Photo by Chester Simpson

 

I met Joey when I went East to play The Freaker's Ball at the Ottobar. Joey was filling in on bass for The Living Wrecks and we struck up a friendship. I decided to put him under the knife and get him to answer a few questions for me...

Punk Globe: Hi Joey how goes it? Funny how the night we met at The Freaker's Ball drinking shots with Grandma Groupie at The Ottobar. We were both there playing with bands that we do not normally play with. How did you end playing with The Living Wrecks that night?

joey: hey ginger, thanks for the interview! yeah, we had a good time that night! i bet grandma had a hell of a hangover the next day. she was like 86, right? i became friends with the wrecks earlier this year when we played a gig together. they had mentioned that their bass player was in europe for most of the summer and that they were looking for a fill in guy for a show or 2, so i offered. i really like that style of rock'n'roll punk, and i've never played in a band like that, so i thought it would be cool.

Punk Globe: Did you have fun that night? It got kinda wild at the end of the night. One band the Shittens threw cake all over the stage and then the club closed down the show.. This band We Are the Seahorses then took the stage heckling the club and the audience. One of the guys in the band with a rather large form began doing a slow strip... All we needed was 'Bridget The Midget'  from The Howard Stern Show and The Blakkouts there to pick a fight with him..

joey: yeah, it was pretty fun. it was cool to see people hanging out dressing like they want and doing what they want without a bunch of squares laughing at them or making fun. it was very liberating.

Joey Nayls

Punk Globe: Funny, for me it was just a normal punk show.... I was impressed by some of the people involved with the show.. I liked Penny The Monkey Girl and Baby Chrissy the 17 year old boy in the crib with diapers on? Jim had originally had someone else who was actually a slave who enjoys being a baby in the crib.. He backed out so Jim asked the 17 year old bass player from one of the teen bands if he wanted to earn $50 to sit in a crib.. He acted the part and made $70 in tips..

joey: awesome! i was wondering what was going to happen with that crib. i figured it was a fetish thing... i missed the kid in the baby crib though... i'd have given him 10 bucks!

Punk Globe: Tell the reader's about your band The Reticents?
Who else is in the band and who does what?

joey: the reticents is a band that the drummer and i started probably over a year ago. we started out as a very street-punk, almost oi band, but after a few member changes and adding pat as the singer, we developed a very different sound. i'd say we sound like early dc hardcore with a touch of southern california punk. dru the kid is the drummer. pj goon is the singer, and actually we're currently looking for a 4th member. i don't know if it's us, but people tend to not stick around long in this band...

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

joey: i was reading an article online about mexican immigrants, and they were referred to as 'reticents.' i liked the sound of the word, and it means to be reluctant or silent. i felt like it kind of fit our personality as a whole, none of us are really that in your face or outgoing, maybe even a bit shy. but in the rehearsal room it's a different story. all we do is bash each other and tell 'your mom' jokes.

Punk Globe: How long has the band been together and are you centered outta Baltimore?

joey: dru and i live in baltimore, but pat currently lives in arlington, virginia. he is looking to move up here pretty soon, though. a couple of guys that used to play with us lived in dc or northern virginia. baltimore and dc are about an hour apart, so it's not to bad to play with guys from that area.

The Reticents

Punk Globe : Have you been in any other bands? How about the other members of the band?

joey: i've played in a bunch of bands, the only ones anyone may have heard of might be under the gun, roger miret and the disasters, and bleeder resistor. pat played guitar in a band from dc called the goons for years. i loved the goons, and was stoked when pat came up to try out singing with us. this is pretty much dru's first serious band.

Punk Globe: Do you play with any side bands?

joey: i don't think any of us are doing any side bands right now. i'm always working on stuff myself and hope to record a few songs by myself this winter.


Punk Globe: Did you tell me that you lived in NYC for awhile and played in a band with Roger from Agnostic Front?

 joey: yeah... under the gun was from new york. my longtime friend growing up mickey lee went up there to go to nyu. i went in the army right out of high school, but when i got out he had this band going and wanted me to come up and join. i lived up there for a little while and met a bunch of nyhc guys. our drummer chrisiplin had done a lot of roadie work for bands like sick of it all, h2o, civ, and others, so we had some good breaks. roger produced 2 of our records and took a liking to the way i played bass. he later started the disasters and asked me if i could tour with them. i played with them for a year or 2. in fact just this weekend i went up to new york and played a gig with them, filling in. it was a lot of fun.

Punk Globe: Roger is cool a cool guy... but  Tell me about Dru The Kid who is the Drummer in The Reticents?

 joey: dru the kid... he's a legend waiting to happen. he's an awesome drummer, and he's only like 22. he's the next generation of punk rockers in baltimore. i don't know how long the reticents will be around, but a good drummer like him will be able to remain in demand and will be able to pick and choose who he wants to play with. when we first met he was really quiet and shy and lived at home still. we gave him hell, but he's really learned how to tell you to go fuck your mother. it's awesome.

Punk Globes: Does The Reticents have anything out on Vinyl or CD?

joey: i'm ashamed to admit that we have absolutely nothing out yet. we have recorded a 5 song ep that we're anxious to release, but we've been so busy trying out bass players that we haven't been able to do anything with it yet.

Punk Globe: How often do you all play?

joey: we haven't played in like 2 months, unfortunately. we were playing about 3 or 4 times a month until our bass player mikey went back to school. once we replace him we're gonna get cracking.

Punk Globe: Have you toured?

joey: we haven't toured at all, but we intend to. we all have careers (i hate that word) so our off time is somewhat limited, but we plan to use vacation and personal time to go as far as we can. i hope to tour next spring.

Punk Globe: Tell us about some of the band's influences?

 joey: we each have our favorites individually, but i think the bands we agree on that really influence our sound are bad religion and minor threat.

Punk Globe: Who are some your favorite bands?

joey: so many... the clash, slf, rancid, social d, the ruts, exploited, one man army, american steel, kill your idols, swingin' utters, dillinger four, street dogs, leatherface, so-cal skate punk stuff, nyhc, etc...

Punk Globe: What is the punk scene like in Baltimore ?

joey: the baltimore punk scene is weird. there is definitely a true underground punk and hardcore scene here. it's pretty small though. there is a very large 'basement punk' scene here, as i call it. a good underground band will come around, and 20 people will be there, but the bouncing souls will sell out in a week. it's that type of thing.

Joey Nayls in Action

Punk Globe: When we went out during the day I surprised I did not see more punks on the streets? I know we went to Sound Garden Records and everyone looked pretty straight.

joey:  yeah, you won't see a whole lot of punks on the streets here. they're at home on the internet. there are places where the real punks and skins hang out though.

Punk Globe: Tell the readers about your favorite show the Reticents have played and your worst show?

joey: the best was probably the last one we played. it was at the black cat in dc, at the smaller downstairs stage. we played with a band called the scare. we played pretty well, and we could tell we were starting to catch on because there were a lot of people there, and a lot of them were singing along. i was surprised, because we only have 3 songs up on our myspace page, but i guess people are listening. i can honestly say we haven't had a bad show yet. i'm sure we will, but we haven't played that many, and we've been kind of selective about when and where. i know we'll have bad ones though, it's part of playing.

Punk Globe: Where is your favorite place to play?

joey: probably the sidebar in baltimore. small and intimate, just the right level of raunchyness. the room sounds good, and the beer is cheap.

Punk Globe: Do you have any releases coming out or tour plans?

joey: as soon as we get our lineup straight we will start booking individual shows like crazy and get cracking on releasing the 5 songs we have recorded, and more importantly record a few more and keep writing. we probably won't tour till the spring, but we're looking forward to getting out there.

Punk Globe: Can you give the readers the address to the Reticents My Space Profile and do you have a website?

joey: sure, it's www.myspace.com/lunchbucketpunks

we don't have a website other than the myspace. you will find all of our individual profiles in the top 10 on the band page.

Punk Globe: Well that Grandma Groupie can really throw back that JD.. Move over Lemmy- Grandma is here... Any last words for our readers?

 joey: yeah, that old lady was an inspiration. i'm off the whiskey myself... it gives me a real mean streak! keep the underground alive, stay out of the basement!

Punk Globe: Thanks so much for the Interview Joey!

joey: thanks ginger, you rule! and be careful with that rubber penis!

Punk Globe would like to thank Joey Nayls for the fun Interview. Please check The Reticents out at their My Space page and let em know you read about them in Punk Globe. If you go to Baltimore check and see if they are playing.....