Thrasher Magazine: The Von Bondies

IF ONE WAS TO CONDUCT an interview with a band from Detroit, 10 times out of 10 you would find a question that touches on either the Detroit Scene or the White Stripes. Or both. It's like when the big Seattle craze happened and it was Nirvana! Nirvana! Nirvana! People don't understand that Detroit is more like a ghost town in the winter; it's freezing and they don't really have much of a "scene." Of the bands that make it, they're usually on the road touring rather than actually playing in Michigan. The Von Bondies are a hard rockin' band out of Detroit. They have toured with the White Stripes, but that's where their similarities stop.

"We sound nothing like the White Stripes and we're not a fuckin' pop band that wears red and white," says singer Jason Stollsteimer. Some four-and-a-half years ago, they began as a real fast punk band called The Baby Killers. But the offensive name made booking gigs difficult, and so became the Von Bondies. The band consists of Jason, drummer Don Blum, bassist Carrie Smith, and guitarist Marcie Bolen. Although Marcie used to date Jack White, pre-White-Stripes hysteria, the story of interest is that Carrie seems to drink too much and throw up every time Jack is around. "Whenever we do a show with the White Stripes they give us a lot of liquor," Jason said. "So Carrie drinks red wine. We did three shows with them and at all three shows she got so drunk that she passed out and Jack had to carry her. Whenever he carries her she throws up, like a little bit on his back or something. It's nasty! Carrie is totally a hot girl, but it's not a good thing."

They're a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type band, he says, and uses the song "Cass and Henry"--written, produced and recorded in-studio the same day--as an example of what this band is really about. Although written years before the happy melodies were created, most of the Bondies' lyrics are really depressing, with frontman Jason writing all the music. He searches through pieces of paper containing words he's written over the years, finding something to match what he is humming along. "It's not like I cut sentences out of a newspaper and throw 'em in the air like Bowie did," sad Jason. "Hit songwriters think of something that can relate to the crowd, but I never thought about the crowd. I never thought there would be one so I wrote for myself. It was really selfish of me, but it made me feel better about my life. There was a time where we wrote the first record, and I'd be driving in the car and I'd just be writing down everything that went through my head. Then I'd write the music and look back and be like 'Shit man, this totally fits.' Like this song "Night Train" fits perfectly and is about drinking."

To make ends meet before the band, Jason worked as one of the pin chasers at a bar called the Magic Stick, which had a bowling alley downstairs. This was at a time where he was drinking lots of Thunderbird and Night Train and recalls on one occasion waking up passed out in a bathtub, at the age of 19. Come to find out this was hardly abnormal. Making about $200 a week, he'd take 50 of that and go to the local casino where he'd win 400 or 500 dollars on Blackjack. "I used to do this and make like 10-times as much money. I bought a car from that. I got really good, but with my girlfriend now, I'm not allowed to go back. I don't recommend it." All the people going to these casinos who didn't have enough money to feed their kids and were just completely addicted became too much for him to continue witnessing. "It's not like going to Las Vegas for a vacation. These are people that try to do this for a living. You can go to a casino and cash a welfare check or anything. It's sad. I couldn't take it after a while."

Although Jason doesn't have too many early influences, he does sternly recommend The Sights, The Kills, Mr David Viner, and especially The Datsuns. "If you're into rock, The Datsuns are your ticket, man. We had to play after them and it sucked. They are very much a live show, with the hair and leg kicks and everything. They drop to their knees every song; it's like an AC/DC show." After the Von Bondies, he dreams of being in a band where he can just play guitar and not have to sing. But when asked why the girls don't sing, he said simply: "Because they're not singers. If you just want a hot girl to stand up front and sing, that is one thing. That normally means you aren't a music fan, you just want to get your rocks off."

The new record should be out lat August or September, and they plan to tour the shit out of it for a year before putting out at least one more album. "If we put out three records total, I'll be happy," Jason says. He doesn't have any more expectations, but knows he has enough songs already to put out that many. That they've lasted five years without a label is amazing, considering most bands don't make it past six months. "We've been doing it ourselves. It gives us a lot more drive because we have been working so hard."

And to the doubters who attribute the Von Bondies unjust success to opening for the White Stripes, just ask yourself; how many bands can you name that opened for the Beatles?

For more Von Bondies, go to www.thrashermagazine.com