Just because something is seminal doesn't mean you have to like it. So here's a confession: I've never really cared much for the Ramones. Their songs are too samey, too simple, their lyrics too stupid—or "stoopid," if you prefer, since it's clearly a deliberate thing. Plus punk rock for me has always been more about revolutionary posturing, at the very least (and maybe a bit of heartfelt rage against the system, and finding community and catharsis in the company of fellow aliens) than it is about sniffing glue and being sedated. Sniffing glue has never seemed like a good idea to me.

And that's my best excuse for having neglected the Jolts. As much as friends and collaborators—bev davies, say, or the Straight's own Adrian Mack—have praised'em, I associated them with a style of punk I didn't really care for, so—while they did manage to perk up my ears a few times when I caught them live—I never actually picked up an album. When Sir Mack described their previous and second LP, 8%, as being "old-school stoopid," he meant it as praise, but it didn't help to bring me on board.

With 2016's No Paradoxes, however, the band has made it impossible to continue this neglect. There's still a notable streak of Ramones-worship, and tons of catchy, straight-ahead, America-1977-style punk anthems ("Best One Yet", for example). But there's also a strangely science-fiction-y album cover: depending on how you position the plastic outer sleeve, it shows a flying eyeball going through or emerging from a door in space. And there are unexpected song titles like "Archaeopteryx"—which is not just a clever tag for an instrumental, but a word actually used during the chorus of the song!

I mean, who doesn't like archaeopteryxes? 

And hell, the Jolts are even schooling me with the following interview. It turns out that the phrase "There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch"—a slogan favoured by right wing economists, and the basis of the Jolt's "T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L." —was codified and popularised by SF writer Robert Heinlein almost ten years before Milton Friedman took it up. Did you know that? The Jolts did.

Joey Blitzkrieg (vocals/guitar) and Joshy Atomic (lead guitar) took the time to answer a few questions just prior to their performance at Adstock 2016, out in Maple Ridge, but a bit too late to promote that particular show. But no fear: The Jolts will play Victoria with La Chinga on July 15, and then headline Tacofest (also with La Chinga, among others) on the 16th, at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium. See them. Buy No Paradoxes. It's good.

Some of your influences are kind of worn on your sleeves, but who are some lesser known bands that you think are just great, that you think should get more attention? (The Nervous Eaters? The Pagans?)

Joey: We won't deny our love for the Ramones, but we all listen to tons of different music. The Pagans definitely influenced the Jolts early on. I love bands that progress and evolve album to album like Mott The Hoople.

Joshy: I can hear everything from Deep Purple to the Lewd. I don't think we're as limited in our influences as a lot of other rock bands. Especially on the last record. I'm an idiot record collector, with a big emphasis on the 'idiot' part, but if there is one thing I think people need to listen to more of it's '60s garage stuff and any music played and recorded by teenagers. Lately I've been listening to junkshop glam stuff, and I really like busted surf instrumentals, and Television Personalities are always close to the turntable. I'm sure it all finds it's way into the music somehow.

Do you agree with the Straight's description of the band as making "old school stoopid" music? There's a lot of stuff happening on No Paradoxes that doesn't seem "stoopid" in the way "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" was stoopid, say. In fact, you seem like pretty smart people (but there's no lyric sheet, so I'm not sure!)

Joshy: We are absolutely stoopid.

Joey: I think that was in reference to the last LP, 8%, right?  That record had some pretty “old school stoopid” songs on it. I think on No Paradoxes our songwriting is a bit more focused and my lyrics are influenced by a few other things than girls and beer.

Do you guys ever feel underrated or taken for granted in Vancouver? If not you, who is the most underrated band (or musician) in Vancouver?

Joey: We're probably taken for granted by some in the local scene just because we've been gigging in Vancouver for ten plus years now. But hopefully the records we've released speak for themselves. We're also kinda antisocial and awkward people, in a scene that tends to favour “friend bands”, so that doesn't help. Durban Poison are awesome but underrated in Vancouver. 

Joshy: It's no lie that I've said we are the best rock'n'roll band in these parts, but when I say that it's mostly a dig at the fact there just isn't a lot of rock'n'roll bands, and not that we're actually fantastic. We never play in tune, we always have too much to drink, and barely anyone even wants to play with us. I don't know if we're underrated or not and I don't care. I think we're just getting fucking old. I think the Nervous Talk LP was really good but they were boring live. I think Sore Points are great and I think Glad Rags are great. Spectres are still the best band in town though.

Are you all Fraser Valley guys? Where did band members grow up, when were you coming into your own as music fans, and how bad did the music scene at that time/place suck? (Where did you shop for music?)

Joey: I met original Jolts drummer, GT Flare, at a party in Maple Ridge and that was the first time I talked about starting a punk rock band with any seriousness. He grew up in the Valley and so did a girl I was seeing at the time so I spent time out there, but I'm from Vancouver, born and raised. One of the few in the scene it seems. I spent my youth buying CDs from A&B and Zulu and snuck into my first bar (the Lava Lounge?) to see the Real McKenzies in '99. The rest of the guys are from Kamloops, Saskatoon, and Richmond.

Are you concerned at all about the "no swearing" rule at Adstock? I totally enjoyed watching Todd Serious stumble over lyrics that had "fucks" in them, when the Rebel Spell played there, like he'd forgotten completely there was a "fuck" coming up and then suddenly had this missing word in his song...

Joshy: No swearing? Why would they even ask us to play? One time a girl got really angry cause Joe said "cunt."

Joey: I don't really swear for the sake of it. I'll probably just sing the songs with lyrics intact and no one will figure it out anyway.

I was surprised to hear you singing about there being no such thing as a free lunch, but I can't make out all the lyrics to "T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L." so I'm not sure what the song is actually about. There seems to be a reference to something on the moon, but there's also something about the minimum wage... so are you guys, like, libertarians or Randians or into Milton Friedman or economics or something? I gather that the Ramones identified as being on the right, politically, but it seems unusual in Vancouver.

Joey:"T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L." was inspired by Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. It's about people of a moon colony revolting over their Earth masters with the help of a computer AI. There's some libertarian stuff in there for sure but I'm not really into singing about politics. 

When did the idea come of putting synths on that song? Do you bring a synth live? What effects are you treating the vocals with?

Joey: I had just bought a microKORG and loved the way that simple synth line went. So much music we love has synth in it and I love to play, even though I'm terrible. We haven't done any live keys for a while now but maybe one of these days we'll find someone to play the parts on stage. We do parts of "T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L." with a Moog Vocoder. 

My favourite song is actually the opener, "Archaeopteryx". Killer tune, but where did that song even come from? Are you guys into prehistoric stuff? What is the chorus exactly? Do you disbelieve in having lyric sheets?

Joey: “Archaeopteryx” is about being in the middle of things. The moment of transition from one thing to another.  It's also kinda about the Jolts. How we often feel too punk for the rockers and too rock for the punkers. “Archaeopteryx/ Get no treat when you do no tricks / When you're swinging from that noose wontcha know/ It was an Archaeopteryx that made it so”. I guess I'm kinda protective of my lyrics.

Joshy: I just like the backwards guitar leads.

There are a couple of snake references—"Mongoose v. Cobra," "Serpentiner". Where are they coming from? I was just watching a mongoose and cobra fight in the movie Sssssss, about a mad scientist turning people into snakes...

Joey: Not really sure. They just come into my head. I must like snakes or something. "Mongoose v. Cobra" is about internal conflict and “Serpentiner” is all about dodging bullets, so not really anything to do with literal snakes.

Aha! That's what "Serpentiner" is about? The In-Laws just came out on Criterion Blu Ray, the "serpentine!" scene in that is great... By the by, is the Damned's "Neat Neat Neat" still on your setlist? Do you cover other songs?

We actually recorded “Neat Neat Neat” for our flexi split with The Repossessors. Over the years we've covered tons of songs, starting way back with “Born To Lose” and “Good Head” and more recently “Diamond Dogs” and “Teenagers From Mars”. Not sure if any will make in into out Adstock setlist.

The cover of the album is very science fiction. Any particular influences there? Why are there No Paradoxes? That also kinda reminds me of Ayn Rand writing about there being no contradictions in the world, but I dunno, I don't think she was into parallel universes (also referenced in the song "Blasters"). Cool idea to have the flying eyeball on the glassine sleeve, by the way—was that Scott Beadle's idea? What are the raygun sounds on "Blasters?"

Joey: I had originally wanted to go with a much simpler cover, but once I settled on No Paradoxes as a title—a line taken from our song “Blasters”—I decided I wanted a sci-fi planetscape. Our friend Kamino did a few versions for us and I decided on the doorway. I don't care about Rand at all. I thought No Paradoxes described the way each song on the LP is quite different but still not contradicting the Jolts. Kamino also did the eyeball design for us but I didn't want it on the cover so we made stickers and placed them on the sleeves. I spent hours searching the internet for good laser sound effects but in the end sounds we're mostly stolen from Transformers cartoons.

Joshy: The album cover makes me laugh. It's so stupid.

Any other fun news for Jolts fans? What the fuck is a Tacofest, anyhow? Am I missing out? Are there actual tacos involved?

Joey: After Adstock we'll be playing July 15 at the Victoria Event Center with La Chinga and then Tacofest is the next day at Swanguard Stadium. And yes, there are Mexican food vendors and a taco eating contest. It's gonna be super rad. We're also booking a western Canada tour right now for early October.