Spontaneous Combustion - Skulls Interview

HARDSLUG: Aren't they great?! BRUCE FOXTON is on bass! (Formerly of THE JAM) You can hear that JAM influence. It's interesting man! He's a great bassist.

HARDSLUG: The reason I mention Bruce Foxton is because…well, I don't really play bass guitar, yet I do with THE SKULLS. The reason is because me and BILLY BONES we were doing some stuff together when we realized we missed the old days of playing music. I used to play with THE ADICTS; I played keyboards for them live, still do in the studio, but I hadn't toured professionally for many years and neither had he (Billy). Then all of a sudden he was asked to put The Skulls back together…

BILLY BONES: Dionysus Records.
HARDSLUG: They are re-releasing some old stuff of his (Billy's), or something. KEITH MILLER was playing bass and he all of a sudden had to drop out at the last minute. I said that I would give it a try if you like. I never played bass before; I said "I will go out and buy one. Give me a week and I will see what I can do". Because I was playing drums too…

HARDSLUG: Yeah. And it all came back because I really like this material. We had been playing The Skulls stuff to get loose anyway. That's how it all came together and why I was so interested in Bruce Foxton because he is playing an instrument I am trying to learn. I am watching him and seeing where he's going up and down the frets and stuff.

BILLY BONES: Ha ha ha!>
HARDSLUG: Yeah, well…we have supported them before.

HARDSLUG: No. You are talking about 1984. I joined them the year after. In 1985 we played with BAD BRAINS…headlined a show at THE SANTA MONICA CIVIC, another gig at FENDER'S (Long Beach), it was a really nice thing.

HARDSLUG: I had no idea. All I remember is being absolutely ruined in there on many occasions.

HARDSLUG: Well MONKEY is here tonight. He came along with us. He's a big fan of The Skulls, as we are of The Adicts.
BILLY BONES: Hey! What magazine is this for?

BILLY BONES: Oh wow.
HARDSLUG: Do you have any structure to this (interview)?

HARDSLUG: Good; I like that.
BILLY BONES: Yeah.

THE KID: I'm young. I'm a young stallion.

BILLY BONES: (grimaces) Naw, not really…There were a few times when the time was right for us to do it again.

BILLY BONES: Yeah absolutely; that's perfect.

HARDSLUG: Yeah, it's a Zen thing. (laughter) We should clarify what we are saying here. I told you how when we did these few gigs at the request of Dionysus. He (Billy) needed to find a guitar player and he found The Kid. Found him through his daughter's school actually. And SEAN (Geronimo) the drummer has already played in a couple of the reincarnations of The Skulls. It worked so well and we had such a good time with each other. Not because it was The Skulls, but because it was the four of us really….

HARDSLUG: I'm not just talking about the band; the four of us together. Even if we are not playing music, we really have a good time. That's why we really decided to get it going again. About a year and a half ago when we started with this lineup, we were honestly considering not calling it The Skulls.
BILLY BONES: The reason being that I did not want to ride on the coattails of The Skulls. The Skulls were a great band. Back then, '77, '78…"SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION"…great guys and I love all the guys…there was something there….when MICK passed (away) two years ago…he was the original drummer. These are great songs and nothing was being done with them…they need to be out there. The only thing we ever recorded was the (unintelligible) [I think he is referring to the What? Records sampler - mxv] thing and the live thing at The Masque.

BILLY BONES: I don't know about carrying the torch, but you know what man? It's just in my blood to get out there and tear it up all the time.
HARDSLUG: A few of those songs are very important to Billy and I keep noticing he is quite emotional about it….it's a nice thing. And what you will notice tonight is that we have written new material. We have had a few say "who do you think you are" and "how dare you" and stuff like that, but we are calling it The Skulls because it just feels right. This is the new Skulls if you like. We are not flogging a dead horse here. Half of our stuff is new material and a lot of the old stuff has been reworked and revamped. We can't live a quarter century ago.

BILLY BONES: Yeah, I love what I do and I love the guys I am with. I was thinking about it and it's funny...it's almost like a brotherhood...the people I have worked with throughout (the years). From when I started out in '77, '78...Don Bolles (Germs, Vox Pop, 45 Grave) played drums with The Skulls once, and Bruce, Mark's brother played Bass with us...and K.K. from THE SCREAMERS played with us...we are all really close. It's just a burning desire to get out there and put it out on the floor man.

BILLY BONES: Absolutely! You are an all right guy with me. (laughter)

BILLY BONES: We have recorded some old stuff and some new stuff he likes it (Dr.Strange) and we like him. It's perfect you know?
HARDSLUG: I'd like to say something about that. The Doc is one of the rarities of humanity.

HARDSLUG: I think we have all met and dealt with a lot of people. And in our standard of music there are a lot of people who hang around the periphery...there's a lot of "sharks" and scary types of people out there.

HARDSLUG: We have been around the block a few times so we are aware of people like that. I drove out to meet Doc for the first time when we were going to negotiate the deal. There wasn't any negotiation to be done because he already knew what he wanted to do for us. We knew what we needed to do in order to deliver for him. I looked into his eyes, shook his hand and I could tell straight away that he is a guy you can trust and do business with.

HARDSLUG: That I do actually.

HARDSLUG: Not all the time. That's why I don't drink anymore.

BILLY BONES: Naw...We're just taking it as it comes you know? We are going to see what happens with the (new) record...

THE KID: I hate the Internet. I hate everything about it.
HARDSLUG: Well, it looks like The Kid is going to get left behind somewhere over the next two decades.

HARDSLUG: (To The Kid) That must be why you never reply to my fucking Emails! (laughter)

HARDSLUG: I think a lot of people are scared of it and of computers in general. The Internet has played a large part in me being able to feed my family and keeping me alive for the past 6 or 7 years. Personally speaking, without the Internet, I would be fucked actually. It does not matter what your personal views are, everyone will eventually have to come to terms with the fact that the Internet is an integral part of society.

HARDSLUG: Right; but now everyone lives with it. I'll bet when we had the steam engine, the gasoline engine freaked a few people out!.

BILLY BONES: Yeah, but you know...there's nothing like live! If people are like that, then they are missing out anyway.

HARDSLUG: And that's up to us. You don't have to be on a global major (distributor) to get the job done. If we could find some way of funding our (travel) to various corners of the world, it's up to us to take the show on the road. Internet and word of mouth are great...but like Billy said, it's about getting in their face and showing (the people). It's like that CD we gave you tonight...when you see us perform tonight, the CD's exactly what you are going to get and more!

HARDSLUG: We do not overproduce (in the recording studio). We obviously isolate the instruments (while recording), but if you go in there and have a horn section and all this other crap, then it's so much like you are duping people.

BILLY BONES: We are just stripped-down and in your face!

HARDSLUG: Digital.
BILLY BONES: Analog.

HARDSLUG: It's all about money. Digital is far cheaper. Analog, $150.00 every 2-inch tape and you can only squeeze a few minutes on every 2 inch. It's a big pain in the ass. We have the technology now. If you are a real audiophile you can get in there with decibel meters and all kinds of tricky devices and deal with all the nuances and whatever. But if you have only a grand to put a whole album together, you don't have the time or money to mess around. Digital is convenient. However, listening to Analog on the playback is always nice.

BILLY BONES: Oh wow.
HARDSLUG: Best Buy is selling new record decks (turntables) for like $120.00. I just bought one.

HARDSLUG: I hope so.
BILLY BONES: I think so. It's always been there and now it's getting bigger.

BILLY BONES: Yeah. It's very stale.
HARDSLUG: Just wait till you see the Dr. Strange CD art. We might have just destroyed that notion! Its like nothing you've ever seen!

BILLY BONES: I have been around music all my life. When I was 13 I worked with a band. I had an organ that I turned into a light show and I used to introduce the band. We toured all up and down the East Coast. I love music and have always loved music.
HARDSLUG: What band was that?
BILLY BONES: It was called Natural Black. It was a very cool experience man. I got to experience the whole touring thing...it was a big eleven-piece band with horns and everything. They were all black and I was the only white guy...really cool soul music.

BILLY BONES: I like a lot of everything. T-REX, THE STOOGES, MC-5, all the explosives. Early STONES, THE ANIMALS, THE VIBRATORS are one of my favorites. I like stuff that's got energy behind it...that's why I do what I do.

THE KID: Yeah, at Notre Dame.

THE KID: Yeah, sure. *(Editor's note) The Kid recently graduated from Notre Dame High School.

THE KID: THE GO GO'S.

BILLY BONES: We used to rehearse with them at THE MASQUE.

BILLY BONES: Yeah, beneath the Pussycat Theatre.

BILLY BONES: The fire marshal shut that place down.

HARDSLUG: Ah, Adam and the Ants; huge influence in my life. Early stuff though..."DIRK WEARS WHITE SOX" stuff like that.
THE KID: Adam Ant is my savior.

HARDSLUG: Too much of everything actually.
THE KID: They sabotaged him.
HARDSLUG: To everyone reading this interview. If you have ever dismissed Adam Ant as some kind of joke, get beyond all that commercial crap and get "DIRK WEARS WHITE SOX". Get the English pressing if you can because it's better, different tracks and mix; it's phenomenal!

HARDSLUG: I think so. You had your Teddy Boy, your sort of Soul Boy thing going on, it seems that roughly each decade there was some sort of (sub)"movement". Whatever happened to music after punk rock? Look at rave…it that a movement or a culture? A bunch of kids blowing their brains away on Ecstasy. That's not very productive or positive.

HARDSLUG: It seems like the whole of youth is just jonesing and gagging for …..what's the word I am searching for?

HARDSLUG: Just something to give them that feeling. Something to break through.

HARDSLUG: Right. Which is probably why they (the youth) are more open now. They are searching; they are lost.
BILLY BONES: I think too that a lot of the kids had parents that listened to cool stuff and they listened to it (also). They are exploring…

BILLY BONES: Right.
DR.STRANGE: Speaking of our own band for example. Each member has about 10 years between the each of us. We have a 30-year spread across the band. So what's happening is…and we are all getting off on it…We are a living illustration of the point just made. We are all interested in each other's influences. I have exposed The Kid to things like Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel…
BILLY BONES: EDDIE COCHRAN…now that's a punk.
HARDSLUG: In our audiences…each of us cultivates our own little crowds and brings them into one place. So we have everyone from teens to people in their 50's coming to our shows. On some occasions, we have seen parents dancing and going crazy with their kids. It's just the coolest thing you know?

HARDSLUG: Me? Nah.
BILLY BONES: No. I don't even want to talk about religion. Music is right here; from the heart. I just have to do it and lay it out on the floor. It has nothing to do with religion. There is no preconceived notion of what is going to become of it. Just do it! The more you do it, the younger you will be for the rest of your life!
HARDSLUG: If you paint a painting, and you do it sincerely and with love, you put it out there and if people like it, so much the better…whatever… it's for the sake of the artist. But there are also those who just paint things like fluffy kittens or whatever because they sell. With music, the audience can sense your passion and get into it. We could take the cookie cutter approach to this but we choose not to.

BILLY BONES: Well, since you brought up Blink 182…the way I look at it is, they are all musicians. They are doing what they can do. They are stepping up to the plate and taking care of their families with it. I don't care if you are playing a washboard, if you are out there and doing it, that's vitality!
HARDSLUG: There you go… Blink 182 painted a picture out of love… then everyone else started painting fluffy kittens!

BILLY BONES: Exactly!