So, Chris, it’s time to rock italy again! Please, help me to remember: when was the last time you played here? In which band you were?
Oh my god, this should be easy to answer, but since I spend most of my life touring italy it takes a bit…
First, I thought it was with Kevin K, but I totally forgot that I also toured Italy with Total Chaos when I jumped in for Toy Stacy (Zeros, Babydolls) during their European Tour in 2003 were we also played in Padova and Rome.

I asked this question ‘cause it’s crazy to think about in how many bands you toured in our country in the last years!! Maybe we should do a little recap of your career for the readers who lost some chapters of your career. Can you do it for us?
Of course! Well, first of all I played tons and tons of shows with Hollywood Teasze all over Italy. As far as I remember was the first time we ever played Italy the summer drag festival in ospitaletty in 1997 where we played with smelly bogs, Starry Eyes and Jolly Power. After this, we somehow hooked up with the coolest guy we ever met called Kelly who somehow must have a percentage deal with the guys at the autostrada or he´s simply a big fan of us. He started to book more and more shows for us in Italy every year until our last show in Y2K. (guess for the entire HT history it takes another interview;-)
In 1999 Hollywood Teasze, played one show with the Gutter Queens in Germany and since they lost their bass player they asked me if I would like to join. This was at a time when Hollywood Teasze didn’t tour as much. Since I loved to play out live, I joined them. I drove down to Zurich a couple of times, we rehearsed the songs and then I hooked them up with Kelly who booked us also a couple of shows around Padova, as well another great night at Firenzes Auditorium Flog where Hollywood Teasze already performed twice times. Even though we all had a great time, it simply turned out that this band was not exactly my cup of tea, so after this tour we split.

After this I started Slamdunk with my longtime mate Naughty with whom we shared the practise room with his band called Frantic. Both of us were totally into the Ramones and we thought why not get together once in a while, have a few beers and play a couple of Ramones and NOFX tunes just for the fun of it. Soon people found out about it and we played various local parties instead of just going there and party with ‘em. To tell you tell you the truth, slamdunk was never meant to become a working band. It was really just a way of getting out of being bored and stuck in Kempten (my hometown) ‘till it was time to tour with my mates Frank EEE and Andi Hill again.

In 2001 Hollywood Teasze toured with Kevin K in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Naughty and TC (Slamdunk’s drummer) where our road crew untill Frank EEE got sick on the road and stayed in Italy to cure his illness. Until then, Andi Hill played 2 shows every night. One for Hollywood Teasze and one in Kevin K’s band along with Ricky Rat and Toni Romeo (both from theee Trash Brats) as Kevin’s drummer couldn’t make over here due to some legal issues. Well, this was the beginning where Slamdunk had to sink or swim since from that day on we became the Kevin K support band, which was a real tough thing to do. While the legandary Teasze Van made it all the way, TC’s van blew up right before the last show…

This was also the time when Frank EEE decided to move to Australia and Hollywood Teasze took this break that still lasts until today. Cuz of this break, of course, I spent more energy developing Slamdunk, which was a bit tricky since Naughty was still busy with Frantic. Even TC has joined the Band.

All over sudden I hooked up with Jeff Aug from Washington DC. He somehow ended up in the South of Germany and was a hell of a guitar player, but unforunately lacking of a bass player to complete his new band called Banana Peel Buzz. This was quite funny as he saw me playing live with Slamdunk. One day he called me up and ask if I would be also willing to switch from guitar to bass and join the band. I told him that I’m basically a BASS –Player and that Slamdunk thing was more some kind of fun-thing to do…

Anyway, a few days later we hooked up together, and I joined the band.

Meanwhile Slamdunk got offered more and more shows and people were also asking for CD’s and records. Also since the Hollywood Teasze break got more and more solid, I started to push that Slamdunk thing a bit further. So we started to write original songs and play more and more. We even headlined the GlamAttak Festival 2002 in Torino, which I guess was because of the Hollywood Teasze relationship. Of course we had a blast that night, but I guess the people there expected less Punk and a lot more Glam. To be honest, at that time I wanted slamdunk to differ a lot from Hollywood Teasze since for me it was like trying to do something new and not just the same thing with different people. In the meantime, I simply realised that writing stuff like HT is probably what I can do best and also what I like the most. Many times I try to write something serious, but at the end of the day I always end up with that typical G-C-D chord progressions and some Bubblegum hooks. Many people might think that´s all I can do, and they might be probably right ;-)

Even though we have planned to release something in the future, the future never became present and we postponed the release of our debut CD every six months…

Well, right now we are in the studio. We want very badly to bring the new release with us on tour, but I guess we won’t get the CDs pressed in time…
By the way, guess I forgot to mention the two tours I did with US legends total chaos. In 2002 I did a 5 weeks European tour with them and in 2004 I flew into the US to tour with them the entire westcoast from San Diego up to Vancouver (Canada). I remember playing the Key Club (which used to be the legendays Gazarri’s on the Strip) and after the show I meet Lemmy at the Rainbow and had 2 or 3 drinks with one of the beautiful girls he was with…
But I guess that pretty much it with my musical history…

I’m a big Hollywood Teasze fan. Any chance of a reunion? Are you still in touch with Frankeee and Andi?
Of course are we still in touch. Frank EEE came over last Christmas and we talked about it. Andi flew in this Spring and both of us visited our mate Kelly for a couple of days and loads of spritz. I also fly over to London to visit Andi quite often and apart from this we spoke on the phone recently. It’s a weird situation since we never split up for good. On the other hand, it doesn’t do the band anything any longer. It’s a fucked up situation, and of course everyone probably would love to get this band working as a unit again, but as long as Frank EEE is in Australia, I really can’t see it working out.

Also we don’t wanna fit into that same kind of reunion-hype many others jumped in, just to destroy peoples memories and make some fast cash.
But who knows. Many people (including Andi) say that Slamdunk´s new guitar player looks even more like frank EEE than he does nowadays…!

Now you have this new project called Slamdunk, with a new line up and some attitude. Can you give us some indications about it? How does it sound? Can you name a few bands we can relate Slamdunk to? I know it’s difficult, and somehow unfair, but it’s just to give an idea to our readers.
To be honest, I can’t tell. Recently we played with the Dickies and the promoter told us that he can’t think of any support act that would match better than we did. Needless to say that he asked us to support the buzzcocks a few weeks later at his club.
On the other hand, did we open up for US Punks Total Chaos in Suttgart a couple of weeks ago and the crowd, which was a lot different, was going nuts, too…
Guess we are some kind of glam/punk-chameleons that can fit in various scenes without selling out. Soundwise I would say it’s a mixture of Ramones, D-Generation and of course Hollywood Teasze. Many songs that will be part of our debut album could have made it on the the NO FLAKES follow up release, but I guess now it’s time to look forward and not back on things that could have happened, but never did.

Can you introduce to us briefly the other members of the band?
Ok, first we got TC on the drums. By now he’s the guy that has been in the band for the longest time. It’s fun to tour with cuz no one know what will go wrong next. I remember hanging out with him and the guys in Venice while we were touring with Kevin K. All the sudden he lost the van keys and a weird nightmare began…
Until Coop joined the band, Matze (you guys might call him Matheo) was always the youngster in the band and has developed into a total wildcat you’d love to party with after the show. It has absolutely nothing to do with his look, but sometimes he reminds me a lot of young Frank EEE.
When naughty decided that he had to leave the band to look more after his young family the three of us had absolutely no idea what to do, since naughty of course was an icon in this band that simply couldn´t be replaced. Thank god we ended up with a guy that used to be at our shows, knew all the Hollywood Teasze songs from somewhere, and played guitar. Since we already became friends before naughty made his decision, it was the only option to ask if he wanted to learn bass and join the band. Well, to keep a long story short, that’s what he did and now he’s in the band since a few months and the line up as it is now couldn’t be any weirder.
Hope each individual will be able to perform every night or at least will make it to the venue. ;-)

What you’re expecting from this tour? This is kind of a new start of a new band’s career or now that you’re more experienced you’re just focused on the the fun to do it?
To be honest, FUN was always the main intention why I went on tour. Either with Hollywood Teasze, Kevin K, Total Chaos or the gutter queens... it´s all about fun. Of course, touring also helps a lot to promote the band, but for me it was always some sort of side effect. Of course, we try to give all the people that come to see us 110% regardless. And since especially Italy meant quite a lot in the past, I try to continue where Hollywood Teasze left off. So, at this point, experience really kicks in and, of course, it helps; but at the end of the day it’s also a great pressure to keep the level Hollywood Teasze used to be known and loved for.

You know, we, the italians, we are always complaining about our rock’n’roll scene, how dead it is and stuff. How things are going in Germany for this kind of bands? I’m talking about a large range of genres that goes from glam, to sleaze, to certain kind of glam/punk, hair metal, new glam etc...
To be dead honest: We have absolutely no clue at all, but I guess there is not really a glam or sleasze scene here at all. Of course, we met quite a few people on myspace who are into glam and sleasze from Germany but calling it a “scene” would be a little bit too much… Right now, that Japanese glam-thing seems to get quite a lot attention in Germany since it appears to all the younger kids to be a brand new thing.

For the 100000th time you’re going to play with Crackhouse. What’s the deal with those guys? And: do you know the other bands who’s gonna play with you? Lady’s Bloody Day and Landslide Ladies?
Well guess that’s hard to explain. Apart from being our booker, Kelly really became one of the band´s best friends. And since I stayed in touch with him over all those years, we really became some sort of brothers. This Spring, coop and I went to visit him and again had a killer time even without playing a gig. Just a few weeks ago we brought them over to Germany to play two shows with us, as well a being part of the coolest soccer-tournament our area has to offer. Guess I don’t have to tell you that it was a blast. And to tell you the truth, this is one of the main reasons why we are going to do this tour: Have a great time, play some shows, have great meals, and bad ass aftershow parties…

So far I never met anyone from Lady’s Bloody Day. This summer I meet Lester from the Landslide Ladies for the first time after I saw them play near Bologna. Guess we talked for hours until the morning light. Therefore I’m also really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Lady’s Bloody Day, are fronted by a nice, young, hot chick. Do you think she will survive to the Bavarian Barbarians attack?
Well, if there is enough time between the shows, we’ll give here some survival lessons ;-)

Tell us your best and worst italian memory?
Oh my god. I really thought that history thing was a long thing to type….
No fucking way, this will take forever, but let’s put it this way. Even some of our worst moments turned into the best ones after all those years. Why don’t you all go on the Crackhouse’s webpage and ask Kelly what best or worst memory has with me. Guess he would have one million answers…
Well, I don’t wanna spoil that game, so here we go.
Best: watching the moon at the beach while we play at Summer Drag Festival
meeting kelly the first time at the exit of padova ovest
Having tons of Spritz in the Center of Padova
Playing an awesome show in Firence at Auditorium Flog

Worst: Waiting for Kelly the first time we came all the way to Padova at the Exit
Having a big argument with Andi Hill after the show at Factory/Milan
Hanging out in Venice while TC tried to find the lost Van-Key somewhere in the streets

Alright, we’re about to to end of this interview, but just before you leave i got a stupid curiosity: which colour your hair are nowadays?
Well, it´s 10 days before we hit the road and my hair is black, orange, yellow, and blonde. But it might change before cross the alps ;-)

The same old final message to all the Slam readers.
I really do hope to see you all (or at least some of you) during our shows in Italy. Please keep in mind that this band has nothing to do with Hollywood Teasze even so I would be more than happy if we would get the same love and support. As I said earlier: Italy has given me so many great memories that it’s really a pleasure for being able to tour your country again…