THE DRIPPY GAZZETTE
November 1999
by Robert Dayton, photos by Serena McCarroll
See that photo of Capozzi Park (l to r: Steve, Marcy, Mark, Scott, Max) above? Well, it was difficult to get them to sit still. Watching and assisting this photo shoot tuckered me out (some band members don’t understand the concept of 2D). I needed coffee to get my energy back up for the interview at their house. They were out of coffee. I went and bought coffee. Now if only they had told me that they were out of cream. See, I need cream in my coffee. It goes down smoother that way. Drippy reader take note: exclusive scoop later on in interview!
Robert: So, Capozzi Park, who thought up that name?
Scott: Good question. I want to know.
Max: Jason Mclean, a local artist, and I were out shooting hoops and we saw it at the end of the basketball court and we thought, “That’s a good name for a band.” Like Mark’s favorite band, Depeche Mode, is also a very soft sounding name, appealing to the youth of today as long as they are over thirty.
Mark: Depeche Mode is a basketball court, as well.
Robert: So, Capozzi Park is a basketball court that you guys regularly play at?
Marcy: I did before the injury.
Max: By a ten year old kid.
Robert: You had an injury?
Marcy: Yes. At Capozzi Park. A knee injury. I got smacked directly into my kneecap by a… I think he was more like twelve, give me some credit.
Robert: A twelve year old kid?
Marcy: Yes. He wrecked my knee. We were playing two on two. It happened right at Capozzi Park where all things seem to happen.
Max: Such as throwing shit covered pinecones?
Robert: What?
Marcy: That happened there, too! Max and I went over there to shoot hoops and there was a bunch of eight year-olds playing and these kids started flinging dog shit at us, Seriously! They were dipping pinecones in dog doo and hurling them at us! Finally I just flipped out and I started chasing this little kid around and around the swing-set until It actually seemed like he was going to cry; until he was good and scared.
Robert: You guys are a good band to set an example to the younger generation.
Marcy: All Max could say to the kid was, “you realize you have no future.”
Max: I was being nasty.
Marcy: But that wasn’t going to stop him from hurling dog-shit. I had to threaten him with physical violence. I had to speak to him in a language he could understand.
Robert: We have a lot of younger readers out there. Do you have anything you want to say to them? Marcy: Yeah. Don’t throw dog-shit at me or I’ll kick your fuck-ing ass.
(Steve brings coffee)
Robert: Oh, coffee! You don’t have cream? Oh I should have bought cream. Now, the name ‘Capozzi Park’ has been informally spray-painted in a basketball court near some co-op housing?
Marcy: I think they call them the projects, Rob. Don’t be Polite. The Projects.
Robert: What was the name of the first band you played in, Scott?
Scott: It was called Black Pearl.
Robert: Tell me more. It was with your brother…
Scott: Yes. We played KISS and AC/DC, Ted Nugent, “Jane” by Jefferson Starship – I don’t know why we picked that song.
Robert: How old were you?
Scott: Thirteen, I think. I had a Fender Strat that my Dad bought me because he knew Iiked to rock.
Robert: And, Steve, you used to be a rockabilly boy. What happened?
Steve. I was more of a garage rocker.
Robert: What happened with the pompadour? Why Is it gone?
Steve: I never had a pompadour.
Robert: C’mon! Fess up!
Steve: I used to grease my hair back but I never had a pompadour, per se.
Robert: You got tired of the greasy kid stuff?
Steve: I’ve got [Brylcreem] in my hair right now!
Robert: You are still true to your greaser roots?
Steve: And I still like garage rook.
Robert: Do you add a little rock and roll edge to the band? Do you think you add something special? Scott: He made his own bass.
Steve: I saw the three (Mark, Marcy, Max) of them play and its definitely different with a bass.
Mark: Yeah, because there’s a bass.
Robert: Is Mark a real control freak in the band? How much say do the rest of you have?
Scott: We divided it up. He’s got 96 percent and we go 4 percent each.
Robert: I’m sorry but that’s bad math.
Max. You do run each of your articles past an auditor first, don’t you?
Robert: Max, you have cream in your coffee.
Max: No I don’t. I have kahlua in my coffee.
Robert: Can I have Kahlua In my coffee?
Max: Sure, you just need to go to a store where they sell it, buy the stuff and there you are! I’d offer you some but I don’t want to.
Scott: You should see Mark’s new guitar. Steve made it. It’s square.
Robert: You make guitars and basses and everything!
Steve: Mm-hmm.
Robert: You’re going to make a whole band one day. You won’t need these guys!
Steve: I’m working on it. I’m drawing up plans. I’ll Just turn a wheel to write songs.
Mark: Garage rock!
Robert: You could have a garage rock setting.
Max: I don’t want to see that word twice in our interview.
Scott: Can we mention Bush twice? Kate Bush. Kate Bush.
Robert: Your sound has changed as you’ve gotten more members with a wide range of influences.
Scott: There’s a question for you, Mark.
Max: Don’t you feel influential, Mark? You’ve changed the way a lot of us think about music.
Steve: Twice.
Mark: Yeah. Twice.
Robert: Your sound has changed.
Mark. We’ve added a bass. We’ve added Robin.
Robert: Robin? Who’s that?
Steve: He’s some guy who lives on the East Coast.
Max: He’s a performance and hairstyle artist.
Robert: He’s not in the band currentty?
Scott: Marcy said that Robin’s coming back.
Steve: Hey, we’re going on tour soon.
Marcy: They’re going on tour soon.
Robert: What do you mean ‘they’?
Marcy: Do you want the exclusive scoop?
Robert: Yes
Max: Could you come over here and clean up after our dog, we mean. Come back. Start scooping.
Marcy: They’re going on tour!
Max: We got a divorce, man. We’re single again!
Marcy: I’m leaving the band and the city. I’m leaving Vancouver and, therefore, I’m leaving Capozzi Park. So, that’s the Drippy Scoop.
(Scott leaves)
Robert: Where’s Scott going?
Marcy: To work.
Robert: He’s not leaving the band?
Marcy: No.
Robert: You’re leaving the band for Toronto? Not the band Toronto, but the city?
Marcy: I don’t think I’d fit into the band Toronto.
Robert: So, you leave Capozzi Park and they’ll just find some other woman, you’re replaceable?
Steve: We’re taking helium.
Marcy: The babes are lining up to be in this band.
Robert: Your numbers are dwindling. So people who want to audition for the band should reach you through Drippy?
Marcy: They should make sure to send a photograph.
Robert: So, Mark, you’ve got your solo career known as Mark and there’s Capozzi Park. Are they just session hacks to be used at your will?
(no response)
Steve: He’s our puppet dictator. We just stick him in front so everybody will leave us alone.
Robert: But he’s barely spoken two words this whole interview!
Max: They’re two of the finest words we’ve heard all day.
Robert: He’s sitting behind us with an ominous presence banging a clipboard!
Max: Well, there’s no gongs in the room.
Robert: So, Mark, have you read any good books lately?
Mark: You’re…
Robert: I’m what? I’m what? Spit it out!
Mark: You’re funny.
Robert: You guys are playing a show November 10th?
Max: Yeah, with music and everything.
Marcy: At the ANZA Club.
Robert: Who writes all the songs in the band?
Max: All the members of the band and then other people who are our friends mostly, including Mark. One of Mark’s most recent songs is lyrically quite impressive. It’s a song I like to sing.
Robert: What’s the song called, Mark?
Mark: It’s called “Baby Song.”
Robert: What’s it about?
Mark: It’s a love song.
Robert: Is it a conventional love song?
Mark: It’s a love song from a sperm to its mother.
Robert: You’re being a tad elusive.
Marcy: It’s a beautiful song.
Robert: And that’s all we know about it.
Mark: Do you want to read what a song’s about?
Robert: Sure! (I interrogate Mark for a while but it goes nowhere.)
Robert: This is terrible! It takes me ten questions to get a simple answer out of you! Steve answers questions and so does Marcy and Scott. Don’t even get me started on Max. But you! Ten questions! Ten questions!
Mark: I’m sorry.
Robert: Let’s just wrap this up.
Steve: This a pretty clear indication of what the band is like. It’s pretty much how every conversation goes.
Robert: That’s terrible.
Marcy: It is and it isn’t.
Steve: The end result is love.
Listen to “Chocolate Covered Bad Things” by Mark here .
