I met the indelibly suave Jack Terricloth outside of the Ottobar after being told there was no chance that I could do a face to face interview with The Adicts that night. Seeing World/Inferno and The Adicts share the stage was nothing short of mind blowing, so if you get any fraction of the enjoyment I got from the show out of this interview, I'll know I've done my job well. Thank you and enjoy!

Hey Jack, thanks for doing this interview. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and World Inferno Friendship Society.

Hey, My name is Jack Terricloth and I sing in The World Inferno Friendship Society. We're a sweet gang of dangerous loonies consisting of girls and boys who play a brand of beautiful orchestrated Punk Rock that frequently inspires circle pits. We are based in Brooklyn, NY but really from all over the damn place. Really, you name it. maybe no Austrailians? I'm sure one will come along. I'm from Jersey originally anyway and in fact standing there now.

You usually have a rotating line up in World Inferno, right? Who is in the band currently and what are their strengths?

Sandra Malak-5 string bass and vocals
Rebecca Schlappich-violin
Matthew Landis-piano
Leslie Wacker-alto sax
Mora Precarious-the drum set
Francis Morin-guitar
Jack Terricloth-ME!

Do members usually leave on their own or do you say, "I want this sound for the new album, so I'm getting these musicians to play?'

There is always a continuity of characters that come and go. I know that the concept of 'collective' is hard for people to grasp but whoever can show up does and it almost always stays in the family. And believe me, whoever shows up gets their say.

If you could have any musician, living or dead, play in World Inferno Friendships society, who would it be and why?

Sandra Malak
Rebecca Schlappich
Matthew Landis
Leslie Wacker
Mora Precarious
Francis Morin
because it works so well.

You started off in a band called Sticks and Stones, didn't you?

I did! Played Git and sang. They were a good band.

Do you still play with them?

We did do a reunion thing a couple of years ago that I enjoyed very much. After that we were offered a European tour but, you know, the boys are all grown up. They were kind enough to suggest I just put a band together and do the tour but that seemed too dodgy. Most of us still hang out, saw 3 of them last week actually at Lamar Vannoy's Memorial Day Bar-B-Que in Asbury Park. There is one ex-member who mysteriously disappeared years ago that I look for in crowds all the time while traveling. come up and say 'Hi", man.

What do you think of the cult following that's cropped up around that band?

I didn't know it existed. Now I have to go Google myself.

What made you want to take the pseudonym Jack Terricloth?

Like all nicknames that stick I didn't pick it myself. It's a silly name that reflects and reminds us that being in the entertainment industry is silly so keep your eye on the prize. Plus my real name is hard to pronounce and I get tired of explaining that i totally failed to pick up Italian.

Do you feel like he's a character you play on stage or someone you live as full time?

That's a fine line and a slippery slope. I sometimes don't even look up to 'Pietro' anymore. What's in a name anyway.

I first heard of World/Inferno when you guys did the song "Soon We'll be Dead" with Leftover Crack. How did that song come about?

Entirely through Sturgeon's insistence. He is a very persistent squatter. First time I met him I was stopping him from drinking outside of a bar I was working at. The second time I met him he told me he had a crush on my girlfriend. I suppose he first heard Inferno when he was working at Wetlands which was a club in Manhattan. Got a lot milage out of that number. I actually wrote 'disarming smile' off The Anarchy and The Ecstasy for him to sing but we never got around to it. That was a very hectic year.

Your latest album takes its title from a W.B. Yeats poem. He was one of the first to record himself reading his poetry and twist the rhythms of spoken language and rhyme to meet his needs. Do you find yourself doing that at all?

Or am I just slurring my words? Yes, I do that. They are lyrics so, lyrical. Plus slave to the drummer. sometimes-you-have-to- fit-an-awful-lot-of-syllables-into-a-line.

Some demos of "The Anarchy and the Ecstasy" got leaked before the album's release. When asked about that, you said "Songs want to be free. Songs want you to whistle them." Where does a song's need to be free intersect with your need to make a living?

Just on the wrong side of me having to have a side job.

What do you think of Creative Commons licensing?

I endorse them but will not fill out any paper work or visit anyone's office. Which reminds me we just got invited to visit Marvel Comics' office. Do they have a bar?

What bizarre creation might we see as a result of that Marvel meeting?

New cocktails named after The Fantastic Four? I really don't know. It was a bizarre e-mail to get. I thought they were taking on booking gigs as a sideline.

You tend to bring up some fascinating figures in history who don't get talked about enough like Paul Robeson, Jeffery Lee Pierce, and Peter Lorre. Is there anybody you haven't written a song about yet that you'd like to?

Well, You of course-that's why I'm doing this interview. I am working on a number about Sally Hemmings.

For those who might not know, Sally Hemmings was Thomas Jefferson's biracial slave with whom he had a love affair, right? What compels you to write about her?

She was also his dead wife's half sister which ups the ante considerably.

What compels you to write about her?

Besides the prurience value? That the man who wrote "we take these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal" owned slaves would be a good place to start. then add the theory that Jefferson wanted to free his slaves but was afraid of losing Ms. Hemmings so went against his conscience for love. Add to that what relationships are equal to begin with. There is also the issue of their children (which has been widely explored) but that is another song altogether.

You mentioned both Jeffery Lee Pierce and John Waters when I saw World Inferno live. Waters has been hitchhiking across the country, what would you have said to him if he hopped aboard your tour bus?

Easy one. Our Drummer Emeritus Ben Kotch's sister-in-law Colleen Fitzpatrick starred in the original 'Hairspray' movie. We would dish!

The tour you just came off of was hectic to say the least, wasn't it? I had an interview set up with The Adicts that night, but was told by their road crew that it wasn't going to happen. You had a more visceral experience with them, would you mind detailing it here?

Two drunks get in a fight in a bar, surprise surprise. I believe we've since kissed and made up. Viva La revolution.

What's next for World Inferno?

Gigging around the East Coast in June, recording the EP for the comic book The Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club is putting out about us in July (yes, re read that sentence). Touring Europe in September, Hallowmas planning in October, the States in December with "o Death". Live through that, start again.

Franz Nicolay, who used to be in your band, has been doing pretty well as a solo artist. Have you done any shows where he's opened for you? If not, do you want to?

Sure, He and Sandra and Dave Hause and I did a whole acoustic tour of The U.K. together last year. I am glad he's doing well and kind of envious how his being a one man band gives him the flexibility to tour as much as he does. His song about the Inferno made me cry the first time I heard it.

Are there any non-musical projects you might want to take on like
screenwriting/playwrighting, poetry, visual art, or acting?

Oh, the less said about my acting the better, can't wait to see The Forum the day that comes out. I write everyday and am currently working on 2 new novels. Thank you for asking.

When might we expect to see those novels published?

The plan now is to put them straight onto Amazon.com. Maybe by the end of the year but that's not the first deadline that I forgot to take very seriously. Writing is hard and no one applauds when your done with a line.
See, nothing.

What is one thing that you'd like people to take from your work?

Can I pick three things?

Sure!

Dancing, Hope and Sex. In whatever order.

Thanks for the interview, Jack! Any words of wisdom for our readers?

Sherlock Holmes went crazy!

Punk Globe would like to thank Jack Terricloth for the fun interview.. Jack, you forgot to mention that my pal Colleen Fitzpatrick is also known as Vitamin C!!