The Travoltas interview

Ok lets start with a brief history of The Travoltas, how long have you been together? Any of you in bands previous to the creation of The Travoltas? Any line-up changes? Discography etc.

We started out back in 1990, with a complete different line-up. Only Vince and I are the only original members, although Eric joined us pretty early. So far we released 6 full length albums: Baja California, Modern World, Teenbeat, Club Nouveau, Endless Summer and Travoltas Party! Besides that we released shit-loads of singles, Travoltas-compilations, vinyls, etc..

What have you been up to since the release of 'Endless Summer'?

We toured our asses off!! We did over 150 shows in the USA and Europe in 2002. After that we took a short break and we recorded 'Travoltas Party!', a not-so-serious acoustic album with a bunch of friends. It just came out in the US on Knock Knock Records. (www.knockknockrecords.com)

Your just back from a tour around Italy, how did that go? How much have you toured over the years? Have you got any hilarious on the road stories? What have been your favourite bands to tour with? How much of Europe have you covered? Which place has the best scene?

Italy is always great to tour, we have a real cool fanbase out there, still expanding. People go crazy over there during concerts, I really dig it! We just love to tour, everyday there's a new adventure waiting for you. After about 7 years of touring I can truly say that I can tell you so many stories to write a thick juicy book. Maybe I will some day! Basically we covered Western Europe and a bit of the East, but as far as fanatical audiences / beautiful girls are concerned, I would say Italy, Spain and Scandinavia are our favourites in Europe. They have big scenes out there, a lot of cool bands aswell..

You have a very distinctive blend of 60's rock 'n' roll, Ramones and the Beach Boys style punk rock sorta thing going on; is this an intentional direction of the Travoltas sound or was it just the natural progression?

I think we always had it, even when we started out. We're just big fans of sixties-pop. To me the Beach Boys are (besides beer and women) the best thing that happened in the history of the Universe. Brian Wilson is a fucking genius! The Ramones have been a major influence, especially when Marky Ramone produced our 2nd album 'Modern World'.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an astronout, travelling to the stars, into Black Holes and meet other species like the Klingons ( I'm a big fuckin' nerd as you can see)! Then I found out that I had a fear of heights and I really sucked at maths, so I stuck to playing drums. But I wanted to be Gene Simmons, Elvis and David Lee Roth aswell! I was a singing drummer in the early Travoltas-days! Sometimes I dream about being a famous soccerplayer for Ajax. But maybe after 30 years I need to grow up.. NOT!!

Are you full time 60's punk rockers or do you have jobs? Are they interesting...like an international insurance salesman or something...

Haha..that would be funny.. The only two who have jobs are Woody (drums) and Eriv (bass/vox). Woody sells drumkits, so that's not really a job, I think he plays on them all day. Eric works in a refugee camp, I guess he's the Mother Theresa of the band. Skokie designs and builts websites and chats on his computer. Vince and I are into producing records for other bands. We did The Riplets and the Spades last year. In June we'll produce a band called Goldenboy, cool punkrock from Norway!

Are there really any endless summers in Holland? Whats the surfing like? Can you surf there? Or, are you living a lie and secretly wishing you lived in California?

Are you kidding? Holland has maybe 2 months of sunny days a year. It's more of an Endless Rainy Fall! Surfing sucks here, there are maybe a couple of beaches that have 'good' waves. I lived in Los Angeles / Seal Beach, CA and in Honolulu for about 2 1/2 years, so I guess I'm a bit spoiled. I miss the beaches..

Your early EP names ('Kill! Kill! Kill! Sex! Sex! Sex!', 'Saturday-night Beaver' and 'Virgins From The PLanet Sex'...spot the on-going theme) are somewhat humorous, I take it you didn't take your selves very seriously as a band? Do you now?

Musically, yes; lyrically, sometimes. I think the only way you can make it through life is not taking the world and yourself too seriously. You have to see things in perspective. I mean, we're not Motley Fucking Crue!! But I don't think we'll write another song like those you mentioned. There are a lot of fucked up things in this world today. Still I believe people need a break from all the crap of daily life, so that's when we enter!

Has the Iraq war inspired you to write politically motivated lyrics? Has it really had an effect in Holland? What do you guys think of our frend Tony Blair (aka Big T)? Do you think punk is an effective tool for communicating politics or do you just not think it fits with your genre?

Yes and no. I don't think we'll mix our political views into songs cause I believe The Travoltas are a band that gives people a break from their worries. But of course we have our own views on the world of today. I resent the fact that Blair and Aznar supported the war, Europe should truly unite. This war was about oil and everybody knows it. Right after the war ended, the contracts between British and American oil companies and the Iraqis were closed, as planned. When I see Bush on TV, I see a bad actor. I pity the American people, cause this guy does nothing about the problems within the US. I was in Louisiana last year when we were on tour, there was so much poverty out there, unbelievable. But instead of solving those problems, the US government spends billions of dollars on bombs so they can assure a low oil price and major profits for the next 10 to 20 years. While Bush collected money for his governor-campaigns from the big oil- and energy companies, vice-president Dick Cheney did illegal business with , a.o., Libia when he was a chief-executive of an oil company named Halliburton.Inc. Meanwhile Defense-secretary Donald Rumsfeld was bringing samples of Anthrax to Baghdad when the Iraq-Iran war was still going on. This was in the 80's and 90's.
These crooks are now running the world. It's like Richard Fuckin' Nixon is back in business! The world can hope that the Democrats will return into office. Don't get me wrong, I love America, I just hate their politics.

Do you think a bands CD recording should be a fair representation of their live performance? Do you think computers, extra recording equpiment, overdubs etc. are all part of the record as opposed to the live performance..in essence do you think that they are two very different things
and should be treated as such?

I believe they are two different things, although you should maintain
integrity. Commercial records aside, there's too much of over-production going on today. I believe (as a producer myself) you should make the band the best THEY can be, not the best ANY band can be. You don't have to lie to the audience to make a great sounding record. A lot of bands cannot deliver live what they
do on the record. But I think a little help from modern technology should be allowed, as long it's done in a creative way. And in the end, a good song is a good song, no matter how you play or record it.

-I noticed you released some stuff on Roadrunner Records, is this the Roadrunner, the label that puts out all those metal CD's from Machinehead and Soulfly etc? Also, how did you end up releasing 'Endless Summer' on Weasel Squeeze Records? What is your relationship with them? Were they
friends of yours before?

True, it's the Metalheads from Roadrunner. They bought the company Arcade in 2000, which we just signed to. So we had no choice than to make a record for them. I wish we didn't cause nothing good come out of that, while Arcade had good plans for us. Shit happens!
For the UK we signed to Weasel Squeeze. Vince set it up with Gary from the label. He really liked it and was thrilled to release the album. We had a good feeling about it.

What are the future plans for The Travoltas? Anything you wanna promote?

We're currently planning tours for after summer, hopefully we do some dates in the UK aswell, that would be fantastic!

And finally, if you were in the X-men, what super power would you have? Personally I would have X-ray eyes and super bionic arms and legs...