INTERVIEW IZU GIROA (original in Basque language...) - after Spanish tour / April 2011

1- First of all, congratulation for your show, we had a lot of fun. It must be hard to play the tour’s last show, on Sunday and in front of 20 people…
No, it was not hard at all, the public was good, funny, if I remember there were even some people dancing. And Manuel, who booked the show was really a funny guy. It’s always like that when you play on a Sunday, on the last date…

2- How has been this tour?
It was short, only five days. It was great to see all our Spanish friends again, The Rizzillos crew in Zaragoza and the Bowery records peoples in Madrid. We just want to come back.

3- How has been playing with KRO?
It was cool. They were all playing with me in hatepinks before… we are all just a bunch of friends. One thing was shit : they only think about the drugs, and that’s one of the reasons we stopped the hatepinks, drugs became more important than being on tour or doing a good concert.

4- When you toured with hatepinks you enjoy and suffer with the speed, a better experience this time?
Honestly, I asked people to stay away with speed, but as all the ex-hatepinks were there it was hard to stay straight. And we found ourselves asking and looking for this everywhere. Cocaine is too expensive and not as good anyway…

5- This is the bands third international tour, how was last year’s USA tour?
It was great. A lot a of good punks took good care of us, we played some really great places in Seattle (the Morgue), some shit holes, but it was always intresting, meeting good peoples, talking to new kind of punks… I was kind of bored with the garage-punk scene, all the people liking In the Red shit and all, this tour was more crusty and funny. One of the highlights was playing in Tijuana with some Mexican-communist-skinhead band, they were just nice people, very young. I hope we’ll have the opportunity to go back there…

6- In 2009 you said that you must form a band to confront boreness, “Living without a band feels like shit” you said, mission accomplished?
Absolutely. I did not know what to expect after the Hatepinks, it was planned to do this band, but hey, how could we know it would work out good? We got plans to tour, records that should come out soon.

7- Who are the guys that play with you in the Irritones?
One is the old guitarist, he plays in some power-rock band here in France, Holy Curse. All he cares about is Australian rock. His name is Sonic Polo. What a funny name! The two other guys are Miguel and Rudy, they were drummer and bass in The Aggravation. They are some kind of young flesh.

8- Who do you want to irritate?
I don’t care. I would love to get on garage revivalist’s nerves, or to really disgust the hyped people into this new garage rock like black lips/Intelligence/lo-fi shit. But the reality is they don’t know us and don’t even take notice.

9- Nihilism, sarcasm and acid humor in Lyrics, what about this?
It’s the only way I ever wrote lyrics. I can’t tell a whole story. I just love to shout simple, aggressive facts, maybe with a little twist. The new thing is I write more and more with French parts in the songs.

10- In several songs you blame about your country, what sucks in France?
I’m sure you already know what sucks in France. From what I know, as a little occidental moron, this system is going nowhere. I keep my eyes away from television, corporate newspapers. It’s just getting on my nerves. And sometimes I can’t stand the anger and the depression this whole shit is generating.

11- Against myspace, facebook, to sell records via internet… why?
It’s not about selling records, its’ about the media you use to promote your band. This is maybe the most important thing I will do in my life, artistically, so why should I use medias like Facebook or Myspace, as I think they are just making things more soft and easy for lazy peoples. You always have the choice.

12- Your main influences are bands like The Boys, Lost Kids or The Damned, there’s no more punk for you beyond 1977?
The Damned, yes, for sure! There are plenty of bands that I Iove beyond 1977, sure! Do you know that album from the Fall, from 1979, Grotesque? Good album. And the Reagan Youth, too! Some hardcore bands from the 80’s, and later. Japanese noise. Zero Boys. Love all that.

13- Let’s talk a little bit about your past bands. What can you tell us about Gasolheads, appart from the known thing that they are dead? What can you remember from those days?
Those were good times. The only thing is we were not friends in the band. I even had hard time with my brother, who played guitar. That changed a lot later when I played in the Hatepinks or now… but we were discovering everything. Fist tour, first time in eastern Europe, first contacts with foreign labels…. Etc.

14- You think they were a kind of reference for all punkrockers in Marseille and France?
Hmmm. Ok, let’s say yes. I can’t think of a band that did good stuff in Marseille before. Pretentious asshole, I know.

15- The gasolheads music was full of anger and rawness, what did you want to transmit?
O ur frustration, our anger, and the fatal desire to party. Or to see something else than our boring city.

16- So much years in music, how has this change from the 90’s?
People are bying less and less records. They just seem to not care anymore. Maybe it’s because of the internet? Maybe it’s the economical crisis?

17- We know that La Machine a’ coudre is like a second home for you, but I suppose that there’s much more punk-rock in Marseille… (Yes, this is the typical question about the local scene)
One thing is good about this city, its’ the number of places to play. L’enthropy, l’Embobineuse, Le Lounge… but la Machine à Coudre is really the best! And even some young bands are good : Les jolis, Les Dolipranes…

18- Some weeks ago we had here Flying Over, a band from Bordeaux, what can you say about them? There’s a kind of ’77 punk revival in France?
Haha. Did you talk to them? They are really nice people. No 77 punk revival in France. And that’s a good thing. Who wants to see punk rock turning into a masquerade? That’s what happened a few years ago when it was suddenly fashion to be RNR.

19- What plans do you have for the future?
A single on Bowery records from Madrid, a German tour, and the second LP, later. We’ll see. I don’t know…

20- Say what you want…
Do as many drugs as you want, at the end you’re just sniffing rich people’s dust.