The Hot Pockets - Drink & Drive interview

The Hot Pockets are not really a "band" but rather a project featuring Robert Stipje and ex-Spaceshit Adam Gold plus members of the Krontjong Devils and Gravediggers. Their demos simply feature some of the hottest punkrock I've heard in a long time, so I decided to fax Robert in the land of tulips & reefer for the latest gossip. Here are the manu wise words he has to offer the Drink & Drive readers.

M: Who's in the band & which other bands have the members played in?
R: In the band are Adam Gold, who used to play as Tongues in the Spaceshits, he plays lead-guitar, I play rhythm guitar and used to be in the Stipjes (and some bands like Soopercharger, Sexist Bastards From Hell (only played Dwarves songs) & Dick Swingers (only played Action Swingers songs), but they don't matter, so why the fuck am I telling you this?). Anyway, the bass player, Crazy Gerry, is from the surf band the Krontjong Devils and Dr. Martins is our drummer and he normally plays for a punkabilly band called the Gravediggers.
M: How did you meet the other band members?
R: When I was with the Dirtys Adam called and asked if it was ok if he came along for the last 10 days of the tour. He's friends with the Dirtys, they toured the US together, so I said ok and then he just came to Hamburg, and so he went with us through Scandinavia and back to Groningen, and that was really fun. He said he would be in Europe longer so we agreed that he'd come to my place for a couple of days and then I'd round up some friends, whom I knew already for some years, we've played in other bands before, and we'd record some shit. Which is what happened. It's just meant as a one-off thing. We had this rehearsal space in an old bunker, were there for about 5 days, learned the songs & recorded them. We came together the first time in the "Studio" on May 22nd and recorded on May 26th & May 27th. Of course we first all met somewhere else. At the Drags show actually, they played the Vera on the 20th.
M: Which labels have you sent the demo tape to & how has the response been?
R: Response sofar has been good, we're not done sending it around to everybody we like yet, but we're very selective. So far two local labels will release a 7" each, one's called High School Reject Records, which is new, the other one is very probably Kogar, wha also released stuff by Jabberwocky & the Beavers.
And we hope to find two more labels, a guy in Sweden is interested and maybe 1 or 2 more if the next recordings succeed, and then maybe like a compilation LP.
M: Have you played live yet?
R: We're gonna play live on august 12th. Especially for that and then do some more recordings, Adam flies over from London where he's staying now. And maybe when Adam stays in Europe that long we'll open some show in Holland for the Registrators.
M: How would you describe the Hot Pockets sound?
R: I don't know how you would describe our sound. Big part is due to the limited four track we used, but I think it sounds pretty good (damned great actually,ed.) I recorded it & shit all by myself (with some initial help from a friend called Kees), mixed it later and I think it sounds pretty cool, dynamic and kinda live and not too crummy lo-fi like a lot of other bands.
M: How do you choose which songs to cover?
R: The covers are some of our favorite songs, and ones that are not too well known. The "Rejected At The High School Dance" (originally by the Mean Red Spiders, great song, ed.) we did especially for our first release, 'cause it's a condition to be on that label (the guy is a friend of ours) is that you cover that song.
M: What are your plans for the future?
R: Future plans? I kinda told you already. Play live once, maybe support the Registrators for some shows if possible, and record some more. Release about 5 7" & 1 lp/cd. And hey, maybe tour a bit next year or something, but that all depends on Adam, who of course lives in Canada normally.

Trivia:
Favorite car: Ford Taunus! or as it's called in England (and probably USA) Ford Cortina.
Fave Beer: No doubt, Grolsch.
Hard Liquor: Jenever.

Records:
Action Swingers: Decimation Blvd.
Kids 1st - side A!
Mötörhead - Ace of Spades.
Stiff Little Fingers - Inflamable Material, side A!
Cee Bee Beaumont - Prestressed.
Turbonegro - Ass Cobra.