Deez Nuts

Love them or hate them, Deez Nuts’s no-nonsense and honest take on hardcore has seen the local act garner a solid following. With the band just returning from a successful European tour run and a second studio album entitled ‘This One’s for You’ hitting stores, front man JJ Peters was kind enough to chat with Killyourstereo about music, signing with Roadrunner Records, and Deez Nuts’s upcoming spot on this year’s Come Together festival line-up.

G’day mate, just to get things started could you please state your name and role in the band.

My name is JJ Peters, I write all the music for Deez Nuts and at live shows, my job is to yell in the mic and bounce around like a dickhead.

Your new album (‘This One’s For You’) hits stores this week. What can fans as well as people who may be unfamiliar with your band expect from the new release?

Well for those who haven’t heard us go grab the album, or check out our MySpace and see for yourself cause I’m too lazy to explain the band from scratch. For those who are familiar, the new album is a natural progression from ‘Stay True’ as that was from ‘Rep Your Hood’. But you can expect what you would from a Deez Nuts release…but with a few faster and more pissed off tracks.

You posted the title track of the album on your MySpace previously. How was the response?

The response online has been real positive, but it’s hard to really tell how much people love a song till we play it live…so time will tell.

Deez Nuts are just winding up your tour of Europe/UK, what’s the shows been like?

The tour was amazing, getting to travel Europe and the UK with our good friends in The Ghost Inside and Break Even was such a fun experience and the shows were a huge success. Also, we got to hit up Spain and Portugal for the first time which was fuckin amazing. But yeah (the) shows were dope.

A lot was made early on that Deez Nuts was to be taken with a grain of salt and the band was initially intended to be a bit of fun in terms of, jamming with mates and playing together live. However, you are now two albums and an EP down. When you first started this band, did you envisage this type of longevity and success?

Not at all. I didn’t think it would go further than the demo and now we’ve toured Europe four times (laughs), but yeah it all snowballed so fast I just enjoy the ride. I am thankful for all the success and if it ended tomorrow, I’d be more than happy with how far things went.

Inking a deal with Roadrunner Records must have been a pretty big achievement. Can you tell us how that came about?

Well our other two releases were on Stomp Records because my friend Darren Cherry took a chance on us with the EP. So when he left to work for Roadrunner and asked us to come with him I didn’t think twice.

In Deez Nuts, you have essentially become a jack-of-all-trades recording most parts of the band’s material in the past. Where do you (as a musician) feel most comfortable? Is it behind the kit, in front of the mic or is it like the ‘apples and oranges’ analogy and it is too hard to compare?

Haha, yeah that one, the apples and oranges thing. The experiences I had drumming for IKTPQ are completely different to those I have had fronting Deez Nuts. But both have their positives and negatives, and both are equally satisfying in their own right.

Deez Nuts are preparing for the ‘Come Together’ Festival. As the name suggests the festival brings together an eclectic range of artists. What are you most looking forward to about the festival itself?

We are real exited to do Come Together fest, as we haven’t really done any festivals in the past, so it will be a fresh and new experience for us. I am looking forward to catching up with old friends and playing to new people who wouldn’t have heard/seen the band before. Should be good times.

Any particular bands your keen to check out?

I am real psyched to see Gyroscope, Frenzal, Strung Out and I’ve heard real good things about The Loved Ones, so I’m keen to check them out.

Deez Nuts had the unfortunate situation afflict you last year where travelling politics i.e. visa/paperwork issues prevented you from touring the US. Has that all been cleared up now? And if so, are there plans to get back to the US again in 2010?

Yeah that was fucked; it has been cleared up as far as we are allowed to enter the USA if we have (the) correct paper work. But having said that, acquiring the paperwork is still a huge head fuck. But we will be trying to hit the US and Canada this year.

Being ‘genre bias’ has never been something one could label you. During your career, you have been largely associated with the metal and hardcore field during the Prom Queen days and you’ve also worked in the hip/hop genre with Grips & Tonic. What can we expect next in terms of musical endeavours (if any)? Any black metal, corpse paint inspired side- projects or jazz albums in the works etc.?

(Laughs) no corpse paint will ever be seen on my face, although I could predict that in Jona or Kev’s future. But I will always be making music and I’m definitely not bound by any genres. I would love to do rock band. I listen to Ryan Adams ‘Rock and Roll’ on a daily basis.

Just some quick ones to finish off with,

Drink of choice?

To shot - Patrone tequila. To drink – Hendrix gin with Indian tonic water and fresh grapefruit.

Favourite drummer(s)?

Jake Green – (ex Red Shore)

Kc – the Ghost Inside

Travis Barker

Whoever drums for The Killers

Whoever drums for The Draft

Favourite album(s) of last year?

Break Even – The Bright Side

Mayer Hawthorne – Strange Arrangement

Yellawolf – Trunkmuzik

Ghostface Killah – Wizard of Poetry

Trapped Under Ice – Secrets of the World

If you could tour with any three bands (past and/or present), who would they be?

Dead or alive? Biggie Smalls, Elvis, Blink 182

And just as an end question, I know you probably get asked this a lot but it would be remiss of me not to enquire – do you ever see any type of reunion for I Killed the Prom Queen in the future, be it in two years, five years, ten years etc?

Yeah at some point we will do something again whether it be a reunion tour or a studio album I am not sure. But it comes down to time. We are so busy with our own projects that getting the time to all get together and do anything seems pretty far-fetched in the near future.

Any final words for the Killyourstereo readers?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, thanks to anyone who supports Deez Nuts, thanks to anyone who has gone out and copped the new album or plans to, and I hope to see you all on the ‘This One’s For You’ launch tour! Peace.

Thanks for the interview JJ.

My pleasure.

‘This One’s for You’ is out now through Roadrunner Records.

http://www.myspace.com/deeznuts