"My zipper's always broken"

Thrasher Magazine, March, 2003 by Michael Coyle

LOUD, PROUD, AND ALCOHOL-FUELED, New York City's Bad Wizard does the hard rock thing the way it used to be done--before clownish rappers became frontmen, second-class DJs added noises, and bland self-conscious moanings better suited for a therapist's couch became acceptable as lyrics. Who wants to hear all that "I'm lonely, my dad never loved me," junk when they're trying to rock out anyhow? Bad Wizard is a burly throwback to the days of not so long ago when bands practiced for fun in garages lined with Kiss posters and there was always a bottle of Jack vibrating on the bass amp. "We're not metal, we're good time party music," insists proud lush and lead singer Curtis Brown. And they do keep it lively as they swig off the same bottle that Deep Purple, Twisted Sister, Guns 'N Roses, and countless others once chugged from. Bad Wizard thinks of rock as a most primal release. In fact, Brown often introduces his songs by announcing, "This song's about fucking," because he and the rest of the band (his girlfriend a nd guitarist Tina, another guitarist named Eddie, bass player Pat and drummer Ron-the band's not into surnames), believe that rock and getting it on are one in the same. Heck, they even named their album after Curtis' clever name for...well, read on and find out.

I read somewhere that the band name has to do with Harry Potter, is that true?.

Curtis: No, but it is a funny story. My friend Marty was at this liquor store in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn and he was trying to get some real cheap booze, something that was like a dollar for 40 ounces. Some assed-out beer, So he asked the guy behind the counter, 'What's the most assed out beer I can get for a dollar?". And the guy said "Bad Wizard." So he gets in the car, cracks it and pulls the paper bag down and it's Budweiser. So [Marty] goes back in and asks the guy, "What's this? I wanted the Bad Wizard. I wanted the magic beer." And the guy, he had a real thick accent, he points at the Budweiser and goes, "Yes, that is Bad Wizard."

How come the new record is called Sophisticated Mouth?

I'm 30-years-old and I had never really had a: good blowjob until maybe a year ago. I guess that's what it's about. It's about this girl who gives me these great blowjobs. She has a sophisticated mouth. I don't know. I was drunk. I liked the way it sounded.

How is it being in a band with your girlfriend?

It's not so bad. I mean, we've been on the road for four months. We go home and we're home for six days and then we go back out for six weeks. So if she wasn't [in the and] it would be very difficult to stay together. And she and I write the lion's share of the songs.

Bad Wizard has a reputation for getting pretty crazy on stage. Raunchy, too.

Yeah, [our shows] can be rather physically taxing. The music has a lot of energy in it so everybody in the band is just feeling that, trying to have fun. And we all kinda drink a lot. That doesn't help any. Plus, I don't wear any underpants and my zipper's always broken. People come to see us, get drunk and have a good time.

Are you guys originally from the South?

I am everyone else is from New York. I'm from North Carolina and I lived in Georgia for a while.

What brought you to NYC?

I came to New York to get out of the South, to get a job where I could make more than five dollars an hour. Small towns suck and New York is the greatest city in the world.

Was it hard to find people that weren't art school dropouts. Joy Division fans who wanted to play hard rock and roll with you?

You know, I guess it was. We've had six different people in this band. The hardest thing is to find people that will go on tour. Everyone says they want to but when you get out, after three months, people go. "I don't know if this is for me." Plus New York is fuckin expensive, so it's hard to leave for months at a time and somehow have an apartment when you come back.

How important is alcohol to the Bad Wizard creative process?

It's not really a part of the process. It's more that we just drink. I drank before I was in the band. It's just part of the deal, we just drink. We probably shouldn't drink so much, but we do. It's not like we have to get drunk to play, we just do. We've had two days off now and we drank just as much as we do on show days.