A Live Interview With The Penguin Revolution

“Our music is like street fighting”

Here we are with The Penguin Revolution, Kevin McIntyre, guitarist and singer, John Montoya, drummer, and Jimmy, lead guitarist. Let’s talk a little bit about the band. Everybody’s from Long Island right?
John Yeah.

Do you think that being from long Island has affected your sound?
Kevin Sure, living by the beach has definitely influenced us. Yeah, living by the beach gives us sunshine style.

Is that what gives you guys your happy, groovy sound?
John Yeah, Especially bike girls.
Kevin Bike girls yeah. Everywhere.

Bike girls?
Kevin Girls on a bike that’s goin’ by. You’ll get a (singing) bike girl going by.

Tell me about the Penguin Revolution. What’s your story?
Kevin We’re telling a story about world domination by an angry penguin. His name is Oscar Hamilton. We’re warning the world with our music. That’s there’s a war coming.
John It’s all right you don’t have to thank us.

If you were to compare your album to a movie, what movie would you pick?
John Predator?
Jimmy Yes, Predator.
In the sense you guys can hunt invisibly or…? (laughter)
Kevin Lord of the rings, too. Just the story. The story that goes into a trilogy. But I can’t reveal too much, you know?

A lot of your songs are actually very epic. They’re like stories. Kind of weave into each other.
Kind of weave into each other.
John Yes they do.
Kevin Yes, each song tells a tale of the story. I dreamt one song. The Penguin Revolution. Dreamt that. True story.
Give us a few lines from that.
Kevin They came to rewrite constitution. Pack your bags, it’s the penguin revolution. Smack your bitch, it’s like… aw boy. They got a vision of world domination. Their mission in this world is take over every single nation.
John Which is also one of my favorite quotes, an inspirational quote from Oscar Hamilton. Is “we want to take over, we want to world dominate and take over every nation” with our music.
Kevin Yeah. Dominate. It’s frightening. We’re constantly on the run.

Your band doesn’t fall into one category. You can’t really say it’s rock, you can’t say it’s ska, you can’t say it’s reggae. How would you describe the essence of your music?
Kevin Our music will turn your brain to crap. I mean it’s like rock, funk, ska… it’s a mixture of all that.
John Actually yeah. Our music is like… imagine like street fighting and all of a sudden the guy kicks you with some funk then he uppercuts you with some reggae. We’re f**king you up with a bunch of sound.
Kevin That’s right. Yeah. Low blow dirty funk. Pow.
John But it’s a good f**k up. It won’t hurt you too much.
Kevin We’ll get ya.

What makes Kevin McIntyre pick up a guitar and write a song?
Kevin Oh, well, it’s in me. It just blows up inside me. I don’t need anyone. (laughter) I could be really corny about it and say my brother. I love you Danny. (laughter) I love you sooo much.
I mean, growing up I was listening to Beatles and James Brown and Frank Zappa. When I got older I was listening to a lot of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. They are big inspirations, but I just love picking up the guitar and playing. That just got me going. The Beastie Boys really changed it up, too. Their instrumentals. When that came out, I went wow, what the hell is this? I didn’t know they were going to play other types of styles. I always thought they were just a rap band and all of a sudden they just blew up to be, like, wow you guys are really talented. You can really play other stuff. I have to say, that really got me going. I’ll thank the Beastie Boys.
That’s why I say, when people say “The Beastie Boys, Oh they’re a rap band”, I’m like, nah, they’re really not a rap band. They play rap, they play some rock and they play some amazing jazz and funk music. So, yeah, I guess we would be kind of in that area. I guess that would put us in rock or reggae, maybe ska. I wouldn’t call it punk, though.
guess we would be kind of in that area. I guess that would put us in rock or reggae, maybe ska. I wouldn’t call it punk, though.
John Um, nah, Really not. How about you Jimmy, you want to say something?
Jimmy I got a thought (about influences), Kevin’s brother actually.
Kevin’s brother’s an inspiration? You guys know each other way back also, right?
Jimmy Yep.
Kevin He’s had a huge influence on the band, too.
John Yeah he has.

Well, what does John Montoya contribute to the Penguin Revolution?
Jimmy Speed.
Kevin He brings the monty beat.
John Yeah, I think I have my own little flavor to spice up the music without making it sound just like ska or like funk, you know.

John Montoya, musical heroes?
John In my playing… Actually, I’d like to say Chad Sexton. Really good, really tight drummer. Also, you know, some jazzheads like Max Roach, Buddy Rich and Steve Gadd. Also some new guys that play trance-fusion like Sammy Altman, Allen Aucoin and Rick Lowenberg. I get a little inspiration from them all. They do influence me and it’s a little different putting it into this type of music that we do, but such strange styles of theirs definitely come through.
Allen Aucoin and Rick Lowenberg. I get a little inspiration from them all. They do influence me and it’s a little different putting it into this type of music that we do, but such strange styles of theirs definitely come through.

What does Jimmy bring to the Penguin Revolution?
Kevin Jimmy brings cha ching! Jimmy brings it.
John I’d say it’s the looks. Charm Good looks. Strong, Handsome face.
Kevin You know, especially his beard. Look at that. That’s a nice beard.

What was your best gig ever?
Kevin We used to play at this place called Munchaba Lounge in Levittown and that was a lot of fun. We had a lot of good crowds in there.
John That was probably the best time. That was right when we were starting. And we got a lot of people to come to the shows. I think that’s how we got a lot of people into The Penguin revolution as well, just listening to us. But also just the vibe there.
Kevin That place was cool. But I’d say that the biggest show we’ve done is definitely the Blender Theatre, at Grammercy and Irving Plaza. Which is awesome. And we had such a huge crowd there. So big.
How long has the band been together?
John 2005. That was when we started. (The Munchaba Lounge) was one of the first venues that really took us in. We were like the house band there.

Let’s go a little smart in the brain. What would be your favorite quote from someone that inspires you? Actually you don’t have to go intellectual, if you want to say “Meep, Meep” That’s ok, too.
Kevin Huh… All Rhyte.
John Hey, I got one.
Kevin I just said mine.
All Right.
Kevin All Rhyte. (laughter)
John If you're gonna be crazy, you might as well get paid for it. if not they're probably gonna lock you up.
Kevin Although I used to say a lot “Life’s too short to give a shit what anybody else thinks.”
And who said that?
Kevin I actually did.
(laughter)
You heard it here folks. Kevin McIntyre, musician, philosopher.
Kevin Super Hero.
Super hero… and beach bum. And a lover… not a fighter.
Kevin Beautiful.

What is the Penguin Revolution’s biggest secret?
Kevin Aw, I can’t really reveal that.
I won’t tell anybody! I won’t!
Kevin I can tell you… Mojo’s really the singer. The dog.
Mojo’s the boxer. The handsome, handsome boxer.
Kevin Yeah, he’s the singer and all right, here’s the other one… our trumpet player, Danny Wagner, not only is he the president of, what? ...the Cougar Club. He’s also a client. He’s the cougar de cub. Going world wide too.
John He’s started his own division over here in Long Beach a couple of months ago and it’s spreading like wild fire. Ooo. (laughter) Like wild fire!
Thanks for stopping by, guys. The Penguin Revolution.