Interview

Babble & Beat - Have you played the venue, Hattrix, (Kenosha, WI) before?

Brad - Yeah, we played here in April this year… Friday the 13th in April.

Scary Larry - Wow. Has it been that long?

Brad - Yeah.

Scary Larry - I didn’t think it was that long ago.

Babble & Beat - With the same bands?

Scary Larry - With Dr. Destruction, his band Die Monster Die, and The BlowHoles

Brad - The BlowHoles... I don’t think they played last time.

Scary Larry - They didn’t play but they were here.

Brad - They forgot their instruments.

Jimmy the Butcher - They forgot their drum kits last time they were here.

Scary Larry - Oh, that’s right.

Brad - Which affects you playing live!

Scary Larry - And then there was the instrumental guy, I can’t remember what his name was…

Babble & Beat - Richard Cranium?

Scary Larry & Jimmy the Butcher – Yeah.

Scary Larry - He has a theremin.

Brad - He did the 'Godfather Theme' with it there.

Scary Larry - Yeah, that was kinda cool.

Jimmy the Butcher - I thought it was on a saw blade.

Scary Larry - Laughs.

Jimmy the Butcher - You know how people play the saw?

Scary Larry - Yeah…

Jimmy the Butcher - That’s what it sounded like. I was like, THAT’S AWESOME!! Then I was like, oh, it’s just a theremin. Go get a saw, then I’ll be impressed.

Brad - (says to Jimmy) Yeah, go get a saw, no more drums for you.

Babble & Beat - Did somebody by the name of Matt Parmenter get a hold of you?

Scary Larry - Matt got a hold of me awhile ago.

Babble & Beat - The reason I ask is that I recently did a CD review for a band called Fickle. In that review I mentioned how cool the photography, graphic design and layout was for the sleeve. Fickle got a hold of Matt Parmenter, who did the CD layout and graphic design, and told him to read the review. Upon doing so he saw our Gravetones CD review directly below it. He contacted me and thought it was really coincidental that both reviews were done by us, and on the very same day, because he used to be in The Gravetones!

Brad - Whoa.

Scary Larry - Actually, he was one of the guys that helped start the band, like geez, ten years ago. It was me, this guy named Josh Coutley, and Ben Cirus – he was from Iran and he had a different name that nobody could pronounce so he shortened it to Cirus, and it didn’t even sound nothing like Cirus, which was kind of funny. But, yeah, then we kind of took a break for a little while. Then I got the band back together with Ben and his brother, Bruce, who took over bass because Ben played bass but didn’t want to play bass because he jumped out of an airplane and something happened with the chute and he broke his arm and he had like these pins in his hands and stuff. This is the honest to God truth. So, originally he played bass but he couldn’t play bass anymore. So, he played guitar and we got his brother, Bruce, to play bass...

Suddenly, a large black hearse pulls up.

Babble & Beat - Awesome!

Scary Larry - It’s ‘Hearseapalooza’… I almost feel naked without one.

Back to previous conversation:

Scary Larry - Then we got Eric, who was a roommate at the time. So, that was the set-up then. We played for awhile and then we went our own different ways. Well, we got Joe in the mix over there too. Then Joe pretty much stuck around. I don’t know, I guess I don’t smell that bad so… Joe’s pretty much, aside from me, he’s like the longest running…

Babble & Beat - Why you sticking around, Joe?

Joey Gravetone - I think we’re better now. We were able to create more. And I sensed that from the beginning. And I was like, let’s just take it and see what we can do with it. If it bombs, it bombs. If not, even better.

Babble & Beat - What are some of your favorite venues in the Midwest to play?

Scary Larry - All of them. Laughs.

Brad - I guess I would have to say anyone that lets us play. Ahh… but uh, I gotta throw out the Congress ‘cuz we actually played there.

Scary Larry - Twice!

Brad - Yeah.

Jimmy the Butcher - I really like the Double Door. It’s really cool and it’s very professional and they actually make you feel like a bit of a rock star. You have your own dressing room, even though we’re some just band from Chicago and we practice in my friend’s mom’s basement. It’s like, it’s cool ‘cuz you walk in and they got beer for you, drinks. They have a guy that does the monitors on stage for sound AND a guy that does actual sound for the venue. It’s just really cool.

Brad - And they're nice, really nice.

Scary Larry - I’m a big fan of places that feed us. I like food. I’d rather get paid in food than… like most the venues you play give you drink tickets. I’d rather have them give me free food instead of drink tickets.

Babble & Beat - Like Italian food?

Scary Larry - As long as it’s good. I mean, I’ll eat anything from like Italian, Mexican, stir-fry, Japanese, uh… Creole, pretty much anything as long as it’s good. I’ll even eat skunk ass if it’s deep fried.

Babble & Beat - Ok. Name something that you absolutely won’t eat, where you draw the line.

Scary Larry - Uh, Ethiopian food. I won’t eat Ethiopian food. I tried that one time. They give you these things that look like tortillas but it tastes like foam rubber and there’s this bean dip they give you with it that tastes like mud.

Babble & Beat - Don’t they mix everything together on a big plate?

Scary Larry - You know what it looks like? It looks like someone took a shit on a plate, and it’s just as warm, and then you gotta scoop this stuff up and eat it. It’s like, what the hell is wrong with you?!

Brad - We’re never gonna try Ethiopian now, thanks, Larry.

Scary Larry - Laughs.

Brad - Then we played at the Subterranean, which is a cool place to play.

Scary Larry - Yeah, Subterranean is a nice place.

Babble & Beat - Where is it?

Brad - It’s in Chicago. It’s right around the corner from the Double Door and across the street from The Note. That North Damen and Milwaukee intersection, a big intersection.

Jimmy the Butcher - They’re a rock ‘n roll intersection for Chicago.

Scary Larry - Right there by Flash Taco. Mannn.

Babble & Beat - Flash Taco?

Scary Larry - Flash Taco. Oh yeah, they got a big ole, huge burrito, you bite into it and it like falls out the other end ‘cuz there’s so much crap in there. Big fan of that!

Everyone laughs.

Jimmy the Butcher - It took me 25 minutes to get a taquito there one time.

Scary Larry - Oh yeah?

Jimmy the Butcher - Which annoyed me AND it was the size of my thumb. Or a large caterpillar.

Babble & Beat - Being Friday the 13th I have to ask, do you have any superstitions?

Scary Larry - No, actually I’m usually pretty good with Friday the 13th. It’s Saturday the 14th that I have bad things happen to me.

Brad - I do too.

Babble & Beat - Really?

Brad - Yeah.

Babble & Beat - Like what, guys?

Scary Larry - I don’t know if I can tell you, ‘cuz it’s, you know, just bad things go wrong. Like the types of things that should go wrong on Friday the 13th. Well, Saturday the 14th usually crap goes wrong for me, you know? Like, like I go to shave and the batteries in my electric razor take a crap or…

Babble & Beat - Like a multitude of little inconveniences or something?

Scary Larry - Yeah. I really hate inconveniences. Lord knows, those are the days. Like I’m taking a crap and go to wipe my ass and then you know it’s like, “Where’s the toilet paper? We’re out??!!!” That’s the worse thing that could happen.

Jimmy the Butcher - Then you gotta jump in the shower!

Babble & Beat - Now, is there anyone else to blame for that, or just you?

Scary Larry - Well, it could be me, could be the old lady. I’m not sure. Could be sweet Sue, I don’t know.

Babble & Beat - Who’s the best Villainess? Can you think of one?

Scary Larry - Oh yeah. Um. Tura Satana from Faster, Pussycat! Kill, Kill! (1965).

Brad - Julie (Melinda Clarke) from Return of the Living Dead III. She’s a zombie and she’s really hot.

Joey Gravetone - Oh man, I was still thinking, I’m sorry.

Jimmy the Butcher - Umm, my old boss! Everyone laughs. From Felicia’s Market & Deli. He is a… no, I’m just kidding. Uh, I’m an idiot. Go, come back.

Babble & Beat - Pass on you too, Joe?

Joey Gravetone - I’m coming up… I’m blank.

Brad - Dorothy of Return to Oz… She’s pretty cool.

Scary Larry - That's Fairuza (Balk).

Babble & Beat - She is really cool.

Scary Larry - Yeah, she is pretty kick ass. But like, really scary.

Babble & Beat - You know who really likes her is Crispin Glover - and he’s kind of a freak too.

Scary Larry - Yeah! Hey, he almost kicked David Letterman in the face! I saw that!

Babble & Beat - It was a priceless TV moment! You can see it now on YouTube.

Scary Larry - Oh, wow. I saw that, yeah. He goes, “Look at me, I’m strong.” He had on these great big, huge platform shoes. Then they came back and said, “Crispin Glover was killed during the commercial...”

Babble & Beat - So, do you guys have day jobs?

Brad - I’m a High School English Teacher. I manage a pool in the summer.

Joey Gravetone - I’m in Customer Service for a lighting company.

Scary Larry - I just graduated from Robert Morris College, with honors, Cum Laude, baby, in Graphic Art and Design. Right now I’m freelancing but I’m looking for a regular day gig. So, it’s pretty much helping me pay for stuff.

Babble & Beat - How ‘bout you, Jimmy?

Jimmy the Butcher - I’ve been a butcher for six years. That’s where my name, Jimmy the Butcher, comes from. I have a fucked-up job and I love it!

Babble & Beat - I can’t even imagine your job! So, Larry, did you do the ‘Dig It’ album cover?

Scary Larry - Yeah. I did all the layout work for it. The front cover is actually an acrylic painting which is in my house and, um… I did it for a project at school and I was like, man, this really looks cool. So, I threw it by the guys and they were like, yeah, let’s put this on there. I messed around with some of the stuff and laid it out and that kind of thing and was like, “How’s this look?” Everyone is pretty happy with it so… that’s pretty much the story behind The Gravetones’ album cover.

Jimmy the Butcher - Larry does some incredible artwork. Except for one piece he drew. It was a cartoon drawing of all of us. And I look like a Cabbage Patch doll.

Scary Larry - Laughs.

Brad - That picture’s awesome! One day we’re going to put it on an album cover.

Jimmy the Butcher - I have a tiny mouth and everything…

Scary Larry - It was caricatures of all of us.

Jimmy the Butcher - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Babble & Beat - Now, Joe, do you do the lighting for your shows?

Joey Gravetone – No, I don’t. It’s very expensive lighting. We couldn’t afford it.

Babble & Beat - What do you guys prefer to chug back on the weekends?

Brad - I’m straight-edge.

Babble & Beat - So am I!

Joey Gravetone - Umm, I’m not a big drinker but MGD.

Scary Larry - I’m not a big drinker myself either. Shit, ah… probably a toss-up between Hacker-Pschorr Weisse and Mike’s Hard Lime. It’s good stuff but I don’t drink it very often. When I want to kick back and relax or something that’s what I’ll have. Like tonight, I had like 1 beer and I’ll probably have 1 or 2 more… doing Pabst Blue Ribbon, so, you know.

Babble & Beat - Are you guys working on new music?

Jimmy the Butcher - Oh yeah.

Brad - Always working on new stuff.

Scary Larry - Yeah, always. When we went in and recorded we had like an album’s worth of stuff that we could have recorded more. I think now we’ve got like an album and a half worth of (new) stuff.

Brad - 14 to 18 more songs I think. Something like that.

Scary Larry - Yeah. All original stuff, no covers.

Jimmy the Butcher - We’re set up for another album. Just have to go and record it.

Babble & Beat - So, when do you expect to record it?

Brad - Maybe later on in the year.

Babble & Beat - You guys put out a couple of EPs before ‘Dig It’, right?

Scary Larry - Yeah, we did a couple of experimental EP things…

Babble & Beat - Are they available still?

Scary Larry - You wouldn’t want them!

Brad - Yeah, you wouldn’t want them.

Jimmy the Butcher - We did one called ‘Trick or Treat’, which was 3 cover songs that we did for a Halloween show. Then we did another one called, ‘All You Can Eat’…

Brad - ‘Good Enough To Eat’…

Jimmy the Butcher - I mean, ‘Good Enough To Eat’, I’m sorry, …

Babble & Beat - Not a Fat Boys cover then?

Jimmy the Butcher - No. So, we did that one. That was when we were playing with The Adicts, right?

Scary Larry - Right.

Brad - Yeah.

Babble & Beat - You played with The Adicts?

Jimmy the Butcher - Yeah.

Brad - We’ve played with a lot of bands!

Babble & Beat - Oh, wow. Holy S*&^. They’re awesome.

Jimmy the Butcher - Yes, they are. It was like a dream come true for me. Jimmy shows me an Adicts tattoo on his arm.

Babble & Beat - I didn’t even notice your arm! Duh!

Jimmy the Butcher - That’s OK. Hey, I got to see his penis!

Scary Larry - Laughs hysterically. That’s a great story!

Babble & Beat - You what?

Jimmy the Butcher - Yeah, I saw Monkey’s penis.

Babble & Beat - Ok. So, what’s his penis like? Thinks, did I just ask that?

Jimmy the Butcher - Uh, his penis is fine. It’s a penis shape, and everything. A normal penis. But uh, what had happened was we were hanging out with ‘em, drinking and stuff. It was like a dream come true for me. I’ve liked them since I was like 14. I was like, oh my God, we played with them and now we’re just up in their dressing room. So uh, so basically, we got to help escort them to the stage ‘cuz the dressing rooms were all the way on the other end and then we got to watch from the sides. So, it was like right there the whole time. It was one of the greatest shows we’ve ever seen.

And then we go back up to the dressing room and everyone’s drinking and high-fiving and it was a good night for all. Then people started straggling off looking for chicks, selling merch, whatever, and now it’s just me and Monkey hanging out in the dressing room. And we’re just talking, you know, and he’s toweling off from the show. He takes his shirt off and he’s toweling down and I’m thinking nothing of it. And I don’t know if it’s because he’s English, or just “open”, or whatever, but he just up and took his pants off. I was like, "Oh my God! Like, what do I do?" Because he’s standing there completely naked and he’s going (in his English accent), “Yeah, right, I like it. It’s a good show. What we did is good fun...” And I’m just like, “AHHHHH AHHHHH!” Like, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by saying, “You crazy English bastard, put your penis away!” So, I just tried to keep eye contact as much as I could. But if I ever want to finish my tattoo, I could make it anatomically correct!

Everyone laughs.

Babble & Beat - Maybe he was fishing for a compliment!

Jimmy the Butcher - He thought it was cool that I have his face tattooed on my arm. Which, actually, made it even more awkward! It was like, hey, there’s your penis, and here’s your face, permanently affixed to my body. In an English accent, “Hello, Love, you’ve got a lovely penis.”

Babble & Beat - What may people be surprised to find out you watch or listen to?

Joey Gravetone - I have a sizeable collection of albums and I am sure that there are more than a few bands that people wouldn’t expect me to listen to in there. Like Pearl Jam. I think I have Neil Diamond in there.

Babble & Beat - Neil Diamond… that’s pretty bad.

Scary Larry - Hey! What’s wrong with Neil Diamond, man? ND is alright.

Babble & Beat - My dad ruined it for me by overplaying him.

Jimmy the Butcher - I listen to lots of terrible music. I have a couple Yanni CDs. I have a couple Hootie and the Blowfish CDs.

Babble & Beat - Were the Yanni CDs gifts? Or, did you purchase them?

Jimmy the Butcher - One was a gift, one I purchased!

As far as television shows, really nothing embarrassing. I just, I like comedy shows like Scrubs, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Arrested Development - God rest its soul.

Babble & Beat - Oh, I loved Arrested Development!

Brad - My ultimate guilty pleasure, rock ‘n roll wise, is Bush. I like Bush. Um, but I also really like early ‘90s techno, savvy dance music. In terms of TV, I think 24 is the greatest drama every conceived. It’s like the greatest TV ever made, I think.

Scary Larry - I think the worst thing that I own is the Partridge Family’s ‘Greatest Hits’. What I used to do is, I got it on disc, when I’d make, like, comps for people I wouldn’t put that on the comp but there would be like some space and it would be like, oh, he’s got a little something extra on there… and it would be that, it would be the last song. You know, just to kind of mess with people.

As far as like, TV, right now I’m kind of diggin’ on, what was that show, oh, American Gothic. They’ve been showing that on Chiller. Big fan of that. I guess my only really guilty pleasure, as far as TV shows, there’s always a place in my heart for Pee Wee’s Playhouse. Still love that.

Babble & Beat - Well, thank you so much, guys! Anything else you’d like to add?

Jimmy the Butcher - We’d like to give it up for Babble and Beat Magazine - the greatest fanzine on the internet!

Babble & Beat - Thank you, you’re too kind! Wayyyyy to kind.

Brad - Thanks for being here.

Scary Larry - Thank you!

LINKS:
Official Gravetones
Gravetones MySpace