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Interview: The Skulls
Sep 3rd, @ the Galaxy, Santa Ana, CA
by Sabine Schenk
I am a big fan of the Skulls since I saw them raising hell at a show in Duesseldorf, Germany last year. When I heard that they were going to play a show on my birthday I told Frank that we had to go there! So we did. We missed out on the first band on stage but the second band was really crazy. It were those 10year old punks from DEK. Then finally the Skulls went on stage and I had a blast watching them kicking ass. Billy Bones is one of the most energetic frontmen I have ever seen, Kevin played his guitar like a madman and James looked like a madman playing his bass and wearing at least 20 different hats on stage. They played all their hits like Can Punkrock Pay The Bills, Monet (which is so catchy that it might even work for MTV), Aye Aye Aye and a brand new song. I would also like to thank James for mentioning the terrible event that took place at a school in Russia that day when terrorists killed hundreds of innocent kids. You spoke my mind there on stage, James, thank you! After them The ADZ went on stage starring Tony Adolescent. Those guys were good, too. Especially the Turbonegro cover caught my attention but the Skulls were the best band that night by far! We had the chance to talk to Billy and the guys before they had to go on stage. Here is what they had to say:
We interviewed you in Duesseldorf, Germany almost a year ago. What happened within that year? How did things go for you?
Billy Bones: It’s been really busy. We had a lot of experiences together. We did not change much. We are the same since day one.
James: We’ve created some more material. And since we spoke with you last we brought out a brand new DVD, which we recorded live about a month after we saw you. And it’s called Night Of The Living Skulls. It’s got a CD and DVD in it, two hours of footage and a whole live show. It was released a couple of months ago. We also brought out a single today. A new 7inch single: You Can’t Drag Me Down with 2 previously unreleased tracks on the B side. We had Shot Down In Flames that appeared on a tribute album. It’s an AC/DC song. Then we also did Walk The Line which was only previously available on the vinyl version of Therapy For The Shy. We had so much demand that we released it again on the B side of this single. And we just went to the studio. We wrote four new songs and recorded them. And we are in the middle of the process of writing new material. I think the European tour activated the catalyst to get us into being more creative again. And it’s been really fun since we got really, really busy. We are kind of taking a 3 month break right now. Tonight’s show is the last show for a long while. Then we have to go back into the studio.
Billy Bones: Europe fired us up!
Sean: We also toured most of the East Coast down to the Midwest and four warped tour events, warped tour dates. Starting from Cincinnati to Boston and then toured down into Missouri which was very strange in a UFO kind of way. It was great.
Who had the idea of recording a DVD?
James: That’s an interesting story. See, what it was, we have got two studio albums with Dr. Strange. And Bill Strange is very, very good to us. But at that time we had one album and we were recording The Golden Age Of Piracy. And Mel from Finger Records had been really hassling us to do an album with him. Well, we had already promised Bill that we would do this new album with him. And we like to stick to our word. And what I had said to Mel was: ‘Well, you know what, we’ll do a live album for you.’ Not even really thinking when or how. I just said that we’ll do one. The El Rey show came up and so we started talking about doing a professional recording of it. And through some mutual friends it kind of mutated into: ‘Hey, why don’t we just film it ?!’ And then instead of one camera it turned to two cameras, to three cameras, to five cameras until we had six cameras in and a full proper studio flown in for the event. So, what was supposed just to be a live album just as an act of friendship to another label turned into a live DVD project. It wasn’t ever supposed to be a DVD. It just happened of what was going to be a live album.
So, you are still on Dr.Strange records? You did not change to Finger Records?
James: We are not on any record label.
Billy Bones: Dr. Strange is where we started and we love working with Bill. And Finger stepped in and it’s cool for both of them. It’s kind of a mutual thing with everybody. So, we are on no label really.
James: We still finance everything we do. And what we did was license them to various labels. But we don’t believe there’s any competition. So, what we did is we actually hooked up with two record labels and got them to work together which formed a new relationship. We believe that this is what the original punk ethic was all about. Everybody was working together and creating something new together. And even if we just done it a little bit with two labels, it’s a step into the right direction because things got too fractured in recent years with record labels and stuff.
There are a lot of special features on the DVD. Did you choose to put them on or did somebody else?
James: Greg, who produced the video, he was just everywhere all the time. It was like a two months period. We were playing shows and he was just there with his camera pulling footage everywhere he could. So, whoever just happened to be hanging with us made it into the DVD. Of course, they are all friends because every show is like a big family event. He just took footage of everyone who happened to be there and used it.
You guys have a Skulls skateboard out, a pro model so to say, on Punkrock Skateboards. Are you guys involved with skateboarding in some way?
Kevin: I tried but I did not quite succeed in it.
Sean: I used to but I stopped a long time ago. But that was when street boarding was really popular back in the late 70ies. Our affiliation with Punkrock Skateboards is a birthday party that we did annually for a few years with a guy named the Milkmen who actually skates for Punkrock Skateboards. And his dad would drain the pool and have the whole team come over and we play on one side of it. It became kind of an annual summer time party. It’s really cool. It’s on the DVD, too.
Kevin: One time Billy had a few drinks and he wanted to do a drop in on a quarter pipe. I tried to talk him into it but his wife came out and his daughter came out and they said he should stop it. He did not end up doing it.
Billy Bones: I thought I could it. I was horrified but I still think I could do it.
Sean: That was the same night that Kevin and Bones were celebrating their anniversary. We got them cake and stuff at a nice steakhouse. It was great. They sang to them and Billy Bones jumped up and down until they said: ‘Anniversary!’ It was a very manly party. We had steak sauce and other sauce… let’s not go there….
James: You know, we had a really great time in Europe. Everyone was so cool to us over there. We really felt the appreciation and we can’t wait to come back but unfortunately the time we would have been available to tour Europe this year did not fit with the agency’s recommendation for what would be really good for us. So, we are just waiting for the right time and the right opportunity to get back. But we really do wanna come back.
When you’re looking back on it now. What’s the biggest difference between touring Europe and touring the States?
Billy Bones: I gotta tell you what it is for me. It was the hospitality in Europe, which is awesome. You know, I’m not saying it wasn’t here. But for the most part, everywhere we went they just really took care of us and that was good. I love sleeping in the venue. That was really cool. Being able to party till five in the morning and then just stumble up to wherever you gonna sleep…
James: And step on my fucking leg!
Billy Bones: I mean, it’s good here, too. But I really like the people and everything. They really got into it. You did not see people standing around with their arms folded and stuff. I was overwhelmed. It was great.
Sean: For me it was, let’s see, the hashish. And not being able to read anything. It was kind of a culture shock. See, they had no idea. I don’t smoke, I eat it. So, until I use the restroom it’s stuck in my system. And I just sit there like: "Whoaa, we’re in Salzburg, look at that castle! Whatever…"
Billy Bones: This time in Europe we had windows, so we knew where the hell we were but last time we had no fucking idea where we were.
James: It’s like riding in a big 16foot coffin.
Sean: We were just sitting there shaking and sweating in, I don’t know what to call it, some kind of torture chamber. It was radical. But it was nice to be able to lie down and to stretch out and not have to be sitting next to Kevin the whole time…
Kevin: It seems like in Europe they are not so concerned with money. And a lot of bands we played with they just had a good time. That’s important. That’s how it should be.
James: I’d say the same thing. Everything was much more relaxed over there. There was no attitude. The obvious thing would be that because we were in a foreign country there was so much more eyecandy. It is not just about the music. It’s the whole cultural experience. And living in someone else’s world. And it must be noted that some of the people here in the US treated us beautifully a well. It’s just different.
What are your plans for the near future?
Billy Bones: We gonna go into hibernation for a couple months. We just need to regroup. We will create some material for a new record and that’s pretty much it.
James: This will give us the chance to focus on some of the more important things in life like our families. As he said we need to regroup. And it’s important because if you go out there every night and play those old songs over and over again you tend to get a little dull. It’s time to sharpen the knife again. And we’ll try to finish the new album by the end of the year.
Thank you for your time!
-Sabine Schenk
visit the skulls on the web at: www.theskulls.us
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