Tomoi / Burning Heads, Lion´s Law, Komintern Sect: When you play punk rock you need a lot of energy and one day I will not be able to play as hard and fast as before. But today is not the day.

A short time ago, Tomoi played a concert with the band Lion´s Law in Bratislava. However, I register him as the drummer of Burning Heads, a still active legend of skatepunk from Orleans, France. Nobody in my neighborhood listened to them except me, and it wasn't easy for me to get to their music either. Not like today.

But when that happened, the world was walking straight for a while at least, and the mess-show outside was somehow less scary. And now, finally, I had the opportunity to meet him and take some photos of him. And the interview finally follows.

What do you do for a living? Can you pay the bills by drumming around the world?

I work as a stagehand in Paris for some festivals and clubs pushing cases and building stages, but most of the time I play with my bands.

I know lot of people ask you about this, but why the line-up of Burning Heads changed after all those years? Why did Pierre leave?

Pierre left the band after all those years because he was bored. He didn´t enjoy playing with Burning Heads anymore. I think he had some new projects like tattooing and playing with his other band "Monde de Merde ". After all those years it´s normal to have new projects and sometimes you need a real change. That´s what Pierre needed.

You were one of those bands in your country that actually made it to collaboration with labels like Epitaph or Victory. Albums like “Be One With the Flames” or “Escape” were well noticed in the US. Did you have collective ambition from the very beginning to gain some level of success in the industry, or was that like, as lot of other bands usually say, it just happened and you went with the flow?

In the beginning, we had no ambitions except to write songs and play some shows. Step by step, we started to tour France and then Europe. We met good bands and good people. First we joined a French company Fnac Music, then European company PIAS and when Epitaph opened European office, we joined the team. We knew a girl who was working for Epitaph and she helped us. We had no particular plans but it was a good opportunity. The same girl helped us to sign with Victory.

You also had the chance to work in studio with legendary Jack Endino. Could you please tell the whole story behind this collaboration and how you got to it?

In 1993 when we decided to record the second album Dive, our record company asked us if we had someone in mind to produce the album. At that time, Jack Endino was working with a lot of cool bands and the production and sound were always good. So we told the company that we wanted to work with him, but we were not sure this would happen.

Finally, he said yes and he came to France. He stayed at our house for a week before the recording listening to the songs. He also did the sound for a live show. Then we went to the studio. He was very cool and professional. In the end, he told us that he had a good time with us but if we wanted to work again with him, he would like to do it in his studio in Seattle because he was a little bit frustrated with the French studio and its equipment. He was sure he could do better work at home in his studio.

Then, when we decided to record the album Escape a few years later, we asked him if he wanted to work with us again and we told him that we wanted to come to Seattle. He was happy and motivated. So we went to Seattle, we spent ten days with him and at the end the result was perfect. So it was a great experience. Jack Endino is a really nice guy.

When you think back to this period, what was it like for a bunch of young punks from Orleans? Did you notice some relationship or communication changes between each other? Did the rush bring certain sacrifices to your lives?

Nothing changed between us. We were touring a lot and it was really cool. But for our girlfriends it was different. It's hard to have a normal family life when you are touring a lot.

What about the other bands you play in? Projects like Lion´s Law or Komintern Sect are more street punk oriented, while Burning Heads are proper skate core. Did the incoming melodic punk wave back in the days completely grab you inside to change the genre for a bit or was it just because ´Sect was on hiatus and you were just open for new things?

My other bands are more street punk. I started to play music in 1980 in Komintern Sect. I was a young kid with no experience at all. In 1986 we decided to stop the band because the audience was changing. A lot of nazi skinheads were coming to the shows and it was not fun anymore. That´s why I decided to start Burning Heads. I was so pissed off and I wanted to quit oi scene .

In 2012 a young guy from Paris asked me if I wanted to join his new project Lion´s Law. I realized at that time that the oi scene was completely different, in a good way, from the one from the 80s, so I joined the band and I´m still playing with them. In 2014 we decided to do some reunion shows with Komintern Sect. We toured all around the world for ten years and we played the last show at the end of the last year because the singer is sick. So at the moment, I´m still playing with Burning Heads and Lion´s Law.

We can say you´re a real scene veteran. How long do you think you´re going to play music and travel with bands?

I'm 60 years old. I can feel sometimes that I'm not young anymore but I would like to keep on touring and keep on playing as long as possible. When you play punk rock you need a lot of energy and one day I will not be able to play as hard and fast as before. But today is not the day. At the moment, I´m still enjoying the life on tour.