You are reading an interview with The Epoxies
conducted by Rich on 20 May 2004
Gamefoe: Can you give you name and position in the band? FM: FM, I play synthesizers for The Epoxies. Gamefoe: Can you tell me how you got started? I hear it was is a garage with cardboard boxes, playing “robot garage rock”? FM: Yeah. Yeah well it was erm………. The initial idea was that we were gunna be a new wave garage band which…… we didn’t really know what that meant. We thought maybe something like The Monks or something like that, but we never really figured out how to do that. So we kinda ended up just being what it is. We did a bunch of research, tried to figure out what new wave was and it turns out that it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a catch all category to make punk rock less scary to middle America. So it embodies everything from reggae to punk rock to techno and all this stuff. I think I’ve answered your question. Gamefoe: So how did you get all the way from that garage to here on a UK tour with NOFX? FM: That’s a good question. In the North West where we’re from a lot of the music, especially in Portland, had become this really sort of down and dirty tough guy rock and roll stuff in the vein of Zeke or Nashville Pussy, which is good stuff but that was all you could hear. All you could hear and everyone was trying to out tough guy one another, black leather jackets and cowboy hats and on and on. So we sort of……… a big part of the conception was, lets just do the most un-cool stuff we could possible come up with so we dress up like total idiots, and we went out and got some synthesizers and just what’s the least cool instrument? Well of course it’s the strap on keyboard is the dumbest thing you could possibly play. And so the first show, we were backstage going “this is going to be so great, everybody is going to hate it so much”, which totally it’s face, because everybody loved it. And then we got the idea that let’s see what happens if we really try hard. Cos we’d been in other bands, just like rock bands, played in, done our thing. Toured around the country and that sort of thing, but let’s make every song as good as we can make it and just put tones of effort into every show. And we toured furiously all over the country and that combined with a whole lot of luck, you know, having the right people here us, building us up in ways that were timely, got us a lot of attention in the United States and we started doing pretty good there. (Fat) Mike came and saw us the first time we played in San Francisco and several other shows going through there, and then we just sorta worked it out that he wanted us on the “Rock Against Bush” comp. and then he wanted us to do the next album with him. And we thought about it for a while, and eventually we agreed to it. So then when he invited us to do England, it was good timing because we actually already booking a European tour so we just tacked on a few dates at the beginning, after this we are going to do a club tour on our own of Germany for about 20 or 30 days. Gamefoe: You mentioned “Rock Against Bush”. How did you get involved with that? Is it something you feel strongly about? FM: Yeah it is. You Know, it’s a pretty broad question but we got invited. Simple as that. A phone call. And we said “Of course, we’d love to do it”. I could probably go on for an hour about the reasons why the Bush administration is fucked up but what it kinda comes to is that they are anti democratic. It’s not a matter of them being a government with policies I disagree with, it seems pretty obvious that they’re fundamentally…. they believe that meant to rule in stead of govern and that they believe that they know what is best for everyone. And they don’t. It’s a really scary thing. And it’s this weird crypto fascism that’s taking over America, you know? If for no other reason, to tell the World that we’re not all like that, in fact most of us aren’t. but things have been tricked out and manoeuvred so that the elected politics are not very reflective un reflective of true United States. Gamefoe: So I take it seeing as you were on the first you won’t be on the second volume of “Rock Against Bush”? FM: No I don’t think so. I think it’s all new tracks unless, maybe NOFX has a track on the second one, but I don’t even know about that. There’s like 200 bands involved so… Gamefoe: I have been on your website and looked at all the bands your friends with like The Lovemakers, The Briefs and the Spits. Do you think this is just coincidence? FM: Are you talking about the “The” thing? Gamefoe: Yea FM: Well all the best bands are like that aren’t they? I don’t think that it’s coincidence, I just think it goes to………. You know it’s a tiny little reflection of an aesthetic that a lot of those bands share. We’re defiantly a North West Punk band. The whole Seattle and Portland thing is a big part of who we are and most of the bands that we really love come from there also. Gamefoe: What are your plans for recording the new record now that you are on Fat Wreck Chords? FM: Our plans are that when we get back from this tour we’ll continue working on the new record which is what we’ve been doing for the last few months. We’re pretty much determined to take as long as it takes to make the best record we can, so we’re setting ourselves any sort of date. But we want to get it done and we’re working really hard on it so I hope it’ll be together in a few months and we’ll record it and release it then tour on it furiously. Gamefoe: Coming back over to the UK? FM: I’d love to. One thing I have noticed about the Brits is they don’t like to drive anywhere. Gamefoe: Would you say you’re style was very different to the other bands on Fat Wreck Chords? FM: Oh Absolutely. Gamefoe: Do you think that’s a good thing for you? FM: It depends on how you look at it. I think it’s a really strange label for us to be on from an aesthetic point of view but at the same time that’s good news because I think almost everyone who is exposed to us as a result of the Fat Wreck Chords thing is gunna be people who hadn’t heard us before. So it’s like on all these NOFX shows and in general the people who are here now because of Fat Wreak Chords are a brand new audience for us. And we have to win them over you know? These shows are really different for us because we’re used to playing to a crowd of people who are there to see us. Gamefoe: I was going to say, you’ve done a few club shows over here. What have you found best? The NOFX shows or the headline shows? FM: Well we’ve only played one club date which was in Newcastle the night before last. Which was really fun. It was interesting the differences you know? The club date was in a way, more scary because if nobody likes us the whole night is ruined, but if nobody likes the opener, who cares? Because the next band is on. Gamefoe: What was the turn out like for your headline show? FM: I think like a hundred maybe. Not too huge but it was a god fun show. We had a ball. Gamefoe: Do you prefer touring the UK or US. Is there any difference or is it much the same? FM: It’s very different. I don’t know I could say I have really toured the UK, because this is such a different experience opening for a huge band like NOFX which is something I’ve never done before. But the drives are a lot shorter which is nice and everyone is really nice. And since this is the first time I’ve been here and the first time for most of us, it’s also really interesting, like all the little things, dealing with money, driving on the left side of the road and all that kind of thing are really funny. Gamefoe: Are you looking forward to tonight’s show? FM: Yes! Absolutely! I feel like we really hit our stride last night. So I’m here to test that theory out. Gamefoe: That’s it. Thanks a lot. Have you got any last words? FM: Any famous last words? No I think we’re good! Thanks Thank to Wiebke at Fat Wreck Chords for arranging the interview.
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