Interviews

My Zoinks! Interview

Zoinks! is a cool punk-pop band from Reno, Nevada. They consist of Zac Damon on guitar and vocals, Rob Borges on bass, Bob Conrad on drums and very occasional vocals, and last but not least, their new second guitarist Arne Cherkoss. They have a bunch of 7"s out on various labels, but now like to call Dr. Strange Records home. They've put out two full length c.d.'s and a 7" on Dr. Strange. The second c.d. just came out. It's called Stranger Anxiety and is a collection of 7" tracks, compilation tracks, and some rare and new stuff. For anyone who hasn't heard of them they sound very much like Green Day, althogh a little more punk and a tad less pop. Despite all of the comparisions to Green Day, the still say they sounk a lot more like Sicko. Recently, i was lucky enough to interview the band, so here's what i got:

> 1) how old are you guys?
Between 22 and 25.

> 2) what got you guys into punk?
Falling into certain jr. high and high school circles where a musical angst matched and fueled are discontentment at the time. Pretty much the same reason most kids begin listening to punk.

> 3) are you into any other music besides punk?
We all have varying tastes, sure. Rob likes blues, I like some jazz and occasionally some metal.

> 4) who are your favorite bands?
They're too numerous to list: Some of the underrated bands we've been diggin' have been: Dillinger 4, Grapefruit, Underhand, Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, Discount, My Pal Trigger, Man Dingo, The Gain, Oblivion, The Invalids, etc.

> 5) have you heard sunny day real estate, and if so, do you like them?
I've heard them. I don't remember what they sound like.

> 6) what do you think about being compared to green day?
In some ways it's a typical copout. It's as if people can't be more creative with their comparisons. Personally, I think our sound is more in line with bands like Sicko, but whatever. We have a new second guitarist who also does vocals, so that will change our sound somewhat. I don't mind the Green Day comparison (they're a good band), but when people say that it just tells me they're not clued in to much of what else it out there, only because they're not being bombarded with it on a consistent basis. That's their problem, not mine.

> 7) would you ever sign to a major? why or why not?
An adequate answer requires an extensive viewpoint on major labels and corporations that I don't really have time to get into now (but if you want to order my zine, I go into it quite thoroughly in there). A better question would be, would I prefer Subway versus a mom and pop sandwich shop. And why.

> 8) any chance of coming to oklahoma anytime?
Sure.

> 9) what's the story behind the phone conversation of bad move >space cadet?
It's pretty self explanatory: The old guy owns a club, he doesn't like the punk shows, etc., etc.

> 10) do you like being interviewed?
If the questions are interesting and challenging.

Well...that's my interview. If you want to contact Zoinks!, you can write them at PO Box 9382 Reno, Nevada 89507, or e-mail them at bobc@cs.unr.edu.

Zoinks! Interview from Heckler Magazine

With a new C.D. out on Dr. Strange Records, it's refreshing to hear a Green Day-Minor Threatish power-chording trio with the harmonic insulins of sugar coated daisies imploding on a convergence of plethoric-repatta. The first song, "Astronaut" embellishes, recycles, refreshes and embellishes again, in more ways than oneself on a pop insinuating frenzy through a snare-circus-Summer-Solstice. Huh, what? Can you say music critic?

Zoinks is from Reno and consists of Bob Conrad on drums, Rob Borges on Bass and Zac Damon on vocals and guitar.

I hooked up with Zoinks at the Ryland street house where Pete Menchetti does the Reno "Enema" Zine. They were practicing away in the basement on a song for a forthcoming 7 inch, and rehearsing other new and old material as well.

H: The first thing I noticed about you guys is that you both play left handed on your instruments.

Zac: Yeah, I guess we are a left handed band (laughing).

H: Have you guys been doing any shows lately?

Zac: We haven't played in two months, we sound a little sloppy. We decided to take some time off because from the last tour, we were burnt out.

H: How long did you tour for?

Zac: About six weeks, throughout the whole U.S. All the way down to Texas, the South, the East Coast-New Hampshire and Chicago. We were on tour with another Dr. Strange band called Mandingo, that was the song we were just rehearsing and learning for this upcoming 7 inch split. We're learning one of their songs and they in turn are learning one of ours. But anyway, they were headlining for the tour and they're bigger than we are (laughing).

H: So you guys are going to be recording more in the near future?

Bob: Yeah pretty soon here. Were gonna get like three to five songs together and record it all at once, do a string of 7 inches. After that we're gonna combine all those new songs on a C.D. with our older 7 inch releases that are now pretty much out of print.

H: When are you guys supposed to record, do you have a time limit?

Zac: No, whenever. There's no specified date, whenever we get songs together and we're ready to record, we'll just call Dr. Strange and tell 'em to book us some time in the studio.

H: When did you sign a deal with Dr. Strange Records and where did you guys record your new C.D.?

Zac: We signed with Dr. Strange somewhere around last October and

recorded our C.D. in Berkeley. Kevin Army who did the Operation Ivy album produced it.

H: Tell me about the title of the C.D. "Bad Move Space Cadet."

Zac: I used to live in this house (on Ryland Street in Reno) and upstairs there's this video game called Gorf that you probably saw when you walked in. For a while, when they first got that video game, anyone who walked in would turn it on and end up playing it. Then it just got to the point where everyone hated that video game. I just thought it would be a cool name for an album.

H: What inspired you guys to do a cover of the theme to "The Greatest American Hero?"

Zak: Actually, that song is on a T.V. show song compilation thing that us and some other punk bands did and that's initially what we did the song for. Then when we got picked up by Dr. Strange, he wanted us to put the song on the new C.D., so it just ended up on both things. We had a hard time finding the original song so we could cover it. I think we finally found the album at a record store when we were touring, in Santa Rosa.

H: Do you guys all have full time jobs?

(Everyone Laughs)

Zac: I just got a job like a couple days ago at Albertsons doing price checking, I start tomorrow. I will be going to competitors' grocery stores comparing prices (laughing).

Bob: My last real job ended in January and right now, having a full job would be impractical, I've got so much other stuff going on. But, to get money, like this week, I pulled weeds (everyone laughs). I also addressed envelopes and ran errands for my mom. I sometimes work for Dr. Strange designing ads. I just do whatever I can to make it. I also have a record label, but I haven't made any income off of it. Were all pretty much broke (laughing).

Zak: I'm behind on my credit card payments by three months and they keep calling me.

Rob: I'm only doing good cause I don't have any credit (laughing). I work part time as a Teachers Aid, and that's not too pressing.

Zak: The band makes a little money and the checks have been coming at the right time and that helps out, but not enough to make a living at. I think if we went on tour again we could do alright.

Rob: Yeah, once we get some good new tires for the rear of the van from K-mart we'll be just fine (everyone laughs).

H: How do you feel about the state in which "punk" is in right now as far as it being more mainstream. Do you think it affects you, do you think it's good?

Zoinks: Yeah, it definitely affects us.

Rob: I personally think it's good in a way because it's at least letting people listen to music that I thought has been good for quite a while. But at the same time it's weird being in a band and tagged as sounding like other bands, which we've gotten a lot of flack for.

H: Being pigeonholed?

Bob: Yeah, totally. But you could talk about it forever. I think as a cultural thing, punk has always been a sub-culture and I guess in a lot of ways it deserves to stay that way, and is going to. I mean, there's a lot of things about these mainstream bands that doesn't come across to the audience. To them (the audience) it's just music to "mosh" to, or crowd surf to. That part's shitty, but like Rob was saying, if people can get something out of it, that's cool. I think it helps us that more people will be into our type of music and we'll probably do better. But at the same time, when it stops being fashionable, who's to say what happens.

Zac: I try not to worry too much about what punk is, and what's punk. I really like punk music a lot, but I'm not gonna live and die by punk, it's not that big of a deal to me. I just like playing the music we play, the way it sounds and the way it makes me feel. It inspires me!

Interview and photo on the Music Page by Chris Carnel.