Utter Trash--Sexual Tension

Get Your Groove On

An interview with White Chocolate of Sexual Tension

By Bob Ignizio

Sexual Tension l to r: Robbie Vegas, White Chocolate, Sexual Scott, and Erotic Thunder

White Chocolate is trying to numb the pain in his leg as we sit down to talk. The injury happened earlier this evening while he was playing with his Kent, Ohio based band Sexual Tension, but that’s really nothing new for him. The 18 year old singer says, “I almost broke my elbow one time. I’ve got a bunch of bruises. My knees are the worst, because I always do the knee drops, I always fuck something up. The last time we played The Lime Spider I cut my lip wide open. I was bleeding all over the microphone.” A highly physical performer, White Chocolate seems willing to accept that sometimes you have to suffer for your art.

Sexual Tension (White Chocolate – vocals, Erotic Thunder aka Matt from Kill the Hippies – guitar, Robbie Vegas, also in Radar Secret Service – bass, Sexual Scott – drums) started their musical crusade about a year ago, and since that time they’ve developed a respectable following in the Akron/Kent area with their brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Describing their sound Chocolate says, “I think what we’re trying to do in the band is sort of an R&B kind of thing. I think the MC5 could be considered an influence, and old style R & B but with more of an edge. The original plan was to be a funk band called Sexual Inadequacy because I thought that was funny. My friend Mike Neeson, who was the drummer for Kill the Hippies for about a year, came up with the name Sexual Tension and I thought it was better.”

Despite the other projects some members are involved in, White Chocolate doesn’t see it as a major obstacle. He says, “It works for us for what we want to do. We could never do a one month tour or anything like that. Matt, Kill the Hippies is his main thing, and Robbie has Radar Secret Service, and it should be that way. It kind of sucks because there’s things we can’t do but at the same time I have a hell of a lot of fun with this band. We haven’t really been out of town, but next summer Matt’s fulltime band Kill the Hippies, one of my favorite all-time bands, their drummer is going to Europe for a few months so there’s a possibility we’ll tour then.” For the most part, though, White Chocolate says his goals are pretty simple; “I just want to play at the Mantis and get wasted and play in front of my friends. We’re not real ambitious. I just wanna’ have a good time.”

Ambitious or not, if you’re going to play original music you have to exert a little effort and write songs once in a while. Chocolate says, “Towards the beginning Matt was writing everything. Robbie’s only been in the band for a few months, but the last few songs he’s been kind of the dominant force. And I think one of the best things about the band is Scott’s drumming. If anybody else was writing the drumbeats they’d be very basic 4/4 beats, but Scott has a very soulful style. So everybody contributes a lot.” White Chocolate’s contribution is his lyrics. “Most of my lyrics are kind of silly pop lyrics like “cooking with gas” or “follow me to the show, oh baby”, silly stuff like that. But lately I’m getting more of a political conscience. I’m 18 years old and I read an article in the paper the other day about somebody introducing a bill in the senate to reinstate the draft. That shit really affects me.” he says.

White Chocolate also runs his own record label called Cockpunch Records. So far he’s released a compilation of Kent bands called ‘Lets Get Killed’. Chocolate also says, “Depending on how much money I have my label will be doing a Radar Secret Service/Sexual Tension 7”.” Sexual Tension also has a 5 song demo, and you can download a sample from the website Kickin it in Kent. “We’re very into the Kent scene. Pretty much every show we’ve played with the exception of a few has been at The Mantis. The Mantis is closed temporarily, so some people in Kent built a show space in our drummer Scott’s basement called The Flood. It’s very DIY, you know, that’s kind of what we’re doing. We had a big show there for the compilation I released with a bunch of bands from around here. We had a barbecue and a keg, it was fucking awesome,” says White Chocolate.

Ultimately, White Chocolate seems just as passionate about promoting the Kent music scene in general as he is about pimping his band. His last words to me are, “I want to get more people out to shows in Kent, I want more people to come to the Flood or the Mantis. I started coming around the scene when I was 14 and it was fucking awesome. I used to go see Party of Helicopters play with Kill the Hippies and the Go-Go Bots and the Cheatin’ Hussies. People have really kind of dropped off in Kent and it’s not anywhere near as cool as it used to be. And there’s no reason because there’s still a million fucking great bands around. So anybody reading this come down to Kent and the Flood and check shit out.”