There are few records that can be called simple brilliance. Which is not to confused with simply brilliant. Simple brilliance is what I call something that’s not an over extended attempt to be brilliant like Dennis Miller, but something that is brilliant like Love/Hate (www.lovehate.com).

With lyrics that were challenging to down right silly, Love/Hate (www.lovehate.com) managed to crank out six (including the 1999 release Let’s Eat) deeply infectious works of art which just so happened to rock the fuck out.

Art rockers like Radiohead and Pink Floyd seem to steal most of the reviewer accolades and not to mention record sales by pretentious snobs and anglophiles alike. The real travesty of the matter is that there are great works of art that rock right here in the good ole USA.

Now we haven’t had the additional 600 years of practical practice that our friends the Brits have had, but at least they have the sense to see things our way now days.

But this isn’t a piece about those scum bags the French, it’s about Love, it’s about Hate, it’s about Rock that touches your soul. It’s about when you realize that someone smarter than yourself has reached in the void of existence and pulled out just a small token of what’s on the other side of reality.

Love/Hate(www.lovehate.com) just so happened to be one of those bands that was able to bend the matrix and show us something. From the other side, they showed us ironic existentialism packaged in a cold Budweiser and a fat sack of Lumbo…or at least a dime bag of skank weed.

…But enough of all this pontification.

We were fortunate enough to talk with Skid who created Love/Hate(www.lovehate.com). Skid had written some of the most interesting and unique lyrics which fornicated with his deeply infectious bass lines and thus created the bastard sounds to breathe smoke to.

FO: Dude, I think the artwork on the albums is very telling about what was going on in your life at the time. The themes really vary from one record to the next, yet each is very Skid-esque. Is there anything we’re missing from these images and what’s the story behind the “I’m Not Happy” cover?

SKID: The art for “I’m Not Happy” should have featured a hangmen’s noose, a gun and maybe a big bottle of pills, yeah and giant block text saying KILL ME! I like the art for “I’m Not Happy” but the art doesn’t reflect how I felt at the time. Looking back, I don’t know what I was so suicidal about. I think it was a simple case of drama queen temper tantrum but nobody cares syndrome.

FO: The artwork for the new project, Devil Party Anthems, Inc, We are the Party, which we’ll talk about in a minute (www.devilpartyanthemsinc.com ), seems like a culmination of the first four record covers combined with the 2000 Deadline release of Greatest and Latest. What is your medium now? What’s difference between the computer and the paint brush?

SKID: The computer is much faster and you have more tools. I think the greatest difference is the ability to go back, one keystroke instantly takes you back in time in your work so you can be less committed to an idea which in turn allows you more freedom to explore. Painting art with brushes is real, the paint gets on your fingers and your shirt and you can touch the picture. If you had asked me ten years ago if I thought I’d become a computer nerd, I would have said no ­way but the world changes.

FO: The Livin off Layla record was a surprise to many who had been following Love/.Hate. And the then to hear Marq Torien (of the BulletBoys) (www.bulletboysrecords.com) singing on 3 tracks was damn near shocking. We love Marq, it was just unheralded. What the hell was going on behind the scenes?

SKID: That’s when Jizzy decided he didn’t want to sing my songs anymore. It ruined the record! I think it was cold blooded for him to not finish Layla. There was no fight or falling out and Jizzy was not that busy. He could of finished it in one day and I’ll never understand why he did that to me.

At that time I was burnt out and poor with no vision and I just wanted to finish the record. Mark was a friend and available who came in, learned the songs on the spot and delivered a decent performance but it wasn’t Love/Hate.

FO: Where you and Jizzy ever really close, I mean I know you spent a lot of years together and the tour bus is best way to know someone, but is there a true friendship there or is it a mutual respect that holds the magnet?

SKID: I thought Jizzy was my best friend, I’m like the girlfriend kicked to the curb. I’ll never forget, we were taking a walk in Philly in 94 and he says to me “I think we’re work friends, we’re friends because we work together. He then said that he didn’t think any of us in the band were real friends. I got really upset and he didn’t understand. For me everything changed right then and there, that was the day Love/Hate died.

FO: Did Budweiser ever compensate you? How about NORML (www.norml.com)? Have you ever been approached by groups who wanted you to do artwork or contribute music?

SKID: Well, I’ve been a successful commercial artist for many years now but I haven’t been approached to contribute music, I am forcing my daughter Tess to sing my songs and she’s really good.

FO: Your lyrics are so dark, yet still seem to carry a bouquet of hope. I think that the surface of songs like Ola Mola is light hearted ballyhoo, but the underneath is a really scary monster. Am I looking too deep or is there some scary shit in your head?

SKID: Yes, I think there’s scary shit in every bodies head certainly mine. When I was young I started writing a book and it was so dark that I had to stop, I was getting weird.

FO: What’s doing with “Jack” on vocals of the new Devil Party Anthems, Inc.? (www.devilpartyanthemsinc.com) Where’d this guy come from?

SKID: Jack was the guy before Jizzy, we played together for years and when Jizzy passed I asked Jack and it was very normal. Jack and I have very similar tastes and we were both educated from the same Beatle song book.

FO: Where’d these new songs come from?

SKID: The devil wrote them. I’m serious, I don’t believe in the devil but what I’m trying to say is these songs wrote themselves, I just held the pen, they popped out. It was incredible, I have never experienced anything like it. The writing was pure pleasure, painless, no thinking what so ever.

FO: What’s the difference between Love/Hate and Devil Party Anthems (devilpartyanthemsinc.com), Inc?

SKID: Love/Hate was a real band. In our prime we could go to sound check and scare the other bands and I was proud of that. Devil Party Anthems, Inc. presently has a awesome CD but there is no real band.

FO: How do you want this record to affect people?

SKID: The CD is supposed to be like strong weed mixed with sushi, vodka, pussy and beer.

FO: How has having children changed you?

SKID: Having children is the greatest joy a human can have. I’m blessed with the best kids in the world and we have so much fun. Our life is very structured, private schools, work, work, a little play. Devil Party Anthems, Inc. reflects my lifestyle on Saturday nights and we do get up at 7 AM Sunday mornings.

FO: Can you imagine yourself if you had not met your wife?

SKID: My wife rules! The perfect combination of looks and brains. Karen is a PHD from UCLA, she’s a tenured English professor at Long Beach City College. Karen also is very hot and I’m truly lucky I got her cause she could have had anybody. If I didn’t meet her I’d probably be drunk and poor. Part of our understanding getting married was that I had to be sober (most the time) and make good money. Having a great family and money is a good trade off for being drunk and poor.

FO: When I hear the new material, in particular a song like “Better Than This”, I think that you’ve reached another rung in your career and your life. What is it that you are showing us on this new record?

SKID: I think I demonstrate world-class song writing skills on that song. I’m tempted to enter that song in the County Fair, blue ribbon that song for sure.

FO: What are you listening to these days?

SKID: Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Rob Zombie, Manson, Korn, Def Tones, NIN

FO: Who are your favorite artists?

SKID: Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Rob Zombie, Manson, Korn, Def Tones, NIN

FO: You name several of your musical influences on the track “Searchers” from the 1995 album I’m not Happy. Who didn’t make that list and why?

SKID: Well, in a song ya can’t name everybody, I suppose you could Hmm, Bowie, Hendrix, Trex, Stones

FO: So you were on the Sunset Strip in the late 1980’s, which is to say that you were at the most decadent place in the world during the most decadent time in modern society. At the zenith of the of the party, you wrote Black Out In The Red Room, an infamous and notorious collection of mind blowing cuts. What was it like to be there at that time? And what was it like to guest of honor? And how the hell did you make it out alive?

SKID: You’ve heard it a million times that the Strip was really happening at that time and it really was like a movie, You couldn’t see the sidewalk because it was covered in discarded band fliers, we went out almost every night and we got respect

FO: At the time, Columbia Records was footing the bill for the party. You must have been some amazing stories or moments when you realized that someone was paying you to live this way. Can you share some moments?

SKID: When we realized that we were getting billed for everything it wasn’t quite as fun. I guess I’m still a little bitter at the corporate side of my career. I’m surprised bands can make good records on a major.

FO: There are rumors about the time you guys recorded Wasted In America in New York. How long were you guys there? How much partying was going on and how much work? Who the hell thought New York would be a more stable place for you guys?

SKID: New York was my idea and it was one of the best ideas I ever had. We lived in a amazing loft on the lower east side for four months. The partying never stopped for a moment in four months. We were like prize fighters, it took incredible conditioning to absorb that punishment and make a good record to boot.

FO: Wasted In America added dimension to the music you released on Black Out but the commercial success was limited. As an artist, did you feel like the fans had “Gone Seattle” on you and what was Columbia telling you at the time?

SKID: Columbia was telling us “You’re done mother fucker, have fun changing oil for a living, it was a pleasure squeezing your soul dry.

FO: What did you think of Wasted when you were recording it and when you were touring to support it?

SKID: I thought it was a masterpiece that didn’t quite rock enough.

FO: Let’s Rumble was released in 1994. This record was another progression towards the signature Love/Hate sound. The lyrics were brutally honest and featured some of the heaviest guitar riffs to date. What do you think about when you hear that record now?

SKID: Rumble is underrated, live, many of those songs were huge.

FO: What was going on with Jon E Love at that time? How did things progress?

SKID: Jon went crazy for a while so we had to let him go. Darren played guitar on that record and I always appreciated his iron fisted guitars.

FO: What is Joey Gold like? What is his dynamic within the circle?

SKID: Joe is truly a academic at heart, he’s a math genius. He has a great job at Ratheon in the Radar division.

FO: What did you think when you heard Let’s Eat? Did you give Jizzy blessings before he wrote that record? What was that conversation like?

SKID: “Let’s Eat” is a Jizzy solo record released as Love/Hate, I think it’ very lame.

FO: Jizzy has really grown as an artist and as a song writer. His 2004 release Just a Boy, was really fucking good. What was it like to work on “Extreme” with him last year?

SKID: I didn’t work with Jizzy last year. I wrote the song “Extreme” 15 years ago and he used it without even asking me. If he’s grown as a song writer why did he feel compelled to use one of my 15 year old B-sides?

FO: What do you think of cover record called Hate/Love, where young bands are covering Love/Hate songs?

SKID: Love IT