Two Man Advantage interview

While Long Island has become synonymous in some circles with those silly all bangs no balls emo boy hair bands, groups like TWO MAN ADVANTAGE reassure all true believers that Hardcore Punk still exists. Long after the latest cloud of scenester pop bullshit clears, these guys will still be standing strong. Their latest release is a split 7 inch with Dc’s Supreme Commander. It’s a hearty slab of ruck n roll continuing the PUCK CORE spirit that began brewing with Drafted. Here’s an interview I did with Two Man's Captain.

LEWD: Okay so you guys have something new for us, a split with Supreme Commander. How did this combination come about and how was it touring with those sons of bitches?

Captain:Yes - April 11, 2006, on Basement Records...marks the first new 2MA music to hit the streets in years & we’re excited about it. It came about because we knew Reiter, the drummer for Supreme Commander...he used to be in the Daycare Swindlers, who we toured with & played a bunch of shows with & became friendly with over the years. They were amazing, but, as all amazing bands tends to do - they broke up. So – it was their idea, really...they asked if we’d be interested in doing a split with them - and it took about 1 second to say, "heck yeah!". I wouldn’t quite call what we did a "tour"...it was supposed to be 4 shows together - it ended up being 3...it was great...great bunch of guys - and they write great songs & put on a great show...we wish the tour could’ve lasted for 6 months.

LEWD: So what’s the hold up with the Drafted reissue, when can we expect to get a copy of this thing?

Captain: The hold-up has been because we’re lazy asses. We took a long time getting the music together...’cause it’s not just going to be Drafted - the re-issue is also going to have the demo & the songs from the 2 early split 7"’s on it. And then we took way too long to put together the artwork...but all that HAS finally been finished & sent to VMS Records...so now the ball is finally in their court. It’ll be out sometime in the next 6-9 months hopefully.

LEWD: You guys had your stuff on the Terror Firmer soundtrack. Did you have the pleasure of interacting directly with the Troma Team?

Captain: Yeah - "Surfin’ the Crowd" was on that one...same version as was on the split 7" with Mad Cow Dizeaze 182 - which means it’ll also be on the Drafted re-issue. It’s not a song we’ve played live in many years - and we probably won’t again...I’m not even sure we remember how to play it. We get requests for it...which we have to pretend we don’t hear.Anyway...no - never had any interaction with anyone at Troma about being on the soundtrack. I have a copy of the movie - and I’m not even sure our song is audible.

LEWD: It seems Two Man have been broadening their horizons and dabbling with ladies Roller Derby. Is this a direct reaction to there being too much sausage at the hockey games?

Captain: Hahaha....perhaps! Although - you do see a lot of girls at hockey games...and there is women’s hockey, too - we’d be more than happy to play. Yeah - we’re the opening entertainment at an upcoming roller derby game here on Long Island...it’s the first time we’ve done it - so we’ll see how it goes. Roller derby has made a HUGE resurgence in the last couple of years...if it goes well - and we’re invited to do it again - I’m sure we will.

LEWD: I hear the band are looking to go take on Canada. Now when I hear Canada, I think higher alcohol by volume in their Beer and a lot more H/C action in their strip clubs. Were either of the two, elements that lead to the decision to hit the Great White North?

Captain: Oh yes - absolutely....alcohol & strippers....that’s all we needed to go. But, seriously....we’re a band devoted to hockey - we’re a band that lives not too far from Canada...why the hell haven’t we played a show in Canada yet?? It’s insane that we haven’t -and we’ve been talking about it for years. But – the opportunity came along. The Hudson Falcons (who I’ll actually be drumming for on that tour) invited us to come along for their 2 week tour. We can’t do a full 2 weeks...but we’re going to do the 2nd half of it — all the Ontario shows & maybe the final show of the tour in Buffalo.

LEWD: How did the whole 69 Minutes of Fame documentary come about, did someone decide that Can’t Stop The Music [ednote: It was the Village People "comdedy" with Steve Guttenberg] should be given a punk rock twist?

Captain: Mark Foster, the director of 69 Minutes of Fame, has been friends with Skate since long, long, long before 2MA was a band. That’s what he does for a living -he’s a director...commercials mostly...commericals you’ve seen, in fact. He’s been a close friend of the band since the beginning, he had come on roadtrips with us - just for fun - and he got the idea of doing a documentary about a small band on tour...there are plenty of tour movies - but they’re usually about bands who are rich & famous & live a life filled with glamour. He decided to make a documentary about a band who sleeps on floors, plays in front of maybe 100 kids one night, and 10 kids the next night - and who -when they finally go home - have to go work "real" jobs to pay the bills.

LEWD: Can we expect a dvd of this film anytime soon?

Captain: You know - there’s never really been an "official" release of any sort. We’ve had VHS copies & then some limited DVD copies...but I really don’t know if there are future plans for the film. It did play in a film festival last summer - and I think 3 people were there to watch it.

LEWD: Okay since this zine is circulating in Avalanche territory, the Avalanche were one of the few teams that have played your music during their games correct?

Captain: I can’t swear by it...but I think Colorado was one of the teams that played some songs from Drafted a few years back.

LEWD: Now half the band supports the Islanders and the other Rangers, right?

Captain: Well - Drunk Bastard, MYK and myself are both Islanders fans. I’m not sure who Snapshot or Rookie routes for - but I’ll throw him in the Islander mix. Skate is a diehard Ranger fan. And Coach is a Penguins fan - which is OK - since he’s originally from Pittsburgh.

LEWD: Does this contribute to any drama on the road, example: because someone disses Mike Bossy and someone else slags Ron Duguay?

Captain: Oh yeah....fights over hockey stats quickly turn into bloodbaths. By the time we show up at the show – it can often be hard to actually play because we’ve turned each other into pulp.

LEWD: Did you ever imagine that you’d see a day when Bryant Gumball would have an award winning sports journalism program?

Captain: I guess not - especially since he sort of left sports behind for awhile there.

LEWD: I don’t like to delve too deeply into a person’s spiritual beliefs but did you feel that Slapshot II was just blasphemous?

Coach: Oh - absolutely. I’m all for making movies about hockey - and having them be comedic...but you don’t fuck with a classic unless you can make another classic....i.e. Godfather II...that took a lot of balls to do, but they pulled it off. But don’t put Slapshot II out just for the sake of the brand name...it was awful - people should just watch the original one twice.

LEWD: Any plans for a new full length?

Captain: Absolutely!!! The split with Supreme Commander & the Drafted re-issue aren’t the only releases in our future. We’re doing a split with another Long Island band called Sick Of Talk which is supposedly coming out on Gutshot Records. Other than that - we’re going to be getting a "real" release for the Live at CBGB CD that we put out ourselves a few years ago, a split with Kill Your Idols - and definitely a new full-length.

As always, Greg, thanks for the interview & the support. People can e-mail us at TwoManAdvantage@yahoo.com, visit our website at
http://www.twomanadvantage/, or become our friend on MySpace at www.myspace.com/twomanadvantage