Posted on July 1, 2010 - by Post Punk

Batusis: The Old And The New

Cheetah Chrome © Sandy Carson

When Sylvain Sylvain and Cheetah Chrome announced the formation of Batusis, the label ‘punk rock super group’ was quickly touted and with the duo sharing guitar duties and taking turns on lead vocals, the release of their self titled four track EP quickly found a place in the hearts of fans of the 70s era punk icons. Earlier this year the band performed their debut show at SXSW and sadly were victims (as countless others were) of the Icelandic ash cloud preventing a planned tour of the UK in May. The group are rounded out by bassist Enzo Penizzotto and drummer Thommy Price (rhythm section of Joan Jett’s band). Ayisha Khan recently took up the opportunity to correspond with Cheetah to assess what the band are up to and whether UK fans can expect to see them any time soon.

Ayisha: Hi, how are you guys?

Cheetah Chrome: Well, I’m fine. Syl was the last time we spoke.

Ayisha: By now we all know about the name of the band, but how long did it take for you to come up with it? How many names did you go through

Sylvain Sylvain © Sandy Carson

before you hit the jackpot? Good result though – Adam West (Batman) does a mean dance.I was laughing my head off after watching that on YouTube.

Cheetah Chrome: We only went through a couple, really. We hadn’t taken that part too seriously yet. But the others were just as cool and funny; we’re hanging onto them in case we need them!

Ayisha: Cheetah, was it nice to settle down with an autonomous band project after a mixture of solo work and playing with other bands?

Cheetah Chrome: Well, I’m still involved with Rocket as well as Batusis; we just put out the new single (‘I Sell Soul/Romeo and Juliet’).  We‘re going to be doing some recording in August. We get together so infrequently I don’t see the two interfering with each other. I don’t think of either one as a side project, I have the time to do both and see no reason not to. The two are so different.  Its apples and oranges really, no comparison.

Ayisha: Batusis is mean, simple-as rock ‘n’ roll, and still retains a New York Dolls texture to it, albeit with a much thicker shade (‘What You Lack In Brains’ is not far off the wild garage characteristics of The Sonics from the 60s). Was that an immediate product when you joined forces with Sylvain?

Cheetah Chrome: Oh yeah, the whole thing just sort of blew up in our faces when we got in the studio. I was the only one who had played at some point with everybody in the room, and Syl hit it off with Thommy and Enzo right away. There was a very good vibe, a good energy level. The songs and band had their own sound right away; and we’ve been able to keep that with Lez and Sean. (Lez Warner and Sean Koos, the Batusis rhythm section for the July 2010 dates.) The songs all hung together well too; different, but with a similar feel to them.

Ayisha: When you recorded the EP, was it just like Sylvain would describe it as “a live band that got recorded”? What made you opt for an organic compound?

Cheetah Chrome: Well, that seemed like the best way to work, to get that energy level. On Syl’s tunes he just yelled the changes to us as we played, and we followed him!

Batusis © Paul Bachmann

Ayisha: Cheetah, you and Sylvain come from different scenes, yourself from Cleveland. Without spilling vast content from your upcoming autobiography, tell me about the scene you grew up in before you headed to New York as the Dead Boys. What bands were about when you were in Rockets From The Tombs?

Cheetah Chrome: The scene in Cleveland was not the scene you hear ballyhooed in books like “From The Velvets to The Voidoids”. It was two or three bands practicing in their basements and playing three or four gigs a year, usually together, and not really seeing each other much other than that. The real Cleveland scene was college kids dancing to cover bands.  The up side was there was great radio, and we got all of the best tours coming through. When I was in RFTT the first time, there was us, The Electric Eels, Mirrors, and Tin Huey, period.

Ayisha: Would you ever do another reincarnation of Rockets From The Tombs again? That original material was awesome.

Cheetah Chrome: More awesome material is on the way, with the same line up as “Redux”.

Ayisha:  I saw your old band mates in Pere Ubu this year – David Thomas said 60s Cleveland had the largest population of molluscs in the world outside of China, and the atom bombs China blew off would cause radiation to descend on Cleveland, hence the song ‘Chinese Radiation’. What the heck was that all about?

Cheetah Chrome: Well, I would never claim to know more about molluscs than David – the man really knows his shellfish.  I’m a neophyte compared to him. I’d take him at his word! The radiation thing is true, there was a bomb test in China in December 1966 where the fallout cloud covered most of the US by the following January, making us all nervous.

http://www.ki4u.com/transpacific.htm

Ayisha: Were you disappointed to have not been able to go ahead with the UK tour due to the volcanic ash cloud? Will you be back soon and if so when?

Cheetah Chrome: Yeah, the volcanic ash cloud directly affected my life in ways the Chicom fallout cloud never did – it made me have to

Batusis © Paul Bachmann

cancel a fucking tour. But it didn’t make sense to continue to plan and invest in a tour that might be shitcanned at the last minute, costing a lot more. As it turns out, it was good I was home and not in Scotland 5/3 as planned, because Nashville, where I live, got flooded, and I’m glad I was with my family. The airspace was also closed the day we would have flown home, so we would have been stuck. We’ll reschedule when it’s a bit more stable.

Ayisha: Did the EP, released early last month, go down a treat with your fans?

Cheetah Chrome: From what I can tell it has, I’ve had positive feedback so far. I’ll be able to tell more when we get on the road in August.

Ayisha: What music are you into right now?

Cheetah Chrome: All of the same stuff I was into in 1975.

Ayisha: What’s next now for Batusis? How’s the album going?

Cheetah Chrome: We tour in August and October, record in November, and we dodge volcanic ash and crude oil in between….

“BATUSIS” – the punk rock supergroup formed by Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls) and Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys) release their self-titled 4-track debut EP on Smog Veil Records. The EP is available on 12” inch vinyl or download.  For further info, please visit: www.myspace.com/batusis and www.smogveil.com