Just before seeing the awesome Vancouver show, I got to sit down and chat with Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies. They have an interesting history to say the least and their excitement for what they do is apparent in everything they do, interviews, live shows, albums, etc. If they’re in your area, check them out. You’ll be impressed with how personable they are.
Killahbeez: How did the Von Bondies come to be? You guys used to be the Baby Killers?
Jason Stollsteimer: I listened to Minor Threat, Weezer, Sloan, random music. I wasn’t a huge music kid, I played sports when I was a kid; I was talked into that by certain members of my family. I played a lot of sports; I was never interested in music.
In 1998 I went to a concert were there were bands I had never heard of. My roommate at the time dragged me to the show and it was packed, 800 people, in Pontiac, an hour north of Detroit. The bands playing were the The Cramps and Guitar Wolf. I was watching this band from Japan that basically didn’t speak any English. During the show, the lead guitar player handed his guitar to some random person in the crowd and said “hit it!” and this guy hit the strings and it sounded just like the band, meaning, I could do that! If that guy can’t play guitar and the guitars are so loud that it doesn’t matter what you play, I could do that!
It looked like so much fun! That night I went back to my apartment and proceeded to get drunk with five of my friends and we started the Baby Killers that day. I had never played guitar, the drummer had never drummed, the singer had never sung, and I had never played bass. We were playing in the basement just making crap noise because none of us knew what we were doing.
Then, one by one each person went upstairs to get a drink but then didn’t come back down. In the end I was by myself which is ironic because I’m the only one left in the band. So I went upstairs and the lights were all off and when I turned them on I saw everyone was having non-sex sex, they were all making out in a big group. That was the first Baby Killers practise. That was the most rock ‘n’ roll thing and it started off that way. Three of those people weren’t in the band the next week.
KB: It was one of those things where being in a band seemed cool until they realized they had to work and actually practise.
JS: Yeah. They were the ones that were more into music than me but I was the only one that lasted. We changed our name to the Von Bondies when our drummer Don joined.
We started playing our first shows at house parties in a room that fit 50 people, but we would fit 100 in the room of this house I had in college.
We were pure energy with no talent. It was great. Now we have a little bit of talent and lots of energy still. We’re very self-deprecating. It’s very mid-west, that’s how it is where we live; everyone picks on themselves.
KB: So just to clarify, you had no interest in music when you were younger or you didn’t have an “interest” because you weren’t supposed to?
JS:All of my friends were musicians, I was the guy who carried their equipment and sold their band t-shirts. My brother was the musician in the family and he still is. He’s ten times the musician that I’ll ever be.
KB: Does he ever help you?
JS: In the ten years of the Von Bondies, he’s come up on stage once and it was great.
KB: What were your inspirations then? If you weren’t into music, you’re inspiration must have grown from somewhere, eventually some musician…
JS:No, I normally buy a cd every four or five years. I never buy music. I listen to talk radio consistently.
There are certain bands that I’ve seen live that inspire me but cd’s not at all. I still don’t own a Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Stooges, or MC5 record and those are the five things that people relate to rock’n’ roll. It’s not because I don’t like it. The rest of the band listens to music religiously. When I hear it on the radio, I’ll sing a long, but I’m not a huge music fan which is strange because of what I do.
I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher but somehow I ended up here. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but not for the same reasons your average musician does. Some people want fame, some people want to get laid, some people like partying and being the center of attention. I kind of got talked into doing this and then I liked it for totally different reasons.
KB: What is it about what you do that you love then?
JS:I like traveling and talking to people after the show. I like talking to the audiences which most shows I go to, nobody does that. Touring bands plays their songs and then says one cool line and that’s the show; they play the cd. There just getting through the night because they have 300 other nights to do. It’s a rip-off. I feel ripped-off if there is no connection between the band I’m watching and me in the audience. That might be the only show I go to that month. If I’m having a good show I talk to the audience for like 15 minutes over the course of an hour.
Tonight’s a Monday. Our job is to make people forget they have work tomorrow. That’s my main goal. Friday’s and Saturday’s are different shows because we know they don’t work the next day so we play more songs and talk less. I like to get them involved on the weekdays.
KB: Any musical collaboration you’d be interested in making happen sometime soon?
JS: I don’t think doing something with me would be good for anybody else. I don’t think I work in the normal way a song writer might work because I don’t have any background in music. Even in this band I end up playing all the bass and guitar parts on all the records, sometimes even the backing vocals. I don’t really collaborate that well. I didn’t know that I was supposed to; I didn’t know that’s how it worked. I had never done my homework on how you’re supposed to run a band. This was from day one, now looking back over the course of ten years, a solo project with my friends.
On the new record we don’t list anybody. I’m not even listed as a band member. Either you like the cd or you don’t. It doesn’t matter if Dave Grohl’s on drums (which he’s not); it’s about whether or not you like the music. So if you liked us because of the guest, that’s weird, because they weren’t involved musically.
People already know that I’m in the band so why should I put my name on the album saying Jason Stollsteimer, guitar and vocals.
KB: Are you guys writing while on the road or just touring and having fun?
JS: If I wasn’t doing sound checks, I would be up there by myself writing songs, just little riffs at a time.
I write better when I’m on tour, I don’t write at home at all. If you said, you have one day in the studio and you have to write ten songs, I would be able to do ten songs and one would be really good. I’m really good at being put on the spot. If you said you have six months to put out an album, that’s bad, don’t give me time.
“C’mon C’mon” was written in a day: it was written in less than five minutes, recorded, and edited. Same with the new record; “Pale Bride” took like five minutes to write. The songs that take the least amount of time are everyone’s favourites.
I have six new songs that are basically done.
My other band, Jason and the Hounds Below, is putting out a record this fall so I’ll tour on that for a little bit. It’s more like Roy Orbison meets Velvet Underground. It’s more crooner-esque, it’s not rock. I get to sing huge vibratos, my more natural voice. That’s what I grew up listening to, like Otis Redding.
KB: What’s the tour been like so far?
JS: Canada is hilarious. We had never been to Edmonton, Winnipeg, or Calgary and they were amazing.
In Edmonton, the venue was way over sold out. Everyone was dancing. I hadn’t had that much fun in like two or three years. Vancouver has a lot to live up to!
KB: Uh oh!
JS: No, no…Vancouver is normally really good but it is a Monday after all. Bands usually try to have Mondays off because they’re the least well attended. Tonight should be fun. We played at Richards last time.
KB: Yeah I like Richards. I like smaller venues. They’re more personal, better crowd, you see familiar faces.
JS: We’re noticing that our friends who used to do the 2000 seaters are now doing 500 seaters. All those bands are playing smaller venues because people aren’t going to shows, at all.
It’s good that you like small venues because the bigger venues aren’t going to be selling.
I try not to go to big stadium shows; festivals are different. There was a time when we were doing 2000 seaters in Europe and that was a low point for me personally on stage because it didn’t matter how sold out every show was, I couldn’t see anybody. There was forty feet between me and the first person in the audience.
KB: After this tour do you have a bit of a break before heading onto your other bands tour? Any other future plans?
JS: We’re doing Virgin Festival in Toronto. We’re doing a bunch of festivals after this tour and until October and then we’ll have two weeks off and that’s when I’ll record my other band.
I know that we’re going to try and get on Lollapalooza, Coachella, and some others.
This will be our six month straight touring. The reason why I did this big Canadian tour is because every tour could be our last. I’m having fun but who knows. Plus, we had a five year break between albums and we had no idea if anyone would remember us, especially in cities we’d never been to. It’s been reassuring!
KB: Enjoy it while you’re up there because you never know! Something could come up and you’ll kick yourself for not making the most of your last tour!
JS: Yeah, I am enjoying myself! I had a day off in Vancouver. I’ve never had a day off on purpose to go see a city.
KB: Well thanks for the chat. I had a great time and I look forward to seeing the show tonight! I’ll be up at the front taking as many photos as I can during the first three song limit!
JS: Oh yeah! We want photographers to take photos after the first three songs. We want to be sweaty. We hate it when the label only allows the first three songs. No one needs a photo pass. We feel lucky to have out photo taken. Flashes are fine, everything is fine. It takes us three songs to warm up. I don’t want us looking like Hollywood crap. The last song is the best to photograph because that’s when we’re jumping around! You want photos of the chaos!
KB: Wow amazing! Thanks so much. See you later!
JS: Enjoy the show!
June 30th, 2009 at 5:23 am
I like The Von Bondies. The intervie of Jason Stollsteimer is really nice. Their dress sence is awesome.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:26 am
very cool, it is refreshing to hear a member of a band still be in it for the dancing and music. Doesn’t matter, or surprise me that you started out far away from music and gravitated to it. I’m glad you did, keep writin and having fun man, hopefully i can finish my list of my top bands i NEED to see before i die by seeing you guys. The strokes and the kings of leon i knowcked out in one show in sau paulo, Brazil. Was icky, as you could imagine, and whether it be a smaller venue like in ybor city, fl or the house of blues orlando, you guys will kill here in tampa/st. pete FL, where it’s more fun to play and people still go to shows like it’s goin out of style. keep writing