Fu Manchu: Harder & Faster

By Fringe Staff

By Charlie Hanks

If “That ’70s Show” had a modern day sound track, Fu Manchu would be all over it. The Southern California foursome has been dishing out it’s own ’70s inspired stonersurfer- desertskater metal since 1989. They released their debut single “Kept Between Trees” in 1990, beginning the recruitment of a whole horde of die-hard fans.

I first heard about the band in 1997. Picking up their fourth studio album “The Action Is Go” with Tony Alva (old school skateboarder) on the cover, I joined that horde.

In February their new effort entitled We Must Obey hit the streets and the band hit the road. When I found out they were starting their tour at Slims in San Francisco I was stoked! I never got to see them perform, and what better excuse than to set up an interview with them.

I sat down with guitarist Bob Balch and Bassist Brad Davis in the tiny backstage room of Slims.

FRINGE: How many times have you played Slims?

BOB: This is our third time.

FRINGE: How do you like it?

BRAD: We love it, great food. Gus the cook, he rules!

FRINGE: Are you heading to Europe during this tour?

BRAD: April 26th to June 3rd.

FRINGE: Do you feel your crowds are different here than in Europe?

BOB: They’re bigger. Our fans seem to be pretty consistent all over the world. They all raise their fists and are really into it.

FRINGE: Do you think your new album is harder than the last? Have you gotten more aggro?

BOB: It just kind of came out that way. I‘m probably more mellow than I’ve ever been, the music is just coming out that way.

BRAD: We’re catering to our drummer, ’cause he plays pretty hyper.

BOB: We just had to match his speed.

BRAD: We just had to match his pace, him and his coffee.

FRINGE: Do you still have day jobs?

BRAD: I teach guitar lessons here and there, but otherwise I don’t answer to the man.

BOB: Reeder’s day job is surfing.

FRINGE: What type of advice would you give to struggling musicians?

BRAD: Get ready to not shower, carry merch, and don’t suck!

BOB: Yeah, don’t suck.

FRINGE: What’s the hardest part about being on tour?

BRAD: I would say being away from home. I really enjoy where I live. I love my girlfriend, I love my dog. Your health kind of deteriorates when you’re stuck in a van for six weeks.

FRINGE: Any wild road stories to share?

BRAD: I’m sure we do … I threw up in a sock at a festival in Europe. I threw up in my sock and threw it at a bunch of people.

BOB: You did not!

BRAD: No, I would never do that.

FRINGE: So, are you really in a van or a motorhome?

BRAD: No, it’s a van. It’s got like four benches. We all get to stretch out and stuff.

BOB: It’s pretty comfy. Gas prices suck.

BRAD: Busses are fun, but they start to stink, not that the van doesn’t stink, ’cause we’re all sleeping in the same little box.

BOB: You can’t poop in there.

BRAD: Yeah, you can’t poop in the van. Well, we stop somewhere.

BOB: We’re not into that bottle peeing and bag pooping. Not that it hasn’t been done, but we’re not into it.

FRINGE: What’s your favorite part about being on tour?

BOB: Playing the shows.

BRAD: Shows are fun.

BOB: I can’t imagine getting sick of it.

FRINGE: What are some of your favorite bands out right now?

BRAD: I really like the new High On Fire. We toured with them, it’s really cool. It decapitates people!

BOB: It’s like scary heavy. I like Elope from Sweden. I think that Hill listens to a lot of older stuff, easy action from Detroit. I don’t know what Reeder listens to. When the new Rush comes out he’ll be listening to it.

BRAD: We’ll all be listening to it.

FRINGE: Are there any bands out there that you’d really like to tour with?

BOB: I always like touring with Clutch, they’re great guys and amazing musicians, one of the best bands out there.

BRAD: I’d like to tour with the reformed Police, their humongous crowds.

FRINGE: Where is your favorite place to play?

BOB: In the US, Texas is a lot of fun. New Orleans is a lot of fun.

BRAD: The crowd in Frisco is a lot of fun. It’s just that whenever I play Frisco crazy shit happens. Like for the first five shows, I got food poisoning threw up all over my shoes, and just weird shit. So I’ve always got the jitters. The crowds are really good though.

BOB: In Europe, all of Germany is really good, Scandinavia, London. Last time we played Paris, it was pretty good. Sweden.

BRAD: Australia’s awesome!

BOB: Australia’s so awesome.

BRAD: You know I got sick there and threw up all over my shoes too. I got sick in Melbourne and barfed more than I’ve ever barfed in my life.

FRINGE: What are your feelings about the new album?

BOB: I like it a lot.

BRAD: We can’t wait to start playing it live to see how people react.

BOB: It feels like it’s been a long time since we’ve gone on tour. Not that we didn’t want to, we were having problems with previous labels. Now we’ve actually got a good label behind us. We have a great record buy it!

BRAD: Yeah, BUY IT!

BOB: We try to put together a set list and we have a hard time picking. I counted all the songs we either recorded or demo and it was over 130 original songs.

For more info on the band viisit http://www.myspace.com/fumanchu or http://www.fu-manchu.com