After catching Los Peeps at the House of Yes last month, I really intrigued by what sounded like political music put into a party punk wrapper. I wasn’t able to find much information on the band online, so I contacted them and asked them for an interview because I wanted to know more about them; where they were from, where they were going, and how did they come to be making the music which they made.
In listening to their recently released album, Our Crazy, The Peeps provide political punk but on a very human level, less songs about abstract ideas and more about how policy affects individuals in society. In six songs they give us danceable up tempo music coupled with a very melancholy, at times almost dreary lyrics. There is less anger in the songs and more of a sort of world-weariness whose youthful appearance belies.
Our Crazy is available for free with lyrics from Bandcamp and is highly recommended.
Who does what in the band?
Byron Gray- Bass
Ted Kohlmann- Guitar
Adrian Lopera- Guitar / Charango
Jonny Mehr- Drums
And we all sing.
Let’s start with the preliminaries. How did you form? What brought you together making music?
Byron: Adrian found me in our Newburgh, NY high-school and said he was starting a punk band, and he needed a bassist. Adrian and Lechuza had found each other as two of the only Latin punks in Newburgh, in their ESL (English as second language) class. The band thrived in our hometown, high-school and local scene for years among the large Spanish speaking Latino community as well as punk and hardcore kids, which now seemed to to dominate this area of New York in music. But it wasn’t until Summer of ’08 that we added Teddy Kohlmann, our life-long friend and came to the lineup we have now.
We became a band because we were all best friends and party goers & throwers through high-school and we all still are to this day. It wasn’t so much about the music back then as it was to just have a good time (parting and getting girls). We weren’t looking to change the music scene or top the charts, just something to do after school, shows to play and campfire songs to sing. Though we’ve grown tremendously as people as well as musicians, we keep the name ‘The Peeps’ and the spirit of that carefree vibe.
Where do the strong Latin ties come from? It permeates all of Our Crazy from the instrumental arrangements, to the lyrical content to the cover.
Growing up in Newburgh, where being white makes you a minority, our group of friends came from all different cultural backgrounds, with 2/4ths hailing from Latin America. Adrian, from Colombia, and Lechuza, Peru, are the basis for all our Latin influences. Their country’s cultures (both Andes Mountains rooted) have a deep focus on dance (contrary to ours it seems) and at the same time make strong political statements, especially due to Latin America’s differences of left and right movements (they still have a positive attitude to the good and bad times (“If you don’t like the rain you got to learn how to dance in it”) and The Peeps have always been fans of dancing and partying so it felt natural to play the music that gets people dancing no matter what the contest of it is.
As for the lyrics, the three of us are slowly learning Spanish and hope to know all our songs in both Spanish and English by the Summer. For this album, we sang a little bit of Spanish to further tie the content to Adrian as our lyrics tend to be recounts or reflections of past events. But no matter what the content, we try to always keep a sense of humor through it all or at least a positive outlook.
Jonny: My first drum teacher was actually from Germany, but he was way into jazz and Afro-Cuban beats. He taught me a lot of interesting stuff that ties into Latin music and really tied things together for me musically. I wish he was still around. I have no idea what happened to him.
Your music isn’t political punk in the sense that most people think of it. Our Crazy lacks the polemic nature of many political lyrics, while still being very political, particularly in the song “Bones.” Do you consider yourselves to be a political band?
Byron: I feel that The Peeps aren’t a political platform for us to preach from, as much as it is to display a strong example of living in peace and celebrating culture, as well as living in harmony with many cultures and people with different beliefs and backgrounds. Our goal with The Peeps is to make sure that other people are having as much fun as we are, as we share a story or two. Often these stories will coincide with social and political issues, but only as it relates to the situation at hand.
Adrian: The charango instrument, native to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, is iconic to the revolutionary political music that goes against the government and uses lyrics against political oppression of their people. This is why I thought it would be a good idea to us it in fusion with the punk roots we already had.
Byron: For example, “Bones” was written in response to a situation we found ourselves in down in Florida when we slept over in a very generous family’s trailer after a show. Very long story short, there we were, feeling rich in comparison, touring around the country in my dad’s Sequila with a trailer full of music equipment, having a blast.
As we slept in a trailer at a trailer-park housing a family of 4 down the street from the bar we played; which had no drinks as the bartender worked for only tips, not to mention a fight broke out that night when a fifty year-old man was ‘hitting on’ one of the guys in another band that was playing that night. Anyway, as we pulled away we left the two kids asking their dad for a dollar to go to the beach but he told them they should save their dollar for a soda that day.
We’ve been a lot of places that some people can’t afford or just can’t go and we’re grateful to that. Bones is about bringing our experiences to you, to try and get you to enjoy them, or fear them, as much as we did.
Teddy: There’s a time to be an political critic, or a Jello Biafra or Joe Strummer and put it in peoples faces, or to debate each other about this matter or that, and there’s a time to take action and there are issues to deal with and problems to mend, but we do not wan to bring the problems onto the dance floor.
We do not ignore the struggle of man, especially in our hometown of Newburgh, where urban renewal in the ’70s turned it into a crack den in the 80s, with a lot of political brouhaha. As well as the addition of large companies that put local businesses and the township under, and decrepit ghettos full of gangs, also in the schools and surrounding us our entire lives; the products of our government’s choices as well as a ‘broken windows’ mentality.
We are very politically minded people but where political punk like the Dead Kennedys or Anti-Flag make it the dominating feature of their music, we just keep it out.
Jonny: The band started off as a punk band in the traditional sense. It’s funny how we grew up on punk records but then went even further back in time. Adrian went back to Colombian musical roots. We started trying more traditional Latin music. We’re all fans of juanes and raggaeton too. I would add that the punk parts is more in the instrumental part of the band. The lyrics focus more on specific moments, memories, and issues that when maximized can share a reality that many people experience at some point in their lives.
What do you consider to be the most important aspect of your music?
What do you want people to take away from listening to your songs?
Teddy: i don’t wanna brag or nuttin’, but The Peeps got something everyone’s been waiting for; i know i been waiting for; a raw fusion of dance fun and real punk roots. The best element is that pure fun and cultural flair.
Adrian: We play what we like, basically. (And therefore be out on any show, or party)
Byron: I’d say it’d be it’s timelessness. I realize that comes off a bit pretentious but we’ve gotten this compliment from a lot of people. Many bands out there are playing music that can be dated almost to the year. There’s no doubt we have our modern influences embedded in our music but we feel confident we’re existing on the outskirts of the fashionable trends.
Jonny: I also think our lyrical style is very important. We sing about really specific life events, but they can relate anyone. I want people to dance to our music, I want it to make them smile, and know that we’ve been there.
Byron: We want them to take everything every little detail in the music as we write we thing about every little detail; how are most people going to relate to this musically and lyrically? We want to hit every angle, some might criticize but most admire this quality, and if they critique than we are getting them some how, aren’t we?
Can you talk a little bit about what music is like in Newburgh? What the scene is like and if there are any other bands tucked away that we should know about?
Byron: Gizmachi. Ha Ha!
To be honest, I’m not sure we know what’s going on in Newburgh musically. 3/4 of us live in either Brooklyn or queens and we soon hope to have us all down here. Newburgh’s where we started, so we still say that we’re from Newburgh but that’s less and less true these days.
Friends from bands in Newburgh are doing well though! No one else seems to be treading in our Spanish punk waters, but our friends Major Potential and Buddha Heroes (from across the Hudson in Beacon) are holding down the punk scene upstate. And the pop-rock group The Morning Of is doing quite well for themselves.
Jonny: The Morning Of sounds like musical theater now.
Byron: Right now, unfortunately, Newburgh’s making headlines with an epidemic of gang violence. 14 year-old kid gang violence! From what I’ve read about the situation, all these kids are turning to the gangs because they’re unhappy with their current living situation-no jobs, no money, no safety. The concept is a little different from joining a band to improve your living situation, but the same basic idea.
Jonny: Newburgh is a perfect melting pot. Its about a third white, a third black and a third Spanish. We grew up with that. I think it gives a better understanding of all human beings. A lot of people we’ve met around the country haven’t met many black or Spanish people. Touring gives us this perspective.
Byron: It seems that what we all have in common is that we want to get out of Newburgh. Not necessarily because we hate it, but growing up there you get a good idea of what the rest of the world can offer. Adrian would always talk about the beautiful landscapes and women of Colombia and because of our friendship, we finally were able to go and visit Medellin, Colombia last summer. Safe to say, everything’s beautiful there.
What’s inspiring your band today? Are there other artists that push you to be better than you are?
Byron: Most of our influence is coming from the Latin American music like merengue, cumbia, salsa, and even reggaeton. With the exception of Adrian, the music is fairly new to us and so we’ve been just kind of immersing ourselves in it.
We are all still listening to our favorite punk records but we’re looking for something more in our music than just punk so it’s safe to say we’ve got a lot of music to look to for inspiration.
I may just be speaking for myself here but I feel that the bands we surround ourselves with these days have been our biggest influences. For example, Aficionado, Mama Bear, are playing their own music and doing their own thing and it’s exciting to be playing among them. None of us are trying to fit into a scene, we’re trying to make one! This gets hard sometimes, we wonder sometimes if anybody cares, but its encouraging to see other bands fighting the same battle.
What’s next for the band, any new releases or tours coming?
Byron: Right now, the plan is to set up camp in New York City for the summer, promote the Our Crazy release, and tour in the late Summer or early Fall. We’re thinking of returning to Colombia in December and there’s talk of Peru as well.
We’ve already got enough new music to get back in the studio and record an album twice the size of Our Crazy but before we make another investment like that, we want to see what kind of response our latest recording gets.
What’s the first laws you’d pass as joint dictators of the world?
Byron: Free Beer. Eliminate Noise Ordinances. End the wars on drugs in South America as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Take down the Arizona laws they just passed profiling people. Abolish Capitalism.
www.mypspace.com/thepeepsny
facebook.com/thepeeps
twitter.com/thepeepsny
http://thepeeps.bandcamp.com/