After the release of their sensational new album "Keep It Going" and the change of musical focus from Skapunk to Reggae-Ska, we really wanted to draw some questions. At the beginning of their european tour we met the band at the Festival named above and Sasha Lazor, the guitar player of the Mad Caddies, gave us a short interview. We talked about musical influences, the album for sure and the new, Sublime similar sound:

Ozelot: Congrats to your new Album, it's really amazing!

Sascha: Oh, thank you!

Ozelot: You really surprised us with the heavy Reggae influence on your new Album "Keep It Going", but we simply love it! Did you listen to bands like Manu Chao, Sublime or the Long Beach Dub Allstars all day for the past months?

Sascha: Yeah, Manu Chao is a big influence for sure. We played one show with Manu Chao. It was the first time I ever heard of Manu Chao because he is not very popular in America. We played at a festival in 2001 with Radio Bemba Soundsystem in Italy. It was the first time I ever saw him, and it was amazing. We are big fans of Manu Chao. Sublime a little, Long Beach Dub, yeah.

Ozelot: Why did you change your style from Punk to Reggae?

Sascha: We all have been Fans of Reggae for a long time and we just wanted to, its just an influence that’s been going between those bands and I also got managed 6 or 7 times that I produced records for Antony B and I worked on a Beenie Man record. That is something I had been doing for the last 5 years. And that influence is coming more and more. We still have the Punk Rock and the Dixieland.

Ozelot: You’ve already played two gigs of your germany tour. How did the fans like the new style?

Sascha: Most of all seem to like it. I haven’t heard anyone say any. I think the record is slower, in generel, we still have some fast songs but over all it’s a slow record. I’m sure some Punkrock People will be upset but we don’t want to play for Punkrock People all the time. We have the Punkrock, the Reggae, the Dixieland and Jazz. We just want to play for people that like music and don’t care if it’s fast or slow.

Ozelot: I heard there's gonna be a video for the song “State Of Mind”!

Sascha: Almost! We shot the video but it’s still being worked on. It should be ready in two weeks.
(Anm.der Redaktion: the video is finished, you can watch it here!)

Ozelot: Will we ever see it on MTV?

Sascha: I hope so. That’s the point. Probably MTV is huge but it will be on the internet and on smaller video channels.

Ozelot: For the song “Riding for a Fall” you worked with Duckie Simpson from Black Uhuru. How did this coop start of?

Sascha: That was Wayne (`Dobson), he knows Duckie from Black Uhuru, they live in the same town in Jamaica. Wayne went at home for vacation at Christmas time and we were thinking about different artists to get and he wrote Ducky and we thought that would be good. I know a lot of Reggae-Artists on Jamaica but he is more legendary.

Ozelot: The song “Souls For Sale” has nice lyrics about our mad world nowadays. Tell us more about your intentions writing this song!

Sascha: I didn’t write the lyrics, it was Chuck (Robertson). The song explains how messed up the world is. And also it’s because we travelled a lot, the lyrics are like the cities we have been to. All the places from Montreal to California, it’s a world wide phänomen.

Ozelot: You’re five People in the band. We counted lots of guest-musicians on the new record. Isn’t it hard to earn enough money to keep such a big band up?

Sascha: No, it’s funny. Every musician is our friend. We try to give everyone a little bit, a bottle of Scotch, hundred bucks, but most of them wanted to play on the record because they are friends. Our travel agent, the girl who buys our tickets for Europe, she plays the kastaniette. We tried to make the studio like a Party. We are friends with the band who did the last song on the album. one day they we’re playing in town and we were recording. They did the last song on the record, we bought 'em a bottle of scotch. It’s fun! We are not actually playing with them, they are just playing over our music. I like to bring in different people. Keith, our Trompete Player, his father played the base on one song, a stand up acoustic base because he plays in a bluegrass, kind of countryband. It’s cool!

Ozelot: Today we are here at the Move Against G8 Festival. Tell our readers why its important for you to be here and what do you think about it!

Sascha: We know the promoter of the show and he asked us to play. It’s many great bands, that’s important. A concert like this, I think is not possible in America. I don’t think Kids in America are this concerned as they are in Europe. People are just unconscious. Its very important for us to come and play a show like this cause its not very often.

Ozelot: Ain't it a lot of fun?

Sascha: Oh yeah, its great! Its constructive, its about music and fun but its also a purpose, too. Like the first time we played with Manu Chao. It was Idepedenceday, a festival in Italy, a soizalist party, red flags everywhere. Things like that don’t happen in America, you know, so it's very cool.

Ozelot: What are the bands plans for the future?

Sascha: Lot’s of touring, we have this tour, we go to Africa in a week, than we come back to Europe. We go back home, go to Canada, come back to Europe for festivals. Japan, Australia, Brazil, South-America. We go to Costa-Rica, we try to go every place we can.

Ozelot: So have fun touring, thanks for the Interview!

Sascha: Thank you!

(Interview by: Moritz Oestreich am 22. April 2007)

Related Links:
www.madcaddies.com
www.myspace.com/mad_caddies
www.fatwreck.com
www.move-against-g8.org
Review Move Against G8 Festvial 2007 in Berlin