June 27, 2002

NB
How long does the band exist and how did you start?
GS
In 1994, which was way back in the old days in the GEE STRINGS (we were actually called DER GELBE SACK then which means The Yellow Garbage Bag), there were 4 friends: Ingi on vocals, Mrs Hanson on bass, Damir on guitar and Jac on drums. The 5th Gee String Bernadette completed the band playing the 2nd Guitar. After some changes on bass, we have been playing as a quartet since 1997. The band's actual line up is: Ingi (Lead Vocals), Jac (Drums + Voc.), Nik Nasty (Bass + Voc.) and Bernadette (Guitar)
NB
Did you play in other bands before Gee Strings and do you have any side Projects now?
GS
Yes of course, we are not the youngest. Each of us started to play in bands in the begining of the eighties. Nik (our bassplayer) played in The Puke and Canal Terror (one of the first german punkbands). It's busy enough with one band, course The Gee Strings are playing a lot of gigs, working on records and we are also booking ourselves the shows in Germany. Actually only Nik has an side project. He's playin in "1982" (a german punk rock cover band).
NB
What did you release till now?
GS
Our discographie:
- 1997 First CD/10" "The Gee Strings" on High Society International
- 1998 Compilation "Crazy Mongo Party" on NovoSi Birsk Records
- 1999 2nd. LP/CD "Alternative Losers" on High Society International
- 2000 7" "Bad Reputation" on Stereodrive/Green Hell Records
- 2001 Compilation "Viva la Vinyl No.4" on Dead Beat Records
- 2002 3nd. LP/CD "Arrest Me" on Dead Beat Records
NB
Can you live from your music, or you have job?
GS
We can't live from our music and we don't have regular jobs. Sometimes we Do some jobs to earn enough money to survive. Only Nik is workin in a half time job as a social worker. Jac is to lazy to work and Ingi doesn't want to Work in her former job as a teacher (The social system is not too bad in Germany...). Bernadette is a student for a long time. He sometimes works as a cable guy at a TV - Show. But music is the most important thing for us, although we know that we will never be able to live from it.
NB
It seems that lot of things happen in Germany today - lot of gigs, good bands and records. Is it easy for you to get more people interested in your music and get good distro for your records?
GS
There's a lot of punk rock bands in Germany nowadays, but the 77 scene is rather small. But there a lot of good clubs in Germany for Punk Rock Bands. Actually we are more interested to play outside of Germany (We just came back from a brasilian tour).

NB
I call Gee Strings' style Glam Punk. I really like a lot bands like New York Dolls, Heartbreakers, but also aussie bands like Radio Birdman. Are those bands also your favorites? How big was their influence on Gee Strings songs?
GS
You dig it. We really like those bands. All the bands we listen to somehow have an influence on our songwriting but we don't try to copy anyone and we think our songs have their own charakter.
NB
There are lot of reisues of oldschool 77 punk. It seems that people are very interested to discover obscure and unknown bands from that time. But how much are they interested to hear the new bands in the same style? I met lot of them who only like stuff before '84 and don't want to hear anything new. What's your experience?
GS
You right. A lot of the audience want to hear the originals songs and often want to hear cover songs. But we don't care and feed them our originals (of course we do some cover songs). Sometimes people come up to us after the show and tell us that we are great, but 20 years to late. The younger people never had the chance to watch the original '77 bands, so they come to our shows. We think we are a pretty good "substitute".
NB
Do you tour a lot and which countries are you touring next?
GS
We are always trying to play as many shows as possible. We really like to be on tour. As we sad we are just back from a Brasilian tour. Last year we played in France and Spain. We are working on a tour to Italy, France and Switzerland in the end of the year. Next year we are going back to Brasil.
NB
What is the craziest thing that happened on your gigs?
GS
Our most frightening road story is when the whole fucking wheel fell off our tour van because the mechanic who put it on didn't remember to put on the safety pin. So we're driving around, Paul (our old bassplayer) and Jac are in the back having a beer and a laugh, Ingi and Bernadette are in the front and all of a sudden the van starts sliding about and acting like it had a flat tyre but there was this grinding noise and Bernadette (the best driver in the world) kept us from flipping over and dying. The end of the story is that we got the van fixed thoroughly for free and the guy ended up doing a little bit of extra work because he felt like such a shit head for almost killing us.
Another funny story is that we played as an opening act for the Backstreet Boys in a football stadium. After the show a lot of 12 year old girls wanted autographs and one girl said "you're making music just like my father likes!"
NB
Ingi is one of my favorite female singers. Does she have any role models?
GS
She really likes Joan Jett, Wendy O. William, Ari-Up (Slits) and she's a big fan of the young Johnny Rotten.

NB
Is someone of you big Runaways fan, or you did cover of "Cherry Bomb" just for fun?
GS
We really like the Runaways and Joan Jett stuff. Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" is on our 7" and on our new album we covered "I love playin' with fire".
NB
Tell me a bit about band members - what are they like, what are their hobbies...???
GS
Jac is or drummer. He likes cookin, watchin' hardcore porn movies and drinking! Ingi likes a lot to travel to England and Ireland to visit friends. Nik and Bernadette are guitar maniacs and always on the hunt for old guitars. Nik likes also young chicks and spending hours in the bathtub (telephoning, wanking...)
NB
What are your top 5 albums of all time?
GS
Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!
Iggy and The Stooges - Raw Power
Sex Pistols - Never mind the Bollocks
Ramones - It's Alive
And finally Vader Abraham and zijn Smurfenlied
NB
Which new bands do you like, I mean from 90's and now?
GS
From the new bands we like The Humpers, The Stitches, Turbonegro, The Von Zippers, Texas Terrie and The Stiff Ones.
NB
What is band doing now - can we expect new release soon?
GS
We just recorded a new album "Arrest Me". It's coming out in a few days on Dead Beat Records in the U.S., of course it will also distributed in Europe. So watchout for it!
NB
Anything you want to say to No Brains readers?
GS
We would really like to tour in your country. So anybody that can help us out with booking some shows or has any gig contacts. Mail us: thegeestrings@gmx.de Write us some love letters and check out our homepage: http://www.inyaface.de/thegeestrings