Page 11 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2019 Issue

Marty Haviik: Well alright, Lenny! Thank you for spending some time with me and

sharing a little about your history and what goes on in your head. I really appreciate

you giving us some time with you. Lenny, who the hell are you, my friend? Tell us a

little about yourself with us, i.e., hometown, favorite hangouts, favorite tattoo

parlors…anything that you want your fans and new readers to know about you.

Lenny Mental: I was born in New York. I grew up in New England and the New York area.
I left home at a young age and stayed on the east coast until I moved to Arizona in 1974.
I have lived all over the country. As far as favorite hangouts…well, it used to be
wherever there was pussy and smack. Nowadays I don’t ‘hang out’ too much. Other
than going to shows, I mostly go work and go to band practice. My band is working on
several projects right now that is keeping me pretty busy. As far as work goes, I used to
tattoo but now I just manage the shop. Tattooing was my only other interest I pursued
other than music and drugs. I used to chase drugs non-stop and have missed out on a
lot of opportunities in the early days when punk music was just budding. Nowadays I'm
clean and more focused on my band and I'm excited to see where it goes. I never
thought I'd be alive this long so I'm making the best of the time I have left with no
apologies.

M.H.: Tell us how you got started with your music. How many years have you been
doing it?

L.M.: I originally wanted to play bass, but I wasn’t any good at it. Not that I'm any good
at singing either, but it seemed to stick. My first band was XS Noise in New England in
the late 70s early 80s. It was short-lived. Then I was in Civil Death and Useless Pieces Of
Shit (UPS) when I was in Arizona. Then I moved back to the east coast and joined a band
called The Murderers in 88/89. After The Murderers, I formed a band called Rodeo Jesus
in Portland, Maine. I then moved back to Arizona again where I formed a second Rodeo
Jesus with new members. My band after that was the Sophistifucks. My current band is
The Besmirchers.

M.H.: That leads me to my next question…what is The Besmirchers?

L.M.: We are a punk rock band on the deviant scummy side. Definitely not for

everyone. The founding member and drummer PBR Destroyer came up with the name.

It means to tarnish, be foul, damage or otherwise contaminate. Check it out in the

dictionary. It should have a picture of our band next to it as we are the most fitting

definition of the word. We formed in Tucson, Arizona in 2006 with original members

PBR Destroyer (drums) and Downtown Dave (bass), Damnation (guitar), and Lenny

Mental (vocals). The band has been through many member changes since then. The

Besmirchers are on Slope Records. The current lineup is Lenny Mental; vocals and
abuse, Superstar Penis DeMilo; guitar and vocals, Johnny Ruption; bass and vocals, and
Eaton Harass; drums.