Man,
nuts to Detroit Rock City. 25 Suaves are from Adrian (a tiny little
hamlet several miles southwest of here), and they rock harder than
every “garage” wannabe within 500 miles. As a matter
of fact, in terms of basic, heavy rock’n’roll, they
pretty much rock harder than anyone currently operating. Vocalist/guitarist
Mr. Velocity Hopkins (a former member of much-revered Ann Arbor
noise-rockists Couch who happens to bear a striking resemblance
to Peter Larson, the head of the Suaves’ principal label,
BULB Records--curious how that works) puts his all into every last
second of every show, and DJ Party Girl pounds the drums like they
stole her bicycle. Their sound is a straight-up assault, bringing
to mind the best of old-school metalloids like Motorhead and Venom
even as their onstage demeanor is closer to that of an outrageously
loud balls-out punk band. In a time when I’ve personally ceased
to have much faith at all in the power of rock music, 25 Suaves
are a glimmer of hope at the end of a dark tunnel overflowing with
fashion-conscious phonies. They are an honest, irony-free celebration
of making a loud, riff-laden racket, and if you haven’t seen
them live yet, be warned: Your bar will be forever raised as to
what a good live show is. The same also goes for their side project
Danse Asshole, in which they apply the same performance aesthetic
to over-the-top electronic dance music. Both must be seen to be
believed, but by the time they’re done, you WILL believe.
Ann
Arbor Paper: When 25 Suaves and/or Danse Asshole play a
show, do you make a point to blow the other bands off the stage,
or is your onstage energy entirely noncompetitive?
Velocity Hopkins: We just do what we do and put
everything we have into it. Perhaps it’s out of some sort
of competitive spirit, I’m a competitive dude, but I think
it’s the norm in rock to give everything you have when you
play. There’s no reason to hold back ‘cause this could
be your last show or your last day or whatever. While I won’t
rip on the other bands that we play with, since they are all doing
the best they can, I wish everyone would kick it as hard as they
can. I came out of punk in the ‘80’s, which was all
about pushing limits and the disregard for personal safety. If you
aren’t willing to rock as hard as you can, get the fuck off
the stage and make room for someone who will. This is true for everything
though. You should believe in what you do and give everything
you have to it cause you only get one chance, one small window of
life that’s over before you know it. Believe me, I’m
old, I’ve realized just how short life is. You really don’t
have that much time, kick it as hard as you can while you can.
A2P: If you had to kill one to save the other,
who would you kill: Lemmy or Angus Young?
VH: I’d let them argue it over. Perhaps both
would try to outnice and outrespect the other and I would just sit
there for an eternity until the danger passed. The thing about these
guys is they will start dying soon and the world will be a really
sad and lonely place. Like who is going to take Angus Young’s
torch and run with it? Who could ever replace someone like Lemmy?
These were the visionaries, the heaven-sent, dirty angels who put
their mark on the world and on a whole style of music. The kids
don’t even realize or know it now because they don’t
see beyond the past six months.
A2P: What does 25 Suaves mean? I mean both the
name and as in “what is your mission statement?” or
something like that.
VH: 25 Suaves is a cigar denomination. When my
friend Jeff and I originally started this band in 1997 in Japan
(it was a really different thing then), we needed a name and saw
that printed on the side of a cigar box. Now we are stuck with it
forever even though no one can pronounce it or spell it properly
on a marquee but it’s our name so we have to love it, yes?
Our mission is to play as loud and as fast and as hard as we can
because it feels fucking good. If you are true to yourself and real
and honest, people will pick up on that and come along for the ride,
too. That’s all I want, is to be an honest and real person
and have an honest and real band. I’m guess that my personal
mission.
A2P: Why do you fancy that Detroit is so damn boring
in terms of rock’n’roll?
VH: Besides striped shirts and knit scarves? Detroit
used to be a really great and diverse place but like Seattle, it
got pegged with a certain sound. Instead of pursuing and finding
their own musical interest, people just try to fit that sound and
club-goers, in their hope to be a part of some “movement”
or something disregard anything outside the “Detroit Sound.”
There’s no soul in that, it’s just people carbon-copying
each other. Yawn. Musical development is based on people imitating
and borrowing from each other, but the idea is to put your own spin
on it. Things like the early SST days are truly real to me, they
were all punk and all borrowed from things around them, but managed
to put their own spin on everything, so you get things as diverse
as Black Flag, the Minutemen, St. Vitus, Wurm, Sonic Youth, Husker
Du and a host of other completely amazing and original bands that
really don’t sound that much like each other. That’s
why I got into punk to begin with, was for this “no rules,
we do what the fuck we want” type thinking. Like I could go
and buy the Dead Kennedys “In God We Trust” alongside
something like the Clash’s “London Calling” along
with Corrosion of Conformity’s “Animosity” and
the Minutemen’s “Double Nickels on the Dime”,
all “punk” records but sounding nothing alike. It was
a vital and vibrant time and a healthy and extremely positive outlook
that just doesn’t fly today.
A2P:
Do you have any advice to the current crop of young guitar rock
bands comin’ up hereabouts?
VH: Do some research and keep an open mind. Pay
attention and give respect to the old school. Know your chosen genre
backwards and forwards and always look to whatever made your heroes
do what they do. Be honest with yourself, always take what others
say with a grain of salt. Most of all, practice as much as you can,
good things require work no matter what people’s PR says.
An hour a week doesn’t cut it. You have to know music and
develop a personal relationship with your instrument and yourself.
Rock musicians are a really underrated entity, people seem to think
that it just somehow naturally happens and that’s crap. All
the greats got their sounds through hard work and perseverance and
by keeping an open mind. Most of all, they found what they liked
and that’s really the most important thing.
A2P:
If you could release a record by any totally awesome band in recorded
history, which would you choose?
VH: Oh man, that’s hard. I’d have to
say Septic Death. A2P
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