Snotty Scotty & Hankies celebrate their Silver Record Anniversary and their Hair

Snotty Scotty & Hankies celebrate their Silver Record Anniversary as well as their Hair
Celebration concert slated for Nov 2 at T Boyles

By Terry Miller

I’ve done a few interviews in my time, but nothing, truly zilch can reasonably prepare you for dialogue with the four lads who changed the course of Pasadena’s music scene in the 1970’s and still manage to continue that innovation well into the next century.
These well preserved – some say pickled – musicians are really wysiwyg. There is no bull here when it comes to Snotty Scotty and his Hankies. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons they’ve outlasted countless other bands in the galaxy.

We scheduled our meticulous interview to take place in Steamboat Springs, Colorado – since this is where some of their biggest fans and especially groupies think they have seen them perform. The fact that the Hankies have never done a gig there didn’t really seem to matter, so we spared no expense and flew Scotty and his Hankies on our corporate jet to the great state of Colorado where we spent a couple of hours nattering about a life, liberty and the pursuit of rock and roll – plus we had a couple of beers.
While the film crew was setting up the elaborate iPhone camera(s )and getting the lighting just bad enough for a YouTube video, we took time out to get to know the four men who call themselves a lot of funny names but mostly Hankies.
Let me first introduce you to the mirthful Hankies: Drummer Tom Behrens is a very nice bloke indeed, the youngest of the foursome who is inspired and also written a song…. kept the band together on more than one occasion with his uncanny diplomacy and darn good meter. I believe he’s also known as Billy Booger.
Guitarist Steve Bruin, a master of his craft, has the unique knack of throwing guitars off Colorado Street Bridge, retrieving them and continue playing the song without skipping a beat…albeit with the help of duct tape. Take that Townsend!
Bass player and guitarist Raghead is an enigma. He’s toweringly tall…somewhat similar to Mick Fleetwood methinks…..and hails from Canada where he learned the fine art of guitar juggling which he practiced on Bruin once during a show…The actual concept was grand …each would catch the other’s axe during a duel solo….the execution of this concept however was another matter. A vintage Les Paul was pulled off life support at the end of that set.
Last, but by no means least, Scotty…what can we say. His life is a fabled here in Pasadena and has done what he loves all his life – Making music with friends. Drinking beer and making music like “ Let’s get S@#$faced…” one of the band’s finest and most requested hymns if you will.
Snotty told us that the biggest influence on his music is Ledbelly (and his days as a Choirboy). Huddie William Ledbetter was an American folk and blues musician, and multi-instrumentalist, notable for his strong vocals which is what Snotty Scotty dearly followed. Luckily, we didn’t have a lot of time to learn of his days as a choir boy other than he could really belt out a Psalm!

Doo Dah 2013

As far as Steve Bruen, it seems his influences range far and wide: from the Who to Clapton and Jimi Hendrix . Hendrix (as an aside) purportedly auditioned for the band – according to one extremely capricious source on the Doo Dah Parade route circa 1971 – but their manager apparently opted out of having Hendrix in the band and said in all seriousness…“Hey, you play well but…really…are you Experienced?”) The rest, as they say, is history.

As the interview progressed, one could see that the passion these fabulously funny and frivolous lads have for their fans, music and their live appearances. “We never really practice…” Steve Bruen told Beacon Media. “ We just get on stage, play what we like. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes we screw up. But we always have fun,” the energetic guitarist said.
Long-time friend and music aficionado, Roger C. Mackenzie told Beacon Media “It’s always a party when Snotty Scotty and the boys perform…there is really nothing quite like a Hankies concert…thank God.”
While humour has always been the best medicine, it seems that the Hankies also need the occasional mothers little helper in the form of the amber nectar to help them get through the set list, which apparently doesn’t even exist – never has and never will evidently.
“We play what we want…when we want, ” Scotty quipped. He’s not kidding. One thing’s for sure, the dance floor is always full when they play. Not many bands can say that.
One guy who knows the band well asked how the band could screw up so many cover songs so consistently. The Hankies love telling that story as they really do accomplish what they want on stage no matter what – have fun and always entertain.
The conversation turned to Doo Dah and how the classic perennial parody of parades started in Pasadena and what Snotty Scotty and the Hankies’ roll is.
Legend has it that it was conceived in in the 1970’s by several friends, including Peter Apanel, Ted Wright, Charles Finnell, among others, having a few beers in Chromo’s in Old Pasadena (It wasn’t trendy then), as an impudent change to the traditional strict formality of the Rose Parade. In 1978, January 1 fell on a Sunday, and the Rose Parade, which typically takes place on January 1, but they’ll never do it on a Sunday. So they decided it would be a blast to have an alternate parade on January 1 that year.
This was the beginning…Apanal bestowed the title of official Doo Dah Band for all time upon the Hankies ( they even have an inscribed trophy Apanal gave them.) It sits proudly on Scotty’s coffee table which commands that the band is the “official doo dah band for all time….”
One of the first parades Doo Dah held was at City Hall. “ God bless Apanal,” said Snotty Scotty….”Apanal was responsible for arranging and producing our record on Doo Dah Records” -the landmark album which will be played by the band ( in the same order as the Vinyl) Saturday at T Boyles celebrating the 25th anniversary of that album.
I asked the lads whatever happened to Apanal…. Scotty said “There have been Apanal sightings up north but that might have been sasquatch …” The room filled with laughter, “ Yes, he is a hairy dude..” quipped Billy Booger.
Apanal is obviously near and dear to the Hankies’ collective heart as he helped they get where they are today. Where exactly that is remains to be seen.
In 2010 the parade was moved to May 1, and also moved from Old Pasadena to East Pasadena. Apanal gave rights to the parade to the Light Bringer Project where Tom Coston and Patty Hurley manage to pull off a brilliant and truly funny parade year after year.

For over 35 years, Snotty Scotty and The Hankies have entertained the world with their unpredictable musical styling. While holding the dubious title of “The Definitive Cover Band” with literally hundreds of songs in their repertoire, Snotty Scotty and The Hankies also play a vast collection of original tunes, including ‘It’s a ‘Hi, Buddy’ World, I Want Tequila, and many more you’ll hear Saturday at T Boyles.

Unlike the Mods and Rockers era in the UK…where bands were saying nasty things about one another to get gigs….The Hankies have a different philosophy. Kindness and respect for their fellow musicians. They always give credit to other area local bands like “Horses on Astroturf” …. “a great bunch of guys” says Snotty Scotty.

T Boyles Tavern. Nov 2….Don’t miss ‘em
37 N Catalina Ave
Pasadena (626) 578-0957
Just off Mentor Ave North of Colorado Blvd, in the alley behind the Ice House in Pasadena.

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