TD: I�ll try not to keep us too long. I bet none of us want to miss Brant�s set.
Mick: Yeah, make it snappy.
TD: You guys go through drummers like Kleenex.
Skitz: (laughs) Yup. Till now it�s been hard to find one that�s willing to wear the sundress.
Brando: I�m still a little shy about it. It makes my ass look square.
Mick: Fits your personality (makes the L-7 with his fingers).
TD: Brando, your style is nothing like the last guy I saw playing with Thick, but it�s a lot closer to Duke Naddy (drummer on the Cowboys & Engines LP).
Brando: That�s why they called me the Chameleon back in �Nam.
Skitz: Havvy (former drummer) had a lot of metal in him, but that was it, you know? No flair, no real style at all. Just snare and double-kick.
TD: You�ve got flair now, that�s for sure.
Skitz: Oh yeah. We have to slap sometimes to calm him down.
Mick: Sometimes I�ll slap him just because I like to slap people in general.
TD: Has the line-up change hurt the schedule on releasing a new album?
Skitz: It�s hurt the schedule, but it�s for the better. Brando�s got a ton of creativity in him.
TD: Cool. You guys have been playing with a lot of really good bands lately.
Mick: Alabama Thunderpussy, Rwake, Hammers of Misfortune, so-on and so-on, but Brant is the big one so far for me, for us. I mean we�ve done shows with Danny Carey from Tool, Mike Watt, and others but Brant� well, it�s a fucking joy to play with a real legend like this cat.
Skitz: Hopefully we�ve got some stuff lined up with Weedeater and Jumbo�s Killcrane in December and some other guys out of Austin. Arclight Records guys mostly. I don�t really know, I haven�t heard from Floppy in a while.
TD: Floppy?
Mick: Don�t even go there, man. Brant is about to play. No time.
TD: Why aren�t you guys on a national tour?
Skitz: Ya know something, well, first of all, Thick aren�t going to go on a national tour to support an album that has been out for almost two years now. Second, national tours don�t really appeal to me right now. I love Albuquerque. Burt�s in particular. This place is going to be an institution before we know it. I love Ft. Worth and Dallas. I love Oklahoma City. We also have a tendency to get into trouble and sitting in the clink in Hoboken. New Jersey was a lot of fun when I was twenty-two but I�m older and just a smidge wiser.
Brando: But not wise enough to stay out of trouble.
Skitz: Exactly. So I�d rather have a lawyer within at least 500 miles of me. When we get the new CD finished � who knows.
TD: You guys are fucking with me now.
Mick: And�
TD: So, Brando, you seem to fit in with these guys.
Brando: Are calling me a fag? (to Skitz and Mick) Is he calling me a fag?
Mick: Calm down, Fido.
Skitz: Homophobes always make the best drummers.
TD: Why is that?
Mick: Don�t even go there, man. Brant is about to play. No time.
TD: You do well here. I heard guys yelling out names of your songs.
Skitz: Yeah.
Mick: Songs we haven�t played in forever.
Skitz: I hope all those folks who bought the album tonight aren�t too disappointed when they get home and only hear two songs on it that we played tonight.
Mick: (laughs)
TD: At the risk of getting punched in the eye�
Mick: Oh you�re going to get punched in the eye.
TD: -how can you guys get away with acting the way you do and calling people names and saying stuff like-
Skitz: Have you seen us before?
TD: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I totally understand where you�re coming from, but you�re pretty good actors and I think maybe some of those people have a hard time distinguishing between when you�re messing with them and when you�re serious.
Mick: Who�s acting?
Brando: This is why I�m in this band. This is entertainment, dude! On a Kaufmanesque scale. Who cares if the guy next to you doesn�t understand what�s going on. That just makes it funnier or more entertaining for others, like you, who are in on the joke.
Skitz: Yo. I�ve said it before. I�ll say it again. When you polarize people, you create energy. Energy begets energy. It�s simple.
Brando: Elementary!
TD: Speaking of energy, you guys really pour it out up there. Is it hard to keep that kind of electricity going on?
Skitz: Not really. It�s the only way you can play this shit. If you get up there and stand around like you�re the Eagles or something it just doesn�t work. You lose sight of what it means to play a song about riding shotgun with death cruising for chicks. You have to be focused and electrified or you wind up looking like Kansas.
Mick: I�m out of here, champ! Brant is on!
TD: Thanks for talking to me, guys.
Skitz: No problem. Just try to make us look as UN-professional as you possibly can, right?
TD: Can I quote you on that?
Skitz: You�re going to anyway, right?
TD: Right.
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