by Heather Huff
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Alabama Thunderpussy belongs to a movement unfortunately dubbed "stoner rock." The ill-fitting moniker evokes images of passive, drugged-hazed, redneck rockers when it actually represents an active revolt against mainstream, watered-down hardcore and a resurrection of the DIY ethos that defined punk/hardcore's early years. You'll also see ATP classified as "moonshine metal" and "southern-fried hardcore." No matter what you call them, ATP waves the flag of a tight-knit, hard-working community of bands keeping it real in a time when bigger names in metal are suffocating from the stench of their own corporate taint.

Johnny Weills (vocals) and Bryan Cox (drums) talked to me a bit about the band and their life on the road after their June 9 show in Towson, MD on the Stonebreakers and Hellraisers tour with Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar and Weedeater.

HH: How is it being on tour with Corrosion of Conformity?

BC: It's amazing. It's awesome. It's the "No Bullshit '05" Tour. All of these bands are bands that play music because they love to play music. All of the bands are good -- all killer no filler.

JW: The chemistry is really good. Everybody is getting along. Everybody is enjoying it and digging the music that we all play. We're all contemporaries.

BC: Yeah, everyone is on the same page.

HH: When I asked Woody [Weatherman, COC] about the tour said the same thing.

BC: Yeah, it's pretty cool that you can get this many people together in the same place and everybody can hang out and there's no weird stupid jerk over in the corner that everyone thinks sucks. Tours are hard work. If you're going to do a tour one of the biggest parts is can you hang out with the people you are on tour with. If you can it's a lot easier.

HH: Bryan, tell me about your search for a replacement for the first Johnny [Throckmorton] and then the transition of Johnny Weills into the band.

BC: This is the real Johnny. They say everything happens for a reason. I think we definitely did the right thing. Everyone in the band felt like we needed someone else singing for us and this dude wound up being the first one we listened to. That's what I mean about everything happens for a reason. I think we started looking for a reason and then there's a reason that this guy was the first dude to send us stuff.

HH: How did you find Johnny?

BC: There was a guy from Columbus who promoted a couple of ATP shows and Johnny was friends with him from back in the day. He told Johnny that this band from Richmond was looking for a singer and he thought it would be right up his alley.

JW: I've been playing in bands since I was 17 and I'm just about to turn 37. I've been doing this shit for 20 years and I've been trying and trying and trying all of this time to hook up with a band that was actually willing to tour and do shit. If you would've told me before I hooked up with these guys two years ago that this was going to happen I would've laughed in your face. I called them a couple of times and the guy he's [BC] talking about kept saying, "you should be singing this band." I'm like, "that would be awesome, but they've got a singer." As soon as he found out that they were looking for a singer he let me know. So I got on it right quick because I knew it was perfect. They're this perfect blend of metal, punk, and old classic and southern rock, all shit that I grew up with.

BC: It's cool to meet people who are into the same shit you're into. When you can actually jam with them, it's even better.

JW: Yeah and they drug me out to Richmond. I was in good position at that point. I was making some decent money working at a club, so I could afford a plane ticket to come out and hang. We did the whole thing of sending shit back and forth and they dug that. Then they said, "why don't you come out and hang out and we'll see what you're like?" So I did and then the hazed the shit out of me!

HH: Ha, hazed how?

JW: I showed up and basically they wanted to see if I could hang with them.

BC: We wanted to make sure he could hang with some hard fucking partying motherfuckers.

JW: We drank a lot.

BC: He came out on a Friday night and we drank a lot on Friday night and had a barbecue outside of my house. We drank the shit out of some booze. We got up the next day at probably about 1:00 and jammed for a while.

HH: What's your liquor of choice?

BC: Lately, Crown Royal.

HH: Really, Canadian whiskey?

JW: Is that Canadian?

HH: Yep.

JW: All of that blended shit is Canadian.

HH: Maker's is my favorite.

BC: I like Maker's too. If you want to talk about Bourbon, I like Basil Hayden.

HH: Oh yeah, Basil Hayden's is so good.

BC: That shit is like drinking apple juice. Yeah, so anyway he came out and we drank like crazy on Friday and then jammed some on Saturday and then got drunk again on Saturday and got up on Sunday and jammed again.

JW: You have to understand what they mean by jamming. Before I came out I asked Bryan to give me a list of songs that they wanted me to know. He sent me a bunch of the back catalog stuff. So then they started jamming on some of the new stuff that they had been working on and some of that ended up being on Fulton Hill. So, I started singing along and the chemistry just happened. These guys seemed cool and that was important to me as well.

BC: Absolutely

JW: I want to be able to hang out with dudes that I'm going to get along with because I don't want to be in a band where I'm a hired gun. The cool part about coming into this is that I was treated like an equal immediately. I thought that was amazing because you never hear of that shit happening. They're just awesome people and I felt like I was right at home.

HH: Bryan, why do they call you "Big Shirley?"

BC: Where did that come from? Man, I can't believe you asked me that question. Just don't ask me where the band name came from.



HH: That's a porn thing, right?

BC: Yeah, some b-porn, some 70's shit.

JW: Yeah, these guys had a friend that had this old b-porno movie and a black transvestite walks into a room and announces to everyone that she's the Alabama Thunderpussy. They thought it was hilarious, so it stuck.

HH: And Big Shirley?

BC: When we started out we figured we'd play in people's garages and basements and shit and that was it. So, we thought it would be funny if we all had stage names. I had some friends I was living with for a while that had hound dogs - some black and tan coon hounds. They bought them from this dude off of Route 5 in Richmond named Big Shirley. He bred hound dogs and lived out in the country and he even had business cards with Big Shirley on them. We all thought that was the coolest thing. So we decided to have stage names and everyone said I had to be Big Shirley.

JW: As far as the band name thing goes, the legacy continues. We all have band names.

HH: Well, what's yours?

JW: We went on a European tour shortly after I joined the band. I have this problem... [BC chuckles] it's a subconscious thing. I'm not aware when it's happening, but when I'm in a place where people are talking with a different dialect, I kinda pick it up. So people started calling me Euroboy [BC cackles] at first because I'd be up on stage and I'd be trying to relate to the audience and say some fucking stupid shit basically and look like a jackass. But they called me Euroboy and then I said, "I can't be Euroboy because there's a dude in Turbonegro called Euroboy." Then there was this Belgian singer and he's cheesy as hell, drunk as fuck, weirdo, old guy, the Dean Martin of Belgium or something and his name was Don Croissant and they're like "that's your name."

HH: Your band name is Don Croissant?

JW: Yeah and it's all his fault [points to BC, who is cackling like a villain].

HH: That's awesome.

JW: And then I was talking about pickles one day, so there's an alternate name.

HH: Pickles?

JW: Yeah, one day they had these tiny little pickles and I said, "hey, these are cornishones." And they're like, "oh, Don Cornishone."

BC: [Almost rolling on the floor from laughter]

HH: That's even better. So you are named after a tiny pickle?

JW: Yeah.

HH: Bryan, can you tell me more about when the band was first starting out in Richmond?

BC: We had a whole bullshit scam when we first started out. We hung flyers up for shows that we never played. Our first show we never actually played, we just hung flyers and made all of these people think that we were playing these shows. And we made up the locations too, it would be like Organ Hill Rec Center.

HH: In Richmond?

BC: Yeah, in Richmond. We made up these flyers and hung them up the night of the "show" around midnight and we never played. People got up the next day and and saw them and Randy [Richmond acquaintance] was one of the people that came up to us and said, "dude, I heard y'all played." I said, "yeah, at the Organ Hill Rec Center," and he said, "yeah, I've been in that place." There was no such place and we're like, "killer, man." They're like, "yeah, yeah next time."

HH: So when did you start actually playing shows?

BC: Right after our first bullshit show we ended up playing a basement show, which was also with our first singer, or second singer who was this girl Adrian.

JW: She was in a old school riot girl band called Spitboy, which was highly regarded.

HH: Was she good?

BC: I mean, she was a screamer, but it was cool. We're the most un-PC band in America and Spitboy was basically a feminist/activist type of punk rock band.

HH: And she was singing for Alabama Thunderpussy?

BC: Yeah, it was cool. She had moved to Richmond and she was chill. She wasn't all weird and jumping at people's throats and being political. She sang one show with us and then she met some dude from New York and moved up there with him. Then we got Johnny [Throckmorton]. Actually we had this guy before whose name was, well his ATP name was Diamond Mudguts, Luke Tremor. He was a roadie for Nebula after he moved away from Richmond, but before that he was in a band called Crackhead. That was probably the funniest band I have ever seen in my life. They played Twister's one time and they opened up for Eyehategod.

HH: Have you made any plans for after the tour?

JW: This is what we're looking at right now. We've been on tour since the end of January. We had a little over a month home here and there. We've got some ideas and some things that are in the works, but we don't want to say anything about that stuff until we know it's actually going to happen.

BC: We're just touring our asses off. We're going to try to get through the tour and then see what pops up.

HH: So I assume there will be another album soon enough?

BC: Definitely.



HH: How do you handle the writing process?

BC: We just try to get together and everybody throws ideas into a hat and we mix them up and see what happens.

HH: So does everyone come in with a lot already written?

BC: Definitely the guitar players, Erik and Ryan generally come up with the majority of the riffs and stuff, but we'll get together and check out the riffs and jam on them for a while and see what happens. It's pretty informal. What it boils down to is just a bunch of dudes in a room jamming. If it's not like that, then probably it sucks.

HH: Which of your tattoos is the most meaningful to you and why?

BC: I've got my dog's name tattooed on me, that's a good one. That's definitely up there.

HH: What's your dog's name?

BC: Buster

HH: What kind of dog is he?

BC: He's an Australian Shepherd Lab mix. He's about 11 or 12, he's an old bitch, but he's like a puppy.

HH: Do you bring him on tour with you?

BC: Hell no, that bitch would eat people's balls off. He's a mean little son-of-a-bitch.

HH: How about you Johnny?

JW: In April we did a European tour and ended up in Iceland. It was great, we had a fantastic time there. The guys that opened up for us...

BC: Brain Police

JW: Yeah, Brain Police had these friends who ran a rock bar down the street. They took us down there and had an open bar after party for us. There were these crazy Viking tattoo guys that were hanging out. They were really awesome dudes, but they were gigantic and they had long hair and beards and they were total fucking Vikings. They were really incredible people, but they were also tattoo artists and they wanted to hook us up. So we ended up being up until 8 or 9 in the morning. So one of them gave me this crazy zombie tattoo. He dropped the needle on the ground like twice because he was so drunk, but it worked out and we had a great time.

JW: But the tattoo that means the most to me is this panther head. I moved to Ann Arbor when I was 17 and was living with these guys in band called the Laughing Hyenas and they took me down to this place where they go get their tattoos. It was run by this woman Suzanne Fauser and she was really cool. She traded me a tattoo a sweatshirt I made of a Misfits skull. That means a lot to me especially because she passed away not too long after that. She was a really great artist and a really sweet person.

HH: I noticed COC doesn't have very many tattoos.

BC: They're old school though. Being heavily tattooed is kinda new school. I mean, you have the old biker dudes that had lots of tattoos back in the day, but people weren't getting them like we do. And unfortunately now there are dipshits with fuckloads of tattoos. It's like what the hell are you doing with all of those stupid-ass Chinese tattoos that don't mean shit to you? Give me a break.

HH: Yeah, no kidding. So tell me about the Richmond music scene. Are there any bands we should know about?

BC: You should know about RPG. They are definitely the killer band in town and they're working hard and touring. There has always been a great music scene in Richmond. Lamb of God and Gwar are from Richmond.

JW: Municipal Waste

BC: Yeah, Municipal Waste. They're a fucking whip ass band.

HH: Johnny, you moved down to Richmond from Columbus. What was the transition like?

JW: There's not really much of a difference. Columbus is a college town and Richmond is pretty much the same kind of thing. The downtown and the college part are really close together. The cost of living is pretty low in both places. There's a decent music scene going on in both towns.

BC: Yeah, that's the thing. Richmond has got a really good music scene with lots of good bands. And there's a low tolerance for bullshit there. If you're not doing something cool musically people will call that shit out and they will not come support your band.



Do yourself a favor and look into the Richmond scene. Also, check out Alabama Thunderpussy on the Stonebreakers and Hellraisers tour in a city near you.

*All photos © 2005 Joel Didriksen for http://www.kingpinphoto.com/