Kat Killers Interview

01/19/07
Dan-Zig

Dead Boy Productions with The Kat Killers

Last summer, Skunk Draino, lead guitarist and songwriter for the Los Angeles psychobilly band the Slanderin, quit his band to start a new one. His new band is called the Kat Killers. They have been playing around the Southern California area lately and are definitely worth checking out. Skunk comes off as a very cool guy and genuinely seemed pleased to answer these questions about his new band.

When did you decide to start the new band?

In a really crappy hotel room in Albuquerque, NM during the end of my former band’s disastrous Summer 2006 US tour with THE M3T3ORS. I was really depressed about the situation we were in, as was the rest of the band. I just wasn’t having anymore fun and that’s what it all came down to, I just got tired of the arguing and the drama so I decided to move on to something new.

Who’s in the band now?

My friend Mal Wrekker on Upright & E-Bass, who's another former Slanderin alumni & Dhani De Jesus, a really pro drummer and good peeps who's kept the beat for numerous Hollywood Punk & Goth bands.

I was gonna have Moe & Pancho (X-Slanderin) be in the band but after that tour we were all totally broke, Moe lost his old job and had to get a new one but his new job didn’t give him any time to be in the band, and Pancho’s dad passed away from a lengthy illness so he was really overcome and overwhelmed with the loss as well.

Me, being a Rock'N'Roll Junkie Lifer (I’ve been singing & playing guitar in Punk/Goth/rockabilly/HC/Ska/industrial bands for about 20 yrs now), I kept going as always and asked my friends Mal & Dhani (Gator from Coffin Draggers introduced me to Dhani) to step in and help me get this new band going.

Is there any significance to the name Kat Killers?

It’s an homage to PAUL FENECH & THE M3T3ORS and to all the support they gave me & my old band through the years, its the title to one of their songs.

"I am the nightmare of rocknroll, not for my fashion sense but from my ugly soul" just about sums it up for me.

It also very open to lots of imagery & interpretations which makes it fun for me to come up with t-shirt, sticker, button, & patch ideas.

Do you design all the merch for the new band and did you for the Slanderin'? What kinds of things do you think of and inspire you when you do design merch or even album covers?

Yup I design all the merch for this band and did all the art and merch for Slanderin too, I made up the Slanderin logo w/the blackout skulls and I did the layout and cover art for "Rhumba of Rattlesnakes”, it came out darker than I wanted because Split7(label that put it out) added the weird stain to it and made it really dark.

My original art idea for it was to be bright red or even yellow, kind of like that old American colonies flag with the "Don't Tread On Me" rattlesnake, but Split7 got a hold of it and from the looks of it spilt coffee all over the cover art and printed it that way.

Well, my art inspirations come from the song content themselves.

I try to keep things subversive and creepy with an old school hc/punk edge, my biggest art influences have to be Nick Blinko, Boyd Rice, Raymond Pettibon and Pushead as well as all those old 50's Tales from the Crypt/Vault of Horror comics too.

Do you have any plans to release a demo or an EP or anything?

Yeah we're working on that now I’m compiling lots of the live recordings we've done into a DIY EP/demo as well as saving up money to record studio tracks as well.

Besides the Kat Killers are you doing some other kind of industrial tunes as well?

Not at the moment, that stuff is older material of mine that I made a MySpace site for, it’s a mix of punk, industrial, Goth & HC recordings I’ve done over the years.

How would you say the new bands differ from the stuff you did with the Slanderin?

Well its not as noisy, a bit more on the 'billy side at times but yet still has a old school punk/deathrock edge to it as well and its a bit more experimental

I'd say the 5 biggest musical influences for this group are

1. Early Meteors
2. The Peacocks
3. Link Wray
4. Subhumans
5. Bauhaus

Any tour plans or just playing locally for now?

Just local shows for now but I’m sure we'll be touring the west coast quite a bit also & some European stuff as well.

Do you find it easy to get shows and other things since you know so many people from your old band?

Yes and no, my old band had a bit of a reputation, both good and bad.

What’s next for the Kat Killers?

Well, I’m trying to get a label to help me release a record as well as build up a reputation as a great live band, but first and foremost I wanna have fun playing rock'n'roll again without politics, drama and BS because those things belong on TV soap operas and not on a stage.

Any last words?
Thanks for your time and hope you and your families have a great Happy New Years !!

Cheers!!