What do you get when take some bad-ass rock n roll, mix it with porn, then throw a dash of world conservation in the mix? The answer... Pornstar Airlines. PSAL have been making waves on MySpace with their dirty tunes and interviews with some of the adult industry's biggest stars. So much so in fact that major labels have been lurking aorund the corner. DirtyRock.net caught up with vocalist Paskkal Bardot to see what all the fuss is about.
DirtyRock.net - So tell me what the hell Pornstar Airlines is all about. I know it's a band first but it seems from your MySpace there's a whole lot of other stuff goin’ on.
Paskkal Bardot - Yes, it s a band basically. But we had to come up with something new, something that makes people talk, something that polarises people. I’ve always been fascinated by those "hate"-bands like Kiss, Crüe, Pretty Boy Floyd, Tokio Hotel,...where sooo many people go: "It s just image, they cannot play, they cannot sing, they cannot this and that. We don t do that tame hard rock for the housewife next door. We don t do rock for the "entire family" (laughs).
Though music comes first, we wanna be successful in any way. This happens right now. I’m a reptile, bird, and fish breeder, but I guess interviews with breeders of budgerigars or bearded dragons wouldn’t have caused that reaction...(laughs). Since I know many pornstars very well, I decided to do this whole interview stuff. I’ve been friends with some of them for a long time. So we sat down, talked about the concept and here we are! I knew this would work out very well, I´ve done my homework in marketing, admittedly while watching porn...(laughs). We want to entertain people. We transport a good and naughty feeling of life. It’s all about entertainment. Like Kiss and Crüe did or do. I’ve been doing rehearsals for my entire life without any international success, like most bands do. We played a lot when we started Pornstar Airlines in 2005 for the first time, but haven’t been known very well. But we are now. Even Adult Industry News, the biggest news-info for the adult industry acknowledged us (http://ainews.com/section/5/).
We want to have success with the music we’ve been listening to for our whole lives. But maybe we’re gonna start filming porn as well since so many models wanna shoot with us. Without being actors but producers and soundtrack writers though. We also did and do beneficial concerts supporting Greenpeace and other organisations like that. I love women, but nature as well. We have to spread the word for WWF and Greenpeace. So you can call us "The good ones of the bad boys of Rock n Roll" (smiles).
DirtyRock.net - Have any of you been in a porn film?
Paskkal - Yes! But always incognito. Many of the male actors are simply overtaxed and cannot jerk-off anymore but still have stiffies though. That’s when it comes down to other guys who are on set being liked by the women there. You can call us like this "cock-double" or something like that. I don’t know if my band members did it, too. We never spoke about that. Gotta ask them tonight...maybe we did the same girls without knowing it... He, this interview has already paid out for me! (laughs). I would love to tell you “Hell, yeah, I earned a lot of money by jerking-off on set!”. But all you get for free is food, sometimes pussy and always a lot of fun. And sometimes you date women privately. I did and made good friends. Let me put it this way; there are a lot of diamonds in the rough, but sometimes there are rough ones in the diamonds, too... (smiles)
DirtyRock.net - Explain a bit about how the musical side of things came together?
Paskkal - I met Jani in 2002 through an add in the paper: “Seeking for a reliable lead singer being a lady-killer with a cool voice and for dirty Rock n Roll band”. I became curious who this was, so I called him. Jani went: “Dude, you’ve got no clue what kinda dicks showed up. I should have written ‘Stupid and ugly guy being too stupid to get a real job wanted as our new lead-shouter’. Maybe fewer people would have shown up but at least I wouldn’t have met so many idiots" And then, like religious people feel, I felt "the call"... (laughs)
We met, agreed, and did the songs you hear on our site within a couple of days. But I didn’t get along with the bassist and the drummer, so I left the band after 4 rehearsals, but still was friends with the 2 guitarists.
Later, I founded PSAL (Pornstar Airlines) in 2005 in L.A., since I worked there a lot creating show aquariums and terrariums, with those other guys that you see on our profile. But we broke up as a band due to too many difficulties, but all the guys are still involved in the Pornstar Airlines business-thing!
When I decided to put Pornstar Airlines together again in 2007, I just asked Jani. And we decided to use the songs we wrote that long time ago.
I met Cobra at a concert in the restroom, he went, “Are you Paskkal?” I just said “yes” not wondering how he could have known my name since I m quite flashy with 6´6´´ and used to the fact a lot of people know me without me knowing them. A few weeks later we met again in some club. Cobra was with Bonnie, a girl I’ve known for many years. She had a crush on him for a couple of months and decided to fuck him the night before. So we sat on the table, me face to face with them, as some guy showed up and sat down right next to me. We spoke for a while, suddenly the guy asked, “Are you a couple?” Immediately, Bonnie looked at Cobra, waiting for his reaction, without reacting herself. Cobra shook his head: “No”. Directly after that she shook her head, too.
I mean, I haven t hardly seen a girl before, losing her dignity so much in that moment. On top of everything the guy asked her, “Why do you have to look at him first, before you answer if you re a couple or not?”
And I thought, ‘What a cool fucker Cobra is...he didn’t even look at her and said “no”. That s when I felt he could be the right guy for PSAL, being so cool (laughs). And before I could ask him if he wanted to play in Pornstar Airlines he went, “Hey, if you ever need a guitar-player...”
When we looked for a bass-player, there was Magazini, who played in Jani’s old band before, standing at a bus-stop to go to a date with a new girl. We stopped our car to say hi and asked him if he wanted to play bass in PSAL. He agreed and jumped in the car to come with us. I don’t know if he ever told the girl he wouldn’t show up...
Now we’re looking for a new drummer. Our last drummer got fired for using the porn stars I know to bring his brother’s band further ahead while betraying Pornstar Airlines. End of journey, exit without parachute.
DirtyRock.net - Has it been tough to attract management and labels to your overall concept?
Paskkal - We don t have a manager yet. I’m still doing it. But since things grow so fast we need to figure something out. The problem is, I need to have control over everything. Remember Geri Halliwell from Spice Girls? She was controlling a lot, like the rights for photos for instance. So a lot of the money went to where it belonged, to the artists. I’m really mistrustful. Many people in the biz try to fuck with you. Not with me though. My cock is bigger and I fuck longer. I will not end up 70ies-ozzy-osbourne-style being forced to tour by a label to get something to eat and being paid by puss ‘n booze. Yes, a lot of labels knock on our door. But until now, they all have offered shitty contracts. They wanna own everything. The name, the music... They promise a lot. I don t give a flying fuck about promises in business. Any word is useless unless it’s on paper. One of my best friends is a high positioned judge. He proof-reads everything. Last week he goes, “That’s a good contract! Fold it in the right shape and use it for the terrarium of your baby geckos. Feed them particularly well so they can really shit on it”.
Now, Capitol has knocked on our door,we´ll see. Maybe record labels are an extinct species. It s hard for artists earning money through a label. If you earn, let’s say $3 from a regular record sale, you need to sell 100 000 pieces to have $300 000. If you sell it independently and you earn $12 each piece, you only need to sell 25 000 to get your $300 000! And you know what the best of all is? You re free!You don t have to go to court like so many bands do to fight their former label. A lot of bands split up due to this biz-shit. Do you remember when we were kids and were demanded not to touch the hotplate of the stove? All kids did it though and burnt their fingers. I wasn’t like that. I was able to learn by watching. I never burnt my fingers there. Knowledge without experience can make you relax a lot. I don’t need to go to the North Pole to experience if it’s really cold up there. I just believe the scientists. I’m not sure if it’s really cold up there. Maybe it’s the best place on earth with lot of hot single women and the scientists just tell us it’s cold that no one comes up! Maybe that’s an explanation why a lot of scientists exploring the North Pole never come back! (laughs). What I’m trying to say is, many musicians make the same mistakes as the generation before them. They don t learn from each other.
I wanna have a good contract not just any. For me it’s about success, that doesn’t mean it’s all about money. A little money, but fun, freedom and a soul free from hate is way more important to me. Hey, Pornstar Airlines is supposed to be fun. I have my job. I do show aquariums and terrariums for instance. I earn my money. Pornstar Airlines is supposed to bring fun, so we do what we want. There will be a lot of rock-styles in our music. Just like Kiss and Crüe did, from pop-rock to metal. I find time to do management since we don ´t need to write new songs. We have a lot, like 60-70 completed songs. That should do for a while.
DirtyRock.net - So instead of a label do you think the way to go is to get someone to do the promotion and you handle the rest your self?
Paskkal - No, I guess you misunderstood. We do the promotion ourselves as you can see. All the adult stars do the promotion very well. We try to find a label. It just has to be a good contract. We wanna be free. Doing Pornstar Airlines is a thing of fun and passion. I don’t wanna be wrecked by being forced to tour. I couldn’t do that Bon Jovi thing, touring 2 years playing every song every night. Music is a passion for me and I don t wanna see this passion get destroyed by some bosses who tell us to play every night. Personally speaking, I will not be seduced by money.
DirtyRock.net - You mentioned before that you've been in a porn film... Which ones?
Paskkal - I am in plenty of them. I don t tell. Maybe someone finds out someday. Everybody leaves traces...(laughs). My face is never shown though.
DirtyRock.net - Porn, Greenpeace, Rock N Roll, World Wildlife Fund? Strange mix don't you think?
Paskkal - Yes ,it is strange. Unfortunately. Many people live clichés and go, “If you do this, you have to be that” and stuff like that. I live clichés if I like them, but usually I refuse them. Like Popeye would say, “I am what I am”. I love sex, nature, animals, rock n roll, sleeping, sometimes nightlife, sometimes the morning light. I support WWF by giving donations. We all have something from a clean nature surrounding us. Sometimes we even do the opposite of the cliché if we feel like doing it, just to provoke. We were in a bar the other day, and all the guys ordered Jackie Coke. We didn’t, we ordered big glasses of milk. The silence was beautiful...(laughs).
DirtyRock.net - How do Greenpeace and WWF people react to your naughty side?
Paskkal - I dunno if they already looked at our site...they haven’t reacted so far. I fear they could go like: Of course, we need money, we need supoort, but why in fuckin hell you guys? (laughs).
Just kidding. I believe even the Greenpeace guys watch porn and know Debi Diamond (laughs).
Visit: www.myspace.com/pornstarairlines
DirtyRock.net interview conducted by ‘Jonni Starr’ 2008
