Melbourne punk rabble-rousers Clowns are about to head out on a mega national headline tour, in support of their forthcoming new album Bad Blood, and as such have enlisted the support of US stoner punks American Sharks who will be making their debut visit Down Under.
As a special treat for those of us not privy to the relationship between tour mates, especially those of the punk persuasion, Clowns bassist James Ahern and his American Sharks counterpart Mike Hardin have given us some insight, grilling each other in this joint interview in the lead up to their tour.
Here James and Mike talk crazy tour stories, being on the road with GWAR, setlists, dragons, Weird Al and whether or not everything is actually bigger in Texas. So before the Bad Blood tour kicks off this month, go ahead and get to know James Ahern and Mike Hardin as they, in turn, get to know each other.
Clowns Vs American Sharks
James Ahern: You guys are relentless tour dogs in the USA, are you guys stoked to be heading over to Australia, and have American Sharks ever been overseas before?
Mike Hardin: This will be our first trip overseas! We are soooo pumped for ‘stralia! Koalas, Kangaroos, giant sharks!!
JA: You’ve just finished touring with the legendary GWAR? How does it feel to be next touring with 4 boring looking 23 year olds? And can you share at least one ridiculous road story from touring with Gwar for the people in Australia to have a read over.
MH: Well, it will certainly be a lot different after traveling with all those scumdogs.
Ummmm, well, most of the stories aren’t fit for human minds but I guess a good one would be the time I ate a ghost pepper. We had been drinking all night and Gwar dudes wanted to go out after the show. We get to this bar and we are hanging out having a good time. Well, this dork busts in trying to get in on our action. I don’t like this and I’m like, “Dude, get lost.”
Anyway, right about then Blothar shows up with a bag of chilli peppers someone gave him. There were all different kinds and we were looking them up to see what was what. Well, there was a ghost pepper. That dude that was crashing our party is all “look at me!” and eats a little tiny piece of the tip. Not to be outdone, I decide to eat the whole thing.
Big mistake. It was one of the most intense things I have ever experienced. Almost a full gallon of milk later I take myself to the restroom and force myself to hurl. Then we party on GWAR’s bus till the wee hours. Oh, and it’s all on tape too.
Watch: American Sharks – Iron Lungs
JA: Do you know much about Australia already or are you just bracing yourself for an onslaught of new things and experiences?
MH: We know some. I have a cousin that lives in Canberra and she tells me stuff. Mostly we will be experiencing something completely new to us.
JA: We tend to play a lot of Danzig, Weird Al and Butthole Surfers in the tour van, is that going to drive you mad or is that right up you guys alley?
MH: Oh my god, Will [guitar] HATES Weird Al!!! Hahahahah, I can’t wait for this! We once played in Phoenix, Arizona here in the states. Next to the venue was a record store and the dudes let us go through all of the tapes — we only had a tape player in our van — and pick stuff out. I go two Weird Al tapes and every time Nick(drums) or I would play it Will would lose it.
JA: What’s going to be on offer on the van stereo when one of you guys rides shotgun and takes over the auxiliary cable? What are you guys all into musically?
MH: I LOVE David Bowie, Ian Dury, ELO and Talking Heads so there will be plenty of that. Will is fed gonna play some LORDE and he is into some great South American and Mexican pop stuff that is super good. Nick is into so much obscure electronic and pop and rock stuff. He always gets in some Mac DeMarco. We always play Audacity too.
JA: Is your set comprised of mostly stuff from your 2013 self-titled LP release or are we going to be hearing some glimpses of some new American Sharks tracks on this tour?
MH: We’ll play 3 new songs and the rest will be songs from our first album.
JA: You guys are from Austin right? Is everything reallllly bigger in Texas, as they say?
MH: Yes. Absolutely.
JA: Australia is apparently one of the few places where people mix their weed with tobacco before they smoke it. Is that something you guys are cool with? Are you all adamant on straight green mixes only?
MH: A spliff is what they call it, right? I know only one person that does that and he learned it living in Prague. Nah, I’ve never seen anybody else really do that. None of us smoke tobacco so there’s that too.
JA: Finally, would you rather be a dragon, or own a dragon?
MH: Own a dragon. I’d still be human and doing cool human shit that I already like to do, but I’d have a dragon which would make me suuuuper badass!!
