Coliseum (L to R) Carter Wilson, Ryan Patterson, Mike Pascal

Ryan Patterson: The “Skeleton Smile” video was entirely the creation of director / editor Damon Packard, a mad genius from Los Angeles. I am a big fan of his magnum opus Reflections Of Evil, one of the most brilliant and demented movies of the last decade, so I contacted him about making a video for us. What he came back with was a strange mixture of cats fighting, exploitation horror clips, and bits of his own films… A very strange mixture that was just crazy enough to work.

FSS:  How does something like the Goddamage Deluxe Edition LP come about. Is it something you guys wanted to do or an idea your label came up with?

RP: It was our idea initially but the Temporary Residence was very excited about the entire project. The Goddamage EP had gone out of print again after its limited double seven inch run from 2008, so we wanted to make it available permanently. Rather than putting it out once more with only the original eight songs, we decided to add the tracks from our split with Doomriders (which had also gone out of print) and include a live set from that era of the band. Along with a new mastering job and some great packaging, it made this an expanded and definitive version of the record available from what we imagine will be our permanent home at Temporary Residence.

FSS:  How do you feel about what seems like an endless repackaging of fairly recent albums? Don’t get me wrong I dig the hell outta the new Goddamage and am glad i bought it, but I’m just curious on how you feel about this somewhat new trend of re-releasing albums that aren’t more than 10 years old?

RP: I don’t have any problem with reissues of any records really… If someone wants it, they can get it. If not, they are free to pass on it. In the relatively small world of underground independent music, records go out of print then the band and label reissue them, often with bonus tracks and new artwork / packaging. I know what you mean though, I remember Matador doing a re-release of Cat Power’s The Greatest album less than a year after it was first released, it seemed strange but they were simply trying to reach new people that hadn’t bought the record yet. I see how a fan who collects everything a band releases could see these things as a cash grab, but ultimately it’s about making music available to anyone who wants it and having the record in print for the band to sell on tour.

FSS:  I’m assuming you have a love of vinyl based on some of the great releases of yours out on wax. What do you think it is about vinyl that it refuses to die? What are some of your favorite pieces of vinyl from your own collection?

RP: I have a love of vinyl, but I have never been much for the format wars… When I was a kid we bought music on whatever format was available to us at the moment, if the LP was there I bought that, if it was cassette I bought that. Once CDs came in to prominence I still bought both vinyl and CD, but for a few years I was definitely buying way more CDs than LPs. These days all of my CDs are in boxes in my attic, I still buy CDs occasionally but mainly purchase vinyl. I think that LPs sound incredible but ultimately it’s about the physical product, the ability to hold something substantial in your hand, have large format cover art, beautiful packaging. If LPs all came in plain white sleeves I don’t think there would be as much of a long standing interest in them, it would be nearly as faceless as an MP3, although it would obviously sound much better and richer. I really love records with intricate packaging, but honestly my favorite LPs are all the Dischord and DC records in my collection, amazing records with beautiful cover art – Ignition, Three, Soulside, Fugazi, Dag Nasty, Swiz, Rites Of Spring, Jawbox, Nation Of Ulysses, etc.

FSS:  Based on your bands Danzig/Misfits covers I’m guessing you guys are fans. What are your opinions of this photo ? And of his recent duet with Shakira ?

RP: I am a huge fan of Glenn Danzig’s music from the Misfits up to Lucifuge in 1990, the following two records are decent and after that they lost me entirely. I am not a fan of the man’s politics or attitude. That said, I hate to sound humorless, but I think the guy should be able to buy food and litter for his pets in peace. All the parody videos are amazing though, especially the shopping list. You should also check out “themotherchick” channel on YouTube for a real head-fuck. Of course Tom Neely’s Glenn & Henry comics are incredible as well.

FSS:  How was it working with J Robbins? How’d that come about?

RP: It’s always great working with J., his perspective and approach is incredible and I feel lucky to count him among my friends. We worked together in 2002 when he recorded another band of mine, Black Cross, and we have wanted to work together again since then. After he mixed House With A Curse, we recorded four songs with him producing/engineering at Inner Ear Studios in DC, it was a whirlwind but a great experience.

FSS:  The FSS are big fans of House With A Curse. It seems the band is moving from a hardcore to more of a post hardcore sound. Was that something you consciously set out to do or just a natural evolution of things?

RP: I find myself using this analogy often, but think about your haircut or the way you dress. It changes over the years, most people don’t dress exactly the same their entire lives or have the same hair cut year after year. It may change drastically, it may just change a bit… Was it intentional or did it just gradually change? Your hair grows, styles of clothes change. It’s the same with the music a band plays. With bands it can seem a bit more shocking since you gauge their changes by the records they put out every few years. You can file two records next to each other on your shelf and the space between may seem microscopic but in that space lies the time and lives of the people who created the music. All the changes in their lives and the world around them, all they’ve learned, all they’ve gone through to be inspired to write and create. Changes are conscious, but they are also natural and healthy. This is true in the music a band plays as much as is in a person’s life.

FSS:  Including yourself along with bands like Young Widows and Lords do you think there’s such a thing as the Louisville sound? And what is it about Louisville that it produces such brutal hardcore?

RP: There is no Louisville sound, but there are sounds that come from Louisville that are unique to this community. I think we’re lucky that way, but usually when someone is talking about a regional sound they’re focusing on one or two bands at a time. You could say the Louisville sound is Slint or Rodan, My Morning Jacket or Palace, Squirrel Bait or Endpoint… None of these bands sound the same but they all have a sound that could only have come from Louisville. As for brutal hardcore, I don’t think Louisville’s ever been particularly known for that, Breather Resist might be closest to anything musically “brutal” that gained recognition outside of town, but even that was much more cerebral than physical.

FSS:  A lot of what we deal with on this site has to do with vinyl and stereo culture. Care to tell us about your first stereo? Or current stereo equipment in your setup worth mentioning?

RP: The first stereo I had that I can remember was one of those one piece turntable / receiver / cassette deck things with detached speakers. A lightweight piece of crap to be sure, but I had it all through my middle school and high school years and it served me well. I dubbed a lot of my bands demos on that thing. These days I don’t have a particularly great set up, an old Onkyo receiver that’s great and a couple of Yamaha speakers that are like consumer versions of NS-10s that sound pretty great. Honestly I listen to most of my music in the car, on a shitty boombox at Shirt Killer, or on a pair desktop computer speakers. I’m of the mindset that it’s not the tools or the toys, it’s entirety about the songs and the sounds. I’m that way with film too… I don’t really care about the newest high def edition of a classic movie. The Third Man or The 400 Blows are great films that can’t get much better if I see them with a higher pixel count, you know? I feel the same way about the music I listen to and even the musical equipment bands use. There have been plenty of incredible songs written and played on crappy guitars and halfway broken drum kits and even more terrible songs written and recorded on incredibly nice state of the art gear.

FSS:  What’s next for Coliseum?

RP: We just completed our fourth European tour, our third time headlining over there, and we’re heading back in March to support Rise Against. We’ll probably start touring in North America again next summer. In terms of releases, we have four songs from a session with J. Robbins at Inner Ear that we recorded in July and a few outtakes from the House With A Curse sessions that we’re going to be releasing as an EP at some point in 2011 on Temporary Residence. There’s also a live Coliseum / Burning Love split album that’s coming along slowly but surely and will also be released next year. For us, the mission never really rests… We’re always working on the next songs or next tour and I think we’ll probably start writing for our next album sooner than later.

COLISEUM “Skeleton Smile” featuring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy from Coliseum on Vimeo.

It’s an important hardcore album that most fans haven’t had the chance to appreciate simply because it hasn’t been available except via bootleg or import. This year, Bridge 9 reissued the EP in CD, vinyl (red or white 7-inch), and digital formats. This is the first time most HC fans have been able to hear a true release of this seminal album since 1983.

“Thou Shalt Not Kill” is a time capsule of 1983 New York City and other urban, industrial U.S. wastelands. It’s also an All-Star roster of NYHC scenesters. The original lineup consisted of founder Robb Nunzio on guitar, ex-Misfit Arthur (Bliss) Googy on drums and Tommy Victor of Prong on bass. John “Bloodclot” Joseph lent back-up vocals on Real Deal. Other tracks cover a sample of the issues troubling the minds of early ’80s NYC street kids — war (Die at War, Life as One), a xenophobic fear of unemployment (the controversial Foreign Job Lot) and racially harmonious violent revolution(Nazi Youth, Something Must Be Done). It’s more polished than most of the other NYHC EPs, though it’s about as short — clocks in at around 9 minutes.

All in all, any hardcore history buff will get a kick out of the reissue. Check it out. It’s good, it’s important and it’s cheap. The FSS had the chance to talk to Robb Nunzio, Antidote’s founder and guitarist:

1. “Thou Shalt Not Kill” was released in 1983, early in the life of
the New York Hardcore scene. How did Antidote enter the NYHC scene?

Antidote was formed by Robb Nunzio (guitar/songwriter) with help from
Tom Victor (Prong,Danzig) on bass and Arthur (Bliss) Googy (The Misfits)
on drums. We rehearsed at the infamous 171 A studios on Avenue A
on the Lower East Side which was recommended to us by the Bad Brains
who were recording there at the time. We had no name at the time.
I had a friend named Jeff Zane White who I went to school with sing
during that formative era. Tom left to pursue other interests and we
played our first few shows at A7 and the annex 2+2 on the Bowery
without a bass player.

2. The early 80′s hardcore scene was busting with legendary bands.
Can you describe some of the best shows you witnessed or participated
in as a band? Feel free to include some amusing or embarrassing
anecdotes.

I attended and participated in many of the early NY Hardcore scene’s
most legendary and notorious shows. I saw the Misfits come out of coffins
at Irving Plaza, a near riot between fans of the Misfits and the Undead at
the old Ritz. Vinnie Stigma bust his head open on the CBGB PA system
slam dancing at Flipper I think it was. Saw M.D.C plug their amps into a
streetlight and perform right on Avenue C one summer. The Dead
Kennedys destroy the Beacon Theatre…Opened for the Bad Brains on
the last night of their legendary 1982 Christmas shows at CBGB’s…etc.

3. How did the early NYHC scene compare to the NYHC scene of today?

I dont think you can compare now and then. Back in those days it was
something completely new and was considered crazy and dangerous by so-
called “normal” people.

4. How has Antidote grown as a band since the release of “Thou Shalt Not Kill?”

Since the original early line up of Antidote disbanded back in 1984, the line up of
myself, Drew Stone and Bass player Neal Zum has been working together now
for about 5 years on and off. This has been Antidote’s best and most consistent
lineup, not counting the in between years when we performed as a 5 piece “Hard Rock”
act during the late 80′s and early 90′s.

5. What are some of your favorite venues/clubs to play, both past and present?

My favorite place to play would have to be the late CBGB’s, RIP. No club I’ve ever
played in before or since could match its sound and intensity for Hardcore shows.

6. What are some of your favorite places to see a show?

No favorites.

7. You guys have been playing a good amount of live shows lately. Can we expect alot more?

Antidote is always ready to bust it anywhere at anytime.

8. Bridge 9 is re-releasing “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” What led to that? Why now and what took so long?

Unfortunately, there were a lot of people with thick heads involved in the early
NY Hardcore scene. That’s why it took so long. A renewed interest in the band
and its music, with the help of the internet, and the strength of our live act
is what led to the re-release of Thou Shalt Not Kill.

9. The original “Thou Shalt Not Kill” 7-inch is one of the rarest and
most sought-after pieces of hardcore history. Vinyl nerds, hardcore
fanatics, and other assorted collectors would kill for a copy. What
is it about “Thou Shalt Not Kill” that made it such a legendary
7-inch?

What makes TSNK so great is the raw power, honesty and ferocious anger
that comes across on the record. The hostile sarcastic tone seems to strike a nerve with
a large number of youth from today as well as the kids who were around when
it was first released 27 years ago. Those emotional elements coupled with a
sonic sound quality not heard on many early hardcore records are what has made
TSNKill the legendary record that it has become.

10. Are there any like-minded vinyl-crazed collectors in Antidote? If so, what are some of your most prized pieces in your record collections?

I am currently enjoying re-discovering all of the 45′s and albums I used to have
in my collection on CDs now. Some of the harder ones to find like the old British
imports I used to love I’m still looking for. It’s a fun challenge tryna get em again!
Sadly, most of my vinyl shit is long gone.

11. What are some of your favorite places to go record shopping?

I still love to stop in at the great shop Bleecker Bob’s when in NYCity. I find
stuff at FYE sometimes and found a great hardcore shop called Shore Things in
Ocean City on the Jersey shore. They’ve got an incredible selection of new and used
hardcore. Lest we forget Newbury Comics in Boston. I love that friggin place.

Kim Coletta: Jonathan Cohen, the music booking person for Jimmy Fallon, is a friend and fan. Jonathan used to work for Billboard Magazine (he still freelances there I believe) so we’ve known him for a while. He got wind that Sweetheart was going to be re-released and decided to contact us. I have to say that my first impulse was to say no to the offer, but the band started discussing it and we finally decided it was a fun and unique opportunity.

FSS: Where you surprised to see Carrie Brownstein (Sleater Kinney) and Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) in the crowd?

KC: Definitely not surprised to see Fred as we’re old friends with him. Fred was in a great Chicago band called Trenchmouth and we did lots of touring together. Fred is a great musician in addition to being a very smart and funny guy. I met Carrie for the first time that day and we got to chat for a few minutes which was cool. I’ve always admired her music.

FSS: What kind of reaction did you feel the performance got?

KC: I believe it got a pretty good reaction! The Fallon studio is a lovely, small space with great sound. Much of the audience was there to see us play so there was a good, positive, nostalgic vibe in the air.
I need to say too that Jimmy Fallon was completely gracious and seemed to genuinely enjoy our performance. All the Fallon people were super cool and it was also a treat to meet Jimmy’s house band, The Roots. Amazing band.

FSS: If given the chance would you do it again?

KC: Absolutely!

FSS: What have you been up to since the band broke up?

KC: I still run my label, DeSoto Records, although it’s more catalog maintenance at this point. My son Nick was born in 2001 and 2002 I got a master’s in library science. I’ve done some work in libraries and have also taught in an all boys’ middle school.

FSS: How did DeSoto Records go about getting the rights back to For Your Own Special Sweetheart?

KC: A great lawyer named Bryan Christner worked his magic on Atlantic. Really, I have no idea what he said or did to bring it about, but I got the rights to the Atlantic records back. Cost $10,000 for both records, but worth every penny.

FSS: How did you go about hooking up with Dischord again for the re-release?

KC: This is an easy one; they came and asked us if we’d like to do it. They’ve been re-releasing a lot of records. It wasn’t on our minds at all, but I’m glad they had the idea. It’s a DeSoto imprint, but Dischord did all the manufacturing and distro.

FSS: What was the process for remastering the album like? Is there a difference in sound between the vinyl and the cd? Where you happy with how it came out?

KC: We really just left the remastering to the great Bob Weston. He emailed us the files for approval and we definitely approved. Sweetheart finally has the low end that it lacked in the original. The mastering was different for the vinyl and the CD to make it the best it could be for each format.

FSS: Who’s responsible for the new artwork?

KC: Jason Farrell (Swiz, Bluetip, Retisonic) did the artwork. He did a fantastic job; I’m really happy with the updated look that still pays tribute to the original art.

FSS: Did you ever imagine a day where vinyl would make such a comeback?

KC: I really didn’t! I know it’s not cool to say this, but I don’t love vinyl. It’s cumbersome and big and a pain to flip the sides. I much prefer to plug in my iPod and go. I’m not such an audiophile that I notice the extra warmth in vinyl. I guess I really don’t care about format as long as I can access great music.

FSS: Now that FYOSS is back out on record shelves where it belongs and now that the Fallon show has aired, what’s next for Jawbox?

KC: We would like to do something together as Jawbox again in the future, but we haven’t really figured out yet what that something is. Sorry to be cryptic, but it’s true! Personally, I would love to write some new Jawbox songs, but that is contingent on finding the time.

Related Articles: Jawbox on Fallon, FYOSS Reissue, FSS Best of 2009

More recently Bayonne has produced a band that is actually good. Crazy and The Brains are Chris Urban and Jeff Rubin respectively, and they make folky type stuff minus the horseshit. Buy their album off Crafty Records before we smack yez. Verily.

FSS: How did Crazy and the brains start out?

The Brains: Our former band mate quit, took all the equipment and instruments with him and bought a new Infinity. We tried to keep on going with what we could borrow but everyone was way too drunk and sloppy. After some more months spent being drunk and retarded, we decided to start a new band with what we had, which was a guitar and my xylophone I took from High School.

Crazy: Infinities are sharp cars.  Real sharp, those tinted widows…sharp, really sharp.

FSS: You recently got signed to an independent label. How did that come about?

Crazy: Out of nowhere really. We had every intention of putting out this e.p. on our own. We were playing a show at a loft in Brooklyn and Brook Pridemore came up and said “Hey have u met Crafty Dan?” and we said “Who the hell is is that?”. Fast forward like a week, we were put on the label’s holiday show and having a phone meeting with the guy they call “Crafty Dan” in the back of our show at Lit Lounge. He’s an awesome dude and the meeting was hilarious because the whole time we were talking to him and deciding what was gonna happen and how they were gonna manage us I had this bartender woman flippin’ on me, screaming, trying to kick me out for not having an ID. I still don’t even know what was said on that phone call. Bitch.

The Brains: Nice woman.

FSS: Your old band was more or less a straight ahead punk band, this is a lot more folk, and do you see a link between the two?

Crazy: Yea.

The Brains: Hell yea!

Crazy: Yea definitely.

The Brains: Yes!

Crazy: When we used to get pumped up on our way to a show or something, we would blast Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Billy Bragg, tons of folk singers along side The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Specials, The Hives and shit. We blast all the same music on our way to our shows now. They are all singing about the same thing, but in a good way. And its all got energy. That’s what I think we carry over from the last band to this band the most, the energy. Its gotta be fun, if it’s not fun it sucks.

FSS: Who were your influences?

Crazy: The anti-folk scene, all the people and bands we’ve met this year and Cher?

The Brains: George Michael.

FSS: What are you listening to now?

The Brains: Nickelback, Creed, Puddle of Mudd…

Crazy: Clay Aiken’s discography.

FSS: Dancing With Myself or White Wedding?

Crazy: Dancing With Myself.

The Brains: Just Dance, Lady GaGa.

FSS: How is the tour going so far?

Brandon: Good.

FSS: Is there anything different now that you are on Fat Wreck Chords?

Brandon: Yes, well yes and no. It’s not different in terms of us writing music or performing. But it’s different in terms of more advertisement, more distribution, more notoriety. And the fact that we always wanted to be on the label.

FSS: Who are some of your favorite FAT bands.

Brandon: Descendents, of course NOFX, Swingin’ Utters, The Lawrence Arms, tough question because there is so many of ‘em…

FSS: Are you guys big horror movie buffs? There a lot of horror themes in your songs.

FSS: Yeah, I’d say so, more so Miguel than anybody else. We just went and saw Zombieland, it was great. Bill Murray stole the show. Old school Bill Murray too, not like the more serious roles he’s been playing. Full on Dr. Peter Venkman. We saw Paranormal Activity. Yeah it was scary. We were all kinda creeped out.

FSS: How is New Jersey treating you guys so far?

Brandon: I don’t know. I just woke up.

FSS: Any New Jersey bands you guys are fans of?

Brandon: Yeah I love The Stun Gunz, they’re one of my favorite bands. I was in the van asleep and I heard them and I thought “Man, they sound like Zero Boys or something.” They have a great old-school sound. I went inside and they were just tearing it up. I dunno, felt great. It’s been awhile since a band did that. Of course Gaslight Anthem. Of course, Bouncing Souls… Misfits.

FSS: Who were some of your heroes growing up?

Brandon: Ohh man.Nothing’s really stuck from my childhood except for maybe Craig Biggio from the Houston Astros. The real magic happened in terms of heroes was when I got introduced to punk rock. Billy Joe right off the bat. Fat Mike… I always admired him, wanted to meet him. When I finally did it was quite spectacular… a little scary.

FSS: So it wasn’t anti-climactic?

Brandon: Quite the opposite. Every time I meet him something crazy happens. Last time I met him he was wearing a full clown suit. Then I went to shake his hand and he had a flower in his jacket that exploded powder all over me, head to toe. It’s never a normal conversation when I meet him. It’s always something bad happens, or it gets awkward. Anticlimactic, no. More like awkward. But fun.

FSS: How important is it that TBR’s records don’t just sound good but look good too? The vinyl for the new one looks awesome.

Brandon: Yeah I like the way it turned out too. We wanted it to be green. Then we asked the label if we could have a gatefold and they said sure, and they we asked if we could have a full color printed sleeve for the album and they said no problem and we were like Wow, really? Is there anything else we could come up with?

FSS: Are you guys big vinyl collectors?

Brandon: I’d say so.

FSS: What were some of your first ones?

Brandon: Umm. The Queers “My Old Man’s a Fatso” 7 inch, I picked that up back in ’94 when I saw them at a show. The Riverdales. The Bollweevils.

FSS: What are some of your favorites?

Brandon: I’m pretty proud of having all the Alkaline Trios. All the Screeching Weasels, all the Ramones. I have the very first Green Day 7 inch on vinyl. It’s just a folded paper sleeve.

FSS: Do you have a favorite record store?

Brandon: I like that Extreme Noise place in Minneapolis. They have all the Crust punk patches and LPs

FSS: And buttflaps?

Brandon: That I don’t know. I would never wear one. But I can dig some of the Crust stuff. We went to the Interpunk, the actual store in Virginia, it was fuckin’ incredible. The ceiling is 200 feet high, the place is full. They have a massive break room covered in posters; the guy said it took 6 days to put them all up. As far as record stores, that place takes it.

FSS: What’s next for you guys after the tour?

Brandon: We have to get back to our jobs, back to our day-to-day things. Then plan to go out again.

Why did you choose to carry on Bomp yourself?

It was never an issue or a choice, it’s just what I do and have always done. Greg was, of course, the creative genius, I never signed a band or wanted to, but I was always right there taking care of the daily business. Greg hadn’t been actively involved in the company for quite a while before his death, he was sick for a long time. Patrick (my husband and owner of ALIVE RECORDS) and I had been pretty much running things for years by the time of his death. Greg did sign some bands not long before he died, but he didn’t come into the office or have much to do with the actual day to day work, we would take care of all that for him. Of course I will not add any new bands to the label, that was Greg’s part of the business and I wouldn’t presume to add to his body of work, but Patrick and I work with what is already there, remastering and reissuing some of the existing titles. And I have always run the mail-order by myself, so nothing changed there.

Bomp! has gone through almost every aspect of the music business: magazine, label and distributor, how important was it that Bomp! have complete control over what it did and wanted to do?

Suzy and Greg (circa 1970)

Greg and I were both VERY independent, neither one of us wanted other people making decisions for us. That’s all the fun of what we do anyway, we come up with ideas and make them happen, or not, sometimes things fail miserably, but at least it was our own doing. Our brief association with the majors made us very hesitant to try it again. Patrick is the same way, we prefer to do it our way or not at all. There are inevitable conflicts when you are working with other companies or people; everyone has their own way of doing things. We like to work alone.

How has Bomp! managed to stay one step in front of the rest without having a “commercial” hit?

I’m not sure we STAYED one step in front of rest, but we were probably one step ahead to begin with! Greg was a terrible businessman in spite of his brilliance, an absolute failure at making money. (See my stories in the Bomp! books for a good laugh and the evidence!) He would come up with amazing ideas… the first rock and roll fanzine, the first indie label, the first distro for indie records, etc, etc. It’s a long list of “firsts”. But he couldn’t make the connections needed to make things happen, or focus on one thing for too long, always off to the next project. Money and talent have little to do with one another, it’s not unusual. Greg’s solution to our inability to have a hit record was to hire a staff of people with suits and ties; he figured they knew how to talk to the other people with suits and ties, a talent that we lacked. Unfortunately the “business manager” he hired was actually a failed insurance agent, whose main advice had to do with building shelves. Going bankrupt? Build some shelves! The advice didn’t really work out too well and it cost us a fortune. (Between the shelves AND his salary…) We eventually got rid of the staff of 12 and downsized Bomp!, our attempt to play with the big boys was all a huge waste of time and money. The closest thing we had to a “hit” nearly bankrupted us anyway, the staff had forced the initial sales, but the records came back later. (That was the Plimsouls record) Lesson learned, keep it small!

How important do you think rock and roll is to America ?

Not very. I wish I could say there was a huge market, or that there was about to be, but it’s always been a niche. Of course I’m talking about the style of rock and roll that we do, to define the term. But America is a big place, and I’m talking about percentages here, probably 99% of America doesn’t care one bit about rock and roll. On the other hand there is a very vocal and enthusiastic minority that is passionate about music. Labels like us will survive selling to that niche, it’s pretty stable. But I’ve seen some labels try to expand beyond the market and go right down the toilet.

Has Bomp! changed how it handles business now that we are in the digital age?

Absolutely, I can’t think of anything that’s the same as it was 10 years ago, or even last year really, it goes very fast. We have to constantly adapt to the changes in the ways of doing business. 10 years ago our catalogue was print, now it’s all on line. And we do a lot of digital sales now too, as most labels do. We’re entirely dependent on the computers. If the computers are down, the only thing we can do is maybe clean the warehouse or go home, there’s not one thing we do that isn’t all about the computer. I wouldn’t turn back the clock; I like it much better now. I look back on the pre-computer days and wonder how I did it. It seems insanely problematic. We are not inclined to think that the pre-computer era was “the good old days”, which I think a lot of people do. I love technology! Mike Stax found a GREAT quote from Greg, from back in the 70s; it’s an astonishingly accurate prediction of what actually came about. I didn’t make this up, this is printed in a magazine from 1979!

Greg Shaw

“Imagine 20 years from now, if every teenager could sit in his bedroom with a computer screen and terminal (and stereo speakers attached) and call up anything he wanted, from Billy Ward & the Dominoes to Ed Banger & the Nosebleeds-see what they looked like, read extracts from fanzines and historians who wrote about them, cross-referenced to other artists and sources, and above all to hear the music, and maybe even see film footage if any exists.” GREG SHAW

That shows you how far ahead of his time Greg was… he was waiting for the internet all along, and when it came along he jumped right on it.

Do you have any bands connected with Bomp! that were your personal favorites?

Sure, I have a ton of BOMP! stuff that I play all the time, too many to list really, and on a personal level I was very good friends with Stiv Bators, he was hilarious, we were good friends. And of course Nikki Corvette is a sweetie, and all the guys from the Nerves/Plimsouls are very nice. We are working with them now to put out unreleased material, just got a great live Nerves LP in and a Breakaways to follow soon. Iggy is fantastic, we’ve gotten to be good friends since Greg died. He’s been very nice to me. We’re working with him and James, maybe some new projects in the works there too.

What do you listen to around the office?

I have a few thousand tunes on our Ipod… a lot of the classics, Stones, Who, Beatles, Kinks, and the newer ALIVE stuff is a warehouse favorite…. half of my Ipod is the ALIVE label….. Thomas Function, Black Diamond Heavies, Henry’s Funeral Shoe, Black Keys. Yeah, I know, I’m prejudiced, but I really like the label, a classic sound with a modern twist.

How much influence do you think you have had on pop music since Bomp!’s inception?

That’s very hard to judge, I think Greg had a big influence of people with his writing and ideas. Whether Bomp! changed anything musically on a large scale, impossible to say. I’m sure Greg influenced the whole Nuggets type reissues, no doubt about that.

What is in the cards for Bomp as time goes on?

We plan to keep the mail order going, of course, and maybe another book or two. The newest book, “Bomp! – Born In the Garage”, will be out in a few weeks, check on bompstore.com for details. I think it’s important for me to put back into print the material from BOMP! magazine, there’s so much great stuff there. All the early writings of Lester Bangs and Ken Barnes and Greil Marcus, the true greats of rock journalism. And on the label side, the back catalogue is enormous and just keeping that in print is a huge job. I wont be bored!

What is it about vinyl?

People are very emotional about vinyl, they see it as being more “real” that cds. Some people think it sounds better, some people love looking at the covers, some people collect all the colors of vinyl, just for the fun of it. I love it because you can’t download it, we lose a lot of cd sales from file-sharing and the like. We do a lot of vinyl sales now, which is a surprise because we thought the natural progression would be for it to vanish. Far from it…

Bo Diddley or Chuck Berry?

Go, Johnnie go! Greg was a big fan of Chuck Berry too, one of our favorites.