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Well, never say never.
Also, Gearhead [stages] these Gearfests in Scandinavia with the Hellacopters and Hives and a lot of the big garage bands over there. So Gearhead asked us if we wanted to play it in 2004. This was back in like, 2001. We were like, “Sure, whatever. We’ll play your fest.” And now it’s kind of creeping up on us. It’s supposed to be in June of 2004 and it’s an eight-show kind of mini-tour over in Europe. I think we’re probably going to do that. But other than that, we don’t practice. We’re still friends and hang out every once in a while, but we’re not practicing or trying to come up with songs anymore. Maybe if the mood strikes us and we drink too many beers ...
What about you personally?
I will also drink too many beers. I don’t know. It’s kind of weird, because this is the only band I was ever in. I have all kinds of ideas and I love music and like lyrics and everything still ... I’m just not actually in a band myself. I’d like to. Andre Williams said the worst thing you can do is stop singing for a while because your voice goes away. I used to joke around and imitate Michael McDonald all the time.
Somehow I can’t imagine that.
Yeah, it’s horrible, but it’s funny. And like Rick Astley and the Bee Gees and all this shit. So the other day, when Michael McDonald comes on the radio and I’m trying to sing along to “Shine Sweet Freedom” to crack myself up on the way to work. Which is pathetic, really, but I wasn’t hitting the notes and it was kind of pissing me off.
Start singing in the shower.
Yeah. Well, I want to [get into music again]. I have a lot of ideas and there are a lot of people in town who can play. One of the things I really respect about our band now that time has passed is that we all really stuck together. When we said we would practice, we would practice. And when we said we’d have a show, we’d go do a show. You find that you meet a lot of guys that just kind of schlep around town for years, saying they want to get a band. But then they can’t even practice three practices in a row before they get in a fight with somebody or they’re just too lazy or something ... Next year, I think I’m probably going to try to do a doo-wop record.
Did you say a doo-wop record?
Nobody does doo-wop anymore. The closest thing is like some of Greg Oblivian’s stuff. Like ‘50s, kind of scruffy. I mean, I don’t have a good enough voice.
Some would argue that the Turks were ‘50s-influenced.
I’ve always loved rockabilly and doo-wop and stuff. So it’d be kind of fun to go in a studio and hammer out some old obscure covers or something. With some music, not a cappella shit or something. I’m not quite that gay.
Are you pulling my leg, or are you serious?
It’s as good an idea as anything else. There’s that and then I was going to cover the entire first Shaun Cassidy record, but I gave up on that one pretty quick.
I’d buy that one.
And then it was the first Smithereens album. That one also got thrown out pretty quick. As far as another punk band, I feel like I was lucky to be in a really good band. I wouldn’t want to just go and be another crazy, jump-around singer for another band. That just seems kind of lame. I’ve seen other people do it. You already did it with one band, so why would you want to rehash a similar sound with somebody else?
Looking back over the past 10-plus years, would you change anything? Any regrets?
I can have regrets about maybe sticking with certain girlfriends for one more year than I should have, but the band ... You can’t really second-guess. It’s not like you have a time machine or something. Nah, along the way, we were all pretty cogent guys. I mean, we drank a lot and stuff, but it wasn’t like it was some band of junkies that just had a manager pulling us around by the hand. We talked about what we wanted to do and discussed it and we tried to be very democratic within the band. We were always really good about trying to figure out what we wanted to do. We didn’t always agree. You know, you can sit there and say you should have got a manager, because then you could have done this and that and movie soundtracks and all this bullshit. You look at like a Mooney Suzuki and they’re just not very good, but they pop up in movies and beer commercials. It’s all just management. So you kind of look back and think, “Do I want to be in a Coors commercial?” I’m just really proud of the records we made. You listen to them sometimes and think it could have been mixed this way or that way, but that’s not how we did it at the time. It was a little weird when we had to get rid of Bill (Randt), when we kicked the original drummer out back in ‘99, but it was deserved. He didn’t seem to be into it anymore. We got Sam, who’s just a great guy and was really easy to deal with and a great drummer ... You should regret things like if somebody you knew went off to work at the World Trade Center and didn’t say goodbye or something. When you do something for 13 years, you have a lot of time to figure things out. [Laughs]. So it’s kind of hard to have regrets.
Do you miss it?
Yeah, I miss meeting people on the road and doing interviews and talking with people who are really into music. You find that when you’re out of a band, a lot of people just really don’t give a shit about music. You’re used to traveling in a van with three other guys and meeting booking agents and other bands and fans and talking about music. So you miss that. And free beer was always nice. All those various little perks. I like recording. I like being in a studio and hearing a song come together. I just didn’t want to be one of those bands—and I could name a couple—who just went a little too long. That’s just a bad feeling. We tried to avoid all the band clichés. Everything from drug addiction to stealing someone’s girlfriend to signing with shitty management who takes all your money to signing with a shitty label that takes your recordings. We tried to avoid all of that kind of bullshit that you hear happens to bands. The whole concept of buying a band van. I know too many bands who are still paying off their van five years after they have broken up ... I’m happy that we ended where we did and weren’t dragging our asses around and fighting with each other.
You’ve had a good run.
Yeah, that’s how they put it, usually. “A good run.”
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