The band is: Cinder Block - vocals, Jeffery Bischoff - guitar, Vincent Camacho - drums, and Jimmy Cheetah - bass.

Interview by C. Reister.

MRR: When and where did you first form?
JB: ‘92. Oakland California.
JC: At a softball game.
CB: Jeffery called Jimmy out, we got in a big fist fight, when the dust settled, we went and had some root beers, and we were a band.
JB: Actually, that's not true. Really what happened was the three of us were playing golf with Jimmy's dad, and Jimmy was caddying for him and he said "my son plays bass."

MRR: I thought punks were against sports?
JB: It's not necessarily that punks are against sports. It's my opinion that punk is do whatever you fucking want, just don't fuck other people over.

MRR: Aren't punks against organized things?
JC: We never said the game was organized.

MRR: When did you jump from Lookout! to Fat Wreck Chords and why?
CB: Because we were going out with Fat Mike at first, and then like we went out on Fat Mike, and started going out with Lookout!, then Lookout! dropped us, so we went back to Fat Mike.

MRR: Why did Lookout! drop you guys?
JC: Actually, Fat Mike offered us a lot more money.
CB: Because we dropped Lookout! and started looking for another label, and they got pissed off that we were looking around for another label so they dropped us first before they gave us a chance to drop them.
JB: Lookout! is still rocking my world, constantly.
CB: Cuz when we broke up we said we could still be friends.

MRR: But isn't Lookout! corporate now?
JB: No, not at all.
JC: Lookout's definitely not corporate. Lookout's just a bunch of punks up there in this office, yeah, they got fancy computers...

MRR: Aren't they rich now?
JB: Rich, what's the definition of rich? You know what, you're from Grosse Point, aren't you? I can tell, Grosse Point, that's where the Ford mansion is - next question.
JC: If you got rich from being punk, what the fuck, how can you prevent that? Your records sell, you put out good records, so that they can each get a few bucks, what the fuck?

MRR: Has your band received any offers from major labels?
CB: We had some interest but we weren't interested. Mainly it was just like bullshit...

MRR: Any label names?
CB: No, cuz they all had screwy names, they were all like subsidiaries of other major labels, you could never tell, you know it's like a wolf in sheep's clothing or whatever, but we really didn't pay attention cuz it was all swarming around Green Day, and we were just kind of bumping into...

MRR: But you guys were like, linked with Green Day, seemingly...
CB: No, not really.

MRR: I saw Green Day t-shirts with the Tilt logo on them...
CB: That was just a friend of theirs who made a drawing, it was a sticker on a dumpster. We went on tour with them, and we know them and that's the extent of it.
JB: What's the question about the shirt?

MRR: I wondered if you guys got any offers from major labels, seeing as you guys were so popular back in ‘94, in the underground scene.
JB: The major label situation was: if we would have signed to a major label we would have been fucked, So we decided not to pursue it any further and backed off.
CB: C'mon, listen to the new record, there's not a speck of pop on it. Is anything on that radio friendly? I don't think so.
JC: We could be accessible to the masses through major label - major labels suck. If we did put out a sugar-coated album we'd rather do it on Lookout! or Fat or something like that than some cheesy-ass major label, you know?

MRR: Does the band have any set guidelines that you follow as far as choosing venues - based on political beliefs?
JB: The biggest thing we have about when we choose a venue is that it's all-ages. It has to be all- ages. We're a club band, and you know, we're a band that would play at your local V.F.W. and, you know, it'll always probably be like that. And the main thing we have is that the shows are always all-ages and that they're...

MRR: What about sponsors, do you guys have any rules as far as like who sponsors a show that you would play, if it was sponsored by a large corporation, would you play it?
JB: It depends upon the situation...

MRR: Because you guys played the Warped tour which here was sponsored by Budweiser the first year.
CB: EEEWW! I didn't even know that. Oh well.
VC: I drink the stuff so why shouldn't I play the fuckin' show?
CB: (laugher) Let's see, and he's wearing Nike shoes...

MRR: No I'm not, these are New Balance.
JC: Still a big corporation.
CB: And he's wearing some Levi's blue jeans and, uh, where'd you get your hat? Let's see the label on your shirt.
JB: What does your parents do for a living?

MRR: My dad does landscape work, you can't get much rootsier than that.
JB: That's pretty neat.
CB: Another thing is we try to keep the ticket price down.
JB: Yeah, we definitely try to keep...

MRR: What's the highest price ticket that you guys will play?
JB: Tickets on this tour are between $5.00 and...
JC: We just turned down a show in LA because they wanted to do a $10.00 ticket and so that was out of our range.

MRR: What about an opening act?
CB: We don't really have any control over that.

MRR: Don't you wanna have control over that?
CB: Wake up, it's the fucking real world here.
JC: What, twenty bucks for fifty bands, and skateboarding, how does that break down?

MRR: No, I'm saying if you guys opened up for a big band like Green Day or Bad Religion where the ticket was like sixteen bucks or something like that...
JC: We've never opened up for Green Day or Bad Religion.
JB: (laughter)

MRR: What's the biggest band you guys ever opened up for?
JC: Green Day and Bad Religion.
All except me: (hurtful and embarrassing laughter)
CB: Did you ever read the lyrics to that song "Molly Coddled"?

MRR: The only album I have is "Til It Kills".
CB: Buy the new record and look at the lyrics to "Molly Coddled".

MRR: Coming from the bay area punk scene, do you think your band is influenced by Lookout's founding bands like Samiam, Crimpshrine, Monsula, Operation Ivy, Blatz, and Stikky?
JC: Every band except Monsula.
Many: (laughter)
JB: Just kidding Paulie!
JC: Definitely, of course, they were a bunch of bands who were playing around...absolutely, I think, in some way or another.
JB: Our first bassist was in Crimpshrine.

MRR: Oh, he was?
JB: Yeah, so of course we were influenced by Crimpshrine.

MRR: What was his name?
JB: Pete Rypins, he was the original bass player. In fact his new band just played with us in San Francisco when we left for - they're called the Tantrums.

MRR: How about a band like Operation Ivy, I mean, you have to admit your whole scene was probably influenced by them.JB: Who wasn't?
VC: I was playing with the guys from the Operation Ivy.
JB: Vince was in a band called Basic Radio which was with the guys from Operation Ivy, before Operation Ivy.
CB: Honey, I was pogoing to the Necros when Operation Ivy were still shitting in three-cornered pants, thank you.

MRR: As a woman involved in the music scene...
CB: Oh, no.

MRR: ...and as a female musician, are there any women involved in rock music, either mainstream or underground, that you feel are transcending gender boundaries in a way similar to the way you are?
CB: Let me read that, I can't understand it! I don't understand that question!
JB: Patti Smith.
CB: Patti Smith, um Mia Zapata, but Mia Zapata died. The kinds of musicians I like, whether they're male or female, are people that they're creativity is rooted is rooted in going on a journey and discovering who they are, and not trying to assimilate or just like slap on somebody else's aesthetic. I really hate it when bands try to sound like whatever's popular, tried and true, you know, it's like whatever sells right now, or even just taking the vocal stylings of some other person and emulating it because that's what's tried and true, that's what they see their friends bopping to. Mia Zapata from the Gits, who got raped and murdered...

MRR: What was she all about, what was her whole shtick?
CB: She didn't have shtick, that was her shtick, and her vocal style, and she sang from her soul, and you could see the music come right through her, you know, she was just like, so open. You know, there was no shtick that was her shtick. She was a charismatic in that I could really see her soul. Just every ounce of what she had to give was right there, you know, and that inspired me.

MRR: How about Sinead O' Conner?
CB: No, it goes back further - Jeffery's right - Patti Smith, even Janis Joplin...
JC: When Sinead O' Conner first signed to a major label, they instantly wanted to market her as a sex symbol because she had this long blonde hair, and she realized what they were trying to do and that's why she shaved her head...

MRR: I've got two more questions, do you guys mind? You've lost tow band members but oh well... Alright, how do you feel about MaximumRockNRoll founder Tim Yohannon's death and do you think it will affect the U.S. punk/hardcore scene that he helped to establish?
JC: I'm sad that Tim died. I think he did a lot of good, he might have done some bad - it's hard to tell, but he will be surely missed. As far as affecting the hardcore scene, it's kinda hard to really say, I mean MaximumRockNRoll is still gonna go on, so is punk rock and punk rock shows and he is unfortunately an addition to a long list of punk rock people who have died recently.

MRR: What do you guys think of Detroit?
CB: Jeffrey's family all lives in Detroit, so I, I like Detroit, cuz that's where my husband came from.

MRR: There's a lot of racism in the Detroit scene.
JC: A lot of the hardcore scene in Berkeley is racist.

MRR: I thought Berkeley was the bastion of peace and love...

That's the end, MRR, the rest of it is untranscribable because I can't make out what the tape has on it because I used an old tape and I shouldn't have. At any rate, I hope you like it.