The Baywatchers

THE BAYWATCHERS

Denmark and Germany are the home of many cool surf acts such as Tremolo Beer Gut, El Ray, Looney Tunes [RIP], Los Banditos, Kilaueas and many others. So, how can you get the best of both worlds ?

RIGHT ! Form a band consisting of members from Denmark and Germany. So, the Berlin based instro surf`n`roll ensemble THE BAYWATCHERS did it that way. Read what Mr. Sebastian told the 3rd eyesurfer oracle about dropouts, surf in general, DIY spirit, baywatch actresses and other hot topic themes...NOW !

NOTE: Many aspects of rock`n`roll life (especially on tour) are similar to the life of an actor (especially boob series actors).

So, some of the questions concerning touring life, are stolen from an interview with (former ?) drunkard and "actor/singer" David "thee knight rider" Hasselhoff. These questions are typed that way.

The interview was original released at surfrockmusic.com in autumn 2004.

TES = 3rdeyesurfer

baywatchers = Mr. Sebastian on behalf of The Baywatchers

Band

TES: Does the name of your band has anything to do with the silicone monster TV series ?

Baywatchers: I guess you refer to miss Pammy Lee Anderson from the „baywatch“ TV show and the answer would be: NO, the Baywatchers has nothing to do with those shows, the bandname refers more to the job of being a baywatcher/beachguard than the TV show. One thing we have in common though is „pure entertainment“.

TES: Do you have a favourite BAYWATCH actress ?

Baywatchers: NO, they are all great, except for the the one who doesn´t shave.

TES: What is the meaning of the gridlock on your website ?

Baywatchers: It´s supposed to be a snipers scope.

TES: Please tell me something about the german/danish surf collaboration !

Baywatchers: Not much to tell, guess we´re the only surfband with this mix of nationalities, there´s a few bands from denmark who tours in germany sometimes, El Ray would be one of them.

TES: Can you give the reader some hot hints about the danish music scene (cool bands, clubs, labels...).

Baywatchers: There´s quite a few good bands from denmark, to mention some: „Capt. Jake & the SOB´s“ - „the Defectors“ – „the Magic Bullet Theory“ – „Barra Head“ - „Nautilus“ – „Jukebox Baby“ – „Robot“ - „No Hope For The Kids“ – „the Movement“ „Tremolo Beer Gut“ … there´s not too many cool clubs though but to mention some it would be: „Loppen“ located at Christiania, Copenhagen – „Stengade 30“ & „Ungdomshuset“ both located Copenhagen north … Labels: „Bad Afro Records“ – „play/rec“ – „Crunchy Frog“ – „Helicopter Records“ not any labels that only release surf though.

Recording

TES: I read that you recorded an 8 song cd in 2001. How can it be purchased ?

Baywatchers: That cd contains 8 studiotracks we recorded in 2001 + 3 bonustracks recorded live at 3 different berlin clubs in 2004. It is a DIY release which can be purchased at our gigs or over our website.

TES: Are there any other "Baywatchers" releases ?

Baywatchers: Yes, the newest release is a 7“ with 4 tunes on, it came out beginning of october 2004, it´s a DIY release as well so you won´t be able to purchase it in every shop, we´ll sell it at our gigs though & it´s available over our website as well.

Besides that we sell 2 different cassettetapes with liverecordings & we are on 2 different fanzine compilations, OX #55 & BANZAI # 13.

TES: Any other recording activities planed for the future ?

Baywatchers: Not really, we do that in last minute, like planning a recording session in 2 weeks before we actually hit the studio, we are also constantly poor & not able to pay the studiocosts which cuts down on the recording sessions.

Live and Tour

TES: What was your most thrilling live/tour experience (good/bad) ?

Baywatchers: Hard question, the gig we did at the koepenicker kontrollverluste open air festival where the girls from „Team Plastique“ did a danceshow with us on stage, at first it was raining but it cleared up before we hit the stage, during our gig it started pouring down, we thought that everybody would leave, most amazingly, they didn´t.

The gig at „Camp Tipsy“ was really good because it was our first open air show & the atmosphere was so great, hitting the stage at sundown, getting cuba libre served on stage, having a good crowd rocking out & buying all of the merchandise we brought.

All the spontaneous gigs that happened on tour was a real experience, we had 3 gigs planned in austria & 3 offdays, we managed to play every day just because people helped us & liked us.

TES: Which might be surprising since quiet a lot of things have happened (on your tour) in your life lately...

Baywatchers: It´s surprising how much beer a person can drink on tour & it´s surprising how strange it is to go back to daily life at home after a month on the road.

TES: Have you suffered from dropouts ?

Baywatchers: No, but we all suffered from incidental blackouts, haha.

TES: What were (the Baywatchers) you afraid of ?

Baywatchers: We were scared if our old van would break down or be broken into, if we would get problems at the border or if we would all loose our minds (which we did).

TES: In the past you used to become more successful everytime you performed on (on radio/ www.hochschulradio.de) television. Are we going to get the chance to see you (to hear the Baywatchers) on tv (on air) more often now?

Baywatchers: The future is unwritten but i don´t think that the Baywatchers are a TV band, we are more a live act who enjoys being on stage kicking peoples asses untill they start shaking that damn thing.

Sound - influences, musical background

TES: What are the main influences for The Baywatchers sound ?

Baywatchers: Wild Billy Childish, instrosurf in general, punkrock, rocknroll.

TES: Can you describe the musical background of the group members ?

Baywatchers:

Mr. Sebastian

...started banging drums sometime in middle 80ies in various danish punk/hardcorebands all up through the 90ies where he joined some bands in the metalscene & did a frejazz project late 90ies & started the Baywatchers in the year of 2000.

Mr. Hoin

...studied at the musical conservatorioum of copenhagen denmark, did various music projects that he was hired to do while giving guitarlessons to people & stay true to his main bands „nautilus“ & „joy lieberkind“.

Mr. Hoff

...played bass for heavy metal bands in the late 80ies, joined „minus eins“ in the middle of the 90ies & joined the Baywatchers in 2004.

TES:The Baywatchers are banned to a lonesome island. Which records would they take along ?

Baywatchers: Good question, we would probably bring: everything with Billy Childish, most stuff from Nomeansno, the Buzzcocks, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, Tool & whatever we would come up with in the last 10 minutes before the boat leaves.

TES: Okay, here`s your chance to make the other musicians envious. Tell us something about your top quality instruments/ amps.

Baywatchers: We use mostly old fucked up amps, nothing to envy there, Mr. Hoff plays on a peavy transistor amp which can play pretty loud, he plays an old fender bass.

Mr. Hoin plays a fender jazzmaster, which is older than himself, on either a musicman or marshall amp, it is important that the reverb works & it can play loud.

Mr. Sebastian plays a tama rockstar miniset with broken cymbals.

TES: Are there any cover versions in the live set of The Baywatchers ?

Baywatchers: Yes, it happens that we do a version of squad car, because it was the first tune we tried out in the history of the band, then there´s green hornet & branded from Billy Childish. In the ealier days we did walk don´t run & a couple of others we all forgotten about.

TES: Are there any other projects/bands related to The Baywatchers ?

Baywatchers: Yes, there´s a collectively run musicbar in Berlin called Schokoladen where mr. Sebastian & mr. Hoff works, there´s the Antigematics, a band waging war at the GEMA for being bloodsucking capitalists, there´s the other bands of mr. Hoin: Robot, Joy Lieberkind, Nautilus, Dear.

TES: At least the matter of conscience...I`m a fan of (danish) beer, so which beer do The Baywatchers prefer: danish or german ?

Baywatchers: Tough question, the selection from german beer is far more various & developed + the price is better so it´s gotta be german beer, not that we won´t drink danish beer when we are there but we have a german stash in our van just in case.

TES: THANKS for the interview !

okay, that`s it. Now it`s your turn to visit the Baywatchers virtual beach and order their fine 4 track 7 inch single [limited to 460 copies !!] . They also have other fine stuff, so don`t waste time with reading interviews... GO !

take me HOME baby....