This was done on July 27, 2003 in St.Pete, Florida in the parking lot of Venom Nightclub
The Virus put on an incredible fucking show, which surprised me a little. It’s not that I thought that they’d suck, it’s just coming after Blind Society who pretty much ripped the fucking roof off-I wasn’t sure if The Virus could compete. Somehow they managed...
The club was packed with punks and Skins and the ones in front sang along to everything in the bands15-song set. The crowd wanted more and the boys came back out for an encore of about 3 or 4 more songs. Jasper, their new vocalist, had only been with the band for about a month and eventually ran out of songs he could sing. Josh put his guitar down and grabbed the mic and finished the night with an awesome version of “I Believe In Anarchy”.
I was pretty fucking impressed, I mean I can’t really remember the last time that I saw two bands who were that fucking good live, back-to-back. I needed one more interview to finish off the zine, so I tracked down the boys from The Virus and they agreed to sit and chat with me as soon as the van was loaded.
This took a few minutes, they signed some autographs and told some stories about groupies and what not. Somehow the topic of conversation landed on the Misfits and Jasper said he didn’t think that Graves was that bad. No one really agreed with him, but everybody agreed that Jerry Only couldn’t sing for shit. Jasper (not Casper) really digs the ’Fits, and Danzig, too, apparently. He was trying to sell everyone on the greatness of Danzig’s first four records. “The second is better than the first, and the first is pretty good, but all 4 are killer albums.”
While everyone finished up packing, I took a few minutes to check out Josh’s ink collection. His most recent (I think) is a leopard-printed heart that says ‘MOM’ on it. He told me the story behind it, how his Mom gave him a gift-certificate for a tattoo for Christmas and he ended getting the ‘MOM’ tattoo and surprised her with it. She thought he was pretty darn sweet...
Anyway, the van was packed and the interview was set to commence. Josh, who plays guitar and sings, and Jasper, who used to sing for the Vigilantes, but now sings for The Virus joined me and Richard on a curb a few feet away. Mike who plays guitar yelled a little in the background. Jarrod who handles the drums and Drew who plays bass were like ghosts-I didn’t see ‘em.
Sink Hole Zine - Honestly, I only came here cuz I wanted to get a copy of your new 7 inch, “Benefits of War” on splatter vinyl. Your sold out, so I guess I’ll settle for an interview. It’s been a long-ass time since you guys have been down here, whaddya think of Florida?
Josh - Yeah, we only brought 100 copies and they went quick...Its been about 4 years or so since we’ve played Florida. It hasn’t changed much. It’s hot, there’s lots of pretty ladies... The beaches are good, there’s lots of kids who are into it. We did a Warped Tour gig yesterday (Miami 7-26) and then afterwards we played a show called “The Anti-Warped” concert. We were for it and against it on the same day, but we had fun.
SHZ - How was it playing Warped? I understand it was like a last-minute thing and you did a local band stage.
Josh - It was cool, it was cool. The night before I took all the guys to a dance party, they went to an 80's club and they got blasted out of their fucking minds. Jasper didn’t know who the hell he was when I showed up. After I dropped them off at the club, me and Drew went to a Kinko’s at like 3 o’clock in the morning. We made fliers, we made 3000 fucking fliers for our Warped Tour gig. They said what time we were playing, what stage and all. We handed them all out and we ended up with a pretty decent crowd. They said we had about 100 kids there. We did okay, we were pretty happy with that for a days notice. The punks showed up, it was cool, we had fun and hopefully made a few new friends.
SHZ - Do you guys want to go on the Warped Tour? I’m guessing you’ve probably heard a little bit about it talking to The Casualties or The Unseen...
Josh - I’d like to do it. I think it’s a pretty neat thing.
SHZ - People talk shit about it, it’s so corporate, so cheezy, but for the bands-
Josh - It’s a blast-I mean for every 20 idiot kids that are there, there’s gonna be like 5 who are into it, they’ll really like the music and take it somewhere. I think it would be a good opportunity for a band like us, plus I think it would be good for the kids to get a chance to see more real punk bands on the tour.
Jasper - I worked the entire Warped Tour last year with The Casualties. It was a fucking amazing thing. The people who work that thing, who run that thing - they aren’t jerks, they aren’t assholes who just want to exploit 14 year-old kids, they’re absolutely sincere, cool whatever. They treat the bands well. They feed you, they give you water, beer, whatever.
Josh - It really upsets me when kids see a band do the Warped Tour and they call that selling out. We do this shit every day for our whole lives. We do these DIY tours for months at a time, man we deserve to do something like that, get treated like that. Man, we work fucking hard. They would want the same thing, too.
Jasper - If we went on our own to Fargo, North Dakota we would play to 4 kids-we’ve done it before. If we did something like Warped, it would give us a chance to play for a whole bunch of kids who have no idea what underground punk is.
Josh - Then, the next time we come through, maybe we could play for 20 kids instead of 4.
SHZ - What do you think of the crowds this time around, I was pretty surprised at how many punks are out tonight. We got lost ourselves and almost didn’t make it.
Josh - I heard that it would be a big crowd tonight, but I heard it was a standing crowd. I watched all the opening bands and the kids were ripping it up. I was really impressed. It’s been so long since we’ve been down here, I didn’t know if people knew us. It was really fucking great, though. I was real happy with the crowd here, every body slamming and singing along. Except for a few people talking shit in the back, but fuck them. I couldn’t see them, I don’t know them. They didn’t come up to me, so they don’t matter. The scene here seems nice, kids have to keep it tight and keep it together. Otherwise it will fall apart and you’ll be left with nothing.
SHZ - So you guys have been on the road for a while, what are the top stories so far?
Josh - I guess I’ve got a story... We were up in Connecticut, of all fucking places, playing a biker bar. It was a fucking Hell’s Angels bar called The Raven. It was most interesting. Jasper met this girl there. We won’t say her age or her name, but she wasn’t legal.
Jasper - You’re a fucking dick-
Josh - I’m a dick, but I don’t think she was legal. She was close, but back to the story. She’s like “Hey, I have this cabin in the woods my parents own it, we can go party there”. We said okay. So, we all followed her. We were driving like Richard-fucking-Petty through all these neighborhoods. Getting sloshed, driving a million miles-an-hour. We’re all yelling at each other, “fuck this bitch, fuck this”, man it was like an hour-and-a-half and we still weren’t there yet. She finally got us on the right track. We all slowed down and got in a line. Man, this place was in the middle of fucking nowhere. We get out of the van and there’s like 50 punks there already. We all start drinking and... Well, the next day I saw a video of myself. I’m wearing a cowboy hat, screaming and throwing shit all over the place. I didn’t remember anything. Gage hooked up with a girl a little bit.
Jasper - I had to stop Black John from Blind Society from trying to burn the cabin down.
Josh - I don’t want to say I was a part of that, but I do kinda remember it.
Jasper - So then her Mom shows up. Now this was like 3 or 4 in the morning...
Josh - As our drummer was attacking our bass player...
Jasper - Yeah, he was about to punch Drew in the face. So, she was totally fucking cool. She made us breakfast in the morning.
Josh - When she asked her daughter what happened, she said - “Someone broke in and trashed the place before we all got here”. Her mom was just like “Oh, that’s okay” and then she made us food.
Jasper - Then her Mom told me I was like a son to her.
Josh - Then we left...
Jasper - After she made us Crepe Suzettes. It was very Manhattan - in the middle of bumfuck Connecticut.
SHZ - How about another quick one...
Josh - All right, I’m driving us to our Warped Tour gig. I saw this Jeep drive by with this kind of good-looking girl in it. I was so tired and loony and shit. I was driving and I was yelling at people on the road. Anyway, I saw her and I yelled “Hey, are you going to the Warped Tour?!!!” She looks over and asks my name-I said “I’m Josh, I’m in the fucking Virus!”. She’s like, “oh, thats cool, can you give me a backstage pass?”. I said, yeah sure. I gave her a flyer and didn’t think anything of it. Anyway, later on that day she shows up. She’s like “hey, are you Josh?” I was floored. I just said “Yeah, I’m Josh, this is the rest of my band. I got to go, I’m going to go call my girlfriend.”
Jasper - She hung out all night, she wanted us to go swimming at like 7 in the morning.
SHZ - So, I guess the tour’s been pretty good thus far.
Josh - So far so good. We’re still on the East Coast. I’m a little more excited to hit the West Coast cuz we don’t make it out there that often and those kids don’t see us much. I mean, we can go up and down the East Coast on the weekends, but it takes a big tour to get us out to the West.
SHZ - Any bands your excited to see or play with out there?
Jasper - Yes, definitely. We’re gonna play with our friends the Strap-Onz in Texas.
Josh - The Flatliners, The Crumb Bums, we play with Channel 3 in LA. We’re gonna hook up with The Havoc. Now, that is quite the interesting band. We threw shit on their window.
SHZ - Actual poop, from a person’s butt?
Josh - Yeah, real-life crap. Mike, our guitar player, shit in a bag. Black John threw it on their windshield, they thought it was pudding. Then, Mike told them. He was like “Yo, I totally took a shit on your fucking window.”.
Jasper - They were like “Oh, thats messed up” See, they’re good christians, so they couldn’t get mad. They did give me a shrink-wrapped bible, and then callrd me a week later to ask how I was liking it.
SHZ - Now your talking about your label mates, Punk Core’s own-The Havoc?
Josh - They are nice guys, they are totally cool kids and shit, it’s just doesn’t make sense. Punk rock is rock and roll. Religion doesn’t belong in rock and roll, and there is nothing punk about being all religious. It’s not fucking cool. Now thats just my opinion, its not a Virus opinion, its just mine. Just keep your fucking stupid religion to yourself.
SHZ - Moving on...You guys have been together for about 5 years, since 1998, and your on your third singer. What’s up with the revolving door, and why does no one want to keep the job?
Josh - It’s weird. Basically, both singers left on good terms, they left as friends.
Mike Authority (to anyone who could hear) - Where are my fucking shoes?!!! Who took my fucking shoes?!!!
SHZ - I didn’t touch your shoes, I swear!
Josh - Anyway, basically, Mike-the original singer, got job offers on the West Coast that he just didn’t think he could turn down. Paul has a bunch of really personal things that he had to take care of. We basically said to him- “We want to go further, we want to tour, if you can’t do it, just let us know”. He said he couldn’t do it, so we didn’t really have a choice. We want to tour, we want to keep the band going. We didn’t want to get a new singer. I mean, I like Jasper, don’t get me wrong, but going to a 3rd singer, man it’s really hard. I didn’t go to the tryout, but Jarrod called me up and said he was good. I was pretty shocked cuz Jarrod is really hard to impress. So, when I did show up, I heard him and he did a great job. I was impressed. Jasper’s doing a good job, I like him as a singer.
SHZ - So, between you and me, are you gonna let him stick around for a while?
Josh - For a little while anyway. We’ll see what happens. See if he doesn’t get sick of us.
SHZ - So, what do you think, are you digging the situation?
Jasper - It’s cool. The last band I was in (The Vigilantes from Boston) wasn’t really part of the same scene. It was more of the TKO stuff.
Josh - Oi! Oi! Oi!
Jasper - We were definitely a different scene so it’s a little odd to jump into this crowd. I mean The Virus are a really popular band in this whole serious Exploited street punk scene. Those aren’t really bands I’m into at all, so it’s strange. It’s cool though. I’ve never played music this hard or fast before and I’m loving it. (editor’s note - this was Jasper’s 28th show with The Virus)
Josh - The difference between us and most street punk bands is we don’t really sound like most of them. We don’t sing about the punks, we don’t sing about 40's, we don’t Oi!Oi!Oi!. Bringing Jasper in, it opens a whole new door. Now we can reach just about everybody. He has a voice that everyone hears and goes “Huh, that boys pretty good”. He can actually sing, you can actually understand him. Basically, you what I think? I think we’re gonna take over the World...
SHZ - Sounds like a good plan.
Jasper - Yeah, I’ve been trying to throw off the punks by wearing eyeliner and Joy Division shirts.
SHZ - So, when you hit the West Coast, are you going to play with Mike and Cheap Sex?
Josh - Actually, those guys just got into a really bad accident. Mike, the singer, was going to fly to NYC from California. He had to fly because he can only take off two weeks a year. So, the other guys drove out from California. They had a set-up just like ours with a van and a trailer. Anyway, they were driving and they went to get off at their exit. Well, there was a big truck with cinder blocks on it that was stopped on the exit. The driver slammed his brakes and the trailer swung and jackknifed. Then they got hit again by a semi which flipped the van. All these cinder blocks were flying. They flew through the windows of the van and hit Johny O., their guitar player. He’s in the hospital in critical condition. The tours cancelled and right now, they don’t know if he’s gonna live or die. Mike is out in San Diego, we’ll see him when we make it out there. The accident happened by my hometown, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. All my friends are there with them, they’re all supporting them. We went out there last summer and they’re great guys. I really hope they’re okay and things work out. We’re really think about them.
Editors note: if you want to make a donation for Cheap Sex’ hospital bills or want to send well wishes, try e-mailing [email protected]
Josh - Thats the second band that we know thats gotten into an accident this summer. The Exploding Hearts from Portland got in a real bad accident earlier this summer.
Jasper - Everyone died but their guitar player.
Josh - So, from now on when we’re in the van and I lie down, I think “Is this a safe spot?” Now anytime anything happens in the van I’m on edge. Its really freaky.
Jasper - I can’t even sleep in the van...
Mike - Can’t sleep in the fucking van? It took us 5 tries to wake you up last night!
Jasper - Today we saw another van turned on its side in a bush.
Josh - Its just really scary being on the road this summer.
SHZ - So this is a long-ass tour...
Josh - Yesterday at Warped Tour the bigger, older bands were all asking us how long we were out for. When we told them 75 days, they were all pretty fucking shocked. I was talking to the guys from Rancid and they were like-that’s fucked up, thats a long tour.
Jasper - The only band that had us beat was the Dropkick Murphys. They were on tour till the middle of November.
Josh - Thats their own fucking fault. I aint doing that shit, this country isn’t that big.
SHZ - So were some of the other bands into it? Did they check you out?
Josh - It was funny, after we played, I went up to Lars Rancid and I gave him a CD. He said “Oh, that’s cool, you have a CD cuz I already have this on vinyl. I just said “oh, thats cool...”
SHZ- Thats gotta make you feel pretty good.
SHZ - So, when you had the singer vacancy-did you offer Wattie the job?
Josh - Its funny you should ask. Blaise from Blind Society actually started that rumor. It was because in New Jersey at Holidays In The Sun, Wattie sang “I Believe” with us. That all started as a joke, too. When we were in England a few months before Mike and I were saying that we should get Wattie to sing it and we’d blow everyone away. I told everyone in the band that I would do it and everybody said that I wouldn’t. So, we were getting ready to go on stage and I saw Wattie just sitting there. I went up and said “Wattie, would you come up and sing “I Believe” with us?” He said (imagine Josh speaking in heavy Brit accent) “Yeah, fucking right, all right”. It was fucking awesome. If you watch it in the video you see Mike and he doesn’t realize it, then he see’s him and he’s like “holy shit”, he hits Paul and Paul’s just as shocked, they were all totally blown away.
SHZ - Is that like your best memory with the band so far?
Josh - It’s definitely up there. It’s pretty fucking cool. We could all say that we were The Exploited for 3 minutes.
SHZ - So, you played the last Holidays In The Sun festival in Morcambe, how was that?
Josh - Actually, we didn’t go. We didn’t get to play. We were on it. Then we all got this e-mail and it said that we couldn’t play. We were pretty surprised. It was like, what the fuck? Why can’t we play? So, a few weeks later we get another e-mail and it says that we can play again. We didn’t understand why we were playing, then we weren’t. We didn’t get it, they never replied to us, so we decided-fuck it, we’re not gonnna play unless we know whats up. If it was a scheduling thing, or a personal thing-whatever. I don’t care, I just wanted to know why we got kicked off in the first place. I wish we would have got to play, to hang out.
Jasper - It actually worked out well for me cuz I had been in the band for a grand total of two weeks, so...
Josh - I hope we get to see that guy face to face so we can figure out what happened. He was a really nice guy and I love playing those festivals. I mean, even if you can’t play, it’s just fun as hell to hang out and see all those bands.
SHZ - So I know its another month and a half till your done, but what are your plans for after tour, are you gonna make a new record? Is Jasper actually gonna record with you guys?
Josh - Jasper will actually sing on a record. We hope to do at least one more record with Punk Core. They’ve been pretty good to us so far. We’re gonna do another record for them, tour on it and then see what happens. Bigger is better.
SHZ - Are the majors calling? Columbia, MCA, Island, what’s up?
Josh - Yeah, I wish they were. I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. No, seriously, I’m happy with Punk Core, they treat us well.
SHZ - Well, I know you’ve got a place to stay tonight, so I’ll let you get going, but I have one last thing. I want you to give me 5 words to live by...
Jasper - Road dogs, finger blasts, slam pigs...
Josh - Stay true, stay punk, keep to your roots...
SHZ - That’s really not five words.
Josh - Man, I don’t give a fuck about 5 words. I dropped out of fucking high school.
SHZ - Hey, me too! Normally I don’t let anyone off the hook on that one, but since we’re all a bunch of drop outs here... So, anything else you wanna say?
Josh - Yeah, thanks, this was a good interview, we appreciate it.
SHZ - Yeah, good luck, drive safe...
If you want to see them, check their little website for dates, they’re on the road on the “Another Wasted Night” tour till mid-September...
www.viruspunks.com
If you’ve never heard the Virus before your really missing out. You can fix the problem real quickly though. First, take off that Virus tee-shirt, hit yourself in the face 5 times for being a silly poseur and then go get yourself a copy of their latest LP “Nowhere To Hide”, or grab up their recently repressed “Global Crisis” 7 inch on Charged Records. I’m pretty sure their website has that MP3 crap if your broke or can’t leave your house to go to the store.
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