Give Me Static. Love The Wipers Shirt, Bob!
When I first met Bob Paulous, guitarist/singer/frontman for the 90’s Alt rock inspired power trio Give Me Static, he was actually a drummer. That’s how I to this day still have him saved in my cell phone: Bob Drummer. (Don’t worry, I ain’t Larry David…there ain’t no “Wendy Wheelchairs” in my addy book!)
Bob is an extremely talented musician, and his skill set includes his current position as CEO of his aforementioned brand spankin’ new act. I had the pleasure of playing with Give Me Static at Watermark a few months back, and I was blown away.
You can hear the hours of craftsmanship this crack team has spent on their sound. Even though they’re amongst the latest of acts in AP, the years of experience under Bob’s proverbial belt, as well as the expertise of drummer Brad Harrison and bassist Nick Bock bore through any chance of doubt that they are anything less than stone killer rock solid.
I was able to hang out with Bob for a little and get the lowdown on the group. This is what I do for you, readers. Never doubt that I am anything less than your devoted girlfriend!
Your Fair Reporter: Let’s start with the basics. How did this project come together?
Bob Paulos: I called up Brad, my now drummer around last September asking if he had any projects going on. I wanted to see if he would be interested in starting up a serious band. We had played music before–but nothing serious.
He mentioned he knew this guy Nick who would be into playing bass. I had rented a space at (local AP rehearsal hot spot) the Hot Dog House. And we had our first practice there and things just clicked! At first we had a second guitar player but things didn’t come together well different musical ideas, so we decided on being a 3 piece. I really had no desire to sing at all! But it just kinda happened that way. I’m extremely happy and comfortable the group how it turned out.
Yes! And I should mention here that my band, The Obvious, rents a room at The Hot Dog House, too! It’s our secret spot for late night debauch, as well as rehearsal, ha ha. I’m so glad you guys are there! Now, I wanted to get into why we’re friends in the first place—because we both have great taste in music! Who are your biggest influences?
Definitely Nirvana , Pavement, Sonic Youth… But I’m all across the board– I love Elvis Costello, all the way to Slayer. But I loved Nirvana ever since my brother brought home the Smells Like Teen Spirit cassette single. I grew up with 80’s hair Metal, though.
The Cassingle That Started It All: Smells Like Teen Spirit
My first tape ever was Kiss, “Crazy Nights” so it was quite a change. To hear Nirvana after the hair metal—it was just so raw and powerful and passionate! And they weren’t just singing about girls, which is so boring. They were REAL. I could totally relate to it.
From there I got into Pavement, Sonic Youth, that direction of music. The whole 90’s Alt Rock thing really sparked the creative side in me. Cause, ya know growing up playing guitar in your room to all your favorite records, they’re mostly power chords and that kinda got old very quick for me. I learned about alternate tunings from then on I was hooked on just trying to make up songs with all these different tunings. Ever since then I rarly use a standard tuned guitar.
Sonic Youth
Yeah! I noticed that! For the people out there who haven’t heard you yet, how would you describe Give Me Static’s vibe.
Oh, that’s easy. Just a mesh of all my favorite bands into one.
Ha ha! Indeed! I remember the first time I saw you, I could definitely hear a lot of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr., which is awesome, because I feel like a lot of bands are afraid to wear that on their sleeves these days, even though the time is right for that influence to cycle through and show up in current projects. I love your shows so much! Is there a really memorable experience you’ve had playing out?
Well we have only played 5 or 6 six shows so far but I’d say the first show at The Asbury Lanes is probably my favorite experience with that so far. It just felt so natural to get up there and play it was great and every show gets better.
I’m telling you that club—The Asbury Lanes—so much of our community has so much to thank them for! They love music as much as we do! So, I know the answer to this, but for the readers out there, let me ask: Why drives you to play music?
I play music because it’s what I’m most passionate about in life. If I don’t play music, I’m not happy.
I was super-psyched to get the disc you gave me! It sounds great—and it’s so cool that you demoed everything yourself, it’s totally releaseable as is, I think.
Yeah, that’s a 4 song demo that we recorded at an audio engineering school. I went to a post-production place, CTI, and we mixed it ourselves. Everyone should download it for free from out facebook page! We plan on recording again very soon for an EP for the future, too.
I’m so bummed that I’m gonna miss playing that upcoming show with you guys; unfortunately it’s just too close to some other gigs. Can you talk about that show a little bit?
Yeah, sure thing! We’re bummed The Obvious can’t make it too! But we will definitely play again, soon. That show together at Watermark was killer. But yeah, we’re playing May 19th at Mc Intyres Bar in Toms River with Micheal Cicalese of Grand Alto and this awesome band The Dead Valleys.
Mike Cicalese of Grand Alto
Definitely gonna be there for that! I think I had read a description of you guys in the invite that was like….here, it says “If Sonic Youth had a house party with Pavement and The Ramones.” Pretty sick way comparison! Are there any other places you’ll be playing this Summer?
The Saint is always a fun place to play at they have a really great sound guy. But my all-time favorite venue that we hope to play soon is Maxwell’s in Hoboken. I love that place.
Yes, The Saint is an AP Institution. And I really like Maxwell’s. That venues is awesome! Seeing The Thermals there with you a few weeks back was killer! Sorry, just have to plug The Thermals whenever I get a chance! Are there other bands that you think people should know about?
The Lovey Doveys from New Orleans are a great, great band. We had a chance to play with them at The Lamp Post in Jersey City. We’ve got to play with them again. And of course The Obvious are one of the most fun and exciting bands to see live.
Aww, thanks! We love your band too!
Much love, ha ha! Um, let’s see…Atlantic/ Pacific are a great duo–really chill music. I Hope You Die—we had a great show with them. I love the singer (Shannon Perez), she’s got some serious pipes on her. What an amazing voice! Micheal Cicalese is an amazing acoustic singer/ songwriter act look him with his project, Grand Alto.
Yes, Shannon and Mike are extremely talented frontpersons, and I feel really lucky to have been able to play with them, too. Nice community we got here! Now I want to ask some fun philosopher questions.
Ha ha, go for it!
What trend in popular music do you highly disapprove of ?
There are so many awful trends in music these days but the worst quality I see around in the whole pop culture scene is the weird obsession with trendy appearances. I don’t get the skinny painted on jeans thing—everyone’s trying to look a certain way and everyone winds up looking exactly the same I think it looks stupid . I mean have some individualism.
No Joke: Levi’s “Ex-Girlfriend Skinny Jeans”. I don’t even have to wisecrack on this one, thanks Levi’s!.
I know what you mean, it’s weird because even rock kids who are “bucking the status quo” still end up sort of having uniforms to a point…OK, here’s another one: What do you think of the billboard top 40 these days? Is there a decade you wish you were around for in popular music?
When I think of top 40 I think of Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber and all these other bands that record labels put together to make money off of them. The monetary bottom line seems to be the biggest deal. I can’t honestly say that I feel that there’s a lot of talent in the huge majority of popular music anymore. Everything is fixed in protools to sound a certain way–to be sold .
I will say that in the past couple years it does seem to be getting better. What I really dig is the stream of 90’s-esque bands coming around again and that makes me happy . As far as the decade…I’m psyched that I grew up in the 90’s. After Nirvana, the top 40 was great for a few really important years. Remember THAT?
Ha ha ha! Oh boy, Bob, do I ever! Thanks so much for your time this evening, dude, it’s always a pleasure! And I will def be at McIntyre’s for that next show!
Rad, thanks so much, Ang! We will rock out soon!
F yeah!
We actually high fived at this point in the interview. Uh huh Uh huh Uh huh. So get your fine behind down to McIntyre’s on Thursday, May 19th and see Bob-O when he rocks with the ever-fine Give Me Static, Grand Alto, and The Dead Valleys! Wear your flannel when you come so I’m not the only one!
XOXO
Ang
