Halfcocked
Biography
Press Release, August 28, 2001
The Album
Press Release, March 2, 2001
Sarah Reitkopp, vocals
Johnny Heatley, lead guitar
Jaime Richter, rhythm guitar, vocals
Regina Zernay, bass
Charlee Johnsson, drums
Halfcocked
Sarah Reitkopp, vocals
Johnny Heatley, lead guitar
Jaime Richter, rhythm guitar, vocals
Regina Zernay, bass
Charlee Johnsson, drums
Biography
"This band sounds like AC/DC and ABBA had a bar fight. Basically, we make music for people with ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder], and we're more than eager to accept the blame for attempting to resurrect the glory days of true arena rock!" gloats irrepressible Halfcocked drummer and founding member Charlee Johnsson. "I mean, if you're going to bother getting on stage, you should make a conscious effort to thoroughly entertain whoever comes out to see you. We're definitely not a shoegazer band!" Vocalist Sarah Reitkopp concurs: "Half the fun is hitting the stage as though you're going out in front of a million people who've paid good money to see you." That spirit permeates the 13 songs on The Last Star, the band's debut for Megatronic/DreamWorks Records, an imprint newly formed by Spider One of Powerman 5000. Punky and heavy, it contains spiky sentiments matched with muscular playing.
Halfcocked's new label head explains why he chose the Boston-bred lineup as the first signing to his roster: "When I first heard their indie record, I was blown away. It sounded so refreshing to me. Their music incorporates all of these elements that no one else is doing right now...Blondie, Cheap Trick, early G 'n R...big hooks and no rapping," says Spider One. The PM5K frontman is not alone in his admiration for the young band, who formed in 1997 and was soon touring regionally, playing with bands including Nashville Pussy and Queens of the Stone Age. Before Spider signed Halfcocked in Fall 2000, the band, with a slightly different lineup, released two records on the independent Curve of the Earth label: 1998's Sell Out and 2000's Occupation: Rock Star. In 2001, on the strength of their Boston presence and indie records, Halfcocked garnered three Boston Music Awards nominations, in the categories of "Rising Star," "Female Vocalist (indie label)" and "Debut Album (indie label)." The band, whose DIY ethic--combined with what Johnsson calls a "manic and full tilt rock aura"--made them standouts in the conservative New England music scene, relocated to Los Angeles in the Fall of 2000.
The Last Star, produced by Ulrich Wild [Static X, Powerman 5000], at L.A.'s Larabee Studios, features the energetic premiere single, "I Lied," with an accompanying video directed by Spider One. Johnsson describes Reitkopp's lyrics in "I Lied" as "some of the most empowering, truthful music I've ever heard. Guys can talk about all the women they've nailed; it's a rite of passage. Yet if a women exercises that right, she's considered slutty, that old double standard."
Outside standards don't apply in Halfcocked's world. "Our chemistry is healthy alcoholism, vindictiveness and conflict," laughs Johnsson. "Sometimes the audience is crying, laughing, playing air guitar. But a Halfcocked show is always a crapshoot, and that's part of the fun. The idea is to go full-fucking tilt, consequences be damned." And, adds Richter: "We make sure to leave as much of an impression as possible. Anyone who gets in the way should suffer!" Richter, a sound design student at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts college who hooked up with Halfcocked in October 1999, was the second-to-last member to join. L.A.-based bassist Regina Zernay cemented the lineup in early 2001.
As the title of Halfcocked's debut and many of the songs suggest, the band is unafraid to tackle taboo subjects. From vibrators ("Thanks for the Ride") to integrity ("Sell Out") to women's sexual freedom ("Devil Shoes"), the band work up the myriad music that inspires Reitkopp's frank words. While she often writes from a personal point of view, gender is not an issue. "The girls are very important in this band--just as important as the guys," notes Reitkopp. "But we're not about making an issue either way; we're not going to play Lilith Fair. We're a band, not genders. When we wanted to add a rhythm guitarist, we didn't care if it was a woman or man. Whoever fit best is who we wanted." And who they got. And, adds Johnsson: "Sarah, Jamie and Regina are NOT in the band just 'cause they're women. Ultimately, we all have the same strengths and weaknesses, regardless of gender."
Those strengths were revealed to Spider One when he first heard the band's Occupation: Rock Star disc, featuring six of the songs that eventually were re-recorded for The Last Star. Still, before Spider signed Halfcocked, he wanted to road-test the band, which he did via a major Midwestern tour. "My fifth show ever in a band was playing for 3,000 people," recalls a still-stunned Richter, then just 20 years old. "I was like, 'what the hell did I step into?'" On tour with Powerman 5000, Static X and Dope in mid-2000, the members of Halfcocked were thrown into the fray, and emerged victorious. "No one in the audience knew who the fuck we were," recalls Reitkopp, "but it's so much what we're about. We weren't part of the precious indie rock scene that ruled Boston, so playing for kids who love in-your-face rock is amazing. In the past, we got yelled at a bunch of times after shows for knocking stuff down and wreaking havoc. Once, touring in Maine in the middle of winter, we had to give a club all the money we made at the show because we broke stuff."
Halfcocked have certainly earned their reputation and name, which not only refers to the common Bostonian phrase of being slightly drunk or "halfcocked," but also to the band members' members. Johnsson's mother, whom the drummer lovingly calls a "rock goddess," coined the band name. "Any semblance of musical taste I have is from her," confesses Johnsson. "She's a rock power princess, a classically trained pianist who used to go-go dance for bands." Her son, born in San Bernardino, California, before moving to Utah, Virginia and finally Boston, shared her love for music, and eventually, as a buyer for Tower Records, Johnsson amassed a record collection nearly as large as the store's own. Though as a young teen, the guitarist, bassist and finally drummer said "I couldn't hit a note if I fell on it." By listening to the Germs, Danzig and Black Flag, he honed his chops and exorcised--and exercised--his boundless energy.
Halfcocked is rounded out by equally intense personalities with diverse musical influences, all of whom participate in the writing process. "We call Johnny 'Johnny Rock because, well, he rocks!'" explains Reitkopp. "Not only is he an incredible guitar player and a brilliant songwriter, he can also down a Guinness in one gulp. He has the ability to work "drunkenness" into our live shows. One time he drank so much that he passed out on stage. We had to throw water on him to wake him up. He stood up and started right where he left off...didn't miss a note."
Though Halfcocked's newest member, bassist Regina Zernay, joined after The Last Star was recorded, she's already writing with the band. "When we auditioned people in Los Angeles, Regina was the first one to try out," recalls Reitkopp. "When Charlee and I first met her, I said, 'I bet she won't be able to play, because she's just too nice and cool.' But she learned all our songs in two weeks and is super-solid. Nobody was as good as her, playing and personality wise. She was in!"
Ditto Richter's October 1999 entrance into the band. Though Halfcocked is her first true band, the young Minnesota-born guitarist, weaned on the Replacements and Babes in Toyland, is proficient on ProTools and wrote, recorded and released her own CD, the Ignint Fucks, which she calls "pieces in between music and noise."
Reitkopp--who was raised in Rochester, New York and moved to Boston after attending college--also brings a wealth of experience and influences to Halfcocked. "As a kid, I was shy, but I've sung since I can remember, first to the Annie soundtrack, then I wanted to be Olivia Newton-John once I saw Xanadu!" After her first concert, Billy Squier and Nazareth, she formed a band in high school, "though we never made it out of my basement," she admits. Eventually, as a member of the Boston band Plush and a fixture on the local scene, Reitkopp formed--with friend Kay Hanley from Letters to Cleo--the Safe and Sound Organization to raise money for victims of shootings at two family planning clinics in Boston (one was Reitkopp's acquaintance). While Reitkopp was always busy in Boston, she was never fully satisfied until she hooked up with Halfcocked.
On Megatronic, Halfcocked will have the leeway to realize their rock dreams, thanks to an understanding label head. "We're so psyched to be working with Spider. One of the things he liked about us was that each person in the band is very different and we each have our own vibe. He encourages that. And he's just a cool guy," Reitkopp adds. "I mean, we can call him at home, and since he's in a band, he knows both sides. He gives us the inside scoop from his perspective, stressing that getting signed is just the first step."
DISCOGRAPHY
Sell Out, Curve of the Earth, 1998.
Occupation: Rock Star, Curve of the Earth, 2000.