"I don't know what that even means, man."
I'm talking to the singularly monikered Tor, lead singer and superboss of
NYC's arena rock monsters, Joker Five Speed. From his crackling
speakerphone deep in the bowels of Gotham City, he sounds little like a
used car salesman (American only, natch), a little like some Zen-bent,
chopper riding hipster shaman, and a lot like a guy that's been practicing
for this kind of thing all his life. Not surprisingly, he's the son of a
rock journalist, who spent his youth "Sitting in the dark, listening to
KISS Alive II, pretending I was performing at the Enormo-dome". Joker Five
Speed, his skintight gang of sonic reducers, is poised for a summer of
maximum saturation and nationwide devastation, and Tor is already cracking
his rock star knuckles, digging in for that long, hard climb to the top.
Of course, this is the same story all over the world, with a million
different bands, right? Maybe. But Joker Five Speed ain't like other
bands, and least not in Tor's eyes, or my ears. No, this would-be cat
burglar and full-time action man has got the plan, the band, and the ego
to actually pull it off, and that doesn't happen very often. I mean, dig
this alchemy. Joker Five Speed's sound can be quite accurately summed up
as the Supersuckers produced by Axl Rose, or maybe Van Halen covering
AC/DC, or even Cheap Trick as a meth-eating biker gang. Their sound is
enormous, teeth rattling, and knee trembling, and every song is an anthem
that gets the fists pumping, the blood flowing, and the freak flags
waving. It almost makes you wonder why we gave up on rock stars in the
first place. It's easy, it's sleazy, and it gets you right where you're
going, every single time. "We're rock guys, you know? We're pretty meat and potatoes rock", Tor offers. "We're not gonna stray from that formula. You're not gonna get some gourmet recipe thrown in there. It's beef stew. And beef stew's only got so many ingredients."
Joker Five Speed formed in March of 2001, although Tor wasn't even sure he wanted a band at the time. "I was in a few bands, but it was pretty frustrating, because I was always the guy writing all the songs, and doing all the work. There was just nobody else that could keep up. Every time we were ready to take a step forward, everybody would jump out of the car, ya know?" I do, man. I do.
"So, I kind of gave up on bands, I didn't even want to be in one anymore. I just kept writing songs, honing in on the craft of writing a really good rock song, without any real intentions of playing them for anybody. I just liked writing. A friend of mine heard the songs, and he said, 'Man, you've got to play these songs live!' And the next thing you know, I've got a band." Rounded out by drummer Roger Benten, guitarist Dave Blackshire, and bass player Scarlet Rowe, Tor and the boys quickly learned to utilize the evil powers of rock and roll, and almost single handedly brought the Rock back to New York City. "The main thing that the press- even the NY press- concentrates on in New York City are these Williamsburg bands, like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Strokes, who are more artsy than rock", Tor explains. "But there's this whole other scene, a real rock scene, that I'm proud to say, didn't even exist a year and a half ago. What happened was, Joker Five Speed came on the scene. Before we even showed our faces to anybody, we practiced until we were super tight. Then we hit the streets. We met up with this band called Queen V. They really dug us, we dug them. I started DJ-ing with their guitar player, Eric 13, and people started coming down there to hang out, too. Next thing you know, we've got something like 12 different bands that we can handpick to play with us, and they bring all their fans and friends. Now, it's a year and a half down the road, and we've got this whole rock scene happening."
Part of Joker Five Speed's success can be attributed to their signature song, "Jet Set City", which is kinda like "Detroit Rock City", only with a happy ending. It's a hard-charging, hook-heavy charmer that invariably has people screaming along before the second chorus even kicks in. Already a bonafide hit in their hometown, it makes it's worldwide debut on the Cock n' Roll compilation.
"It's funny, ya know, when you're writing a song, coming up with riffs and lyrics. You're just sitting on the edge of your bed, and you never think that someday you're going to be playing it, and people are going to be singing along to it. When I started DJ'ing, I did it just so I could spin Joker Five Speed tunes, and have a captive audience to pass out flyers for our next show, ya know? And that song turned into a much bigger thing than that. I play "Jet Set City" just about every week, and people still go nuts for it."
But, as Tor attests, Joker Five Speed is still best served live and raw. "Whenever we play in front of a crowd we end up with a bunch of new friends. It's like, we've suddenly got all these friends and family that we didn't know we had", he says. Crazily enough, Joker Five Speed have yet to score a record deal, but who needs a contract when you've got boundless bragadaccio, anyway?
"Getting signed", Tor muses. "I think anybody that ever picked up a guitar, that's their goal, they want to be a rockstar, they want to make money by making music. Now, whether that's by signing to Sony records for us, or selling records out of the back of our van, it's all fun. If this is as hard as it gets for us, than we're still having a great time. So, if it gets easier, great. But if it doesn't, we're still staying in it."
I don't blame him. After all, even if the funds aren't flowing yet, there are other spoils in this rock and roll war.
"I'm gonna put my modesty aside and say yeah, chicks dig Joker Five Speed, man", Tor says, with obvious pride. "We rock pretty hard, so the guys have respect for us. They come out to rock, and they're bringing their girlfriends. And their girlfriends are bringing their girlfriends. Seems to me, when I look out at that crowd, I see a lot of happy faces. But up front, I see a lot of chicks."
Is it a Def Leppard kind of split?
"I'd say it's a 'Pyromania' kind of split, not 'Hysteria'", Tor quips. "Everybody's there to have a good time, man. If I get off the stage and there's a chick there screaming in my face about how she loves my band and she's flashing her tits, well that's great, but it's equally great to have some dude come up at the same time and say, 'Hey man, your band rocks!' Because we want everybody to come, we're a people's band. Tall, fat, short, skinny, dumb, smart- as long as you can throw your fist in the air, that's all we care about."
You can throw your fist in the air, can't ya?