How did the new EP come about? Did you say “Now it’s time for new songs to be put out” or was it a process that was built from the ground up?

Koley: We’re really, really lucky with our studio situation. We’re good friends with the owner, and we’re always there hanging out. The owner will have the intern let us demo our stuff. We started demoing, and realized we had all these new songs. We felt we needed to get them out, not because you can’t write a song that lives longer than that, but mostly just because when you have that much music it’s nice to get it out. I don’t want to be that band that only puts out one thing a year.

Troy: This EP also shows a different side of our musical abilities. Some of our other songs are a little bit different. We wanted to show our audience a different side of the band too.

You guys get the “Beach Sound” comparison quite a bit, but there is also a very strong British Invasion sound in your music as well, which I feel seems to get often overlooked by the press. How do you guys pull those influences into the band?

David: I think those bands being a part of our music is a very natural thing. Bands like The Kinks or The Zombies. It’s what we love, so it’s there.

Koley: Really, I think the thing we try to get into our music is the vocal harmonies. There is always that one lead singer doing the melody, along with the whole gang there doing the background “aaaahhhsss.”

Specifically for the song “In And Out” I hear a new sound coming on. It is very reminiscent of Pet Sounds, but at the same time it’s also very different in its tonal structure.

Koley: Yeah, that song is strange. It’s really not a pop song structure at all really. How that song came about was that I was at a BART stop, and there was a man playing the Banjo. He was playing an A Major chord over, and over, and over. I kind of just started humming this melody and I heard this melody over and over again afterwards. I started writing lyrics about this homeless guy playing banjo non-stop and the flow of the BART station. It eventually becomes a song about life, and a lot of different things.

Are there any bands that have come out recently that you really like?

Troy: Dale Earnheart Jr. Jr.

Joe: A band we all found out about recently that we really like are called Foster the People.

Koley: This band isn’t that new, but I’d definitely say the Mystery Jets.

Speaking of the Mystery Jets, do you find yourselves listening to a lot more foreign music?

Koley: We all sort of have our own little roles when it comes to keeping up with music. Troy is always down with the new local music scene. Joe is really, really into Top 40 shit. It’s all different. We all love pop music, and we have no shame in that. We all listen to old records around the house, probably more than anything, but on top of that we all like new music.

Joe: Dave is really into Jazz, and the blues. It creates a really interesting dynamic.

So on that topic, you guys do have a very retro-60’s feel to your music. Did this just happen out of the blue, or was it built out of your passion for older music?

Koley: It didn’t really start off like that.

Joe: We sounded really different when we started out, back when we first met.

Koley: Joe and I started by ourselves, because we didn’t have a full band. The point of the band was to be a little more simple, and less produced than a lot of the stuff that was going on, hence “A B & The Sea”. People thought we had a somewhat “beachy” vibe, but it was just two acoustic guitars. We started meeting more people, and I began to write little vocal harmonies. It really became this thing where I was saying “Lets add this, and add this! And add this!” It was really not at all what the point of the band was when we started, but it turned into this homage, to all the music that we love, but also keeping it alive in a new way that still makes sense and is relevant.

It’s funny that you say that, because you guys have a cover song of Katy Perry’s 
“California Gurls”. That’s a very modern song. Explain a little bit about why you chose that track?

Joe: When the song came out, my girlfriend had showed it to me. I just instantly loved it. At the time, we were listening to a lot of Beach Boys. We tossed around the idea of covering it but kept saying “Oh, it’s just going to be too cheesy.” But then someone said “Well, what if we did it, but just added a Beach Boys twist onto it” to make it more our style.

Koley: We also did it because we’re all into different things, and we wanted to show people that even though we love this vintage style of music, we’re still fans of pop music. It has a great melody, it’s a song about California, and we’re a very California sounding band. Lets do it man!

Troy: We’re “Hip Popsters.”

At the same time, you guys also did a cover of The Zombies! Did you guys go into that cover wanting it to be pure and simple, or did you also want to try some new stuff with it?

Koley: That was a weird one. It just happened. We were recording for the new EP, and I was sitting at the piano. The engineer Patrick said “Alright, we’re rolling. You gonna do that cover song?” I said ok! So I laid down the piano and then we began adding stuff to it.

What are some of the difficulties of pursuing music full-time?

Koley: I think the hardest thing is that being a band is a catch-22. You do it because you love it, and it doesn’t necessarily matter about the money, but in order to keep going you need the money to fund your band. So in order to make that money, do you play high-paying gigs? Do you get your music onto a movie with a synch or licensing deal? You try to dedicate as much time to the band as you can, but in the down time you give your time to your job to have money, but then you don’t have time for the band.

Do you ever find yourself doing that? Working more than playing music just to stay afloat?

Joe: We kind of luck out. We all live together. We’re all invested together in the same project. It makes it easier. We help each other out.

Do you guys see yourselves being somewhere else musically in the future? Are there new places you’d like to go musically?

Koley: We have so much music right now, and there is some stuff that we’d like to put out, but would honestly scare the shit out of our fans. I think we’d like to put out a folkie album to show off some of our more country and folk sounds that we’re really into. A lot of the music that Dave writes is different too.

David: Yeah, just a lot of different time signatures, and things of that nature.

Koley: We really try to throw in as much stuff as we can get away with. Maybe that’s an interesting time signature that doesn’t scare the listener.

David: If it’s all done well, you don’t even notice it completely.

If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?

Troy: My joint rolling abilities.

David: I guess it’s more individual *laughs*

Joe: We try really hard to focus on making a great piece of music. Even down to how we sequence the music on the album, there is a lot of thought that goes into that. Making great music is really our goal.

Koley: We strive really hard at not writing a song that is a trend. We try to write songs that can fit in with songs that we wrote ten years ago, and maybe songs ten years from now.

Interview by Nikolaus Bartunek
Photos by Jayne Liu
—————

Listen to “Take It Easy”
Listen to “In & Out”

Find A B & The Sea online and follow them at @abandthesea for news, shows, and updates.

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3. Honeycomb

I threw this album on when I woke up this morning, still a little dazed from the beer and champagne of the previous night…really not the best time to try and listen critically to any kind of music. That being said, it’s a credit to the band that I actually really enjoyed it. Hailing from Louisiana, Wolves, Where? are like some weird hybrid between The Darkness (remember those guys?) and any prog rock band with a higher pitched Danzig on vocals. That’s not going to make sense to anyone except me, but fuck it.

Wolves describe their sound as good, authentic rock and roll. I partially agree, I guess. Those basic characteristics bring to mind a band like the Stooges; loud, gritty, no frills, and still fucking mind blowing; no tricks, just “raw power” (yeah, I totally just said that). Now, Wolves are good. Very good, in fact. But here is where I disagree with their description of themselves. They have tricks, and this is not a bad thing. I repeat: their fancy musicianship aka musical talent makes them extremely fun to listen to. BUT…it’s not just your good old basic rock and roll.

A friend and I were conversing the other day about how it’s awesome when you are listening to a song that sound-wise could be few separate tracks. That’s definitely our generation’s complete lack of attention span coming out. Wolves execute this perfectly, switching tempo and melody throughout their songs and leaving you no room for boredom.

To try and sum up Wolves, Where? in some comprehensible way, I leave you with a quote from the band: “Head exploding tunes that make you want to take off your pants as you dance like you’ve never done so before.” If I had pants on when I was listening I totally would have gone for it.

-Kelly Dalbeck

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wolveswhere.com

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3. Make Me

When we met with them at the Rickshaw Stop it quickly became obvious how amazingly in tune they appear to be, musically and otherwise—completing each others’ sentences, songs, and roaming curiosities. It’s refreshing to see a community of musicians so supportive of each other performing as one, and as their name would imply, the sweet result is collaborative effort of genuine musical symmetry.

You were all friends before forming, what made you guys decide to play together?

Emily: Kacey and I have been best friends forever, and I wanted female back up singers so I started getting all my ladies [together]. I invited Nate to play Sonya Cotton’s album release show because I knew he was wonderful from seeing him with Kacey…just sort of all these random ties that just fell together naturally.

I read somewhere that a bunch of you guys live together, is that still true?

Emily: Yeah.

What’s it like sharing creative space and personal space?

Emily: It’s crazy, I mean it can be really convenient and it also can be a little overwhelming sometimes.

Do you guys keep your musical stuff separate when you’re just at home or is it pretty mixed?

Kacey: There’s a little bleed but for the most part we all we create music together, we do a lot of things together, [but] have our own lives separately obviously. I wish there were more just like random musical experiences—you’d think there would be more—but we’re all really busy.

Emily: I’m a full time student and everybody has their own music project other than Honeycomb… it’s kinda crazy but I think it goes through different phases; sometimes we all have more free time and are spending a lot more time together and playing more music together, and other times it’s really trying to squeeze it in.

Would you say you guys have really similar musical aesthetics or are you guys meshing together a lot of different things that you wouldn’t normally do?

Emily: We all have a big range.

Kacey: But it’s definitely mashed up for sure, and I think that’s what makes it so unique, because we’re all coming in with different musical backgrounds and on our own would not make this kind of music.

What are some examples of those different backgrounds coming in to play?

Kacey: I think Emily has this organic sound that’s kind of all her own but maybe you can speak more about it. You kind of developed on your own just really intuitively—I’m coming more from of this like soulful background, and Nate’s coming from this more electronic, even classically trained kind of place.

Emily: Yeah half the band went to music school and half didn’t study it at all.

Kacey: It’s a nice balance of total experimental wackiness and then focus.

You’re talking about Emily’s organic sound; was there somewhere you picked that up or developed it further?

Emily: I started as a solo artist for a long time but whenever I made recordings I would add all these other vocals. I just like all the possibilities that voices can bring, I mean having other instruments is great but there’s something really unique and special and soulful—I mean religious people go to church and sing because all those voices put together can be really powerful.

Kacey: I know singing this song with my voice alone wouldn’t mean at all the same thing it’s adding to; it’s just a richness you that you can only achieve with multiple voices.

So when you guys are writing the songs does it start with just your vocals…

Emily: Up til now it’s sort of shifting but in the beginning I would have a song written, record them on Garage Band, and come up with some ideas but more and more as the songs get written everybody jumps in with ideas, and Kacey is amazing at arranging harmonies and really directs the girls in what harmony to sing.

Kacey: Emily will come with a pretty strong idea of what she wants but there’s tons of space for us to come in and build on top of it.

I noticed the human body, both internally and externally, going through metamorphoses and changes seem to be a recurring theme in the music, any specific reason behind it?

Emily: My visual art and my song writing is a means of self-exploration and it can be pretty self indulgent I guess but that is truly what I find useful. I guess thinking about my physicality allows me to express all parts of myself in my world.

Another thing I picked up on was an allusion to the sense of the rise and the decline. In general the whole idea is reflected in the music with the highs and lows in the harmonies, but is that a part of it that’s done consciously?

Emily: We find it really dynamic to have moments of almost nothingness, its like when you watch a film and you know a lot of sound and music can be powerful in the climax and you know when there’s no sound that can be just as powerful.

How do you find a balance between ambiance and action happening in the background?

Emily: Well I think all the songs have such different parts to them that some of them just naturally call for all the instruments going full force and being complicated and then other parts of it allow for everything to chill out.

Nate: I think we use our ears, we never really spend a lot of time calculating our parts. I remember when I first played with Emily and Andrew the first thing that we played sounded great, so we just listened to each other a lot.

Kacey: It’s intuitive, there’s so much emotion behind the music and the songwriting that you kind of just get swept up. There’s an intention I think set by all of us just knowing the tone of the music and the point of the music that we all want to deliver as truly as possible.

Andrew: The other instrumentalists are pretty mature in that we understand only want to play what really should be played, what really needs to be played. Like if Nate’s playing something I’m gonna think about what would work well with it but I’m also gonna think about if it works best on its own and let that be if it does, or try to come up with something where we’re all working off of each other.

You work on other projects too?

Kacey: Yeah

So what’s it like being really involved in another project?

Kacey: My main projects are honeycomb and my own, and I feel really fortunate to be supported in my own music and my own career on top of honeycomb.

Do you feel like you’re exploring two different parts of your musical self?

Kacey: Totally, and they both benefit one another as a songwriter, as an arranger, as a musician all around I’ve been challenged so much by playing with honeycomb but it feels really natural its like I’m part of a community these are the musicians that I’m drawn to and we’re just exploring different parts of ourselves

I saw a video where you were painting everyone’s faces, where does that tradition come from or why the face painting?

Emily: Because it’s such a large group it can be sort of tricky to be eight separate people and then come together on stage, but by getting to connect with everybody first [the face paint] sort of unifies us yet make us all unique.

Kacey: It’s like having a mask on—it kind of allows me to get into this zone, this “Honeycomb zone” where I’m performing and I am going kind of some place else that’s mysterious.

I have one more question for you guys if you guys could characterize your sound as a taste or a food what would it be?

Emily: Ooh that’s a good question (laughs). I would say like chocolate cake with strawberries, but with something spicy.

Kacey: Yeah like something sour, not bitter, but something tart.

Nate: To me it’s like pumpkin squash.

Kacey: Something really rich and decadent and gooey, but just some flavor that’s just kind of…

Emily: Tang!

Kacey: Yeah tangy but just some little sour bit in there…maybe Andrew knows.

Emily: Yeah, if Honeycomb the music was a taste what would it be?

Andrew: Honey flavored ice-cream but with a blind fold on.

Okay, good answer.

Interview by Vanessa Ta
Photos by Sean Logic
—————

Listen to “Milky”
Listen to “Sparrow”

Visit Honeycomb online for shows dates, new releases, and more.

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2. A B & The Sea
3. Wolves, Where? | The Camel The Lion The Child

In some rare cases, the formula can have a pay off. Andy Warhol capitalized on this. Even Blink-182 made some catchy tunes using a pop-punk formula. Sadly, Sundowner’s We Chase The Sun was not one of those rare cases. A ten song full length from songwriter Chris McCaughan, the album sounds like a first attempt at folk with a singer-songwriter twist.

Packed from front to back with the same four chord campfire sing-alongs , I’d say at a general overview this album is very weak. Songs seamlessly flow into each other without any pause for change up in tonal, lyrical, or music direction. I fought my way through each song, only to be greeted with what appeared to be a doppelganger of a tune on the next track.

The only detail that piqued my interest was that this album was recorded primarily live at a local street corner in Chicago. The down side is that I think this completely open aired and carefree approach to the album could have led to its downfall, in songwriting quality control and in approach. The strongest song, although, is “Jewel of The Midwest” a fast paced folk romp which in essence captures the overall album with its nostalgic lyrics and neo-roots feel… We Chase The Sun does have a healthy dose of energy, and conviction in its delivery, but sadly this remains a “I’ve heard this all before” album.

-Nikolaus Bartunek

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myspace.com/thesundownermusic
asianmanrecords.com

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I’m not going to lie about this one—when I first got a hold of this record I had some reservations. The band’s shmedium t-shirts, gauged ear plugs, and hipster-style comb overs had me wondering just what the hell I was about to get myself into. After a few listens though it was clear these guys are devoted to their punk roots, but their undertakings into newer territories are mixed at best.

Let’s start with the parts I really dug; the opener, “When You Wake Up,” brings a vigorous vitality to the forefront that sets a strong precedent for the first half of the album. “Side of the Road” is an upbeat enough number with a slight rockabilly twang to it that embraces the group’s youthfulness, and “The Process,” which deals with the inner conflict in every artist, stood out as a particularly spirited highlight, if for nothing else than the fact every writer, artist, and musician should know just what it’s like to deal with the struggles of creative output.

But then…then things start heading to parts I just couldn’t dig, starting off with “Train Song.” I’m not really sure what this is doing on the album, as it’s sort of an overly drawn-out jam session by a handful of punks, but it doesn’t really go anywhere and just feels a bit unnecessary. From there there are bits and pieces that had me bobbing my head but the rest of the record is a bit repetitive at times, especially considering nearly every song is given some kind of over-extended intro rather than just getting to the parts you really want to hear. Ultimately I wouldn’t go as far as to say the record is bad by any means, but I feel like once all their playfulness has passed and a real attitude is established this group could kick some serious ass. For now though enjoy their reckless youth—you can tell they are.

-Alexander Zeddemore

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myspace.com/dirtytactics
say-10.com

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Honestly, with a name like AssPiss, is it too much to expect some legitimate griminess when it comes to the music? Instead, the songs on this 7” makes me think of what elevator music would sound like if we lived in some alternate universe where punk rock was the status quo of larger society.

Which isn’t to say that the band is awful; just merely forgettable. Of the four tracks on this album, expectedly rapid, but at times seeming like they’re in a hurry to get themselves over with, only the first, “Rubber Bullets”, is at all memorable. That’s because it has just enough of a Murder City Devil’s quality to it that one finds themselves at least interested to know what follows.

What they find, however, is run-oof-the-mill thrashcore, where quickly sputtered, cliched mantras—the title track, as well as the chorous of song #4 “Already Dead”—are tossed off to the listener, who stands in, seemingly, for both unamed but targeted individuals of the band’s disesteem, and society as a whole.

But the anger is too wide, the fatalism too stock, and the music too rushed and bland (the anthemic qualities of the songs are quickly dropped, giving way to uninspired guitar solos), to have much of an effect. I imagine that this is a band that might be fun to see live, but as recordings go, it seems like they spent more time on the packaging than they did the actual recording.

—Zach Vasquez

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suburbanwhitetrash.com

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From the dreamy and rhythmic “News”, to the strange world of Fuzzy Ambience that is the song “Playtime”, it is clear this band has sonic and tonal capabilities. Although this was in some ways squashed by the lo-fi recording quality, which I felt was a downfall for the recordings. I’m a sucker for special and limited edition pressings, and so I was immediately enchanted with this Audio Cassette pressing, of only 61 copies (A strangely odd number if you ask me). So whats the low down from yours truly? To be fair, Thralls is an outfit of musicians who knows exactly what they want, but I personally was not (get ready for the pun) enThralled with them. What can I say? Sometimes you like your music muddy and dissonant, and sometimes you like it clear and melodic. I guess I’m just all for the latter.

-Nikolaus Bartunek

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myspace.com/soundsofthethralls

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From the opening chords of this Ontario punk quartet’s third full-length, Cavalcade hits the gate with a full force of uncontrollable audial magnitude. Armed with a lyrical complexity embedded within a handful of catchy choruses, the group reveals much more depth than one would typically attribute to a punk band, as the years of refinement and development have paid off for these guys. Lead singer Chris Cresswell’s voice evokes both the euphoria of glory and despair of defeat, each being common themes found throughout the album. Rest assured though you’ll still find them thrashing their way through the record, with tracks like “The Calming Collection” and “Monumental” as notable highlights. Another standout song would have to be “He Was A Jazzman,” which exhibits the band’s ability to produce a track at a slower tempo without sacrificing their hard-hitting essence or compromising their raw aggression. Throw in the few Spinal Tap sound bytes for good measure and I’m sold.

-Sean Logic

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theflatliners.com
fatwreck.com

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So how the hell have The Secretions kept it going strong for nearly the past two decades?

A genuine devotion to their music and fans would be the most obvious answer, as anybody who’s been to one of their shows can attest this group gives it their all every time they get on stage. Following that it’d have to be their inherent ability to make you feel like one of their oldest friends, a surprisingly welcoming attitude that can be a rarity in this community’s ever enclosing social bubble. At the top of the list though would have to be their dedication to keeping the unpredictable, chaotic, adventure-seeking spirit of punk rock alive, an ethos that’s ever-present in every song they write, chord the play, and tour they travel. While wrapping up the final leg of their West Coast Tour the guys sat down for an interview about the latest on the road and their new album Greasyhotmeatcheezy.

I know you guys are sporting some different wheels for this tour. Tell me about your friend Lemmy, I’ve been reading he’s seen better days.

Mickie: We bought Lemmy, our 1991 Dodge Ram Van from a band called The Broke after they lived up to their name and broke up. The guy we bought it from ripped us off and moved away immediately after without us knowing. He left us with a $300 repair bill so we’re hoping that we’ll eventually find where he lives now and shit in his mailbox. Rumor has it that Lemmy used to belong to the east coast KISS cover band Hotter Than Hell, the band that was secretly used as KISS doubles in the movie Detroit Rock City.

Danny: Lemmy has been a great van and a hell of a workhorse for many years now, but he’s now approaching 300,000 miles so we decided to give him the summer off and concentrate on fixing him up when we get back. We rented a Ford 15-passenger van with a much higher rollover risk to make the tour more exciting. It was one of those faceless boring white vans, but it did have AC and super comfy seats which was essential for the 100-plus degree days we had for most of the tour.

I wanted to ask about the picture I saw your guys’ twitter of the claw machine filled with $20 bills. Where was that? What’s the deal?

Mickie: That was a claw machine in Barstow CA at a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant. Every stuffed animal in it had either a twenty or fifty dollar bill rubber banded to it. The thing that struck us the most amusing about it is that it was out of order. It was a kind of abstract metaphor for the state of the U.S. economy.

Any of you guys been on the “ramen and a forty” diet since the tour started?

Mickie: On past tours we’ve lived on the “Dollar Store Diet,” consisting of dollar store snacks, PB&J “vanwiches” and gas station food. This time Paul and I decided to pay a bit more attention to proper nutrition–it ended up giving us extra partying stamina so I think we ate twice as well and partied twice as hard! Danny did end up unfortunately getting sick with a 104 degree fever and the beginnings of pneumonia but he’s hardcore so he toughed it out.There always seems to be at least one person in the band who ends up getting sick for part of the tour. It happens. If you are creative with food and a decent chef you can eat surprisingly well on ten bucks a day, it just takes a bit of effort and planning.

Can you explain to all the fine folks out there about the awesomeness of Capitol Dawg and how it has curiously become a part of the band’s history?

Mickie: I started going to Capitol Dawg because they had Chicago Style veggie dogs, which until now have been rare in Sacramento. I eventually convinced the owner to start serving garlic fries, which were some of the best in town. All of the Secretions love hot dogs, and cheap beer, and Cap Dawg has both, which eventually led to all of us eating there a lot. With the release of our CD Greasyhotmeatcheezy, it just seemed like a no-brainer to have the CD release party there along with hot dog and drink specials. The owner is also a big supporter of local music so he asked if we could sign a photo and post it in the restaurant, which was pretty exciting for us.

What have been some of the highlights of the current tour?

Mickie: The house shows for sure. After playing sleazy dive bars for the last 15 years it’s really getting old. Also, in this crappy economy no all-ages venues even have a chance of staying open without alcohol sales so the kids have nowhere to see shows. Punks have been forced more and more to do shows in their houses, garages, basements, or backyards. House shows usually circumvent all the things that I hate about venues: asshole security, high door prices, high drink prices, promoters ripping off the bands, and age requirements. All that’s left is people having fun watching music and playing music. You might think that with no set door price that you would get paid less, but most of the time people are so generous with donations and buying merchandise that we end up getting paid way more than we would playing a bar show.

Danny: The house show in Flagstaff, Arizona was easily the best show of tour. It set a bar for fun and excellence that was never topped. The Green Stripe House in Seattle came very very close, as did the Zombie House in Portland. Flagstaff was just so much crazy chaotic fun that we wanted every single show to be just like it.

Switching gears to focus on the new album…often times you hear veteran bands complaining about changes in the scene, but I take the song “Back In The Day Punk” as a proverbial middle finger to that sentiment. Do you feel change is an inevitable part of punk? Is it vital to its survival?

Danny: I’m glad you see the song that way because IT IS a middle finger to my “over 35″ punk rock peers who do nothing but complain about the current state of things and talk about “the glory days” like they had everything to do with it. Older punks can be some of the most self-righteous people on the planet. That song is pretty much me trying to capture where I am in my life at this point. I’m not an angry 17 year old who hates his parents anymore. I’m 40 years old, I love my family, I love my fiance, I enjoy doing yardwork, have a good job, and just happen to play drums and sing in one of my favorite punk rock bands. That song is directed to the guys who are my age and think that being a punk rocker still means hating your parents and drinking in the park at night. That was all good and fun in my teens and even in my 20’s, but I think a 40 year old trying to pass themselves off as a rebellious teen is laughable and pathetic.

Change is without a doubt vital in order for punk rock to survive. Not so much in musical styles or in venues for bands to play, but on a much deeper and personal note. A 17 year-old punk should be pissed at everything. That’s what’s great about being a young punk. But that attitude definitely needs to change as you get older. I don’t expect a teenage punk to find joy in the things I do. However, I totally understand why a teenage punk would have a blue mohawk, spikes, studs, and chains. I also respect the intelligence of those kids enough to realize that they can see the difference between an “old guy” trying to be a kid and a 40 year old who plays punk rock music and is comfortable being who they are.

How have you seen things change in the music scene in the Sacramento (or greater Bay) Area?

Mickie: The quick answer is that after being in the punk scene here for 20 years, I’ve noticed that it goes in waves in a never-ending circular fashion. It starts out with people complaining that there are no shows to go to. Some of those folks get sick of it and start putting on shows. The scene gets better and more people start contributing. After weeks, months, or sometimes years, some people get burnt out on putting on shows and quit. Then a bunch of clubs will get shut down due to mismanagement, vandalism or police harassment and the scene will start to suck again and it starts all over.

Danny: Just recently, there has been something that I have never seen before. There were so many people getting off their asses, putting on shows, and starting bands that there wasn’t enough people to go to shows. There was a show to go to at a house, bar, or music venue almost every night of the week. Shows started doing badly because there was simply TOO MUCH going on and not enough people to support it all. As a result, R5 Records closed, 16th Street Café/Javalounge closed, and Shire Road Club closed. Pretty much all Sacto has left are house shows and bar shows. No one else wants to take a chance with the underground all ages punk scene. There is much more money and less risk in putting on mainstream punk and generically appealing indie rock and folk music, so that is what is thriving in major venues in Sacto these days.

I noticed tracks like “Green-Eyed Killer” harks back to a classic 50’s rock n’ roll song structure and feel. Is this just a natural direction for some songs or is it influenced by anything in particular?

Mickie: I have always been heavily influenced by early rock n’ roll guitar slingers like Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, and Carl Perkins, and I can’t help writing a song like that every once in a while. “Computerhead” is another song with an old school rock n’ roll twist, but “Green Eyed Killer” was a direct homage to fifties’ rockers songs about girls who drive them wild. More specifically, that song was written about the woman I ended up marrying, who wished that there was a song like that for her.

Who is Tony Silva? The entire song “Tony Silva Rides The Bus” is about the guy! What’s your relationship with him?

Mickie: Tony Silva is a kid who comes to our shows. He lives in Woodland, CA, which is twenty miles away from Sacramento. When we met him he was 15 and didn’t really have any way to get to shows when his parents couldn’t take him. He would spend hours on the bus just to come to our shows and just Sacramento shows in general. That’s a lot of effort and dedication, and if that doesn’t deserve to be immortalized in song, what does? Tony is 18 now and has become a good friend and is still a strong supporter of the Sacto scene. He still doesn’t have a car!

Interview by Sean Logic
Photos by Samantha Sommatino
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Listen to “Hypocritical Mass”
Listen to “Back In The Day Punk”

Be sure to visit The Secretions online and at the Secretion Life Line for news, shows, and updates, or at Drool City Music to pick up a copy of their new album.

Related posts:

1. Andrew Jackson Jihad
2. A B & The Sea
3. Kepi Ghoulie

-Alexander Zeddemore

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