Chris Rest, A History of RKL

[00:00:00] Hey, what's going on everyone? Welcome to another episode of Our Brains Hurt and thank you so much for hanging out with us again Our Brains Hurt podcast is presenting Dieselboy at the Pie Shop in Washington, DC this Saturday, July 6th with special guests

[00:00:13] American television over our eyes and 40 reps. It's gonna be a rad show This is dieselboy's first trip to the East Coast in two decades Get your tickets at pie shop DC comm come on out hang out with us drink with us party

[00:00:26] Watch dieselboy and three other amazing bands. That's this Saturday, July 6th at the pie shop in DC Highshop DC com for tickets come hang out Be sure to check us out at our brains hurt calm and an all social media at our brains hurts That's the business now

[00:00:44] Let's get to the show Money and they asked us really nice and we finally gave in we said all right all right you a song but it's gonna be a clone of A screeching weasel song that we heard a while ago

[00:01:05] So we wrote in the jingle and it sounded really great it was the best little jingle that the package never had But the file that corrupt in the name of the word now they step with that a jingle saying our brains hurt

[00:01:16] Our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt our brains hurt In a very non-copyright infringing sort of way

[00:01:40] So everybody should buy tickets for July 6th, which is a few days from now when you're listening to this podcast Dieselboy hit in the East Coast for the first time in like two decades

[00:01:49] Yeah, it'll be in less when you're listening to the pot this podcast will be less than a week It'll be six days into the future What the fuck are you waiting for by coming out with us? Yeah Come hang out with us and

[00:02:03] American television and over our eyes and 40 reps and if you don't know who any of those bands are then fuck you Yeah, there are three of the best bands in the mid-atlantic right now. Yeah, no exaggeration Not at all. Yeah possibly the east coast

[00:02:20] Yeah, yeah, seriously like three of the best Like up and coming bands period on the east coast. You're gonna have fun. I promise Yeah, yeah, and if you want to support little me, I'm in a band now called the blanks

[00:02:32] You can check us out at facebook.com slash the blanks punk rock They're pretty good I know But uh, yeah tonight we're talking to chris rest Oh Lag wagon. Yeah, okay. I like wagon. Yeah, you know just two of the most influential bands of all time

[00:02:52] Nobody played with no use for name for a little while Did he I did not know that he did he never recorded, but it was yeah, okay He's also in a band called the other with bomber from rkl. That's pretty rad who has one album

[00:03:06] You should listen to it if you never really good album fucking good. Yeah asking about that too I'm definitely asking him questions about that. Oh cool Well, how about I just let him in Yep, let's do it. Let's do it

[00:03:20] How you doing? Thank you so much for doing this. Yeah, no problem How was the lag wagon the last few weeks the lag wagon tour? Um, that was pretty crazy. I mean we flew to madrid for just one show and then we went straight flew back

[00:03:34] To toronto and then did some canadian stuff. That was cool The green day show we played after a green day But they were like Two football fields away are basing us so we could kind of see them playing and we could hear them pretty well

[00:03:49] They had pyro and all this stuff and then as soon as they were done It was time for us to play and we just saw this river of people leaving the area But uh, I mean there's still a lot of people that stuck around to to see us

[00:04:04] Was was that in madrid or was that in canada? It was madrid madrid that was the where we went to madrid for that particular thing We did a little intro on you already. I mean our listeners know who chris rest is. Um, oh good

[00:04:22] I want to ask basically like where did you grow up and how did you get into punk rock in the very in the first place? How did it all start? I grew up in southern california and then when I was about I think 10 or 11 moved to santa barbara

[00:04:38] and santa barbara is where I discovered punk rock sort of but I didn't have any older siblings that could turn me on to cool stuff. So I used to buy records just from the album covers that looked cool and so I remember those days yeah, but um

[00:04:59] You know the the first record I think I bought I was all into like science fiction stuff I bought an elo record which I actually liked and I bought boston Because it had like the crazy spaceship thing on it

[00:05:12] But then I remember I bought a bad out of hell What's his name? Uh Meatloaf. Yeah, and I was super disappointed but I was like the greatest album cover ever and I was like I thought that was going to be just pure heavy metal and

[00:05:28] Yeah, I mean I appreciate Meatloaf now, but at the time I was completely let down I thought that was a blatant misrepresentation of the the contents of that record But one that I did

[00:05:43] Score on I bought a molly hatchet record because you know they always have that viking with a some kind of decapitation device and uh I was pretty stoked on the molly hatchet record, but um the first punk record I ever heard was london calling because

[00:06:01] Some guy was running a room from my parents and uh, he had a record collection I was just going through his records And I had no idea that the class was was a punk band, but I did like I mean that album covers awesome

[00:06:15] And I I really liked that record and I had no idea that was punk rock. I'd only seen a couple things on tv about punk rock and one of them was um Some london club and they showed punk rockers like full-on

[00:06:30] Mohawks and safety pins through their cheeks and they were eating red jello off of baby dolls And I was you know being 13 years old. I thought it was disgusting and that's definitely not for me

[00:06:44] But then you know, um I was I was into divo a lot and uh When I discovered the surf punks, I thought that was punk rock and the b-52s. So I thought divo

[00:06:57] The surf punks and the b-52s were punk rock. So those early records that kind of were especially the divo Yeah, for sure that first b-52s record is Fucking badass still. Yeah, I love it actually was into the talking heads first record the first actual so

[00:07:15] When it wasn't until junior high school where I actually had some friends that that knew about punk rock And um the first record that we all kind of bought together I think was group sex circle jerks record

[00:07:30] And then I think I got a dk's record uh gotten god we trust and then black flag And I remember the first time it was damaged The first time I heard damaged. I was like, I don't think I'm into this It grew on me Yeah

[00:07:48] That's definitely a harder record to get into when you were like super young unless you Like came from seeing them live. Oh, yeah when you were a kid that that different story then but being an east coaster

[00:08:01] I remember the same same feeling from listening to that record for the first time I was like, why do why do people like this and I learned obviously but Yeah, I mean I loved that group sex record and and also yeah the nevermind the ballocks was definitely

[00:08:15] Probably number might have been the first record we bought actually But we were also into the police a lot and they were pretty punk rock when they first started out Yeah, they still have a few records that are bad ass. I still listen to a lot actually

[00:08:31] great band The first show I ever went to was um a doa show And um I was my parents took me at this point we used to uh We would get shirt button-up shirts from the thrift store and use a permanent marker and draw

[00:08:52] Stuff on them and um, you know, I was like I was still pretty small. I was probably five Four or something and I went into the pit and instantly got an elbow to the nose and my nose was just gushing blood And instead of like getting toilet paper

[00:09:09] I just let it go down the front of my shirt and all these people are just like freaking out on it's just a little kid just covered in blood I thought that was pretty punk rock How old were you at that time? By then I was probably 15 14 14 almost 15

[00:09:30] I remember the first real punk rocker. I ever saw in real life Was that we went to go see the knack at this big place on ucsb campus and um And it was just a regular. I mean, I thought I heard them all the time on fm radio

[00:09:46] I didn't know that they sort of had punk rock roots either but uh There was a band opening for them called the rubber city rebels which were kind of a punk band and um This one guy he's one of santa barba's first punk rockers

[00:10:02] His name was chris syphilis and he was in a band called the strap on dicks He was there and his hair was all crazy and he was wearing a leather jacket And on the back in huge block letters It said fuck the knack

[00:10:16] And I was like totally offended by that but uh I I mean I've done some you know research about that when when my sharonah came out a lot of the People that were into the knack totally felt betrayed because that was a mega hit, you know

[00:10:34] And before that they were kind of like an underground band. I think So how did you go from that kid to rkl like how did that how did that journey kind of okay, so um my first

[00:10:48] instrument was piano my mom taught me how to play some piano and I was taking regular lessons from just stupid piano lessons in and um but uh Once again, my parents rented or actually no

[00:11:03] This was just a friend a visiting friend who was a musician who actually had like a he's a record out on I don't know. He might have put it out himself, but I remember him from

[00:11:13] When I was really young and he always played like boogie woogie piano and you played guitar and stuff And um, he showed me how to play boogie woogie stuff on the piano And since I had already played piano for quite a few years. I instantly

[00:11:31] Was stoked on that and I was able to improvise and play just like basic four 12 bar kind of boogie woogie stuff and and improvise with scales and I was like, wow, this is like Was totally enlightening to me that you could actually

[00:11:47] you know improvise on on the piano and then I'm shortly after that I came home from school one day and someone was setting up a drum kit right in our foyer of our house And I was like, wow

[00:12:03] That's cool when I was watching him set it up and he goes. Yeah, you go. Yeah, you like it and go Yeah, I like it and he goes. It's yours. And so it was like some used Korean kit, but um, yeah

[00:12:14] So then I started playing drums. I took some lessons and So I had piano And then drums and my dad Had been a guitar player his whole life and mandolin

[00:12:24] But he always tried to get me to play acoustic guitar and when you're a little kid and you don't have calluses It's not the sound or the feeling that you want from a guitar and um so now once again, uh we

[00:12:41] Through uh someone that was renting a room from my parents. They had an electric guitar And uh, I was in his room one time and you let me play it through the amp And I was like instantly tried to play smoke on the water

[00:12:54] It's the first thing that most people play and I figured that out on In on the low e-string I think it's actually an a but So then I said mom, I want an electric guitar and so that

[00:13:11] Once I got an electric guitar then I had electric guitar and drums in my room And me and my friends would make up songs and we would just you know One one friend would be right next to the boombox Recording vocals whatever just making stuff up

[00:13:27] And then I'd usually play guitar and and the other friend would play drums And we had a bunch of songs that we made up actually still have us, uh, I think three songs from Pretty pretty far back that we that was using that method of recording

[00:13:45] And so um, that was you know pre-rkl we were we kind of uh You know made up some band names that were never really a band and then Uh me and so that when I started junior high school That's when I met my other friends that actually

[00:14:04] Were knew a little bit about punk rock And we started doing the same thing But our songs were starting to sound a little more punk rock And we called ourselves the rats I think nice and our atz

[00:14:24] But uh, it's funny because they were twins and I looked a lot like them So one of our teachers said you guys should be called the clones. I was like wow, that's kind of a good name but um so uh

[00:14:37] Shortly after that I moved to another little part of santa barba area called summerland and was uh This rental that my this is right after my parents split up And my dad went back down to southern california and my mom rented this house like right near the beach

[00:14:54] In summerland and that's where I met bomber It was funny because uh So bomber had already had a little bit of experience on drums um, I think

[00:15:06] One of the guys from ugly kid joe was friends with his sister or something like that and so he learned that some beats on that guy's kit it's You know, I had my friends from

[00:15:19] From junior high could come over and we would jam and bomber would be like hey, you know Let me try to check out the drums for a bit And like he was immediately like shredding my friend and so my friend would always get all pissed

[00:15:34] And so then um So it was pretty obvious that bomber was really talented and um It was funny because then um, I moved again to another little part of santa barba called carpenter rea and so did bomber's mom moved to carpenter rea and so

[00:15:54] He lived like a block away from me down there and that was just like a year later So we were like following each other And he would like you know come over to my house and he kind of had

[00:16:04] Like a three or three songs or so that we would go through just get guitar and drums And then we were about to start High school and I think bomber was a year ahead of me. He had already gone to ventura high school for one year but um

[00:16:21] He Decided to go to santa barba high school where is where I was going and so the summer Before I started high school bomber was hanging out at my house a lot went in and I lived in montecito, which is like a

[00:16:38] Kind of a ritzy part of santa barba, but we lived in this crappy crappy rental house And um, I had my drums set up in there and um, so we were starting to get serious about trying to form a band and um

[00:16:53] So well, I think you know, we had a bass player my um this little kid named nathan was playing bass. He was kind of a He was younger than me. He was tiny And uh, he was just a little surf rat and he

[00:17:09] Reluctantly let bomber cut his hair off and I remember he was he was had tears in his eyes bomber always wanted to cut everybody's hair off and he always wanted to either have a mohawk or a skinhead and so I

[00:17:24] Um that kid didn't last in the band very long. I think we played like one party with him But uh, then my my uncle dave he was my my uncle was only two years older than me

[00:17:36] He was living with us at the time. He took over on bass And um, so we go well, I think we need a second guitar player So we asked uh, I knew singing at this point. Are you singing? We didn't have a singer yet. Okay, got you

[00:17:49] so um I asked joey kate If he wanted to play guitar because I knew him from soccer and I had heard that he'd been playing guitar for several years already So yeah, I think this guy joey

[00:18:04] Has an electric guitar and he's been playing a while. I think he'd be a good choice And so joey someone got him on the phone And he said only if my friend jason

[00:18:14] Can be the singer and I knew jason from soccer as well and jason already had like a reputation of Being a crazy person Like he used to drink a glass of milk

[00:18:29] Throw it up into the glass and say thank you. I'll have another and then drink it again And he had this trick where he would take like a Necklace like a chain necklace and snorted up his nose Oh Mental floss

[00:18:46] I had a friend who used to do that too I don't know why people who do that like to do that. It's a weird trick Yeah, and so um, so like we uh We played like a wasted youth song I think we played problem child

[00:19:03] And we played blood stains and we had a couple covers or a couple original songs And the way I remember it. I thought joey Thought we sucked because he was into metal and we were like pretty bad thrash punk band

[00:19:20] But joey's story is that he couldn't ever make it to practice because he was always grounded So I don't know which one is Is the truth Back then I mean it's all kind of blur, but um

[00:19:33] But it wasn't too long before we played some parties and stuff and uh We were going to be called social revolt. That was the name we decided on And someone said oh those guys will never amount to anything just a bunch of rich boys on acid and um

[00:19:49] Because jason's dad, I mean he wasn't filthy rich, but he was a restaurant owner And he was the only one that had money. Um his family bomber was from a Broken home and you know my dad was long gone

[00:20:05] My mom was totally struggling raising me and my sister And you know my uncle was living with us and he would he didn't work. He was just he was just like us he was just one of us and um

[00:20:17] Yeah, we we were just playing shows as a four piece We are not shows but parties and usually the cops would come. I don't know how many we played Before um, we actually got our first show which was with agent orange, but it wasn't too long

[00:20:33] And I remember uh, I had a freshly shaved head because bomber I'll cut your hair. Do you know I'll cut your hair. You need a haircut And so, you know, I said I want I want a finger length

[00:20:46] So we still you know put your hand here and then cut the hair that was sticking out and that was like a safe Length but he did it without the fingers. And so it was just like some bald spots and scissor lines

[00:20:58] He goes, oh we gotta shave it now And so he like shaved the half of my head with no shaving cream with some old big razor My head was bleeding and um

[00:21:11] I said you have to stop it hurts student and so like we had school the next day and um I remember my mom's like came in the room in the morning

[00:21:20] And she's like time to get up for school and and I I was in a sleeping bag sleeping on the floor And I like pulled the sleeping bag down. She went bomber bomber jumped out the window

[00:21:33] And I and before instead of going to school, I went to the barber and he shaved my head and then I wore a bandana for the first few days School but then that was like shortly after that we had that agent orange show

[00:21:46] That was our first real show. I think we probably got 20 minute set I don't remember much about it. I don't think there was that many people when we played but That was at the galeta community center

[00:22:01] Which is like a pretty horrible sounding room, but I've seen several bands that that's where I've went to my first punk show nice yeah That's how rkl started and it was you know mostly because of bomber and and me and then jason kind of happened into it

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[00:23:15] So head to struggling artist record club dot com pick a membership and start building that collection today So so that was like your first band like the progression of whatever you guys called yourself first up until rkl

[00:23:28] There wasn't any anything else for you previous just some stuff that I did at junior high school I mean um, I I played the first time I played a guitar in front of people was you know junior high school just playing for the school stuff but um

[00:23:45] The first time I played drums in front of people was actually way before that And my dad had some big party at our house And they had a this band called the tan played and they were kind of like a surfy groove groovy party band, you know

[00:24:03] And they heard me playing drums upstairs like before the party started and they asked me if I wanted to play a song with them So I played drums with them

[00:24:11] Like from one song, but I was like so nervous. I wouldn't hit the cymbals. So they kept hitting the cymbals for me So your parents were supportive of you playing music it sounds like yeah, my dad always wanted me to play guitar

[00:24:25] But every time I tried it was just like hurt my fingers and didn't sound rad and but my mom, you know I Showed me piano and I and I feel like I picked it up pretty easily I didn't have very good vision and um

[00:24:40] I remember I would just memorize the songs And so like my piano teacher would be like You didn't turn the page. I'm oh, yeah Like This this is based off of something that barry told us Yeah, do you attribute bomber to you becoming the guitarist you are or

[00:25:03] Aside from yourself, obviously No, I he he didn't I mean Okay, I was pretty decent guitar player by the time we started our kale at least for a 15 year old kid. I think at the time

[00:25:18] I mean now there's 15 year old kids that are virtuosos, but back then it was kind of rare. I think And I definitely wasn't a virtuoso, but I could you know play some chuck berry riffs and and um kind of hold my own and uh

[00:25:33] And bomber see the I attribute bomber to Rkl being the unit that the tight unit that it was like he used to make his practice in the dark Like we go into the practice space and shut off the lights and

[00:25:50] And so we had because he's like quit looking at your fingers, you know, yeah That's exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah, it doesn't bury In And his you know once once bomber really started Writing a lot of the music like with the rock and roll nightmare era

[00:26:09] those songs definitely uh Escalated all of our our playing because they were so technical and and everything was so tight and you couldn't just be sloppy thrash band And most of the bands we played with back then were sloppy thrash thrash bands like when we toured the states

[00:26:31] Nearly every band that we played with um was horrible, but yeah, you know, there were some exceptions. I mean, um, we played Some shows with subhumans on on one of those early tours and And uh, we played a show with scream at the cbgb sunday matinee show

[00:26:50] Yeah, and they were awesome like yeah, but most of the thrash bands that we played with were just the worst like And so we were like wow, we're pretty good you know, it sounds like

[00:27:10] It could be a nightmare having somebody like that in your band, but like I wish I would have had somebody like that In the bands I grew up playing because I would have gotten to the point Way quicker than than I did, you know, I mean

[00:27:26] The people have I mean so much easier to To get free information now if you want to learn how to play any instrument, you know with youtube, it's ridiculous like You know, I know that a lot in the 80s People had those

[00:27:44] You know vhs tapes and most of them are pretty bad But that that was like besides that and tabs from the back of magazines that that was your only Key to shred, you know or taking lessons from somebody

[00:27:58] Yeah, and you know everyone said oh, I would just you know put on a record and slow it down and to learn these songs and everything's all tuned down and crappy and So yeah

[00:28:12] Now you can you know with youtube I use it all the time or some you know, I teach guitar online and so If someone asked me to teach them a song that I don't know

[00:28:22] I just go on youtube and listen to it slow down and I can just go note by note Right if I need to and it's such an awesome resource What did you guys go up to the bay area? um Okay, so Let's see

[00:28:39] I don't know what that's my show joins you guys as a base. You know, that was when we moved up there, but um So things were getting pretty stale in santa barba um everything every show

[00:28:52] Like it was really hard to get real shows because golden voice was the only promoter that would doing shows in santa barba then and um And anytime we tried to play a party

[00:29:05] That got broken up by the cops except for this one place in isla vista where ucsb is Called the red barn you could rent that place out for a hundred bucks

[00:29:14] And you could even have a keg of beer and so there was potential to actually make money there I don't think anyone ever made much money, but it was pretty cool um But it was getting to the point where we were not getting really barely any

[00:29:32] LA shows just once in a while or maybe you know oxnard, but um There was just too many bands so Someone went up to I think it was bomber probably went up to san francisco and said hey, we got to go up there and

[00:29:46] And there's a bunch. There's a couple punk clubs up there and We heard about this squatted um abandoned beer vat Called the it was the hams brewery that was Abandoned and they called it the vats And um mdc lived there and practiced their dri

[00:30:06] Some of the guys from dri were there and um some other bands and uh We went up there and that's where we met barry And he was like um at the vats We went up there with no show

[00:30:20] And I think the next day it might have been christmas eve must have been 1983 Maybe We know we dri said hey, we have a show at the mabuhay gardens tomorrow night. Do you want to play that show? I mean of course and so

[00:30:36] That was our first show up there and then we started kind of making monthly trips up there to play mabuhay or the rock on broadway and then uh bomber said hey, I'm leaving sandbar where i'm moving to San Francisco and at that point I

[00:30:56] My mom and I and my sister were living on a boat in the san jarbar harbor and that wasn't working out And so my mom decided to go to nursing school In san francisco. So somehow I ended up following bomber up to san francisco

[00:31:10] And um barry already lived there. So then it was me Bomber and barry all living in san francisco jason never never moved up He he was like the king of santa bar I'm from long asito. He was me and mr. Big shot sito rat

[00:31:27] And so um, well, how couldn't you be with the milk in the in the beads? And uh Um, so we didn't have a bass player See well actually to see how does that work out? uh, yeah vince

[00:31:42] Vince our bass player at the time he joined when my uncle dav quit And um, he was in a band called secret service before that And they used their logo was a ss which was yeah, probably wouldn't fly these days He uh quit at some point

[00:32:04] I think it was when bomber really started writing more technical songs And vince was like man, that's not punk rock, you know punk rock supposed to be simple and And you know bomber was we were bomber was influenced by

[00:32:20] You know his he had an older sister. So he grew up with like hard rock And so he was using that influence mixed with punk rock to write these technical like Pretty intricate songs and um Vince it was vinston like the was direction we were going with that

[00:32:41] So he quit and so we we're looking for a bass player. We got this guy ricky on bass which lasted a few months But he left the band right before we went to go record rock and roll nightmare And so bomber ended up playing bass and

[00:33:00] drums on that record So we had already toured the states twice at this point Or no Is that right with your uncle on bass? No, vince played bass on both those tours. Yeah, the first time was with dr. No I think and then the second time

[00:33:19] That was the tour where we ran into the melvins On tour and they their tour had fallen apart And so they ended up I get the two tours mixed up because they were only like nine months apart But they were both pretty much disastrous

[00:33:36] And the second tour was the tour that Bomber got sick. He actually had hepatitis And we got to the east coast and he flew home and we we had to go to a Our show in new york city. We were supposed to play with aod and um

[00:33:55] And we were just there with no drummer and so we couldn't play And I remember the the guy who was our booking agent johnny stiff He goes you tell bomba i'm gonna come out to california kick his whole family's ass

[00:34:12] But that bomber really was sick. I mean we all thought he was just Being dramatic So he had hepatitis Um, he took my guitar And he was holed up in his house with a four track recorder and he recorded

[00:34:26] He wrote rock and roll nightmare in like one month Wow And so we practiced it in barry's bedroom over and over again just guitars and um I think bomber was playing bass mostly and And I think yeah ricky Was learning the songs too

[00:34:47] And we actually played a really big show At the farm san francisco with ricky on bass and i know that there's a video of that show We were playing a few songs from rock and roll nightmare before that record came out Before I was even recorded. Yeah

[00:35:06] So then we came down to san marvich to record that record and um I think bomb bomber played some of the drums with no scratch guitar or anything Wow, I came back I came in and played the guitars and then bomber

[00:35:20] Put the bass on it and and berry berry was in the band at that point berry was on on the Second us tour that we did but I don't think he was on the first one Um, he wasn't on the first one

[00:35:33] So that was the difference on on those two tours. There's some uh animated short YouTube video of a buzz from the melvins talking about that rkl tour If you like search melvins rkl it's one of the first things that comes up. It's pretty funny

[00:35:52] But yeah, we saw them we ran into them somewhere Might have been in arizona and I can't remember but they had kiss spray painted and stenciled on the side of their van and

[00:36:04] We got bombing a bomber grew up with kiss and he's like, whoa, what that look at that? Like and you like instantly we saw them in like a rest stop or something real Well, what's your guys deal? They're like, oh, we're from, you know, portland and

[00:36:16] Our tour filled through and that's how we bonded was because of that kiss van that kiss van Got auctioned off on ebay for like 70 000 Because oh really? They say that there was curt cobane art on the side of the van

[00:36:32] I I thought I remembered bomber drawing the kiss faces on the side of the van But yeah, this is where there's some discrepancies and the guys in the melvins swear that curt drew those faces

[00:36:44] But I remember bomber drawing them and it looks like bomber's drawing artwork to me. So I don't know It should be worth more if bomber drew it What was bomber's relationship with jason like? They clashed a lot. Yeah

[00:37:03] They didn't hang out much together except for when we were playing and you know, the band would practice all the time That's how we became what we were but jason would just come up right before our show And then do one practice with us probably Yeah

[00:37:21] Yeah, they clashed a lot. I mean they were both Just crazy characters and very type type a personalities both of them, you know opposites kind of What's it? What's it like now playing an rkl without either of them?

[00:37:37] I mean we've done we did the without bomber thing for a long time But yeah without jason. I mean the first time we did it without jason was When our friend dead ted died and we did this rkl

[00:37:51] Karaoke thing where people would just sign up to to sing songs and we just had like a big list of songs and We had probably like six or seven people come up and sing

[00:38:01] Rkl songs and some you know people were like you guys got to keep doing that and so we ended up using this Our friend damien And he uh We did the rkl aliens. We did a handful of shows

[00:38:17] As the rkl aliens and we actually went out to uh vittoria and In spain and played this big festival with that lineup and it was with chris flipping On guitar and my friend boss On drums boss played in the other and he played

[00:38:38] Um in king city my other band. I was in He played with mad caddies. He tours with mad caddies now And we went we know so but before that like We had a couple lineups. We we put this makeshift rkl together

[00:38:57] Because they asked rkl to play the opening of the skate park in santa barba and you know, we never thought For one that the city of santa barba would ask rkl to play a show

[00:39:08] And uh, and we never thought there would be a skate park in santa barba So it was like this unbelievable thing that we couldn't pass up. So that was with bomber on bass and um jason singing And darryck plurid on drums and and chris actually

[00:39:27] No, that show actually was before bomber started playing with us It was darryck and me and jason and then Our friend todd on bass and some other guy named joe on guitar

[00:39:38] And we just did it for that one thing and I think we might have played one tiny Show at a bar. There was a complete disaster. It turned into practically a riot I believe there's youtube videos of both of those events

[00:39:56] I know i've seen the skate park one Yeah, but then we had a lineup with with darryck on on drums and bomber on bass and jason singing And um chris flipping on guitar that we we played Probably for almost a year With that lineup

[00:40:14] We played the punk rock bowling show at the double down And that no, it wasn't the double down. I don't know where it was but um, we had a bowling team and uh

[00:40:26] We were doing okay because jason was an excellent bowler. He was pretty much good at everything but um He was we were nearing the last frame of one of our first games and um He had thrown all strikes And this was like practically

[00:40:43] Almost the last frame and he threw a strike, but then he was on the ground and his knee had been Like I don't know somehow went to the side of his leg and he was like Ah

[00:40:54] And so they had to go that was the end of our bowling team and um, we had to play that night So he played this video of that show too where jason's sitting on a bar stool And and bombers playing bass. I'd seen that one too. Yeah

[00:41:12] So we went through quite a few different lineups um later When we got joe back playing bass and you know, I can't remember what bomber was doing And so we had chris flipping on guitar And darryck floored on drums

[00:41:27] And joe on bass and jason singing and me so that that lineup was pretty tough. It was pretty good and we Played quite a few shows around the west coast with that lineup never went outside of the country

[00:41:42] And then darryck went through some hard times and then we got boz on drums for a while And then everything kind of fell apart and then jason died and We recorded that um We did that

[00:41:58] Two show two years in a row. We played that malt soda bash thing and and scooter from malt soda recorded Both of those shows and kind of released it as a double dvd thing What about the those songs that are on the end of that?

[00:42:12] Um the demo songs. Yeah, yeah, they never Never got released but that was all like 19 Um 96 We had been recording all this music And we wanted jason to sing On these demos, but jason was kind of busy. He was strung out on drugs at that point pretty bad

[00:42:34] and um Things nothing was really happening And we were thinking about getting another singer And then dav got asked to join Lagwagon and so everything just Fell apart and then a couple years later jason kind of got his shit together and and put vocals on it

[00:42:52] Him and that guy todd who played bass with us at the skate park Went in and worked out all these that's why there's so many like Vocal harmonies on that record because uh Todd was is pretty talented dude in um

[00:43:07] And so jason did that on his own he did all those vocals on his own And so jason did that on his own he did all those vocals on his own and um

[00:43:15] That's how we ended up with that demo, but it was kind of like so that I don't know probably 2002 or three I guess and so we we ended up playing a couple of those songs live, but Um never ended up on any record like we never re-recorded them

[00:43:34] In a studio as a band You think any of them will resurface now in possible future shows? I like playing that made in galita song. That's a good one. Yeah Does the current lineup have any plans on coming out to the east coast? um

[00:43:52] We we want to do europe next and that's been our focus because you know When in 88 89 We went there, you know two years in a row and hammered europe and It was like that was our the main our main fan bases there and yeah

[00:44:14] But yeah, we definitely would would love to come out back east That live in a doubt in a dive record that you put out recently that was in from 89 in europe, correct? Yeah And that's such a great the production on that is so good. It's

[00:44:29] Such a great record. I love us to it. A lot of people still like the at the first one better that um berlin record 88 I just I kind of ruined that record because I Um, I was there in the studio and they had these room mics set up

[00:44:44] And but the room was really echoey and horrible But i'm like, oh we got to use this these room mics, you know We have these, you know, we have them. We should use them in natural reverb

[00:44:54] That's so cool and it ended up making the whole thing kind of sound washy and far away But the thing that's cool about is you can really hear bombers drumming And the bass is there and it's all there. So

[00:45:08] I mean, we were a pretty good tight unit at that point. I was near the end of the tour We recorded a previous show in a smaller Room that actually I think came out really good

[00:45:22] But bombers said I was sick that night. We can't use that record that recording and they recorded over it to do the live in berlin record And I wish we had that because I think it was a better show And it probably sounded better

[00:45:38] Yeah, we had uh joe on the podcast Oh, what was like a year and a couple months ago. It was like last winter Oh And he was telling us that like he was so young that when when he went to europe with you guys was it

[00:45:50] Bomber somebody had to adopt the very legal Very very basically had to adopt him Yeah Yeah, there's a photo of his parents dropping him off at the airport

[00:46:04] Or not dropping they were like came to the checkout counter and they took a photo of them and they're they do not look happy They're like very traditional portuguese parents

[00:46:18] He he he he told us the only reason it happened is because the principal at his school basically talked His parents into it. Yeah Which is crazy. No, that's true

[00:46:31] Nothing like that would ever will ever happen again. No principal ever talk any parents and delaying their child go Go to europe with a bunch of a band called rich kids on lsd Yeah, the principal talking to parents until letting him do that Well, we know

[00:46:48] Yeah, the 80s Matt and I are both fans of the other Um big ones. Yeah, so matt if you want to talk that up well Well, I don't know about talking to talking it up other than the fact that I love that record but um

[00:47:07] That I think the The thing about that that always gets my mind Is because of like when I first realized That the other was Like you guys Because I had heard it in the 90s because of some comp and was like, oh this band's pretty cool

[00:47:27] But I had no idea that it was you guys. Oh, yeah, they put uh that the fat comp. It was a Yeah, he's a street girl. I think was on that one

[00:47:37] Uh, it was a honest don's comp. I think it was uh cafes and bars cafes and bars That's a it's a cool one what ended up happening for me is because this is a little faux pas, I guess but um

[00:47:50] I am one of the people that actually likes Uh reactivate And I get it it's not an rkl right? It was like a demo really but yeah overproduced demo Yeah, but the other to me ended up becoming like I wanted more bomber

[00:48:10] Mm-hmm like vocals and that's what the other became to me And uh, and so I really really fell in love with with that. I mean that record is I'm still probably The favorite record that I ever played on For me just because we were

[00:48:25] I mean we were me and boss rehearsed for that record Every day like almost every day for Like six months and so we were super well prepared for that Um, Ryan green said you know had us set up

[00:48:41] in the room and we we just came in and um Played through the songs and he was like man. This is going to be so easy and and that recording Just went like so so smoothly like he said and um

[00:48:58] The only thing that happened that was weird is I got bit by a spider while I was tracking guitars I didn't really realize I kept going. Ah, what is that? I looked down There's this big welt right under where my belt is and

[00:49:11] It just turned into this husk volcano. It was gnarly What kind of spider was it? Do you know or no probably? I don't know black widow or crown recluse or something Did you get fever like symptoms from it? No, it was just gross. Um, it hurt

[00:49:29] Yes, this reactivate in that band are kind of Related because that um reactivate is when we first got involved with epitaph and um bomber and bret Were the ones that decided That this band would be called archael and not slang. So slang was like the funky

[00:49:52] Groovy band that we had before reactivate And we had just got daveron in the band at that point Just barely and so he wasn't even used to our songs yet And then we're like we're going to you know go record this record and um And so

[00:50:12] And this is during we went down there to record it during the la riots So we're in hollywood during the la riots and the streets were closed and there was like um military guys with machine guns on the corners. It was like full-on

[00:50:27] Curfew like you weren't allowed to be out driving around and we would just drive right past them and nothing ever happened I don't know why they didn't stop us a Van full of guys It was like the Because they knew magic was happening. Yeah

[00:50:42] That recording session was ridiculous. I mean our our engineer was on crack And we recorded a you know a bunch of those songs with davon drums And then bomber had like

[00:50:57] Two or three more songs and he went back with a different drummer and bomber ended up playing guitar and bass and on on those songs with a different drummer Jeff was playing drums. He was the original slang

[00:51:12] Drummer he was really good. He is really good, you know, so that's why those Three songs like that song insane Sounds different than the rest of the record because bomber like played all the guitars on it and

[00:51:25] Produced that part of the record like so it sounds totally different than the rest of the record but um So yeah bomber and brett decided that that recording That bomber was rkl and that we could We should call the the The album an rkl record

[00:51:45] Okay, so then that record came out everyone hated it We went on tour in europe And we were playing some shows with you know without lineup our first show when we landed in germany was with no effects

[00:52:00] And we had no idea how big no effects had gotten at this point Yeah, and uh little joe was wasted. He just he got there and instantly started drinking these german giant beers He passed out in the van like we're like dude take it easy

[00:52:17] He said i'm not drunk. I swear And so bomber drew gene simmonds makeup with permanent marker on his face i'm not drunk. I swear on his arm and so You know, um he gets up

[00:52:34] You know a while after we arrive at this venue and there's already kids around everywhere because this is a no effect show And everyone's like pointing at him and laughing. He goes. Yeah, it says i'm not drunk, ha ha, but he didn't realize that he had gene simmonds

[00:52:49] face makeup on And uh, so we were all cocky like oh no effects they suck You know like because they they didn't used to be that great. I mean when when they used to open for rkl They were they're good, but they were they were um

[00:53:04] original and funny, but they weren't we had no idea and um, so we played We played as our our set and I don't remember if it was went over well or not, but Then when they went on it was just like oh my god like

[00:53:21] They were huge and this was like at the peak of of them of their 90s, you know, 1993 1993 1993 so they were just like starting to crest right there and um that tour, you know

[00:53:40] Was a tour that uh our friend will was with us and he died while we were on the road and And bomber it was too much for bomber and he flew home And we ended up in barcelona With no singer and we called jason

[00:53:57] and asked him if he wanted to come out and Finish our tour with us and so he came out. He was um totally strong out and we went out to mayorka and he had to go cold turkey out there and

[00:54:10] But he did it and we uh, we actually played a show in mayorka one of the They said at the time that we were the only american band besides the ramones that had played in in mayorka and we played with this band called

[00:54:25] Serebros Expramitos, which is squish brains And um And then we came back to barcelona and played another Pretty ripping show that we kind of put together ourselves us in the subterranean kids and then we uh, that's those guys went to berlin and recorded that um

[00:54:49] I had to stay in in barcelona, but um those guys Went to berlin and recorded the testicle g in the field my nut posse recording I don't know if you're familiar with that, but you should check that out. Everyone should be Yeah, and uh

[00:55:06] And so that that recording was born out of that tour and then yeah, we had a really Good great tour after that and we were all amped on the band again

[00:55:16] And that's we said we got to go home and we got to ride another rock and roll nightmare And so that's when we buckled down and wrote the richest rags record and We had never done a record without bomber

[00:55:30] And so this was challenging. You know, we had to we had to make sure that we wiped The slight cleaning of of reactivate and and made sure that this record was Gonna kick ass and so yeah, we got the guy who produced that record

[00:55:47] Had just done an east bay thrash band called forbidden And so he was used to super fast, you know tight music and tight drums and He knew what to do with our with our music to get it to Work and you know that record came out pretty cool

[00:56:03] and we toured that record and um We had a lot of problems with jason's drug use and stuff and um Like on one tour I remember

[00:56:17] We were all getting ready for this euro tour and I guess I had forgotten to tell jason that we were going to europe So he didn't have time to detox of drugs and his girlfriend at the time was strung out too. So he brought her

[00:56:33] With us on tour and her kids So we had two strung out people on the bus with their kids and that was where it was a nightmare Yeah That was the european tour. Yeah That's that's a recipe for disaster my goodness. Yeah

[00:56:54] It's crazy all the all the things that you've gone through we talked to fat mike about a year ago as well We talked to him about this too like With all the stuff with all the the bands that you've been in and all the people you've played with

[00:57:06] To still be kicking it and still be doing the punk rock thing With everything you've experienced the good the bad the ugly it's pretty wild, you know like I mean this endless endless endless stories. It's just like I wish I remembered more, you know

[00:57:22] And we you know whenever we're all together like someone will bring up something like oh my god. Yeah, that's that's right. Yeah So I've been you know, so our friends are are um putting together this rkl documentary hell yeah called

[00:57:38] A rock and roll nightmare. Um you find them on instagram rkl doc And um, I think they're on facebook the same name and uh They are hoping to have that out by the end of the year

[00:57:53] And it's they have a lot of a lot of interviews with people and Awesome, and um, it's gonna be pretty interesting and they're trying to really piece together the story It's hard, you know like to put all those things together in the right order because

[00:58:08] Like I was when I was trying to remember the lineup with the skate park and then what happened after that and It's crazy how all the how all these things Came together for each generation each version of the band, you know, you know, obviously

[00:58:26] Maybe you can maybe you can't talk about stuff like this But do you have plans at all to like record anything new or put anything? Wow at the moment We don't have anything demoed, but you know We would love to yeah

[00:58:41] I think fat would put it out. So that's pretty good foot in the door to have Yeah, you should you definitely should Yeah Um before we let you go I want to ask you these four questions that we ask everybody The first two are not music related

[00:58:57] Um, but they're super but they game of thrones related I'm sorry and I'm so sorry for You are you are way better looking Well, let's see. Oh, sorry Chris when that photo was

[00:59:13] That show I had just bleached my hair too. So it pretty much looked like old man here But it was hurtful to me because this is the first year that my hair started falling out and so

[00:59:25] It's like oh man, I really do. I would never forgive myself if I did anything hurtful to you. So So sorry. All right This first question is if you were on death row, what would your final meal be? Probably

[00:59:42] I love a really good cheeseburger and french fries and a chocolate shake Fuck yeah, perfect The next the next question is the most important question. Yeah All what is your favorite cereal? Cheerios, um non non honey not just plain plain cheerios Yeah, all right. Gotcha. Um

[01:00:05] Third question is if so they actually do this now And so if you were to be cremated They could take your ashes that could form it into a vinyl record of your choice

[01:00:14] So if you were going to have your ashes eternalize in a vinyl record of your choice Which album would you pick? reactivated No Probably the surf punks record. No the b52 is um What's the one with rock lobster on it?

[01:00:39] It would be that record. Is it just self titled? I think it might just be self titled Oh, okay I think got you I could be completely wrong All right, uh the final question is who is on your mount rushmore of punk rock?

[01:00:52] You get five people because you get a crazy horse too. So five people Who would you put on your mount rushmore of punk rock? Darby crash Nice said vicious Joan jet The Ramones I don't know which one Joey maybe Joey yeah

[01:01:14] Yeah, um, I don't think he considered himself a punk rocker He was just him captain sensible Mm-hmm. Got you is that four? Yeah, it's five. That's all five. Yeah. Okay. There you go

[01:01:30] And awesome and yes the b52 is first album the one with rock officer is just self titled the b52 Okay, cool Well chris, thanks dude. Thanks so much for doing this

[01:01:39] We would love to have you on maybe a few months down the road to talk about lag wagon um Matt and I are both huge rkl fans. I saw you in la

[01:01:48] Well, how come you guys aren't playing you you could totally ignore this and I could cut it out But how come you guys aren't playing the final no effects show in la those three days?

[01:01:56] I thought for sure rkl would be a municipal waste is on tour during that time. Oh That makes sense. Okay. Yeah, okay Good answer. Okay. Good Yeah, okay acceptable answer

[01:02:11] Yeah, totally. All right, chris. Thank you so much, man. And thanks guys. Yeah, I totally appreciate it. Thank you All right. Yeah, I'll meet you as well. You too. Thank you. Yeah, take care. All right. It was awesome. Thanks a lot

[01:02:22] All right, but I don't do this shit. I can still hear you All right, so what what do I have to press? close