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"Usually flat tires are a bad thing. Correction, they are ALWAYS a bad thing. But, now there’s a flat tire worth the trouble. The Flat Tires’ brand of southern punked-up rock ‘n’ roll fits perfectly for a band from North Carolina. A recent performance at Tremont Music Hall with Rory Kelly and ANTiSEEN cemented that idea. I sat down with Flat Tires’ lead singer Clint Harrison about his thoughts on being more than just a “local” band, his love of wrestling, singing about things he knows about, and not trying to be what he (or the band) isn‘t.
Shutter 16: Just so everyone is aware, you guys are local. Right?
Clint: Yes, absolutely. We just don’t play much around here anymore but, yes, we’re from Hickory.
Shutter 16: Why haven’t you guys played here more recently?
Clint: Well, we’ve been on the road a lot more and play out of state a lot more than around here. We like it. We really haven’t played around Charlotte for almost three years. We’ve hit the road in New York, going to Florida, all in between on the East coast. Last year we went to California, did three shows there. We’re going on tour with The Queers and Agent Orange in two weeks, and that’s going to be a ten-day Northeastern tour right there. We just never wanted to be a “local” band only. We wanted to have a customer base and fan base everywhere.
Shutter 16: So what’s your take on this show tonight (Rock N Rassle Apocalypse), with the hardcore punk and wrestling mixed in?
Clint: Oh man, it’s going to be great. An insane show. It’s something you don’t get to see all the time.
Shutter 16: Sticking with wrestling, are you a wrestling fan?
Clint: Yea. We all group up with it when we were kids. We had three channels. You could always watch the NWA, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and all those guys talking trash to each other playing “heel.” It gets in your blood at a real young age. Now, I’m not nearly as big of a fan as some of the boys in ANTiSEEN are, but I love it.
Shutter 16: Now, the music you guys play has been described as “Carolina Shit Stomp.” Is that a good description of it?
Clint: (laughs) Well, I’ve never called it that. People around here call it that. Everybody has a term for it. I’ve heard that one, “honky-tonk.” I just call it rock and roll. But, we’re southern; we’re not trying to sit around and sing like we’re from England or California, so we do it our own way, man.
Shutter 16: Are most of the songs written from a southern perspective? Either from having seen things occur, or even autobiographical?
Clint: Most of it. Almost all of it is something that either happened to us at some point in life or something we watched happen. For instance, we have one song called “GD Woman,” and a lot of people hear it and think we’re for beating up women, which we’re not. It was something we saw at a redneck bar. We saw these bikers and came into the bar and one of them made his woman sit down at one end of the bar, while he and his buddies sat at the other end of the bar talking and shit. She had had to sit there all docile-like, and some guy came up and sat down by her, and well, that’s a WHOLE other story. Actually, I think I got that song mixed up with another song (laughs). A lot of it is southern culture. What we’ve seen, what we watched, and instead of being traumatized by things, you write a song about it and laugh about it.
Shutter 16: Your music is very distinctive with the mix of fast punk rock and the southern lyrical content, giving an easy fit to the sound of the Flat Tires.
Clint: If you don’t sing about what you know, then you’re just putting on a front. I couldn’t do what we do if we were singing about the Queen or something. We don’t know anything about all that man. Really, all we’ve ever done is keep it real as possible, go out and have a good time. People like it. Girls like it! The only people that have ever gotten mad at us about any of our lyrics has been Northeastern review guys. The women love it, they eat it up. Sometimes people get emotional about certain things we say. If you’re not doing something to get peoples attention, you’re doing nothing.
Shutter 16: How long have you guys been a band and could you see yourself doing something different other than the Flat Tires?
Clint: We’re going in to our 8th year. This was it for me. They asked me and asked me to do it (join) and I said, “All right, let’s give it a shot.” Its kind of taken a whirlwind of it’s own. I don’t think I could do anything different man. I’m not a musician, I’m a flat tire."
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| Flat Tires interview with Clint Harrison on Shutter 16 |
