My Punk Band from Back in the Day Double Interviewed @

http://www.30underdc.com/

DOUBLE O

Double O interview from If This Goes On #2. Reprinted with the permission of Sharon Cheslow (SC in this interview). All photos by Sharon Cheslow.

Double-O are a local band made up of: Eric-vocals, Bert-bass, Richard-drums, and Jason-guitar. All were interviewed at Eric's house by Sharon and Colin in August.

SC: So what's the real way of writing your band's name? Written out or logo style?

RICH: It's interlocking circles.
CS: Isn't that tomatoes? tomatoes.
RICH: What!?
CS: I'm serious. I saw it at Safeway.
RICH: Let me explain...The name Double-0 really doesn't mean as much to me as the actual logo. The circles are linking, meaning, as corny as it does sound, unity. And I think it's real important and it's dwindled.
ERIC: It ends up as just a symbol and nothing else.
SC: Are you happy now that Jason's your new guitarist?
ALL: Oh yeah.
CS: Did Tom quit?
ERIC: It's funny to sit and listen to everybody else's version. It's just that Tom had parental problems and he just didn't want to deal with it so he left the band on real good terms.
RICH: He was great. It's kind of sad it didn't work out but as much as I hate to say it, it was kind of good 'cause we got Jason and Jason's made a 100% difference in the music.
BERT: Well, it's like starting over again. You're refreshed. You have a lot of energy again.
SC: Well you also seem more serious.
BERT: We only take our music serious to a certain extent before it becomes boring. You have to have fun while you're doing it.
SC: How did your song on the Charred Remains tape come about?
ERIC: That's from our first time in the studio.
BERT: Bob Moore wrote me and sent a flyer for that tape and we thought we might as well put something on. Let people know we're here. It worked out pretty well. Got a lot of response from people who heard "The End" on that tape. A lot of them seemed to be from LA too.
SC: What's been happening with the Bad Brains' compilation you guys were supposed to be on?
ERIC: We're not going to be on it.
RICH: They gave us the runaround.
ERIC: Not really. They've got a lot of things on their mind now. They're coming out with a new album. They don't have the time for it. And then we don't like the idea of our tapes sitting up in New York where we cant get 'em so quickly, they'll just get lost in the shuffle so we've asked for them back. It would've been good exposure for us but that's the way it goes.
SC: Do you have any plans to put out anything yourselves?
RICH: We don't have the money.
ERIC: It'a always a possibility.
BERT: We'd like to be able to record something new with Jason 'cause everything that's been recorded now is ...
RICH: Stale.
BERT: Everything we do differently now.
RICH: Our songs are constantly changing.
SC: Who writes the music and lyrics?
RICH: The way I feel about music is I think it's all inspired by each other and everybody has something to say about it. Lyrics are always a band effort. I mean somebody might come up with the original riff, fine, but I still think it's a joint effort. It's the band more than any one person.
SC: What do you hope to do with your music?
RICH: Be rich. JASON- Buy a house like Eric's parents.
RICH: Have five cars like Eric's parents.
SC: So the main reason you're in Double-O is to make money?

ALL: No.
RICH: It's fun.
BERT: It's something to do.
ERIC: I personally--when I step having fun I'll stop playing in this band and look for something else to have fun in.
RICH: Uh-oh.
BERT: That's true. That's the way it was with Youth Brigade. I wasn't having any fun in there anymore so I left.
ERIC: Same with Red C. We broke up 'cause we weren't having any fun.
SC: What's this about Tony being your manager?
ERIC: Oh yeah. That's really helpful for us.
RICH: I hate to give her the term manager. It makes us seem like an elitist band or something and I think a lot of people think that but it isn't. She's there to help us out.
ERIC: She's there to help the other bands too.
BERT: She helped out Scream plan their whole tour.
ERIC: She helped Minor Threat and GIs.
CS: What's your views on the DC scene?
RICH: Oh, that's a good one. I'll tell you something that's really been bugging me lately. I notice a lot of flak going on about Iron Cross and Minor Threat. It's like people always got something to say but...like Sab was telling me the other day about this guy who bad mouthed Iron Cross behind their back but when Sab comes up to his and says, "got something to say to me," the guy says no. Well fuck, don't say shit if you can't say it to the guys face. I mean Ian's caught so much shit. Personally, my views on Minor Threat is that it's great that they're back together. I think it'a good for the scene. I'm really happy for them. They knew they were gonna have to take a lot of shit for it and they did it anyway. I think it sucks that people are all down 'on 'em. They might be stale and shit, but fine.
(Everyone laughs)
I'm not saying that they're stale. Personally I've seen a lot of their shows and I've never been bored once. If you don't like it, fine, but if you've got something to say to somebody I think you should say it to 'em instead of going around talking about it behind their back. But apparently that doesn't matter.
SC: I guess that's what happens when you get lots of people--as people group off into their bands and each band goes off playing and gets known there develops this kind of rivalry.
RICH: No question. I agree. I came back from school and everyone was in a band. I thought that's great, a lot of new music. But it turns out not everybody's supporting everybody else the way it should be.
BERT: People should just start thinking of how it was when everybody was just together and they would support each other. But there's also a lot of people in it now.
ERIC: There's all these new people here--which is really fine. I've noticed that these people who've been around for a longer time think these new people an breaking up the scene by thinking in their own way. But the fact is the old people aren't even trying to get to know the new people. It's like, "hey look at that new kid--do you know him--no--do you care--no." Many people carry that attitude. There's a clique attitude to everything. Even the new people have this attitude saying, "well those people have been around longer--they're obnoxious." It's sad but that's what happens.
BERT: It's a circle.
ERIC: That's why people feel the scene's falling apart.
SC: Does it bother you, Eric, when people pull you off the stage?
ERIC: It really got me upset at the Dead Kennedys 'cause I wrenched my back. This guy yanked me offstage and I was still holding the microphone. I went after him and said don't ever do that again and I hit him to remind him. I don't go looking for scuffles, sometimes they just arrive.
SC: How do you feel about crowds bunching up at the front of the stage?
ERIC: That's fine. I don't mind it when they start hitting me in the legs. Or even when someone does a stage dive and I get pushed off the stage-that's fine too. But when I know it's something blatant and they're out to get me then it's something else.
BERT: Malicious.
ERIC: I like the idea that when we play we can create a kind of chaotic atmosphere, like people all over the place.
SC: Do you let out your frustrations by being in the band?
BERT: Yeah.
ERIC: My frustrations go out in my sleep.
SC: Well, take a song like "the End." It seems so morbid.
ERIC: It is a morbid song, but it's our only morbid song. That's our mainstream song. Everybody writes about that.
BERT: Jim Morrison. Same title. Our songs have titles that come from other bands. There's "The End" which is a Doors song, "No Reply" which is a Beatles song, and "Funeral For a Friend" which is an Elton John song.
CS: Did you do that on purpose?
ERIC: "Funeral For A Friend" was the only one I did blatantly. But "The End" was taken from the movie with Burt Reynolds. He was always trying to kill himself.
RICH: There's definitely fuck ups in life. That's what the whole scene started out as. That brings out a good thing too. fashion or whatever you wanna call it--dressing the way people did in the beginning. The whole point of that was you take shit. And so now if you look around you it's become a definite fashion to dress normal and it sucks. The most important thing is what's in your head, though. If you've got something in your head and you feel a certain way that's great. I don't care if you dress like a transvestite or whatever.

BERT: People dressed differently back then to aet themselves apart from society visually as well as mentally and now we still get ourselves apart mentally but not so much visually anymore. You could call it progressing or depressing. Like Richard said, it's what's in your head.
SC: What's influenced you into being the way you are?
ERIC: I saw the Teen Idles and Bad Brains and it was such frenetic energy. I guess I got caught up in the music the more I listened to it.
BERT: I've always liked real powerful music. When I used to skateboard I'd get some aggression out that way and listen to AC/DC. This music seemed to have a lot more power than heavy metal and some of the funk too.
SC: What music do you listen to now?
BERT: The music I like mostly centers around DC bands and the so-called "hardcore" bands and then it ventures off into heavy metal. Then it goes from that into funk with bands like Mass Extinction, EU, Trouble, Peacemakers. All those bands are incredible. JASON- I like the Osmonds and the theme song to Speed Racer. And the Damned.
ERIC: I like the Bad Brains, the Damned. I still really like Black Flag. I don't really like the English stuff that's coming out. The Exploited has no good virtues whatsoever.
RICH: I like all the DC bands. DC's got the sound that is totally different from all the other sounds. I still like groups like Channel 3. I used to like TSOL but now I realise it was all fake. Black Flag--I still enjoy listening to their music but at times I question where they're coming from. I like 99% of the mid-west bands and SS Decontrol, Blood Clots, Abused... The thing that got me into this music was that it had something to say. People were saying what was on their mind. What made me wanna start a band was that I wanted to do something and say something.

Double O advertisement from Touch and Go 21