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The amazing, always impressive Parasite Diet interview is below, ENJOY!

Introduce yourselves to those that dont know already..

We're a power pop punk rock band from the future.  We play simple, upbeat rock songs all over the space-time continuum's face.
 

One word that best describes your sound.....

Totatallyawesomeandfun.

We heard there's a video in the works...what song will the video be for?

I Call It Soda, She Calls It Pop!  It's a non-fictional documentary mini-feature covering our race against an alien girl to obtain the last soda on Earth after it got apocalypsed.  Also, we recently found some old footage we shot for a Watergirl video on a trip we took to the eighties once.  We'll get it up on youtube soon.  It's good.
 

Did you guys set out to sound a certain way or was it just the combination of influences you both share?

Our influences and origins are a jumbled mess because of some really poorly planned plot structure built around a time travel concept. 
 

Are you signed to a label?

We put out our first EP 'God Hates Parasite Diet' on Pug Face Records
We're still working on securing a label for our new full-length record, but there's some definite interest.
 

Finish these three sentences.
If Parasite Diet was an animal they would be a -red panda-.
If Parasite Diet was a color, that color would be -lightblueandyellow-.
If Parasite Diet were to challenge to Harlem Globetrotters to a shoot off we would -lose- and -cry- because -the Harlem Globetrotters are champions and gentlemen-.
 

Say I wanted a Parasite Diet keychain, is this available? and what all else do you have as far as merch goes?

We have keychains and records and temporary tattoos and t-shirts and tons of button.  Most of it is available on our myspace page:  http://myspace.com/parasitediet   .  Or you can get it from us at shows.  We're currently not accepting future dollars because it's not the future and it's really inconvenient.
 

There's another 2 piece rock band from the 80's that you may have heard of...that band is WHAM! Do you have beef with WHAM?

We never had a beef with them, but we've always heard they had a pork with each other.
 

Do you think RATT would have worked better as a 2 piece?

Ratt should never change anything.  They got the recipe.
 

What inspired the lyrics to "I call it Soda"

Well, it's like some people call it "soda" and some people call it "pop," but in our opinion love is stronger than that disagreement.  Also, if you're in Kentucky you might just call it all "coke."  But "I call it soda.  She calls it pop.  People in Kentucky call all carbonated beverages coke.  But we call it sodapopcoke hopping when we're bopping at the sodapopcoke shop," didn't flow the way we thought it would.

 
Is there a subject out there that you dont think you would ever write a song about?
 

Rape.
 
For equipment people, tell me what you guys play?

Josey plays a slightly modified Epiphone Les Paul Junior through a Peavey Windsor head with a cheap Crate cabinet that has had the speakers upgraded to cheap Celestion speakers.  Also, don't tell people he uses a guitar cable as a speaker cable for his amp.
Technicolor Kid plays the drums.
 
Reading through your lyrics I have yet find a profane word, am I wrong?

You're right.  We're not very hardcore. 
 
Favorite original song you play?

We have a new one called Double Jump that we've really been having fun with lately.  It's about jumping.  Twice.

 Favorite Cover?

Little Bit O' Soul!
 
Biggest influence on you as a musician?

Ronnie McCoy
Alex Martin
Midlife Marv
Bryan Moore
Adam Martin
Tony Foo Yong
Shana McCoy
Dan Tanner
Cory Greene

for more information on the band visit http://www.parasitediet.com

Hey kids! We've been talking about the Russ Walker Interview on here alot, here it is. Russ was an old school concert promoter, and ex band member of Vicious Circle. Here he speaks of his plans to film a documentary of the local punk rock scene in the early 1980's Enjoy

Russ, you've been around Paducah for a while, have you lived here all your life?

Russ Walker: I have lived most of my life in Paducah, I have lived in Florida for a few years in the past.

What was the music scene like back when you started going to Hall Shows and what attracted you to it?

Russ Walker: We pretty mush started the scene back in the 80s because Paducah was a wasteland and we didn't always have the funds to travel to Louisville or Memphis to see shows so we started our own scene.

Were they called Hall Shows then as well?

We called them Hall Shows even back then

Who would organize these shows?

Russ Walker: I think Brent Starkey was the first person to rent a hall to have shows in. I pretty much policed the shows and took money at the door etc......


These concerts were obviously way before internet, compared to today, how hard was it to get the word out about shows?

Russ Walker: We mainly used flyers, lots and lots of flyers which we would put everywhere, we also had some exposure in Maximum Rock and Roll magazine and a local fanzine called DroolBeat.

What were some of the buildings that were used to house concerts back then?

Russ Walker: We mostly used the old Lions hall that was located where CVS pharmacy is now across from Hannan Plaza, lots of shows were played there. They closed it to shows when somebody rented it and had several metal bands play in which a guy got his throat cut and died on the sidewalk outside the place. I can't remember what bands were playing when the murder happened, I think we had went to Louisville that weekend to see some punk shows.

How much was it to get in?

Russ Walker: $3-$5

Were tattoos and piercings as present then at shows as they are now?

Russ Walker:Some people had tats, nothing like we see today and piercings were kinda rare. The first people I ever had contact with that had multiple piercings were the UK Subs a classic punk band from England that the Drooling Idiots played a show in Carbondale Illinois.


As far as PA equipment goes what was used for the shows then?

Russ Walker: Peavy equipment was mostly used but some people made their own riggs

Last Hall Show you attended?

Russ Walker: A few years ago I went to a Gemini Lounge/Anihilate the Hero show at the Kc Hall behind the Coke Plant. I felt really old in that crowd...I think all the kids thought I was the Police....lol

Name some of the bands that played and some memorable performances?


Russ Walker:Drooling, Idiots Mc2, Drunk Drivers, LSD, sometimes bands would come down and play Brent Starkey would remember thenm better than me....


Was band merch big back then? Shirts, Tapes, etc?

Russ Walker: Tapes and that was about it, we made our own teeshirts with spray paint....

Brent Starkey, some of us old enough to remember him from Cherub Scourge, What band was he in then?

Russ Walker: I went to high school with Brent, we didn't start hanging out together until 1980-81 when I went over to his house to listen to his band practice called the Slam

Do you still keep up with some of the guys and girls we have seen in the pics that we posted on our facebook page?

Russ Walker: I still keep up with alot of people from back then, some I don't get to see very much but yes they are still all my friends and they could call me at 4am in the morning and say "Hey I am stranded in Kansas" I would say Ok, give me several hours.....


Wheeler is another underground legend, was his stage shows just as awesome back then? We've seen him perform nunchuck solos as well as chopping fruit and vegetables with a large sword during sets.....

Russ Walker: Wheelers performances were always Ninja Awesome

What was the Police involvement in the shows back then?

Russ Walker: Really back then unless you were killing somebody the cops didn't bother us that much.

Any fights?

Russ Walker: The only thing I can recall is some dude came to one of the hall shows all messed up on something and when he started trying to trash the equipment me and Craig McDaniels swooped him up out of the building, he tried to kick me so I tenderized his kidney a little. We threw him out and he ended up falling into the oil pit of old Marshal's Chevron and later I had to rescue him from being beat up by rowdy cowboys that had showed up.... Fun times indeed.....

How many bands would typically play these shows?

Russ Walker: 3-6 bands usually

Most memorable flyer?

Russ Walker:There were so many, I made alot of them so did alot of other people.

Where would you see a flyer for these shows and were you the one putting them on?

Russ Walker: We stuck flyers everywhere kids hung out. I remember when the Kentucky Oaks Mall first opened we would walk through the place to the record store and people would pull their children close to them as we passes....lol


We researched a bit and found out there was some local coverage in Maximum Rock And Roll, was it coverage or a picture? please explain.

Russ Walker: Brent Starkey was involved in doing that if I can recall, he was always corresponding with other people into Punk across the country. I went with the Drooling Idiots to Albuquerque New Mexico in Janurary of 1984, they played in Santa Fe, Elpaso Texas, and Dallas Texas on that circuit that we called The Cursed Earth Tour. We spent around a month on the road with little money, a little weed, and stacks of food and Shaffers beer. Altogether there were 5 people, all the equipment the food, and the Alter of Shaffer in Dale Stanleys black Chey van.......



How did other forms of media (wpsd or the Paducah Sun) embrace the types of concerts put on back then?

Russ Walker: They didn't even acknowledge a scene what so ever until the guy got his throat cut at a metal show at the old Lions hall where CVS pharmacy is on Lone Oak Road, then they were all over it, Our old circle wasn't even involved in that show and it made it very hard to rent spaces for along time after that.

We were speaking earlier to you and you mentioned you are planning to document in a the early days in a film, tell us about that?

Russ Walker: Yes, I am planning a documentary called Who Needs Tomorrow which will focus on the Punk scene in the 80s.

Do you have a large collection of flyers yourself?

Russ Walker: I use to, but they have all been lost somewhere over the past 30 years....

Do you have alot of the old footage or was there any recollection of videocameras being present?

Russ Walker: I don't have any personally but I know its out there somewhere and I will find it!

What do you want to get out of doing this documentary?

Russ Walker: I think that it needs to be recorded for the future to let people know what happened in Paducah during that era.


If you were to contribute to a "paducah punk rock" or local independent music museum, what item from the era you were a part of would you want in that museum?

Russ Walker: Brent Starkey...lol

Have you been to any local music shows recently? If so what do you see different?

Russ Walker: Not in a few years mainly because I have spent the last 11 years learning intense digital art programs like 3D studio Max, Maya, Mudbox, along with several other programs like film editors and Photoshop.....

Russ we have alot of respect for the people that came before us, thanks for your time and thanks for help building the foundation for what we have today......