Skip Lunch Interview

By Josh, 2011年 5月 1日

I first witnessed the Skip Lunch brand of guitar shred on October 31, 2009 at D-22, when his band, You Mei You, covered punk standards as part of the bar’s annual Halloween Punk KTV tradition. Fast forward a year and a half and Skip is busier than ever. You Mei You changed their name to The Flying Mantas and are folding retro, surf-inflected instrumental guitar waves into their post-punk oeuvre.

Check out Beijing Daze’s interview with Skip and the Mantas’ powerhouse drummer Chery Bomb and Pete DeMola’s WLIB profile for more background. I asked Skip a few questions about the name swap and stylistic changes, his partnership with Burns guitars, his record label No No NO, and the Flying Mantas’ May tour of Beijing.

pangbianr: When did you make the switch from You Mei You to Flying Mantas?

Skip Lunch: We changed the name last May. Since then we have been gradually adding new music to our live set, and at this point we play an all-instrumental music set. After we changed the name, the set was about half You Mei You songs, and half newly written instrumental pieces, so it wasn’t really a “switch” per se. We will continue to play our older songs too… if we feel like singing!

pbr: You Mei You was more of a NYC proto-punk sound while Flying Mantas goes the instrumental surf route… why this stylistic change?

Skip: In fact it’s not so much that we “changed genres”, it was more of a natural progression. You know, Johnny Thunders had the Chantays song “Pipeline” on his first solo record after the New York Dolls, and he did it in a totally proto-punk style. This one track turned me on to surf music again — I have played that song in that style in almost all of my bands since then. I also always liked the first song on the 3rd Pixies record “Cecelia Ann” — again a very rocking distorted cover of an old surf song. I just love that sound, its indie-proto-punk-surf! Another reason was because of our once-a-year gig with Hans Fenger and The Clamps. He’s an amazing musician, and it’s a real honor to play with a musician of Han’s caliber. We always looked forward to that, and creatively, one thing leads to another, so eventually we began to incorporate some surf guitar sounds into YMY, but with a much heavier sound.

pbr: What is your beef with vocals?? Is there an “instrumental scene” in Beijing?

Skip: I like singers, but for me the truth is at this point I’d rather just play my guitar than sing punk rock songs. “Let the music do the talking” as the saying goes. Another saying, by David Byrne [of Talking Heads] is: “I think singing is just a trick used in order to get people to listen to ‘music’ longer than they normally would.” As a musician who plays an instrument, I can also see his point there.

As far a “scene” goes, we’re putting together a series of shows that feature vintage/retro style rock, not just instro. In May we play several times with a Jimi Hendrix tribute act, and a Beatles tribute act. We also play with the rockabilly swing band DH and the Hellcats and the Ska band Skarving, that’s all retro too. It seems to me that the Chinese rock audiences really like what we are doing because though the influences are quite a few years old, it’s something that 99% of people here have never heard before, and also: Vintage is just cool, baby!

pbr: What is No No No Records?

Skip: No No NO is a new Beijing record label that is committed to the DIY punk rock ethic — but now also driving home the roots of cool 50’s & 60′s-influenced music like rockabilly, garage rock, and surf guitar. We share a common vision and that is to move music into the future without losing sight of the great and original styles of the past. That is, we love the sound of real rock and roll. Not only that, but by operating as a musical collective, we really understand the importance of mutual support and true creative collaboration.

pbr: What bands/musicians are you working with/do you plan to work with?

Skip: After we release some Flying Mantas records, we’re open to producing recordings for other groups — anything with a direct or even indirect connection to the 60’s or 50’s.

We’re going to make some 7″ vinyl singles to begin with. The first could be a split single with a Japanese band Goggle-A, who we met in Shanghai last year. Surf and 60’s Garage has been popular in the Japanese underground ever since The Ventures went to Japan in 1966. We are also planning a record in partnership with Genjing Records here in Beijing for European distribution.

pbr: How did your partnership with Burns guitars come about?

Skip: Well Burns Guitars were most popular in the 1960’s and are very “retro” in design, and great for playing instrumental surf-influenced music. The British band The Shadows played Burns guitars back in the mid-‘60s before Fender guitars were readily available in England. Burns is back again, and in China. I’m such a vintage guitar freak that I contacted them about a sponsorship because the Mantas are also “retro-instrumental” in style to some degree. Seems like a partnership that only makes sense.

pbr: May is a big month for Flying Mantas. What do you have on the horizon? What are you most excited about?

Skip: Well we’re looking forward to a series of 5 Beijing gigs with our new bassist Scott Daly [of Modern Sky US band, Arms and Legs] — he has been on tour for a month now, so we are just so stoked for him to get back here to play with us! Also, Hans Fenger will be here soon for rehearsals with The Clamps! (the original surf band we formed). More than that, we will be going back into the studio to record more new songs from both bands.

Find more Flying Mantas updates on their douban page: site.douban.com/theflyingmantas

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