It’s been 27 years since singer/guitarist Joe King first got together with a few of his friends in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to slap together crude punk rants about their financial shortcomings (“I Spent the Rent”), traumatic experiences with non-denominational youth groups (“Kicked Out of the Webelos”), and the general malaise that accompanies small town living (“This Place Sucks”). Since then, the band known collectively as the Queers has mutated into a pop-punk powerhouse, releasing album after album of infectious pit-starters whilst wearing down their treasured Converse sneakers on an endless number of global tours. Crawdaddy! recently chatted with King about all things Queers, touching on the group’s stilted history, their uncertain future, and whether or not they hail from the same burg as metal master Ronnie James Dio.

Crawdaddy!: Were there any other names ever in the running for the group? Was it always supposed to be the Queers?

Joe King: Yeah, [but] we never came up with anything as good as [the Queers], so we stuck with it. Early on, we called ourselves the Falling Spikes, which supposedly was an early name of the Velvet Underground. We got some huge nails or spikes about eight inches long, drilled holes through them, and hung them around our necks on chains. We’d jump around acting like fucking retards while the nails poked us in the eyes. If anyone laughed, we’d get pissed off. We were pretty cool back then.

Crawdaddy!: Clearly. It seems like the Queers have faced a lot of hardships over the years. Has there ever been a time where you seriously considered walking away and quitting music altogether?

King: Well, I owned a café/bar between 1990 and 1994.

Crawdaddy!: Oh, really? What was the name of your café/bar?

King: It was called Joe’s Place in Exeter, NH.

Crawdaddy!: What was the special?

King: We did all sorts of bar food, as well as lots of Italian food. A lot of seafood. Depended on what I could get fresh.

Crawdaddy!: Okay, so what got you away from that?

King: [Lookout! Records co-founder] Larry Livermore called me one Friday evening in 1991 at the café asking us to do an album [1993’s Love Songs for the Retarded]. We got swept up in the whole Green Day phenomenon, although, at the time, I was about to buy another restaurant and just do that. [I] had no idea I could make money playing music. I just figured it was a path I wanted to go down to see where it would take me and what I would learn about life. I never went to college, but punk rock filled in for that. It worked out pretty good, looking back. You gotta find answers to questions and I did, luckily enough. [We] did one tour with Screeching Weasel, said, “Fuck the restaurant business,” and here I am.

Crawdaddy!: Is there a particular Queers record you think is the best or one you think is the worst?

King: I sort of have a love for all of our albums in one way or another, probably ’cause I can remember so clearly what my life was like when we made each one. Grow Up was all about fucking around in Boston and not knowing what the fuck I wanted to do with my life still years after high school. Love Songs for the Retarded was fun times with Hugh [O’Neill, former drummer] and [former bassist] B-Face before we made money and got all fucked up on drugs, really having a blast playing. Beat Off [was] done in the middle of a tour with two of the Screeching Weasel guys. Hugh couldn’t tour ’cause he was too fucked up. If we’d waited a few months, it would have been way better. Move Back Home was completely fucked up. [That] album sucked and it was a pain in the ass recording.

Crawdaddy!: Why was that? Drugs?

King: Yeah, we were all fucked up and the songs weren’t together, so we did a lot of writing at the last minute. We each got a $5,000 advance the moment it was finished right there in the studio and drove straight home to New Hampshire and spent it all in a couple of weeks.

Crawdaddy!: How do you feel about Don’t Back Down? That one seemed really on point, really excellent.

King: I was cranking back then. [I was] sobered up and I was into it. I really like [that] album. [But] we started fighting again and got all fucked up and that was the end of that lineup. Punk Rock Confidential I did on my own with fill-in guys. I missed the camaraderie of the old lineup, but it was really fun to not have to deal with the bullshit. I love Punk Rock a lot. I still listen to it in the morning in my van when I go to Starbucks to get my quad espresso. It cheers me up.

Crawdaddy!: [Laughs] I’m sorry, that’s kind of a funny image.

King: I love Pleasant Screams, too. We had a blast making it. We laughed our asses off the whole time. But Mass [Giorgini], the engineer, stopped going analog, so sonically it sucked. Plus, he started using Autotune ad nauseam, whether we needed it or not. We didn’t. He should have been working on shit like Whitney Houston, not the Queers.

Crawdaddy!: Did Mass do that Autotune stuff without your knowledge? Was that some kind of shifty deal or something?

King: Yeah… he does all these virtual takes and cuts and pastes them together. So it comes out canned and fake. Too perfect. I love Mass, but he’s one of these guys who lets the machines run the show. He’s not running the machines. He has the ability to do something, so he has to use it, regardless of whether it’s called for or not. I hate that shit.

Crawdaddy!: On your MySpace profile, you write that B-Face quit the band because he was fed up with your “antics.” Would you care to elaborate on that? There have been many rumors flying around over the years concerning the departure of Mr. Face.

King: Oh, man. I put the poor guy through a ton of shit. I was always getting sober and falling off the wagon and he didn’t know what the fuck to believe. See, we only got the band together basically to drink beer and make one great album. Once the money came in and we started touring and people liked us, we didn’t know how to deal with it. So it went from a great friendship to a bunch of bullshit. I mean, there were faults on both sides, but it’s all water under the bridge. We’re still pals.