After hearing their contribution to the most excellent New Bom Turks tribute album I just had to reach out to some of the bands involved and one of the bands who impressed me the most was Tongue Action. Call em what you like Action Rock, Punk N Roll, the new wave of garage rockers,  it matters not because to us its just loud Rock n Roll and they live it like they love it and embrace the spirit of Rock and Roll so we caught up with Pablo Ono (Lead Vocals and Guitars) & the occasional chime from  (JW) Capt Goddamn: (Lead Guitarist) recently to find out who the hell are Tongue Action and please introduce us so here goes…

Firstly, When did the band begin?  

The vision and sound of Tongue Action has always been with me and probably always will be pretty much – I don’t know if it a subconscious thing that has become aware but I know you can hear it and see it in pretty much everything I do. However, The Tongue Action that’s alive and loud today being seen and heard as of right now has been around since Feb. 2019

Who decided that the world needed Tongue Action?  

Whoever created women decided that the world needed Tongue Action and we’re grateful to be able to provide it to those women who want it or need it. We are here to ensure the very act of performing Tongue Action has the killer soundtrack it deserves performed by Tongue Action! It’s us giving it back to the world by allowing ourselves to be the mouthpiece on your wives – wait, I mean…of your life – Let us be the sound of giving it and getting it and because we’re Tongue Action 60% of the time you can hear us around the world…all the time.

You guys are based in New Orleans right? 

Yes, and though we may live amongst the witches & ghouls, the vamps and werewolves…everyone knows that we’re the only things that ever go bump in the night. So don’t fear the tongue fear the reaper.

introduce us to the band if you will please? 

Pablo Ono – Lead Vox, Guitar Blastin’, 100% Satisfaction Givin’ That Tongue Action & Mustache Rides of Passion.  (JW) Capt Goddamn: Lead Guitar Captain like a Fool, Vox Backin’, Fast actin’ Ham slammin’ & Psychotic Reactin’  Grody Jody Stallone – Drums, Vox,  Skin like Satan, Buccee’s Thievin ’ Beer Stealin’ & Beaver Eatin’ Eric Westerberg– Bass Slappin’ Synth Havin’ Ass Tappin’  King of no Fashion

“Loud, Sleazy and dangerous” is the first words I read about the band (always a good place to start)  who influenced the sound and style?

When you listen to a Tongue Action song and you think to yourself “this kinda sounds like what heaven must feel like or maybe it just reminds me of so and so” you can probably reside to it most likely being influenced by so and so, and definitely what’s her name. But our playing style whether it’s how me play our instruments or your women or how we act on and off the stage is all us and by our own doing when left to our own devices. You can bet that even if it has been stolen and we stole it – it’s all ours and done in a way only we can, but really anyone can probably do it.

JW (Capt GD!) – I’m from the Chuck berry school of guitar (as it should be) but I figured it was finally time to learn 2 more scales for Tongue Action. Jody (TA’s Drummer) and I actually were in regional punk bands in high school and TA has brought us full circle into actually playing in the same project. I tell that everywhere I go …cuz it’s fucking amazing….Goddammit! 

The band’s recordings are few and far between when can we expect an album?  

We are actually putting the finishing touches on our full length LP and looking at a release date early 2029 to line up with the meteor that’s headed to earth. We figured if something’s gonna fuck the world it should at least have its own soundtrack. But, until then we do have a full length slated to be released right after the new year holiday going into early Spring of ‘22 on Heavy Medication Records. 

How do you approach songwriting as a band is there a main contributor or is it more collaborative? 

Pablo – I have an extensive catalog of completed songs, riffs and melody parts, lyrics, and ideas I haven’t even touched yet but knew a pretty good chunk of it would end up as TA songs and I’m pretty sure JW can tell you what he’s got but there are times when the two of us get together and just hash out brand new ideas that eventually become songs and that has been really cool as well.

JW (Captain Goddamn!) – I’ve only been lead axe man in a few projects. Usually the vox guy but when I first joined up our styles immediately complimented each others… like crawfish and garlic farts. Wild Rose and Raunch City Romp are early yet prime examples of that and way less stanky, ya heard? 

With a global pandemic the Rock and roll world has certainly been on standstill with live shows being mothballed until we can all get back out there.  Any plans?   

Here in the States, things have been slowly but surely opening back up and our shows as well as shows in general are getting booked fast. We’ve already played about 36 shows to date, recorded new songs including the track we contributed  to the New Bomb Turks LP all of which, we’ve done since this past Oct. 

Now of course when we first started getting asked to play these shows everyone from the promoters to the venues including ourselves were making sure we all stayed within the guidelines of the CDC and doing so, we haven’t had any reports of one single incident or case of COVID at any show we performed.

So now that things have started to really kick into high gear we’ve been pretty much non-stop playing in and out of town having been consistently booked up to about three months out for quite some time now. 

What has the band been occupying their time with this past year? 

Pablo – Yeah, as I mentioned before, we recorded 3 new tracks to complete our upcoming album and the NBTs song Telephone Numbrrr for the Defiled! LP by Heavy Medication Records. Aside from that? Well…We made some really good and some horribly bad decisions, said yes and no to sex, drugs and rock n roll depending on how the ladies looked, but then back to yes, drank a lot of booze, nearly lost ourselves, one of us nearly died from a brain aneurysm only to miraculously be back on stage just two weeks later. 

Tongue Action is like that one kid who’s a bad influence that entices you to do anything and everything you know is wrong but baby it feels so right.

What about videos and using the downtime any video recordings or plans?

With us ideas are like salads and we toss them around pretty much everyday and while we did have some pretty good treatments early on in the works, even our down time proved to be a scheduling problem if not challenge amidst a pandemic.

You got involved in the New Bomb Turks tribute album.  How did that come about?  

Derrick from Heavy Medication Records and I had been discussing Tongue Action’s songs that we had recorded up to that point and the possibility of doing either a few singles, or an EP but keeping all of our sights on a full length at some point. Ironically I had messaged him about some new songs that I thought could be what we needed to complete our LP – he had messaged me asking if Tongue Action would be interested in doing the New Bomb Turks tribute LP and naturally I saw an opportunity open up for us to record not only the NBT track but also the songs we needed to finish our album. Of course now In doing so meant time was something we didn’t have much of if we wanted to tackle it all and all at the same time but thanks to our friends Don “Demonboy” Cilurso and Stephen Finley down in Texas we were able to head out to Sugarhill Studios in HTX and attempt to do what we set out to do and that’s exactly what we did.

If you could record a split who would it be with and what song would you do and the other band had to play one of your tunes what would it be?

 According to my son Killian or Little Hands – he just informed me that Tongue Action should do a split with Hank Von Hell who’s his favorite artist next to me of course (I got jokes like that) and if we were to do one of his songs it’d have to be his favorite song “Disco” and if he were to play one of ours it’d have to be “Shake, Rattle & Die!” 

All of which would be out of this world man…

Anything I’ve missed?  what would you like to add?

Pablo – Tongue Action is a late night party, the band that women want and men want to be in…and yes, we tend to take things a little too far but we do so all in the name of good times & rock ‘n’ roll and sure – we are a little sarcastic, very loud (except for me, I’m the quiet one), sometimes raunchy, always degenerates, hardly if that but okay mostly assholes that might seem to be a bunch of self-centered egomaniacs on the prowl but everyone of you would be wrong no matter how right you really are. We have come to see that everyone of you are out here enjoying yourselves and having fun once again now that we all finally can…well, except for Carl – he’s not allowed to have any fun until he washes his hands.

So where was I going with this? Oh, and…If you’ve completely missed the joke in what we do and why we do so little to upset you so much then we’re obviously not the band nor the awesomest sound of sounds, nor the devilishly handsome rock ‘n’ rollers nor the older-ish but younger looking men you really want even though we absolutely really are all of that and what’s more, the ones that you want. 

Remember We here in Tongue Action love all of you…but mainly those that kind of are or almost are Super Models and most Strippers but probably not really…ok, maybe all strippers.

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