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By Geeta Dalal The Vipers look quite at home in the carnival-like atmosphere
of Tattooed Mom. Drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and cutting
on each other while waiting for their drummer to show up, the
members of this instro-surf five-piece seem more like brothers
than bandmates. But that's fitting - for the members of the Vipers,
surf has always been in the family. Drummer Sado Gallaxicus pounds the skins of an old Kent drum set
that lead guitarist Steve Martian's dad played in an old instrumental
surf band. And Gallaxicus' dad was a singer in a surf band as
well. "Surf was always playing in my house," says 22-year-old Martian
between gulps of lager, "like the Ventures." The Ventures' instructional
records literally taught rhythm guitarist Shankey Japhe how to
play guitar. Tenor sax player King Bloodstone came up with the
Vipers' name. "I have this tape of reefer songs, jazz songs from the '30s. They
used to call potheads 'vipers.' There's a jazz song called 'If
You're A Viper' where they talk about smokin' jive, and gettin'
tall, so we thought that was cool. But, unfortunately, now there's
a car named the Viper, a car alarm named the Viper, a TV show
named The Viper..." Martian insists on pointing out that they're called the Vipers
even though none of them smoke pot. "Nuh-uh! Steve lied!" "No way, man!" rebuts Martian. At this point, Elvis' "With All My Heart" starts up on the jukebox,
and some of the Vipers start crooning along. In their slick black
suits and with their hyperactive energy they seem the picture-perfect
surf band. Perhaps it was inevitable that these five like-minded guys would
end up together. Martian and Johnny Lingo (the bassist) met at school in Gloucester
County, NJ. Bloodstone and Gallaxicus met when they played in
the band Perils of Pauline at Rutgers. "I went to school with this guy who played bass in the Perils
of Pauline," says Bloodstone, screaming above his crooning bandmates,
"and he wanted me to replace him so he could play guitar. But
then [the band broke up] and [Herschel Gaer and Patsy Palladino]
became the Interpreters. So I was like the Pete Best of the Interpreters."
The rest of the Vipers stop singing and start groaning. Enter Sado Gallaxicus, the Dennis Wilson of the bunch. "Sado's
our drummer now," says Martian. "The Donz was our old drummer
- he went off the deep end and had a mental breakdown. He got
rock-starred out with all these delusions." With influences ranging from the more modern Bomboras and Satan's
Pilgrims (with whom they recently shared a stage), to Elvis Presley,
the Mysterians and Link Wray, the young band comes off with a
rumble that's truer to surf's original roots. "We cover songs off the Las Vegas Grind record series - like old striptease songs," Bloodstone adds.
At this point, Gallaxicus tells me that he likes strippers. He
really likes them. "I envy strippers. Hell, I'd like to date a stripper. I've always
been into taller women... women that are bigger than myself."
Bloodstone interjects, "Um, Sado is definitely the yin of our
yang. Steve is more yang. I'd like to think of myself as balanced."
While Gallaxicus comes from a skate punk, emo-core background,
he was also a Hare Krishna for a couple of years. "I lived in a temple for a few months. That's how I got into percussion
- hearing tablas for the first time and wanting to play them.
But, you know, I'm also into S/M and all that stuff. I've had
some experiences in that. It's a lot of fun, ya know? See, Sado
Gallaxicus is basically an S/M character that comes from another
planet. It's just my alter ego that I like to live out on stage.
I'm more submissive. I play the submissive part really well."
"Dude, my mom's gonna read this!" Martian interjects. The band recently recorded a four-song demo at Baby Ace studio
in Wilmington, NC - a reverb-drenched, authentic instrumental
surf-flavored twang. It's high-end, heavy staccato highlighted
with husky sax vamps that would make Dick Dale proud. In addition
to their tape, the guys also did a video for their songs "Man
With the Golden Bladder" and "Crazy." But these guys don't intend to quit their day jobs too soon. Gallaxicus
works in a college editing lab but also "bakes vegan cookies and
works in a head shop." Johnny Lingo tells me he "saves lives." Actually, he's a real
live, Baywatch-style lifeguard at a public pool in Jersey. Martian works in
a grocery store. Bloodstone works at his dad's dentist's office
and Japhe interns at a local recording studio. Bringing the interview to a close, I depart to deal with my lager-filled,
pint-sized bladder, leaving my recorder in the clutches of the
Vipers. I discover the following at the end of the tape: "Hey,
when are we gonna practice again, man?" which seemed to be a matter
of debate. Then Martian ended the tape with an "I'm great" followed
by a declaration that the Vipers would like their music to be
classified as "Music to watch spacegirls by." And that it is.
The Vipers