How did the band get started? Well, Dave and Jeff had been playing together off and on since they were 14 years old. dave had always dreamed of starting a ska band. In early 1997, he put an ad in The Rocket, a local music magazine. From there he got our former keyboard player, Brandon. A few horn players answered the ad too, but they didn't last too long. When Jeff got back into town from San Diego (he was playing with a band called Full Stop down there) he hooked up with Dave again. Soon after, Norm was contacted and showed up. And then Caleb, who had grown up down the street from Dave came along. We were doing great. But then Brandon moved down to Arizona (where he is now a successful radio DJ) so we hired Norm's old friend, Jeremy.
What is your goal as a band? Our goal? Well, we actually have a couple of them. We want to have fun. We want everyone at our shows or the other end of the stereo to have fun too. We want to praise Jesus Christ through our music, but at the same time not become a preachy "christian band". We just want to be a fun band that happens to love Christ deeply and sings about him in some of our songs! With the label of "christian band", you lose a majority of your audience.
What style do you play? Ska. Pretty simple, right? Well, not really. We all have very diverse backgrounds in music. Dave is well centered in ska and punk. Caleb, punk. Jeff, speed metal and "butt rock". Norm, in Phil Woods and Charlie Parker style jazz. And Jeremy in contemporary funk and jazz. So, we are ska by style, but everything else by chioce!
Where are you guys from? The thriving metropolis of Salem, Oregon!!
What is the music scene like in your area? Pathetic! Outside of the two or three bars in town to play at, we end up in Portland. That's not too bad. To play an all ages show, though, we usually have to book the show completely by ourselves. Front the money, hire other nads, rent a hall...everything! It sucks! All in all the music scene is close to dead here. Outside of Portland to the north and Eugene to the south there really isn't much at all!
What bands influence your band? That's tough. We take a lot from our personal influences. MU330, NOFX, the Buddy Rich Band, Phil Woods, Rush, Kiss, Metallica, Tourniquet, The W's, and The Supertones just to name a few.
What kind of a ministry does the band have? We feel we have a very positive ministry. Outside of playing local secular shows, we often play at area churches. We also exchange e-mail addresses and sometimes phone numbers with fans that want to further discuss Christ or the Word. We believe that the ministry doesn't start or stop with the band. Our music and the band itself is only a part of the ministry.
If you had the choice, which band would you tour with? We have been wanting to book a tour with either The W's or the Channel Surfers for quite awhile now.
Any interesting concert experiances or funny/weird stories? Well, there are always great stories. We've played a number of bars that have seen drunk guys, and even girls, jump up on stage and try and grope one of us! Sometimes they get a little too excited during our covers and want to jump on stage and sing along with us! We are really happy with our covers. We cover the Titanic song, for instance. Of course, we ska it up a bit, but we start it off pretty straight. At one show, we started getting booed 5 seconds into the song! The promoter decided he wasn't even going to pay us! But, we kept playing the song, and by the time it was over the crowd was going crazy! We ended up playing the song AGAIN for an encore!!
What's the wackiest thing you've ever done in concert? Now this one could get me into some trouble! :) Caleb makes an odd habit of backflipping off the stage into the crowd. Jeff likes to wear his WWF belts onto stage a lot too. We've been known to stage wrestling matches on stage in the middle of our set before!
What would you say the best part of the show is? In my opinion, the drum solo!! Haha, of course that would be Jeff's fav part. Tough to say what the best part of the show is. I would have to say it's when we run through our covers and the sax players hop down off stage and dance with everyone! That's great.
Do you ever play cover songs? Oh yeah. Here's a little list: Ska'd out Titanic song Ska'd out Elivs's "I Can't Help Falling in Love" Punk'd out "La Bamba" and we're working on a punk version of "Livin' La Vida Loca" That's just a couple of them! They're my favorite thing to play during our shows.
Best and worst things about being in a band?
Best: The adrenaline rush of the people getting into the music and the
message. And being able to express that big ball of "uugghhnnggh" inside
of you that can only be put into words through music.
Worst: Practice, practice, practice. Having to take all kinds of time
off work and go hungry for weeks so you can play some shows on your
"tour". Setting up and breaking down the drums and the sound system! Of
course, these pay off, but it'd be nice if you could skip these and just
jump to super stardom!!
Anything people should know about the band? I hope we covered most of that in the questions. We're just 5 guys that love God, love music, and loving putting the two together! Also, we are all (except for the sax players) in Jeff's backyard wrestling federation, the ICWF. Caleb just became the ICWF Champ a week ago! Fun stuff!
Do you have any cds,demos, etc., out? We have two CD's out. But they are not in stores right now due to some snags we've hit with our record company. BUT, keep an eye out!
How can people contact you for merch and stuff? For now, e-mail at [email protected] In the future, the record company will handle most of that.
Any final comments?
Thanks for the opportunity!!
(c) 1999 Skankin' Truth, please do not use without permission.