Formed from the shattered remains of the Mullens, The Sunday Drunks are your ultimate good-time rock and roll band. Borrowing a bit from rock, punk, rhythm and blues and just about any other juke-joint sound you can roll up into three or four chords, The Sunday Drunks keep it simple, tuneful and loud. Dead Beat Records released their incredible, self-titled debut. If you want to describe their sound, I think it's best to think of Stiv Bators on a Sunday morning belting out some Chuck Berry riffs and singing some straight-up rock tunes in between cigarrette drags and sips of Pabst. It's pure, pistol-packin', snotty perfection. They're about to record a new 7" the second full length will soon follow. Lee Lazarine, the guitarist for the Sunday Drunks took the time to answer some questions for The Odyssey. Make sure you check Texan toughnecks out. If you like to rock, it's not possible to be disappointed.

You guys kind of hit me out of nowhere. I knew about the Mullens, and I had heard your name thrown around in the background but I didn't really pay attention till I heard the music. How did things get cooking for you?
When Matt Mayo of The Mullens moved to Seattle with his wife it was kind of the end of the mullens as far as being a full time band. So I fooled around with a couple of country outfits and after a while I was ready to play some rock n' roll again. me and Rod (Baird) started jamming with this other bass player at first. After a couple of gigs we got Dana (Williams) from the mullens and it went from there.

Dana was bass for mullens and rod was drums, i was what you'd call a part time member of The Mullens. I would fill in for Dana on bass when he couldn't go on tour at first. Tthen after a couple of tours I joined full time on 2nd guitar. The five piece line-up was only around for about a year though. Unfortunately we never did an album with all five members. Dana's on the first two and i'm on the 3rd. But that's how it happend, because all three of us played together previously in some form or fashion in the Mullens.

I've noticed that the Mullens had a more aggressive, classic, late 70s punk rock sound, where you guys have more of a straight ahead, snotty rock and roll sound. Do Rodney and Dana have any explanation for this difference? Do you?
I would have to say we all had a great deal of say in that but it would be myself mostly. I've always liked the real straight ahead Chuck/Stonesy type of stuff. And I've always loved to play honky tonk and country music and I like to incorporate some of those sounds into my rock n' roll. I'm from the backwoods of east Texas so those sounds have been around me my entire life growing up. we naturally had a more laid back feel to our songs as compared to most Mullens songs. Dana had a great deal to do with that as well though. He was really ready to do some soulful stuff, really go after a Ray Charles meets punk rock guitars type sound. He's great at it.

There's sort of a Chuck Berry meets the Dead Boys thing happening in the Sunday Drunks. In my experience, this type of sound is the result of a band that knows how to have a good time. On your debut album, you really sound like you're having fun playing together. Is the Sunday Drunks a form of recreation for you guys? Is it more serious?
Our band is definitely mostly a form of recreation. We'd like to be more serious but we're just a bunch of old bastards who get by the best we can. We play alot around Texas with sons of hercules and we just really go out and have a blast and just enjoy ourselves. Whatever happens just happens.

Okay. Enough about the goddamn Mullens. What's your plan for a tour (or tours)? Can you tell us whereabouts you're headed?
As far as our future, I'd have to start by saying that unfortunately Dana has left the band. But we're certainly keeping it going. After the album came out we went to being a trio with me, Dana & Rod. That lineup stayed around for a couple of years until now. Once dana quit i went ahead and got a 2nd guitar player as well as a bassist to replace Dana. I really like the two guitar sound the best. Our new guitar player Kevin Pearce (formerly of ft worth band Dead Sexy) is an amazing player. He really has the rock n' roll thing down. The guy is a natural and likes the same style of writing that I do. I'm very excited about the new lineup and what's on the horizon. We're currently in the studio cutting a 7" that will be released in Australia on International Trash. Then later this summer we'll go into the studio and record our next full length album. I'm really excited about that because all the tunes are in the bag and ready to roll. After we record the record we plan on touring in the midwest and a small part of the east coast in the fall. I'm so ready to tour that i don't even care if the record's released yet. I'm still gonna book a tour in the fall. also, a promoter over in Spain is trying to get us over there for a 8 or 9 show tour of spain late this summer. We're keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

You guys are from Texas, which has a pretty legendary punk-rock heritage. What are some of your favorite Texas bands?
Personally some of my favorite bands from Texas would be the Sons of Hercules, Sugar Shack, the Hard Feelings, The Deadites, The Jewws, the Riverboat Gamblers, The Motards, etc. Also a new band I'm helping promote called the Ravens. These guys are awesome.

Can you tell me what a typical practice is like for the Sunday Drunks?
A typical practice for our band usually starts off with a fat joint and us loading our refrigerator in our jam room with some Miller High Life or really just about any beer. After that we'll usually just do some blues jams or a Waylon Jennings song before we get on with workin out a new tune or rehearsing a set for a gig. There's always much laughter and bullshit involved. Never ever tense moments between the members. As a band, we don't take ourselves seriously at all.

Who will be doing the full-length? Is Dead Beat involved?
As I've said earlier, International Trash out of Australia will release our new 7". As far as the full length, I'm not really sure. i haven't spoken with Tom (Dead Beat) in a while but if he's willing to do our next record then Ireally have no objections going with Dead Beat Records again. He distributes real well and I was amazed at some of the sources our record was reviewed from. Plus i'm a lazy bastard and it would keep me from having to hound every sleazeball label out there with our product begging for a deal.

Will the songs on the single appear on the full-length, or are they totally different songs?
More than likely both songs from the 7" will appear on the next full length. I don't really have a problem with that. But it's not for certain, one of them may not be on the record. Not sure.

Do you guys break out any covers on stage? If so, who do you like to play?
Our latest cover we've been doing is "The Harder They Come" the Jimmy Cliff song that Wayne Kramer and Johnny Thunders covered. In the past we've covered DMZ's version of Barricuda, the Who's version of Summer Time Blues, Tthe Kkids Are Alright, Substitute, The Kinks' "so mystifying" CCR's "Up Around the Bbend", The Beatles version of "You Really Got a Hold On Me" to name a few. We enjoy playing old cover songs.

You guys played the 2002 Chicago Blackout right? How did it go? Any stories from that show?
The Chicago blackout couldn't have gone any better. We were the dead middle band of a 5 band bill on the final night which was a Saturday. The place was packed and we tore it up. We really brought the house down that night. Those people up there will really let you know if you're not cuttin the mustard too. Bbut we went over very well and just had a great time. Sold lots of merch and enjoyed seeing our bros from Horizontal Action. can't thank them enough for that bill.

Do you guys play arcade games? Which ones are your favorites?
We're more of a pinball/foozball/billiards kind of band. Our new guitar player is a huge NASCAR fan so he likes to sit in front of his TV and play NASCAR racing.

What is the one most-important thing you'd like for peple to know about the Sunday Drunks?
The most important thing I'd like people to know about our band is that we're all very down to earth friendly guys. We don't have a certain "rocker" image or anything like that, we just play straight ahead 3-chord songs because we genuinely love that style. We're a beer swillin, bar-b-q eatin rock n' roll band. Plain & simple.

The Sunday Drunks don't currently have a website, but there is one planned for the near future. Keep Google at the ready and I'm sure you'll find them. For now, you can order their debut on Dead Beat Records.

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