The Real McKenzies – Paul McKenzie
Posted on August 04, 2008 at 8:00 am by Luke

The Real McKenzies

The Real McKenzies played a small acoustic set on the corner of Queen St. West and Bathurst St. on the opening eve of North By Northeast in Toronto, Ontario. All five Celtic, kilt clad punks we’re very enthusiastic enjoying the show just as much as the few spectators who stopped for a quick listen. I had the opportunity to talk one on one with vocalist Paul McKenzie afterwards about his passion for punk rock, his heritage and of course, cheap scotch.

Paul McKenzie: We fuckin’ love it here in Toronto! We just flew in this morning and boy are my arms tired! (Laughs) The Mecca scene is happening here, it’s quite unique and I have to say that I miss it, unless you get out of it, you don’t miss it! You gotta get out of it to get into it!

Way Too Loud!: There seems to be a lack of personal information about you guys on the web, does this mean you like to keep a low profile?

Paul: Well it’s because we are so salacious and lascivious that if we were to leak one tiny little bit, it would be a law suit. If you make a personal contact with us it’s nothing but a fuckin’party! The access of personal information on the web, it’s just a protection scenario, as for me I’m true blue, but the other boys get into… other things.

WTL!: So what got you into playing music?

Paul: I’ve always been this way, from the time that I was dropped into the womb my first song was “WAAAA!” It’s always been a part of my life, all of my families’ generations, we’ve always been involved in music. To me, it’s not about money, if I can pay my rent or if I can buy cat food when I’m on tour that’s fuckin’ great. I’m not motivated by money I am motivated by my heart, I swear it!

WTL!: Your passion for the music!

Paul: Yes! I love it! We had the opportunity and we will tomorrow night to do a… “We dare you to do an acoustic show!” was more or less what it was. Because we’re an electric hardcore punk rock band, and now we have engulfed the acoustic scenario and I don’t want to go back. We don’t have to load any harsh gear, I just bring my ukulele and a couple of acoustic guitars… But you know, let’s not kid ourselves, electric punk rules. We’ll get back to it, I’m just entertaining myself at the moment. We can move around and not have to load any SVT cabs or anything, but there ain’t nothing like the sound of an SVT cab, for a bass player.

There’s a lot of punk rockers that come over to my place and I say “Dude you gotta hear this record!” and that may be something from the ‘40’s or wherever, I say bring it on! I love it all! Everyone’s different you know, like “that’s a tasty number” or “that ones not so tasty.” I’ve been there, I’ve been involved and everything evokes a blessing of energy. I’m not a hippie! But okay… one band, The Five Royales, they really inspired me. When I was a tiny boy I heard The Five Royales and they told me to be in a band, and I swear, all of you listeners and readers, check out The Five Royales; an American R&B band.

WTL!: What are your feelings on The Real MacKenzies being an influence to other bands?

Paul: How I feel is that we have very little or no control over that. All we can do is just keep on being the kind of people that we are, and if we are influential and iconic to individuals then we’ll just keep on doin’ what we do. To me, the more the merrier, and if you can be inspired then pick up that torch and run with it, all the more power to you. And perhaps we can come to the show and have a couple of free beers. More then a couple, a couple dozen. (Laughs) If I could I’d fill up my van and bring some home, ‘cuz I have this cat that loves to drink beer.

WTL!: A cat that drinks beer?

Paul: Yup, she drinks more beer than I do, well at least one on one.

WTL!: Wow, so did you teach her that?

Paul: Well it didn’t happen overnight, but for every beer I can drink, she can drink one.

WTL!: That’s quite interesting.

So let’s talk about the kilts. Is there any sort of family lineage around your bagpipe player, Matthew MacNasty’s camoflauge kilt?

Paul: It’s very interesting, when I first started getting into wearing the kilt it was a specialized thing and over the last 25 years that I’ve been involved, an obsessive diversity has ensued. There is the traditional kilt, I’m wearing a particular plaid right now, but if a guy wants to wrap a piece of canvas around himself and spray paint it, if it makes him feel more comfortable then who am I to judge? If you really want to express yourself, like it’s lucky for me to have this nice sharp, woolly, kilt that has some lineage to it. My point is that if you wanna have your balls hanging the way they’re supposed to when you walk down the street, then go for it man! I really don’t give a damn what it is, like if you wanted to do that without the kilt… cops would stop ya, I won’t! If it makes you feel better. And it’s really nice to have the sense of family, when we wear our kilts we’re family, so it goes back thousands of years.

WTL!: Your new album “Off The Leash” is coming out very soon, are we to expect anything on this one?

Paul: Yes! We’re going in a couple different directions. We got lots of interesting punk songs but we’ve also kind of gone off on another direction. Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco is where C.C.R. did their first album and we got to record in that same room! There’s two songs, “The Maple Tree” and “Guy On Stage” that instead of taking down all of the gear in the studio that we were recording with, we just flipped over to another one and it was Hyde Street Studios. Sly & the Family Stone recorded there, and here I am in the same room, I was fucked up! But our latest album is going in a couple of different directions, like if you were to pick up a Real McKenzies album from before you’ll see. We’re extrapolating on a couple of things, I like it, I’m pretty comfortable with it. On the first listen it might be repelling, but give it a chance and you’ll like it. It is punk! I mean I’m a punk rocker, I could write calypso music and it would still be punk.

WTL!: How do you guys keep amused on the road?

Paul: We’re all mad, all absolutely fuckin’ clinically mad! We fuckin’ love each other! If we didn’t love each other we wouldn’t be able to put up with each other under such conditions. For entertainment, that’s why I picked up the ukulele, we can sing songs about big fat guts, or cans that were left open in the van. It’s very important to entertain one another, because if we can’t entertain one another then how the fuck are we able to entertain anyone else!

WTL!: Considering the amount of bands you have already toured with, is there any band that you would like to tour with who is both feasible and not obvious?

Paul: Yes the Genitorturers, from Florida, they’re absolutely hardcore! I don’t think I could really describe to the listeners and readers how that band is, all I can suggest is that you look them up on the computer, it is wild! Wild fuckin’ rock! Apparently Marilyn Manson worked with them, but Manson fails as a comparison to the Genitorturers. They’re only one of many bands [we’d like to tour with], but that one comes to mind.

WTL!: I know you have toured all over the world many times but is there anywhere that you would like to tour, again or for the first time?

Paul: Yeah, Switzerland. Switzerland’s good! I’m a displaced highlander and there’s lots of Scottish people, displaced highlanders, in Switzerland, and they come to our shows, it’s fuckin’ amazing! It’s just a really, really nice place. That’s only my opinion but… well let’s ask another person on the street, (as The Real McKenzies bagpipe player walks by with a Fat Wreck Chords staff) “What do you think of Switzerland?”

Mathew MacNasty: It’s a nice place to walk!

Melanie: Nice Chocolate!

Paul: Switzerland is a beautiful place. We’re lucky to be living on such a nice planet. Not that I’ve ever been to another planet…

WTL!: The Real McKenzies have been a band for a long time now and you’re probably tired of the band name question, so I’m going to ask if you’ve ever lied about your name or what it means?

Paul: Never! A lot of people say “Oh you’re Paul McKenzie, you named the band after yourself.” But that’s not true, we named our band after the lowest quality of scotch available in Scotland. If you were to order it you could get a bottle of “The Real McKenzie”, but if you were to do that I implore you to drink it with water, don’t drink it straight!

WTL!: Well that’s all of my questions.

Paul: That’s it? You didn’t even ask me my sign!

WTL!: Okay, what’s your sign?

Paul: Caution, falling rock ahead! (Laughs) Oh sign… I’m a Libra.

Mathew MacNasty: Mine is Pyrex, I’m a test tube baby. (Laughs)

Paul: Yeah I’m a Libra, I’ve got a birthday coming up and I’ll be turning 39. Again. I think this is my 20th year turning 39, no 15th. You never get any older then 39.

WTL!: Thanks, I’ll remember that!

The Real McKenzies at MySpace

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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