The Real McKenzies

With my ears still ringing due to the bag pipes from the Dropkick Murphy’s St. Patrick’s Week celebrations, it was time to hear some more pipes call because The Real Mckenzies were in Toronto to play the legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

I met with The Real McKenzie’s veteran vocalist Paul McKenzie in the what felt to be haunted dark basement green room at the Shoe. Thanks to Melanie Kaye for setting this interview up.

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LB: So let’s start the way we always do, and tell what you do and us who you are??

PKM: Alrighty , alrighty, alrighty, I am Pauly K. McKenzie from The Real Mckenzies, and we are here in Toronto, at The Horseshoe Tavern and I am down here in the basement getting interviewed. And I am seriously considering if I should start talking like Sean Connery or Michael Caine???

LB: Well which one are you feeling the most? I’m cool either way.

PKM: Well agggh forget it?

LB: So does one literally freeze their balls off wearing a kilt while touring Canada late winter/early spring?

PKM: That is a big myth! When The Hudson’s Bay Company started developing Canada, they took boys from the Shetland Islands because they were the ones that could handle the cold. As for the kilt it has twice as much material as anyone’s trousers.

LB: So you are getting much more for less?

PKM: Exactly. And we have our socks and boots, and every now and then a cold blast comes up and it makes you realize Johnny Thomas and the boys are still hanging there. (Much laughter fills the room) And if you look, this is a summer kilt. You can get much heavier gauges and they are very very warm. And you know the bellows thing starts happening instead of being all trussed up in the underpants, and then you get all the bugs and shit. When you get the bellows thing happening you know gravity is always working for you as well when you are wearing a kilt.

LB: Tell us a bit about the new album you are touring right now.

PKM: Off the Leash. Well we went down and banged it out. It took a little longer than expected, but it gelled in the end. We have been getting a good response so far. There are a couple of very controversial songs given what’s going on in the world these days. But we found it was our obligation to speak out about how we feel as individuals as human beings.

LB: Which song in particular are you talking about?

PKM: Culling the Herd. It just all seems like bad management. That’s what it seems like to me anyway. So we stood up and voiced our opinion on a certain matter in Canada that we think is a pertinent issue. There are also a lot of fun songs as well. For some reason that we really don’t know why have a lot of songs about dogs? At least two or three about dogs.

LB: Is the one about the mangy hound eating your lunch true?

PKM: Yes it is. And the picture it paints as well the way it all ties up at the end with being sympathetic to the stray animal. That one. It took a little while to get to it. I wouldn’t even want to think about singing you the original lyrics. But you let that stuff settle and when the song is good enough it will sing to me, and that makes it really quite easy. It’s very spontaneous and I really enjoy it. I love capturing that eppervescent spontaneity on a recording because it keeps it fresh.

LB: You guys are well known for your live performance. Do you take that element of the band to the studio?

PKM: We maintain that yes and we try to do as much stuff live in the studio instead of just tracking. We like to get the band together with the drums and get that energy or else it sounds cold and tracked.

LB: The current Real McKenzie’s lineup has a bit of an all-star cast of Californian musicians from some pretty phenomenal punk bands. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about some of the players?

PKM: Yes we do keep it interesting don’t we? Well at the time we also have a strong alumni as well. First “Little” Joe Raposo (probably the best bass player in punk rock) from RKL and Boz Rivera, and they are both in San Francisco. They are two amazing musicians whom I love to work with. They both played on the last album but “Little” Joe has a problem getting a work Visa in Canada. So Karl Alvarez from The Descendents/All comes up and plays bass for us on Canadian tours or any other place “Little” Joe can’t make it to. I think Sean Sellers knows him, and the way we found Sean Sellers (Good Riddance) is that we were all based out of Vancouver and we were heading down to record 10,000 shots and at the very last second our drummer decides to quit. Power move right? So we call Mike (Fat Mike) and he says that it is no problem and he’ll hire a drummer. So we go to the studio not knowing who it was and there is Sean Sellers already there. He knew “Little” Joe and one thing leads to another that’s how we all met. And it has really become a close family feeling with these guys especially at this point in time because there has been a lot of guys who have been underground for a while who are hungry to go out on tour like Dave Gregg. They want one more kick at the can, and I am more than happy to give them the opportunity.

LB: So being the founding member, and seeing a revolving door of band mates, do you ever get frustrated filling band positions?

PKM: I just feel so privileged to be able to get on stage and do my thing at my age for Christ’s sake I mean the pendulum swings for thirty or forty years, and here I am healthy, happy, and piss broke but I know a lot of people with investments which I know they just lost incidentally and are working themselves into the grave. Not to say that I don’t enjoy working but there are particular environments I don’t want to get involved in.

LB: What industry would really turn your stomach?

PKM: Oh god any kind of an office environment is not me. But I mean I feel very fortunate doing these tours and still making records. It’s not taken without a price. The road will kick the shit out of you if you let it. I have literally been getting beat up by fans on this tour. I got bottled in Croatia and check this out (he shows me a brown and purple two inch by two inch bruise on his knee). Some guy tried to dislocate my knee with a jujitsu move. Real classy! I rolled out of it and told him he was an asshole.

LB: Back to the new album. What is your personal favorite song and why?

PKM: I will have to say “Culling the Herd” because of the political weight it carries. And we don’t play it live because it is so volatile within the band because of the American presence within the band. It basically says that I think this entire push into the middle east over the last five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or even longer years is complete bull shit and they just keep feeding us bullshit through the media and I wish they would just tell us what they are doing, but they will never do that.

LB: In these let’s say tumultuous times in the music biz, how important is it to have a label that supports you, and do you get that support from Fat Wreck Chords?

PKM: Well that’s a double edge sword. If you have the drive to promote yourself well that’s the way to go these days. But me with my life…I’m an old school guy and I haven’t made that transition yet. Not to mention the fact that I’m kind of busy. When I am not on tour, I work really hard to keep my bills paid so that I can tour again. I need someone to take care of the business end, and this is why I need a label. Perhaps if my situation shifts, I could take over the business side and use the Internet. Lots of bands have done it successfully. On the same hand there are no more grants or bursaries for artists. Those days are over. I mean you can do it alone on the Internet and at the merch tables but that means touring hard for eight months of the year. These days not a lot of people are prepared to do that. But we are!

LB: So you get that support from Fat?

PKM: We get all the support we request. They help us a lot.

LB: What’s your greatest personal achievement you have attained that you would have never reached if you weren’t in The Real Mckenzies?

PKM: Many many. That’s a tough question. Well for me it was a show we played in North Carolina, three hundred family members all wearing the same tartan showed up with their grandfather who just survived testicular cancer, and claimed it was listening to the Real Mckenzies that gave him the fight he needed to get him through that rough time. That fucking meant a lot to me.

LB: Wow that must have been very emotional show for everyone at the show.

PKM: Yes it really was. That is my greatest achievement so far.

LB: So what is the typical pre show Real McKenzie meal to get your rebel rousing energy?

PKM: Well I will not eat junk food at all. I will go without a meal before I eat that shit. I love to eat some sushi before a show, but that’s not always an option. (Karl Alveraz walks into the room.)

KA: Tim Horton’s is all you need man.

LB: So you have been introduced to the Timmy Ho’s institution have you Karl?

KA: You can’t tour this country and not know Tim Horton’s.

PKM: Tim Horton’s is shite. I will eat the bagels and that is it.

LB: What is the single worst change in music for at this point from when you started? What is the best?

PKM: Well it would just have to be the contrived manipulated way they try to image and market punk rock. It has just been so diluted and watered down, and it’s so far from where it began. The best I guess would be the internet and the way you can promote yourself. I am also taking a pay cut because everyone downloads music, but the way you can connect with people is unbelievable.

LB: So do you feel you need to carry that torch and show the new generation a part of that history?

PKM: No we don’t need to, we just do because we love to.

LB: What is a common thread that Real Mckenzies fans have around the world?

PKM: Well there are a few common threads actually. One is usually a Celtic heritage. Two is that they really like to have a good time. And three is an insatiable thirst for the booze.

LB: Well that is almost it for time could you tell us what is in the near future for The Real Mckenzies?

PKM: Well I am going to finish this beer, and then I am going to go upstairs and get another, and then we are going to rock the Horseshoe Tavern. Then we will finish this cross Canada tour followed by some European tours this summer, and then we will go into a studio in Berlin where we will record our next album followed by more touring after that.

LB: Wow sounds ambitious Paul. That’s it for me. I just want to thank you for the interview and give you this chance for any last words?

PKM: Well thank you for talking to me, and I won’t lie I am going to drink Scotch Whiskey until the day I die.