[This interview originally
appeared in Greg Dunlap's zine THIS, and then in his Naked Raygun Web Archive. I've taken it, cleaned up the
typos, and added the links and pictures for the easily-distracted. -- Andy][This interview originally
appeared in Greg Dunlap's zine THIS, and then in his Naked Raygun Web Archive. I've taken it, cleaned up the
typos, and added the links and pictures for the easily-distracted. -- Andy]
After a long sweaty evening of sing-a-longs, which included some great covers ("The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Suspect Device." Oh, jizz.) and Pezzatti singing "Surf Combat" with a palm tree, the gang, (That's us.) sunk to the murky depths of the Riv to interview those cat molesters, oops I mean pop idols, oops...well anyway it was Naked Raygun. This was our second interview ever, and we were pretty excited. The level of which excitement could be gauged by the fact that I forgot to adjust my f-stop on the first five pictures, and deciphering this tape was pretty tough, due to the fact that three people should never, and I mean never, conduct an interview, seeing that th ree conversations at once is hard to listen to, let alone write down. Yeah, it was a learning experience, they gave us beers, and some pretty enjoyable conversation. Enough of this crap, here's how it went. Naked Raygun is:
John Haggert: guitar and static electricity
Pierre Kedzy: bass and chicks
Jeff Pezzatti: voice and beer
Eric Spicer: drums and sports
THIS: What did you think of the show tonight?
PIERRE: BIG . . . TIME. It was great.
THIS: What do you think about playing the Riviera
PIERRE: It was pretty good y'know, although I was standing out in front by the doors and they were frisking people. They were pretty strict about that.
THIS: Yeah they were. They tried to bust my face when they saw my camera. Did you guys ever expect, like back when you were playing Tuts and stuff that you would ever play a place like the Riv?
JEFF: Ah... well the Riviera wasn't open then...
JOHN: We never expected it.
THIS: How about playing someplace really big?
JOHN: The Stadium. I wanna play the Stadium. Right after the Hawks. (bountiful laughter)
THIS: On the ice?
JOHN: Yeah, on the ice. (more bountiful laughter)
THIS:
Is there any reason you don't play anything off Basement Screams anymore?
JOHN: Well, no one from that record is even in the band anymore.
PIERRE: Except for Jeff.
THIS: What do you guys do outside of the band, as far as day jobs?
PIERRE: I got an office job. Jeff's an architectural engineer.
ERIC: I'm a mugger. A purse snatcher and a mugger. Oh, and a pickpocket on the El. Very profitable.
PIERRE: ... John's a child molester...
THIS: So pretty much normal, run-of-the-mill, average jobs. Karen (Bemis, Raygun's Manager) said that you just went on a tour of the South. How did you guys like that?
JEFF: Mississippi and Florida were really great.
ERIC: Alabama was on fire. Everything was on fire.
THIS: Literally on fire?
ERIC: Literally!
PIERRE: It was on fire from when we went into the state until when we left...
ERIC: They were boiling peanuts and setting things on fire everywhere... for no apparent reason.
THIS: On the side of the road and stuff?
ERIC: Yeah!
JEFF: People in Alabama are really poor. They pull their car over with their camper trailer, and then they get a bunch of rusty pickup trucks and move 'em to the back, and then they boil peanuts and put up signs, and sell them...with union jack flags....
THIS: How were the crowds?
JEFF: Well, Mississippi and Florida were really big. The rest, well there were some places where we weren't really known.
THIS: Have you guys been to Europe y et?
JEFF: No, but we're planning to,soon.
ERIC: Europe or bust..
THIS: Do you consider yourself influenced by anyone?
JOHN: Oh, yeah, we are influenced by certain bands.
THIS: Who'd you say?
J OHN: Mr. Morby.
JEFF: Bill Morby Trio...
PIERRE: Bill and the Morbettes...
JEFF: ...Bill and the Morbettes, Bodonobus Foursome, Shay Bodonobus.
ERIC: The Schmeebettes.
JOHN: ...and the Four Bodonob uses.
THIS: What are your plans for the future, like in the next year or so?
ERIC: Well, tomorrow is Saturday.
PIERRE: (Yelling to the next room) Hey, hey where's my glass? There were four glasses here, one for each band member...(Wanders into next room)
THIS: Are
you working on a new album?
ERIC: Oh yeah, its about half-done.
JEFF: ...like half of half of the songs are done.
THIS: When do you think you'll get it out?
JEFF: Uh, it probably won't be out before February.
THIS: Are you going to put it out yourself, or are you going back to Homestead for it?
JEFF: Well, we're not going to put it out ourselves, and I don't know who's gonna put it out. Probably another indepenent though, for sure.
THIS: Why'd you decide to put out the single yourself instead of on Homestead?
JEFF: Just to do it. A lot of people don't want to mess with a single but... we could have ourself to blame instead of somebody else for once. Like why its not coming out on time. And why its not really blue and white, but mostly white.
THIS: Do you guys like light shows and lasers and all that?
JEFF: Were there lasers tonight?
THIS: No. What was with the lasers last time?
JEFF: It was too much.
THIS: You didn't like it?
JEFF: Well I don't know. We thought it would be good.
JOHN: I don't know. Shit, if we can play "The Boys are Back in Town", we can have lasers.
THIS: Is it
true that Lisa Bonet really got married? (Jeff announced this during the show.)
JEFF: Yeah, yesterday or today she got married.
THIS: Who'd she marry?
JEFF: I don't know, I didn't see that part of the news. I just saw the part where they were gonna announce it.
JOHN: I never thought she was all that good y'know...
JEFF: (Seething with rage, and violently attemting to strangle Haggerty) WHAT!! ARE YOU CRAZY!!?!!
JOHN: Y'know what she is, she's a black valley girl, and it really doesn't turn me on...
PIERRE: (With a faraway look in his eyes,) ...but she's got these tits, OMIGOD.
JEFF: Omigod. And that movie with Ricky... Mickey York... Rourke, did they have her wet from the beginning or what?
JOHN: That was a really nice dance, the voodoo thing was really nice, but...
JEFF: Look, in the very first scene she was in they got her all wet..... (Fade out scene about Lisa Bonet, Fade in to talk about splatball)
JEFF: Next Saturday we're playing splatball, big time.
THIS: What's that?
JEFF: What is it, or Where is it?
THIS: What is it?
JEFF: Its capture the flag, with paintball guns.
THIS: Yeah? Where at?
JEFF: Indiana we're going to. Got about 20 guys.
THIS: Who else is playing?
JEFF: Who else is
playing, anybody else we've ever he ard of? Any of the
Bhopal Stiffs playing?
JOHN: No, none of those band-type guys are playing.
ERIC: Aerosmith. Aerosmith would be great targets I think. They're slow and they dress real gaudy... pick 'em off at a hundred paces no problem. Steve, staggering around with all those scars would be an easy target.
JOHN: The problem with Steve is that he insists on wearing those bandanas and shit in the woods and it gives him away.
JEFF: And the leopard thing, it just doesn't fit in.
THIS: Do you think that you would ever break up, or do you think you'd take it casually and it wouldn't come to that point?
JOHN: I think we'd take it pretty casually...
THIS: So even if you got really big, you wouldn't...
JOHN: No, no. We'd have to get really big, we'd have to get so big that everyone in the band would be off doing a solo project, and then we'd get back together and have a big reunion... and make even more money.
JEFF: ... we can't breakup, I don't have a pool and a speakerphone yet...
THIS: 6 soldout dates at the Horizon, it would be sponsored by Schlitz, and you'd all be dry alcoholics by then, right?
JOHN: Yeah, that kind of thing, and Spicer would be run over by a car, his legs crushed.
THIS: And he would still be able to play...
JEFF: Hey, the
guy from Def Leppard still plays with one arm. (Conversation now goes into the technical aspects of a one-armed
drummer, and how a tasteless video could be made. Bountiful laughter.)
THIS: So what's the song "Vanilla Blue" about? Is it a love song?
ERIC: Its a lust song.
THIS: Is it about Lisa Bonet?
JEFF: It's about a girl who makes Lisa Bonet look like shit. It makes Lisa Bonet look dry...
JOHN: No one has ever seen her besides Pierre. We have a feeling none of us ever...
THIS: What's she like?
JOHN: Where is she?
PIERRE: Actually she's in California right now. She used to work in Kraft for the cheese division.
THIS: Cheese or cheesy substances?
PIERRE: Both actually. Cheese science department. It was really big...this gal was Big Time.
THIS: So what're you trying to say about her in the song?
PIERRE: I don't know, y'know my brain sort of works in mysterious ways.
JEFF: Her nickname was Gouda!
THIS: How do you spell that?
JEFF: G-O-U-D-A. He r name was Swiss Goat Gouda.
PIERRE: She was like a fondue mix. (Talk turns to the pros and cons of big time fondue, the pros being Gaha's and the cons being the cost)
THIS: Who came up with the concept of pounding sand up someone' s ass?
JEFF: My dad.
THIS: Your dad did?!
JEFF: My dad has some great sayings.
PIERRE: Pop Pezzati...
JEFF: Once when I was like really young my Dad said to me, "When I say shit you squat." It was sooo scary. Yeah, my dad has some great sayings, like pound sand up your ass for one.
THIS: Is your next record going to be the live record you were talking about?
JEFF: No, we recorded one song tonight, well actually we recorded t he whole show, but we intend to put one specific song on the new album.
THIS: If the Riv allowed it, would you allow stage diving?
JEFF: I think stage diving is a bad idea, although it looks cool.
THIS: There used to be a lot of that at the Metro shows.
JEFF: Yeah, 30 people on stage all the time -pain in the ass. A lot of people do it 6 times every song, now what's the point there y'know? It looks cool but people who don't know it's happening get creamed. St. Louis? People get creamed in St. Louis. Everytime we play St. Louis people get creamed.
(unidentified): Someone broke an arm once didn't they?
JEFF: ...someone broke an arm...people get really hurt so its bad in that respect.
PIERRE: People get landed on a lot.
THIS: Did you stop playing the Metro because it was too small, or was it this whole thing about not allowing "hardcore" bands?
JEFF: No, well what happened was that skinhead thing, so they decided not to do any real agressive shows. So at the same time, we were looking for a show, and we didn't call anybody. But The Riviera, the guy who books called us, so we said "OK well, we'll just do it until the Metro cools off." And then... it worked out good.
JOHN: I don't really think we're ever gonna play the Metro again. They're giving 'em a lot of heat. I mean, there's that Wrigley Field thing, and they're thinking about turning the whole district, that whole ward, dry. Because thats also a thing to avoid the lights at Wrigley Field thing. It's all kind of tied in.
JEFF: ...it's a whole thing to try to appease the people who live around there..
ERIC: Which is really, I can't understand this, y'know. Like if it was in Kenilworth or something, y'know, and you paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for your home, and you know upwards of five to seven hundred dollars for your apartment, well then I could think, well, yeah. Then you have something to bitch about. But these people, I mean, they got these piece of shit apartments...
JOHN: Hey, I live over there...
ERIC: I know holmes, but...
JOHN: Are you saying... Are you gonna say look, I don't want these types roaming my neighborhood...
ERIC: I hope they move the fucking joint! They piss in my hallway. They walk in my hallway and they piss.
JOHN: OK, holmes you don't want them to piss in your hallway then you better pay more rent.
JEFF: Shit Spicer, I've seen you piss in people's hallways! (Mucho laughter)
JOHN: I don't see how you get so righteous when they're really just middle class people, just like the people who are pissing in your hallway.
JEFF: I seen you throw a cup of piss on a guy in St. Louis pally...
JOHN: Well hey. You move next to Wrigley Field. Yeah its cheap sure. But now I'm gonna insist that everyone conducts themselves in an orderly fashion. Like I'm some kind of a...
JEFF: ...righteous...
JOHN: yeah.
PIERRE: The whole Western world's in decline it's obvious. (Cut to conversation about sports. I don't know how it got started)
ERIC: The Cubs suck. The Cubs were a bad baseball team.
JOHN: Well, yeah baseball...baseball should be eliminated altogether.
JEFF: Play tiddlywinks. It's like, fuck watch. It's cool to play, it sucks to watch.
ERIC: Just like bowling.
JOHN: Baseball isn't a game, it's a technique. It has nothing to do with team play.
JEFF: Imagine a no-hitter, holy snooze action.
JOHN: No look, look, its designed so the best you can do is make it as boring as possible.
ERIC: There's too many options. In baseball you should be able to have, in the future, one ball that explodes.
JEFF: ...and the pitcher should be able to throw it any time in the game that he wants to...
JOHN: Like, how about one swing and you're out. Ok thats it, you're out. Fuck you. Get out.
ERIC: (with sweeping hand gestures) What they should actually do though is they should have no more baseball. They should get prisoners from Joliet and have them fight to the death. Like the gladiators.
THIS: Yeah, but save the bats.
JEFF: What we should do is have the outfield on a huge escalator...
ERIC: Mine the outfield. Fuckin' mine the outfield. They should not serve beer, they should only serve hard liquor. And they should have a drawing - one person gets a handgun, OK? (laughter)... that could change the whole game.
JOHN: Baseball's weird. Ya know when I was a kid, y'know when you're young it's like there's guys that are kind of like, y'know, not real competitive. Kind of like sissies and stuff and they go for baseball. They never play football.
ERIC: ...shortstops, shortstops should have a knife... (Talk goes briefly into the merits of the best sport, hockey which we won't include cause this is already too long)
THIS: OK, anything to close off the sports sction with?
JOHN: Ummm, baseball does not belong.
ERIC: Baseball does not matter.
JEFF: The track...horseracing...
THIS: And you can win some bucks too.
JEFF: Not only that but you can dress up real badass.
JOHN: Golfing. Golfing you can dress like a moron, you can make big money too.
PIERRE: How about computer video golf.
JEFF: That's pretty good.
THIS: When did you guys start the idea of throwing out "free shit" every show?
JOHN: People just started yelling for it..when did we do it first, I can't remember.
JEFF: At the Metro on Thanksgiving, a couple of years ago.
ERIC: Turkeys. Yeah, Turkeys.
JEFF: Then the squirt guns...
PIERRE: And don't forget the masks...
THIS: What are some of your favorite are bands right now?
JEFF: I like Green...
ERIC: Effigies, Law and Order - they're big time.
THIS: How about merchandidsing...any boxer shorts coming out?
JEFF: Maybe toothbrushes.
JOHN: Rubbers.
ERIC: Personalized!
THIS: Yeah, N.R. rubbers with "Naked Raygun" down the side and the N.R. logo on the tip.
JOHN: Bozo! Bozo rubbers with the receptacle tip. That'd be big. (By now familiar bountiful laughter)
THIS: Do you think you'll go over in Europe? Do you sell over there and do you have any idea...
ERIC: We go over in a plane mostly. (bountiful groans)
JEFF: Well, we have a lot of good press over there from All Rise. And, I mean, we have friends in The Membranes who are really organized as far as doing shows and stuff, and Mick Mercer who's really influential. Billy Bragg likes us a lot. So, I really think it'll be no problem getting shows. And then you know, all those papers over there. NME...Melody Maker...they're just happy to have shit to write about.
THIS: Jeff, where do you get your pants?
JEFF: Marshall Field's.
THIS: All of 'em?
JEFF: All of 'em.