John Spiker Interview

I got the chance to interview John Spiker, the bassist from Filter and Tenacious D. Let me tell you, this guy's a cool dude. You check out the published interview here.

But since you all are my loyal readers, I'm gonna give you the EXCLUSIVE questions and answers that didn't make the final cut. Enjoy!

GC: What are the differences between the two frontmen: Jack Black and Richard Patrick?

JS: It’s fun to be around Jack, because he’s a crazy man. He’s always making you laugh and its always a great time. With Rich it’s a different story.

There’s no question there’s a political, environmental message to the record and when I joined this group, I wasn’t really hip to all of it and I was like, “Yeah, I don’t really pay attention to that kind of stuff.” But we met with soldiers in Washington D.C. where troops come after coming back from Iraq and it’s unbelievable being with these people. It’s undeniable that this war is a real thing and people are actually dying. We watch it on TV and say ‘Oh that sucks”… it seems fake, until we went and met these people.

Filter did this show in Kuwait a few months ago for the troops. And we met a guy at Walter Reed who was at the show in Kuwait, and was a huge filter fan. And a week after the show was deployed right into action. He lost both of his legs, one of his arms and his hearing. He was talking to us via this chalkboard that he had to write on because he couldn’t hear. And he was like, “yeah I saw your show in Kuwait, you know, when I was an entire person.” And you know, in that two months time, a lot has changed for him.

Even the kid that “Soldiers of Misfortune” was for. This kid said, “Yeah, I’m gonna go do whatever they tell me to do. I’ll serve my time, and I’ll come out with some money in the bank, so I can pay for college.” And ten days later he died.
That’s one of the biggest differences. Although we have a blast out here, and the show is certainly light-hearted, we’re not on stage yelling at the crowd…

GC: So it’s not an Anti-Flag show?

JS: No. Exactly. We’re here to have a good time for sure. It’s really interesting to take the opportunity when you have a platform that Rich and we do with our band and do a little bit of something with it. He’ll be the first to tell you that he’s not trying to change the world. It’s the sort of thing like,“Hey, let’s talk about this. Let’s just all at least be aware of what’s going on.”

GC: You’ve done some international dates this month with two shows in Germany and one in London. How are they reacting to the political message, and are you hesitant to offer that to them?

JS: Any political views and beliefs are about the United States, and directed at the United States. This country definitely doesn’t need any help spreading anything bad about us. The record isn’t just about “this a crap war,” there’s a song on the record called “The Take” which is all about our impact on the environment.

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