SKATE
ROCK!
AGENT
ORANGE
"WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT"
Starting off with the basics, sound-
off your names and your basic age.
M: He's Scott, he plays drums and
he's eighteen.
J: I'm James, I play the bass, I'm
nineteen.
M: I'm Mike and I play guitar and
sing. I'm 20.
How did you guys come about
being AGENT ORANGE?
M: Well, we met in a crowded
elevator.
S: Actually, we met a long time ago.
J: We're school chumps.
S: We met in Junior High School.
J: We met in Art School in Paris.
S: From there, we got sick of the
boring music that everyone else lis-
tens to. We were listening to New
Wave and like the Rodney show on
KROQ. We thought "Hey, this is
bitchin' music." Like the Sex Pistols
were something completely different,
so we wanted to do something com-
pletely different, to get away from your
Pink Floyd and whatever was going
on at the time. What was being played
back then? The music was so vague,
now I can't even remember.
J: We were influenced by Genera-
tion X....
S:999 and bands like that.
M: We just don't want to play 'Fag
synthesizer music. I know people are
gonna get sick of that 'FAG' synthe-
sizer stuff, and we're the alternative to
that
S: 'Cause we play just that energet-
ic guitar rock.
You don't classify yourselves as
PUNK ROCK, do you?
S: We let everyone else classify us.
We don't parade around really as any.
thing, chains, boots, etc. Some people
give us the classification of Punk Rock
because we're high energy.
REENT
TANGE
M: That's fine and that's cool. That's
great.
J: A lot of people consider the new
Bowie stuff as Punk Rock...yeah, and
Rick James....
M: How far from the truth is that?
What was the basis of you guys
forming what you got now, the pre-
sent day AGENT ORANGE?
M: We used to have a whole bunch
of people in the band, but we got into
the habit of kicking people out. When
it got down to three, we figured we bet-
ter stop or else there wouldn't be a
band.
You mean there were more of you
guys to begin with?
M: There was hundreds.
S: Thousands of us.
J: We started out as a marching
band. Then people started pissing us
off.
S: And we started kicking them out.
M: We are the only three people who
aren't sketchy, that are left.
J: That's right.
You guys are enjoying a fair
amount of success, with tours, rec-
ord sales, etc. You've made enough
to buy this van. Why don't you tell
me a little about the van?
J: Well, this is the kitchen over here.
Through this hallway right here, you'll
notice the bathroom.
S: Come here, look. This is the writ-
ing room where we write most of the
songs. And over here is the library you
see down the hall, not the first door,
but the second door. That's the library.
Back there is Mike's dressing room, it
has a jacuzzi in it. So that's it. This is
the van we purchased for our band.
How many tours have you guys
gone on, or better put, how far have
you guys reached out?
S&M: New York, Boston, Chicago,
Washington, D.C., Rhode Island,
Connecticut, Pittsburgh, anywhere,
somewhere in Pennsylvania. Nevada,
some Midwestern states. Let's see,
where else...?
J: Hawaii.
How did you manage to go to
Hawail?
J: We won it on a game show. It was
either a micro-wave, or go to Hawail.
You had to have a band, that was the
gimmick.
S: Our song 'Pipeline' was the num-
ber one requested song for three
months at 98 ROCK. We played at a
club called 3D. It's the only club that
features new bands, with original
material. The rest of the places are all
'Copy-Bands. The clientel hit up the
owners to get us out there.
J: It was sold out every night. One
night they sold all of the alcohol in the
place.
M: We're flying over again this Dec.
26th. It should be even better this
time. Right after christmas, everyone
meets in Hawaii.
J: But Las Vegas is our type of town.
We dress up in tuxedos and hang out
in the casinos.
S: Las Vegas has awesome looking
girls because all of their moms are
showgirls.
Why do guys play music? What
puts you in this position in life?
S: Why do we do this?
J: Basically, we're being forced to
do it.
S: Our parents are making us. Ever
since we were born, our parents told
us we were going to be in bands. They
would say, "I don't care what you say,
you can't go to school, you have to be
in a band.
J: "Scott, you're not gonna be a doo-
tor!!! You're wasting your time doing
shit like that, you're gonna be in a
band, go practice."
M: Yeah, anybody can be a doctor.
What are your songs about?
J: Kites, flowers, puppies.
S: Spring time.
J: Hitler?
S:...yes, and Hitler.
Who writes all of the songs?
J: I write all of the songs.
M: I write all of the songs.
S: I write all of the songs.
M: No, Scott writes all of the songs.
He's the author.
S: Yeah, I wrote the words to 'Pipe-
line.' I only write all the lines in the in-
strumentals. But Mike writes all of the
lyrics.
What are your Interpretations of
your own songs?
S: Everyone has their own interpre-
tation.
M: That's the whole thing, they're
written in such an abstract way, so
that everyone can get like, a different
idea.
S: Think for yourself.
So, what is 'Bloodstains' about?
M: It's about eating shit on a ramp
and knocking your teeth out.
S: We like people to use their imagi-
nations with the lyrics. But we're not
anti-government, we're not saying.
"Everyone drink beer!"
J: We're not forcing our views on
you.
S: Isn't that what the whole thing is
about, is trying to feel free? Aren't you
sick of people trying to force things on
you, like force laws, lifestyle? You're
being forced. Society is forcing you.
So we're trying to let up on that, the
music will let you use your imagina-
tion. We're letting you think.
M: It's entertainment, it's what the
music does to your senses. Think of
how many times you see a band, and
you don't know the words. It doesn't
matter, plus you can't hear them half
the time anyway.
Tell about your new release.
it.
S: It's called, When you least expect
M: When you least expect it is an
E.P. and it's on What/Enigma. It came
out really good.
L: EMI is involved in it also, in a
way. They want to see how it does,
then we'll see the things that will hap-
pen after the success or failure of this
record. And it's not going to fail.
Could you name off a quick discog-
raphy of AGENT ORANGE?
S: First, we made a single when we
first got together. We did it on our own
label. We paid for it all ourselves. It
was a three song E.P. The next day
Rodney on the ROQ came out and
had Bloodstains on it. It was labeled
as the Punk Anthem.
J: It was labeled in the Calendar
section of the newspaper, in the same
article that started the word Slam-
ming.
S: A lot of kids back then said that
the song was their anthem. They lived
by the words to Bloodstains. So that
was a good song. That's when things
started. Rodney constantly played it
because it was continually being re-
quested. Then Posh Boy, who did the
ROTR album decided to try and make
some money with us.
M: We did a 45, Everything turns
gray and Pipeline, the Living in Dark-
ness E.P. and then the Bitchin' Sum-
mer E.P
Only one of you guys skateboard?
S: It used to be a lifestyle.
J: (to Scott) Don't say things like
hat.
S: Just think about it, when we were
in 7th and 8th grade we just always
had a skateboard.
M: I skated during the big boom.
Since I was a little kid. I started on
metal wheels, on the sidewalk, then I
went to clay wheels, then I went to
Metaflex wheels and Cadillac wheels.
We skated pools and ditches and stuff
a lot, before parks. Then we skated
Carlsbad and then we skated Con-
crete Wave and all of those parks in
that area. But then it just all fell apart...
Things just started falling apart for me
as far as skateboarding went. I didn't
make a conscious effort to stop skat-
ing. All of my equipment just self-de-
structed. I had a guitar, I had some-
thing to do. I never got another board,
so I started putting more effort into this
than that.,
Do you skate a lot now?
M: I skate whenever I can. I only
started skating again in the last couple
of months, 'cause I got another board.
What do you like to ride?
AGENT
ORANGE
M: Vertical, but not necessarily
Ditches are fun. There's a couple
good spots in Orange County. Any-
thing, everything. I haven't ridden
much ramps, we're trying to build one.
S: We went to JFA Ramp.
J: Mike's favorite is straight high-
ways out in the desert.
S: When we went to Las Vegas,
Mike's car broke down in the desert.
He had to skate like 15 miles.
M: It wasn't 15 miles, it was more
like 5.
S: On Interstate 15, he had to skate
and he ended up at Stuckey's.
M: That's right, I went to Stuckey's
and hung out for awhile. Apparently
the law wasn't really amused, the cop
came in and he told me to walk.
Someone must of seen me on the
road or something. By the time I had
called a tow truck, the police
showed and found me. They knew
it was me. I was the only one with a
Skate and Destroy T-shirt and a skate
board.
J: Then we got kicked out of 'Cae-
sar's Palace for moving all of the furni-
ture out of our room into the hallway.
Then these big beefy guys came up
and found Scott in his underwear, all
drunk and watching T.V. In the hall.
S: They grabbed me and made me
put on my clothes and escorted me
out of the building. I'm sure someone
complained, because I did look pretty
bad sitting out there in my underwear
and watching T.V.
M: Really. If they didn't want you to
do that, why do they put outlets out in
the hallway?
What first prompted you (Scott) to
light your farts?
S: Uhm...
J: He lights every flammable thing.
He'd like flame coming out of all of his
orifices.
S: I just like fire. I'm not really a
pyromaniac, I just like to see things
burn. But it's not like I'm crazy about it.
I could do without it.
S: What was real funny was when a
friend of mine came back from the
army and he had these simulator
grenades, and we went into this park,
across from this party and we lit this
big old tree on fire. Then the fire dept.
came and the police came and while
they were out there we took one of
those grenades, and they sound like
atomic bombs. It went 'Boom' and
everyone was quiet for about five sec-
onds. Then the police started search-
ing everybody. It was a lot of fun, then
someone beat me up because they
said I did it. But I really don't just go
and burn things, it's just that if...
J:...if there's something that looks
like it should be on fire...Oh, the other
thing Scott is famous for is getting
beat up by the bouncers at his own
shows. Getting his nose broken by a
bouncer.
S: The other thing that's real cool is
to get an M-80 with a cigarette delay
and put it in the ashtray in hotel ele-
vators.
J: One time at a motel we were stay-
ing at, we sent the elevator down, the
doors opened and the manager's of-
fice is right there and it went 'Bam'!!
Then the doors closed.
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