It's hard, it's raw, it's fucking pure rock'n'roll the one Backwash inject in your veins! Their "Feel Rock" EP is just what you need to raaaawwk! Bob Spring, lead vocals of this band coming from Switzerland answers to all our questions! Check it out!

Hi Bob, welcome on The Rock Explosion. Let's start from the beginning: how and when did you meet and decide to form the band? I know that you have many past musical experiences. What can you tell us abot that?
Hi Bruno...cool to be here! Well, the bands history is pretty complicated... Notter & Volly formed Backwash after their first band project Punk Sharks. This one had to be Rock'n'Roll but it is impossible to hide the punk roots. They were looking for a bassist and so they found Toby. He was exactly the right one for this kind of things. I had a band called Whiskey & Cigarettes and I was looking for a drummer that really kicks asses. I found him as I met Notter for the firs time at the Hot Dog Take Away in Zurich downtown. Notter sang and played rhythm guitar for Backwash, and I did exactly the same at Whiskey & Cigarettes with Notter at the drums! After a wile the guys, Toby, Volly, Notter and the firs BW drummer Reto decided to look around for a new singer. Notter just wanted to play his rhythm parts and nothing else. I had few sessions with Notter and it was like: "Man, where the hell have you been?" I think it was a strange time for everyone of us, everything was loaded and ready to explode. Soon we knew that Reto wasn't that kind of drummer we were looking for, so we called Mauro, an old friend of Notter & co., to show his hit. Well man, believe me, he fucked our ears since the moment he grabbed his stix... that was cool. Thats the way to get a job! This was the short version of the BW story... but it just happend anyway. Our musical experiences are pretty different, I started with the violin at the age of 6 before I teached myself to play guitar... I'm not sayin' I'm a good guitar player... I teached myself. (laughs) Notter had his piano and Toby as Volly their saxophones... I don't know but I guess Mauro started on his mother's pans.

Your "Feel Rock" is exactly a real kick ass rock'n'roll EP! Do you agree with my opinion? Describe your sound with your own words. In general, which bands or artists did influence you deeply since the beginning of your career?
"Feel Rock" is our first record that we personally really like. For us it's cool anyway, it contains 2 years of Backwash reduced to 5 songs. It should have become an LP but some of the organisations fuckers just said no... crap without resons. Anyway, this is our first professional work and I guess we all wanted to do something like that as we heard Elvis, The Stones, G'n'R and so on for the first time... just had to be rock'n'roll. "Feel Rock" was the definitly decision for anyone of us to fuck our lifes on Backwash... "Guilty!!! 100 years of R'n'R!!!" or something like that. We hanged out a lot listening to Mötley Crüe, Hellacopters, Glucifer, David Lee Roth, AC/DC and all that stuff that really kicks. Backwash is surely influenced by bands like these and many more, mixed with the aim to get out of this boring fuckin' cheese Country!

Generally, where do you take the inspiration for your songs from? What's the songwriting process that you use the most?
I guess BW is primary inspirated by daily life and all the stuff comin' around with it like wishes, fuck ups and fun.You know? We're not that kind of band writing songs, we hang in a room and start a jam. It happens or it doesn't, it's as simple as that. It jus happens.

Is there any song in the "Feel Rock" that you prefer for any particular reason? One of my fav songs is "One More Dollar"! Please, tell us about it...
We all like the entire shit on the EP, it's difficult to select "the one". You know? If If we choose "the one" we denie the others. Would you do that with your children? Well, I would but a song is something different. (laughs). "One More Dollar" is surely a particular thing, it's probably the most simple BW song. I don't think it's a spectacular work if you look at it as a songwriter but it goes on like a fuckin' train man. It's only, only rock'n'roll but we love it. "One More Dollar" is probably the most personal song I ever sang. Every sentence of it is taken from the life I was livin'. I wrote it hanging on my bed with a spliff and a bottle of coke. A hazy moment isn't allways as hazy as it seams. Watch over them. I guess that many kids like the funny aspect of the song because they may live in the same situation I did. I slept at my mothers and didn't have to care about the rent-costs. That was cool. Now I'm livin' alone but I'm still moneyless. Imagine how easy it is to get an appartment without a job... this is hell guyz! So, don't worry if you're livin' at you mothers. it's comin' worst. "I've Done It" and "Kill Thrill" are definitely based on Notter's songwriting, these are real "firs step trax". I really like them. The latest one, "Highroller", was born as Volly came in and banged our ears as very well with that riff before he said hello to us... that melody in the bridge was better than a blowjob and was the start of our new method to do songs, the method: "Come in an bring it fuckin' on man!!!"

Your press kit is one of the best that I have ever seen in my writer career, it's a "how to kick asses" handbook! How and why did you decide to publish it? In my opinion, it's a cool idea!
Hmmm... This was Mauro's cration, he did the graphics and exaggerated a little bit. All the rest is just usual information that helps people like you to know better abou us wile listening to the record. Backwash' social occupations programm no 1or... we just needed a presskit like everyone does.

What's in the future of Backwash? Can you reveal us some anticipations?
One thing is for sure, the next one's gonna be an LP! This one's gonna contain about 13 songs we've been workin on during the Feel Rock production and some tracks we did during the last year. Maybe there will be also a ballad on it, don't be surprised. Now we're lookin' for a deal to do it and maybe the work's starting soon. I heard that a few labels from Germany, USA and from the UK are interestet but, I woulden't dare to do any anticipations... you know, bad luck and so on. The 23rd of August the "Helvetic Rock" sampler will be relesed on wich bands like Gotthard, Krokus, Crystal Ball and Shakra appear. Our fuckin' "Highroller" will be on it!!! After the relese we'll do a little tour in Switzerland with some of these bands and try, if everything works, to do anticipated PR for the new Backwash album. Anyway and however, somethings goin' on.

Which have been the most difficult moments of your career and which ones have been the best?
Switzerland's a hard place for rockbands and other "bad artists". We're lost in the tiny black hole between Germany and Italy, we share this place with Austria... the endless nothing... uuuhh... mistical doom. If you wanna stick your head out of it you have to knock doors as a motherfucker because many people don't even know that this country really exists. Now I know better about our "presskit-o-mania"... but, so fuckin' what? It's all about the music... also in Switzer"the hole"land. This is not gonna make us sad than every cool show, like the "Feel Rock" release show at the Dynamo in Zurich, is tellin' us to kick the borders mentality to hell. At the Dynamo we started with our life opener "Hell Yeah" and did two sets of 30 min. Between them we did "The Act"... we used a "Feel Rock" EP, an elecrtic bred-knife, a mixer and five magnum bottles of champain. Whoooh man I tell you, this was a fuckin' massacre on stage! I was pretty drunk as I mixed the whole stuff in the mixer. I sang the second set with "Feel Rock" fragments between my teeth, since than I really know the meaning of "bad taste". During the last song, Notter crushed his guitar on everything around him, I mean everything, he went completely insane. That was maybe the gratest show... if it happens daily I'm the luckiest man ever.

Now is time to question about the life on the road. Can you describe what usually happen during your live shows? Tell us something about the shows you think have been the greatest and the worst...
As I told you, the one at the Dynamo was fantastic and so the show at the Backstage in Munich was. It doesn't matter where you are or in wich club you're playin', if the people have fun and freak out like monkies it's anyway a great night for all of us. All about R'n'R! I also remember the worst one even if I don't want to, that was at the "DeClub". The technicer, the organisation, the junkie who booked us and the "bonus surprises" were a hell at their own. No one knew what the fuck was goin' on... man... don't remind me. I guess we playd for ca. 30 people because the junkie forgot the flyers in a car... I'm not saying' that the people who came weren't cool... we just kept the hell buring for them! but, it was the wors fuckin' session ever... we learnd a lot about suckers.

What do you usually do before going on stage? Do you have any particular usage or kind of spell against bad luck?
Usually we just take a "gang-piss"...

What's your habitual instrumentation in studio and on stage? Is there some brand in particular you love the most to use?
Godin feeds us with guitars and basses but nothing can separate Notter from his Fender Telecaster. Never! Volly plays mostly his Ibanez and sometimes Godin guitars. At the studio we also used a Gibson SG cause it fits with the snotty middles of Notters Fender. Mauro plays mostly Mapex drums and is still lookin' for stix that last longer than 1 show. Toby plays a four and a five strings Godin bass and doesn't really care about the brand of his amps and boxes. They just have to be loud, boosty and huge. My favorite mics are sure sm57, sm58 wireless and AKGs, I also like Sennheiser mics if they're clear and loud enough.

What's the situation of the rock scene in Switzerland? Personally except Krokus, Crystal Ball, Gotthard, Gutter Queens I can't other bands! Tell us something about it...
Well, I told you about the black hole. Surely there are many cool bands in town that really kick asses but it is pretty dificult for them to find somebody, a sponsor or a label, that really wants to push 'em. I don't understand that some bands fill a fuckin' hall but nobody is ready to support them... what's up? If you wanna do it you have to hold it fast. Another problem is that Switzerland is pretty small and you don't have the possibilities you may have in Germany or else... you know, you can't play 4 times a year in the same club... that wouldn't work. The other aspect: not to be an asshole but it is also hard to find a band that really got the balls to dare and give everything on it. Swiss mentality is based on security and I think this is the last thing you will find in the music industry. You know, Switzerland isn't a wild nation and rock bands from here will always have to fight with it. That really sucks if you wanna become more than a higschool band.

What kind of music are you listening lately? Which are the today's international artists that you like and you dream to share the stage? Viceversa, which are the ones you dislike? Please, be nasty'n'true...
Last month I was at the Brides Of Destruction show and I really got ear-fucked. That was great even if I missed the firs 5 songs. Queens Of The Stone Age, Motörhead, big ones like Aerosmith and AC/DC is the kind of stuff we like to hear since years and I think it will last another wile... personally I like the "album of the year" from Skew Siskin (they sound better on stage) and also the stuff by Velvet revolver. One of my favorite albums is "Believe In Me" from Duff, that's really cool. Also I'm listening to the old Backyard Babies stuff... I really like the attitude they push thru' my boxes. I like everythin' if it's loaded... know what I mean? To be on stage with one of these bands, and many more, would be a great honour but, to be honest, I don't really give a fuck about that because the most important thing of every show we do will allways be Backwash... our own piece of the pie. Something is telling me that a show with Blink 182 or Good Charlotte would end in a massacre... man, I hate pussies that feel like they could sell every bullshit they want to just because it's a fucking trend... this has nothing to do with rock'n'roll (despite their tattoos and 1-0-1 slogans)... this is more like Britney or Christina "the slut" Aguilera. I don't know 'em personally but I don't think that this would be a good combination.

What's your opinion about internet and about exchanging music on-line, sharing mp3 files and so on? Which are the best and the worst aspects of the net?
To be honest, I don't know much about Napster and stuff like that because it isn't jet a problem for us. It's surely difficult for the music industry to take control of it but I also think that there are still many people who like to have the whole product, buklet, graphic, label print an so on. It's absolutly allright to exchange demo versions on the net as long as the artist has the full control and right on them. The sad aspect is that the music industry is loosing lots of money that could be used to support other unknown bands... so everyone is pissin' on his own leg. I don't know if the guy at Napster know how much money is needed to print millions of shirts, finace a world tour and other crap... but maybe everything is slowly goin' to hell... finally. We got no money anyway so, as I told you, it isn't problem of particular interest for BW.

Choose one between these "be or not to be" options, and let us know the reasons of your choice...
House of pleasure or streap tease night club: Hmmm, I really don't need to pay for sex and nightclubs are good looking but I'll never pay 15$ for a Gin Tonic... never!!!
Fuckin' enemies is good or making enemies is good: You have to make 'em before you fuck 'em, I like both options.
Real sinners or false sinners: Do whatever you want, get yourself a piece of freedom... if it's sin? So what?! Idon't think that any God will judge me.
Look or music: I think this one has to harmonize, but the worst thing you can do is to be dressed up like bad-ass-motherfuckers and play a sound that could be my grandmother pissin'.
Too drunk to fuck or drunk enough to fuck: This one's not about being or not... this one should be answerd by my penis... I'm desolated but he doesn't talk much, neither he does to me. You can ask him if he's willing to do an interview with you...(laughs)
Hardcore or softcore: Hardcore and softcore suck! You better live your own porn movie.
Snow Blind or Sweet Leaf: Ha ha, definitly snow blind.
Italian food or Chinese food: Italian and Chinese children... is pasta from Italy or from China? There must be something like Peking-Chicken-Gnogghi... that would be cool!

Fav pornstar, drink, fast car and your fav 5 top albums...
Bill Clinton? Pina Colada, Martini and Gin Tonic...If I drink them together I'd buy a Monstertruck to take a tour in Zurich downtown listening to Guns'n'Roses "Appetite for destruction", Ozzy's "Diary of a mad man" and "Indipendent Days" from The Backyard Babies. I would listen to the same shit in an Impala but I don't know if drivein' is a good idea anyway... that would end in jail or at the hospital.

If you had the chance to change something in the world, what would you do for sure?
Kick Mr. Bushs bitchin' little ass!!! I would like to know how it is possible to vote for a president like W.Bush in the year 2001. He should be in a museum or something like that. If we want to get further we have to work together but this doesn't seam to be human.

What's the craziest thing you have ever done in your life?
Hmmm, this is really not one of the thing I'm proud of... After the show at the Zak a year ago I unfortunatly throughd a bicicle down the subway, I coulden't expect that a woman was comin' my way. That was about 2000 Euro. Don't you combinate drugs with bicicles... bad thing man. I remember how Notter fell into a huge camping fire... that was really funny. I guess BW has the talent to get involved to troubles without doeing anything unusual...

Ok we've almost finished. Thanks for this interview. Now would you like to say something else to The Rock Explosion readers?
Yeah Bruno man, thanx too. Be Good!!! To all the bands out there... "It's a long way to the top if you wanna Rock'n'Roll!" (AC/DC)

Intervista realizzata da Bruno Rossi
Traduzione e supervisione di Margherita Realmonte