Hi my Exploders, the following interview is really a kick standin' in your mouth and I bet you'll like it too! Sammytown, formerly Fang and now The Resistoleros leader is here to answer some sticky questions we posed, and he's left his seal on these lines with his freaky but cool personality. Check it out!

Hi Slam, or Sam McBride, or SammyTown! First: introduce yourself to our readers tellin' them your adventures and history as Fang frontman. Except Fang and Resistoleros are you singin' or playin' in some other band now?
I joined Fang in 1980 and there's too much insanity, too many feverish nights of sex and blood and punk rock on the road to relate here. But hopefully I'll have time to finish a book about top ramen tours, psycho teens, sex queens and jails I have seen. There's a million things I wanna do. I did a movie called "Down Time". (http://www.downtimethemovie.com) but time ain't no friend of mine so the Resistoleros (and once in a while Fang) is my full-time fetch.

Ok, you changed your name from Sam McBride to SammyTown after some time passed in prison. Why did you take this decision and what kind of problems with the law did you face during your life?
My name was changed long before my stint in the Big House. A band called Tales Of Terror from Sacramento came to Oakland with me after I stewed their brains on LSD, and I found a couple of hookers I know that danced naked til dawn. After that Oakland became Sammytown and then it just stuck on me like glue. I ain't got problems with Jonny Law. I just feel better when he ain't around. Jonny Law seems to have problems with me though. I destroyed everything in a fit of rage and passion 15 years ago, spent 7 years in prison but I'll pay for my mistakes beyond the day I die.

Yeah, but now is time to talk about your new band, The Resistoleros: how, when and where did you meet the guys, and what is your musical mission?
Some of them I've known all my life and some it seems like I have. We get along better than most bands I've ever known. We're all sons of rock & roll and brothers to the end. We want to tear down the walls and make people feel life. Question everything and seize the day for tomorrow may never come.

Why did you decide for a moniker as The Resistoleros. Hey do you use sniffing Resistol? How is the today's situation with this kind of glue? Do you know if people still use it to turn off their brain's connection to reality?
The Resistoleros are the teenage glueheads from South America. The world's dead end kids. The saddest story. The last resort. And we've all seen a lot of hell in our lives but from the dead end kids come great rock & roll. Desperation breeds powerful art.

"Rock'n'Roll Napalm" was released by Steel Cage Records. How did you reach the deal with Steel Cage and what do you think about their way to work with you?
Steel Cage have been cool. Larry and Leslie are friends of the Cosmic Commander and so am I so we hooked up and it was love at first fright.

SammyTown, which are the dead or alive bands and frontmen that inspired your way to sing the most? In particular, what do you think about The Dictators? I think that "Desperate Times" is a perfect rock'n'roll anthem song with a perfect balanced sound between Stooges and Dictators! I like this song as well as I love fucking!
Iggy of course is Granddaddy of us all and Big Dick sings from his balls. Johnny Cash & Bowie, Billy Idol, Jagger, Danzig, and Screamin Jay Hawkins.

I noticed a song called "9/11". I think it is related to Twin Towers attack! In everyway, what's your opinion about this sad event, about Bush, about his way to lead the U.S.A. politic in the world and about IRAQ war?
Bush is a fool and a puppet. I don't believe though that we should have not gone after Osama Bin Laden. If you kill 5000 Americans then you need to be hunted down and brought to justice. I don't think Americans will ever know the truth as the government is afraid that people would not be able to handle it. Iraq has become a huge embarrassment and we need to get the fuck out of there. The song "911" really has more to do though with people who are against the war period. Certainly on an ideological level that's great but without war and without the people that have given their lives for this country, the same people who protest against war would not be able to even voice their opinions. If you're not ready to die to protect your freedom then you don't deserve it.

"Break Mine Off", "Rights", "Assault & Battery" and "Caught With Your Panties Down" are my favourite "Rock'n'Roll Napalm" songs, so I wanna ask you to describe us with your own words.
I think most of those 4 songs are basically self-explanatory if you can understand the lyrics, and maybe I should have put a lyric sheet in, especially for people who need it translated. I don't like to get too specific about what lyrics mean, usually because to me the great thing about music is that when a person hears a song they can ascribe any meaning to it they want and in this way a song becomes personal. As far as inspiration goes, "Break Mine Off" was inspired by America's trailer park white trash culture and "Caught With Your Panties Down" was very much Dead Boys inspired.

Tell me about The Fabulous Leslie G.: she designed "Rock'n'Roll Napalm" artwork and I read something about her on Candy For A Bad Children 'Zine.
I've only met Leslie once, so when I will get to hang with her I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Which are your plans for the next future? Can you reveal us some anticipations about the "Rock'n'Roll Napalm" follow up and your future releases?
We plan on doing a European tour late spring of 2005 so if there's any way you can hook us up with a Euro booking agent that would be great. Fang never played in Italy though we toured Europe three times during the '80s so I look forward to seeing Italy and rocking out with hot Italian women. We have started writing new material for the follow up CD to "Rock & Roll Napalm" so keep your ears open for "Destroyer Girl" and "Fatal Kiss."

Tell us about the greatest and the baddest Resistoleros gig of ever, and describe us those gigs.
The greatest gig for me is the next gig. The worst was in San Diego when our now ex-guitar player got too wasted on whiskey and couldn't play. I'm all for partying but wait to get totally ripped until after you've rocked out with your cock out.

Which are the maddest bands that you met on stage during the tours of your career? Do you wanna tell us some crazy event occurred?
The Orphans have an insane bass player and they put on a great show. GG Allin of course. Fang played with GG years ago in Portland, Maine, and our roadie and I helped GG escape from 5 baseball bat wielding bikers. GG and I became good friends that night and he's
sorely missed.

What do you usually do before going on stage? Do you have any particular usage or kind of spell against bad luck?
We pay homage to the Beer Gods and I love to lick a hot pair of tits to get the "Rock & Roll Napalm" boiling in my drugstream. Can't have too much blood in my drugstream when we play.

Ok, I know your love for old rock'n'roll bands, but is there some new-comer that you admire for some reason? For example do you know The Riverboat Gamblers and Bloody Hollies? What do you think about them?
The Riverboat Gamblers and Bloody Hollies (fucking great name) are kick ass. I like also The Midnight Creeps, the Spades, Hellacopters, Astroid B612, the Onyas. Shit! Rock & roll is coming back with a vengeance and I fucking love it.

Ok, now is time for our "to be or not to be" quiz. Choose one of these options and let us know the reasons why!
Making enemies is good or making friends is good: As the saying goes, keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.
Look rules or music rules: Break the fucking rules!
Sex Pistols or New York Dolls: The New York Pistols pumped rounds into the Sex Dolls.
Snow Blind or Sweet Leaf: Cocaine or Mary Jane? It's my good friend Jack Daniels that drives me insane.
Speed kills or cigarette kills: Cigarettes and speed kill but sex, drugs & rock &roll are how I get my thrills.

Your top 5 albums of ever:
Missy May with "7 & 7", Bad Brains with "Rock For Lite", Iggy Pop with "Lust For Life", Sex Pistols with "Never Mind The Bollocks", Dead Boys with "Young Loud & Snotty", KISS with "Destroyer" and Alice Cooper's "Greatest Hits" (not necessarily in that order).

What's the craziest thing you never done in your life?
I never fell out the window to my death while recording "Johnny Puke" & "Better Off Dead" with Fang. While on acid I decided I was Spiderman. The band was in the big room and I was alone in the mixing booth where there was a window 6 stories above the street. A
friend Mary Beth came in the mixing room to find me and found me hanging out the window upside down. I would have died but my pant leg cuff caught on the window latch and kept me hanging until the band pulled me in. Good acid that was.

SammyTown, are you interested in a free space to write everything you want? Take it now! Ok, the interview is over, thanks for your answers!
Thanks for the support. See ya in the spring when the napalm flows like blood from my rock & roll veins.

Intervista realizzata da Bruno Rossi
Traduzione di Margherita Realmonte
Photos By Tiger Lily and Larry