Spike and The Gimme Gimmes take on Mariah Carey
Spike Slawson of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, at the Musack Rocks Carnival 2024. All photos courtesy of Kim Moenich.
When Melanie from the Punk Rock Museum reached out to ask if anyone from the magazine wanted to interview Spike Slawson, the bigger-than-life lead vocalist from the band formerly known as Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, I jumped at the chance. I have seen Me First (now known as Spike and the Gimme Gimmes) more than a dozen times over the years and am a huge fan. I will admit that I was a little nervous going into the interview, as I could only imagine how Spike’s real-life persona would match up to his onstage one. Needless to say, I was not disappointed!
I had initially told Melanie that it was going to be a bad week for me to do the interview, as I was cooking all week in preparation for my massive Friendsgiving on Saturday (I ended up cooking 46 dishes for over 40 people!) But that was when Spike could chat, so I set it up. I downloaded the free version of Zoom on my phone, which gave me a 40 minute session, which I felt sure would be plenty of time. I was wrong. Ninety minutes, and a million stories later (after having to upgrade to the paid version of Zoom) I had to excuse myself to get back to cooking!
All of that to say that this was the most fun and most frenetic interview I’ve ever conducted- or, more precisely, have ever sat for while my subject regaled me with hilarious tales that had me nearly snorting.
I did come into this interview prepared. The purpose of the interview was to talk about the just-released Xmas single, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, the somewhat disturbing calendar it comes with, and the upcoming tour. While that topic did come up for about five minutes, the rest of the 85 minute conversation was a rollercoaster ride of dips into topics like Spike’s inspirations (The Saints are his all-time favorite band and he brought them up multiple times throughout the interview), songs they absolutely would never do (“Desperado” by The Eagles- they hate it, and Hip Hop or The Kinks and The Beatles- “you don’t want me trying to rap, and The Kinks and The Beatles are perfect the way they are!”), and the time they got booed off the stage in Spike’s hometown of Pittsburgh.
Pointing to the newspaper clipping on the wall behind him, Spike told me the tale that I had planned on avoiding during the interview. Back in August 2006, MFGG was hired to play three nights during a Pittsburgh Pirates home series versus the Astros. Spike was nervous about playing on his home turf, having grown up in the Pittsburgh area, which he doesn’t think of with fond memories. According to Spike, the show was doomed from the start. After warm-up the first day, a Union stage manager, who had watched the sound check, crossed his arms and shouted over his shoulder to his workers, “It is what it is." Spike said the song list was chosen for them, including “Sweet Caroline,” which is the Boston Red Sox 8th inning rally song. As soon as the band started playing “Stairway to Heaven,” the boos began. Fat Mike started laughing, realizing that the proverbial sh*t was about to hit the fan. Spike said he couldn’t look at Mike for the rest of the performance, because he knew they would both lose it. The band finished the set and were promptly told they would not be coming back for the final two nights. “We wore it as a badge of honor, though, you know. 35,000 people booing a punk band at a baseball game makes sense. It wouldn’t have been cool if they had loved us.”
I asked how he ended up in a cover band with Fat Mike and Joey Cape. Spike was working in the shipping room at Fat Wrecks after moving to Cali from Pittsburgh. He said that Mike and Chris often heard him singing 70’s and 80’s tunes in the shipping room and that Spike was in a cover band at the time with members of seminal Cali punk band Psychotic Pineapple. Mike and Joey wanted to start a cover band, so they asked Spike to join, and that was that. (Spike added that, after shipping an entire pallet of merch to the wrong country while NOFX was on a European tour, he realizes now that Mike might have had an ulterior motive in getting him out of the shipping room!)
There have been numerous lineup changes over the years, and Spike is the only original member left. That, and, per Spike, “my malignant narcissism,” led to the recent name change to Spike and The Gimme Gimmes (he was joking, of course; he is anything but narcissistic, often giving all the credit for the band's success and amazing wardrobes to Audra, the band’s stylist extraordinaire). When I asked about the current band members, Spike could not stop gushing about their talents. He spoke of a recent road trip with CJ Ramone, where CJ told him about how he was in the Marine Corps Brig when he got word that he had been chosen to be in The Ramones. Spike talked of how fortunate he was to have incredible musicians like John Reis (Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes), Andrew Pinching (The Damned, English Dogs), and Jake Kiley (Strung Out) playing with him. “It only takes us fifteen minutes of trying out a song to know if it’s going to work,” Spike said. “We only make tweaks to songs. That’s really all anybody [in the audience] can handle. We don’t completely rewrite it. Just tweaks. Like when we start with ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and go into ‘Love Will Bring Us Together.’ I really don’t know where those ideas come from. It’s just blind luck!” he told me. I think I know better—when you have some of the best musicians in all of punk rock in one room, there are no happy coincidences!
CJ Ramone performing with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes at the Musack Rock Carnival 2024. photo by Kim Moenich
When asked what keeps the band going? Especially since they’re a “cover band.” Spike said it gives them an outlet to be characters other than their true selves in front of a rabid audience. “You aren’t able to be your true self and still have people adore you, so you get to be this crazy version of you, wearing these crazy costumes, and people love it,” Spike said.
“We don’t want to be the heroes of our own stories; we want to be the eels. The more you invoke your audience to fits of outrage, the more T-shirts you sell. Today’s punk bands have forgotten that.” He added that CJ once said, “If you leave one of our shows unsure if you are interested, engaged, or aroused, then we’ve done our job.”
I can’t think of a better way to describe a Gimme Gimmes set.
The group frequently welcomes special guests for live performances. All photos courtesy of Kim Moenich
Mariah Carey was “an obvious choice,” Spike said, for the next Gimmes Christmas song. “We’re piggybacking on the momentum that gets created at this time every year when her song is unleashed,” he added.
When asked if the Christmas songs will eventually become an album, Spike said, “Absolutely. But we’re playing the long game—putting out a song every year and seeing where it goes.”
So for now, you’ll have to make do with the red floppy of Spike doing Mariah. And don’t get me started on what Swami John is doing for Easter on the calendar. You can see for yourself by picking it up from Fat Wreck Chords and by catching the band on their West Coast and UK/Ireland Christmas tour starting this week.
Currently tearing through the U.S. with dates in California, Nevada, and Arizona.
Then Spike and the band jump the pond for tour of Ireland and the UK
December 9: Electric Bristol – Bristol, United Kingdom
December 10: KK’s Steel Mill – Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
December 11: Manchester Academy 2 – Manchester, United Kingdom
December 13: Limelight – Belfast, United Kingdom
December 14: Cyprus Avenue – Cork, Ireland
December 15: Opium – Dublin, Ireland
December 17: Glasgow Garage – Glasgow, United Kingdom
December 19: Rock City – Nottingham, United Kingdom
December 20: Electric Ballroom – London, United Kingdom
