We were interviewing the band on their European Tour 2005 for the album "Berry'd Alive", at Junktion 7, Nottingham.
They are a power trio from Sacramento, California, playing an energetic and powerful punk rock'n'roll where Dracula met Ramones and Frankenstein met Chuck Berry!
G5: Hellooo! First of all, Thanks for the interview!
All: Helloooooooo!!!!
G5: Could you introduce yourselves and tell us your role in the band?
I am Roach and I play guitar; I m Scampi and I play the drums; I m Kepi and I play the bass and sing.
G5: How long are you playing and which band members remains from the beginning?
Kepi: I was the first and then Roach and then Scampi.
Roach: Scampi for about 3 and half years.
Kepi: This is the longest line up of the Groovie Ghoulies, so it’s the best!!! We were going before that but now we're Happy! We are always happy and now is a happy year!!!
G5: About this album "Berry'd Alive", why only 7 Chuck Berry covers?
Kepi: Humm...I think...humm...I don't know...I think we just like did it!
We did the record, we did 2 songs and then we did 5 songs and then we were happy with them…and...Let's make a record of this! But we would like to do Volume 2, or...you know, you could do a hundred Chuck Berry songs, but those were the ones we knew and liked and stuff...so, we made a little EP.
G5: Does he knows or heard about this?
Roach: Oh! Does he knows?!!!(Laughs!!!)
Kepi: Humm...He probably will; because the people that do our publishing do his publishing...so, he will hear about it! And then...we will play next month in St Louis - where he lives, so maybe he will come and visit us. You can only hope! But we opened for him in St Louis a couple of years ago and it was amazing!....Amazing!!! The Legend!!!
G5: So, how long have you been touring for this album?
Kepi: The record came out right before this tour...and...this tour is 55 shows, 2 months straight and then 2 days after we got home we go to Canada and the US for another 5 weeks.
G5: How do you feel about that?
Kepi: Its OK.
G5: A little bit tired?!
Kepi: Humm...we are doin' alright! Yeh! It’s funny...when we get to the States we'll sleep a lot!
We drive ourselves, we book our own hotels, we sleep in it as late as possible, and it would be fine. We are touring with our friends, so, we'll make it fun too!!!
G5: And about the future, is there any plans coming?
Kepi: Yeh...We are doin' our own label now and this brand new record like a month pretty old, so, this is for now.
We'll issue all the records, we wanna make a little DVD or something, you know, we have some videos made, you know,... but maybe! I don't know.
G5: An interactive CD with tracks and screen savers and so?!
Kepi: Oh!...ah...I don't know, probably just a little DVD would afford. Technology is changed, you know...you put a video "on air"; a bonus DVD on a CD-Rom...
G5: About the technology, about the techniques in the studio, do you prefer the digital or the classic analogue recording?
Kepi: Humm...I think we like it all. We have done it all! The "Berry'd Alive" is 2 inch analogue tape, so it was really fun for us!! And its very Rock'n'Roll!!!
Roach & Scampi: YEH!!!!!
Kepi: We like it, our friend built this studio in his garage and this old 2 inch tape machine is the same thing we used with Mass Giorgini on "Re-Animation Festival".... And it is "warm" and it is cool!!!! But if you need to get something done, you go in and do it digital cause its fast and it sounds good.
G5: It’s fast and compatible...
Kepi: Yeh!...So we are not snobs! and it can be sent on the internet. So, we like everything, you know, its fun to do analogue but you need to have time and that kind of things…
G5: And now... Do you remember the last album you bought?
Roach: The last album I bought?!!!...Oh!
Kepi: Humm...Let me see...I bought a lot on this tour. Roach gave me a Thin Lizzy CD for my birthday and Manny our tour Manager got me a Thin Lizzy CD, cause they reissued them over here and you can't get them on the States; like the new one, you now, so that was cool!!!
Roach: Oh!!!...My god, I can't remember! (Laughs!!!)
Scampi: Oh, no!!! (Laughs!!!)
Kepi: I buy a lot of CD's and play them when touring.
What else?..... What else?...Its funny cause I know soon as we got to Selestat in Germany, there's a good record store where the CD's are really cheap!
Roach: And there's a lot of vinyl too!!!
Kepi: Oh!...I bought a budget vinyl the other day, like a Joey Ramone bootleg, a Dee Dee Ramone bootleg, ...a ...some Tom Petty 12 inch singles with bonus tracks.
Roach: Oh!...I know the last time, the new CD we bought, Kepi and I we went on the new Rolling Stones CD!!!
All: Oh YEH!!!
Kepi: Oh! Yeh! The Rolling Stones!!! I mean, we like all the Rolling Stones records, so...it is like the "Voodoo Lounge”! I really like "Voodoo Lounge",...it is close to that. Yeh! So, yeh! we got ahead on this CD, and I got a Raveonettes 7 inches, a Nick Cave 7 inches, yeh, I got a few records lately!
Scampi got a Social Distortion!
Scampi: Oh!...I remember the last time I bought a record but I don't remember what it is...
Kepi: We will come back to that one soon as Scampi remember!!!
G5: So...do you remember the first album you bought?
Kepi: The first album I bought, I think it might be like a Paul McCartney record, that I bought with my own money. But for my birthday in the 3rd grade, I got a Johnny Cash “Live at St Quentin” and that’s the one that changed my life!!!
Roach: That’s right!!!
Kepi: And them they re-issued the CD with the cast words and bonus tracks, it’s so great!!! Uuuu!!! So that’s the one!!! I didn’t, probably buy a rock record until the 7th grade and it was probably a Tom Petty and Queen and things like that, you know, but that’s the one – Johnny Cash!
Roach: I can’t remember my First, cause I used to buy so many records, cause my Dad is a rocker too and he used to take me to a store and I used to buy 45’s!!! But …humm…something like Donnie bla bla
Scampi: I think it was the Smashing Pumpkins…the green album…the one with the blurry picture…”Pisces Iscariot”
Roach: You have never bought a record when you were a kid?!!!
Scampi: I don’t think so!
G5: Well, thank you all, for let us know interesting things about you! Hope to see you soon and good luck with the tour!!! Oh!!!… and there are the “Favouritties” next!
All: Thank You!!! Bye Bye!!!
We have created the Favouritties!!! as an interesting and funny section for Dead By Mono Zine! Here we could find some more "personnal" information about the bands and their members! Things that perhaps you would like to know and don't even though about that! So here it goes, if you have any suggestion, please let us know!
