u Manchu brought the house down when
they played at SF's Cocodrie club, located
right across from the Lusty Lady, home to
one of the last 25¢ peep show booths in
America. Consisting of Brant Bjork, secretly
"Animal" from The Muppets, on drums; Brad
Davis, truck driver/bass player; Scott Hill,
rhythm guitarist; and Bob "The Daredevil"
Balch on lead, Fu Manchu set the world
record that night for longest burnout. Man,
did they rock!
Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu
000
*The Silver Surfer's got the ultimate airtime." -Reno's
FU MANICHU
How about a little word associa-
tion to get this thing started?
Brant Bjork: Sure, man, let's see
what you've got.
Stoney baloney.
What?! Fuck, I don't know.
Oscar Mayer?
Summer girls.
Free and easy.
Kentucky green.
Roman raid. No, wait! From hand
to hand.
Hot rods or custom vans?
Custom vans. I personally like
lowrider vans, but the other guys are
definitely van guys.
I heard you're doing a video
with Tony Alva. Is it gonna be
new footage?
It's probably just going to be a
cameo of him carving down the
street or something. One of my
favorite bands, Excel, did something
like that back in the '80s. I'd like to
call Tony up and get a session going
at the Nude Bowl.
No shit! That was going to
be my next question. Since
you're from the desert,
how often do you go and
rip the Nude?
Aw, man, I haven't been up there for
months. I was at this party one time, and we
heard there was something going on up the
hill, but I didn't go 'cause I felt so wrecked,
and everyone came back saying they had
lights up there and Tony Alva was up there
ripping. I wish I had gone after all.
What happened after the SF show on
the way over to the Lusty Lady?
We were all outside by the van
getting ready to go in, and our
friend Mike Neider and The
Daredevil couldn't wait, so they
ran in, then Mike came out puking
with about twenty people behind
him. I guess someone had sprayed
pepper spray or mace inside the
booths. People were outside freak-
ing. Some guy smashed the win-
dow with his fist. It's funny, you
never see people going into those
places, but this time the whole place was coming
out in one pack. I think Mike and our other friend
Bill Torgensen went back in for double trouble
after we split.
Let's inform everyone on the complete band
discography.
Let's see, there are the 7"s: El Don, Kept Between
Trees, If The Van's A Rockin', Jailbreak, Ojo Rojo,
and Asphalt Risin'; the Godzilla/Living Legend 10";
and the full lengths: In Search Of..., No One Rides
For Free, Daredevil, and The Action Is Go, which is
our newest.
How do you feel about being responsible for
the highly contagious "Fu Fever" epidemic?
Dude, that's what we're all about: layback
grinds, pools, just plain ripping, passing joints,
old school BMX, and vans. We want to bring it
back to the old school style of skating where it
was rad to see anoth-
er skater, and you just
want to skate any-
thing, anywhere. It
seems like the atti-
tude these days is:
"What can you do?"
rather than just skate
and have a good time.
Last question, who are some
of the people that have bent
over backwards for you guys?
Mike Neider, Bill Torgensen,
Dave Dinsmore of LAB, Clifford
at Sessions, Dave Freil at
Landspeed, Sam at NHS, the
Mock Bros, Boomer, Larry, "T"
from Fatso Jetson, Bubba and
Jesse, the Box Bros, Dylan "The
Road Wizard" Roche, Jay, Kathy,
Santa Cruz Skateboards, Burly
Curly, Mammoth Records,
Corrosion Of Conformity, all our
bros, and everyone else we have
ever played with or who've come
to watch us play. -Richard Kirby
BELIEVE
IN THE
IMPOSSIBLE
Going the distance...
making every sec-
ond count... it's the
way of life Renos
reads and dreams
about every time he
picks up an issue of
Marvel Comics. It's
where he learned
that you gotta
believe if you're
gonna achieve.
Renos? He's the one
you've been hearing
about. The graffiti
artist outta Santa MARVEL
Cruz who's winning
competitions
COMICS
against the so-called Call 1-888-266-4226
"pros" with his
FOR A COMIC SHOP IN YOUR AREA, 'CAUSE YOU
astronomical NEVER KNOW WHERE MARVEL'S GONNA TAKE YOU.
www.marvel.com or AOL at keyword:Marvel
TM & © 1997 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.
3'8" plus ollies.
86 THRASHER