"Have a good time, all the time"

Suiciderock: First of all can you tell us a bit about the band? There is a quite long history behind you, if you take a look back. What is the main difference between the past and now?
Chuck: Our boddies are much more damaged. We are becoming old. *everbody laughs* No, we are a little wiser. I don't know. I still feel like when I was 17. When I think back, it still feels the same.

Suiciderock: After all these years would you say you got used to it to be on tour or is it still exiting?
Chuck: No, it's always exiting. We are around all day just to play the show. That's the whole reason why we are here. The bad part is sitting around waiting. It gets very boring.

Suiciderock: How would you define your style?
Chuck: I would say Rock'n Roll with horns, reaggae, jazz and ska.

Suiciderock: When did you start to play your instruments and what made you play them?
Chuck: I was singing my whole life, since I was a baby. My parents were always playing music. There was this great guy, giving me a ride to school every day in his car and he heard me singing along to Pearl Jam or Soundgarden or something. He got a band and asked me if I wanna be the singer. I said yeah I try that. And than one year later I met Sascha and we started our own band.

Suiciderock: Okay, but your parents didn`t force you, right?
Chuck: No, I did it all on my own.
Suiciderock: And they supported you a lot?
Chuck: Yes, of course.

Suiciderock: Which instrument would you never touch and why?
Chuck: Which instrument would I never touch? *laughs*
Suiciderock: ... Never play?
Chuck: Ehm, Tuba, no tuba for me.
Suiciderock: Why not?
Chuck: It's too big.

Suiciderock: What inspires you for the songwriting? Is it like you go out and write about every day life or what?
Chuck: Yeah it's different. Sometimes you write a song by doing the music first and than you think of an idea for the words. Or sometimes the words come first and than you make the music to that. Usually I write about things that happen: emotions that you feel or maybe some politics you don`t like, maybe a relationship or a great night of drinking that you remember. Sure, anything.

Suiciderock: So what would you say, are the lyrics more important or the music?
Chuck: I think they are equal. Sometimes... Like for certain songs the music is the most important thing and the lyrics aren`t so important and sometimes it's the lyrics that people like even when the music is bad.

Suiciderock: What is it like when so many people work on a song to get all the different opinions together? Isn`t it difficult?
Chuck: I just do it. Maybe if I have trouble with a line I may ask for help. It would be too hard if 6 people try to write a song together. *laughs*

Suiciderock: Let`s talk about your new record. Did you start the recordings in April as you mentioned on your homepage?
Chuck: Yeah. We recorded like 15 songs and after this tour we will stay in Berlin for one week and write some more songs. There are already some new songs we were working on. We go in the studio to get some demos done. We come home in August and I hope we`ll finish it. We`ll do some more songs, so that we will have about 30 songs in September. Than we will pick the best songs for the album.  

Suiciderock: When can we expect your new studio album and what will it sound like?
Chuck: Realistic? Next year. Maybe in March. The time the record is done and could be out, would be Christmas or Thanksgiving and that`s not a really good time to release a record. We don`t want to tour in Winter, so we`ll wait until March. We take a lot of time to plan out the theme for the record, like the artwork and stuff. Ehm, it's gonna be a lot of new influences. There will be some latin stuff, like latin dance music, straight Rock`n Roll, Ska, and some Jazz like a normal Mad Caddies record, just better. *laughs*

Suiciderock: Mark said in an update on your page that the next record will be the best one. Why?
Chuck: Just because we feel like that. The songs we already have are some of the best ones we've ever recorded. We just feel like that. Maybe when it comes out, we will be wrong, but I hope not.

Suiciderock: Have you already made up your mind for an album title?
Chuck: No, not all the songs are complete. We'll wait and than we can think of the whole theme.
Suiciderock: What is more fun: playing live or working in the studio?
Chuck: Playing live. Studio work is very hard, boring and takes a long time.

Suiciderock: You played in Slovenia yesterday. What was it like?
Chuck: It was good. It was a very small club and it was very hot and the kids were just crazy. They did stagediving every fucking five seconds. The club was of the size of my bathroom, but it was fun. They were very energetic. It was a good show last night.

Suiciderock: Did you already introduce some of the new songs to your fans and how did they react?
Chuck: Yeah, we did. It was very good.

Suiciderock: Could you imagine to have a normal „9 to 5 job"?
Chuck: No, not me, because I never did it. I had other jobs but never „9 to 5". Years ago I used to do like delivery service jobs, constructions and stuff like that.

Suiciderock: Is there any country you haven't played yet, but want to?
Chuck: Yes, more the Eastern European countries. We wanna go to Slovakia, Poland, Russia and Croatia. We tried to go to Croatia as well on this tour, but they wouldn`t let us in, because we don`t have a proper paper for the trailer and the equipment. South America is cool. We wanna go to Brazil. These are our next places and we want to play in Alaska. It's the only state in America we haven`t played and never been to. That would be fun.

Suiciderock: What awaits people when they come to one of your shows?
Chuck: Hopefully a good time. That´s the whole point.

Suiciderock: How do you prepare a show? Do you make a plan before going on stage what you want to say before a song?
Chuck: Not much for talking. I love the music more.

Suiciderock: You don't like Bush that much. What would you change if you were president for one day?
Chuck: Oh lots of stuff. First thing I probably legalize marijuana. That's the easy one. And ehm... I don't know... Maybe I would completly dismentel the military, take it completely away. I would take more money to the schools and teachers. That`s the most important thing.

Suiciderock: Your future plans for the band?
Chuck: Make this record and see what happens.

Suiciderock: Some last words for the readers of Suiciderock?
Chuck: Have a good time all the time. Life is very short. So enjoy yourself and be happy as much as possible.
Suiciderock: That`s it. Thank you very much.
Chuck: Thank you very much.