CORNFLAKE OVERDOSE-What did you think of Battle Creek
when you were here?
JOHN-I like the smell.
COD-Yeah, it's great isn't it (laughter)
JOHN-Yeah, this is weird, I don't know. We weren't really there long enough but the cops there were really, really cool. We met some cops when we parked our van underneath a place to skate and the cops came by and they were like, just the nicest cops in the world. We like actually hung out with them for like half an hour just chatting and stuff. It was really cool.
COD-Yeah, some of them aren't so bad around here. Where did you guys come up with the name of your band?
JOHN-From an African puberty ritual. It's not every tribe but some tribes when the boy becomes a man, then instead of getting a circumcision he gets a subincision which is basically worse ya know (laughter).
COD-WOW!! OUCH!! By the sound of some of your songs and vocals you guys sound lke you listen to the DEAD KENNEDYS alot. What are some of your other influences?
JOHN-I'd say BLACK FLAG, SUBHUMANS, CIRCLE JERKS, FEAR.
COD-So, mostly old school?
JOHN-Yeah, definitely all the old bands.
COD-The last time you guys were in Battle Creek we had like a lengthy discussion on BLACK SABBATH. What's your favorite Sabbath album?
JOHN-My favorite Sabbath album would have to be Masters of Reality.
COD-Cool! Yeah, that's mine....the heaviest. You guys still playing Gilman st. alot?
JOHN-Oh yeah! We play there like ver couple months.
COD-So your still playing on a regular basis even though your not on tour?
JOHN-Right, oh yeah. We always play local shows like we're playing tonight.
COD-You said earlier that you are going on tour again this year right?
JOHN-Yeah hopefully, we have to get a new drummer tho so that's the problem.
COD-You do? What happened to Marshall?
JOHN-Well he just can't keep taking time off from work to go on tour so we have to find someone that will do that and it's really hard to find drummers up here.
COD-What's your most memorable or craziest show experience?
JOHN-Um, let me think. There's so many that it's just like there's no way to really pick on aside, but I guess this one we did in San Francisco at a record store that got kind of out of hand. Some couple got up on stage and got naked and started having sex like right next to the drum set, they were just going off the whole time. And then this other guy canme up and got naked and started cutting himself with a razorblade in the middle of the pit and then I got naked and then it was jut like a big fiasco.
COD-Big chain reaction..
JOHN-Yeah but it was fun, (laughter)it was really weird. THat's one that sticks out.
COD-Does hearing some punk rock on the radio or Mtv now that it has become more mainstream bother you or are you glad about it?
JOHN-What bothers me is the fact that they call it punk. Ya know like when you hear BLINK 182 or OFFSPRING or GREENDAY and they say "yeah punk rock"!! I'm just like really disturbed by that. If they just called it pop, which is what it is then I wouldn't care, ya know. So it's just them using the name that bothers me.
COD-What are your views on veganism. Do you think it's a growing trend or a good and positive movement?
JOHN-Um, well myself, I'm like a vegan so.... but I don't do it for any kind of moral reasons or anything like that I just do it because I think it's healthier, ya know. Like I can't eat dairy products anyway cuz like it gives me asthma and red meat is kind of gross to me. To me if you could like eat Tofu instead of chicken it's just so much better for you. So I just do it for health reasons butr you kow I don't care if anybody else eats meat or not, so....
COD-It just seems lately it's been almost like a rule to jump on this vegan thing if your going to listen to punk rock.
JOHN-Yeah see that's bullcrap, I mean....I think anyone should eat whatever they want to eat. I mean I drink alot and that's bad for me but, ya know the health thing for food, I just figure ya know foods just temporary pleasure anyway, it's over after your done eating so might as well just eat what's good and not worry about the taste too much.
COD-What's the best part about being in a band?
JOHN-Um, the best part probably just the moments that your on stage and the moments right after, but other than that it's pretty much alot of hard work.
COD-What's the worst part?
JOHN-The worst part is long van drives, I think. Long van drives and constantly worrying about money.
COD-What was your first punk show that you went to?
JOHN-I'd say probably that was, I saw BLACK FLAG and the CIRCLE JERKS in L.A. when I was about 15 or 16 years old.
COD-Wow, that's a great first show!!
JOHN-Yeah.
Who was singing for Flag? What year was it?
JOHN-I was bout 15 or 16 and so it must of been, man I barely remember. It was definitely Henry Rollins, Yeah it was like '82 or '83 or something like that.
COD-What are your views on punk today, do you like it or is it becoming more consumer friendly?
JOHN-Well yeah most of the punk that I hear around is not really punk. I don't consider it punk it's either grindcore whichsis just noise to me, or it sounds like metal or it sounds like pop. Ya know so I don't think there's really that much real punk left.
COD-Yeah, your probably right (laughter). What's one reaons why you love punk rock so much?
JOHN-Just like the energy and the scariness of it. Well it used to be scary. Just like the power on stage you feel and the fact that the songs are always moving and fast and stuff.
COD-Do you guys have plans for recording another album?
JOHN-Yeah we want to really bad cause our new album is going to be totally different and like improved I think , but it seems we can't like do it until we've sold a certain amount of the first one because right now we're still indebt to the record company, we haven't really made that much or he hasn't made that much off of it so. We have to wait until we've sold atleast like 10,000 and right now we're only at about 12,000 so (laughter).
COD-But you plan on staying with Beach?
JOHN-Yeah, definitely.
COD-How do you feel about punk being fragmented into different kinds of scenes and styles like crust and emo and like you said earlier grindcore?
JOHN-I don't know, yeah it's kinda disturbing because like those people never like crossover and go to other types of shows ya know, They always just go to their own kind of show and that's it like you don't see a crusty at an emo show or a queer core show or something like that ya know. If you don't sound like NEUROSIS then we don't like you and that's just stupid cause NEUROSIS isn't even punk, they're more on the metal side ya konw.
COD-Yeah, I'm kind of new to that whole thing really. I don't understand it, just the whole....it's like I turned my little brother onto punk rock and he's like: "yeah, we went and saw this band and they were emo.", and I was like: "Emo? What are you talking about?" and then this crust stuff, all of a sudden it's all there and it's like in little different scenes and stuff I just thought that it was really odd.
JOHN-Yeah I mean I didn't even know what emo was for years I just kept trying to get a definition from somebody and no one seemed to know or understand what it was either so I just gave up on that.
We at CORNFLAKE OVERDOSE would like to thank John for the discussion and we wish the band well on selling their record.