Interview : Bad Mojos
Bad Mojos through my Olympus Trip at Fri-Son last December, our first encounter. They were dressed up as Jesus (?)
A couple hours before their release show in Bern last month, I sat down with one of my favorite swiss bands at the moment, Bad Mojos. It was my first time visiting Reitschule - shame on me - and I loved it! The atmosphere was really chill and friendly. Join us as they tell me about their lives in Bern, getting paid in hash, their new record I hope you O.D., and more. Many thanks to Bad Mojos and Reverend Beat-Man for their warm welcome!
So firstly, just to be sure- I read that you guys are from Bern, but you’re actually from Thun right?
Juli : Originally, we’re from Thun. We grew up in the suburbs… a lot of cow shit, and a lot of churches. Then we moved to Bern, because there’s less cow shit and more dog shit! We are more dog shit people than cow shit people. We kinda like it here.
What’s your life like here in Bern?
Juli: Most of the time pretty boring, except for nights like these. We all have nine to five jobs. We just ditch work whenever we can-
Jean: We work as less as possible.
Juli: We’re lazy boys. But still at the end of the day, you have to pay your fucking rent. We try to travel a lot with the band, go to different countries, meet different people.
Martin: Luckily, there is Reitschule in Bern, I think that’s why we moved here.
Juli: Yeah, Reitschule is like our second home.
Jean: We always keep an eye on good shows there and go whenever we can.
Juli: Yeah, and when we are not in Reitschule we’re on tour taking marijuana and drinking alcohol, just having fun.
I’ve seen that you guys are going to play in London soon?
Everyone: Yes! First time!
That’s awesome! I hope you guys make us proud and represent us well! (laughs). Because it seems that people abroad think that we’re all rich and working in banks here!
Jean: Yeah, also in Germany! Some people think that swiss punk doesn’t exist, or that Switzerland can’t be punk. Fuck that.
Juli: We’re going to bring a lot of money with us and throw it into the audience, maybe some Ricolas as well… Ricolas are really good for the throat, so…
Jean: Maybe some Toblerone!
Juli: We’re looking forward to this. It’s going to be fun. Shout out to Suicide Generation who invited us! Hopefully we’re going to meet Marco from No Front Teeth Records. Or we will have to go to his home and ring the bell! (laughs)
Yes just do it!! So tonight, we’re celebrating the release of your new record I hope you O.D. on Voodoo Rhythm Records. How did you guys discover the label?
Juli: We’ve been fans of the label for years- I mean, it had a major impact on us growing up in this region. Voodoo Rhythm has always been around, and as you know it’s a small scene. Beat-Man was at one of our shows and… I don’t know, I don’t remember!
Jean: We had some recording problems and we just asked him where to go for recording. And that’s how it started I think.
Juli: He saw us live and he liked what he saw, because we were really untalented. That really bad, bad band. That’s right up his alley! (laughs) He told us to go to Toulouse, to Los Spider and to record there, and that he would release the record. He did in the end! We’re really happy about it.
Jean: We really liked the place, Lo Spider is a genius. He did a great job, what we needed.
I also wanted to talk about the cover of the album. Was it your idea?
Juli: No, it was Beat-Man’s! He just sent it to us and we were like “oh yeah, it’s cool”! It’s from a concert we played somewhere in Germany. It was a very dodgy place. It was really fun, because people there thought that we were on crack. We bought this pipe to smoke hash, and we were smoking it but people thought that it was crack! They got really concerned and it was a lot of fun.
Jean: I remember some people paid with hash to go to the show! (laughs)
I’ve noticed that you always dress up before going on stage. Is it a way to make people feel more comfortable?
Juli: It’s to make me feel more comfortable! (laughs) Me and my body, actually. That’s just a lot of fun- I mean, it’s really important not to take yourself that seriously. There’s enough macho and tough guy bands, and not enough bullshit bands. So we dress like shit to have fun. Most people like it, and if they don’t like it it’s even more fun.
Jean: I think it’s important to take nothing seriously.
Juli: Even death. Even if there’s a fire! (laughs) There’s too much going on to be serious about. But not this band!
I’d like to talk about your song Police Car as well, I think it’s one of my favorite off the album. How did it come to life?
Juli: Hmm… In the practice room, when we smoked crack! (laughs)
Martin: I think we wrote it after Hamburg, right?
Juli: Yeah, after the G-20 demonstrations in Hamburg, that’s what it’s all about. So it’s an anti-police, anti-system song. We’re kinda political, but we’re even more nihilistic I would say.
Martin: And the video for it is awesome.
Juli: Yeah, the guy who made the video is insane! And he’s really handsome too! (laughs) Martin did it.
What can we expect from Bad Mojos in the future?
Jean: New stuff.
Juli: Fuck all. We’ll see. We’re going to play as many shows as we can. As long as we have fun, we’ll continue.
https://www.facebook.com/badmojos/
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