1.
So at first can you introduce your band, members, age, hobbies, work and
tell us how you met each other.
Nico: My name’s Nico, 17 years
old, I like the colour mauve, horse riding
and the smell of a freshly cut field of daisies.
I model for a famous brand
of shampoo : (Skin)Head & Shoulders. Shameless
began in 2010 after I had seen an ad in the culture section of Mickey Mouse
Magazine : “Wanted : good-looking blokes for boys band”. I knew this was for me. I had no idea who the
other guys were and had no clue what
Oi! was either. We were all given a makeover, I
had to drop the “tektonik”
style I had and shave my head. Now my manager
told me to say that I am a 32
year old order processor. My hobbies are:
Shameless, every bits of the punk subculture, graphic design, Computer -
Assisted Music, and full contact (pretty cool though I’m not that
good at it). I met Pépito at the time I was
playing in the Rude Gones. Then a
common friend introduced us to Scooter, then
Scooter introduced us to Gilles, who then introduced us to his car, which then
introduced us to its airbags
before passing away.
Pépito: I’m Dorian, aka Pépito
(cheers for the nickname , Nico!), 25 years
old, maintenance technician in the metal
industry. My hobbies are:
Shameless, eating, sleeping... I moved to Lyon 4
years ago and met Nico and
that’s how he turned gay it all began.
Scooter: My name’s Scooter, most
senior member of the band as I’ve turned 49
years old this year, I’m an administrative
officer at the departement council
of le Rhône. My hobbies are: Shameless, sex,
drugs, alcohol and
Shameless... or the other way round, don’t
remember...
Gilles: My name’s what ‘s
written at the start of the line. I’m going on 47
and a half, and I work as a prison guard in a
juvenile detention center (=
teacher in a secondary school for vocational
training) and pedestrian since
recently after my car hit a huge pole.
2.
Have your members any experience with playing in other bands?
Nico: I used to play in the
Rude Gones (Oi! band from Lyon). We sounded a
bit like West Side Boys. It wasn’t the most
memorable band... and I also
played in less memorable bands such as CDT!,
Gang des Lyonnais...
Pépito: The bands i’ve played in are so unmemorable that i’m
gonna pass on
that one.
Nico: but you did play drums in that Spanish band... what’s
it called...
Skin something... some original band name...
Scooter: At the beginning of the
80’s I played for 3 months in … can’t
remember. Then at the beginning of the 90’s I
played the drums in the Urban
Gones, legendary Oi! band from Lyon.
Gilles: I played guitar in the
same legendary band Scooter’s just mentioned
(forgive me for being an old man with slight
senile amnesia).
3.
When and why came decission to start Shameless and why that name?
Nico: It came naturally, since
the band I was in was splitting up and Pépito
and I had already talked about putting up a
band. We knew quite straight away
we wanted the project to be serious, in other
words something that would
enable us to pose as pretentious cunts, and I
must say we've been quite good
at this. We opted for singing in English cause
we wanna play everywhere and
cause Pépito sounds great when he sings in
English. His dad was an English
skinhead his mum met in the summer, back in
1978... some guy called Ian
Steward or something. Then when Pépito was born,
in 1988, the guy had already
left France and gone back to working in his
hardware store in Derbyshire.
More seriously, we named the band after the
English tv series of the same
name, cause we think this tv show has a real
punk spirit. We also liked the
sound of it.
Pépito: There you go then !
The whole truth !
Scooter: |I second that !!!
Gilles: My mom met my dad at a
certain point in her life and that's why I
ended up being who I am. Astonishing, innit? More
seriously, I lost my cat one day, and the guys from Shameless came into my life and brought me a lot of
comfort. I am not lonely anymore, thanks to them.
4.
Your LP was released on Bords de Seine...can you tell us anything about
the cooperation with Nico? Are you satisfied?
Nico: It's a coproduction
between Bords de Seine, Lion Records and Last
Rockers. Working with Nico of Bords de Seine is
just awesome : he gets us all
the cocaine and whores we want. Most importantly,
he plays a major role in
keeping the skin scene alive and is always
willing to help Oi ! Bands, no
matter how good they are. The album was recorded
in my home recording studio.
Past experiences of recording studios had not
been so good so I didn't want
to take the risk of spending money on a
recording I wouldn't find satisfying
in the end. So if this album has its flaws, then
we can only blame
ourselves.
Pépito: Hail to Nico BDS!
Scooter: Respect to the man!!!
Gilles: Nico's a real nice guy, who's doing his best to keep the French scene from dying.
5.
Cover was made by Abu from Minsk, how you came to that skinhead artist?
Nico: We didn't want yet another record cover with a bunch
of lads arms
crossed, or with the name of the band written
Lonsdale style, or with the
Perry laurel. That's why we agreed on having a
drawing. I instantly liked
Abu's style. Plus he's an ace guy who likes our
music and would like to
release our next EP on his record label. He's
not a show off and did the
cover drawing for free. What people don't know
is that there's a real
concept behind this album cover. A bit similar
to what Iron Maiden did. All
our record covers will show the same teenage
skinhead called Guilty in
different situations. He will then grow old with
us. It's something we
thought hard about. And it means Abu will keep
on making beautiful record
covers for us.
Pépito: In twenty years time,
Guilty will probably look a lot like Eddy on
the Iron Maiden covers, haha!
Nico: Why don't we release a
split with Iron Maiden then, so we find out
who's more badass?
Scooter: That's no fair play,
these guys are like 100 years old …
Nico: and so are you !
6.
Your sound kick me back to the 80´s especially because of the guitar with
no (or light) booster effect, which bands
influence you? And do you prefer
older or new breed bands?
Nico: The sound the album has
we really got by ear. In the end it sounds a
lot like a live sound. I personnally like bands
with a crude sound as much as
bands with a “lighter” sound. Like the Business,
Skrewdriver, etc...Today
bands I like have that sound as well : Perkele,
Evil Conduct, the Clichés,
Booze and Glory... I like Oi! bands from every
decade if I think the songs
are good.
Scooter: Same here! Could'nt have
said it better !
Gilles: we don't change anything
to the sound if we think it's well
balanced, cause it shouldn't be bad but it
shouldn't be too clean either.
7. Your
album came out on CD and LP, which format do you prefer and why?
Nico:I for one definitely prefer the LP format : it looks good and it's a
real pleasure to collect them. Im looking
froward to releasing an EP, it's
rad. People who don't have a record player can
still buy our LP cause it
comes with the cd version. It also comes with a
poster, a fanzine and a
sticker. We really wanted it to come with loads
of goodies, cause we thought
about what people would like.
Scooter: Same here !
Could'nt have said it better!
Gilles: It would have been
strange to release a record with such an 80's
sound only in CD format. Releasing both formats
was a great idea cause the
true purists will appreciate, and so will them
teens with spotty faces,
braces on their teeth and who are still virgins.
(FYI : in Shameless,
there are two old guys = the « true purists » and two
young guys = « the …... ).
8.
Can you tell us anything about the scene in Lyon and in local area?
Nico: We're the only Oi !
Band in Lyon. The other band in our region is
Shoot the Dogs and they're brilliant. There are
punk concerts sometimes but
nothing too crazy.
Scooter: Same here !
Could'nt have said it better!
9.
Can you introduce us some new breed bands from France which worth hearing?
Nico: Shoot the Dogs from St
Etienne. You should check ou their tune : « Jo
is a skinhead », truly a blast. Another
great band : The Headliners and also
Lion's Law, which has a lot of great tunes,
still waiting to hear the album
will be like.
10.
Are you supoorting Olypique Lyon or some different club from your city?
Nico: I'm not that much into
football but I do support OL because I love my
city and my friends who are all OL supporters
and members of the Bad Gones
supporters club. They're very close friends.
Pépito: And they lend us their
headquarters to rehearse, which is really
nice and they are all very enthousiastic and
welcoming.
Scooter: I've been a OL supporter
since I learnt how to read and write....
and I'm a member of the Bad Gones supporters
club so it goes without saying.
I also support the Croix Roussien football club
which is a smaller club in my
area and for which I was still playing last
season.
Gilles: As I'm from the deep
south of France, I grew up with duck grease and
rugby. Lyon, Gerland and the Bad Gones
supporters, it was a real turning
point in my life. OL : I 'm forever
grateful.
11.
Wine or beer?
Nico: Wine plus cheese, then
beers plus chocolate bars.
Pépito: Both, one at a time.
Nico: You pervert!
Scooter: Wine and beer
altogether, plus pastis cause it's from Marseille and
everyone should know their enemy's drink.
Gilles: Silly question !
12.
How it is with the gigs in France? Is there problem for skinhead band to
find a venue for playing?
Nico: We're not often asked to
play gigs in France whereas we're getting a
lot of proposals from England, Germany and
Indonesia ! The only gig we've
played outside of Lyon was organised by a
dickhead whi treated us like shit.
But to be honest we're mostly interested in
playing abroad. There's nothing
big happening in France, really. But if we get a
proposal we think is worth
it, we'll go for it.
13.
Do you know anything about Czech republic or scene here?
Nico: I like the bands Pilsner
Oiquel, Orlik... I love a lot of bands from
east Europe and I hope we'll play there soon.
Prague must be a beautiful
place.
Pépito: I would also love to play in your country, there
seems to be a lot
happening in the Czech skinhead scene, and your
country's said to be really
beautiful. As far as Czech bands are concerned,
I really need to start
listening to more of them cause it's not the
first time we're asked this
question !
Scooter: Prague... it makes you dream, doesn't it?
Gilles: And your music culture
is just as impressive as Czech girls' tits.
14.
Where can we order your stuff like t-shirts, CD´s ....?
Nico: You can order the album
through Bords de Seine 's website and for the
other stuff go to our website :
shamelessoi.com.
15.
What should we do to organise your gig?
Nico: Ok hang on! This is
serious business here cause we don't play around,
as you know we're a bunch of stingy, pretentious
cunts. More seriously, it
all depends on the type of concert : if
it's a festival, it's 300 euros,
travelling, catering and accomodation included
(hostel or couchsurf). If
we're getting ripped off we'll figure out
quickly and we'll react
accordingly. We don't play freebies so other
people can make money off our
backs. It has to be a fair deal. We can make
concessions but we don't wanna
be cheated. We careful not to lose any money in
the process. Nevertheless we
are open to negotiations and discussion (as
french singer Florent Pagny would
say). So don't hesitate to contact us at this
address :
badreputation@shamelessoi.com.
Scooter: Florent Pagny !
What a bastard !!! Sorry I got carried away
there....
16.
Plans for the future...
Nico: Certainly a split record
with Shoot the Dogs, a co-prod with KB
Records, Bords de Seine, Lion Records and Last
Rockers. Also a split 45 with
Gvaltu on Tolik Records and a 45 on Lionheart
Records. We're also organising
a gig in Lyon in December with Shameless, The
Crack and Shoot the Dogs.
Pépito: And by the way if any
one from Czech Republic wants to come over,
we'll give you a guided tour!
Nico: And we're also working
on a very big project which will make Oi !
History. Something that was never done before,
that will be on television
worldwide. But it has to remain a secret for the
time being, and we shouldnt
say more about it, in case it never happens..
17.
Words on the end...
Hi! We’re Shameless and
we shag your moms! !!