PENNYWISE INTERVIEW
Not only is having Pennywise featured on The Pier one of the biggest bands we have had to date, but to have Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury be interviewed by long-time friend and band-mate Greg "MUDD" Lowther (Long Beach Records/Falling Idols) pretty much guarantees our site one of the best reads to date! So sit-back and enjoy the personal and fun questions posed by Mudd and The Pier's Pilipo to one of punk rock's great bassists.
Mudd: So Randy, prior to Pennywise you played with Wayne Kramer of the legendary MC5. What type of experience was that? How did it come about? What was it like the first time you met him, and were you nervous to meet someone that you listened to a lot growing up?
Randy: I met Wayne through a phone call from Eric Sandin of NOFX. Eric was at the Epitaph office and Wayne happened to be there too, he asked Eric if there were any bass players that might want to play a few songs on his record The Hard Stuff. Eric suggested me, so I got the phone call and met with Wayne at Cole rehearsal studios in the summer of 1994. He was really nice, easy going and an all around cool dude and an amazing guitar player.
I brought Josh Freese with me to play drums and the rehearsal went over really well. Wayne liked us, so we played some songs on Waynes' album. When it came time for Wayne to go on tour, he asked me if I would be willing to go. Of course I didn't have to think about it, I just said yes... It was Wayne on guitar, Brock Avery on drums and me on bass. That was one of the most rocking bands I've ever had the pleasure of being in and the tour was awesome.
Playing with Wayne was a surreal experience, I would look around and realize I was playing in a band with one of the guys that helped create punk rock! The MC5 were one of the most influential bands in history and definately one of my favorites. Playing with Wayne was an incredible learning experience too. He exposed me to different artists like Sun Ra and John Coltrane, he was really into playing dissonant improvisational "out there" jazz type stuff. He wanted to get across the pure energy and expression of the music, more than just playing the songs perfectly. I can see why Wayne Kramer is such a huge influence on so many people.
Mudd: You also played in a band with Hunt Sales (Soopy Sales' son and legendary drummer for David Bowie, Iggy Pop and many others), how did that come about? What is your strongest memory of that time?
Randy: Hunt, another incredible musician! I met Hunt from being in Tender Fury with Jack Grisham. Hunt produced one of our albums and was really particular about the drums. He was ridding our drummer really hard during the pre-production and recording of the record, to the point that after the album was finished our drummer quit. So Hunt stepped in and became the drummer of Tender Fury for about a year.
Talk about a learning experience! Hunt schooled me on how the bass and drums need to lock in together and be tight. It was challenging because Hunt also was an improvisor, he would just start changing the songs out of nowhere and go into these amazing drum solo jams that he would expect me, as the bass player to lock in perfectly tight with. And in actuality I had absolutely no idea what he was doing, what he was going to do or when he was going to do it. He really made me play on my toes and be prepared for anything to happen. I didn't want to mess up and he would get pissed if I didn't lock in with the kick drum so I was stuck to him like flies on shit. It made me a much better player and I owe so much of my ability to that experience. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to play with Hunt... and Jack, for that matter. I've been really lucky to have had so many opportunities to play with so many musical icons.
Mudd: A lot of bass players seem to be inspired by your playing and style. Eric Wilson of Sublime among others has credited you with being influence. How does that make you feel, and what bass players inspired you?
Randy: I just love playing bass and music in general. It's kind of unexpected when someone sites you as an influence, especially someone who is as accomplished as Eric. But, it's really cool, and it kind of validates all the seemingly wasted years that I just partied and played music. Some of my influences are Algy Ward and Paul Gray of the Damned, Carl Alverez and Tony Lombardo of the Descendents, Jack Bruce, Geezer Butler and even Steve Harris back in the day. They are all great players.
Mudd: Legend has it that you were in the Divinyl's video I Touch Myself. How did you end up doing that? Was there ever a chance of playing live with them? How does the singer look in person? Did you guy's plug in and play the song or was it strickly a lip sync?
Randy: The Divinyls video was through Hunt. They called Hunt asking if he knew any bass players for the video and a possible tour. Hunt suggested me. I met them, they liked me, I did the video and then they offered me the tour, but I was working on another Tender Fury record at the time with Jack, Frank Agnew, Josh Freese and Robbie Allen, so I wasn't really into going on tour. So my legacy with the Divinyls is I Touch Myself. Actually about six months later I did do another video with them called Make Out All Right, but it didn't really take off. We did lip sync the videos and Chrissie Amphlett was an attractive lady.
Mudd: You write a lot of songs, and you have a cool site of your demos on MySpace (84 Day Syndrome). Do you have a routine that you do when writing songs? Do you write the music first, then lyrics or vice versa? Do you have a favorite place were you go to write songs? Do you have a favorite guitar or bass that you write the songs on?
Randy: I just love playing music. I've always wanted to play every instrument, so as far back as I could remember. As soon as any drummer in whatever band I was playing in would get up for any reason, I would run over and bang on the drums (usually at the great displeasure of the drummer). Guitar, same thing and of course bass and vocals. So now, years later, I have a little studio out in my garage with drums, guitars, basses and microphones that I spend many hours in.
The way I usually write a song is to sit down with a guitar and come up with a riff or melody. Then I go into the studio, put together a basic structure of the song and then record the drums with no accompanying music. Just the drums. Then I'll play the guitars to that and finally put bass on it. Then vocals. If I don't already have some vocal melodies, I'll listen to the song over and over until something pops in my head.
The guitar melodies and vocals just come to me and then I add them in. I usually submit the songs I write to the guys in Pennywise and they keep the ones they like. Sometimes they end up on Pennywise records and sometimes they fall to the waste side. A lot of the other songs I write end up on the 84 Day Syndrome Web-Site, just for fun.
Mudd: Who is your favorite manufacture of basses, and what model? What is your bass rig? Do you have a sponsor, and if not who would you want as a sponsor?
Randy: I play Fender Precision basses mostly. They are my favorite, they just have that tone and feel that love. I've tried different basses over the years and have never been satisfied, but Fender Precisions really do satisfy. I am also endorsed by Fender and they just gave me a Highway 1 Series Precision, it has higher output pickups and a heavy duty "Badass Bridge" and a really cool flat black finish. It's an awsome bass! I get my amps from SVT. I play an SVT Pro II with an SVT 8 x 10 Cabinet. Fender Precision through an SVT just can't be beat for that aggressive grindy tone.
Mudd: What can you tell us about the songs on Reason to Believe? Who produced the album? How different was the process of recording with a new producer and a different studio?
Randy: Reason To Believe is our (Pennywise) 9th studio album and was produced by Cameron Webb (Social Distortion, Motorhead, Sum 41, Ignite). For this album Cameron had us do more pre-production than our last few albums. We got together for a couple weeks before we went into the studio and hashed out the songs and refined them as much as we could. It really helped us to get prepared for recording, resulting in a smoother recording process. We're really happy with the production and more importantly, on this record we feel like we've got some really good songs, and that makes all the difference. Good songs = good record!
The Pier: Rumor has it that 60 songs were written for this album? What is the process of picking the songs that were used on the album?
Randy: Yeah this time we had about 60 to choose from. We all write for months in anticipation of the album, sometimes we have less sometimes more. The songs we submit are not all album quality, we'll try experimenting with different types of songs that you wouldn't normally hear on a Pennywise record and maybe out of those we get something special. In the end we just tend to pick the ones we like best. We're really happy with the songs we accumulated for Reason To Believe.
The Pier: How was it that Western World picked as the lead single?
Randy: Western World is similar to Alien, with the tempo and guitar riffs, so we thought it might get some attention, but we don't pick the single, the radio does. So basically that is the one they wanted to play.
The Pier: Is there a central theme to this album?
Randy: As always we just sing about the world around us from our perspective. On Reason to Believe I feel the central theme is a message of hope. Even though we are in troubled times we can focus on how each one of us still has opportunities to make positive changes. There is always hope that through being positive and taking action things can get better.
The Pier: Positivity and self belief has always been a part of Pennywise's music too.
Randy: Exactly, you have the power to change yourself and the way you react to certain situations. If you make good choices, good things will happen.
The Pier: Any interesting studio stories this time round?
Randy: Just more of the same, battling it out with the other members to get them to accept your ideas. Nothing comes easy in the studio. If you have a part for a song that you think is really good, you'd better have a good argument to back it up, and convince the rest of the guys that it needs to be included in the song. If you're not ready to fight it out, it'll end up in the gutter.
The Pier: This new album Reason to Believe will be available for free on MySpace. How did this idea originate?
Randy: People want free music and we want people to hear our music. So we've found a way through MySpace Records and our sponsor Textango to allow our album to be available as a free download on March 25th for a period of two weeks. If you prefer to own a physical copy of the CD, you can go to the store on the same day and buy it (the download and the physical CD will be released simultaneously on the same day). It's a win, win situation no matter how you look at it.
The Pier: Pennywise is about to tour Australia again. I saw you play down there at least four or five times. So how does an American band get away with covering a song (Down Under) about how great being an Australian is (haha)?
Randy: We have the best times when we tour Australia. We really love it there, it's very similar to home (cept you insist on driving on the wrong side of the road, haha). But, we have a great time there and we wanted to do something special. So we just started playing Land Down Under live when we were in Oz and then we recorded it and the rest is history.
The Pier: You will be on the Warped Tour again this year, has it been interesting to see what popular music styles change and get represented over the years?
Randy: The musical styles on the Warped tour have changed so many times you never know what to expect, but it's always fun and it's great to see that it's been successful for so long.
Mudd: We understand that you enjoy a good conspiracy? What is your current favorite? Do you think that the expanding earth theory is compatable with plate techtonics? Could the earth be expanding and the crust foating on an inter-liquid core?
Randy: Haha! Good questions... If you really want to hear a good conspiracy about the Earths inner core, check out the hollow Earth theory. One of my favorite conspiracy theories is the one about some fat guy in a red suit that flies from house to house delivering gifts down the chimney on Christmas night. That's a good one. What about all the houses without chimneys? That makes me suspicious (haha).
No, but seriously, sometimes the "official story" isn't really all that believable. So I feel in those circumstances it's beneficial to excercise a healthy skepticism. Isn't the punk rock ethic to question authority?
(Randy and Mudd jamming together)
Mudd: Any thoughts on the conspiracy that the moon landings were faked? There are some interesting questions about the flag waving in the wind where there is no atmosphere, a lack of stars in the photos, a lack of any back blast underneath the craft, etc. Are the questions posed by conspiracy theorists explainable or might they be on to something?
Randy: I like to check agendas. If there are people that stand to gain from the lie, if there's a motive, then maybe there's a conspiracy. Anyway, I don't see where a faked moon landing affects me directly, so I really don't entertain that one too much.
Mudd: What book are you currently reading, and do you have any book recomendations for the readers?
Randy: Jim (Lindberg) gave me a book yesterday called The Fabric Of The Cosmos by Brian Greene. It's about Quantum Physics and String Theory, it looks really interesting I can't wait to start reading it. Recomendations? I guess I'll recommend The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin.
Mudd: What cd is currently in your cd player in your car, and what bands for you define each decade?
Randy: 60s Beatles, 70s Stones, 80s Sex Pistols, 90s Nirvana. Currently, I've been listening to Long Beach ALLDAY - Looking At Them.
Mudd: If you were Eliot Spittzer (Gov of New York), would you:
1) Try to lie your way out of it
2) Become a porn star
3) Learn Spanish and try to fly under the radar in Paraguay
4) Write a tell all, that really doesn't, or
5) Run for Govener of New Jersey?
Randy: I'd say five hail mary's, go to rehab and then get back to work (haha).
A huge thanks must go out to Mudd and Randy for taking the time to prepare and answer these questions for The Pier. Look for an album review of Reason to Believe soon here at The Pier, but in short it kicks major ass!
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