Molotow Soda Interview: We want to thank Tommy Molotow for taking the time to do this interview. Molotow Soda is one of the better known bands in the German punk scene - in the past and now, as well. True punk legends - check them out!! Great band & great interview, thanx again Tommy!!! :) A thanx also to my friend* for helping with the questions - you're a life saver :D -Mikki 1/08

Tommy: The bands you might know because there are records of 'em are "Canal Terror" (1980-83, http://www.myspace.com/canalterror) and "Molotow Soda" (1986-92 and 1998-now, http://www.myspace.com/molotowsoda). I also did guest singing on some tracks for other German bands like "Kellergeister", "Jesus Skins", "Daddy Memphis" or "Polkahontas". Apart from music last year I translated the biography of Joey "Shithead" Keithley (singer of "D.O.A.") into German.

DML: What prompted you to start a punk band in the first place? Was it politically motivated or just for fun?

Tommy: Hmm, although we had also political lyrics with "Canal Terror", I think it was more fun. When I became a punkrocker in 1977/78 there weren't much punkbands in Germany and none in Bonn (former capital city of Germany) where I lived. Amongst the early punks there was the view, that everyone can be a punk musician and should run a band, so we did.

DML: Are you politically minded and, if so, what do you think is good and what is bad about the world right now?

Tommy: Ha ha. Of course I am a politically minded guy but I think it is too difficult to tell all my opinions in an email-interview. Broad I can say, that I am strictly against racists and facsists. I don't like the aggressive foreign policy of the US. And maybe, it is political that I am a vegetarian?

DML: Twenty-one years is a long time. In which ways has the "punk-scene" changed over the years? Don't you ever become bored?

Tommy: As I told before I am into punkrock since the late 70's. The "scene" has changed of course. In the first years you had a lot of problems with school, parents or other people on the street when you were a punk. Nowadays the people know what punk is but in those days they might have thought that we were just mad? But a nice effect of the early scene was that you learned to know other punks very quickly if you travelled into other cities. It was no problem to find a sleeping place there for example. yes, it started to become a bit boring after some years and many people came into the scene who weren't really punks but only bums with punk clothes. In the middle 80's I was much into the psychobilly scene until lotsa fascists and former right winged skinheads pushed into that scene, so I went back to punk.

DML: Have you ever regretted your decision to become a punk musician?

Tommy: Do you really think that I am a "musician"? I can't even sing from music, ha ha. But I don't regret that I became shouter in a punk band if this is what you mean. -;-)

DML: Which artist would you like to see in concert? Doesn't matter if they're dead or alive.

Tommy: Bob Marley!

DML: Do you like to perform big shows (like Punk im Pott) or do you prefer the small ones?

Tommy: Although it is an interesting experience to play at shows like Force Attack festival or Punk im Pott and see how you can get lots of people to move or shout, I like small clubs more. At small concerts you can see the reaction of single people, at big shows you just see the anonymous crowd most of the time.

DML: It has been known to happen that the crowd goes crazy from time to time. Do you like it when some guys enter stage and try to "interact" with the band? Or do you simply endure it?

Tommy: Hmm, it depends on if people want to do stage diving and therefore just come up, stand only 2 or 3 seconds and then jump it is okay. But if they enter the stage and don't leave and bother the musicians I don't like that. Another point is that the audience wants to see the band, not some sweaty and pissed people from the crowd.

DML: What is the most memorable show you've ever played at & why?

Tommy: Oh, that's easy to answer. We once should play in a squatted club in Eutin (near Bremen) but when we arrived, the police had powered off the electricity there. So the organizer sent us and all audience to his private house where we should play in the garden. We went there but it seemed to be impossible to build up our drumset on the meadow because the ground was very rough. So we built ourselves a kinda stage out of an old cabinet we found in a garden shed there. It was very funny.

DML: What other interests do you have, besides playing hardcore punk?

Tommy: Listening to music (most "77 punk" from England and reggae) and sometimes do the DJ in pubs, watching my favourite soccer club St.Pauli FC (which I also have the great pleasure to work for since nearly 4 years, so that's how I earn my living), reading if I find the time to...

DML: Care to tell us what bands you really like in the scene right now and which you think are total crap (yeah, that's a loaded question)?

Tommy: Ha ha, as I told you in the answer before, I'm more into 77 punk, so I like current bands like "The Briefs", "The Hatepinks" or "The Shocks". I don't want to tell you which bands I don't like because I always respect bands who don't get moldy in their rehearsal rooms but get on stage even if they aren't my taste. Okay, I can tell you that I hate bands with right winged lyrics of course.

DML: What sort of things are you interested in achieving in the future?

Tommy: No future, ha ha. I don't have any particular aims but I like to check out things that I haven't done before. Lastly, as I told, I translated a book, so maybe that I want to write my own biography one day. Ah, and I would like to check out how it is to synchronize a part in a movie.

DML: A veeeery important question: Who is to blame for the recipe of Molotow Soda and what is it's cure?

Tommy: When we found the band we thought up the band's name and we thought that "Molotow Soda" sounds like a drink, although we also had "molotow cocktails" in mind by inventing the name. So one evening we met at my home and tried to mix different kinds of alcohol. At least we decided to take the current mix because of the color and we also found the taste ok.

DML: Most important of all questions though is, when can we see you playing live in the US?

Tommy: I don't think that there are many people in the U.S. who would like to see a band with German lyrics performing. Apart from that I heard from some punk bands who were treated like terrorists when they arrived at an U.S. airport, so I don't think that we play there. Maybe if your government changes...

DML: Thank you very much for taking the time to do this, you're awesome!! Is there anything you'd like to add?

Tommy: Thanx a lot for your interest, visit our myspace page and comment on our music. -:-)

More at:

• Official
• Molotow Soda on MySpace