NB
Who is Jerry Spider?
LS
Jerry Spider is our virtual guru. He lives in everybody's mind that have dedicated his life to drugs and sonic revolution (!). The band has emerged to give voice to his ideas ( and as a tribute to Ziggy, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, the American Soul spiders, the Groovies... cuz' "we love the battling aesthetics of cocain-addicted swindlers !")
NB
Tell me about the band - how did you start?
LS
the band was formed in spring 98 from the ashes of the Space Beatniks (trash-garage-surf / 4ep on zombie Dance rds... We still have some so don't hesitate to write us) and the Chatterbox (A la NYDoll/Stooges / 1selfproduced ep ,sold-out). We wanted to do hi-energy rock'n'roll, mixing all our influences from the 60's to Stoner Rock. Our second gig was an openning for the Cramps... that's a good beginning ! After that we recorded a demo and sent it to various people and labels. Kike Turmix from Safety Pin answered us 6 months later and told us he wanted to do a 10"/CD. That was unbelievable for us as the demo was recorded in 2/3 days in a cheap studio and also cause Safety Pin was one of our favourite label, with records of the Humpers, Gluecifer, Hellacopters, Sonny vincent.... Then he proposed us two gigs in Spain with the Hellacopters... The rocket was launched !
NB

What are your influences?
LS
it's always a difficult question as there's too many ! the most evident ones must be the Stooges, MC5, Dead Boys, DMZ, Bored !, Union Carbide Productions... But we like all kind of music (and also everybody in the band got his own influences). Personnally it goes from Delta blues to Black Sabbath. I was raised with garage 60's and australian rock and these days I'm into Curtis Mayfield and Charlie Feather... So, what can I say ?
NB
Can you tell me something about the members of the gang?
LS
Mars -he plays the drums. Before JSG he was playing in the Space Beatniks and the Shoo Chain Brothers. We used to call him "the dandy from the underworld"... he likes pin-up girls, drinkin'Jack Daniels and smokin' a lot of H...

Mighty Yo -he plays the bass. Before that he was playing the guitar in the Space Beatniks and the drums in the Human Flies (and also the Human Jukebox, Les Bites...). He plays also with another band, the Zoomen (a mix of Dead Kennedys/Cosmic Psychos/Discharge/Eddie And the Hot Rods (?!)). He's eating , drinking, fucking, doing dope more an better than you could possibly think, so... Carefull !

Speedy -he plays the guitar. Before, he was playing with the Chatterbox. He's the true king of the wah-wah pedal

Lo'Spider -I play the guitar and sing. Before that I was playing the bass in the Space Beatniks and a few other bands and guit and vox in the Human Flies... I also played organ for a while in a rythm and blues combo. Right now I play the bass in the Zoomen and the guitar in Starshit (A la Short Fuses/Bell Rays/Pretenders...).
NB
What are your releases till now?
LS
*"Porn in the Bayou" 10"/CD Safety pin Rds, Madrid-Spain (.99) SOLD OUT
*-High School Babes on "That's bad (music for unrepentant people)" Do the Dog, Guerande-France (05.99)
*"Dope Takin' Kamikazes" CD Shark Attack Rds, Paris-France (10.00) ; LP Safety Pin rds (03.01) SOLD OUT
*-Yesterday's Numbers on the Flaming Groovies tribute album ("Groovin' around the World") ; 2xCD Safety Pin Rds. (01.01) SOLD OUT
*-Single Kinky Pussy / We Love Rock'n'Roll, Bermuda on Aaargh Rds, Toulouse-France (11.00) SOLD OUT
*-Down in Hell on "Wild news from frenchy radio punk rock", a 7 songs compil. Ep. (Gasolheads, Exxon Valdez, Sugarfix, Jerky Turkey, Machine Gun Kelly, Sonic Assassin) ; Lollipop rds, Marseille-France (10.00)
*-Outerspace part.1 on Abus Dangereux CD sampler ; Vicious Circle, Montauban-France (09.00)
*-Toodlepip Fuck on "Alpha Motherfuckers", a tribute to Turbonegro ; CD, Bitzcore (06.01)
*-Feel Like a Man on "Destination France Rock" ; 2xCD, Warner Music (06.01)
*-This is my life / Into the dark of the night ; single, Pitshark rds, Paris-France (11.01)
*-I Need More (revisited) on "Kongpilation #4" ; CD, Bananajuice, Rennes-France (03.02)
*-What's Wrong With You ? on "Blast of Rock'n'Roll" ; CD, RCS, Rennes-France(03.02)
*-Situation 3 / When I get off ; single, Ghost Rider rds, Paris-France (04.02)
*-We Love Rock'n'Roll on "Riot on the Rocks #6", Safety Pin rds, Madrid-Spain
*-Little Girl on "A fistful of Rock'n'Roll #13", Devil Doll rds, U.S.A.
NB
Any plans for near future?
LS
We are preparing a spanish tour for the end of october with the italian/french combo, Sonic Assassin (ex A-10). We wanted to tour Belgium, Nederlands and western Germany for x-mas time with the Jakes from Bordeaux (with ex-TV Killers guitar player and Magnetix members). And... we are to record our new album this autumn. We got all the songs but we are still looking for the best studio for us...

NB
There seems to be a lot going on in France. Can you tell me about the scene there - bands, labels, zines ...?
LS
It's really hard to play rock'n'roll music in France cause you don't have any recognition, especially from the middle sized venues/bookers, the bigger labels and rock press... But it's changing (we can say a big thank you to the Hives, the white stripes, JSBX, etc...). there's some good bands in France : the Gasolheads, the Cowboys from Outerspace and the Neurotic Swingers in Marseille, the Dum Dum Boys in Nice, the Wonky Monkees, Stef And Arno, the Magnetix, the Jakes, the TV Killers in Bordeaux, Weak in La-Rochelle, TV Men, Born In Flames, Nitrobrew in Rennes, les Dogs and the Backsliders in Normandy, Anteenagers MC, Blutt, les Dragueurs, Groovers, Holy Curse, Dimi Dero Incorporation and Freddy Lynxx in Paris, Exxon Valdez and the Hellsuckers in the north-east and the Alpin contingent with the Slow Slushy Boys and a few bands around Larsen Fanzine... There must be more bands but I can't tell about everybody !
Fanzine : Larsen in Chambery, Dig It ! in Toulouse (www.chez.com/digitfanzine), SDZ in Paris and some others less specialized (Kerosene, Abus Dangereux...)
Labels : Yakisakana (Dixxie Buzzards, SuperHelicopter, Antonio 3...), SDZ (Viperes, Holy Curse, D4) Les Hyenes Dactylographiques (Blutt), Aaargh/Fiasco rds (JSG, Rockets), Mansfield (Texas Motherfuckers), Pitshark (JSG, Space cowboys, Sewergrooves...), Ghost Rider (Sour Jazz, JSG), Flame On (Magnetix, Stef And Arno), Frat Shake (Minimal Squad), Lollipop (Gasolheads, Dialtones, Exxon Valdez...), FFFascination (Groovers, Dimi Dero...) and also Vicious circle, Skydog, Larsen, Sugar and Spice, etc...
NB
What's the best band at the moment in your opinion?
LS
.............................................. ? Really hard to answer. I love the Dirtbombs (and I'm waiting impatiently their new record with only original material)... the Hives are excellent (live and album). The D4 ; Zen Guerilla live ; the Sewergrooves; the Dictators live.... and sometimes the Toilet Boys, Mudhoney, Nebula...
NB
Do you tour a lot and which countries?
LS
we do between 40 and 50 concerts a year, half in France and half in Europe. We've played in Spain (fantastic !), Germany and Belgium. This and next year we'll try to go to Benelux and Scandinavia or Italy or..., and maybe Canada...Let's see.
NB
What's the weirdest thing that happened on your gigs/tours?
LS
Personnaly it was during the last tour we did in western France when I drank some methadone (without knowing !!!). I vomit for 25 hours every 30mn... It was hell on earth but we couldn't stop the tour !
As a band I couldn't remember one event in particular, but when you are on tour you can be sure that it won't go as you thought... But that makes the "charm" of touring. And as we are not a "big" band with a good van, roadies and so on... Our tours are more like Spinal Tap than anything else. COME SEE US YOU'LL HAVE FUN !
NB
What's the thing you hate the most?
LS
FASCISM... (!!!)(???)
NB
What do you do in your free time?
LS
I play in two other bands, the Zoomen and Starshit. I write in Dig It ! fanzine. I organize concerts. I record friends on a shitty 8tracks (Magnetix, JSG, Shoo Chain Bros...), I manage the JSGang and now I want to create a label... Apart of that... PARTY !
NB
Top 5 albums ever?
LS

-Funhouse (the Stooges)
-Exile on Main street (the Rolling Stones)
-Apocalypse Dudes (Turbonegro)
-Radios appear (Radio Birdman)
-the rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from mars (David Bowie)
NB
Can we expect you in Holland soon?
LS
I hope so. We want to come 'round x-mas time. We are working on it.