CMW 2018 Preview – Mad Caddies Interview
The Mad Caddies have been making music together since high school. They’ve been playing together for over 20 years, and they’re showing no sign of stopping, and I for one am glad.
I had the pleasure of chatting on the phone with lead singer, Chuck Robertson earlier this week to talk about new music, who we should be listening to, Canadian Music Week, and more.
Chuck joked about having trouble getting his land legs back after being out on the water with The Caddies on the Flogging Molly Cruise, a four-day musical cruise with some of the best punk/ska bands around. They warn you about sea legs, but they don’t warn you about getting back your land legs.
I have to be honest and tell you that I had no idea that Punk Rocksteady was coming when I put together my list of questions. I was expecting something entirely different. Specifically, the much talked about 4 EP series. The day before my interview, the new music announcement showed up on their Facebook page. I had time to listen to the first single She, a Green Day cover, and fall in love with it before the call.
Punk Rocksteady is a cover album. It’s the brainchild of Fat Mike of NOFX, and all of the songs are played in ska/reggae/dancehall/so cal fashion by Mad Caddies. Included on the album are songs from NOFX, Bad Religion, Lagwagon, Against Me!, Misfits, the Descendents, and of course, Green Day’s She. It’s very different, and it’s amazing. I wondered out loud about how diehard Green Day fans might feel about the cover, and Chuck said that since the track had been released, he’d read 500 comments, and there were only two negative comments. It’s a great track, and I can hardly wait to hear the rest. All of the songs are Fat Mike approved but She and She’s Gone were Mad Caddies picks.
I asked if we’d be getting any more tracks before the June 15th album release and while he didn’t say yes, he did make it sound like we may get at least one, maybe two.
You can pre-order the Mad Caddies album Punk Rocksteady here. It will be available as a digital download, on cd and on vinyl. Chuck talked about being a big fan of vinyl. He mentioned that he and bass player Graham Palmer spin vinyl in the studio and even if people never play their vinyl, it’s a great piece of art complete with liner notes. All vinyl purchases come with a digital download.
I had to ask about the concept album, the 5-song, 4-EP release, which would then be released as a double album. Chuck admitted that was the album they were planning to work on, but the timing was right for the long talked about cover album with Fat Mike. It was supposed to come out last summer but got delayed. They’ve finished the first EP, but it still needs to be mixed. The songs are all written for the second and third EP, and some are written for the fourth, but then the reggae album started to come together. Given the fact that they’re getting ready to head out on the Punk in Drublic tour with NOFX and Fat Mike, they figured they could get Punk Rocksteady recorded and get it out. It’s a great way to let everyone know that Mad Caddies are still around, and we can all look forward to new music in the fall.
5 Quick Questions with Mad Caddies
Q1) Does Mad Caddies have a soft spot for Toronto?
Chuck Robertson) Oh for sure. Toronto is our Canadian home. Well and Montreal. We have so many great friendships in Canada. Friendships that were started over 20 years ago. So many musicians, industry people, friends. It’s like a second home.
Q2) Do you have a favourite place to play in Toronto.
Chuck Robertson) My favourite place to play in Toronto was always the Opera House. I love the Opera House. A great mid-sized theatre. Our first show in Toronto ever was at the El Mocambo. We played there in 1997. My favourite is definitely The Opera House.
Q3) Can you remember the first time an audience sang lyrics back to you?
Chuck Robertson) Oh gosh, it must have been our first concert in Santa Barbara at a real venue when we were still in high school when our band as called The Ivy League and we’d released our first demo on cassette tape and it was recorded on 8-track, it was a high-quality recording by a cool guy, and we’d spent 2 days and recorded 6 songs or 8 songs. We sold it to our high school friends for like a couple of bucks. They were people coming out our shows anyways, we were playing parties and lunchtime at school and house parties, and that was our first real gig. So by the time, we were playing that all of our friends knew all of the words to all of our songs and they were all singing along. It was fucking amazing. There were only about 60 or 70 of them, but it was pretty cool.
That’s when we knew that’s what we wanted to do.
Q4) How does the lyric drinking for a living, become the title Drinking for 11.
Chuck Robertson) It was a play on words done by a really good friend, Timmy D at the time. He was like, dude it sounds like your saying drinking for 11, like drinking for 11 people. And I was like, that’s really cool. Let’s make it Drinking for 11.
Q5) Is there an artist/band that you think we should be paying more attention to?
Chuck Robertson) Yes if you haven’t heard of them, they’re called Milky Chance, and they’re from Germany. My new favourite band. They are so incredible.
Thanks so much to Chuck Robertson from the Mad Caddies for the chat. I’ll be checking out their show during Canadian Music Week at The Mod Club with MUDIE and Slamboni on May 8th. Ticket and wristband info here!
Punk Rocksteady Track List
? Sorrow (Bad Religion)
? Sleep Long (Operation Ivy)
? She (Green Day)
? …And We Thought That Nation-States Were a Bad Idea (Propagandhi)
? She’s Gone (NOFX)
? AM (Tony Sly)
? Alien 8 (Lagwagon)
? 2RAK005 (Bracket)
? Some Kinda Hate (Misfits)
? Sink, Florida, Sink (Against Me!)
? Jean Is Dead (Descendents)
? Take Me Home (Piss Off) (SNUFF)
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