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September 2014 interview by Todd Jolicoeur, photos by mintypics.comSome bands fade into obscurity when one of the founders dies and other trudge along trying to reignite the flame within the band and with the fans... and some bands just chill out and stand in the shadows waiting for the stars to align and the cards to fall. Snot is proud to announce that after years of lying in wait; they have resurrected the machine and are ready to take the show back on the road with new vocalist Tommy Vext. One of the founding members and guitarist Mikey Doling took time out of his life (and sleep cycle) in order to let us know exactly how pumped he is to bring this killer show back to life and back to Flint, MI. Toddstar: Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule man. Mikey: Hey, no problem at all. I just want to warn you, I’m calling you from Japan so the call may drop and I would just call you right back Toddstar: You guys are putting Snot back together and going out on the road. Mikey: Yeah. Toddstar: You guys did a couple of shows earlier this year. You did a reunion show at The Whiskey. You played a couple more shows. Obviously, those went well. What got this going to get those happening? Mikey: The reason we did it was because we did The Whiskey in LA in January of this year. It was just so fun. We had a great time. The place was packed, sold out. We booked three more shows. Those all sold out, paced. The crowd was singing every word. You know what I mean? They were like, you know what, this fun again. It’s been 16 years. Let’s do it. Let’s book some shows man, and go out and have a good time. The response of the fans from those four shows was so overwhelming. They were so excited. When we walked on stage, you could just see the look on their faces, like fucking finally we hear these songs live. We decided to go for it. We got a booking agent. We booked the US, and we’re coming through Detroit man. We’re excited. Toddstar: That’s awesome. You guys are doing songs that obviously Lynn had his stamp all over everything. How is this coming across with Tommy Vext on lead vocals? Mikey: Tommy, we tried out six guys. Five of the six guys came in, and turned red like a tomato and couldn’t do it. Screaming so hard, they put their heart into it, but they couldn’t hit the notes and just didn’t have the same energy Lynn had. Tommy Vext, he came in and owned it. He fucking owned it. He was running from side to side of the venue, back and forth sweating as if he was playing in front of 100,000 people. We were just trying him out. We would look at each other like who is this guy? Then we did one more tryout with him, and we just decided he’s just perfect. He’s got a lot of characteristics Lynn had as well as far as the person goes. He’s a bit of a wild child. He’s just really into it. Toddstar: Very cool. You guys are heading from the burner for a few months now. Any music coming from that, from just doing the Snot thing? Mikey: At this point, we’re not planning to write anything. We don’t know what the future holds. We’ll see how it goes. I’m a songwriter. I always want to write something, but it’s got to be all of us that want to write. We’ll see where we are on that later. Writing a new record without Lynn personally would be real strange as Snot. You don’t know what the future holds. Let’s see how the fans react to the tour. We’re going to do some meet and greets after the show. If we’re getting a lot of positive energy, I think we might do something. We’ll see. Toddstar: You’ve mentioned and I’ve mentioned it, the reunion show at The Whiskey earlier this year. Why now? What made 2014 the year to do this? Mikey: Well, we sat on the success of those tour dates for a while, just thought about it. We have a legacy to protect. Snot was true back in the day. Back in the new metal era, I think Snot got a different view for the rock and roll community. We like to look at ourselves as the Bad Brains of that era and we want to protect that legacy. Going back out, and touring again older we weren’t sure. After those shows, we decided wow, we’ve still got it. Let’s do this. Let’s go out and give the fans some snot. Toddstar: You’ve got the album Get Some to play with. You’ve got stuff from Strait Up out there. Are you guys sticking to strictly Get Some? Are you doing Strait Up? How are you mixing the stuff up? Mikey: Right now, the plan is to play Get Some in its entirety. We’re going to play the record exactly as the record is. A lot of people know the entire album. From the fan mail or the fan emails we get, a lot of people love the record in its entirety. They love one song here and there, but most of them say, you know what man, once you put that record on the way we designed the album to run as an entire record, Toddstar: It’s definitely a classic album. Mikey: Thank you man, I appreciate it. It was fun to make. Toddstar: I can only imagine. Mikey: Yeah, we had a good time. There are great stories there. Toddstar: Again, I can only imagine. You guys are doing something that is magical - you’re rolling through Flint, Michigan. You’re going to hit the fucking Machine Shop.
Toddstar: You live in Japan now. Mikey: Yes, I do. Toddstar: You talk about places like Flint. Detroit’s the rock city, and you have east coast, west coast. How different is Flint, Michigan or a US crowd as compared to some of those crowds when you’re talking about rock shows. Mikey: Oh, that’s a strange question. Snot has not played in Japan, but I’ve seen some shows here. The Japanese crowd, they’re a very polite crowd. They love to go off. They love their mosh pits. It’s funny to watch a Japanese crowd, because between the shows, between the bands they’re very quiet. They’re practically whispering to each other as if they’re in a movie theatre. Then the band comes on, the lights drop and they go absolutely bananas. They’re a very polite culture, and they bring that to the live shows as well, until it’s rough time. Then they climb all over each other and mosh as hard as anybody. It’s also funny to see as the show goes on later in the night. They have drinks. They loosen up and quite a few people at the show are smashed. It’s pretty cool man. I noticed that the Japanese, when they’re getting t-shirts in the merchandise line … You know in the US, they’re just all around the merch table yelling out what they want. Japanese deliberately stand in line, and wait their turn quietly until they get their t-shirt. They’re a really cool culture there. It’s fun. I’ll tell you what though man, one culture that loves rock and roll is a European culture too. Snot’s going to be going over to Europe in February. For the first time, we’re doing 10 shows in the UK, 10 shows in Germany. Then we’re going to do seven shows in France. Then we’re going to Austria. Then we’re doing some shows in Belgium. That should be exciting as well. Toddstar: Very cool. Do you see a desire to have Snot out on the road the same or more so than you did back in the late ‘90s? Mikey: No way in hell. Back in the late ‘90s, people were Snot thirsty. You do touring, and there would be a few hundred kids in the parking lot waiting for us to pull in. They were absolutely into it. Now in 2014, it seems like the timing is right. We’re getting the feedback. It’s cool again for Snot to come around. I think the music, the climate in music in rock and roll … You know the horrible two words nu-metal? You know that everybody didn’t like to say it? I think it’s okay to say them again. I think Snot got locked into that whole scene just because of the era, but somehow I think 2014 and 2015 it’s cool for Snot to tour again, and people really want it. We can see it by the promoters, how they’re booking us. We can see it from the fans. We’re really excited that people are into it, and that’s why we’re booking shows. If we felt any low temperature, and people didn’t give a shit we just wouldn’t do it. You feel that it’s really a good time to do it. Toddstar: Very cool. Let’s talk about you for a minute Mikey. Mikey: Sure. Toddstar: Who made you want to grab a guitar and to be a rock star for a living? Mikey: For me? That would be Angus Young. The moment I heard AC/DC … It’s actually two bands. AC/DC made me want to rock the stage. That was it. I saw Angus Young, and I was like who is that? How does a human being give off so much energy with such a loud tool in his hand, which is the guitar and crush crowds? I want to do that. There was another band which I saw when I was really young in Southern California growing up. Me and five friends, we skateboarded to a Black Flag show, and I saw Black Flag in 1982. I was a little kid. They shaved my head. They put boots on me, and I saw Greg Ginn play the guitar. I was like man, that’s what I want to do. That was the first show I ever saw. Then AC/DC came into my life. That’s where the punk rock and the rock and roll fusion come from if you listen to Snot. It’s all in there.
Mikey: I’m pretty easy man. I just put a few pairs of pants and some t-shirts in the bag and go. I don’t need much. I just want to go on the road. I like to travel light. The only thing, of course I’m going to miss is my family. I’ve got a wife and a son. I’ve got to leave them behind, of course when I tour. The road is not good for that kind of family life. Other than that, I travel light and I just want to rock. There’s nothing else I’ll miss. Once I’m out there with Snot, my best friends on stage there’s nothing I miss. I’ve got it all right there. Toddstar: I’ve got a couple more for you. Everything is coming up roses for you right now. You’ve got this big Snot tour booked in the US. You’ve got Europe looking at you in the new year. You’ve got a family. For you at this point, what is the meaning of life now? Mikey: That’s a hard question, the meaning of life for Mikey Doling? Back in the day, when I was going Snot, all I wanted to do was just get drunk, and do drugs and play rock and roll, your typical young rock band guy. Nowadays, the meaning of life to me is actually continuing to rock and getting to do it. You can hear my son in the background. There you go. There’s the meaning of life. Toddstar: That was perfect. Listen man, I appreciate the time. If you could leave one message for the crowd waiting for you guys to show up December 11th, what would that message be? Mikey: Sorry, I’m just drinking a little coffee before I say that. I’m going to say Flint, Michigan, I’ve always loved the Michigan crowd. Flint has the best club in the country. The Machine Shop, for me it’s in the top two or three. Snot is looking forward to coming and rocking your assess off. That’s what we want to do. We’ll see you there. Toddstar: Sounds good man. Again, I appreciate your time. Go spend the day with your family. We will see your ass on the stage December 11th at The Machine Shop in Flint. Mikey: Thank you very much. Can’t wait for Flint. Snot’s going to get some. Toddstar: Thank you brother. Mikey: Thank you very much Todd. |
You can read more of Todd Jolicoeur's interviews at
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in 30 seconds, if that’s possible if that’s okay.
if you notice it doesn’t have any stops on the album. There are interludes. We’re going to do the show just like the record. I don’t think we’re going to do any covers or anything from Strait Up. We may do a song called "Absent," which we recorded towards the end of Lynn’s life, just because of this one song he loved so much. That may be the closer of the set. We’re not sure, but we’re definitely going to stick to Get Some.
Mikey: Dude, let me tell you how I feel about that. Flint, Michigan, the Machine Shop, for me is a milestone again because I never thought I’d get to go back there. I always loved it. It’s not the biggest club or biggest venue in the world, but it rocks. It just rocks. I want to go sit in front of that door everybody takes photos from, and have Snot in 2014 take a picture there man and rock that crowd. Those fans, there’s nothing like them. They’re the best in the country.
Toddstar: Very cool. You’re getting ready to go on the road. You’re leaving home, and you’re traveling a long way to do this. As you’re working on the house, and you’re getting ready for this tour, what are a couple things you’re thinking to yourself I can’t leave home without this?
