It’s White Flag’s World, We Just Live In It: An Interview With Pat Fear

Pat Fear: Well. . . I was thinking that even without the cartoon the songs are really good. The Shonen Knife tribute I put out [Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them, 1989] before anyone even knew who they were. . . that didn’t make any sense and it was still a good record.

Popshifter: Yeah, that’s true!

Pat Fear: But yeah, Gasatanka started because no one wanted to sign White Flag and we knew a guy who had money. And my friend Bryan who was one of the few people who got into punk rock with me in high school—he was in my first punk rock band Death Patrol; we never made any records or anything although we’re on some compilation tapes—he came up with the idea.

His father had a farm, which most people out in Sunnymead did, and his farm had a diesel pump for the tractors. It was a pump house but it looked like a regular, old-fashioned ’50s gas station. We used to practice in the barn in his farm and Brian was putting gas in one of the generators that powered the barn and he held up the gas pump and said, “This looks like the Casablanca record label logo; we should start a label called Gasatanka.”

Popshifter: Oh my god, really?!

Pat Fear: And that was before White Flag existed! That was how Gasatanka was born, because the way he was standing holding it looked like the original Casablanca logo. It had a Humphrey Bogart-esque person down in the corner.

Popshifter: I figured that it was a reference to Casablanca, but I didn’t know that story.

Pat Fear: Well, you know, it’s never been told!

Popshifter: That’s hilarious!

Pat Fear: You’re getting a lot of exclusives here!

Popshifter: Hahaha!

Pat Fear: And please print, “Do not bother me for any Shaggs/Os Mutantes songs: I’m not giving them to you!”

Popshifter: Hahahaha! I will, I am writing it down now!

Pat Fear: All the songs are named after characters but I can’t remember the name of that one. Better to leave it a mystery.

Popshifter: That’s fine.

Pat Fear: I want it to become a nugget in the pantheon of rock legends. It’ll be like The Beach Boys’ Smile.

Popshifter: Hahaha! Based on this discussion, White Flag has a lot of connections to other people—

Pat Fear: Well, if you go to band2band.com, we’re it! It is hilarious. First of all, I need to give proper credit to that website. The person who does that website is out of his mind.

Popshifter: (laughs)

Pat Fear: Can you imagine the work that goes into that?

Popshifter: I had tried to think about all the connections between Redd Kross and other bands and it was just so impossible.

Pat Fear: He must have no life or a lot of assistance.

Popshifter: It’s a pretty cool site.

Pat Fear: It’s unbelievable! Never mind the fact that I’m at the center of its universe!

Popshifter: It just proves what people have been saying, that you wouldn’t believe all the connections White Flag has in music. But now, there’s proof!

Many thanks to Pat Fear for being so generous with his time and answering all these questions!

Keepers Of The Purple Twilight is available from Target Earth Records in Japan. For details on how to order go here. White Flag’s new album, Benefit For Cats, will be out in July.

For video clips, more history, White Flag swag, and much more, make sure to visit White Flag’s MySpace page.

Click to read more from Pat Fear on. . .

Dr. Demento & The Ramones
Causing trouble
The Malcolm McLaren Handbook
Battle of the Bands
White Flag Goes to Greenland
Those missing 22 copies. . .
Os Mutantes
The Shaggs
Motel Spaghetti
Gasatanka

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