Interview for Bleeding4Metal.de ENGLISH TRANSLATION [Read the GERMAN VERSION here]
Answers by Lord Zion for SPiT LiKE THiS (in red)

I thought it would be fun to do this interview with the songs of your full debut album as a little outline for the questions.

Zion: That sounds like a great idea to me! I get asked a lot of the same questions in interviews, so it's nice to be asked something different. Or, at the very least, for the question to be framed in an original way. Fire away! 

01. Sex, Drugs & Heavy Metal
‚Sex, Drugs & Heavy Metal' is one of the key songs on "We Won't Hurt You (But We Won't Go Away)"‚ and what a great song it is! So, is this really what SPiT LiKE THiS is all about or is there anything more to it than these three (four) words? Just give us a little fly around the SPiT LiKE THiS universe for beginners, please.

Zion: Thanks! Like most bands, our debut album is filled with songs that have been written over quite a long time period and this was one of the earliest songs I wrote. It captures the state-of-mind of me at that time in my life, full of spunk, vinegar, piss, angst, attitude and a hell-of-a-lot-more besides! It is a call-to-arms, really, an anthem for just being an individual, not taking any shit and rocking out.

SPiT LiKE THiS is about three things: sex, subversion and style. There is only one rule in the SPiT LiKE THiS Universe and that is There Are No Rules! Anyone can be a SLT fan - from the coolest motherfucker on earth down to the lonely kid with no friends. We were all that last kid and it's what made us grow up to be the way we are now. We don't conform to any stereotype - and that includes the rock n' roll one. We aren't trying to be the next Guns N Roses or Motley Crue, we are the first, the one, the only SPiT LiKE THiS.

02. Heart Thief
Obviously, this must be the song to talk a little about Vikki Spit. As everybody should know by now, bass playing girls kick major ass. How did you meet? Besides, the fact that she's hot and knows how to rock, why does Vikki kick even more ass than any other (bass playing or not) girl out there? 

Zion: I met Vikki in 2000 at a shitty rock club in London. We immediately became best friends. She was like a girl version of me and I liked the idea of shagging myself! When I found out she played bass, it was perfect. I hated the band I was in at the time so I left to form the band I always wanted to be in.

Vikki kicks more ass than every other girl bass player out there because she doesn't behave or play like a girl! And I mean that as the biggest complement to her. I have seen a lot of girls in bands and, almost without exception, they don't rock hard enough for me. She is the only person I ever met that can keep up with me on stage - I never know where she is going to be next and, if you check out the live photos of her, you will see that a) she is always rocking and b) she is always looking hot! She doesn't care if her hair gets messed up or if her make-up is running, she has one job to do on stage and that is to rock like a motherfucker!

Not only that, but her dedication to SPiT LiKE THiS is immense. She will - and has - sacrificed anything and everything for this band. Everything. Like me, she has dedicated her life to being in a band.

03. Trust Your Instincts
Vikki and you are the couple behind this whole Rock N Roll machine and you both show a great level of dedication to the whole SPiT LiKE THiS universe. I guess that would be the right time to talk a little bit about the best and weirdest happenings on your Rock N Roll journey so far.

Zion: The weirdest thing was right at the start and what the song "Trust Your Instincts" is all about! To find the money to start SLT, we had the idea of selling Vikki's used panties on eBay. We used to sell a lot of them and got all sorts of strange requests. One guy asked if the panties could be pissed in and if she could send him some extra piss too. He was offering $100 to do this, so we couldn't turn it down. So I pissed on them! I threw them in the bathtub and let fly my yellow stream all over them. I then pissed in a baggie for the dude too and we sent them off. A couple of weeks later, we got an email from him saying that he had an erection before he even opened the parcel!! If that isn't 100% dedication to rock n' roll, I don't know what is!

04. Young, Dumb & Full Of Fun
That's a really cool title! So, is this an autobiographically song? Anyhow, please tell us a little bit about the history of SPiT LiKE THiS. As there a different versions out there, that might also be the chance to tell our readers the truth about finding your band name. 

Zion: Thanks man! I like it too! It is pretty autobiographical, yes. We even took the title of the album from a line in this song. It pretty much sums up everything that we are about.

The band name came about from the day that Vikki and I met. After meeting, we were very drunk, so held an impromptu spitting contest at a car garage that was near the club. I have always been an expert at spitting, Vikki could only dribble down her chin so she begged me to "spit like this". Later, when we were thinking of the band name, we wanted something that related to us and that event came up.

Our history is quite long! We recorded two EP's as a duo in a home studio - this was the stuff funded by the panty selling! Those two EP's were quite different, almost experimental, but I got a lot of stuff off my chest and, on the whole, they were very well received by people.

We were offered the chance to appear on a TV show so decided that the time had come to make SLT a "proper" band and we started to hold auditions. We very quickly found the other members to make the live band a reality. Our drummer, Vile Gilez, joined at this point.

After recording our 3rd EP and first one as a proper band, we got a management deal. We quickly recorded a follow-up EP which got to Number 8 in the UK rock charts and Number 1 on Amazon. We were also voted the 8th Best Unsigned Band by readers of Kerrang magazine.

We decided that we wanted to record an album but had no money. So, we came up with the idea of putting all of our EP's onto one disc, the "Scary Tales" collection and released that. Unfortunately, some people saw this as our debut album and it gave the wrong impression of who we were and what we were about. Remember, alot of the material was essentially demos!

Shortly after this, our original guitar player quit music so we were down to a 3-piece! It only took a few weeks though for us to find guitarist Cyndi Rott, who had just returned from a tour of the USA where he performed alongside some of his idols.
Within a couple of weeks, we were back touring ourselves and soon got offered lots of great support slots. We worked really hard and saved up as much money as we could to record our debut album. Later that year, we enjoyed our first Hard Rock Hell appearance, opening the main stage for Twisted Sister.

In 2008, we got our first record deal and our album was released as a limited edition in the UK. We also appeared at Hard Rock Hell for the second year running, this time Black Label Society and Thin Lizzy headlined. We were the only band to be asked back from the first Hard Rock Hell, so we were very proud of that. The icing on the cake for us though was when festival goers voted us the 7th Best Band of the whole thing with only major bands being above us!

2009 was an odd year for us. We parted company with the UK label in the first quarter of the year, shortly after getting a new manager, Ralph Graupner from Indevent in Germany. He also manages Girlschool but, more important to us was that he could help us in Germany. Everyone knows that Germany is one of the best countries in the WORLD for rock and metal - we wanted a piece of that action!

He got us a new deal with Swedish label GMR (Sweden being another important country for us) and they started releasing a new version of our album in the UK in November and parts of Europe in 2010. It is now out in the UK, Scandinavia, Benelux, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and, of course, Germany. Other countries will soon follow. 2009 ended on a great note with us playing at the 3rd Hard Rock Hell festival - the only band to have now appeared at all three! We closed the whole thing from the main stage following sets from WASP, Queensryche and the New York Dolls.

05. Dead Girl Walking
You claim yourself that you're not here to be pop stars, but to beat pop stars. Is there anybody particular you have in mind? Feel free to talk a little bit about the music business and the people in it from your personal point of view. You don't seem to be very pleased with the state of it, as far as I can tell.

Zion: Do you have Simon Cowell in Germany? That man is the enemy of the modern music business. He has such little respect for bands, it is quite shocking. But, that is the system at the moment and everyone becomes famous through a TV show. Well, to beat the system, first you have to become part of the system! We want to make changes from within and bring some honesty back to music. Naming no names, over the past 4 years or so, we have met our fair share of liars, crooks and thieves. We are NOT one of them. We are just an honest, hard-working band trying to make our way in the world. It is truly us against them. We have just written a new song about this called "Sick Of It All" - that will be on our next album!

06. Down On You
Although you might have had something totally different in mind when writing this song, please tell us a little bit about "Smellyourmum.com" and all the great offensive lines you're spreading from your kitchen. When did you start, how did it go and why should everyone wear your shirts? By the way, Vikki's still doing all the work herself, right?

Zion: You are right, I did not write this song thinking about "smellyourmum.com"! The song is a real sleazy treat about cunnilingus J 
SMELLYOURMUM.COM was started by Vikki and I in 2002. We had just started SLT and needed a way to earn money that was legal but, more importantly, flexible. We couldn't get "proper" jobs - for a start, neither of us could work for someone else but, more importantly, it wouldn't have left enough time for the band. I have always been very good at offending people, so I started designing T-shirts. Vikki learnt how to print them, I built a website and, before you know it, we are selling them.

Every single design is by me, I run the website and Vikki prints the T-shirts. Considering that we have now sold tens of thousands around the world and have had more than 11 million hits, that is quite an impressive feat. Vikki has actually damaged her hand through all the printing and has RSI in her thumb. Every day she has to ice it for 20 minutes. This brings us back to dedication!
It is also great for us to know that we are offending thousands - millions - of people around the world with our obnoxious ideas. Plus, every single T-shirt sold helps the band. That is how Vikki and I pay our rent, buy our food and pay for our share of SLT. Every T-shirt we sell is a genuine piece of rock n' roll memorabilia made with our blood, sweat and tears. Please buy one!

07. Pussywhipped
This is one of my personal faves on the album, so I'd love to know a little bit more about the song and the inspiration behind it. And although I'd love to talk even more about Vikki as she's one hell of a gal as far as I can tell, that might be her turn to talk about Lord Zion himself - the good, the bad and the ugly. How did you become the godfather of the SPiT LiKE THiS universe and the rocker you are? I found it really interesting to read about your youth on the website, so you might also dig into this a little bit. By the way, we share the same birthday ;-)

Zion: Thank you. It was a hard song to get right. I originally wrote the synthesized portion of it a few years ago, but I couldn't write a chorus. Nothing I wrote fitted. Fast forward to 2007 with Cyndi now in the band, I thought it would be really cool if the song had a big rock part, provided we could write the chorus. So, one day Cyndi and I sat down, he came up with a cool melody on guitar and, an hour or so later, the song was complete. It is now one of my favourites. 

How did I become Godfather of the SPiT LiKE THiS Universe? Um, by virtue of being the oldest, probably!! I came up with that title for myself near the beginning. It seemed to fit me, my attitude and my way of life. I have carved my own way through life and also through music. Having been in lots of bands, I had my idea of what a great band should be but other people didn't match it, see my vision or meet my expectations. By starting SLT, I could be in control of that and I have been lucky enough to meet Vikki, Gilez and Cyndi who all share the same visions.

Like a lot of kids, my parents got divorced when I was young and it affected me greatly. I became very shy and introverted, a complete loner. Coupled with that, I experienced psychological problems which would go a long way in to shaping the person I became.

I was bullied a lot at school. I was a fat kid, looked funny, had a silly name so I was the brunt of a lot of torment. However, this all changed for me when I was 15 and my school did something called a "Pop Mime". I decided to enter this and performed versions of Def Leppard and Guns n' Roses songs. Instantly, I knew what I needed to do with the rest of my life. Being on stage performing became everything to me and, from that point until now, my whole life is geared toward achieving that.

When I was in my late teens / early 20's, the psychological problems I mentioned earlier manifested themselves into something very ugly. I was clinically depressed, borderline schizophrenic and suicidal. These torments went on for many years and, to this day, I am still touched by aspects of them.

One of my greatest rewards being in a band is when our fans reach out to me about their own problems. I hope I stand as some kind of inspiration for those that have had a bad time of things. Whether it is parent's divorcing, bullying or their own psychological problems, I am testiment to the fact that all of these things can be overcome. That is why I make myself so accessible.

08. Hunt You Down
You've been doing this all for some years now - anybody you'd really like to hunt down after that time? Maybe the chance to talk about the ups and downs through the years. And as far I can tell from the song, it's about girls - anything you' like to share or confess?

Zion: Oh, there are PLENTY of people that I want to hunt down! But their time will come. I hold a good grudge and, if people make it into my book of revenge, they rarely get out of it alive... Hunt You Down is quite a sick song, actually. It is NOT at all autobiographical - it is sung from the point of view of a serial killer rapist. I'm neither.

09. Act Of God
You've been named an offical Rock Devil - please explain to our readers what this means in general and to you personally. Also, has there been anything like an Act of God regarding your career?

Zion: Honestly? Not a lot. It was something that someone put me forward for a few years ago - I didn't know anything about it until I won. Of course, it is extremely flattering that I was voted for, and I appreciated the extra exposure at the time, but it's not really what I'm about. I don't seek adulation for my looks, I seek it for being in a fucking awesome band! I don't believe in any God, so nothing has happened to us that I could put down to an act of god. An act of Satan, maybe, but not God. Anything great that happens to us is down to sheer hard work on our behalf. Having said that, Act Of God is a VERY personal song to me; when I wrote it, I was really suffering mentally and the lyrics reflect my state of mind at the time. I was actually suicidal and had this internal struggle where my brain wanted me dead but my instincts wanted me alive. Really strange experience, and not one I ever want to repeat.

10. Coming After You
You have some really crazy fans and followers - so, it's time to talk about fans and the band's relation towards them. What makes the SPiT LiKE THiS SLuTz so unique and separates them from other band's fans?

Zion: That we do! I think it's because SPiT LiKE THiS is about being individual so we tend to attract the TRUE rebels. Sure, there are plenty of people around who live a cliched rock n roll lifestyle but they are just following a trend. The true rebels are the people that carve their own way throughout life and try to find new ways of doing old things. I think that is the key to life. Our fans feel like our friends. We get to know a lot of them personally through the internet (I am very active on Facebook & Twitter) and I make myself available to them. I am loyal to them. We exist because of them. Nothing is more important to the lifeblood of a band than their fans - the second a band thinks they are bigger than their fans, they are doomed to fail. We bow down and worship at the feet of the SPiT LiKE THiS SLuTz! 

11. Top Of The World
I can't help but think of the CARPENTERS song when reading that title, so please give us some insight to putt his association apart. What's the top of the world SPiT LiKE THiS would like to achieve in your further career? What has been the absolute high so far?

Zion: Well, the Carpenters were about a million miles away from my mind when this song was written! It's about the feeling you get when you are on stage, performing for the people that love you. There is no greater feeling on Earth, so I needed to salute that in a song.

I'm not sure if I could pick out the absolute high so far. It depends on what stage of your career you are at. Right at the beginning, if I could have seen into the future to where we are now, I would have been stunned. We have achieved a lot, but there is still much more to go. But, at the beginning, just doing a gig was an absolute high. Now, we can count festivals as our high. Or having an album released. We are in a very priviledged position and I try not to forget that. 99.9% of bands that ever exist never get further than a few gigs. The fact that we have an album out, have played with some of our idols and have fans is an achievement that most never manage.

Of course, that is not enough. We want more. We want it all AND we want it now!!!

12. Sleaze Sells...But Who's Buying?
More than a great title for a song. And as I mentioned in my review of "We Won't Hurt You (But We Won't Go Away)", you sound quite unique. Maybe you could take the chance and try to describe your sound and why Germany should definitely check out SPiT LiKE THiS and make you come over here to rock the hell out of this country.

Zion: With most bands, you hear a song on the radio. So, you buy their album and the song you heard is the best one on the album and the other 8 or 9 tracks are just worse versions of the song you already heard. If someone can explain to me what the point of that is, I would love to know. Our way of writing is this: if it sounds good, it IS good. We don't worry about whether it is the right genre, or sleazy enough, or heavy enough or any of that bullshit, we just capture a moment in time in song form. If you listen to early Queen records, you get an album of amazing, diverse music. Every song is a surprise and a delight. That is what we try and achieve with our album. We don't like to be predictable.

If forced to, we will describe the genre that we have created as Glam Punk Rock. If you like any of those aspects of music, you will like SPiT LiKE THiS. If you don't like any of those aspects of music, but just like good songs, well written and well recorded, you will like SPiT LiKE THiS. The only people that don't like SPiT LiKE THiS are idiots. And that is a fact.

The best thing though about SLT is that we offer MORE than just music. When you buy our CD, you enter our world. That is why we call it the SPiT LiKE THiS Universe - it is all-encompassing. Buy buying our music, you forever become a part of that Universe and partly responsible for it. You are now a torch-bearer and we expect you to spread the word. SPiT LiKE THiS is more than a band, it is an attitude, a way of life. 

13. Trick Or Mistreat
Please tell us who you'd like to trick and who you'd like to mistreat and of course, why. If people still don't get it by now, just tell us why they should definitely enter the SPiT LiKE THiS universe & feel free to provide us with some glimpse of what will happen if they don't ;-)

Zion: I would like to mistreat, badly, every single person that has ever lied, stolen and crossed us. Nearly everyone you meet in the music industry is full of shit. I have the words "Real" and "Fake" tattooed on my fingers. When I meet someone new in the business, I shake their hand with my "Real" hand. This is my message to them: I am for real. Of course, they nearly always soon prove themselves to be worthy of the "Fake" hand, so I let them have it...

14. Sweet Transvestite
You really seem to be inspired by "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", both visually show-wise and also sonically - so what's your obsession with the cult musical? And as you have a great style, please tell our readers where you get your clothes.

Zion: It's not an obsession as such, I think that we just share the same sensibilities. Rocky Horror is about sex and deviance, and so are we. The tag-line for the movie was "Don't Dream It. Be It" - I live my life by that motto. Nearly every review we got in the early days cited Rocky as an influence. I think it is because of my English accent! So, we decided to cover "Sweet Transvestite" and people loved it soooooo much, we keep doing it. Even Rocky creator, Richard O'Brien, said that it was "a fab spin on an old favourite", which is high praise indeed.

My favourite musical though is actually Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I implore everyone to see that - it is genius!
Our style is a mixture of glam, punk, rock and gothic. We tend to make our clothes, or adapt existing ones. Recently, Vikki and I have had items made by Swedish designer Lena Quist.

15. Sex, Drugs & Heavy Metal (The Video)
Although it's not a song, it's on the album, so just tell us a little bit about it. By the way, your Porsche kicks ass ;-)

Zion: The video is amazing! We got a true B-Movie director to shoot it. He won an award from Howerd Stern (US shock-jock) for one of his movies! We managed to pick the coldest day of the year to shoot part of it in a massive, unheated warehouse. We really REALLY suffered that day. If you look at the "live" parts of the video, you can see our red noses as our breath.

The second day was much better as it was in a genuine haunted house in a secret location in Surrey (near London). The house is hundreds of years old and is full of crazy props. It was really spooky to shoot in but it looks great on film. We love the video - most band videos are really boring. Everything is too serious, but we like to have fun and we like people to have fun. Everyone loves the vid!

And thanks for the kudos on the Porsche! I love Porsches from the 1950's - early 1990's, favourite era being the 1980's. My dream car is a black 911 Turbo from 1986/1987. I have had three 944's (a 1982 Lux, a 1989 Turbo and, currently, the one in the video a 1989 2.7) and just love them. I want a 928 next - they look so futuristic, even now. Like a spaceship.

16. The Do It Yourself Part
That's not one of your songs, I know - but as you're pretty much used to the concept of "Do It Yourself", this is your chance to add some (song) titles, which don't need to be your own, to tell us everything we didn't cover so far, but people should definitely about SPiT LiKE THiS and everything around it.

Zion: I've had a long think about this, and I think this sums everything up. This is from an old song of mine called "Beaten Road" which appeared on our first EP. I have these words tattooed on my arm:

One day soon my time will come
Live by the sword and die by the gun
Death or Glory, there's no other way
So I'll keep on trying til my dying day

I hope that translates properly! I have a "do or die" attitude that impacts everything.

And after you're done, please give us some final word for our readers.

Zion: Get involved! Get in touch. Obviously, we want you to buy our music, but we want more than that. We want YOU. Visit our website, www.spitlikethis.com - find us on Twitter, on Facebook, on YouTube. Become involved. This is your new home, your new life. You have found what you have been looking for - you need search no further. We are your friends, your heroes, your inspiration. Embrace us and you will be rewarded!

Remember: We Won't Hurt You (But We Won't Go Away)...

Read the GERMAN VERSION here