Interview With The Volcanos

The Continental: How long have The Volcanos been around

Chris: Since the days of dinosaurs and cavemen and...but..uh.. really we played our first show in July '94

Rick: We'd been together about 2 months tops at that time

Dave: Yeah Rick's got a habit of booking shows before bands are even formed.

Rick: Its the only way to get movin'!

Billy: That's crazy.

Rick: Our first show was at a neighborhood bar called Lili's, where they treat the bands like kings. Neighborhood Polish joint, you know.

Chris: Been there forever.

Dave: Great place.

Billy: Crazy place.

The Continental: What are your favorite songs to play live?

Chris: The new stuff. San Andreas Fault/Custom Cruiser/Avalanche...

Rick: I dig em all, especially Pompeii.

Billy: Those tunes are all crazy.

Dave: I like the melodic stuff & the three chord stomp too.

The Continental: Do you do any covers?

Chris: The Pier/Sweeper...uh...

Rick: Sometimes we do Jesse Pearl if I feel like singin'.

Dave: Don't forget Wine Wine Wine.

Chris: We used to do Car Hop 'til some other band made it famous.

Billy: That crazy one Casbah by Sandy Nelson.

The Continental: What was the first song you came up with?

Rick: In this band? Krakatoa might have been the first. It's hard to say...I was bashing em out like crazy.

Billy: Like crazy.

Dave: Waves & Girls - a tender vocal number.

Chris: Whirlpool.

The Continental: What kinda gear do you use?

Rick: Well I use a Fender Stratocaster through a black face fender twin

Chris: I play a Mosrite through a music man amp with an external reverb unit.

Dave: Fender bass/Ampeg amp/heavy guitar pick

Billy: Ludwigs and wood drumsticks. I'm a lefty and spastic as hell too

The Continental: What groups are you all into?

Rick: All kindsa stuff. The Trashmen, Link, 60's punk stuff, primitive stuff, but I like to hear some song in there too. Some guys only have a tune or two but when they nail it you know it.

Chris: Me too. I'm all over the place. But mostly I like shorter tunes that grab you. There's a lot of good instro bands and lo-fi/low budget/rock bands doing 45's & stuff on labels like Estrus and Dionysus. There's too many to name! Lots o' great stuff lately.

Dave: The Makers, Los straightjackets, Big Sandy and tons of stuff in-between.

Billy: I heard an LP by The Tiki Men recently that was crazy.

The Continental: What's it like working with Estrus?

Chris: Great!! Dave's always asking us what WE wanna do.

Rick: I've never talked to him but he's A-OK & I dig his label.

The Continental: What's the instro scene like in Michigan? Rick: We'd been doing 'em for a while in some other bands but it seems to be bigger now. Chris & I were in the Zombie Surfers.

Dave: Even so there's only a half dozen bands or so doing instro rock

around here. Mondo Mod is a good one.

Chris: I think the 60's garage sound has always been bigger in Michigan

There are a lot of hipsters here but even they're getting used to surf & instro rock type stuff.

We've always been into that reverbed clean guitar sound.

Billy: Right. As long as the tunes are interesting, people dig it.

The Continental: Can any of you surf?

Rick: No.

Billy: Uh uh.

Dave: While surfers try to drown, I get my kicks on solid ground.

Chris: Love to try but I heard it takes time to learn. I can water ski.

Billy: Yeah, so can everybody else in Michigan.

The Continental: Have you had any unusual occurences at your shows?

Dave: Outside of scantily clad women dancing on stage & bringing me free drinks?

Chris: That doesn't count.

Billy: We played on a farm once with sheep & chickens & animals hangin' around in front of the band.

Rick: I think they liked it.

Chris: Well they didn't boo us.

Rick: Well we try to go nuts at shows but so far no one's broken a bone or anything.

The Continental: What is your favorite car?

Chris: I'm partial to Mopar. '66 'Cuda or maybe a Charger w /fastback.

Rick: The Alexander Bros' "Deora" as seen on the cover of our first Estrus single, which is also the title track.

Billy: '67 Riviera.

Dave: I guess a '65 GTO or maybe a '48 Tucker.

The Continental: What is your favorite Frank Sinatra song?

Chris: I think "This Town" (from ST of the "Cool Ones").

Dave: All The Way…Why not…

Rick: STOP! Dave likes to sing. I'll pick "Witchcraft".

Billy: Sinatra… Sinatra... Hmmm... South Of The Border or Old Devil Moon.

The Continental: What is your favorite cocktail?

Chris: Stinger.

Dave: Vodka Martini.

Billy: Teul.

Rick: I'm a wine-o. Drinkin' wine wine wine...

The Continental: What are your plans for rest of 1997?

Rick: We have a couple of singles coming out and we would love to have another full length on the market this year. Hopefully on Estrus.

Chris: We wanna get out & play as much as possible. We're planning on being out at the big Estrus bash in October. We're trying to get in on this big surf show tour thing in Atlanta. Looking for other stuff…

Billy: Love to play.

Dave: The more the merrier

The Continental: Any final words for readers of The Continental?

Rick: Thanks to anyone who picked up Surfquake CD/LP or the singles.

Chris: Get out & see those live bands in your town.

Dave: Do it your way.

Billy: Thanks for stopping by!

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