“We Might Change Our Name”

By James Osborne
Contributing Writer

Region Rock band Hello Shitty People recorded their self-titled LP in 2000, but it was never released due to lack of funding.

Region Rock is a term used to denote bands like Bitchin’, Grabass Charlestons, The Tim Version, Jack Palance Band and This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, from Southeastern punk hotbeds including Chattanooga, Asheville, Bloomington, Miami, and of course, Gainesville, where Hello Shitty People began writing and playing songs together.

The members have hung their musical hats in Chattanooga, New Orleans and Miami (the drummer is originally from Fargo) making them the quintessential Region Rock band.

The band features former members of Chickenhead, Los Canadians and Billy Reese Peters who were all a chief component in the primeval stew that became Region Rock. Members went on to form ass-loads of other bands who are still playing. Hello Shitty People has released their only full-length record after 10 years and now they’re returning to Fargo.

I talked to the bands Hello Shitty People and Frozen Teens on speakerphone while they were in their van enroute from one date to another in Southern Wisconsin. After some confusion about who’d do the interview, Cinque from Hello Shitty People was chosen.

Cinque: Hi, Jimmy.

High Plains Reader: What’s going on?

Cinque: Not so much

HPR: I’m going to ask you some questions and I expect only good answers from you.
Cinque: Okay.

HPR: What kept the Hello Shitty record from getting released for such a long time?

Cinque: Well, the record label we were working with folded because of incompetence and drug abuse, so after we got the test pressing and it just sat around and everyone forgot about caring about it, and also it was a botched recording that we weren’t able to mix down properly so we didn’t really mind that much that it never came out. I didn’t anyway.

HPR: You’re happy with the result now though?

Cinque: Yeah uh…it’s ok…I’m still never satisfied. I have to be awash in alcohol before I can really enjoy it.

HPR:: At least you’re still a hell of a salesmen, though.

Cinque: What?!

HPR: You’re a good salesmen!

Cinque:What?! How have the sales been?

HPR: Never mind. [Like I said, they were in their van enroute from one date to another and we were on speakerphone, which is why some of the questions were garbled in my recording and there were some translation problems.] 

HPR: You guys used to shotgun beers after every 3rd song in your youth, will you be doing that when you guys play here?

Cinque:We could try if the people at the show deem it necessary, I suppose.

HPR:(laughs) What triumphs have members of Hello Shitty People come to achieve in the last 10 years?

Cinque: Uh..me and Ski were in a band called Deuce Boldly a.k.a. Take a Shit on a Police Car in Minneapolis. After that. I was in a band called Allergic to Bullshit, Timmy got married and bought a brand new car, then got divorced. I’m in another band called Street Legal a.k.a. Butthand, in Kansas City and Ski was in (yells to the driver) Name your bands, Ski!

Ski: (barely audible) Frozen Teens, Cortez the Killer, Letters to Cleo, Dirty Charlie, Big Wu, Dirtyard, Damnocracy…...

Cinque: ...and a bunch of other stuff

James: So, just some bands and a car?

Cinque:...What!? Name my favorite car!?

James: Never mind.

James: Is this tour the end of the road for Hello Shitty People or are there other projects/tours in the works?

Cinque: I think we’re going to keep going together but we might change our name and we’re going to try to do a split with the Frozen Teens before we change our name.

James: Daryl Gussin from Razorcake said he’s “not sure it needed to be released almost a decade after the fact.” how do you respond to that?

Cinque: Yeah, he might be right but it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks in regard to that, so…[rest of answer garbled].

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If You Go

What: Hello Shitty People, Nature Boy, Babysitter’s Club, 19XX
Where: Fargo VFW
When: Wed, Sept 1, 9pm
Info: 701.235.8243