Interview with Cougars - Podcast 22

We're Cougars, and you're listening to the Sound Scene Revolution.

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Hey, what's up? This is Rich. Thanks for tuning in to Sound Scene Revolution. We have a fantastic interview today with one of Chicago's very own phenomenal bands called Cougars. Maybe you've heard of them. They have a couple of records out on Go-Kart. Got an EP out on Thick Records. Pretty cool. Like, eight dudes in the band. One of them has a big handlebar mustache. A couple of them play horns. All of them smoke. It's a fucking party. And they all drink, too. You should be aware of that. So, it's a pretty cool interview. It's not very coherent, but it's fun. Also, I should note, we have free shit to give away. That's right, we continue with our free stuff giveaway. We have, for one lucky fan, a Cougars prize pack, which Cougars were nice enough to supply to us.

In the prize pack, you've got a CD. You've got a beer cozy, or a can cozy, if you don't drink beer, because you're a sissy. And a sticker, which features a caricature very similar to the likeness of Magnum fucking P.I. If you don't know who that is, check out Wikipedia. It's the man with the coolest mustache in the history of mankind. So, we're going to hop into this interview here with Cougars. Before we do that, we're going to play a track off of their LP called Pillow Talk. We are going to play the track called There's No High In Team. And then we're going to jump into their interview. Stay tuned, because at the end, the last track we're going to play is an exclusive that isn't going to come out until later this summer.

On the thick comp, which is hair, something about cuts from Chicago bands or something. But that album isn't going to be available until, like, mid-summer or a warp tour. But they let us have the track now. So you get to hear an exclusive Cougar track, if you pay attention. Cougars. Whatever. John Cougar Mellencamp. Whatever the band is. So, stay tuned. And we're going to play There's No High In Team. And then we're going to jump into the interview, which was conducted in the back of Bottom of the Hill. Because we're awesome like that. So, check it out.

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So, thanks for tuning in to Sound Scene Revolution. We are broadcasting, taping today from the back of Bottom of the Hill. We're here with Cougars from Chicago, right? Yes. I'm glad I got that right. So, if we can just go around, guys, whoever is talking, introduce yourself and say what you do in the band. And random fact about yourself. All right. Brian Bienniss, bass. Random fact is, I'm sure. Brian Nukowski, the drummer. I always cut people off.

Ouch. I'm done. Yeah, that was it. Did you guys have that set up? No, that was pretty good, though. He's just rude. Matt Irie, singer. Bing. Mustache. John Leclerc, guitar player. Gigantic wow addict. Gigantic wow addict? People will get it. Don't worry about it. Okay. I'm totally out of the loop here. So, if we can just start off, whoever wants to give kind of a brief history of the band, how you guys came together, how it all started. Yeah, I'll take it. It started in 2000, Chicago area. We played in a bunch of different bands together, numerous names, numerous projects, and eventually just got together on this and decided to roll with it. We've been going strong since. One of the things, when I've been talking to people about the band, they mentioned, I think it was five of the members were of a band called Hot Stove Jimmy.

Is that right? Just for reference point, because I have no idea, who were those members? The singer was guitar player Brett, the horn section, Mark and Jeff, and keyboard player. Well, so a pretty good majority, well, I guess, yeah, five would be a majority. Five of eight, yeah. It is. I passed high school, man. Most of them. So, new drummer, bass player, and second guitar player. Did you guys ever think of, like, just keeping the name and going in a different direction? No, the music was already going in a different direction, and once most of the rhythm section had changed, and most of us had decided we wanted to specifically go in a different direction than that band had been going, we decided that, I mean, it made no sense to keep the name.

So, we picked a new bad name. The only thing that I could say is bad about your name is, I'm sure, and you guys actually just mentioned, you get the Cougars, probably. Oh, yeah, quite often. Do you guys ever just correct people, or do you just let it slide? There's also a sweet band called Cougar that just has gone on to the scene. They're more of a tortoise-type band. Members of the... John McIntyre says it shouldn't be a problem. Yeah. Members of the brass band, they're Cougars. So, now we've got... It's funny, because both things were totally fucked. We've got, like, the Cougars, which used to piss people off, but at this point, and then there's now Cougar versus Cougars, so... And what were we in the paper?

Oh, and then today in the, in the, is it math or the... I didn't see the title of it. There's some paper here, a free... That local fanzine thing? Metro. Metro, is that what it... Okay. We have a bunch of free magazines around here. One of them has our picture, and it listed us as the Abominable Iron Sloths. Oh, shit. Close enough. But it's in, it's in one of those, like, quick pics sort of things. Yeah, where it's like, things to do. But there is no blurb about Cougars whatsoever. Oh, my God. Like, somebody just inserted the picture and said... It's on the sloths. We'll use this for the chiller press. These look like sloths. Sloths are doubling up. They're like, these guys, they look like the Abominable Iron Sloths.

Yeah. Close enough. That'll work. I'm going to find that. That's totally going up with this interview. So, we've had bands who have horns who aren't necessarily ska bands on the show in the past, and they all say it's really hard, especially now because ska is kind of making a weird resurgence. Do you guys have any difficulty, like, still with people kind of, like, just classifying you as that, just because you happen to have a couple of horns and a keyboardist? We invite people to skank in our show. I would love, I'd pay money to see that. Actually, it was kind of funny. A couple nights ago, and I think we were playing in Salt Lake City, and it's a really awful show. So, there was a kid outside right before we went in, and, like, keep in mind, all the people at the show are probably 18 and under, and saw, it's typical of what happens, he saw the horn section setting up, and he says to his girlfriend, I'm going to go skank it up, as he walked into the place, and then got brutalized by probably white noise coming from our band.

Wait, I just heard the show was terrible. What was that? Why was the show so bad? Oh, it was... Just because it was Salt Lake City? Well, it's kind of nice. Mormons? No, it was just a, it was, it was kind of a small show on a Wednesday with some young high school bands, and it was, by the time we went on, the crowd that had come to see their high school buddies play probably had to be in bed. Yeah. Actually, by the time we went on, after the first song and a half, everyone had cleared out except five. Six diehards. Really, six enthusiastic young children. Waiting for the skanking moment. It never came. They were like, really, they're like, Scott, finally! They knew the Scott was coming at some point, but they were sorely disappointed by him.

The Rocket from the Crypt thing really presents itself as more of a problem. Yeah. Especially in the kind of the, the crowds we play in front of. I was going to see. The Andy Rock crowds, I mean, being booked by Flower, we're pretty much on that circuit. So, they see horns, we're doing this sort of stuff. We're Rocket from the Crypt. Yeah, that, I read that in a review, like, the guy, he, he didn't compare you to Rocket from the Crypt, but he did say, like, he drew comparisons, and I was like, I didn't, I'm not a big Rocket from the Crypt fan, so maybe I don't hear them, but. They have horns, you know? Yeah, it's just horns. Is that all it takes anymore? Yeah, I guess, yeah. That's how, that's how ignorant it is.

Yeah, we usually describe that as the lazy reviewer's way of describing our band. I like Rocket from the Crypt, let's take care of the Midwest. I like Shellac, let's go to the East Coast. I like, if I can name any shitty band from New York. All right. With the, I don't even know where I'm supposed to go from this. These, the questions are, they're so disjunct at this point, so don't worry. We've only been on tour for a week. Yeah? How long is, are you guys up for? We're going to be in the US in two more weeks, and we'll see what happens. About a month. About a month? Oh my God. I actually flew back to Chicago yesterday. What? I find that more and more hilarious. Wait, so you flew back from Chicago? For Mother's Day, we had a day off yesterday.

And you flew home to Chicago for your mom? For moms. Do you make more money than the rest of the band? How's that work? My brother makes more money than most bands put together. I called my mom. Yeah. I tried to get plane tickets for everybody. I love the message. Phone mail was a lot cheaper for me. Yeah, like, I think I sent my mom a card. You're a way better son than I am. How many points? My mom doesn't even live in Chicago. Everyone else would do it if they had a loaded brother. Wealthy family member. Sugar daddy flights. Did you just refer to his brother as his sugar daddy? He basically could. That's kind of gross on a lot of levels. He gave us $1,000 once. Yeah. He also put us up in a really, really badass hotel in Cleveland one night.

Really? Yeah. That's awesome. He's a great guy. So, how do I, yeah, how do I get in good with your brother? What do I do? Come on, our wife. Come on, people. No, what he's done for us. The whole podcast ends right there. Yeah. That's all right. My brother's a meth addict coming out of rehab, so he offers me nothing at this point. No, it's not a different way. Yeah. We'll leave that alone. Moving forward, do you guys, you guys are, like, talking before, you're fairly musically diverse, it's really hard to kind of classify. Does that make it hard to find bands to play with, or do you guys find it more, you can basically play with almost anybody and somehow fit in? Kind of both, actually. I have any problem finding bands for us to play with on tour.

Don't make any sense. It's a really hard area, actually. I mean, we've kind of played, we've run the gamut on this tour already. It's, and we've played numerous metal shows in the past, and, you know, we'll play anywhere from, you know, high school emo crowds to, you know, Danny Carey from Tool rock bands, and it's just, you know, there's really no classifying. What's probably, like, the weirdest show that you guys have played with? Like, does it either line up-wise or how the crowd works? They're actually all pretty weird. Storm and the Balls. Yeah, Storm and the Balls in Portland. What? It's kind of a lounge singer. Kind of a lounge singer does metal songs. Covers, lounge style. Oh, yeah. Kind of actual sexy on stage.

Yeah. It was at a place where everyone was sitting down at tables with candles in the middle and stuff like that. And the median age is probably somewhere around 39, 40. 35 to 40. Although the show in, the show at Roadhouse in Germany was pretty, pretty weird. Wow, I mean, that's so unusual. It was a place, it was like a club in the middle of nowhere that, like, the patrons would just be the people in the village, and they kind of came by. It was really cold out, and the only room that was heated was the main room, and that was through a wood-burning stove. And most of the people there were, like, of our parents' age and older. But they rocked really hard. An American-themed bar called The Roadhouse. A lot of paintings of John Wayne.

Yeah, I would have gone immediately for, what's his name from, Patrick Swayze. I'm the cooler, you're the bouncer.

Wow. So when you're in southern Germany in Bavaria, and you roll up on a bar that's got, like, Harley Davidson stuff, and grills from Chevys mounted to the walls, and every type of Americana you could imagine, plastered everywhere, but no one speaks English. And in fact, like, even our driver from northern Germany could barely understand these people because of their thick accents. So it was definitely made communication. Yes. Was it anything like an actual American bar, or was it kind of, like, over-the-top? It was way over-the-top. There was a guy there who didn't speak a lick of English. Burly, hairy chest, flannel buttoned down to here with, like, this Indian kind of necklace on, dream catcher thing.

Huge beard, looked like grizzly. He spoke Bavarian English. It was kind of broken, but, yeah. Wow. It was by his death. Eighteen, a hundred beers later, at five in the morning, I finally started to understand the drunker you got, the more... The drunker I got, the more clear he became. Awesome. Good stuff. This place is in Bavaria. And the better he kissed. So if you, would you recommend it, if I'm ever in Bavaria? Oh, no. Well, I mean, if you ever find it from the very south of Germany, and it's like, they have somehow a flat tire that you have to get off the road, I would say. Yeah. If you ever find yourself in this town, it's really the only place that you can go. That's funny. Wasn't Motel Hell like that, too?

They'd set up the flat tire thing, and then they'd make church. Yeah, whatever it was. In a place like that. Oh, yeah. Sounds fantastic. All right, we're going to take a little break from all that crazy interview excitement and bring you some more music by Cougars. We're going to play a track off of their LP, again, Pelotalk, available on Go-Kart Records. We're going to play the track, Sissotar. I don't even know how to pronounce that shit, but it has an exclamation point at the end, which means you're supposed to sound excited when you say it, and I'm not going to do that, so Cougars can write me and be all pissed that I didn't pronounce their song title right. Fuck them.

Remember, we're going to jump back into the interview after this. We're going to talk about the fact that they have a band and the fact that they were on road rules, not them themselves, but their music was on road rules, and how that made them a shitload of money, and now they tour in airplanes and shit and helicopters and hovercrafts. It's insane. But also remember to tune in at the end when we tell you the contest rules and reveal the exclusive track, which isn't going to be out until later, on the Thick Hair Comp, Thick Records, the Hair Comp, or some shit like that. All right, so check out the song, Sissotar, and enjoy the rest of the interview.

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In fact, both of your LPs have been on Go-Kart, but I was wondering, the Manhandler EP came out on Thick. How did that come about? The owner took us out for pizza one night before we put out the first record, so we felt obligated to release something with him because he's just such a nice guy. That's cool. He's just a friend of ours. And the new one that's coming out. You got another one? That's a compilation. Oh, the hair oil? It's a compilation. It's a hair compilation. It's not the oil comp, it's the hair comp. Yeah. Is it a new track or one of the ones that's coming out? It's a new track, yeah. Oh, excellent. Was it just a B-side or something you recorded recently? It's a new song we wrote. It's called We Block the Hardest.

And it should be... It's on my iPod. You can hear it if you want to.

I don't know if you're serious or not. No, I'm serious. It's in my air. It's definitely on his iPod. All right. I don't know if I want to share earphones with you. We just met, but possibly. That's cool. So, now, I've also, when I'm talking to people about you guys, I mentioned you guys had a lot of problems with the Manhandler EP, like, just, you had to re-record it more than once, I was told? Yeah. Yeah. It was recorded with a friend at a studio, which remained unnamed, in the city of Chicago, and then we got it. A very decent studio. A decent studio, yeah. We were supposed to do some overdubs and things like that, brought it back to our studio where we recorded nice, nice, and realized that it sounded unsavory.

So, we, with a week to, before we had to get it in so we could release it, we decided that we would just re-record everything. So, you re-recorded the whole EP in a week. Yeah. And re-mixed it. And then re-mixed it. At three o'clock in the morning. And then it gets better, yeah, then we mixed it, and then got it mastered, only to realize the mastered version kind of sucked. So, we re-mixed it at three in the morning, two, three in the morning, and then got it mastered the next day so we can send it out that night. Holy shit. That sounds very expensive. And it still sounds like it. Well, we recorded it. We recorded it in our songs. And it still sounds unsavory. When we went nice, nice by yourselves. Yeah. The guitar player has his own studio that we've done the first album and the EP in.

Now, is it just that it would, like, I haven't had a chance really to go over it. I've heard it a couple times, but not really, like, in depth. Is it just that you guys are really hard to please, or do you really think it just sounded shitty? It was just rushed. Yeah. And we could have done a lot of things better, but we, there wasn't even, so we wanted to get it out, we wanted to get it over with. Deadlines, and I just don't agree. Too often. It didn't turn out too badly, I don't think. It's fine. It's over. It's good. The other record is out. Let's focus on the other record now. Now, you guys actually, this is the first one where the final product came out with producers, right? Had it recorded and produced somewhere else, right?

It wasn't really produced, it was just recorded. Oh, yeah. It was Steve Albini. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool audio. Now, would you guys, do you prefer that? Is it, like, a little easier when you got somebody helping you and kind of setting the schedule, or do you guys rather work on your own? It's good to know you only have a certain amount of time in the studio to get things done, because you can, you know, budget your time, make a schedule. Doing it ourselves, I mean, it took, the first one took two years. Really? Yeah, just because we kept going in, changing things, and adding tracks here and there, and stuff like that, so. If we were to be paying for it, it would have been a multi-million dollar indie release, but.

It would have been really hard for you guys to foot on your own, I bet. Yeah, impossible. All right, oh, yeah, back to the EP. This is something that I've read somewhere, and I'm totally music retarded, which is why I interview bands, because I suck at it. Yeah, but someone mentioned this to me, and at the end of Cookie Town, it says that you came back with, at the end it brings in the title track, Manhandler, but in a, what is it, I'm going to fuck it up now. Different key. Major key, there it is. Is there a reason that you guys did that, or is it just to fuck with people like me? Just to wrap up the end, make sure it's a cyclical experience. It kind of resembles how we play those two songs together live, too, so I mean, they just kind of fit together, and we tacked them together like that on the end, bookending the CD.

Fair enough. Very good. The live one actually came about from listening to the EP, and then it was on repeat, and then Cookie Town ended the album, and then came right back around with Manhandler. And you were like, that's a good way. The light bulb lit, and then fizzled out real quick, and we started doing it live. But we stuck with it. The flame was gone immediately. But at the time, it was a really good idea, and you just ran with it. The light bulb was bright at first.

It was like going to the dentist. Just something you gotta do. You don't like it. You guys should get that on a shirt. It would be awesome. It's something you gotta do. Do you guys have a preference between recording or playing live? Do you have one that you prefer more? Playing live. Playing live, definitely. Is it just more of a fun environment? It's more about just enjoying yourself, and it's okay if you fuck up on another? It's more immediate. It's more like in the experience of being with somebody or being with a crowd, whereas in... And you know... But in the recording environment, it's much of a slower process where there's multiple takes. And at the end of it, I'd rather listen to the recorded product than the live product.

But at the same time, I think the live product is much more indicative of what we do and what we try to come across as a band. Cool. One of the questions that I got is from everything I've read, and again, I read a lot trying to get this ready so I didn't come off like a jackass. Everything I've read about your vocals says it's not singing, it's not necessarily screaming, it's more of like yelling type of vocals. And I was wondering, do you ever have any problems with that, like on the road, especially where you're doing it night after night? I quit smoking when I'm on tour. I actually don't smoke generally like a couple of weeks before any show we ever do. I am still addicted to nicotine, so I'll chew nicotine gum or Skoll is a good chew that I find.

Skoll Mint. Are you looking for an endorsement here, Skoll Mint? Yeah, Skoll Mint. Yeah, if I could get that sponsorship. The only Skoll. Camel Lights. Yeah, I just kind of, I had actually, one of my friends that I hung out with was an opera singer, and I got some ideas from him to do some different things, like, which I don't do, but. But they're in there. That's part of the opera influence. I used to sing a lot more from my throat, now I sing a lot more from my chest, and have been able to maintain, although there, I think, I think I just, I panic more than anybody else, but sometimes I feel it possibly, I'm going to just blow it out, and then that'll fuck the rest of the tour, but generally, it hasn't happened yet.

For the most part, it's pretty good. If you ever do, just be like every other hardcore band, and just put the mic out in the audience for 90% of your set. Everyone will think it's awesome. People would have to know the words, and I don't think anybody in the audience, of like the six people that are in the audience, have any idea what we're, we're selling new fans each time, each time we play in front of those four lucky.

I don't think, last time I checked, floors don't sing. The staff at the bar's like, what's he doing, he's just holding the mic out there. He's actually pretending there's people watching. I think that would get you a huge following, if people would just come to see that, they'd be like, there's no one there. He's just holding the fucking mic. We could have a couple people off stage, like maybe faking like the floor actually was singing. Just real quick, I was curious, in between tours, it's really interesting to talk to bands, like what do you guys do to make money, because I'm assuming you don't make fucking a lot of money doing this. You would be assuming correct. Correctly. Yeah, everyone just has day jobs and whatnot.

Some people have had to quit numerous jobs and get other ones. Other people have lucked out with being able to keep their jobs. They'll let you give time off. Yeah, getting the time off and doing all that stuff. Some people get promotions before they leave, believe it or not. Luckily, it happened. It's not my fault. What does that say about your job performance when they're like, you're leaving for a month and a half? I know, that's why I told my boss. I'm like, oh, I'll leave more often if that gets me on promotion. I would say luckily with the current administration, we have a plethora of jobs out there that anybody can just handpick off of the tree whenever they want. Those would literally be the jobs you'd get.

I could tell somebody to go stick it and then come back and get another great job that supports any kind of lifestyle that I want to have. I'm totally moving to Chicago. Oh no, this is countrywide, my man. I'm obviously living in the wrong demographic. I need to move. Geographic area, whatever. The one thing I did notice is you guys were on, you got paid once for being on Road Rules. Not like yourselves, but the music, I guess. Multiple times in like 30 second tracks. Really? Have you guys ever seen any of that? I'm not sure which season it was. Actually, I didn't even realize. It was like multiple times. There was one episode in particular, there was like a motocross race or a go-kart race going on or something.

And I didn't even realize that it was on and got a call from a friend of mine. It's like, hey, I heard your stuff on Road Rules just now. You guys had a soundtrack to go-kart racing. Go figure. B&S was an alternate on season three. I wish. I'd be on the gauntlet next season. But no, yeah, and then it was on there. But like they didn't notify you before and they just like mailed you a check and like, we used your songs here. No, it wasn't through MTV, so we had to go through our performance rights organization to get the money. It was delightful. Other than buyouts, the first check showing that I was a professional musician was $63. You got laminated like up on your wall. No, I can't. No, it was cash. I smoked mine.

Immediately, it's gone. That's got to be kind of cool now to think that there's somebody maybe at MTV who's a fan of you because, I mean, I just, you know. It's somebody that was. They haven't been knocking down our door. That person's been fired long since. For obvious reasons. Yeah, this is the worst go-kart sequence ever. You are fired. What's going on? All right, well, I think we're going to wrap it up here. I want to thank you guys real quick. Do you guys got any shout-outs, plugs, websites, anything like that?

MySpace.com slash Cougars. Hit it. Cougars Rock. Dot com. Check. Check it. Pillow talking stores now. Yeah, the Torrance Avenue rollers. Shoot, shout-out to them. Mopeds rule. Mopeds rule. Dano Distortion from San Francisco, if you hear this. New Wave and Mokina have you. Wine Chuggers. If you're in the Bay Area and you see Wine Chuggers are playing, go see them. That's just a fantastic name. You guys should have taken that. I highly recommend Wine Chuggers. They're from San Francisco. All right, let's see. Now you're making me look bad. Arena Rock recording. Now you're like, they're from San Francisco. Don't you know? Where have you been? Cougars pillow talk out now.

Thank you guys so much for taking the time to talk with us and have a great rest of the tour. Thanks, guys. Thank you. You're having fun.

Wasn't that a great time? I know you enjoyed it because I enjoyed making it. So I hope you enjoyed the interview. If you guys get the chance and they're in your town, seriously, go check out Cougars. They've got a website. I don't remember what it's called. I think it's like CougarsRock.com. Probably not, but that's what I think it is. They're on MySpace.com backslash Cougars. Check them out. Fucking really good guys. Just love to drink. Love to talk shit. They're fun people. And like I promised, we got a contest where you can win a little grab bag of Cougars stuff. If you want to enter that contest, just shoot us an email. SoundSceneRevolution at gmail.com. I don't feel inventive, so just put Cougars contest in the subject line.

Give us your name, your address, and your favorite song by Cougars. Ooh, see, that's how we're going to know you're listening. So send us your favorite song by Cougars. If you don't have a favorite song because you want to get the CD, put Just Send Me the CD, bitch. And if you win, we'll just send you that CD. And then you can write us later and tell us what your favorite song is because it's the fucking bomb. Alright, taking off. We're going to play one last track. This is off the upcoming Thick Records comp, which is called Like Hair Cuts a Chicago Punk. I don't know if Thick Records picked a fucked up name for this one, and I can't do it. So, too bad. But if you like this song, pick up the comp. It's called We Blog the Hardest, and it's killer.

It's probably my favorite track that I've heard from Cougars thus far. So these guys are only getting better. Enjoy the track. Enter the contest. Drop us an email. Hit us up at MySpace.com. Hit up our comment section. Let us know that you're listening. And we'll see you guys next week. Peace.

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