The Knockoffs and their place in Sacramento’s punk rock history
Country licks with a traditional punk-rock style. Twenty years of street cred earned within the ever-fluctuating Sacramento music scene. Not to mention the immeasurable amount of respect from bands such as 7Seconds, the Groovie Ghoulies, festival organizers and promoters alike. That old school, independent, do-it-yourself mentality all in the spirit of punk rock is still essential for members of The Knockoffs after all this time.
The days when flyers were handed out at shows and littered the walls of bedrooms instead of sidewalks. The times before the Internet was a main tool of promotion, when actual footwork and word of mouth were the standard codes of conduct for bands. These forgotten practices continue to resonate for these four men and after a three-year pause, they’re back and ready to play as loud as they can at this year’s second annual Punch and Pie Fest on Aug. 24, 2013 at Old Ironsides.
“They’re kind of like the elder statesmen of our community. I think that they’re a really important part of Sacramento’s punk rock history. They have been around for 20 years and they have been a great influence on the punk rock community,” says Punch and Pie Fest organizer and Bastards of Young bassist Sean Hills. “I have a lot of respect for them, and I think they are a great example of how to be in a band for that long without killing each other. They’ve been doing it right.”
It’s a roundtable meeting of sorts within the living room of vocalist and guitar player Tom Hutchison, or as his mates like to call him, “Little Tom.” On this Sunday afternoon Danny Secretion, Tom Amberson (aka “Big Tom”) and Bobby Jordan gather around a coffee table, television muted, to speak with Submerge about their love for punk rock music, keeping the scene healthy by ways of encouraging young talent and laughing so hard during practices until their muscles ache and eyes water.
“It’s like we’re in the eighth grade and someone’s parents are gone,” says bassist Jordan of the band’s camaraderie. “It’s one of the fibers of my life.”
Forming in the early ’90s, The Knockoffs have had their fair share of lineup changes. At times, certain members would even jump from guitar to bass and then back to guitar just to keep the process moving. Eventually, the guys found what worked and ultimately solidified their lineup.
Each person comes with their own unique set of experiences or outlooks complete with a list of either a second or third punk rock band they’re also heavily involved in. Like Secretions’ longtime run with The Moans, The Shitty Ramones and The Secretions; or Bobby Jordan doubling up with The Mr. T Experience. Hell, Amberson credits The Knockoffs giving him the opportunity to sit behind the drum kit and learn a completely new instrument by simply joining the ranks. All of these elements are finished with a traditional punk and rock ’n’ roll-style of vocals with just the right amount of gruff, thanks to Hutchison, especially heard within the playful lyrics during songs such as “You Make Me Sit Funny” from The Knockoffs’ second full-length album Sell the Move.
Yet, after all the changes, instrument shuffles and years tacked behind them, their chemistry works. And their time spent performing and practicing as The Knockoffs means more to each member than just another punk rock band they’re a part of. In the end, all members say they genuinely enjoy one another and have witnessed each go through life changes ranging from marriage to welcoming Jordan’s new baby girl to the family.
“Having a baby has made me want to do this even more,” says Jordan. “I want music to be around her while some people retreat in music with babies and families.”
Encouraging music within a younger audience is a duty each member of the band adopts with no questions asked; to them it’s necessary to keep the tight-knit punk rock community healthy. Both Secretion and Jordan recall bands like 7Seconds and the Groovie Ghoulies mentoring them, by means of showing them the unspoken codes of ethics, respect and even honesty when it comes to door money.
“We were really lucky that we had those bands take us under their wing,” remembers Secretion. “The thing that I notice is that the older bands kind of groom the younger ones. When you see bands like Mad Judy or Abandoned Generation, these kids are too young to even get into the shows we’re playing, but seeing them and the younger generation of punk rock, I know it’s going to be OK in Sacramento.”
These four men remember performing shows at Old Ironsides 20 years ago for five bucks. Fast forward a couple decades later and the guys are still playing shows at that price—and happily, which Jordan says is a testament to The Knockoffs, genuine love for the music alone. And they aren’t planning on closing their guitar cases or retiring their drum sticks ever—they’re all here to stay.
“We’re like an old, wore out, stinky pair of shoes,” jokes Jordan, sitting next to Hutchison and directly sending the rest of the guys into laughter.
“I’m looking forward to just playing my guitar as loud as possible and looking over my left shoulder and seeing these guys play their asses off,” says Secretion. “That’s going to mean so much. You ain’t seen the last of us.”
Photo by Allyson Seconds
Punch and Pie Fest 2 will heat up Sacramento Aug. 21–25, 2013 at The Press Club, Old Ironsides, Midtown Barfly and Luigi’s Fungarden. The Knockoffs will perform at Old Ironsides on Aug. 24, 2013 with Dr. Frank, Bright Faces and Arts and Leisure. For a full Punch and Pie Fest schedule, go to Punchandpiefest.com or go to Facebook.com/punchandpieproductions.
Kepi Ghoulie gets ready to release his fifth solo album in just four years
Most sharks are renown not only for their prowess as predators, but because they never stop moving, even when they’re asleep. They do so in order to keep breathing. Such is the case for local pop-punk impresario Kepi Ghoulie, who lives in a state of perpetual motion as far as his music career is concerned. In fact, his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle even inspired the song “Rock ‘n’ Roll Shark” on his upcoming album, to be released Nov. 29, 2011 on Asian Man Records, aptly titled I Bleed Rock ‘n’ Roll. Funny enough, Kepi says he wrote that song while hiking Mount Shasta, singing into his iPhone.
When Submerge spoke with Kepi, he was at home, but true-to-form, certainly not at rest.
“I came home last Monday, and I played Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then I’m painting for this art show, and as soon as that’s done, I’m recording for my kids record,” Kepi says. “So even though I’m at home, the pace is still as if I’m on tour.”
Recently, Kepi hit the road with Canadian pop-punk icons Chixdiggit. He played bass for the group and also opened for them, its members serving as his backing band during his set. As for the children’s record he mentioned, he says he will start tracking that in December for release in March or April 2012. Mike Park, head of Asian Man Records, convinced Kepi to write children’s songs.
“Mike at Asian Man said, ‘You’ve got to make a kids record. Your songs are already kids’ songs,’” Kepi explains. “I have stuff about taking a bath; and I was in Canada for a month, and I ended up writing this song about the provincial flower of each province. It would be cool to have something like School House Rock, where you learn something with each song.”
The children’s songs will be short and catchy–as you should probably expect from the ex-Groovie Ghoulies frontman. He says School House Rock had some of an influence on the songs he’s writing for the forthcoming children’s record; however, he says that some of those songs were too long. His inspiration mainly came from the acts that have inspired him all along.
“I wanted to make [my songs] two minutes,” he says. “A Ramones song, or a Little Richard song, two minutes is perfect–sort of get in and get out. I wanted to do a song about the U.S. presidents or something, but I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll do two songs, so there are only 20 presidents at a time,’ so there are no four- or five-minute songs. I remember when I was a kid, slow songs were weird, and long songs were weird.”
Until then, though, Kepi is focused on his latest release, his fifth since The Groovie Ghoulies went their separate ways in 2007. He has a record release show planned for Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2011, which is where the paintings he’s been working on will come into play.
“I’m hand-painting 30 album covers for the release show, and I’m going to be selling a test pressing with a hand-painted piece of art for $150. I’m going to do 15 on the show and 15 online,” Kepi says. “I’m going crazy doing that.”
Much like Kepi’s songs, his paintings are fun and perhaps simplistic, but instantly indelible. It’s a straightforward, honest approach that has served his music well over the years.
“A lot of my songs are so minimal, I don’t want to make them do anything else,” he says. “Like, ‘This song doesn’t need a bridge.’ Like, T. Rex, Marc Bolan would just play this riff, and that would be enough for him. I don’t want to mess it up by adding too much.”
Kepi carries his love for minimalism over into I Bleed Rock ‘n’ Roll; however, as he told Submerge, he was eager to inject a healthy dose of huge rock energy into his songs. The veteran songwriter answered questions about the process of making his new album in the following interview.
How’s it going? You’ve got the album coming out in a couple weeks?
Yep! New record coming out. Everything’s great. I’m super excited. I think it’s the best-sounding thing I’ve ever done…
I spent about a month making it in Oakland, because usually I make a record in three days or a week or something. We don’t usually have a lot of time, but my buddy down there had a studio, and we spent a lot of time tracking everything. It was really fun, six layers of guitars sometimes, just stuff I’ve never been able to do because of budget concerns and that sort of thing.
How come you had a little more time this time around?
It was the flexibility with the studio and no rush… I think the songs on this record were a lot more fleshed out. I don’t know what it is, but it was just really fun, and a difference–bigger than what I had been working on.
It definitely sounded like more of a rock record. Was that something you were going for when you wrote these songs?
Yeah, totally. I was in Austria a couple times early this year, and there’s a club called the PNK, and in Europe, after the rock show, there’s DJs playing The Bouncing Souls and The Ramones, and all that stuff, and people are dancing and hanging out. I wanted to make a record that people can dance to at the after party–just big, loud, fun. Songs like “Nikki Lee,” “Part Time Romeo,” “Break My Heart,” those were made for rock ‘n’ roll after parties… It was a goal to make a big rock record that you could dance to. That was part of my mission here.
Usually, you said you make a record in three days, but this one took you a month, on and off. Did that affect your creative process at all? Did you have to tell yourself to slow down in the studio because you’re used to doing things so fast?
No, actually, music and lyric-wise, it came really fast. It’s this big, loud, three-chord rock ‘n’ roll. When I got in, it was like, boom, boom, boom. Like, you know, don’t think about it too much. This isn’t some super profound record lyrically, this is just a big rock ‘n’ roll record. When I went in, I tried to be super up. The other thing was, if I wanted to go somewhere and just sing to the backing tracks, I can. I’m getting these weirder and weirder gigs. I was just flown to Oslo, Norway, for a show, and I was also flown to Nebraska to play a zombie walk… You can’t fly a band to Norway to do one show, usually, so you have to have alternate options. This record was also made for that. Last year, I was in Rome, and I was supposed to play acoustic at this really loud club, and there was no possible way I was going to be able to play acoustic. The DJ happened to be playing a Groovie Ghoulies record, and I just started singing along with it as a joke. He just kept playing more records, and my show ended up being this live karaoke set. I was singing The Monkees and Kiss and Johnny Thunders, and he was trying to stump me, but I knew the words to every song. And people were blown away, like, “Whoa, what was that?” I like the kind of anything-goes factor that’s in my life right now.
You mentioned that the lyrics weren’t meant to be very deep, but toward the end of the album with songs like “I Just Wanted You to Know,” “Love to Give,” “Break My Heart” and “Cupid Is Real,” there seemed to be a heavy love theme. Was that something you noticed when you were writing lyrics for this record?
It’s funny. In the Ghoulies, I never really wrote love songs, but this time a bunch of them came out. “I Just Wanted You to Know,” that one I heard a little T. Rex riff in my head. I demoed it. I tried to send it to Kevin Seconds, but I failed. It was on my GarageBand or something and I ended up recording that. Rusty Miller [of the band Jackpot] played on some of those songs. He did that one and played exactly what I heard in my head. “Break My Heart,” I woke up one day and thought that was a cool little title, like, I know you’re going to break my heart one day, so let’s just get this over with… I don’t know. They all just came. Songs come to me, and if they’re catchy, I keep them. As far as them all being at the end of the record, I always try to pace my records like a movie or a roller coaster ride. I put a lot of thought into how it was going to end, like, “Hard to Forget” is a good song that will hopefully keep ringing in your head after it’s done.
This is your fifth solo album since the Ghoulies split up. That’s not even that long ago. It’s only like four years ago.
I’m averaging about one a year. The first thing I did was put out an acoustic and electric record at the same time, so people couldn’t be, “Oh, he’s doing this or he’s doing that.” I’m doing a bit of everything. It’s really cool. I’m in a place like Neil Young or Johnny Thunders, where I can do whatever I want, and I really like that.
Kepi Ghoulie will play his CD release show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2011; however, Sacramento fans will only have to wait a week after to see him live in town. On Dec. 9, 2011 he will play an acoustic set at Naked Coffee with Pets. Later in the month on Dec. 30, 2011, Kepi will plug in and play with Dog Party as his backing band at Luigi’s Fungarden. Look for I Bleed Rock ‘n’ Roll on Asian Man Records on Nov. 29, 2011.
