Redd Kross - Teen Babes From Monsanto

This is a record of cover songs that they really loved. I think it came out about ’84 and they did all these great covers of Bowie, Kiss, the Stones, Stooges and for us, it was just like, ‘Oh my god, this is a band that’s into the same kind of things we are!’ It was a revelation. They picked out all these great songs and did amazing versions of them. I was in love with it.

And now, you know, here it is, 35 years later, we’re playing with Steven [Shane McDonald]. We’re playing that record. They did cover songs of what influenced them and not many bands did that and now here we are. We did the same thing a few years with that in mind, on a record called Everybody Loves Sausages. It was a collection of all the songs that have been influences on us that maybe people hadn’t thought of as an influence: it was really fun.

We’ve been playing their version of ‘Saviour Machine’ but I don’t know how many people in the audience really realise what we’re doing. But that song meant a lot to me and it’s really cool we’re playing it. We love playing cover songs, we always have. I’m sure some people [in the audience] appreciate it, some don’t. I have no idea what they appreciate. I can’t concern myself with that.

Would you do another covers album in the future?

I’ve no idea! I was thinking that we should do an album of all the covers of songs we absolutely hate and try to make them better. But we’d really have to hate the songs, you know? There’s lots of songs to pick, lots of terrible songs to choose from!