Who are you?
Joey Blitzkrieg: Vocals and guitar
Dr. Dylan Danger: Guitar
Lector Kurrentz: Bass
Matt Von Dander: Drums
Mikey Screwdriver is our roadie, mediator and leads a double life as the Death Rider.
Dwight Lightning does all the dirty work.
how and when did you guys get together?
Joey Blitzkrieg recruited GT Flare at a house party in Mission, and found Dr. Danger at what was supposed to be an anonymous ritualistic gang-bang, for lack of a better term. If you’ve ever seen Eyes Wide Shut or worked at American Apparel you probably know what I’m talking about. I joined a few months later after a handful of less successful auditions, but it has been said that I was only chosen ‘cause I had a neat 60’s Harmony bass, which was destroyed shortly after. We played our first show in September of 2004. It was at the Pic, and we didn’t have a name yet so when we got up on stage we told ‘em we were called the Frozen Samosas because one of us – I can’t remember who now – bought a samosa at the place beside old Renegade before the show and it ended up being frozen in the centre. We kicked around the name “The GTs” for a while too but that’s a stupid name for a band, and one day Joey told us we were called the Jolts and nobody objected, so it stuck. A few years later, in late 2006 Matt Von Dander joined the band to play drums.
is there a story behind bloody eye socket?
You know, there is. One night while he was in Victoria for a Neo Nasties gig, Dr. Dylan Danger found himself caught up in a post show parking lot riot which had stemmed from Ashtray whizzing all over the crowd, if I remember the story correctly, and amidst the chaos Dr. Danger was taser- punched by a member of the jock-sniffing Victoria Police Department and incurred serious retinal, as well as corneal damage, which resulted in him having to miss the Jinx EP release show. Course, Bloody Eye Socket had been written a year earlier and not by Dr. Danger, but we thought that was sort of coincidental.
What was it like opening for nomeansno?
I remember Dr. Danger and I were asked by the sound man to stand opposite from what is arguably the only correct stage positioning for a four-piece punk rock band. Besides that it’s always a thrill to play with bands whose records have inspired us to play rock and roll music too. NoMeansNo is an awesome band, we listened to WRONG on cassette all tour last summer. When we were sick of that we put in Gross Misconduct. So opening for those guys in both incarnations in one year was fucking great for us. It’s rare you even get to see either of those bands play, let alone both in a year.
what is the weirdest thing that has happened to you as a band?
We played Bowen Island once, and after the show our roadie Mikey Screwdriver ended up in the hull of some boat moored at the marina, with a web-savvy sailor trying to get him naked and take photos with his web-cam. The sailor told Mikey he wanted to make him famous.
Any side projects you'd like to mention?
We’re a punk rock all star team. Other than the Jolts, one or more us (including our original drummer GT Flare) has also been in:
All Star Assassins
Badamps
Bitchin’ Cowpunk Massacre
Dylan Thomas & Your Vancouver Vipers
Isotopes
Kidnappers
Lancasters
Mr. Sparkle
Neo Nasties
Spinoffs
Spreadeagle
Water Testers
Also, we are the current Ramores line-up.
Why a ramones tribute band?
Joey’s been doing it every Halloween for years. This year he realized nobody in town could do it better than the rest of the Jolts, so that’s why.
upcoming gigs/tours you're stoked about?
We are releasing our full length album Haute Voltage on CD, Vinyl and digitally this June 13th, and doing 100 shows before 2009 in support of that. Our ‘space has all the applicable details on that.
web link
Posted: May 6, 2008
In this Article Artist(s)
The Jolts