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THE BASICS
Name : Tim Mumford
Band : Slick 46
Job In Band : Guitar/ Vox
Website Address : slick46.com or myspace.com/slick46

HOME
Hometown : Melbourne, VIC
Hometown is best known for : For its crappy weather
Best thing about the music scene in your hometown : It has a pretty good reputation in Australia as being the best city venue wise. I suppose it is true, but just as in other cities such as Sydney their all being closed down and being replaced with Yuppie bars.
Most influential band to yourself that’s come out of your home town : H-Block 101
Best up and coming band from your home town would be : The Worst

THE BAND
What’s the story behind the band name?
There’s no mystery with the band name. Its pieced together from the ingredients from the back of a Frankfurt packet.

When did the band begin and how did it come about?
The band began in 1998 in country NSW. It came about due to the boredom of not any decent punk bands to go and see.

How would you describe your sound to the average Joe on the street?
Straight up street punk

What’s your current release? Tell us a little about it…
We have a few new releases coming up. Our new full length album “I Don’t Wanna” and also a 7” split with The Harrington Saints from Oakland USA. Both these are out internationally through Longshot Music and available through deadsetmusic.net and good independent stores across Australia.

What image do you think / hope your music conveys?
I personally think it shows a very strong work ethic, basically that you have to get up and do it yourself cause no fuckers going to help you out.

In five years time the band will be…
Still hopefully playing, we’ll see how we go. Its been going good for the last 10 years so hopefully it continues on.

OFF THE STAGE
What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it?
Listening to my older brothers (Paul our drummer) records. I know it sounds cheesy but as soon as I heard punk I new it was it.

What was your first band name and what style did you play?
The Unblemished Tongues, probably a little bit faster music than what we play now, but roughly the same feel.

Tell us three albums you couldn’t live without in your collection
The Beatles, A Hard Days Night
US Bombs, War Birth
The Clash, Live From Here To Eternity - In my eyes this is the best live album I have ever heard, check it out it is seriously worth a listen

Best piece of musical advice you’ve been given
To work it out yourself. Most people’s advice is highly overrated.

Two groups/artists you’d love to take out on the road
Pheonix City Muggers - it’s a shame this will never happen as they have recently called it quits.
The Harrington Saints - which we are lucky enough to be on tour with in the USA in July/ August this year.

Favourite song of your group?
Move Aside - this is a song that we have played hundreds and hundreds of times but I look forward to playing it. It never seems to get boring for me, I cant talk for the others though, they probably hate it.

The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is
Getting away from the missus and work.

The thing you least look forward to before a tour is
Basically idiot checking to make sure everything’s finalized and booked and what not. This absolutely does my head in.

When your not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing?
I try to go surfing as much as possible; basically hanging out with family and friends, walking my overweight dog (he’s featured in a news story on our albums front cover) - nothing overly exciting

ON THE STAGE / ROAD
What gear do you use?
Guitar wise I like to use Epiphone, I think their a really good workhorse without the wanky price tag of Gibson. Also Marshall amps- with this combo you can’t go wrong.

Favourite place (city/town/country) you’ve toured… and why?
San Francisco was a cool place to play. Really cool venues and the people are surprisingly down to earth.

The best show you’ve ever played was… and why?
There have been a lot of good shows over the years but one that stands out from the last US tour was in Phoenix, AZ. It was a Tuesday and we thought it was going to be a pretty average gig, but them fuckers really know how to have a good time.

Who hogs the stereo in the van the most?
The tour manager.

After a week in the van/bus on tour which band member will have the messiest section, and what would we most likely find stashed there?
Owen the bass player has extremely stinky feet. After a week his socks seem to have taken over the van.

Who in your group has the worst “bad habit” on tour, and what is it?
Paul our drummer has the worst habit. He wants to pay for everything which shits me and Owen up the wall. In this band from day one we have always gone into everything 3 ways.

Most embarrassing moment on tour?
I’m not copping out but to be quite honest we don’t get easily embarrassed we’re usually taking the piss out of each other and everyone else that much that you don’t seem to notice embarrassing things have happened.

Give us a good quick ‘on the road’ story, funny, embarrassing, memorable, whatever…
In the old days we used to tour in a small 2 seater van. So it means someone is in the back with all the gear, if there was any sudden braking you would hear cries from the back as all the gear crushes them. This usually was Owen the bass player. Another one was when our drummer married his sweetheart Flea in Vegas by Elvis on our last tour. Which was a nice way to end off the tour and yes they are still together.

Your manager calls and says the venue you are about to play really wants to keep you happy, what’s the first thing you chuck on the rider?
As much Jack Daniels as possible

RIGHT NOW
What’s getting the most spins in your stereo right now?
Joe Strummer - Street Core

Tell us a band or artist everyone should check out and why…
Pheonix City Muggers- check them out cause I know their CDs will be hard to come by soon as they have called it a day.

If you could change one thing about the music industry today, what would it be?
Id take it back to the old days such as when The Beatles and Stones were around. To me the industry seemed to be a lot less fake and more true not like nowadays where it’s a very negative environment to be in a lot of the time.

As soon as I’ve finished answering these questions I’m about to…
Go and pick up the dog shit in the backyard that I haven’t picked up for the last month. The fat little turd has run out of room.

Slick 46 hail from Wagga Wagga, NSW.

They formed in 1998 and after a move to Melbourne are still going strong.

Here's what frontman Tim had to say about the band and shoes...





I'm going to start with the stock standard question of the name. Why Slick 46?
We went with Slick 46 for the mere fact that you don't get pigeon holed into different genres. There's no hidden mystery behind the name, it was pieced together from the ingredients on the back of a frankfurt packet

Describe your sound for a non Slick 46 fan?
'77 style punk. Heavily influenced by bands such as Sham 69 and Sex Pistols

You guys have been together since 1998, what's kept you all going for so long?
We're all really good mates, which makes it easy to play in a band. We do a lot of stuff together outside of the normal band crap. For example we go away on holidays, out to meals, drinking etc.

You have played a lot of shows around Australia, what's been your most memorable/favourite show?
Probably some of our first shows back in Wagga, for the mere fact that we were the only punk band up there, there was no little poofy scenes which didn't influence bills or punters. Just a lot more kicked back attitude, everyone was out to have a bit of fun.

You guys don't have mohawks, does this still mean you are a punk band? (he he)
No, we're a bee gees cover band now. But really, we've never been much into the fashion side of things if you want to have a mohawk that's cool, we've all had Mohawks in the past but were all too lazy to have one now.

Your first full length album is due to be released sometime this year. Does it have a name? What can we expect?
No name as yet. What you can expect is a very varied album with the usual sort of catchy songs to harder edge songs.

You have 3 other EP's released, why has it taken you so long to release a full length?
Basically it has taken so long is that the last three EP's were all recorded in two or three days and in my eyes even that's rushing it to do an EP. We knew we wanted to do a full length album this time and we needed money and time to do it justice, not rush it through and end up with something we don't like and then expect other people to buy it.

How is the punk scene these days compared to when you guys started out almost 10 years ago?
Look the punk scene has gone through huge changes in both music and opinion, with the coming in of emo and all that sort of crap. There's no comparison to what it is like when we started but I suppose all things must change for the good or the bad.

Do you see the internet as having a major impact on the way the scene is heading?
Of course. Even as far as fliers go, and general promotion for gigs. It's basically making the old format of promoting gigs obsolete. For us personally the internet has been a great help getting our music being heard by a greater number of people. But what you gotta remember is sitting on the computer is not as good as going to see live bands.

A US tour is coming up in July/August. How did this come about?
As with most things that we do as a band, we wanted to do it and went out and found a way. The US in my eyes is a lot more passionate about punk at the moment and bringing bands over, it's still been a lot of hard work but nothing that's good is usually easy. We've had really good luck getting onto some good promoters that have helped us out to no end.

Have you got a rough itinerey of places and bands you will be playing with?
Ok heres a rough itinerary-
19/7 Tacoma,
20/7 Seattle,
21/7 Portland,
22/7 TBA,
25/7 Oakland/ Sacramento,
26/7 San Francisco,
27/7 San Francisco,
28/7 San Jose,
29/7 Santa Cruz,
1/8 Los Angeles,
2/8 Los Angeles,
3/8 Phoenix,
4/8 Las Vegas,

For something different lets have some favourites:
Band: Beatles
Website: swellnet.com.au (it shows the local surf and where to go for the best waves)
Fanzine: Hairstyles of the Poor and Contagious
Shoes: Old skool Vans
Pastime (other than music): Surfing, skating and drinking
Local Band: Marching Orders

And some Least favourites:
Band: Wolfmother
Website: Melbourne punks forum, what a load of shit
Fanzine: We don't waste time reading crap
Shoes: Those plastic clogs, their unacceptable…even for gardening in
Pastime (other than music): food shopping, picking up the dogs shit
Local Band: Blackmarket

Any other stuff you want people to know which I haven't asked about?
In general Slick 46 is just made up of down to earth, ordinary blokes, we do the same shit as everyone else has to, there are no airs and graces, there's no wannabe rockstar bullshit. It's been a pleasure to play with the other boys for so long, we all treat each other like family. We're just a street punk band, we always have and always will be.
Over and out
Tim
Slick 46