Brad Marino: Entity of Disruption!

Shock Treatment: So Brad, can you tell me who’s all in the Brad Marino Band and what everyone does in the group?

Brad Marino: Sure thing, so the “Brad Marino Band” consists of myself along with Bobby Davis on the bass/back up vocals & Craig Sala on the drums/vocals. We’ve sometimes had an additional guitarist but we’re running lean and mean now as a 3 PCS. It keeps things tight and simple. For the upcoming Spain tour, Gene Champagne will be playing the drums.

Shock Treatment: Tell me about this new record you have coming out Agent of Chaos:

Brad Marino: “Agent of Chaos” is my 5th long player. I’m really excited about this one. It’s got 12 tracks all written by me- which surprisingly is a first- in albums past I’ve collaborated with someone on at least 1 or 2 tracks or thrown in a cover to round it out but this one is all songs made up by me. It also has a great mix of songs- all the things that make a Brad Marino record. Punky stuff, Power Pop, Rock n Roll and it’s very cohesive: mainly because it’s the same few guys playing on all the songs. My 1st record “Extra Credit” was just me doing everything and Kris Rodgers doing key’s. Since then, I’ve sort of had a small circus joining me because it was fun to collaborate, so some records have 2 drummers or 3 bass players etc. This one has Gene Champagne on the drums, Bobby Davis does most of the bass, Ron Mullens does all the keyboard playing. It still took a circus as outside of those main 3 guys though we have guest spots from Dave Strong, Zack Sprague, James Cap Nunn but otherwise the main instrumentation and vocals is just the 4 main guys. Another big part of the record is the mix- I love the work Josh Roman did on this one. We started working together on my “Basement Beat” LP in 2022 and he’s done some other projects with me but this one especially sounds great. I really think people will dig this one- some who have heard it say it’s the best I’ve done even. 

Shock Treatment: Speaking of the record, what inspired the name of the album?

Brad Marino: I was listening to a podcast while driving and someone on the show referred to another character as an “Agent of Chaos” and I thought “hmmm agent of chaos- that sounds like me!” It stuck and I decided I just wanted to use it. I rarely speak out on anything but it seems like when I do it inevitably ruffles somebody’s feathers but that’s part of saying what you believe or think about a situation or topic- music, politics whatever- even if it causes a little chaos- and there has been some chaos over the past couple years with some of my relationships in music so that also made it seem like the perfect title.

Shock Treatment: You’re getting ready to take the Brad Marino rock n roll show on the road in Europe soon, are you excited for that?

Brad Marino: Yes! Always excited to go to Europe and play my rock n’ roll. This will be my 2nd tour of Spain with the BMB and 3rd overall jaunt to Europe as the BMB. When The Connection split up I wasn’t sure if I’d ever go back or bother to start a band and here we are doing our 3rd tour-matching what the old band did- so that’s very cool to me especially where I’m at in my life now a little older and wiser-with 2 great young children and wife. It’s great to have that balance in my life and be able to play ‘rockstar’ for a week or so to people who care and show up to support you.

Shock Treatment: What have you found that’s different about European audiences as opposed to your home town crowds?

Brad Marino: The main difference is the people who come to the shows in Europe are fans- they know your songs and own your records before coming to see you. They’re excited to hear these songs performed live and sing along and dance. They also want to take a photo or ask for an autograph- stuff that never happens here in the US. There are some great shows we’ve done in the states too – no doubt. Spain especially is the best- they’re just passionate rock n roll fans there which is why so many independent or smaller bands like mine go there- you can sell out a 150 person room on a random Tuesday and have a great time.

Shock Treatment: For one of your new tracks, “Calling Your Bluff” you did a video. Can you tell me about how that experience went for you and the band?

Brad Marino: That was fun- our friend Tino from the band “Burn Kit” sat in on drums since Gene who played on the track lives in Canada. Videos are kind of a pain to me but they’re good to have for the almighty algorithm.. you need to have a good idea and place to shoot in my opinion. Some kind of vision and that’s the hardest part . For this track- a real 77’ style punk rock n roll tune, I thought the local skateboard shop/park would be a rad backdrop and it was. People were just skating around us on a Saturday- it’s a big indoor park you pay like $10 bucks and can skate all day- pretty good deal. It’s called Red Alert Skateshop in Rochester, NH. It was fun watching the skaters and Tino not only is a musician but a top notch skater as well! Hell, I even got on a board for the 1st time in 20 years!



Shock Treatment: Harkening back to your childhood, did you have a favorite video from a band that you’d get excited about when it’d come on or that maybe inspired you to make one for yourself?

Brad Marino: There was a lot of great videos when I was watching in the late 90’s/00 or so- I spent a lot of time watching MTV or VH1 for sure. I’d be more into doing videos if I could do one as elaborate as those 90’s videos. Some that I remember liking- New Radicals- the one in the mall- that was cool. I also liked “Bittersweet Symphony” – it was simple but effective.. As I’m typing and thinking- Blink 182- “ All the small things” spoofing on all the 90’s videos was obviously a big one on “TRL” ha! In my head for a song sometimes I have a great idea but we just don’t have the resources to do much more than a performance video.

Shock Treatment: And since we already turned on the way back machine, what bands do you feel most inspired you to want to pick up a guitar and start writing music?

Brad Marino: Honestly at first it was those bands on MTV/VH1- it wasn’t so much the song as the reaction to it -when a band was playing or lip syncing to an audience. That draw of the audience- especially the female members of the audience definitely peaked my interest in wanting to play. It all just looked so fun- Back then- everyone looked cool to a 12/13 year old-even if they were impossibly lame to look back on. There also was a lot of good solid rock music still back then that inspired me to want to learn whether it was Smash Mouth, Lit, Offspring, Green Day. As far as songwriting that didn’t happen until later when I was like 15/16 and playing in a band- we were doing covers of Rancid, Ramones, Misfits etc. and that’s when I’d take my first steps at trying to write. As a songwriter now I have a lot of influences but the main ones are obviously Joey and Dee Dee, Mick & Keith, Paul & John, Paul Collins, John Felice, Billie Joe, Buddy Holly those kind of guys. 

Shock Treatment: Other than the European tour, what lies in store for you guys in 2026?

Brad Marino: 2026 is starting off with a bang!- new album and the tour in Spain. We’ll see- Bobby usually books us on some cool shows. He tries to get us gigs opening for bands we like that are bigger than us. We’ve opened for some great contemporary artists and legendary artists we are influenced by. I don’t want to be lugging my gear through a snow-covered sidewalk and up the stairs to play a club show when its 10 degrees outside and playing for 13 people- so we are a bit picky about the gigs we take. I’m sure some cool opportunities will arise but also it doesn’t get much better than 10 days touring in Spain! As usual I’ve already got another albums worth of material ready to record before the most current album even comes out so I have to restrain myself from hitting the studio too quick but my guess is after the tour sometime this summer we’ll get in a studio and start chipping away at a few new tunes.

Shock Treatment: Where can people go to listen to your music and buy your records?

Brad Marino: All the usual places- Spotify/Apple/Youtube. Bradmarino.bandcamp.com. You can buy the new record from the labels : Spaghetty Town Records in the USA. Ghost Highway Recordings in Spain & Beluga Records in Sweden.

Follow Brad Marino at the links below: 

youtube.com/@bradmarinomusic

facebook.com/bradmarinomusic

instagram.com/brad_marino

tiktok.com/@bradmarinomusic

Get the new album Agent of Chaos NOW at the links below:

Spaghetty Town Records 

Ghost Highway Recordings

Beluga Records 

Taste Testors - Come Back LP review

 

The first Taste Testors LP came out just prior to me starting Shock Treatment and by the time I got my head on straight and figuring out what exactly I wanted to do with the blog, it had passed me by. However, just a year later these crazy cats go and drop another new LP, just so I could write about it. So very kind of them, thank you boys! 



In case you aren't familiar with Taste Testors, they are currently dug into the Seattle area and feature current and former members of bands like The Briefs, The Cheap Cassettes, Appaloosa and all sorts of other killer bands from that area. Both of the Taste Testors LP's came out on Moodkiller Records. A label that I must admit I wasn't too familiar with. But they've been around for a while, putting out records here and there since 2005.

Come Back is a direct sequel to The Taste Testors last LP. Like, it picks up right where the last one left off. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not in my little black book! If you've got a winning formula, why mess with it. The Taste Testors music is a solid undomesticated blend of The Ramones and The Undertones. Injected with a unique elixir of anxiety and mania that only living it today's times can produce. Taste Testors are kind of the blue collar cousin to The Briefs. I mean, the opening song to this record "I Don't Like Working On The Weekend" seems to prove my point! The energy levels and the killer hooks are equally matched with the Briefs, but TT are less spastic and more of a straight forward, powerhouse rock n roll band.



Nile and Leif's loud guitars, Hudson's pounding drums and Nix's snotty vocals. This is what this band offers and coming from these guys, it's enough. Taste Testors are here, right now doing what they do. They stand before you arms extended, offering you a cure. A cure to life's many woes, mounting troubles, and unavoidable tribulations. All you have to do is believe in rock n roll the way generations before us did and this music will help you get by. It'll never hurt, weigh you down or become burdensome in any way. It's here to administer aid and it will if you let it.   

You can listen to or buy both Taste Testors LP's from the bands bandcamp or from Moodkiler Records Bandcamp

tastetestors.bandcamp.com

moodkillerrecords.bandcamp.com

The Gee Strings Interview!

Interview conducted with Gee Strings guitarist Bernadette

Shock Treatment: Hi Bernadette! Can you please tell me who’s currently in the band and what everyone does? 

Bernadette: Hi Jay!

In addition to the long-term survivors Ingenius Pop (Vocals) and me, Bernadette

(Guitar), we've had the current line up for three and a half years.
Our spanish guy Curtis on Bass and Alex on Drums! Alex also played in German 

60´s garage punkers The Satelliters for many years.

Great lineup …some people say it's our best lineup ever…you know the rhythm section in a band is really important…its not all about the guitar and singer . We really wanna try to keep this lineup together and record new songs next year.

Shock Treatment: What band made you want to pick up an instrument and learn how to play? How old were you and how did you discover this band?

Bernadette: For me, I got my first records from my older brother, stuff by Status Quo, Alice Cooper, T. Rex…but my biggest influence, as for many others, was The Ramones. During the 1980´s, German television showed Rock´n´Roll High School as part of the children´s program on sunday mornings. As you can believe little Bernadette was quite impressed to see The Ramones instead of Mickey Mouse!

A little later in the 80s I bought my first guitar, a very bad Gibson Les Paul copy, an even worse amplifier and a really terrible fuzz pedal to get some distortion. But it was good enough to try to play along to "I Don't Care" by the Ramones and it got me hooked on playing guitar.

For Ingenius Pop it was Poly Styrene and Toody from Dead Moon who got the whole thing rolling. And not to forget her daddy, who sang all day and could play all instruments. 

Shock Treatment: How did you guys meet and decide to form The Gee Strings?

Bernadette: The Gee Strings started in 1994. In the first few months, the band was called Der Gelbe Sack (The Yellow Bag).

We had trouble finding a good band name and Jac, our first drummer (R.I.P.) had a job at the time distributing yellow garbage bags

Jac and Damir, the first guitarist, founded the band and considered who would be a suitable singer. Jac said, "I have an ex-girlfriend who can sing a little." Frau Hansen joined on bass. Ingi initially wanted to play bass as well but Frau Hansen was the better bassist so Ingenius Pop had to switch to the microphone! A short time later the name was (thankfully) changed to The Gee Strings. I joined the band as a second guitarist just in time for the recording of their first LP *The Gee Strings*. 

Shock Treatment: You guys released the LP A Bunch of Bugs in 2006 and then you didn’t release anything until the I Will Get You 7” in 2015 but kept playing shows through most of that time. Did you just need a break from writing and recording for a while?

Bernadette: Don't forget the split single with Scott "Deluxe" Drake was released in 2012! But you're right, after the Bunch of Bugs LP, we played a lot of gigs. At some point in 2009 it became too much for Nik Nasty (bass) and Steve The Beef (drums) and they left the band.Then Ingi and me had to find two new Gee Strings! 

From 2010 to 2011 I played a in Sonny Vincent's band and also recorded an album with him. In 2012 I joined Scott Drake's solo band for a European tour. The Humpers were always one of our favorite bands. Check out Scott´s other bands The Lovesores and Guerilla Teens! On this tour I met and played with Buanax and Macst. A brilliant rhythm section from France and backing up Scott Drake on his Euro Tour. We recorded a split single immediately after the tour and I managed to lure Buen and Macst into the Gee Strings.

Buanax and Macst were Gee Strings members from 2011 - 2016. Until the I Will Get You 7 “ and the I'm So Gee !! album in 2016. Since 2022 I got Buanax back to play together with me in The Morlocks! That way everything stays in the family!



Shock Treatment: On your Bandcamp page it says you guys have played over 600 shows since 1994! Is there a city that you guys want to play in that you haven’t yet? And is there a city you played but don’t ever want to go back to?

Bernadette: We're actually happy for every gig we can play. If everyone can manage it, having enough time.

We haven't had that many negative experiences. We're always on the lookout for new clubs and countries. We just finished our first UK tour. This keeps things interesting, allowing us to get to know new places, people, and bands.

It would be cool to play more in Italy or Greece. Southern Europe is always good. Playing more in Netherlands would be nice too; there are some good clubs and fresh bands there at the moment.

Shock Treatment: In the 30 years that you guys have been around, what have been some of the biggest differences in playing live shows back then as opposed to playing now?

Bernadette: In the 90s, it was much easier to play a lot of gigs. Even without a booking agency, it was possible to play every weekend for years on end. I should add that we were young, unemployed or studying for ages, that's changed too. Tours now require long-term planning. Booking agencies and clubs are sometimes booked up a year in advance.


Shock Treatment: 30 years is a long time! What’s your secret to staying motivated to write music and keep performing?

Bernadette: We still love going on tour and writing new songs. Sometimes new band members bring fresh energy and new influences to the band. That makes it exciting too!

Shock Treatment: Tell me about your new record Greatest Shits. Was it hard pulling your favorite 14 songs from all your records and rearranging the track list for this LP?

Bernadette: It really wasn't easy to choose only 14 songs. Initially we thought about a double LP, but our labels weren't too keen on that.

It also wasn't easy to master the songs from six albums onto one. Each record sounds extremely different. A Bunch of Bugs is full of distorted guitars and has very little bass. I'm So Gee!! album wasn't even mastered. We preferred the unmastered version back then, if I remember correctly. But our mastering guy Lolo Blümler did a fantastic job, and the record is now really easy to listen to all the way through, or rather the songs sound better than ever.

It was great going through the whole Gee Strings archive. We found many folders with old flyers, posters, and photos of all the lineups. So many good memories and it's incredible that we kept this going for 30 years!

It was a bit of a shame that we didn't have any room left for singles, unreleased tracks and cover songs. But maybe we can save that for the future vinyl release.

This compilation was intended to be a "best of" album featuring the best songs from all our LPs, which have all been out of print for a long time.

Shock Treatment: What lies ahead in 2026 for The Gee Strings?

Bernadette: We have some upcoming gigs this spring.

On our Greatest Shits tour, we're trying to play only our favorite clubs.

Our friends from S.U.G.A.R. are inviting us to their release show in Berlin. Check them out... their third LP will be released on Alien Snatch Records.

We're playing also at the Cosmic Trip Festival in France. It's one of the best, if not the best, festival in France. Featuring Briefs, Automatic Lovers, His Lordship, Guitar Wolf, and many more.

In the fall we're touring France and Spain, which we're really looking forward to.

We've also finished some brand new songs, which we'll be playing already live at our upcoming gigs.



Shock Treatment: Where can people go to listen to your music and buy your records?

Bernadette: Buy vinyl at our concerts. We also have tapes and a few CDs left.

Our new compilation is available in Germany on Wanda Records, tape version on Tape or Die, in France on Dangerhouse Skylab and in Spain on Ghost Highway Recordings and Take The City Records !!

Also all good mail-order companies should have our record.

If you wanna buy it in the US you should have a look at Dead Beat Records.

10 Punk Bands Essential To Me: The 1990's

This is another "tandem" post that I'm doing with my Born Too Late co-host and pal Lord Rutledge. For his list of "Essential 90's Punk Bands, go check out his blog Faster and Louder. This time, I have no idea what he's going to put on his list. This proved to be FAR more difficult than I had imagined. I tried to use completely different bands than the ones I mentioned in our previous tandem post "My Favorite Records of 1996". There was so much going on in the 1990's that it wasn't hard to think of bands, it was hard to narrow it down to only ten(ish)! So below, after hours and hours of inner conflict and deliberation, I present to you my list of bands that were "essential" to me during the 1990's. 

The early 1990's included my high school years. This was also the time I discovered underground rock n' roll/punk rock. I was coming into the decade already being a fan of 50's Rock n' Roll, 60's British Invasion, 70's Glam and Punk, 80's Goth/New Wave and all the junk oozing in between. So when I got an earful of all the underground bands taking their primary influences from this stuff, I was barley able to keep it under control. It was like a shopping spree, grabbing at everything I could get my hands on. 

Also, go check out the Spotify playlist I made at the bottom of this post featuring 50 songs by 50 bands that I loved in the 1990's. If you were like me, your tastes were all over the map. So just play the list, sit back, close your eyes and let it take you back to the days when you didn't worry about rent, you didn't check the weather, or be concerned if that sharp pain in your back would go away on it's own on not. 


Operation Ivy/Rancid

I was at a party that I talked my friend into going because there was this band I wanted to see play. I was supposed to meet him there at this strangers house. Well, that "friend" never showed and the band didn't end up playing. But there was something really interesting coming from this little boom box on the patio. I was so intrigued by this music, I had to go ask what it was. Someone finally handed me the cassette and I took perfect mental notes of what it was. It was Operation Ivy's Energy. The next day I was at my local Tower Records. For whatever reason the tape was in the "Imports" section. I looked as the record label it was on and that day I was whisked away to another world that I have yet to return from. And when I learned Lookout Records was releasing a 7" by a new band called Rancid that half of OPIV was in, I was first in line! 


Supercharger/The Rip-Offs/The Infections

As many of you already know, there's one thing all three of these bands have in common and that's the presence of one Mr Greg Lowery. To pick just one of these bands as the most "essential" to me during the 1990's would be a pointless endeavor. The sass brat behavior and incredibly infectious hooks of Supercharger, The Rip-Off's flaming middle finger in your face attitude mixed with brilliant minimalist lofi punk, to the stunning head turning Heartbreakers meets The Angry Samoans style songs of The Infections Self Titled LP. No way I could do without any of these, they're all as vital to me as oxygen or chesse burgers! Again, and example of moving punk rock forward by taking it back to its roots. Lowery clearly has a masterful knowledge of it, then he pukes it back out with some original flavors mixed in,  and I lapped up every ounce!   


The Stitches 

Oh sure, I was content with the morsel the punk gods had thrown my way, with Johnny Peebucks and The Swingin Utters. Don't get me wrong they were great and I am in no way a blasphemer! But when The Stitches 8 X 12" hit the world like an extinction level asteroid, it didn't just leave a crater in Southern California, is sent a ripple effect felt all around the world. Here was a band that not only took the sounds of 70's punk, pounded them all together but made it faster, snottier, grittier and pretty much upped the ante in every way possible! Was this shit for real, I mean, how could this be?! The fantastic thing was that it was for real, and it ushered in an era that couldn't have been foreseen by even the wisest of profits. An era where similar bands started forming, labels started up to put out their records, and fans like myself stood up to salute the dawning of a glorious new age.


NOFX

I would be lying if I said I don't still put on a NOFX record every now and again. If you were involved in skateboarding culture in the learly 90's, it was nearly impossible to avoid NOFX. They were like that era's JFA or The Faction. The perfect soundtrack to those saturday afternoon skate sessions with your friends. It was cool to have a band that seemed like they "got" you, that was similar in age and kind of dressed like us too. Also a band that you could go to your local club and see up close for like $5. I remember thinking that the Ribbed LP was alright but I still didn't hear the big deal. But when Whiter Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean came out, that too was a major game changer for me. Suddenly it seemed like everyone was paying attention to them and Fat Wreck Chords became a force to be reckoned with.  


Boris The Sprinkler 

I used to be a huge Maximum Rock N Roll dork. Imagine how I felt when I found out my favorite columnist in that magazine had his own band?!? And Boris The Sprinkler was 100% all things Rev Norb for sure. All the humor, sarcasm, obscure pop culture references and underlying sincerity were all present in Boris The Sprinkler's music. All that and add heaping amounts of over caffeinated guitar riffs with Norb's vocals delivered like he was on a relentless sugar high! I mean, who else could make a song called "My Prom Date's Parkin' With Grand Moff Tarkin" work! Not since like The Dickies or The Toy Dolls had I heard a band have humor like this in their lyrics. I never got a chance to see Boris The Sprinkler live, even though they did come to my hometown once or twice. I don't have many, but that's one of my regrets in life.      


Jawbreaker

I remember when my friend played Bivouac for me, I thought it was fine. I really liked the first song "Shield Your Eyes" but the rest, to me at least, was kind of forgettable to be honest. But everyone loved this band so I went to their previous record Unfun and that still didn't do much for me. But when their LP 24 Hour Revenge Therapy hit, talk about yet another asteroid hitting. This record was pretty life changing for me. I don't think there's a bad song on this record and it really holds up. This time around, Jawbreaker added more energy, bigger hooks and that's what my creepy little teenage brain needed from these guys. I will still champion Revenge Therapy as one of the best records of the 90's. However Jawbreaker lost me again with Dear You. I just couldn't get into it, still can't. And I realize it's a "me" problem, I know a lot of people love it.    


Green Day

I mean hey, the kings of Lookout Records right? I think that's pretty undisputable at this point. This was the first band I dug up and purchased after going through the Lookout Records catalog and doing a little research. Green Day's 39/Smooth and Kerplunk! came out in my most formative years and they meant the world to me, they still do. I love Dookie as well but that came later. These records are as much a part of my adolescence as my first high school crush, actually more so because they didn't make me sad! And these records were just the starting off point for these guys, what Green Day did from these days forward was nothing short of astounding. They changed the world with their music forever and made living on this smelly mudball more tolerable for a lost dorky kid quickly being shoved into adulthood like myself. 


The Bouncing Souls

One of the things about Bouncing Souls I really liked was the fact that well, I guess their music could technically be classified as "pop punk" if I were being lazy and like The Dude, I am most certainly that. But along with their pop punk-ness they had a touch of street punk that made them a bit tougher si I wasn't called a sissy pants for liking them. For example, when I told people I liked The Parasites who coincidentally are also from New Jersey. When I needed a small breather from the "pop" part in pop punk, The Bouncing Souls emphasized the "punk" part. Their music was loud, catchy and their songs were pretty cool and they didn't take themselves too seriously like most Street Punk bands. See "These Are The Quotes From Our Favorite 80's Movies." Oddly, I never got a chance to see them live back in the day but I bet they were great.  


Those Unknown 

It's been difficult to choose just one band from all these scenes that existed parallel to each other. Along with the pop punk and lo-fi/garage punk I really got into some Oi!/Street punk that labels like Pogostick, Beer City, GMM and Headache Records put out. Other bands like Those Unknown that I loved were The Reducers SF, The Wretched Ones, and The Bristles just to name a few. But Montague, New Jersey's Those Unknown were my favorite. They're lyrics didn't seem overly political, they just seemed like common sense. Apparently they're accused of being commies now because of Rich Owens (now an accomplished poet and essayist) column in MRR. They also had this weird/wonderful  air of Americana to them too. Along with Bill Owen's insane blood gurgling vocals, the hooks in their songs were so sick, like Cocksparrer sick. It was almost difficult NOT to like these guys. 


Defiance 

One day I got a wild hair up my ass and ordered this compilation LP called Pogo Attack from this label I'd never heard of called Pogo Punk Records. I saw it in an ad in Maximum Rock n Roll so I took a chance. Because that's what you did back then. You stuffed an envelope with cash and prayed to the punk rock gods that it would reach it's destination safely. The cover was really cool looking and colorful and it had a few bands I liked on it like The Pist, The Bristles, Blanks 77, and The Wretched Ones . The Comp also had Aus Rotten, Mankind?, and all these other anarcho type bands that I never heard. Doing some digging down the rabbit hole after I got the comp in the mail, I came across Portland's Defiance. They seemed to straddle the wall between anarcho punk and bands like Discharge and GBH which I really liked. So thus my love for bands like that came to grow and flourish from there.  

The Etters Interview!

 

The Etters are Sjerrie guitar/vocals Leona bass/vocals and Keet drums/vocals

Interview conducted with Sjerrie (AKA Jerry Hormone)

Shock Treatment: Hello Jerry! Thanks for doing my interview! Let’s start by telling me how you all met and decided to form the band?

Jerry: I was going through a debilitating midlife crisis. A shrink told me I had two options: 1) Buy a Harley-Davidson or B) start a stoopid punk band with two life loving, energetic females in their early twenties. Harley’s are expensive, so that’s where Loena and Keet came in and now we’re here, playing sooper stoopid punk and I'm doing a lot better.

Shock Treatment: What bands influenced The Etters sound the most?

Jerry: All that fine fine 90’s lo-fi Rip Off Records kind of punk. Loli and the Chones, most of all

Shock Treatment: If your grandmother asked you what The Etters sound like, how would you describe it to her?

Jerry: It’s stoopid and catchy and you can leave your hearing aid at home, grandma.

Shock Treatment: How come your songs are so short? Why don’t you write longer songs like Golden Earring? I mean, Radar Love is over 6 minutes!

Jerry: We’d love to write our own Radar Love! The royalties could buy us a mansion on the tropical island Curacao next to Golden Earring singer Barry Hay’s!

Shock Treatment: You guys write such mean, angry songs! Have you tried writing more positive songs, like maybe songs about kittens or delicious candy?

Jerry: We do have some songs about liking fries and snacks and the delicious ice cream sensation that is Viennetta. Oh, and about snorting speed. We love that too. Yummy.

Shock Treatment: What are Etters shows like? What do you want the audience to walk away thinking about after seeing you guys live?

Jerry: We pretty much play the whole album start to finish and say dumb shit in between the songs. The audience will either think we’re the best thing in punk since forever or they won’t. But hey, we don’t care, there’s no cure for stupidity or lousy taste.



Shock Treatment: You guys recently played Grauzone 2026 with some other pretty cool bands like Home Front, Die Spitz, and The Chisel! How did that show go for you? Was the crowd getting into and dancing to The Etters?

Jerry: It was at the Zwarte Ruiter, which is one of our favorite places to play. People really get crazy there. Lots of shouting along, pushing and shoving, the whole package. Love you, people at the Zwarte Ruiter!

Shock Treatment: What does the rest of 2026 look like for The Etters?

Jerry: A bunch of shows, at some cool festivals too, like Sniester, Kliko Fest, Get Lost Fest in Hamburg and we also play the legendary The Pit’s in Kortrijk this summer. We’ll be doing some 7”'s too, one on Amsterdam’s Wap Shoo Wap Records and probably one on Fink City from Canada. We’ve got more songs laying around ready to be recorded, so dear record labels: if you wanna lose some money, just give us a call!

Shock Treatment: Tell us where people can go to hear your music and buy your records?

Jerry: Digitally you can listen to us in all the usual horrible places. We’d love to collect that 0,00000000000000001 cent per play. Physically our album ‘The ETTERS maken je hartstikke DOOD!’ is out as a one sided 12” on Fink City (on black and black/yellow and black/yellow/white/clear vinyl), Bachelor (red vinyl) and Plato Utrecht (neon green vinyl). The French Fish & Cheap RCDS might have some copies left of the repress of our one sided three song 7” on clear vinyl, but you’d have to hurry, because they only did (another) 50 of those.