ME FIRST & THE GIMME GIMMES – AN INTERVIEW WITH SPIKE

By Ralph Beauchamp

Spike Slawson is the lead vocalist for the audacious super group and cover band, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes. Currently the band is comprised of Slawson of Swingin’ Utters, Joey Cape (Guitar/Backing Vocals) of Lagwagon, CJ Ramone (Bass) of the Ramones, Swami John Reis (Guitar) of Hot Snakes and Andrew “Pinch” Pinching (Drums) of the English Dogs.

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes work exclusively as a cover act. They take song standards, whole musical genres and even special occasions and “punk” them up with rapid fire destruction. The main reasons for their existence is too have fun and drive their fans into a deep-fried frenzy. They wear outlandish costumes and destroy the inner sanctum of musical convention. To MFGG, nothing is sacred. Their whole essence is the definition of chaos and their followers love it.

Spike was kind enough to take some time out from their extended tour to speak to AMP about all things MFGG.

AMP: What was the original concept of the band’s formation?

SPIKE: Like anything worthwhile in life, there is always a rough outline you can follow with many blanks needed to be filled in along the way. I think that’s the main philosophy of the band. Speaking for Joey and Mike, whose idea this was, they wanted to create a group that was less serious than their other entities. Since they both enjoyed the covers those bands played, they had this hazy idea and knew that MFGG would always be evolving and changing.

It’s a simple concept. First pick out some kind of crazy uniform. The initial one was Hawaiian shirts. Then practice some cool songs to cover. Our first show was within a week of our first practice. Since Mike and Joey had some juice behind their names, so we were playing bigger venues than most start-up acts. The whole idea was to just have fun.

AMP: How do you select the songs you’re going to “punk-up”.

SPIKE: I used to not know how to pick them and initially that was Mike’s job. He had a better “pop sensibility” at the time. What we untimely determined is if it took more than 10 minutes to come up with a workable version, then it probably wasn’t going to work. Also, if I didn’t like a song or artist, those were the ones that worked the best.

I’m not a Neil Diamond or John Denver fan even though I respect both of them as artists but our covers of their music rocked because they wrote great tunes. Once we broke them down, I had to admit that the songs were so strong that we were able to kill them.

AMP: Are there any songs you feel are taboo to cover?

SPIKE: Ironically, on Take A Break, which was our most popular release, even though the R&B songs we covered still had a good beat, rhythm and pocket, something got lost in the translation. I believe it was because of our adhesion to themes. I felt it was a misguided approach because of the limitations. We should have picked the best songs available at the time.

Also, we wouldn’t do bands like The Kinks, The Beatles or the Rolling Stone because they’re just too important. They should have the last word on their music. Furthermore, since they already did their songs in a rock & roll idiom, what’s new to say on the subject.

AMP: Is there a particular artist or musical genre you would love to cover?

SPIKE: At this point it comes down to individual artists and songs because being tied to themes doesn’t feel productive or a recipe for a successful album. The hardest thing for us is to stay current.

About a year ago we played a young lady’s quinceañera party and recorded it for a record coming out this summer. We played a bunch of artists including Vincente Fernandez and Jose Alfredo Jimenez. The girl and her friends didn’t really know their songs but her grandparents loved them. We felt we had to make at least one concession to the young lady since it was her party. The youngsters weren’t really having a good time until the DJ came on and played more current music. So, we played one Olivia Rodrigo tune which was really difficult to work up. For me, moving into the present is hard.

AMP: Staying on the same topic, how much fun was it to play both a bar mitzvah and a quinceañera?

SPIKE: It was great. The bar mitzvah was easier in certain ways because the kid was Mike’s publicist’s son. There was some natural allies in attendance. Some of the people knew who we were and knew some of our songs. In addition, the adults were drinking beer steins full of wine. So, eventually they loosened up and had a good time.

At the quinceañera, there were no natural allies. The girl’s mom was great from the very start but some of her uncles didn’t appreciate some of our off-colored jokes. This started as an organized contest with 91X which is a radio station in San Diego. They were one of the first stations to play our songs. They vetted different families and chose the most deserving one.

We knew in advance that for the record to be successful, this was going to be an unsuccessful live event and that’s how it went. For our whole first set there was no one on the dance floor. Most people there felt like we were an imposition. During the intermission, the DJ kind of saved the day and all the young kids got up and danced. The second part of our set was much better. People got up and danced and the energy was flowing. All in all, we had an awesome time.

AMP: What are your best songs to play live?

SPIKE: A lot of the earlier stuff even though I enjoy playing new songs like we did at the quinceañera because the audience response is always a mystery. We just did a tour with Flogging Molly and the Violent Femmes and I began to realize that our position on the bill was to be the weird ones. Our mission is to initially provoke the audience to react even if it’s in a negative direction. Then we get the opportunity to reel them back in. My real enjoyment is when I commence to troll the crowd and somewhere down the line I bring them back into the fold.

AMP: The band has performed all over the world. Is there a show that clearly stands out?

SPIKE: We played one night in Pittsburgh, which is my home town, for fireworks night at a Pirates game and I don’t know who from their organization thought this was a good idea but it was truly an adventure. The team wasn’t doing well at the time and the only full houses they could muster were on the nights they were shooting off fireworks.

From the moment we got booked, we all wondered if this would be a good idea. A few day before we were getting a bit nervous. Our roll-out stage was positioned around second base and when we were doing our run through and soundcheck the day before we heard one of the stagehands saying “it is what it is”.

The next night we get rolled out onto the field and thankfully we were out of projectile range. After the first song there was dead silence. This is 35,000 people being completely quiet. The second song was an irreverent version of “Stairway To Heaven” and the booing started.

The Pirates’ organization selected the songlist and the third song they picked was “Sweet Caroline” which everyone knows is the Boston Red Sox’s fight song. Then the booing started in earnest. I look over to Mike and he’s grinning and I can tell he’s loving the situation. All the while, the fireworks are going off all around us. It felt like I was on acid. The booing crescendoed until it seemed like the entire building was getting into the act. The person I felt the worse for was my wife who was sitting in the stands.

As we were leaving, I gave the audience a Queen Elizabeth style wave and when we got back into the stadium one of the Pirates’ reps said it was better if we hung here for an hour or so. We had a second date booked but our manager texted us that we were “fired”. That has to be one of our more memorable shows.

AMP: Who picks out the wardrobe for your shows?

SPIKE: Audra Angeli-Morse. She is our style guru. Audra comes from a punk background and all her creations come from her twisted imagination. She’s a big John Waters fan. She also loves Euro and American trashy fashion. She describes it as American Schlager. It’s always over the top. Audra is totally responsible for our look and vibe. I’m just glad that Mike and Joey left so much room for constant refinement.

AMP: Is there one question you always wanted an interviewer to ask and what is the answer?

SPIKE: With me, no matter who I talk to, I always give too much away. I’m not looking for sympathy or empathy but some kind or reaction even if it’s negative. Sometime I feel I should stay mum and not let people behind the curtain to meet the wizard. There are a lot of questions that still remain difficult for me to answer.

What I would like to be asked, that’s tough. Actually you pretty much asked them all and I hope I answered them all well.

AMP: Any last words for your fans?

SPIKE: We are available for weddings, funerals, estate sales, etc. Just give us a call.

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