Story and Interview By: Lucky (SugarBuzz Hollywood Reporter)

June 28, 2004

The Mansfields are: (l to r)

Doug Mansfield: Vocals and Guitar

Dave Mansfield: Vocals and BassGuitar

Tommy Mansfield: Drums

Doug- I was born in Loraine Ohio, but our family moved to Colorado before I was even 1 year old!

Dave- Born in Lorain, Ohio but raised in Colorado

Tommy- Born in Weisbanden, Germany raised in Colorado

Doug- Guitar. My dad had a couple of guitars around the house, so I tried to learn!

Dave-A little 4 piece Ringo Starr drum kit. I couldn't get it to sound like tommy Lee's drums so I gave up and went for the easiest instrument a BASS!

Tommy-A snare drum. I started out in the school band 4th grade.

Doug- I remember my dad listening to Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash!

Dave- I guess the earliest memory was of age 5 and being obsessed with my parents record sleves in particular Rolling Stones "Out of our Heads", "Meet the Beatles" and the Elvis Presley records. Listening to Elvis' "Aloha From Hawaii" album and feeling so excited by that. Later on, nothing really compared to the Atomic explosion of motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil" along with Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" record. It's no wonder that I am not attracted to ordinary looking Rock N Rollers. I have always been attracted to the extraordinary rather than the ordinary people that made music.That won't change.

Tommy- My Dad took me and my brothers to see KISS in Denver when I was 9.

Doug- My main influences go like this. 1-Early 80’s New Wave Rock-N-Roll Radio. 2-Motley Crue &Poison. 3. The Ramones &Social Distortion.

Tommy- I will go with Motley!

Dave-musically speaking Elvis, Ramones,Motley Crue, Stray Cats & on and on.....

What is the influence behind the name The Manfields?

Doug- The Main influence was to have a cohesive little unit that looked cool, sounded cool and something that you wanted to be a part of. We had already had a song called “Jayne Mansfield Was A Punk” so we were definitely into the whole greaser, B Movie, underground Punk Rock-N-Roll Genre. So the name just kind of fit the whole attitude and vibe that we were all about as people anyway, so we went with it!

Doug- For me it’s kinda hard to remember. We had a different band name right before we changed it to The Mansfields. So we just kept on rollin’ as a band playin’ a lot of shows around town.

Dave- I'm not sure, but I think it was after we returned from a west coast tour and we had visited Jayne mansfields pink palace in Beverly Hills and thinking it would be fitting to be the Mansfields. We had a show a week later at the Fox theatre in Boulder and when we showed up for the show, our old band name was on the marque and we were afraid to tell the people at the Fox that had changed our name.

Most favorite tattoo?

Doug- As far as my own tattoos, I like the last one I just got. It’s “Shag” a tiki statue and a hula girl!

Dave- I do love Dougs latest...I have some pretty sensational Nightmare Before X-mas tattoos. Thanks to the sensational Scott toy at Holey Rollers. My girlfriend Courtney has a really amazing piece of the Munsters.

What is in your CD player as we speak?

Doug- Johnny Cash, Ritchie Valens

Dave- I think The Sounds are in my boom box and Social Distortion are in my car. No, Brides of Destruction are in my boom box...still not sure how much I like it yet but I got to sing on Live Wire when they played in denver (many thanx LONDON)!

Tommy-The Sweet "Desolation Blvd"

Doug- THE MUNSTERS

Dave- It's not even close.... The Munsters!!

Tommy-The Munsters

What are your hobbies outside of the band?

Doug- I like to do artwork, work on cars, and work around my house!

Dave-DVD's, Collect Nightmare Before X-mas stuff, Collect Universal Monster stuff

Tommy-collect DVD's in particular the '70's Blacksplotation and Russ Meyer films

Most prized possession?

Doug- My Les Paul Guitar

Tommy- My $500 DW snare drum. I've taken it Europe twice and it's my carry on bag.

Dave- My 63 Fairlane or my 50's pink sectional couch.

Doug- I really hate to read.

Dave-I love books like The Dirt and Henry Rollins stuff. I Really love Peter Guralnick because he wrote the most accurate Elvis books EVER! Looking forward to Brent Muscat's book and I'd love for Mike Ness to write a book. I am also starting to work on my first book called Rant and Rave with Dave Mansfield. Very Rollins inspired stuff where I can speak my mind on all the stuff that drives me fucking crazy and the stuff I love.

Tommy-Marquis magazine...fetish mag out of London

Doug- Honestly I don’t know. One day we got an email from some guy in Europe asking if we wanted to tour over there. We were skeptical at first until we saw their roster. Turns out that Teenage Head is one of the best in Europe!

Dave- Don't know, but it turns out to be the biggest break we've ever had. Manny is so amazing and he works with an incredible roster of bands. His tours are really top notch.

Tommy- I think he must have got a hold of one of our records and got in touch. Someday I guess we should ask him

Most favorite place you played or best memory while in Europe?

Doug- Wild at Heart in Berlin Germany didn’t let us down the second trip back. The place is just Awesome! It’s the coolest Rock-A-Billy, Pin-up, Punk Rock, Rock-N-Roll bar that I’ve ever seen. The night we played at Wild At Heart, Someone hit my mic stand while I was singing, and it knocked me back into the drums. I was laying on the drum kit, but we didn’t stop the song. It was pretty cool. Also the hottest club I’ve ever played!

Tommy- Playing at wild at heart both times.

Dave- So many to even say for sure but one that sticks out was playing our first show in Sweden. Out of 400 people through the door at the show, 300 of them were Swedish teenage girls.What more can ANY Rock band ask for? Another was a show we did in Switzerland. We were headlining a show and the room was already jam packed as the first bands played. So, I figured i better start getting ready for the show and no one wants to go out to the tour bus/ van with me. So I head outside and when i hit the parking lot there were about 100 or so people hanging outside that couldn't get in the show. They were so rowdy. All i could hear while i was changing cloths was people screaming and bottles breaking. So when I get back in the venue, the promotor people or someone told our crew not to open the side load in door cause the people outside were waiting to crash the show. It was pretty crazy anyways, some of them did crash the show and they made it into our "Dancing With Myself" video.

What was it like playing at the Winter Rumble? Who else played?

Doug- First off, it was a great honor to know we were a part of it before we even left the country. I had gotten sick before we left for our 2nd European Tour, so a lot of the time on tour I was concerned about singing because I lost my voice almost every night. So things seem a little blurry every now and then, but the show was fun to do. We played the same night as the DD’s, the 20 Belows, the Demons, and The Apers. All the bands were very good and very nice people.

Tommy- It was cool playing with our rotterdam buddies the Apers.

Dave, rumors run wild, care to set the story straight about the ice throwing incident that occurred at the Joey Ramone birthday bash?

Dave-Well, it was really stupid. Someone was throwing ice and i called them on it. It only seemed dramatic cause there were 500 people there and I just lost it and jumped into the crowd.Everyone were shocked. When someone is throwing something hard at you and you have lights in your eyes and your hands on a guitar you could get a little edgy. I asked who was throwing it and of course no one wants to look like the asshole they are so no one confessed. The next song i saw them dragging my girlfriend out for throwing beer around and I assumed they were throwing her out for throwing ice. Anyways, it was kinda dramatic for two seconds but it did come out looking really cool on film. maybe we can include it in the DVD somewhere.

Lets talk equipment, what brands (i.e. guitars, drums, pedals ect.) are you using and why?

Doug- Gibson Les Paul Guitar. Fender amps. Marshal cabinets.

Tommy- Drum Workshop pedals and snare cause they are the only thing I can't fucking break. Pearl drums and Zildgian cymbals...tough mother fuckers.

Dave- Fender Bass and cab/ the cheapest Peavy head but god damn it has been durable.

According to your website's guest book, a huge show is planned for August to be filmed for a future DVD release. Has this show been booked? If so, when and where should all Mansfield fans be?

Dave- Well, We are booking it right now and it looks like maybe Sat Sept 4th. We wanna do it at 32 bleu in our Hometown cause we can pack 500 or 600 kids in there that know all our songs and they will make the show a fucking blast like they always do.

Ginger or Mary Ann?

Doug- Mary Ann

Dave and Tommy- Ginger

Any last words to your fans?

Doug- I just want to say thanks for all the support, and hope to see you all soon!

Tommy- Thanks to all the people that have been supporting us over past few years.

Dave- No matter how bleek a current trend may seem, there is a more bleek one waiting right behind it.Do what you do and don't listen to a goddamn mother fucking person who does'nt have anything invested in you emotionally. Thanx Lucky...you are the best!

Oh...go to our website and keep in touch

www.MansfieldsUsa.com

So that is all for now dear readers. Catch The Manfields live when you have the chance. I would like to thank, Dave, Doug and Tommy for taking time out to do this interview and for always being true friends to myself and SugarBuzz Magazine. Thanks...you guys ROCK!!