Photo by Tim Ba
Streets hail from Vancouver, the global capital of heroin and acid. They play straight-up skate punk—rad-ass stuff to which you can drink beer, pogo, rip up ramps, or get arrested for trespassing. Since beer is so essential to their lifestyle and people always get in fights when they’re stupid-drunk, we wanted to know if Streets had any insights into the metaphorical significance of alcohol and violence in modern Canadian culture. They didn’t.
VICE: What’s the worst fight Streets have ever been involved in, like the band against other people?
Johnny (guitar and singing): I fought a girl and a retard in elementary school, but that’s about it for me. We don’t really fight much because we have this roadie named Shiner and we can basically turn him loose on anyone who messes with us.
What’s your band’s favorite drink?
We definitely like really cheap beer. Pacific Pilsner is good. That’s, like, $7.65 Canadian for a six-pack. It’s kind of the same as PBR, but it has a higher alcohol percentage.
Do you think certain drinks make people more prone to violence?
Cheap draft beer totally does. There’s a bar we play at a lot called The Cobalt, and buck-draft night there is always gnarly. Last time, some dude threw a chair at one of our friend’s girlfriends and we had to brain his ass out the door.
Who’s tougher in general, UK garage fans or punk rockers?
I’d have to say punk rockers, but we don’t have any problem with anyone. As our bass player Mike says about the other Streets, “They aren’t my bag of dicks, but he looks like me, so it’s cool.”
If you could take back one thing you’ve done while drunk, what would it be?
We have no regrets.
JEFF MCGOVERN
Streets’ new album, Bo Bo Gnar Gnar, is out this month on Global Symphonic Records.
