Around Thanksgiving of 2001, I found myself behind a drum kit, in a Quincy, Mass. rehearsal space flanked to my right by Nate and to my left, our old friend Rick Barton (ex-Dropkick Murphys, now The Shadowblasters). We proceeded to rampage, butcher, and coax our way through an amazing amount of rock. From Nate's corner of the room (as well as Rick's) came a deluge of punk, pop, hardcore, hard rock, country, encouragement, terrible jokes, and terrific ideas. Just absolutely, positively no ska. I tried my best to to keep up and had a blast. In the months that followed, Nate enlisted another old friend, Dave Minehan (The Neighborhoods, Paul Westerberg) and his studio, Woolly Mammoth to record the CD that would become Osaka. Among the cast of characters that contributed to the project were Joe Sirois (Mighty Mighty Bosstones), Johnny Rioux (ex-Mike Ness, ex-Bruisers), Rich Gilbert (Frank Black and the Catholics), Paul Buckley (Orbit), and Dave Aarnoff (The Shods). More old friends. The next piece of the puzzle was a real, live touring band. Rock-solid bass players are hard to come by, especially when you need one that has experience, a great voice, and enough stage presence to stand up to the nightly deranged, ring master of the rodeo antics of Albert. Well, it just so happened that (yup, old friend) Mikey Welsh had not only played on the record, but he had also just left Weezer. So like Shaq has Kobe, Antione has Paul, and Belushi had Akyroyd, Nate has Mikey. Johnny Rioux? Well, he played on the disk and was Nate's guitar-tech back in The Bosstones days - perfect fit. Landing behind the drums was Jamie Vavra of beloved Boston mods, The Pills. As timing and hoo-doo would have it, the record deal took the form of something new from old friends as well. Mark Kates spent years at Geffen Records, and then ran (Beastie Boys label) Grand Royal. It just so happened that Kates had moved home to Boston and started an indie label with the ridiculously cool name of Fenway Recordings.The Kickovers became the first band signed to the label. In keeping with this vibe of almost nauseating synchronicity, Ami Bennett (who used to manage The Bosstones) showed up and Motor Management was on the team as well....Damn!!! The band's first video (for "Heart Attack") was produced by long-time ex-Bosstones drum-tech Mark Higgins. It rocks, in a stripped-down, dirty no-bullshit manner, just like The Kickovers themselves. You can see it on MTV2. O.K, O.K, by now you�re probably thinking, where's the catch? There's got to be a fly in all this feel-good ointment, right? Well, here's where the band that wants their career to be like the last ten minutes of an episode of "Behind The Music" ran aground for awhile...Their name. Naming this band turned into a more arduous task than writing and recording the songs, solidifying the lineup, and getting the record and the video out. First they were called The Plastics, then they were The Brakes, and finally....well...The following conversation was after soundcheck before the band's Boston release show for Osaka. Opening up the show that night was a little known band from God knows where called Brakes. They had contacted Nate at one point and threatened to sue him over his band�s name. Wanna know what his response was? It was, "Fine, now we're The Kickovers. How'd you boys like to come up to Boston and play a show with us?" Is it any wonder that Nate Albert has so many goddamn friends?
SoundCheck Magazine: What's the best thing about selling a million records and what's the worst?
Nate: The best thing is probably access and the worse thing's not being home.
Mikey: The best thing is money and the worse thing is money.
Johnny: Dude, I sold probably five thousand records and it's the best.
SCM: What's the greatest hope for The Kickovers? What's your greatest fear?
Mikey: Our potential for the future is unlimited. I think we're just really excited to make amazing records and play amazing shows and have fun. We just have to keep it fun, 'cause I think our greatest fear is it becoming tedious and us not getting along.
SCM: Last time we talked you said that your greatest fear was not being friends.
Mikey: Yeah that is my greatest fear, I've been through that before, it's horrible. So I don't want that to happen, but I want as much success as possible, which our possibilities are endless I think.
SCM: Mikey, why did you leave Weezer?
Mikey: I didn't leave Weezer and the circumstances are really complicated and I'd rather not get into the details, but it was just a sad thing to go from being extremely close friends with people to having an enormous amount of success and then watching the way selling millions of records affects people. You start growing apart. Egos get bigger. Everyone thinks they're the most important part of the band. I'd say that maybe to answer that other question the downside to selling millions of records is friendships deteriorating. I was just kind of ditched I guess.
SCM: Seems like you�ve landed in a good place.
Mikey: I couldn't be happier. I'm with my best friends playing really amazing music and I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm really proud of what we're doing and watching it grow. It would be effortless for me to go join another huge band through people I know, but it's been more gratifying building this with these guys who are like my brothers and watching it grow. I wouldn't want to be in Weezer now for anything.
SCM: Nate, to shift over to your old band, The Bosstones already gave me the impression of a "There is no I in team" attitude; the antithesis of what Mikey is talking about. Is that true?
Nate: I think it is true. The Bosstones were all friends when none of us could play instruments in the beginning and that kind of cultivated the band. We figured out how to play through our friendships so it's kind of founded on different levels. I think what Mikey's getting at and this happens to most big bands I know and it could have happened to The Bosstones maybe is that, they always say that a corporation has no conscious and when a band becomes a corporation it too loses its conscious and it becomes all about money and who you're employing and your own livelihood and your families' livelihood and your relatives' livelihood. I think that you lose sight of your friends and the music and you become part of the corporation and I think that's my biggest fear too.
SCM: After leaving that band and going back to school did you really feel that you were done with playing music in public or did you always know that you'd come back?
Nate: I wasn't sure. One of the problems for me with The Bosstones' touring schedule is that we were playing live all the time, but we weren't doing as much music. When you first start a band you're in the practice space all the time, you're writing songs all the time and I really missed that. So I wanted to devote more of my life to the creative part of it, and then have the shows be secondary as opposed to having the shows being the primary. More about the music and less about the entertainment.
SCM: Johnny this is like another time around for you in a way sort of working with some people that have been to the mountaintop; what's this like for you?
Johnny: I agree with these guys that it's doing something that I really love doing, I have a great career and a great family, and nothing beats getting up on stage playing with these guys; we're having a blast, we're having a lot of fun touring. When we get together in the practice space we'll start noodling on a riff and it will become a song in about 30 seconds; it's catchy, we all really dig and believe in it. I thought I kind of graduated to the business end of things at this point, just realizing how much fun I'm having with, like Mikey said, some of my best friends, that's what it's all about.
SCM: Last old band question, who do you believe would be a better President, Dicky Barrett or Rivers Cuomo?
Mikey: I think Rivers would be a better CIA Head and Dicky would be a better President.
Nate: I actually always told Dicky he should be in politics because he seems to know exactly what to say to people. I've always been envious on how Dicky can address any situation. Dicky will be mayor of this town, he definitely at some point will be Mayor of Boston.
SCM: What compliment makes this band blush and what insult makes it burn?
Johnny: I know what makes me blush, when I get on the website and I'm sitting around the house and somebody says I'm cute, I've never heard that playing street rock 'n' roll and punk rock.
Nate: To do music and especially if you're in a band that gets more popular you have to get a pretty thick skin to all of it, the accolades as well as the criticism, because it will totally rip you down. I do believe if you have to get past the good stuff as well as the bad stuff of what people think or you kind of go out of yourself and you lose your mission and I think you sort of need a blind eye to all of that stuff to get through it. If you were selling a million that probably means there's about eight million people that also heard you and hate you. Or if you play on "Saturday Night Live" and you sell another five thousand records that week, that means there is 20 million point whatever people that decided they didn't want to buy your record. So you have to kind of stay in the zone and stay in your own head to what your mission is and block out the good and bad.
SCM: If you could create a newspaper headline involving this band what would it say?
Mikey: "Kickovers are bigger than Oasis" that's my vote.
SCM: What are the three sounds that disturb you the most?
Mikey: Alarm clocks, my cell phone. The sound of fluorescent lights. Oh, and the voices in my head.
SCM: Three lessons you've learned the hard way?
Nate: Only one lesson you need to know, the truth hurts. Three lessons; nothing's for free, no excuse that life is not worth living, you can't trust anybody.
SCM: Three things you've done that you regret?
KO: Answering the last four questions. Twenty-seven years leading up to this last year or two years I guess. It's been a good two years. Being born. No regrets, I really don't think I have any regrets.
SCM: Three things for which you're grateful?
Nate: Not having any regrets.
Johnny: A great girl who puts up with my crap and two beautiful kids.
Mikey: "American�s Funniest Cop Videos," I really like that "Hot Date" show, I like that. And I like "Blind Date," that�s the other one I like. And "Dismissed" I really like.
SCM: Nate, speaking of TV shows, one of my son's all-time favorite entertainers is someone you've had personal contact with.
Nate: The Count??? Yeah, we did "Sesame Street" three years ago and actually won a Grammy for that record, Best Childrens Record.
SCM: Do you ever want to do "Sesame Street" Mikey?
Mikey: "Sesame Street" is the only show that I didn�t do that I really wish I could have been able to be a part of.
SCM: What did you get to do that you enjoyed?
Mikey: "Saturday Night Live" was one of the highlights. The MTV Movie Awards was definitely a highlight. This is a highlight.
SCM: Better than Spinal Tap. Speaking of which, what is the saddest of all chords?
Nate: B flat minor. Do you know that note that I'm talking about? If you�re playing in D and there's a B flat minor in the church it was called the Devil's Tone and you were not allowed to have it in symphonies or choral music for years and years.
SCM: You guys have said something about wanting this band to be the last 10 minutes of a "Behind the Music." What do you mean?
Nate: Like that nice sweep-up when everything is beautiful and rosy. You know the comeback after the tragic fall.
SCM: Are you guys going to tour for real this summer?
Johnny: Yeah hopefully, we're actually looking for tours.
SCM: Who would be an ideal band for you to tour with?
Nate: I know this sounds like fun and games saying this, but I think AC/DC would be great to tour with.
SCM: What's one thing you've done on stage that you'll never do again?
Nate: I took mushrooms on stage once and was pelted with hot dogs. I will never do that again.
Mikey: I threw my favorite jazz bass, it's like a $4,000 jazz bass I threw in the crowd in London last summer and it got torn to pieces.
Johnny: I was in Europe with my old band and I told the singer, we had played for probably 30-45 minutes, I told the singer we should stop because I had to take a piss cause I'd been drinking all day. It went over like a fart in church.
SCM: Now I know what Nate means about the Devil's Tone. 3
By Jesse Mayer