Spike Slawson has quite the resume under his belt. The singer, bassist and punk rock ukuleleist worked in the mail order department of Fat Wreck Chords, where his witty personality and powerful pipes led members of the label’s roster to form a supergroup, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, around him. He later spent time in Swingin’ Utters, Filthy Thievin’ Bastards, Re-Volts and most recently has been releasing music under the name Uke Hunt. Me First will be releasing a greatest hits album in a few days and are also playing this year’s Punk Rock bowling festival in Las Vegas. Even with all that, Slawson found time to answer our ten questions.
Who came up with the idea of creating this supergroup?
[Fat] Mike [NOFX] and Joey [Cape, Lagwagon] correctly believed that the only good songs any ’90s punk bands did were the covers, so they decided to corner the market. Pretty shrewd, in hindsight.
Members of Me First come from NOFX, Swingin’ Utters, Lagwagon, and Foo Fighters. How did you all know each other?
We all lived in San Francisco, which in happier times, was like a big, small town. Now it’s like a fucking resort.
How did you all decide on what covers to do for each album?
Ro-sham-bo.
How have you all found the time to work on Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and work on all of your other individual bands?
You find the money; we’ll find the time.
What can we expect this time around at PRB?
You can expect love, passion, and intensity. Anytime, anywhere.
You guys are releasing a greatest hits album April 7, but when can fans expect some new tunes?
Every time we play any of our songs, it’s as if we’re playing it for the first time. They’re all new to us.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes recently has played on Billy Boy Guitars, can you tell us a bit about the brand?
Billy Boy is a dear friend of ours who builds beautiful, stylish, one-of-a-kind guitars at his workshop in Tuscany. We couldn’t be happier that he saw fit to outfit us with a matching set. Check his unparalleled work out at https://www.facebook.com/BillyBoyGuitars/
What genre can your fans expect you to conquer next?
I think we’re going to continue chasing AM gold.
This year’s PRB is STACKED! How does it feel to be performing right before Iggy pop?
Playing before Iggy will be an honor and a privilege, but the real fun will be to watch the master work.
Throughout these last 20 years, have any artists you’ve covered given you any praise of flak for covering them?
The Eagles had their management deny us a sync-license to record a video for our version of “Desperado.” They furthermore wanted us to know that they “hated our version,” which was a great honor for us.
Thanks Spike! Catch Spike fronting Me First and the Gimme Gimmes May 27 at Punk Rock Bowling. Tickets for that show are available here. You can also pre-order Me First’s greatest hits album via Fat Wreck.
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