Jesse: lets get started shall we? What are your names and what instruments do yous play?

Ted: My name is Ted E. Gray and I do a bit of everything in DragKing. I used to be the 4track noise man. Creating sound collages with a strange collection of prepared tapes on my Tascam 424. Recently I've been playing bass and guitar on more of the songs while still doing the sample thing. It's fun for me. I like to wait till most of the song has been worked out by the rest of the band, and then try to figure out what would be the best thing to throw into the mix. In the recording process I do a lot of the "production" work and am very instrumental in the mixdown stage.

Sluggo: My name is sluggo and I play guitar. Sometimes the other boys let me play bass, and sometimes they let me warble my little poems, but mostly I just play guitar.

Stel: my names are stel and valavanis. i play bass, guitar, lyra, my own electronic creations, and voice. i also am involved in engineering as all of us are. my main job is to order blank tape when we run out.

Jesse: how did yous get into punk?

Ted: In 1976 I was in the 6th grade and living in Dayton Ohio. The radio there was all disco, Paul McCartney, and "Afternoon Delight". It was one of the most horrible years of my life! Then in '77 I moved to Toronto. Toronto of course was much more cosmopoliton than Dayton was! There was the typical "album rock" FM station there but they did something sort of strange. Alongside the Pink Floyd, Who, Stones, and Frampton they also played Elvis Costello, The Clash, The Damned, The Ramones, and the Pistols. I think because a lot of the punk stuff had an english bent to it the anglophiles in Toronto ate it up. I still remember so clearly the first time I heard a "punk" song on the radio. It was "London Calling" by the Clash. Here I was, this alienated kid from Dayton living in a strange new city. Hearing that song changed my life. I found out more about the whole punk scene and was totally into the whole DIY, everyone can do it, destroy rock stars, break down the barriers thang. I never got a mohawk though. I was never really into the fashion thing. Looking back on it I sort of looked like a young Mark E. Smith!

sluggo: I got into punk when my friend showed me this crazy record. It was the Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk To Fuck" twelve inch single. I lived in Providence Rhode Island at the time and there were a lot of punkers around. This is around 1981 or so. The kid across the street from me formed this band called Coat of Arms. They practiced in the garage right across the street from my house so I would always hear them. They dressed weird. They played these scary parties in the basements of the run down houses rented by students at the Rhode Island School of Design. I remember seeing Shithaus, which was an early incarnation of Pussy Galore, play in a chicken wire-cage in this damp basement where everyone was covered in flourescent paint. I spent all of junior high and high school following these RISD drop-outs around and going to all-ages shows at Lupo's or the Living Room, which were the two decent clubs back then, to see Bad Brains or P.M.S. or Idle Rich or Beefeater. I guess the rest of my life has been spent trying to become like those older kids I looked up to then. But the sad thing is that the cool mysterious feeling I had going to underground shows back then is gone now.

stel: yeah i had these weird feelings going to warehouse parties in chicago. most of the time there's be some kind of home brewed noise band. once i was 21 i could go to real shows which were never as exciting except when i was tripping. back then i was into all this post-punk like the jesus lizard and killdozer. i guess i was never into real punk like sluggo and ted, i was more into experimental stuff and noise. my roots are really in folk-rock from grammar school. discovering the velvet underground in high school really changed my mind. shit, this was stuff i could play! and it just re-invented music. i loved it. i was already doing it with my jam-buddies. i mean we'd start with a rem cover and then let it all fall apart and squeel. broken stereos and feeding back mics became instruments. i was just too naive to realize this had been done before or that it was art. i mean i'd heard john cage but thought that this kind of freedom only existed in the avant-garde fine-arts MBA world and not in the youth culture. i loved noisy 60's stuff like blue cheer and hendrix but just thought it stopped there. so am i a punk? who cares.

Jesse: are there any bands you like but dont like to admit. perhaps any bands on mtv?

Ted: Well the funny thing is, after I got into the whole punk thing I went through a period in HS when I was really into prog rock. Genesis (with Peter Gabriel of course!), King Crimson, and Yes. At one point I can honestly say I owned EVERY Yes album. Even Tormato. Collectors fetish.... Well, praise Bob for used record stores! I got rid of most of that shit. I still listen to King Crimson every once in a while. Some of their stuff still really rocks. "Larks Tongue In Aspic", when they had that crazy skinhead guy in the band who later became a buddhist monk. He used to swing bicycle chains around and hit things with them to make percussion noises.

sluggo: I like some poppy stuff like Sebadoh, Guided By Voices, Poonjab, 40k, and The Amps. But I don't always brag about it.

stel: sorry but the last few beastie boys videos on empTyV really rock! other than that i can't think of anything good at all on it. hm.....no not one bit. i get into some rap but not enough to care what's on tv. i got into some of the stuff sluggo describes a bit and definitely got into a lot of prog rock in hs too. could i be made fun of for liking 60s-70s dylan? who cares. no, there is something funny and recent that i like but i can't remember what it is. who cares. obviously i don't like it enough. next question.

Jesse: is there any band or persons that you would like to trash because they suck?

Ted: I would love to answer this question but I've learned it's better not to trash people and keep quiet. The only really interesting dirt I could dig up would be on some former friends. I don't want to go down that path. I could always say Green Day but that would be boring!

sluggo: I would like to trash every band from Los Angeles because they use too much hair spray.

stel: yeah ted's been burned before. it sux but you can't always voice your opinion. most stuff i just don't care about but some just bugs the shit out of me. well, all the above, eMpTV, formerly-cool labels that have bought into this pop lame retro stuff. too bad.

Jesse: how sucessful do yous wanna get?

Ted: just sucessful enough to quit my day job! To be able to play music, record, tour, make money off of our label, work in a studio recording other bands, that's all I ask. I don't wanna be Cortney Love or something.

sluggo: I would like to be successful enough so that every record store clerk in the world knows the name Dragking.

stel: i would be very into being able to sell enough records to pay for putting them out. i don't think of making art as consumption but rather as communicating with others. i don't feel that we represent any community in chicago and i'd like to. ultimately replacing the method of distribution with a completely democratic one (i don't know if the internet could be this ever) would be the way to go. people could exchange art to keep in touch. and there's no mass consumption at all. this happens somewhat now in the small underground music counter-culture. the problem with it is not that it's limited but that it still has a lot of consumerism in it which keeps people buying and possesing music instead of using it to exchange thoughts and feelings. many people do have this attitude though. i could be called a hypocrite here because i don't do nearly as much listening as i do 'talking'. oh well.

Jesse: you said you hate white supremecy and sexism and homophobism, man, there should be a lot of yous around. polotics, do you care?

Ted: We care a lot. We care so much that we agonize for hours about if it's even possible to communicate our feelings about these things through our music. If anyone out there is listening. If music can ever change the world around it. I really hate that bullshit line about, "if even one person hears our music and it changes their life then it was all worth it." Have a nice day also! bullshit. it don't work that way.

sluggo: we care enough that we don't pin our hopes for challenging the status quo on Punk.

stel: it's good to try to show off you attitude and perspective in everything you do. yes, i do do this in my business all the time. you don't have to shove something down people's throats to let them know what your views are. i really think that everyhting that comes out of DK including sluggo's and my lyrics are totally sincere and have the main agenda of displaying what we see the way we see it. i don't want to care about politics but we'd be so fukt if we just ignored it. i wish i could.

Jesse: do you watch a lot of tv like me? if so what shows?

Ted: Well I watch TV. I'll admit it. X Files, Seinfeild, Star Trek, Svengoulie! I watch a lot of sports. The Sox, the Hawks, and the Bears. I'm an all american boy!

sluggo: Me too! I watch reruns of Mary Tyler Moore, Rhonda, The Odd Couple, Dragnet, Bewitched, Mr. Ed, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Adamms Family, The Munsters, and old Godzilla Movies. Oh yeah and the Planet of the Apes!

stel: if my boyfriend didn't turn on the tv i don't think i would ever watch it except for videos i own or rent. fortunately i get her to switch to the learning channel which is my favorite. besides that i like the kids in the hall and absolutely fabulous and simpsons oh and beavis and butthead. still it's only if we happen to catch any of these. i don't know when they're on.

Jesse: do any of you guys have jobs?

Ted: We all have jobs. Some of us think that sucks some of us don't! haw haw haw!!! I'm one of the ones that hates work. But I do have this bizarre convoluted rationalization of work in regards to our music. In some ways I think the fact that we all work frees us in terms of our song writing. We don't have to worry about making any money from our music. In fact all of us have probably lost money in the band. So we can play what we want to play and not worry about if anyone is going to buy our next CD.

sluggo: I hate work! That's why I'm always drunk on the job!

stel: when i used to work for other people i would fuk off (won't say more). anyway now i run my own business doing computer consulting and it really is empowering. i don't need to make a lot of money but it's very cool to work on something and see it come together. i do think work sux and that everyone has the right to not do anything if they don't want to. whatever it takes to further your agenda is ok with me.

Jesse: do these questions suck?!

Ted: no not really. rock interview 101.

stel: yes. why don't they ask about art and culture and non-personal things?

Jesse: who are your influences?

Ted: I've personally been very influenced by dub music. Lee Perry, King Tubby, and Adrian Sherwood's mixing style in particular. Old school punk of course. I listen to a lot of "world" music. By that I don't mean the bullshit you hear on WNUA but field recordings of african tribes and stuff. Free jazz of course. I'm a big fan of The Mothers of Invention. Of the new stuff out there.... hmmm.... Gastr del Sol, Tourtoise to some degree, The Ex, Thinking Fellers Union, God Is My Copilot, Dead C. We throw all those influences together and smash them to bits and then see what we've got!

sluggo: Don't forget the big influence which eighties SST bands had on us. You know like Sachrine Trust, Universal Congress Of, Gone, Tom Tricolli's Dog, Minutemen, and the rest. Oh yeah, and don't forget the big New York No Wave Influence! All The James Blood Ulmer, William Hooker, D.N.A., Mars, Teenage Jesus and The Jerks, James Chance and the Contortions, Swans, etc.!!

stel: fuk yeah! no one mentioned slint because there's this whole contingent of slint wannabees. i'm with these guys on just about all the above but i'll add the whole nyc fuk tup stuff like sonic youth, live skull, pussy galore, cop shoot cop, unsane, someone said swans. throw in anp, zeni geva, brotzmans, gore, boredoms, whatever, what the fuk, lots of shit. lots of albini connected stuff like head of david, rapeman, dust devils. love scratch acid and also bunch of Austin stuff like Pain Teens. i'm an old fart. who cares.

Jesse: what is the one single thing yous are most proud of?

Ted: Maybe our show with the Thinking Fellers? Actually in a lot of ways I'm the most proud of the new material we've recorded the past few months. I think it's totally kick ass stuff that's going to surprise a lot of people. I've been a lot more involved in the songwriting of the new material so maybe I have more of an emotional investment. I can't wait to get this thing out. Hopefully in the fall.

sluggo: I'm most proud of wasting the last eight years of my life playing in this band. Oh, yeah and sucking off Henry Rollins backstage at the old Oak Theatre, back in the day.

stel: yeah what a waste. i don't know who shoved a stick up his ass. i'm still most proud of jazz monster (b-side of our first single) because unlike some of our other attempts and tremendously ambitious music, this one really did it partly because it was stripped down a great deal (no one knows this). i mean it really gives me an emotional kick and am always amzed that we were able to do it. i don't know if we'll ever attempt something as though out again but i'd like to. a lot of people do stuff like it but it really is a big deal for us, for me.

Jesse: how do you feel about green day?

Ted: I think I like the Buzzcocks more. I guess I find a lot of the "new" punk boring. Why do over again what's already been done so well? I don't really see them doing anything that interesting and new. I'm the type that's always looking for new sounds and ideas. If I feel like listening to that sort of stuff I'll listen to the originators, not the imitators.

sluggo: I think that they deserve some credit for taking Pansy Division out on tour with them and confronting all those newly converted Green Day fans with some positive gay punk! After all gays have always been a big part of the punk scene, but too few contemporary punks are aware of that legacy which includes Darby Crash, Iggy Stooge, and Bob Mould.

stel: could be cool people but the music has zero value. fuk that mainstream crap. so they are cool to cool people. so what. who cares.

Ben:
All Power To The People!

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk to everyone!

Peace out.

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