Angie Lalonde writes "I'm happy to say I recently got the chance to quickly catch up with the Mustard Plug men before their latest Ottawa performance. Being The Planet Smashers were late for their interview, I thought why not, instead of wasting my money and sobriety at the bar, it'd be better to use my time more productively and do a short interview with these legendary Ska boys who candidly participated…"
Click READ MORE for her interview with Mustard Plug's Dave, Colin, and Brandon and look out for that Planet Smashers interview soon.
ANGIE: So how has the tour been so far, cause I think this has been more of a Ska tour right?
DAVE: Itâs been amazing! (All, the band agrees)
A: The fact thereâs so much Ska, do you think it made it better?
COLIN: Yeahâ¦
D: Them, kids really want the Ska bad right now.
A: And you guys just released a new L.P in September, Yellow #5. Has this tour been great for you guys on promoting it?
D: Think soâ¦
A: Cause Iâve read some reviews that said it sounded better than some previous albums?
D: A lot, say itâs the best one since âEvildoers Bewareââ¦
C: Weâve been playing our sets fairly heavy on the new album so⦠Nobodyâs been complaining (laughing).
BRANDON: I noticed a lot of people know the words.
D: People, always complain soâ¦
A: Oh, yes Iâm aware of that, how do you guys take that criticism?
C: Just general criticism�
A: Yes, people can be absolutely awful and theyâll say anything to you, be it youâre a sell out, you suck whatever, how do you take that or by now does it just go over you heads?
D: Yeahâ¦
C: Yeah, I donât know weâve been doing what we do for so long that, thereâs nothing we can do about it anyways, (laughing).
D: These days we get more ignored than criticized so⦠(laughing)
A: And I heard you guys are going to the U.K in January, is that all booked and set?
D: Yeah, itâs like 90% booked I think.
A: How many times have you gone?
D: Four times…
A: Do you have a huge following out there, how is the Ska scene?
D: Itâs solid.
C: Yeah, England is awesome, the last time we were there it was really big.
B: The shows were packed every night, two solid weeksâ¦
C: Actually we were planning on going south in January to get out of the snow but actually they kind of came to us and said we need you guys to come back, soâ¦
A: Are you going to bring any other bands with you?
D: Itâs just us and probably the two local bands, but I donât remember, are agent picked up two bands cause we donât really know the English scene that well.
A: You guys just finished a tour with Digger as well theyâre great guys how did your two sounds go together.
D: Good, that was with Digger and Whippersnapper. Theyâre drunks like us so it was funâ¦
B: Weâve been playing shows with those guys for a while and weâve taken them on other tours soâ¦
A: When Mustard Plug started out, did you always have a set plan that you would be and stay a Ska band?
D: Yesâ¦
A: Did you ever want to sway from that?
B: The Mustard Plug sound has been going on for quite awhile hasnât really ever changed.
D: Weâll always try something here and there for a new song, we write it song by songâ¦
A: And being that your band isnât a conventional four-piece does it make touring that much harder, trying to get everyone around?
C: It makes it that much funner, you can get more people to drive the van, to go to the bar withâ¦
A: And for your last question, I always love asking bands, who do you think will set the standard for retirement in the punk industry? Cause really everyone who started on Fat Wreck Chords is still playing and Bad Religionâ¦
D: Who do you think will stay in the longest?
A: Yeah, Iâm thinking NOFX maybe but Fat Mikeâs still at it⦠(Someone yells out Mustard Plug)
B: The Descendants have already kind of done that, theyâre so self contained in all their stuff, but I mean theyâre still doing things so. Itâs hard to sayâ¦
D: Itâs toughâ¦
C: Thereâs a lot of old schoolers out there, I donât know?
D: Bad Religionâs been going it for awhile too, maybe NOFX though, itâs true?
C: Motorheadâ¦
D: Motorhead! Youâre absolutely right, that man is absolutely right!
A: Well thank you so much guys for doing this quick interview and good luck on the rest of your tour.