THE STREETWALKIN´ CHEETAHS

THE STREETWALKIN´ CHEETAHS

Hoy os traigo una locura de última hora, la entrevista relampago a DINO EVERETT y FRANK MEYER de THE STREETWALKIN´ CHEETAHS por motivo de su gira por nuestra tierra que arranca hoy mismo.

así que aquí la tenéis cruda sin retoques y claro en ingles.

 *First of all, we want to thank you for granting us this interview, and secondly, welcome back to our land.

DINO EVERETT: Happy to be here.

FRANK MEYER: You are very welcome. We love Spain and are thrilled to come back after many years. It’s been too long.

*It seems like you enjoy coming here, whether with this band or very recently with TRADING ACES. Do you notice that the audience responds well to Punk Rock in these parts?

FRANK MEYER: Spain has always been a great place for rock ‘n’ roll music. Before the Cheetahs got signed by the legendary Greg Shaw to his label Bomp! Records, I was buying lots of punk rock on a Spanish label called Roto Records in Madrid, run by Spanisih punk icon Kike Turmix. When I graduated college, I traveled to Spain with the Cheetahs first demo tape showed up on Kike’s office doorstep with my cassette tape in hand. Wayne Kramer from the MC5 played on it, so I hoped that would get Kike’s attention. He took me in, gave me shirts, vinyl and CDs, and offered me a place to stay. His wife cooked for me that night, and I crashed in their guest room. The next night he took me to see The Dictators at El Sol. A few years later, the Cheetahs were playing El Sol on a show Kike put together. So you see, we have always had a special relationship with Spain from the beginning of our career.

*You've been rocking since 1996, with various ups and downs. What has changed in you from then until now?

DINO EVERETT: Basic maturity within the band. We are older now, so not such annoying, young punks… until we get on stage, then it is still business as usual.

FRANK MEYER: Musically we are a much better band, simply because we’ve been doing this longer and have been playing our instruments longer. I think we write stronger songs now, though I still love the old stuff. The band is still powered by Dino Everett on bass, Mike Sessa on drums, and myself on vocals and guitar just like the old days, so that’s hasn’t changed. But now we have the great BRuce Duff on second guitar, who people know from Jesters of Destiny, ADZ, Jeff Dahl, and 45 Grave. He’s been in the band since we reformed in 2014.

*In 2024, you're releasing a single with GHOST HIGHWAY RECORDINGS and an EP with HEAVY MEDICATION RECORDS. Why this approach instead of releasing an LP?

DINO EVERETT: We definitely have the new material to release tons of new albums, but sometimes it is fun to just drop a few songs here and a few songs there on a bunch of different labels.

FRANK MEYER: We haven’t done a single in a while, so we really liked the idea of doing a special Spain-only tour single with our good friends at Ghost Highway. We had this slammin’ new punky song “Crazy Operator,” a cool power-pop tune called “Wake Up,” a cover of Pete Shelley’s “Homosapien,” and our old nugget “Let’s Dance.” But we had some other newly recorded songs too, so we did the 10” vinyl EP “Call The Dogs” for Heavy Medication in Poland, which is out soon too. It has four new songs as well, including the new single “Victim of the Service Industry,” the upcoming single “Long Haul,” and two more new ones.

*You started as a cover band and then transitioned to your own songs. Do you think it's a good way for bands starting out to get comfortable on stage before releasing their own material?

DINO EVERETT: Frank and myself had been slugging around the music scene for a few years by the time this band formed. I played my first shows back in 1982 in punk bands along the East Coast. In fact, my old friend GG Allin was going to help my first band put out a record in 1982 because we were covering his song “Don't Talk To Me.” I have always loved playing covers and in 1995 Frank and I just decided that since we were both between projects, it would be fun to go out and play some obscure punk covers that folks weren't really playing at the time because everyone was doing either the last remnants of the glam rock stuff or lots of slow sludgy grunge type stuff.

FRANK MEYER: For our band, playing covers at first worked simply because it got the four of us together in a room playing music together. We started as a casual band playing our favorite obscure early-punk songs by MC5, Stooges, Dead Boys, New York Dolls, and so on, which gave us a direction once we started original songs. Of course, all of us had been in other bands and written plenty of songs before, and this was all music from our collections that we already loved, but somehow starting this way gave us a clear path, a sound, and a direction once we decided to become a real band. Who knew it would lead to a 25 year journey around the world together?

*One of the songs that introduced me to your music was "CHERRY BOMB" with Cherie Currie. How did that epic collaboration come about?

DINO EVERETT: We met Cherie at a show she was playing and told her what big fans we were. We mentioned that we were playing a week or so later and were doing “Cherry Bomb,” so why not come by and sing it with us. Surprisingly she agreed and then we just kept doing it at her shows and at our shows, until it made sense to do a new version of it. 

FRANK MEYER: When we met Cherie, we told her we started a band by playing “Cherry Bomb,” which was the first song the four of us ever played together. After she sat in with us, we started to catch a buzz and soon got signed to Bomp! Records. After we recorded the “Overdrive” album in 1996, we did the “Cherry Bomb” single with Cherie, and the “Do The Pop” single with Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman. Things started to take off after that.

*I've never seen you perform live. What can we expect from one of your concerts?

FRANK MEYER: Pure mayhem and rock ‘n’ roll chaos! The shows are very high energy and in-your-face, so be ready to dance, drink, duck, dodge, mosh, and go crazy! Dino and I tend to go into the crowd a lot, up on the bars and tables and whatever we can do. It’s like a circus act meets a car crash, set to Motohead!

DINO EVERETT: When we started in 1995, there was that slow, sludgy grunge thing happening, where people were staring at their shoes and playing, and the audiences were just standing there watching. That behavior was completely boring to us, so we started trying to entertain ourselves by climbing the walls and jumping on tables, doing crazy stuff, etc That helped us develop a super high-energy show that most bands would never want to follow. Even though we are older now, we haven't slowed down… except when we bust out some of our pop songs. 

*We know that you follow some music from our country. What bands do you like? And who would you like to collaborate with if possible?

DINO EVERETT: I like alot of older punk stuff, so always wanted to collaborate with Manuel Almen on a cover of “Ya Nadie Cree En La Revolucion.”

FRANK MEYER: We played with the Schizophrenic Spacers in Barcelona back in 2002, and I have been a big fan ever since. I would love to do a spit single with them.

*I know your strong audience is in the northern part of the peninsula. Was the madness of performing in Vitoria and Bilbao on the same day intentional, or was it due to scheduling conflicts?

FRANK MEYER: We did it on purpose! We’re gonna play an afternoon show, then drive a hour or so away and play a night show! Why not? James Brown would have done it! We aren’t here for vacation. We are here to rock!

DINO EVERETT: We are no strangers to playing multiple gigs in one day. I think our most daring was 5 shows in 24 hours in Austin, Texas at SXSW.

*11 concerts in 15 days just in our lands. What keeps you going with such strength to give your all on stage?

DINO EVERETT: I think it was Pat Todd that mentioned it one day. We were chatting and he said, "You guys and me, We are Lifers." It is in our blood, we are never going to stop. 

FRANK MEYER: Quite frankly, if we had our way it would be 16 shows in 15 days (on March 23 we do two shows). We don’t like days off. We come to kill every night. But it’s Easter holiday so we couldn’t avoid a few days off. Oh well, we’ll be forced to settle down for a few days and enjoy ourselves. Probably gonna make a music video on those days. *There have been breaks in the band at various points. Was it due to not wanting to wear out the lineup, or to explore other interests in completely different formations?

DINO EVERETT: It is a band. When you are young, you are all so full of piss and vinegar, drive and anger, ambition and, let's face it, sometimes substances. And before you know it, you can annoy each other. Me and Frank started the band, were working together when not playing the band, and it all got to be too much, so we needed a break from each other. That lasted only a couple of years and then we started playing together again in a different band called Angus Khan, and finally said, "Let's start up the Cheetahs again."

FRANK MEYER: yeah, we actually only took one break. The band started in 1995 and went strong until 2002, when we broke up for awhile. We did a few reunions shows here and there, and in 2014 started up again. We’ve been playing live consistently since then. Our album “One More Drink” was released in 2021, and that was our first full studio album in nearly twenty years. Since then we’ve been releasing single, EPs, reissues, collections and other stuff. New album will be around the corner.

*I believe you have 10 albums, if I'm not mistaken, aside from various singles and contributions to compilations. Is there anything you regret recording or, on the contrary, something you wish you could have done but wasn't possible?

DINO EVERETT: I mean, we have always loved playing and recording with our heroes, so it would have been great to be able to do something with Iggy.

FRANK MEYER: Hell yeah! As far as things I would change, I like all of our albums for the most part, and feel like each one got better as we went along. I don’t really get into regretting stuff like that. It’s all art. It’s all part of the journey of being a songwriter.

*Well, I have nothing left but to wish you the best on this tour and also congratulate you on all those neck-breaking songs. What better way to kick off than at the legendary Gruta 77, the temple of Madrid punk rock? So, now's your chance to say whatever you want.

DINO EVERETT: We are looking forward to leaving everything we have on the stage. When the Cheetahs played Spain before I was off playing in a different band, so I don't feel like the Spanish audience has ever fully gotten the total original Cheetahs experience with the two original guys who started the band. So I am looking forward to leaving our mark on this tour.

FRANK MEYER: That’s true. The time we toured Spain in 2002 was not the original lineup. This time is me, Dino and Mike Sessa, the three original classic members plus legendary guitarist Bruce Duff (Jeff Dahl, ADZ, Jesters of Destiny, 45 Grave), who has been in the band for over a decade now. It’s the best lineup of the band, and we will be playing all your favorite songs from all of our albums, plus brand new material from the new releases. We can’t wait to see you there!

*y hasta aquí esta aventura de entrevistar a la banda californiana dándoles las gracias a ellos como a ANA LABALLO por haberlo hecho posible.

J.Tejada

KAMIKAZE SONORO