Here's an interview I did with Germ Attak many months back...
Germ Attak are definitely in my top 5 favorite Canadian bands. They are also fantastic guys who I finally had the pleasure of sharing the stage with at Spiderfest this summer, as well as hanging out with them for the weekend. They have a work ethic, motivation and passion which is lacking in many of their contemporaries.
Germ Attak toured Asia in April 2010, and I was curious to see how it went for them. I was talking to Will about their tour after they got back and he had some awesome stories. I thought it deserved some print attention, so I set up an email interview with them. The pictures I got to sort through and the interview/ conversations I had with them about it were fantastic to say the least, and it definitely made me want to take my own band to the far-east. Enjoy...
Names and instruments?
Will – Drums
Jo – Vox and Getarz
Simon - Bass
What cities/ countries did you hit on the tour?
Will: Singapore, Malaysia (Johor Barhu and Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Yogjakarta, Bandung and Jakarta), Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Hiroshima, Tsuyama, Niigata and Mie).
What were some of the cultural highlights for you guys? By that I mean the structure of some of the local scenes and also the general culture in particular countries as well.
Will: Arriving into Indonesia was great. We got picked up by 3 punx who didn’t speak a word of English except “scooter..ok?”. So we assume we’re going on scooters and we have 3 boxes of heavy merch, our travel packs AND guitars. Not even 5 mins on the road and my driver runs a red light and gets stopped by a pig. He ends up paying off the pig like 30.000 rupees which is equivalent to I think…. $3, but is probably a ¼ day pay. Oh and I’d say 85% of the population drives scooters/bikes here. The pollution was insane. Breathing is like constantly being behind a diesel truck. And traffic is crazier than NYC, scooters bikes motorcycles cars everywhere. There are wild chickens running around. You are going through villages with huts and no running water. When it rains, it pours a foot of water in 30 minutes and the city practically shuts down cause its too wet to do anything. You can eat an awesome meal for less than a dollar. It was an amazing experience.
Jo: Ya, there is food absolutely everywhere. At every given moment within a 20 foot radius there is some street food for sale. At traffic stops, train stops, etc. People eat a lot there: very greasy food in Indonesia hahah.
Any other interesting tour highlights or stories you guys want to share?
Will: Unfortunately we didn’t have too much time to see too many things. But Eiji took us to the ground zero of Hiroshima. We did the touristy stuff, saw the “Atomic Bomb dome” and also went to the “Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum”. Going in there gives a different vibe… everybody knows what happened and how much was damaged, but when your actually in there and looking at articles collected from that day and reading the traumatizing stories of many that were affected by it you just want to scream and destroy shit. You walk out half upset and half angry. Knowing how many countries STILL have so many of these fucking nuclear bombs disgust me…. Do they really want an encore of what happened ever again??? Cept worst?? The future will judge that.
Jo: The museum is quite disturbing with wax statues of little girls melting from the heat of the blast and walking the streets like zombies. There are many preserved pieces of concrete walls where people where disintegrated from the blast and all that is left is a shadow! Bone melted with flesh preserved hands etc. every time there is any kind of nuclear weapons testing, the city of Hiroshima files a protest.
Will: I was told about 3 weeks before we played Jakarta, Total Chaos played a show there. 5000 people bought tickets and 2000 more were outside without tickets. They rioted to get in. Just an example of how big and intense the punk scene in Jakarta is. You see 10 year olds with studded jackets and spiked hair living on the streets. Punks are everywhere!!
Jo: Punk in Indonesia is fairly new. about 8 years old it seems. They have a different version of punk there, without the history. Its very strange. Many punk families. Mom, Dad, Kids... many Muslim punks.
Any concrete plans for your next tour/ release(s)?
Will: I think we’re taking a small break. Talk of another tour hasn’t yet been decided and will definitely be awhile until it happens, too much is going on with our lives right now.
Jo: The only recent release is "the punk singles collection vol. 1" CD out in Russia on Drunk With Power Records. Soon, some of our never released demos might be released. We have demos for "A bleak Future", "Molokai", "They live We Sleep", "Death to Cops" and "Cruxshadow"
Care to let some of the more green punk musicians out there how you made something this intense happen?
Will: Just giv’er! It’s the only way you will accomplish a goal that sounds a bit ridiculous (Touring southeast Asia and Japan did not seem like it was going to happen at first to me). Just go as a band and have the commitment to do it. Keep in mind money is and always will be a pain in the ass, and sacrificing the time to do things like this isn’t easy for everyone. I had money saved up and was willing to quit my job on the spot if they told me no. I got laid off a week before this tour. I guess they were sick of my shit and also business was very slow.
Jo: Ya, you got lucky haha.
Will: I’ve played and quit 3 other bands before. I never saw anything going anywhere because of unorganized band mates, lack of money, lack of communication, lack of commitment, and the list goes on. It seemed like as soon as one promoter out there heard about us coming, word got around and we were offered to play all sorts of places. And at first we we’re gonna tour Thailand instead of Japan. But Eiji and DSB convinced us to play Japan and I have no regrets. Hopefully next time we can do Thailand and more.
Jo: Unfortunately, being in a band is more than just playing your instrument. Its mostly sitting in front of a computer for a few hours a day answering emails and interviews, Booking tours, shows, releasing records, selling those records, paying for ads in all the zines, getting merchandise made, booking studio time, begging labels to release your stuff aha, etc. the touring and practicing only accounts for 5% of the time I spend on Germ Attak.
-Matty
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