Deal’s Gone Bad
Interviews | Oct 30th, 1999
Since ska has seen better days, many ska bands have jumped ship and embraced swing. Yet, Deal’s Gone Bad seems to embrace sea shanties and pirate imagery. Would you say your new target audience is disillusioned ska kids, now looking for a life in piracy (the obvious “next big thing”)?
“Jumped Ship” – Clever! Bad ass as it might be, I don’t see the modern piracy scene really taking off like say… swing. For starters it’s really cost prohibitive, it generally goes down in far off places (air fare to Laos ain’t cheap!), you need a speed boat… machine gun… it’s high maintenance. And that don’t last – take a look at swing.
Rather than encouraging piracy as a vocation I think we’ve taken it upon ourselves to celebrate the rich pirate heritage we as Americans share. Sure the pirates hung out in Jamaica and Haiti – what many of us fail to realize is that they also hung out in Massachusettes and Maryland! Black Beard himself got his head lopped off in South Carolina! Betcha didn’t know THAT!
Essentially we’re urging every one to get in touch with their own “Inner Pirate” . Let it rip! You know you love ’em – Arrrg.
Is “Shame and Humiliation” (from Overboard) directed towards anyone specific? Are they fightin’ words? Do I have to go and open a can of whoop ass??
Nah… nobody I can think of offhand. Now that you mention it though…
You have played shows with like-sounding band The Skoidats. Has there ever been any tensions? Jealousies? Uncontrollable lust?
The Skoidats were rad. Down for the crime from the first moment we met ’em back stage in Cincinnati. We busted into the room and it was basically “Hey we’re Deal’s Gone Bad. We’ll be drinkin’ with you for a while.” And they said “Ok. Let’s take care of business.” They’re Pirates. Other than that… their horn player had a mighty fine moustache, but I’m going to have to stop short of lust.
Observe the facts: [Bandmembers] Brian Garibaldi, Mike Corcoran, Phil Ohst, Karl Gustafson… all names I can’t pronounce. You’re the third or fourth Mike Park in a ska band. Your band name contains a possible redundant apostrophe. Care to explain?
A1: Come on tough guy – I’ll give you “Ohst” but the rest are pretty easy!
A2: Feel free to refer to me as Mike “Chuck Norris” Park. Mike Parks are genetically built for ska.
A3: The apostrophe is NOT redundant. It’s a contraction as in “The Deal Has Gone Bad”. I’ve considered taking up the stage name “Ronnie James Deal” – making the apostrophe possessive “Deal’s” but like swing and modern piracy – it was just too damn much work.
People spend months pouring over Pink Floyd’s cover art, searching for clues to their buried hidden treasure. Where would one look on the cover of Overboard to find DGB’s treasure?
I can’t give it away – BUT – you might want to check out the ol’ SS JUAN there.
Could machines think?
Not currently – but we’re working on it.
Sharks vs. Dinosaurs, who would win?
Sharks already did. And yes they do eat pirates sometimes only parts of pirates (peg legs, hook hands). You’ve gotta respect the shark.
Check out the Deal’s Gone Bad website at dealsgonebad.com for upcoming shows, news, merchandise, pics, and lots more cool stuff! And check out the Jump Up! site at jumpuprecords.com.
