So what do we say about this band?
It is made up of some very talented musicians. They are fun to watch – they dare us not to dance- and they don’t take themselves too seriously – but, make no mistake, we do! Get ready for a ride.
Maybe it would be better if we let them explain the band.
“It started with James and Steve: James had played bass for years In a UK band of note, Circus in Reverse, while Steve had recently taken a few lessons on guitar via correspondence course. The two met in a wholly dysfunctional band called Interchangeable Parts. Those parts dissolved in a toxic stew of clashing personalities and alcohol, but James and Steve — along with James’ wife, Karen — resurfaced in Crash O’Malley… which soon crashed. Steve joined Wire Monkey (formerly the Free Range Chickens), teaming up with Jeff, the world’s best drummer. James, meanwhile, formed Justice Fingers (with two former Crash members). JF produced a stellar CD, “Last Call for Corky,” but nothing thereafter. Wire Monkey’s momentum likewise stalled, so James and Steve joined up again as Snooze Button, playing acoustic gigs — one of which was at Missy’s house, whereupon they heard her sing and instantly hatched a plan to corral her into a band. James and Steve are still, simultaneously, getting some sweet action on the side as bass and guitar in Lindsay and the White Lies.”
Did you get all that. Here is San Diego’s ’Too Rude For Sunday.”
‘I haven’t had as much fun listening to a band in a while. You all are just rude, unabashed and downright snarky – no apologies Rock & Roll at its best.
Jeff: thanks
James: I’m blushing, but no one can see.
How about a little of your journey and a rundown on the family tree that led to this band coming together?
Steve: James and I met in about 2001 or so, through a group of friends with whom I used to jam, just casually. One of them knew James, and she invited him join us one day to play rhythm guitar. So in comes this shy, quiet English guy who politely strums along with us for a few weeks. One day, though, I had to run an errand in the middle of a jam session…and when I got back, there was James — totally going for it on guitar, singing lead, the works. It was an eye-opener for me: this dude was (a) not that shy or quiet, (b) nor all that polite, and ( c) waaay more talented than we knew. And, turned out his main instrument was actually bass! Which was a very good thing, because our bass player at the time was my now-ex-wife, who couldn’t play at all, and really just wanted to be part of the jam session as an excuse to start drinking even earlier in the day than usual. So when she got too drunk to play, James would take over on bass.
James: So I used to ply her with booze. ;)
Steve: That jam group morphed into a band we called Interchangeable Parts…which might better have been called Combustible Parts, for all the conflicts and personality clashes that soon led to its demise. But James and I have been playing together, in one form or another, ever since.
James:Yes I met Steve jamming with some friends, and we stayed playing together. I was impressed that Steve had a Les Paul (they’re incredibly ridiculously expensive in England, and no one’s allowed to touch them in the guitar stores). Even more impressed when I found out how well he played it! I used to follow Steve’s fingers on songs that I didn’t know. I still do it – if he leaves the band I’m screwed.
Would you introduce the band members and all their unique qualities?
Missy and Karen make the introductions:
 James – the Englishman – is anything but prim and proper. He loves performing and coming up with interesting lyrics for his songs. |
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 Steve – as he always likes to say – is a song whore. He loves to play guitar (and bass whenever he can get it away from James) and will play almost anything. |
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 Jeff – the most amazing drummer ever – he is always in time! He also hosts all the practices and does his best to keep us in line.Jeff: It doesn’t work! |
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 Missy- well ‘loudlaffs’ is her email – that should explain everything. She is the band mixologist, brilliant singer, and all around minx! |
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 Kaz – tallest member of the band – quiet, demure, and just another rude redhead. |
Missy: Each member of this band means so much to me, and I’d like to just take a minute and add that our success as a band is largely attributed to the magic and mystery found in the beverages I provide during rehearsals. And yeah, what Karen said about everyone’s skills and talents is good stuff too – I’m sure they add something.
James: All of us have a blast playing, hopefully that carries over on recordings and on stage. The best thing about these guys is that they are so solid with knowing their songs – it’s brilliant to know that if I muck it up, I have four people covering for me, we won’t let each other down. Sniff, sniff…..I promised myself I wouldn’t cry…….
You and Steve have backed a lot of folks acoustically here in town. Give us your take on the music scene in San Diego?
Steve Nichols
Steve: I don’t have a lot of experience with the music scene on other towns, so don’t have much of a comparative reference point, but San Diego’s community of musicians seems like just that — a community. People are amazingly supportive of each other, and welcoming of new faces. It doesn’t feel hostile or competitive…it’s more friendly and collaborative. And I think a lot of that stems directly from the person who is far and away the most active, driving force in support of local music — Cathryn Beeks. She welcomes everybody, is always supporting and promoting the San Diego talent, and she seems to set the tone for the scene as a whole.
James: I completely agree, I love the music scene here in San Diego! I was stuck with a bunch of original songs I was dying to try out, and things were in a rut, so I thought “why don’t I try them acoustically?” We played some sets for Cathryn Beeks, and the brilliantly wonderful Lindsay White. We have been lucky enough to play with some amazing songwriters (mainly the afore mentioned brilliantly wonderful Lindsay White and Joel Mendoza) and at big venues (even Qualcom stadium baby!). I have had offers to play/record bass too (most people pass when they realize I’m more of a rhythm bass player than a fast/soloist glorified guitarist) sorry guitar players…good thing I don’t know many.
Which do you like most, from a performing perspective, Acoustic or Plugged-In?
Steve: They are very different beasts, and I enjoy both a great deal. When an acoustic vibe is working…when the tone and power is coming from how percussively you hit the strings, or how much you back off…it’s great. But for me, there is nothing like the tone of an electric guitar pushing a great tube amp, and feeling the rumble of the bass and drums literally through my feet — so I’ll go with plugged in as my favorite.
James: Yes, electric is loud and awesome! I like to hit that open E and have people’s pants fall down.
James, I understand you do a great deal of the writing – tongue in cheek, well written, and clever but not necessarily love/angst/torment songs – where do these songs come from in you?
James: I have tried to write songs that are in other people’s styles, I really have. For 15 years. But all the love songs and emo/full of angst attempts seem to be crass and stupid when I do them. I recorded with the fantastic Stephen Langdon and he said “what are you doing? Why are you trying to sound American? You aren’t American, you have that cool built in English accent, so use it!”
I’m into bands that make me laugh/have clever lyrics. I love Madness and Blur. Blur especially because they loved making Oasis get all angry in TV interviews. They used to say things as a laugh knowing that Oasis would take it all seriously. Blur songs are good. And the Kinks, Lola is just brilliant. I’ve been listening to Cage the Elephant and they have that too – I love the image of a priest who “filled his bank account with righteous dollar bills” in their song “Ain’t no rest for the Wicked”.
‘She’s your switchblade superhero when you go insane’
There is certainly a message in this tune rockin’ number. Tell us about ‘Tranquilizer’.
James: It’s a bit of a rip off of “Mother’s Little Helper” by the stones – the idea that a little pill can save the day like a superhero. I came up with the riff for a jingle competition…which got rejected. But I kept the riff and recycled it, so now we play it live and get an instant reaction which feeds my fragile ego, rather than it being a 17 second Muzak tune in a lift in some hotel. The idea was a simple riff (the bass part is only 3 notes), but the band rock the knobs off it, and it is good to bounce to.
‘Satin and lace with a Jezebel face…who will kick your teeth out one by one’
‘She’s My Sister’ is a lyrical surprise. What’s the story with this one?
James Staton
James: I have a list of heroes in my brain. People who have amazed me by their kind words/acts towards me. This song is for all the girls on that list – my wife Kaz, Missy, Cathryn B, Lindsay, my own sister Sue back in England. It’s a shout out to them. I shared a bad experience with a couple of them and they immediately wanted to beat the crap out of the person who dissed me, I thought “that’s awesome” that’s where the song came from. For some reason I got an image of Glinda the good witch acting soccer thug style and kicking someone’s teeth in . The “one at a time” bit is a typical hooligan thing to say (I learnt it growing up) – I think James Cagney says it in “The Roaring 20s”.
‘Little Jimmy’ is just a great old time rock and roll 1-4-5 shuffle. A homage to a body part. Really?
James: Yes, he’s my right hand man – Little Jimmy tells me how to live my life - he made me move to live in a different country – he insisted, there was nothing I could do! He is also my conscience (ala Jiminy Cricket), as it says in the song. I would say more, but I’d have to ask little Jimmy for the “heads up”.
I’ll bet this gets the crowd up…and dancing?
James: Yes – we get a great reaction for this one live, it’s a good crowd pleaser.
What do you want your fans to know about you and the band that they need to know?
Karen: That we like getting together and playing whether it’s for an audience or just for practice. We love it when the audience is participating and everyone is having fun enjoying the music (including the band)!
Missy: I’d like our fans to know that we so appreciate their support; their hootin’ an’ hollerin’; their sweet dance moves, and I’m hoping they can wrap their heads around the fact that they’re very blessed to have an opportunity to experience our musical shenanigans.
‘Scrapping in the street on Boxing Day’ what a terrific song.
James: “Scrapping” – is the slang word for fist fight in the UK.
‘Boxing Day’ is my favorite piece, for lyric, arrangement and all – the imagery in the song is really engaging, but that’s not the real story about this song. How about letting us in on the story?
James: I used to live in Scarborough, in the North of England. Every Boxing Day (the day after Christmas day when they used to give boxes of money to the poor), they used to have a costume parade (or “Fancy dress party”). So everyone is dressed as a schoolgirl, or Shakespeare, a knight or Churchill, and everyone is drinking. By 10pm in the pubs everyone is drunk, and invariably it turns into this ridiculous big fight in the street, where you see Shakespeare and Churchill going at it, or a panda beating up Sponge Bob – it’s mad. It’s a not so fond memory, because it’s real and it happened, but when I look back on it, it’s pretty bloody funny. The mods (….”Here comes mod boy…”) invaded Scarborough in the 1960s and once again in the 1980s and are still there. I got a message from a friend who still lives there, and to my delight, they still do it every Boxing Day!
How about giving us a songwriters/band workshop on ‘Boxing Day’ from writing to the finished recorded track?
James: I was noodling on my Strat when that A to C little ska riff came out, so I kept working on it. Then I made a little mistake at the start when I was recording it, I played that G chord, so I kept that in. I’d finished the chords and melody, but I had no words – I was going through lots of different things (I tried “Racing Cars”, “One More Time”) but nothing was good enough. It was coming up to Christmas time, so I got thinking about back home in England, and that’s where the words came from. I let Karen hear it (I trust her ear), then sent the demo out to the band. Steve then took it from crummy to awesome – thanks mate. We jammed it a few times in practice before we recorded. We did the drums at Jeff’s, and we added all the rest at my house (I master/finish it using Logic Pro on my mac).
Boxing Day
‘Come to Find Out’ a different take was written by Steve. What’s the story with this song?
Jeff Sandubrae
Steve: Yeah, well, as you said, James doesn’t do love/angst/torment songs (how could he? He’s married to an awesome woman, and they have the cutest kid. No way he could pull it off. :) — so those are my department. I don’t think I am capable of writing a happy song. The only time I write a song is when I need catharsis, to pull myself out of something, and I don’t need that when I’m happy. ‘Come To Find Out’ is just another song about bitterness and betrayal. It’s not necessarily about any one person or relationship (although one does come to mind…); most of my songs are composites drawn from various people and experiences. And, even when the song is expressed in the first person, as though coming from my point of view, sometimes the song is actually about the sad or unkind things I have done to others, the ways I have let them down, and how they have expressed that to me. So some of my more sanctimonious/judgmental-sounding songs are actually in judgment of myself. (But I’m not telling which ones.)
As for CTFO itself: the band makes that song. It is all of three verses, with a chorus of only ‘ooo-ooos,’ no bridge, and the same four-chord sequence repeated throughout — there isn’t much to it. When it works, what makes it work is (a) the fact that Missy sings it rather than me, and (b) the dynamics — all credit for which goes to the band. It really helps to play with an great drummer and bass player, who have a keen ear and sensitivity for song dynamics and musical tension.
What’s the deal with ‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job Records’?
Steve: It’s an imaginary record company, in keeping with the tongue-in-cheek, don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously vein. It started with a Christmas CD I make on Garageband to give to friends every few Christmases…I created ‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’ as my label. (2R4S is their headlining act, by the way.)
James, when I first researched you all I was left with the feeling that you weren’t all that serious about your music – I changed my mind when I sat and listened to your material – and realized for you guys that not taking yourself too seriously and taking what you play seriously, are two different things. I take what you do very seriously and still enjoy the delightful sarcasm, vitality and joy of your music. You had written to me that you had an epiphany on stage – would you share it with us ?
Missy Heller and Karen (Kaz) Staton
James: We’re going to have a party on the stage and if people join in too, that’s great. It’s no deeper than that. We were playing at the House of Blues, and I had a nagging worry in my brain “My songs aren’t good enough, they aren’t listening songs, they have meanings but no one cares, I’m English, this is San Diego California….” You know? Then we started to play and I looked out at a big crowd having a great time, drinking, shouting dancing, laughing – not necessarily at the meanings of my songs (you get one shot to understand in three minutes what a song is all about – yeah, right), but just at the moment and the event of being out together enjoying live music. Then it hit me that THAT was the point. I loved playing that night, and I realized that once that ‘live’ moment has passed, you move on – do you remember that I used the clever line “the cavalcade of fancy dress spills in the pub to make a mess…”? no, but you might just have had an excellent time and remember that. I got an ipad recently and the new GarageBand is great. You don’t have to learn any more – it does it all for you. I think that will change music because every person can create songs without owning an instrument. This will turn many musicians into pouty depressed individuals, but fear not! I think that live music played on real instruments will become much more valuable in future. (so says me – I’ll shut it now).
I haven’t had the opportunity to get out and watch you guys play – I’ll fix that soon. Tell me what your audience sees. hears, and gets about ‘Too Rude For Sunday’ from your perspective?
Karen: Hopefully they’ll see that we want to have fun and want them to join in. I know that when I first get up to perform – I am so nervous – but once the crowd gets going and we really start rocking – all those nerves just disappear.
Your lyrics, for the rock tunes. are clever and catchy. Do you write in other genres?
James: Steve does cool instrumental stuff that is brilliant. I tried to do an “all kazoo” version of Stairway, but it was a bit below par.
What do you think has to be in a song to make it work?
Missy: I’m going to say music and lyrics, but I’m no songwriter, so I’m guessing here.
James: (at Missy) Miss sarcastic.
It has to have bollocks. If I wouldn’t want to hear it on the radio, I stop writing it, or hide it forever.
The band’s arrangements in the original pieces as well as the covers you do are wonderful . Who arranges for you all?
Karen: James and Steve write all the original material and usually have an idea about how they want the song to sound. They’ll record it on their own and send it out to the rest of the band for input. Then we get together and work out all the kinks, make suggestions and try different arrangements until we have a sound we like. As for the covers – we like to try and make them our own – change them up a little – maybe add a little ska sound, make it faster, give it a female lead – you name it, we’ve tried it!
What’s in the near future for ‘Too Rude For Sunday’?
Missy: I see our near future. And it… is… bright. It has screaming fans, record deals, limousines, monster trucks, blinged-out pogo sticks and shot glasses, unlimited cheeseburgers, and green m&ms – buckets of green m&ms.
Jeff: Everything but the pogo sticks.
James: San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon on June 5th(stage 13 at the finish), and we are recording our first albumy thing in the Summer. We’re looking for someone to record us who “GETS IT” as far as our sound/ attitude – know anyone??
I believe it will happen. Thanks guys – great fun! Anything else from ‘To Rude For Sunday’?
Come and party with us!
“Too Rude For Sunday” is playing two Live Free shows at:
Winston’s in OB 7/28/11 at 7:00 pm
House of Blues San Diego 8/2/11 at 7:30 pm
That’s all. Cheers everyone!
Enjoy two more ’2R4S’ songs & their video ‘Little Jimmy’
Visit ‘Too Rude for Sunday’ at:
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