Concert Crap: Can you talk about a brief history of the band?
Alex Stiff: The name “The Fill Ins” has been around since 2010, but it wasn’t until 2013 when we finally got a solid lineup. I had been kicking around the idea of the band and played a few shows with some other guys, but in early 2013 we got a solid enough lineup that we could actually discuss recording and taking the band seriously. Since then, we’ve released two full length albums, a few EPs and singles and got to open for so many bands we have admired over the years, like: The Reverend Horton Heat, Joe Buckyourself, Koffin Kats, Reno Divorce, GBH, and many more!
CC: What does your band name mean?
AS: When the band was first conceived in Roanoke, Virginia, it was the four of us just playing music after meeting each other playing in different bands around that area. None of them were apart of the bands they belonged to anymore and someone said, “We’re just a bunch of fill ins”, there wasn’t much discussion after that. It just felt right.
CC: Who are some of your musical inspirations?
AS: From an early age, bands like KISS and The Misfits really spoke to me because not only did they have great music, but they had a great image to go with it…you got more for your buck with bands like that. As I got older, I started learning from the Ramones / ANTiSEEN Handbook on how to attack a guitar and The Supersuckers for great song writing. Today; I feel that my inspirations have really helped form me into the musician I am today. When people start to say “That’s an Alex Stiff guitar tone” or “That sounds like something Stiff would write”, it just reminds me of sitting in my bedroom and picking apart songs and just knowing by the guitar tone and how it’s played who is playing it.
CC: Who would you like to tour with realistically and un realistically?
AS: Realistically, I’d love to tour with the likes of CJ Ramone, Supersuckers, Dwarves, Reno Divorce… but if we’re aiming high, let us on tour with Danko Jones, Airbourne or Alice Cooper.
CC: What does the rest of 2016 have in store for you guys?
AS: 2016 was a really rough year for us, but we managed to turn the end of this year into a positive. We were able to get a new drummer show ready and release two singles out in less than three months and we played some pretty rad local shows. The rest of 2016 is going to be spent planning for 2017 and writing new material. Shortly after that, we’re hitting the road on some random weekends to show the East Coast how The Fill ins do it.
All questions answered by Alex Stiff.
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Post and interview by Corey Kleinsasser
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