With Soundwave 2009 literally just around the corner, boasting a line-up roster never before seen or to be repeated, it seems there are bands left right and centre that are ready and amped to play the big Australian festival. One of these headline acts is no other than the rude, crude and in your face 'Bloodhound Gang'. Sporting a back log of tracks about sex, boobs, drugs, alcohol, bestiality and even more sexual innuendos that are impossible to count on a modern day calculator, Bloodhound Gang have finally returned to Australia for Soundwave 2009. With popular radio favourites such as "The Bad Touch" and "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo", while also having a huge back catalogue of cult favourites to please their true fans, Bloodhound Gang are set to be crowd favourites at Bassendean oval. We were privileged enough to score a chat with bassist Evil Jared (speaking from a dying cell phone), covering the complex and grotesque history behind the band and some insight into what the future holds.

OTB: Who would you say is the creative and lyrical genius behind BHG? Is it a singular effort or does it happen as a team?

EJ: Yeah we kinda work together on it. I don't know if it's ahh... Genius is a strong term. What's the opposite of that? Retarded?

OTB: Well it was pretty impressive being able to actually get away with it all.

EJ: Well you know, we've spent more than our fair share of time in jail. I'm hoping that seeing that your whole society down there is based upon a bunch of criminals that weren't allowed to live in England anymore; I hope that we will be able to get away with a little bit more of our crap down there.

OTB: That's it! We're all just a bunch of breadstick stealers down here!

OTB: Now you've been there from the start, I understand you used to have the boys play in your house before you joined the band?

EJ: As a matter of fact, that's how I ended up getting into the band. We were in college (...some of us are actually college educated) and I used to have this old road house is Philadelphia and every six weeks or so, to help us make rent money we would have parties. Five bands, five kegs, five dollars. I would hire bands to play in the basement; one of those bands was the Bloodhound Gang, which at that point was these five white guys that would go down there and rap over a ghetto blaster. They were terrible! I would put the beer behind the band just to make sure people would go down there and see the band. There would be people waiting at the top of the stairs, like 'You guys want a drink?' you know 'The beer's down there', 'Ah yeah, we'll wait until the band's done.' They're scaring away my customers.

OTB: So what happened next?

EJ: Well the next time they showed up, I was going to tell them it would be the last time. They're just bad for business. Then, the next time they showed up, they did something that changed everything. They have this new guy who does the rapping. He is wearing nothing but hip waders (rubber fishing pants). In the middle of the set, he strips naked, covered in tattoos and starts rolling around on the floor. Now the punk rock band I was in at the time, we would go out and take all the garbage from the streets and smash that. So there is like broken TV's, microwaves and glass all over the floor. He rolls around in the broken glass, get's covered in blood and then (pause) he plays switch em. Are you familiar with switch em?

OTB: Ahh... no?

EJ: Well in the game of switch em, you stick one thumb in your mouth and one thumb up your butt and then... you switch em!

OTB: erupting laughter!

EJ: I was like YES YES YES! Genius! You got it, that's it! Music and a show! This is a band I want to be associated with! (Laughing hysterically) It was from this point that the disgusting show and crappy music eventually came together to shape the direction of the Bloodhound Gang. Just the gross out acts or poor music would never stand on its own, but together we were presented with a complete Bloodhound Gang that we know and love today.

OTB: So graduating from the basements and small clubs, once you started to make it big and start touring, I noticed you spent a lot of time in Europe. Why so?

EJ: Yeah. It was ok for the guys to be sticking things up their butt for entertainment in the living room, but once we started going out to clubs where people were going to see us and they have police and regulations, entertainment involving the human butt hole is no longer considered acceptable because America is so puritanical and bible building. But in Europe, they love poop! They cannot get enough! That explains a lot of our popularity over there.

OTB: So you got to get away with a lot more of what you wanted.

EJ: Where do they stand on the butt in Australia? I'm wondering how much poop humour we can get away with there?

OTB: I think we could take it fine. Officials maybe not but the crowd should be fine!

EJ: Public nudity is fine? We could run around naked?

OTB: Well we do get streakers during sport a lot of the time. They usually get arrested though...

OTB: So you are coming to Soundwave, are we looking at a no boundaries show?

EJ: Well Perth is going to be the last day of the festival, so it could be good or it could be bad. If we get arrested a bunch of times at the other shows, then chances are you're going to get a really gelded Bloodhound Gang, we wouldn't be able to do anything for fear of ending up in some Australian jail. If we've been able to get away with a bunch of shit at the other shows, Perth is going to be where we try everything!

OTB: So toy around with the other states and go all out here? I like it.

EJ: That's right; you will get to see every bodily fluid you can imagine.

OTB: Have you toured or are you friends with any of the other bands on the line up?

EJ: You would think so ... having bands you haven't heard from since the 90s (NIN, Alice In Chains), it would mean we would know some of them. I've never met any of those other arseholes.

laughs cheekily

OTB: Due to the unique line-up, it might be a good excuse to party and meet everyone?

EJ: Yeah! I don't think you're going to see Alice in Chains and Red Jumpsuit touring together anytime soon in the near future.

OTB: So we haven't heard anything new from BHG for three to four years, since Foxtrot, what have you guys been doing?

EJ: We've been spending a lot of time in the European touring scene, not much time in the studio. But we're working on it right now, a bunch of new crap.

OTB: So there is something new coming up?

EJ: Yeah there are plans for a new album depending if we can get our act together. I want to put out a new album, but I've seen what happens when bands from our era try and put out new albums. I mean, have you heard Chine Democracy?!

OTB: I made a protest not to listen to it; I heard it was that bad.

EJ: Yeah... that's why I want to quit while we are ahead.

OTB: You guys imitated Axel at one stage on an early album for a commercial skit yes?

EJ: Yep! A long time ago back in the day. We thought it was funny to imitate him back then doing his voice. Now we've started imitating him through the time we take off between albums!

Now we can look forward to closing the 12 year gap from Bloodhound Gang's last visit to Australia back in 1997. Fighting a dying cell phone and over staying our set time frame for the chat, On the Barrier was able to capture that small piece of the Bloodhound Gang that has set expectations high for the stage show to come! I for one will be up on that barrier, with a rain poncho to protect myself from the variety of bodily fluids heading our way!

 

 By Shane Musarra