Interview: The Schizophonics – “It’s Just Pure Energy!”

Brace yourself, because The Schizophonics are on their way to rock New Zealand!

The San Diego-based trio will make their NZ performance debut this month with (at least) 7 explosive shows around the country beginning on Thursday, May 23rd at Auckland’s Whammy Bar.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda tracked down guitarist/vocalist Pat Beers on a rare day off at his home in San Diego and spoke to him about the upcoming tour and the new album he and his drumming partner Lety are working on.

Click here to listen to the interview with Pat Beers:

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: Uh, so, what do you usually get up to on a day off?

PB: Um, usually – just practicing and working on music, and hanging out with my dog, and… not too much crazy stuff right now. Lety’s kind of… doing the business side of the band, like booking shows and stuff like that on the computer.

MD: Right. And did I read somewhere where you guys are working on a new album?

PB: Yeah, yeah. We have one more day in the studio next week, to finish off the last of the vocals and… it’ll be finished recording, hopefully one week from today, next Thursday. It’s the last day we have booked in the studio, and then… um, it’s up to be mixed, and then hopefully, it’ll be out by October, that’s our goal.

MD: Uh-huh. So, what can you tell me about the record itself? What is it going to sound like?

PB: I guess sonically, we got kind of a – sort of a bigger sound than the last record. The last one, we, uh, I kinda pushed it into the red, quite a bit, while we were mixing it. And we ended up getting, more of a distorted, more… in the treble range. This one is kind of a bigger sounding record in that… the songs are… I would say, that theme-wise, the writing-wise, it’s like… half angry/political album, half party album.

MD: Right!

PB: Sometimes both at the same time.

MD: That pretty much sums things up, doesn’t it? I mean, people are either…

PB: Exactly. I think that kinda sums up the band, I think.

MD: And I assume that the angry-political side… is the fact that you’re just not happy with the current administration, or is there more to it than that?

PB: Yeah! I mean, we were kind of doing that type of stuff – I mean, years before the craziness that’s going on right now. The first single that Ugly Things put out, god, it must have been like – six or seven years ago, was called Red Planet, it was about a… the rise of this kind of ultra-right wing thing going on, that’s kind of culminated right now, and it’s like… it’s kind of weird that it’s happened to the point it has. But yeah, this new one is more about the divide right now in the US, and a lot of the songs talk about… how hard it can be if you have friends and family on the other side. And, how hard it is for people to have a rational conversation right now, because everything is so divided.

MD: Right. Well, I know you spend a lot of time on the road, so you must see a lot of the US. Does that aspect of things come up when you’re touring and playing and talking to people on the road?

PB: Yeah! I mean, it’s funny cause we live – we live in California, which is… we call it, people call it The Bubble, because you’re in this bubble of like-minded people. California is almost like its own country in a way. And then you go, you know, a few hours east, and definitely when you go the middle of the country, you come in contact with all these people that have completely different views than you do. And usually they’re just normal, polite, nice people, and then, the second – you know, I’d imagine, the second you kinda get into any kind of political argument with them, everything would make a – take a – horrible turn. That’s kind of what the – what a lot, some of the songs are about, how did we get here, and how is it possible that… how are we going to get out of this situation, how are we gonna have a conversation about… this kind of stuff.

But it’s also been interesting going to Europe, too, cause… the most common thing we get from people in Europe is  – “What is going on over there?!” – It’s funny, in England, we always have a – you know, cause they have the whole Brexit thing, so they’ll ask us about that, but you know what, it’s the same thing here, and… It’s, it’s interesting, because every country – I thought it would actually get more made fun of, when – cause we toured there right after the election, and I thought people would just throw tomatoes at us. Not really, but. I was surprised how understanding people were, and how they would relate the stories about how similar things were happening in all the different countries, and… there’s this sort of weird ultra-right thing happening, and… All over Europe as well, and sort of scapegoating of outsiders, and… things like that. So. Um, there’s a lot of understanding as well, which I’m very surprised by, because it’s so crazy right now.

MD: And so, who’s playing bass on the new album?

PB: Um, I actually play bass on it. We ended up just recording me and Lety on the whole thing. It was just like, some of the songs were so new, we just finished – finished the songs a few days before we went to the studio. And I just thought it’d be – it’d make more sense if – I just went and overdubbed the bass.

MD: Right. Makes… Easier than transferring and translating to someone else I guess, when you can just plug in and do it yourself.

PB: We, we do have a great bass player coming with us on this tour. He’s been playing with us for about a year now, named Blake [Lindquist], and… he is, he is doing… you know, really great live, and we’re excited to bring him out there with us.

MD: Ah. And so what – Is there a San Diego scene? A music scene? What’s happening in the city? Or are you kind of… the only thing of your ilk happening there, or is there like a community?

PB: Nah, there’s a really great scene here, um – it’s…. I don’t know if you guys are… kind of focused on this kind of garage rock stuff, but there’s a really good garage scene here. I guess, it’s sort of influenced by some of the past influence of Southern California, there’s definitely a sort of surf side to it. It sounds like the Creepy Creeps, they’re one of my favorite live bands, and bands like The Loons, Mike Stax from Ugly Things, and all that. John Reis, from Rocket From The Crypt, all his bands, like Hot Snakes, stuff like that. Mario, who plays within Rocket from the Crypt… it’s sort of this Hendrixy meets Zeppelin-y, slash…I don’t wanna call it… I guess they’re kind of a jam band, but not like you imagine, like when people say jam– it’s not like, goofy Phish music – it’s sort of like, in the sense that Cream is a jam band, you know. But um, I would say the thing that differentiates San Diego garage music from other cities, I’ve noticed, is… sort of more of a dance element, more of a bombastic live element. I don’t know why it is, sometimes I think it’s cause it’s such a sleepy stoner town that it’s hard to get people, that it’s hard to entertain people. I’ve noticed it in the past, but, San Diego bands have this sort of… over-the-top live persona. You know, like El Vez, is one person that comes to mind, is from here, and the Creepy Creeps have this overwhelming live show, or it’s like, go-go dancers and people in costumes, and a hype man… just this intense music. It’s sort of like… they force the audience to dance, and if someone’s not dancing, they’re like shamed by…

I don’t know what it is. I think we can’t help it. Cause we uh, we came out of this – we kinda evolved out of this pond, I guess, not really knowing what the rest of the world was like, and we went out and toured, and… I’m not saying other cities don’t have that, but um… but definitely there’s sort of this, uh, this kind of live element. And there’s sort of a comedic element too, like John Reis is very funny, Creepy Creeps have it, and El Vez, and all these bands. I’m terrible with stage banter between songs, but I’ve had to up my stage banter just by playing with these other bands. It’s like, okay, I get it – I gotta be a comedian too, I guess.

MD: But I’ve noticed that, from most of the photos I’ve seen of you playing… you’re usually kind of three feet up in the air.  Jumping up and down, so. Is that all part of that whole live performance thing, the over the top… that you seem to have down pat? Have you always performed like that? Is that part of what you do?

PB: Definitely. Since I was a kid, in bands in high school, I would always just freak out and jump around. I honestly don’t know why, you know. It’s just something I do when I react to rock ‘n’ roll, I guess. I don’t know why, every time I start playing, I start moving around, and then um, over the years, I just gradually… by doing, probably over a thousand shows at this point, it’s just kinda developed into something… something a bit more… resembling dancing, I guess.  I’m not sure what to call it. Yeah! That’s what rock ‘n’ roll music is to me. It’s just pure energy and… um, that’s what we try to convey in the live show.

MD: You mention these bands that you played in a long time ago. You and Lety met in high school, is that right?

PB: Yeah, yeah. We knew each other, really briefly. I played bass in her Ramones cover band for like, one rehearsal. We knew each other just a little bit, and then we ran into each other years later, right before we got to San Diego. And, she ended up moving out here a little bit after. She didn’t play drums when we started the band, she just started playing drums kind of on stage, we were just playing dive bars, we would just play for hours, and… she kinda learned to play in front of an audience, and – but she always just could naturally play drums really well, since the first time she played ‘em, and she makes fun of my drumming, so much, whenever I try to get on a drumset, cause… I’m notoriously bad at drums.

MD: So this is the first time you’re gonna be coming to New Zealand, right?

PB: Yeah, first time. We’re super excited, and… we’ve never been anywhere even close to there. And yeah, I’m excited to see just the countryside. It’s my favourite part of touring, just looking out the window and seeing the beautiful drives and everything, so I’m really looking forward to that.

MD: There should be plenty of that! I mean, not only are you playing in Auckland and Wellington, you seem to be playing at a lot of the smaller places around the country as well, which is pretty exciting for everybody concerned, I imagine. Do you usually do that when you go to a new place?

PB: Yeah. I mean, those are usually the best shows. Maybe… it’s cause bands don’t go to some of the places that often, and people are more appreciative. I mean, even in the States… you know, you can play a big city, and… you know, you’ll play a bigger venue, which is nice, there are probably more people at a bigger stage or something. But, you’ll go through some of the small towns, and you’ll just find this cooler rock scene, and people are just…there to have fun. There’s no pretense at all, and I love playing towns like that. I do that a lot in the States, a lot in Europe, especially in like Spain, or…. We’ll play like, a little village or something, and it’s like, “Is anyone gonna show up to this?” And then like, there’s a whole garage or punk scene there, that you never thought existed.

MD: Right. And, for people who haven’t seen you, because this is the first time you’re coming – maybe we can wrap things up with you just briefly describing the music that you make, and kind of the – the things that you listened to, to get to this point.

PB: Um, I would say the biggest influence is… I don’t know if listeners know about MC5 or The Stooges.  The MC5 were probably the biggest influence, not just with the whole… you know, political thing, but also the energy, the sound of the band, the stage antics and all that. But um, I mean, obviously the guitar player, Jimi Hendrix, and um – we’ve just kinda amplified a lot of those high energy performers. James Brown, the way he… danced on stage, Little Richard, the way he… sang and just, you know, sang like there was just electricity going through him at all times, Pete Townshend, in the way he would perform, and most of our influences were… more performers, rather than recording artists. Um. And so yeah, we took all of the things we loved over the years, and kind of mashed it all up into something that, um, we consider our own. But, I’m sure every artist is a rip-off of about nine other artists.

MD: Have you ever been able to talk to or watch Wayne Kramer perform at all?

PB: Yeah, we just saw – I don’t know if you saw that recent thing he did, called the MC50. We ended up going to see that. It was with a – he did an MC5 set with the drummer from Fugazi, the guitar player from Soundgarden, and a few other musicians. It was really great to see him, and after the show, we got to meet him, and he was just like the coolest guy. Super nice, and just like, very personable guy. Yeah, yeah. It was really amazing meeting out here like that, for the first time. You know, Lety’s always very talkative when we meet someone like that, and I just freeze up. I turn into, uh, you know, like Wayne and Garth, when they’re backstage meeting Alice Cooper— [Lety: Yeah, I’m Wayne and you’re Garth.]

Yeah, I’m more embarrassed… and just like, “Cool!”  Yeah, I get really weird when I’m around anybody I admire, but. We’ve luckily become friends with some of our favourite musicians like… like I mentioned earlier, John Reis, from the Crypt. Mike Stax, from the Loons. Manfred, from the Woggles. Some of these people, like… uh, Kid Congo [Powers]. So many people that we really admire the music of. Um, we’ve been lucky enough to meet and kinda become friends with. I just find that amazing, that some of these people… El Vez, is another person, who was kinda our mentor when we started the band, um… and we learned a lot from him, as far as putting on a stage show and everything.

Click here for tickets and info to see The Schizophonics on their NZ Tour.