RINIK FINIK (RUS)

RF: You played on 2000 Tons of TNT in the USA 2 month ago.
What was that experience? I know you played there 2 different shows. One was with some old Oxymoron stuff.
Was it the whole set full of Oxy material or just several songs?
S (Sucker): Yes, we played 2 days on this East Coast festival – with a different set each night…
Well, BAD CO. always plays a few OXYMORON songs in between when we are on stage… but this time we had one show with only OXY songs, and people went crazy…!
That was something unique and special - and kind of a deal with the festival promoter, because he payed thousands of dollars for our flights to the USA… and since I wanted to bring BAD CO. there to make the band better known I agreed…

RF: All your lyrics is entirely in English. Is it for the fans worldwide to understand you clear or you just don’t want to be associated with deutschpunk scene?
S: I mainly used to listen to british/american music and so I grew up with bands singing in English. So for me it was just a natural choice to write lyrics in that language from the very beginning… I never thought about singing in German actually, and I guess it would be harder for me because I’m not familiar with it hahaha…
Yes, in this way more people understand the lyrics - you can reach people on a worldwide base - but that was not an intention but a positive side effect… It’s got nothing to do with the Deutschpunk scene…

RF: You acted as a guest vocal on Saints & Sinners song "Skinhead 4 life". It’s not quite frequent your appearance (not so often as Schulle from Toxpack for example). How did they get you on this record? Why did you agree? The choice of the song was yours?
S: I’ve also been guest singer on a couple of other bands’ records before… Mad Sin, Towerblocks, Choking Revenge, Booze Brothers, Radio Dead Ones, Sikotiko (Spain), Omixlh (Greece)…
I met Saints & Sinners in Prague when they opened for Rancid and they asked me to do it… If I like the band and their music it’s cool and I like doing it. In this case they just sent me this song, but sometimes I can pick one I like best… I would do it again!

RF: As far as I know, you made the artwork for "Platzverweis - Bis Der Vorhang Fällt" (2014) and "OMIXLH - Legion Of Freaks" (2012).
What other releases did you took part as a designer?
You’re making this permanently or it’s just your hobby?
S: Yes, I did the artwork for both of them. I’ve also been doing artwork for other bands like The Gonads, Towerblocks, Cobra, The Booze Brothers, Pistol Grip, Mad Sin, The Voice, Klasse Kriminale, Lazy Bastards… as well as for record labels (Knock Out Records, Sunny Bastards, BYO…) and festivals (e.g. Pogorausch Concerts).
Let’s say I try to do it for my living… you can’t live off punk rock, that’s a fact! But it’s hard… so I have to work for moving companies or build stages and sort of that to make money…
When I started with artwork it’s been mainly layout, like for covers, posters etc. but a few years ago I got into this comic style more and more, drawing the outlines by hand, then scanned the sketches and colored them on the computer. In the meantime I do everything on a computer with a graphic tablet. Check out my homepage if you need some design: www.ss-graphics.de

RF: It is said in your interview that you were influenced by early 80’s punk & Oi! bands from the UK. Why not german bands?
There were lots of great bands like Toxoplasma, Schleim Keim, Vorkriegsjugend, Hass, The Idiots, Daily Terror, Die Oigenz, ZSD…
S: I liked some of these bands a lot (Slime, Hass, Kanalterror, Upright Citizens…) but for me the UK bands just sounded better or I just liked their sound better… don’t know why.

RF: I know the only one punk band from your native town Erlangen. It’s Freibeuter AG and I like them. And they are RIP as Oxymoron. Do you know them? Are they your friends?
May be you helped them with some promo?
S: I only know Matze from Freibeuter AG, but they started when I was gone to Berlin for a long time so I didn’t really have to do very much with them. Good band though!

RF: You’re friends with punk band Cobra. You even have a tribute song for them. Was it really difficult to sing in Japanese?
And they have the song called "Nanda Sucker Konna Sucker"...
Is it dedicated to you? Do you know what is it about?
S: I don’t really know what this song is about… or if it’s about me…
But they have a song about their tour in Europe where I met them, and me and Mosh from Knock Out (who did this tour) are in these lyrics… That song is called “Mr. Mosh”…
Cobra has been one of my all-time faves for a long time… since we first went to Japan with Oxymoron in 1997 actually… and I got all of their albums (about 16 or so). So it was an honour for me to tour together in Japan with Bad Co. and do this tribute song for them (“Otoko No Punk”). I loved singing in Japanese and it was great fun! They told me I was very good in it – but probably they thought something like “Oh no, he’s totally messing up our language…” hahaha…

RF: Congratulations, Weltmeister! This summer Germany won the World Cup. Where did you watch the final game?
Did you celebrate the victory on the streets with thousands people? I know that the next day after the final game many factories in Germany let their staff not to go to work)
S: I didn’t watch it at all… I’m not into football.

RF: You have played shows in Japan, USA, Spain, England etc. Where is the most powerful oi!-punk scene?
Where the reaction on your show was the best? What are the differences in punk subculture in each of these countries?
S: That’s difficult to say… it also changed from the days with Oxymoron like 15 years ago until today. I would say with Oxys the best country for the band was the USA, especially California… and Japan.
But the punk scene in both countries is a lot weaker today and smaller. There’s still bands around but you can’t really compare it to the late nineties. Just like almost everywhere else I guess… I’ve heard that the scene in Russia is quite good and it’s a great feeling to play there (Jake from the Casualties told me…) so let’s find out!

RF: Germany has the best punk-rock festivals and open-airs in the world. What is your favorite? I saw your show twice at the Endless Summer and it was fantastic!!!
Do you like to play festivals or club-shows most of all?
S: Thanks a lot! Yes, there’s some very good festivals like Endless Summer (my personal favourite), Back to Future, Pogorausch… and we’ve also got Punk & Disorderly.
I like both, playing festivals and club shows. It’s different, but each has its own flair. You got more people in front of the stage on a festival, but you’re closer to the audience doing a club show.
The best athmosphere I can remember was at club shows after all – tight, sweaty and full of energy – like in legendary CBGB’s…

RF: There were some reunions of old german bands during past years (4 Promille, Slime, Wizo, Bierpatrioten)...
What do you think about it? Is a reunion of Oxymoron impossible? Or may be we may hope on one exclusive show on the summer festivals in the near future, for example Endless Summer?
S: No, there will be NO Oxymoron revival.
Oxys belongs to the past for me, and I wouldn't do Oxymoron without certain original members anyway – and they will not go on a stage together anymore…so why should I do it?
I personally think there’s too many revivals of bands totally out of place today – not all of them, but far too many. People should rather give new/young bands a chance and a listen and not just hang on to old ones with only one or two original members left. It’s a lot of name-dropping (because of making more money in the end...) and becomes a farce in most cases...
Why don’t people left off from old bands just form new ones? That's why I started Bad Co. in the first place... it’s something new and a band that’s real and exists today. I also like the new songs I wrote for Bad Co. just better and it’s more honest to sing them than the ones I wrote twenty years ago… If people also like it they should support this band and not cling to old names that had their share when it was the right time for them. Times change and so do people…

RF: You don’t have any official videos. Why? You think nowadays shooting the video is a waste of your efforts, time and money?
S: No… I would like to have one. But we’ve just been too lazy so far… and the others in the band are always busy with their own bands (Mad Sin, Towerblocks, Frontkick…) so it’s never been easy to find dates for anything like shows, practising etc. anyway.

RF: It’s three and a half years since your last release.
What are your next plans? May be new long player, EP or a split?
S: I’ve actually got a whole album written and ready to be properly recorded… but just like with the video clip – we just need to get off our asses and take some time to do it…

RF: What will be the setlist for your first Russian mini-tour?
Are you preparing something special? May be mini-setlist of Oxymoron songs? Or a couple of TowerBlocks or Mad Sin covers?
S: We will definitely play some Oxy songs, yes… maybe you could give me some hint which songs people in Russia like best…? I can’t speak Russian, so there won’t be Russian lyrics, I can tell you that…

RF: Any closing moments?
S: Thanks a lot for the interview and we’re looking forward to come to Russia for the first time!!!