Interview: The Beer Burglars
by Janine Kamouh
On October 4, 2012, I sat down with Steel English aka Tommy Weeks, lead singer of The Beer Burglars—at our respective keyboards—for an e-interview. My goal—to get to the heart of this beer loving, bike riding band, who’s music screams fun (sometimes literally). Have a listen here, while you read.
Steel, tell me a little bit about yourself and fellow band members.
STEEL ENGLISH—Mask wearing, beer funneling, irreverent lead singer of THE BEER BURGLARS. He often experiments inter-dimensional communication, and has nearly perfected time travel. Hailing from parts unknown.
H loves Sick of it All, and is drinking a beer RIGHT NOW. He is an accomplished artist and guitarist, who has played in various hardcore and punk projects. H is the REAL H, and there is no denying that.
Kat has been described as “The best chick drummer in NYC” by Dave Manzullo from Reagan Youth, and also as a “5 star drummer” by Dr. Chud of The Misfits. She is great to work with, deals with all of our nonsense, and actually has a great attitude while doing it. She is solid as a rock whether in the studio or at a show.
Josh-IN-REAL-LIFE is a versatile bassist, who has played in variety of different-styled projects. He does great back up vocals, and is able to kick through a cement block with his left foot, which possesses super human strength. He loves otters, ocelots, and H’s stories, but as mentioned previously he is not a fan of spiders.
In 4 sentences or less, give us your best VH1 Behind the Music interpretation of The Beer Burglars.
Basically, we like drinking beer and yelling about beer, so, we get together and write punk songs, tackling a variety of different subjects based around beer—such as prohibition, beer funneling, Spuds MacKenzie, etc. There aren’t to many instances of VH1-esque behind the music nuttiness ,unless you count injecting Steel Reserve into our eye balls, which we do regularly.
Personally, I love riding my bike, but I loathe drinking beer. What can your music do to convince me and my kin otherwise?
If you can’t get behind the simple beauty of drinking beer in the woods, or being excited about your Beer Of The Month coming, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s your loss! Listen to our EP 5,000 times. I understand that has helped some people in the past. As no doctor ever said, “Listen to the EP 5,000 times, and call me in the morning”.
If you had to characterize each band member as a type/brand of beer, what would they be and why?
H, our guitar player would most definitely be Budweiser—Classic, to the point, and an American fan favorite! Plus, he might keep them in business, so it’s only right.
Kat DaVille, our drummer, apparently has a wicked fast Car Bomb, which I have yet to see, but I definitely wouldn’t describe her as Guinness… I don’t think. Maybe Red Stripe, as it embodies the rhythm and pulse of Jamaica, and she plays drums? Fuck… comparing people to beer is hard.
Josh-IN-REAL-LIFE, our bass player, is most definitely a Mickeys Grenade. Mostly because of the puzzle caps. Josh-IN-REAL-LIFE is an enigma and a puzzle within himself.
I would describe myself, STEEL ENGLISH, as a combination of STEEL RESERVE and OLD ENGLISH. Basically because no one really likes them, but for some reason they are still available.
Describe the bands collective idea of a perfect first or last date.
Dates? That’s cute…..Ummm well Kat and H are married, so I have no idea what they consider a date—maybe playing a show or jamming on Misfits covers. As for myself, I’m fine with drinking malt liquor, ordering a pizza, and playing Donkey Kong Country. Josh-IN-REAL-LIFE and his other half enjoy defending their stronghold from hoards of mutant spiders. I think that’s what they enjoy doing together. As they say, the couple that defends their stronghold from giant mutant spiders together, stays together.
If you could ride a tandem bike with any musician—dead or alive—who would you choose? Would you sit in the front or back?
Interesting question. Although I’d love to hang out with Henry Rollins, I don’t know if a tandem bike would be the best setting for us to hang out. Although the pictures would be great. So I probably have to say Weird Al. I think I could comfortably ride a tandem bike with Weird Al, but I’d have to be in the front, and he would have to wear the suit from his “Fat” video.
Frosted mug or stein?
A giant 80 ounce stein decorated with occult symbols.
Ten speed or beach cruiser?
I would prefer my bike which is a single speed road bike. Although I used to have a great beach cruiser outfitted with a beer holder which got a lot of use.
High fives or hugs?
Neither, I have that Howie Mandel thing going on.
It is with a very heavy heart that I end this post with news that Steel English aka Tommy Weeks passed away shortly after this interview. Tommy was a marine vet, who fought in Iraq. The Beer Burglars will be giving him the proper send off he would have wanted, this Friday, November 23, at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch, NJ. The Beer Burglars are performing in order to raise awareness for PTSD. The proceeds from The Beer Burglars merch will go directly to Higher Ground—an organization that helps vets cope with PTSD using sports. In our brief correspondences, I found Tommy to be a hysterical, fun-loving, genuine guy. If you have the means, please support Higher Ground by clicking here.
Tommi was my nephew….I miss him so much! This was so great to read. He was one of a kind, and not just my nephew, but my friend. I taught him who Henry Rollins was! He posed as a “film student from NY” when he was 15 and crashed a corporate party on an island with me to interview people…until we got tossed out. He made me watch Pulp Fiction and told me YOU’LL WATCH IT AND YOU’LL LIKE IT. I loved it. He used to lunge at my all the time, and pushed me out of the way of the microwave because I was “radiating my uterus”! I keep waiting for him to call, to surprise me with a visit, something….I miss him so. Keep his memory and music alive!
Luanne, thank you so much for sharing these hysterical stories with us. We had a blast getting to know him, even if it was for a short time. He really left an impression on us!