Punk rock is a genre that is known for many things but musical collaborations isn't one of them. Sure, there are times but rarely will you see an album littered with guests musicians like you will on, say, a T-Pain album. Red Tape Parade hopes to change all that (the collaboration part, not the sounding like T-Pain part). Their new album, The Third Rail of Life, features a spree of guests including Joey Cape, Patrick Kindlon of End of a Year, Scott Freeman of Shook Ones and Funeral For A Friend's Matthew Davies-Kreye.
If this wasn't interesting enough, Punknews is running a very unique feature on the album itself. In our two part series, Red Tape Parade has asked the vocalists to explain their contribution to the album and then invites the guest to ask three questions of the band. What follows is an interesting examination of both the band and the inner workings of what it takes to make such a collaborative album This edition features some Q&A with Joey Cape and Patrick Kindlon. Stay tuned for the second half in the coming days.
Joey Cape (Lagwagon) sings on the song "Anything Else is Progress"
"The Red Tape Parade song I sang on is called "Song 6", which I think may just the file title I received, not the actual song title. Not sure. Usually when someone ask me to sing on their song, I just re-sing or mimic what ever the singer of the band sang already. Most of the time it is not all that interesting or creative. Red Tape Parade was very cool. They gave me an entire verse and I was allowed to write not only the melody, but also the lyrics. It was fun and a nice experience but I think they should change their name to Red Tape Party." - Joey Cape
What is it like to be German? Bavarian? Oise: Can't really talk about being a German since i am not a German. But i will try to to explain to you what its like to be a Bavarian. Being Bavarian means being constantly in conflict with yourself, your values and your emotions. On the one hand we are the most friendly, welcoming, progressive and good hearted people. On the other one we are the most grumpy, scared, closed minded mean bastards on this planet. I think i know now how Luke Skywalker felt!
Part of being Bavarian also means that the rest of the world thinks you are a drunk, lederhosen-wearing, foreigner-hating, wifebeating inbreed. Which is partly true though… Being called Germany's "most racist part" by Fat Mike on youtube didn't help much either!
Wauz: Did you actually call Bavarian s "progressive", Oise? That´s like calling the Ku Klux Klan a Black Power movement. If you take all the negative things Oise listed (the most grumpy, scared, closed minded mean bastards on this planet) times 100 you´ll get a good idea what it was like to grow up in a small town in Bavaria…haha…see, Oise has a love-hate relationship with Bavaria, I have a hate-hate relationship. And Germany is just Bavaria's bigger and dumber brother.
Why are you guys (Red Tape Parade, not Germans) so angry? Oise: I don't think the word "angry" really describes us… I think "bitter", "burned out", "sarcastic", "disillusioned", "broke" and "unsuccessful" are way more accurate!
Wauz: And "not funny". Well, at least to other people. I think we are hilarious but no one else laughs at our jokes.
What's your favorite dessert? Oise: Pretty much all dessert is fine with me. The shiner the glossing (among my favorites are pink, baby blue or acid green) and the crazier the cream filling the better! The only think I REALLY don't like is this "healthy" dessert shit. I mean…really?!
I walked into that vegan cafe here in Munich the other day and a sign right next to one of their cakes proudly displayed that it, "does not contain sugar". Why in dog's name should I eat that thing then?!?! It is a desserts DUTY to make you fat and make your teeth rot! If i want something without sugar i order a bowl of soup, goddammit!
Wauz:Well, Oise, thatâs what you get from living in Munich! Here in Berlin you can get all kinds of awesome vegan desserts that contain insane amounts of sugar and look like they are made out of rainbows…
Patrick Kindlon of End of The Year sings on the song "-10 on the care-meter"
Note: The track deals with the show cancellations on the EOAY/Red Tape Parade tour 2010 due to sexism accusations against Patrick Kindlon, which you can read about here.
"I got involved in punk because I was tired of being judged. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that people are people no matter what subculture banner they wave. It feels like within punk and hardcore the animals have begun walking on their hind legs. Is it possible to go so far left that you end up back on the right? Yes. I have evidence." -Patrick Kindlon
It seems that many Europeans prefer to see American bands, as if those bands are somehow more credible. As a band, do you find Europe limiting? Oise: As you may have experienced on your touring through Europe the underground music scene here is HEAVILY influenced by North American sub-culture. Nothing wrong with that but we reached a level where people will discuss on message boards what the singer of some generic Boston hardcore band had for dinner last Sunday Or a dude with a steady income living in some clean, safe German small town will live in some fantasy world where there are "hard times" or he wants to give somebody "street justice".
Being a German band in Germany is sometimes not very rewarding. No matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are or how much heart you put in it - you will never get the love or attention a band from the states would. But we do not care that much. It is what it is. If making fans or being liked by people would be the motivation behind this band we would have stopped a long time ago.
It is not limiting though since we have no goal with this band besides writing music that we would enjoy hearing ourselves. We are also guilty ourselves. Our band is named after a Seaweed song, we mainly tour with American bands. We sing in English - a fact that at least allowed us to travel and play outside of German speaking territories (something almost impossible when singing in your native tongue). I enjoy meeting other German bands and hanging out but musically they often lack playing skills, personality, stage presence and often are just cheap, crappier imitations of already crappy bands on bridge 9 records.
As a band clearly rooted in punk, do you think that label comes with real responsibilities in the year 2010? Or has that line been blurred past recognition? For example, would you open for Robbie Williams? Wauz: One responsibility I can think of is to keep it from stagnating. And how do you do that? By challenging yourself and by challenging others. Thereâs nothing really challenging about playing basements or squads while on tour with another punk band. Sure, itâs lots of fun and thereâs nothing I love more, but you gotta admit: itâs pretty safe. People know what to expect most of the time and so do the bands. Touring with Robbie Williams on the other hand would be a real challenge. Not only for us but also for his audience. I mean, we would get booed of the stage within seconds, but it would still be an experience worth to be made. Rober Anton Wilson said, "It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea." and I think he pretty much nailed it. To keep punk relevant in 2010 we gotta refresh the idea of it every once in a while or drag it to places where it hasnât been before. Aw, fuck it, I donât wanna sound all serious and give you that cliché speech of, "bringing our message to a broader audience"-bullshit. I would do it for the good laugh we would get out of doing it.
Oise: I think the responsibility of being a punk band shows in how you do your "band business" not whom you play to, look or sound like. For me being "punk" does not mean being an elitist asshole that only wants to play to the same 20 people that "get it" - which way too often just means "people that think like I do". It means being fair, being reasonable, not ripping people off and most importantly not using this great community as a stepping stone for your childish rockstar dreams.
If somebody gets something out of our music and/or lyrics they are more then welcome as long as they know how to behave and treat other members of the audience with respect. We are not exclusive - but having too many people into our band was never a problem for us anyhow, haha.
About doing something as crazy as opening up for Robbie Williams? Hmm…There is no black and white for me with stuff like that, many things would have to be discussed before making a decision here. Would it financially make sense? Is it worth our precious time? Does doing drugs with a manic-depressive pop star outweigh the fact that 99.9% of his fans will ignore and/or throw shit at us?
Call me naive but what do we as a band have to give to an audience like this? Would we be allowed to bring people from animal rights organizations, pro-choice activists or progressive political groups to hand out pamphlets at the merch? What good could we do by going out in front of a crowd like that and speak our minds? We are not Consolidated, Rage Against the Machine or Seein Red. We don't have a political agenda the whole band agrees on so it would be hard for us to talk about that as well…If you get a chance like this I think you gotta use it and try to send those people home with something more than a 75$ shirt with Robbieâs handsome face on it.
So - still undecided, please tell Mr. Williams to be a little patient with us!
What is the worst sexually transmitted disease Oise has had to struggle through? Did any of you feel endangered by being in a van with him? Is it safe to say you would never share a towel with him for fear he dried his genitals with it and you may contract something? Wauz: Is answering this question the biggest cock-block, ever? Do girls that wanna have sex with Oise read Punknews? Whatever. That guy hangs the medical certificates of his STD´s on his bathroom wall like others do with their diplomas. So whatâs the worst one you can have? Well, Iâm sure itâs up there on that wall. There are a few rules while touring with Red Tape Parade: Donât let Oise drink from your bottle. Donât sit where he has been sitting. NEVER use the same towel. If you go by that rules thereâs a good chance you wonât get sick. But Oise and I are married on facebook (and thatâs the only legitimate way to get married nowadays, right?) and he demands some tenderness once in a while, so…