Dead Boy Productions

 

08/24/08
Rev Dan & Dan Zig

Dead Boy Productions Interviews Hell Caminos

First off apologies to the guys in the Hell Caminos (who were all really friendly) the noise level at the show made it damn near impossible just to tell who was actually talking so we didn’t credit the speaking to any one person. This is a band that everyone needs to check out. 

Alright so we are with the Hell Caminos right now, why don’t you guys go ahead and introduce yourselves. 

I’m Michael I play bass 

My name is Jesse I play rhythm guitar. 

My name is Nick I play guitar 

What is the scene like in Hawaii? 

Michael: It’s very small. I think the trouble with all ages venues is everywhere. In Hawaii, its like kids will be kids and fuck shit up. It kind of fluctuates. There will be periods where there is a lot of all age venues and then there will be none at all. It just depends on when you are there. 

So how did you hook up with Rich and Black Cat Entertainment? Is this your first time in California? 

No it’s our third time in California. It’s our first US tour and our first tour I just emailed Rich I pretty much didn’t know how to book a tour and I emailed Rich and he was willing to help us out at Spikes, our first show in Rosemead and he was the coolest guy. He helped us out a lot. He came to the show and checked us out. 

So this is the third time you have been to the state and the first time you are touring the states so what about the first two times? 

This is our first US tour. The first time was California and Oregon. 

Who have you played with in California?

 
A bunch of bands, the Chop Tops in Northern California, the Henchmen at Spikes, the Phenomenauts, Gambler’s Mark. We played with the Go-getters at Spikes, a lot of local bands. 

On this US tour are you out playing by yourselves or are you hooking up with anybody for some dates? 

We hook up with the Chop Tops in Northern California for a couple of dates and pretty much for the rest we are on our own. 

Who’s booking the tour? 

Mike is booking the tour.  

I will send out 20 emails in one are and most don’t even reply. I might get people that email me like a month later saying “oh, I will see what I can do” and then you get the people that are stoked for us. There’s no middle ground. Either they are stoked to have us or they don’t really care. 

One promoter might help you with like four shows 

Coming from Hawaii is kind of hard, because if you are

from California, bands come through all the time where you can play shows with them and you get numbers from bands from other states. Coming from Hawaii, no one comes to Hawaii, so it’s like you are on their ground. I have got a couple of contacts, but really we don’t know that many people here and I hate to say it, but MySpace helped a lot. 

That’s funny that’s a staple question of ours how MySpace has helped you. 

From a personal level, it is kind of narcissistic, but from a band level, an artist level, it’s a big help. You can book tours, get help, networking. 

Your new CD, did you put it out yourself? 

It’s pretty much DIY. We actually did one CD in 2006 DIY and this one is DIY. 

I want to know how you get into this kind of music in Hawaii. 

You don’t (laughter) We didn’t even plan on starting this kind of a band. When we first started jamming we didn’t think we were going to have this kind of band. We are pretty much punk rockers. 

I grew up going to punk shows, seeing punk bands and I always really liked rockabilly music. In high school I thought it wasn’t cool, so when I found bands like the Quakes or Tiger Army who were combining the two. I was thinking I found my niche. In Hawaii, it’s kind of hard to play what you want to play because people kind of compromise just to be in a band 

Does it hurt or does it help? 

I think it helps because in Hawaii we are like a novelty and it’s kind of weird going from a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond. 

I saw on your MySpace page that you guys were on TV? 

Its this guy called Andy Bumatai. He has his own talk show it’s kind of like David Letterman. Pretty much it was a free video. It’s good exposure at least locally. 

Did you guys notice that when you have gone on tour that you got a lot of friend requests? 

Yeah we went through a period where for about two weeks we would get like ten pages a day consistently and we always hit everybody back and we were overwhelmed, it was up to a hundred pages at one point. We wondered why it was happening? 

Fans come number one and we try to reply to every comment, but we were just accepting. (laughter) 

All three of us would be sitting at a computer side by side accepting requests. 

There is no way that we could do this without that. We would be making phone calls and… I have no idea how bands did it before. 

You may not want to label it, but what do you guys call yourselves and your music. 

We would call it psychobilly for awhile, roots punk. We don’t really have a catch phrase. 

Yeah good luck trying to explain psychobilly. 

Yeah we just say punk rock. People ask me what I play I say rock and roll. 

Do you guys rock all day or do you have to have day jobs?

 
We just actually quit our jobs. 

I was in the coast guard for nine years 

We sold all our shit, gave up all our apartments. We have what we have with us. 

While you guys are away do you have access to MySpace? 

We have laptops with us and the phone we are constantly on the phone. 

How can people get your stuff? 

Online at CD Baby there is a link at our MySpace page and it will be on iTunes pretty soon, the old one is on iTunes now and the new one will be there soon and from the shows