Discovering the Germs (GI) lyric sheet at 19 delivered me into another world more colorful and much more reckless than I ever could have imagined. My life long fascination with this band, one of my favorite things ever, has helped me to always be able to rediscover and recreate in whatever medium or situation I've stumbled across(or found myself in...). Many years later (GI) is still an extremely ferocious and staggeringly beautiful record. It was a pleasure to finally get to meet the band and be near whatever is about them that trips my shit up.

Oh..... and Shane West sang great. Dude's lucky as fuck to get to play with them and sing those songs/words...and I told him too !

Punk Globe: So, regarding the Germs, what were you actually trying to do with your music back then?

Don: I don't know what they were trying to do. This is a Pat question!

Punk Globe: Was there a concept ?I mean, no one was doing what you were doing...

Pat:No, not that I'm aware of.

Don: It was an excuse to get up on stage and be fuckin' fucked. It was an excuse to do stuff.....and then it ended up being really good accidentally.

Punk Globe: Ok, why do you think then that the Germs are remembered today-30 years later, the way they are?

Don: It depends on which way you mean.

Punk Globe: Well, you guys are here tonight and I think there's going to be quite a lot of people coming tonight. I mean, your name gets dropped a lot.

Don:Yeah, and from labels !!!

Punk Globe: You do get mentioned quite a lot in books. Also in interviews with other bands...in many,many cases you've been listed as a huge influence. Why is that? The lyric sheet maybe?

Don: They do say we've got some good lyrics for a pretty retarded punk rock band.

Punk Globe: The music of the Germs is really physical though. Don's drumming or even 'We must Bleed' might be good examples of this. One might even be led to think it's so hardcore that it's kinda suicide-tough guy- fuck( which it actually is )...I tend to find it really fine actually and even staggeringly beautiful! What might be the difference between how you used to play and write and say that of other punk bands?

Don: It's like the difference between night and day ...except that it's more different

Pat:Bleeding is physical, it's a physical process!

Don (to Pat): Didn't we try to make songs like other punk bands did?

Pat-: No, we thought we were writing songs like Alice Cooper!!

Don: Yeah, so it came over more like edgy glitter.The Runaways, Alice Cooper,Spiders from Mars, Yes, Queen, Van der Graaf Generator.

(silence)

Pat (to Jason) : Your questions are better than the answers by the way!!!!

(laughter)

Punk Globe: The accessibility of the Germs grows more and more towards the mainstream. Do you feel your motives for making music are changing as well? Is there a function in your music besides entertainment?

Don: I think you've got that wrong.The mainstream grows more towards the Germs... that's all it is.

Punk Globe: Have your motivations changed ?Are you playing it for different reasons today as opposed to back then??

Pat:There's no real reason. We just can't help it and it's fun!!!

Punk Globe: It makes alot of people happy , your music!!

Don: (laughter) Well....we still want to do it anyway!

Punk Globe: What do you think your music does to other people?

Don: You just said it: it makes people happy!

Punk Globe: I don't know, what does it do? I've seen it do all kinds of crazy shit to people...

Pat:It destroys our equipment, ...our lives!!

Don: It makes people skate alot. Makes people skate better!

Punk Globe: How do you like to feel after a show?

Don: Silky smooth ....

Pat:What's the question? How do I like to feel after a show ? I've never thought about that...

Don: Feeling is bad, you don't want to feel things.

Lorna: You wanna feel like you've given it your best shot!

Don: I guess we do like to feel like we've kicked everything's ass ! And I guess we usually do!!!!

Punk Globe: Well, I can't wait to see you guys tonight!

Don- Well, all the shows have been good. Only difference is the degree to which we kicked various ass.

Punk Globe: How would you define the word "soul" when talking about music?

Pat:I'm not even sure if there is such a thing as the soul. I don't know if I even believe in the soul....how could I even begin to consider soul in music.

Don: Just because you asked, I do have a pretty pedestrian answer for that: "Dyke and the Blazers" a Phoenix soul band from the 60s. Dyke was the singer. They wrote the song Funky Broadway.

Punk Globe: Are you recording anything new?

Pat:YES!!

Don: Yeah, as soon as we get home we're gonna start recording at Billy Corgan's studio. We're recording 16 track to 2" tape through a million dollar console board.

Punk Globe: How many songs?

Don: Just two. We're gonna do two with them and then maybe a whole album but maybe not with them.

Punk Globe: So who's putting this out?

Lorna: Billy is.

Punk Globe: Are you playing any of these songs tonight?

Don: Yeah, one.

Punk Globe: What's it called?

Pat:Out of time

Punk Globe: Wait, wasn't that a DCB song?

Pat-: Yeah.

Don: It was a song that was kicking around back then....

Pat: Basically,we're gonna record the songs that the Germs never recorded. The Germicide record stuff. All that stuff that was never officially released and ...or... officially recorded ...

Don: Or officially well written!!!

laughter)

Punk Globe: Did Darby really skate?

Pat: He skated for transportation but no, he wasn't really a skater. He skated to my house and to rehearsals.

Don: It was his friends who skated!

Pat: He had been skating since he was 12 or so.

Punk Globe: What's happening with that film documentary on the Germs- 'Lexicon Devil'

Don: Well, I don't know. We haven't heard from them in a long time!!. They paid me though. Actually, they paid me twice!! They're supposed to pay me in three installments. The first installment was for licensing - based primarily on all that info and bits taken from my book by the same title. The second installment was paid when they actually started working on the project.And the third will be paid when the documentary is finished and ready.

Punk Globe: So Shane, have you always been a Germs fan?

Shane: Not always.

Pat:Especially since he's gotten to know them!!

(laughter)

Shane: I used to listen to alot of UK scene stuff and then the CBGBs scene and when I was 16 I got into the LA scene.

Punk Globe: Where you from?

Shane: Louisiana

Punk Globe would like to thank Jason Honea and The Germs for the great Interview.....