1) 1983 10MW INTERVIEW HERE!!!!!! DURAN 11-Jan-00 01:12 PM Here's a 1983 10MW interview taken from the SUB POP official website. It's really cool.... Go on and read this... Sorry for the layout but it was divided into three pages with photos (sadly not old ones) and i copied it here through WORD. The interview is from a Fanzine probably called BACKFIRE. Who knows, perhaps the oldest GN'R related interview ever!!!!!! GO ON...ENJOY Since I've been hanging around the hardcore scene I've seen almost all of 10 Minute Warning's shows, dating back to when they were known as the Fartz. With their talent and unique sound, 10 Minute Warning could go a long way. This interview is with guitarist Duff McKagan and drummer Gregg Gillmore; the other band members are guitarist Paul Soldier, vocalist Steve Verwolf and bassist David Garriques. Backfire: How did you guys get started playing music, you and Gregg ? Gregg: Ah, (belch) I always liked music for as long as I can remember and my dad played drums. I was just kind of interested in drums as an instrument and in 5th grade at school I played drums, actually I played trumpet. Then I played drums in 6th grade. Were you influenced by any other kinds of bands? Gregg: The Mamas and the Papas and the 5th Dimension were the first bands I listened to, and other records. Duff: I played lead broom for Kiss. I have a lot of influences from mid-70s. I think both me and Paul are influenced by the New York Dolls, guitar-wise. And anything in between, probably anything else I've heard, has influenced me in some way. O.K. great. What other bands have you both played in? Duff: I also played in the Living with Gregg and that just kind of ended off on a sour note. But it was real groovin' for awhile. And I also made a single with the Veins and made a single and played with the Fastbacks and played in a lot of other wank bands. I went to San Francisco with the Silly Killers. I played with the Silly Killers for awhile. Did a mass West Coast tour with Silly Killers and made 14 dollars playing three gigs. That's not just me; the whole band only made $14. How did 10 Minute Warning get started? Duff: Ah well, like I said, I was playing in the Fartz and because of differences, Steve (former bass player) left. So we got David to play bass. Me and Paul were playing guitars one day and we figured 'Why don't we try both playing guitars and get a drummer' and instantly I knew which drummer to get, which was Gregg. Why did Blaine, your old singer Ieave the band? Gregg: He wanted to party. Duff: Just musical differences; we were getting a lot more melodic. Not as hardcore. then? Gregg: Yeah, Fartz hardcore. Duff: We're still a hardcore group; hardcore to me means just hardcore. Getting intense on that music, slammin' on them guitars and believing in what you're doing. That's hardcore to me. Hardcore is not raw smash, stage dive and shit. Hardcore is more a way of thinking and playing. How about Blaine? Duff: Oh, about Blaine (laughs), so we tried to get him to sing and he really tried ya know, but it just wasn't working out and so it just came to a point where. . . Gregg: He wanted to leave anyway. So there were no hard feelings between Blaine and you guys? Gregg: No,we still see the weasel dick around (laughs). Duff: Yeah, I still throw him down on the ground sometimes. O.K.. how's your new singer, Steve, working out? What kind of stage presence does he have? Gregg: Animal! Yeah, I saw him pouring silver paint on himself at the last show. Duff: Yeah, he's one intense guy; he leads his own life. He doesn't really have an influence that controls the way he acts, he's just a nut. I've heard people say he's trying to act like Iggy or Jim Morrison. It's just not the case; that's Steve Verwolf at his primal best. O. K., what kind of spiritual message are you trying to relate with your music? Haha. . . Gregg: Love in the light. No, we're not trying to blaze any particular path or any political 'do this' or 'do that,' just, uh, having fun and not being. . . Duff: Begin caught up in certain cliques or peer pressure. Basically what the whole quote-unquote 'punk scene' was about was getting away from the cliques and the peer pressure. Now it's just regressed back into. . . Gregg: It's turned into what it was trying to get away from. Duff: Yeah, it's just kind of gone around in a big circle, to right back to what I was trying to get out of. So we're just trying to say, hey you guys, let's unite; let's not worry about what you're wearing or what the guy behind you thinks about you. Just have a good time, have fun, don't go around hittin' people and shit.' Gregg: I think, in a way without having to say much, we're an example of that happening because we're not a punk rock band and there's a lot of punk rockers who get into what we're doing. And we don't always necessarily look like punk rockers when we're on stage. Yeah, we're just an example of that working. Duff: And it's not like we're trying to get across a big spiritual message. Our first point is creating good music, something people can really tune in to. Tunes for groovin', not tunes for anti-this or anti-that. Gregg: Not tunes for being pissed off or a flag to wave around. So you're not an anarchy band? Duff: Definitely not an anarchy band! Some people might say, 'Oh well, these guys serve no purpose,' 'cause we've had interviews where the first question was, 'What are your political views?' We're a rock 'n' roll band, not Governor Spellman. And people might look down on us 'cause we don't have political views, but then you gotta look at it, why should we? You guys are getting dragged down by peer pressure because somebody says you gotta have political views. That's the cool thing right now, to be a political band. Well fuck that shit; we're not political. What local bands do you like to see? Gregg: 10 Minute Warning. Duff: I Iike watching bands. I saw Poison Idea, the Rejectors and the Accused the other night and I enjoyed the show just because it was fun and it was loud and fast and you could get down. I also like the Fastbacks and the Silly Killers are fun to watch. Do you guys like heavy metal? Gregg: Big balls and things. . . Duff: I'm not a metal fanatic or anything, but I like a lot of the sounds coming from some of the metal bands around. I like Motley Crue, old Kiss, Motorhead, Tank. . . but a lot of stuff that's supposed to be heavy metal isn't heavy metal at all, like Def Leppard. They're supposed to be the kings of heavy metal. But they're not really even heavy metal, they're more like a songwriting troupe. Not that they're not a good band, I like them, but . . Gregg: I don't even like 'em. Are you going to be recording any records in the near future? Duff: That's what our goal is right now and that's what our goal has been for a long time. We've been trying to get something out, it's like a struggle. Gregg: That's a lie. Duff: We are too, man! Gregg: We talk about it a lot. Duff: But we're trying hard. Gregg: Yeah, we are. That's our main goal. That's what the band's all about, that's what we exist for, not just doing a show once a month in Seattle and going to work five days a week. Do you think Jello Biafra will be helping you record your record now that Faulty Products has gone out of business? Duff: He claimed he would when we played those dates with him. Gregg: But that's when Faulty was still happening. They're (the D.K.s) at a point now where they could probably just start their own label and not even bother messing with us. Duff: We just wanted to clear up one point. Gregg: It's a fact that we come across a lot more professional than a lot of the other local bands and a Iot of people interpret that wrong. Duff: They think we're stuck up or trying to sell out. I don't know where they're getting this: do we have a record contract? We just want to be good, we don't want to be just five wankers up on stage. Gregg: To practice once a week and jerk off is not where it's at. Duff: We are serious musicians, but I want to make the point that we're not stuck up, no matter what people think, not that we care what people think. I've never understood this shit about selling out anyway, because I figure if you're a musician and you Iike playing music that you should take it as far as you can, and if you end up making lots of money and becoming a star then big deal, at least you like what you do. Duff: Yeah, it is what we like to to. We're not trying to make all of our songs into big commercial successes or anything. We're just playing what we like to pl