The Pills

Potentially Fatal

get a fix with the pills
interview by chuck

the pills are a five piece over the top power pop smack you in your face and make you want to shake your ass band from Boston. I call them the american supergrass, and others call them god. I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Corin Ashley the band's bassist and here's what we talked about.

What type of music would you describe yourself as if you were talking to a retarded baby?
I would say: "Retarded baby, while we embody much of the passion and skill associated with the bands of the 60s, and also the energy of some of our favorite post punk late 70s bands, and while it should be noted that bands like the Who, The Small Faces, The Jam, XTC and The Buzzcocks are big influences on us, to call us revivalist and/or retro would be misleading and shortsighted. We are, in fact, an amalgam of past influences and a form of musical anxiousness that is strictly late 90s. I hope you can understand that retarded baby, baby." Since most reviewers are actually retarded babies, that should serve us well.

Who has the smallest dick in the band and how long has the band been together?
In both cases the answer is that it's been 3 1/2 for all of us. What is your favorite beer/liquor? While I am a fan of brandy and ginger ale (it did wonders for Keith Moon's disposition!), our guitarist, Clyde O'Scope feels strongly that anything other than Bud in a can is strictly bourgeois. He drinks scotch on stage but he doesn't feel very good about it. David likes gin and tonics (except when i knock them out of his hand) and I think Jamie is pretty well into showing up at rehearsal with a single Coors. It's pretty low rent, I know.

Who are your favorite bands to play with?
Well, we've opened up for all sorts of people - The B-52s, The Boo Radleys, Rev. Horton Heat, even the Village People once! But I think our favorite bands to play with are the Figgs and The Revelers (the pride of Cleveland) and our Boston pals Boy Wonder. We had a really great show opening up for the Selector once, but the lead singer was a total cunt to us.

Now is the spot where you can say anything you want, clear up rumors... list some up coming albums or events etc...
OK, incredibly witty mother jokes aside, we have a new CD called "Wide Awake With The Pills" on Monolyth Records. You can check it out on our website www.pillsrock.com but basically, if you like fast pop songs, we're your band. If you're sick of the crappy tunes on your radio and you're longing for something that kicks your ass but has some underlying substance, we're your band. We've been playing all over the Northeast in our trusty van (Doug) serving up our band of hepped up, over the top power pop for Pillheads from DC to Toronto. Eventually we will make it all the way to Jacksonville so we can bust out some Skynard. Our guitarist Clyd is actually from Tarpin Springs (by Tampa) and he gets all funny whenever he's exposed to Southern Rock. He says we wouldn't understand. We played at a festival in North Carolina with The B-52s, Sloan, The Smithereens, some really cool bands and he insisted on watching Molly Hatchet. One thing I would say is that we play a lot of Mod oriented shows but we don't really consider ourselves to be a mod band per se. Our first single was a song called "Scooter Gurl" which got a lot of radio play and also got played in nightclubs alot. Through that we started seeing lots of kids with classy haircuts showing up at our shows. We do have that influence - we're all big fans of the Small Faces and the Action, the Creation etc. but we're equally influenced by Cheap Trick. You don't want to pigeonhole yourself too much.

Favorite drugs?
I don't normally avoid such questions but I'll give you a tale of excess. Last fall we got a sponsorship from a big whiskey company that paid for us to have a tour bus for a month. At the end of the tour we had a 4 day drive across the country and nothing to do but drink the bourbon they gave us in Arizona. There was also a lot of beer left over from the dressing rooms of all the bands we opened up for, some incredibly mossy trip-weed left over from Colorado, Acid from some chick in San Francisco, 'shrooms from God knows where and our road manager had a cyst on his back and picked up some major pain killers in Wyoming. So in the interest of geography, we took all of it and watched "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Mind you, outside the windows was the fucking desert so it was incredible scenery anyway. It was like this complete sensory overload situation and then we saw it... the all you can eat steak house! Whomever could finish "El Diablo" - 64 oz of pure Texas beef, would get it for free. We all ended up paying. Man, did we pay.

What do you have to say about inspection 12?
Yeah, fuck them, they're weak. Inspection 12 are like Faith No More wannabes! We'll kick their hippy asses for them if they ever come up to Boston.

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All Content © 2004-2011 the pills


	Potentially Fatal
	get a fix with the pills interview by chuck the pills are a five piece over the top power pop smack you in your face and make you want to shake your ass band from Boston. I call them the american supergrass, and others call them god. I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Corin Ashley the band's bassist and here's what we talked about. What type of music would you describe yourself as if you were talking to a retarded baby? I would say: "Retarded baby, while we embody much of the passion and skill associated with the bands of the 60s, and also the energy of some of our favorite post punk late 70s bands, and while it should be noted that bands like the Who, The Small Faces, The Jam, XTC and The Buzzcocks are big influences on us, to call us revivalist and/or retro would be misleading and shortsighted. We are, in fact, an amalgam of past influences and a form of musical anxiousness that is strictly late 90s. I hope you can understand that retarded baby, baby." Since most reviewers are actually retarded babies, that should serve us well. Who has the smallest dick in the band and how long has the band been together? In both cases the answer is that it's been 3 1/2 for all of us. What is your favorite beer/liquor? While I am a fan of brandy and ginger ale (it did wonders for Keith Moon's disposition!), our guitarist, Clyde O'Scope feels strongly that anything other than Bud in a can is strictly bourgeois. He drinks scotch on stage but he doesn't feel very good about it. David likes gin and tonics (except when i knock them out of his hand) and I think Jamie is pretty well into showing up at rehearsal with a single Coors. It's pretty low rent, I know. Who are your favorite bands to play with? Well, we've opened up for all sorts of people - The B-52s, The Boo Radleys, Rev. Horton Heat, even the Village People once! But I think our favorite bands to play with are the Figgs and The Revelers (the pride of Cleveland) and our Boston pals Boy Wonder. We had a really great show opening up for the Selector once, but the lead singer was a total cunt to us. Now is the spot where you can say anything you want, clear up rumors... list some up coming albums or events etc... OK, incredibly witty mother jokes aside, we have a new CD called "Wide Awake With The Pills" on Monolyth Records. You can check it out on our website www.pillsrock.com but basically, if you like fast pop songs, we're your band. If you're sick of the crappy tunes on your radio and you're longing for something that kicks your ass but has some underlying substance, we're your band. We've been playing all over the Northeast in our trusty van (Doug) serving up our band of hepped up, over the top power pop for Pillheads from DC to Toronto. Eventually we will make it all the way to Jacksonville so we can bust out some Skynard. Our guitarist Clyd is actually from Tarpin Springs (by Tampa) and he gets all funny whenever he's exposed to Southern Rock. He says we wouldn't understand. We played at a festival in North Carolina with The B-52s, Sloan, The Smithereens, some really cool bands and he insisted on watching Molly Hatchet. One thing I would say is that we play a lot of Mod oriented shows but we don't really consider ourselves to be a mod band per se. Our first single was a song called "Scooter Gurl" which got a lot of radio play and also got played in nightclubs alot. Through that we started seeing lots of kids with classy haircuts showing up at our shows. We do have that influence - we're all big fans of the Small Faces and the Action, the Creation etc. but we're equally influenced by Cheap Trick. You don't want to pigeonhole yourself too much. Favorite drugs? I don't normally avoid such questions but I'll give you a tale of excess. Last fall we got a sponsorship from a big whiskey company that paid for us to have a tour bus for a month. At the end of the tour we had a 4 day drive across the country and nothing to do but drink the bourbon they gave us in Arizona. There was also a lot of beer left over from the dressing rooms of all the bands we opened up for, some incredibly mossy trip-weed left over from Colorado, Acid from some chick in San Francisco, 'shrooms from God knows where and our road manager had a cyst on his back and picked up some major pain killers in Wyoming. So in the interest of geography, we took all of it and watched "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Mind you, outside the windows was the fucking desert so it was incredible scenery anyway. It was like this complete sensory overload situation and then we saw it... the all you can eat steak house! Whomever could finish "El Diablo" - 64 oz of pure Texas beef, would get it for free. We all ended up paying. Man, did we pay. What do you have to say about inspection 12? Yeah, fuck them, they're weak. Inspection 12 are like Faith No More wannabes! We'll kick their hippy asses for them if they ever come up to Boston.
	\| NEWS \| BIO \| PHOTOS \| PRESS I MUSIC \| \| STORE \| MP3 \| LINKS \| CONTACT \| All Content © 2004-2011 the pills