In the Mood to Party

Interview With Locked and Loaded

Norwalk

From Issue 2.4, March/April 2006

Christian rubbed his stomach as he stretched his back before giving his final, “I don’t know” to the question of what happened to the plan of meeting up at his house for some follow-up questions to the interview of Norwalk band, Locked and Loaded.

“E-mail Ryan,” he suggested-or come to one of their shows.

While it would have been easy to write them off with the immediate thoughts that would come to most people’s minds (jerks, punks, rude), that is not the case with these four.

Anyone from around the Norwalk area, or who goes to shows of local band knows that they have been playing a lot lately. The “they” in this case would be, singer and guitarist Ryan, 17; guitarist Christian, 17; bassist Josh, 24 and drummer Cottonballs, 19.

One glimpse at their myspace page is testament to that. They have a busy up-coming schedule and on the day of their second interview, Ryan was looking into getting a sponsorship for the band with a local tattoo parlor-hence the reason plans for a second interview crumbled.

A week earlier, Ryan had said with certainty that if someone is into punk, then they would for sure like them. This was said with little doubt or uncertainty in his voice.

It was a pretty bold statement that would win the eye rolling of some people, which is why the four songs they have available on their myspace site, turned out to be surprisingly good and their opinion of it (a little bit of Rancid, The Casualties and Anti-Flag), was dead-on.

“It’s a lot of aggression and speed,” Ryan said.

Their music came as a surprise being this was the band with the cancelled interview, the first interview with Cottonballs burping, Christian’s suggestion to put “fuck you” randomly throughout the article and the raised middle fingers in almost half the pictures taken that day.

In addition to that, they say they just like to party and drink in their spare time, and their band name is in reference to those pastimes. While they are working on a recording that will be put out by Raunchy Records and they are serious when it comes to booking shows, they know how to balance the partying with the playing.

Ryan will gladly tell someone about the time he was out skateboarding, took a dump on a trash can and then wrote “L and L Punks” on the wall with his feces.

The vocals are a mix of Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederikson. It’s gruff and aggressive. While they said they are also influenced by the Casualties and Anti-Flag, their music is a lot more technical and meaty than a typical Casualties song and they are a little bit heavier sounding than Anti-Flag.

“Basically, a lot of [The Casualties’s] songs sing about random shit, they just play fast,” Cottonballs said. “It gets my adrenaline pumping.

“They’re just a good punk band,” Christian said of The Casualties.

Even more respectable than their music, is their backing of what they do. While a lot of bands are influenced by The Casualties, they rarely give substance to why it is they like a band many say are sell-outs and fashion punks.

“I think that’s bullshit when people say they sold out.”

“Plus, they’re poor as fuck,” Christian added.

“I say fuck all the people that says bad stuff like that,” Cottonballs said.

“Yeah, like the punk rock police,” Josh added.

Unlike the Casualties however, and the comment that sometimes The Casualties sing about random stuff, Locked and Loaded’s lyrics have more substance. Their song “Fiend,” for example, deals with alcohol addiction. The song “No Return” has to do with having no limits and no restrictions. It mainly comes from Ryan’s experiences in Utah.

“In Utah, there’s not many punks,” Ryan explained. He said many of his friends would come to shows, not because they were into the music, but because they were friends with him.

“They were supporting me because they liked me,” Ryan said. “Out here, everyone listens to the music.”

Originally, Locked and Loaded started out as a three-piece in Utah two summers ago when Ryan lived out there. The band broke up over musical differences, but then revived itself once Ryan moved out to Southern California.

“It wasn’t as fast; it wasn’t as technical,” Ryan said of the original band he started. Today, they can obviously say otherwise, and they say they have been hearing only positive feedback from people who hear them.

They mostly play backyards, but have been playing at a lot of bars lately. They said they’ll play anywhere as long as they don’t have to sell tickets.

“I’d take a backyard over venues any day,” Josh said. “Selling tickets is too hard anyways.”

“If they [venues] want to pay us,” Christian suggested.

The went on to talk about a recent show with a promoter who accused them of stealing signs and then spreading rumors saying Locked and Loaded was a “shitty” band, but none of those comments has hurt them. People still keep coming to hear them as they build up their base of fans and new listeners.

For now, they said they will continue playing shows. They don’t like to call themselves a punk band just because the word is so overused today. However, they do toss that word around in referring to themselves.

Eventually, they want to tour and play more out on the road. Josh said he would like it if they could have their own place so that they could practice whenever they wanted.

While it would be nice to end this with something elaborate that drives home the point of just how good their music is, Locked and Loaded is a pretty down-to-earth band with a lot more talent than what they would probably give themselves credit for. So, Christian suggested this article end with, “Fuck you.” Yeah. That sounds about right.