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ROCKIN STEADY, german interview

www.rockingsteady.eu/deu/_interviewinfo.neo?iid=25

and here's a taste of the google translation from german into english which is very enjoyable:

vic: ...and he is also quite a tough guy. As a cowboy he walked up to me and said [speaks with a grumpy voice], I have a few songs about Iraq, about the war. ' I just thought, 'Oh damn!'. But we have immediately understood because we have much in common and both listen to music from the 60s and like the same books. At the end of our first meeting, I said, but you are looking for a new home. I have already had a vacancy. ' He must have thought, that's kind of an angle ', but in the end he moved in with us.

Rocking Steady: Was that something like a group home?

Vic Ruggiero: Exactly. Many were artists. The whole was now not super artistic, but most had studied and worked something, but not necessarily in a secure permanent position. One was a writer, another a scientist. Everyone did something different.

Rocking Steady: Are you still alive there?

Vic Ruggiero: No, I moved for example from two years ago. But I have lived about seven years there and it was very cool. It took me I must das. about twenty plates have taken there. It was relaxed and totally inspiring. I had a place to work and could easily go up and put me to sleep. My roommates were understanding when I once bought a whole horn section. One day I even set up a drum set in the living room, so I apologized to any reason, but the others just said, why, then, is not it great. "
Later, I came down and they played on the drums and I said, hey , you should really stop now, it is very late. ' In this place I was not the troublemaker, but almost the full responsibility.

Rocking Steady: You inspired the song writing, if you meet other people?

Vic Ruggiero: Definitely. It's like the slackers. Dave or Jay to write songs that I would not normally sing. Everyone brings what one, even our drummer, Ara, recently brought a great piece. Marcus writes, however, the Hitmeldodien.
I work with many people, for example, of the Groovy Ghoulies Kepi. In March, I will make a tour with Kevin Seconds. I just love to play together with others.

Rocking Steady: To stay with the songwriting, we have the impression that you're writing the political songs for the Slackers and the more personal pieces will be posted on your solo discs. Is that true?

Vic Ruggiero: The Slackers, we have processed almost always social or political issues. We wanted to do it like Motown. They have produced songs that were politically, but they have not said so much, because they also should still sound timeless. [Starts singing] Some day we'll be together. This is basically a song for the civil rights movement, and you can understand it that way. This is a cool way to write. Some people believe that this is a love song, but really it's about something else.
The Slackers have also done this - but people have not understood us. That being said, it was simply time to relate time position to make a political statement.

Rocking Steady: With your 'International War Criminal' EP you were one of the first American bands to have any clear position on the Iraq war. That was very brave!
Vic Ruggiero: But that has tradition. The Two Tone bands have called a spade a spade.
Rocking Steady: But since there were not many ska bands that had a clear message ...
Vic Ruggiero: True, but we came out of a particular scene that was perhaps not absolutely clear on the left, but had a political consciousness. There were a few ska or punk bands in New York, which were political. You could refer to bands like the Dead Kennedys. They've done it in the 1980s, so we can do it today. Besides we have also expressed NOFX and Green Day later. Springsteen was cool, which was right up there. Nevertheless, there were not enough bands who have dared. Today, the bands are simply not as brave as ever.

Rocking Steady: Were there any negative reactions?

Vic Ruggiero: You know, there is not much to trigger negative reactions in the United States. [Laughs]

Rocking Steady: What about the political landscape of the United States today?

Vic Ruggiero: Much polarized than before. The right and left to drift further apart. Here, the Left is in a diffuse situation. We are definitely in a period of transition.
The conservatives and the religious fundamentals and the rich on the other side, holding it all together. Which although not actually have much in common, but the cluck together again and form a powerful force that gives stupid answers.
If you suggest that we could still use the money to build a school or to beautify the city, then say them, 'Piss off, look for a job only once'. Or, 'Why we do not provide health care for all'? - What are you, a communist? '
I mean, where are we living? Is it the 1950s? Are we still in the Cold War? That's all they can. You have only stupid answers to the really important questions.

Rocking Steady: What do you think of the movement Occupy?

Vic Ruggiero: Although it is a small movement, but I'm glad it's there. I read that you have the Indignant movement in Spain and Greece in Europe. What cool thing is that it is young and old people together, and that the movement is larger there.

Submitted by vic on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 10:10
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