Vic Victor.

The last time we talked was 2005 or 2006. Since then you have a new drummer!
Vic – Eric was our drummer for the first 10 shows. Then we picked up Damian and did a few shows with him before heading right to the studio and the first album. Me and Eric go right back, we went to high school together.

It was Katch drumming last time I saw you…
Vic – Tommy was in a band with Katch for 8 or 9 years so everybody knew everyone. I knew Damian from hanging out downtown.

So how did Eric end up back in the band?
Vic – Katch was given a good job offer and going on the road was a little too much. Touring is not for everybody; some people like to have a constant in their lives.

I noticed you have been playing a lot more shows; all the way over in Texas…
Vic – It is to the point now where it is weird being home!

You still have your old jobs?
Vic – Yes

Can you see yourselves going fulltime with the KOFFIN KATS?
Vic – To do nothing all year but playing music would be amazing, and to have a little bit of time off would be stellar! Even if we never got any time off but didn’t have to work to pay bills, it would be awesome.

How did you end you going to Texas? Did you play shows on the way out there?
Vic – We started on the east coast and worked out way to the west coast. The first tours we did were the opposite. It was just being able to make it cool with work that we are going to be gone for a few months and have our jobs when we got back. The hardest part of being in a band is finding members who have work that they are comfortable leaving; they are not gonna cry being on the road and not having money to pay bills and stuff. When we first started we weren’t able to pay bills, whereas now we are finally able to pay ourselves for a show, but it is nothing compared to if we were working. We cannot leave our crappy day jobs but it is almost enough to pay the minimum on our credit cards.

What is it like when you go to the west coast and see kids in your t-shirts? I see them all over the country…
Vic – It seems like it happened so quick it is crazy.

You have stuff in Hot Topic now; I bought one so they keep stocking them!
Vic – We didn’t even know we were going into that store. We started working with Machete making our merchandise and about 2 months after that we were on the road and we got a call from a friend at a Hot Topic store in Michigan. Our friend says “I am looking at one of your t-shirts on the wall right now!” We were like “No way, that’s awesome!” Machete took care of the distribution and it was kinda a surprise for us.

I am sure you don’t make much from selling stuff that way?
Vic – No, but the royalties from that help towards our massive outstanding debt with our merch company! It helps ease the pain of how much we have incurred printing t-shirts on tour and having them sent to us.

Are Hot Topic going to stock the CD as well?
Vic – That is what we have been told.

That will be cool as they don’t stock many CDs, so it is a big deal to get in there.
Vic – We are past the point of who is allowed to have our CD. We say everyone is allowed to have it as long as it is available to the kids. I would rather people go and buy the physical product than download it. Whether you are downloading and paying for it or downloading it for free, I am still one of those people who still likes to go and buy the physical product, not just go the easy route.

With downloading you don’t get the album cover…
Vic – We are really bent on people being able to get the CD. It is so hard to find our CDs. One of the issues we have always run into is people saying “Where can I get your CD?” Not everyone necessarily has a PC yet, or a credit card. We are trying to make it as accessible as possible; right now we are starting our own little web store. You can send us well concealed cash and we will send it to you ourselves. Somebody from like Iceland sent me $20 and asked me to send him a CD. I didn’t care if it cost me $20 to mail it, he deserved it!

You seem to have become well known all of a sudden. I mean, I have known you for years but suddenly you were playing shows well away from Detroit. There are a lot of kids at Psychobilly and Punk shows with KOFFIN KATS shirts…
Vic – One reason for that is us going on tour all the time.

How are things with Ryan at Hairball8 Records?
Vic – Ryan is a great guy. He has been more active with this release than any of the others in the past. We have been on the road for 4 years working our asses off so we needed him to step up and he really has.

Have you seen the promo package he sent out; it is a CD in a DVD sleeve with a promo booklet?
Vic – Yeah, we are really happy with that. He gave us a prototype when we went through San Antonio, Texas. It is good to see that he is sending stuff like that out.

As a music reviewer I get a lot of CDs and something like that package really grabs your attention.

Every CD seems to be a change from the last one; from Rockabilly on your self-titled debut to the new one “Drunk In The Daylight” which is much more punk rock.
Vic – That was the idea; in fact you can hear different genres the whole album. It is a little bit more true to our live sound, a little bit more raw.

Fra venstre: Tommy Koffin (gitar), E-Ball Walls (trommer) og Vic Victor (bass). (Foto: Diana Price)

It is funny you say that as I think it is the best produced of all your records!
Vic – It has been 2 years since we put out “Straying From The Pack”; that is 2 years of solid touring playing 200 plus shows a year. I would like to think we got a little more talented and better at playing. Also, we did use a different studio and producer than the first 3 releases.

Isn’t it difficult to have your instrument lower in the mix? Your bass is not in your face like some of your other records.
Vic – The idea behind this record was to make it more vocal oriented. I never write a song with the upright bass in mind, you know a slap bass song. The only time I have done that was on “Darker Place” and “V8 Nightmare”. I have never written a song to be based around the sound of an upright. It has always been how am I going to sing this one, you know? Or how am I going to sing with Tommy’s guitar?

“V8 Nightmare” is the song that got me into the KOFFIN KATS!

Your vocals on “Drunk In The Daylight” are better than ever – did you spend a lot of time on them?
Vic – Not more than with the other recordings. The process of recording them had 3 vocal tracks. I was way more comfortable singing on the songs than ever before. We had already recorded this album over a year ago. 12 of the tracks had already been done in the studio, but we weren’t happy with them. We listened to it and did not feel right putting it out as it would have felt half-assed.

An expensive decision!
Vic – Yeah, it was an expensive decision and we are still paying for it. We decided that we would rather spend the money and keep the integrity of the band.

Your vocals seem very naked, in many parts it is just you singing. You haven’t really done that before so it really stands out. In this music scene you don’t get a lot of that. Is this stuff difficult to do live? You are not able to hide behind the guitar!
Vic – No, I don’t like hiding behind the guitar not hearing my voice. That is not what people go to see bands for. My biggest pet peeve is going to a punk rock show and it is loud as hell and all you hear are the cymbals or guitar. It is so loud you cannot make out what song it is and the singer is just like a static noise. Where is the musicianship in that? They might be the greatest musicians ever but if you cannot make out shit what is the point? You can have the whole band be out of tune but as long as the voice is good it is something you can lock on to.

I know you are going to hate this vocal comparison but I think you sound like a young Dave Vanian (of THE DAMNED).
Vic – Actually, that is the only one I will accept!

It doesn’t sound like you are trying to copy him, more that it is your natural voice.
Vic – I practiced a lot before Koffin Kats started when “Grave Disorder” first came out. I practiced a lot singing along because I was working at a record shop at the time and it had just come out. That is how I got turned on to The Damned. It is how I discovered my vocals are in the lower range. I never really sang lead vocals or anything like that until Koffin Kats.

The music on this record is way more rock than the past ones. Was that a conscious decision, or is that how the songs came about?
Vic – I think the goal was not to do the same chord progressions we have used previously. We always like changing formats as you can only do so many songs with 4 parts, chorus and then 4 parts. You don’t want to be so mechanical in your songwriting, you know?

You don’t want to be so mechanical, especially with 17 songs on an album!
Vic – The theme with us has always been leave people wanting more. Some of my favorite songs from other bands finish and leave you wanting to start that song over. That is how we want our songs to be. Some bands have a good hook but play it 8 times in a song, whereas we play it twice; get in there, get it done and get it out! That is what people buy the record for.

You can tell you are more Motley Crue than The Meteors on “Drunk In The Daylight”
Vic – Laughs!

I have always known that but on this release it is more obvious. Eric, what was it like coming back after all these years?
Eric – I have been in so many bands with Tommy that it just seems natural.

Are you not worried the Koffin Kats are like Spinal Tap getting through so many drummers?
The whole band laugh!
Vic – Eric came in and it was right away like he had never left, as weird as that sounds. He was only in the band for the first couple of months when we started; one month. Tommy forgot who Eric was! They all laugh! This happened 2 years after he left and we had Katch in the band. Tommy was at a bar and Eric comes up and says “Hey man, what’s up?” This happens a lot with Tommy where he doesn’t remember people and afterwards he is like “Who the fuck was that?” Eric had to tell him he used to be our drummer!

Have you had a lot of feedback on the record as it has been out for a few weeks?
Vic – Surprisingly I expected people to have a lot of questions about our record being really different. So far everyone has been “It’s crazy and “So happy to get it”. I’ve had a few messages like “Why did you change your sound?” My common response is if you have the first 3 releases you will understand that there is a progression. That is the stance we have always taken with this band – don’t expect anything. We don’t know what to expect, that is what keeps it fun.

It was a pleasant surprise to me. Your records have always been different but this one just seems such a step up.
Vic – We got into a thing of here is the first record; here is the second then the third. We wanted to get the forth one out, then there was this lull and people wanted to know when the new one was coming out. We didn’t just want to put out anything; we wanted to put out something special. We could have put out an album of “safe” tracks like “Battery Acid Baby” – the ones you could expect to hear on it but we wanted to have songs like “If I Return”. We wanted to experiment with songs that were more out there, that you wouldn’t think we could do. “Meltdown” is a track that is out of place, in fact there are a couple of tracks like that.

Vic Victor.

Are you playing some of the new songs live?
Vic – Yeah, we play “If I Return”, “Bad Apple”, and “Battery Acid Baby”….

“Battery Acid Baby is my favorite so far
Vic – Katch wrote the verse for that

Generally do you do most of the songwriting or is it as a group?
Vic – I have always considered that I would not have written something if I wasn’t with these guys, so everything has always been equal among us. It is easy to come up with lyrics but it is difficult to put those lyrics in a song without other people putting there take on it, their guitar on it so you can form your melody around it.

If someone hasn’t heard you, how would you describe yourself as a band? I cannot think of anyone you sound like. I used to say a mix of The Damned, The Misfits and The Meteors.
Vic – We have always kinda avoided that; I just say we are a rock ‘n’ roll band. Rock ‘n’ roll is a safety word as it covers it. I have never claimed we are a Psychobilly band; if we were we would be the worst one ever! There is no hiding the fact that we embrace some of that genre, as much as we embrace the punk rock or rock ‘n’ roll genres.

I once described you as Punkabilly!
Vic – I think that most of our records could be called that.

Do you enjoy playing with Psychobilly bands?
Vic – We have been lucky as we have been able to tour with bands that started that genre, like The Meteors, Nekromantix and Mad Sin. We have hung out and partied with people we never thought we would be able to meet. Our days off are their worst nightmares, we never sleep!

You have a crazy live show…..
Vic – It came about from just touring all the time. People get sick of seeing bands just standing there.

I love it when you guys swap instruments mid-song
Vic – Our live show came about from the frustration of seeing crowds get tired. The people watching you have ADD; if they don’t see something to grab their attention then they get bored. This is why we crank though our songs; there is no time for bullshit. If a band takes 30 seconds to tune it is like they are up there for 3 hours. We used to have 8 beers during a show, now we have like 1 as there is no time to drink!

Do you have any live recordings?
Vic – Yeah and we have some where we learnt a lot about how we really need to slow down sometimes.

You do speed up a lot live, which is the drummers fault, right?
Vic – Katch was a speed demon. It has really changed a lot where it is now quality over quantity.

Do you still play “Ignite” (The Damned)?
Vic – Yeah but after tonight we will probably retire it and play another cover song. We recorded “9 Lives” quite some time back for the Stray Cats tribute album. The Adam & The Ants cover song is coming out on an 80’s compilation; we are really happy with how that turned out.

Lastly, when are you heading back to Europe?
Vic – Hopefully in January ’09. We are in talks for a European tour including England. We may also be going to Mexico and Latin America in April. If you can tour the USA and survive you can tour anywhere. The hospitality in Europe was absolutely amazing; we would be spoiled if we were treated like that over here!

Contact information for you guys?

www.koffinkatsrock.com
www.myspace.com/koffinkats
www.hairball8.com
www.psychobilly.us