Kastle Grey Skull band Interview

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I N T E R V I E W
June 2004
Kastle Grey Skull

BAND: KASTLE GREY SKULL
e-mail: KASTLEGREYSKULL@yahoo.com
e-mail: ILUV2H8GOD@aol.com

RCN: Hello, we are here with MIKE CONERVTINO and BRIDGETT VERA from KASTLE GREY SKULL a local band from The Valley , and they're fuckin amazing , so we're going to find out a little more about what makes them tick. . .

1. RCN: What type of band are you?

well.........i tell people were deathrock HORROR punk or some shit like that...........regardless, its lould, fast and vulgar.............people have said that i sound like Wendy-o-Williams from the Plasmaticks......i dont see it........in fact i dont even own a Plasmaticks albulm..........when we FIRST started out we got lumped together with a buncha underground GOTHIC bands, i guess mainly cause i used to hang out at those types of clubs, when in fact we are as FAR from ''goth'' as Mr Rogers in a crack house............but you never know.......i bet he was a crack head.

2. RCN: Tell us the brief history of your band.

This whole nightmare started out in August of 1997.............none of us had ever been in bands before....but i sang all my life.....in the school choir if ya can believe that........i had ALWAYS wanted to be in a band and as a kid i always knew i would be......it was a calling....it still shocks me to this day that im ACTUALLY living out my dream, even if it isn't so financally rewarding at times.......................its what ive always wanted and LOVE to do........how we met was kinda a fluke..........i was at this club i used to frequent when i was younger...i was walking around when this guy stopped me.... he was all ''i dunno WHAT it is about you, but i HAVE to meet you!!'' so we started chatting and it turned out that was was looking to start a band....i told him that i had ALWAYS wanted to front one......that weekened i got togetehr with 3 total strangers and we just drank and jammed all day...it was amazing.....we knew we had sumthin rockin........the sound was increadible and the 4 of us remained in the band for years to come........members dropped out from year to year but the band is still going strong........it was liek it was ment to be.......weve played almost everywhere in los angeles and the surrounding aera.....The Troubadour, The Showcase, Martini Lounge, The Garage, Thunderbird, Key Club fuck man almost everywhere.....not to mention a hundread little shit hole no name bars.....we plan to go to New York in Septemeber this year to play the Knitting Factory

3. RCN: Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

well...................my BIGGEST influence is DANZIG.....i have SUCH respect for him.....i love all his music.....and its not just that.....there's this ''aura'' about him when he performes....it makes you wanna go up there and grab the mic and scream, it makes you wanna fight, fuck, kill, cry...............his voice, his stage presence, his creativity has SUCH an impact on me, its like nothing that can EVER be duplicated or come CLOSE to being copied.........i feel REALLY fuckin cool cause like i had a chance to PERSONALLY give him one of our cd's......he got back to me and said he REALLY liked it......i mean come on!! i can DIE now......to have someone you IDOL musically tell you that what yer doing is GREAT, nuthing can match that....i feel as if ive reached my life long goal.......of course i love other bands and music as well.......i get SO inspired by P.J Harvey, Janis Joplin, Guns N Roses and all kinds of other shit..........but really nuthing inspires me more than my musical friends.....people that ive come to know and love over the years, friends of mine and their bands....seeing THEM play and grow thru out the years, and watching them bloom into musical perfection makes me wanna do what i do..........

4. RCN: What are your dreams and goals?

BRIDGETT: haha! i wannna be DANZIG when i grow up......it would be nice to rule the world too........seriously tho.....to just preform and to have people like yer music and enjoy yer preformances....shit man.........im already living my dream.......ive far reached my goals.......im pretty content

MIKE: to NEVER have to werk again.........to live life acording to my own LIFE and principals............to eat reguarling doing what i love

5. RCN: Who writes the songs, what are they about?

i write all the lyrics and the guys write the melodies.......most of our stuff is about the living dead, hating people, horror movies, our love of hate, killing people, loving to kill people, booze, bus rides and other non importiant issues.........i dont care much for songs with a ''message'' .......if ya want politicks turn on pbs........music should be fun and thats what i do.....i keep all my deep personal stuff for myself.....you fuckers dont need to know my dark secrets, and frankly you never will.........i also HATE love songs!! CHRIST i will NEVER EVER write a love song or singa bout ''why he left me'' or ''how i miss him'' BLECH!!! save that for those poop pop bands................we have this song i worte called ''dead pussy'' ..........its about how our old guitarist got REALLY drunk one nite and killed this cat.......ok................im SURE im gonna get a LOT of hate mail for this one....but let me first say i HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE KILLING OF THE CAT (will explane later) i SIMPLY wrote the lyrics cause it makes a funny and offensive song.........i LOVE animals, especially with bar b q sauce.............. HAHAHAHHA!!! for reals i used to HAVE a cat........ive ALWAYS been a animal lover...........................this is the story: see we ALL have vices, and our OLD guitarist RYAN would occasionally go out and drink.....a lot....and turn evil...........this mother fucker drank like 6 beers and a ENTIRE BOTTLE OF 151, (for those who dont know thats like the STRONGEST thing you can bye, at least in California, next to EVERCLEAR)..........so RYAN gets drunk and decides he wants to kill something....................he musta TRIED to kill 2 cats in this alley before he coaxed one over....pet it for a while as it purred up against him, then PICKED IT UP and BASHED its body against a piece of old concrete.......once it was dead he took out his knife and cut the head off.............i woulda speculated on this story, EXCEPT that he actually brought the head to rehearsal.......he told the whole story, then reached in this brown paper bag and pulled out a dead cats head......................didn't know weather to KILL HIM or laugh................so i laughed, and decided to turn this TWISTED case into a song..................let me say for the record RYAN regrets the whole thing and never hurt another animal again...

6. RCN: What's your opinion of George Bush?

BRIDGETT: i really dont give a fuck about politicks.........but yea.......hes a dork...hahhahaa!! i love when will farrell on saturday night live does his impressions...........so fuckin funny!!! he makes him look like the complete imbisul he is.........

MIKE: COMPLETE FUCKIN MORON........but.......that ass hole got us in this mess.......and i wouldnt elect ANYONE ELESE TO GET US OUTTA IT.................hes a morin........a COMPLETE moron

7. RCN: How do you promote your band and shows?

barley................i usually just make up flyers and flyer around town, make posts on web sites and send e-flyers.........call people up............shit spreads fast in this town and most of our fans see us by word of mouth

8. RCN: Describe your show, visual and musically

well this is a intereesting question.........you know what? you never know what you get when you see us.......i tend to crawl around on the floor around and yell at the audience when they piss me off......sometimes i drool..........ive been known to puke onstage, piss and break stuff..................ive gotten so nuts insane that ive fallen off a few stages, resulting in black eyes, concussions and cracked ribs.......i play too hard and drink harder.......sometimes were a drunken mess...missing chords, lyrics and just all around sucking, but when were SOBER we play a FUKCIN tight set........so you never know.........depends on the vibe of the crowd, and how high my tollerence is that night.............how badly i want a drink..........we try to be as offensive as we can......well me at least......

9. RCN: What do you think about downloading music online?

BRIDGETT: i think its great............really.....i think its a great way to promote and get yer music across.....i also think its a free and easy way to get songs that maybe you wouldnt necessarally want a entire albulm of.............and for all these ''bands'' that complain (ie: metallica or who else whines about ''yer stealing money'') COME ON!! gimmie a break!! like TRUE FANS are ALWAYS gonna want the REAL cd with the inserts and cool covers.......the people who download, mostly download one or 2 songs......not entire albulms...........bands need to get over themselves and realize its all about the universal launguage....music........share and stop bitching beofere i kick yer ass......

MIKE: music is the bet thing EVER.......and if people can get there hands on it ONLINE for free...fuckin A!

10. RCN: What's your outlook on the record industry today?

BRIDGETT: well WE dont need it.........I dont need it....nowadays people can do shit themselves with computers and netwerking...weve always done things independentally and fuckin have ''fans'' literally all over the world due to US doing shit ourselves......i really think the music industry is pretty courrupt.... i mean all the shit thats on the airwaves sounds fuckin redudnent.....like they have MOLDS and make music acording to what THEY want US to hear......i dont liek that......its liek taking all the marshmallows outta the lucky charms....how fuckin boring.............any rate, ive often thought about what it would be like to be on a MAJOR reckerd label.......and i thought that if they EVER did sign us, and we were to get some sorta contract, id have a little contract of my own........i would INSIST that our songs would NEVER be played more than twice a day on local radio stations......you dont know (or im sure you do) how fuckin ANNOYING it is to turn on yer radio, only to hear the SAME fuckin damn song playing that you just heard 1 hr ago.,.......same with mtv.....fuckin rotation...........so i dont think i would ever wanna be signed.....id rather be a ''struggling'' musician, doing stuff MY WAY and gettin paid peanuts, rather than having some corperate ass hole haning over my head telling me HOW to make MY music sound, and how many times people should hear it......fuck that and fuck them

MIKE: it is DEFINEATQLY chnging.......thank GOD that tehnology has taken the power to decide what peolple think is good and is not good out of the hands of old men, who make what we will NEVER SEE in our life time, and who wouldnt know a good song if i threw A CINDER BLOCK at em.

11. RCN: What's your claim to fame? (What's unique about your band)

hmmmmmmmmm..........well see we dont waste yer time......we get into it.... i mean music IS about sounding good but i feel that you need to relate and connect with the band.............its a relationship.....its the band and the audience and if you dont make that connection, yer nuthing.....i try to entertain....i look into everyones eyes and SCREAM at them....try to make them feel like i came to preform for THEM and them only....i want them to feel as if there the only ones in the room......plus i falll down a lot, get naked sometimes and yell obsenitines........good ruckess times

12. RCN: Tell us a story about a day in your life.

MIKE: waking up hung over

BRIDGETT: hahaha............mine is the same as mikes....except i kinda spend the next day vomiting...gettin all that bile ouutta my system........but when im not vomiting, or haning out with my friends getting drunk, i werk as a manager at target........yay.............shut up its a living........

13. RCN: What inspires you to do what you do?

BRIDGETT: what inspires me is live music and music that dosent suck....musik that touches MY soul................this is gonna sound gay, but when i was younger and would go to gigs and see live bands, i SWARE id start tearing up cause i wanted to be them.....i wanted to be onstage and preform SO BAD that it would hurt..........there my inspiration....my friends are my inspiriation, my musical mentors are my inspiration, and of course my life long dream of preforming is what mainly keeps me going.....everything has a role in my love of the ''art''............

MIKE: EVERONE ELSES STUPIDNESS.............so its PATHETHIC for people to werk jobs that dont make them happy

14. RCN: What advice would you give to fellow bands?

BRIDGETT: watch and learn......take fuckin notes.........AND DO IT YERSELVES!!!!!!!!!! DONT fuckin sell out, dont change yer style or attidudte for ANNYONE or ANY PRICE......theres NUTHING that can be substituted for yerself or yer personality.........if you give in yer weak................this world can not tollerate weakness.......well the WORLD does but i dont.........

MIKE: maKE SURE YER TIME IS WELL SPENT

15. RCN: What are some of your pet peeves?

BRIDGETT: well MUSICALLY i cant stand pourser bands....liek bands that ''dress'' a certian way and sound like they should be played on some kids tv show........but heres a list of things that drive me crazy.........things i hate...........small dogs, females, people who are down on themselves, omg i HATE this....like when yer eating, and people take food off yer plate without asking....christ that drives me NUTS.......people who feel like they need to SMOTHER you withe their religious believes, mornings, when people touch my stuff, when yer order at taco bell gets messed up, things disorganized and stupid people......to name a few........

MIKE: SLOW DRIVERS

16. RCN: How does music affect you and the world around you?

MIKE: ITS THE MOST IMPORTIANT THING IN THE WORLD

BRIDGETT: amen to that

17. RCN: What's new in the recording of your music?

well..............our first albulm ''LIGHTEN UP ITS JUST RAPE'' was released in 2001....were currentally werking on our second release ''A NIGHT OF GLUE SNIFFING AND CAUSAL SEX'' we WERE supposed to have it out by jan of 2004, but once again, we got lazy and pushed it back.....so who knows.........it will be out soon......eventually......whenever......

18. RCN: What are the biggest obstacles for bands?

HAHAHAH!!! OURSELVES!!!!!! seriously....theres NUTHING holding us back but us......we tend to get lazy and pass up SOOOO MANY oppertunities due to us being procrastinators.....i mean we NEVER get bad press, people say we rock....we get show offeres and requests for cds....we just get lazy and are like ''eh, we'll get around to it later'' ......its funny cause ive told the guys in my band, im all ''the only thing holding us back is US!!! we have TONS of support....we just need to get off our asses and do more.......i get lazy i guess........sucks......i need to take more action and start booking mroe gigs and distributing our merch better.......ok THIS IS sad....like weve been toegtehr for 6 yrs and we JUST got a web site....fuck its not even done yet......6 years and all we have are about 15 songs......im not joking.....its fuckin gay........ i need a good kick in the ass.........we tend to induldge in drugs and alcohol, so maybe that has sumthin to do with it....i sometimes.....we need to stop partying and start kicking some MAJOR ass musically........

19. RCN: What's the best and worst thing about playing clubs?

BEST: its nice when we get paid....i mean its not improtiant but its nice.........and its cool to have people come up to you and be like ''man that was GREAT!! when ya playing again?''

WORST: i cant STAND IT when dumb fucks just ''stand there'' .......i mean i go NUTS when im onstage....i run around, crawl on the floor and do evereything and ANYTHING to capture the audiences attention...........i cant STAND IT when they just stand there and bob their heads......i mean i REALLY get pissed....i start yelling at them and calling them names.....i mean COME ON!! were supposed to feed off each other! i get my energy from the crowd and they SHOULD get their energy from me......personally when I go to see bands play live, i LOVE it when they get involved and do MORE then just ''stand there'' and preform.....i LOVE it when they go berzerk and REALLY give it their all to entertain.....if i wanted to just ''listen '' to a band id stay at home and pop in the cd.....but when i see live gigs i expect to be entertained............fuckin crowds piss me off.....i give 100%.....how can i expect less from my audience??? playing clubs with ''rules'' like ''no moshing'' pisses me off too.............personally i encourage chaos....i mean come on! were punk rawk.......move around, beat some people up........some of these prissy clubs dont like any ''movement'' in their audience which i think is gay.......its very dissappointing to play venues that dont encourage madness......i also hate clubs with shitty sound systems.......when like you cant even hear yerself and dont know if yer sucking or not......i also hate playing 21 and over venues cause i think music is for EVERYONE, espically punk.... a lot of our fans are kids and half of em cant see us play cause of these STUPID 21 and over venues......i mean ok, check id at athe bar and let EVERYONE in.....its not that hard.........theres a lot of shit i hate about playing clubs..............in fact...now that i think of it...im never playing another club again......fuck it all!!!!

MIKE: the best thing is enforcing our musical taste on people we dont know and the worst is NOT being able to hear yer own band...( band sound in a club)

20. RCN: Tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.

well i dunno when this interview is commin out, but where constantally playing.....we have a gig on the 29th of may at johnny foxx's and another show booked for june 17th at the THUNDERBIRD..........were also playing new yorks DROP DEAD FESTIVAL september 3, 4th and 5th..........you should go cause if you dont im gonna have to kill you slowly....maybe peel back yer flesh layer by layer as i pour some rubbing alcohol over yer red colored skin.......sounds nice huh....good times

RCN: Thank you for your insight and time. We'll look forward to hearing your music and seeing your next live show . . . Later gator.

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