From Assault Rifles to Guns ‘N’ Roses: A Conversation with Mike Small of The Meligrove Band

The Toronto show Small’s talking about is also sort of infamous in a way for something other than it generating a boost in the band’s all-ages fans: Jay Nunes’ display of martial arts skills when he was almost attacked by a member of the audience.

“That roundhouse kick? He was actually really embarrassed by that, which is funny because that photo is incredible. And really he did what he should have done which is stand his ground because that guy needed a roundhouse to the face,” Small says.

Jay Nunes, Goth Killer

“Jay didn’t actually kick him. He kicked near him. But anyway. These teenage dudes ran up to me and Jay after. I didn’t even see [the kick] happen. Jay had just finished telling me about it. And these dudes ran up to us and were like, ‘Dude, that was so bad-ass, man! We totally had your back. Anyway then they sent us the photo later. When I saw that photo. . . you’ve seen the photo probably, but it’s perfect. It’s right at the pinnacle of his kick. The summit, if you will.”

But why would anyone want to attack Jay? Anyone who’s ever met him or listened to the band’s music can attest to the fact that he’s one of the nicest and most non-threatening people in the world.

Small clarifies: “He always wants to dance, and there was this Goth girl dancing by herself, [so] he went and started doing the robot beside her and she probably thought he was making fun of her so she started trying to scratch him and stuff. And he was like, ‘later!’ and then danced away.

“But then her boyfriend—this guy I’m assuming was her boyfriend—started chasing him and was trying to grab him or hit him or something. So Jay did all these martial arts dances and that kick trying to scare the guy away. Then he ran behind some security guards so the guy couldn’t still chase him. It’s awesome. You know, he’s not that embarrassed by it because we re-enacted it on a TV interview one time. We have a DVD of that and we really need to get it on YouTube.”

Each time The Meligrove Band has been on TV, hilarity has ensued. It’s very likely not possible for them to ever not be funny. While the band does have clips of many of their TV appearances, Small mentions that one appearance in particular is the Holy Grail of all Meligrove footage, one that never saw its way on-air: it was shot at a firing range in Texas.

“It was us and Cuff the Duke together and the TV show E! Talk Daily was there filming us while it was going on,” Small says. “Anyway, I guess they thought we were having too much fun. I dunno. I think someone higher up than whoever had decided to do [the segment] was worried about showing these young rock bands having a really good time firing guns and they refused to air it. We can’t actually get that footage. It’s sealed away forever and no one can ever see it.

Target practice with
Darcy Rego’s NKOTB shirt

“But the things that happened were amazing. The guy running the place put up these targets that were photos of Osama Bin Laden smiling and pointing an assault rifle back at us and then he apologized and he was like, ‘Now everyone knows the real Bin Laden is left-handed and the guy whose body this is with the head pasted on here is holding the gun right-handed so it’s not that accurate, but you know, it’s still important to have these targets up.’

“And we were like, ‘Yeah, that’s okay. Whatever.’ And he kept coming out will all these crazy guns and was like, ‘Who wants to shoot the Dirty Harry gun?’ and it was like the. . . well, I dunno. [He had] all these crazy rifles. I never actually shot one of the assault rifles. I was afraid of the kickback on them, because I did shoot the Dirty Harry gun, which I think was. . . Well I don’t know gun brands. I think it was a Magnum. But I’d fire it and my arm would shoot up in the air from the kick. It was really funny.

Click to read more from Mike Small on. . .

Chuck Taylors and V2 Records
Roundhouse kicks and firing ranges
Mike’s bass sound and “Weird Al” Yankovic
New album update and current tour

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