Joe Beers Memorial Show on June 14th

JOE BEERS MEMORIAL BENEFIT.... LITTLE MIKE (ex static radio), THE PROJECT lv (local working stiffs), REVISITING A MASSACRE (long defunct lv grinders, pre masato tanaka), GET TO THE CHOPPER (first show in 3 years!), MERCS (w/ snackman filling in on vocals, first show in like 6 years!), HARRISON BERGERON (pre street smart cyclist and storm the bastille, first show in 3 years), OKTOBER SKYLINE (lv grindcore, first show in 3 years)...... ** all money will go to the Beers family to help cover funeral expenses!!**

A Chat with Erik Petersen

After a recent show at the Green Line Cafe in Philly, Lauren Kyle of Mamba!Mamba! fought through the throngs of bandanna clad sing along junkies and caught up with Erik Petersen of Mischief Brew. They wasted some time chatting about pugs, creeps at gas stations and the possibility of a Mischief Brew beach bag. Check it out, then head over to Mischief Brew's myspace and Fistolo Records' myspace for all things Mischief Brew related.

M!M!: So, tell me about Fistolo Records:
EP: Oh, Fistolo? Well, Fistolo is a record label I run with my wife, Denise Vertucci, and we just run it out of our house. I mean, it’s not our day jobs by any means it’s just something we do for the love of it. It started with Mischief Brew as just a way to release Mischief Brew demos and the first Mischief Brew EP and then we started putting out some of our friends’ bands. Its kinda like, you know, you feed the monster and then it becomes so big you’re like “oh wow, I guess we run a label.” It starts with the little things, first you run a website, then you’re filling orders all the time. It’s fun, it’s something we do really just for the love of it at this stage.


M!M!: Coming from a company that was very much about Warped Tour and working with Atlantic Records and such I have to ask, as more of local artist would you stress the importance of keeping things more indie, more DIY?
EP: Oh, absolutely. I mean there are bands that make decisions to go and take another step forward. I think it all has to be examined on an individual level. I’m not gonna like, write it all off. But for us, everything we’ve done at every stage of the game has worked really well for us. At the level that Mischief Brew is at, and Fistolo stuff is at, and the label, you just look at it and go “wow, we’re just so proud of it”. Proud, for lack of a better word because we know that every step of the way, we’ve been in control.
M!M!: Well when you put that much work into something it becomes you’re kid almost, you’ve watched it grow
EP: It’s kinda like we cringe when we have to work with- well, no, I shouldn’t say that.
M!M!: Say what you want, this isn’t a nice blog haha.
EP: Good! But, basically, when you’re totally in control with everything you know, at the end of the game the reward is that much greater. And that’s not to say that in every phase of life you can do everything yourself, but, to build it up that way is something that you can be really happy with. That anyone should be really happy with. Whether it’s a band, a label, a collective, an organization, I think it’s true across the board.


M!M!: So when I first spoke to you guys about doing this interview I put out myspace bulletins and such to find out what people wanted me to ask you and I got some of the most ridiculous responses back. And I got gripped up in a gas station for wearing a Mischief Brew hoodie. It was nuts.
EP: Ripped up?
M!M!: Some girl was behind me and grabbed my shirt and got really excited that I liked Mischief Brew then told me she wanted to pull my hairs out of my head one by one for being able to talk to you. Does that reaction creep you out? Do you think its funny? Does it inflate your ego a little?
EP: Hmmm. Well, it depends. Like when people are really grateful, and happy and just honored, or like when they tell you how much the band means to them, that is awesome. I like nothing more than that. I wouldn’t say its an ego inflator but it definitely makes you love what you’re doing so much more. That is the ultimate. I mean, yea people take it a little bit too far but it’s a very small minority of people that get creepy. But it has happened and yea, yea its creepy. We’ve gotten some weird stories of things shouted at us on stage and such.
M!M!: I don’t know if I should talk, I’ve got your lyrics tattooed on my back.
EP: Really?! That’s not creepy, that doesn’t creep me out.
M!M!: Well, I’m glad, because I don’t think it will come off now.
EP: No you certainly can’t. But things like that, that’s awesome. That’s like the greatest honor. Wow, you’re going to be stuck with that forever. I have my Mischief Brew tattoo, but it’s not really a Mischief Brew tattoo. A reminder that if we give all this up, at the end of the line of all the time we’ve wasted and spent on the whole thing. It’s your scars to show.
EP: Were there any suggestions that anyone offered that you took and made a question?
M!M!: Most of them were a little nuts. Like, if pugs were eliminated from the face of the earth how would you deal with that, and what then would you be obsessed with? Actually, a lot of them were about your pugs.
EP: Well, that’s awesome. The pugs are definitely a mascot. It’s really funny. We’ve always toured with them. I’m mean we don’t take them on every tour but whenever we can we do. It’s a pain in the ass taking three pugs on a punk tour but people wait for them. People show up with their dogs. Or people with ‘Up the pugs!’ pins on their dogs whether it’s a pug or some other flat faced breed. I just love them I mean, we rescue them. Any dog breed needs to be rescued but for some reason, I just love pugs. I can’t really explain it. They’re not getting eliminated off the face of the earth any time soon so, I’m not really worried about it.


M!M!: Another popular question was, how do you feel about the recent election?
EP: I feel really good about it, you know, as with most people in our, scene. I mean, it’s the most excited I can be about a presidential election. Coming out of eight years of that, people are just glad we aren’t waking up to Bush and Clinton. It is a fresh change. I don’t know how much really will change but I think there’s some good things on the books, we’ll just have to see what happens. But yea, I think it’s a good thing. It’s the most excited I can be about something so mainstream as a democratic American election. I was watching on TV along with everyone else. I didn’t well up, but almost. I mean, it had to be done. There was no other way, but we’ll see.
M!M!: What are some the big things you want to see changed? Like if Erik Petersen ruled the world, what would we see?
EP: Well, I won’t be running the world, but I don’t know. I don’t dabble much in global politics, I couldn’t say I could do it any better. I mean, I have my thoughts and my opinions but they’re pretty much on par with most of the anarchist-punks today. Not to say I don’t have anything new to offer. I’m not a preacher.


M!M!: Well, people look up to you and listen to you. I mean look at the crowds you play to, I’ve seen you play at Ursinus college to six folk rock kids and then shows like tonight where you have a crowded room packed with all sorts of people. It’s gotta be really rewarding to see that all come back at you.
EP: Oh yea. Doing local shows, for the hell of it, in your neighborhood is a nice, refreshing reminder of how awesome this is and how far its come. You can always come back and your friends will come, younger kids will come. It’s a nice community.
M!M!: Well you’ve definitely got people behind you, people are excited to talk about you. When I first moved to the area Chris Reject (Square of Oppostion Records) actually introduced your work to me.
EP: Oh yea? I’ve known Chris for a long time. He makes our T-shirts.
M!M!: He makes beach bags too, are you going to have Mischief Brew beach bags?
EP: Probably, he’s awesome. He’ll throw in extra patches and stuff. Yea, I’ve known Chris for years.


M!M!: There are so many people out there who are so into Mischief Brew and respect you so much.
EP: Yea, its overwhelming almost, well, exhilarating at times. There are people who come to every show on tour. It’s hard enough for us to go on tour I can’t imagine other people doing it.


M!M!: So there were a few grumbles tonight that you didn’t end with Roll Me Through The Gates of Hell?
EP: Well, I always do. Well, when I play with the band, with Mischief Brew, we ALWAYS end with that. Sometimes we’ll do a last song or a cover but its like basically like when the band plays we have a set of songs that we play. Its’s just the band has to be a little more structured whereas when I play alone I can do whatever I want. I mean I just played a culture shock cover, I did a John Prine cover. I can just shoot from the hip. So its like that variety, that sorta, having the structure and having the non-structure keeps it really fresh. So If one night I’m like “ah I don’t feel like playing roll me through..” I don’t have to. Not that there’s anything wrong with the song, I love it.
M!M!: Do you prefer to play solo or do you like playing with the band better?
EP: It depends when you ask me. Usually, I’ll say playing with the band just because its much more ruckus. But like I said, it’s the variety. We’re in a very unique situation. A lot of bands will try to do a solo thing, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. But what’s interesting and unique about us is that it started that way so people are just as excited for acoustic as for the band. Sometimes more than others. I mean the acoustic experience is always going to be more intimate, so. What I like is when we go on tour for however long, playing with the band every night is fun. But sometimes, I’ll be like, oh I’m going to play some acoustic shows and just relax, just do whatever I want. But then I do enough of those and I’m like, I want to rock out again! Switching it up keeps it interesting and fresh. You never get bored of one thing or another. I like them both equally.

Mamba!Mamba! would like to thank both Erik and Denise at Fistolo records for all the help with the interview (and being so tolerant of my less than awesome directional skills).