Photo credit: Braden Rhys
Kevin McCauley, aka Big Germ, of Canadian punk band Big City Germs, currently on a 30 gig tour across March and April that began in Japan, finishes in Istanbul, and pulls in to Phnom Penh for one show only at Cloud next Friday, 3 April, with Soselo Summer in support. Hear a sample on YouTube. Media: Vancouver Sun Taiwan News
Do you have a pet musical hate / pet peeve?
Bands that look bored on stage. If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, why should anyone else?
A private musical indulgence:
Eurovision. My girlfriend made me start watching it and now I’m addicted.
The year you first came to Cambodia:
2004. I am long overdue for a visit.
An early music memory:
Blowing out a cheap amp in a freezing Yukon garage, thinking it sounded like the end of the world. That feeling never really left.
The last thing you had to eat:
I drunkenly bought a skewer from a 7/11 in China and it was only the next day that I realized it was intestine covered in barbecue sauce. The boys in the band are calling it asshole-on-a-stick. Wasn’t that bad, actually, but certainly something that would be hard to find in Canada.
Stagefright – yes or no?
No. Maybe our first couple shows. But now I know what needs be done to get the crowd into it. I just kinda go numb and enter flow state.
A country you want to visit:
Iraq. We’re actually playing there on this tour, which still feels surreal. A war started nearby two days before our tour started, so we’ll see if we’re able to get there. But at this point I fully intend to.
A book or movie you keep going back to:
Terminator 2. It gets more accurate every time I watch it.
What languages do you have?
English. Survival-level Mandarin. A few words in French. Mostly just enough to get into trouble.
Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:
Guitar. Started as a teenager, badly, and just kept going.
Something people might be surprised to know about you:
I used to be the resident DJ in the world’s largest casino in Macau. Very different chaos.
You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?
Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, 1976. Half the room went on to start bands. That’s the kind of energy you chase forever.
A question from the last participant: While being an artist, how do you take care of yourself, and get the right recharge?
Movement and momentum. Travel, new people, new environments. The recharge is the process itself. When it stops, that’s when things get weird.