The Hi-Fives and Shark Sandwich

John: vocals, guitar
Chris: guitar, vocals
Steve: bass, backup vocals
Gary: drums

The Hi-Fives are one of my favorite bands. They play like 50s type of rock and roll. They've released two albums on Lookout Records as well as some 7 inches and they have songs on numerous comps. They were formerly known as the Neer Do Wells and some members were in a surf band called Thee Shatners. This was the second time seeing them on this tour, which caused a huge misunderstanding. I saw them in Denton, Texas when they passed through there and then my visit to Atlanta coincided with a show they had in Chapel Hill, North Carolina so my friends and took a road trip to see them there. They had thought that I had driven all the way from Denton to see them, which was certainly not the case. This interview was done after their show at the Lizard and Snake Cafe in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Keith (known as SS2) and Megan (known as SS3) helped a great deal with the interview and the interview was mostly done with John but the other members of the band dropped by to add things occasionally.

(SS): HOW'S THE TOUR GOING, WHAT ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TOUR?

(Steve): It's going GREAT! Highlights of the tour? Well there's two highlights, well there's a bunch of highlights! There were these kids that talked their parents into driving six and half hours to a show in Austin [TX] on a Sunday night. And then this other kid had his parents drop him off at summer school Thursday morning.

(John): There was a bunch of them and they all came in one car.

(Steve): So they jump out, their parents drive away and they go jumping out and they drive up to the show from Fort Lauderdale which is five and half hours.

(John): Their parents think they went to school and then the library to study.

(Steve): And they all talked to their parents saying that they were staying at their other friends' houses so no one would know. So they spent the night and drove back the next morning.

(Chris): And then there's this guy who went to Denton [TX] because he didn't like think we were playing in Atlanta and he showed up here tonight.

(Steve): Really? Is he here tonight?

(SS): YA THAT'S ME. (I GUESS)

(John): And then we had this other kid -- this is a really crazy story -- he lives in Dallas and he took the bus to Denton, remember we played that evening show and he thought that we were going to go on at night, so he missed us and then he got back on the bus and took it to Austin and saw us that night. And he has this crush on Judy from Judy and the Loadies and he brought a ten dollar coupon from Toys R Us for me to go give to her with this love letter. He drew a picture of him and Judy in a spaceship flying away.

(SS2): SO HOW'S JUDY LIKE RELATED TO YOU GUYS? ANY LIKE ROMANTIC THINGS GOING ON?

(John): Well...she's my uhh...she's, she's my little woman.

(SS2): AAAH OKAY...SO WHO WAS IN THEE SHATNERS?

(John): Only Chris now. At one time our bass player was also, but he's no longer in the band.

(SS2): WHAT HAPPENED WITH JESS?

(John): Jesse got in a fight with our drummer. We had a show in New Hampshire and they had a big fight on stage. We had to stop the tour short and drive straight back from Portsmouth, NH all the way to California without talking. So we lost our rhythm section basically. We were friends with Jesse for a long time and it's not something I want to talk about. It's something I saw happening and it happened.

(SS): WHO IS THE GUY TALKING ON THE B-SIDE OF THEE SHATNERS LP?

(John): (laughs) Oh that's uh, the guy who runs Planet Pimp Record, Sven Erik-Geddes, that's his -- oh God am I gonna get this right -- its his uncle's best friend and he lives in a trailer home in Santa Cruz.

(SS2): DID YOU WALK IN WHILE THEY WERE RECORDING OR WHAT?

(John): Ya, that was impromptu, that's like an everyday conversation with that man. Sven just sort of sat down and said, "Hey man, do you mind if we record this conversation?" He says, "I don't care what you do...cocksucker...whatever you want."

(SS): WHY DO YOU GUYS CHANGE BAND NAMES AND STUFF?

(John): Members or names?

(SS): NAMES, MEMBERS, EVERYTHING.

(John): Uh...we changed the Neer Do Wells because we lost some members and we felt that continuing as the Neer Do Wells wouldn't be fair or the right thing to do. That's why the Hi Fives became the Hi Fives. And as for why we're having personel problems, I can't really answer that. I don't know.

(Chris): We don't know how to be in a rock and roll band.

(SS): WAS DANNY [seelig, drummer on "...and a whole lotta you"] JUST A SIT IN??

(John): In many ways he kinda was. He told us from the get go that he didn't plan on being the drummer long, maybe just for a tour and the record. He never really had any plans for being in it for a long time. These two guys we got now, Steve and Gary, they've both committed for....whatever the duration of the Hi Fives is gonna be, they're gonna be here until the end basically. So no more sit ins. I'm almost positive that this is the final...if there are anymore lineup changes, the Hi Fives will...dissolve. This is it

. (SS2): OH YA, WHY DID YOU GUYS FUCK UP THE "MR. MOTO"/"BAJA" THING ON THE FIRST

ALBUM? [on their first album, the hi-fives covered the song "Baja" but listed it as having the name of "Mr. Moto".]

(John): (laughs) Powerful language!

(SS2): (laughs) I'M A HUGE SURF FAN AND I WAS SO OFFENDED.

(Chris): Well that'll give you an idea on how smart we are.

(SS2): DID YOU GUYS HAVE LIKE A GREATEST HITS OF SURF OR SOMETHING?

(Chris): No, No, we just have friends who like that kind of music, Mel [from the Phantom Surfers] particularly.

(SS2): YA MEL POSTED IT ON COWABUNGA, THE SURF E-MAIL THING.

(Chris): Ya, he loves to play that sort of music and he got us into it. We got it from him. We don't know that much surf.

(John): I think we honestly didn't know the real name of that song

. (Chris): No we didn't believe it or not. We're going to do one more surf song. I really want to do that Japanese song, "kiamayuzo" [I have no idea how to spell it] Roxanne Beach. It's a badass "OW!!" song.

(SS2): ARE YOU GUYS BIG MUMMIES FANS? ["Stronger than Kirk" on Thee Shatners LP is a cover of the Mummies song, "Stronger than Dirt."]

Chris: They're a great live band

(SS2): WHAT'S THE WHOLE SCENE LIKE DOWN THERE IN CALIFORNIA, WITH THE PHANTOM SURFERS AND KATATONIC RECORDS, USED TO BE NEUROTIC RECORDS?

(John): You're talking about Supercharger, Radio X? That's a scene that the Hi Fives have never really been a part of.

(Gary): The Hi Fives are basically adopted by that scene, but it's not like they're really there.

(Chris): Uh, not really [adopted by that scene].

(Gary): Little do you know but you are. So that's all that is. There's a mod scene that really likes The Hi Fives.

(Chris): We're not mod!

(Gary): (laughing) I was a mod when Liz was a mod [Liz works for Katatonic Records] and I know mod so don't you try to tell me what is a mod and what isn't a mod. We're all mods at one time. I was in the mod scene for a really long time before working with these guys and the same people that ran the scene then that were mods then still sorta carry it on now. They kinda never left the scene. And it just so happens that the Hi Fives wear suits and sort of their music.....they just kinda got adopted by it.

(SS): WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT DOING THE HI-FIVES?

(John): We all work, we've all got jobs. Gary lays fiber optics, and I'm a high school teacher, Chris works as an art designer for a record label, and Steve sells flowers at a flower stand in San Francisco. We've all got jobs, that's why we don't tour much. We usually tour during the summer of every year.

(SS): DO YOU HAVE ANY HIGH SCHOOL FANS LIKE IN YOUR CLASSES?

(John): Sometimes, most of the kids seem to like hip-hop. I work at a sort of inter-racial school. Not many rock and roll students around. Most of them could care less about what I do. Every once in a while there's a kid who'll bring in a record or something for me to sign. It doesn't happen often. Karlo, what did you think? Now you've seen both shows are they comparable?

(SS): YA THIS ONE WAS MUCH BETTER, YOU GUYS WERE LOWER TO THE GROUND.

(John): good good good good good.

(SS3): KEITH WANTED TO SAY SOMETHING PROFOUND. [while playing "Beauty is the Mind," The Hi Fives sometimes give the mic to audience members to insert their own lines instead of, "Magic is reality, beauty is the mind."]

(John): Did you have something to stay?

(SS2): YA I WAS JUST GOING TO MENTION THE WHOLE "MR. MOTO"/"BAJA" THING.

(John): Oh that would have been so funny! We've played that song so many times and there was a time where we could make things up on the spot and have fun with it. But it's just gotten to the point now where it's gotten kinda stale. So we started giving the mic to people in the audience.

(SS2): WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF THE WHOLE LOOKOUT! CONTROVERSY WITH BEN WEASEL AND FURIOUS GEORGE?

(John): I don't know that situation much at all. But I know that I've always been very very well taken care of by Lookout! and I have no reason to think that they would dick anyone around.

(SS): SO HOW ARE THE BOMB BASSETS DOING? WHAT'S IT LIKE IN THE BOMB BASSETS?

(John): Album next month. It's just a recording project. That's all it'll ever be. It'll never tour. Just because you know it's me and Mr. T and my brother [Dallas from Sweet Baby] and there's just no time to tour. I think the Bomb Bassets have played maybe three shows in its life. So it really is just a recording project.

(SS2): SO ARE YOU REALLY CLOSE WITH THE MR. T EXPERIENCE?

(John): Really close. We're going to Japan with MTX in August. I'm very very very good friends with Frank so we buddy around a lot.

(SS): ARE YOU GUYS REFERRING TO FRANK IN THE PHONE CALL IN "BAD CONNECTION"?

(John): Ya, ya, ya!! That's his girlfriend on the phone. Because if you listen to the record you can hear her say, "Frank is that you?" (laughs) Ya, so we were recording that song and it was the last part of the phone message. So he calls up, Frank told us Bella was there, but we didn't tell her we were recording. So Bella says, "Hello?" and then we just stuck it up to the mic and she goes, "Who is this?" and then we gave it back to him and now she's on the record. It was really funny. I feel bad. I wanted to thank her on the cover of the record and we forgot to. That was kinda a bummer.

(SS2): WHO DID THE ART FOR THE NEW RECORD?

(John): Uh, it was guy named Stephan Britt who lives in Sacramento. He does a lot of the 60's art. Lets see, he did the Groovie Ghoulies cover. I think he did....wait, have you guys seen the Smugglers logo with that little guy in the suit and tie? He did that. He's done a lot. He's getting to be kinda a famous artist in the Bay Area.

(SS): YOU GUYS HAVE UPDATED SOME NEER DO WELLS SONGS. DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO RE-DO ANY JUDY AND THE LOADIES SONGS?

(John): Not Judy....well actually, you know some are, like "Humping Away." That's a Judy and the Loadies song it just never was recorded. And "I go Feral in just three days" was a Judy and the Loadies song. But I don't think ever again there will be a Judy and The Loadies song in the Hi Fives.

(SS2): ARE THEY SONGS THAT YOU JUST WROTE LYRICS TO AND NEVER RECORDED?

(John): Me and Jesse wrote all the lyrics. They were just songs that that band did and we just sort of took them over.

(SS2): ANY LAST WORDS LIKE WHAT'S THE FUTURE OF THE HI-FIVES?

(John): Finish up this tour and then go to Japan and then in September we're going to go to New York and play in the CMJ and we're going to try to get on the Conan O' Brien show.

(SS2): WOW THAT'S REALLY COOL!

(John): It seems like it could almost work and that would be pretty awesome. And that's it. Then we go back to work and make a record.

(SS2): YOU GUYS AREN'T REALLY SUPPORTING YOURSELVES WITH THE BAND.

(John): No, it pays for itself. A lot of Lookout Bands are right in the middle so they quit their jobs and do the band thing. Chris and I have always been of the impression that you should never quit your job for music. We do it as a past time. Thanks a whole lot for coming all this way guys, it means a lot to me.

(SS2): I WAS REALLY SURPRISED THAT YOU DIDN'T PLAY ATLANTA BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A COUPLE OF CLUBS YOU COULD HAVE PLAYED IN.

(John): I'm surprised we didn't get Atlanta either. [Our booking agent is] a guy named Adam who books for Epitaph...I'm not sure why. We've had a few days off that I don't understand. We had last night off and that was a Friday night.

(SS): YA IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'VE GOT A STRETCH WHERE YOU'RE PLAYING EVERY OTHER DAY.

(John): We had thirteen shows in a row and now we've had two shows in the last four days. So right now is sort of a hard stretch for us. Like we don't have a show tomorrow. And when you're on tour it's bad to have days off. Thank you again for coming all this way...Really thank you very much, it means a lot.

THE END