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Hrvoje Bubić | Interview with Brandon Cruz
Hrvoje Bubić
For a start, can you please tell how did you started with music, acting and surfing?
I was basically born on the beach. i was in the water all the time as a kid. I don’t remember when i wasn’t surfing. acting came along when i was 4. i wanted to be on tv. my family life was chaos. The adults all into drugs, alcohol, little supervision and violence all around. I wanted out. Going to be on tv, as little as i knew about it, seemed like a way to escape. Characters, pretend, all a world i was already creating. I told my family i wanted to be on tv. Somehow they managed to get me to hollywood, and i got the part on my show, first attempt. That worked out well. I thought everything was that easy, though. It kinda screwed me up for later. I found music everywhere. I was born in 62. all the good bands came along. One thing in my house was music. My hippy mom liked heavy music. i grew up on blues, rock and roll, hard rock, great stuff. Steppenwolf was my first album. Led zeppelin, blue cheer, black sabbath, and the rolling stones. best group from then. You either liked the beatles or the stones. my uncle was a 1% biker. We listened to the stones. Then i heard weirder, harder, trippier shit. zappa, beefheart, stooges, mc5, and that led to early devo, dolls, heartbreakers, wayne county, ramones, blondie, pistols, screamers, weirdo’s, germs, then black flag, and off i went!
Dr. Know, how did you guys gathered together,releasing the albums,hardcore scene of 80’s, so called nardcore term,is the name of band is hommage to Bad Brains’s guitar player Dr. Know ,your opinion about Slayer’s cover of song Mr. Freeze and South Park featerad song Piece of Meat.
Dr. know started in oxnard, where i lived. the band was started before i joined. i was in another band, and they breaking up, and dr. know needed a singer. they rehearsed down the street from my house. i jammed with them, then did a gig in santa barbara, and i was in the band for a year and a half, maybe 2. 81 to early 83. the drummer liked my sister, who was dating henry from agression. he kept trying to get her to go out with him, and basically drunkenly groped her, and she yelled rape, henry beat his ass, i hated the lyrics of some new songs, and i quit. too much drama in the scene and among me and those two in the band. me and ismael were, and always have been, fine. i rejoined one night when their singer passed out at a club called the cathay. i was on acid. it was fun, but i just didn’t like the metal they were getting into. i moved to la and did a few bands there, just getting into my own thing. we had recorded twice, in ventura, and once at mystic, the scam shitty label that ripped everyone off. the recording we did in 82 was released by mystic in 87, as “the original group, featuring brandon cruz.” it said i produced it at ABC. bullshit. i didn’t. it was never meant to be released. it’s really an illegal bootleg, like most mystic shit. people thought i was the second singer, because they had released stuff after i quit. that is something people still ask, 36 years later. anyways, we did a lot of local shows, played in LA, were on TV, and then i quit. just as i joined, there was a party. someone mentioned D.O.A.’s Haedcore 81 album. ismael hernandez, bass player for dr. know, said, “if they’re hardcore, we’re Nardcore,” and that was it. a mix of oxnard and hardcore. we named our scene that, used to O and the X, a logo ismael had drawn in 1972, and it was on. agression was first, then us, ill repute, stalag 13, MIA, false confession, RKL, and so on…
We opened for dead kennedys and flipper one night, and we heard from biafra there was a guitarist from the east coast named dr. know. that was funny. when we met the bad brains, we talked and found out it all happened around the same time. just people who liked the james bond 1st film, dr. no. slayer used that song, mr. freeze, as a little jam at their practices, according to the liner notes. to them it was a joke. they changed the words. it was pretty cool that they did it. i know jeff was a punker, and had liked the band. i wasn’t ever known for that song live, since i never sang it until 1998, when we reformed.
The south park song, piece of meat, happened because i was an assistant editor of south park, and matt and trey wanted a song. i just kinda put it in there, and then we asked the band. we ended up getting a few bucks, me because i wrote the lyrics. one of the few that i was able to squeeze in there.
Your career after Dr. Know, being a Dead Kennedys frontman, did you ever recorded with Dead Kennedys,Rob Zombie movie Lords of Salem and is there more stuff that you did with music & movies? What are your plans for future,new projects.
Well, we opened for DKs a few times, and always got along well. after their shit show of a lawsuit, they wanted to play a gig for kicks. i heard from steve from flipper that they were gonna ask iggy, anthony keidis, etc… and i jokingl;y said to tell them that i would do it. then DH called me and asked me. i went to rehearse with them, still kinda laughing. then they played police truck and i thought, fuck, this IS dead kennedys! so we did the gig in LA, and a SHITLOAD of people had opinions about if i should do it or not. flea told me not to, that punk rock was sacred. ha! no rules, right? no rock stars in punk, right? (wrong!) so i asked him why he wasn’t still in FEAR? dear friends said not to, complete strangers talked wild shit. biafra chimed in, and i sent him an email that said to shut up. he responded by publishing my email address, that was followed by a death threat from a rabid biafra fan, the FBI showed up, and now i’m on a fucking watch list. thanks, biafra! i did it anyways. i asked a friend who i respected what he thought. he moved his beanie back on his head, and said, “you know, i was watching punk rock karaoke, and they were fun, but the old days aren’t something i really get into. then they played a song from my band, and a 19 year old kid with a shaved head got up there and screamed his head off. the crowd loved it. that’s when i realized that these songs are our generations hymn’s, and that it’s okay for them to be played, so people know what the meaning was, what the energy and the stories won’t be forgotten. if you can do it for that, not because you’ll get more famous, or popular, or rich, or whatever, then do it.” i thought about it, and decided i was doing it for the right reasons. the show was a blast. 10 dk songs, people singing along, which was great for me, because i couldn’t remember the words. kinda nervous, ya know? after the gig, a guy walked up and asked if we wanted to go to brazil in december of that year, 2001. we laughed, but he was serious. we learned more songs and went around the world a few times, until i quit in 2003. it wasn’t a good split. i know why biafra had a problem with the guitarist. i also saw why biafra was so hard to deal with. ha ha, it’s not easy sometimes, but it’s just a fucking punk rock band! all i did was intro the songs and sing some of the songs, then put the mic into the fans faces, who ate it up, and sang every word. that was fun. so was the travel. we were in europe a few times, japan, russia, all over the states, fucking rad!!! i still miss that part of it. i loved touring. part of the reason i quit. they didn’t want to tour much. hell, i had a broken shoulder, collarbone, broken teeth and nose, lumps and bumps from diving into the crowd, and i still wanted to go. oh well. it was fun, and i’m glad i did it.
oh yeah, the rob zombie movie. he called and asked me, i went and did it. pretty simple. known him a while. good dude, and sherri is awesome. bands i have been in: the eddy’s, dr. know, s.v.d.b., ring of ouch, twister naked, flipper, dead kennedys, and now KNOW.
For the end,I notice that Dr. Know is coming to Croatia,Pula, what is your opinon about Croatia and will be ever been a show in Split?
It’s not dr. know. it’s KNOW. we are ex members, plating the punk music of dr. know. all of us were in the band, but never together. fred was on plug in jesus. larry was on wreckage in flesh, ismael has been in almost every line up. and i’ve been around a while. we’re going to tour europe in july and august of 2017, wityh my little brothers band. blake is in stalag 13, and larry is their drummer, too. he’s gonna be tired! i almost did croatia with dead kennedys. i can’t wait. great culture, people, food, and art, architecture, and it’s not the united states. it’s kinda fucked up over here. i like to get out of this country any time i can. i have a band in copenhagen with rainy from discharge. we’re called death livers. steve from disorder, and charlie from anti cimex. we have never played, but we’re stoked to hang out in copenhagen and laugh at shit. is split actually a name of a city? that’s awesome.
Hrvatski prijevod…
Za početak, molim te reci mi kako si počeo s glazbom ,glumom i surfanjem?
Pa zapravo sam rođen na plaži. Kad sam bio dijete, cijelo vrijeme sam proveo u vodi. Nesječam se kada nisam surfao. S glumom sam počeo kada sam imao 4. Želio sam biti na tv-u. Moj obiteljski život je bio kaos. Odrasli su bili na drogama,alkoholu,premalo nadzora i nasilje posvuda. Želio sam otići. Biti na tv-u činilo mi se kao pošto sam bio malen, bijeg. Likovi, pretvaranje, kao i svijet koji je izmišljen.Rekao sam obitelji da želim biti na tv-u, pa su nekako omogučili da budem u hollywoodu i dobio ulogu u showu koji je moj prvi pokušaj koji je uspio. Pomislio sam da je sad sve lakše, što me kasnije zaj… kasnije. Pronašao sam glazbu kasnije,pošto sam rođen 62′, svi dobri bendovi su došli poslje. Jedina stvar u mojoj kući bila je glazba. Moja hipi mama voljela je žešču glazbu. Odrastao sam na bluesu, rock and rollu, hard rocku,ludilo stvari. Steppenwolf je bio prvi moj album.Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath i Rolling Stones. Najboje grupe tada. Volio si tada Beatlese ili Rolling Stonese. Moj ujak je bio 1% biker,pa bi slušali Stonese. Tada sam počeo slušati luđe,žešče,opaljenija sranja: Zappa, Beefheart, Stooges, MC5 što me dovelo k ranom devo, Weirdo’s, Germs,Black Flag i tako sam krenuo.
Dr.Know, kako ste se okupili,kako ste izdavali albume,kakva je bila hardcore scena 80’ih, tkz. Nardcore, da li je ime hommage gitaristi Bad Brainsa Dr. Knowu,tvoje mišljenje o Slayerovoj obradi pjesme mr. Freeze te pojavljivanje pjesme Piece of Meat u South Park.
Dr.Know je počeo u Oxnardu, gdje sam živio. Band je postojao prije nego što sam se priključio. Snimali su na kraju ulice od moje kuče. Svirao sam s njima, onda smo napravili nastup u Santi Barbari, a ja sam bio u bandu otprilike godinu i pola čak i 2. 81′ do rane 83′, bubnjaru se sviđala moja sestra, koja je tada hodala s Henryem iz Agressiona. Pokušavao je da bude s njim, te kada je bio pijan zasrnuo je na nju,a ona je zavikala silovanje,našto je Henry ubio boga u njemu. Mrzio sam većinu tekstove novih pjesama pa sam odustao. Previše drame na sceni te između mene i još dvojice u bandu. Ja i Ismael smo bili i ostati ćemo ok. Ponovno sam im se pridružio jednu noć kada im je otišao vokalist u klubu nazvanim The Cathay. Bio sam na tripu. Bilo je zabavno ali nije mi se sviđalo to što su išli na metal. Preselio sam se u LA, radio s par bandovima, samo sam išao na svoj način.Snimili smo dva puta,u Venturi i jedanput na Mystic,muljatorska usrana kuća koja je pokrala svakog. Snimanja koja smo napravili 82′ izdano je preko Mystic u 87′ kao “The original group, featuring Brandon Cruz” te da je producirano u ABC, i takva sranja, što nije točno. Nikada nije trebalo biti objavljeno,to je zapravo ilegalni bootleg kao svaka sranja s Mystica. Ljudi misle da sam drugi vokalist, zbog toga jer su objavili stvari kada sam ja odustao. To je nešto što me ljudi pitaju več 36 godina. Uglavnom, napravili smo dosta lokalnih nastupa, svirali smo u LA, bili na tv-u, pa zatim odustali. Bio je tu negdje tulum, netko je spominjao DOA-in Hardcore81 album. Ismael hernandez,basist Dr.Knowa je kazao „ako su hardcore, mi smo nardcore“. To je zapravo to,spoj riječi Oxnard(naš grad) i hardcore. Tako smo nazvali našu scenu,upotrebivši riječi O i X,dok je Ismael naslikao logo još u 1972. i tako je to krenulo. Agression je bio prvi, pa mi pa onda Ill Repute, Stalag 13, MIA, False Confession, RKL,itd…
Bili smo predgrupa Dead Kennedysima i Flipperu jednu noć, te smo čuli od biafre da postoji gitarist na Istočnoj obali s imenom Dr.Know, što je bilo smiješno. Upoznali smo Bad Brainse,pričali smo s njima,kroz priču smo skužili da su voljeli prvi film jamesa bonda,Dr. No. Slayer je upotrebio pjesmu Mr . Freeze, kao jam- zafrkanciju kada bi vježbali na probama, što je pisalo na u knjižici cd-a. Za njih je bila šala, te su promjenili tekst pjesme. Bilo je kul to što su učinili. Znam da je Jeff panker i da je volio naš bend. Ja nisam znao za tu pjesmu pošto nisam pjevao još od 1998. kada smo se razišli. South Park, pjesma Piece of Meat se dogodila tako da sam bio asistent urednika South Parka, te Matt i Trey su htjeli pjesmu, pa sam je napravio te pitao bend. Svi smo na kraju dobili neku lovu, ja pogotovo jer sam napisao tekst. Jednu od rijetkih koje sam mogao ugurati tu.
Tvoja karijera poslije Dr.Know, frontman Dead Kennedysa,da li si nešto snimo s Dead Kennedysima,film Roba Zombiea Lords of Salem,te da li ima još nečeg što si radio s glazbom i filmovima? Koji su ti planovi za budučnost,nove projekte?
Pa, bili smo predgrupa Dead Kennedysima nekoliko puta i uvijek smo se dobro slagali. Poslje sranja s sudskom tužbom htjeli su da sviram s njima za nastup iz gušta. Čuo sam od Stevea iz Flippera da su mislili zvati Iggya, Anthony Keidisa, itd. …. pa sam iz šale rekao može. Tada me DH (D. H. Peligro, bubnjar Dead Kennedysa op.prev.) me nazvao i upitao me. Pripremao sam se s njima za nastup, još se tome smijem. Tada su svirali Police Truck (pjesma Dead Kennedysa, op.prev.) i tada sam pomislio,j..te ovo JESU Dead Kennedys!! Tako da smo imali nastup u LA i tada su usrani ljudi počeli postaljavljati pitanja o tome da li trebam to raditi ili ne. Flea (Michael Peter Balzary, basist Red Hot Chilli Peppersa, op.prev.) mi je rekao da neradim to, da je punk rock svetinja. Ha!! Nema pravila,jeli? Nema rock zvjezdi u punku,zar ne? (Krivo!!!) Pa sam ga pitao kako to da nije više u FEAR? Dobri prijatelji su mi govorili nemoj, potpuni stranci su mi govorili svakakva čudna sranja. Biafra (izvorni frontmen Dead Kennedysa, op. prev.) se tu totalno uzvikao, pa sam mu poslao email da zašuti, na što je on javno objavio moj mail, što je dovelo do toga da sam dobivao prijetnje smrću od zadrtog Biafrinog fana , te se FBI umješao, pa sam sad na j… FBI crnoj listi. Hvala puno Biafra! Svejedno sam to učinio, pa sam upitao prijatelja kojeg sam poštivao što misli, na što je on skinuo svoj kapu s glave koju je nosio i kazao mi je: Znaš, gledao sam punk rock karaoke i bilo je zabavno ali stari dani nisu nešto što čemu se želim vratiti. Tada sam svirao s bandom i jedan devetnaestogodišnjak s obrijanom glavom se pojavio, vrištajući u ekstazi. Publika je to voljela, tada sam shvatio da su te pjesme himne generacije pa je ok ih svirati jer ljudi shvačaju što znače,sva ta energija i priče koje neče biti zaboravljene. „Ako to možeš učiniti, ne zato jer češ biti slavniji ili popularniji ili bogatiji i štogod, tada učini to“ . Pomislivši na sve to i odlučio sam učiniti za prave razloge. Koncert je bio razbijačina. 10 pjesama od Dead Kennedysa ljudi su pjevali s nama, što je bilo sjajno za mene jer nisam mogao prisjetiti tekstova,bio sam nervozan znaš? Poslje koncerta, jedan lik nam je prišao i pitao nas da li želimo doći u Brazil u prosincu te godine,2001. Nasmijali smo se ali on je bio smrtno ozbiljan. Naučili smo još par pjesama i proputovali po svijetu po nekoliko puta, sve dok nisam odustao 2003. Znam da je Biafra imao problema s gitaristom, također sam vidio da je Biafra težak karakter. Ha ha, koji put nije lako, ali to je punk rock band!! Sve šta sam radio bilo je otpjevati intro pjesama i otpjevati neke pjesme te fanovima pružiti mikrofon, koji bi ga skoro progutali te bi otpjevali svaku pjesmu. Bilo je dosta zabavno. Bili smo po Europi po nekoliko puta,Japan,Rusija,preko cijelog SAD-a, jebeno sjajno. I dalje mi nedostaje taj dio, volim turneje,dok oni nisu voljeli iči na turneje. Kvragu, imao sam slomljeno rame, frakturu ključne kosti,slomljene zube i nos, kvržice i kvrge od skakanja u publiku i dalje to želim. Sve u svemu, bilo je zabavno i drago mi je zbog toga.
O da, Rob Zombie film. Nazvao me, ja sam prihvatio i to je to. Vrlo jednostavno. Znam ga jako dugo, dobar je lik i Sherri (supruga Roba Zombiea,op. prev.) je sjajna. Bandovi u kojima sam bio: The Eddy’s, Dr. Know, S.V.D.B., Ring of ouch, Twister Naked, Flipper, Dead Kennedys i sad KNOW.
Za kraj, primjetio sam da Dr.Know dolazi u Hrvatsku,Pulu, koje je tvoje mišljenje o Hrvatskoj te hoće li biti kakav koncert u Splitu?
Nije Dr.Know već KNOW. Mi smo bivši članovi,držimo slavu Dr.Know. Svi smo mi bili u bandu, ali nikad skupa. Fred (gitarist) je bio na Plug in Jesus, Larry (bubnjar) na Wreckage in flesh, Ismael je bio cijelo vrijeme dok sam ja bio neko vrijeme. Na turneji smo u Europi u srpnju i kolovozu 2017. , s bandom mog mlađeg brata. Blake( gitarist Stalag 13, op.prev.) a Larry je njihov bubnjar također. Biti će jako iscrpljen. Bio sam u Hrvatskoj s Dead Kennedysima, jedva čekam opet doći. Sjajna kultura,ljudi,hrana, umjetnost,arhiktetura i nije kao u SAD-u,tamo je totalno sj…! Želim otići iz te zemlje svaki put kada mi se ukaže prilika. Imam band u Copenhagenu, s Rainyijem iz Dischargea(basist),Steve (vokal) iz Disordera, Charlie(bubnjevi) iz Anti-Cimexa. Za sad nismo imali nastup ali bi se naložili kada bi se okupili u Copenhagenu i tome bi se smijali. Zar je Split stvarno ime grada (split na engleskom znači razdvojiti, op. prev.)? Zvuči predobro.
