There’s a new album in the pipeline for San Diego’s veteran punkers Agent Orange, the band’s first album proper in more than a decade. Founding frontman Mike Palm says the disc’s working title Full Blown Supercharged Punk Surf Grind ought to satisfy all queries.

Archival March 1997 interview by Steve Tauschke | steve@staff.truepunk.com | with Agent Orange’s Mike Palm.

You’ve obviously been a big fan of surf music for a long time?
“Yeah, my older brothers were really into it, in fact my cousin was in a band called the Original Surfaris. So the music has always been around and it’s a situation where you’re older brother’s record collection gets passed down - and a lot of that stuff was surf … I really like to go see local surf bands and when I’m elsewhere I like to dig up things whether they’re current or from another era. I’m interested in most instrumental surf-type stuff and part of that is because without lyrics it doesn’t cloud my mind as far as ideas go. So it’s easy for me to listen to instrumental music all the time. And I really like to catch opening bands, locals bands, ones who wouldn’t normally play too far outside their area.”

Back in the early 80s Agent Orange played shows with The Angry Samoans … what do you remember about them?
“It’s funny, pretty much any band you could name we’ve most likely played with. But those early punk days are realy a blur.”

The band hasn’t recorded since 1987…did you ever call it day at any point over the past 10 years?
“The band was always an ongoing thing. The gap there was really caused by our record label and in part by our management as well and it created a situation where we were not at liberty to record. What we did during that period ws, aside from trying to get out of our contract and move on with our recording career, we spent a lot of time playing live shows. So one of the things we tried to concentarte on during that time was retaining our audience which ultimately is the most important thing.

“It’s hard to go without releasing new records so we just played as many live shows as we could until the recording thing got settled. So the band actually never broke up …It’s been difficult though, I’ve gone through a couple of different sets of drummers and things but the most important thing is that the songs have held up really well and that the catalogue is still available. It sells well and people still like to hear the songs. Another thing, I really enjoy what I’m doing. When I get up on stage I’m having fun and that’s really what being in a band is all about. I mean what other reason would you go see a band?”

Do you view The Vandals and these sort of bands as your long-time peers?
“I mean when I see a band like the Vandals, it’s far cry from the Vandals with Stevo singing. Their only original member is Joe, who used to be the drummer and is now the bass player. He’s not the main songwriter. I was always the main songwriter/singer/guitarist.”

As someone who witnessed the first wave of west coast punk, how do you see its ressurection now?
“The main thing about it is, and most people don’t realise, that in the early days punk was feared by most of the mainsteam media and pretty much people in general and it was difficult for a punk band to get booked into a club or to get airplay on the radio or even get a review of any kind. And later on with the introduction of hardcore by some of the other bands, and I have to admit some were in Orange County in California, I think that introduced a violent aspect to it which really sucked a lot of the fun out of it and made things a lot more difficult. But as far as the punk style goes, I think it’s still viable today. Let’s face it, there’s not a whole lot you can do as far as, um, I mean (punk) really wasn’t as frightening as people thought it was and obviously it isn’t now that it’s the mainstream. The style still works, there’s still a lot of ways to shock as far as the punk style and I think that’s part of the fun of it.”

What did you make of L7’s early recording of your track Bloodstains?
“I’m always very interested to hear other people’s versions of the songs. I think it’s the ultimate compliment to be covered. I guess rock n’ roll in general has always been a cannabalistic artform which is fine but I feel that some of the new bands, er, let me put it this way, there’s a fine line between influence and plaigarism and for the most part music suffers when that line is crossed. Right now I think we could stand a little bit more orginality in as far as, to be specific, melodic punk rock goes. I don’t want to hear any music style formularised to death. And that’s the problem.’

Do you feel The Offspring crossed that line with Come Out And Play and its similarity to parts of Bloodstains? I mean what was your reaction when you first heard it?
“Well, it seemed pretty obvious to me the things they used for an influence but I think they were a little too obvious about it.”

The Offspring have claimed that the surf riff isn’t yours, that it’s an old surf standard used many times over the years.
“I think they used it sort of like a sample would be used in hip-hop, that’s how it sounded to me. I’ve heard some other things in their songs that are musically taken from other bands’ songs or whatever so I think they picked an appropriate name when they chose The Offspring.”