185 Miles South
A hardcore punk podcast.
185 Miles South
8. Tony Cortez (Ill Repute)
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Tony Cortez is the guitarist for the seminal hardcore punk rock band Ill Repute. Started in 1981, and still going strong today, Ill Repute is one of the legendary Big 4 of the original nardcore scene, along with Stalag 13, Agression, and Dr. Know. We chat about every era of the band, from the 1982 demos that just got re-released to the albums in the 90's, to the upcoming Nardcore beer.
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Hey guys, before we get going with episode eight, I just wanted to remind everyone if they want to support the podcast, they can help out by liking, rating, and leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts, iTunes, podcast app, whatever. Also check out patreon.com slash 185 miles south and consider helping out the show that way. That's the best way to To make sure there's longevity for sure. But I'm having a lot of fun doing this. And this episode right here is one of the reasons why I did the show in the first place. Actually, it is the reason why I did the show in the first place. I really enjoyed listening to Turned Out a Punk and 100 Words or Less. And I emailed Damien at some point and said... You got to interview Tony Cortez because he's old school as fuck and he remembers everything. And he's still legit. Like, your repute still rips, you know? And then I thought to myself, that's like, that's not how I want to be, right? Like, telling someone else what to do. Like, you should do this. You should do this. Like, no, I got to do it myself. And so... That's this whole podcast. Anyway, thanks for the support. Also, if you have a business and you are planning on opening a store or if you like high-end furniture, myself and Max McDonald from No Motive and the second episode, we own a business called Max Wood Co. And we basically build out the interiors of retail locations. So if that's something you're interested in, get in touch. Check out the website, maxwood.co. Let's get on with episode eight. This is Tony Cortez, the mayor of Oxnard from Ill Repute.
SPEAKER_00185 miles south, a hardcore punk rock podcast.
SPEAKER_01This is recorded on April 27th, 2019. And today we got the big dog, the mayor of Oxnard, Tony Cortez, the guitarist, the ill repute. Thanks so much for coming today. Oh man. Thank you for having me. This is an honor. Yeah. I'm so stoked. You know, the idea for doing the podcast was I listened to a couple punk rock podcasts and there was this guy, Damien. He, he's a singer of fucked up and he, He used to talk a lot about the early mystic stuff and I emailed him. I was like, dude, you got to email or you got to interview Tony, you know, and I never heard back. And so like, that was kind of like the impetus. Like, you know, if you, if you're telling someone else what you want them to do, just shut the fuck up and do it yourself, you know? So I wanted to document a lot of the NARD guys. And of course I want to get the white whale, Doug Moody, but I've already, I've talked to him and he turned it down. He said he has his own podcast, but it's legit dog shit. Like it's hard, dude. It's like not on iTunes. Well, I want him to like lay everything out because even like the pre-punk stuff is like really interesting. And like, In the early 80s, he was just kind of throwing everything against the wall. The problem with that, too, though, is I don't know what to believe out of his mouth, man. He'll tell you he invented the compilation. He'll tell you he did all this stuff, and it's just like, oh, my gosh. He told me that he was there when they decided to – carpet the floors in recording studios because you'd be recording and everyone would be tapping their foot. And he would cut into the recording. And he probably went, you know what we should do? We should carpet these. So he invented the compilation and the idea of the carpet. Acoustics, he invented acoustics. That's right. Yeah, so in the early 80s, he was just throwing everything in his lawn. There's some really interesting stuff in there like He did a Fernando Valenzuela picture disc, 7-inch. It's like, okay, that's so cool. And it's like a banda band. Yeah, I didn't hear about that one. Anyway, let's jump into Ill Repute. The demos, he did two demos in 82. Did he start the band before that? When do you think he started? Well, yeah, we started the band just kind of like on a whim. And... We literally, I knew how to play guitar a little bit just from kind of just self-taught, you know. Uh-huh. And just, just we saw people doing it. But, you know, Jim never played bass before. Nobody sang, of course. And so we just kind of did it because we went to a gig in L.A. and we met people. And they're like, well, I have a band. And what year do you think this is? It's probably... 80, 81. Okay. Either late 80, early 81. I think we say the band was officially formed November 81. Okay. Is when we actually were the four members that were on the recording, which was Jim Callahan, John Faniff, and Carl Valdez, and myself. And so when we four finally had like a coherent project, that's when we consider. So that was probably November 81. Okay. Yeah. So you recorded demos shortly after, and they're fucking awesome. It's amazing because, like, I think that Dr. No, the early stuff with Brandon is really good, but, like, the Stalag demos aren't super, like, thought out yet. But those Ill Repute demos is, like, this is a fucking legit band, like, already. Well, I don't know. Do you have that record that has all the demos? Igby just did. Yeah, yeah. I don't have the Grand Theft Auto one. It's the same thing, right? It's the same thing, yeah, but that's just DVD. And this one's vinyl. Yeah. Different artwork and stuff. So cool. But there was actually two sessions. Yes. So Aggression went to this place called Goldmine and they did everything. And then they told all the punk bands about it. And we're like, oh yeah, we can do that. It was like eight hours for a hundred dollars. And so we go down there and it's these rock and roll guys. They know nothing about punk, but they did Aggression. But Aggression, you know, they're a little bit more, half and half, you know, they know what they're doing. They knew how to play. Yeah. They knew how to play. They knew how to tune their guitars, which is part of the story. So we go in there and the guy goes, okay, what do you want to do? And we go, we want to do all these songs. We have like 40 songs, you know, like 20 songs. And the dude's just like, what? Really? Well, I'm just going to fucking turn the tape on and you guys go. And so we just played, you know, exactly like we practice in the garage or whatever. So we just played. And the only overdubbing was probably maybe some leads and vocals. And the thing is, we didn't have a tuner back then. We tuned by ear, and it was all shit. So you'll hear some of that shit on there. But all the passion was in there. But you guys are tuned together. You guys tune together, right? It might not be a perfect E, but it doesn't sound like shit. But it's the same to each other. Yeah, exactly, right? But, I mean, those demos, they're awesome. And I think... No, I meant some of the songs were in tune. Yeah, okay. But you must have been practicing that shit ton because it sounds really tight. Dude, we loved it so much that we literally, any free time we had, we were practicing because we'd just hang out in Carl's garage, and he had a big garage with a couch, and all the old school heads would come and just sit there and watch us play. It was like a party. Yeah. And we would just practice as much as we could. What part of town was Carl in?
UNKNOWNChicago.
SPEAKER_01You know the cover of Land of No Toilets? Uh-huh. That J Street ditch. He lived on J Street right there. Oh, how cool. And that was literally across the street from his house. Cool. We just walked out of the garage, popped the fence into the ditch. Yeah. And spray painted them the ditch and took a shit. Or I mean, pretended I was taking a shit and then took the picture. Oh, that is so cool. With talking about the old heads, I think we should actually circle back before the demos because I thought it was really interesting. You put out the NARCOR 20 years later comp. 25 years later? 30 years later. Yeah, and I remember I was like, I think it was like 20 years or something, or 25, but it said 30, and it's because you circled back and gave credit to the Rotters. Right. That are like a 77 band from Camarillo, or 78? 78. Yeah. Yeah. Which is amazing to me, and I have like the utmost respect for the Rotters. Yeah. Just because, I mean, they were literally getting bottles thrown at them. There was no one paving the way. I mean, they had the... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, punk, a lot of it is giving credit to the ones that came before you, and it's like, man, even Tony Cortez is throwing back. Like, that's so cool, you know? So I had a question about the demos, because there's a big difference between the demos and what happens next in the drumming. And maybe I should be asking Carl, but it was like, on the demos, you're still playing like kind of a normal fast beat, like do dat, do dat, do dat, do do do do dat, you know? And then it's like, what happens next, like, you guys discovered speed and it's so much faster. Like then he's like, then he's really going. That was probably Carl's progression. Cause when we got Carl, so, so me, John and Jim, we, I don't want to say discovered punk rock. It's not like we discovered punk rock, but when we discovered what punk rock was, it was like, wow. You know, you just, it's like a light switch on and off. It was just, Henry Rollins is a great standup, spoken word about, about when you, and it's exactly the way it felt with what he says. Anyway, everything else was just went out the window is just shit. And it was just like, Oh my God, this is revolutionary. When it clicks with you, you just know. And it was, so we got, so we're, we're, dove into it headfirst and went to shows and stuff. And then when we decided to do the band, we're like, okay, we need a drummer. We don't know any fucking drummers. And I go, well, we know Carl, but Carl was a total rock guy in Boston, knew nothing about punk. And so we played some stuff for him and he goes... He literally told us, this isn't real. Drummers can't do this fast. And it wasn't even the fast, hardcore stuff. It was like the early Black Flag stuff, which was hard and fast, but not that hardcore. So it was probably just Carl's progression as he played and learned and grew into the punk rock world and heard the other drummers and what they were doing. I just wondered if... One night he heard Negative Approach, and he was like, I got to be able to do this. I think one of his defining moments was Red Tape by the Circle Jerks. Oh, it makes total sense. That blew his mind, the drumming on that song. Yeah, well, circling back to that other podcast, the one with the guy from Fucked Up, he interviewed Jerry A. from Poison Idea, and he said that Red Tape was like the whole – That's how they started the band. They're like, this is the craziest song ever. It's the last song on the Circle Jerks record. We want to make a song where every song is this gnarly. And the drums are just fucking full. Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah. So then after that, after the demos, this has got to be pretty wild for you, right? So how did Rodney on the Rock find you? and choose you guys for that. Because then after that, Clean Cut American Kid comes out on the third Rodney on the Rock LP, and that's in 82. Yeah. That's way early. That just blew our minds. So we're playing. And like I said, we were practicing constantly, playing every party we could play, playing every show that would have us. And then we started playing in L.A., the Kathleen DeGrant and stuff. But there was this girl who was an L.A. chick with Oxnard ties, and her name was Meg. I can't think of her last name right now. But she went out with Brandon for a while, best friends with Becca. And she really liked us, and she said, I want to manage you guys, which we don't know what that really was all about. But she took our demo tape, and she kind of knew Rodney, or she did know Rodney. And she gave the demo tape to him, and he just played it. He liked it. He played it one day on the air, and I think he got a lot of phone calls from So we kept playing it, and it just grew from there, which amazes us because it's kind of a silly little song. I love the song. It's such a catchy song. It's just a fun song. I mean, how did that song even happen? I literally wrote it in the shower. I don't even know how. It just was shit in my head. It was always going on, and I was in the shower one day cleaning it. And I think because I was in the shower, Clean Cut was part of that. In my head, whatever. That's so unique. I write almost all my shit in the shower. Okay. Yeah. I mean, do you think it's like a white noise thing? You know, possible. And the acoustics in there. Yeah. The acoustics are good. Yeah. And it's like, you're shutting out the world and like, I don't know. Cause yeah, it's like owning your own head right there. Yeah. I just wonder if it's some sort of like, there's like a channel in there because like some senses are shut off. So you're able to like channel some shit. Cause writing songs is so weird. You know, it's like, it's gotta be kind of like being an author. You don't, you can't just sit down and be like, I'm going to write the sickest thing ever. And it's going to happen. Right. It's like, it's like you're opening up a portal in like your brain or your soul or something. And it's like, you're channeling stuff in, right? Like stuff comes in and then it's on you to figure out how to like, turn it into like real world art. Yeah. That's the hardest part for me. Like fucking epic songs in my head. Then I pick up guitar and it's just like, nothing like it. You got to call Roger, man. That's what I do. I call him and I sing the songs to him. And he's like, he's just a fucking genius. He can like take it. That's awesome. Yeah. I, uh, one of the things though, too, is I think my best songs are not planned. Yeah. They just come to me. when I'm in a shower or, or, you know, I literally woke up and grabbed a piece of paper or grabbed my phone and did like the little, like into the recording. I got to get this down. I just fucking thought of a song while I was sleeping or whatever. And, uh, But if I actually try to write a song, like I sit there and go, I'm going to write a song. Yeah, you're going to fail. Yeah, it's a blank page. Yeah. So do you think the band's popularity went up after the Rodney on the Rock? Was that like a little bit of a breakthrough? Oh, absolutely. It was huge, huge. So we were like – we used to go to parties in Ojai, and I remember we were at this party, and they would always play Rodney because he was the only guy playing the good music. Yeah. It fucking came on. And we didn't know. Nobody says, hey, you're going to be on at this time. Right. And we're just like, oh, fuck, shit. Everybody's like, listen. And then everybody's like, wow. And we're just like, wow. Yeah. And yeah, it really did open a lot of doors. And I still am in contact with Poshboy Rodney. Yeah. I mean, not Rodney. Goddamn, go on blank. The dude from Poshboy. I couldn't tell you. Rodney. Oh, no. Fuck. What the fuck's his name?
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01Regardless, you're still in touch. That's cool. Yeah, we're still in touch. As a matter of fact, he's the one that got a clean cut on Stranger Things. Oh, yeah. Which was huge. That's so cool. Yeah. That's so crazy. That was another moment. And it's kind of amazing because, well, right after is the We Got Power comp, which is like, other than Narco, the best Mystic comp, probably. The first one of the We Got Powers. Oh, We Got Power. Yeah. You got Count the Odds on there. Because that was put together by guys... The Zine guys. Yeah, Zine guys. The Zine guys, they were head first in the scene there. Yeah, they still have a website up, and everyone can download those for free if you go and search for the We Got Power guys. Yeah, I think one of the bands on there, one of the members actually went on to be in either Pearl Jam. I believe it was Pearl Jam, yeah. He's like the bass player in one of the bands on that movie. One of the 40 bands. Good luck tracking it down. I think that's Doug's whole thing. You know, I'm going to fucking throw everything out there and I'm going to get something. Yeah. And then, so one thing I thought is crazy too, is like you have this, uh, success of the clean cut American kid, which is like a super catchy song. And then you come out with like the land of no toilet seven inch, which is like super fucking hardcore. Like you're not, yeah. Like you're not, you're not trying to like get another hit. You're just coming out trying to like melt faces. We literally never put thought like, like that type of thought into whatever we're writing everything. And I'm hoping, I hate to like say things like this, but I'm hoping maybe that's why things resonated with us because everything is like from the heart. Yeah. From our soul. Nothing's like kind of planned out to be a hit or to go this certain direction. Right. Yeah. You, you weren't like teased by a little bit of that success and chased it. Yeah. You just went back. And yeah, I think that your sound really started coming out on that record too. Cause you do a really good job with like, it's like the dark notes. I don't know how to describe it. Like the, like the intro to like sleepwalking stuff like that. Like you're, you're playing like kind of those dark notes, which is like a little different for like straightforward. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was heavily influenced by like TSL and stuff. That's true. They were doing that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And then that seven inch, Well, okay. The We Got Power is associated with Mystic, but the Land of No Toilets 7-inch is actually on Mystic. So how were you approached? Actually, I think what happened was Slimy Valley came first. Okay. And we came in to record a song for that. Whoever put together Slimy Valley. Okay. And I don't remember who it was, but whoever put together Slimy Valley... Through our name in the mix. I was on the phone because I was trying to look up Potch Boy's name. The guy's awesome, and he's super cool. Unlike Doug, he's been sending checks to us for one fucking song that came out, and he's sending us checks and stuff all the time. That's insane. Yeah. Still. And BMI goes, or whatever it is, goes from that to us. Yeah.
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01We don't get anything like that from Doug. Of course. Just from one song. That's insane. So I really am fucking pissed that I can't think of his name right now. Well, that happens. It's like you're trying to force a song. Yeah, yeah. We'll come up with it. We'll do an addendum. So anyway, back to your question about – okay, so we got – it came from Sliming Valley, which was a comp based out of Seeming Valley.
UNKNOWNYep.
SPEAKER_01So a bunch of songs. How many bands were on that? Again, probably like 30. Yeah, yeah. So we were one of the bands. Knew nobody from Mystic or anything. Got in there. I think we recorded that song at Mystic. And then they hit us up and said, hey, we really like you guys. And they probably said that damn fucking bad they came in there. Sure. They just wanted to. Because they didn't pay for that record. We paid for that record. So you got a free recording, but you paid for the press in. I don't even think that. You think he paid for the recording too? Well, because we had no money. We were just these fucking scrappy punks. Of course. We had a friend, Mike Terry, that just got an inheritance or something. It was just a high school friend, not in a punk rock at all. And he was like, oh, I want to invest in you guys. And we're like, okay, cool, sure. And so I think he put up the money for... And they might have worked out a deal between them. Like, you pay for this and we'll cover this. I have no idea. That's fucking hilarious. I mean, Doug is, at that point, he's 60s? He
SPEAKER_00was pretty old back then.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, he's in his 60s and taking a wad of money from a teenager. That's pretty hilarious. Yeah, yeah. But 83 is early. Like, you guys, that is... One of the first punk records on there. I'm trying to think of what. Well, everything else is a comp before that. I think you're the first actual punk band. That dehumanizes us close. It was funny because Mystic had a thing where they would pull us in for every comp. Yeah. We're doing this comp. You guys got to be on it. Okay, boom. You're doing this. And I love that. I just love. I remember Social D would have songs that were only available on a comp. wouldn't be available on their records. And I was like, that's fucking great. I love that. It makes you get the comp. You have to get the comp to get this song. And I tried to do that. And you know, we just, it just usually just goes, well, we need it on a record, you know? Yeah. I mean, if it's a great song, it's a standout, you want to toss it on the record. It's so cool to do that. No, it's super cool. And it would have all been sucked into the omelet LP anyway. Yeah. Right. And then the next mashup and the fifth mashup that we didn't do nothing about. Yeah. So in 83, how is the NARG? Like every band is like, I think all the, the big four, they all come out in 84.
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? It was probably earlier than that. Okay. Yeah. Plug In Jesus is 84, right? And What Happens Next is 84. But Dr. No was a band way before that. Sure. But it's like, it's demos, right? Yeah, I guess Plug In Jesus would be their first. Yeah, the first record. Yeah. And then Don't Be Mistaken, 84. Now on BYO? Yeah. You think it's earlier?
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01probably earlier, but they were on that compilation. Someone got their head kicked. That's before. Yeah. Which was huge. Yeah. And that, that was really huge. That was cool. Um, and then you control is 84. So it's like, that's the year of the Nard. So what's it like in 83? Like there's so much like creativity because like you have these four bands and I don't know how it is. I wasn't there, but in hindsight you have like, the four big standout bands and they all sound so different. It's so rad. Yeah. It's pretty, you know, I hear that a lot and I agree and I fully agree. Everybody had their own flavor. It's still kind of melded though. So I hate to say different because, because it wasn't really different. Everything melded really good, but everybody had their own flavor. Yeah. And, and that was really cool. But, you know, like, In the moment, you don't think about stuff like that. So I don't even know. It was just fun. I mean, it was just – we just went. Just go, go, go. We just did whatever. Played here. Went to L.A. all the time. Hopped in the back of a truck and toured across the U.S. without even thinking about it. But – When was the first time that happened? What was your first tour, Tony? I couldn't tell you the date. God, I wish I could. But did you go – was it after the 7-inch or was it after the LP? It was probably the – The Landon Toilets? Landon Toilets, yeah. Holy shit. But that probably wasn't a full-blown U.S. We would do a lot of little, maybe as far as Colorado and back. That's insane, though. And it literally was in the back of a truck. Carl had a little mini Neese, not a Neese, but Datsun or whatever it was back then, or Ford Courier. Okay. And two people would be in the front. Two people would be laying in the back or sitting in the back because it was legal back then. With all the equipment. And then we'd have a shitty little trailer. Oh, you had a trailer for the equipment and stuff. Yeah. That's insane. Yeah. One time we, in control, we had to play in Santa Cruz. And I can't remember what happened, but we had to go up in like Ryan's truck and it just had like, it was a tiny little like Nissan truck. So yeah, two guys in the front. And then it was like the tiny little extended cab, but you couldn't have like both guys even sitting up because we were all big guys. Yeah. So like one guy had to like lay on his back with his legs out the back window. And then like the other guy could kind of sit comfortably. Santa Cruz. So five, six hours. Yeah. Fucking nightmare. But, uh, yeah. And so then 84, what happens next? It's like such a, I don't know. Well thought out album with like the sequencing and everything. Like, it's like, uh, It's a great hardcore punk record, but it's like this whole fucking journey. You're taking them on the highs and lows. How well thought out was that, or do you think that was a fluke? I'm not going to say it wasn't thought out, because there was a little bit of thought into it as far as, let's play a couple fast ones, then maybe one of the more melodic ones will be here, then we'll get into some more fast ones. But not super thought out, just about like that. Let's just go, oh, yeah. I mean, it opens with Oxnard. That was a no-brainer. No-brainer. Yeah, we go, okay, we open with this. And I believe it ends with Cherokee, right? Yeah. Those were just no-brainers right there. And then the middle was just kind of like, okay, yeah, hit them hard and fast. Do a little bit of melodic in the middle. I think, like, Don't Get Used would probably be like the third or fourth song. I don't know. Yeah. And then they close it out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And John too. And then, you know, we all had a mix in it, but like, if you want to say the lion's share of the song, that one was by Jim. Definitely. Awesome. Yeah. It makes sense. Right. It starts with the bass part. Yeah. Yeah. So that's awesome. And that's what I like about the demos is like a lot of the demos are Jim songs. Yeah. Didn't make it to the record. And they're great songs that I wish. I'm telling you. Yeah. Me and me and Max, we came up here for, for a thing a few weeks ago, maybe about a month ago. And on the drive home, we were listening to those demos because they're on Spotify now. I think they're on Spotify. They got to be. Igby's got his shit together. Yeah, I think so. And we were fucking mind blown. I had to have heard that stuff when the Grand Theft Auto CD came out, but I don't remember. And we're just like, this band is so good in 82. All the songs. There's very little filler. And you're right. People didn't see, but Tony... He said, we showed him this many songs and rolled out like a long piece of paper, right? There is like 40 fucking songs on there. And for like, I mean, how old are you? 15, 16? No, no. You're older? 19. You're 19? Yeah. Okay. How old are you now? Come on, Tony. I'm 55, man. Really? Yeah. I might be 50. I seriously don't keep track. I could be 54. Yeah. I could be 56. You just got to range. Yeah. I'm 39. I was born in November 19th, 1962. Okay. Yeah, whatever that math is. Someone get a calculator. That's awesome. Yeah, so awesome. So you start touring. You did a full U.S. tour at some point. Yeah, yeah. And tell me, well, let's talk about that. So what was your first full U.S. tour? Did you go by yourselves? Well, no. The first full U.S. tour, Eddie Nunkelskull set it up. Okay. That's what he was into promoting, and he was awesome, man. I really feel like we let him down because of just all our fucking fuck-ups. On that tour? Just throughout. He wanted to be our representation, and it would have been really nice if we had it more together. to give him what he needed. So both of us could have, you know, sure. But, uh, although he's doing fine, um, uh, but he put this whole tour together, you know, uh, actually gave us fucking notes, like a booklet with all our tour dates and notes and funny little things. And, uh, and, uh, like things that kept us entertained too. So, uh, so he set up a whole us tour and that was the one that we did was scared straight. Okay, great. And, uh, he, uh, how do you travel? Did you guys go in one van then? Both bands in one van. That was the first full us tour though. Like I said, we did small. Yeah. Um, so I think Jim had a van. Okay. And we took that and scared straight traveled separate. Yeah. They traveled separate. And God damn, I push out a better memory. Do you remember the rooting? Did you go out meeting some guy from Australia at, we, we, we went to, uh, Sissimi Valley. Okay. Met Scared Straight. And there was this guy they had just met named Skippy from Australia. And he's going with us. Okay, sure. And we all go. Now, the problem with that, that was our first booked U.S. tour, but we didn't make it because that's where we were in Pittsburgh. And we got a great show at this place called The Electric Banana. Super fun. Made a lot of... fans and friends. You know, when you put back then, when you played, you would just, we would just meet. We never, we never stayed at a hotel. It was always, you met people, had a party with them, went back to their house. They let you crash there. Yeah. Shower there. So these guys were having a huge party. So, and before that, every night somebody slept in the van. Yeah. And, uh, okay. We're going to go sleep in the house. It's your turn to sleep in the van. But they had this killer party and nobody, and we were just having such a good time. We all go in there. And, uh, the next morning, Jim's, Jim's all groggy walking out, I think to go get his toothbrush or something. And he goes, and he goes out, he's looking for the van and he just sees this pile of glass. Yeah. And, uh, And it's just gone. And then we're looking around and we're in the shittiest fucking neighborhood. I mean, it was like, you know, the beginning of good times. There's no curtains on the window. Cause we drove around looking for a man. Yeah. After they took it. Yeah. And, uh, so fuck this place is fucking scary ghetto, man. Yeah. And, uh, so, uh, everything was gone. Luckily that night was, was a one strike streak of luck was, uh, I, I had a bag that I kept all our money and I think we had about $2,000 in there. And he had in the house and I brought it in with, Oh, thank God. But I lost our itinerary. I lost all kinds of stuff and all our equipment was gone. Sure. And then, so we, but we're still, you know, touring and we're in Pittsburgh and we go, well, let's, let's go to the next show. We, I think we had, uh, And he told us where the next show was or something like that. And, uh, we tried it and it was like the opening band was like some total garage band with like the worst equipment. They're using their equipment now. And we sounded like shit. And we were just, I think we went back, I think scared straight still went on a few more shows, but we just fucking put our tails between our legs and, and I tell the home. Yeah. So we didn't make it. And then the guy from New York was this, uh, I forgot his name. He was a big New York promoter. Not big, but for the punk scene. Yeah. He was the main guy. Johnny Stiff or something like that. Okay. Remember that name? Something like that. But he was so pissed at us. Like, dude, don't you understand? We lost everything. You've got to get out of here for this show. Or your name is Mud in my town. Yeah. You know, shit like that. Yeah. And then he was just, you know, upset. That happened when Tony quit control and we ditched him in Texas and drove home. the Arizona promoter was like really pissed at us because we had to cancel like two Texas shows, Arizona. But then like we had enough time to get home, practice to the different drummer and then drive to San Diego to do the last show of the tour. And so that guy was irate with me. Like you're going to play San Diego, but you're not going to come play Arizona. I was like, dude, there's only so much I can do, you know, but I get it too. Cause the lawyers, but you know, a good promoter, which he probably was because that's why, why he was so upset. They put a lot of work into it. They put a lot of heart into it and stuff. And, uh, you know, so I get it, but they got to see your side too. I know if your van just got jacked. Yeah. You lost everything. Yeah. Yeah. After we, we did that Tony thing, you called me and you said you had a similar story. Didn't you? Like you ditched a member somewhere on the road. Yeah. That was during our big rusty balls tour. Okay. When, uh, John didn't go on this tour. It was all set up. Another one Eddie set up. It was all set up. I don't want to get into this because it's... No one in the band can agree what happened then. But for some reason, John didn't go on tour. And we decided to go without him. And that was tough. So I was playing guitar and singing. Are you three-piecing them? Well, no. So what we did was... we would get another cause I couldn't do it. I couldn't, I had to be able to play, uh, be able to kind of drop out and play real basic. Sure. Uh, so we had to get another guitar player. So we got Mike Vallejo from circle one and he was great, but he can only do so much. And then we got some other guy we didn't even know named Eric, Jim knew somehow from a friend of a friend. And we literally were teaching the songs in the van as we're driving, uh, to the thing. So it was rough. It was rough. And then we had an, and he went, so, so we had a, I don't know. You remember Dave Jensen? No, there was a local kid named Dave Jensen and he was a good, good guitar player. And we took him with us and cool guy and everything, but he had, you know, issues and it literally got to the point where his issues cause enough friction that we go, dude, You need to get it together. And, you know, because mine was somewhere else. And we literally went, you know, dude, we can't take it anymore. Here's a bus ticket. Where are you? In the middle of the country somewhere. Who knows? Kansas, maybe. Yeah. Somewhere like that. Yeah. And we gave him a bus ticket and he went home and stuff. Then there was another time where Ruben went with us. And Ruben's like one of my best friends. I love Ruben. And a matter of fact, we're doing a movie night this Sunday where he made a movie with forces, starting it and stuff. Oh, great. If you're still in town, you guys should go to that. Um, but anyway, uh, him and Jim got in a fight and they were kind of like, you know, when you're on tour, of course, fucking things get, get kind of pressure. And again, we were like pretty far, a little bit past Midwest and we're at a hotel and, And these are the later tours when we wanted hotels. Now we're like, sure, if we can afford, we'll stay with people at some places, but if we get a hotel, we're going to get a hotel. So, uh, we're at a hotel and something happened between me and me and Carla over here doing something. And, uh, and Jim just comes in or we're going out to the van to pack up to go. And Jim's just start and Ruben's in the shower or the bathroom. And, and Jim just starts putting Ruben's stuff on the ground going, Ruben said, he's going to stay here. Let's go. And we're like, what? And we're like, oh, okay. And we get in the van. And then we knew. I mean, we probably should have said something. We kind of knew, like, this isn't right, you know? Yeah. And then it turns out, yeah, no, he was just pissed at him and just left him there. Oh, shit.
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01So somehow we got to our next show. He shows up. Stabbed our fucking radiator. We didn't know this. You know, we're inside playing. Yeah. But we're driving the next day and we're driving and all of a sudden the van dies. Yeah. And it was just like, why don't we pull over to the side of the road? And then we look, and there's a big hole in our radiator, and we just go, fucking Ruben. We knew right away. And half of me was like, oh, no. Okay, so we play that show. My memory's coming back. I'm telling the story. So we play that show. I see Ruben. I go, dude. And he's all pissed. He goes, I go, dude, I swear to God, I didn't know. And me and Carl go, we're going to buy you a bus ticket. And get you home. So we took our band fund. We took him to the fucking bus station, drove him there, bought his ticket, and gave him like a little bit of cash just for like some food and stuff. And then we went back thinking like, okay, cool. We, you know, we did the right thing. You know, a little bit of a fucking hiccup, but we did the right thing. So then we're back in the next day and that happens.
UNKNOWNWe're like fucking Ruben.
SPEAKER_01That's what was going to happen. That's great. That's great. So, uh, after what happens next is the first Halloween live seven inch. And those are interesting. Like were they, they weren't live at a club. Like they were just, you record it live at the mystic studio. So this is how the Halloween's came about. Uh, mystic studios was right across the street from the cafe. Okay. And literally, literally right there, here was mystic studio building the street, uh, And the cafe was right there. And the cafe was fun. It was just like a – it was like kind of – whatever. How many people did it hold? God, someone told me if you go there now, you'll trip out. Or if you see footage of it, look it up and just go, oh, my God. It was a small club. It was probably like Billy O's. Yeah. But it was – I mean, Black Flag played there, Minor Threat played there. Everybody played there. You saw both. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So anyway, we were booked to play there. Doug Moody walks over across the street from his studio, tries to get in and the shows there were like a dollar to $3 and they wouldn't let him in for free. And we were somewhere in the back. We had no guest list. I don't even think because we were probably like second from opening or something. Who knows? And Doug goes, send someone in to get us and says, yeah, um, Get out of there. They won't let me in or something like that. We're just like, oh, okay. So he pulled us off the show. And he says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to throw a party at Mystic, I guess, to try to get back at them. And you guys play. We'll invite everybody over for free and we'll record it. And we're like, that sounds kind of cool. All right. So we did that. And that's how Halloween came out. And how many people were smashed into the studio? It was full. Yeah. I can't even give you a head count. But did you ever see that picture of El Duchi? Yeah. Passed out on the – that's my favorite part of everything that came out of that night is he's fucking passed out on the couch, throw up right next to his face, and fully wrapped candies in his throw up. You know, fully wrapped. The psycho. Awesome. So I couldn't say how many. Probably like – a hundred. Holy shit. Yeah. That's insane. It was packed and it was fun. Yeah. Yeah. And so after that is the omelet LP. Now were, were you guys cool with that? Like, was this one like ran by you? The, or the omelet compilation? Yeah, we knew about that one. It was all approved except for the artwork. Yeah. You know, I mean, they still showed us before it came out. And we knew what they said. Yeah, we're putting together this compilation of your songs to do this. And yeah, we knew about that one. And then the artwork, we were just like, okay. Like we were kids. I kind of like the artwork for anyone but you guys. It's like I want that to be for another band. Because it's good art, but it's just like not for ill repute. It makes it look like a joke band. We were just – We were flambasting. We were just like, what the fuck is this? But again, we were just in this world where everything just rolled. Yeah. We just rolled with it. Whatever happened, we just rolled with it. That's what you guys want to do? Okay, sure. Yeah, I mean, those are packed years. From 82 to 85, it's like nonstop. I actually hated that album cover, but now it's just so funny. It's so... Weird. I just, whatever. Yeah. You do a second Halloween live that comes out in 87. That was actually the same recording. I'm pretty sure. Oh, so you just broke it up into the second. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then this one is definitely not authorized. Transition comes out in 89. Well, no, it, it actually was. Okay. So we broke up. John went to guitar school. When, what year do you think you broke up? I wouldn't even say broke up. We never really break up. So you take hiatus around when? Reba said he saw you in Nard in 86. When did Transition come out? 89. 89. Oh, so what happened? The reason, actually, no, this actually was a kind of a, not a breakup, but a conscious decision to stop playing. We started, we were playing Fenders a lot. And Fenders was great at first. I mean, big, huge shows with people from all, every, you know, all over. So what year is it great? These are probably, it's probably 84. Okay. Um, but like I said, I'm not, I'm not positive, but so, so they, they were great and they, they, they start building and growing and then it just became fucking gang infested. Uh, just an excuse to riot. Yeah. Just an excuse for the different gangs to meet. Nobody even caring what bands on stage they would just, and there would be huge fights and, and riots, and it was just disgusting. And that's like, what, 88-ish? Yeah, right. So right before transition. Yeah. Yeah, maybe even 87. And you guys never got tied up in any of that stuff, because you guys went to L.A. all the time, and you hung out with the Circle One guys, and those guys are totally affiliated. But you never got sucked in? Yeah, no. As a matter of fact, I love the Circle One guys, Mike Fileto, the band, even John. was a great person. He had issues, you know, how he all died and everything and his psychosis and stuff. And I think he got, he started like part of their, their following is one of the gangs started following him. And I think he, he got just kind of sucked up in that power of being untouchable with them behind him and stuff. And, uh, that's what we were with that. But as a person before that, John was really good and really, you know, he has some fucked up moments, but he was, you know, I never see him get in a fight that wasn't provoked on him. Yeah. And, and, uh, until after maybe, maybe when he started hanging, we got a little power hung with those guys, but I can't say for sure. Cause I started just seeing myself when it got like that. You were able to stay away from all that stuff. Yeah. Cause that's, that's, Yeah. None of us. I mean, that's why Oxnard and the scene here is so good. We're not in it for that type of shit. No. Everybody's in it for the fun and the collaborations. Yeah, camaraderie. Yeah, camaraderie. Yeah, creativity. So you decided to transition and then come out after you broke up? Yeah. So, well, no. So what happened was we called it quits, and – just kind of did our thing. John moved to LA, went to guitar school, learned guitar. So he came back this like really good guitar player. Right. And, uh, transition was before big rusty balls. Yeah. Yeah. So he comes back and we go, you know, we all missing playing and stuff. So let's, let's, let's, let's play around with stuff. And, and, uh, so we wrote a few songs and things were kind of different because I think because that Actually, a lot of punk bands kind of took this. Bad Relation came out with Suffering 88. No, before that. Into the Unknown and 85. All the punk bands were kind of like, okay, we did this. Let's kind of stretch our wings a little and see what we can do. I'm not saying they were good ideas. No, but a lot of bands broke in weird ways. Seven Seconds changed. We didn't do it because they were doing it. It was just kind of something that happened. It was just kind of like a we want to progress a little. And I think the violence of the scene maybe pushed everybody that way a little bit too. So we, so we just. Yeah. Try to, try to riot to let it be fool. So we, so we, so we, yeah, we, we tried to, we had some stuff in there. So Mystic says, Hey, you guys are, I hear you guys are playing again. This, they had a new studio down in Oceanside and they called us down there and we really weren't ready for it. But we go, let's just, okay. But again, we're still, let's do it. You know, we just hop on opportunities. So we go down there and we just start playing songs and it's, it's just, um, some of it was okay. Uh, I literally walked out of the studio on some of them. I just go, I can't do this. Some of the songs I do. So you guys, if you guys want to record that, go for it. Um, John's playing guitar. He's good. He could, he could cover, but I can't be a part of some of this. Not to say that I fully poo-pooed the project because, you know, that would be lying. We were having fun recording some of the things. Well, it sounds like you guys are jamming and having fun. It just doesn't seem like a cohesive LP. It's not. It's just pieces. Like I said, we weren't prepared to record. We had stuff we were trying and stuff. And we literally kind of, you know how bands go and like real rock bands go and they record a demo. Sure. And then they rewrite everything. They sit down and they rewrite it. That's what we thought we were doing. Yeah. If anything. That's the impression I was under. Yeah. I mean, and then he just puts it out. So then, yeah. And then we were just like, I walked out. Like I said, I walked out of the studio. Nobody was really happy with it. And then, like you said, instead of saying, okay, let's listen to this, learn from it, do some stuff, he just put it out. Yeah, which is insane. Now the cover is awesome. What a great LP cover with a stage dive. It's like John stage diving. I don't think that's John. Who is it? To some dude? I don't remember now. But I remember there was a controversy. I think they picked that thing because it looked like John. They thought it was John. Well, I thought it was John. It's a significant cover. It's a significant cover. So it's four years later you guys do Big Rusty Balls. And that's a big change for Real Repute sound-wise. And you guys are both playing. So you have John coming on playing guitar. It sounds like you're Totally cool with that. Right. Oh yeah. Adding to the sound. Yeah. How did he feel about you? Like singing some songs? I don't know. I have a feeling he wasn't super happy about it, but basically it was, he sung his songs and I sung my songs. So, so any song that John's singing, he wrote it. Except for Jamie, just Jamie, just Jim wrote and John singing. Great song. Yeah. That's a great song. Yeah. And then, uh, Matter of fact, that's the one that I wish we played. It's never too late. I know. How did you meet Dr. Strange? Or how did that happen? That's a good question. Was he always, like, around in your circle a little bit? Not really. I didn't meet Dr. Strange. He's a cool label. He put out some stuff I really like. Yeah, Bill is, and he's straight up, too. Yeah. Again, off of that one album. He would send us, every three months, he would send us a statement, a check if there was anything associated with it, and tell you exactly the numbers. His record store is still really cool. It's there, and then I love that Bull Weevils LP he put out, the Bull Weevils Heavyweight. The guitar tone on it is probably my favorite ever. It's just so... I don't know. And you did the first face-to-face. Sure. It got re-released. It's the same record that got re-released on Fat. It's Don't Turn Away, right? Yes. And so he did it first, and we actually played a lot of shows with face-to-face. We were on our downhill slide, and they were on their uphill slide, so it was kind of weird. But we played with them a lot, and it was fun and stuff. But do you consider that downhill right after – Big Rusty Balls? That's a good record. I love Big Rusty Balls. It was different for us, so I think... When I say downhill, I don't mean musically-wise. I just think popularity-wise. Yeah, but the scene is totally different then. Yeah, the scene is totally different. Everything's kind of in this weird transitional phase that nobody knew what they were doing. Yeah. Which leads to the next record, which... I love, and I've talked about several times on this podcast, which is the bleed LP. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I absolutely love it. I think it's like a lot of times records I like are things that like you could, no one could ever replicate it because they're not crazy enough. And so like that sound on that record is like, okay, you have like the no effects beat, like do that, do that, do that, do that with Lipke playing as fast as he can, you know? And then you have like these, it's like these, smooth, silky leads from like the Machia dude from joystick. Yeah. And it's like, so you have this like super new school music and then like your voice on it is amazing. Yeah. So like really like a, like a heartfelt, like kind of throaty guttural, you know, like a, kind of like a leather face a little bit. Uh, there's a British band that like, yeah, all, uh, I'll show you a text. There's an album. Leatherface mush is like, One of my favorite punk albums. There was a review where the guy compared me to Mike Muir. Okay. Yeah. That's a stretch. But it's like, I don't know. I guess maybe like a Tom Waits-y voice even. It's a wild... I love it because you have this really gruff voice on top of this really polished new school music of the time. And it's like... You couldn't replicate it again. I don't think anyone could go in and make something that sounds like that. And those songs are so strong. That record is fucking amazing. That was actually a really, really fun record to write. We met in the Shire. So Joey somehow met in the Shire. It might have even been through an ad. We decided to put it together and it was me and Jim. I wonder if For some reason, I was thinking there was a third person in there because we still wanted to call it Air Repute because there was three of us. But somehow, before Bleed, it dropped out to just me and Jim and Joey. And Joey was... Yeah, he was cool. Joey was all into the new school. He was into all the bad record stuff. Yeah, he... I didn't get to tell by all the logos. No, of course. He was trying to transition us into that. Yeah. And then me and Jim were the dinosaurs trying to still kind of hold off on things. So it was kind of collaborative. But... But when I met Ashaya and we started writing that album, he, it was so fun working with him because he was really talented and it was kind of new for me. And we would just, me and him would put our heads together and we would come up with, with all these different things that I just fucking had the best time. Yeah. And it was just, it was hitting me in my soul. And so that's really a soulful album. Heartfelt like bleed. The song bleed is one of my favorites. Yeah. I love that. Well, that record has my favorite punk lyric of all time on it, which is plain shitholes staying at your house. Oh yeah. I mean, yes. And it's like, if like that sums up, punk rock yeah right it's like that's touring if you're in like a struggling punk or hardcore band playing shitholes and staying at your house like i was saying that earlier exactly never stay in hotels yeah people play to their play to their house but uh and that song too roots it was funny because uh like i said joey was really into that new school sound and everybody was like throwing those little little scott riffs in And so he was like, oh, dude, dude, we got to do a Scott Riff. We got to do a Scott Riff. Everybody's like, no, no, no. And then so when we did it, we did it with kind of like tongue-in-cheek. Sure. If you listen to the lyrics right there, it's kind of like doing that. The lyrics to that little part is kind of like, like selling yourself to corporate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how it wraps up. Right. We should move along and get the fuck on out. Yeah. Yeah. That, that record is a ripper. I wish it came out on final. I think that like a lot of things are lost to history if they don't come out on vinyl. Cause like, it's like the format that never goes away. We're like, I'm not old enough for eight tracks, but eight tracks came and went cassettes came and went. CDs came and went. I guess digital will be forever, but digital is just a sea of shit. Yeah. Vinyl is like that. It's the collector's item. It just kind of has an aura to it. Yeah, it has an authenticity. During the years that it wasn't popular, it was held together by real underground music. It was held together by hip-hop and punk rock. It's just like the... The everlasting format that will never go away. Yeah, I don't think it will ever go away. No. You're right. Matter of fact, when I put out Nardcore 30, I told Doug, and he was still CD, CD, CD. I go, dude, CD is a dying market. I go, this has to come out. I go, if we're going to do this, it has to be on LP. And I go, we'll put a CD in there. So I literally had everything put together. was ready to drive down either that day or the next day to Doug's. And I'm super glad that he was honest with me at this one point. He goes, hey, this is what we're going to do. We're going to release it on CD first. And then if it makes enough money, we're going to release it on the vinyl. I go, dude, it's never going to come out on vinyl if you do this. I go, fuck it. I'm not coming. And he got all pissed off because he paid for half the artwork. Like, Brian Walsby did it for $200. I paid him $100 and Doug paid him $100. And so he thought, like, you're a fucking baby. I paid for this record. And he didn't do anything but pay half of that. A hundred bucks. A hundred bucks to fucking Brian Walsby. So, yeah, I said no. And I shopped it around and Jerome picked it up. But anyway, back to what we talked about before. We can move on from it. Like, That layout on that Narco 30 years later is amazing. Like, with that CD mounted inside. Yeah. That's sick. That was all Jerome. Jerome had these great ideas. And, you know, he wanted 180-gram vinyl. Yeah. Thick collector's vinyl. He wanted it to gatefold. And we're just like... And I've seen some reviews just going, wow, this is an amazing fucking package. Yeah. Like, it was... That CD mount in there is like... That was so brilliant because, yeah, you're just straddling the formats. Yeah, and then that CD has the album, so you never have to scratch up your album. Right, and extra songs too, right? It also has an extra song from each band. Yeah, that's so cool. That was good. That was so cool. So then Nishaya left. Why did he leave the band? He kept his hands in all kinds of stuff, and he was really getting into swing and stuff. Did he go do a swing band? Because that broke around that time. He did. It was kind of a swing, kind of like a throwback. There's another word for the band. Speakeasy type thing. Old-timey stuff. Yeah, yeah. It was good, and he did that for a while. Then I think, I don't even think he sang music anymore. Oh, what a shame. Yeah, real shame. Yeah, and then you do, you get Joe and Forrest, and you do And Now. Yeah, I don't even know how that came about, but, you know, I just love playing, and I just wanted to keep playing. And And Now was mainly all Forrest songs. I maybe wrote two, three songs on there. Yeah. But they were all a bunch of Forrest songs. Which he probably had for a long time, you know. One of the songs on there. We get it recorded. We do everything. And then he goes, Hey guys, I think that album like is in the pressing plan. He goes, Hey guys, I just realized, I think this song sounds like a dang nasty song and dang nasty. Great man. Great man. But I was never into him because I kind of, they came out, there was a period where, you know, I wasn't into it. Any of the scene, I was doing my own thing. And, uh, and that, and there was this whole, another wave. I like, punk rock kind of came in waves, you know? And so Dag Nasty was that way. So I just didn't know anything about him. So I didn't know it was a Dag Nasty song. So we go, well, let's hear it. And he plays a song. And I think the only saving grace was I wasn't familiar with Dag Nasty. So my vocals are way different. Yeah. I mean, that's, but that's funny coming from Forrest because it's obviously his number one influence. Yeah. Yeah. Brian Baker and that first Dag Nasty. It could have been one of those. I like to call them, uh, Uh, Danny Partridge moments. Yeah. Yeah. There's this episode where, uh, Danny was a younger brother, right? Yeah. Yeah. He was a little redhead kid. He's sleeping while Keith is writing a song in the room next door and it goes into his brain while he's sleeping. So he wakes up saying, I wrote this awesome song and it's really a song someone else wrote. So, I mean, Who knows how many songs are actually like that, where you think you came up with a song, but it's something you heard somewhere. Yeah, and the vocals sitting on top of everything changes everything, right? How many songs were written in the T formation? Oh, right, right, right. You know, a million songs. And so it's all the vocals. So one of the best sayings about Irrepute and being a punk guy from Offstart is, you guys are a band that still plays, and... you're still awesome. Like, you know, a lot of older bands, um, it's rad that they're still out there playing because everyone should have fun. Right. And if, if you enjoy doing something, just do it and have fun and fuck it if you suck. Right. But like, you guys are still rippers, like still like, uh, you know, like, I don't know, just everyone's proud that like our, our older band like still rips, you know, like you guys play, it's not embarrassing. It's like, this band is still fucking awesome. You know, like how do you hold it together so well? Probably because we're not writing new stuff. I think that's what, you know, cause I think, you know, a lot of bands rip and stuff. And, uh, I personally would like to write new stuff, but that's why I have other bands. Yeah. So I do all my new stuff there. And I just think it would be, you can come out with an album right now. It would be really fun, but maybe it would be that curse where, uh, Yeah. This is showing we don't rip anymore. So we just play the old songs. We still have the heart of those songs, and we still like to play them as fast as we can. Yeah, and you're still all friends. Yeah, yeah, we're still friends. Which is amazing. And you're still friends with Carl, even though Carl hasn't been in the band in a while. Yeah. Your new drummer's been in the band for 15 years. Yeah, yeah. Carl was only in the band like five years or whatever. But, you know, Carl was like, you know, the heart and soul of, you know, Repute in the beginning and stuff. And, you know, he gave us a unique sound, I think. Yes. Because, you know, we had the rock drumming kind of trying to learn how to play punk. Yeah.
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01But, yeah, yeah. And what I think is me, Jim, and John, which are the original three, are still playing today. Yeah. That's pretty cool. I like that. Yeah, super cool. All right, Tony. Thanks so much. Do you feel like you've been represented well? Yeah, except I wanted to give a shout-out to my new band, The Robot Uprising. All right. Well, let's talk about it. Talk about Robot Uprising. Yeah. So, like I said, I've got some songs that I wish I could do with the review. Well, not these songs so much because these kind of transition. So my new band is The Robot Uprising. Oh, I just want to talk about The Dark Revere if I can. Yes, let's do both. That's going to be amazing. So my new band, The Robot Uprising, we just released our album, The Uprising. And it's funny, we were talking about this. We released it on USB, but it's this little fucking metal thing. robot oh that's cool usb it's really cool i mean just the usb alone is worth is is worth the price yeah yeah and it's a really cool little metal usb it says the robot uprising on it and it has our songs an extra song that you can't get online on our release yeah until someone puts it out there and then our videos on there a slideshow of all our flyers and lyrics and all stuff so it's cool it's a multimedia release yeah and it's on this little robot it's so cool But I'm having a great time playing with these guys. We're kind of pushing. It's kind of punk rock. I really wanted it to be kind of like old proto-punk. But, you know, to me, a band is the four members creating whatever they turn it into. And so we got a young, this one guy, I call him young, he's 30. He's the youngest guy in the band. Yeah. That is young. I'm 39 now. I still feel like a new Jack. So, so he gives it a hold of flavor. We get together and it's, it's in the vein of punk rock, but it kind of gets a little, you know, buried. Are you singing and playing guitar? Yeah, I was singing and playing guitar. Then we, I put down the guitars and got another guitar player. He didn't work out. And then I just never picked the guitar back up. So we're four piece, but just one guitar. Yeah.
UNKNOWNUm,
SPEAKER_01So that's that. Robot Uprising, look for us, please. Yeah. And then hopefully my singing is like what you were saying. Yeah. Well, do they have it at Saltzner's? I'll go buy it today. No. We just came out with this. And actually, that's just a limited edition. I should have brought you one. I'm sorry. No, that's okay. I'll Google it. And then you want to talk about the Nardcore beer. Yeah. So the big thing going on right now is the Nardcore Lager. And I want to give shouts out to Josh Downs. Yeah. Because I've been hit up throughout the years to do an hardcore beer. Yeah. And it's always these kind of startup beer companies and they see, you know, my bowling tournaments and they see all this, the bands I've been in and they always go, we're going to come to you and we want to put out an hardcore beer. And I'm always sure, let's do it. Let's do it. Yeah. And they go, okay, we're going to look into it a little bit. And then they never get back to me. Sure. It's not like we try something. So then this place – that Josh knows. Josh got on this and Casa Agria. I don't know if you're familiar with Casa Agria. They're here. The brewery is actually in Oxnard. Yeah, and he's been a beer guy for a while, right? Yeah. He actually went out to LA and was working at beer. Yeah, they have some. Who are you talking about? Josh. Yeah, Josh works at Smog City. Josh doesn't even work for these guys. Okay. But somehow he... He knows people there. And the people at Casa Agria are really cool. Awesome. And they love Oxnard. They love the music and stuff and the scene. And they do some really good beers. Yeah. Really good lagers. And this coming out. So somehow they got together. Josh is the one who's responsible for keeping it alive and making it happen. And it's Casa Agria's first American lager. And I don't know what that means. It's made here. Aren't they all American? I don't know. I'm not a craft beer guy. But supposedly this is going to be the first American lager. It's going to be a Nardcore lager, whatever. And the unique thing about this is we're getting as many people from bands from this area that can help out. And they're actually going to be there on brew day. Yeah, I got to figure out how to come. A Tuesday is so hard, though. If you can take a day off. Is it this Tuesday?
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01No, it's on May 14th. Okay. I got to try to make it work. Yeah. Ryan said he's going to be there. Yeah. He's going to be controlling. Yeah. He's going to retaliate. Yeah. So it's going to say, oh, man, the Can's going to have this sick artwork by this guy. He just did the Dad Braids cover. Okay. I think he did an album for Alice in Chains. He's a really great artist. I see some other stuff named Donnie. And so he's going to do this artwork and any band that helps make it, it's going to be, you know, say on there, kind of like by members of, sure. You know, retaliate and control. All right, dude. We've got the pressure on. Yeah. So we already got your abuse. Dr. No false confession. Yeah. Um, et cetera, et cetera. I love that band. Yeah. How, how fucking sick is that band? They just got back from Peru. I know. I saw that. That's so cool.
UNKNOWNYeah.
SPEAKER_01Are any of the Rotters guys still alive? The Rotters, yeah, Fester. Okay, so one of them is alive. Yeah. One guy lives in Japan, the bass singer. Fester is alive. Man, he was serious about that, buying Japanese goods. Yeah. What the fuck? He's living it. And maybe he's saving the whales. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. The other way, sinking the whales. Yeah. So, yeah, Fester will be there, so the Rotters will be represented. Awesome. So, yeah. It's actually going to be brewed by all the fucking people we're seeing. All right, I'll fucking be there, dude. I can't not be there. It's like the drive from San Diego to here is just a pain. You're passing through so many traffic. Anyway, that's boring for this. Anything else you want to touch on? That's it. Okay, awesome. Thank you, Tony. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it.