Featured Artist

How did The Riptides get started?
Me & my twin bro Bob started a band to (for what other reasons?): meet
hot chicks and piss off our parents. We were successful on both fronts.

Style of Music:
No Gimmicks Canadian Punk Rock

Tell us about the tour you just finished with The Queers.
We had a total blast. It's always fun heading out on the road with Joe,
whether it's in Canada or the U.S. The shows were a lot of fun and a
huge success. We were able to play our asses off every night and get really
cool responses from people. It's always rad when people wanna come up, talk
and hang out after the set. It was also wild to see many more people every
night singing along to our songs. That's a really good feeling - playing some
bar like along the coast-line of the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of miles
away from home, and there's people front row singing along. Really cool. Oh
yeah - it was also a new experience on this tour to have girls "feeling you
up" as your playing your set. That was new. Pretty hot.

How long have The Riptides been around?
Too long.
(late winter '97)

How many albums have you done?
Too many.
Ok, here's the official run-down: "I'm in Love with a Harelip Retard"
(tape-only release): 1998, "Going Down Syndrome" (Out-of-print): 1999,
"California Reamin'" (Out-of-print): 2000, "Appetite For Rejection"
(Out-of-print): 2001, "Drop Out" (available on Interpunk): 2002,
"Split" (Out-of-print): 2003, and "Hang Out" (available on Interpunk thru Red
Scare/Union 2112): 2006. From our own label, we also managed to put out
two compilations called "Kick 'Em While They're Down" (Vol. 1&2) which
feature a local Ottawa bands.

How was it making your CD "Hang Out" at the infamous Sonic Iguana?
Incredible. We had a great time working with the man, the myth, the
legend known as Mass Giorgini. Mass exceeded every expectation about what we had of him going into this project. I mean, from the get-go, we knew we wanted to put our new songs in the hands of the same guy that produced such amazing and influential records like "Don't Back Down" (Queers), "Re-Animation Festival" (Groovie Ghoulies) and "Underground Network" (Anti-Flag) as
well as working with Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Green Day, Riverdales, the
list goes on. I mean, we might have even been a little intimidated at first,
because c'mon; Mass was a member of Common Rider, Screeching Weasel and Squirtgun. All of the those worries were quickly shut-down the minute we met him. Mass is an up-front, sincere, caring and honest person who is also fiercely intelligent and sensitive. I think we had a perfect working relationship on this record; just the right balance of work ethics and
joking around to complete a fun record. We were all there because regardless of what was "in" or "cool" (musically) at the time, we were making a record that was simply true and honest to us, and no one else.

Tell us about the Canadian punk scene.
There isn't one. Not the type of "punk" scene that I define. Sure, you
can go out and check out a Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Simple Plan or Sum
41 show, but that's not what I define as "Canadian Punk". That's what I
define as "Canadian Junk" - disposable music. A waste of my time. My punk
remains in the gutters of Vancouver (Dayglo Abortions) & the alleyways of
Montreal (Ripcordz).

Were any of you in bands prior to The Riptides?
Nothing noteable.

Favorite place to play and why:
Basements. Because cool and wierd things can happen in damp, dark
places.

Funniest thing you've seen at a show?
Rock-Star asshole-cunt bands we've played with. There's too many to
count, too many to laugh about. Makes for great song ideas.

Craziest place you've played?
East Hastings, Vancouver. Anyone will tell you it's like another world.
We've seen & been through shit down there that you wouldn't even
believe. Bob was talking to Cretin (Dayglo Abortions) a couple of years ago and
Cretin said "Every time we (Dayglos) play the Cobalt (in East Hastings)
someone dies. Last week 2 people died." Awesome.

Are you on a label? If so, who?
USA - Red Scare (San Fransisco) / Canada - Union 2112 (Montreal). Both
awesome labels with awesome bands. Great guys running them too.

Who are your favorite bands right now?
Our friends The Leftovers & The Guts

Who writes your songs and how are you inspired to write them?
Bob will come up with most of the melodies. I'll write a few here &
there, but he's our punk rock Brian Wilson. I'll help "flesh out" some songs
as well. Skotty & Pat are awesome with writing too - we all bring our own
style to the table which makes for a fun mix. We write songs to make lots &
lots of money. We write songs to sell in Coke & Revlon commercials.

When you play at a show are you all serious or do you just fuck
around??
We always fuck around. We're aware that people paid good $ to be there
so we try to hit the right chords most of the time but you should never take
yourself too seriously. That's when it stops being fun.

Any pre-show rituals?
Cocaine, pills & hookers.....sometimes we slaughter small mammals.

What's your favorite song that you play right now and why?
Unfortunate Son - Why? Cause it's bad-ass.

What does it mean to you being in The Riptides?
I'll never talk about my band in the "third person" - that's a real
Lars Ulrich (Metallica) thing to do. (In a coked-out rock-star accent):
"...ya know, like, um, Metallica, is like this, um, entity that keeps (snort),
um, y'know, moving along, and I'm like, y'know, just going along for the
ride..."

What do you do when you're not playing?
Watching hockey, drinking Tim Horton's and working a day job that pays
a lot more, and requires accountability, intelligence & responsibility.

How do your families evaluate the fact that you're musicians?
"Musicians" by hobby, not by trade.

What are your thoughts on the influences of Punk Rock on the
mainstream?

"Punk Rock" is as much a buzzword as "Emo", "Indie-Rocker", "Hipster",
"Ridin' Dirty" or "Wa-Saaaap?". There is no weight in the commercial
mainstream. It's whatever forum can sell the product. Bob (my bro) was
once asked how he defined "Punk Rock." His answer was "Whatever." I think
that's about right.

What is your evaluation of the current punk scene?
What current punk scene?

Who are your musical influences?
Ramones, Beach Boys, and any record my Mom & Dad have in their
collection.

Any bands you really want to do a show with and why?
I wanna dig up Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, and Hank Williams, get a case of
Kentucky bourbon, a 12-guage shotgun and a beat-up Ford Fairlane. We
ditch playing the show, get all fucked up and drive around blasting Johnny
Cash music shooting mailboxes and road signs. That'd be the greatest night
of my entire life.

Who's the craziest band you've ever done a show with?
Canadian living legends the Dayglo Abortions. No one will ever touch
their live show. Dwarves come in at a distant second.

Describe the stage presence of The Riptides.
Four pimps about to smack down the crowd like a five dolla ho'

Favorite Band of all time
Ramones

What are your general thoughts on the world today?
Too much time is wasted on theoretical and/or philisophical debates
about the world we live in. When you hit your late 20's (like myself); you'll
notice that you'll just wanna fuck or get fucked-up. Life's too short.
Carpe Diem.

What's your favorite part of being in a band?
Making cool music, and meeting girls that wanna have sex with you just
because you stand in front of them with a microphone.

What are personal thoughts on the mentality of today's America?
Joe Queer called The Riptides: "...The Queers' retarded cousins from
the North..." so I don't think my opinion should matter much.

When you look into the crowd, what would you say are the kind of people
at the shows?
Many beautiful, sexy ladies. Some nasty ones too.

How did you come up with the name The Riptides?
Matt Dillon fronted a fake band called "The Riptides" in a rather
obscure Martin Scorcese-produced film called "Grace of My Heart".

What makes The Riptides different from other bands?
I think we all have a blast with the tunes we play and it shows. We
never claim to be the most original band - we wear our influences on our
sleeves, but I think we are able to combine healthy doeses on the bands we
emmulate into our sound. There are alot of bands out there trying to sound like
Screeching Weasel, or the Lillingtons or the Ramones or whatever. I
think we are sometimes able to combine many of our influences into a record or
live set. We're having fun. Aside from the music though; we're just better
looking than most bands....and we have huge cocks (genitalia). Can't
help it. That's just how we get it done in Canada.

Anything you want to add or say?
Leech Street!! That's how we roll!

Anyone you want to thank?
The Lord Jesus Christ.

Next - Word association, Type the first thing that comes to your mind when you read the following words.

Punk - Andy Kaufman
Drink - Jim Belushi
Eat - Kirstie Alley
Girls - Wilt Chamberlain
Money - Geto Boys
Work - Adolf Hitler
Sleep - any Sofia Coppola movie
Leather - Johnny Ramone
Police - N.W.A.
Movie - What's Eating Gilbert Grape
TV - Larry David
Life - Beyoncé
Death - Tom Waites

What are your future tour plans looking like?
It will definitely playing a show where all the cool people at Punk
Rock Review.Org can come out an not unfortunately miss us by a couple of
days (sorry about that!) We have A LOT of plans coming in the next 2 years -
2007 & 2008 are definitely piling up to look like we're getting around -
U.S. tours, Japan & Europe are all in the works for 2007-08. I always
recommend that people check out our GaySpace page at: www.myspace.com/theriptides to always keep an eye out for upcoming tour plans. Or at least add us as a "friend" that way we can send mail to you. Also, thanks to everyone for reading this interview & thanks to PRR.Org!

See ya in the pit!


anDy
^V^
http://www.myspace.com/theriptides
www.theriptides.com