Hooligan: Hey, where ya at?

Efren Santana: I'm in L.A. I'm at Epitaph right now.

Hooligan: How are those guys treating you?

Efren Santana: Good. They got their shit together.

Hooligan: How is it compared to other labels you've worked with?

Efren Santana: A big difference. I can actually see our CD in a lot of places.

Hooligan: We've been big fans of Hepcat for some time now. The name of our paper was indirectly inspired by your version of the Wailers "Hooligans".

Efren Santana: Oh that's cool.

Hooligan: Yeah, so you guys are kind of responsible.

Efren Santana: Uh oh.

Hooligan: In one of the press sheets it mentioned something about so much "crappy ska out there." Hepcat is like a breath of fresh air as far as I'm concerned. Am I just getting older, or is there a lot of crappy ska other there?

Efren Santana: My opinion is that a lot of the labels are into the 'now' and that's their business I guess. You know what it's about? It's all about good music period. If you play good music, people enjoy it. Talk about real things and people can relate.

Hooligan: Why does the traditional style of ska seem like the only type that's tolerable? Why is Hepcat one of the only bands worth listening to?

Efren Santana: It works so well because within the music you can hear a hundred types of music. That's probably why people listen to it, because it's not one particular style of music. It's not like rock. When you play rock, you play rock and that's it. When we play ska, you'll hear a little Latin, a little jazz, R&B, soul...there's so many flavors involved in that. Which I guess is why a lot of people enjoy it because I'm sure people got sick of hearing one type of thing. I know I do. And good lyrics. Our singers write good lyrics.

Hooligan: Why do you think music based in the 50's and 60's is still so releveant today?

Efren Santana: It goes back to that they wrote really good songs. They were kind of direct, but universal is a better word for it. People can relate to it easily. A lot of the R&B singers were singing about a specific thing, but the way they sang about it is so easy to interpret a hundred different ways, people can pick out what they want to from it. If you get three people to analyze the same song, you get three different responses. It also comes from the heart, which I think some bands are really missing.

Hooligan: Do you think punk rock should be considered classic rock?

Efren Santana: No, not in my opinion.

Hooligan: How has ska changed since you started playing?

Efren Santana: Being into ska here in L.A. I've seen it go a hundred different directions. Jump with Joey plays more on the lounge/Latin kind of feel. Also I've seen bands like Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, No Doubt...Actually I don't consider No Doubt a ska band. But Reel Big Fish and Save Ferris took it to the pop level and are a lot more punky than some bands I've seen in awhile. And then there's us, Hepcat, keeping it down to the earthy style, more traditional. There's a lot of bands like that out here. The big thing is the real poppy ska, which is really upbeat. I think our stuff is really upbeat. You can sing along to any one of our songs, even the instrumentals.

Hooligan: One of your songs has been in my head all day long.

Efren Santana: (laughs)

Hooligan: What made you go with this style of music? There was a lot of ska core happening around the time you started, what made you go with the traditional sound?

Efren Santana: Well, we went to shows basically and we noticed the DJ would play some real cool shit between the bands. In our collections we had a lot of old stuff: Skatalites, the Wailers, Toots and stuff like that. We were like "why don't we play this, everyone is playing the other stuff." And we liked this more anyway so we might as well play something we all like together as friends.

Hooligan: Hepcat's been to Colorado a few times. Does it feel like you've gone back in time five years when you come here?

Efren Santana: I didn't really notice anything. It's not too bad. We've played in places where it's been a time warp. That's Germany. We were in Berlin for New Year's. It's weird to be on the West Side of Germany and it's all fixed up and then you go into the east and it's like...

Hooligan: The third world?

Efren Santana: Third world big time. And it's all gloomy and stuff. They've got a lot of work to do. So when I go to a place like Colorado, I don't see it that way at all.

Hooligan: What's it like to have a bona fide movie star in the band? (vocalist Alex Desert has been in Swingers and several other movies and television shows)

Efren Santana: (laughs) He's just my friend, my really good friend. That's all, I don't see him as anyone else. A star and actor...

Hooligan: Do you ever ask him to hook you up with Tori Spelling?

Efren Santana: Oh, we always mess around that way.

Hooligan: But you just see him as your friend?

Efren Santana: Yeah, I don't see him as anything other that that. I mean people could say that about us.

Hooligan: Yeah, people probably conisder you guys rock stars.

Efren Santana: But we're not. We're just people. I can meet anybody and not be...I can't say that because if I met [John] Coltrane I'd fucking flip out.

Hooligan: You guys re-did "The Secret" on the new record. Why did you pick that song to redo?

Efren Santana: No reason in particular. We were just messing around. We've played it so many times the original way we wrote it, we were like "this is a good song, let's see how it sounds with this." We tried a couple of styles and then we tried it rockers style and it totally fucking worked! We normally wouldn't put it on the album, but we liked it so much we put it on there. Why should we be the only ones to have fun with it? Give it to other people and see what they think about it.

Hooligan: There's some dub stuff in those versions. Do you guys listen to a lot of dub?

Efren Santana: Yeah, a lot of our band members listen to a lot of dub. We all listen to a lot in the realm of Jamaican music. Ska, reggae, dub, rocksteady. Like I said, we're a big morph band. I listen to punk rock, heavy metal.

Hooligan: What's your favorite metal band?

Efren Santana: It used to be Slayer (laughs).

Hooligan: Slayer is the greatest.

Efren Santana: Yeah, I used to tell people I listen to Slayer and they're like "you're in a ska band!" So? I can't listen to music?

Hooligan: What's in your CD player right now?

Efren Santana: I have Dave Brubeck. I have the Oingo Boingo live Halloween show and uh, Coltrane Giant Steps, and Miles Davis Milestones.

Hooligan: What's a fave band the band members can agree on?

Efren Santana: Well, it's pretty obvious from what we play, the Skatalites, Toots and the Maytals, stuff like that. It's pretty self-explanatory why we're together.

Hooligan: What's the secret to writing a good instrumental?

Efren Santana: Well, I wrote one of the instrumentals on the new album "Baby Blues." How I approach it is a little different than the others. Everyone else approaches it as a bunch of chords and tries to stick a melody through it. I don't. I go through what's in my head and try to bring out what I'm feeling. Sometimes when you write a song that feeling goes away. I stop when that happens and start when I get it again. That's when I write a song. "Baby Blues" is what happened to me with a girl. How obvious! The best way to write a song is from the heart.

Hooligan: What's the ultimate goal of Hepcat in the next couple of years?

Efren Santana: We just want to make people happy. There's no hidden motive. It's nice to make money and all, but all in all we want to make people happy, to come to our shows and have fun. Have a good time. You only live once so don't dwell on "oh my god my car broke down!" Don't worry about it. Who cares. You'll fix it. Two weeks from now you'll be happy again.