Interviews: Rev. Norb (Boris the Sprinkler)

Growing up worshiping Pop-Punk Rock in the 1990s, Rev. Norb was as
important a figure as it could get. The anticipation of his new
article in Maximum Rock N Roll or awaiting his bands new LP or 7".
With his band Boris The Sprinkler, Rev. Norb the self proclaimed voice
of geek America released 8 LPs, 4 EPs and a very prolific 17 singles.
The good reverend, was nice enough to talk with Michael Kane for an interview with Punknews.
You can click Read More for the interview.

First of all, thanks for giving us a little of your time
today, and congratulations on your triumphant return at the yearly
Insubordination Fest in Baltimore this year. It was a great show and
you seemed as spry as ever.

You are far too kind, sir! I believe our show was
adequate, given the conditions ((said conditions primarily being that,
up until the afternoon before the show, the four of us had not
practiced nor played together for over ten years)), although i am not
sure i'd call it great…we practiced the set once on Thursday
afternoon after the Pauls and i got in ((our bass player, Ric Six, now
lives in Delaware, so we practiced in his basement)), and it was a
little slow, but we thought that was okay, because we usually play
things too quickly when we're on stage. We practiced again Friday
morning, and that was about the same. We ate lunch, bought props
((mini-tramp, 72 rolls of toilet paper, "UFO UFO" sign fixin's)), and
practiced the set a third and final time that afternoon, and that
sounded perfect -- which, of course, frightened me, because that meant
that we would wind up playing things at thirteen-zillion mph live,
which we, of course, did. Ah well, they were ten minutes behind
schedule anyway, so we probably did someone a logistical favor there.
As far as being "spry" goes, wtf, dude, i could barely get my fat ass
off the ground! I had to use the mini-trampoline to catch any air at
all! And i almost suffocated when i had my pink zentai hood covering
my entire face for the first few songs! However, i graciously accept
your compliments, deserved or not.

Would you have boo'ed Dylan in Newport when he went electric?
Are you implying that i would have been attending an
acoustic music event in the first place?
HaHa Oh, Boy.
I read that you like to hit up baseball parks when in
cities. what has been your favorite? i didn't know that people in
Green Bay new what baseball is.

I more or less like any ballpark that was constructed
prior to Jacobs Field in Cleveland, because, after that, they're all
pretty much the same park with different bells and whistles (or, in
the case of Comerica Park, different ferris wheels and whistles). I
don't really have a favorite…i've enjoyed sitting in the top row at
Shea and Wrigley and County Stadium in Milwaukee. However, for sheer
surreality, you can't beat going to a Twins game at the Metrodome
during periods of local disinterest. It's like watching a sporting
event in a green-carpeted library, inside some manner of germ-proof
bubble. But, that said, you can't really beat the $25 hot tub seats
out by the big crown at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City. Anyway, I've
been to home games of the Brewers (2 stadiums), Cubs, White Sox,
Twins, Cardinals (2), Royals, Mariners, Reds (2), Tigers, Indians,
Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Orioles, Nationals, Braves and Blue
Jays but they tore down the places at which i've seen the Mets and
Yankees so I don't know if those count any more or not.

I just read somewhere that a kids parents sued a Little
League coach and league for a collision that their kid had at home
plate. What is this country coming to?

from is what happens in a world where Pete Rose is banned
from the Baseball Hall of Fame!

What is the most you have payed to secure a vinyl record?

Twenty bucks, twenty-five bucks, something like that. I
paid twenty bucks for the first Supercharger album on Radio X, the
Monkees Head album with the Mylar cover, the Rotters Sit On My Face
Stevie Nicks 45, and i think maybe $19 for the Dickies Fan Mail 45
with the poster sleeve. Actually I might have paid $25 for that first
Davie Allan & The Arrows album, which isn't even that good, I can't
remember if it was $20 or $25. I'm not a big believer in paying a
shit-ton of money for a record ("shit-ton" here apparently meaning
"more than 20 or 25 bucks"). The most anyone ever paid me for a
record was $1000.

Whats your opinion on the people that try to collect
every BTS, vinyl? Color, variant, etc.

I wish 'em luck! That was sort of fun while it lasted -
the releasing of a bunch of weird variants and stuff - but,
ultimately, sales gimmicks like that are kinda dopey. I can't speak
for any of the other labels on which Boris released records, but, as
far as the Bulge stuff goes, i never was trying to make things
"collectible". I just wanted to have some fun with it. I mean, every
time you need a thousand more covers printed, or a thousand more discs
made, you have to re-submit the artwork anyway, might as well change
it a little bit, just for fun, ya know? In the case of our 45s, I
usually pressed the first 500 on colored vinyl, mainly because I
thought colored vinyl was cool, but it's also kind of expensive, so if
i just did the first 500 colored, then screw it, I've already got my
cool colored copies, the rest can just be black, what the hell do I
care? Once we started selling more records, then distributors started
ordering more than the initial pressing of 500, and things got all
screwed up, but before that it was fun.

Does an artists newer sub par work ever ruin their old
work for you? For me Elvis Costello Is really close.

Nah, i just establish a firewall after which said artist's
work is non-canonical in my eyes. Like, I don't listen to anything by
Elvis Costello after Trust, although i do like the song "Beyond
Belief," so, for me, that's the last Elvis Costello album…in this
same manner, London Calling is the last Clash album, Busted is the
last Cheap Trick album ((and only barely)), and DOA haven't released a
record since the very early '90s.

In your opinion, what is the worst thing or crime a
brand new punk rock band can do?

Be five years late for any particular trend and then give
everyone else shit for not being "down" with this particular trend
that you yourself are blatantly late for the boat on. Either that or
put a pedestrian cover of a really, really well-known punk song on
your first record. Like, i just got a debut CD from some band called
the Fast Boys, and they cover "New Rose" by the Damned on it, and it's
not even a particularly good cover. I mean, wha tha fahhhh? At least
have the common decency to hit us with "So Messed Up" or something!
Geez!

Do people actually think as a direct correlation of your
song "Kill the Ramones" that you actually dislike the Ramones?

I think it's possible…i'm not sure what people think.
That song was just supposed to be about some insane guy on drugs who
decides to kill the Ramones before offing himself (or
something). Obviously, if you know anything about the band, and me
in particular, the Ramones were/are a huge influence and remain my
favorite band of all time, so it would be unfortunate if people
thought that. Then again, if you write a song called "Kill The
Ramones," you're kinda asking for said interpretation, so ultimately
that's on me. Note to God: You Can stop killing the Ramones now, and I
was only kidding to begin with.

Should we expect anything new from Boris the Sprinkler
or another LP from yourself?

From Boris, I dunno, probably not. The phones aren't
exactly ringing off the hook with lucrative reunion album offers,
which is fine, we're not a band, we don't really care. From me, I
suppose I should release something else, but I deem CDs a dead format,
and would like to release whatever it is I release as a vinyl/digital
download type dealie, and for that I probably should have a website
and I ain't got time for that so who knows. I did recently purchase a
set of bongo drums so the world should be properly fearful.