get get go Interview

Since June of this year, there has been a buzz around the screamo listservs about California's get get go. If their sound, which they describe as "disco violence" wasn't intriguing enough, their song titles alone will topple headlong into your curiosity ("crime scene photos for your art school portfolio," "running over the community service worker doesn't make you a hero," "heartattacks aren't recreational activities," and "breaking and entering for the sake of a goodnite kiss," to name a few). Let BettaWreckonize be the first to introduce you to this dynamic duo.

Interview conducted via e-mail, December 2001.

Name: Davy (vocals, guitar)
Band: get get go

Tim: Do you work or go to school or both? How old are you?
Davy: I work at a photo lab, and Kevin is still going to school. I'm nineteen and Kevin, my drummer, is seventeen. We're from sunny Sacramento, California.

T: How long has get get go been together and how did you meet? What instrument do you play?
D: We started out in June of 2001, so we haven't been around for that long at all. I play guitar and we both handle the vocal work. We met purely by chance. A girl we both kinda saw for a while was telling us about each other. And Kevin went to school with one of my best friends. As cliché as it sounds, we actually got introduced at a show here and we went from there.

T: Did you take guitar lessons or are you self-taught?
D: I did take guitar lessons when I first started, so I knew some stuff. But after time, everything I learned, like reading notation and all this other technical stuff I learned, just kinda faded away.

T: Are there only two of you? Is this the first band for you?
D: It's only us….yes. This is my first band to actually go this far. Usually it just either lasts a few practices, or shows.

T: You are both pretty young.…what got you into hardcore/punk/screamo? What was the first show or band that really made an impression on you?
D: Me personally, it must have been just being around hardcore/punk long enough to get all these different ideas of what I wanted to do. I remember hearing Refused when The Shape of Punk to Come came out and knowing that I wanted to do something in that vein….and then doing something in a totally different direction sonically. Sonically, yes. But, being actually involved in the punk scene, I got into through the politics. Don't get me wrong, get get go is not a political band at all, but my politics that got me here in the first place.

T: How would you describe your sound? What bands most influence what you do?
D: Booty death, chaotic hardcore, the all mighty emo violence, there's all those terms thrown around of course. It always seems a little difficult to bring your point across when someone's not familiar with your scene. I think the disco violence term works pretty well for us.

Bands….we went into this with just a certain background in it; having these record collections with bands that we thought were just so amazing and ones that we'd like to play with. I'd hate to tag one or two particular bands that influenced us. I was always scared someone was gonna say we sounded like Orchid, so maybe that might answer your question. I'm just really not into namedropping and band lists.

T: Is the scene in your town inclusive or is it elitist? What are your thoughts on the "punk" community where you live?
D: There is some sort of scene here. Of course bands like !!!, The Yah Mos, and a few other indie rock bands that are friends with us have gotten the recognition. I'd like to say it's inclusive, but that's not really true. With every scene, there's those group of kids that try to make it harder for other kids that are just trying to check things out and get into it. Does that make any sense at all? We have this show space here, The Loft, that is like that. There's so many good shows that have gone through there -- bands like The Promise Ring, and The Locust -- a good variety. But it's a "punk rock" show space, and a lot of kids that aren't involved with punk rock don't really go to the shows there. There's the punk rock attitude involved that usually scares people away.

I'd like it if more people put the time into putting on house shows and if there were more all ages places to play, but that goes along with every town. Ultimately, the kids here have treated us well.

T: Where did you record you recent set of demos and who mixed them? Are you happy with them?
D: We recorded at this place called The Hangar. My friend, John Botch, hooked us up. I used to work for him at Heckler Magazine. It was really, really nice to actually be able to do something like that. It's just kinda funny that so many different Sacramento bands have gotten all these slick records out of there….Far, Deftones, Will Haven. Crazy.

We are very proud of the CD. I wish I wasn't sick during the few weeks we were working on it, but besides that, it's amazing. Our engineer, A.J. did really well, and knew what we were aiming for, so that worked out well for both of us.

T: The song titles you've come up with are some of the most creative and funny that I've heard since the old Harriet The Spy stuff. Do the titles of the songs always relate to the lyrical content of the songs? How do you come up with the titles?
D: This isn't exactly the band to talk to about lyrical content. There's no real rhyme or reason to me….to actually even have set things I want to say. The song titles just kinda speak for themselves. They usually just come randomly between us playing and so on. We have a few songs ready with no music to them already. That's usually how it works, odd enough.

T: Have you played out a lot? What is the typical get get go show like? Who are your favorite bands to play with?
D: We've played a good amount of shows for the time we've been around. This season seems to be a dry time of year for shows unfortunately.

The normal get get go show is usually 12 minutes of music with half the people not really getting what we're doing, but nonetheless, having a good time. It's really hard here to play a show where we have a good set of bands that seem to pair up well with us. I would say one of the best shows we did play was with The Blood Brothers, True North and Red Light Sting. We seemed to all pair together OK. Other than that, we usually have fun for 12 minutes, each time not knowing exactly what's going on.

The lack of screamy bands in our area doesn't help either.

T: Has anything incredible or funny every happened to you at a show?
D: We played a basement where I attacked the crowd of punk kids, and they were rowdy and wanted to mosh and fight back, but they held back….maybe because it was a basement? But, during the same show, I lost a shoe, and ravers asked for our cd. There really hasn't been anything too crazy at all.

T: Do you have plans to tour outside of the west coast?
D: It's all up to when we can get time off school and work to actually get the rock on. So, yes we are. I haven't really thought about anything else since we have yet to embark on our first tour.

T: Do you guys have plans to release a record? Will you continue to self-release your songs or do you have plans to pursue label support?
D: was it domestic was actually put out by these kids at Pictora Pilota www.envy.nu/pictora. Pictora Pilota is based in Northern California, a few hours from us. We sent them a demo early on along to some other labels to see if they wanted to help us out, and they were one of the only ones that were able to help us at the time. The ones I have now are just copies I had to burn myself to have out. We have 300 CDs being pressed right now, in addition to the 20 3" ones I have with me here, and 50 red CDs. So, this is our first real "CD"

We just have so much material just waiting to be put out, so I don't know. I'd like to have a bigger label help us out, but until then, we'll be packing things up nicely, and putting our stuff out there. I still have our first demo CD lying around, the last demo tape, and the was it domestic CD, so I'm sure there's much more to come.

T: Is there a bigger label that who's ethics you particularly admire? Why?
D: No Idea seems to be doing things right, it terms of putting out quality punk rock records, and also by way of their distro. There isn't really any particular one out there I favor besides that.

T: Do you think you would be happier working a career and having a band on the side, or having a band and working jobs on the side?
D: This is not the sort of band we can live off of at all, but it would be nice just to play music. This all seems to be a good release for both of us, and it's good to have at the end of the day -- something constructive and something that can take us away from our normal everyday lives.

Working and going to school keeps us with that sense of reality that this can be taken away at anytime, and that we need to take advantage and have fun with it as much as we can. When it starts being a chore, and not something we like to do, then that's probably when we should draw the line.

T: What aspects of this culture (or counter-culture depending on your viewpoint) do you think would keep someone around into their 30s or 40s? Do you think it is possible to be a middle-aged and punk?
D: I would probably say putting on your own shows, and just being a support in one way or another. I was always brought up to do it myself, if someone doesn't hand you the opportunity for, create it yourself. There's always gonna be room, no matter how old you, are to live and support your local "punk" scene.