Interview: Unconventional Questions with Jason “Ginchy” Kottwitz of the Oxys

Sep 19, 2025 admin_bitlc Features, Interviews, Music News, Reviews 0

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By Kyle Decker

I had the opportunity back in March to see Austin punks the Oxys play Liar’s Club. They’re setting out on tour to promote their new album, Casting Pearls Before Swine (out September 19th). So when I found out they were returning to Chicago on October 3rd to play Reggie’s Music Joint with punk legends Fear, I got back in touch. This time for an interview with Jason “Ginchy” Kottwitz, the lead guitar player and co-songwriter for the Oxys. I’ve interviewed musicians before, and he’d just finished another interview before speaking with me and we both agreed that the same ten questions get tiresome, so we opted for something a little different.

(Note: this interview has been edited for length and clarity)

Kyle Decker: Good to see you again. I had a great time seeing you all at Liar’s Club back

in March.

Jason Kottwitz: Good to see you too. Yeah that was a good show. Great venue.

KD: Yeah, my new band (The Head Caution) just did our first show at Liar’s last week.

Reggie’s is fun too. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there. There are multiple venues and

a rooftop bar, and a record shop. I’m not sure if that’s still there, though.

JK: Yeah, there are three shows that night. We’re in the Music Joint.

KD: That should be fun. It’s a more intimate space.

JK: That’ll be crazy for a Fear show.

KD: Cool. I’m looking forward to it. So, let’s get into it. I wanted to come up with some

more off the wall interview questions. I’m sure if someone wants to read about your

musical influences or how the Oxys got together, there are a dozen places they can go.

So I want to break convention.

JK: Good.

KD: First question. If you were a supervillain, what would your motivation be?

JK: Conquer everything. If I’m being forced into that scenario, that’s the only possible outcome I

can see for being a supervillain.

KD: Which historical period would you want to live in and why?

JK: Oh, boy. We got it so easy right now. It would be hard to go back. But I would probably

say… the late 1920s.

KD: Before the crash or…?

JK: Right during the crash. I know what happens after the crash. It’s the biggest time to

prosper.

KD: What is your earliest memory?

JK: I fell down some stairs. I fell down the staircase in our house and that’s probably my earliest

memory. And I was, boy, probably three, three-and-a-half. But I remember my dad bringing me

a bowl of Froot Loops while I was sitting there crying at the bottom of the stairs. It was his way

of trying to cheer me up.

KD: Well, I can think of a number of reasons that would stick out in your head.

JK: Well, yeah.

KD: Which piece of media (show, movie, album, book) had the biggest impact on you?

JK: Oh, I would say Elvis Presley Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite had the biggest influence on

me. My dad used to sit there and play that album to me as a child, and he would dance around

and sing all the songs to me and that was really my introduction to music. So, yeah, that really

set my life on a course.

KD: I’m told you’re into true crime.

JK: Yeah. Yeah, I love watching true crime documentaries and things of that sort.

KD: Do you follow any cold cases/unsolved mysteries?

JK: You know, there’s a lot of them that I follow. Not that I’m out there searching on them daily

or anything like that. But I would say I’m into some of the conspiratorial stuff to a degree as well.

Like the Kennedy assassination would be one that I’m very much into. And being the proximity

I’m in to Dallas. I mean, I’ve been to the Book Depository 30 or 40 times. And a lot of that stems

around, you know, when I have friends come to visit and they want to go somewhere, I’ll take

them there. Yeah, I keep up with that one. I love going to the Book Depository. What I’ve found

is they have all these tours for the Book Depository, but I actually learn more from the homeless

people when I go there. Because they just follow these tour guides and researchers around all

day and they just have this insane knowledge of everything there. Oh and, um, who was the guy

who robbed the plane during that flight between Seattle and Portland? D.B…

KD: D.B. Cooper.

JK: Yeah. That’s a real fascinating one to me. Just the fact that they never caught the guy.

KD: Yeah. Or found his body.

JK: Or anything. Like, where did the money go? That’s quite the mystery right there.

KD: Yeah, that’s a good one. The ones that don’t have closure are always interesting. But

Are there any true crime stories where the conclusion rubbed you the wrong way? Like,

you don’t think they got it right?

JK: I mean, the Zodiac Killer is frustrating because there’s so much fingerpointing going on out

there; and it drives me insane because even after they rule people out, there are other people

who try to rule them back in. So, yeah, that would be one that comes to mind. I can’t really think

of others off the top of my head that rub me the wrong way.

KD: When it comes to true crime stuff with controversial outcomes, I think of, like, the

Central Park Five or the West Memphis Three.

JK: Yes. Yes! I guess all of those. But it’s the West Memphis Three particularly that disturbed

me for years. I’m like, “Why are they crucifying these three kids here?” There’s somebody

running around that’s not being looked at who perpetrated this crime.

KD: Yeah. It was in the midst of all that Satanic Panic. But, like, so what if these kids play

Dungeons and Dragons and listen to Blue Oyster Cult?

JK: I’ve always avoided driving through West Memphis because of that.

KD: Don’t even stop to pee. Just go around.

JK: Yeah, It’s terrifying.

KD: But, speaking of the Zodiac Killer, my dad was actually growing up in that area of

California when all that was going down. So he remembers seeing the letters in the paper

and the fear that was gripping the neighborhood at the time.

JK: Wow. Right. I think it’s fascinating now how they are solving a lot of the old cold cases

through DNA. It’s pretty amazing.

KD: Oh, for sure. So my next question is music related. Which bands do you regret never

having the chance to see?

JK: You know, it would probably be bands that I was too young to see, and by the time I did see

them it wasn’t the original members anymore. So, there’s a handful of those. But, y’know, I

started going to concerts when I was twelve or thirteen pretty steadily and heavily. So, I struggle

to think of bands that I didn’t get to see since, in that time, I saw pretty much everyone I wanted

to see. It’s just bands before that I was too young to go see because I wasn’t into music at the

time. If I could travel in time, I mean, I could give you a list of bands I would have loved to have

seen.

KD: A big one for me was Bear vs. Shark. I was really into post-hardcore in college. I

lived in Des Moines and Bear vs Shark was playing Iowa City. It’s like a four-hour round

trip and I didn’t want to go alone. So I figured I’d catch ‘em next time. But then they broke

up on that tour.

JK: Oh wow.

KD: Yeah. Like a week later. I heard they got back together a couple years ago. But the

music video for my favorite song (“Catamaran”) includes live footage of the show I

should have gone to. So that rubs some salt in the wound.

JK: Yeah.

KD: Okay. So, if you had five-minutes alone with a famous person or historical figure,

who would it be and what would you do?

JK: If I had five minutes alone with a historical figure…Boy, I’ve never even thought about this.

There are so many people I’d like to corner and just ask them why they did what they did. I

guess I would say, probably Abraham Lincoln. Sometimes you hear so many different historical

accounts about a time frame… I mean, “somewhere out there the truth lies.” But over long

periods of time you start getting distorted details. And given what was happening at that time

Lincoln was in office There’s a bunch of questions I’d like to ask pertaining to the North and

South.

KD: There’s this exhibit at the Lincoln Presidential Library and museum in Springfield

that has Lincoln’s portrait from the beginning of his term and then one from towards the

end. And they have these for several presidents and it just drives home how rough that

job is. Like, wow, this guy physically aged twenty years in eight.

JK: Yeah. I grew up in central Illinois, so I’ve been to Springfield many times. It was probably

forty-five minutes away from where I grew up. It’s been years since I’ve been there. But I would

like to check that out.

KD: Okay, last question. Which fictional character have you connected with the most?

JK: Wow. These are tough questions. Yeah, that’s a tough one. I spend most of my time in the

musical world, so I don’t venture out into the musical world. I don’t even know if I have an

answer. Maybe… Snidely Whiplash?

KD: Did you have a habit of tying people to railroad tracks that you fought to overcome?

JK: Yeah, something like that. I don’t know, I’ve had this obsession with Snidely Whiplash

recently and have been watching lots of Dudley Do-Right.

KD: I have an uncle through marriage that looks a lot like Dudley Do-Right. He’s got that

chin and I guess that’s what everyone called him in college.

JK: Hahaha. So who’s your fictional character?

KD: Other than ones I’ve created? I dunno. It’s one of those “different day different

answer” questions. But, I would say Paul (Kemp), the main character from The Rum Diary

by Hunter S. Thompson. It’s about a guy who expatriates to Puerto Rico in his early 30s. I

lived abroad in South Korea when I was that age. So that late stage coming-of-age in a

foreign environment story speaks to a crucial time in my life. Those are all the questions

I have. Anything else you want to add before we finish up?

JK: I don’t think there’s anything to add, other than the new record (Casting Pearls Before

Swine) is available. Cleopatra (Records) just got the records, and I got a box the other day. So,

those are shipping now. You can pick those up at Cleopatra’s website (www.cleorecs.com) or

the Oxy’s bandcamp (theoxysatx.bancamp.com) or website (www.theoxys.com). All the usual

places.

KD: Will they be available for sale at the show?

JK: Yeah. We will have copies available at the show.

KD: Great. Good to know. I’ll see you at Reggies on October 3rd.

JK: Yeah, see you then. Cheers.

FEAR

The Oxys

The Evictions

Reggies Music Joint

Doors: 7:30 Music: 8:30

10/03/2025

21+

Tickets here

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• casting pearls before swine, guitarist, jason kottwitz, Reggies, The Oxys

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