Interview With Capguns 'n Coke
Who are your musical influences? Like most other pop punk bands Screeching Weasel is collectively one of our favorite bands and they influence most of the songs we write. Another band that we all love and who have influenced us in a big way is The Apers. I like to think that we sound like Screeching Weasel playing Apers songs. Those are the two major influences on our music but there are many others that influence certain parts of our style like The Zatopeks and a lot of 50’s Rock ‘n’ Roll artists like Elvis and Buddy Holly.
How would you describe the Capguns ‘n’ Coke to someone who has never heard them?I’d say we play mid to fast paced pop punk with lots of melodic guitar leads.
I’m sure you’re sick of this question, but where did the name Capguns ‘n’ Coke come from?The name came from our friend (and my brother) Joey T. Around the time the band was starting up he hadn’t discovered coffee and he drank a lot of Coca Cola. One night he found a cap gun in the car on the way to a gig and took it into the venue with him, he started messing around with it and firing it into people’s faces. Squinty Joe thought that Capguns ‘n’ Coke would be a great name for the pop punk band he was trying to get started. Looking back it fits in really well with pop punk’s bubble imagery without being a tired cliché. The Capguns would have been a big mistake.Who has been the most memorable band you’ve done a show with so far? We have played with a lot of great bands who have all been memorable in their own ways, but the band I won’t forget were a Harry Potter themed band that played in our home town of Guildford. When we arrived at the venue we were met by 40 odd young kids, some of whom we dressed up as wizards. When the band came on they are all dressed as Harry Potter and played songs like “Voldemort Can’t Stop The Rock”. In some songs they didn’t play their instruments but sang to a backing track played through a laptop. It was quite surreal but they put on a good show. It was a fun gig.
Tell us about Squinty Joe Records and how it all came about. When we were all still at school there were bands in Squinty’s year who were all friends and the idea to record a 3 band split CD came about. Squinty bought an 8 track to record the bands and release the CD on his own record label. The CD never happened but the idea of having his own record label stuck with him. The first few releases were demos for a band he was in, the first real release was a compilation 7 inch of local hardcore bands called ‘No Sleep Till’ Guildford”. After this success he released our split CD with The Grizzley Ends. He now releases 7 inches and CDs for bands all over Europe. Squinty Joe Records is going from strength the strength. You can check the latest on the label, listen to Mp3s and buy records from www.myspace.com/squintyjoerecordsDo you have any upcoming tour plans? Yeah, we have some plans to do a short tour of the UK with The Apers later this year but nothing has been confirmed yet. If all goes well we should be heading over to mainland Europe in December to play some shows with our friends The Priceduifkes.
The term "Pop Punk" is thrown around in many ways. How do you define “Pop Punk”? We are all strong believers in promoting what we see as real Pop Punk instead of the corporate bullshit like Blink 182 that the average MTV viewer might consider to it to be. Bands like Simple Plan and Sum 41 have no relevance to the scene we consider ourselves to be a part of. To us real Pop Punk bands are bands like Screeching Weasel and The Descendants and the bands that take influence from them. There is much more to Pop Punk than selling records and making money.What is your favorite Capguns ‘n’ Coke song to play live? Personally my favorite song to play live is a new song that we haven’t recorded yet called ‘Can’t Concentrate’ but the fast simple songs are always a lot of fun. ‘Scene Dixx’, ‘Leather Jacket’ and ‘Can’t Say I Never Try’ are always good fun to play live.
What is your evaluation of the current punk scene in Europe? I think the European punk scene is really strong at the moment. There are a lot of great bands doing some really great stuff and supporting bands from overseas such as The Priceduifkes and The Accelerators. Everyone seems to be really kind and helpful and there is a great sense of community.What’s the funniest thing you've seen at a show? I think the funniest show we have played was the Harry and The Potters gig in Guildford that I mentioned earlier. It was really strange but it was a great night.
Most bizarre place you've played a show? The strangest place we have ever played was a place in Guildford called The Riverside Centre. Squinty Joe was putting on a gig for Even In Blackouts but he couldn’t book the usual venue so the show ended up taking place in a day centre for Guildford’s elderly residents. The strangest thing about it was there was a charity shop (or what you might call a thrift store) in the corner selling wool and children’s books. That was definitely the most bizarre place we have played.What do each of you do when you’re not playing music or touring? We all like to watch a lot of TV and pretend that we are still good at skateboarding, however Tom likes to spend his time losing money on internet poker sites or fishing in the dark. Squinty Joe is a full time electrician’s apprentice. Matt is taking a year out of education and Tom will be going to University in September. I myself am still at school for another year.
Any bands you really want to do a show with? I think we would all like to play with our friends from overseas that we still haven’t had a chance to play with yet like The Priceduifkes and The Apers but we will get plenty of opportunities to play with them this year. Other bands we would love to play with are bands that we really like such as The Ergs and The Steinways. We have been really lucky to play with such great bands so far, hopefully we will play with these guys soon!Who's the wildest band you've ever done a show with? The wildest band we have ever played with would be with out a doubt Holy Ghost Revival from Washington D.C. We played with them when they toured with Clorox Girls from Portland, Oregon. When they first started to play the singer was sitting behind a keyboard but after the first couple of songs he switched to just vocals. He started to run around, falling all over the place. He grabbed members of the audience and serenaded them. He spent most of the set rolling around on the floor wailing into the microphone. My description makes it sound really bad, but it was really great! The singer is a real showman and the band wears lots of crazy clothes. I suggest you go and see them if you get the chance!
Anything that you would like to add? Yeah, we have just released a new CD called ‘Just Another Day’. It is a split release between Squinty Joe Records and Oscar’s Eye Recordings. Unfortunately because of the current exchange rate the new CD is $8 to ship to the U.S. We still have lots of copies of our split with The Grizzley Ends too. You can buy both CDs for around $15 shipping included. You can buy the CDs and listen to tracks here www.myspace.com/capgunsandcoke. Please e-mail us at capgunsncoke@hotmail.co.uk. Thanks a lot to Punk Rock Review for supporting us and everyone who took the time to read this! Next - Word association, Type the first thing that comes to your mindwhen you read the following words.
> Punk = D.I.Y.
> Drink = Bulmers (A bad Irish cider)
> Porn = Internet
> Eat = Midnight Chips
> Money = Squinty Joe
> Work = Whining
> Sex = Shop
> Sleep = Eat
> Leather = Jacket
> Police = Fuck tha Police
> Movie = Popcorn
> Government = Scumbags
> TV = Simpsons
> Life = Fun
> Death = Boring
