Do you remember of So Cal, Huntington Beach resident, punk rockers GUTTERMOUTH? You definitely should because the band has been around quite a long time now –’88 early 90’s– but perhaps you’re just too young and the name doesn’t say you that much as it actually does for the generation who was in their teens in the 90’s.
After 10 years since their last full-length release the guys are back with an EP doppietta; the first EP “Got It Made” was release last July and the second one, to be titled “New Car Smell”, is scheduled to drop on November 25th 2016 –both records are out through Bird Attack Records and Rude Records.
Years passed by, line-ups changed but Guttermouth didn’t lose any inches of their irreverence, sarcasm, wittiness and are still here to keep old punk rock spirit alive and kicking.
I don’t have idea who from the band replied this email interview (I guess founder and vocalist Mark Adkins) but he was in multitasking mode answering our questions and, like I guess most of the Americans, keeping up with the US presidential election campaign and the run up to the election day Nov. the 8th.
Read on…
gan: Hey there, what’s up?Not a whole bunch. Just enjoying some down time before we tour in about a month.
gan: For the uninitiated, can you define what GUTTERMOUTH is all about in 3 words?
Punk rock party?
gan: You guys released the EP “Got It Made” last July and are following it up with a new EP entitled “New Car Smell” scheduled to drop on November 25th 2016. Wouldn’t these two records make up a full-length? How did you come up with this 2-EP release idea?
Yes, they would be a full length combined, but we felt 2 EP’s would be more of how we wanted to write and work. It has been 10 years since a major release from us, so just getting back into the writing/recording mind frame took a while. We figured that writing 6 decent songs would be the way to go. If we tried to do a full length, there probably would have been some songs we really weren’t into, but just in there as filler. The songs on “New Car Smell” are not the songs that would have hypothetically been on the full length since we wrote these just recently. “Got It Made” received an overall good response from our fans so that motivated to write “New Car Smell”. In the “Old Days” bands put out mostly EP’s so we figured lets have some fun with this and not put too much pressure writing an album. This is supposed to be fun, right?
gan: Totally agree…
gan: After a 10 years shortage, why would your fans buy two records in a row? Will they have a special price?
Hopefully people see that we have returned to an older Guttermouth feel with some fresh ideas mixed in. The lineup we have had in the band for the last 5 years is a really good one, and we are in a good place. Hopefully that shows. But in the end it comes down to people will buy them if they like what they hear. As to the 2nd part of the question, the labels control the pricing, but there are some bundle deals and there will probably be some cool things available with these releases in the next few months.gan: Which one do you like the most?
If there’s one, of course. We like them both, but I think all of us feel there was more thought put into “New Car Smell”. That isn’t taking anything away from “Got It Made”, because we are very happy with how that came out and in the end, our friend’s and fan’s response was good. Maybe it is just because its new as well, but we are very happy how both came out. They are a little different from each other but that is just us going with what we feel.
gan: Guttermouth has been around quite a bit now, right? –sources state 1988. How did the punk rock scene change over the years? How do you fit in the mold of newest punk bands? –even in the 90’s heydays of punk I’ve always seen you guys as more infamous than really popular…
The band just does what we do. To be totally honest, we have no idea how we fit in with newer bands cause we don’t really keep up with all of that. We all have a wicked sense of humor and that rubs many the wrong way. We also try to be entertaining, keep things on the light side and keep the old punk spirit alive at our shows.
gan: Talking about these days, which countries fancy you the most? And do you have a faint idea why?
Outside the US, Australia has always been very enthusiastic to have us as well as Canada. It looks as if we will be back to UK/Europe in 2017 which we would like to happen as well. We love to travel so hopefully we will get to some places we haven’t been in a while or have never been.
gan: What are your touring plans to support these two EPs? Are you coming to Europe and Italy?
Hopefully in 2017 that will happen again. It has been a while but we need to get back there. We get lots of messages from people there so we are excited to return.
gan: We have some festivals around Europe like Groezrock and Punk Rock Holiday which are getting bigger every year. Do you like playing festivals?
Festivals are always fun as the environment is different than the normal club shows. It’s great to play with a bunch of different bands and the atmosphere is always fun at festivals.
gan: Let me quote a few lines off your short bio on fb “In a time where bands take "breaks" in order to have reunion tours along with all types of marketing gimmicks, Guttermouth continues to tour much of the year with no plans on stopping”. do all these reunions really suck or is there any band you fancied seeing reunited and maybe playing another live show?
That statement is not against reunions, it is just pointing out that our band has never stopped. We have had member changes and other changes but the band has kept going since the late 80’s. There are not many bands that can claim they have consistently toured since that era…and there are also quite a few that have jumped back together only for money and the members do not give a shit and are not having fun. To each their own but the reunions seem to get hyped up more than the hard working bands. It’s sort of like an Ex, you remember them as better than they really were, more often than not.
Outside the US, Australia has always been very enthusiastic to have us as well as Canada. It looks as if we will be back to UK/Europe in 2017 which we would like to happen as well. We love to travel so hopefully we will get to some places we haven’t been in a while or have never been.
gan: What are your touring plans to support these two EPs? Are you coming to Europe and Italy?
Hopefully in 2017 that will happen again. It has been a while but we need to get back there. We get lots of messages from people there so we are excited to return.
gan: We have some festivals around Europe like Groezrock and Punk Rock Holiday which are getting bigger every year. Do you like playing festivals?
Festivals are always fun as the environment is different than the normal club shows. It’s great to play with a bunch of different bands and the atmosphere is always fun at festivals.
gan: Let me quote a few lines off your short bio on fb “In a time where bands take "breaks" in order to have reunion tours along with all types of marketing gimmicks, Guttermouth continues to tour much of the year with no plans on stopping”. do all these reunions really suck or is there any band you fancied seeing reunited and maybe playing another live show?
That statement is not against reunions, it is just pointing out that our band has never stopped. We have had member changes and other changes but the band has kept going since the late 80’s. There are not many bands that can claim they have consistently toured since that era…and there are also quite a few that have jumped back together only for money and the members do not give a shit and are not having fun. To each their own but the reunions seem to get hyped up more than the hard working bands. It’s sort of like an Ex, you remember them as better than they really were, more often than not.
gan: Clinton vs. Trump or viceversa. Are you taking sides?
Each member of the band would have a different opinion on this. But my thought is out of all of the people in our country, these are the two that rose to the top??? There is lots to think about on that.
gan: Thanks for your time. Final last words of wisdom –or foolishness?
I’m watching the US Vice President debate as I'm typing this so I’m feeling a little dumbed down right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment