Grand Theft Audio Interview

Grand Theft Audio is a fairly new band from England.
You don’t know how to handle the drugs or the girls, we’ll ‘ave ‘em.

Jimmy Jazz: Has anyone in the band ever stolen a car?
Jay of GTA: I have. Yeah, when I was a very young and impressionable young man. But I didn’t get very far did I? I managed to get to the end of the road before they caught me. The worst bit of car theft ever committed.

Jazz: On the internet I came across a punk label called Grand Theft Audio and an MTV Special called “Napster: Grand Theft Audio.” Is it difficult to find an original band name these days?

ay: Obviously is innit? Ha ha. It seems to be. I don’t know, things get in those cycles. I was in a band before and we tried for ages to get a name and we ended up calling it Viva Finito. And then that week, suddenly I saw 20 other things with Viva. I don’t think you can win, whatever you do. We used to be called The Infidels before I joined, and I just thought it was a shit name. It didn’t mean anything. It just sounded like some horrible Love Aid catalog.

Jazz: How do you feel about Napster? (This was before it was bought by a big corporation.)
Jay: I think everyone’s getting worked up about nothing. I remember in the eighties when it was like, ‘Home taping is killing music’ and all this rubbish. Really, it’s just cool because it means people can access your stuff straight away. Listen to it. And I don’t believe for a minute that people won’t buy the record. If they like the band they’re going to buy the record because they want all the packaging, all the shit, the lyrics…you know what I mean? I don’t think it makes much difference really. I think it’s a good thing. I use it all the time, and I still buy records.

Jazz: How does your record company feel about it?
Jay: I should imagine they’ve got a very different stance on it. Ha ha. I don’t think they worry too much about it; they’re pretty cool. I think for them, from a business point of view, they’ve probably got different ideas about it than me. But it doesn’t bother me at all.

Jazz: There’s a song on the album called “Drugs and Girls” So what kind of drugs do you use?
Jay: You bring ‘em, we’ll do ‘em. How can I say anything without
incriminating myself? Nothing, but legal drugs we take. It’s kind of a piss-take of like… we’re just thinking more of those crappy sort of boy bands, really like ‘Fuck you.

Jazz: Is there anything hip going on in England that we don’t have over here in the States?
Jay: Yeah there’s a band that might just be getting across here called Groop DogDrill that I really like. They’re great. And there’s another band called V8 Pack. You know V8, as in motorcycle engine. But they’re fucking rockin’, man. It’s still sort of an underground thing in England, lots of sleazy hard rock. It’s kind of like the antidote to this Korn sort of sound.

Jazz: In the bio it says that the band is “politically incorrect.” How did you earn that title?
Jay: The last band on the planet that likes pussy and ain’t afraid to say it (Ha Ha). It’s like, we have a very English sense of humor where nothing’s sacred innit? You know what I mean? There’s some heavy drinking that goes on in this band, so it’s usually smutty. I think the only thing we’re not is fuckin’ racist. Apart from everything else we’re probably quite of lewd about things.

Jazz: Your on-line tour diary said that you had a rough gig in Denver opening for the UK Subs. What happened?
Jay: This bunch of Nazi assholes turned up. They were like skinheads, like the SS brigade. They were all real idiots. During the show they were throwing bottles and ashtrays at us. I can’t help it, I’m going ‘Throw more, like try an’ ‘it me.’ I’m 6’ 4” and these pricks are standing like two feet away and they can’t hit me. I’m like ‘You’re the world’s worst shots.’ Skinheads can’t play darts, it’s as simple as that. They were just idiots man, They were really ugly. They turned up en masse, beat each other up, then left. It was really strange. Man, why didn’t you just get your self a hotel room and save yourself some dollars between you? Go there and kick the shit out of other, you idiots! I didn’t think people like that existed anymore. I thought that was old-fashioned. I didn’t think anyone was that stupid.

Jazz: How can people find out where and when you’re playing?
Jay: They can check it out on the website [www.grantheftaudio-online.com.] We’re just going to fuckin’ blitz it next year. Just tour and tour and tour and tour. No days off for us next year. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon and really hitting it, so bring your attitude and your fuckin’ stamina and we’ll go for it!