Spike Slawson

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with Spike

Hey there Spike, how’s life going?

Ciao Carlo, I am fine, thank you.

You released
the latest Swingin’ Utters disc as a live record, of the infamous
"Live In A Dive" series. What about that?
Fat Wreck Chords has been releasing live recordings of several bands
for their `Live in a Dive’ series, and they asked us, too. We recorded
our set at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, and I think we played surprisingly
well considering how much certain people drank that night.

How did you
decide the tracklist of the live show to record?
It’s hard to try to satisfy everyone’s taste and play a set that is
fun to perform at the same time. The songs that we played on that
particular night just happened to work for that night.

Do you think the Utters changed a lot after you joined the band?
The band did start recording different sounding stuff around that
time, but it had very little to do with me. The people in the band
felt-and still feel -that every time they recorded they came closer
to the sound they had wanted all along. It wasn’t a change in direction
as much as a clarification.

It looks like the Swingin’ Utters always had some line-up changes,
once again before you joined the band as bass player.
Before a band finds scrupulous people to help them sell records or
book shows, they meet a lot of shitheads. Fat have always been more
than fair with all of their bands, so it seemed like an obvious decision.

"Five Lessons Learned" is much slower compared to the
previous Utters discs, do you agree?
I think if the message is a good one and people are listening that
stylistic differences are unimportant. How much I like a band musically
is sometimes less important than how I feel about them personally.

Have you ever played in Italy with the Utters? I think with Me
First And The Gimme Gimmes you never toured outside the US.
Actually, not only have the Utters have played Italy a few times before
I was in the band, but just after I joined we played the Festa dell’Unita
in Modena. That was in 1998, and we haven’t played there since. I’m
sorry. I will speak to the rest of the band.

I know your girlfriend is Italian, is that true? Did she meet you
before you became a famous punk rocker?
My girlfriend is Italian by blood (half Florentine, and half Sicilian)
and American by birth. She speaks fluent Italian, though, and she
has been into punk since long before she met me or either of my bands
existed. She also puts on a show called Incredibly Strange Wrestling
which features Lucha Libre style Mexican wrestling and punk
bands. I actually met her for holiday in Bologna last year at Deconstruction
where she and the wrestlers were performing.

Do you spend
a lot time in Italy? Do you go there often?
I do spend a lot of time in Italy. We have friends all over and my
girlfriend has family in Sicily, too. San Francisco’s beaches can
be very cold especially in summer, but they are very nice. I love
the beaches in Sicily, too. It’s too difficult to compare. Most of
the time I spend in Italy, though, is spent in towns and cities. Old
cities fascinate me.

Speaking of
the "Life In A Dive", I thought the comic in the booklet
were really fun. How did you get the idea of the story?
In the States we have an old Hanna Barbera cartoon called Scooby Doo
about a dog who helps a group of young people solve mysteries. Our
friend, Joel (who drew and colored the comic book), based his idea
on this show. I’ve heard a million times that some club or another
that we’ve played was supposed to be haunted. Maybe so.

What’s your
opinion on mainstream bands, music, and media?
I think that today there are less and less avenues for information
and expression which don’t involve the mainstream. If you find something
positive in the mainstream media, great; but you should continue to
look in other harder to find places.

You have been
involved in the punk rock scene for a long time - what do you think
has changed in the punk rock music scene since you entered it?
I have been listening to punk and going to punk shows since 1984.
This may sound clichéd but the more things change, the more
they stay the same. Underground music will always surge in popularity.
Wait and see who’s left when it goes back underground. If punk is
finally absorbed by the mainstream, there will still be meaningful
words and music elsewhere.

How is life
on the road with the Utters?
The Swingin Utters are in a family way these days. With three kids
and one on the way it’s hard to leave town for extended periods. This
last tour in Europe was, financially speaking, the best so far, but
we still ended up losing money. Those of us still interested in touring,
though, will be coming out with new projects and hitting the road
soon.

Can you make
any comment on the lyrics of the Swingin Utters’ songs? Is there a
tune you like the most?
That question might be better answered by Darius or Johnny as they
are the principal songwriters. I can say that our tastes are pretty
diverse, ranging from old Country and Western to Punk to even Disco,
so I guess that shows in our sound.

How would you
describe the Utters’ sound to a person that never heard of you?
I’ve always had a difficult time describing the Utters’ sound to people.
Sometimes it sounds like English punk from the Eighties, but I like
to think that we’re a California band.

What have you
been listening to lately?
The Jam, Elvis Costello, The Pixies, The Clash, The Pogues, AC/DC,
Motorhead, The Beatles, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Sergio Franchi,
The Briefs, The Spits, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire…..

What are the
bands that you are closest friends with?
We know the Rancid guys pretty well. Let’s see, Pistol Grip from L.A.
are good friends, also Youth Brigade, The Briefs, NOFX, The Epoxies,
The Dropkick Murphys…..

Any future
plans of touring with The Swingin’ Utters?
So far we’ve only made plans to do a few shows here in California.
Our drummer, Greg, has a new band called *Shadowboxer* with the old
bass player from the Utters, and they’ll be playing all the shows
with us. I’ve only heard a demo of them, but I like it a lot.

How about record
labels? Will you alwasy stay of Fat Wreck Chords?
Paying bills is hard no matter what you do, but it is rewarding to
be a part of something unique. The only label I can speak about with
any authority is Fat, and they have always been fair with us. Just
because a label is independent doesn’t mean that they’re trustworthy.