Interview By Rotten

Over here in the UK, many years ago, there was a great band named the MACC LADS......they were offensive, disgusting, sleazy, pornographic, sexist, homophobic, you name it. Their concerts and records were banned outright everywhere and they were forced to give concerts from the back of a truck as no venue would touch them.

The whole idea of the band was to take the piss out of typical English yob culture, NOT the stereotypes derided in their songs.....The British moral guardians did not see this, the real joke was on the people who actually behaved like that!

In the end, seeing as they could not get radio play with such crude songs, and gigs were increasingly banned, they called it a day.

I did some gigs as The Macc Lad and thoroughly enjoyed playing the songs.

So, now you know the UK situation, there's a great new Hard Rockin' CD by TRASH entitled BEER BOOBS AND BOOTY out now, I would call them the Macc Lads of Hard Rock. It wont be for the faint at heart or easily offended, but its a bloody good laugh.

The cd was reviewed in the last issue of Punk Globe, so all I will say is it rock n roll at its best, and lyrically as controversial as Osama Bin Laden saying he loves America!

I wanted to know more about the band, so i spoke to the bands front man CHRIS BRIGHT to get the lowdown.

Punk Globe: So, Tell me how you got started in music, and What made you decide to go in the vein of 'Adult Humor' tunes?

Chris Bright: Well I started playing music at a very early age. I grew up when what is now called "Classic Rock" was in its heyday, and Punk Rock was in its infancy. So bands like Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and Guns N Roses were churning out what now are considered their classics. Being born and raised in and around New York City, of course bands like The Ramones and The New York Dolls helped shape the sound I eventually created as well. One Day I went to the record store and bought a 2 record set by Frank Zappa, "Uncle Meat" It was a huge eye opener for me. I was completely hooked on Zappa. Soon I had every Zappa record I could get my hands on, and he quickly became my favorite artist.

Most of my musical life I have spent as a guitarist and sometimes bassist, either working with bands or with singers developing songs and playing shows. I never sang much beyond backing vocals. One thing I hated about being in a band was that if one member flaked out sometimes that meant the end of the band. After recording a CD with a singer in Florida in 2001 and having that project break up right before a major label showcase, I felt it was time to take my career into my own hands.

I felt that the record industry would never sign me, being that I wasn't a 18-21 year old playing the latest pop crap, so I thought about what direction I should go in. I wrote a few songs and tried them out at various acoustic "open mics". Although I did get kicked out of several of them, the songs that kept going over HUGE were my dirty numbers. I began to get bar gigs with a band that was to become, TRASH. The studio I was recording in kept pushing me to clean it up, but my band was about to become even more infamous. At one such gig, I met a group of girls after our set. Although we had girls dancing with the band from the start, these girls raised the bar to unbelievable heights. I began creating the most outrageous props as the band went from a crazy bar band to a total circus! We got wilder and wilder and the clubs got bigger too.

It didn't go unnoticed with me that despite the fact that we were not trendy or even playing music that was anything like any other band, people were showing up in droves to see our live show. While other bands on the scene had trouble getting a dozen of their friends to show up, we were packing the places we played. With the release of my new CD "Beer, Boobs & Booty" I felt that the record should reflect the true spirit of what we are all about. Its a Les Paul/Marshall stack full-on plugged in Comedy album, exactly what we have been delivering on stage since the beginning!

Punk Globe: Have you had any criticism for the content of your music, especially songs like MISS GOODY TWO SHOES?

Chris Bright: Oh yes most definitely. A friend of mine said I should never have put that song first. But I felt it really belonged first, since it starts off all innocent, and quickly slaps you in the face with the "suck my cock" chorus. The shock factor was my aim here. I have had people even try to attack me on stage for singing one of my songs. That's what I don't understand. The very same people would have no problem with a comedian saying the exact same things in a stand-up routine, but set it to music and all of sudden they are offended??

Early on I was censored. Even my clean material was banned from the radio. Both Clear Channels and Cox Radio both refused to play any of my songs on the air, although I did air on Clear Channels for a while until somebody pulled the plug.. I think it may have more to do with the political songs I had "Oil Boys" and "Live In My Car" than my use of the "7 Dirty Words You Can't Say On The Air". My thought was if Howard Stern, Richard Pryor and George Carlin could be on TV, there was no reason why TRASH couldn't be there too. And despite people saying I would never get on the air, we did our first National Television appearance last year on Comedy Central, opening the premiere episode of "The Gong Show" with Dave Attell.

Punk Globe: How do you come up with the ideas for the lyrics and themes?

Chris Bright: I will say this, I know when a TRASH song will go from the writing stage to on the CD almost instantly.. Most of the songs come from instances that happen either to me or things I see going on around me. A few are completely fabricated and just plain silly. "Miss Goodie Two Shoes" is a perfect example of my "reality songs". There is a Miss Goodie Two Shoes and most of the lyrics are really what happened with her. OK so she didn't bark like a dog, that's a joke but most of the other stuff she actually did...

Sometimes, I will just be "free-styling" (going off with wisecracks and jokes) and I will just stumble into a great song idea, sometimes it is work to put the song together. But most of the songs were written in the span of a few hours, although the production might have taken a week or two to get it just where I envisioned it to be.

Punk Globe: In the UK, we could not get away with selling a CD like BEER, BOOBS & BOOTY, do you think the USA is more liberal with its sense of humor than the UK in these politically correct times?

Chris Bright: I can't imagine this to be true. In fact, I know several bands right now that you can go to your record shop and purchase their CD's, and they are every bit as "dirty" as I am. They are all on major labels and they have all played extensively throughout the UK. If the UK wouldn't allow "explicit lyrics" that would mean you could not purchase artists like Frank Zappa, GWAR, Marilyn Manson and most RAP. I can't believe that this is the case.

In fact, I find that my UK fans are just amazing!! ...and way way more liberal and accepting of something different and new than those here in the USA. Not that we don't have people like that here in the states, but I do see that my iTunes sales from the UK are doing better than anywhere else.

Even if my CD were to be banned from somewhere, the publicity from it would far outweigh any negative aspects, the "forbidden fruit" theory... Oddly enough, my "Lollypop" music video is most popular in the UK, USA and (believe it or not) Saudi Arabia!! I guess they consider it porn it Saudi Arabia.. I am sure that if it gets a major release sales in Saudi Arabia will be quite good...

Punk Globe: Who are your personal influences, both Musical and Comedic?

Chris Bright: Well of course, Frank Zappa is a huge influence on me both Musically and Comically. Not to say that I sound anything like Zappa, however some of the chord progressions Zappa utilized were so unusual and interesting I tried to incorporate some of his "tasty intervals into my music. Case in point, my song "Trash (the VOMIT song) from my first CD, contains the progression E-G-Bb-C#-Eb-E which is a derivative of the basic chord progression Zappa used in "Crew Slut". I like to pay homage to him every so often and I hope people will "rediscover" his music after hearing mine.

Other Artists that have had a great impact on me musically are Aerosmith, Guns-N-Roses, Motley Crue and Jane's Addiction. I love the raw Les Paul/Marshall sound of the first 3 bands and Jane's Funk edge on Rock is solid groove which I have always been down with... There are a ton of other bands too, from The Ramones to Bob Dylan and everything in between!!

Comically, is a long list too, but those who come to mind are comics like George Carlin, Howard Stern, Andy Kaufman, Cheech and Chong, Sam Kinison and of course Monty Python. Going back to your last question, if you can buy Monty Pythons "Every Sperm Is Sacred" why wouldn't you be able to buy TRASH??

I think one of the strengths of TRASH is that its not just a band, its a comedy act, and I do appear as an actor in Movies and TV. This offers us exposure in many places not just the music world.

Punk Globe: I hear you sent a copy of the album to Universal Music, What do you hope will happen with that?

Chris Bright: Yeah, that's a great big door that just opened wide for me. I had the pleasure of working for EMI back in 2000 as an audio engineer at their annual meeting. I got the opportunity to meet all the VP's at that time. At the end of the conference, the VP of EMI Creative North America handed me his card and told me to send him my music when I was ready! By the time I got the first CD together for TRASH he had left EMI and went to Gibson Guitars... Since he wasn't with a Label anymore, I didn't pursue it much until a few weeks ago when at a friend's suggestion, I thought I'd see what he was up to. I did some research and found that he had left Gibson and was now VP of Universal Music... I got in touch with his office and they just called me the other day and said they were very interested in hearing my music!

When I sent out the CD's to Universal, I also sent them a DVD containing my music video, and National TV appearance as well as my work in Film, TV and even a few of my TV Commercials. I was careful to include my stats from my "Lollypop" music video. Its not enough to have a "sound" the labels are looking for, they want to see that you can sell. That's the bottom line. I hope that they will smell the marketability of what I'm doing and give me the major promotion I need to bring this crazy stuff to everyone... It certainly helps having National TV exposure and a music video with over 200,000 plays... more than some of their signed acts do...

Punk Globe: How do people purchase your CD and find more info out on TRASH?

Chris Bright: If I have raised your curiosity and you'd like to hear these songs I spoke about all you have to do is to go to trashrocks.com. It will take you to my myspace page where you will find tons of video, music and photos!! Eventually, that url will bring you to our website, when it is completed.

Right now, you can purchase a physical CD from CDBABY. I have autographed each copy and if we do sign with Universal, these copies will be collectors items. Also if you prefer to download the CD right into your ipod, you can go to CDBABY, iTUNES, AMAZON or NAPSTER. Search for Artist "Trash" and CD "Beer, Boobs & Booty"

The direct link to CD BABY is: http://cdbaby.com/cd/trashrocks

If the deal with Universal goes through, this might change and if so, you should be able to find us in your local record shop right along with GWAR and Manson...

Punk Globe: Any message for the Punk Globe readers?

Chris Bright: I think Punk Globe is the best!!! Its only through these independent media channels that you will be exposed to such diverse and amazing acts that perhaps the major labels haven't brought into the spotlight yet. There is a wide variety of music out there and a great deal of it yet undiscovered by the masses. To all the readers of Punk Globe, I'd have to say, THANKS!! ...not just for your support of me, but of all the independent artists out there making it happen!! And finally thanks to you (love your music by the way!!) and Ginger Coyote (Love the White Trash Debutantes too!) for being your amazing selves!!!!