JUNE/ 11'th 2014 5:36 PM
Was the time and date as I stared at the screen on my phone looking at the icon on my facebook stating "One new message." My heart beat was increasing, as I feared the response that followed my prior question of an interview. And why, why all the anxiety? Because besides the fact that this band was amazing already, but because the man to be interviewed was Punkrawk Kelly, the current touring Bassist for Green Jello! The band of whom brought us "Three little pigs" and "Anarchy in Bedrock". I remember the moment I saw the "Three Little Pigs" video, my brother Daniel had said to me "Dude you gotta check this out!" So I watched and fell in love with the comedic metal tune and the music video (animated by Mayanard James Keenan of TOOL) so as you can tell I was a super huge fan. As I opened the message I started to sweat, as it was loading every possible answer ran through my head. Then the moment of truth came as the words "Fuck yeah brother. Anything you need man we would be happy to do an interview." And all rejoiced, and by all I mean me. After a few weeks of conversation and so on this was the product of it all, I hope you all enjoy this biggest CPRC story so far.
INTERVIEW:
1.) CPRC: Firstly I would like to thank you guys for the honor of allowing me to interview you, it is a privilege and I feel I should be bowing down and screaming "I'm not worthy!" like Wayne and Garth to Alice Cooper Lol.
PRK: lol.... I just watched waynes world about a week ago when I was making cd cases.... I appreciate the compliment!
2.) CPRC: What came first, the GWAR egg or the Green Jello chicken? During the point in time in the ninties when GJ was at it's hay day you guys and GWAR had the puppet and costume thing going on and the VHS film thing was popular amongst the two bands as well. Was there a collaborotive process between both bands or was it just a coinsidence? And speaking of GWAR how did you feel about Brockie's passing this past year?
PRK: When green jello started it was 1981 and Bill Manspeaker was in high school. There was alot of collaboration between jello and gwar for many years and the friendship between two of the greatest shock rock bands in punk/metal history will never die even tho the collaberations arent as frequent any more.... as far as Brockie's death goes.... that was a sad day in music history for anyone who grew up with gwar.... he will be forever remembered and always missed by fans and friends alike!
3.) CPRC: Dreadlocks, now I know the Ska/ reggae revival was becoming big amongst the Punk rock scene in the early ninties with bands such as Sublime, Rancid, NOFX etc... (Propagandhi wrote a tune noting their dislike for the scene in 1994 called "Ska Sucks") But also people like Dexter Holland (The Offspring) Eric Melvin (NOFX) and a splash of a few others had them as well (Especially Fat Mike in 1997 around the time of "Heavy Petting Zoo") was this all because of the ska/ reggae influence or was this just a sweeping trend back then?
PRK: Dreadlocks. ... haha I have dreadlocks cuz I got tired of putting up a 14" mohawk to go to a show..... to high maintenance so I went to a dreadhawk which is no maintenance! As far as the ska movement in the early 90s, that movement changed my life forever. "40oz to Freedom" by Sublime to be exact. Which in turn turned me on to this and that along the way. NOFX, Rancid, Pennywise, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Skankin Pickle and many more. (Too many to name) Trend or not that was my influence and it never left me!
4.) CPRC: If I could ask, and if you can answer to the best of your ability. I'd like to ask a little bit about the "Anarchy In Bedrock" lawsuit. Being a punk online zine I feel that not much has been touched on the matter and being a Sex Pistols Parody I'm intrigued on how such a great song was never really recognized by The Pistols but yet Hanna-Barbera who makes/ made a fuck load of money and shouldn't get real uppity over a genuninely creative song, had the time and day to slap some stupid lawsuit on the band because of likeness rights. And I'm sure it was a depressing blow being I'm sure you guys were huge fans of their cartoons as everyone including myself are.
PRK: I was a big fan of the flintstones as well as other Hannah-Barbera cartoons. Although that was definitely before my time with jellö I dont have the right answers to lawsuit questions and those would be better directed towards Bill.
5.) CPRC: During your time in GJ what can you say was your favotie memory. Who were some of the other artists you guys associated with, and what was Mayanard James Keenan like? (I'm an advid TOOL fan)
PRK: I have lots of favorite memories with GJ. My wife and I were married by the cowgod once at the house of bricks in Des Moines. FIRST EVER Jellö wacky wedding. Any time jellö hits the road its a party. Never a dull moment. I have never met any of the original members including tool! All of that was before my time. I am number 343. I hope to cross payhs with everyone but we are all busy and the guys in DRP (MN max and Rub and myself) are just focused right now on the Throbbin The Woods tour and new album! We would love to hook up with jellö during the meet and greet Khaøs tour and do some double shows this year but with everything going on we havent worked out any major details. Lets see where this new album takes us. We will always be Jellö for jellö is something you are not something you do. Anytime we can share a stage with a great inspiration, friend and mentor like my Buddy Bill we will be there! You know nothing beats a punk rock puppet show!
6.) CPRC: Now your current project DRP, how did you guys form and how long have you guys been jamming?
PRK: DRP formed several years ago as I wanted a change of pace from the local scene and there arent very many options where I live. I have went through a few band members over the years as we played with what was the right sound. I had people run in every direction when I told them what style I wanted to play and had almost given up. Put the project on hold for awhile and just did solo acoustic stuff for awhile. Then bam it all came together. MN Max and I had talked about doing an old ramones tribute thing and had been discussing collaboration when Rub finally gave in and decided to try drumming for us to pick up an extra project. We all come from very different musical backgrounds and that collaboration and multi genre influence has molded us today. We learned a bunch of cover tunes and started playing in the local bars in January of 2013 and we added a member on a 2nd guitar for awhile until he had to part ways to do his thing too! So we went back to a 3 pc last fall and took a break. I did multiple jellö tours and also played bass in Primer 55 for a few tour over winter while we wrote and prepared to record Throbbin The Woods. In March of this year we started production and I started booking this tour. The rest is history in the making!
7.) CPRC: You guys have a new record out as well, how well has your guys' music been received by fans and especially the fans of GJ?
PRK: The new album "Throbbin the Woods" has only been out officially to the public for a week. (As of the writing of this article) We have played the tunes regionally and in an area that does not embrace original music and especially not punk/reggae/ska we have done exceptionally well. We have built quite a regional fan base and the jellö fans and other fans have been super supportive. We feel very fortunate to have such a great tour underway and some great clubs. We are suoer stoked for the future and hope our music can please the masses as we do write a bit of a real life approach with a humorous twist and our own style blended to be songs most peoe can relate too.
8.) CPRC: Your guys' upcoming show at Just Jules is said to be last of a string of touring this year (or so it's rumored) what's the next move for you guys? What's the biggest picture looking like?
PRK: nope not the last of touring for this year but the last stop on this june tour. We are a blue collar family based band. Rub has recently just had a son with his girlfriend and we want to spend some time in a Minnesota summer with our families as it is the best time of year around here. We plan on doing more touring in fall as well as winter and spring... we were thinking 4 major tours for this album on what we can get booked and a bunch of regional stuff in between as well as jello shows scattered throughout. Lots more writing as there is some works on 2nd album already but being focused on this tour and album we will focus more on that at a later date. Big picture is if you book us we will come. We play anywhere people want to have fun and embrace chaos
9.) CPRC: Your guys' influences range a span of various punk rock/ reggae/ and metal artists. Out of those are there any of them you guys have met/ or shared the stage with? If so please state whom, and if not who would you guys like to share the stage with?
PRK: I have met so many inspirations along the way doing charity work as I promote music therapy for injured veterans. Slightly stoopid is one of the biggest inspiration and I hope someday to be able to share a stage with them. Also met greats like hank 3, charlie daniels, aaron lewis, sevendust, and shared stages with psychostick, angelo moore of fishbone aka dr mad vibe, jellö primer 55 and many more.
10.) CPRC: Besides GJ you were in a couple of other bands as well including Primer 55, what was that experiance like and what were the other band's experiances like as well.
PRK: All of my experiences have been great and I have been ho ored to work with some great musicians. Bill Manspeaker with jellö has been a mentor and has taugjt me so much. I wouldnt be who I am on stage today if it wasnt for his influence on me. Working with Bobby in primer 55 was great but I was just to far away... the whole band he has now is fantastic and I hope to cross oaths with them more. #FFL
11.) CPRC: What has touring been like for DRP?
PRK: so far so good with touring with my boys. The most solid rhythm section I could ask for. Always just having fun
12.) CPRC: Over the decades you've been playing as a musician what's the one thing you hold seldom about it all? What's the drive that keeps you playing the music you love soo much?
PRK: The fans are the drive.... I love to entertain. I feed off the energy of a crowd having fun like any musician. But I love meeting new people and I hope I can have the same influence on future generations that greats like GJ and sublime had on me and many of their fans.
13.) CPRC: It has been a really huge honor to talk to you, and again a thousand times thanks. I can't wait to catch your show and buy some merch!
PRK: Its been great man, thanks for the interview. Can't wait till we see ya at the show. DIRTY REGGAE PUNX COMING SOON TO BE THROBIN IN A WOODS NEAR YOU!
At the time of the interview, the album had been released on that Friday. Then came the shittiest part, the three week wait til' the show on the 28'th (June). As the time came closer and closer I became more fixated on getting this show out to people. I created a flyer representing both Bloodtied and DRP's performance for that night, in return Gundy (BT) used it as his main pic for his personal facebook page.
It was about 7:55pm when I arrived to Just Jules Bar and Grill on Centerpoint Road on my seatless Mongoose bike. I had arrived early for it had started to fucking rain way before I decided to leave. It was a little past eight when the bands arrived. The first person to greet me was good old Gundy with a big handshake and a "Gonna be an awesome show man." I proceeded to head to the pisser to bleed the lizard (no lizards were actually harmed it's just a figure of speech) when I came back out of the bathroom I walked up to whom I thought was Punkrawk Kelly but was actually their awesome drummer Rub 1. From there PRK revealed himself and released the cracken like dreadhawk. After a few "Hello's" and "How was the trip up? (In reality it was "Hveagoodtrpup?" being nervous and all) For nearly an hour I sat and ate mozerella sticks and cheese fries waiting for the show to begin at what was scheduled to be nine pm but ended up being ten pm since there was only two bands.
This guy felt soo out of place at first being that ONCE AGAIN since most of my friends are either under 21 still, or just plain don't exist somehow made me feel like I was back in middle school again. The people were kind of in their own worlds of soft chitter chatter as Pantera, Down and others blared from the digital juke box. Then came PRK breaking my tension with a knife saying "Yo let's gets some air man" and we headed out the door of Jules and stood outside chatting about influences, his time in Primer 55 & Green Jello, and personal experiances from our lives. It was nice to finally just get personal with the guy whom just three weeks before I never even knew except over a facebook world.
Finally ten'o'clock arrived and Bloodtied took the stage, Gundy up on stage screaming into the mic like his lungs were on fire. He is truly an amazing fucking vocalist. During their cover of Lamb of God's "Laid to rest" he passed me the mic and I got to scream said laid to rest. After they closed up with "Downfall" much praise was given, so on and so forth. Started chatting up BT guitarist Cole for a bit, telling him how great I think they are and to which he replied "Yeah but I think we're better at jamming then actually writing songs " To which I say if the two performances I've seen them do were improved jam sessions then I say fuck it, they're the best jam band that plays metal I've ever seen.
Right about this time DRP has taken the stage and are setting up for sound check, they do a small test number and I was already skanking like mad even though I was the only mother fucker on the dance floor. The first half of their set was various older tunes of theirs and covers, to which when they started playing "Bob" by NoFX after I shouted "oioioi" for absolutely no reason at all, I was so over come with the punk rock spirit I had to jump on that fucking stage and scream along with PRK singing "Now what's Bob gonna do now that he can't drink? OIOIOI!" then jump back down. It was amazing! Probably one of the most moving things to ever happen to me. For you see, I have never been to one Punk Rock show, why? Cos' I live in fucking Iowa that's why.... enough said right there.
The idea a Punk Rock band of ANY sort was there playing a punk rock cover almost felt like they were really NoFX. And when they played "Time Bomb" by Rancid (To which PRK dedicated to me cos' I was wearing a Rancid shirt that night saying "This ones for our new friend Colin"), "Date Rape" By Sublime, and "Kiss me where it smells funny" by Bloodhound Gang, it felt all too like the real thing. Then came the cover of "Three Little Pigs" by Green Jello, (See video I posted earlier this week) I have never had the mic passed that much to me ever. It felt too much like a dream that finally came into reality. It was the funnest night I had in awhile. After the show, merch and the album was purchased, goodbyes were said and I headed home to go shower then to bed. The next day I awoke in soo muh fucking pain, usually for me that means I had fun, if I'm not that way then the show fucking sucked. I grabbed the cd and started listening to it. I listened to that bastard over and over and over again until Tuesday night where I finally sat down and wrote the review. This was what I thought and how I felt track by track, ENJOY!
ALBUM REVIEW:
1.) "DRP Anthem": Personally I have always found band theme songs rather cheesey, but this tune was quite amazing, for the sake that it's a pretty hard hitting track. It really reminded me of an early 311 song, and those were probably some of 311's best songs, so that's a huge plus. Also it's just a great opening song from beginning to end.
2.) "Insane In The Brain" (Cypress Hill Cover) I've always been a Cypress Hill fan ever since Tim Armstrong of Rancid did a song with them called "What's your number?" (with the background score sample being "Guns of Brixton" by The Clash) I was pretty hooked. From the time this song starts til' it ends DRP just brought it. It's one of the songs I cannot get the fuck outta my head.
3.) "Brown Seed" Sadly this one was my least favorite off the album, Not in the sense that it was a bad song cos' It was a good song no doubt, but I just thought it was a rather slow tune for my taste. But much like Bad Brains and Sublime before them most Reggae/ Punk records have to have at least one legit slow reggae tune and for that I give this song it's due.
4.) "Random Morning Thought" As a straight edge dude I've never smoked marijuana in my life. But I have friends who do, and with that in mind I say that this was a great tune about why pot should be legal. Especially on the grounds of big corporations such as big pharma putting in ingredients that only make more side affects then cures. So the legalization of marijuana in the case of helping people with medical problems would be a great benefit. Now I'm not so sure about the idea of letting kids use legal marijuana for mental disorders but I do agree with the line in the song "Kids don't need that Aderol cos' they made up ADD." This was my second favorite song to hear live, it's a good medium speed skanking song.
5.) "Grown Up Stuff" THIS! Was my favorite song to skank to live! Also my favorite song to hear live. Just a great up tempo tune about the so called things people "Have to do" after high school like go to college, get a good job, blahblahblah. Just a cool "Fuck all that" tune. Going on to my BMXing playlist once I get an ipod.
6.) "King of the Murder" still haven't been able to make out alot of the words, but from what I could tell it's a parody or fan fiction stylee of The Simpsons. Being that the song and chorus contain samples of clips from episodes. Just a clever tune all around.
7.) "No Rest" What I got out of this song was bassically a call for a revolution against alot of the bullshit we are currently facing in America. Inflation in taxation, bullshit politics you name it. There will be no rest til' we make things whole again.
8.) "Summertime Sunshine" I liked this song because it was an easygoing song to kind of just sit back and vibe on. I love PRK's lyric spitting on this. Almost like his mouth is on fast forward for every word he spat during the verse. Overall it was just a "Hey ya'll we're just like you folks everywhere else in America, we like to chill outside during summer and grill, drink beer, and stare at bikini butts" I identify with that being from the midwest as well. Sept the booze of coarse lol.
9.) "Poison In My Veins" Something tells me there is a bit of personal experiance in this song. If not that then certainly some outsider perspective of one's personal experiance. "Feel like I'm fourty when I'm only twenty years old" was a real hard hitter to me. I really felt the emotion and I it really hit me cos' I'm only 22 years old and can only imagine what kind of problems a 20 year old person coud be having to feel like they're fourty years old. Mostly drugs I 'spose.
10.) "Zombie Raccoon" Punkrawk Kelly: "One day me and my kids were driving down the road, and there was a dead raccoon on the side of the road. You see millions of these fuckers allover town, and one of my kids says to me 'Hey dad what if it came back to life and was a zombie?' 'I don't know' I replied 'Anything possible' "
11.) "Appademic" My favorite song right next to "Zombie Raccoon", because it's a song about how Apps are becoming so huge now days with people who have smart phones and Iphones. Talking to Kelly a few weeks back I told him I really loved this song because of my dislike of all these people who are soo obsessed with phone apps, skype, tumblr and so on and how I still have a pretty dinosourish phone that just calls, texts, and gets limited internet because it gets me by so I'm satisfied and that I don't need all that other shit, he admitted to me that agreed but he himself is still a sucker for alot of the stuff on his phone lol. It really does help ask the question "Okay how much is enough?" You listen to everything he lists in the lyrics and it's like..... fuck.
To those who haven't checked them out yet do so now:
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dirty-Reggae-Punx/349067678544176)
And be sure to like their page, hit them up for a copy of their new album out now only $5.00.
Was the time and date as I stared at the screen on my phone looking at the icon on my facebook stating "One new message." My heart beat was increasing, as I feared the response that followed my prior question of an interview. And why, why all the anxiety? Because besides the fact that this band was amazing already, but because the man to be interviewed was Punkrawk Kelly, the current touring Bassist for Green Jello! The band of whom brought us "Three little pigs" and "Anarchy in Bedrock". I remember the moment I saw the "Three Little Pigs" video, my brother Daniel had said to me "Dude you gotta check this out!" So I watched and fell in love with the comedic metal tune and the music video (animated by Mayanard James Keenan of TOOL) so as you can tell I was a super huge fan. As I opened the message I started to sweat, as it was loading every possible answer ran through my head. Then the moment of truth came as the words "Fuck yeah brother. Anything you need man we would be happy to do an interview." And all rejoiced, and by all I mean me. After a few weeks of conversation and so on this was the product of it all, I hope you all enjoy this biggest CPRC story so far.
INTERVIEW:
1.) CPRC: Firstly I would like to thank you guys for the honor of allowing me to interview you, it is a privilege and I feel I should be bowing down and screaming "I'm not worthy!" like Wayne and Garth to Alice Cooper Lol.
PRK: lol.... I just watched waynes world about a week ago when I was making cd cases.... I appreciate the compliment!
2.) CPRC: What came first, the GWAR egg or the Green Jello chicken? During the point in time in the ninties when GJ was at it's hay day you guys and GWAR had the puppet and costume thing going on and the VHS film thing was popular amongst the two bands as well. Was there a collaborotive process between both bands or was it just a coinsidence? And speaking of GWAR how did you feel about Brockie's passing this past year?
PRK: When green jello started it was 1981 and Bill Manspeaker was in high school. There was alot of collaboration between jello and gwar for many years and the friendship between two of the greatest shock rock bands in punk/metal history will never die even tho the collaberations arent as frequent any more.... as far as Brockie's death goes.... that was a sad day in music history for anyone who grew up with gwar.... he will be forever remembered and always missed by fans and friends alike!
3.) CPRC: Dreadlocks, now I know the Ska/ reggae revival was becoming big amongst the Punk rock scene in the early ninties with bands such as Sublime, Rancid, NOFX etc... (Propagandhi wrote a tune noting their dislike for the scene in 1994 called "Ska Sucks") But also people like Dexter Holland (The Offspring) Eric Melvin (NOFX) and a splash of a few others had them as well (Especially Fat Mike in 1997 around the time of "Heavy Petting Zoo") was this all because of the ska/ reggae influence or was this just a sweeping trend back then?
PRK: Dreadlocks. ... haha I have dreadlocks cuz I got tired of putting up a 14" mohawk to go to a show..... to high maintenance so I went to a dreadhawk which is no maintenance! As far as the ska movement in the early 90s, that movement changed my life forever. "40oz to Freedom" by Sublime to be exact. Which in turn turned me on to this and that along the way. NOFX, Rancid, Pennywise, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Skankin Pickle and many more. (Too many to name) Trend or not that was my influence and it never left me!
4.) CPRC: If I could ask, and if you can answer to the best of your ability. I'd like to ask a little bit about the "Anarchy In Bedrock" lawsuit. Being a punk online zine I feel that not much has been touched on the matter and being a Sex Pistols Parody I'm intrigued on how such a great song was never really recognized by The Pistols but yet Hanna-Barbera who makes/ made a fuck load of money and shouldn't get real uppity over a genuninely creative song, had the time and day to slap some stupid lawsuit on the band because of likeness rights. And I'm sure it was a depressing blow being I'm sure you guys were huge fans of their cartoons as everyone including myself are.
PRK: I was a big fan of the flintstones as well as other Hannah-Barbera cartoons. Although that was definitely before my time with jellö I dont have the right answers to lawsuit questions and those would be better directed towards Bill.
5.) CPRC: During your time in GJ what can you say was your favotie memory. Who were some of the other artists you guys associated with, and what was Mayanard James Keenan like? (I'm an advid TOOL fan)
PRK: I have lots of favorite memories with GJ. My wife and I were married by the cowgod once at the house of bricks in Des Moines. FIRST EVER Jellö wacky wedding. Any time jellö hits the road its a party. Never a dull moment. I have never met any of the original members including tool! All of that was before my time. I am number 343. I hope to cross payhs with everyone but we are all busy and the guys in DRP (MN max and Rub and myself) are just focused right now on the Throbbin The Woods tour and new album! We would love to hook up with jellö during the meet and greet Khaøs tour and do some double shows this year but with everything going on we havent worked out any major details. Lets see where this new album takes us. We will always be Jellö for jellö is something you are not something you do. Anytime we can share a stage with a great inspiration, friend and mentor like my Buddy Bill we will be there! You know nothing beats a punk rock puppet show!
6.) CPRC: Now your current project DRP, how did you guys form and how long have you guys been jamming?
PRK: DRP formed several years ago as I wanted a change of pace from the local scene and there arent very many options where I live. I have went through a few band members over the years as we played with what was the right sound. I had people run in every direction when I told them what style I wanted to play and had almost given up. Put the project on hold for awhile and just did solo acoustic stuff for awhile. Then bam it all came together. MN Max and I had talked about doing an old ramones tribute thing and had been discussing collaboration when Rub finally gave in and decided to try drumming for us to pick up an extra project. We all come from very different musical backgrounds and that collaboration and multi genre influence has molded us today. We learned a bunch of cover tunes and started playing in the local bars in January of 2013 and we added a member on a 2nd guitar for awhile until he had to part ways to do his thing too! So we went back to a 3 pc last fall and took a break. I did multiple jellö tours and also played bass in Primer 55 for a few tour over winter while we wrote and prepared to record Throbbin The Woods. In March of this year we started production and I started booking this tour. The rest is history in the making!
7.) CPRC: You guys have a new record out as well, how well has your guys' music been received by fans and especially the fans of GJ?
PRK: The new album "Throbbin the Woods" has only been out officially to the public for a week. (As of the writing of this article) We have played the tunes regionally and in an area that does not embrace original music and especially not punk/reggae/ska we have done exceptionally well. We have built quite a regional fan base and the jellö fans and other fans have been super supportive. We feel very fortunate to have such a great tour underway and some great clubs. We are suoer stoked for the future and hope our music can please the masses as we do write a bit of a real life approach with a humorous twist and our own style blended to be songs most peoe can relate too.
8.) CPRC: Your guys' upcoming show at Just Jules is said to be last of a string of touring this year (or so it's rumored) what's the next move for you guys? What's the biggest picture looking like?
PRK: nope not the last of touring for this year but the last stop on this june tour. We are a blue collar family based band. Rub has recently just had a son with his girlfriend and we want to spend some time in a Minnesota summer with our families as it is the best time of year around here. We plan on doing more touring in fall as well as winter and spring... we were thinking 4 major tours for this album on what we can get booked and a bunch of regional stuff in between as well as jello shows scattered throughout. Lots more writing as there is some works on 2nd album already but being focused on this tour and album we will focus more on that at a later date. Big picture is if you book us we will come. We play anywhere people want to have fun and embrace chaos
9.) CPRC: Your guys' influences range a span of various punk rock/ reggae/ and metal artists. Out of those are there any of them you guys have met/ or shared the stage with? If so please state whom, and if not who would you guys like to share the stage with?
PRK: I have met so many inspirations along the way doing charity work as I promote music therapy for injured veterans. Slightly stoopid is one of the biggest inspiration and I hope someday to be able to share a stage with them. Also met greats like hank 3, charlie daniels, aaron lewis, sevendust, and shared stages with psychostick, angelo moore of fishbone aka dr mad vibe, jellö primer 55 and many more.
10.) CPRC: Besides GJ you were in a couple of other bands as well including Primer 55, what was that experiance like and what were the other band's experiances like as well.
PRK: All of my experiences have been great and I have been ho ored to work with some great musicians. Bill Manspeaker with jellö has been a mentor and has taugjt me so much. I wouldnt be who I am on stage today if it wasnt for his influence on me. Working with Bobby in primer 55 was great but I was just to far away... the whole band he has now is fantastic and I hope to cross oaths with them more. #FFL
11.) CPRC: What has touring been like for DRP?
PRK: so far so good with touring with my boys. The most solid rhythm section I could ask for. Always just having fun
12.) CPRC: Over the decades you've been playing as a musician what's the one thing you hold seldom about it all? What's the drive that keeps you playing the music you love soo much?
PRK: The fans are the drive.... I love to entertain. I feed off the energy of a crowd having fun like any musician. But I love meeting new people and I hope I can have the same influence on future generations that greats like GJ and sublime had on me and many of their fans.
13.) CPRC: It has been a really huge honor to talk to you, and again a thousand times thanks. I can't wait to catch your show and buy some merch!
PRK: Its been great man, thanks for the interview. Can't wait till we see ya at the show. DIRTY REGGAE PUNX COMING SOON TO BE THROBIN IN A WOODS NEAR YOU!
At the time of the interview, the album had been released on that Friday. Then came the shittiest part, the three week wait til' the show on the 28'th (June). As the time came closer and closer I became more fixated on getting this show out to people. I created a flyer representing both Bloodtied and DRP's performance for that night, in return Gundy (BT) used it as his main pic for his personal facebook page.
It was about 7:55pm when I arrived to Just Jules Bar and Grill on Centerpoint Road on my seatless Mongoose bike. I had arrived early for it had started to fucking rain way before I decided to leave. It was a little past eight when the bands arrived. The first person to greet me was good old Gundy with a big handshake and a "Gonna be an awesome show man." I proceeded to head to the pisser to bleed the lizard (no lizards were actually harmed it's just a figure of speech) when I came back out of the bathroom I walked up to whom I thought was Punkrawk Kelly but was actually their awesome drummer Rub 1. From there PRK revealed himself and released the cracken like dreadhawk. After a few "Hello's" and "How was the trip up? (In reality it was "Hveagoodtrpup?" being nervous and all) For nearly an hour I sat and ate mozerella sticks and cheese fries waiting for the show to begin at what was scheduled to be nine pm but ended up being ten pm since there was only two bands.
This guy felt soo out of place at first being that ONCE AGAIN since most of my friends are either under 21 still, or just plain don't exist somehow made me feel like I was back in middle school again. The people were kind of in their own worlds of soft chitter chatter as Pantera, Down and others blared from the digital juke box. Then came PRK breaking my tension with a knife saying "Yo let's gets some air man" and we headed out the door of Jules and stood outside chatting about influences, his time in Primer 55 & Green Jello, and personal experiances from our lives. It was nice to finally just get personal with the guy whom just three weeks before I never even knew except over a facebook world.
Finally ten'o'clock arrived and Bloodtied took the stage, Gundy up on stage screaming into the mic like his lungs were on fire. He is truly an amazing fucking vocalist. During their cover of Lamb of God's "Laid to rest" he passed me the mic and I got to scream said laid to rest. After they closed up with "Downfall" much praise was given, so on and so forth. Started chatting up BT guitarist Cole for a bit, telling him how great I think they are and to which he replied "Yeah but I think we're better at jamming then actually writing songs " To which I say if the two performances I've seen them do were improved jam sessions then I say fuck it, they're the best jam band that plays metal I've ever seen.
Right about this time DRP has taken the stage and are setting up for sound check, they do a small test number and I was already skanking like mad even though I was the only mother fucker on the dance floor. The first half of their set was various older tunes of theirs and covers, to which when they started playing "Bob" by NoFX after I shouted "oioioi" for absolutely no reason at all, I was so over come with the punk rock spirit I had to jump on that fucking stage and scream along with PRK singing "Now what's Bob gonna do now that he can't drink? OIOIOI!" then jump back down. It was amazing! Probably one of the most moving things to ever happen to me. For you see, I have never been to one Punk Rock show, why? Cos' I live in fucking Iowa that's why.... enough said right there.
The idea a Punk Rock band of ANY sort was there playing a punk rock cover almost felt like they were really NoFX. And when they played "Time Bomb" by Rancid (To which PRK dedicated to me cos' I was wearing a Rancid shirt that night saying "This ones for our new friend Colin"), "Date Rape" By Sublime, and "Kiss me where it smells funny" by Bloodhound Gang, it felt all too like the real thing. Then came the cover of "Three Little Pigs" by Green Jello, (See video I posted earlier this week) I have never had the mic passed that much to me ever. It felt too much like a dream that finally came into reality. It was the funnest night I had in awhile. After the show, merch and the album was purchased, goodbyes were said and I headed home to go shower then to bed. The next day I awoke in soo muh fucking pain, usually for me that means I had fun, if I'm not that way then the show fucking sucked. I grabbed the cd and started listening to it. I listened to that bastard over and over and over again until Tuesday night where I finally sat down and wrote the review. This was what I thought and how I felt track by track, ENJOY!
ALBUM REVIEW:
1.) "DRP Anthem": Personally I have always found band theme songs rather cheesey, but this tune was quite amazing, for the sake that it's a pretty hard hitting track. It really reminded me of an early 311 song, and those were probably some of 311's best songs, so that's a huge plus. Also it's just a great opening song from beginning to end.
2.) "Insane In The Brain" (Cypress Hill Cover) I've always been a Cypress Hill fan ever since Tim Armstrong of Rancid did a song with them called "What's your number?" (with the background score sample being "Guns of Brixton" by The Clash) I was pretty hooked. From the time this song starts til' it ends DRP just brought it. It's one of the songs I cannot get the fuck outta my head.
3.) "Brown Seed" Sadly this one was my least favorite off the album, Not in the sense that it was a bad song cos' It was a good song no doubt, but I just thought it was a rather slow tune for my taste. But much like Bad Brains and Sublime before them most Reggae/ Punk records have to have at least one legit slow reggae tune and for that I give this song it's due.
4.) "Random Morning Thought" As a straight edge dude I've never smoked marijuana in my life. But I have friends who do, and with that in mind I say that this was a great tune about why pot should be legal. Especially on the grounds of big corporations such as big pharma putting in ingredients that only make more side affects then cures. So the legalization of marijuana in the case of helping people with medical problems would be a great benefit. Now I'm not so sure about the idea of letting kids use legal marijuana for mental disorders but I do agree with the line in the song "Kids don't need that Aderol cos' they made up ADD." This was my second favorite song to hear live, it's a good medium speed skanking song.
5.) "Grown Up Stuff" THIS! Was my favorite song to skank to live! Also my favorite song to hear live. Just a great up tempo tune about the so called things people "Have to do" after high school like go to college, get a good job, blahblahblah. Just a cool "Fuck all that" tune. Going on to my BMXing playlist once I get an ipod.
6.) "King of the Murder" still haven't been able to make out alot of the words, but from what I could tell it's a parody or fan fiction stylee of The Simpsons. Being that the song and chorus contain samples of clips from episodes. Just a clever tune all around.
7.) "No Rest" What I got out of this song was bassically a call for a revolution against alot of the bullshit we are currently facing in America. Inflation in taxation, bullshit politics you name it. There will be no rest til' we make things whole again.
8.) "Summertime Sunshine" I liked this song because it was an easygoing song to kind of just sit back and vibe on. I love PRK's lyric spitting on this. Almost like his mouth is on fast forward for every word he spat during the verse. Overall it was just a "Hey ya'll we're just like you folks everywhere else in America, we like to chill outside during summer and grill, drink beer, and stare at bikini butts" I identify with that being from the midwest as well. Sept the booze of coarse lol.
9.) "Poison In My Veins" Something tells me there is a bit of personal experiance in this song. If not that then certainly some outsider perspective of one's personal experiance. "Feel like I'm fourty when I'm only twenty years old" was a real hard hitter to me. I really felt the emotion and I it really hit me cos' I'm only 22 years old and can only imagine what kind of problems a 20 year old person coud be having to feel like they're fourty years old. Mostly drugs I 'spose.
10.) "Zombie Raccoon" Punkrawk Kelly: "One day me and my kids were driving down the road, and there was a dead raccoon on the side of the road. You see millions of these fuckers allover town, and one of my kids says to me 'Hey dad what if it came back to life and was a zombie?' 'I don't know' I replied 'Anything possible' "
11.) "Appademic" My favorite song right next to "Zombie Raccoon", because it's a song about how Apps are becoming so huge now days with people who have smart phones and Iphones. Talking to Kelly a few weeks back I told him I really loved this song because of my dislike of all these people who are soo obsessed with phone apps, skype, tumblr and so on and how I still have a pretty dinosourish phone that just calls, texts, and gets limited internet because it gets me by so I'm satisfied and that I don't need all that other shit, he admitted to me that agreed but he himself is still a sucker for alot of the stuff on his phone lol. It really does help ask the question "Okay how much is enough?" You listen to everything he lists in the lyrics and it's like..... fuck.
To those who haven't checked them out yet do so now:
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dirty-Reggae-Punx/349067678544176)
And be sure to like their page, hit them up for a copy of their new album out now only $5.00.
(Flyer from the show)
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