8-Ball Shifter

8-Ball Shifter is a cool band based in Allston, Massachusetts that play a unique brand of garagy swamp-rock. You can compare them to the Stooges if you like, yet they go way, way beyond that. You'll just have to listen to them yourself. Their debut disc on Clamarama Records is called "Hanson" and it is guaranteed to blow you away. This is an interview that I conducted with them in August, just after the release of the album.

Sean: How long has 8-Ball Shifter been together?

Lil' E: It's been about 2 years now since we officially formed, but we've been playing together since high school.

Sean: What was your first song?

Lil' E: Rat Fink's Revenge. It's not on the CD but it's one of our most energetic songs.

Sean: Who writes your songs?

Lil' E: Yoko writes the songs. No, just kidding. Somebody starts playing and everyone else follows or doesn't.

Sean: Was 'Hanson' easy to make?

Lil' E: Hell no. Our friend Andrew from the band Slughog acquired an 8-track and offered to record us for free. We had no place to do it, so we had to use my parent's attic and be done before 9:00pm so my folks could watch X-Files.

Sean: Who is 'Hanson'?

Lil' E: Hanson is the man for whom our home town was named. He was a midget who made himself appear tall by wearing platform shoes and an enormous afro.

Sean: Will you be embarking on a tour to support 'Hanson'?

Lil' E: Yes, there are plans in the works to do an east coast tour in November with a Boston band called Quintaine Americana. After that we just want to keep going west.

Sean: Could you quit your day jobs?

Lil' E: Well y'see, none of us really had jobs in the normal sense. Jimmy was an exotic dancer for hire, Rick collected cans in a shopping cart, and I make environmental sculpture utilizing driftwood and toilet paper rolls.

Sean: What bands are you into?

Lil' E: Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Link Wray, The Who, The Stooges, Neil Young, Elvis, and Nick Nasal & His Nine Nifty Nose Pickers.

Sean: Name three trash films everyone should see.

Lil' E: Faster Pussycat Kill Kill

Rick: Let My Puppets Come

Jim: Texas Chainsaw Massacre

What is your favorite cocktail?

Lil' E: Swampwater. A drink indigenous to our home town of Hanson, Massachusetts. The formula is a secret.

Sean: When was your first show?

Lil' E: Thursday, January 26th at the Kirkland Cafe in Somerville, Massachusetts (just outside Boston). This was about 3 weeks after our official formation.

Do you have plans for world domination?

Lil' E: We see a planet overrun by brain-hungry zombies, stumbling through the night, tearing flesh from the bons of pious people and buying all the 8-Ball Shifter merchandise they can get their rotting mitts on.

Sean: What are your favorite songs to perform live?

Lil' E: Ape Worm, Party At The Bottom Of The Swamp, and Bone Rattle.

Sean: Any unusual occurances at any of your shows?

Lil' E: Just when we were starting out Jimmy got into a motorcycle accident and smashed the bones in his big toe to oatmeal. The toe turned black, but there was still a chance it might heal. So Jimmy had to bandage it and wear a big orthopedic shoe. During a show on the first downbeat of the first song, Jimmy jumped up to do a big rock move and landed. "Snap!" Right on the afflicted toe. Broke it right the hell off. Blood everywhere. He finished the set but he lost the toe. He got real drunk that night. A little bit of Jimmy died that night.

Sean: What is your favorite Frank Sinatra tune?

Lil' E: Bim Bam Baby.

Sean: What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Lil' E: Kill, kill, kill, spanky-spanky, record, more touring, soundtracks for horror porn, and get loaded.

If you'd like to contact 8-Ball Shifter, write to:

8-Ball Shifter
23 Glenville Avenue
Allston, MA 02134

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