Interviews index.
                                            The Slackers.

A chat with Marcus.

Just before the Slackers gig in February, I caught up with their Bassman, Marcus Geard, who had time to talk, change the presentation of the merchandise every five minutes and wrestle with extra large t-shirts, all at once !

Hi hows it going?

Marcus : Yeah good, I'm bit tired, we've only just got here, came by boat from Calais, just trying to sort out the merchandise, we've got no British money at the moment.

 Its great to have you back in the country, but how come you're not playing up north, just one Nottingham date, two in London and one in Brighton, cos last time the furthest north you went was Leicester ?

M: Yeah, well were hoping to get something sorted out, maybe do a 7 -10 day tour, going to Ireland, Scotland and England. That'd be really good.

yeah cos the stubborn all stars came and only played down south, that would've been cool if they'd have come here, did Vic play on the tour?

M: No he doesn't play that much live with them, just the studio recordings.

At this point some-one trades a demo tape for a slacker top, Marcus asks what kind of music is it, the bands drummer say hard ska-punk, you might not like it, its a bit like choking victim.
"Oh right, yeah I like some harder ska stuff, we'll play it on the bus", replies Marcus.

you played in sic & mad, didn't you, that was pretty punky stuff.

M: Yeah, with sic & mad, that was some of the best times, crazy stuff, that was probably the best time I had, its was really cool.

did you play a lot of gigs with them?

M: No not really, unfortunately Happy the singer, went to Japan, so that kinda ended it, y'know, put a
stop to that, so to speak.

so when's the live album out?

M: Well it should be soon, May I think. We've recorded it, we did it over two nights in Holland, last year its really good, I think you'll like it.

It probably won't be May knowing hellcat/epitaph?

Oh no its definitely May, I'm mean, yeah were not to happy with hellcat delaying the releases, but all the mixings done, the artwork and inlay cards, so its ready to go.

We actually did it for about $800 dollars recording the gigs. We know the guy who owned the club and we got some 24 track recording stuff in and did it all for $800. The only thing is, I don't know if your interested in this but, it cost $4000 to transfer all the Dats, and tapes and stuff. I'm like fuck, it costs $800 to record the whole thing then we spend $4000 on copying some tapes across! Actually cos that our problem were not gonna pass any of that cost on to you the buyer. In the US the album's gonna come out at $8 dollars so here it should about £6.

 yeah I doubt it!

M: I know, some-one told me one of our CD's cost about £16 in shops, I mean that's 20 plus dollars, were selling CD's here (the merchandise stall) for £6. But the live album will definitely be cheaper, should be around £10. I mean that's  about $16, its stupid, cos in the US we don't allow are CD's to be sold for that much.

the best way to buy stuff, is to order it direct from the states, even with postage its cheaper.

M: Yeah, I s'pose its just the hassle and time. But the live album's out in May, and the new studio album out after that.

What, so you've done the next studio album?

M: Yeah, we've finished recording that, so that on tape waiting for hellcat.

A bit ago it was said the pietasters and gadjits were gonna be on this tour what happened to them?

M: I dunno, we heard about 6 weeks ago they weren't gonna play, I don't what happened, I mean really we do our own thing, we don't see them too much.

The gadjits are getting a bit annoying as this is the 2nd time they've failed to come, cos you were meant to tour with em last time.

M: Yeah that's right, oh well fuck em, were here!
Actually the last I heard the bass player from the pietasters was quitting, I don't whether that's true or not.

how did the hellcat deal come about?

M: Well, really through Vic knowing Chris (the wix) and Chris knowing Tim (Armstrong). He showed up for a couple of gigs, were like, oh, there's some punk guitarist in the crowd tonight, oh its Tim from Rancid, and a bit later he introduced himself and we took it from there.

Thanks for talking, hope you have a good time in England.

M: Yeah, thanks for coming.