The Whisky Gets Acidic

What does a "luthier” or a craftsman who builds guitars, a cancer survivor, and a college sophomore have in common? They make up the alternative group known as ACIDIC. The band recently wrapped a tour with Marcy Playground and an Armed Forces Entertainment Tour in Kosovo and Germany. Next up is on March 25.

In an exclusive interview, singer/guitarist Michael Gossard walks Patch through the history of the band. He discusses their favorite places to play and hang in West Hollywood, the best and worst shows the guys have performed, as well as shares crazy stories from the road.

Weho Patch: What is the story behind the band name?

Michael Gossard: It comes from the back of a soda can, actually Diet Rite. One day after experiencing boredom and frustration like no other, I was trying to come up with a band name and looked at the back of the soda can I was drinking and saw various acids in the ingredients, and something just clicked.

Patch: How did you guys form as a band?

Gossard: We found Matt Whitaker through putting up flyers with broken drumsticks on them at every high school around LA - like saying our band is broken, please come fix it. I've known Ted Dubrawski for years - all through elementary school, but I hadn't made the connection that he was such a good bass player until we were in high school together. That just clinched our relationship. Mike Thompson we found through an ad in Craig's List and he's added a rougher, fatter spin to the music. Together, we put on a rock -n-roll spectacle that will damn near make your ears bleed!

Patch: What is the best show that you have ever played?

Gossard: Tucson with Hawthorne Heights last summer. We experienced something new to us: an overly-insane packed sold-out house. Fans went crazy. So many people were coming up to the merch booth. I was hard-pressed to keep track of my own name. It was so hot in there that a few of us started taking off our clothes. For the next couple of shows, Matt played drums in his underwear.

The most enjoyable show we've ever played? Well, except for the ones in Denver, it was in Salt Lake City, where we spent the night at the home of one of our Street Teamers. Their mom made us all this food and all their friends came over and the whole house was packed for several days with new friends and visitors and everyone into our music. It was great. 

Patch: How about your worst concert?

Gossard: San Luis Obispo with Marcy Playground, only because all our equipment failed on us. The bass broke, guitars broke, our guitar amp kept turning itself off, the drums fell over, and the mic broke. We did what we could, still gave it our all, because you still want to give the fans a great show, but our instruments were kinda on life support. It's just another reason why we loved working with Marcy Playground. The guys were so cool - let us borrow some of their stuff. Needless to say, we were very grateful.

Patch: You guys just won an award for the best in Alternative category on the 18th Annual Billboard World Song Contest. Tell me more about that experience.

Gossard: We were really surprised by it. I had known that our manager entered us and I'd completely forgotten about it. The moment I heard, I was really excited. Winning something international like that, that prestigious, and winning it for our creativity, I'm just really proud of that.

Patch: How was playing for the Armed Forces in Kosovo and Germany?

Gossard: It was beyond our wildest dreams. We were flown to Europe to exhibit our talents for our troops and I have to say that I have never felt so blessed as to have an opportunity to drink beer and let loose with our servicemen and women after playing a solid hour set for them. In Germany, we got to see an F-16 at one of the Air Force bases. Getting to hang with these guys and learn where they're from and what they do - and some of them were our age - was just so humbling. They really are our heroes.

Patch: What is the craziest thing that has happened to you guys on the road?

Gossard: We were nearly held up at gunpoint in Seattle during the Marcy Playground tour. It was the last night of the tour for us. Our road manager Andrew Untersee went outside during our set to get a spare guitar and saw a guy in our car. He'd broken a back window and climbed in and he was in the middle of robbing us. We lost three laptops and a GPS. We're lucky it wasn't more. We're lucky nothing happened to Andrew. The guy got away. We filed a police report and had to drive home with Ted's back window taped up with duct tape and a plastic trash bag. Looked terrible, but at least it wasn't raining.

Patch: What is your favorite thing to do in West Hollywood?

Gossard: The  is my favorite place to go inside and sit down and stay for a while. I have dinner there on my birthday every year. My favorite thing to do is walk around and enjoy the carnival of people on the streets of West Hollywood. Amazing the things you see. And it feeds your inner artist.

Patch: What is your go-to venue to play at in Weho?

Gossard: Gotta be . We were their LA Weekly Band-of-the-Month last March, which was a great honor. It is kind of a home base for us. And to think it's the Whisky a Go-Go, which is a legendary place. We love Celina Denkins, the chief booker. She is magnificent!

Patch: What is coming up for ACIDIC?

Gossard: Playing at the world-famous Whisky A Go-Go on March 25 at 9 p.m. We are supremely excited to play at our home base. And on April 22, we go to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to play a big Good Friday show for them. Also, we've got some great festivals coming up—May 21 in Las Vegas at the Sunset Park Music Festival; June 18, we're in Bakersfield for the 2011 Rockin' Roots Festival; and in August, the Crown Jewel of Summer in L.A. 

Acidic is in the running to be on the Warped Tour. Visit http://www.battleofthebands.com/u/ACIDIC to vote.