After 12 years of listening to THE ACCUSED I'm still in mourning at their demise. Never a new ACCUSED album....EVER!!!! Well I got the next best thing. I got a chance to talk to the singer for about 40 minutes. It's the vocals of the band that captured me. Those vocal chord ripping screams that would leave the rest of us coughing up a lung if ever we tried (actually in my first band in '87 I used to do my best Blaine Cook impression in through each song. Hey, it wasn't bad either!) As bad as I wanted to, I didn't have the guts to ask him to scream a few lyrics right there during the interview. Before THE ACCUSED were THE FARTZ, with Blaine on vocals. As a reminder of what punk is supposed to be all about, Alternative Tentacles recently released a FARTZ discography on cd. Well anyway here it is. My interview with Blaine Cook, the mastermind behind Martha Splatterhead.
CORNFLAKE OVERDOSE-What have you been doing lately since the ACCUSED broke up?
BLAINE COOK-I was in a band for a while called THE BLACK NASTY.
COD-I heard a little bit about that, I saw it on a website like last year. That didn't last very long did it?
BC-We were doing it actually for a couple of years. We put out a disc. It was really hard for us to get shows so it kinda was pointless to keep doing it. Nobody would distribute our cd & it got to be a drag so we just called it quits.
COD-Wow! What else have you been doing?
BC-Well, the Accused, we pulled it together and did a couple of like "reunion" shows & as far as me not
a whole lot. Worked up until a couple of months ago and now I stay at home with my daughter. I've been collecting horror films.
COD-Right on!
BC-Yeah, on 16mm & I run them in my backyard in the summer.
COD-Wow, that sounds pretty cool. Do you find some cool stuff on Ebay?
BC-Yeah, yeah.
COD-For cheap too man.
BC-Sometimes you find stuff for cheap on Ebay, sometimes you don't. The only thing I don't like about Ebay is I don't like the shipping. Somebody could try to stick it to ya.
COD-Yeah me neither, or the fact that you have to pay when you put something on there.
BC-Right, right. Yeah, I haven't been doing anything musically. They just recently released all the FARTZ.......
COD-Yeah, I just got that. It's REALLY GOOD.
BC-Yeah, we're trying to pull it back together to do some stuff, do some recording.
COD-Is it a fer sure thing or....?
BC-Well our drummer "Loud" um....not to say he's a weakling but were not quite sure that he still has the stamina to be able to play the drums. For the past month....been practicing to see if he can do it. We wanna try and keep all the same guys. We wanna give everybody a chance if they wanna do it & if they don't were gonna get some other guys.
COD-Are you guys gonna do the old school FARTZ sound or are you gonna have something that sounds a little bit different?
BC-You know, I have no idea. We haven't gotten together to try anything new.
COD-You said you were gonna record, do you have any label interest?
BC-Actually one guy (Paul Holstein/Transparent Records) who's putting out an ACCUSED single of live stuff and a couple of things that were unreleased, but he'd do a FARTZ single.
COD-Besides THE FARTZ & THE ACCUSED & THE BLACK NASTY is there anything else that we can hear you on? Something else that's recorded?
BC-I was doin' a thing called MR. STUBS AND HIS CARNIVOROUS CHICKIN BAND. That's when I was playing guitar.
COD-Oh you weren't singing?
BC-No, I was playing guitar. I don't know, we were just listening to those tapes just a few weeks ago and we were thinking about putting them out.
COD-What about an Accused reunion, you think that will ever happen?
BC-Probably not because those guys they all went on to play in GRUNTRUCK together & I don't think that things just really worked out to well in Gruntruck, so I think there's some bad blood. We got back together and played maybe 3 or 4 shows but it was hard to just get everybody together for practice it was like flogging a dead horse.
COD-Well that sucks. I think that basically you and Tommy are basically the band but you don't see anything like you guys getting together and writing some new stuff and calling it THE ACCUSED?
BC-Yeah I don't see it happening, I mean Tommy, he lives just a couple of miles away from me and I can't even get the guy to come over.
COD-Why did you break up?
BC-It just got to be too stupid. Tom quit the band to do Gruntruck full time & then me and Alex kept on playing & we just got??????? that we were playing ??????? realy so....(sorry guys, I couldn't make out the tape at this point).
COD-Where did Martha Splatterhead come from?
BC-She was just a character that I came up wiht way back when, when I first joined The Accused back in '84. I just wanted to have this knife wielding maniac.
COD-Masoct kind of thing?
BC-Mascot....but she had to be female. She had to be politically correct. I took the name....we used to have bb gun wars & we used to have names & one of the guys he called himself Martha Splatterhead so we took that name. There was actually a video game, we never persude antyhing legally....there was a video game a few years back and they had a character in it called Martha Splatterhead.
COD-What game is that?
BC-Ya know I don't even remember what it's called. I have the issue for whatever video game magazine that it was in.
COD-I bet that kind of shocked you to see that in there.
BC-Yeah, a guy named Jeff Gilbert pointed that out to us & I was shocked.
COD-In this issue I wrote an article about how I feel that The Accused is a hugely under-rated band. Do you feel the same way or are you happy about the response?
BC-Right now I'm more than happy with The Accused. Yeah I think we were under-rated & back then we were from Seattle & back tehn if you were from Seattle if didn't mean anything. We were bestowing virtues of Seattle on the world far beore everybody else discovered the Seattle thing.
COD-When that happened what was your views on that, when that whold grunge thing exploded?
BC-It was just kind of joke cuz we had been playing for huge crowds locally for years and nobody gave a shit about us. Ya know everybody has their little moment. It's over now.
COD-I contantly am looking for....well atleast since like '87 when I started listening to The Accused & I've always looked for like shirts or any kind of merchandise & stuff. Do you know anywhere where you can get anything like that? Besides your auctions that I saw on Ebay?
BC-That's it. Combat, they're re-releasing all the stuff like the CRUMBSUCKERS, LUDICHRIST ya know. They're not doing The Accused. I think alot of it had to do with the fact that we didn't have a manager and we didn't really play that kind of game. So I didn't think we were given that respect to where we got elevated up to the next level.
COD-What's your favorite horror film?
BC-Ooh man, there is so many. I was just thinking last summer in my backyard I ran the Wizard of Gore. I also showed The Undertaker's House.
COD-I haven't seen that one.
BC-Both classics. Evil Dead was my favorite for a while.
COD-Yeah, Tom Sullivan, the guy who did special effects for that, he lives about 15 minutes away & we did an interview with him in the last issue and he brought like the Book of the Dead & the Dagger (click here to see pics of the said event) over and stuff. It was a real treat man. Ate homemade burritos and talked about Evil Dead. It was pretty cool.
BC-Wow! Yeah that would be cool.
COD-Yeah it was alot of fun because that's my favorite. That and The Exorcist.
BC-Yeah that's good.
COD-Alright, let's talk a little bit about your voice. Your vocals are like....they're pretty unique. did you just start singing that way or on accident or was it a style that you worked toward, or were you influenced by another vocalist?
BC-No it just happened. Well yeah I was influenced by ya know. Darby Crash, Cal from DISHCHARGE & at that point in time especially Ron Rez the singer for BLACK FLAG for a while. Yeah those three guys all those influenced the way I sang.
COD-Yeah I think that's what mainly turned me onto the Accused & it's kind of funny because my wife....she doesn't like punk rock or anything but there is one band that she will not let me listen to in the house and that's the Accused (laughter).
BC-boy....that's good.
COD-Yeah it should be a compliment. As a matter of fact, yesterday she was trying to talk me into getting another dog & she was throwing out all these things, I'll do this and that. She goes: "I'll let you listen to the Accused in the house (laughter). Your lyrics, they're pretty diverse & you write about everything from fictional graphic violence to political and social issues like rape and war. What's your favorite thing that you like to write about?
BC-I don't do much writing anymore. I just kinda like wrote about whatever. I think that's another area where we kinda got under-rated. Ya know with the lyrics & that some people just hear what they wanna hear & I think alot of the more social commentary that we did, I think that totally got overlooked.
COD-Yeah I think alot of it had to do with maybe "reading the book by the cover" because your album covers & names of the albums and stuff. Kinda like BLACK SABBATH, everyone thought they were a satanic band but they had alot of political stuff in their songs & stuff, as you guys did.
BC-Yeah, yeah.
COD-So that unfortunately probably had something to do with it. What about the world today, how do you feel about the world today? Do you think we're headed for disaster or do you think that mankind is just too stubborn & ignorant to ever possibly change for the better?
BC-I just don't know. (laughter) I don't know what's gonna happen. In alot of respects things have gotten....well I don't know if things have gotten really better but I think alot of stuff is more acceptable. I think in alot of respects it's gotten worse. I think racial tension, I think they've esculated. From like when I was in High School. I went to High School during the 70's & it was kind of like right after you know all the really heavy stuff happened in the late 60's. Things were cool and then it just....& then since like the tail end of the 80's things just got like really bad.
COD-Yeah it's a pretty touchy subject really. What was your favorite band that you were in?
BC-I like them all.
COD-Yeah, you don't have a favorite though?
BC-Of all the guys that I played with?
COD-Just band, ya know. Not necessarily people but just....
BC-Favorite band that I was in?
COD-Yeah.
BC-Probably The Accused. I was provided with opportunities that most people never see.
COD-What's some of the stuff that you listen to now, today?
BC-Um, I pretty much listen to whatever I'm picking up at the thrift stores or garage sales. I don't buy much new music. It's too expensive.
COD-You don't listen to alot of the newer punk bands or anything?
BC-No. Ya know occasionally people are gonna send me stuff in the mail. I listen to that but....
COD-What's your favorite ACCUSED album?
BC-My favorite Accused album would be the Martha Splatterhead ep. & then probably Maddest Stories Ever Told.
COD-The ep, now is that something that came out before the first full length?
BC-Right. Yeah that was something that we did right when I got in the band.
COD-I don't have that. Does it have any songs that aren't on the Return....?
BC-Yeah it has 5 songs & they were on The Return of Martha Splatterhead.
COD-Just different more raw recordings?
BC-Yeah, the Martha Splatterhead ep, we just did 500 of them. We did them with xerox covers that we hand stamped the inner labels.
COD-That would be cool to have. What is the most difficult Accused song for you to sing? Like live? Was there ever one werhe you guys are playing and your like Oh man I gotta sing this one now?
BC-There's a number of them that could be difficult to sing. I can't think of one inparticular, while maintaining my stage persona.
COD-In the song Judgement Day it sounds like that you believe in....I may be taking the song wrong but it sounds like you guys believe in God & Jesus but not in hell or the devil?
BC-Yeah, actually I didn't write the lyrics to that. That was originally a FARTZ song.
COD-Yeah I just found that out when I got that cd.
BC-I'm not religious at all. I think it just has to do with....you know there just has to be a point where you just have to respect people for what they do. Especially back when the lyrics were written. If you were listening to CRASS & alot of this music goes really, really down on religion. It kind of seemed counter productive but if your for free will, ya know, let these people....if they wanna believe in God so be it.
COD-Yeah that's cool cuz there's alot of bands out there that are really anti-God, anti-someone that believes in God.
BC-Yeah ya know I'm not against people that believe in God but there's those type of people that are gonna shove it down your throat or make an issue of it. Yeah, those people I'm not for. It's funny cuz we did an Accused show one time & the flyer was this typical Martha Splatterhead rippin' some guy apart. We had a religous group that came and picketed the show and they said that we were....,this is for real, they said that we were promoting cannibalism.
COD-Oh wow!
BC-That was their thing. There was 4 or 5 of these people with their signs & their bibles & of course we went out and talked to them & they didn't even know. They thought that we were promoting cannibalism.
COD-I personally believe in God & stuff but I know that there's people that give other people like that a bad name and I've ran into some people, as a matter of fact a youth Pastor that I had when I was younger brought a bunch of albums out and he brought the TWISTED SISTER album where they guy's got the big meaty bone on the cover & he's eating it & he said the same thing about that & said that they were necrophiliacs. That kind of thing to me it falls along the same line as some of these violent straightedgers giving the rest of the straightedege kids a bad name or the straightedge bands and stuff. I think personally that if somebody is gonna believe in something that they should not go by someone being hypocritical about the situation or whatever, just get into it.
BC-Right, yeah!
COD-I heard that you were in a band with a couple of guys form PEARL JAM & by now everybody knows that Duff from GUNS & ROSES was in the FARTZ with you. Do you still talk to any of those guys?
BC-No I didn't play with anybody in PEARL JAM. I was a roomate with Andy Wood the singer for MOTHER LOVE BONE.
COD-Oh, I got the wrong info then. I went to a website a while back when I was looking for an Accused website and it said that you were in a band with members of PEARL JAM.
BC-No, that's not true. but I did play with....at the tail end of the FARTZ we got rid of Loud & then Duff came in and played drums & then we recorded the 5 song tape & we actually only played 1 live show with him on drums as the FARTZ. The we changed the name of the band to TEN MINUTE WARNING. Then we got rid of Steve & then it was me & Solger playing guitar & Duff played second guitar. We had another guy play bass & another guy played drums. Then they ended up kicking me out of the band & then they went through all these different line-ups & they reformed about 2 years ago, which I thought was stupid because they didn't ask me to sing, so I went down to see them play.
COD-They DID ask you to sing?
BC-No they DIDN'T. The word was....the were telling people that they did ask me to do it & that I didn't want to. but I went down there & this is what's funny cuz I went down to see them play & I was talking to them ya know & well I don't care if Duff is a millionaire, he drives a BMW or whatever because if he's a weasel he's a weasel, & I told him: "Listen you fuckin' weasel, you guys do this and nobody calls me". "Oh man, I..I..I..I..meant to call you. I've got this song for you to sing on my solo album" & I bullshitted with him for a while & then he gives me his phone number, fax number & I call him up countless times, he never calls me back. So a few months ago I'm selling one of those FARTZ records on Ebay & this chick bids on it & her little Ebay user name is GNRDuff. So I write back to her. I say oh, well you like Guns & Roses & Duff? I explain who I am & I say well I've got his autograph & his phone number & his fax number. What's it worth to you? (Laughter) So I sold it for 10 bux (laughter).
COD-Oh wow, that's cool. So he's being harrassed probably now.
BC-(crazy laughs)Yeah I hope so.
COD-That's pretty funny. Over the years like in interviews and stuff what's been the most asked question?
BC-People always ask about the Martha Splatterhead.
COD-Oh do they? Okay, what do you hate about punk today?
BC-Uh, I don't know if I really hate anything. I think it's lost alot of it's ideals. A little watered down. I don't think people stick to their convictions as much as they once did. Over all I'm quite certain that there are those groups, ya know for what I see in my town.
COD-You guys got a good punk scene there now or is everybody trying to jump on the....
BC-Well Seattle doesn't allow all ages shows.
COD-Oh, that's not good.
BC-Yeah. So I'm sure stuff happens but I'm not gonna find out about it.
COD-What do you do in your spare time?
BC-Um....sell stuff on Ebay. I gotta pay my mortgage. I spend all day with my daughter, we just do whatever.
COD-So she lives there with you by yourself, or are you married er....?
BC-No I'm married.
COD-What does your wife think about punk rock & the Accused and all that?
BC-Oh she likes it actually. I met her up here in Seattle & she was originaly from Florida (stupid me accidently taped over part of Blaines romantic story here so you all miss out).
COD-That's cool, so she digs all that stuff huh?
BC-Yeah. Well I'm the master of the house (laughter).
COD-You wear the pants.
BC-Yeah well she can take it in doses.
COD-Well that's about it man. You wanna add any final words or anything like that?
BC-Yeah, thanks for tracking me down.
COD-Yeah man....finally.
If you would like to reach Blaine click....
Before I close this I'd like to add that the photos are courtesy of Blaine himself and I'd like to tell Blaine that I'm sorry (he knows for what). Check out the article I wrote on my opinion of THE ACCUSED being an under-rated band.
Also, visit Transparent Records to find out more information about the Accused 7" and an upcoming Accused tribute album.
