1.
So at first can you introduce your band, members (hobbies, age, work...) and
how you know each other?
We are The Wolverines
from Reading, Pennsylvania, the best state in the greatest country in the
world, the United States of America. The band consists of Alex on vocals, Jamie
Brown and Dave on guitar, Evan on bass, and myself (Skip) on drums. We are all
in our late 20s to early 30s. I met Alex at a Hub City Stompers show about 4 or
5 years ago and we continued getting drunk ever since. Dave and I have played
in bands together for about 6-7 years, and Jamie Brown has been in almost every
band I've ever been in for the past 15 years. Alex brought Evan into the mix
after a string of people that just didn't work out with us. We all have a ton
of different hobbies, but the one thing we all agree on is drinking heavily and
being true Americans. As far as work goes, myself and Dave work in an office
setting, Evan is a bartender, Jamie Brown works at a printing plant, and Alex
is a metal worker. We all take working for a living very seriously and take
great pride in earning our own way.
2. Have
your members any experience with playing in some different bands before or are
they playing in any side projects besides Wolverines?
Jamie Brown and I have
played in probably about 10 bands together in the past that toured and put out
records but never really had any great success. Dave, JB, and I also played in
a band a few years ago that never really went anywhere. The three of us had
been trying to do an Oi! band for a very long time but could never find the
right members, so when Alex and I recorded the first Wolverines tracks, I
immediately knew who I should ask to play in the band. As far as side projects
go, we always have a few different bands going but nothing solid right now, we
are pretty much focusing all our time on writing and recording with the
Wolverines.
3.
Why did you neme yourself The Wolverines (maybe because of and X-Men hero)?
Alex and I had talked about starting a band for a while but didn't because we had a lack of members to do it. At a Cock Sparrer show in Philadelphia, we decided it was time that we recorded stuff whether we had members or not. Alex had mentioned he wanted to name the band "The Wolverines" after the American militia group in the movie "Red Dawn" from the 80s. This ragtag crew of teenagers stood against the communist threat when the United States was invaded. It made perfect sense to me because Alex and I share an extreme love of our country and a hatred of communism. Our country is on the brink of some very bad things and the general public seems to be apathetic towards everything going on. We decided that this band could at least voice our concerns and maybe open a few people's eyes to some of the things going wrong in our world today.
4.
I´ve heard some of your songs on the web...how can you characterize your sound?
What are your musical influences, do you prefer older or new breed bands?
I would characterize
our sound as Real American Oi, nothing more, nothing less. Our influences are
pretty vast, but when it comes to Oi! bands, I prefer American bands like the
Anti-Heros, Templars, New Glory, the Bruisers, Oxblood and other bands from
that time period. It seems like the whole band prefers to listen to music that
has something to say, rather than the old "I go to the bar on a friday
night, drink with my friends and get in fights" theme. We all also enjoy
lots of hardcore, punk, ska, and whatever else, as long as the music is good we
can pretty much appreciate it. As far as newer bands go, I haven't heard
anything decent in a long time besides Offensive Weapon, Lonewolf NYC, and of
course, Maddog Surrender.
5.
Can you tell us also about the topics of your songs?
Alex and I usually
write the songs after a few beers and long talks about the state of our
country. Most of our songs deal with issues that we as Americans face on a
daily basis such as the decline in moral standards, the destruction of American
culture, our cities turning into warzones, and other things that have a direct
relevance to our lives. We also have a few songs about things like skinhead
culture, working for a living, and even a song or two about extremist politics
of both sides and how they have no place in our scene.
6.
Can you describe the scene in your area? Bands, venues, crews, zines, pubs to
go, etc...?
The scene in our area is non-existent as far as Oi! goes. We have a venue in our town that does a lot of hardcore shows which is cool, and recently had the Business and the Traditionals play, but no actual skinhead scene exists here. There are some hardcore crews in the area that have large memberships and the people we know involved in them are always cool with us. If you want to go to decent Oi! shows, most of the time you will have to travel to Philadelphia, New Jersey, or New York. We also have a lot of support from the 211 crew in New York City. They have helped us out with a lot of things from the start of the band, so a big shout out to them. There are not too many bands from our area in this scene, but about an hour away from us is Maddog Surrender who are great guys and a very underrated Oi band.
7.
Is it difficult to have a skinhead band in US of A? What about the gigs, is it
hard for you to find a venue for live playing?
The only difficulty I
can think of is with getting shows. Unfortunately in the U.S., our scene is
infiltrated by morons that want to hunt down anyone that doesn't think exactly
like them and create a bad name for them, or call venues complaining that
"sketchy" bands are playing. These do-gooders are exactly what they
claim to hate. None of us have anything to do with the WP scene or any of that
bullshit but these guys want to label you a "nazi" if you aren't a
raging liberal. It's the same old story, and it sucks just as much as it ever
did.
8.
How many and with do you play your gigs?
We have played one show
as of now, with Broken Heroes, Infa-Riot, and Evil Conduct in Baltimore. It was
an awesome first show for us, a lot of our friends from a bunch of different
states came out and sang along. It was very overwhelming to have so many people
go nuts for us for our first show, and we can only hope we have a great
response like that at our shows in the future. We have a few shows booked in
the coming months, both with Maddog Surrender, one closer to our hometown, and
one in Brooklyn with Oxblood, Stormwatch, and Offensive Weapon. It is truly
humbling to have been a part of this scene for quite a while and be able to
play with some of our favorite bands! We also have a lot more shows in the
works and will announce them as they come.
9.
I heard rumors that you are going to release two EP´s one on United Riot
Records and second on Lionheart Records...is it true? And can you tell
something more about the planned releases?
Our first 7" is
coming out on United Riot records. It has 4 songs on it and should hopefully be
the kick in the face that the Oi scene needs right now. No bullshit, just pure
American Oi. We recorded 10 songs with a friend of ours who owns a studio, so
the other 6 songs will be released in the future as well. We are also going
back into the studio very shortly to record our first full length record. We
are talking to various labels about putting it out on vinyl, but the cd version
will definitely have a European release on 4 Subculture Records. Its going to
be at least 10 more new songs of American Oi. We also have 2 songs coming out
on the second "Werewolves of the Night" compilation, pretty sure that
went to the pressing plant already, so be on the look out for that too.
10.
Do you know anything about the Czech Republic or the scene here in our country?
I wish I had some
response that would blow you away, but We don't really know much about your
scene honestly. We'd love to come play a few shows, drink a few beers, and find
out more about it!
11.
What about the sport, are you fan of some kind of sport - soccer, hockey,
etc...?
I am a soccer fan, I
follow a few different teams, but none of the other guys are really into
sports. We all concentrate most of our time off of work on our families and doing
things with the Wolverines.
12.
Plans for the future...
We have a lot planned
for the future, we've just gotten started. After our first 7" comes out,
our full length will be in production and we will begin playing shows as much
as possible. Since we all work 40+ hours a week, we do as much as we can but
our families come first. We would like to begin doing small weekend tours while
making friends and drinking heavily along the way.¨
13.
Last words...
Thanks for the
interview, its good to know that the European scene is alive and well and that
you are giving time to some boring American fucks like us. Our first record is
going to be a classic, so keep your eye out for it and the full length to
follow. In the meantime, you can download our demo for free at http://thewolverines.bandcamp.com