Interview Conducted by Icki

Special thanks to Melissa Hennings for getting the text...

MRR presents the Zodiac Killers:

who's who:

Jerry, Greg, Jill, billy...and this the voice i will will be using.

MRR: Ok the first question is since we know you know the answer-Who was The
Zodiac Killer?
Greg:...Who was the Zodiac Killer?
Jerry: Greg will handle this one
Greg: They suspect this guy Arthur Allen who died around 92 or something, he
was up in Vallejo.
Jill: Are you sure about that?
Greg: I'm not sure, I'm not sure about anything. I wasn't there, but that's
who the main suspect is. They think the main guy died, but there's all types
of speculation. As long as he doesn't come back and kill us while were
playing live.
Jeremy: Who was he though?
Greg: He was a school teacher, a really nice guy he just had this little
homicidal tendency going on.
MRR: Like Jon Gacy
Greg: Yeah, he was just a little misunderstood.
MRR: So how did the obsession with the Zodiac Killer come about?
Greg: Well, me personally, I was born and raised here so. Like in Seattle, it
was the Green River killer that was never caught. It's a fascinating story,
and then a few years ago the book came out and I read it and was like woah
this is incredible, Because I didn't really know anything about it. Kids
would say stupid things When i was younger like the Zodiac's gonna get
ya...bull shit like that. We didn't know what it was when we were kids cause
we were just way too young.
Jeremy: Seems to me like a lot of guys, especially if you're into punk rock
or whatever eventually go through this serial killer obsession.
Greg: ...I never left it.
Jeremy: Everybody's done that. Like, where you read all about Jon Wayne Gacy,
Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, collect the cards, you know just get real into it. But,
the Zodiac is the coolest. Cause why? -He never got caught. Gacy got caught ,
what a loser.
Greg: How smart is that, burying bodies in your own back yard? ...Hello?
MRR: So how soon after the infections broke up did you get the Zodiac Killers
together, the first incarnation?
Greg: It was about a year actually. Cause I was deciding whether I was gonna
play or not.
MRR: You were thinking of not playing anymore at all?
Greg: I was ready to become a settled, domesticated human being. But, that
never happened so I decided to keep playing a little bit longer.
MRR: What happened to the last line up?
Greg: The last line up? ...talk about implosions.
Billy Badass: Victims of the Zodiac.
Greg: The first incarnation, I've told people this line up now is the real
Zodiac Killers. You know how bands change members, and people say "they suck
now because they changed members." -Yeah, I know that story. The thing is
with the first incarnation of the Zodiac Killers, we only played like three
or four live shows and they were all insane. They would always try and do
something, I just couldn't get anything done with them, it was a losing
proposition. The intent was to keep it the same anyway, the music was really
aggressive, fast, catchy punk rock, and the name is great. Why change it?
It's the same stuff. I don't need three other people to do this stuff, just
do it all together and this is the real band now.
MRR: How did you all find Greg, or how did he find you?
Jeremy: I was an obsessed fan boy who stalked him via email from across the
country and basically moved to San Francisco....oh wait that was Ross.
Greg: Oh you're one of those email geeks.
Jeremy: No, I just basically met Greg working at a restaurant.
Greg: I was trying to buy some crack, wasn't I?
Jeremy: Yeah
Greg: Actually, I was looking for little boys...
MRR: Wrong serial killer.
Jeremy: Oh wait, that's Gacy again dammit. No, I knew who he was from the
RIPOFFS. I was a big fan of that band, and basically I didn't like Super
Charger. Actually, I only liked the Rip Offs cause I was into Jon Von.
Greg: You had one of those little things for him too?
Jeremy: yeah
MRR: Did he take pictures of you in your underwear?
Jeremy: No nothing like that, I just happened to meet Greg at this
restaurant. I was wearing this Mummies t-shirt, and he goes "you like the
Mummies, you might like my band." And I was like "what's your band?" He says
"You know, Supercharger, Rip Offs" I told him Nah, never heard of it. He
asked me if I'd like to play guitar, so i gave it a shot. I thought maybe
playing in a band with Greg might catapult me into punk rock nothingness.
MRR: It worked!
Jeremy: Yeah, it worked perfectly, Now I'm the idol of 14 year old fan boys
everywhere.
MRR: Is this your first band?
Jeremy: First band that's really done anything.
Billy Badass: Well, I met Greg at a yoga class in the Castro.
Greg: Yeah, he was bending me over.
Billy Badass: Actually, I'd known Jeremy from New York. I work at the
Paradise Lounge and was booking some punk rock shows there. The Zodiac
Killers were gonna play a show but canceled and Greg asked me if I wanted to
play drums in the band. So, I tried out a couple of times and here I am.
Jill: And here he is Billy Badass...
Jeremy: I had a feeling that Billy might be the right man for the job when we
were looking for a drummer. I'd heard him play a few times in his previous
band.
MRR: What was the band you were in before?
Billy Badass: I was in the Badastards or the Bad-Ass-Tards depending on how
you like your punk rock.
Jeremy: I had seen Billy play and I knew he was a hard hitter. One time at a
show at the Zietgeist. They were playing on the floor and Billy hit the drums
so hard that the whole kit was moving across the floor. Every song it was
moving like ten feet in the middle of the floor. I realized that oh my god
this guy is off the hook man, we got get him in the band.
Jill: My story? Well, I was working at local music.com
Greg: ...We're running out of tape Jill.
Jill: I was in this band called Wet, an all girl band, and the bass player
had moved back to the east coast. I was looking for a bass player and these
guys (pointing around the room) all had separate ads where I was looking.
Which was kind of weird and they all said the same thing.
Greg: We didn't have ads
Jill: Yes you did.
Jeremy: Greg put up ads with our names.
Jill: They all had their own email and separate address...
Greg: Just edit her out.
Jill: They all said they wanted a female guitarist for their band. Before I
emailed them back one of my first questions was "why are you asking for a
female?"
Greg: We wanted some action!
Jill: They said that it was to off set the male-macho-ness of the band or
whatever.
They did come up with a good answer. But, I was real leery because I've had
guy bands come up to me and say you look really good be in our band. They're
not interested in how I play, it's so fucked up.
Greg: Well we really weren't either. I did say "hot, must look hot."...And
you lied to us.
Jill: So he told me to check out the MP3's on Mordams web site. I liked the
name right off the bat and the music really reminded me of the Zero Boys a
lot, which is one of my favorite bands.
MRR: That's my all time favorite band ever.
Jill: So, I came out for a try out. I think I was up right after the little
Grateful Dead girl.
Greg: Yeah, the Grateful Dead chick was all "how do you play this? You guys
sound so good that you don't really need another guitar player." And she had
a Hole sticker on her guitar.
Jeremy: No, that was a different girl...
Greg: Whatever, they all kinda blend after a while.
Jeremy: Jill just stood out so much.
Jill: I walked in and was like a shining light. Then we played "nazi
interrogation" like four or five times in a row.
Greg: And she still can't get that song.
Jill: So then I was in.
Greg: We were looking for anything breathing at that point.
Jeremy: She came riding up on her dirt bike enduro.
Greg: Her little mini bike.
Jill: It's not a mini-bike, get over it.
Jeremy: She had a helmet, a guitar strapped to her back, and a spiked collar
on like some Evil Knevil punk rock bad ass.
Greg: So our next show we're gonna have her jump over like fifty fans onto
the stage.
Jill: I've always wanted to play with guys, cause I thought it would be a
challenge. I had a hard time keeping up with them at first, because they were
way faster than I was used to playing. But now, it's no problemo. They even
tell me to slow down.
MRR: So is it hard to be in a band with Greg?
Jill: Actually the first week or two these guys were so sweet to me.
Jeremy: That didn't last long...
Jill: Then finally, the real personalities came out. We had a few blow out
sessions, but I think everybody showed how far they could be pushed. Now I
think we know each other pretty well. We don't take each other that
seriously. Anyway, how can you take this band seriously? Look at the album
art, that's all I have to say.
Billy Badass: Greg used to be hard to deal with, but now it's dealing with
his preaching all this new age spirituality bull shit all the time.
Greg: Sorry man, that's what I'm into.
Billy: He's always trying to align crystals and moon rhythms and shit.
Jeremy: It's not hard to be in a band with Greg once you learn the rules. And
the rules are: music doesn't matter -it's out the window, forget everything
you know and try to make shit fun. Once you get over your musical ambitions
then it becomes fun. He does have the right idea about how to do shit.
Greg: Yeah, you gotta sacrifice.
Jill: Yeah, he can be a big fucking asshole at times.
Greg: No doubt about it. I believe this: It's supposed to be fun and it's
gotta be fun, but when you've gotta do something...I mean how many bands are
out there, there's like 500, 000 bands that never do fucking anything. They
have more talent then I do, but they never do anything. You have to have a
vision. Every band I've been in I've been somewhat successful with. People
just have to realize it's simple, it's catchy, and that's all it's about.
Jill: I do admire about Greg the fact that he is aggressive about what he
wants. We do move forward, there's no fucking around, which keeps it
exciting. I've been in too many bands where everyone's the leader or no one's
a leader.
Greg: To elaborate on that, ever since my very first band, it was like total
chaos, we didn't know what we were doing. I just decided, I need to take
control of the things in any band I'm gonna be in. When you make that
decision, it's like anything in life, you decide you want to be a supervisor
at 7-11 or anything you know, if you're the boss or whatever, people are
gonna hate you.

*******(tape cut off)********

MRR: Are you guys planning on touring ever?
Greg: Yeah were possibly gonna do something. Usually it starts off with
bigger things then gets smaller. Maybe Japan, Europe, then work our way down.
I figure if you're still together after that, the easier tours will be no
sweat.
Billy Badass: Unless we can arrange four separate vans -like a convoy.
Greg: We could do like the Ramones did on their tour bus. It was all
sectioned off, they had their own little cubicles with their girl friends and
stuff, they wouldn't even talk to each other.
MRR: I'm sure by the time this interview hits the streets, the new record
will be out. What is it going to be called?
Greg: Have A Blast
MRR: How is it different than the first album?
Jeremy: It's better.
MRR: How? Did you go into it differently?
Jeremy: Well, we're three different players then on the first one. I think
it's got a fuller, thicker sound over all. We're coming into it from more of
a rock perspective. A more bottom heavy rock sound. It's still fast, punk
rock, and catchy but with a bigger sound. And yeah, the guitar playing's
gonna be much better.
MRR: I noticed there were more riffs thrown in there, that gave it a fuller
sound, more to grab onto.
Jeremy: I think it takes up where the last album left off, and just made it
better.
MRR: How do you go into writing songs?
Greg: I don't know how it happens.
Jeremy: It's a fucking mystery basically. Greg, usually comes up with a
catchy chorus idea. It usually starts with a chorus, lyrics, a refrain, and
we try to build around that. We write the music mostly around the vocals, we
want it to be catchy and sing along.
Jill: We really like to have highly intelligent lyrics.
Greg: Billy says my lyrics sound like punk Dr. Suess. ...Sam I am.
Jeremy: Sometimes the songs start out more complex, like three or four
chords. Then we have to work real hard to dumb them down to two chords.
Greg: To me it just sounds better that way. The greatest punk rock had like
one note, one chord. Ivy Green was great band that did that. The bottom line
is that it has to be catchy. The Ramones are another great example of
that...you could go on and on.
MRR: Where is the major fan base for Rip Off Records and/or the Zodiac
Killers?
Greg: It's all over -Europe, Japan, United States too.
MRR: Any particular cities in the U.S. in general?
Greg: It's weird, over the years it comes in waves. Generally, it's like one
guy at a record store who knows what's up, or one guy who's really hip
pushing Rip Off stuff. For a long time it was Green Bay because of Time Bomb
Tom, and then it was Huntington Beach for a while, and Chicago. I can't put
my finger on it, it just comes in waves.
MRR: We don't have much else to say...
Greg: That's it?!
MRR:Alright, what's on the horizon for the Zodiac Killers?
Jeremy: Basically, I joined the band to put out a record and go to Japan.
MRR: Are you guys lining that up now?
Greg: It it's in the works. Honestly, it's the only reason to be in a band.
You can start a band, put out a record, then break up.
MRR: Do other labels ever ask you to do stuff?
Greg: Yeah, actually one did. But, because I'm so synonymous with Rip Off,
people tend to know it's not gonna happen. Why bother, my label's just as
popular as these others. What are they gonna do for me that I can't do on my
own? Nothing. At the same time, I am kind of contemplating it just for fun.