ONE MAN ARMY
BAY AREA COMMANDOS
PHOTO AND WORDS BY CRASH
The Bay Area has had a long and rich musical history, and One Man Army carry that fine tradition. I don’t know about what to call it, you might say street punk, others would just say that they rock. I like the name because at some point I know everyone has felt like their own singular army, rolling over everything in sight, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Meet three Bay Area commandos, Jack, Brandon and Heiko.
Introduce yourselves.
J-I’m Jack, I play guitar and sing
B-I’m Brando, I play drums.
H-I’m Heiko, I play the bass.
So what is this place?
B-Tonight, one time only, we’re playing the Glasshouse in Pomona.
Where the fuck is Pomona?
B-The methamphetamine place.
J-Tweek capital of the U.S. Pomona’s alright, you never know what’s gonna happen.
B-Last time we were here I got put in a cop car, so…
What?
B-I got taken off the stage and put in the cop car.
J-For inciting a riot.
This is the last night of the tour?
J-Yeah, we just did this U.S. tour with Tilt; started at home in San Francisco and ended tonight in Pomona.
What was your favorite stop?
B-Ft Lauderdale when we played with the Beltones.
J-Yeah, they were fuckin’ great.
H-All of the stops were great.
J-I liked Arizona a lot.
Did you skate Flagstaff?
J-No I didn’t get a chance to, we had to go straight to San Diego
B-We got to skate the Buddy Holly banks
J-We went to the Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock, Texas. I took pictures. All around the statue are banks, great banks.
Transition?
J-Yeah!
B-And there’s this statue of Buddy Holly and his Stratocaster.
How did you guys get hooked up on Adeline?
J-It was all Jim Thiebaud. Jim really liked us and brought Billie Joe down to see us play one night and they asked us to do a record. Now we’ve finished our second one, it’ll be out in February. They’re really great people, Jim’s like one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.
B-Same with Billie Joe.
H-Rudy’s not so bad himself.
Whose knuckles are those on the record?
J-That’s Brian Galvin, the first roadie for Dropkick Murphys. He showed up with that tattoo. we’re going see him in a couple of weeks in Cambridge. We’re going to play some shows with Joe Strummer.
I know you’re stoked.
B-You know I am.
How is it a One Man Army if there’s three of you?
J-good question (laughs)
Give us a good tour story
J-It was all in Austin, Texas. We probably shouldn’t talk about it.
Did you get arrested?
J-No.
So it’s OK.
B-We beat up a sound man in Denver. At the end of our set, sometimes I throw my drums over and the sound guy freaked out and started chuckin’ my drums. And he pushed me, so we pulled him into our dressing room.
J-I’ll give it to the sound guy, he was tough. He didn’t go out. He got up and finished the night.
Where are the best girlies?
J-Austin, Texas!
B-I got lucky in a taxicab, the cab driver was creeping out on us the whole time, watching us.
What are you gonna say to Strummer when you finally meet him?
B-’Thanks for the tips!’
J-Yeah, that’s like playing baseball with Babe Ruth, it’s weird. Good weird though. He’s the man, one of the coolest guys alive.
Who else do you like?
J-I’m really into the Toy Dolls.
H-All rock n’ roll that ever existed.
And you’ve got all the Nor Cal spots locked, so you’re gonna hook us up, right?
J-Yeah, we were skating before we were ever a band. When are you coming up?
Anytime.
B-Call Jim and we’ll go skate with The Ox!
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