Spring Heeled Jack

Interview with Mike Pellegrino in the bathroom at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury, CT

1996

Hi, we are sitting here talking with Mike Pellegrino of Spring Heeled Jack, say hi Mike.

Mike: How ya' doin'.

Who are the members of the band and what do they do?

Mike: Alright, I'm Mike and I sing and play guitar, Ron does the same, Rick plays bass, Dave plays drums, Chris plays trombone, Pete plays sax, Tyler plays trumpet, Chris also sings a bunch of songs.

Your show was really good, when did you guys start?

Mike: We started at 7:15 tonight but... We've been playing for about three and a half years, almost four, well, we've been together for that long. Our first show was February 27 of '92, so yeah, about four years.

If you were some sort of food what would it be and why?

Mike: Man, I'd probably have to be.... Baba Ganush.

What is Baba Ganush?

Mike: It's a Indian cuisine, with eggplant and I like eggplant because it is big and purple, it's a skateboard move, all in the same thing, ya' know?

That is the most original answer I have ever heard (laughing)...

Mike: Baba Ganush, It's really good, you can eat it with lettuce, tomato. I'm going to give a plug to Mamoons in New Haven, because they serve the best Indian cuisine and its really cheap so that's where I go.

If you were a muppet, what muppet would you be?

Mike: If I were a muppet, mm. I'm not going to say Animal because everyone likes Animal, so I'm going to have to be that guy that just has that big nose and goes Beep, Be-Beep, Beep. I don't know his name though. What's his name?

Some Random Guy: Beep?

Mike: Beep???

Beaker?

Everyone: Beaker!

Mike: No, Beaker is the little computer nerd guy, it was someone else, the guy who makes alot of noises...

What, the Honkers?

Mike: He was one of them wasn't he? He looks like Kramer from Seinfeld.

That's Beaker.

Mike: Is it, oh, then that's the guy I like. Let’s move over here.

Yeah, we're sitting in the men's room.

Mike: People are pissing right over there ->

What places do you love to play, like, your absolute favorite?

Mike: Well, I love playing the Tune Inn in New Haven, that's kinda like our home court. I used to love playing the Boiler Room in New Britain, but that closed down. I used to love playing the American Legion Hall in West Hartford, but they don't have shows there anymore. I like playing Philadelphia, Chicago is really cool, and pretty much all of California.

Well what places do you HATE playing?

Mike: Places I hate playing, wow! Well, I shouldn't give names of clubs because that would be bad PR (Public Relations for everyone who doesn't know what that means), but, well, um, I don't think I liked Virginia at all, we stayed at a friend's house and that was terrific, but, the club completely screwed us over, we didn't even get to play ten minutes, it was the beginning of the tour and we weren't even on the bill, and they hated us. But I pretty much like playing anywhere. Panama City, Florida was a wacko place, we played at the Redneck Riviera! We played at this bar with a bunch of Rednecks, we played with this band called Fickone Dolce???, they made the night very good for us.

What is your favorite band to open for?

Mike: I like playing with Thumper, as far a local bands. They are an awesome band to watch, they are awesome people, they are carbon copies of all the personalities in our band, you say one word of Star Wars and they'll talk for three hours, just like half of us. They have this thing, it's like a tortilla, and they burnt into it the face of Obi-Wan-Kenobi, they got it laminated, and they have, like, a little shrine with candles. So they have a tortilla, laminated shrine of Obi-Wan-Kenobi. They carry around one of those and it is the coolest thing I've ever seen. So Thumper, they are terrific.

What's the worst show you guys have ever played?

Mike: Once we went to play at this Gazebo in Sommers, CT. and we got there and there were about fifteen people so we threw out tapes and stickers and said that we were going to do this and get out of there and hopefully some people will like us and some did. We also played this place in North Windsor or something like that, and we got there at six o'clock, and we had been practicing all day, and we went to play and they only let us play four songs and they told us we had to leave so we were like, O.K. and there was this priest who came out and started yelling at us so that was bad. We called it a night, that was horrible.

Sounds bad! So, are you guys touring with the Toasters now or...

Mike: No, we did a big tour in the summer, like, May 8th to June 10th we did a whole national tour. And we did another tour by ourselves in August, but we play with them alot, they like playing with us, we enjoy playing with them, they are great guys and we feed off of each other, they say that playing with us makes them feel fun again.

You guys put on a great show, I mean, you've got a guy like Tyler who is a...

Mike: Lunatic, thanks.

Then you've got you guys who are like, yeah!!! (whatever that means).

Mike: Well we have alot of fun playing and I think the reason is that we are all alot alike but in our musical ways we are really diverse, we all come in and do our thing and somehow it works, I don't know how and I don't know why. But we still have alot of fun playing with each other and feeding off of each other. If we didn't thrive off of each other as much as we do I don't think that we'd look like we were having as much fun as we do.

O.K. I have a question but I forgot, oh well, in the meantime, word association.

Mike: O.K.

Green

Mike: Money, cause I don't have any.

Girls

Mike: Coffee

Cappuccino

Mike: Girls

Girls

Mike: I am drawing a blank here. That was fun, I've never really done that.

It is fun, you sit around and drink and play word association.

Mike: That's cool, what is your favorite kind of beer?

I would have to say Guinness.

Mike: Guinness Stout, good man, that is the band favorite.

What about you?

Mike: Guinness is my personal favorite, I like Corona, All the way whit and all the way black. I like, um, my favorite drink is a Vodka Collins. It's citron and a sour mix and it's really good, and it is refreshing and it is the only thing I can really drink after getting off stage other than water.

Should we be expecting an album any time soon?

Mike: Well, we are going to try to record in February, we have about seven songs done for the next album and you may see some stuff off of the demo, a whole bunch of new stuff, an instrumental or two, really different, this one we're looking to get a, It's not like we are looking for new listeners, it is more like we think that people will like this one more than the last two because it has a real good dance quality to it, you know, you can open alot of people up to it.

Well you guys have such good energy that if people don't like you after seeing you guys then...

Mike: Even if they don't like us I hope they enjoy the show, more like enjoying the atmosphere, you know, a lot of positive vibes. My favorite thing is when people come up and say that they've had the shittiest day and this happened to my car and I got a crappy grade on this test and I came to your show and I totally turned me around and put me in a good mood, I love to hear that.

CT Ska has been greatly changed by you guys and you guys have seemed to pave the way for CT bands. Why did you guys decide "represent" CT?

Mike: I don't know. CT has a scene but I don't think people know about it. There are so many good bands in CT and we've seen them all through high school, but nobody knows about them. Even in Massachusetts you ask have you ever heard of this band or this band, whatever. For Instance, Blind Justice, who was a real big CT band who never got out of CT, so many good bands, the Pist, an incredible punk band, who finally got noticed, a week before they broke up, so we called our first demo CT SKA in 92 and we put it out and we didn't know what to call it so we decided not to put our name on the front because no one would know us and so we figured put CT SKA or put Ska band from CT and it kinda caught on as a phrase you know, like a kind of band. That is what it has developed into, a kind of band, you know, CT SKA, has that high energy, not so much fast, but its got that energetic, well it has developed as a genre, not so much hard-edge, but hard-hitting.

Yeah, it gives you that tingling in your loins.

Mike: Yeah, like that band Spicy Gribblets, they came out ages ago, I don't know if they are doing anything now, but they were a good band and no one really knew about them, you know, so many bands come and go and a lot of talent go un-noticed.