Interview from Tiny Flecks #2

THIS IS THE PHONE INTERVIEW I DID WITH JOE KING IN OCTOBER 96 FOR MY FANZINE "TINY FLECKS OF SPIT" #2, AS I WILL MENTION, HE WAS VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE MUSIC, AND AFTER THE INTERVIEW, HE EVEN TOLD ME HOW MUCH HE WANTED TO RECORD AT OCEAN WAY STUDIOS. HES A COOL PERSON... ANYWAY, HAPPY READING! - JENNIE TINYFLECKS Do these guys really need an introduction? Oh, go on then... The Queers has been a steady band since 1990, & from their first album - "Grow up", straight through to their comp "A day late and a dollar short", they have been undoubtedly one of the best and most successful punk rock n roll bands around. Having taken a short break, Joe King hooked up with J.J.Rassler (early Queers member) again to write some of their catchiest tunes up to date! Engineered by the amazing Mass Giorgini, they are back with a hot EP ("Bubblegum Dreams") & an ass-kicking album called "Dont back down" ! Joe rung me up from California, and out of all the people who Ive ever spoken to about rock n roll, Joe is definitely the most enthusiastic and passionate of them all, hes a genius! Theyll be coming over to play the UK in the Summer, but until then, heres what he had to say... jennie: i love your new album & i was very happy that you went out & did some beach boys songs, how did you come about the whole idea of the b.boys? Joe: We always liked the Beach Boys type-stuff. (For Don't back down), we took a few months off and I hooked up with Ras and worked on some tunes, and that was the way it came out. We always wanted to be in between the Ramones and the Beach Boys, so it was always there but people didnt realise it. jennie: are dont back down & little honda a couple of your favourite tracks? is that why you chose to do them as opposed to more popular ones like surfin safari or fun fun fun? Joe: I thought æDont back down was a more adventurous cover. Little honda we did as a goof because The Queers used to do it back in the late 80s. jennie: how did you hook up with lisa from cub to do backing vocals & i cant get over you? Joe: Well, we love the Muffs! We had bugged them to go on tour and we opened up for them, and Cub came on that tour. So thats how we met them. Originally, we wanted to work on a song with Kim, and Kim was so busy with the Muffs - that I sent a tape to Lisa of 3 potential ideas. I had the music and the title, so she just wrote the lyrics. We both did vocals but we all thought that hers was a better version. With Lisa singing (on I cant get over you), we wanted to show the punks, fuck you, they dont dictate policy, the band dictates policy, we do what we want. I dont care if the kids think its punk or not, I thought the song came out great. jennie: do you intend to come over here in97? Joe: Yeah. We get back October 27th from this tour and were off for 6 or 7 days. Then we go to Amsterdam, and we tour around Europe but we dont go to the UK. Which we were pretty bummed out about, there was a fallout because we bailed out of our tour last year... jennie: did you get a lot of shit for leaving sooner the last time you came around? Joe: We were bummed out that we left, but the thing was, Jennie... quite frankly, we toured for 2 1/2 months in the States and we were supposed to do a week in the UK, 2 1/2 weeks at the most in... jennie: but it extended much more than that! Joe: Yeah, the whole thing extended to over 2 months. In the UK alone I think we had 20-30 shows, which I thought was fucking crazy! We played a few shows, we played Birmingham on a Wednesday night to 32 drunk idiots, I was like æwhat am I here for? Then we had to come home and tour almost 2 months with the Muffs, so youre talking almost 7 months! We agreed to a week in the UK and 2 weeks in other parts of Europe. I got home and Alan (from the now folded up - Shakin Street label) was like "Joe, Ive got this tour set up". He had a band called Pussy Crush and they were to open up, that was their ticket to tour, and he quite frankly lied to me and he stole my fucking guitar... jennie: yeah, i was going to ask you, have you got your guitar back from pilly yet? Joe: No, I havent got my fucking guitar, its even in MRR that hes got it. I wrote to him, I faxed him, I said Id send money to him... jennie: so it wasnt that you left it for him to mind for you? Joe: Fuck, no, there was a mircophone that I left in that, strings, and my fucking tuner! And hes still got it, and he wrote to MRR "Ive still got Joe Kings guitar". Well send it back motherfucker, Ill send you money, I want my guitar back! So we got over there and we hooked up with Travis Cut and those guys are cool! But there was 9 of us in one van, Jennie... and we just got off the tour over here... The Queers are now are doing better on this tour, were making a little money, but back then there was personal stuff... and some people think just the privelige to play punk rock - you should give up all your life and all that. We felt bad that people thought we hated the UK, but we certainly did not. Even Pilly saying "no comment, theyre good guys, but dont book a tour with them" - well, fuck him, he doesnt know what happened! We left it over there and I cant wait to get back! Itll be in the early Summer but we are coming back! jennie: youve been playing punk rock for over 14 years, would you like to be a teenager and start all over again if you could? Joe: NO. (laughs) I was just taking a walk while I went up to the van to get my clipboard to call you. I used to live down here in California and it was fun back then when I lived back here a few years ago. No.... no... jennie: well, what type of teenager were you? Joe: Oh, y know... I used to smoke pot and drink too much beer, go to shows, I never used to hang around a bad crowd and stuff, yknow. I used to surf and I actually got on the surfboard twice this Summer. I guess Im the same person as I always was, may be a little bit more mature. But I havent changed at all, I still have enthusiam in playing... jennie: i was talking to jon clark from sinkhole Joe: Hes my friend... jennie: hes cool, i know, and i asked him whether there was a question that he would like to pass onto you, and he said... Joe: (laughs) I talked to him yesterday, it was weird, but I talked to him yesterday. jennie: the only question he came up with, and its not extremely exciting but he asked me to ask you how old you are Joe: 35... I thought he knew. jennie: no, well he wants to expose your age, you see... (laughing) Joe: He wanted to expose my age? (laughs) jennie: i asked him because i interviewed him and i said to him, i really like the queers, what are they like? and he said theyre really nice guys for a bunch of old men, you and hugh especially. Joe: (laughs) People pick on us and stuff. I guess we still have the enthusiasm yknow, and I dont run around thinking Im 19 and get away with it. I think our musics good and the kids are into it, nobody cares about this age thing. And to me its exciting that we can play Beach Boys tunes and the kids have evolved with us through our punkier stuff through to Dont back down. Sidewalk surfer girl is a staple of our set now and they love it! Its exciting... I talked to Joey Ramone a couple of weeks ago about working with us on a project and he was so enthusiastic. But I dont want to work with Joey because I think that Ill sell a million records, or Andy Paley or Brian Wilson... I wanna work with those guys because they have a passion for music Im into... thats the music we fucking love, those are our peers. jennie: yeah... well im actually interviewing mtx later on, is there a question which youd like me to ask dr. frank? Joe: You can tell him one thing, this is two questions. Ask him why he doesnt keep in touch with Joe Queer more when theyre on the road. Yeah, ask him why he has never collaborated on a song with Joe Queer. jennie: i love your line in punk rock girls about more than toast/dr. frank! Joe: Well, you know the story behind that... I called Dr. Frank on the phone and I was like "Frank, I need some lyrics", so I hummed the tune into the phone, on voice mail (he hums 'Punk rock girls') and I give him the number for the studio. And he doesnt call back, so I was like, well fuck it, and so I sat down and wrote out the lyrics completely (he arranges some lyrics for me, and we laugh). I put his name in it as a little jab as he was supposed to help me out with the lyrics! jennie: what do you think of the punk scene, and how do you think it will progress or decline in the future? Joe: I dont know, I think its healthy... (talks to Hugh for a bit)... I think its healthy if you write good songs! Theres a lot of shit bands out there that are more on image, some of the fat/epitaph bands are more about image than writing tunes. Like, you have to look a certain way. I love going up to those with lagwagon shirts or pennywise shirts and saying "oh yeah, I love those guys too man, whats your favourite song?". And they never know what their favourite song is, they dont know any of the songs. But kids who love the Queers know the tunes, kids who love the Mr. T Experience know the tunes. I was like, yeah, youve got your hat on backwards and your fucking baggy pants, youve got your little wallet with the chain... jennie: have you gotten in trouble for your no tit song yet? Joe: No, not yet, it was just a goofball thing about some girl who had small breasts. Some girl asked me to, she had come up and asked me to write a song about her, no, she didnt ask me to write a song about her breasts. We just did it as a goofy song. We havent got any shit, no. jennie: do you prefer girl songs to hate songs? Joe: Me, I like playing the love songs better. Were known to bang through the set, so we sneak in 3 or 4 of them each night. They go out great, like I said æSidewalk surfer girl, we go from Next stop rehab, like 10 songs in the set, like bang bang bang, then we go click, click, click (sings Sidewalk surfer girl). I love that because to me its all punk! jennie: so, what would i have to do to become a punk rock girl then? Joe: To become a punk rock girl? Er... just go see the Queers and sing along with the songs. (laughs) No... theres a lot of them that are just so cool, theyre just so cute... and I think theyve got a sense of humour, punk rock girls. jennie: whats the silliest question anyones ever asked you? dont say me! Joe: Probably some kid I saw hanging around, he was shy and he kept looking over at me, I could tell he wanted to come up and talk to me. And the Queers, were not that big, were really accessible. I always go out, but he kinda didnt wanna talk so I went up to him and I hit him on the arm and go "dude, whats happening?" And he was like "Oh, whats up?", he pretended that he didnt look. He was like "hey, can I ask you a question?" and I was like "Sure you can, whats up?" He said "What kind of strings do you use on your guitar?" (laughs) And I was like "long, shiny silver ones. why? does that help?" (laughs) jennie: last question, make your own question up... Joe: Errr... (after a while).. if I could, if you could record with anybody, who would you record with? And that would be Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. jennie: okay... (laughing) I think you kind of answered that throughout the interview! Joe: Yeah... (laughs), no, I love that. I dont want to because hes famous or whatever, but I bet someday I could... I bet someday I could. jennie: i bet someday you will! Joe: Yeah, I think it would be a buzz, Im into that stuff... "we dont hate england. . . we apologise that we had to leave, 7 months on the road was too much, but we cant wait to come back and were gonna bust our ass to do it, the QUEERS are coming back!"