Interviews

Interview byMarcia Taylor

    When I was asked to interview Antiseen, I have to admit that I knew absolutely nothing about the band. In fact, I had the group mixed up with another band, The Unseen. I contacted the band's record label, TKO, and received two discs of a series that the label is reissuing. I learned that the group is from North and South Carolinas and plays rock 'n' roll tunes with names like "Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five Pound Bag", "Fornication", "Ruby, Get Back to the Hills", and "Fuck All Y'all". Band members are Doug Canipe on bass, Jeff Clayton on vocals and washboard, Sir Barry Hannibal on drums, and Joe Young on guitar. Research at the band's Website revealed some interesting facts, such as that Antiseen was one of the original founders of an annual Southern rockfest called the Confederacy of Scum. Further, interviews posted on the site (mostly from foreign zines) focused on Clayton's somewhat controversial political beliefs (avidly pro-death penalty) and the choice of material covered (a song by white-power band Skrewdiver). I also learned that the band recorded albums with the late GG Allin, as well as with Alice Cooper guitarist Michael Bruce; and that the group is really into the professional-wrestling scene. Last, Antiseen is best known for its intense live shows. I hate to own up to it, but I was nervous about talking to Clayton, who seemed to be, from all I could gather, an insane hillbilly—albeit one with a sense of humor. I was pleasantly surprised when he turned out to be a soft-spoken country boy who expressed his opinions with forethought and courtesy.

SKRATCH: So, Antiseen has been a band since 1983, with you and Joe Young being the surviving original members?
CLAYTON: Yes—although Sir Barry Hannibal, our drummer, has been with the band longer than anyone else ever stayed.

SKRATCH: How long has Doug Canipe been with you?
CLAYTON: Two years. It seemed like we had a revolving door for bass players for a while.

SKRATCH: Did any of them explode, like the drummer in THIS IS SPINAL TAP?
CLAYTON: Not yet—but that would have made it more interesting.

SKRATCH: Did you want to be in a band when you were a kid?
CLAYTON: I wanted to be in the spotlight in some shape or form, either in a rock band or as a wrestler. I'm really just a disgruntled wrestler.

SKRATCH: Was Antiseen your first band?
CLAYTON: No, I've been playing in bands since '76.

SKRATCH: How did you and Joe meet and form the band?
CLAYTON: I met Joe at a club in Charlotte. I think we both went to see The Professionals (Steve Cook and Paul Jones's band). We met again when I went to see The Stimulators from New York City. At that time, the audience for this kind of music was so small that we went to all the shows regardless of who was playing. At the time I had a band, but we were pretty much on a downward spiral. I asked Joe if he played, and he said, "yes"—but he really didn't. So when he first played with us, he only knew these rude, primitive bar chords that were nasty but sounded good. People talk a lot about the early innocence of punk, and that was it. That's why some of our early records suffer from bad sound: we had no one to tutor us. We figured it out on our own, finally.

SKRATCH: I learned from your Website that two of your biggest musical influences are country and punk, the latter including The Ramones, The Dead Boys, and The Sex Pistols. What are some other bands you listen to?
CLAYTON: Well, today I was listening to The Small Faces. It's hard for me to say when people ask. I enjoy so many different kinds of music, from bluegrass to punk. I don't want to be pigeonholed.

SKRATCH: So Antiseen has been playing for 27 years. What inspires you and Joe to keep going?
Clayton: Spite. There are times when Joe and I talked, and both of us thought it was time to pack it in. Then we read where someone said we should pack it in, and we say, "That earns you five more years!" When we go, we'll go on our own terms.

SKRATCH: If you had to describe Antiseen's music, how would you do so?
CLAYTON: I guess the most accurate way I've heard is to say a mixture of The Ramones and Motorhead, with some other stuff tossed in. Some of our influences—like them—we wear on our sleeves. One of the first bands I ever really liked was Black Oak Arkansas. I adopted playing the washboard because of them. The whole thing we do with the eagle logo and the banner and just playing nonstop is definitely The Ramones influence.

SKRATCH: In reading the interviews posted on the Website, I got the impression that Antiseen is very much into opposing whatever is considered politically correct. In fact, there was speculation that the band is called "Antiseen" because it's against "the scene." Is that true?
CLAYTON: It's any organized, concrete genre that we oppose, not just the politically-correct thing. We don't belong to any white-power organization—which people seem to think we do. As far as we're concerned, people can keep all their factions. If you want to come see the band and have a good time, you can. We don't care what your politics are or what you wear.

SKRATCH: I also noticed that in those interviews you talked a lot about your political beliefs. Are you really political?
CLAYTON: I think we get lured into that. It's funny, because I don't think that we have more than a few songs with lyrics that are political.

SKRATCH: I heard that Joe Young was running for office on the Libertarian party ticket. Did he win?
CLAYTON: He won the office he was running for, but he only held the position for one day because there was so much outrage that he'd won. There were several recounts. Basically, he got the same kind of haphazard election as the president did (although I'm happy with the way the presidential election turned out). The guy he was running against had held the office for seven years—which was mostly why Joe ended up not getting it.

SKRATCH: So is Joe still active in politics?
CLAYTON: He's still active in the Libertarian Party and talks on radio shows. His brother is running for office. A guy who used to run our sound is running on the Libertarian ticket, and my brother has been asked to run by the Libertarian Party.

SKRATCH: Do you live in a small town?
CLAYTON: I am in a very small town. Joe is, too, We like it out there. It's very quiet. The people that live close by us don't want to be bothered and don't bother me—which is something when you look like I do.

SKRATCH: It does seem like you all have generated some controversy, though, with the comments you've made in interviews.
CLAYTON: We like to raise people's eyebrows. But we never once claimed that we subscribed to one view. There are four different personalities in the band. No one of us speaks for all of us.

SKRATCH: Does Antiseen play shows out here in California?
CLAYTON: We played out there once in 2000 and once in 2001. The last time before that was in 1992. We were touring with our friends' band, Lime Cell ([which is] from Philadelphia).

SKRATCH: What do you think of California?
CLAYTON: I love the city of San Francisco. [...] The temperature was great. It seemed a little more laid back. I'm not too impressed with L.A.; I couldn't live there. But then again, I can't live in Charlotte.

SKRATCH: What's coming up for Antiseen in the next year?
CLAYTON: We've go a bunch of stuff coming out on TKO. The label is releasing our back catalog with new liner notes, which I'm writing. It will be called THE VAULT OF ANTISEEN. They're coming out every month. There will be six all together. The discs aren't coming out in the order they were released, but I guess in the order of most commercial and important. I'm having fun going through all the old files and clippings and listening to stuff.

SKRATCH: Are you enjoying writing the liner notes?
CLAYTON: I don't consider myself a good writer, but I enjoy telling people what it was like at the time. People think that we were like THIS in '84, and that now we're like THAT. It will help them see that the changes we've made are gradual.

SKRATCH: It's often hard for fans to accept that a band changes. I'm always telling people that you can't fault a band for that. It's made up of people, and people keep changing until they die.
CLAYTON: I'm glad you said that. It's one of the things we fight constantly on the Internet. When you go from 21 to 40, you're not the same person. A lot of people take us to task because we don't believe things we said back then. In '83 we were writing from a naïve perspective. Now we're seasoned.

SKRATCH: Do you have any plans to record new material?
CLAYTON: Actually, we're going to get together this week and start on a new album. We have a few skeletons of songs floating around to work with. We're also working on a licensing deal in Japan. I'd really like to go to Japan. I've been to Europe five times, so that's not too exciting any more. Nothing is concrete right now, but never say never.

SKRATCH: Thanks for staying up so late to talk to me.

Readers, if you want to learn more about Antiseen, visit www.antiseen.com or www.tkorecords.com.

» BACK TO TOP

 

 

---

---