BEN – You’re here in the UK again, how do you find the audiences compared to the States?
SASCHA – Well the shows are definitely bigger, overall there are certain places in the States where we have shows this size. The kids are usually more intense, fuelled by booze at an earlier age [laughs] so you get a lot more people wanting to have fun and go crazy, instead of a bunch of sober kids just standing there watching the band.
BEN – Do you prefer playing over here?
SASCHA – For me it’s show to show, it doesn’t matter where it is, it’s all about the show. In general it’s definitely fun to come to the UK to get out of the States and experience a different culture and go to new cities.
BEN – How would you sum up the Mad Caddies live show in three words? One can be ‘drunk’…
SASCHA – We’re not drunk all the time…I’d say ‘a big party’. The kind of music we play, we don’t take ourselves seriously. We’re not out there with some kind of political message, and especially with the current state of the world I think it’s good for kids to kinda forget about what’s going on and have a good time. We play about four or five from each record and maybe five new songs but we don’t play all the new stuff…we play a broad spectrum. One minute it’ll be aggressive, the next it’ll be kinda mellow with some reggae songs.
BEN – Are you conscious of how many kids take you guys as influences? With the current rise for ska there are a lot of bands quoting the Caddies as influences…
SASCHA – No…stuff like that is too mind-blowing, I can’t even comprehend that some kid would think of a band that I’m in in the same way as I thought of The Ramones or Fishbone.
BEN – Fishbone are about to do a tour, and they’re playing smaller venues than this one – why do you think that is?
SASCHA – Honestly…I love Fishbone to death but it’s because they haven’t put out a good record in years. I’m a huge fan and respect them because they do whatever the hell they want. That’s where we got a lot of our ideas from, as far as not having to stick to one style. They’re still around so I respect them for doing what they’re doing. But if they put out another record like Reality Of My Surroundings or Truth and Soul, then they’d be back on top.
BEN – Do you think you’re striving to go the extra step on your new record? Listening to it, it seems a lot more assured than maybe Duck and Cover perhaps.
SASCHA – We tried really hard on this record and I think a big factor is our new drummer and not having our other guitar player helped out as far as writing new songs. The chemistry, y’know? Nothing bad about our old drummer or guitar player but it’s a different dynamic which works really well. As far as the Mad Caddies, this works. We all get along really well and all have the same goal. I think also for a while we got caught up in touring and boozing and partying and kinda forgot about what matters which is writing good tunes. We tried really hard to write the best songs we could and try to make them sound like us.
BEN – What’s your favourite Mad Caddies record?
SASCHA – The new one! And I’m not just saying that because it’s the new one. Duck And Cover’s my other favourite one. It just sounds like our band.
BEN – What’s it been like working with Fat Wreck?
SASCHA – Fat’s great, and the best thing I can say about them is that they do their job really well and when we go to San Francisco you don’t talk about how many units we’re moving or the marketing plan…[Chuck walks in from Burger King and starts unwrapping his food]…Bean Burger? Nice one…looks good.
CHUCK – Veggie burger…looks good…
SASCHA – …it’s more like going and seeing a bunch of cool people, like “Hey Toby”, every single person you see there you go out for a drink with. It’s true, it’s like a big family. Everyone up there is super cool and they do a damn good job and we’re allowed to do what we want to do. I don’t think that a band that sounds like us could be on many labels because it would be like one minute we’re changing our minds and doing new things. A smaller indie label like Fat lets you do that.
BEN – What would you say to the bands who are more business minded these days?
SASCHA – You know it’s funny, the older I get the more I notice these things. A lot of young bands already have stage moves on their first tour, or flipping their guitars and ‘the look’…
BEN – …the choreographed lighting…
SASCHA – …Yeah, they all have the Rockstar 101 thing.
BEN – Don’t worry, I feel old when I think that and I’m only 19…
SASCHA – OK, then it’s not so bad! I feel better now. I thought it might be that I was old! I don’t really care. If a band’s a good band then I don’t give a damn what they look like. We’ve toured with a lot of bands who look like they’re in a punk rock band but their heads are somewhere else. Much more fashion and media conscious…same attitude as a glam band.
BEN – Why do you think you’ve continued to be successful over the years?
SASCHA – I don’t know…I think maybe every band has their peak and I think we’re just becoming comfortable with the working environment and writing the best songs we can write. We’re trying to top ourselves and be better all the time. We play what makes us happy, most of the songs are upbeat, and an original sound…
CHUCK – Here man, you can finish it [offering his burger to Sascha]
SASCHA – Thanks dude, nice…
BEN – Gentleman…right, now a question from LurchCleanBreak, do you think ska has had it’s time? [At this point my phone goes off, loudly, with Road Rash as the ring tone. Oh fuck]
SASCHA – Haha, that’s Road Rash…
CHUCK – I think ska’s doing fine, considering it’s almost 50 years old. It goes in and out of the mainstream back to the underground.
SASCHA – I think what happens is that it becomes popular and everyone starts buying it and overhyping it and coming to the shows then you get a lot of bands playing it because it’s popular. They’re the copycats and they’re the one who kill it. I’m sorry man, I shouldn’t be eating…
BEN – Don’t worry, as you can see it’s not the most professional of operaions…
SASCHA – As far as the UK goes it’ll definitely not continue being as big as it is now. We’re happy to do what we’re doing while we’re able to. Sooner or later in the UK kids will become sick of it and there’ll be something new to listen to.
BEN – From spacecowboy…who’s your favourite band you’ve played with?
SASCHA – Ever? Fuck…
CHUCK – Gotta be NOFX…or the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.
SASCHA – I’d say Cherry Poppin’ Daddies are one of the favourite bands that we’ve toured with. As fas them being an influence on our band, they’re really good musicians. They’re not around any more but they have a lot of really cool songs.
BEN – Strange one here from a guy called fatbutthin…what was it like to sign a guy’s ass at Deconstruction last year?
SASCHA – I don’t remember…
BEN – Something you tried to black out?
SASCHA – I probably was about to be blacked out by booze…did I?
BEN – Last one, from Colin Frank…have you got any plans to play any UK festivals?
SASCHA – We’re working on that right now. The plan now is to go back and do the Warped Tour then come back and do Reading and Leeds, and Bizarre and a couple of festivals. We’re trying to do a tour of Eastern Europe…Poland, Slovakia, Greece, Romania. We’re going to play some festivals so we can enough money to lose money on that tour!