It's hard to come across a really good punk rock band these days.
I'm not talking about what you hear on mainstream radio or what you see on MTV.
I'm talking about that classic old school punk rock that will take you back to the days of The Ramones, Iggy Pop and The Stooges and Black Flag.
Fresno, California's indie-punk band, It'll Grow Back, exemplifies all of which I've mentioned and more. And they are not even trying. I don't even think they know how good they really are!
It'll Grow Back brings you the energetic stage presence of JT Rocket, Chris Fletcher's powerful classic punk-rock riffs, the mind numbing drum drills of Daren Taylor and the tight bass line backing of the new comer to the band, Simon Smeds.
The guys took time out to chat with S & S about punk rock, getting banned and more!
S&S/Raina: When did It’ll Grow Back start?
JT : Four? Three? Five years? It was four years ago. 2001. Me and Chris started it along with my friend Gabe.
Chris: And it’s been the ORIGINAL lineup ever since! (laughs)
JT: No, actually we’re totally like Spinal Tap where we’ve had like 60,000 members. Since day one we’ve had problems finding drummers. One of our drummers moved on the day of our first show! He called and said “oh yeah, I can’t make the show tonight, I’m moving.”
Then with the second drummer, we should’ve known it would go bad because the first time we met him he was like “yeah, I was in the Navy, I got kicked out for smokin’ dope.” We let him be in the band anyway! He also moved.
Chris: I think it was the Navy part though…
JT: Yeah, I was like, “the dope? That’s cool. But you were in the Navy?!? F**K!”
(laughs)
S&S/Raina: Who or what influenced you to start the band?
Chris: Well I’ve been playing since my sophomore year in high school...
Daren: Collectively, three of us had been playing in different outfits since high school.
JT: Yeah, my first band, JT Rocket and The Moon Patrol, included me, Daren and Simon.
Daren: I STARTED that band! :)
S&S/Raina: What type of music was The Moon Patrol?
Daren: Ska/Rock. Pop/Rock/Ska.
S&S/Raina: Who are your guitar playing influences?
Chris: I don’t know…I don’t really play that well. I guess, The Misfits. They’re my favorite band and they don’t really play all that well…so....
S&S/Raina: How many CD's do you guys have?
JT: We have an EP that we sort of released. If someone calls, we can get you one.:) In May we will record at Gardenside.
S&S/Raina: Has the sound of the band changed since its original lineup?
Chris: We've gotten better and we play faster.
JT: Actually, we have all these stupid recordings that we did when we used to practice in this guy's basement. So I've made all these really crappy trashy recordings with one mic--a floor mic that was in the corner, and they are just terrible! Our sound really hasn't changed though, we've just gotten better.
Daren: Yeah, the sound of the music hasn't changed. Even though I wasn't in the band (at first), I watched you guys. It's pretty much the same.
S & S/Raina: What do you write about? What's your motivation?
JT: The SAME thing I've been singing about since I was a junior in high school :)......SEX! You know, that teen angst sex thing where you're in high school and don't get laid. Even though you probably could get laid, but you didn't realize it. Then suddenly your 25 and your like, "DAMN! I could'a got laid back then!" So, that's probably half of the songs. The other half....
Chris: Whatever inspires us right then and there.
Josh: Yeah, like people we know who do STUPID sh**t!
(laughs)
JT: If you go on the titles of our songs. Let's see...there's "Hard On", "Penis Party," "Sugar Pussy," Praise Jesus,"...our religious song...
S&S/Raina: Are you guys religious? I heard that song and I was paying attention to the lyrics.
JT: I can't answer that!
(laughs)
JT: I think it's open to interpretation. Once upon a time I wanted to be an evangelist. Not necessarily a T.V. evangelist. But the song came from me doing mock sermons like, "HELL FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!"....you know, whatever. We'll play it for you! :)
S&S/Raina: What do you guys think of Fresno's live music scene?
JT: I think it's pretty good.
Chris: I think there's alot more going on than most people see. There's alot of stuff going on with us and the bands that we play with. Bands like Pinkeye, Rademacher and No Cello.
JT: Yeah, all of the Greytank Records bands.
Chris: But we're pretty much the only hardcore punk band in the scene.
JT: We don't really play "punk shows," we play more of the indie rock shows. Ask me about the punk rock scene in Fresno and I'm like, ??? I couldn't really tell you.
S&S/Raina: Do you guys get more shows out of town?
Daren: Well, we kind of have to now. (laughs)
Josh: Yeah, we got banned from a few places here in town. Fresno State, The Starline...
S&S/Raina: What happened?
JT: We were doing "Praise Jesus" at Fresno State and I was doing a joke about Jesus. I wasn't aware that a Christian club was on campus that night! The advisor of the club was walking out as I was telling the joke and I didn't know. So then a letter was written to the U.S.U (University Student Union) quoting me line for line...
Chris: But then after the joke, JT exclaimed the word "F**K!"
(laughs)
Daren: He took that out of context though!
JT: ...He took it COMPLETELY out of context.
Chris: To answer your question though, we just played Sunnyvale, we will play in Visalia pretty soon, San Luis Obispo...
S&S/Raina: When is the next FRESNO show?
JT/Chris/Darren:....Uhhh..........(laughs)
JT: Well I want to play with our friends band Reefer Pigeon (from Sunnyvale) here in May, hopefully.
S&S/Raina: I hear alot of early punk influences in your music. Are you guys influenced by late 1970s/early 80s punk rock?
Chris: Definitely. The Misfits, Dead Kennedy's...
JT: ...Minor Threat, Black Flag...That's what I've been listening to ever since I first got into punk rock. So when the new punk stuff came in I was like, "Green Day? Ok. Blink 182? Whatever."
Alot of the new stuff to me just seems so weak now. You know?
Daren: They just use the word "punk" to sell records.
S&S/Raina: When we saw you guys perform at Tokyo Gardens, I was amazed at the stage presence you guys had! As opposed to most of these punk bands out here who just stand screaming in a mic for and hour.
Chris: See, that's the thing, it sucks to go see a band who just sits there and plays their instrument.
S&S/Raina: Exactly! When I saw you guys, JT was rolling all over the floor, getting the audience involved, gyrating like crazy, all with so much energy!
Chris: I don't even know much about underground punk. Just the stuff I was exposed to in high school, which has since become mainstream like The Misfits, Minor Threat...But nowadays, the "new" mainstream punk rock is ridiculous!
JT: The thing about it is, we don't take the whole "punk thing" seriously. It's not like we get together and say, "Ok. I was listening to a Black Flag song last night and we need to write a song like that!"
We show up and Chris is like, "alright, I got this song." He plays some riffs, then we all start playing and suddenly there's a song.
S&S/Raina: That's when it comes out best anyway. Is there anything else you all would like the fans to know?
JT: I have a HUGE penis! I would like THAT to be in print!
(laughs)
Daren: I have never seen one so big! And he loves to show it off! (laughs)
S&S/Raina: Now you know you'll probably have people writing in about that right?
JT: Probably. But It's all an act! It's all and act! That's what I'll say...
(laughs)
Want to find out more about It'll Grow Back? Check out www.myspace.com/itllgrowback, where you can hear music samples, see photos of the band and find out where the band's playing next!
