With the band being quarter of a century this year, what have the band
learnt along the way? Are there parts of the bands history you would
rewrite if you could?
Jeez, it has been 25 years, eh? I guess at this point we've learned
that we'll never get rich doin this, and the only true payoff is the
music and the people you meet through the music. We've made some wrong
turns in the band, God knows!!–but you really can't regret them
too much–even the silly photos, the overproduced grasps at commercial
breakout–those type of things just add up to the whole experience,
yeah? At this point it's just a privilege to be able to play a gig
and have people show up with interest.....
Why do you think you are attracting probably the biggest
crowds now at this stage in your career? How do the audience members differ
from when you first started out?
Well, there is that whole curiosity thing.....I think
our Tshirts and stickers are probably more well known to most kids than the
music! So you have a lot of folks that want to come out and see the band,
since they've heard of the band for so long! When we first started playing,
the audience was more of a united tribe, like you could almost recognize
anyone there by name....we were a smaller group, but all united against a
common enemy–the cops or parents!! Nowadays, you get a bigger crowd,
but they are there as an audience—strangers that paid the money to
see a show, ya know?
Please comment on how you see the state of punk today?
Punk, and all music for that matter, is so accessible–for
better or worse. The kids today probably don't have that sense of achievement
we had when we finally cornered that import 45 or tracked down a bootleg
Tshirt, but then it's easier to explore your interest in different music
today....Sure, there's a lot of poppy punks out there that don;t really have
anything to do with what we would think of as "punk", but then
that gets a lot of kids interested in where that came from, maybe gets them
to start exploring the past bands and scenes.....
What were you all up to when the band went quiet in the 90's?
Different things....Kimm and I always stayed in touch, even still got
together and practiced, but there just didn't seem to be much sense
in gigging out in them days....you're talkin about our thirties, usually
the time you start thinkin about gettin the house and what you really
want to do with your life, eh? It just felt right when it came time
to do the new cd and hit the road again, and we are out there with
eyes open now, aware of where we've been and where we hope to go!
What is the track and album you are most proud to have recorded
and why is that?
No matter what has passed under the bridge, it's always
that first EP, them first 5 songs that will overshadow all else. Got a Gun,
Manzanar----the fact that we went in there and laid it down in six hours,
no idea of how to record really, that gave the first songs such urgency and
energy—just can't be captured again once you lose your innocence!
You have played live with much punk and some more main stream
bands over the years. Spill the beans, who have been fun to tour with, or
you have admired and who are total pain in the arses? Which bands would you
like to tour with?
We really only get along with those buddies that can
put up with our drinkin and shenanigans---lots of bands are real serious
about their budget and merchandise, where we feel lucky if we can make it
to the gig halfway sober and with all the equipment intact!! We always love
playing with old pals like Adolescents, Youth Brigade, Skulls, Adicts etc.....old
school road buddies included Kraut from NYC (who I hear are warming up to
come out again!) and StretchMarks from Winnipeg.....
Our very first tour of the states in 1982 (!!!) included several dates with
Husker Du...let's just say that they didn't find a whole lot of humor in
our antics!! We'd love to play with any of our old heroes that are still
out there, feel blessed we got to gig with Ramones, 999, Subs, Midnight Oil,
Exploited, X, and lots more....we recently opened for Cheap Trick, how cool
is that??
What bands can you hear the Channel 3 influence in?
Eh, don't know about that....I guess there is an 80's
Southern California sound that a lot of us PoshBoy bands shared, though we've
been proudly accused of stealing everything we could from the Clash! We get
lots of younger musicians, some pretty successful, that tell us we were a
big influence--a great compliment, even if you can't stand their music!!!
Tell the readers 5 facts about the band they would not know?
-We finally met Maria Montoya, the gal who sings "Make
Me Feel Cheap" only a couple years ago---she even gets up and belts
it out with us on stage now and then!
-We have had 9 drummers, 7 bass players, me and Kimm!
-They've been using tracks off our latest cd for background music on the
MTV reality show, MADE--we only found out when they sent the royaly checks!!
-Every member of CH3 must drink a beer for every year on his birthday--tough
when yer 44!!
-Our first tour of the UK in 1983 fell through, and it's taken til 2005 (The
Wasted Fest) for us to get over!!
Plans, gigs and releases planned for 2005.
Well, we are still gigging away, and hard at work on a
DVD retrospective to be realeased hopefuly by year's end---quite a few DVD's
and Movies will be released soon, I guess old school punks has acieved historical
value!!
Any final comments?
Thanks for talkin with us-cheers! Mike
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