| Punkrock
goes China!
Sounds
thrilling? It is! We’re in 2005 and the innovative SONIC
BASTARDS just went touring in China. And because of this
unexpected success the bands guitar player and singer (known as
Martin Liter King) agreed to tell me about Bruce Springsteen,
yellow snow and the devolvement of that very promising band and
their plans for the future. So here we go!
Shirin:
Would you please introduce yourself to us and describe who takes
care of what in your band?
Martin Liter King: Hi! SONIC BASTARDS
are Gringo Starr on his mighty drumset, John Boy Bastard plays
the Bass and Martin Liter King plays the guitar and is responsible
for the vocals. One by one we’re insufferable, but together
we are unstoppable.
Shirin:
How did you start making music?
MLK: I’ve been a very normal, boring kid until
I saw a Bruce Springsteen-clip when I was thirteen. From that
moment on I knew that I didn’t want to do anything but playing
guitar in a band. And later on I grew more and more into Punkrock.
I love it! There’s nothing better than that!
Shirin:
The band now exists for six years, although you had another name
and another line-up earlier. How did you get your actual name
and are there any plans relating to your line-up?
MLK: Jahaha... When we founded the band we called ourselves
EINEINHALBLITER. We were exactly those three people who are in
the band right now. John Boy Bastard just had a longer break from
the band then because of his alternative service. And we put two
new musicians in the band then. Later on we change the band’s
name; we were very upset because everyone saw us as a kind of
band that just makes “drinking-soundtracks”-punkrock.
But we do absolutely not! That’s why we changed the name
to SONIC BASTARDS. There also was trouble brewing,
it just did not work those two new guys, so we got John Boy Bastard
back into the band. (Of course, the band saw both, musical and
human tragedies of incredible dimensions- but that’s nothing
you need to know now ;-) ) Our former bass player Roland now plays
for Dead Soul Tribe! Wow…
Shirin:
Your new record Neroism will be released on Chinese label
Vox Records. How you came together?
MLK: Our Booker Fritz from www.enemy.at
somehow made it possible to get the contact for a tour over there.
We said okay to that immediately, even if it was an financial
„shot in the head“ for us. Our man over there in China
(Mai Dian) asked us right away to publish our music after he heard
it! So it’s in the bag!
Shirin:
Some people are surely not able to imagine that "Chinese
punkrock-scene"... Can you tell us from your own experience
things that are similar or different to the European scene?
MLK: We don not know much about the Chinese punk-scene.
From what we saw, I’d say it’s something like the
UK/USA scene from the late 70’s and early 80’s –
oldschool punkrock and guitar rock like Sonic Youth do play. It’s
all fresh and new! We’ll tell you how it really is over
there when we’re back from the tour! Hehe!
Shirin:
Your tour in China starts at the 8th of March in Beijing! What
do you feel; when you think about this unexpected receive in Asia?
Are you just proud and happy about the chance to be a part of
the Chinese scene? Or is there certain insecurity?
MLK: We’re so happy about the possibility to play
in China! Of course, we’re a little scared. As far as we
know, both bands that went on tour before us were sent home premature
by the Chinese police (it’s just a little different than
here, eh?). A problem is the total absence of information –
the internet is no free media in China, so we don’t have
any exact information about the bands, clubs etc. It’s like
a leap in the dark!
Shirin:
Did you follow anyone’s example, musically? If you did:
who is it?
MLK: Dieter Hallervorden - Punker Maria
Shirin:
Last but not least I just want to know what your plans for the
future is, and if we can look forward to a tour in Germany?
MLK: Hey, if anyone in Germany wants us to play, we’ll
be there! All those losers out there on tour; we’ll get
you! Haha! Probably in autumn, we’ll see…
Shirin:
You have the final say. If there’s anything you want to
tell our readers…
MLK: Do not eat the yellow snow and check out www.sonicbastards.com,
suckers!!!
Shirin:
Thank you and good luck for your tour!!
MLK: Thanxx! We’ll need it badly! It looks like
it’s not gonna be a holiday, haha! |
