THIS INTERVIEW STARTED THE WHOLE GARBAGE DUMP MESS AND WAS PRINTED IN ISSUE#1 ALONG WITH A COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY OF THE BAND. NEEDLESS TO SAY, ANTISEEN ARE TO ME THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD, MAYBE THE ONLY ONE THAT STILL DESERVES TO BE CALLED A REAL PUNK ROCK BAND. 20 YEARS ON THE RUN, A LOT OF SHOWS AND RECORDS DONE, A FAN BASE THAT IS CONSTANTLY GROWING AND IS MADE BY PEOPLE THAT TRULY BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THIS BAND MEAN SOMETHING. BUT IT'S TIME TO LET JEFF CLAYTON TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE MANY STORIES BEHIND HIS BAND...

GD- lt's a long time ANTISEEN are around… why did you start playing, and what can you remember about that times?
JC- Me and Joe Young started the band just as a way to get into shows we wanted to see and maybe annoy the "scenster" punks that were starting to show up in Charlotte, NC. We saw the "non-conformist" group conforming to all the little rules and fashion that the bands and fanzines at that time were promoting. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now. So we chose the name ANTiSEEN (anti-scene) ANY scene!!!

GD-If I'm not wrong the song "N. C. Royalty" talks about a bad experience you've got...
JC-I worked and lived in an X-rated book store in Charlotte. A Christian group called "the Concerned Charlottians" lead by glory hound minister Joe Chambers pushed to get the sale of pornography to be considered a felony offense in Charlotte back in '85. One day while at work (but off duty) 6 police officers busted in and arrested the store owner. I had to quit because I cou1dn't afford a lawyer. The store owner did jail time and I was out of a job. I don't blame the officers, they were on1y doing their job. My beef is with the little morality group that wanted to force their life style and opinions on the rest of the people.

GD-How was tbe North Carolina scene in the early eighties? It was difficult play and keep tbe band going on?
JC-Punk and new wave was new to the club scene at the time. We ended up being banned from clubs in 5 states for our wild stage shows and tendency to attract violence. So, early in our career we were renting halls to put on our own shows. When the word got around about the amount of people we were drawing the clubs decided to reconsider banning us and had to let us back jn. We were doing things people in this part of the country had never experienced. Even though we were not the most musically gifted band in town we were certain1y the one people remembered most. To this day I still get stopped by people relating to me their firs1 ANTiSEEN show experiences. As is the case today, Joe and I were stead fast and we went through so many rhythm sections that its too many to name. So yes, keeping the band together was difficult back then. But we always lasted through all the bad …times many things that happened to us has sent many bands packing their bags. I think we thrive off of high pressure situations.

GD- Why it took you so long to release the "Honour Among Thieves" album?
JC-Same ole song and dance: guy offers to put out a record, we get everything to him by his deadline and it takes him 3 years to put the damned thing out with excuse after excuse as to why. I know times are tight for alot of folks, but people shouldn't get in over their heads with projects they can't follow up on.

GD-Talk me about your horror fixation...
JC- Ever since I was very young I've loved horror movies, monsters, ghost stories and the occult. My all time favourite films are the one made by the British movie company HAMMER. Christopher Lee was the greatest Dracula EVER!! The new film by Tim Burton SLEEPY HOLLOW was patterned after the Hammer films. Sleepy Hollow was GREAT by the way. I don't obsess on it and try to make people believe I'm some sort of wizard or something Iike alot of these black metal bands. I just Iiked it for the fun of it! Seeing a good horror movie makes me feel like a kid again!

GD- How's living in Carolina? Have you ever tought to leave?
JC-Of course I've thought about leaving but in reality I probably never will. Over all its pretty good down here, but it has its problems just like anywhere else. ..

GD- What's ANTlSEEN political view..? Is true that Joe has been candidated?
JC- ANTiSEEN does not have a political view. We are a rock n roll band. We are in the entertainment business, not politics. Now personally as individuals yes, we do have political view, and I guess It would be best to say that NONE of us are bleeding heart liberals looking to give hand outs to every "special interests" group that cries loud enough. We prefer an American for Americans. Joe Young is running for NC state house representative for Caldwell County, NC on the Libertarian ticket. Elections are in November 1- 2000. So unlike MOST political bands who talk a bunch of political bullshit, OUR guitarist is the real goddamned deal, not a damned armchair revolutionary!!!

GD-You've played in communist Eastern European countries, how have you been welcomed?
JC- We were given a very nice welcome from those people, even though I'm sure they didn't understand what we were about, but they still came out and had a damned good time anyway!! GD- I know you own a gun… have you ever shot somebody? JC- No. Not yet. Hope I never have to.
GD- Now as your logo you use a Nazi icon… what has been people reaction?
JC- I guess people don't mind too much since we switched the swastika with the rebel flag, but even if they did who cares?

GD-Wbat do you think about vegetarians? I think that "Animals, eat'em" speaks clearly about it…
JC-Well… I for one couldn't ever see myself as one 'but to each his own. Most people who are vegetarians I have noticed are sensitive about and can't take a joke...that's why we wrote ANIMALS. We once made an animal rights organization pack there shit up and leave a hall we were playing… HAHAHAAII! I love animals… They're delicious!!!

GD- Tell me about that guy who got stabbed during one of your shows in Germany…How it could happen??
JC-He was being an asshole, someone got tired of him and stabbed his ass. That's all I know.

GD-How much wrestling affects your life? Do you often go to matches?
JC- Wrestling is a very big part of my life. I go see it live when ever I can. If it's not on TV, then I watch tapes of it. I've loved ever since I was a kid and I love it just as much today: I have the greatest respect for any one who steps into the squared circle.

GD- What kind of person Jack Starr was?
JC-He was a great person. We hit it off reallly well and stayed in touch all the way up until the time he died. I think of him often, and since we have been working on the re-release of EAT MORE POSSUM I've been thinking of him even more.. He is sadly missed.

GD-If you could kill someone without being Jailed, wbo'd be the first one on the list?
JC-That's easy… JESSE JACKSON.

GD Tell me about those shows you played in Italy. Did you like our food and our women?
JC-We played in what I think were squats...the folks there treated us really good. I must admit, you Italians have some damn good food and some very pretty women!!

GD- Conquerer Worm have to be considered a closed chapter or you'll record something new?
JC- That's the cool thing about it. We can open that up when ever we want. Me and Phil (Rancid Vat) have TONS of ideas floating around and some of those do involve more to do with Conquerer Worm.

GD- What do you think. about drugs? Reading your book we understood that you never were too much in favour of their use into punk rock…
JC- I personally can't condone them. I will drink with ya… but when it comes to snorting shit or sticking needles in your arm you can keep that shit! Most junkies are wastes of space anyway… Rid the world of 'em!!! OD FOR ME!!!!

GD- What can you tell me about your collaboration with GG Allin and the time when "Murder Junries" was released?
JC-Well. that's when GG got out of prison and he was very eager to get some new shit out. The studio was a fun atmosphere even though the LP was very violent and heavy. My first daughter was born the very day he arrived to record so I have a photo of him holding her when she was not even 24 hours old!! HAHA

GD- After GG's death you played some shows with the Murder Junkies. What kind of experience it was? They offered you to become a band member?
JC-The Murder Junkies would have allowed me to stay as long as I wanted to. Being in 2 bands is difficult, especially when one is in New York and one is in NC!! The shows we did we realized later that we did them way too early too soon after GG died. We were (I) was met with alot of fans wanting the GG Allin show which I was not going to give them. The legend of GG was still too fresh in peoples mind to accept me fronting the Murder Junkies... but I will say I had a damn good time travelling with those guys.

GD- How could you catch Michael Bruce and convince him to play on your "Here to Ruin your Groove" album?
JC- We met through a mutual friend named Ant Bee and I booked a show for the Michael Bruce band in Charlotte. Mike stayed at my house and we discussed the possibility of the recording and later It came to be. I' m very proud of that recording.

GD- What does being a Southern means according to you, and are you proud of it?
JC- You see, the south gets a lot of bad shit from the rest of the country. I've been everywhere in the United States and other than maybe Texas, there is no other place I'd rather live than DlXIE!!! I'm very proud to have been born and raised here and If anyone has a problem with that...KISS MY ASS!!!

GD- Are you still In touch with Lee Ving? Whatever happened to FEAR?
JC-We did a tour with FEAR a few years back and had the privilege of having Lee Ving come on stage and perform HAUNTED HOUSE with us in Boston and Philadelphia. We got along with them really well and they treated us good too. We played with them back in March in Spartanbug SC...they are still great!!

GD- What are ANTiSEEN's songs you like the most, and why??
JC- I was really happy with the way PEOPLE LlKE YOU came out. I guess cuz I always wanted to write a pop song!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Others I love for different reasons, mainly for how some of them move an audience.

GD- In many of your shows you hurt your face with bottles and other dangerous objects, have you ever risked of being brought to hospital? And why do you have such a wild behaviour on stage (don't misunderstand me, I love it!!) ?
JC-Oh, I' ve gone to the hospital many times after shows!! I've had more stitches than I can remember. I guess growing up with a love for Horror movies and wrestling kind of pushed me into that kind of behavior!! Plus I like the shock it creates on some peoples faces!! HA!! It was never a "tortured artist" type thing that people like to believe. Some people can take pain and abuse and some can't. I can.

GD- I know that The Confederacy of Scum is born when you met first Phil Irwin from Rancid Va,. and then Widowmaker from Cocknoose... can you tell me more about the birth of this movement??
JC-I guess it all officially got started back in 1992 when we met COCKNOOSE in their hometown of Lawrence Kansas. We had been partners with RANCID VAT for a few years before and so we all three started exchanging ideas and discovered we all had a lot in common which we all pretty much felt alone in the "music biz" up to that point. Eventually we inducted more bands that also fit the bill. Now the COS has become a sub genre of music all its own it seems. But there is way more to it then how you dress or what bands you listen to... a lot of people don't seem to understand that though.

GD- Why ANTiSEEN and other bands had the urge to create their own scene, their own circle of friends? Are you so isolated in the USA punk rock circuit?
JC-As I said before we all felt alone in the music biz… around that time it was so important to be PC or have some kind of message that everyone could put your band into a category . But we were not PC, yet we were not like extremist skinheads. ...we all loved the Pistols. the Dead Boys and the Ramones, yet we grew up on Kiss, Alice Cooper ,Ted Nugent and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Many of us like the avant garde side of Rock n Roll like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, plus we all had some major influence from the second US wave of Punk & hardcore like Black Flag, FEAR, along with the music from our childhoods such as Country artist like George Jones, Hank Williams SR too many loves and influences to be confined to the rules of the "punk rock scene". Mixed with many of the members love of Pro Wrestling and Horror Movie culture we decided to make our own "network" of bands, zines and labels to appeal to the people out there that shared our interests and we knew they were out there from the fan letters we would receive, we just had to find a way to pull them out of the woodwork and that's how the COS SUPERSHOWS came into existence.

GD- Can you tell me something about your relationship with the german guys from the Community of Filtb? How this friendship was born?
JC-Those guys were some of the people I discussed that we just had to pull out of the woodwork. They were all fans of many of the same things as us BUT instead up begging to be part of the COS (which if you have to beg your not in!!) They formed their own version of it and called it the COF. That was a very complimentary move and a very respectful thing of them to do. We tip our hats to BORN BAVARIAN and NOTHING BUT PUKE for their efforts. We also know of an Australian group called RUPTURE who have formed their own "Order of the Black eagle" in the same way. So many bands automatically get aligned with the COS which has kind of watered down the original intentions, but I have nothing to do with inducting bands anymore because I have become fast friends and a fan of so many bands that share our attitude that many will admit to US being a major influence on them, which is a great compliment in itself especially when its such great bands as The HOOKERS, The BULEMICS, The DEAD KINGS, HAMMERLOCK or BEFORE I HANG. To induct every single one of them would definitely be a bad move and would more than likely be the beginning of the end of the COS.

GD- Would you accept another confederation of European bands with an attitude similar to the COS one to be part of your scene or it'd be impossible?
JC- Its way more possible to get our attention by doing your own thing. We think its a greater compliment to have inf1uenced others to start up their own groups as opposed to s expecting to be embraced by us just because you have a song about guns!!! I rea1ly don't t see the COS expanding much beyond where its at now. Mind you, that does not mean we shut out other bands and such… We are just gonna keep the COS as it is and continue pushing our own groups, but as I mentioned some of the great bands above, we are always glad to discover new and great bands to have as allies!!!

GD-How and why the idea of putting up the COS Supershows started?
JC- See above questions

GD- I know you're married and you also have a dauhghter… is it difficult for you to own a family and keep things goin' with the band? What does your family thinks about ANTiSEEN?
JC-Actually I have TWO daughters. One is nine years old and the other is two. Raising a family this day and age is tough anyway you look at it. I guess being in the band does make it hard, especially when we go away and my wife is left with all the responsibilities… This is the main reason we can't just pick up and tour to any little club that wants us to play. The money has to be worth it. A lot of people have given us snide remarks about that but the reality of it is, you can't feed kids and keep the electricity on with "all the beer you can drink" or "there will be a lot of people into it"...you know? My wife is very supportive of the band. She is a musician herself so she understands a lot of things that most wives wouldn't. My kids think its cool , and my oldest goes around telling her friends that her dad is "famous", haha …

GD- I heard that the new Lp is in the making and it'll be called "The boys from Brutalsville"... can you tell me something more about it? On what label it'll be released ?
JC-Well, it'll be our first all new Lp since RUIN YOUR GROOVE. This time though we will be a 3 piece with Sir Barry Hannibal handling bass and drums. We have a guy playing live with us at the moment named Doug Canipe. Hopefully Doug will want to stay and can record the next album with us. In the USA it will be released on TKO records. In Europe on LOUDSPRECHER. Some of the songs we have for it so far are RUN MY WORLD, SUICIDE BOOGIE, GUNS ABLAZIN, SOD, SMOKE & FIRE (by Screaming Lord Sutch), BROKE DOWN BLUES, SABU, MELTING POT, TALK SHOW TRASH, COMMANDO (Ramones), WIGGER, BACKLASH, 6 DAYS ON THE ROAD (Dave Dudley) & BABY FACE KILLER.

GD- How the idea for the book "15 years, 3 chords and one hell of a bloody trail" came out and why you decided to realize this project?
JC- Well. I have boxes and boxes of ANTiSEEN clippings and photos and I wondered why I was keeping them all... so we put this together so I could let people see things from our past. Most of the contents will be re-released by STEEL CAGE records in an actual book form (as opposed to a fanzine form) called DESTRUCTO MAXIMUS sometime next year. All the stuff will be printed much clearer and on really nice paper. The book will have a lot of shit that 15 YEARS did not...plus it will have the lyrics to every one of our songs.

GD- What's your position about death penalty? If I'm not wrong, there's an ANTiSEEN song about it...
JC- Yes we did a song called WATCH THE BASTARD FRY on the SOUTHERN HOSTILITY album. I am very PRO death penalty. Un1ess you are a mental case, everyone knows right from wrong. When you cross the line into what you know in your heart to be wrong, I feel that all rights you have as a human being should be taken away. Especially with such serious crimes as murder, rape and kidnapping. lnstead, in our country our government just makes excuses for these pieces of shit who commit these crimes and try to make it everybody's problem. Our tax dollars keep them alive and comfortable. I say justice shauld be swift. But of course you have lawyers to keep parasites out of harms way. If I were dictator, lawyers would be the first to go.

GD-You're a band on the run since a long time. In your opinion, what has changed from the beginning of your involvment in music to these days?
JC- Well, when we first started the whole punk movement in America was still kind of new and people didn't seem to care as much about what category a band fell into before they decided they liked them or not. Today's music just sounds so fabricated I guess that's how you get rich, but I've never been able to go with that flow.

GD- Can you tell me something about "Southern Fried ", the 'zine you 're working on since a couple of years?
JC-SOUTHERN FRIED is the brainchild of my good friend ANDI NAUERZ from the German band BORN BAVARIAN. To give credit where credit is due, Andi and his girl- friend Claudia do about 90% of the work and they really bust their asses on it. Me, The Whiskey rebel, Gus Chamber, and Alan King contribute articles and reviews and I get it printed here in the US and Gus gets it printed in Australia, but this is really Andi's baby but we are all very proud of it.

GD- What about the ANTiSEEN tradition of playing Halloween's shows each year?
JC-The last time we did that was in 97. We just love the fall and the halloween atmosphere...it goes well with our subject matter and sense of humour. Not that we are a horror band like the Misfits, but we tend to celebrate the darker side of people's personalities. Halloween is a natural time for that kind of thought.

GD- Are you happy with the band or you would have a bigger audience, a bigger exposure?
JC- Of coarse we'd like more of an audience and more exposure, but not at the expense of compromising what we are about. We have been at it too long for someone to come in and tell us what to do in order to appeal to the 13-17 years old audience. I couldn't care less. I'm very happy with what we have accomplished so far and look forward to what lies ahead.

GD- Any future plan in the making, besides the new album?
JC- Well, we plan on touring Europe again, the west coast of the USA, and re-releasing most of our back catalog with remastered versions and maybe even digging into the vaults for tons of unreleased and live stuff the world has yet to hear…

GD- Ok, that's all. Please say what do you want to our readers…
JC- Thanks for the years of support. If you are just coming aboard, welcome. Like my buddies the BULEMICS say: KEEP ROCK EVIL and check out some of our COS family. Raise hell and don't let .'m take your guns!!! BANG BANG!!

CONTACT ANTiSEEN: Jeff Clayton. Po Box 4905 Rock Hill, SC 29732 USA
e-mail: jcantiseen@aol.com