INTERVIEWS   WITH   LIBERTINE

Belvy K. interviewed 3/15/98 by Paul W. for Nervous Breakdown fanzine.

Q: O.K., let's get all this 'ex 7 Seconds, UK Subs D Generation' business outta the way. You used to be in 7 Seconds?

A: Yep. When I was about 12...

Q: What records?

A: Just 'New Wind' pretty much. I did the 'Walk Together' tour, some other stuff...

Q: And UK Subs-

A: Yeah. 'Killing time' cd, 'Sabre dance' ep.

Q: With Andy McCoy (Hanoi Rocks), that musta been cool.

A: Oh yeah. I was really into early Hanoi- they were like the Damned and NY Dolls mixed together. Alvin (Subs bassist) and Andy were touring with Iggy Pop at the time.

Q: Did ya get to hang with Iggy?

A: He was around, but didn't do anything in the studio...ya'd always see him in clubs and on the street and stuff 'cause he lives there (NYC). Way nice guy. Totally cool.

Q: And you did D Generation-

A: Yeah. I started out D Gen with Jessie and Howie but got, um, kinda sidetracked I guess ya could say.

Q: Who rocks harder? Spice Girls or TLC?

A: Vixen!

Q: Good Answer! What are you currently listening to? Any rad current punk rock rock your world?

A: US Bombs, Electric Frankenstein. I like The Strike lp- total Undertones! Dropkick Murphy's are cool. L.E.S. Stitches are cool. Sick Boys and Sinisters from Canada...I listen to a lot of 'unpunk' stuff- Suede, Radiohead, New Order...

Q: If you were a John Hughes movie, which one would you be?

A: Pretty in Pink-no-no, what's the one with the cute punk rock girl drummer?

Q: Some Kind of Wondeful?

A: Yeah! Dude, it's all about cute punk rock girl drummers!

Q: With blonde hair-

A: With blonde hair!

Q: But Pretty in Pink had the rad Psychedelic Furs song.

A: True. Tough call.

Q: And Grosse Pointe Blank has "Blister in the Sun" in it. You guys cover that, right?

A: Yeah. It's gonna be on NY's Finest #2 along with one of our own songs, "Slow Down".

Q: Do you have any influences besides 80's teen flicks?

A: Sure- violent 70s flicks, 60s biker flicks, 40s gangster flicks, Scorcese flicks.

Q: I meant 'la musica'.

A: Just good songs first and foremost. The Clash, The Ruts, Social Distortion, 70s glam like the New York Dolls, Psychedelic Furs, Stiff Little fingers. Anything honest and cool- hank williams Sr., Eddie Cochran...my favorite bands were always the ones that combined killer music with a cool visual.

Q: Songs, substance, and style - kinda like the Spice Girls right?

A: Exactly. Seriously, The Clash are the greatest band of all time 'cause they wrote great songs, had something to say and looked cool as fuck.

Q: So just how many times have you seen Rude Boy? (Clash film)

A: Guess.

Q: Too many?

A: Pretty Much.

Q: How about Another State of Mind? (Social Distortion/Punk flick)

A: More than you-

Q: Yeah, I'm sure. I was gonna say you're lookin' pretty 'sympathetic' there yourself, with all the eyeliner and all...

A: Hell yeah.

Q: So there ya go: "'Rude Boy' Clash meets 'Another State of Mind' Social D'"- put it in your bio.

A: Dude. That's awesome. Thanks! I'd pay to see that!

Q: Ok, pay up pal!


Interview for Flipside Fanzine intro by Jason Stankevich For being together a little over a year, NY band LIBERTINE has come out of nowhere pretty quick and made a lot of waves. Their modern take on 70’s punk crossed with a little glam and an unusually strong songwriting sensibility has gained them lots of cake shows (Misfits, DGeneration, Reel Big Fish, Lunachicks, Electric Frankenstein, Goldfinger,etc.- even Motley Crue-how weird is that?!), a week on Warped Tour ‘98, and a couple of killer releases. Their debut cd on Kado (already on it’s 3rd run), a single on Alive/Bomp, and some standout comp. appearances are aiding the cause as well. A full length is in the works too-label T.B.A.

Equal parts Joe Strummer and Marilyn Monroe, they probably resemble ‘Rude Boy’ Clash & ‘Another State Of Mind’ Social D. the most; exuding the same larger-than-life presence and charisma that made those bands so special. And there’s more. Vintage Replacements, 70’s glam, classic rockabilly, even darker 80’s Brit. stuff like Psychedelic Furs & Cure. Relevant and edgy, LIBERTINE’s probably the best example out there of a thoroughly modern-end of the century-rock’n’roll band (whateverthehellthatmeans).

They’ve been called “the big buzz band in the punk scene today” but have also been criticized for having “undisguised superstar aspirations”. They write big anthemy songs, are a powerhouse live, dress flash, and oooze attitude & confidence. They’re LIBERTINE, and they want the world and they want it now.

interview with Belvy K.

1.) Jamie Coville, guitar; Justin Splits, guitar; Paul Lent, bass;
Mr. Corey Koniz, drums; and I sing, or try anyways...

2.) We’ve been together about a year, year and a half maybe. I’d been wanting to put together a band like this forever, but for some reason or another never did. I had all these songs, a general idea of this band in my head-like anyone else I guess-, then I hooked up with Jamie ,we started working on stuff together,realized we had something...from there it was just a matter of finding the right people. This isn’t the original lineup, but it’s the only one worth talking about. For what it’s worth, Pete (bass) & Bobcat (guitar) did play on the Kado cd and on the Alive single, but we had to trade ‘em in for new and improved models, ha,ha,ha...

3.) We didn’t have to-we chose to! What’s our secret? A little luck, a little talent, alot of fucking hard work, good songs. People seem to like it, so maybe we’re doing something right...That’s one thing-the songs, right?-we’re trying to write stuff that people are still going to want to hear in 20 years. “Gimmie Shelter”, “Personality Crisis”, “God Save The Queen”-those are great rock songs & still sound as good today as when they came out...maybe we miss the mark half the time, but that’s where we’re coming from. We don’t just write songs around riffs... Yeah, I guess we play a decent number of ‘big’ shows, but we play a hell of a lot more small shows-I think that’s how bands get good; play your fucking ass off & treat each gig like it could be your last. We played this massive ‘modern rock’ festival this summer w/ like 3rd Eye Blind, Our Lady Peace-you know, just awful stuff-30,000 alterna-kids, the whole nine. They’re gonna hate us, throw shit, whatever, right? But they went fucking ballastic, fucking weird right? Then a few days later we played in front of, like, 10 kids in Pittsburgh, then we went off on Warped Tour, then more small shows...The point is, it doesn’t matter- kids know when it’s real, even if there’s nobody there, if you’re up there doing your thing, they know. That’s the great thing about rock’n’roll-it still has this power to liberate. That’s why we love playing live and that’s why we try to stay as busy as possible.

4.) Yeah, I’ve been doing this for a bit...guess I got my punk rock initiation pretty early on. Music is something you either feel compelled to do, or you don’t. Actually, I kinda dropped out of things for a while, fucked my life up real good, lost touch...the usual shit. I’m not really sure what made me want to switch (from drums to vocals). Like I said before, LIBERTINE musically & visually is the band that I always had in my head...even when I was in 7 Seconds my favorite bands were like, Replacements, Hanoi Rocks, Social Distortion....that kinda stuff. I use to take so much shit from those guys!…ha,ha,ha… It’s funny now...I remember having an off day on tour once and sneaking into this bar to see Tex And The Horseheads! This little hardcore kid trying to figure out why nobody thought this shit was as cool as I did! Jesus, I remember seeing the Lords, Thunders, Specimen, fucking Sigue Sigue Sputnik! Everybody was into Slayer, Suicidal, Cromags, Circle Jerks and I’m like this glam-punk freak. I liked that other stuff too, but it just didn’t rock my world. It was cool-I learned a lot being in 7 Seconds. Kevin was kind of like an older brother….

So where were we? Why the switch ? I had these songs, these ideas, whatever. I always wanted to try fronting a band. Iggy was a drummer, Steven Tyler, I think even Madonna. People always told me I should try it-Jessie & Howie from D Gen, Nicky Garrett from the Subs, even ole Kev Seconds...it was just a case of saying “fuck it-I’m gonna give this a go and see what happens”.

Just bands from around here...Justin was in this really good band,The Splits-we kinda stole him from them, Corey was in a couple of hardcore bands, Jamie’s been in a bunch of differentthings. This is Paul’s 1st band, he was our merch guy before, now he’s playing bass-that’s your punishment for being loyal, Paul! Corey and Justin are both 18, the rest of us are a bit older-mid to late 20’s …

5.)The Clash without a doubt, Rancid and US Bombs? Not really. I mean they’re both excellent bands and all…I can see why people might compare us. We just share some of the same influences-Clash and Pistols, Ruts and Chelsea; the more classic English punk stuff……I think where we differ from them and a lot of other bands is, yeah, like you said -the glam influence. Thunders, the Dolls, Mott The Hoople, etc. Also I’d throw in Saints, Replacements, Professionals, Social Distortion, Generation X as primary influences…I really like moody Brit stuff too like New Order, Psychedelic Furs, Jesus & Mary Chain. My two favorite bands right now are Suede and Radiohead-not "very punk” I know, sorry……I think our sound is a combination of all those things. Someone compared us to the Stones meet Rancid. MRR said we were like a cross between Billy Idol and Swinging Utters. Who knows…Everything influences you, but with us it comes down to good songs first and foremost. At the same time we’re obviously into a certain style and attitude; a little flash and cool is always good. The Clash, to me, are the greatest band of all time ‘cause they wrote great songs, had something to say, and looked cool as fuck.

7.) You know, not really, not like you might think. It comes down to energy and songs most of the time.. I mean we just played in Boston with the Unseen & Ducky Boys; quite the oi!/street punk show I guess…Anyway you’d figure a band like us wouldn’t go over that well on something like that, but the kids went fucking off!!. It was awesome. That was one of the best shows we’ve had so far, so you never know. It’s really what you make of it…like, we’ll play one of these ska shows and it’s insane. On Warped Tour, so many kids came up and said us and the Deftones were the best bands they saw that day; and it happened a buncha times – we don’t sound like them, we don’t look like them – but we both have a lot of energy, so go figure. Overall, I think the whole glam/glitter/whatever aspect to us is a neutral. We dress how we dress, who really gives a fuck…if it draws more attention to us – ya fucking hoo. But getting back to what you said, anyone who thinks glam is Poison or Warrant, well, I can’t really help ‘em. Yeah, it’s sad that kids don’t know the history better, but what’re you gonna do? Hell yeah, punk couldn’t happened without Bowie, T Rex, The Dolls – especially The Dolls – and don’t forget Mott The Hoople! I just got this live record of them, actually it’s a tape, I think it’s called “On Broadway” or something - holy shit does it rock! It’s so powerful; you can totally see their influence on bands like The Clash & Gen X…..and punk also couldn’t have happened without Jamaican reggae, and old rockabilly, and on, and on, and on…some kids are gonna seek out the roots and some won’t……hey, that’s life.

8.) Songwise, I’ll usually have the melody, lyrics, a pretty set idea of how the music’s gonna go; then I’ll get together with Jamie, we’ll hammer it around some, then we’ll show it to everyone else. So, yeah musically it’s pretty much me and Jamie - we work pretty good together , I think. Lyrics vary. We write about what it’s like to be alive in 1998 - and that’s a lot of area to cover. I guess I spend a lot of time on the general disintegration of things, the dehumanization of the culture, etc. We try to be a bit aware/up to date of what’s going on out there too. On the cd, “Treason”’s about the end of the American dream. “Candy”’s about the culture of celebrity worship and the commoditization of beauty. We’ve got our down-on-your-luck broken dream songs. We’ve got our share of strung out songs...You’ve gotta write about what you feel, what you’ve been through. As long as it’s honest - that’s all you can ask for. Message wise we just try to get across the idea to think for yourself, question things, don’t be complacent, try and rise above all the shit that’s out there. I like what Joey Shithead said - that punk is resistance music - I think that pretty spot on. I think all real rock and roll is resistance music in one way or another...

I’d say basically we write anthems for the end-of-the-century, alienated-disaffected, modern world underdog.

9.) I’m not so sure that it’s that cut and dry. There’s just as many cool indie labels that’ll rip you off as there are majors, believe me. Yeah, we wanna reach as broad an audience as possible, but who doesn’t? Of course you want your songs to be heard by as many people as possible, keep your integrity, make a million, and still have crust kids wear your patches. But, you can’t please everyone. Someone’s always gonna take you to task for something. Is signing a major necessarily evil? Does staying indie keep you pure? Every situation is different. But yes, in answer to your question, I’m well aware of all the horror stories and wrecked careers. Bottom line, you want someone cool genuinely care and help push your band. For what we do, that’s probably a smaller label more times than not, I guess.

10.) Newer bands? I guess we’re lucky - we’ve played with most of the current bands out there that we like. Three bands we haven’t played with who I think write really good stuff would be: Anti flag, the Humpers, and Dime Store Haloes. I mean, we wouldn’t turn down a Green Day or Offspring date either. I also think we’d kill at a Foo Fighters or a Marilyn Manson too.

Old bands- boy I could go on forever with this one. How about ‘79 Clash, Generation X, and ‘85-’89 Replacements. Those would be the big 3 for me. Who else......? You’d have to put in Hanoi Rocks, the Professionals. The Avengers! Dolls and Mott. Ruts, Flesh for Lulu, Dead Boys!.....Kraut..... Stooges...Red Rockers...Heartbreakers!.....Stray Cats!...’82 Social Distortion.....Bowie and the Spiders.....original Bad Brains...Sigue Sigue Sputnik! Jesus, it’d have to be a fuckin’ 2 day long festival.....

11.) I guess things are going well. We’re gonna keep playing as much as we can, stay active, and keep putting stuff out. We’d really like to hook up on a tour with someone bigger, more established; I think that’s the next thing we need to do. We’ve gotta get out to the west coast. Really, just keep bustin’ our asses on this and see where it goes. Release wise, we’ve got the Kado cd, the single on Alive, we do “Blister in the Sun” by Violent Femmes + “Slowdown” on ‘New York’s Finest 2,’ we’ve got 2 songs on the American Punk comp., We’re on ‘Punk Rock Jukebox vol.2’ - we did Kamikaze which is this really good unreleased Professionals song, we also are going to be on comps. from Substandard, Watermark, and a bunch of others....What else? I guess we’re gonna do singles with American Punk and Pelado, we wanna do some split 7’s with people, we’d be into doing a picture disc with someone....... We’ve got a full length in the can; just gotta figure out who we’re gonna go with. blah, blah, blah,......

Big shout outs to everyone that has been coming out to shows and supporting us! You don’t know how much we appreciate it.