Interview with Me First And The Gimme Gimmes

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes

Chloë (P76): Its great to see you in Germany again! This is the first show of our tour, aren’t you guys jet-lagged?
Spike: Haha, well kinda. We arrived already yesterday and walked through Cologne. And I didn’t like it!

Chloë (P76): You didn’t like Cologne?
Spike: Well the Dom I do like, but the whole shopping district we were at is … like hell. But I get a good vibe from that city through the people, they are pretty cool!

Chloë (P76): I always felt comparing people from Cologne with people from San Francisco, where the Gimmies are from… what do you think?
Spike: I am originally from Pittsburgh, but I know what you mean. And I agree they are pretty open and individualistic. The centre of San Francisco though is mostly old, like it was a hundred years ago. In Cologne on the other hand you get the impression... that not much except for the "Dom" (engl.: Dom is a huge catherdral in Cologne, which was found in 1290 and built up over 800 years) looks like it did. I saw that on old postcards… incredible!

Chloë (P76): You guys have the reputation to be a fun band. Great success with simple but great ideas for music. I wonder if guys like you really prepare to go on a kind of “big” tour through Europe?
Spike: Yes I mean we really cant get the comforts of home. That’s one of the bigger challenges we have to deal with. As far as mentally or spiritually preparing, no we don’t do anything. We basically don’t prepare at all, we just pack socks (laughs) and our bags and go. I actually do yoga three times a (laughs)… haha no I’m just kidding.

Chloë (P76): After all these albums and years of playing, I was pretty amazed when I found out you actually hardly practise?
Spike: No that’s right, we hardly ever practise. Because we live in different cities for example. And we actually don’t need to, the songs come out easily, and after the first or second show it feels like we practised. But we are luckily able to do all the things at once WHEN we practise at home.

Chloë (P76): And how can I imagine that?
Spike: Joey kinda comes up with big lists of songs and ideas, and then we kinda add to them. But Mike and Joey are the ones who are pretty good in compiling! Mike is great but Joey .. man. This guy knows a lot of music! Even if there is a song I don’t like can turn out pretty good.

Chloë (P76): Is there any artist you love and you would really like to cover, which you didn’t do yet?
Spike: Oh, I have to think about this. I do like Stevie Wonder a lot. But all the punk bands I like and listen to, we could not really cover, since it would not sound any different.

Chloë (P76): All your albums covered different areas of music, and your next album that you will record soon will be a Country and Western album. Wow, who came up with this idea and what’s the background?
Spike: I think Joey or Mike came up with this. I’m not really sure, but its gonna be fun. Its going to be typically Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, just more western (giggles). Its different, I think there are a lot cool songs in that genre we would like to check out and cover. Although we have to change some of the words on the songs, because a lot of the country and western songs have pretty stupid verses.

Chloë (P76): I have never been so much into Country, so I’m looking forward to how you get to make it sound cool…
Spike: Oh the old stuff is actually pretty good!

Chloë (P76): Really? Like what? Any favourite bands?
Spike: Hmm, I mean the people. There were less bands than more just people, singers, like Loretta Lynn. I love Loretta Lynn! Or Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, but everybody loves Johnny Cash. But we did a few newer country songs, I cant think of right now … I do like the old ones better anyways (laughs).

Chloë (P76): So it is going to be a mix of old and newer country songs that you cover in the Gimmies-Style?
Spike: Right. Just go to a record store and search through the country and western section. More the old classics, I love them!

Chloë (P76): I know that this one time you brought a bar on stage, that was funny. Maybe next time it’s a saloon, as of promotion for the new record?
Spike: Haha that’s a great idea. Seriously, we did bring a bar on stage for that one tour, but that was just a one-time crazy thing a while ago. And for the future? I don’t know, we will see. Lets do this record first.

Chloë (P76): How do you think will your fans like this new genre?
Spike: I think since its about fun, its gonna be fine. Besides the States, where western music does have some popular areas, the only western and country fans I met here in Europe were the people in south Italy. They love that shit. They all read like tex comic books and shit, its crazy! I have been there a lot, so I know.

Chloë (P76): The Gimmies are all about having fun, but are there any differences in the countries, since they all lay so close together here?
Spike: For sure! First to mention all the different languages. Everything is so close and then they speak different languages, and these bilingual raised kids… man, that’s crazy! I could never imagine how that is to speak TWO languages fluently! We were at a rest stop and I tried to get a chewing gum somewhere in Switzerland. And there was a lady who spoke fluent German and in the next sentence Italian… damn. I mean, I understand the Italian way better than the Germans, although I took classes in German. But you just have too many words. And the cases .. I mean if you spend a YEAR on leaning the dative alone, you might learn it! (- just to mention: later on stage Spike really impressed with some German phrases and sentences he yelled in, and they were incredible accent-free, very talented! Plus, the whole conversation we had now about “aus, mit, nach, von, zu” and the German grammar would be too much to type down –)

Chloë (P76): I saw the Sainte Catherines you play with today have a song or in fact, a song title in German…
Spike: Oh do they? That’s awesome. I think if you taught me German words and taught me what the words meant, I could sing it! Because I always had a great pronunciation, but I cant… I’m just a consumer in Germany. How is their song called?

Chloë (P76): Hau weg die Scheisse!
Spike: (in German) Hau weg die Scheisse! Cool (smiles). What does that mean?

Chloë (P76): Something like strike the shit away… haha I have no clue.
Spike: Oh I know "Hau ab!’ and "Willst du was in die Fresse, Alter!" If you go to Berlin, where we were the first time, you got to learn something like ‘Fass mich nicht an!’ . Seriously, I think so. This is what strikes me initially. The people. They just stare, and if you look at them and smile, they look away immediately. You find this hardly in the States.

Chloë (P76): I read Me First played a bar-Mitzvah and a sweet sixteen Party a while ago, are you always up for something fun like this or was this a special coincidence?
Spike: Did we play a sweet sixteen party? Oh, I know, it was a sweet thirteen party! All these parties are because friends ask us, but .. wait, I think we got paid for the Bar-Mitzvah! That was a real deal. (excited) We are like Dick Continos backup band like back from the sixties, you know what I’m talking about? They did shit like this (laughs very excited). In our CD from the Bar-Mitzvah we have this little video, so you can see us all dressed and stuff. Everybody danced on chairs, it was awesome!

Chloë (P76): So would you do stuff if you get asked for, like gay weddings? I mean, you’re from San Francisco…
Spike: We would totally a gay wedding, nothing is too crazy for San Francisco. Even my neighbours got married lately, so I know how it is. They are very happy and of course we’d support that!

Chloë (P76): So you like doing videos? Because I really dig your ‘I believe I can fly’ video!
Spike: Yeah, it was fun. We like doing shit like that. Mike came up with this idea, and everything we did so far was fun and worked out well for us. Ilike that. Besides that Paris Hilton was in the video .. that was lame!

Chloë (P76): But since you have Fat Mike in your band, I assume you don’t want to create something too mainstream, consumer, commercial, do you?
Spike: Well, I think we’re doing all right for what it is. I mean it doesn’t require so much attention to the songs, because .. its covers! And Mike proved this to me, you can kinda control how big something is if you want. I mean, NOFX are big, but its still under his control. Their content is their own and they are not told by anybody how they should be.

Chloë (P76): And that’s how you will continue the Gimmies style?
Spike: Yeah exactly. No matter if we are doing sixties, seventies or western, its all about having fun!

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