Interviews : The Night Marchers
Interview : The Night Marchers
After more than 20 years’ worth of shredding eardrums with a host of underground juggernauts including Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, and Drive Like Jehu, John Reis has kept a comparatively low profile in recent years. But he’s got a lot of sonic mischief planned for 2013, including a new record from The Night Marchers and second go-arounds with Rocket and Hot Snakes after extended hiatuses.
The Dig caught up with the garage-punk kingpin prior to The Night Marchers‘ upcoming show at Great Scott to talk about the new record, keeping things casual, and his mixed feelings on reunions.
For much of your career, you’ve been working without a brake pedal. But in recent years you’ve focused exclusively on The Night Marchers. What’s it been like decompressing a bit from the days of juggling multiple bands?
John Reis: Well, just because I haven’t been out playing shows doesn’t mean the music hasn’t been going the whole time. The music’s still been going on in my head. There was a point in time where I took a year off from even playing guitar because I was sort of plagued with a health issue. And I think that’s why now there’s a resurgence.
Now that I’m able to go again I’m just super horny to just kick out the jams.
You actually had the songs done for Allez, Allez in 2010, but you only recently released the record. What’s the story behind the lag time?
I don’t think we felt a real sense of urgency to get it out right away … I got in the mode of doing other things, then I stopped playing for a while, and other guys in the band had kids and got married … life just sort of took preference over our little record. Finally in the last year it became, ‘OK, let’s do this thing.’
It was starting to sound old, so that was kind of the motivation to get going with it.
When you came back to the record, did you rework anything, or is what we have pretty close to what you had in 2010?
It’s the exact record. We didn’t really change anything. The only thing we mulled over was song selection, because we recorded six or seven songs that didn’t make it to the record, so we spent some time figuring out what songs we wanted to put on.
You’re also turning your attention back to Rocket From The Crypt and Hot Snakes. What ultimately brought you back to those bands?
The Hot Snakes still feel very current to me. Night Marchers is three-quarters of the Hot Snakes, and during one of the last Night Marchers shows in San Diego, [Hot Snakes singer/guitarist] Rick [Froberg] got up and we played some songs. It’s been really, really cool. There’s not a lot of desperation to it … it’s very casual, and
I think it sounds just as good, if not better than ever.
Are you pretty resolute in leaving things as a reunion? Can we expect any new music from either band, or are you just taking things as they come?
It’s always a possibility, but yeah we’re just taking things as they come. Having not been together for eight years, for some of the guys it’s been like going from a coma to running a marathon. We lack the chemistry that we once had. I’m sure we’ll find it again, and that’s pretty crucial to unlocking our sound. But yeah, I don’t look at it like ‘We’re back!’
I don’t have my eye on world domination anymore.
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