CREWS CONTROL

This interview was previously published in the August 2011 issue of Maximum Rocknroll. For a .pdf, click above.

The ladies of Midnite Snaxxx are no strangers to rock and roll, boasting members from The Loudmouths, The Bobbyteens, The Trashwomen, Primativas and Lateenos, to name a few. They hail from Oakland, California, and if you don’t catch them here you might be able to see them in some select cities this summer. I recommend it. I had the privilege to yap with them over salami and cheeses and fancy beer, and found out all of the answers to important questions about food, cats, drinks, drinking and dudes. I got tired of typing “(laughter)” or “hahaha,” so just imagine a laugh track playing throughout.

Renee: Are we gonna talk about cats?

 

MRR: Um, yeah! Why wouldn’t we talk about cats?

Renee: I’m just making sure.

 

MRR: Did you learn stuff about your cat so you could talk about it?

Renee: I know a lot of stuff about the cat.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Renee: Are we gonna talk about cats?

 

MRR: Um, yeah! Why wouldn’t we talk about cats?

Renee: I’m just making sure.

 

MRR: Did you learn stuff about your cat so you could talk about it?

Renee: I know a lot of stuff about the cat.

 

MRR: Your own cat?

Renee: I’m a foster mom.

 

MRR: I need a haircut. What’s the wait time like?

Tina: You don’t have to wait that long.

 

MRR: You gonna knock me out and shave my head?

Tina: Totally.

 

MRR: I don’t care. Hair’s stupid.

Tina: I’ll make it look cute.

 

MRR: You can’t. No slanty bangs. I can’t have bangs. I have a cowlick. It’s not possible.

Dulcinea: Let me turn the music down.

 

MRR: You don’t have to. This thing works ok. Just don’t shake cocktails near it.

Tina: Is it on?

 

MRR: I’ve been recording for two minutes and twenty-three seconds. I was trying to make you feel relaxed so you would speak freely.

Dulcinea: Sixty Minutes!

 

MRR: Oh…it’s not like Sixty Minutes because those people are professionals. And I am not. I don’t know why I’m doing this. When and how did Midnite Snaxxx form and what is your mission?

Dulcinea: We formed in April 2010. We were all in a band called the Primativas, and the band kind of ran its course. I’d written a bunch of new songs, so we decided to start something new, and it’s been working. Our mission is to, um…

Tina: Go to Europe.

Dulcinea: Yeah, go to Europe.

Tina: On somebody else’s dollar.

 

MRR: Or Euro.

Tina: Yeah. For sure.

Dulcinea: Do you guys have a mission?

 

MRR: Do you live in the Mission?

Renee: Why, because I’m Mexican? No! No, I’m just here for the free drinks and to find a husband.

 

MRR: At Dulcinea’s house?

Dulcinea: I don’t know if that is going to happen.

Tina: Maybe outside.

 

MRR: As this interview is for Maximumrockandroll, it’s important that we discuss that all of us here have X chromosomes only. Some of you have played in bands with people that have Y chromosomes. Do you like playing in bands with all girls or all guys or does it matter? Is there a different dynamic?

Tina: I don’t think it matters. Sometimes…this band is a girl band that gets stuff done. Well, for me.

Dulcinea: It’s because me and Tina are dudes.

 

MRR: So you might be XXY?

Dulcinea: Yeah, so that’s fine. I like playing with guys, too, but this is really easy because we’re really good friends.

Tina: Yeah.

 

MRR: Has anyone ever been a dick to you because you’re girls?

Tina: In the past…ever?

 

MRR: In the Midnite Snaxxx.

Dulcinea: Not to our faces.

Renee: No.

Dulcinea: I’m not sure about behind our backs.

 

MRR: Do you think it’s because people are afraid of you?

Renee: Probably.

Dulcinea: Maybe.

Tina: I don’t know. You think?

 

MRR: I don’t know.

Tina: I hope.

 

MRR: If they were, what would you do?

Tina: If they were afraid of me?

 

MRR: No, if they were a dick to you.

Tina: Um, if they were a dick to me they would have to…pay the price! For being a dick! There’s a price to pay for being a dick to one of the Midnite Snaxxx, and it’s not pretty.

 

MRR: Not a pretty price?

Tina: No! Someone…I won’t even say.

Dulcinea: What did someone do?

Tina: No…but somebody is walking on thin ice in this town.

Dulcinea: Oh, shit. Here we go!

 

MRR: Is it someone in this room right now?

Tina: No. That’s all.

Dulcinea: It’s not Toes. (Toes is short for Benito. He is an adorable cat.)

 

MRR: All of you like a lot of different kinds of music, I would think, from seeing your bands play, as well as going through your record collections when you aren’t looking. And you’ve all been in bands since you were teenagers, more or less, right?

Dulcinea: No.

Tina: In my first band I was twenty.

 

MRR: Oh, c’mon! That’s so close.

Tina: Yeah, one year.

Dulcinea: Yeah, I was in my twenties.

 

MRR: But you’ve been in bands for a long time?

Dulcinea: Forever…been in bands forever.

Tina: Yep.

 

MRR: Have your outlooks or goals or reasons for being in a band changed since then?

Tina: Totally.

 

MRR: Why were you in a band when you were younger?

Tina: I didn’t expect it at the time. I kind of got nominated into my first band, in The Trashwomen. It just kind of happened. I don’t know.

Dulcinea: I don’t know. When you’re younger you kind of want to be cool.

Tina: Yes.

 

MRR: And you guys don’t want to be cool at all anymore?

Dulcinea: There’s really no point in it. Now we’re kind of this misfit band.

Tina: I want to be cool.

 

MRR: What? You’re a Misfits cover band?

Dulcinea: No!

Tina: Ms. Fits.

Dulcinea: Who knows? We could do a cover of The Misfits. That might be cool. But we are kind of a weird band because I don’t know many other ladies doing what we do. And we don’t fit the packages of a lot of other bands.

Tina: We’re not cute…anymore. I think we’re cute! But we’re not like…I don’t know. We’re not very nice.

Dulcinea: We have nothing to prove. I guess that’s the thing.

Tina: I mean, I don’t care. I’m doing it because I like it, and it’s fun, and I like the songs that Dulce’s writing, and I like the ladies, and it’s fun, and the music is good…

Dulcinea: Get down, Toes!

Tina: …and the cat needs to get down here. I don’t know. It’s good!

 

MRR:  Would you say the unifying theme of the band is guitar-based rock and roll?

Dulcinea: Yep. Totally.

Tina: Yeah.

 

MRR: What are your biggest influences, music or otherwise?

Tina: Ramones.

Dulcinea: It’s definitely the Ramones.

Tina: The Real Kids, Cheap Trick. I just like real catchy rock and roll, you know.

Dulcinea: Yeah, I think we’re kind of big superfans of rock and roll, so I think that our band just kind of plays into the vein of bands that we like. Our next records will probably be a little bit more rocker I think, so we’ll see.

 

MRR: Other influences besides music?

Dulcinea: Food.

 

MRR: What’s your favorite midnight snack?

Tina: Your lookin’ at it (pointing to salami, bread, crackers, fancy cheese).

 

MRR: But it’s not midnight.

Tina: Salami and cheese and fine wines. And good beer.

Dulcinea: Definitely burritos are at the top of the list for midnight.

Tina: Pizza.

 

MRR: Renee nods.

Dulcinea: Renee! I know! Renee is the snack queen! Renee has gotten drunk with me and made me go through the fucking Jack In The Box to get those terrible 99 cent tacos.

Renee: Get turned down at the Taco Bell!

Tina: Those tacos are good.

 

MRR: The Jack In The Box ones? I’ve heard they’re very good.

Tina: They’re soy. They’re not real. They’re like mystery meat.

Dulcinea: They do hit the spot.

Tina: They’re good.

Renee: Stoner tacos.

 

MRR: What’s your favorite drink?

Tina: Beer.

 

MRR: Beer. Just beer? A certain kind of beer?

Tina: I like Belgian beers.

 

MRR: Me too!

Tina: Fine beers. Everything is fine when you’ve turned 40. Things get finer.

Dulcinea: We like bougie drinks. Bougie drinks and food.

Tina: Totally.

 

MRR: Have you ever had a bad drunk injury?

Tina: Oh, God!

Dulcinea: God!

Tina: Are you kidding me?

Dulcinea: Do we all have to go?

 

MRR: Yeah, worst one! Each. That means Renee has to speak!

Dulcinea: You know, it wasn’t that I was drunk, but it was related. I remember one time I was DJ’ing, I think in Reno, and I decided to just start running in the middle of the street. I started running and my legs weren’t going as fast as I thought my brain was, and I just piled. Bloody elbows, bloody knees. Stuff like that has happened, but I’ve never broken anything or had to go get stitches or anything like that because of drunkenness.

Tina: Lots of falling down I’m sure. For sure.

Dulcinea: Falling down and puking.

Renee: I only fall down when I’m sober.

 

MRR: We’re coming to that.

Tina: Falling down…

Dulcinea: No, that’s not true! Renee was at the Taqueria Cancún…

Renee: Oh, that’s when I took you down!

Dulcinea: …and she took down the whole bench! And the funny thing is, I saved her from falling, and then I was holding her, taking her back to the car, and I fucking piled and I wasn’t even drunk. That’s how it goes!

 

MRR: Would you say that Mitch Cardwell plays a role in your band more similar to Kim Fowley and the Runaways, Brian Epstein and the Beatles, Phil Spector and the Ronettes, or Malcolm McLaren and Bow Wow Wow?

Dulcinea: Wow!

 

MRR: No, just Bow Wow Wow.

Dulcinea: I would say…I don’t know! I’ll say Kim Fowley. He does tell me some ridiculous shit. But he’s very supportive.

Renee: Yeah, he gives me pep talks over IM.

Dulcinea: He’s very supportive and it’s nice. He tells me when he doesn’t like a song or he doesn’t like a part. I don’t like it, but, whatever.

 

MRR: You play locally about once or twice a month and you’ve played in LA. Recently I saw you play with Eddie and the Hot Rods, and that was pretty awesome. You’re playing a show soon with Kid Congo Powers. Do you have any favorite shows that you have played so far?

Tina: Well, we haven’t played with The Dictators yet.

 

MRR: Why not?

Tina: Because it hasn’t happened.

 

MRR: Why not?

Tina: I don’t know.

 

MRR: Make it happen!

Tina: I know.

Dulcinea: They need to be brought over.

Tina: We played with Guitar Wolf. It was fun; that was a great show. We played with the Subsonics in Atlanta. That was good.

Dulcinea: Eddie and the Hot Rods was a fun show but the show we just opened at Bottom of the Hill with Jeff the Brotherhood was good. I think because it was a packed house and…

Renee: …a different group of nerds.

Dulcinea: …it was a totally different crowd for us and we played pretty well, and people were into it, so it was nice to hear that. I don’t know what is going on outside.

Renee: It sounds like a dog?

Dulcinea: No, I think it’s a chick. We are in West Oakland.

 

MRR: This question is for Renee, specifically.

Dulcinea: Yeah, speak up, Renee!

 

MRR: You seem to be horrified that you’re in a band and have to stand in the front, yet you’re in a band and have to stand in the front and sometimes even sing into a microphone. Do you forget that you hate it each time before you do it, or are you overcoming your fear?

Renee: You know, I don’t have a fear! Like that’s the thing, I’m not afraid to play in front of people, and I have fun while playing, but sometimes, I just get weird. And only recently did I discover, well, I always have fun playing and practicing and stuff, and I like playing with the girls, but up until a couple months ago, I really like…it kind of clicked for me, and I kind of got comfortable with it, but it’s still like…I don’t know. I’m not really outgoing even though I seem outgoing. I’m kind of like, shy, I guess.

 

MRR: So do you fall down in front of hot dudes just to get over your fear of falling down in front of hot dudes?

Renee: NO! But it just happens. It’s like life…sucks. That’s why I have no hot dude boyfriend…hi!

Tina: She’s our young little sex kitten. Guys always love Renee. Johnny’s like, “Renee looks like she’s making love to that bass.”

Dulcinea: Oh my…really?

Tina: Yeah. The guys in this band are like, “That Renee! God!” You gotta start using that to your ad-van-tage!

Dulcinea: Yeah!

Renee: Yeah, but then I get drunk and I don’t care.

 

MRR: Then you fall down.

Renee: Then I fall down.

 

MRR: You have one single out on Raw Deluxe, and one on Total Punk, and there’s more coming right? There’s an LP coming out?

Dulcinea: There’s an LP coming that we recorded. It’ll be on Red Lounge Records from Germany, hopefully at the end of summer. And we’re working on new stuff, so hopefully there will be some more singles after that.

Tina: I want to go to Germany.

 

MRR: For German sausages?

Tina: And Italy.

 

MRR: Italian sausages.

Tina: Yeah.

Dulcinea: Yeah.

 

MRR: Which one of you has the best cat?

Tina: Well…

Renee: I do!

Dulcinea: Benito!

Tina: I have two, Jack and Jinxy, but Jack is…

Dulcinea: Jack pees on your bed!

Tina: But, I still love him.

 

MRR: But Benito poops on your bed!

Dulcinea: No…well, he hasn’t done that in a long time.

Renee: Everyone has a cat that pees here.

Tina: Jack is full man.

 

MRR: Jack is a man?

Tina: He’s a real man.

 

MRR: A man cat?

Tina: Mmmhmm. He’s a little whiny bitch.

 

MRR: You all like your own cats best?

Dulcinea: Mmmhmm.

Tina: Of course!

 

MRR: What’s the name of your cat? You won’t even talk about your cat?!

Renee: I have a foster cat. His name is Leroy.

 

MRR: Just because he’s a foster cat doesn’t mean you can’t say his name.

Renee: His name is Leroy.

Dulcinea: He’s her stepchild.

Renee: He’s handsome.

Tina: He’s cute.

 

MRR: You have the upcoming show with Kid Congo Powers. And then what else are you guys doing? You’re playing Goner Fest?

Tina: We’re going to the northwest over 4^th of July weekend, to Portland and Seattle.

 

MRR: And then…

Tina: And then we come home.

Dulcinea: And then we’re gonna play a few shows before Goner. Hopefully in Texas and Louisiana, and maybe Mississippi…we’re getting it together. Alabammy.

Tina: And hopefully go to LA in August again. Hopefully. We’ll see. Yeah.

 

MRR: I had an opportunity to speak with some Midnite Snaxxx fans who have written in some specific questions to you.

Dulcinea: Good God!

 

MRR: The first question is for Dulcinea. Fan number one writes in to Dulcinea, “Why are you so bossy?”

Dulcinea: Well, I guess it’s because I don’t like to be told what to do. And it’s fun. I don’t know. I’m the first of three girls in my family, so I just assume the role.

Tina: She’s the boss. I’m her bitch. I always say, “I’m just your bitch.” We’re just the bitches, she’s the boss.

 

MRR: Like Tony Danza.

Tina: Who’s the Bitch? Who’s the boss and who’s the bitch?

 

MRR: Fan number two writes in to Tina. Fan number two says, “Tina, why are you such a horndog?”

Tina: Weeeelllllllll…I have raging hormones all the time, as I turn…in my elder years. It gets worse and worse, and it has to, uh, be satisfied (in a low, low voice). So, um, I don’t know. Why am I such a horndog? I don’t know.

Dulcinea: She likes men.

Tina: I like the men.

Dulcinea: The mens-es.

Tina: Yeah. Italian…

 

MRR: German?

Tina: I like it all. People of all sizes, all shapes, all flavors…I like it all! Equal opportunity. But I do have a boyfriend now (sighs), but we’ll see how that goes.

 

MRR: What is Midnite Snaxxx obsession with Rincon?

All: Awwww….

Tina: He’s so cute! How could you not think he’s the cutest little face?!

Dulcinea: Renee!

Renee: He’s cute! He’s like a little biscuit.

Tina: He’s cute. I remember when I first saw him I was like, “That guy is fuckin’ hot!” and they’re like, “He’s like twenty years old, Tina.” And I’m like, “Oh….well…”

 

MRR: He’s over eighteen…

Dulcinea: He’s legal.

Tina: He’s every cougar’s fantasy. I’m just kidding. He’s cute! I don’t know. And now it’s gotten to be really funny harassing him, kind of. You know what I mean?

 

MRR: No. Explain.

Tina: Sometimes there’ve been some drunken crank calls in the middle of the night.

 

MRR: Oh, yeah?

Dulcinea: Really? Oh my God.

 

MRR: From Midnite Snaxxx to Rincon?

Tina: Yeah.

Dulcinea: No. No. I want it on record that it was not all of us.

Tina: Well, not all of everybody. I have a tendency for late night drunken, you know, “Oh, who cares anything goes!” Just add alcohol and anything goes!

 

MRR: I don’t have any more questions.

Tina: He’s attractive.