Spring Heeled Jack
Static World View (Moon Ska)
An interview with Mike Pellegrino and Ron Ragona
by Margo Tiffen
How did you get involved in the New England Ska Festival?
Mike: They asked us to do it and we said okay. It was booked about three months ago. It’s a lot of fun. It’s not what we expected, it’s a lot cooler. More people.
Are you having any legal problems with the British band Spring Heel Jack over the name?
Mike: We had a wrestling match with them and we won so we get to keep the name.
Ron: Seven versus two and they were old fucking English guys.
Mike: We beat ’em up, slapped ’em silly.
Ron: They were originally a whole band but we hospitalized the rest so now it’s just drum ‘n’ bass.
Mike: We threw ’em back to England.
Ron: Actually, now they’re going to be called Spring Heel Jack, U.K. We had the name before them, even though they’re making like three million times more dollars than we are.
You guys and Skavoovie are Moon Records’ two top list bands right now, how did it end up that way?
Mike: We tour a lot and we play a lot of shows. They kinda hinted that if we went out and toured we’d be doing a lot better and selling more albums. We had a booking agent and she felt confident so… We’ve done like three national tours and a couple other East Coast, countless East Coast shows. The Midwest, we went to Puerto Rico.
Are you going to Europe anytime soon?
Mike: Hoping for Amsterdam.
Ron: Maybe next summer.
Mike: Nothing to do with pot or hash or anything like that.
How was the response when you played the West Coast?
Ron: Terrific. We played the Whisky-A-Go-Go in LA and it sold out the last three times we played there. We were three thousand miles from home and everyone’s asking for songs and singing words and jumping up and down.
How do you feel about the whole Bosstones explosion?
Ron: We think it’s great ’cause we love them.
Mike: They helped us out a lot, they opened us up to a lot of good crowds. When we were first starting out just in Connecticut, we did a big show with them in New Britain. It was our first big show, we were shittin’ butterflies, it was crazy.
Are you working on another album?
Mike: Yeah. We demoed ten songs maybe a month ago and we’re trying to get about fifteen new songs and record in October. Once in awhile we throw a new song into the set.
What happened with James leaving?
Ron: That was a while ago.
Mike: He was trying to find time from the band to do other things and we were trying to make time from other things to do the band. So, a lot of times he wasn’t able to make shows or practice. It was just not working out right.
Ron: He’s a bastard, we hate him, we kicked him out. Nah, he was great but we just started to not get along and he wanted to do something different…
What about Pete?
Mike: Well, Pete was in J.C. Superska and they broke up. We asked Pete to do some tracks on the CD and he had done a couple of them, and now he’s in the band. He’s great.
Anything else you want to discuss or let your fans know?
Mike: Besides the Tune-In, we have a show in Northhampton. We’re trying to get a Boston show, we’re playing North by Northwest in Oregon.
Anything else?
Ron: We’re so cool that we eat hamburgers without the bun.
In your spare time?
Mike: We like to hurt ourselves skateboarding.
Ron: We wrestle alligators.
Mike: Baby oil wrestling.
Ron: We fight young kids, we steal their stuff. We do it all. We’re fully rounded – espionage, we’re really big spies. Hello, testing? This is pretty cool. This is my voice – blip, blip, bliiip. Let’s go watch Skavoovie.
