A Coming Of Age Story With SPIKE SLAWSON From ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES

Interview by Kris Peters
Quinceañera - the celebration of a girl's 15th birthday, marking
her passage from girlhood to womanhood; the term is also used for
the celebrant herself.
Sounds like cause to celebrate and an even greater cause to party,
which is exactly what Me First And The Gimme Gimmes did when they
‘crashed’ the coming-of-age ceremony of a young lady by the name of
Madison.
Not that anyone should be surprised seeing twenty years earlier the
band had done the same thing at Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah but as they
say, why let somebody else's inhibition spoil what could be a great
party for yourself?
Not only did the band perform to an unwelcoming audience at said
ceremony, they also recorded the set and invite one and all to
share the special occasion when they release BLOW IT…AT MADISON’S
QUINCEAÑERA! on June 14.
HEAVY sat down earlier today with frontman Spike Slawson to find
out more details in all of their punk drenched glory. We start by
asking if he still gets nervous about impending album
releases.
"Absolutely," he nodded. "It was our first Quinceañera party, and
it's intended to be awkward and comic and tragic all at once, and
so if it is a success it's likely going to be excruciating and in
the moment, if that makes sense. It's very nerve-wracking. We
vetted the contestants that won the dubious prize of having us play
their Quinceañera party, and we wanted to make sure there were no
natural allies in attendance. Nobody that knew who we were or was
going to be inclined to liking us or our performance. That was very
important to us, and it was the right decision. But when I was
about to go out and actually face the crowd, it was… difficult. It
was a challenge. But, we had a good time. The crowd eventually
turned around. I think we finally played a song from this
Millennium and that made a big difference I think."
In the full interview, Spike explains what a Quinceañera actually
is, opening with Black Sabbath and if, in hindsight, he would have
chosen a different song, the in between song banter and keeping the
recording authentic, how Madison liked the show, using a horn
section for the first time, how he would describe Me First &
The Gimme Gimmes to someone who had never heard them before and
more.


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