Paul Cripple and Maks Motherfucka – Reagan Youth – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Johnny H
Sunday, 31 July 2016 03:00
This time next week NYC anarcho punk rockers Reagan Youth will be in the UK at the beginning of an eleven date European tour, and this time around mainstay guitarist Paul Cripple has a singer alongside him regular readers of Uber Rock might just recognise. Uber Rock’s Johnny H caught up with the guitarist and the curiously named Maks Motherfucka to talk about touring, the origins of Reagan Youth and bizarrely, US cock rockers Kick Axe.
So you guys are hooking up for the next set of Reagan Youth European dates, how did this come to happen and who else in in the line up this time around?
Paul Cripple: We met Max Motherfucker or Maks Motherfucka as we have renamed him when we played with his band Christmas and Tibbie (the bassist) and I were impressed as all fuck, so when we had a chance to tour Europe again, I wanted to do something different than the same usual thing so I thought why not bring some Germans onboard for the tour because Germans seem to love Reagan Youth more than any other people in Europe. In the U.S.A. it’s California that really loves Reagan Youth. Kelly Kaiser (real name Bjorn) is a great drummer and for the songs to work, Reagan Youth need a great drummer and Kelly Kaiser has those skills.
Maks Motherfucka: Hey John, last year I got a mail from Tibbie. She told me they need a singer for this summer. First I thought it’s a joke because such an awesome and pioneering punk rock band have asked ME to sing for them. I didn’t think about it for too long though, I checked holidays at work and gave it a go! Next to me Kelly Kaiser aka Björn from Oxymoron is hitting the drums. An awesome guy and a really good drummer!
Of course Reagan Youth bassist Tibbie also appeared on the last Christmas album ‘Lose Your Illusion’ so I guess this all kind of makes perfect sense?
MM: Two years ago Christmas supported Reagan Youth in Saarbrücken, the biggest city near our hometown. We liked each other a lot and have always kept in contact. When we wrote the intro for ‘Lose your Illusion’ I thought there is something missing. I didn’t want to appear on the intro and it sounded so evil. I knew Tibbie’s voice from her other band Gash and thought that would fit perfect! Since she is absolutely into diabolic stuff she found the right words as well!
As part of the tour you will be playing Rebellion in Blackpool and this time Paul you’ll be playing the Empress Ballroom, that’s a leap up from The Arena where I saw you a couple of years back. That show was a pretty intense set, do you remember much about it?
PC: I am so honoured they are giving us that platform to perform at again so I am glad to be bringing something out of the usual because Reagan Youth is not your usual band. I loved playing the Rebellion Festival and I remember the excitement and how more people kept coming in as we kept playing so that was heart-warming to me.
I was going to ask you what prompted you to reform the band back in 2006 Paul, then I took one look at the news and thought “fuck the world needs Reagan Youth more than ever”. What do you think?
PC: I reformed the band over such crazy circumstances that I often wonder if it was fated. Once I started playing again it didn’t take long for my creative juices to get flowing and I have played some new songs, but my band mates always had to argue so I’m looking for a solid line up to make a concept album about the life and times of my late, great singer Dave Insurgent focusing on his life, Reaganomics, New York City during the ‘80s and I promise, the songs will be able to fit in with any of the songs from the ‘80s. Three chords and the truth. And let’s not forget the catchy choruses because I won’t
I see Cleopatra Records released a box set of your early recordings earlier this year, was that something you were involved in?
PC: New Red Archives, our last label sold Cleopatra the master tapes and they wanted to release a box set, so to fill it up with as much music as possible I sent them everything from the ‘80s that wasn’t released previously and that’s the extent of my contribution. I think Cleopatra did an awesome job with the box set.
And talking of your early recordings I have to ask what did you guys made of D Generation’s cover of ‘Degenerated’?
PC: I like those guys, I grew up around them and if they wanted to cover the song and name their band after the song ‘Degenerated’, good for them. I have no qualms over it and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. One fact is that if they never did that cover, then the movie Airheads would have never known about the song ‘Degenerated’ because it was D Generation that turned 20th Century Fox onto that song. It was filmed without my knowledge but they did contact me after the fact. So I made sure Dave’s father (Dave had already passed) got Dave’s share of the royalties. and since the movie already filmed the scene with the song, I only tripled what they initially offered because I did not want to be a pig and make the movie studio pay me exactly what it would cost them to re shoot the scene with a song they did not really want. The musicians from White Zombie played on the recording and the actor Brendan Frazier sang, and no Brendan Frazier cannot sing. I would have thought the song ‘Heavy Metal Shuffle’ would have been a better choice for Airheads but 20th Century Fox already filmed it so that was that.
Did that cover actually go back to the days you would have been playing shows with Heart Attack?
PC: Of course, we played many shows with them and their first drummer, Javier Madariaga became Reagan youth’s last drummer in the ‘80s (Javier is on Reagan youth’s Volume II, also known as “For God and Country”).
I wanted to finish by asking if when he first put Reagan Youth together at the dawn of the eighties Paul, did you think you’d still be doing it thirty odd years later?
PC: No way did I ever believe anyone would actual care about what the band did back in the ‘80s let alone allow me to go out and play all these wonderful shows. One of the most pleasant surprises of my life!
Thank you both for taking the time to talk with Uber Rock. We’ll see you at Rebellion.
PC: Thank you and I’ll see you real soon. PEACE UNTO US ALL
The full list of Reagan Youth tour dates is as follows;
4.8.16 UK-London, the Underworld
5.8.16 UK-Blackpool, Rebellion Festival
6.8.16 D-Hünxe, Ruhrpott Rodeo
7.8.16 D-Giessen, AK44
8.8.16 D-Kiel, die Kieler Schaubude
9.8.16 D-Hamburg, Hafenklang
10.8.16 NL-Haarlem, Patronaat
11.8.16 D-Berlin, SO36
12.8.16 D-Kassel, Goldgrube
13.8.16 NL-Rotterdam, Club Vipes
14.8.16 B-Ieper, Ieperfest
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