By Jens

By pure luck I came across this exciting and raunchy rock'n'roll act when I asked people at garagepunk.com if there were any cool bands playing at my 40th birthday in London. They headlined a 3 band bill north east of Camden in a club called Boston Arms in Islington. From the word go the young A2-piece exploded into a feverish set of shitraw blues'n'punk that was only equalled by a Oblivians show I saw in the mid90s. Some moron couldn't handle the energy and threw a bottle at singer/guitarist Sam Agostino and cut open his chin in their 2nd song. I of course then declared war on all Brits in my drunken birthday celebration, and like a trooper he and drummer Andy Moore battled on with blood pouring down Sam's chest for 45 minutes. Afterwards we had a nice chat since me and my woman seemed to be only ones who truly enjoyed their awesome set. They also gave me their kickass "Young, Tight and Alright" cd which is a further proof of their gutsy attitude towards rock'n'roll, and believe me, lotsa of whiny Copenhagen bands could learn a lot from these hardass Melbourne motherfuckers.

LC: The creation of Digger & The Pussycats, former bands you've been in?

Sam: Andy and myself played in another band before Digger that was a 3 piece. When things fell apart we started up the Pussycats. We have been playing in bands together for about 5 years, after we met at university. We just have a blast and play heaps

LC: I hear Beasts Of Bourbon, Cramps, and especially Gun Club in your tunes, are they some of your heroes?

Sam: The Beasts are a big influence on us. Spencer P Jones is a good friend and played on our Tour EP. I have always dug the Cramps. Until about 3 months ago I had never heard the Gun Club so a friend lent me the "Fire Of Love" record and I really like that. I can see how people say that we sound the same as them but it is strange that we had never heard them. Maybe we listened to the same records they listened to and arrived at the same point.


LC: How's the chin? I can't forget the thug who threw that bottle in London. How did the rest of tour go down?

Sam: Well the scar looks pretty cool and I think it has healed up kinda nicely. The rest of the tour has been great. Europe is a really cool place and everywhere you go there is something exciting and new to do. Right now we are in Amsterdam just finishing off the last few dates before we go home and make another record and tour in Australia

LC: Your live show is pretty wild, the drums sure get a beating, is there lotsa repairing of equipment on the road?

Sam: The gear gets pretty beat up every night but thats cool. Yes we have to put the gear back together pretty much every day. I have blown up 2 amps on this tour and it can sometimes be a nightmare. Andy has broken more sticks and skins than we can keep count of. I think some bands try to wreck gear just to look cool, I dont know why people do it. We dont so it delibaretly but we sweat a lot and play pretty hard and that creates wear and tear on everything.


LC: Pros and cons of only being 2 in a band?

Sam: Pros; more beer and less whining band members. Cons; The conversation dries up pretty quick

LC: The Aussie rock'n'roll sound, why is it somewhat rougher than the rest of the world?

Sam: I think in Australia there is a big pub rock tradition so that makes bands pretty rough and ready, at the same time Australia has an amazing power pop history as well. I think cause we are so isolated from the rest of the world and before the Internet so much music was so hard to get especially in the 70's pre-mail order stuff that people read about rock music and kinda played like how they thought is should be. Aussie bands also tour like motherfuckers in Australia so sometimes you gotta be rough and ready to drink, fight and party.


LC: New Aussie bands we should look out for? I've heard The Specimens who's really cool...

Sam: The Legends of Motorsport are the coolest band in Australia at the moment. They are from Melbourne and play this like Mudhoney meets The Sonics organ rock and roll. They are fucking fantastic

LC: "History Of Adultery"? Based on personal experiences?

Sam: No quite the opposite. History is a song about a fucked up guy who doesnt really know what the fuck he is doing in life. It is more of a finger pointing song, like I dont wanna become like this guy who cant be straight with anyone not even the people who are real close to him.

LC: Is "I Went Out Looking" a twisted Digger & The Pussycats take on soul music? And I can get some more? haha

Sam: I really like a lot of soul music, especially Curtis Mayfield and Gil Scot Herron. There is this real fine line between funk and soul. I really like Soul music when they are just great short songs but a lot of funk stuff gets into 30 minute 1 chord jams that after a while really lose me. Like Fela Kuti can keep it together for 8 minutes and I really dig that but a lot of stuff that people assosciate with soul music is just not for me.

LC: You cover Robert Johnson, Supercharger and The Make-Up, any other cover tunes in your set?

Sam: Often we get pretty trashed and start breaking into covers of everything. So far on the tour we have played Velvet Underground, Nirvana, Sex Pistols, Stooges and of course the Purple Hearts song "Just a Little Bit" which we have recorded and is on our Tour EP. I like playing covers now and again and I think crowds really dig hearing them especially a band like us where people who come to the shows really only know maybe a few songs if any at all. Its not like when you go and see TurboNegro and you can sing every word to every song.

LC: Fave drink, movie and live album?

Sam: Aah, a loaded question. If I answer some liquor for a drink I will look like a tough guy and anything else I will look soft. Favourite drink maybe beer. Favourite movie; This is a tough one, maybe something like arthouse films by like Jean Luc Goddard or something. I always go blank for that question. Favourite live record; Jimi Hendrix at Monterey always comes to mind cause no-one was into him in the States and then he went to the UK and they loved him and this is his first show back in the States before "Are You Experienced" came out and he was like "Fuck you guys, I am the shit" and he was and this show proved it.

LC: Why did Mad Max became a crazed Christian Fundamentalist?

Sam: I'm not too familiar with Mad Max but this sounds like a joke that needs a good punch line. Maybe there is more money in Christian Fundamentalism or maybe searching for over priced Diesel all day is too close to reality. I dunno.

LC: Future plans, anything to add?

Sam: Well, we are gonna be back in Europe in March/April after we do our second record and have that ready to rock, at the moment it has the working title "Watch Yr Back" and should be out in September or October. It will be a lot different to "Young Tight and Alright". A lot broader styles of music on the record and a lot more fucked up. Some of it is already done and I cant wait to go home and finish it up.

http://www.spookyrecords.com