Skip Jensen

Who are you wearing?

Ski-doo. I’ve got an old Ski-doo jacket that I like.

When will there be a Scat Rag Boosters reunion tour?

Never, probably. No use digging up the past, I think!

How many times have you forgotten your guitar before a gig?

I didn’t have a good guitar to play with for some time, so I had to borrow other people’s guitars.

So, a lot of times I « forgot » my guitar, I could say.

Worst moment while touring Europe?

There’s been a few weird moments. Probably when I was stuck in a hotel room with two guys having sex high on chemicals in the next bed. One of them was a transsexual. But that ends up being kinda funny.

But the worst is probably when there’s no one at the shows. That is pretty discouraging.


Best thing about being a band in Montreal?

Being in Montreal, I like the city, although I wish I had a place to go in the country. People here are friendly most of the time.


If you could change one thing about Canada, what would it be?

The right wing government that we have right now.


Do you miss being a one man band?

Not really. I like to stand up more, I guess. I’ll get back to playing solo shows from time to time, but there’s something I don’t like about being alone on stage.

I’d rather be part of a gang, to do something with a group of people in a world that is so individualistic.


Favorite comic book artist?

There are a lot that I like. Right now I’m going through the Yoshihiro Tatsumi books. It’s mesmerizing, I’m really into it.

I’m reading his autobiographical book, A Drifting Life. It’s very good. I just can’t stop reading it.

The Pushman and Abandon the old in Tokyo are amazing too.

It’s really peculiar. I’m happy that his books are being translated.

I really like Christophe Blain, Tardi and some more.

I don’t have just one favorite, but Tatsumi is my new discovery.


Favorite Canadian band?

I really don’t know, seriously. I don’t have one that I like enough to mention, sorry.

Maybe Simply Saucer, but I didn’t listen to them all that much, so I don’t know… - One Chord Progression

If you build it they will come, so goes the catch-phrase. Skip Jensen (a.k.a. Serge Gendron) has built it over the years, and they have come, from far and wide to witness it. It being the proverbial rock ‘n’ roll of the dirty, greasy variety played through old amps and mics, sweated out through pain and rain.

Jensen’s six-string and vocal magic have touched many a local project: Scat Rag Boosters, The Stack O’ Lees, The Wrong Doers, Skip Jensen & His Shakin’ Feet… His latest record is another wax stack of blues-fueled punk, The Spirit of the Ghost. He takes us on a tour of his Top 5 deceased Montreal bars/venues.

1. Le Cargo
“I never played there, but I was a regular over a long period of time. I used to see all kinds of hardcore and punk bands: Subhumans, Black Flag, GBH, TSOL, D.R.I. I was a lot younger than most everyone else, so I used to stay in my own quiet little corner.”

2. Rising Sun
“Another great place to get into the punk/hardcore action, even though at heart it was a reggae bar. It’s been a long time and my memory is a little hazy, but I remember being a captivated listener.”

3. Jailhouse Rock Café
“A funny place and a little dumpy as well, but there were always good shows. This is where I first played in Montreal. I think it was with The Spaceshits. They were one of the only bands that we liked in Montreal at the time.”

4. Hotel 2 Tango
“We played there only twice with Scat Rag Boosters. It was great. A big loft space with the smells from the garage below seeping up, while outside in back were the train tracks. The vibe was simple and relaxed, which was always a bonus. Mile End as we know it was just beginning to take shape.”

5. Old Café Chaos
“Another weird venue. There were some rotten things going on but the ambiance was very cool. We played our first local shows as Scat Rag Boosters there. What I remember most is having seen the end of a concert by a band called Fuckface... assez trash, merci, ouf!” - Night Life

Skip Jensen’s trio exudes post-nuclear energy,
Jensen’s warp speed Ron Ashton guitar frantics
propelled by nimble bass lines from Shawn Cotton,
tightly locked into the blurred sticks of drummer
Johann Schlager in an astigmatic vision of sludge rock.

Lawrence Joseph

- Signal to Noise #64 Fall 2012

SKIP JENSEN (Serge) has been at the heart of the Montreal Music scene for ages, for as long as I can remember, and has been involved in now legendary projects such as SCAT RAG BOOSTERS and DEMON’S CLAWS and then as a one man band. He’s since formed a super tight 3 piece band who recorded this in 2009. This is Johann Schlager on drums and Shawn Cotton on bass with guest Orson Presence on organ and piano who also recorded much of this! Check “Indians” on this MZ #10 Cd comp and see why I am yelling! Whatever you do, do not miss out the chance to see them live, I was floored by them when they played our MZ#8 launch, it was quite humbling and awesome. I love the polished sound of the band on this record. It’s refreshing to hear since so much of the stuff sent to us to review has distortion over the vocals. If I was to compare this collection of songs to anything it would be the exceptional double Crypt LP “When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again” by the BASSHOLES, an epic experience that also had high production values for a band that usually sounded stripped down and lo-fi. SKIP JENSEN yelps and yodels his vocals like we love it. He delivers his lines about love, loss, desperation, mortality, morality and… a ghost in his storyteller’s style. The melancholia exhibited in Skip’s tortured voice is probably the product of many years of isolation, being a loner songwriter and visual artist, and evidence that owning several cats does not necessarily result in good companionship. It’s not all downer stuff on here, there are some freewheeling feel-good songs too, guaranteed to get you dancing! Skip gives a couple of his older songs the new band treatment with great results (‘As Much As I Do” and “ All the Way to my Grave”). The title track, “The Spirit Of the Ghost” is some really incredible songwriting. The last song is like an encore, a resurrection of the Spirit of the Ghost! Miscommunication via email with Red Lounge resulted in the LP cover having white bars appearing behind the text on the LP cover. The art can only be fully appreciated on the gatefold of the record. Rest easy because this is a really strong LP and probably the best SKIP JENSEN has ever sounded! This record is downloadable on skipjensen.bandcamp.com. If you like this, seek his many releases including 2005’s Abscond LP (Demolition Derby). (Bob Scott) - Mongrel Zine

Toujours abonné au lo-fi, Skip Jensen balance 12 salves de rock’n'roll primal, de country-punk, de blues poubelle, de folk garage avec la même passion, la même hargne et la même émotion qui l’ont toujours animé depuis qu’il s’est fait connaître sur la scène rock garage locale avec les Scat Rag Boosters. D’un projet à l’autre, en groupe ou en one-man band, Skip Jensen (Serge Gendron) est resté fidèle à ses passions, authentique, DIY à l’os. Un parcours irréprochable mais difficile à suivre tellement il s’est aventuré d’un petit label à un autre. Souhaitons que cet énième disque le révèle à un public plus large que les quelques initiés qui le suivent depuis plusieurs années, il le mérite. - Voir

SKIP JENSEN
The Spirit of the Ghost
(Red Lounge)
Jensen has always been a jewel in Montreal’s garage/roots crown but this new blaster launches him into a whole other realm. Jensen’s true talent is the ability to drive his blues boogaloo, which could’ve fit snug on the Fat Possum label in its prime, to a primal dirge that could make Kid Congo Powers and Tav Falco blush crimson red. In a world of slumming trust-fund brats armed with pawnshop guitars, Jensen remains the real deal. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins) - Montreal Mirror (no longer existing)

Just the other day I was wishing there were more records in the discographies of the Oblivians or the Gun Club… or at least some more artists who aren’t afraid to cut loose and pull out some raunchy, wild, bluesy, sweaty, hip-shaking music that’s the nasty, smirking antithesis of the rave scene. I just can’t get enough. I will say this: Skip Jensen puts his back into it. The Spirit of the Ghost is unadulterated, southern-fried garage rock; it’s blues for fucked-up misfit kids in ripped jeans with bottles of whiskey clutched tightly in their fists. The ghosts of garage rock’s past loom over the record with the untamed hearts and souls of rock & roll’s snarky, snotty miscreant heroes providing the bedrock for these boot-stomping jams. Coming from Montreal, a city that’s known for having spawned such hootin’ and hollerin’ bands as the King Khan & BBQ Show, Jensen and his band string together a set of raw grooves that define the very essence of the spirit of rock & roll with twangy guitar work, expressive vocals, and loose percussive swagger. The results are enjoyable throughout, messy in that fun sort of way, and it’ll have you leaning back with a smug grin on your face by the end. - Get Bent (Kristen Berry)

WEIRD CANADA
From the campfire undulations of Jessica Faulds:
Grafting a yippin’n'yodellin’ head onto garage’s grimy shoulders, Skip Jensen has created a hybrid monster, a ten-gallon-hat sporting scuzzball who fancies a two-step with the fuzzbox dialed up. Skip’s world-weary howl winds its way around the barroom, dragging behind it a mesmeric, slimy tail of guitar riffage. Skip jams several blotters’ worth of campfire undulations into wild-eyed jams like “Crows”, then drops into the lazy-drunk gait of tracks like “As Much As I Do.” Is that a honky-tonk piano I hear on “Revival” or is it just the “Spirit of the Ghost” dripping yesteryear’s blood all over the garage? - Weird Canada

Man, even old Skip Jensen gets the deluxe full-color slick gatefold treatment from Red Lounge for his latest solo record. You'll of course know Skip as a Montreal scene fixture since the early Nineties when he was making noise with Scat Rag Boosters, through various post-SRB projects (Stack O'Lees in particular), his various records as a one man band (at least a half-dozen singles and such) and his stint as the first drummer in Demon's Claws. He's got a hell of a resume there. His latest solo full-length eschews the lo-fi OMB-stomp he favored in the past and gets a three piece band together for some studio recording. Skip's no newcomer to the blues-garage genre, nor is he a random Euro living out a Delta-blooze-punk fantasy, but he is a skilled writer and player in the style, as out of fashion as it might be. Very similar to the country-western influenced moments of Demon's Claws for the most, with a few Oblivians-style rockers mixed in and even some stretches of Howland-esque darkness, which I've never really heard from the Skipper before. A dozen tracks, well recorded during a few different sessions with a couple of winners in the batch (the last three cuts are actually the strongest, and sound the most like Bassholes). Nothing new here, just a good musician plying his trade.(RK)
(Red Lounge Records // www.redloungerecords.de) - Terminal Boredom