The Pills are a hot garage punk band, new to the Rose City. They're currently playing as a three-piece and looking for a new bass-player. They have a pill-shaped single on Estrus, and plenty more in the works. I talked to them as they loaded up their Subaru with all their gear.

You're new to Portland. What are your impressions so far?
Adam- It's doing okay by us.
Ben- It's supportive.
Sean- It rules!
Adam- It's way better than where we were before.

Which was Moscow, Idaho?
Adam- Yeah. We'd like to get some good shows eventually…

What was it like in Moscow? Did it rain as much as here?
Adam- Jesus Christ, this is the worst weather on Earth! Like, hands down today, it got worse than anywhere in the World, right on the freeway

Right here in Portland?
Adam- Yeah.

The Fumes just drove down from Spokane, and I guess they had a hard time making it…
Ben- Well, they're not very good drivers so…They're not very good drunks.

They talk about that stuff but… Do you guys drink at all?
Adam- Not me.
Ben- I drink. I like to drink.
Sean- I'm ain't drunk, I'm just drinkin'

What kind of beers do you like to drink?
Ben and Sean: Oly!

You guys ever go on the Olympia Brewery tour?
Ben- No.
Sean- No, but I got the patch.

So, do you guys get drunk on beer in cans, and piss yourself, and then smash the cans on Adam's head?
Sean- I do it.
Ben- Usually, yeah…
Adam- I smash the cans between my thighs.

What do you think of EJ's here?
Adam- It's like Ichabod's (Spokane, WA sports bar and main venue of Grobal Prod punk empire), without the crank addicts.
Ben- Ichabod's with out the sports.

What about the crank addicts? Where are they here?
Adam- We haven't seen knife fights at EJ's. That's the difference.
Sean- Here, they're all hopped up on beer and uh…beer.

What about over in the bathroom of Club 21?
Adam- Haven't been.
Ben- I went there once. It was small.

You guys haven't hung out at Club 21?
Ben- It's a smoky motherfuckin' place.

That's where EJ's keeps it's druggies.
Adam- I believe it.
Sean- Didn't this place (EJ's) used to be a strip club?

Yeah.
Ben- You know there's a secret bar in Disneyland in the New Orleans sector. I just read about that the other day. They serve hard alcohol.

A secret bar? At Epcot Center we went around. You can drink different beers from all over the World. No hard liquor though.
Sean (to Adam)- You're steaming still.
Adam- My head's steaming.

Any stories from Moscow?
Ben- Frat guys suck. That's all I say about that.

Are there any breweries in Moscow?
Ben- There's a guy that makes his own wine.

Really, what's he make it out of?
Ben- Out of grapes and hops.
Adam- He's a retired doctor and professor
Ben- There's the Sandpoint brewery, all that stuff.

What about big one's like Pabst?
Sean- See the thing is there they have Lucky Lager. They don't have that here.
Ben- Lucky Lager is the cheap drink of Idaho.

You have to go across the river to Vancouver to get it.
Sean- Or to Moscow, Idaho...
Ben- It's sweeter than Oly…
Adam- Why are we talking about beer? What the fuck?
Sean- Cause two-thirds of us drink.

So what about Jet Pack. Who's in Jet Pack.
Adam- Me and Ben, and Sean might be.

So, All three of you maybe. What about Jimmy Flame?
Ben- Jimmy's moving to New York. Jimmy's moving to LA. Jimmy's moving to Baltimore. Jimmy's moving to Portland. So he's a pretty busy guy.
Ben- He's staying in Idaho, I think.

So does Jet Pack have a new record coming out?
Adam- Yes, on Mortville.

Toby Marsh's label?
Some guy with the band- I hear it's recorded pretty well.

So you recorded it?
The guy- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What about the Pills what do you guys have coming out?
Adam- One's the split, one by ourselves, and I'm gonna put out another split with Teen Cool on my label, Cobra Sect.

Any other records on the label?
Adam- Just the Pills/Jet Pack split. I think I'm gonna put one out by the Genetics.

So they're from Moscow too. Wasn't there just a band from Lewiston that played with the Genetics that are good?
Ben- Yeah, the Rummys. They're supposed to be really good, according to Joel (Jet Pack's singer).

Pat Smick says they're good to.
Adam- Well if he said it to, they have to be good.

Ben- They don't know how good they are.

So you're gonna put out a 7" for the Genetics then?
Adam- Pretty definitely. If they can scrape the money together and come up with a good recording. They're pretty rockin'

So someone else has to move out here from Jet Pack.
Adam- Joel, the singer.
Ben- It wouldn't be Jet Pack without the little sweaty guy.

So what about the frat guys in Moscow?
Ben- A frat payed us $300 dollars to play a keg party one time.

Were there lots of guys doing keg stands, or shotgunning beers there.

Ben- No, they were standing about thirty feet back from us on the grass. Then we went away…richer.

Tell me about the Pills, that powerpop band from Boston. Didn't they call you up?
Adam- I don't know how slanderous we should be, but, those fucks! They're telling us the story about how someone screwed them out of their last name, the Penny Dreadfuls, and so they're turning around to…
Ben- To fuck us…
Adam- Well, they're threatening to do it.

But nothing came of it.
Adam- Yeah, but only cause we're low-key and no one hears of us.

So Adam, when you were little, who did people say you looked like?
Ben- Drew Carey, Ha! Ha!

No when he was little.
Adam- Corey Haim when I was little. Actually it was Lucas, which was Corey Haim as a nerd, and as I got older it became John Malcovich, Kelsey Gramer, George from Seinfeld, and…
Sean- Buddy Holly, Ha! Ha!
Adam- …ah. Notice I've gotten uglier as I've gotten older. Corey Haim to John Malkovich.
Adam- Yeah, that's scary. Who knows where this will go.

You guys have three records coming out. That's pretty good. Any chance a Pills LP?
Adam- We're tryin'. We just recorded a shitload of songs.
Ben- We're shopping that around.

Did you record an LP's worth of songs?
Adam- Yeah, an LP's worth of GOOD songs. There's some more too.

Has Estrus talked about doing it?
Adam- They talked about something a long time ago, a double 7", but I don't know how serious that was. That was Vic Mostly talkin'. Who knows. We just sent them the new tape. It's in the mail now. Hopefully…

Have you sent it to anyone else?
Adam- Not yet. I was working on that today.

Let's wrap it up. Anything else?
Ben- Girls. Girls…ah stay away from 82nd Ave.

What about all the girls in Portland. You find any good girls here?
Adam- They're nice. Ah…
Sean- They need to find us!
Adam- Plenty of nice people here.

What about the shows? Have you seen any good bands here at EJ's?
Ben- Yeah. Zeke, Murder City Devils…
Adam- Fireballs of Freedom.

You think there's hope for punk rock in Portland.
Ben- Yeah. Look at all the bands movin' here.
Adam- Yeah. All the Eastside people. We'll shape it up.
Ben- Fireballs, Lopez, us. Then there's the main stays. The old farts. I think there's a future.