Interview: The Schizophonics - New Zealand Tour 2023

Intrepid UTR reporter on the spot Kit Walker caught up with San Diego's fuzzed out The Schizophonics — aka husband and wife team Pat and Lety Beers — on the eve of their Australasian tour... and third visit to Aotearoa...

PLEASE NOTE: "Due to the recent events in Piha, San Diego fuzz rockers the Schizophonics' show set for Saturday 25th March has now moved to the Titirangi RSA, South Titirangi Road, Titirangi on the same night.
ALL tickets purchased for Piha will be honoured at this show.
PIHA residents — please bring ID and a copy of a bill and we'll let you in 2 for one."

The Schizophonics Tour

Wednesday 15th March - Space Academy, Christchurch
Thursday 16th March - Valhalla, Wellington
Friday 17th March - Kaipara Tavern, Auckland w/ The D4 (6TWENTY One Tour)*
Saturday 18th March - The Powerstation, Auckland w/ The D4 (6TWENTY One Tour)*
Sunday 19th March - ONEONESIX, Whangarei w/ Neon Serpent
Wednesday 22nd March - Whammy Backroom, Auckland w/ Ratso
Thursday 23rd March - The Green Room, Thames w/ Neon Serpent
Friday 24th March - Totara St, Tauranga w/ The D4 (6TWENTY One Tour)*
Saturday 25th March - Titirangi RSA, Titirangi w/ Neon Serpent (new venue)

Tickets available HERE via UTR
&The D4 6TWENTY One Tour details available HERE

Kit Walker: It's been a little time since we saw you last (2020)... Where are you right now? What are you doing...? and what's the new post pandemic world like for the Schizos? Has touring in Europe and the US changed at all?

Lety: Getting ready for a Soul Revue in LA tomorrow and a roll out in honour of our great friend O on Sunday (O is the San Diego music legend who passed away recently - everyone in San Diego and afar knew O!). We can sleep on the plane Monday when we fly to Australia, where the tour is starting [The Soul Revue is an 11 piece version of The Schizophonics where we pay tribute to our favourite soul singers and cover our fave soul songs like 'Boo Boo Song' by King Coleman]. Post-pandemic is feeling good. Just gotta stay on top of any requirements needed to get to whatever country we’re going to. Things seem to be getting back to normal though.

Pat, you must be one of the fittest people on stage ever — how did not playing affect your fitness and flexibility?

Pat: The first few weeks of lockdown I sat on my ass and ate Oreos, which seemed like a good idea at the time. It definitely took me a while to get used to performing again after taking a year off of playing live.

Are you back to match fitness???

Pat: I probably need to do a Rocky 4-style montage to get ready before we fly out tomorrow.

Hoof It! Explain!! And word has it you have a new one in the can?

Pat: Yeah, we’ve got this new record called Hoof It, which we recorded during the lockdown. I’m stoked to be playing a lot of these songs live. We’re also going to play some new songs we just recently wrote.

SO sad to hear about the passing of San Diego legend O, he was an integral part of the San Diego scene — seems he knew everyone!!! Can you share a memory?

Lety: I’m gutted. O was one of my closest friends. I remember him always being at shows so finally one night I asked him “What’s your name?!” I was very confused, “O? Like the letter?” We became great buds through the years. The first time we ever played Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas he was so stoked that he came with us as our tour manager. Walking around Vegas that weekend with him was a trip. EVERYONE knew him! We couldn’t go a block without being stopped by some huge headlining musician who wanted to shoot the shit with O. It’s still like that everywhere we go as far as having that connection to him… When COVID hit we became attached at the hip. I always wanted to learn to skate and when there was no show to be scared of missing because of an injury, so I went for it. He was the best coach! I’m not even good, but he made everything super fun, funny and exciting. There was one day all we did was play on a step learning nose stalls. I love and miss that carefree energy so much. The world is a much more boring place without him. Definitely has left a hole in our hearts.

Tell us about your new bass player? Did the last one really explode?

Pat: Yes that is true. We would be playing with our New Zealander bassist, Takumi, but he moved to Berlin. We actually got to hang out with him last summer when we were playing in Germany. We’re going to be doing this tour with a really rad bassist from Canada named Tom Lambert. We’ve played with his band in Montreal a few times and we always try to get him to jump on stage and play a few songs with us because of his flashy guitar style. He’d always do moves like Chuck Berry and Hendrix, like playing the guitar under his leg.

Marty from Chants R&B joined you for a few songs on the last tour in Napier — how was that?

Pat: That was so cool. I’ve probably listened to that Chants R&B record that Norton put out a thousand times. Marty had some really great stories about the band and he hasn’t missed a step musically. We met him on our first tour there, and he was on the way to a gig. It was good to see that he still loves playing live music and still has a love for R&B.

You're playing a few shows with The D4 — did you guys ever see them the first time around?

Pat: We didn’t see them play, but we have met some members. That’s definitely an honour to get to do some shows with them.

Is Pat's mom really joining for the final leg of the tour? Does she join the band on stage at all?

Pat: Yeah, and we’re all going to stay a few extra days to hang out in your beautiful country. The only time I get stage fright is when my mom is in the audience, but I’m glad that she’ll get to share some of the tour experience with us.

What other side projects have you had since we last spoke? Is Lety playing bass in one of them?

Lety: We started Bobby And The Pins in 2019. Robert Lopez aka El Vez was in San Diego all summer that year so we put together the band so we could hang out more. Our best friends Dave Warshaw from Creepy Creeps and Ashly Paul Ryu from Mittens are in it too. Pretty much it was the people we hang out with the most getting together for ultimate rock and roll devastation.

Lety — you broke a limb skateboarding... what happened? Are you all better now?

Lety: I was practicing a front side carve in the full pipe at Linda Vista skatepark. I had done it a few days ago and was drilling it when my board slid down from under me and bam! I busted my left ankle, my hi hat foot. I got really scared and hoped it was just a sprain like that time I twisted it at an indoor trampoline park in Auckland, but it wasn’t. I was miserable. I was laid up for weeks and I HATE sitting still. I got really depressed. Good news though, I’m back and better than ever! I won’t skate on tour, but definitely starting to barge at will. I was about to make my comeback to my usual stomping grounds with O this week when we got the news. I’m planning a meet up the day before we fly out to barge in O’s honour. I have to.

What's a memory from your last NZ tour?

Lety: John Baker planned a stop on our way to a show at a café in the country where we fed raw meat to eels. The café sold us little cups of ground meat with popsicle sticks used to fish out meat, then hand feed it to these eels that live in the creek next to the cafe. He ended up on his hands and knees, putting the popsicle stick in his mouth, feeding the eels some meat. They were like ducks at a pond that knew the humans had food.