JEFF CLAYTON

Interview conducted via email by A Square 333 (9-10-2000)

photo Dave Norton

Q: What is the current line up ?

CLAYTON: Joe Young : guitar, Sir Barry Hannibal : drums, Doug Canipe : bass, and myself, Jeff Clayton : vocals

For the upcoming recording do you plan to record exclusively new material ? Any covers ?

We will have a few covers....not sure which ones will end up on the album though...6 Days On The Road by Dave Dudley, Smoke & Fire by Screaming Lord Sutch, & Commando by The Ramones.

Will you still rely on the same studio and sound engineer as usual ?

Yes. Jamie Hoover.

Will the organ be a constant part of the antiseen sound in the future ?

We have used an organ on the recordings ever since NOISE FOR THE SAKE OF NOISE and will more than likley always find a place for it on our albums. Im very fond of that sound. We did play live with one for a time but that didnt work out for long.

Before this you play the Confederacy Of Scum supershow.Can you introduce the Confederacy Of Scum in a few words.How many bands are involved in it. How many extra people. What about the "new generation" in the COS.

The COS was a very fun thing when it started. Now it seems to have gotten bigger than any of us individually. It consists of us along with Rancid Vat, Cocknoose, Hellstomper, Limecell, Frankenstein Drag Queens, Bootleg Bill, The Tunnel Rats. I guess it has gotten too big to actually serve a purpose...but I guess at the end of the day all it was every intended for was fun.

Id like to keep it that way.

Do you plan touring after that? in europe?

Oh yeah...we'll be back over there.

Who writes the music/lyrics in the band?

For the longest time it was just Joe & me doing all that,

but here recently Sir Barry has contributed a very large amount to the song writting...music and lyrics.

Some topics are recurrent in the lyrics. what makes you sing these?

Just singing about things we know about...maybe trying a diffrent approach to attacking the subject each time.

You started the band in ' 83, have done loads of albums and singles, have played with the Ramones, the Exploited, met a lot of people in the music and wrestling fame - just one good memory among these ?

More than I could ever put into one interview! Touring with FEAR was really fun.

You've often been harassed because of your explosive shows, even your image and your acting are controversial in your country, why ? Is it still the case today ?

Because most of America are a bunch of fucking cowards SO worried about hurting one anothers feelings to ever tell the truth. Every one tries so hard to be "politically correct" that its one big fucking joke. We get more controversy than ever before.

What makes you keep on rock' n' rolling after all these years. Did you ever plan to stop one day in the past ?

There have been many times when I thought i wanted to quit from being so discouraged, but I think that very same feeling is what keeps us going. To quit for us would almost be like surrendering!!

(Note : even though i believe Antiseen is more like Motorhead in a sense they keep the faith and never disappointed their fans. by the way Jeff the last Motorhead album is a real blast and you have to know this little story : during an Antiseen European tour in early' 90 me and my bandmates wished to see you here playing in france and we planned at the time to ask you if you were ok to sing a song in the studio with us playing as the backing group because we were just recording at that time and we thought that "I'll be your sister" from the "Overkill" album was just the perfect tune for you to sing and later to be released on our little label!! aaaarghhh!!! anyway, back to the questions...)

C: I WOULD HAVE DONE IT TOO!!!

Can you tell us readers your top five in country music and whysk(e)y if we wish to taste the best of (southern) american culture between two antiseen listenings ?

Country music: 1. George Jones 2. Porter Wagoner 3. Jimmie Martin 4. Johnny Paycheck 5. David Allan Coe

Whiskey: 1. George Dickle 2. Evan Williams 3. Jack Daniels 4. Captain Morgan Rum 5. Moonshine

What does wrestling represent for you.(it has always been represented here as a mystery joke/show/circus and once a year it can be seen on tv late at night ...)

For us it really a way of life as funny as that may sound. Its hard for our european fans to really understand the connection but hopefully one day that wont be the case. We love the act, the dedication, the performance

...its hard to explain.

By the way have you ever heard of this guy Lightning Beat-man, from swizterland (i think) and his fantastic LP "apartment wrestling rock and roll" ?

Ive heard of him

The guns are part of the Antiseen image. Also

the NRA seems to be a real force in the us, can you enlighten this point ?

Well as you know, we have a very high murder rate over here because all the criminals have guns. Well, we as private citizens want them too so that the odds are a little more inour favor. BUT our coward ass government and all the PC cry baby groups out there want to disarm us so we will be easy prey for the criminals and so we will be easier to control when they eventually just roll right over us all.

You played with GG Allin under the name GG Allin + Antiseen, Carolina Shitkickers... did you know him well ?

Yes, very well.

Who composed the songs on the Murder Junkies album ? How did it end up on the french label New Rose ?

We wrote all the music and GG wrote all the lyrics.

Lyrics we still get in hot water about over today. For instance I dont agree with the KILL THE POLICE song, but it was GG's album more or less. I think New Rose contacted him while he was still in prison about the record deal. I know its been repressed by a few labels so far. None have ever so much as sent us a copy of it!!

The song bermuda of Roky Erickson was part of your very first set lists, right? Can you tell a bit more about your influences ?

Actually that was a song WE wrote called Bermuda. Our influences are so wide and varied that its almost not worth going into. But some are obvious..like Motorhead, Ramones, Anti Nowhere League, and our southern and country influences because thats where we are from.

Didn't you say that Alice Cooper and the Dead Boys were a very early inluence and even that the first one was your idol when you were about 10 ?

I still love both of them to this very day. Also the Sex Pistols. Alice was the first rock

star I ever "idolized"!

You had to justify your cover of a Skrewdriver song almost every time while you also recorded Curtis Mayfield and Sun Ra songs .Who are the people who mess with you with these kind of subjects ? Why ?Are they still after you now?

Like I said, these cowards are so insecure with being white that they apologize for everthing under the sun!! I dont have any white guilt at all. NONE. So when these little PC liberals

want to find some reason to hate us that usually what they pick out. FUCK THEM!!! and yes...we still get shit about it all the time.

Essential!!!

Out in Europe on Loudsprecher loudsprecher@hotmail.com & in the US on Steel Cage records

You have found labels now doing a great job for their artists like TKO, Loudsprecher, Steel Cage...but it has not always been the case in the past?

Nope. And we are very happy to be working with each of those you named.

At the beginning the name of the group antiseen was meant to be a reaction against the "scene" .Don't you think that by the years antiseen or what it represents precisely built a scene which surrounds now the 3 original groups in the COS ?

Good point. And yes, i suppose it has. But , we seemed to have surrounded ourselves with the kind of people we wanted to in the begining. But yeah I see your point.

The COS can be considered as a weapon of self defense at least ?

More like a badge to tell people where your coming from is more like it.

The song 'Walking Dead' (from one of my favorite Antiseen single) was previously recorded in ' 88 by the Slimegoats and later recorded by antiseen. Can you tell us more about the side projects. Are all the releases still available ?

Actually none of that stuff is in print anymore, except fot the stuff I did withCONQUERER WORM &

ALCOHOLICS UNANIMOUS.

Have you ever heard the cover of Animals Eat 'em by the Meices from canada (i think) . It was recorded in ' 96 on Mag Wheel records and it kicks ass!!?

I knew they covered it but I was never sent a copy as is usually the case.

Take these bands : like AC/DC, the Ramones, Motorhead they play(ed) for two decades and we used to call them hard rock, punk rock, metal or whatever but at the end it's only fucking good ROCK AND ROLL ! What about Antiseen...

Id like to think we fit right in there with them boys!!!

antiseen.com is where you can find all the Antiseen records at low prices + the complete discography, news…

http://antiseen.com

A Square 333

Antiseen in studio recording - October 2000 for their next album "THE BAD BOYS FROM BRUTALSVILLE". Out early 2001 on TKO (USA) & Loudsprecher (Europe).

Latest releases : Southern Hostility + Eat More Possum on one CD (MansRuin) - 7" Sabu b/w Sick Things (Steel Cage)

Note : DO NOT MISS the Conquerer Worm CD"Ride On" (full with Simon Stokes covers).A Baloney Shrapnel product (dktoof@goodnet.com) + the fantastic Alcoholics Unanimous 7" "Dixie Fried" on Tear It Up (see http://tearitup.com) back to the text

For more infos go to their site http://antiseen.com

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