Ron: bass
Jon: guitar
Shon: journalist
Americon: infiltrator
Tom: drums, MIA

A: Why do you think chicks like guys with shaved heads?
R: It's a mystery to me. All I know is Jim from the Mermen ­ when he went on tour with a head full of hair, it was just like him and his left hand. And the next time he went on tour after he shaved his head, it was like go-go- dancers every night sucking his dick. Okay? That's all I have to say.
A: I think it's to both of your credit that you have plenty of hair.
R: Well, thank you.
S: I can imagine John with a shaved head, but I'm not sure about Ron.
R: I'd look like some kind of egghead. Jon would look like some kind of mean egghead, so it's okay for him.
J: Depending on my mood, I either look like an egghead or a concentration camp victim. Or Zeke coming out in the woods. But then there are those girls that give me compliments.
R: And they rub your head and go, "Awwwwww."
S: I'm done with shaving.
R: You're a beardo, man. Me and Jon, we just got sideburns.
S: Yeah, you guys have some nice helmet straps.
J: I haven't shaved in a while. I got the unemployment scruff going.
R: Sideburns serve a few purposes. They immediately remind people of the fact that you're proud of being a man for one thing. It's just another way to deny you're a woman.
A: Did Three Stoned Men ­ the great and mighty ­ turn into Mensclub or how did Mensclub happen?
J: Three Stoned Men have been around a lot longer than the Mensclub. And Dave Nudelman, Stoned Man #1, is Aaron's brother.
R: So that's how we met is my brother.
J: Dave Nudelman and I were buddies and did Three Stoned Men and Aaron was in another band called Wig Torture.
R: But to listen to my brother, he'd say he's the reason why Mensclub exists. That's what "Claiming the Stake" is about ­ my brother.
S: Like Little Richard...
R: Yeah, you got to take things from big stars like Little Richard and Dave Nudelman with a grain of salt.
S: So what is "Nut Case" about?
R & J: Crazy wimmins!
R: you know how sometimes they just go crazy and start throwing things? I seriously had one come at me with a knife once.
S: You must have provoking it.
J: The stuff you hear Aaron singing is the stuff he came up with. The chorus that I sing is the stuff I came up with. At the time it was inspired by a very particular crazy chick that was once a big part of my life. She called me on it and asked if it was about her. I kind of half-lied and said, "It's no more about you than it is about any other crazy chick."
R: So in a nutshell, that's what "Nut Case" is about. It's a pretty simple tune, not a lot of deep, serious meaning to look for in that one. If we're going to say, "Sometimes chicks are crazy," we going to say: "Hey, sometimes chicks are fucking crazy." We're not going to say, "Under the eastward bridge, there is..."
J: "A crack."
A: You're not going for the poetic outlook. When did y'all start?
R: About three years ago.
J: About four years ago. Aaron and I started writing songs, then Tom joined the band.
A: The first times I saw Mensclub was at 375 Wilde Street and then the show at the SF Motorcycle Club, remember, that J.J. put together?
J: What show?
A: You played Mike Garcia's moving party down on Wilde, way down south in the Excelsior, in a basement.
R: yeah, yeah, that was a fucking fun time.
J: Yeah, that was one of our first shows.
R: That was one of the most memorable parties in my opinion. That was when we first met Giblet. She's all, "Come on down and sit next to me, little boy," and I was like, "I'll just sit over here."
S: So you guys remember playing with this band called Hedgehog?
J: The name sounds familiar.
S: They're from Santa Cruz.
R: Shit, I don't remember.
A: Well, if Wilde Street was your most memorable party and you barely remember that, that says something. How many times have you toured?
R: Like six or seven.
J: We've done one cross-country.
R: Three regional.
J: Three or four we've gotten as far east as Kansas.
R: We've been to Canada two times.
A: How is that feasible?
S: They beg, borrow, and steal, baby.
J: We take the money we make from shows here and the label will give us a little bit of support. The gas eats it up and then we're in debt. And then we come back and work off the debt.
S: Does that mean you only play shows with guarantees?
J: We play the Purple Onion regularly. That's not the best paying gig in town, but it's fun.
R: We don't get guarantees anywhere. Unless it's some kind of event and we're asked to play. Usually we get offered some money, like when we played that lame-ass Whammies shit. Or like those shows where you get "lucky" enough to open for a big band and you get a whole $50 guarantee. A percentage of the door? No, because they're doing you a "favor."
J: Like if you play Slim's.
R: Those are the guarantees that you're going to get ripped off.
A: Your shows actually sell out.
S: They sell out and then you do songs like "nut Case" and "Woman Driver" and there's so many women there going, "Yeaaaaaahhh!"
J: That's the best. It just proves there's party people in San Francisco.
R: It just proves folks just want to hear rock. It's just saying whatever. It's not, "Oh, I'm a woman and they're saying women drivers. I better frown and clench up my butt muscles." People just aren't like that at our shows.
A: you should have something where the refrain is "Woman driver" but then have the lyrics be all, "Wow, they're so skilled/ And they really know what they're doing."
R: We try to make it a little harder for people to realize we're not misogynist creeps.
A: So what are you? How can you fill that void?
R: Just people who want to say things from our perspective. With a little humor. And a little grain of salt.
A: So, no protests, no flack. No lesbian separatist nations putting you on their hitlist?
R: No, we're just not that threatening.
A: But if you shaved your heads...
R: Maybe. Or maybe if I pierced my left nut or something.
J: We've played with Seven Year Bitch a couple times. It's interesting to see the reaction of the crowds they draw. Some of the bulldog dykes like us. Sitting up on stage, waiting for Seven Year Bitch and pounding their fists on stage.
R: The big ones like us. The little ones throw cigarettes at me.
A: I knew there'd be some kind of reaction...
R: One of them chucked a whole beer glass at me.
J: She's just a little wannabe riot grrl. She's probably reading a bunch of feminine literature all day.
R: Feminine literature?
J: It's the Kotex fanzine.
R: She's reading a magazine called, "Stay Free."
A: "Blood in the Streets."
R: We're just joking around ,all you cute little chicks out there.
A: But you guys and Los Cerveceros, you can go up there and say whatever as long as people know where your heart is.
R: Yeah, we're basically a bunch of fucking dorks.
S: Dorks that play pretty good music. Like if you listen to Van Haylen's words. I don't know. At least Mensclub's lyrics make your brain think.
J: Do they?! That's good.
S: Compared to: "Oh no, there goes Tokyo. Go go Godzilla."
J: "Grand Funk Mensclub" lays out the themes and theories about what the Mensclub is supposed to be. It's just a place where people can hang out and get loose and have a good time. And women are welcome.
R: We definitely believe in people being good to each other. Gwaah, yuck. I raised on Marlo Thomas. Fuckin' children's rock. That's my fucking Bible. I don't believe in God, or religion. I believe that's a bunch of shit. Just try­ whatever your damn situation is­ be cool.
S: Did you have a crush on Amy Carter?
R: No, but I did want to marry Marlo Thomas when I was a kid. I had never even seen her. I was seven years old.
S: I wanted to marry Kristy Nichols.
J: I admit it. I had a crush on her too. I look at her now and I'm like, "What the hell?!"
S: But when she's on Starsky and Hutch­ she's fine. What about you, America, what's your team dream?
A: Teen dream? Michael Ness from Social Distortion. George Harrison in the old days... How long have you been a bike messenger? This is going to date you.
J: Seven years this week.
A: Does that really facilitate having a band still or is it getting more constrictive?
J: No, I have a good situation as far as getting time off. The problem is the possibility of injuries. Five weeks ago, I got doored. My hand got swollen up.
R: It fucked up our ditty night. That gets in the way.
A: Baskets.
S: You got hit the day after I got in a wreck.
J: Da shrite. We both went down­ boom boom. First time I've gotten doored.
A: What about running into that pole?
S: Playing basketball.
J: That had much more to do with the angle my arm was at. The ball was sailing over my head. I was going pretty fast.
R: Let's just say, the look on Jon's face and the kind of pain he was in­ if he also had a shaved head at the moment, I would have run for the fucking hills. They fucking pumped so many drugs into Jon at the hospital. Afterwards he woke up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The doctor goes, "You have an incredible tolerance to pain medication." Jon's all, "Thanks, man. Whooaaah."
J: I'm not a pillhead. That's just a natural Irishman's tolerance.
S: It's hereditary.
R: I just want to get something straight, right across the slate. Just in case anyone says we don't, we still do it for the bike messengers. They were always the ones that came out and saw us play when we were starting out. And that is what we are doing it for. 'Cos they're the people. The bros. The critters. We're down for the critters.
S: So that means that since John is a messenger the band is one-third critter.
R: I would go as far as to say that we are two-thirds to three-thirds critter. [changes subject to Hickey].
S: What's the whole problem that you guys seem to have with hickeys and sexually transmitted diseases (STD)?
R: Now, Hickey and Mensclub have never had a problem. If we have a show together, when they're playing it's just a little too tempting to...
A: Leave?
R: It's just a little too tempting to say some shit. Hickey's our brothers.
J: They're just too punk for their own good. They're trying to uphold their image. How are you going to make all that money if they don't uphold their image?
R: They couldn't burn down the city, so they blame the Mensclub.
J: As far as STD goes. Those guys are our bros. But there's this incident at Christmas that I'm still trying to figure out. I'm in San Mateo Park having dinner with my folks and all of the sudden we head this, Whap! Whap! on the window. So my grandma goes to the curtains and screams. When I go to the window I see these fucking guys with ties, in the ivy and they're hurling eggs at my window. So I sicced my dogs on them and they went running. Well, that sent my grandma on a downward spiral and she went on a drinking binge for the rest of the day. They pretty much fucked up Christmas and I don't know why. Was that rock camaraderie or something?
R: I read some interview ["The Evil Outweighs the Ties" VOD#2] where they were giving Jon some sit, calling us the Jon Blackwell Experience. Making you into some kind of Jerry Vale figure or something.
S: They're just jealous because they're too scared to take their shirts off.
A: It must be a cool feeling to play show and everyone there knows the lyrics to you songs. It was cool when Jill Haley got up on stage, and then Boom, and P. Roj. That's love when everyone from the audience gets up there and offers to play your songs for you, and you have multiple go-go dancers.
S: Wow. that sounds cool.
A: What are you talking about? You were there.
S: I was?
[subject gradually gets to unionizing]
J: The way I feel about it? I don't know about being involved with the Teamsters. I'm not anti-union myself. I'd like to see some sort of organization so we can get some rights going to get some basic stuff: decent wages, health benefits. This job is harsh, even if you want to be a messenger for life. There's no paycheck. It's hard physical labor. A lot of messengers don't take themselves seriously... We're getting reamed.