80
30
PENNYWISE)
Wax is a three-letter word that means
music-the stick-to-your-ribs, melt-in-
your-mouth, ants-in-your-pants, rocket-
in-your-pocket kind of tunes that draw
you in and spit you out, leaving melodies
crunching around in your head, and fill-
ing you with fuel to go out and climb
things, punch things, throw things, or
swing from the flagpole. "We wanna do
something that nothing can compare" is
a declaration made by the band on their
latest release, 13 Unlucky Numbers. Ex-
plosive, poppy, inspiring and punk, it's
full of cryptically insightful wit and wis-
dom about living life and being young.
-Interview by Mark Gonzales
How long have you been together?
Joe Sib: Four years this May.
What kind of drum set do you use?
Loomis: A pawn shop one.
Who's your favorite drummer?
Loomis: I hate all drummers. I like the
guys up front. If the band sounds good,
I like the drummer, but if the band sucks
and the drummer is good, he still sucks.
Do you like The Pretenders?
Loomis: I like Killing Joke, Patsy Cline,
The Jam, The Damned...
Soda: I've got a question for you, Mark.
How come I always see you in weird
places? One time I saw you in Long
Beach, holding a Mexican boxing sign,
wearing a helmet.
I was waiting for the Blue Line Bus.
Soda: And then I see you at a car wash
in downtown LA, skating a wall.
I guess it's 'cause I'm always out and
you're always out, too. How come
Soda is the only one you can really
see in the video?
Soda: I am the youngest, most hand-
somest member of the band.
Loomis: I am glad someone finally
brought this up, because I've been
meaning to bring this up, myself! If you
look on our first record Lp, you'll see
Soda's face bigger than everyone else's!
Joe Sib: He pushes his way up there.
Soda: I am the Polish Prince of sorts.
Dave Georgeff: You are not!
What are your nationalities?
Soda: I'm Irish and Polish..
Joe Sib: I'm Irish and Italian.
Dave Georgeff: I'm 100% Macedonian.
Loomis: I'm Guadalupean.
Do you guys push your culture on
other people?
Joe Sib: Yeah! Every show I throw out a
pot of pasta and green beer.
Loomis: Let's go, I'm hungry!
A character who moons people, stuffs
potatoes in cop cars' exhaust pipes and
farts along with songs in an early eight-
ies movie called The Hollywood Knights
The Smiths and The Ramones, and they
get all shaken and pissed off. But we're
on the new record that I nicked, but
for the most part, I really tried to work
on the lyrics a little more on this new
album, just make them a little more fun
and interesting."
NEW
is where The New Bomb Turks took
their name. Setting their standards high,
the Turks never miss their mark with
their punchy, ballsy punk rock attack.
Eric Davidson on vocals, Bill Randt
on drums, Matt Reber on bass and Jim
Weber on guitar met at Ohio State
University in Columbus and decided to
start a band so they could play out and
get some free beers. Their first album,
Destroy Oh Boy established their all-out
Action Jackson demeanor and their lat-
est, Information Highway Revisited
plants the pedal firmly into the metal.
"From early on, we just wanted to be
a band that played fun, high-energy,
rock n' roll and punk stuff," explains
Davidson. "We weren't really involved
in the political end of things. We meet
fans and tell them that we like Prince,
not really worried about whether any.
one's punk enough or hardcore enough.
We just want to play and keep coming
up with songs that we like, and hopeful
ly other people will dig 'em."
The Turks' lack of pretension is their
license to do anything they want, even
borrow lyrics from other people's songs.
On the tune "Id Slips in" off Information
Highway, Davidson takes the words,
"I'm never gonna kill myself again" and
uses them as his own. "I actually stole
that line," he admits. "There's a band
called Rocket from the Tombs, an old-
Cleveland band that was around way
before Rocket from the Crypt, and they
had this song called 'I'm Never Gonna
Kill Myself Again,' and I always thought
that was a funny line. Like he did it one
time and then it was like, 'Fuck that, I'm
never doing that again, but then it's
too late. There's about four or five lines
Besides ripping off shards of other
people's lyrics, Davidson infuses a little
sagely advice between the chaotic har-
mony of the Turks: "I always say you
should watch out for hypocrisy in peo-
ple, especially in yourself, because
right when you think you have all the
answers, a year or two goes by, and you
realize you didn't have all the answers."
Musically, the Turks' approach is pret-
ty simple, explains Weber. "I just like
the guitar very loud, very distorted and
crunchy. I'm not talking about a metal
sound, but more a wall of noise kind of
thing. You get this adrenaline rush right
before you go on stage, and you just let
it fly and you don't have to worry about
anything else. You just have a good time
-Brian Brannon
and cut loose."