Alcohol fueled craziness at the Big Fish Pub with:
One of the most crazed bands to ever hit the valley has been in town three times in the last three months. They have played medium sized crowds to packed venues. They have left the crowd with a look on their face of violation, and they were, musically. I have heard references to ZEKE from white trash punk to underground gods. Either way no one has used the words "all right" or "just OK." to describe their sound. You either love them or hate them. What ever the case may be, I don't think ZEKE really gives a shit. ZEKE has been on tour with some of the craziest hard-core bands, from ALL to D.O.A. After missing an interview at the Big Fish Pub show I headed out to The Atomic Cafe to catch ZEKE open up for D.O.A. ZEKE went crazy and pulled off a great set. I snuck back stage and harassed the band with some questions and stole a few of their beers. All and all, this is what they had to say about what has been going on in the world of ZEKE.
ZEKE: Well, the letter itself it came from Marks X girlfriend and yes it was real. Mark broke up with her and she was really upset about the whole thing and we found humor in it. We showed up to practice and Mark was kind of bummed out and started reading it to us. Half way through the letter we were rolling on the ground with laughter. The other thing in the C.D. insert was the restraining order that was filed against Donny from our old touring manager. We got a kick out of that also.
MOISST: The last time I saw you guys was at a graduation party for Kurt's girlfriend in Seattle.
ZEKE: Oh my god that was the night that Mark got all whacked out on speed and was flippin. Yeah, I remember that.
MOISST: So What ever happened to Kurt? Did you kick his ass out of the band or what?
ZEKE: No what happened with Kurt is that he gets really excited about punk and hard-core in general. We would be playing a show and he would basically be sober. Into about the third or fourth song he would space out and stop playing and start yelling at people. I mean this happened weeks on end before we had to let him go. I mean there would be shows that half way through the set he would drop his bass and head out into the audience just start yelling YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then he got to the point that he would grab his bass and jump out into the audience and mosh with everybody. It just got to the point that it was not good. The final straw was, we had this really big show out in Houston. I told Kurt "hey man not tonight, any night except tonight" (Everyone starts bustin up in the band) He just went off in rare form so we got Mark back in the band. Getting Mark back in the band was not an instant thing. We were out of a steady bass player for a couple months.
MOISST: What ever happened to Dizzy. I thought Dizzy was still in the band. ZEKE: Oh yeah, he was in the band he just flipping out. He was one of the original members. He was in and out of mental hospitals. The last time I saw him he was squatting down town. I mean every once and a while he really pulls it together and does some great punk rock. I love Dizzy but I can't play with him.
MOISST: Did you ever play the Lake Union Pub in Seattle?
ZEKE: Are you kidding? All the time.
MOISST: The few months I was in Seattle I couldn't find you guys for shit.
ZEKE: We were probably touring. We played there all the time for free beer.
MOISST: Where do you play when your home now that the Union Pub is gone.
ZEKE: We play the Crocodile, RKNDY wherever.
MOISST: How long have you been out touring this last stretch?
ZEKE: This time we will be out for eight weeks.
MOISST: It seems like you guys are on the road nonstop. Is that by your decision or is Epitaph pushing for you to promote the new CD?
ZEKE: No, we love touring. All Epitaph really did was gave us some money to make an album. It's not like they are forcing us to do anything. They are really cool about all that.
MOISST: Every write up I have read about you guys has placed you in front of the next wave of hard-core. What do you think about being labeled that?
ZEKE: Any one that is saying that I believe is getting a little over excited. I don't know. We are having a good time at what we are doing so what ever happens, happens.
MOISST: Any crazy ass shit going on while you are touring.
ZEKE: Well, a lot of bar fights Donny and our road manager are always getting onto it. They got kicked out of a bar in New Orleans twice. It's so fucking childish. It wasn't even at the clubs we were playing at. We just go out get drunk and get our asses kicked. MOISST: I know you've played out in Flagstaff how was that?
ZEKE: We played at some hotel (The Congress). The crowd was as old as my parents. It was a really weird scene. We played a very minimal set and got out as quick as we could.
MOISST: Who was smashed in the head first to come up with the ZEKE sound?
ZEKE: (Long dead pause) That's really interesting.
MOISST: I mean with all the generic sounding hard-core who wanted to stick with the more aggressive side of the spectrum although it hasn't been gigantic for a while?
ZEKE: We really haven't been influenced by anything recent. When I was growing up I listened to bands like the RAMONES but most of the bands I got into were rock and roll like KISS and CHEAP TRICK. Well a small amount of Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, and The Angry Samoans. Mostly we listened to a lot of butt rock shit. The hard-core aspect of it just seemed logical. We are doing what we feel right with. I mean the New Bomb Turks are tearing it up in the underground bar scene but that's not us. I don't really think of our music as hard-core. I look at it really as straight forward rock and roll. A lot of fans of eighties hard-core seem to like us.
MOISST: Personally I feel you guys have the mix of Motorhead and GBH. Do you think that is a close representation at all?
ZEKE: Actually the GBH that we listen to we do like a lot. We love Motorhead. We really aren't close to the Oi sound and I really don't think that Oi bands really care for us either.
MOISST: What usually runs through your heads when you go to play a show and you look out and their is nothing but Nazi skins filtering through the audience.
ZEKE: Some times skins really make the show. It really depends. Sharps will show up and nazi skins will show up. We're really not into dissecting the crowd. You can't generalize about skin heads you know. I mean we've had skin heads working for ZEKE and they were really cool guys that got into hard-core. Just because their viewpoint is different than ours we are not going to snub them. Some of my good friends are black so whatever. We haven't had any bad times surrounding skins. I mean you really have to treat people on an individual basis. MOISST: The last time I saw you play was at the Big Fish pub. What was the reasoning behind the short set?
ZEKE: We will play from anywhere from twelve minutes to forty five minutes. We don't really have a long attention span and to tell you the truth. We get bored really easy. I think a lot of the crowd that comes to see us has grown up with bands that don't go on for days and they just get up there do their thing and get off. I personally hate going to see a band that plays for a hour and a half, so I'm definitely not going to do that.
MOISST: Well it seems that you can fit in at least three songs in a few minutes anyway. You really don't even pause for the encore either. I mean you go from the set to mentioning that the next song will be your last and then you do a few more right after.
ZEKE: Yeah, I think we have a lot of energy and that is why we keep it short and strong throughout. I mean how long can you actually play before people start loosing interest.
MOISST: I noticed a lot of the songs are directed towards Gearheads and Heroin.
ZEKE: On the first album we were really into cars and were inspired by fast cars. Most of the songs are about sex, drugs and alienation. The second album was about the same. I mean every thing is just about what is going on with our lives at the time. I think that is the case with most every band out there today.
MOISST: How long has ZEKE been together?
ZEKE: Four and a half years.
MOISST: Do you think your shows have been a lot heavier promoted since you have signed with Epitaph?
ZEKE: They are real consistent. They make sure the posters get their on time but we have to do our part also you know. Even before we went with Epitaph we were packing shows and selling out shows so that was happening already. With Epitaph we can tell that these guys really give a fuck. I mean they are really nice people and they support us. They really help out on getting people exposed to us.
MOISST: Have you been in the studio lately for any upcoming releases?
ZEKE: Actually we just went into the studio for a AC/DC tribute compilation and we are getting ready to do a song for a Motorhead compilation also.
MOISST: How long will you be on the DOA tour?
ZEKE: We are going to tour withe DOA for the next six weeks. After that we will have around ten days to ourselves and then we will be back on the road with ALL for around nine weeks.
MOISST: Since ALL is on Epitaph did they place the two bands together for the tour?
ZEKE: No, Epitaph really doesn't have anything to do with that any bands that we tour with we have to set it up. I mean they did have the Idea to put us together with GAS HUFFER and the HUMPERS but that didn't pan out.
At this point beers started flowing and the band went into a frenzy. Do yourself a favor and don't miss the chance to see these guys live.
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