DD (Downstream Discourse): First off for the record whoís who and who plays what?

Dameon: Viva La Rue. Bass technician.

Dave: Cisco Beretta. I sing and play guitar.

Ron: Aquarius one-hundred and thirty pounds.[drums]

DD: How did you guys initially get together as a band?

Dameon: Thereís this bar in Albuquerque called the Mining Company, itís where men go to meet men. They have 25 cents draft nights every Thursday.

(First interruption: Jeff Ott attacks Dave and pumps him full of Heroin until Dave admits that his only true love is the band Fifteen)

Were all slugging down some 25 cent beers and I saw this sexy one

[Dave]

sitting over at the corner bar.

Dave: And I wanted his sugar daddy, if not for the week at least for the night.

Dameon: We had some common interest. We were both in to Motley Crew and Iron Maiden and stuff, so we started talking about rock and next thing I know we just started rockiní

Dave: We should give you a legitimate answer huh.

DD: Sure why not.

Dave: Six years ago me and a guy named Jeff got together, he had a drum set. Jeff found Dameon at a party passed out on the floor with long hair and said you know how to playbass and heís like, ìI donít knowî.     About three years ago we got Ron in the unit and its been great eversince. Europe acouple times, Japan once hopefully again this year.

DD: What are your individual musical influences?

Ron: I donít know....everything. I think I can speak for all of us, we all like pretty much every kind of music except for modern ska.   Bands that I like right now are the Fatal Flying Guillotines, theRondells, and Turbo Negro, but I think my influences draw strictly from Frank Sinatra, theZombies, Elvis, and Willie Nelson. My drumming style is John Bonum, Led Zeppelin.

Dave: You wish.

Dameon: Lemy [Motorhead] because he sucks and so do I.

Dave: Like Ron I canít really listen to a lot of new stuff. The new bands I do like are few and far between like Dillinger Four, who we just finished the tour with I love those guys, my favorite ìpunk rock bandî. I just like stuff thatís sole full and sole full can mean so many different things like just legitimately feeling it. I like Cool Keith, good hip hop like Dr. Octagon and Dr. Doom.

Ron: Thatís just it, anything thats got sole to it we dig thatís the only reason were doing it.

DD: How do you feel about original ska like Prince Buster?

Ron: Weíre heavily down with that shit we love that shit.

(Second interruption: Frantic Scared Of Chaka fan falls to his knees to kiss the sweat soaked toes of Dave, Ron, and Dameon)

Dave: I love rock steady, I love the old blue beat studio one shit, Prince Buster, Desmond Decker, the Skatilltes. An obscure band called the Paragons, they had a single out.

(Third interruption: Weíre attacked by hippies as a traveling circus parades straight through our interview)

DD: Tell me a little about the Take Action Tour and what charity are you donating your share to.

Dave: Basically Fifteen and us, the only two bands on Sub City officially have our own charities. They have something to do with Earth First and we have something to do with a local runaway shelter.

DD: Why did you decide to donate to the runaway shelter?

Dave: Were not the biggest political band. So it took the longest time to decide what we were going to donate to. The one thing that we agreed on was something local in Albuquerque and for kids, because we all care about taking care of kids. Everyday of the tour is a different charity tonightís Food Not Bombs.

DD: How would you describe your music?

Dave: I write what ever comes out. With Scared Of Chaka I try to keep it fast rock, sole full shit you can feel and sweat out to. It always turns out to be pop or garage sounding, people always call it so many different things.

DD: If you could recommend one record for someone to own what would it be?

Dave: Torbo Negro ìApocalypse Dudesî its on Mans Ruin on vinyl and I think Flipside might be putting it on cd. The bands from Norway their all about glam punk like make up all their lyrics are about fucking boys. Super homo-punk big time bad ass metal. Itís part Kiss, Joan Jett, AC DC, Ramones, Dead Boys.

Ron: That is a really really tough question. If I have one record I love it and it stays on the turntable for six weeks but then maybe I donít listen to it for awhile but if itís good I always come back to it. One really awesome record is one of Willie Nelsonís first records called ìHello Wallsî.

Dameon: Uew, thatís so difficult. Can I do two? Iíll give two opposite extremes. The

Damned ìMachine Gun Edictî and as the mellow record the Rufus Wainright record the new one.

DD: Whatís the strangest thing that ever happened at a show you were playing?

Dave: Itís kind of an old story but someone got shot, didnít die but it was still freaky, just got shot in the arm. We were playing at the guys apartment it was this party and it got kind of out of hand. The guys roommate came home and he didnít know about the party and got upset about it. He was really drunk and was with his friend and his friend had a gun. He was this really tough kind of bully guy and had had a history with the roommate who had had the party so that was a good excuse for them to get in some altercation. This huge brawl breaks out and bottles of beer are flying against the wall everyoneís screaming and someone gets shot it was horrible.

DD: Do you guys have any personal philosophies about life?

Ron: I think Dave and I can both relate to this one and itís a quote from Boogie Nights where someone is dising on somebody elseís get up and he says, ìYou know what, wear what you digî and that applies in life just do what you dig. Donít let anyone tell you different and do what you want to do. Personally thatís were Iím coming from especially growing up in a close minded Mid-western town. Everyoneís telling you to do something but you just got to do whatís right for yourself and follow your gut and your heart.

Dave: For punk kids, realize that punk is basically like a restrictize society within itself dispite the fact that it disguises itself as something against society. See things in a grand scope and understand stuff as what it is.

Dameon: Take no wooden nickels, take a shower every three days. Scratch my balls when I need to.

DD: What is it like being a band in New Mexico?

Ron: Thereís not many bands, thereís one or two punk bands that are into one genre of punk, thereís one garage band, thereís a couple pop bands, thereís two or three hardcore bands, but thereís just not a whole lot going on there. But on the other hand its really cool for us because being from a small town we donít really strive to be popular in our home town what our goal is is to get out and travel and try to record and tour as much as we can and see whats going on.

Dave: Inspire other bands around us.

Ron: We get inspired going on the road and seeing other bands so hopefully itís a nice trade off.

DD: Any closing comments?

Ron: We're Scared of Chaka from Albuquerque New Mexico. We're out of our element weíre sweaty and tired, shit I donít know what to say. Do what you dig, put on a Sinatra record every now and then.

Dameon: Do what you feel but keep it real.

Ron and Dameon: Representingí Des Nuts.

(Ron and Dameon do a little Be-bopping rap, doesnít translate well to paper)

Ron: Everybody check out the Swangz Boys from Minneapolis, Captain Funk a Hoe from the Bay Area and Wimys from Sweden and Turbo Negro from Osloe Norway. 

(End note: perspiration references can only be truly appreciated after a trip to Stalag 13 in the middle of the summer)