How did you get into punk rock?

I was always really precocious about seeking out music the other kids at school weren’t listening to. When I was in 5th grade I went to the flea market right off the Southwest Freeway in Houston and bought Dead Kennedy’s “In God We Trust Inc,” Black Flag “Damaged”, and The Stooges “Funhouse.” Truthfully those were records I would blast from my room just to piss off my mom. I didn’t fully hear it yet. I just loved the idea of fast and loud punk rock more than anything. I soon found out that what my mom really couldn’t stand was ska so then I started blasting Specials and English Beat records. I didn’t really realize how great those records were till later

It wasn’t until I was in high school in Austin and a friend accidentally left a cassette that had Big Boys “Fun Fun Fun” and “Lullabies Help the Brain Grow.” In my car. I started to understand the music more. I grew up listening to Disco 94 so I understood the funk stuff better maybe that helped bridge me into the more hardcore and punk stuff since they were doing both. I didn’t realize that Funhouse is The punk rock record until I was 20 or 21

Was the Blue Flamingo already known for hosting punk bands before the Motards played there?

I did have something to do with punk bands invading the Blue Flamingo. In the Summer of 1993 I was still in my first band before the Motards. We were fairly unlistenable and it was all of our first band so we couldn’t get a gig anywhere. In fact none of our friends liked our band so we had to throw our own house party if we wanted to play a party The Blue Flamingo was a drag queen bar. Me and Suzanne would duck in there when Emo’s would get too crowded to drink cheap whiskey sours and watch the drag show. Miss Laura the owner would headline the drag show getting up and singing along with Aretha Franklin “Respect” on the jukebox. She would bring the house down – Miss Laura is built like an NFL defensive lineman and she has great presence So one night after way to many I told Miss Laura that I had a band and asked if we could maybe play a gig there. Miss Laura said “I don’t know I once let a band called Dogshit Rangers play here and they brought a dead dog into my club. If I let your band play you have to promise me that y’all won’t bring any dead animals into my club.”. That was one of the easier deals I’ve made

I didn’t tell her that we had never played anywhere and nobody liked us so she gave us every Wednesday in August. I flyered the whole town for each show and still we were lucky if our girlfriends showed up. Miss Laura would come to me after the show and say “you said you were going to tell all your friends about this” and I would tell her that whoever was playing Emo’s that night was hugely popular and everybody must be there. The regulars hated us the most. Every time we would start loading in “Like a Virgin” would get played on the jukebox over and over

By the time the Motards started playing shows (halloween of 93) a few other bands had played there. Nobody else in the Motards had played a club before so I was the only one with any connection with a club so we started playing there soon. Our third show was there and I believe we played there more than any other band making me the person who played the most Blue Flamingo gigs of anybody. The Chumps might be close because they used to practice at the Blue Flamingo for a month or two at one point.

 From the photographs I’ve seen of those Blue Flamingo shows it looks like you were practically IN the crowd. Did you used to leave with bumps and bruises?

The fire marshal capacity of the club was 47 or 48 people. That was hardly ever enforced. There wasn’t a stage and the pit would often crash into our equipment temporarily halting the show while we would set the amps and drums back up. It felt like being inside a sweaty washing machine during the Motards shows there

There were two large windows on either wall in the front corner where the bands would play and lots of people would stand outside and watch breathing fresh air not bathing in 100 other people’s sweat. I remember thinking during our shows that if I wasn’t playing I’d definately be watching from outside. Those windows got smashed out during one of our shows somehow once

  Have you got any opinions as to why Austin became such a hotbed of great punk bands?

Austin draws a lot of the talent away from Houston, Dallas/Ft Worth, San Antonio and beyond Texas early on right out of high school. It would be great if every Texas city had a music scene that made kids want to stay there. Recent high school graduates from around the state get their families to send them to college here with the real goal of starting a band. The real truth is that Austin is a good place to be from but it’s the hardest town to get paid for musicians. Everybody has a band. The whole town plays guitar. I dig living here though

  The footage of the October ’96 Osaka show is up on youtube. What a fantastic performance – how did you manage to get to Japan?

Thanks. There was a lot of frustration at that show because we really wanted to be good. That was the show we got flown over there to play. We were playing on unfamiliar equipment which I’m sure was better than our own but we didn’t sound like what we were used to. I remember thinking we were horrible afterwards There was a very corporate new club in Osaka called Bay Side Jenny and they wanted to bring over a hip underground American punk rock band to establish a reputation. They also booked us shows at Diamond Hall in Nagoya and Club Goodman and Club 251 in Tokyo. I felt better about how we played at the 2 Tokyo shows. The show the Japanese were most impressed with was the one in Nagoya where John passed out before we went on and we dragged him on stage anyway and he proceeded to just fuck shit up and Paul and I would walk over and kick the shit out of him because we were so mad. That was our first show in Japan

We were put up in hotels taken out to restaurants and clubs and given an allowance. This was the only tour anything like that any of us ever have done

  Why did you decide to start Mortville Records?

I was in love with the idea of putting out records. There were a lot of bands around me that I thought had good singles in them. My friends had a band called Los Tigres Guapos and I new that if I told them I’d put out a single If I could tell them which songs I wanted and make them put a bunch of songs on there. I liked working with new bands for that reason. Teen Cool and Society of Friends were also really exciting and made me want to put out records

  Do you think the proliferation of free music on the web will ultimately be good/bad for music? Wasn’t the last Open Casket release a freebie?

It’s easier to get your name and music out there and harder to get paid. I like that it diversifies what people are listening to by taking power away from the major labels and clear channel. I think downloads should be cheaper. I know real audiophiles insist on vinyl but I’m trying to stay off Hoarders already so I like downloads as well

  Personally I think the best work you’ve done is with the Open Casket. Are you not interested in focusing all your energies on one band, making a masterpiece maybe, rather than spreading yourself over ¾ different bands?

It’s actually been 5 or 6 bands but over 20 years. What can I say – bands fall apart. I didn’t want the Motards or Secret Lovers to split up. I folded the Open Casket because I wasn’t comfortable being the singing guitar player anymore. I’m really a bass player I’m glad you like that album. It certainly wasn’t the most well received thing I’ve done but occasionally I hear from somebody who feels like you do about it. I wrote all the songs and its me playing guitar and singing. I still have cd’s so if anybody wants one send 5 dollars to me Toby Marsh at 3307 Norwood Hill Rd. Austin, TX 78723. It’s pretty punk rock – we recorded mixed and mastered it in half a day. We rehearsed it really well before we went to the studio. We didn’t mess around when we got there either

  You work with kids at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. How did you get involved with that?

I love what I do at work for the most part. My wife Amy worked there first and I started picking up sub hours. She left but I think I’m fairly suited for this kind of work. I work with low functioning kids with multiple disabilities. I want to go back to school and get a masters in Special Ed soon

  Have you got anything coming up, records or shows, you can tell us about?

I’m playing bass in a 2-piece band called Wackford Squeers. I tap the beats out ahead of time on a drum machine app and the we play the beats through my guitar amp. My friend Peter Nurczynki who played guitar in Los Tigres Guapos and my original band before the Motards makes electronic noises

We are a lot of things I haven’t done in a band before. The music is instrumental, psychedelic, soundtrackish, funky, and ambient at times. I realized I would never put together a band as punk rock as the Motards so maybe I should try to reflect some of my other influences. Out of all the records in my collection Wackford Squeers is most obviously influenced by PIL Metal Box/Second Edition and some Can records, Kraftwerk, Chic. It’s super bass heavy and I try to make the drums sound like a loose rock drummer with 3 arms. We have a laser show that goes with our set. I’m getting to use bass lines I’ve been sitting on for 20 years. It’s different and fun and after 2 shows seems to be going over great