Interviews

Casualties

Interview with Jake on Mar 20, 2003 by Archive Bot

The Casualties still sell after a dozen years.
           Picture this: walking up three flights of narrow wooden stairs into this ten by ten room that has a bathroom with no door, following a guy with a green mohawk clutching a tape recorder and a note pad for dear life. Well, the green hair belonged to Jake, guitar player for East Coast four peice punk band, The Casualties. The unstable wooden room was at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie where I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to Jake while the Bouncing Souls rocked the stage downstairs. Jake is not an original member of The Casualties, in fact, there’s only one original member still in the band, the vocalist, Jorge. According to Jorge, the band’s name formed after being tragically dumped by his girlfriend and listening to a song called “The Casualties.”Formed in 1990, the band has managed to put out ten recordings, even in the midst of constant personnel changes. Jake joined the band in 1993 and has been with there ever since. The band puts on a live show that gets everyone in the house moving. Decked out in bondage pants, studded belts, liberty spikes and fins, the band shouts out lyrics about being a punk and being young.  The crowd is full of fans from all age groups, everyone on their feet, singing along.Slightly out of breath from performing, Jake motioned for me to pull up a chair, and we got to talking.  Of course the first question I had to ask was if the rumors flying around about their alleged friendship with pop punk band Good Charlotte was true. It was. “They’re really great guys—we met them on warped tour,” commented Jake with a chuckle. Even in light of the current global situation, The Casualties manage to maintain a positive energy level and put on a memorable show. War on Iraq hasn’t hampered ticket sales, the last two shows on this tour have been sold out. However it hasn’t gone unnoticed. “We are all anti-war. We hate it,” Jake says, “It’s actually going to be the inspiration for some songs on our next album.” The Casualties are currently on tour with The Bouncing Souls, and will be until the end of March. Summer touring plans have not yet been announced.