What can I say about Spike and the Gimme Gimmes (previously Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)? I love them. I love Spike. I love everything about how these guys have fun with classic songs by putting their own fun-punk spin on it. I don’t think I’ve missed a Gimmes concert since I caught them for the first time back in 2023, and I wish I’d seen them earlier! Who else can take Captain & Tennille and mash it up with Joy Divison? No one. See what Spike had to say to ZRockR:
What was the first punk song or band you heard that made you feel like this was the music you wanted to pursue?
“Kill the Poor” by the Dead Kennedys. I used to wear a shirt with that song title (that I mail-ordered from Alternative Tentacles) to a kind of rough high school in Pittsburgh, and I was accosted more than once by pissed-off schoolmates who wanted to know if I was suggesting that the poor should be summarily killed. Usually, after a longwinded response explaining what I perceived the actual message of the song to be, they relented.
What song do you wish you had written?
Wir Werden Immer Mehr by Floh de Cologne
Are there any Vegas based bands that have caught your ear?
M.I.A. Modern way is a killer 80s punk ditty.
What is your favorite artifact in the museum? If you had to donate a piece of your collection, what do you think the museum needs?
I love seeing Johnny Thunders’ jacket. The Target Video stuff is really cool, too. Likewise, the footage – hidden, if not lost, for decades – of the Germs playing the battle of the bands at the Whiskey that was filmed for Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke. No museum that purports to be a Punk Rock one needs anything from my collection or oeuvre. In my unpopular opinion the best record to come out in the ’90s was My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless EP, and that shit came out in ’90. Other than some great Garage/Surf records, it was for the most part a lost decade and we still haven’t found our way home. The Gimmes are not only trolling ’70s AM rock/showtunes/etc. but the overearnestness and under-stylization of the current iteration of punk culture itself.
What’s next up your sleeve after this celebration?
Playful plagiarism, as in the past, so in the future. International song-stealing sensations, Spike and the Gimme Gimmes, are currently in the process of recording what I can, without hyperbole, say will be nothing less than a perfect, career-defining testament to our impeccable talent, taste, and expertise. Quality, integrity, tradition. And a flexible interpretation of intellectual property laws and norms.
PHOTO CREDIT: Stephy Muzio for ZRockR Magazine 2024 – All Rights Reserved