Ep376: Spike Slawson of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 30 January 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Spike Slawson is the frontman's frontman. Spearheading the supergroup Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Spike talks about forming MFATGG, the early days of the band, the rare records, being hated by The Eagles and more.
Topics include:
- Is Spike a record collector?
- Describe your record collection
- How do you shop for records?
- Who influenced Spike's frontman persona?
- Irony within performing covers
- How do they pick songs for the Gimme Gimmes to cover?
- The strategy of putting out lots of 45s in the early days
- Involving lots of labels besides Fat Wreck
- Music from Spike's youth & household
- The first records Spike bought w his own money
- Did Spike always want to be a performer?
- Spike's friends who influenced his musical tastes
- Impact of Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit" LP
- Shocking his music teacher w Husker Du
- Moving from Pittsburgh to San Francisco
- Spike's first bands & performances
- Rough stories from early punk clubs
- Becoming aware of Fat Wreck
- Spike was a really bad employee
- Getting moved from Shipping/Receiving to Lead Singer
- Fat Mike & Joey Cape invited Spike to lead the Gimmes
- Cover bands can skip song writing and go straight to performance
- Early shows of the Gimme Gimmes
- Artists that didn't like the cover of their song
- Response from Eagles
- Who he'd like to hear the cover
- Bands/artists that East and West coasts dislike
- A strong dislike of Fleetwood Mac and associated fashion
- Being influenced by John Waters and Hee-Haw
- The upcoming Australian and New Zealand tour
- Interview wrap up
Tix/info on Me First & the Gimme Gimmes 2023 Aus/NZ Tour
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If you like records, just starting a collection or are an uber-nerd with a house-full of vinyl, this is the podcast for you. Nate Goyer is The Vinyl Guide and discusses all things music and record-related
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Groove Washer, the best record cleaners and protective sleeves for your vinyl collection. |
| 0:05.6 | Ask for the Groove washer from your local shop or go to groove washer.com. |
| 0:09.7 | Discount code, Vinyl Guide 10. |
| 0:12.4 | And now, on with the show. |
| 0:16.3 | You are listening to The Vinyl Guide, the weekly podcast where we talk record collecting and various music nerdery. |
| 0:24.3 | My name is Nate, your humble host, and this is episode 376, featuring a conversation with Spike Slosson of one of my favorite bands of all time, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. |
| 0:36.8 | Now, those of you who know of Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. Now, those of you who know of me first and |
| 0:39.5 | the Gimmy Gimmies know what kind of conversation this will be and are hopefully already |
| 0:44.1 | getting the beers ready from the fridge and preparing your ears to hear the wisdom that |
| 0:48.8 | flows from Spike. Those of you who aren't familiar with Me First and the Gimmy Gimmies, oh, how I envy you as you are about to discover one of the greatest bands in the history of humanity. |
| 1:01.1 | Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. Google them up. They are a cover band originally conceived by Fat Mike and Joey Cape and have had various members throughout the years, including |
| 1:11.9 | Jay Bentley of Bad Religion, C.J. Ramon of the Ramones, and Chris Schifflett of Foo Fighters, and |
| 1:17.6 | more importantly, no use for a name. Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies are a fantastic cover band |
| 1:23.3 | doing songs from the likes of Whitney Houston, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and all in a hardcore |
| 1:28.7 | and extraordinarily enjoyable vein. And on top of that, me first in the Ghibi Ghibis are a fantastic |
| 1:34.2 | live band. So Australia and New Zealand friends, they are in our cities in the month of February. |
| 1:42.1 | Wallongong, Sydney, Canberra, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne, Torque, Perth, Adelaide, Wellington, |
| 1:47.6 | and Auckland, go to SBM Presents.com for tickets and dates to me first and the gimmie-gimmies. |
| 1:55.3 | Oh, and hey, if you like Spike and the Gimmie-Gimmies, you'll love some of the other interviews and episodes of the V. |
| 2:01.8 | V. |
| 2:02.1 | Guide podcast, including Jerry A. Lang of Poison Idea, episode 372. |
| 2:08.1 | Gerald V. Casale of Devo, episode 366. |
... |
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