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Swingin' Utters
Interview with Darius Koski on Apr 28, 2009 by
By: Amy Meyer
Interview with Darius Koski, guitarist, vocalist and accordion player of Swingin' Utters on March 6, 2009 at Reggie's Rock Club Chicago.
Darius Koski of Swingin' Utters talks to Punkbands.com about its latest efforts to revive the legendary punk rock band and why they decided to release Hatest Grits: B-Sides And Bullshit; a collection of rare singles, B-Sides, covers and unreleased songs.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like you haven't been to Chicago in a long time.
Darius Koski: We haven't been here in I think six years. I think the last time was in 2003 at the Fireside, so it was a while ago.
So, when was the last time you did a tour all over the US opposed to say just West Coast or a small stint of dates?
DK: I think that would be 2004 for about a month, yeah we haven't been out in a long time. We weren't doing a lot of anything for awhile; we were doing a lot of West Coast stuff, a lot of California stuff and we sort of decided we're going to start doing it again. We're going to start making records again, touring.
What have you been doing in the meantime?
DK: Working, some of us are raising kids. We get together and we play shows every once in awhile and we're all in other bands. I'm in two other bands, Spike is in like three other bands, Johnny is in a few other bands; so we're all actually really, really busy all of the time, always doing something. So, we're getting started up again, which is good.
Is this the band that started it all for the three of you, or did those side projects come after the Swingin' Utters?
DK: No, this is pretty much everybody's first band, not everybody, but Johnny and Greg, our drummer and Kevin, our original bass player, started the band in '88 and they were like a cover band, then I joined in '90 and we started doing originals. I think our first single came out in '91 so we've been going a long time, but our first real, full-length record was in '94 and that's when our first tour was. Yeah, it's been a long time.
Since you've gotten older, does this lifestyle/touring wear on you or do you think it keeps you young?
DK: I love it. I totally miss it, really desperately miss it and I never want to stop doing it. I'm really happy we're starting to do it again. It actually is harder though, physically it's totally harder. We've done weekend shows before and we all still drink and party and stuff, so it's kind of funny because I'm not 25 anymore. Every once in a while we'll have a weekend full of parties and I'm fucking obliterated, just destroyed afterwards.
So after a weekend of like punk rock bowling, it's just like oh, fuck my life?
DK: It's physically harder, but it's totally my favorite thing to do. I love traveling, I really like being on the road.
Do you think even at the punk shows where the ticket prices are so low, that the amount of people showing up will suffer due to all the economic hardships of this day and age?
DK: Actually, I was kind of worried about that. I mean whatever, there's nothing you can do about it, but I'm curious to see. I can totally see people not coming to the show because; it's a show, it costs money, you are going to spend money at the bar, on the tickets. I don't know, last night was pretty good, but we just have to wait and see. Everybody is hitting, Ohio was just hit really hard I guess, I'm sure Michigan isn't in great shape. I'm sure we'll notice something.
I was just kind of wondering because I haven't done an interview recently, and I mean the unemployment rate went up to I think 8% today. So I was just wondering, well it's only 12 bucks to get into the show, but even at that point where people drive, drink some beers, and whatever, if it's even hitting the small scene like this.
DK: Oh totally, even if you go out and spend 12 bucks on a show you're going to spend kind of a lot of money because you're maybe going to drink some beers, maybe take a cab there, but yeah it adds up. I know, totally.
So your latest release right now is kind of just B-Sides, unreleased stuff, etc.?
DK: Right.
So are you guys in the works of a new album then I'm assuming?
DK: Yeah, the B-Sides is something I've been talking to Mike about for years and years and we kind of didn't talk about it for awhile, then he brought it up and I was like, ‘hell yeah.' We have so much stuff that hasn't been released so we finally did that. Yeah, we're going to go into the studio in July and do that. Hopefully, start kind of where we were before in the 90's, start doing records every couple years or maybe even every year and tour on them. So yeah, that's the plan, let's see. I don't want to wait six years again because our last studio record was released in 2003, so that's just ridiculous.
So most of the stuff on this B-Sides record, would you say a majority of the material is from before 2003, after your last studio record, or a good mixture of both?
DK: It spans from '91 to 2003 I think. There's the first recording we ever made on a four-track at our rehearsal space to things that are recorded better that didn't make it to our records or were on comps or singles. Stuff that is hard to find or most people haven't heard, unless you're a real fan and buy everything. It's kind of like a new record to most people; to the casual fan or whatever, most of the stuff is probably stuff they haven't heard.
So since the last record have you kind of been archiving ideas? Has there been a lot of music generated or have you just been playing local shows, West Coast stuff, hanging out?
DK: That's what really kind of gets old, playing the same damn set over and over again, not really practicing too much. Our drummer lives in LA now, we practice right before we have a show and just playing the same damn set, same towns over again, you start to almost feel old. It kind of gets lame like, what are we doing? It's total routine and it gets kind of pointless; it's not as fun. So we want to really start doing it the right way again.
What made you come to the conclusion that you wanted to make a record and start doing this again?
DK: Because we really sat down and had a conversation about what people were thinking about, like fuck it, should we fold it up? We realized there's not any reason to do that because we don't hate each other, there's no drama in our band, we all get along, we're all pretty easy-going, there's no fist fights or anything like that. It's amazing what you see with other bands that we've been on tour with, it's unbelievable how some bands hate each other and I don't really understand that. We were still into what we're doing; we're still into the music, so there's no reason to stop doing it. So since we don't want to stop doing it let's start doing it again as opposed to just playing these bullshit weekend shows in LA and not having any new material. It gets really stagnant and totally uninspiring and kind of lame.
Why did you guys stop doing it (making new records/touring) in the first place?
DK: Because someone, namely Johnny, didn't want to tour anymore. He was over it, I don't know if he got burned out or what, but he was just not into it at all as far as touring went. He basically had a change of heart. That was basically what happened, we didn't really want to release records and not tour on it at all. So he got over it and he's into it again. That's actually the main thing, you know we have kids, we have jobs, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do, but I think we found a way to do it.
Are you working on material on this two-week tour or do you figure you'll get to it when you get home?
DK: I have six or seven songs that are totally done, Johnny has a bunch of songs, and then I have little beginnings of songs. That's never been a problem for us, we have stuff already.
Who do all the song writing?
DK: Johnny and me mostly. I'm going to try and get Jack to do something on the record too, even though he'll probably be hesitant.
Do you think there's going to be a big change in punk lyrics or tune in the New Year because Bush is out of office, we have a new Democratic, African American president; I'd say we're moving forward as a country quite a bit.
DK: There might be less frustration, less angst; maybe it will be really positive. I don't know, I've thought about this too, you've got to be pissed to write this stuff.
Yeah, how's Anti-Flag going to come out with a new album?
DK: I know, but there's always going to be something to gripe about, it's still politics.
There are still a lot of problems going on.
DK: Yeah, I think there's a lot of stuff to worry about still and bitch about.
It just seems like such a triumph for people that I was like hmm; I wonder how punk music this year is going to reflect that.
DK: I'm really curious to see that too, but (it) probably (will) not (affect it) because I think that bands that write about politics are still going to write about politics and protest. They're not going to change their style because we have a black president, so it seems like it wouldn't make a difference to me. They just wouldn't be directly talking about Bush because thank God he's gone.
If you could tell your younger self any vital information about being in a band, what would that be?
DK: I don't think we've ever done anything wrong, so the only thing I would have done is started touring earlier. I would have loved to start touring when I was 16. Would I have dropped out of high school to start touring? Probably. I was in this band a little over four years before we went on tour. Other than that we've never had a manager, I would have never really wanted one; we're not that kind of a band. I don't really like the show bizzy crap.
What do you want the people to know about your band, why should I listen to you guys?
DK: Because we're experienced (laughs). Mostly, I just want people to think of us as a real band again. I've read things online and they always mention in reviews or something about how inactive we are. Like, ‘have they even made a record in the last ten years,' and it's true. We haven't put anything out and we haven't been creative in awhile. We came out with a live record and a B-Sides record. It's depressing reading stuff like that and realizing that it's true. I want people to know we've still got that in us and we're going to start doing it again.
So the listeners should be anticipating the future?
DK: Hell yeah!
