Union of the Dead

By Max Sidman

The punk rock scene in Chico has always been alive. Despite a roller coaster of popularity levels, a constantly fluctuating number of bands, and incomplete and selective media coverage, young punk rock scenes often survive in the corners and back alleys of the general music mecca of Chico. Recently, though, things have been picking up. With able and willing fans like the Sacred Art Tattoo crew putting on punk shows at 319, venues like Humboldt Studios showcasing punk rock, and house parties hosting good sized punk shows, bands like Smeat, NoGoodNix, Johnny P & The Whitewall Slicks and P.A.W.N.S. are enjoying a bit more limelight.

Union of The Dead (UOD) are among that group as well, a punk rock combo of the classic varietypomaded dos, tattoos and a hard charging, high-revving sound that puts the throttle to floor. A fan base of all ages has taken a shine to UOD, and there's no wonder. This triobassist/vocalist Cliff, guitarist Gerardo and drummer Fredmakes good old rock `n' roll, with hard edge and some serious punk overtones. As part of the re-burgeoning young punk scene, UOD does their part to hold it together by playing regularly for people who actually want to see them. The band has also self-released a seven-track EP CD.

UOD and I recently sat down over a few rounds in a local watering hole and talked about the local scene, the band's place in it, and Gerardo's reluctant rico suave-like effect on 15-year-old girls.

How'd you all get together?
Cliff: Originally, I met these guys when I was 16. I had been playing guitar for about a year at that point.
Fred: Me and Gerard were friends from high school, in South Tahoe. We graduated about a year apart, then we all came down here to get nuts.
Cliff: We turned Fred into a drummer and started playing hardcore, but no one could sing hardcore in this town, so we started a punk rock `n' roll band.

What is it about punk rock `n' roll that you guys like?
Cliff: Everything
Fred: The energy, what it stands for.

What's it stand for?
Fred: Just your personal beliefs, rocking whenever you want.
Cliff: Rock `n' roll, man. It's better than anything else.
Gerardo: It's like what Joan Jett said "I love rock `n' roll." [laughter]

How did you all get started playing music?
Gerardo: I started playing because after I saw Cliff play, I had to get a guitar.
Cliff: I started playing guitar when I was about 15, and I picked up a bass when I was 17. There were no drummers in town, so we made Fred play the drums, and he's pretty damn good for someone who's only been playing for about two years.
Fred: I got started because of Mike Silva. He had this two hundred dollar drum setlike, pots and pans. I just used to go over there and play it, and I finally got my own.

What do you guys like listen to?
Cliff: Everything. There's a pretty wide range. My favorite CD right now is the new Old Dirty Bastard record. I listen to a lot of emo, a lot of rap, country, grunge, I like punk.
Fred: I listen to anything from Souls of Mischief to DanzigI've been playing a lot of Danzig lately. I listen to techno, even some R&B no. [laughter]
Gerardo: We all basically got into the band in the hardcore scene, but when it started getting all gang-member-like, we had to get out. That scene has really changed a lot.
Fred: We used to go to a lot of shows [in the Bay], but, yeah, that scene really has changed.
Cliff: People started focusing less on the music and more on how tough they were.

How do you see the local music scene?
Cliff: This is the best year I've seen it so far; I've been here for four years. There are, like, six or seven bands going off right now in the punk scene
Fred: There's a good core of bands playing, and all the kids come out to see the bands. You see a lot of the same faces at the shows. It's nice.

Which local bands do you like to play with?
Cliff: Johnny P & the Whitewall Slicks! [Who just happen to be behind us in the bar] All of them. Beanfight, Flipwreck, NoGoodNix All of `em.
Fred: All the punk bands in this town are all pretty much cool, which is good because we don't want to get into that gossip thing. We just want to play.
Gerardo: No shit. And since I've been here, I haven't seen all the punk bands get together like they are now. Before, there'd be, maybe, one punk band at a show. Now there'll be, like, five bands at a show.
Cliff: Yeah, but I won't be totally satisfied until I see an all-girl hardcore band here in Chico.

There are some political punk rockers here in town. Do you guys have a message behind your music?
Fred: Nah, I think it's just more about the roots of rock.
Cliff: Some of the songs have these little political messages going on, but the music is more important to us.

Do you all go to school?
Fred: I just play drums and deliver pizzas.
Cliff: Gerardo and I are both trying to graduate this year. I'm going to school for English.
Gerardo: I'm in graphic design.

So are you in the band for the long haul?
Gerardo: I think we're going to move to the Bay Area.
Cliff: We'll probably move to my hometown, Concord, or somewhere around there. It's 20 minutes from Berkeley, and the Berkeley scene is the stuff I grew up on.

The punk scene is a lot more thriving there.
Gerardo: Yeah, Chico's weird. People here embrace bands, but they don't always go to see bands.

You guys are too damn nice, and I have to hear you talk to some shit. What do you think about this so-called punk rock movement in the mainstreambands like Lit and Blink 182, even Limp Bizkit?
Fred: You mean college rock?
Gerardo: It's like glam punk. It's just marketing. They want those certain kids as fans, so they do this "punk" thing.
Fred: It's for the rich kids who want to bleach their hair and pierce themselves to rebel against their parents.

Do you think it takes away from bands doing it for the sake of the music?
Cliff: I think it adds to them. It makes them sound cool, different. Real fansnon-MTV generation peoplewill see that. But a lot of times they don't take the opportunity to go and see bands.

You guys seem to play a lot of house parties.
Gerardo: At our house they're more like shows than parties. Usually, it seems like everyone is just out to party, but when we do these shows at our house, it seems like the bands get to put on a show that people are actually watching.

Do you prefer playing parties more than bars?
Cliff: No, I personally don't. Well, it depends on the house. Sometimesa lot of timespeople just go to the house to party. They don't want to see a band, and we're just background music. That's why we turn up the amps and we force people to listen to us. But in bars, people go to see the band. But it all really depends. We've had nights when the party sucked, and we've had those nights when the bars sucked.

Do you have a lot of underage fans?
Gerardo: I think most of our fans are.
Fred: We sign a lot of napkins for underage girls. [laughter]

What's up with that?
Fred: Gerardo has a huge fan club.
Cliff: I think it's the salsa thing he has going on, like Ricky Martin. [laughter] We were playing with AFI, and there were, like, seven girls in the front row staring at Gerardo. I was watching them and laughing the whole time we were playing. They were just googly-eyeing this guy the whole set.
Gerardo: Hey, come on, they were, like, 15. They don't know any better.

So they had you sign autographs after the set? [hysterical laughter]
Fred: Yeah, and I can barely sign my name. I just put an X. [more laughter]
Gerardo: It happened when we played with Stung Out too. I don't know, some kids just get crazy.
Cliff: It's kind of cool when it happens though, knowing that people believe in you.
Fred: Yeah, and you can see that, too. You have your loyal fans who go see the shows, and that's exactly who we keep coming back to play for.
Cliff: That's why the all-ages [club] shows are better than house parties. The people are there to see you, and not just to party. They're ready to rock, and you can give that to them.
Gerardo: It's not some drunk guy saying, "dude, that was raaaad." These kids are completely sober, and it's cool that they're into it.
Cliff: Some random girl who we sold a CD to e-mailed me and said, "This is the best CD I've heard in a long time, it's one of my favorites. You have to tell me every time you play." Things like that are really cool, and really encouraging.

Where did you record the CD?
Cliff: Ukiah.
Gerardo: Everything was so fast. We just went in there, laid everything down in one day, mixed it the next and then drove back. It's the fastest demo you'll ever hear.
Cliff: And to get to play anywhere else [out of town], you need a CD. So there it is.

It's not too bad for a rough mix. Are you getting a lot of positive feedback on it?
Fred: Yeah, actually.
Cliff: I mean, I hate listening to it, but other people seem to like it.