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Interview with Eric Lolligagger by Dick Nothing
Okay, so tell readers how Scene Not Herd came about and why. I guess our "mission statement" was, and still is, to introduce people to great music that they won't get from mainstream media sources. We want to highlight the really killer bands from our small, but thriving scene and get them exposure around the U.S. and beyond. We also want to introduce great bands from all over to the kids here.
So what are your favourite bands from your scene?
We've had a pretty healthy scene here in Longview Washington for the last fifteen years or so. All time faves would have to include the Wanna-Be's, the Jimmies, Stranglefish, He-Man Woman Haters, and Wallcrawler. We've got a bunch of rad bands doing stuff right now like the Hickmans, the Hampers, Dateless - they actually live in Seattle, but half of 'em are from Longview so I consider them local. Broadway Calls, of course. They're on the Warped Tour and just put out a split with Teenage Bottlerocket. They're getting huge now, but they used to play shows, when they were in their previous bands, in my friend's garage with my band the Lolligaggers. 800 Octane and 48 Thrills are two awesome bands from Portland, but they play up in Longview all the time so they're part of the extended scene I guess you could say. I'm sure I'm leaving some bands out... Oh yeah, my band the Lolligaggers. We're back together and have a few things lined up. 
How can people go about getting themselves involved with Scene Not Herd? It's pretty easy actually. All they'd have to do is contact us through either our myspace or our e-mail and let us know in what capacity they'd like to get involved and we'd go from there.
Run us through some of the cool people you've interviewed so far in the zine. Well, we've done interviews with Spot from the McRackins, Dan Schafer, a.k.a Danny Vapid, from the Methadones, Streetside Prophet, the Trashies, Parkway Wretch, Gruesome Boys, Chad Riley - who organized the Lance Hahn tribute compilation that came out a while ago - the Hickmans, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Broadway Calls, 48 Thrills, and In The Red. All great bands that need to be heard.
What problems have you encountered approaching these people? It's been smooth sailing for the most part with the people we've interviewed. I guess we were a little nervous approaching Dan Schafer, but he's a really sweet guy. He made it easy for us to talk to him. The only hang up has been bands that take too long to get back to us. Honestly though we've been around for almost three years and have put out three zines so who are we to talk about stuff getting done on time? Haha.
Haha. Simple question now, what do you enjoy the most about putting together a magazine? Being an active part of the larger "punk" community. I think there are far too many people, and bands, that are either apathetic or just plain self serving. I feel like we are combating that sort of attitude by doing what we're doing. I could rant on and on about this, but I don't want to bore everyone to tears so I'll stop with that.The Scene Not Herd crew: Eric, Jill NoWare, Chuck Roast, Ralph, Kyle Frail
Honestly, it's cool. Tell readers, and you don't have to name and shame!, about any bad experiences you've had in the past with bands or anyone else in the field of the punk scene. Well, I'm sure you know how it is. We have a handful of people in our scene that want everyone to come out in force and support their venue or their band, but you never see them support a goddamn thing anyone else does. It's bullshit. We, Jill and I, try to go to as many local shows as we can. We can't make it to everything... obviously. I work a lot of late nights and we don't always have the money, but we try to support things as much as possible. We realize that we have a pretty amazing thing going in this town...and have for quite some time. We're all pretty lucky to be in the company of so much creativity, but that creativity needs to be nurtured, ya know. A lot of people take it for granted and I guarantee that those same people will be the ones bitching and complaining about how bored they are if things fall apart and we don't have as many good shows or good bands. Ultimately, it will be their fault for not supporting things when they were alive and kicking. It's not a hard concept to wrap your head around, but to quote the band Cinderella, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone."
So what have you got in store for us Scene Not Herd readers? Well, Jill and I just got back from Chicago. We went and saw Ben Weasel and his band, which featured Danny Vapid, perform the entire My Brain Hurts album. That was phenomenal! We're going to have issue three available. Then we start working on issue four. We're going to have an interview with Tacocat. They just got back from a U.S. tour and put out their first album. I believe issue four will also feature an interview with you about Punk Or Nothing. We have some other stuff in the works of course, but you'll have to wait and see. Should be good.Who are Tacocat? Tacocat are a band from Seattle that has Eric Randall, who also plays guitar in my band the Lolligaggers, in it. It's him and three very talented and lovely young ladies. It's kind of like riot-grrl stuff with a sense of humor. Their songs are hilarious. The lyrics make me laugh out loud. Songs about going to see the gynecologist and having urinary tract infections. You need to check out their MySpace.
Strangest bands you've ever had to review? You know, I usually pass off the weirder stuff to Chuck Roast. I'm not sure if he's more tolerant than I am musically, but his tastes are geared more towards the stranger side of things. That may or may not be the case, but that's what I tell myself so I don't have to listen to a ton of bands that I think I won't like. I can usually tell what a band is going to sound like by their name, their artwork, their song titles, or their band photo. If we get something for review that I can tell I won't like I'll usually pass it off to someone who might give it a fairer shake. I must admit though that occasionally it feels really good to lay into a shitty band. I can't help it. It just does. Haha.
Best bands you've ever had to review? Most of the records that we review are records that we buy personally so a lot of the time we know going in to the review what we're going to like. We just started receiving more things from bands and labels, which is very cool, but the vast majority is still stuff that we spend our money on. I guess I liked the Chinese Telephones' stuff, Ben Weasel's solo record, the Lawrence Arms' last album, the new Teenage Bottlerocket, and the last Cardinal Sin record the best.
Worst things you've had to review? We've torn a few things apart. The one that comes to mind for me will appear in issue three. They're a band called the Valentine Failures. It's your typical, generic, Hot Topic kind of emo-core band. They wear nothing but black. They've got ridiculous hair. They sound like they want to be AFI or Avenged Sevenfold. Yada Yada. They pretty much suck.
What?! You don't like AFI? I don't care for them. Too much posing. Too much makeup. Too much fashion.
Punk... or nothing? I'll take punk, thank you very much!
www. myspace. com/scenenotherdzine
scenenotherdzine@hotmail.com
12:12 AM
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