Kid Congo Powers was in my living room two days ago. I only said hello because if I said all of the things that I wanted to talk to him about, I'd have sounded like a goon. Things like: You were in the Cramps with Nick Knox and he was in the Electric Eels, do you like the Electric Eels? Or: Would you rather live with on a deserted island with Nick Cave or Mark E. Smith? Instead I just said hello and went down into the basement to paint a giant hamburger.

Kiki Solis, the bass player for the Pink Monkey Birds is sleeping in my house. Whenever I see him, he asks, "What's happenin' playa?" I sat down with him yesterday at Loretta's and asked him a few questions while we ate hamburgers:

How was the European tour?

The European tour was wonderful, Derek. We all climbed inside a big black machine, we all had nightmares in the back of it.

You were in a bus?

No, it's a van.

Like a Sprinter?

(in German accent) It's a German Sprinter! But I think it was different this time, not a Sprinter. It's tall but there's not much length.

(MORE AFTER THE CHOP)

What was the worst part of Europe?

People speaking German.

How do you like Seattle?

I love Seattle! The weather is wonderful. The food is amazing. I've had 36 oysters in the past 24 hours.

How did the current line-up of the Pink Monkey Birds come together?

The quick version, I moved to New York & met Kid. I played with him and there were two other guys, one guy dropped out for various reasons, his pharmacy didn't exist outside of New York. Then the drummer had to visit a cousin, somewhere in Yorkshire, somewhere in England. So we got Ron, who flew in at the last minute. We practiced together and Kid said that it sounded great, so we toured the east coast. We played 18 shows in Ohio.

That's where I'm from!

It's an awful place. But it's a swing state, so you have to be nice to Ohio. Then we recorded a record and we needed another guitar player because there were two guitar parts on most of the songs. Ron knew a guy named Jesse who lives here in Seattle, he's a tattoo artist at Lucky Devil Tattoo. He's great and that's the band now.

How did you meet Kid Congo Powers?

Through my girlfriend Dana, who knows Jonathan Toubin and Jonathan Toubin knows everybody. He puts people together. Kid came to South by Southwest and the moment he came into the room I was impressed by his sleaziness. I told them I was moving to New York & Toubin put us together.

What's your background musically?

I've been in some prog-rock bands, I've been in punk rock bands in high school, some country bands, I cover the gamut. A bass player has to be able to do that.

On the 24th you're playing with the Urinals and the Middle Class. Are you looking forward to that? Do you have a hardcore background?

A bit. I'd rather play with new bands than old bands. We're playing with Cat Fancy in Portland and TacocaT & the Intelligence here. I prefer new bands.

Do you find that a lot of older people come out to shows and yell for Gun Club or Cramps songs?

They come out, all the time. In Europe people would show up five hours before the show, just staring at our van. Kid jumped out and tried to do a Heisman Trophy maneuver to avoid them, it didn't work. They bring Gun Club records to have signed, but the nice thing is they'll buy our records and want them signed as well.

You just have one record out now, right?

No, we have about 18!

You do?

No, we have a bunch though. I played them for you the other night!

Are you sure that was me?

Oh no, it was that other guy. Dan. You white guys run together.

Gorilla Rose is on In The Red out of Los Angeles.

It's a great record, at least from the reviews I've read. It's really good!

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds play tonight in Bellingham. Tomorrow night they play with the Intelligence & TacocaT. It's sure to be a wallop of a show.

06/17 Bellingham, WA, The Shakedown
06/18 Seattle, WA, Crocodile Cafe w/ The Intelligence
06/19 Portland, OR, East End w/ Cat Fancy
06/20 Chico, Ca., Duffy's Tavern
06/21 Santa Cruz, CA, Crepe Place w/ Non!
06/22 San Francisco, CA, Rickshaw Stop w/ NON! (from France, not the Boyd Rice Non)
06/23 Anaheim, CA, Juke Joint w/ Lords of Altamont and Haunted George
06/24 Los Angeles, CA, Echoplex w/ The Middle Class, The Urinals, Grant Hart
06/25 San Diego, CA, Casbah w/ Holly Golightly

Whoa, "Sex Beat" cover!