I had a chat with the U.V Race singer and Warrigal personality, Mr. Marcus Rechsteiner in the PBS boardroom. This is the best of our time together...
M- So what UV Race things do you wanna know?
Z- What have you guys been doing in the last few months?
M- Been playing shows, Lots of behind the scenes stuff oh well i don't do alot of that behind the scenes stuff. Al and Dan do all that, Al's been doing his honours and Dan's been studying and working full time with Flip Out. They've been organising our photo shoots- well photo shoots sounds wanky but just like our artwork and stuff. We just put out a 7" called Malaria on SS Records in Sacramento and our album comes out soon on Aarght! Records as well. But yeah just shit like that. I've been writing lots of songs and updating our blog. Al and Georgia use it alot.
Z- So could you just do a run through of the other bands you guys are in?
M- First off there’s Al and Dan in Straightjacket Nation. Al plays bass and Dan sings, hardcore band like crazy fast. I don't think I’ve seen any other band play as fast. Oh maybe Cult Minds or Cut Sick but their all pretty fast. They've been going for 5 years but when we started which was in 2007 in June they'd been around for 3 years so it meant that Al and Dan were more confident being in bands. Al and I went to high school together and we listened to Frenzal Rhomb and NOFX and lots of other punk stuff. And then in year 11 or 12 Al progressed to the hardcore stuff and started going to alot of shows. Places like Pink Palace, Arthouse. So i knew Dan through Al and then i got to know all my Melbourne friends coz me and Al are from Warrigal but he moved to Brunswick and i still live in Warrigal.
We worked with Moses in a summer job packing boxes of school supplies. You get like stationary supplies; you get a bag and all your text books at the start of the year. We used to pack them. Then we also went to school with Emily. She did that job as well and Al went out with her in year 10. Georgia's a punk we know from Wangaratta. But the 4 of us, Al myself Moses and Emily are from Warrigal.
But now I'm in Ally-oop & The Hoopsters, coz I'm friends with Ally Spazzy. Got to know her through the Aarght! boys. Moses has been thinking about being in another band, not sure... So what was i talking about? Oh yeah Georgia's in another band i forget the name but she's playing guitar, she plays sax in the U.V Race. And Al's in Dick Diver now as well.
Z- So everyone else lives in Melbourne except you?
M- Yeah. All the members from Warrigal moved a while ago to go and study. Alot of people move out of Warrigal, all the good people at least. Warrigals a bit of a dive, creatively. It's great to grow up, it's got everything. About 14, 000 people live there. It's not too big, it's not too small. We got a hospital there, got a bowling alley and movies for entertainment. Sports really big in Warrigal as with most country towns like footy, cricket and all that kinda like blokey stuff. It's surrounded by really good soil by which i mean farmland. It's got alot of dairy farms around Warrigal. We'd never get a gig in Warrigal because Warrigal pubs don't put on live original bands, only cover bands.
Z- Would you ever consider doing a cover set in Warrigal?
M- Well Al and i have always toyed with that idea but i don't know i feel like that's sacrificing too much. I kind of hate cover bands coz it's like- oh i feel like a dickhead saying it. I feel real snobbish but when you make music you're putting your soul kind of into it, you put your experience into it and then you go "hey! Look, this is what I’ve made, what do you think?" it's like an artist; an artist paints something and then goes "hey! I’ve done this what do you think?" and a lot people think artists are really confident but artists are some of the most self loathing-self conscious people I’ve known. Their always like craving for acceptance and stuff like that so I’d like to risk having people in warrigal liking or not liking it rather than just doing the safe thing and it's covers and then i know their gonna like it. But it's nothing that i've created. It's something that’s already tested. I know they like Jessies Girl or Summer Of 69 so let’s play it. It's kind of cheating, there’s no risk. It's like I’ve put nothing into this song. Like when i sing songs like Dog Tired it's coz I’ve been fuckin really tired. Worried i was gonna get fired from work and then when i sing Lego Man i actually thought how cool would it be to be a Lego man, you know shit like that. That’s why i go so stupid onstage.
Z- I remember watching you guys with Eddy Current and Quintron and you dressed up like that guy Greg. Could you describe Greg for anyone who didn't meet him?
M- Strange dude. He was more into Australian rock n roll than we were like not joking, like seriously he went to see Spencer P. Jones like 10 times. Went to see Brian Hooper 8 times. And he loves Lubricated Goat, he bought Leather Donut! He used to catch taxi rides with Spencer P. Jones. He went to Brian Hoopers girlfriend’s family house for Christmas Day... and like hung out with them. Their an Iranian family and there’s Greg this weird punk guy from Cleveland in double denim holding a bag of records. He showed me photos of him with Gareth Liddiard of The Drones, he had a photo of him with Nick Cave coz Brian Hooper knows Nick Cave obviously.
Z- Yeah when i met him i told him i knew one of the guys from Thug which is this really old fucked up rap/industrial/experimental band that Tex Perkins was in and his eyes lit up and he's like "I had to pay like $90 each for the 2 records".
M- Yeah he kind of ordered me around, like Dan always tells me "Oi Marcus get me a lemon, lime and bitters" and then Greg started going "Hey Marcus get me a lemon, lime and bitters". And like "Oh do this, oh that’s fricken hilarious, do that!". So then i started cracking in like "Stop being so fucken demanding". But yeah i reckon he had OCD coz like me and Al would be chatting, best friends for 10 years, "Ally pally see snake" which is what Al's dad called Al one time. Greg thought it was soo funny he was like "That's freakin hilarious! I freakin love that!". And he used to call Moses "Mo man Williams". We still say all this weird stuff he used to coz it just cracks us up. Haha "Oh Moses if you have time could you like take me to Dixons and look at some records, i really hope there’s a Beasts Of Bourbon record i been looking for."
Z- So lets talk about Flip Out
M- Yeah Flip Out's gonna be sick, it'll be our first show in Sydney and Eddy Current is playing. Lots of good bands as well like Pink Reason and James Arthurs Manhunt. Oh and Super Wild Horses. We're just playing the Sydney one this year so we all get to go to Melbourne Flip Out and hang out oh except Al coz he's gotta play with Dick Diver. I did a song called Accidental Lover with Super Wild Horses at the last one. And then we recorded a few other songs together. Uv Horses. 4 or 5 songs. We actually did a Troggs cover together.
You know I’ve always wondered what the UV Race looks like from say you or someone else in the crowd. The reason i act like such a dickhead on stage, I’m not a huge music fan unlike Al, Dan and Moses even coz they all just love music and buy it and that. If you actually quiz me you'd find out i know jackshit about music, i know basically nothing. You know it’s weird i see bands that play like crazy fuck off music and it's loud and fast but they do nothing and just stand there. I think, i could just put on a cd and imagine you doing crazy shit. it just annoys me that bands just like go with the motions and it's just like their jamming but there’s a bunch of people hanging out. So i like to do something different. I like to wear costumes and at the start i was wearing a golden glove and a jacket. It became me. I used to have a crazy mullet too.
Z- That mullet was incredible!
M- I've just dyed it the other day and it's a bit of fun, change it up and stuff. I've had a reverse Mohawk before, I’ve had a Mohawk, I’ve had the lesbian cut with the bits of hair on the side, I’ve always gotta change. And it makes it easier to remember gigs! coz people go "Oh yeah I’ve seen you play before" and i go "Oh where?" they tell me where and we always play the Birmy or The Tote usually.
