Interview with Crazy "White" Sean & Jeff "a.k.a." T-Shirt

April 2006

by John Haseltine

With the debut of KCUF’s “Modern Punk Primitive” been out for awhile, the band is geared up and ready to hit to road in support of the album. All they need now is the/any tour package to come along and swoop them up. Their old-school passion is a much needed sound for today’s mundane scene that needs a refresher course. This E-mail interview was answered by founding member and freak show sensation Crazy “White” Sean and Jeff “A.K.A.” T-Shirt. This is one of those guys you really would rather interview in person. Just by the way some of the questions were answered, it would have been a riot. Well here’s what has and is going on in the world of KCUF.

JH: First off, tell us about the man. The myth. The freak show that's Crazy "White" Sean.

CS: I hate questions like this, i was born in Feb. 1970 . I have a 3 yr old little girl and a 5 yr+ with her mother. i come from long beach Calif. and moved to Amsterdam in 90-91. I like smoking hash and grass and drinking whiskey. I have a shit load of tattoos and bla bla bla this shit could go on for ever, that’s why I hate questions like this.

JH: How did you come about doing the whole freak show act?

CS: Started years ago, when I 1st came to Amsterdam i was hard up for cash. So I started street performing as a robotic violent clown. I frequented the fetish/sm scene a lot back then and a good friend of mine (vivid angel ,lead singer of swetbox) was a big fetish queen and performing artist who was in a pit of a pickle with her then boyfriend /partner who was being a bitch about some show they were gonna do. Well long story short ,he backed out ,she knew about my street act and asked me to help her out. Well we were a perv scene hit. We continued to do a lot of acts for parties like the Euro-perve and wasteland and torture garden etc.. We got a name and following and a demand fell upon us to provide the masses with harder and pervier stuff. until one day we did a show where she pounds a nine inch nail through my cock and the audiences reaction was "that’s not sexy its scary" at about the same time i was seeing a lot of traveling sideshows roll through town, alot well maybe not a lot ,like 3 or so ,but hey that’s enough to influence me to take all my sm stunts and knowledge and incorporate a lil humor and whammo a low budget 1 man freak show.

JH: How long have you been performing?

CS: 16 fucken yrs ,can you believe it? I’ve been getting paid for performances for 16 fucken yrs. Pretty cool huh?

JH: So ho was it being a roadie for Gwar?

CS: Come on man are you fucken kidding me? It’s like taking acid and falling into a comic book full of crack smoking monsters from outer space who like to rape and kill the human race. I mean does it get any more punk rock?

JH: Any good/crazy stories you want to share?

CS: Just being able to say I was on the road 3 times with Gwar is story enough. To actually pick out an event would be unfair to my emotions. Besides ,what happens on tour stays on tour.

6 - Did you ever perform your show with them?

CS: Fuck yea half of 2 tours, American and European.

JH: Tell us how KCUF came to be.

CS: I’m gonna let Jeff “a.k.a.” t-shirt answer this one. He’s answered so much that it sounds better from him than from me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JEFF:IN THE YEAR 2000,A NUMBER OF STRANGE EVENTS WERE TO COME. THIS PILE OF A BAND WAS ONE OF THEM. I, (T.), WAS CURRENTLY WORKING WITH AMEN ON A U.S. TOUR SUPPORTING NOTHINGFACE, WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT WE WOULD BE MEETING UP WITH THE ALMIGHTY GWAR AND TOURING WITH THEM FOR ABOUT A MONTH. SO WE PULL INTO OLD BRIDGE, N.J. AND IT'S OUR FIRST DAY MEETING UP WITH THE SCUMDOGS. AS WE ARE PULLING INTO THE PARKING LOT, THIS PISSED OFF LOOKING GUY WITH CRAZY RED HAIR AND MATCHING ACCESSORIES IS LOADING INTO THE VENUE AND MR. SONNY MAYO SAYS, "HEY, IS THAT CRAZY WHITE SEAN?" "THAT GUY IS FUCKIN' NUTS" HE SAYS LAUGHING. SO AS THE DAY GOES ON I FIND OUT THIS GUY IS GWAR'S MERCH MAN. SO AS AMEN'S MERCH MAN, I WILL BE WORKING WITH HIM. AS THE TOUR WENT ON WE GOT TO HANGING OUT ALOT AND FOUND OUT THAT WE WERE FROM THE SAME AREA ORIGINALLY, WENT TO ALL THE SAME METAL SHOWS BACK IN THE DAY, DID SOME OF THE SAME DRUGS, HEH, AND WE WERE BASICALLY INTO THE SAME MUSIC. WE ENDED UP HAVING ALOT OF FUN ON THAT TOUR. SO THEN, AMEN IS OFF TO EUROPE WITH YOURS TRULY IN TOW FOR MERCH SERVICES. WE STOP IN THE "TRUE LAND OF THE FREE" AMSTERDAM HOLLAND, AND WHO COMES RIDING DOWN THE STREET BUT THIS FUCKING PISSED OFF LOOKING RED GUY. "HOLY SHIT, THERE'S CRAZY WHITE SEAN." WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE IN AMSTERDAM FOR A COUPLE DAYS SO WE DID SOME PARTYING AND HANGING. WHILE WALKING THRU THE RED LIGHT ONEDAY, I MENTIONED, "I WOULD LOVE TO LIVE HERE FOR AWHILE SOMEDAY". SO SEAN INVITED ME TO MOVE THERE FOR AWHILE. WE STILL HAD A BIT OF TOURING TO DO BUT I WAS SERIOUSLY THINKING OF COMING STRAIT BACK HERE AFTER THE TOUR WAS OVER. I MEAN, COME ON NOW, A CHANCE TO LIVE IN AMSTERDAM FOR A SPELL. HELL YEAH! SO WE GOT HOME FROM THE TOUR, I PACKED UP ALL MY THINGS AND I WAS BACK ON A PLANE TO AMSTERDAM. LIFE WAS GOOD. AFTER BEING THERE AWHILE SEAN TELLS ME THAT SOMEONE HAS APPROACHED HIM AND WANTS TO USE HIS LOOK FOR A SNOWBOARD COMIC BOOK CHARACTER AND POSSIBLY AN ACTION FIGURE. SEAN AGREES AND "CRAZY FREAK SEAN" THE SNOWBOARDER IS BORN. THE CREATOR'S OF THE CHARACTER ASK SEAN TO PICK A SONG THAT THEY CAN USE AS THE CHARACTER'S "THEME SONG". THAT IS WHEN SEAN CAME TO ME AND EXPLAINED, HE DID NOT WANT TO PICK A SONG, HE WANTED TO WRITE ONE. SO WE DECIDED THAT'S WHAT WE WOULD DO. A FRIEND OF SEAN'S, SKY HAAN, LIVED UPSTAIRS IN SEAN'S BUILDING AND PLAYED DRUMS IN A LOCAL BAND CALLED CANCELLED. WE ALSO RECRUITED ANOTHER FRIEND TOMMY WHO WAS TO PLAY GUITAR, MYSELF ON BASS. WE RENTED A STUDIO FOR A NITE AND WENT IN TO SEE WHAT WE COULD COME UP WITH. WELL FUCK, I HAD'NT PLAYED ANYTHING IN YEARS SO I WAS NOT EXPECTING MUCH OF MYSELF. WE CAME UP WITH A COUPLE RIFFS AND SOME IDEAS BUT THAT WAS ABOUT ALL THAT NITE. WE WENT INTO THE STUDIO THE FOLLOWING WEEK.

WE HAD ROUGHLY 6 TO 8 HOURS TO RECORD A TRACK. WE HAD ESSENTIALLY NOTHING BUT SOME ROUGH IDEAS WALKING IN THERE. WE HAD TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING "OFF THE CUFF" SO TO SPEAK. I DECIDED TO USE A BASS LINE FROM A SONG I WAS MESSING WITH BACK IN 98'. WE STUCK WITH THAT AND THE REST KINDA JUST OOZED OUT OF US. SKY IS AN AWESOME DRUMMER AND VERY EASY TO WORK WITH SO THE REST OF THE SONG JUST KINDA PUT ITSELF TOGETHER. THIS WAS SEAN'S FIRST EXPERIENCE DOING VOCALS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE 80'S HIT SINGLE, "JOSH", WHICH APPEARS ON OUR FULL LENGTH CD. SO HE HAD TO KIND OF WORK UP TO IT BUT IT DID'NT TAKE LONG. "COMIC BOOK SUPERSTAR" WAS FINISHED THAT DAY. THE SONG WAS SUBMITTED TO THE COMIC CREATOR AND IT WAS PLACED ON THE FREAKBOARDER'S WEBSITE INSTANTLY. THERE ARE 7 CHARACTERS ALL TOGETHER AND WE NOTICED RIGHT AWAY THAT OURS WAS THE ONLY ORIGINAL SONG WRITTEN JUST FOR THE CHARACTER. KICK ASS! SO BESIDES THE SONG GETTING PLAYED NOW AT ALL OF SEAN'S FREAKSHOWS OF COURSE, IT WAS PLACED ON A COMPILATION CD TO BE SOLD WITH THE FIRST 3500 ACTION FIGURES. WE ALSO GOT IT ON PRIME TIME SPANISH TELEVISION ALONG WITH AN INTERVIEW WITH SEAN. GOT SOME DECENT ATTENTION FOR IT. SO PEOPLE AT THE FREAKSHOWS STARTED ASKING SEAN," SO WHERE IS THIS FUCKIN' BAND OF YOURS"? I HAD SINCE MOVED BACK TO THE STATES AND WAS NOW SHARING A PLACE WITH TUMOR. SEAN CALLS AND SAYS, "HEY, FUCK THIS ONE-SONG SHIT, I WANT A FULL BAND". "GET THE FUCK BACK OVER HERE SO WE CAN GET IN THE STUDIO AND MAKE A FULL LENGTH CD". SO I DID. WE SPENT 14 DAYS IN "FRIENDS RECORDING STUDIO" IN DIEMEN HOLLAND. YOU KNOW THE CARTOON OF US RIDING ON SEAN'S 3 WHEELER, WELL THAT'S HOW WE GOT TO THE STUDIO EVERYDAY, EVEN IN THE RAIN. THINGS WENT EVEN BETTER IN THE STUDIO THIS TIME AND WE STARTED PUMPING OUT TUNES RIGHT AWAY. THINGS WERE GOING GREAT UNTIL THE FIFTH (TRACK #5 ON THE FULL CD) AND THAT'S SELF EXPLANATORY ONCE YOU FINALLY HEAR IT. AFTER A SHORT BREAK I WAS KEWL AND BACK ON TRACK AGAIN. SEVEN DAYS INTO THE SESSION TUMOR FLEW OUT AND JOINED US. WE HAD ANOTHER COUPLE SONGS ABOUT DONE THE FIRST DAY HE WAS THERE. THAT WAS ABOUT THE TIME THAT BOY WONDER CLYDE SHOREY OF ARTERY SHOWED UP TO CONTRIBUTE. AGAIN, SOMEONE STEPPED IN AND PUMPED OUT A KILLER TRACK RIGHT "OFF THE KCUF". UNDER A VERY DENSE RING OF SMOKE, SEAN SAT IN THE LOUNGE BEATING HIS SKULL FOR MORE LYRICS. THEN THE LOVELY VIVID ANGEL SHOWED UP TO JOIN US AND LEND HER SWEET, YET AGGRESSIVE VOICE TO US. BY THE TIME OUR STUDIO HOURS WERE UP WE HAD COMPLETED 11 SONGS AND A FEW OUT TAKES. NOT BAD FOR A BAND THAT WENT IN WITH NOTHING WRITTEN. SO I SPENT A FEW MORE DAYS IN AMSTERDAM AND WENT HOME. THE NEXT THING I KNOW, SEAN IS CALLING ME TO TELL ME THAT MUNKY HAS TAKEN AN INTEREST IN OUR PROJECT AND WOULD LIKE TO MORE ABOUT IT. WELL IT WAS NOT LONG AND SEAN, SKY, LISETT AND CLYDE WERE ON THEIR WAY TO CALIFORNIA FOR A SHORT SESSION AT INDIGO RANCH. AFTER THEY ARRIVED WE ALL WENT TO KORN'S REHEARSAL STUDIO TO MEET WITH MUNKY AND DISCUSS OUR PLANS. IT WAS ON! 2 DAYS LATER WE WERE AT INDIGO RANCH PUTTING TOGETHER A COUPLE MORE TRACKS. TUMOR AND I HAD ALSO RECRUITED SHAVO FOR SOME CONTRIBUTIONS. HE ACTUALLY ENDED UP PROVIDING THE MAIN GUITAR FOR "BLOODBATH". TUMOR AND SKY MADE UP THE REST OF THE WRITING ON THAT ONE. WITH CLYDE AND MUNKY AND MYSELF IN TOW WE PULLED OF ANOTHER ENTITLED "DEADLIGHTS OF HELL" . EVERYTHING WENT WELL AND WE HAD 2 MORE TRACKS TO ADD TO OUR CD. NOW, WE NEED TO GET OUR ASSES ON THE ROAD AND START PULLING OFF THESE PUNKROCK FREAKSHOWS. ALL THE SUPPORT WE CAN GET IS APPRECIATED.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JH: Is this a serious venture?

CS: It didn’t start out that way but its becoming one.

JH: Reason i ask is i had read somewhere that the band was sort of a joke. Not in a bad way. Just that there was no real seriousness with the players or the music. Would you care to elaborate on that?

CS: That’s just the music world being insecure with my against the grain attitude. I mean because I’m a dirty freak show shock artist who resides in Amsterdam the (anything goes city) and I basically just float through the system. People have this how the fuck did he get all these great musicians together, and does he really think he’s gonna get a pat on the back for it attitude. Not to mention the fact that everyone with half a brain could figure out that the band was put together to back up my show . sort of a "punk rock freak show" not to become some big whoa watch out here i come rock star. Hell i already acted like that 20 yrs ago when i was stuck in long beach being a meth head.

JH: Have you ever performed in any other bands?

CS: Not yet........

CS: That’s a question with a simple answer. Since I’m the driving force behind this shindig. it was i who influenced the 80's crossover and garage sound. THats mostly because I kicked the Led Zeppelin habit in the 80's with bands like DRI, SOD, MDC, The Crumbsuckers etc...And my lack of actual music talent added to the simplicity of the CDs overall sound. But then add in all my friends and all their influences and who they want to make music like. Mix that with what I was after, then put that with a bunch of "im on top of the world rock stars" breaking their molds and going old-school. and whala ....Kcuf. Oh and lets not forget to give credit to the fact that the entire CD was written in the studio on the budget meter. That’s right not a single note of material was pre-prepared. I rented a studio for 2 weeks and threw everyone in one of the three rooms (the lobby room, the soundboard/prod room, or the studio) and said "make me proud cause this is costing us a lot of money.

JH: I really like the older, dirty punk sound to the disk. how big of a part did you have in the production process? Who produced the album?

CS: I had very little to say about the production other than a couple of tweaks here and there. Most of the disc was produced by John Fahnstock and Casper Wijnberg in Holland with me and Jeff hagging and ragging on them. Deadlights and Bloodbath where produced by Munky and Richard Kaplan assisted by K. Revis at Indigo Ranch. The Indigo Ranch tracks where cut on old-sckool 16 tape, That definitely adds to the dirty sound, its bad asss!

JH: Have there been many shows played?

CS: Only a hand full around Holland ,Germany and the UK. And all of them with the most ultra shitty promotion. A very depressing situation. I’d kill for a corp. sponsor just to boot the bill for tour. Hell I’d spend every penny donated to a tour fund for just that ,touring!!! I spend it on vans/busses ,gas, supplies, promo material etc...So no, not many only a few for obvious reasons.

JH: What sort of touring will be going on in support of the release?

CS: That’s a question for Corporate Punishment. As far as I’m concerned ill do any show that’s thrown my way that I’m capable of getting to.....so bring ‘em on.

JH: What's the future look like for KCUF?

CS: If I new the answer to that i would already be buying land or looking for a new career. hopefully very good!!!!

JH: So hopefully many more KCUF releases?

CS: Hell yea !!! at least 2 more and a live one, plus not to forget the visual shit ,you know. DVD's and pc snippets.

JH: Anything else you want to get off your chest?

CS: Nah , the worlds so fucked up that would take a lifetime!!!

JH: Many thanks for taking the time out to do this interview. Keep up the good work in KCUF and hope to see you guys out on the road soon.

CS: Fucken --a ,that’s a good thing to hope for. Thx back and add my respect Crazy “White” Sean and Jeff “a.k.a.” t-shirt.