Interview: Mikey Havoc – Push Push With Kiss

Just as his latest his latest run with bFM was coming to an end, Mikey Havoc got an offer he couldn’t refuse.

His band, Push Push, had been offered the opening slot for the Kiss farewell show in Auckland at Spark Arena on December 3rd.

Upon hearing this, The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda got on the blower to speak to Mr Havoc about this latest Push Push reunion and his own plans for the future.

Click here to listen to the interview:

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: So what’s this I hear about you guys opening for KISS?

MH: Like how about that?  Yeah, like, we’re stoked. This is something that is an event, in my unusual life that I’ve led, it’s one of those things that I’m just fascinated has even happened, let alone us having… yeah.

MD: I can imagine. How did it come about?

MH: As far as I know, they – I know that there’s no other supports in any other – there’s no other support bands in Australasia, and I’m not sure about the rest of the tour they’re doing, um… but for some reason they wanted a New Zealand support band, and the promoter asked around, and… our name came up, and… I think, like, for us, I think it feels like an amazing fit, it’s perfect, and it’ll be such an honour to sort of play before a band like that to a crowd like that, who I’m sure will be excited, and… probably sympathetic to our musical tastes, you know?

MD: I’d imagine so! Actually, because you guys opened for The Darkness before – it’s not that big of a stretch, is it?

MH: Well, I mean – did you go to the KISS show last time they were here?

MD: Yeah, I did.

MH: That is a… I mean, holy shit. It’s a big stretch in that respect – yeah, I mean, nah, it seems to be a perfect fit. Which is great, I mean, because it’s like, when I first met Andy [Kane], our guitarist, and we sort of put the band together and stuff, that that was his #1 favourite band to… you know? And our first band practice we ever played, we ever ever ever did, we were playing KISS songs, you know? And Steve [Abplanalp] was along when we did… Steve, our bass player, we both went to primary school together, we both remember singing along to I Was Made For Loving You at primary school, you know? It’s amazing how in… you know, it’s… it’s… it’s a – they’re a band who played the long game, very very well. And it’s amazing, sort of, when you start talking to people about them, everyone’s got a story? You know? I met one lady, who is – I won’t say how I know her, but I would never have expected it – and when she sort of came out to speak to me, she said, “When I chose my confirmation name, my Catholic confirmation name, when I was a kid,” she chose it so that the initials would spell out A-C-E?  I mean, that’s full-on, eh? That’s – and then I spoke to someone else about it, and they remember hearing Gene Simmons talking at the MIPCOM TV convention, about how to make successful – how to be a successful business unit. Cause you know, that’s one thing they’re very good at.

MD: Oh yeah. They know how to make money.

MH: Yeah. It’s just amazing that anyone wants our band to play after thirty years. You know, and it’s incredibly flattering. And it’s amazing that we get to have that opportunity. It’s like – when we got the phone call, it was like – “do you think the guys will want to get back together and do this?”, and I was like, “Yes…. To answer your question…yup. Just give me a second. Yes, it’ll be fine. Yes.” So – it sort of was like that.  I know that the Australians , we’ve got two guys that live in Australia,  it was pretty much yesterday, when they finally realized okay, this is serious. It’s not Mike just on some wigged-out sort of idea that someone’s told him about something and something and he’s just assumed… no, it’s actually a real thing. We’re on the poster. Shit!

MD: Cause you guys aren’t exactly like hanging out together, ready to play at a drop of a hat. So it must be a kinda major undertaking for the band.

MH: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s, like The Darkness thing, it’s… worthwhile sort of, um… When The Darkness thing came up, we had got back together, sort of just to have a bit of fun, knocking around, that sort of thing. So that was amazing how great that felt, you know? Any random animosity, or problems that we had with each other  had well and truly gone by that stage, so you know, it was really cool to go to these people that you know, had spent so much time  so long ago, and just  had some fun. And that’s why The Darkness thing was really great, and that’s why… why we sort of… continued… like, if everyone’s in town, we’ll have a jam, that sort of thing, you know? So what we’ll do for this is we’ll probably fly over there, they’ll fly over here, have a couple of practices. That way… Like, we also have a friend of ours who lives over here, who’s very very talented. Amazingly talented guitarist, who can sort of cover for Andy and Shane,  their parts, so we can at least practice, and do warmups, that sort of thing, do a couple of practices here, and that makes it easier. And… we’re better at what we do musically, than what we were 25 years ago, oddly enough.

MD: You know, it’s funny, a lot of bands say that, that they’re so much better than they were.

MH: It’s funny cause that’s the last thing you think about?

MD: Yeah.

MH: You go, yeah… yeah… I’m actually quite good at this now. Hmm. You know. That’s cool, that’s cool to be able to do that.

MD: Do you have to do anything to get yourself in shape vocally?

MH: Get myself in shape vocally? I like the way you said that. Yeah, vocally… vocally, I probably just have to – I mean, I’ll not be… cause I’m not singing all the time, at all, by any means. But I will be… practicing’s the best way of doing it.

MD: Oh, I suppose that makes sense.

MH: And when it gets closer to the date – I’ll be warming up every day, that sort of thing. Do the vocal gymnastics!

MD: Yeah. So –

MH: – I mean, I look forward to doing that. As much as doing the gig, to be honest.

MD: Oh, great.

MH: Fitness wise, I suppose we’ll have, we’ll have to, I’ll have to get up to speed a bit more, don’t want to look a bit podgy up there, and then of course  that I’m imagining, that, like The Darkness, we will be given very little stage space.

MD: Yeah, yeah.

MH: Because – for safety’s sake alone, you know? Because there’ll be a lot of bombs and booms and… who knows what… but yeah, I’m just imagining that that’ll be the situation – it’s just, it’s such a  cool situation, man.  Yeah. And by all accounts it’s the last show they’re ever gonna do ever. The last show. On their website, it’s the last show on the tour.

MD: Hm. I was wondering about that. That could be pretty awesome.

MH: I know. Yeah. That’s that’s historical in itself, you know?

MD: Yeah. Definitely.

MH: You know what, it’s KISS-torical.

MD: Yeah. You know, I still don’t think there’s much chance of Ace and Peter showing up though, do you?

MH: No… no. Well, depends which Ace you mean. You mean Ace original, or…

MD: Yeah, Ace Frehley.

MH: No. You know, I’m still amazed that – I’m still amazed that Paul and Gene do it. I remember being at their last show and being like, “Really? If I was a millionaire up on a podium with bombs and confetti cannons going off, still enjoying it. That’s fantastic, good on you!”

MD: So you guys getting back together again, going through the whole reunion thing again, it must have been much different this time, than after being apart for like 25 years.

MH: Yeah, yeah, definitely. We were just,  well, we were – we were heading –  well, I remember this time we were actually hoping to do some shows around that… part of the year, you know,  anyway.   We were hoping to – we were sort of just pondering the idea – because Scott [Cortese], our drummer, had a baby recently, so… had to put everything on hold for a wee while… and we were just sort of tinkering with the idea of playing that end of the year,  doing some shows, and then… and then we get the call, you know? Holy hell. And there’s talk of writing some more stuff as well, cause it’s a really, you know, you get to this stage,  this dotage of a band’s career, I suppose, and having reformed after all that time and then enjoyed it so much you really start to make sure you don’t take the fact that you can write songs for granted. Because it’s actually something that not everyone can do, you know?

MD: That’s a fact.

MH: And it’s perfectly satisfying and fun to do it, so. You know, I guess we’ll still write some songs, yeah. But if it comes down to it, and the last thing that Push Push ever does is sing Trippin’ in front of ten thousand people, at Spark Arena, well, I’m okay with that!

MD: Exactly. That’s not a bad way to go out. Do you write songs, just on your own, for your own enjoyment? Or…

MH: Not really! Because I don’t – well, I don’t really play anything else! I’ve tried, I’m pretty shit at it. But I like writing songs, I like to be part of the songwriting process, definitely. And I’m,  I get quite bossy, in that respect, I suppose. I remember I had a friend of mine at school once that asked me, like, “So how do you even do that?” and it never really occurred to me that for a lot of people it’s not even a… they don’t have their heads around doing it, let alone being able to do it, and… to some sort of degree of success, and so ever since then I’ve sort of made sure that I haven’t been taking it for granted, and just enjoying the fuck out of it.

MD: Exactly.

MH: I love songwriting  and essentially over the years I’ve become… because of all the other jobs I’ve done since then, become a massive fan of people that can write epic songs, you know? And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Isn’t that what it’s all about?

MD: Exactly! And –

MH: Epic songs?

MD: And yourself personally, I know, you’re not doing the bFM thing anymore, people are wondering what you’re up to. So can you enlighten us on –

MH: Same here! Same here!

MH: Well I mean, this bloody thing came out about a week before the bFM thing finished, so it was like – eugh, chuck that in the mix.  I’ve got some… whole lot of options which I’m looking at, some which seem sort of like the obvious choice. I feel like I’m getting pushed by invisible forces toward some kind of podcasty thing, maybe?

MD: Oh, great. That’s cool.

MH: Which is something that I’m really excited about. I was never really a big believer until recently, myself, and then I realized I could’ve brought other people into it really as well.

MD: Well, yeah. They’re pretty big.

MH: You’re really focusing on content, you know? And you get to sort of do what you wanna do, and talk to who you wanna talk to, about what you want to talk to them about. And that’s very cool, you know.

MD: Ah! Alright. So that’s something to look forward to.

MH: So that’s what we’re looking out toward at the moment. Some ideas along those lines, you know.

MD: Alright, well, you have to keep us posted, as you get closer to…

MH: I’ll keep you… Marty, I’ll keep you thoroughly posted.

MD: I like that. That’s the way I like to be.

Click here for tickets to see Kiss and Push Push at Spark Arena.