Me First & The Gimme Gimmes

Mon 22nd Nov, 2010 in Features

It doesn’t come for every musician, but for the few there comes a time at which what started as a bunch of friends writing songs, playing basement shows and the odd tour becomes a career ruled by constant recording schedules, world wide tours and having every move analysed by critics and fans alike.

These are exactly the constraints that the members of punk rock supergroup, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes attempt to escape. Each member has their own band, serious in nature, each with their own commitments, their own fan bases (which often crossover) and each with their own expectations. Guitarist Joey Cape, who also fronts seminal 90s punk band Lagwagon, was kind enough to discuss all things Me First from the safety of his home in California.

Though each member’s respective band is famous in its own right, Me First has had a career that is more extensive and enduring than many other punk bands. Me First however have never encroached on their own fans releasing albums that contain covers of songs that punks worldwide would for no other reason listen to. Their cover of Stairway To Heaven saw the band criticised by people all over. As for whether they would take that back, Joey stated “Oh yeah, but you can’t please everyone. We liked that song so we covered it. People really didn’t like what we did with it. I liked what we did with it. I think that’s going to happen with any cover song. When attached to a song and someone comes in and changes it then there are people who aren’t going to be pleased.”

The band released Have Another Ball in 2008 and everything in the camp has been relatively quiet since with each member focussed on other efforts. This will change shortly with the release of a new EP. “I’ve just finished my guitar parts for the EP that we’re doing. It’s actually all Australian artists.” When asked to surrender the artists that would be covered on the EP, Joey wasn’t so giving, “I can’t tell you that, you’ll find out soon. It was meant to be out in time for our tour to Australia but I’m not sure that’ll happen now”. It seems that a Me First cover of Kylie Minogue isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

The next EP has been a long time in the making. The gents were originally meant to record in April of this year which fell through. “Getting us together is a blue moon kind of thing. When the stars and our schedules align then we get to do something but that is so rare. It’s nice when it happens. I think from now on we’ll be doing EPs rather than full lengths. We can get them out more often and we don’t all have to be in the same place so from now on I think that’s how we’ll be releasing our music.”

There has always been an attempt within the band to show a light-hearted side of music, which in turn is a different experience from the normal routine of their own bands. While Cape is usually in the spotlight as the front man of Lagwagon, he has no problems with being relegated to the side of stage with his guitar. “It’s nice to be doing something different. To not be the person entertaining the crowd, not saying I don’t love doing it but it’s nice be on stage only playing guitar and nothing else. Definitely a different experience to Lagwagon, that’s for sure.”

A conscious decision had been made that has seen the Me First albums follow a theme from the show tunes of Are A Drag to the more recent country driven Love Their Country. The group is known for their love of matching outfits; playing shows in matching tuxedos, dressing as AFI or in their trademark Hawaiian shirts. Playing Down Under in the middle of summer it wasn’t hard for Joey to pick his preferred costume. “It’s going to be hot down there so I hope that it’s the Hawaiian shirts. Playing in a full tuxedo is hot even when it’s cool. I can’t imagine what it would be like playing in a tux outside during an Australian summer. We’d probably pass out halfway through the set.”

On this jaunt through Australia we can expect to see the full Me First line up. “It’ll be all of us except for Chris Shiflett who is doing other things. But we’ve got his brother Scott Shiflett coming with us who does most of the touring anyway. He’s an honourary Gimme.”

As for whether there would be a repeat of the bar on stage that Me First have previously done in Australia, Joey doubted it. “It’s fun but honestly, I have no idea what we’re going to be doing for this tour. I’m sure it’ll be something special but you’ll have to wait to find out. I’ll have to wait to find out.”

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes play on the No Sleep Til festival tour in December