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100% Surfcore

By Ginger Coyote
I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview Jimmy, who plays drums for The Destroyers, who are a relativity new band from The U.K...... Imagine Dick Dale, the "King Of Surf Music," hooking up with Motorhead while under the influence of a good hit of Acid.... Playing music Loud, Fast and Hard!



THE DESTROYERS

Punk Globe: Thanks so much for agreeing to do this interview Jimmy.
Tell me who is in the band and who plays what?
Jimmy - Drums
Sploote – Undisputed King of SurfCore guitar
Mickey - Bass


Punk Globe: I have read on Facebook that you describe your music as 100% Surfcore?
Is that like Dick Dale joins The Exploited?

Jimmy: Yeah you’re kinda gettin the idea! It’s more like the sound you get if Dick Dale joined Motorhead, took acid and drove a dragster off a cliff... what could be better than that..??!! When we played Nitro and Pipeline together for the first time at full power the word Surfcore just invented itself... I thought someone must have used the phrase before as its so fuckin obvious - we checked Google and no one's used it in music before... The Destroyers have invented a brand new genre.. and we are the only band in it!. . so far we haven’t played any tunes written after 1962, so we are bringin back pure rock and roll from before the Beatles ruined music..Surfcore is a real old school surf tune, stripped all the way down to the bone – 3 piece drum kit, bass and one guitar, instrumental, fast as fuck.

THE DESTROYERS

Punk Globe: How have the audiences responded to your music so far?

Jimmy: The Destroyers' first gig was a few weeks ago (Dec 28th) and it’s been amazing so far. We play what we like with no compromise, and it’s great to know straight away that people really get what we are doing and we can storm any gig!!

Punk Globe: How did you come up with the name The Destroyers?

Jimmy: We like to play loud and fast and smash stuff up so it fits the us perfectly - It’s just the most rock an roll band name ever in history, and gives us something to live up too (you can't go onstage with a name like The Destroyers without having some serious shit goin' on to back it up, can you?!!) Sounds even better than Iggy and The Stooges! J Mickey got hold of George Thorogood’s bass player and he said they were totally cool with it as long as we stay out of Delaware !

Punk Globe: Who are some of your influences?

Jimmy: Minor Threat, Dick Dale, The Doors, Motorhead, MC5. We like the real old school instrumental surf groups: The Chantays, Atlantics, etc., and bands that explode with energy – Stooges, MC5, Pistols.

THE DESTROYERS

Punk Globe: Who are some of your own personal favorite bands?

Jimmy: Dick Dale, Prince Buster, The Adicts, The Adverts, Cypress Hill, Black Sabbath, The Specials, Iggy and the Stooges, Black Flag, The Sex Pistols, Sublime, Neil Young, Sam and Dave, The Chanteys, Screeching Weasel, Bob Marley, Woody Guthrie,
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, MC5, The Shirelles, The Shangrilas, Sonic Boom Six, Subhumans, The Temptations, the Mekons, The Velvet Underground, 2pac, Inner Terrestrials, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Cramps, Hepcat, Operation Ivy, Laurel Aitken, The Quakes, The Casualties, NWA, No commercial Value, Dead Kennedys, Leadbelly, Ramones, Glenn Miller, The Clash, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Judy Street, Minor Threat, The Bodysnatchers, Leftover Crack, Morning Glory, Early Catch 22, Al Barry and the Cimarrons,


Punk Globe: Jimmy you were originally from Manchester. But now you live in London, right?

Jimmy: Yeah, I moved to the dirty south of England and I've had to avoid being locked up twice now just for taggin' walls and they tried to get me with assaultin' a lawyer last month but the original move was to come to London for the underground punk scene and form Jimmy and the Destroyers. I'm hoping that I don’t get tagged (electronic tag – stops you goin' out after 7pm) by the Court on 3rd of March, as it will really fuck up the shows we got coming up in March in London..

THE DESTROYERS

Punk Globe: Manchester has a strong music scene itself. Tell me about some bands that are from there.

Jimmy: Check out Sonic Boom Six -- they’re sick. Look out for the early demos we like the Happy Mondays - they got more punk attitude than the Sex Pistols!. The music scene there is too mellow for The Destroyers ... London is way more hardcore.

Punk Globe: Where do the other members of Destroyers come from?

Jimmy: Me an the Mickey moved together from Manchester and Sploote already lived in Finchley. Splootes a city kid, I'm from the heart of Northern Soul, and Mickey a radioactive freak who lived next door to a nuclear power station when he was a kid in Cumbria where everyone has two heads..

THE DESTROYERS

Punk Globe: Have any of you played in any other bands the readers may know?

Jimmy: Yeah, Sploote toured with the legendary Ian McCulloch from Echo and the Bunnymen in the States a while ago - he nearly died in a shower of whiskey and cocaine! Mickey’s been in loads of weird bands.

Punk Globe: Have you ever tried getting on the Rebellion Festival?

Jimmy: We don’t know who to phone!!!!!

Punk Globe: Are you friendly with the London-based band The Duel? I love Tara Rez their lead singer!

Jimmy: They are in our MySpace friends list and Sploote’s met them a few times at The Underworld in Camden .

Punk Globe: What are some of your favorite venues to play?

Jimmy: So far we’ve only played at a bunch of little underground London punk shows at the 12 Bar Soho, Purple Turtle in Camden, Bridgehouse 2 (wild east end punk venue in an industrial estate!) in Canning town. London Rockin Rollers: We are really looking forward to our first proper big show – we are playing a half hour set of pure surfcore at half time at The London Rockin Rollers vs. Glasgow Roller Girls Roller Derby Battle at York Hall in Bethnall Green, London (the legendary old school London East End boxing venue!). We’ll be the first UK band in history to play at a Roller Derby Bout!

Punk Globe: Any fun stories to share with Punk Globe readers?

Jimmy: So far we have played four gigs in London in our first month and destroyed ywo guitars, one car, been banned from driving and I’ve been arrested and charged for punching a lawyer! So far we are keeping up with the Stooges... looks like The Destroyers are destined to cause mayhem!

THE DESTROYERS

Punk Globe: Any thoughts on Amy Winehouse?

Jimmy: Ella Fitzgerald on crack :-) gotta be good!

Punk Globe: Do you have any releases out?

Jimmy: We haven’t been in the studio yet, we got a mate who’s gonna record us in his garage soon. The tracks on our MySpace page are recorded by hanging a mic in the middle of the stage plugged into the back of a pc. We don’t really need a studio we like it rough, DIY.

Punk Globe: Do you have any labels you would like to work with?
Jimmy: We are planning on making only one SurfCore album which will feature all the authentic surf tunes that can be stripped down to pure SurfCore – 25 or 30 tracks - it will define the genre and be the only SurfCore album ever made. It will need to be a special label because it will be a fuckin' classic. We aren’t in any hurry.

Punk Globe: Do you have a website or a MySpace Music page address?

Jimmy: www.myspace.com/thedestroyersengland Make sure ya come and say hello and join the Destroyers SurfCore Army!!

Punk Globe: Do you have any shows coming up?

Jimmy: WE are kinda on tour in London in March... :-)

3 Mar 2009 THE DESTRYOYERS LIVE IN HELL CLUB HELL, KINGS CROSS LONDON
21 Mar 2009 THE DESTROYERS LIVE AT THE LONDON ROCKIN ROLLERS V GLASGOW FLAT TRACK ROLLER DERBY BATTLE !! YORK HALL, BETHNALL GREEN, LONDON
21 Mar 2009 THE DESTROYERS LIVE AT LONDON ROCKIN ROLLERS AFTER SHOW PARTY AT THE 12 BAR DENMARK ST SOHO LONDON
29 Mar 2009 7:30 THE DESTROYERS LIVE AT THE UNDERWORLD CAMDEN W/ The Stupids / Hard-ons

We are talking to the guys from SurfStock festival about bringing surfcore back to the people at the Surf festival in Cornwall this summer!!!


Punk Globe: Any final words of wisdom for Punk Globe readers?

Jimmy: Come and say hello at www.myspace.com/thedestroyersengland to keep up with the SurfCore revolution…Sex, drugs, whiskey, mayhem, SURFCORE!!! – try to stay out of jail if you wanna be a rock star…J

Punk Globe would like to thank Jimmy for the fun interview... Be on the lookout for THE DESTROYERS

THE DESTROYERS

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