Toy Records, which is our record label...
Chaos: Japanese record label.
Marvin: That we long since removed.
Thrashead: How many releases did you have in Japan? Because
there were things released over there that we cannot get
over here.
Chaos: A 12", first released on Selfish, called "Just
Mere Slaves". They only released like 2000 of them.
Gabba: It might be re-released on CD.
Thrashead: Really?
Chaos: There's an LP out, on CD, over there... a new one.
Thrashead: Pretty cool?
Chaos: Enough to make you sick. If you can get over there
you should be able to get them, but you cannot seem to
be able...
Marvin: The live CD's on it.
Katz: Is that the record Steve Slayer Hippy (from Poison
Idea) helped mix?
Gabba: No, that's the single, "Headfuck".
Thrashead: We can't get the Japanese stuff here. I have
a real hard time looking for them, especially in L.A.,
but I was lucky enough to find a few of them up in Frisco.
Marvin: That's because you dropped a bomb on them during
the war. (LAUGHTER)
Katz: Also because of the exchange rate the dollar is
worthless over there, so it ends up being way too expensive
to buy.
Chaos: Same in Britain... (Marvin starts farting)
Marvin: An earthquake! (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: The thing about Japanese stuff is, the people we
all work with in Japan were always telling us that they
were going to distribute the new LP over here in America,
but they didn't. It's a case of them saying that they'll
do this and that, but they never do it, so I don't know
what's happening. The record collectors over there...
the unavailability... the value of it, I suppose.
Thrashead: Well, I've seen a few of them in various places
around California, but not too many.
Chaos: Which ones?
Thrashead: Let's see... I found "Chipping",
the first album, seen "Short Sharp Shock" once,
but didn't get it. I also got the live one and the Vinyl
Japan one, too.
Katz: Weasel Records put out the "Chipping Sodbury"
and the "Short Sharp Shock" albums locally.
Thrashead: I haven't seen either of them.
Chaos: They're around if you want them. You just have
to search high and low, basically.
Gabba: Plug the latest one, then...
Chaos: There's a new 12" that came out?
Marvin: Tell them what it's called, and what it's on...
Vic: It's called "Oned Hundred Percent...
All: ...Two Fingers In The Air Punk Rock" (LAUGHER)
Vic: On Slap Up Records, distributed by Revolver... and
a new 7" we recorded yesterday, which will be out
whenever...
Thrashead: Is Slap Up you label?
Chaos: Yeah. Basically, it's like me and Gabba run it
for Revolver, so we can put out all our stuff, and they
put the money up front. I'm going to be doing a Dogma
Mundista single when we get back, hopefully. Were also
working to get other bands on it.
Thrashead: I want to ask you about the history of Chaos
U.K., and about all the line-up changes? I'm sure you
will go on forever about this one.
Chaos: There hasn't been that many line-up changes, really.
It just seems like it because we've been going for such
a long time, like 13 or 14 years, not like so many other
bands who can change line-ups like four or five times
in a year, while we have only had about three or four
line-up changes in 13 years. Basically, it started off
with me, this guy called Andy, this guy called Simon,
and this guy called Potts. We all went to school together.
Back about 1979, just when we were leaving school, we
started the band.
Thrashead: What happend next?
Chaos: Then Simon left to become a married happy man,
with little children... and Andy left to become a happy
married man, with little children. We got a few other
people to join. Then Gabba joined around... When did you
join, Gabba?
Gabba: When you were sent speeding London, on the Crucifix
tour. (LAUGHTER)
Marvin: He was a big drug dealer gangster in London...
Not!
All: Not! Not! Not!
Marvin: A big pink cadillac... (MORE LAUGHTER)
Chaos: Then we stuck with that line-up for quite awhile,
which was me, Mower, Chuck, and Gabba... until 1989, where
we had another line-up change again...
Gabba: At which Mower became an alcoholic, and couldn't
cope. It was like Darby Crash from the Germs... that was
awhat Mower was like in the end.
Chaos: Except he didn't die...
Gabba: He didn't die, but he got to the point where, when
the band was playing, he just fuckin' couldn't play.
Chaos: Basically...
Thrashead: And always passed out?
Marvin: What happend then?
Chaos: I took over on vocals, and Gabba got Becky, this
girl from Bristol, to play bass. And she was really good,
but unfortunately she's got an inherent disease called
Chrome's Disease. In the case of the band, the doctor
said, "You can go on tour and die, or stay at home
and take these tablets".
Marvin: At least she didn't die.
Thrashead: So, is she healthy? Is she doing all right?
Chaos: She's alright as long as she stays at home and
takes those tablets, and gets the medical supervision,
basically.
Pete: Anyway... then I joined.
Gabba: Then Chuck left because...
Chaos: We did a tour of Europe and Chuck cracked up, basically.
For the first time ever... he really flipped. So, I guess
he couldn't do it anymore. He was getting a bit too old...
Gabba: Too hippy.
Chaos: Too hippy as well, basically. (LAUGHTER)
Pete: Then we searched around the streets of Bristol,
and we found this youngster. (pointing to Marvin)
Marvin: Youngster? I'm older than you!
Pete: We stole young Devilman here from a 60's psychedelic
homosexual band. (MORE LAUGHTER) A band called The Sun
Tribe. You ever heard of them?
Thrashead: No...
Pete: The Cortinas? He knows them, too... Then Marvin
joined... then Vic...
Vic: Forgot all about me...
All: Awww...
Pete: We rescued Vic from the hippy band called Nausea.
He only joined them becasue he left a really good punk
band. It was a heroin band called Reagan Youth. So, we
got him and he's degenerated ever since. He really hit
bottom.
Vic: I'm sitting here dribbling... (Marvin farts again)
Pete: That's it baby... that's it... do it!
Thrashead: I'll make sure I print that. (LAIGHTER)
Pete: That's two farts on tape.
Thrashead: Are we up to three, so far?
(Everyone starts getting too silly, so this segment was
deleted)
Chaos: Becky had to go, due to the disease, after we toured
Ireland. We didn't want to throw her out, but we really
had no choice, really. She actually left.
Gabba: She's the only person who got out of the band we
still like.
Vic: Luckily, as she was quitting the band, we were passing
by this field of sheep... (LAUGHTER) Right behind the
fattest sheep we ever seen, skinny little Marvin was ramming
away...
Gabba: Ramraider!
Vic: His ass was a blur.
Chaos: So we got him, and this is our present line-up...
end of story... Next.
Katz: How do you attribute to the band's longevity?
Chaos: Punk rock!
Marvin: One hundred percent two fingers in the air...
plug... plug.
Thrashead: Have the band's goals and ideas change much
over the years, or have they remained the same?
Chaos: No, we were young and scared of war then. Basically,
scared of nuclear war.
Gabba: And didn't like being locked-up in police cells...
and the army wasn't very nice.
Marvin: You didn't like the idea of signing-on, did ya?
Chaos: Probably just didn't pay enough, so he got into
punk rock.
Vic: Same shit... different pile.
Marvin: Go on forward, enjoy life, and have a good time.
Gabba: Actually, we can't get any jobs because we're a
bunch of losers, so the bands the only thing we can do.
(LAUGHTER)
Thrashead: Obviously, you're doing a good job...
Gabba: Yeah, we love doing it, that's the thing. A lot
of bands, they just fuckin' do it because the money's
too good, and when you look at them while they're on stage
and they're fuckin miserable.
Marvin: A lot of bands play to get-off, you know... The
last time I saw the Ramones, you know, they just played
to get-off and get paid, really... Quite sad.
Vic: We play to get toughed-up... (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: We play to get ripped off.
Marvin: Yeah, ripped off... We play to get ripped off,
and get a good laugh out of "promoter chasing".
Hunt the promoter!...
(Then they go into a particularly amusing anecdote about
one shoddy promoter the band had encountered while on
tour.)
Chaos: We're just playing to make the money back.
Marvin: We're selling our backsides...
Vic: Here's a good chunk of it.
Marvin: That's gonna go for crack, little boys, and "Swedish
Literature"... (LAUGHTER)
Thrashead: So, what's your favorite "Swedish Literature",
Marvin?
Marvin: It's impronouncable in english, really, but a
rough guess, it involves farm animals, vaseline, and chocolate
eclairs. Can't go any further than that.
Chaos: And young boys.
Marvin: But, I don't read the text because one hand's
always too busy. (LAUGHTER)
Vic: My favorite Northern European literature is "Icksy
and Mouse"
Marvin: Icksy and Mouse?
Vic: Shaved Icksy and Mouse.
Marvin: Shaved Icksy and Mouse... this is a private homosexual
band joke.
Pete: We like the hampster ones as well. (LAUGHTER)
Marvin: Pit Bull Weekly...
(Things degenerate from this point on, so it was deleted)
Thrashead: Despite the obvious financial difficulties,
how has the tour been? Have you had fun?
All: Yes, great... totally amazing. Mexico's the best
place.
Chaos: We didn't get to spend much time there because
we had to go back that same night. We would have like
to stay there for a week. The punks of Mexico are crazy.
We like it...
Gabba: A lot of them are daft... They just "kill
each other".
Chaos: A fight in the pit... just fist-fighting amongst
themselves. They seem to enjoy it...
Thrashead: Any incidents while on the road?
Marvin: The van broke...
Gabba: We threw a rod on the way to Chicago, whil going
through Ohio. It fuckin' conked-out on the motorway. We
barely had any money left. We had just enough money to
get to Chicago... There was a guy that came along, and
said something like...
All: "Yaw wachi tiya trone" (Don't ask me...
It was said with a severe hick accent)
Marvin: My brother can do that.
Vic: Five days and $1500 later we're on our way.
Marvin: We missed Chicago and Detroit, so there was riots
at the gig. It was a proper like riot. The Detroit gig
ended with baseball bats and pick-axe handles flying everywhere.
Vic: We made it to Minneapolis in time, not to play any
of the gigs we had booked, but to play a half-assed party...
but too inebriated to play.
Chaos: And that after staying five days in a truck stop,
listening to Country & Western...
Pete: Drinking coffee...
Marvin: Watching big, hunky, moist, sweaty men.
Pete: It was like watching "Dukes of Hazard"...
.
Gabba: By the time we got to Minneapolis it was "Breakdown
City".
Marvin: All you can drink...
Chaos: All you can drink is fuckin' right.
Pete: St. Ides... it was Old English, that one was it?
Marvin: Literally preserved are you? Now you won't become
biodegradeable.
Chaos: Due to that little misdemeanor we lost a lot of
shows, unfortunately, and that's put us in massive debt...
Cost of a new engine... We don't care because we're having
a really good time, so the money does not matter.
Thrashead: Any differences between what you have seen
in the U.S. compared to what's going on in Europe?
Chaos: Basically, the scene in the U.S. is weird... like
going back like ten years. It's like England back to 1983/84.
Marvin: "The Discharge kids"...
Chaos: I'm not slagging it, because I think it's great,
you know. As for England, there's nothing...
Vic: It's dead as fuck.
Chaos: There's no scene left... Well, there's a scene
there, but it's like a...
Gabba: Every two years it rehashes itself. Like, you'll
come up, and everyone just goes after their own thing.
The in two years... give it two years, and it will all
some back and it will start kicking-up again.
Chaos: Most of the kids in Europe look to America... they
all want to be Americans.
Marvin: That's why there's no punk rock in Britain.
Gabba: The American bands killed the English scene by
coming, charging too much at the door, and they all wanted
too much money.
Marvin: And looking like a bunch of dogs, as well...
Vic: Kind of like the Exploited and G.B.H....
Marvin: Basically, yeah.
Gabba: They killed a lot of the venues. The little venues
died out...
Thrashead: The whole Sub Pop thing?
Chaos: American-style hardcore took off in England in
a really big way, and eventially destroyed what little
was left of the scene there. It's because all the kids,
basically, got into this American look.
Gabba: The bands they'll never ever see...
Chaos: They want to play in and American-style band...
Marvin: The t-shirts of the bands they'll never ever see,
or ever hope to see, anyway.
Gabba: What's the point of that really.
Chaos: There's like five million American-styled hardcore
bands who came out overnight and popped-up everywhere.
Thrashead: Was that like in the late eighties, around
the time Napalm Death started to become popular?
Chaos: That's it, basically.
Gabba: About 1985 and onwards, was when they discovered
Slayer and Anthrax.
Chaos: It was about 1985 when it started, and it has since
gone downhill from there.
Gabba: It got worse and worse, to the situation it is
now. Now we got everyone into fuckin' "grunge"
and the "Seattle thing", which is even worse!
Chaos: It might be dead by the time we get back...
Marvin: Definately.
Gabba: I feel sorry for them bands... The media builds
them up, the fuckin' ditches them. Like, they give them
a bad name after.
Marvin: So awful for them, god bless them.
Chaos: It's really easy to be ina band to slag, to be
offered a lot of money, a big tour, and say, "Yeah,
I'll do it", especially in England, where they got
this thiug where most of the music press, and the music
business, will take a "band from nowhere" to
just build up, make everyone buy their albums, and make
everyone be into them... The next thing you know... BLAM!...
they're gone.
Thrashead: It's kind of weird, to hear stories of the
way the music press builds these bands up to stardom...
Chaos: Only to slag them off...
Thrashead: Nirvana was one of them. Then the Americans
took it back to make it bigger and worse.
Chaos: It's like a typical American, who are always looking
to England for something to buy. It happens all the time.
Vic: The whole time I was in England, Nirvana was like
starting to be cut down... it was like, "NIRVANA
IS JUNKIES"... and all the rumours and shit about
them. They spent six months building them up, like they're
the best thing since WARM SHIT, and in the next six months
after that they just cut them down, and cut them down...
and all the while, a few pages back , there's the new
batch of bands that they are building up.
Marvin: It's a conveyor belt, isn't it?
Gabba: It's not relevant to punk rock, really. They did
it years ago with all the early bands, like the Exploited
and G.B.H....
Chaos: They got away with it with a few bands... The Oi!
thing is a perfect example.
Marvin: Just some silly catagory...
Gabba: Gary Bushell... he writes for the Sun now.
Thrashead: He writes for the Sun? I thought he was with
Sounds.
Vic: Now he writes television reviews... (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: He stopped writing for the Sun... he does T.V.
reviews.
Gabba: During the war he was saying, "You lads in
the Gulf are fuckin' dirt, you're a bastard..."
Thrashead: He was huge back in the 80's, too.
Chaos: I was watching this T.V. breakfast program, one
morning... He came on and he was doing a review on some
film, and he sat there in his suit and shit. This is irrelevent,
really... The funny thing was that he was doing an interview
with these English T.V. personalities, and they asked
him a question about what he thought of this movie...
He turned around on this program, and said something like,
"Reminds me of the days when I was travelling with
this band, Angelic Upstarts...". (LAUGHTER) What
was he talking about?... He's a sad old man, basically.
Vic: At one time, he was a sad young man... that's all.
Thrashead: He really made a lot from pushing Oi! stuff...
Vic: And killed it all in the process.
Marvin: Oh, yeah. A good thing, I think.
Chaos: It's a good example of "the bandwagon",
you know. It's what happens when people jump for punk
rock fame. He was just one of those people...
Thrashead: He even put a label on it, too.
Vic: A lot of bands that didn't even deserve the label
got that label put on them.
Chaos: Exactly.
Marvin: I remember the Bad Brains were called "Rasta-Oi!"...
He called them "Rasta-Oi!"!
Vic: "Rasta-Oi!"?
Marvin: Yeah, he used to call them "Rasta-Oi!"...
Can you fuckin' believe it? Silly cockney twit... (LAUGHTER)
Gabba: There was a scene of bands that were aroung before
the Oi! tag, and bands that wanted to be thrown under
the Oi! tag. Most of them didn't complain about it.
Marvin: They used to play up to the press all the time.
Chaos: Now, they're probably changing their tune... them
saying that they didn't want to be...
Vic: "We're not skinheads".
Chaos: At the time, if you go under the Oi! tag you can
get like the front page cover of the NME or Sounds, and
they'll write fuckin' lame articles on you, which were
like, "Yeah, great!". All these bands jumped
on this bandwagon, which we never did. Because we never
fuckin' went for it, they started slagging us to shit...
us and Disorder... We, at the same time, just turned around
and said, "No, this is fuckin' bollucks! Can't you
see what's happening under your very noses? It's fuckin'
destroying the scene! It's fucking things up." Because
of our reaction they fuckin' hated our guts. It just goes
to prove the point that we're still here and we're still
going. Look at thpse fuckers... where are they?
Thrashead: Disorder are still going, too. They got something
new coming out.
Katz: A split album with Mushroom Attack.
Chaos: I suppose you can say that they're still going.
Vic: They're still standing...
Chaos: They're still standing and when they're not standing
they are laying down.
Marvin: Also the Mob have reformed, as well as Rudimentary...
uh...
All: Rudimentary... uh... (LAUGHTER)
Marvin: (only joking) What do you call them?... fast band...
couldn't draw...
Thrashead: Where's Cake when you need him...
Katz: They played a gig a month ago in Bristol.
Marvin: We didn't know that.
Gabba: This is just Chaos U.K. talking about punks in
general.
All: Punks, in general...
Marvin: We can write our own column, actually.
Vic: Let's see, who else can we destroy?
Gabba: There was a good band from New York called Nausea...
(LAUGHTER)
Chaos: Thnk of any people you want to destroy? (asks bands)
Marvin: No, we destroyed them all.
Chaos: Next question!
Thrashead: Have the bands' politics changed that much?
Marvin: Yeah, it has gone completely fascist. (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: Not really. It's just that we don't write about
it so much anymore. We've basically run it into the ground,
you know. We tend to also go and have a good time and
laugh, basically, these days. The politics still there...
Pete: Keep the politics and have a good time.
Gabba: Everybody knows what are politics are...
Chaos: By now, a lot of people know what our politics
are.
Vic: Fuck it to shreds! We'll do songs about cider and
violence. (MORE LAUGHTER)
Chaos: A lot of songs we write are still very political,
while at the same time we mix in "drink and a good
time" songs, as well.
Vic: It's not dogmatic. Never been dogmatic, which is
an easy trap to fall into.
Chaos: That's exactly what I was going to say... It's
really easy to corrupt the political thing, and it's real
easy to get corrupted on the other side, the Peter and
the Test Tube thing, where you can just be a fuckin' "drunk
yobbo band", or like a fuckin' big "right-on
anarchy" band.
Vic: Stradle the fence I always say.
Thrashead: Any favorite bands?
Marvin: Nausea, Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death...
Thrashead: What bands that you've played with, on tour,
that have really impressed you?
Chaos: I think the best band I've seen on tour so far,
on this tour, was Hellspawn. They fuckin' rocked the fuckin'
pants off me. It's been a long time since I've seen a
band that I really enjoyed.
Marvin: I like Misery... I'll tell you, they're good.
There was also another fuckin' great band... Buzz-Oven...
they were fuckin' great.
Chaos: They were a fuckin' shit-all band.
Marvin: What other bands we played with?
Pete: Dogma Mundista! (shouting from the other side of
the room)
Chaos: Got to say nice things about them... we're staying
in their house, at the moment. (LAUGHTER)
Gabba: We was to play with Johnny-Moped, but he couldn't
come over and tour with us.
Thrashead: Johnny Moped... is he still around?
All: Yeah, really.
Pete: That he sure is.
Thrashead: I've heard that Wreckless Eric, and a bunch
of others, are all still around.
Marvin: A whole bunch reformed...
Gabba: I play in the Lurkers.
Thrashead: Really?!
(The tape ended, without us noticing it, so a good chunk
of the interview was deleted...)
Vic: As I was saying... Don't you know that Nirvana bought
back punk?
Marvin: That's why X-ray Spex are now doing it.
Thrashead: So, X-ray Spex did get back together? I heard
it never happend.
Vic: It's just Poly Styrene and four Krishna people.
Thrashead: So, it's not the original line-up then.
Gabba: It's the same with all them bands, like Peter and
the Test Tube Babies, Anti Nowhere League, Blitz...
Thrashead: I know Blitz were back together.
Gabba: I play in the Lurkers as well...
Chaos: Cock Sparrer, Blood, Adicts, Adicts, Stiff Little
Fingers...
Marvin: Stiff Little Fingers reformed for a gig for lots
of money. The Subhumans did that, too, about two years
ago, because the guitarist needed the money. I went to
see the Anti Nowhere League, and it was sad as fuck. It
was a bunch of old men getting up there for half an hour,
and getting paid for fucking around.
Vic: So, we're a bunch of old men getting up there for
half an hour, not getting paid... (LAUGHTER)
Marvin: Very, very true... They have no interest in the
punk scene at all, and none of them see it either.
Thrashead: They're riding on their old fame.
Vic: Anti Nowhere League were always a manufactured band,
anyway.
Marvin: They were the saddest bunch of crap I've ever
seen in my life. At least when X-ray Spex played they
were good. Do you know what I mean? The Lurkers were the
only band on the bill, that I've seen, that were any good.
That was the Lurkers...
Vic: They never quit... and have young Bob over here.
(points to Gabba)
Chaos: They seem to be the only band, from that era, that
had kept it together.
Thrashead: They never broke up?
Chaos: They just release records in Germany, now, and
they do big tours over there.
Thrashead: Maybe they'll come out here.
Gabba: We're gonna come over, like this year... We'll
some out and do the West Coast.
Thrashead: When exactly would that be?
Marvin: After his mother have a cake stand at the local
faire... (LAUGHTER)
Gabba: I don't know what's happening with the band...
I think I've left the band now, anyway. (MORE LAUGHTER)
Chaos: They wanted him to tour with them in Europe, but
he told them that he would be touring with Chaos U.K.
Marvin: Tell us about the story of how you lost your voice
in Germany?.. He dissapeared into a doggy-dive and came
out with no voice. (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: In Hamburg, the city of sin.
Marvin: Reduced to a whisper...
Gabba: He went around wanking until there was nothing
but air coming out in the end. (MORE LAUGHTER)
Thrashead: Anything else we need to know?
Vic: Did we mention that Chris Andrea is a complete and
udder fraud.
Thrashead: Explain "Farmyard Boogie"?
Gabba: It basically started out as a Killing Joke-style
song.
Chaos: In the studio, the first time, it was going to
be a serious Killing Joke-type song, but we all got pissed
and it deteriorated into a fuckin' pile of shit, which
has stuck with us for the last thirteen fuckin' years,
basically.
Gabba: And we plan on doing a new version.
Vic: The absolute last one.
Chaos: Or is it?
Vic: It is, because I won't play on it.
Pete: I ain't gonna do the reggae one, then.
Thrashead: Reggae? (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: We'll do the reggae track first.
Marvin: A dub reggae version.
Thrashead: Let's see... I know that the first version
was on the first album, then you had the "Extended
Disco Mega-Mix" on the "Short Sharp Shock"
album.
Gabba: The live version on the "Just Mere Slaves"
12".
Thrashead: The "Cider House" one on "Chipping
Sodbury"...
Vic: Then we have "Fartyard Boogie" on "One
Hundred Percent Two Finger in The Air Punk Rock".
Gabba: Then, on the split LP "The Death of Farmyard
Boogie", which is like the starting first few chords.
Katz: How about the thrash version on the live CD, from
Japan?
Gabba: Yeah, the fast version...
Vic: The split with Raw Noise, which is the "Benny
Hill Drunk Again" version. (LAUGHTER)
Chaos: Then we got "Farmyard" on the 1986 live
version, where he's (Mower) completely drunk and pissed
out of his head, with twenty pints of cider in him singing,
"Bwabwabwabwa" (drunken noises).
Marvin: It's the only fuckin' way to play that song, really.
Gabba: The idea for "Farmyard Boogie" originated
from The Wurzels, a folk band.
Marvin: That we stole from, and based out careers on it.
Chaos: We created punk rock on The Wurzels.
Gabba: Who are basically a drunken version of us, playing
folk music.
Thrashead: Are you giong to do a tribute album?
All: Yeah.
Gabba: Actually, we were thinking of doing all the Wurzels'
songs as punk songs.
Marvin: The Wurzels were the Germs of their generation.
(LAUGHTER)
Chaos: It's true... they died similarly. He drank three
gallons of cider, drove his M.G., and crashed. Darby Crash
actually copied him.
Thrashead: What are some of the plans you have, after
the tour?
Chaos: Get fuckin' drunk in English pubs. (LAUGHTER)
Thrashead: Besides that...
All: Get drunk in English pubs. That's all...
Vic: Pass out.
Gabba: We're going to organize another tour of Europe.
Chaos: We might do another tour of Japan.
Marvin: Not again...
Chaos: There's going to be a lot more touring when we
get back.
Thrashead: Any new future releases?
Vic: A new 7" we just recorded yesterday. It should
be out as soon as I get my shit together to put it out
in this country.
Gabba: Anybody that's been in Reagan Youth can never get
their shit together, really. (LAUGHTER)
Marvin: Reagan Youth? They still owe you money, sucker.
Vic: They do...
Marvin: Is it an unwritten rule in your life, that any
band you join rips you off blind, is it?
Vic: Yeah, that's the way... traditional.
Thrashead: Do you think you'll be doing this in ten years?
Chaos: Probably...
Vic: I'm not sitting here thinking about ten years from
now, I'm thinking about this afternoon, you know...
Marvin: It's gotten past the phase you can tell, really.
Chaos: You're going to have to grab a proper job, and
sooner or later it will definately grab you.
Vic: I'm 29, and I'm like beyond redemption now. I'm fucked
up, youknow?...
Gabba: Yeah, too late...
Marvin: No going back...
Vic: It's like, even if I wanted to be like a fuckin'
totally average, upstanding person, I couldn't, because
I fucked up already...
Thrashead: Did you consider it fucking up when you made
the choice?
Vic: Put it this was... I could say that I hate punk rock,
because it ruined my life, but at the same time I don't
know what the fuck I'd be doing, otherwise. I probably
wouldn't be happy doing it. At least I'm having a good
laugh doing this, and travelling around the world, on
top of it.
Chaos: It's like that old cliche, "Punk is a way
of life", which this is definately fuckn' it, I'll
tell you.
Marvin: "Spunk is a way of life". That's the
other side of the band we don't want to go into... the
seedier side.
Thrashead: Any last comments?
Vic: Aww... all ready?
Chaos: Anybody out there prepared to offer us another
big tour, big promoters, big tour, lots of money, you
know...
Vic: Big gorilla-like bouncers that don't do anything
but watch the band, and beat people up that are standing
there doing nothing.
Chaos: Hot tubs, jacuzzue, saunas...
Vic: Big long-sleeve tour shirts, with all the tour dates
on the back.
Chaos: Shorts, boots...
All: Stab is a fraud.
Thrashead: That's it.
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