sandiegopunk.com

Interview with Willie from Slingshot conducted via e-mail by Joel Scheingross

Joel: Let's start with the basics, let me know your name and what you do for Slingshot?
Willie: I'm Willie I sing and I play bass, Chad Shindler plays guitar, Larry Barkley drums.

Joel: Can you give me a brief background on Slingshot?
Willie: We sound like a cross between Pennywise and Bad Religion. We're from Oceanside. We've been together for about 4 years, Well I've been in the band for 4 years; we've gone through around 11 different people, and now we're back with all the original members. We have a new record coming out soon. The best record I think that this band has ever done. Our old stuff went from poppy punk to hardcore underground to where we're at now. When you have so many lineup changes your music will change.
As far as tour plans for this band, that's up in the air. I'd like to tour with Slingshot, but everyone seems to have to much going on to drop everything and tour. I, on the other hand, would drop whatever I'm doing and tour; that's the most fun thing you could ever do. I'm going on tour with my other band, should be a lot of fun.

Joel: Tell me about the punk festivals you've participated in.
Willie: We've played a few outdoor festival shows a few years ago and they were really fun. We played in the middle of the desert once and it turned into a big ass party with a lot of beer. Then we played at dog beach in Ocean Beach, one of the bands (Peace Corpse) brought the stage on the back of a semi. We all set it up in about two hours, hooked up generators and brought tons of beer. That was more of a party.

Joel: What's up with all your line-up changes?
Willie: The lineup changes, that's a good one. Either people are with me and are dedicated, or they can hit the road. The reason the original members parted ways was for the simple reason that I was booking all the shows, doing all the promotional shit, basically everything; I was doing all the work. And we didn't get along. I wanted to play as many shows as I could and tour, and they didn't, so we parted ways. We had other people that we still hang out with that played in the band before, but the bottom line is they weren't dedicated enough. You mention the word tour and people drop like files, and then they get replaced.

Joel: Can you describe the Oceanside scene reputation for shows getting out of hand?
Willie: Oceanside is just a rough town, the general attitude is more in your face. A lot of shows here tend to get out of hand, There were a few shows that got way out of hand, people breaking shit, fighting; there was this one show at the Firehouse that turned into a full on bar fight. There were people fighting outside in the front in the back, the cops showed up started maceing people it really wasn't cool.
I used to put on all the shows at the Rendezvous Cafe, but the last shows there the place got really thrashed, the owner put up a sign that said NO MOSHING. I was like, 'Dude are you crazy?' That's not going to do a thing. As soon as that sign went up there it went down, holes got kicked in the walls, all kinds of shit. There were around 200 people there, the place can barely hold 80 people. There were a lot of fights outside in the ally there were just to many people all charged up. The brilliant owner was so cheap that he hired one security guy, that was dumb. The main problem is just lack of security. That happens with every show, and our town just got a bad reputation. Its better now people are more chill. Even with all that, Oceanside has, I think, the best scene in San Diego County.

Joel: What's the difference between the scene in Oceanside and central San Diego?
Willie: The scene in Oceanside way more hardcore than central San Diego (in my opinion). It's more about unity and being proud of where your from. Most of the bands here support each other, and that's a good thing. The punks support the bands, and most of them really believe in the scene. If you come to a show here you know what I mean.

Joel: Do you concentrate more on San Diego or Orange County shows? Which Scene do you prefer and why?
Willie: We do more San Diego shows just because were from here, but you can only get so far here. When we played in Orange County and LA, we got on way bigger shows, and the people were really into it. I don't know which scene I'd prefer but I can tell you one thing, if your band can do well in SD, you will rule in Orange County or L A.

Joel: Closing Comments/Anything else you want to say.?
Willie: Thanks for the interview Joel:)