Interview: Turbo Fruits’ Big Nights Out
Southern fried punk rockers, Turbo Fruits, are taking their debauched rock and roll abandon to Australia soon. Expect buzz saw guitars and pummelling, primal rhythms from the Americans. Carol Bowditch finds out more from lead singer and guitarist, Jonas Stein:
How did you come up with the name Turbo Fruits? What’s the story behind it?
I was on tour with my old band, Be Your Own Pet, in Glasgow, Scotland. In the UK, there are gambling slot machines everywhere! I was always a sucker for playing these machines. There was a slot machine in the venue this time… I put a pound coin in and finally won!! The machine was fruit themed and “Turbo Fruit” lit up. My first thought was… new band name… Turbo Fruits.
You’ve got some dates coming up in Australia. Have you been to Australia before? What are your impressions of the country?
None of us have ever been before. We are all really excited. I have heard that it’s similar to America but better. I have only heard positive things about everyone’s experiences. The only negative I’ve heard is the flight will drive one insane. Our guitar player, Kingsley, has never flown overseas before so he is having anxiety attacks already. We made sure he called the doctor before this one…
Your album Butter was written while you were on tour over 200 days. Can share any tales of debauchery with us here at Something You Said?
Well… when we are on tour, the devils come out in us. We don’t have enough money to purchase hotel rooms every night so a lot of times we end up staying with local folks and sleeping on their floors. For those local folks we stay with, it is their BIG NIGHT OUT for the week. So we end up having to stay up late with them, entertain them, and party hard with them. What they do not realize is that we have to experience everyone else’s BIG NIGHT OUT every night of the week. So our party endurance builds up pretty quickly. I’m not complaining about this; it just is what it is. This leads to four dudes with more hangovers than the average person, less sleep than the average person, and far less personal space than the average person. Which, in all, can lead to some crazy nights such as getting in fist fights with each other, one of us getting stranded in an unknown town, being peer pressured to drink way too much tequila with the locals on the Mexican border, one of us passing out in the van at night and waking up to freezing cold temperatures at night not knowing where everyone else is… you know.. those sort of things. That may have had some influence on some of our songwriting.
If you had the chance to tour with any band, who would you most like to spend 200 days stuck in a van with?
We did about 60 days with DEER TICK and got a long all too well. Why not make the next one 200 days?
What’s the weirdest/wildest thing a fan has ever done at one of your gigs?
I don’t know if you could call this person a fan but one time this dude just totally passed out and slept through half of our set front and center at some underground party in Chicago. Obviously it was not a place of real business or he would have been sent to sleep outside on a bench.
I read that you were listening to Enya while you were writing Butter. That’s quite left-of-field for a rock and roll band, I might say. Who else have you been listening to this year?
THE WIGGLES
Describe your band in three words:
ROWDY FUN LOVING
Finally, would it be too much trouble for you to take a selfie for Something You Said?
Here you go…
TURBO FRUITS
AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2013
SATURDAY 2ND NOVEMBER
The Tote Hotel – MELBOURNE
*FREE, RSVP via party.vice.com/
SUNDAY 3RD NOVEMBER
The Brisbane Hotel – HOBART
*via oztix.com.au
MONDAY 4TH NOVEMBER
The Toff In Town – MELBOURNE
>> CUP EVE <<
*via oztix.com.au
TUESDAY 5TH NOVEMBER
The Barwon Club – GEELONG
*via oztix.com.au
WEDNESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER
GoodGod Small Club – SYDNEY
*FREE, RSVP via party.vice.com/
Tickets on sale now!
Keep up to date with Turbo Fruits on their Facebook page.
Interview by Carol Bowditch.
