INTERVIEWS

Having gone to considerable trouble actually interviewing these bands, and typing up all this shit (for ace Limerick AMC fanzine, Cavity Search, compiled by fionnthefriendlyrocker), I thought why not put them up here, rather than taking up room on the old hard drive...  All of these bands I came into contact with while they were playing shows in Limerick with the great AMC (Aspersion Music Collective) of which I'm a member/guy who writes things for.

The HANDSOME FAMILY - Ace Chicago countrygoth duo who invite satan around for tea   

Part I, Part II

SWEEP THE LEG JOHNNY - Ace Ace Chicago fucking blinding dynamic rocktastic sax weilding bastards from heaven, who actually got me into King Crimson!

JASON RINGENBERG - Ace frontman of (REM's favourite 80's) band The Scorchers, doing solo singersongwriter stuff

Fionn the friendly rocker - Illustrious town founder of Cavity Search, and has never been seen in the same room as me

90-Day Men - Ass kicking Chicago (not again!) quartet, with Andy Lansangan for pres on delicious rhodesy bitches brewesque keyboards

Baseball Fury - 1 line interview with insane carcrashrocktastic bastard rockers from dubland Ireland.  Fucking legends before their time!

BURNING AIRLINES - J Robbins (ex-Jawbox) fronted fucking A ensemble

Eamonn Dunphy’s (Irish broadcaster guy) interview with Noam Chomsky (the man who, if America wasn't stoned with mind control media drugs, could give them wisdom).

MEDULLA NOCTE - Loudest, most viscious band of all time from England.  Headliners of AMC noisefest #1, 2001

JAD FAIR POEM

GRAMMY SHAMMY - Transcript of the most ridiculous speech of all time

What was your favourite toy as a kid - The rockers of Limerick give their answer!

Send me your own interview!!! - If you're a band or voice of a generation, starved of attention-interviews, then do my interview thing at the bottom, sent it to me and I'll stick it up here!!!

"Rennie, Brett, GO!"

Sparing no expense and incruing no expense (i.e. I got a lift and free in) I travelled to Galway last night to watch the tonight's same 3 bands play.  Why?  Cos I luvs em.

Chris Mills and the Handsomes played fabulous shows.  Now I'll let them do the talking.  That is, I went around with my pen and paper and gave all the members of both ensembles the sinch task of answering a few questions.  So here's what they all said.  (note, what I said to them is in Bold Italics)

 What was your favourite toy as a kid?

Rennie Sparks - A teddy bear called Pimento.  He was coloured robin's egg blue and had a red red tongue.

Brett Sparks (Rennie's husband) - G.I. Joe.  One of those scuba diver, army man ones.

Darrell Sparks (Brett's brother) - Hot wheels.  It was a kind of racing track and car thing.

Chris Mills(no relation of the Sparks') - Matchbox cars.  I got as many as I could get my hands on.  I used to enjoy destroying the little cop cars.

Gerald Dowd (Chris Mills drummer) - Big wheel.  One of those 3-wheeler things about 2 inches off the ground with 2 small back wheels and one 'big wheel' at the front.  My one came with a handbreak.

Handsome family related question.  To understand this question you must hear their song 'The Giant of Illinois'.

What colour were the Giant of Illinois' shoes before and after they filled up with blood?

Rennie - I'd say they were burgandy both times.  I'd also say they had nice stitching on the sides.  You could tell they were well made shoes, a lot of craft went into them.

Brett - Before they were black.  I guess afterwards they were brownish kind of black.

OK.  Thanks for the long and gruelling interview.  Knowing that your audience in Limerick will be reading this is there anything you would like to say to them, in writing?

Rennie - Be careful in the tub. 

Anything else?

And spiders are friendly.

But what if you meet a spider in the tub?

See answer 1.

Brett - This is our first time in Limerick.  Looking forward to play.  Sorry it took so long for us to get here.  Don't stab me!

Do you want me to print that last bit?

Yeah sure.

Yeah fuck it, I'm sure they'll get the joke.  And sure if they don't.....

Darrell - Stop eating saussidge.

Chris Mills - Pleeease buy my records!  I'm skint!

Gerald Dowd - Be polite to each other.

End of interview

SWEEP THE LEG JOHNNY

So what makes these boys tick? 

This interview was conducted under strange circumstances.  No recording equipment was at our disposal so basically I went around with the question sheet and one by one the lads answered the questions.  I wrote down bits of what they said and hopefully the extra bits of colouring in I do will reflect more or less what they actually said.  We were all pissed too.  Tee hee….

 STLJ are

Steve Sostak - Vocals/Saxaphone , John Brady - Bass , Scott Anna - Drums, Chris Daly - Guitar

 Unfortunately John had already crashed out by the time the questions started flying.  Instead their van driver Jan Olav from Haugesund in Norway filled in a few answers that proved interesting. 

What is your favourite Colour?

Chris - Blue

Scott - Green

Steve - Brown.  Great colour.

Jan - Red - Passion.  Or Black - Cos it involves every colour and everything

Chicago has come out with a lot of bands which play a lot of 'stoppy starty' kind of music e.g. The Jesus Lizard and Shellac.  Can you offer any sort of explanation for that?

Chris - There's a lot of road construction going on in Chicago. 

Scott - Traffic lights?

Steve - Stems from the early days of the Chicago industrial scene.  Chicago was and still is a sort of a blue collar city with a lot of working class folk.  Even the sounds of the machines make it into the music along with other influences.

Jan - I am from Norway, not from Chicago.  But there's a few theories on that.  People say Chicago feels a little isolated in America, not only geographically, but from the rest of the music industry in America, and for that reason bands from there feel free to do whatever they like and not care about music industry concerns.  Often the many artistic outputs going on in Chicago influence each other. 

(This next question is a bit stupid, as are some of the later questions.  But answers were given so here they are) 

What do you think of Snapcase?

Chris - Never really heard them.

Scott - I like them.  They're really tight.  Good balls out loud music.

Steve - Don’t know much about them.  (Someone asks 'What do you think of Delores O'Riordan?')  Delores?  Yeah I was very sad that she didn't come along to the gig tonight.  But Emma here showed up, so it's OK. (Emma has a shaved head and looks like Sinead O'Connor).

Jan - They are OK, not my favourite band.  Their early stuff was fairly influential to the scene.

Talk about tonights gig.

Chris - It was beautiful.

Scott - It was great.  A good crowd.  Lots of Friendly people.

Steve - It was kind of bizarre.  The other bands were really good.  But energy wise it was bizarre.  It seemed like the crowd was continually warming up.  Some kids danced.  It was like we had to prove ourselves aafter the first 2 songs.  John (bass player who's amp blew up while I was playing, and subsequently had to use a smaller replacement bass amp) is usually louder.

Jan - It was a good show.  The kids enjoyed it.  The sound was alright even thought the P.A. wasn't that big.

How do you write songs?

Chris - Very carefully.

Scott - Slowly.

Steve - We take ideas and riffs and practice and work work work.  (Do you ever get sick of practicing?)  Well sometimes it gets hard, but you have to fight throught the hard times and it's worth it when something great happens in the practice room.

Jan - N/A

What's the story with Sto Cazzo?

Chris - It means 'Holy shit' or 'Holy cock'.  It's what the Italians think of STLJ.

Scott - Steve and me were drinking whiskey with this Italian guy.  Sto Cazzo is what he said when he sees the sun rise over the mountains.

Steve - Yeah the guy we were drinking with was our Italian promoter.  It's his sunrise exclamation.  IT means 'Fuck me' or 'I am a fuck'.  We made him say the same thing when he saw STLJ play.

What do you think of the Guinness?

Chris - Very good.  Not great out of a can though.

Scott - On tap, it's fantastic.  Smoother than out of a can.

(As you may gather, the lads were drinking cans of guinness at this stage)

Steve - I like it regardless.  The cans are a little different.  I tried another local one in Cork yesterday, what was it (we prompt Murphy's?  Beamish?)  Yeah Beamish.  I love them all.  I'm all about stout.

Jan - I enjoy it.  You get a bit stuffed after a few pints of it though.

How d'you enjoy touring?

Chris - Meeting new people.  Drinking with new people.

Scott - I love it.  It's better than work.

Steve - It's the best.  It's the best way to get out and musically believing in what you do.  I have no problem with sleeping on people’s floors.  Maybe I'll get tired of it when I'm older.  By the time the next day has come, you go to a new town and it's like you can reinvent yourself.

Jan - It has its ups and downs.  I live in Oslo and I am a booking agent.  These guys needed a tour manager.  I liked their music so I decided to do it myself.  There's not much money in this game though.

How did you meet and was it sexy?

Chris - It wasn't very sexy.  Steve and I met at Uni.  It was a dorm room party.  Pretty depressing.  When Scott came along, then it got sexy.

Scott - Me and Steve met in summer camp when we were 14.  Chris and Steve met at Notre Dame.  I'd visit Steve and got to know Chris.  I knew John from touring with his old band Spanokorzo.  They were from San Diego.  Then John moved out to Chicago.

Steve - It was always sexy.  Ever since I saw Scott's naked ass in the shower.

Jan - I knew their booking agent.

Individual extra questiones to Steve:  What made you play rock and roll?

Steve - I played in an orchestra for years when I was younger.  It still seems like the most noble music.  But I sort of got burnt out on the orchestra, even though I still loved it.  I wanted to rebel.  When I was 18 I just stopped playing the sax for 3 years.  I saw a few of my friends in bands and I wanted to experience the power of a 'rock and roll' band. 

What influenced you?  There are not many sax players in rock and roll bands such as STLJ.  What do you think of John Coltrane for instance? 

Steve - He's a fucking genius.  But I don't really know how to play jazz.  But it's great to listen to.  I was influenced more by guitar players.  There is also a big jazz scene in Chicago.  Ken Vandmark, he plays with about 20 groups.  He's a good guy.  Any time any of the European jazz musicians come to Chicago he plays with them. 

Dynamically I thought your sax playing worked really well, weaving in and out of the guitar/bass riffs.  Certain instruments introduce a certain vibe the minute you hear them. Do you ever fear flirting with the 'New Pollution' (i.e. the Beck song)  sort of feel?

Steve - No.  I'd see us more in the John Zorn/Naked City sort of feel.  I think the sax works in this band because of the timbre of the instrument, I don't really see it as a second guitar part in the band.  It's kind of like the sax and the band, we share.

I agree.  I think you steer well clear of the aforementioned dodgy vibes.  And the sax sits really well.  Anyway, what was your favourite toy as a kid?

Chris – The Star Wars all terrain armoured transport vehicle.  And also the big wheel.  It was a big platic 3-wheeler tricycle thing.  They were great.

Scott – Big wheel.

Steve – Crossbows and Catapults.  It was kind of a game where you had a fortress and you tried to knock each other’s fortress down from across the room with catapults firing these plastic discs.

Jan – I liked football from an early age.  Before that it was lego.

Me – Mine was this stuffed little toy dog which I called Snoopy.  My sister made it for me.  I used to give him a headlock when going to sleep with him.  He turned up there in the attic recently.  He’s a lot smaller than I remembered him.  He looks like he underwent a bit of permanent neck damage.  Lost an eye too.

Why are you in a band?

Chris – To travel and see places.  Gosh that sounds so shallow of me.  And the music of course.

Scott – To do what I love.  To see the world.  And get drunk every night.

Steve – Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll (laughs).  I guess it’s like a physical and mental release of an inner energy.  I only hope that the crowd receives the energy given off. 

Jan – I like touring with this band cos I like their music.  It’s nice to see their Irish and UK shows.  I lived in the UK for a year.  It’s a different experience when seeing it on tour.

More extra questions directed at Steve:

So if you are hoping that the crowd picks up on the energy of the shows, what would you like for people to pick up on when they see STLJ live?  What is there to get?

Steve – We’re trying to bridge some sort of a gap I think.  Between having fun and music on a more cerebral level.  Like we try to balance your body wanting to go nuts to your mind trying to take it in and challenge one off the other. 

Albert – Yeah like take those guys ‘Rachels’, they use a lot of strings in their arrangements and the pieces are built to make the listener take time to tell where it’s all going…

Steve – I think that of a lot of contemporary music.  Like Shostakovic for instance.  It ends up being really powerful.

Why do you use one mic live?  Are you not afraid of the certain back problems when you turn 30?

Steve – Yeah well I prefer the 1 mic thing.  Yeah, it does look cool, me being the frontman.  I’ll have to watch out for my pants though.

Would you sign to Sony?  If yes, why?  If no, why not?

Chris – No.  It would be too much hassle and red tape.  But if they gave us $1million ….

Scott – No.  They’d probably shelf us as a tax write off.  They’d do no work to promote the record, and that’s shit.

Steve – I dunno.  I guess in the 70’s major labels used to release music like ‘Yes’ and ‘King Crimson’.  It’s kind of different now.  We could use the money.  But morally it wouldn’t feel right.

Jan – As a booking agent and a music journalist I know that the major label thing is a double edged sword.  There is obviously more money to work with.  Sometimes there is more understanding shown to the music.  On the other hand, sometimes they put less energy into promoting more experimental bands.  They don’t show much patience for a band that doesn’t turn profit straight away.  There is more focus on the major selling artists, rather than the tendency to just break even for the sake of promoting the smaller acts.  But sometimes if they do get things right like sorting out that high profile gig, get the ‘right’ crowd in and have important people on the guest list, it can produce results. 

Independent labels are more idealistic and would be my preference.  They are satisfied with lesser record sales, so they can apply more energy into what a major label would regard as a smaller release.  With Indie labels there is often better tour support through the whole DIY scene. 

What makes you do stupid interviews like this one?

Chris – If you ask questions, I’ll answer them.

Scott – I like doing them.

Steve – I don’t think this is stupid.  I’ll talk to anyone who talks to me.  People with common interests.  And asks intelligent questions.

Jan – I usually give interviews. 

What age are you?

Chris – 26, Scott – 28, Steve – 27, Jan – 29

What bands do you look up to?

Steve – Bands like Fugazi and the whole Dischord thing.  They filled a void that was around at that time.  They were lucky in a way.  It worked really well. 

Finally Steve, blowing on that sax and then screaming your lungs out, have you got 3 lungs or something?

I’ve got 4.

Anything you’d like to add?

This is the bit where I handed the paper over to the lads to hand write some words of their wisdom themselves.  Here it is;

Loosely translated as

Chris – Ireland is awesome.  Can’t wait to come back and rock some more.

Scott – Rock on Limerick.  Long live the prince of darkness in your day to day lives.

Steve – Limerick rocks.  Keep up the good work.

Jan – Come see Sweep live.

End of interview 

Jason Ringenberg

The Interview

A few weeks back we got the rare treat to see a man who fronted one of the best groups of the early eighties, The Scorchers.  Jason Ringenberg stood on this very stage in Dolan’s and did what he does best.  Play guitar and sing songs.  Only, Jason is the real thing. 

 Before he played, he sat down for a chat with me.  As is with the case with all good interviewers, the subject/interviewee and his career are well researched, and the questions are formulated to delve into his soul as best as possible for the benefit of the reader.  Dave Fanning style.

 Alas, I am not a good interviewer.  I know shit all about Jason Ringenberg.  And following his show and meeting a few devout Jason and the Scorchers fans at the gig, I am pretty ashamed to have known nothing of this man’s work. 

 But we had a mighty fine chat and this being Cavity Search, the questions were crafted from strangeness and chosen from the muggiest part of the cupboard, the salt mine of broken rules.  A feature which Jason appreciated.  I approached the chat with a mental not of ‘for God’s sake, dont mention REM’, for the simple reason that he’s probably sick to the teeth of people asking him about them.  Note:  Jason and the Scorchers opened for REM in the eightees and are still considered the greatest rock and roll band in the world, by REM.

So anyway, I give you the Jason Ringenberg interview, a bit short but mighty fine! 

Jason is polishing off his dinner in Dolan’s as I tap him on the back, introduce myself as the writer of the thing he is reading (Cavity Search #15) and ask would he be interested in doing an off base interview...

‘Why, sure I would’, he says. 

Note; without one of them fancy dictaphone machines, this interview was conducted with pen, paper, shorthand and semi-photographic memory.  So the words you read are more or less what came out of his mouth, with a few accent/lingual liberties taken here and there...

So he finishes up his grub and he joins me later in the back bar.  He’s chuckling.

Jason Ringenberg - ‘Man this is great.’

He’s reading the “George Michael buys John Lennon’s piano for £1.5 million ‘Imagine’” piss take thing in CS#15.

JR - Especially the bit ‘You may say he’s a streamer, but he’s not the only one, I hope he never sings ‘Imagine’, Don’t fuck with the memory of John’. That’s great man.

Cavity Search - Sound yeah.  That just came out of me at about 2.30 this afternoon...

So after honestly owning up to not knowing a great deal of the man’s work, I inform Jason that, as the questions will reveal, the idea of this interview is to give a different glance at those answering, to search their cavities, if you will.  So the hairy questions start to fire...

CS - So how does it feel to have the same initials as JR Ewing? 

JR - Well, yeah in the 80’s that became a bit of a problem.  Also, especially when he got shot.  Nobody knew whether he or I was alive or not.

CS - Yeah it must have been confusing.  OK, time for the Cavity Search shortest interview in the world question.  What was your favourite toy as a kid?

JR - Good question.

CS - Yeah, it fairly searches the ould cavity alright...

JR - Let me think.  Well I guess it had to be that wind up rabbit we had.  You’d just wind him up and off he’d go. 

CS - And that was it?  Did he have a name?

JR - No name.  But we used to shoot it with this rubber dart gun.  That was that rabbit’s sole purpose in life, to get shot by that rubber dart gun.  He died a million deaths.

CS - What do you make of Ireland?

JR - I tell you, you got the damndest weather here.  It rains and then its sunny in the same day.  I mean other places it rains, for days.  But you got it all in the one day here.  But Ireland is one of my favourite places. 

CS - Have you been here before?

JR - Well this is actually my third time here.  Before, when Jason and The Scorchers were doing a European tour, I came over a week early and I hung out in the Wicklow mountains.  And I tell you there was something about that place. 

I mean I’ve seen taller mountains, and wilder rivers, and seen greater achitecture and eaten better food, but I just thought it was a very spiritual place.  I’d never experienced coutryside like it.

CS - What part of America are you from?

JR - Illinois.

CS - Well I got over to America earlier this year and got to see a bit of the place. For me, coming from a country of greenery and winding roads, you’ve got some fairly funky countrside shit going on yourselves.  Those forests, mountains, Las Vegas, those long burnt out desert roads were all pretty amazing.

JR - Well thanks.

CS - OK, I don’t see any black and white liquid in front of you.  Do take a pint of Guinness?  (Sorry about the ‘Paddy Irishman’ness of the questions?  Oops...)

JR - Well I prefer Smith Wick, is that it?

CS - Smithwicks.

JR - I drink that.  I’m not much of a beer drinker.  My wife, she loves Guinness.  She asked me to bring her back some.

CS - Apparently it doesn’t travel too well.  But I had a pint of Guinness in that bar on the top of the world trade centre.  It wasn’t too bad.  If she’s stuck for a good pint, she could do worse than there..

JR - Well I’ll tell her that.

CS - Compared to the last time we saw you, i.e on your poster, you have since grown a smig.  What’s the story?

JR - Yeah well I’m going for the Ammish look, you know...(laughs).  I want to go for that Ammish rocker look.

CS - Following in the long tradition of great Ammish rockers. 

JR - Right.

CS - What sort of guitar do you have.

JR - Well right now I’m using a Takamine, simply because you can leave it down and it will fall over and it’ll be OK.

CS - More roadworthy, right.  You have more guitars at home, yes?

JR - Oh yeah.  My house is full of them.  People always give me guitars... Well I don’t mean it like that (puts on a smug accent) ‘people just love to give me guitars’.  But, yes I do use other makes.

I am tempted to tell him of how that semi-smug vibe reminded me of a Dave Fanning/REM interview from 1984 when I heard Michael Stipe uttering the following line, in all seriousness:

“I can’t really go to parties any more, cos everyone wants to talk to me.” 

But I don’t, keeping in mind my self imposed ban on talking about REM. 

Anyway, back to the interview...

CS - So how’re The Scorchers getting on? (sounding as if I know any more than shit all about them)

JR - They’re all good.  We played a couple of shows recently.  But at the moment I’m going in a different direction.  So I wanna do this tour and see where it goes. 

CS - Yeah your press release said while staying true to all the old country manouvres you sucessfully combine some rockabilly and punk moves in your shows.  Is that what we’ll see tonight?

JR - Sort of.  But this is definitely the singer songwriter thing for me now.  I just did a new record.  But I’ll be running through some Scorchers tunes and a few other tunes.

CS - Can you sing on a full stomach?

JR - Yeah that wont be a problem.  It isn’t a problem on this solo tour.  The Scorchers shows can often get a bit athletic.  They involve a lot more jumping around than tonight.  Full stomach is better than empty for singing.

CS - How old are you? (a question worded with extra balls and ‘cut to the chaseness’)

JR - Well I’ve been in show business for 20 years now, and I started when I was 8, so that makes me ....28!

In a wierd ‘rabbit in your headlights, yeah he does look young’ moment, I actually believe him.  Or rather, I don’t question the information he has just given me. I mean the guy looks 28!  But then he sobs...

JR - No... I’m 42.  God it feels bad saying that.

I sit with double puzzledness for 1 sec and then the countdown conundrum is revealed to me.  In a moment of disorientated clarity I blurt out

CS - Well yeah of course.  Like who would it have been opening for REM in the ‘80’s, then eh?  ‘Jasonette and the miniScorchers’?

JR - Yeah.

Oh shit.  Oh shit.  I mentioned REM.  Oh fuck.  He’s a cowboy.  He’s reaching for his shootin’ iron to blow me away shouting “Dear Lord is there no end to those REM boys?  I don’t ever wanna hear o’ those REM boys never again, ye hear?”

But it passes and we laugh it off.  A good time to wrap things up I think.

CS - OK Jason, lovely to talk to you.  Anything else you’d like to add to say directly to the readers out there?

JR - Just tell ‘em I’ll be back and tell Sony and Warner to watch out, I’m a big time record company mogul and I’m coming to town. 

CS - Oh really?  What’s the name of you’re label?

JR - Courageous chicken records.

CS - Oh right, I saw that on your CD earlier.  Any acts you’d like to mention on your label that we should watch out for?

JR - Jason Ringenberg!  That’s it!

And so ended the chat with a big laugh.

So in all, with a suplementary mention of REM, I think I got through the interview with 4 faults and no time penalties.  Nice guy.  Fabulous one man entertainer.  Go out and buy his music immediately.  OK, do it tomorrow.

End of interview

Some lowly dog has the nerve to interview moi Fionn The Friendly Rocker!!!   er... OK

FAQS ABOUT FIONN....

Fionn The Friendly Rocker: A riddle wrapped in amystery wrapped in a puffa jacket. So, for your edification, and in the interests of truth, justice and the AMC way I put these questions to him last time I ran into him in the women's underwear section of Penneys.....

 1) Fionn, is it true that you are in fact a seven year old girl from Cambodia who is in Ireland on a fellowship to study motorway signs and are sustained by regular checks from the International Banking Conspiracy/ Freemasons/ IMF/ Space Aliens?

 No.  You answers want?  You answers want?  You truth the want?  You can’t TRUTH the handle!

And I’m not 7, I’m 7 and a 1/2!

 2) There is a rumour going around that you get your nourishment from sucking the blood out of wounded puppies. Is this true, and if so, what sort of puppies?

 OK, I give up.  You’ve found me out.  I am the puppy sucking phantom of Limerick.  But methinks that in truth whence I sucked the last drops of life from these brave pups, not all of them objected.  They took solace in the fact that their otherwise spent blood was going to help the rock. 

What sort of puppies?  Oh I don’t mind.  German shepards, daschounds, chiwawas, Irish wolf hounds.  I still say you can’t beat a glass of Corgi puppy juice to get your motor running in the mornings!

 3) Finally, I have heard that you are only mad north-northwest, when the wind is in the south you can tell a hawk from a handsaw. Could you tell us which direction you are facing when you come up with Cavity Search?

 Yes that’s right, I’m mad.  If it will make it more comfortable for you to handle my moves, yes I’m mad.  You’re not like me at all. 

Operating as I do, in the fifth dimension, your petty 2-D directional properties are rendered insufficient to model my projectile!  I am a colour changing cubespherelipse vortex of time and space coming out of the toilet bowl and up your worm hole! 

Which direction do I write Cavity Search in?  Mike, Mike, Mike.  Octopussy, Octopussy.  You’ve been reading too many Feng Shui books again haven’t you. 

But 5th dimension kids can draw straight lines too.  I haven’t forgotten the less is more rule.  So with that in mind....

End of interview

90 - Day Men Interview

So on that cold day in January these 3 mixed bags (90 - Day Men, Baseball fury, Richie Egan) rolled into town for a truely fab and underattended gig.  Well you missed it.  It was wonderful.  I reviewed the gig in the last CS.  So fuck you!  But if you missed it here’s a bullet point form review

Baseball fury - tight as fuck bucaneers of the high decibel registers with funny inter song banter and spirit to burn.

Richie Egan - TRM’s man on bass gives us a song.  Or 6.  Really cool with great vibe enhancing crowd attention.  Sandy humble voice with guitar whizzkidry that gelled.

90-Day men - If the Doors were born in the ‘80s they might sound like this. 

 So after the gig we didst all head to the party pad for much partying with sensitivity to the lads having to be up for school early in the morning, i.e. play another gig.

So with that in mind, I decided to keep the interview to as close to 2 questions as possible. 

Firstly introductions

Andy Lansangan - Keyboard whizzkid asian looking kid, 25 years old

Rob Lowe - Bass and vox cool looking coloured bloke, 25 years old

Brian Case - Guitar and vox looking caucasian messy hair kid, 23 years old (the baby)

Cayce Key - Drums and wierd long hair manouevre which only falls over his face when playing drums, 25 but nearly 26. 

Extra personelle on board - John Evans, Cayce’s boss in their internet firm and tour helping hand, 25.  Martin Bistrai - Tour coordinator from Prague driving van, 32.

Note: Since conducting this interview, much water has passed under the bridge and time under the desert.  So the scribbled answers jotted on the night may be no longer 100% acurate.  So sue me!

What was your favourite toy as a kid?

Andy - (much hesitating)  Gee, that’s hard to say.  I guess it would have to be my computer.

Ftfr - Back in the early ‘80s?

Andy - Yeah it would have been the Atari 800.  One of those ones you loaded games onto buy playing a tape.  I used to play games on it and write music.  There was one computer game I got when I was in the 3rd grade, age 7, called Ultima 3.  I learned to play the music off that by transposing it a little so I could play it on my keyboard.

Ftfr - Yeah did you ever play a game called ‘Green Beret’? 

All - No.

Ftfr - I used to play it on one of those old chitty computers what was it called ( I spend ages trying to think up the name Amstrad but fail).  It had that crappy green screen.  Anyway the bassline off the music of that game was (almost) the same as ‘Smooth Criminal’ by Michael Jackson.

Andy - Yeah one of the first records I really got into was ‘Tom Sawyer’ by Rush.  That was was made me decide that I really liked music.

Rob Lowe - My favourite was Japanese Comics.  Like Akira ...

Ftfr - Yeah I’ve seen a film of that, pretty amazing stuff

Rob - Yeah Akira, Macross, Rototek, Astroboy, Giant Robo, Speed Racer

Ftfr - Yeah I heard of speed racer too.  Cult following kinda stuff...

Brian Case - It was a toy drum.  No on second thought it was a Big Wheel

Ftfr - Lots of folk from Chicago have chosen that one, including Chris Mills I think.

Brian - Yeah me and my twin sister had a big wheel each when we were very young.

Cayce Jey - Mr Machine.  He was a 1 1/2 foot tall with a top hat and a wind up buzz that could make him walk.  He had a movable mouth but he didn’t speak.

John Evans - G.I. Joe collection

Martin Bistrai - Matchbox cars.  And also Chopper bikes

So then I got around to asking the second question of this 2 questions interview;  Namely ;  Chicago being such an apparently fucked up place producing wonderfully fucked up and varied genius music at the moment, and by means of getting to the bottom of what makes ye’all tick over there, can you arrive at an album or selection of albums whic have influenced you, or you think everyone should hear?

Alan - The Emperor concerto by Beethoven.  It also goes by the piano concerto even there’s no piano in it.  Also Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.

Ftfr - Indeed, there were shades of that during one of your tunes tonight, you did a big build up chromatic thing up the keyboard. 

Andy - Yeah, those close chords etc.  But there’s a thing, like Debussy and Bartok were doing chord clusters 100 years before Miles Davis, ye know.

John Evans buts in - What are you guys talking about

(He reads the piece of paper) ‘Debussy, Bartok, Miles’ ...right, whatever

Andy - Yeah Miles Davis whatever. 

Everyone laughs

Andy comes out with quote of the evening - Oh my God, I just ‘whatevered’ Miles Davis!

More laughter and ovaltine.  Anyway back to the answers...

 John Evans - Fugazi.  Celebrate the entire fucking catalogue.

Rob Lowe - I used to sketch and draw.  That was an influence.  I think a personal influence, not necessarily a 90-day men influence, is the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s recording “Les Sance a Sophie”.  It was the soundtrack to the 1970 film, made by a bunch of Chicago cats living in Paris.  I also love the Gayne Ballet Suite by the Russian composer Aran Kachaturian. 

But I also like punk stuff like Wire’s “Chairs missing.”  Also the British punk scene of ‘78/’79 post Sex Pistols, The Slits ...

Cayce, answering as we discuss favourite drummers - Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix experience is a big favourite of mine.  If I were to pick a favourite Hendrix album ...

(he thinks for a sec, and we say in unison) “Electric Ladyland!”  “Moon turn the tides “...

Ftfr - What did you make of Ringo?

Well you know, he was minimal.  He served the songs perfectly. 

I like the late Beatles stuff a lot, the last 4 years.  Take “Abbey Road”.  Such phoenomenal pop drug culture songs.  John Bonham’s a favourite too, the whole b-side of Led Zepplin 4.

I also really like Scissorgirls by the Jesus Lizard.

Martin, upon being questioned about Czech bands says - Lumen, a great band from Czech republic.  Check them out at www.czechcore/lumen.  Also I like the 90-day men.

Ftfr - You’ve driven other bands around before.  Anyone famous?

Martin - Sick of it all, Shelter ...

Brian Case - The Birthday party (Nick Cave’s first band) “Junkyard”

Ftfr - Is that the one with ‘Nick the Stripper’ and ‘In a Dead song’

Brian - Yeah.  Also Television “Marquee Moon”, Iggy Pop “Lust for Life”, David Bowie “Hunky Dory”.

Brian goes on to outline the secret of Chicago’s fertile scene -  There is a lot of support between the genres.  There is lots of jazz and rock shows to check out in clubs all over the town every night (Chicago has 7 million people remember).  All these clubs/small businesses support each other.  Also it’s not as expensive as say, New York. 

John’s website has a lot to do with that, www.supersphere.com.  There’s lots of downloadables there, live stuff, archives, politics, film, world music etc. 

Along with 90day men in Chicago you’ve got Sweep the leg Johnny, country stuff like the Handsome Family, there’s the bloodshot and carrot-top labels with names like Kelly Hogan, Sam Prekop and The Sea and Cake.  Chicago is a blue collar working class drinkin town.

Then the words ‘Stoobes’ and ‘Swish’ are uttered, and are relevant to this discussion, but I didn’t record what they meant, so if anyone knows, do tell fionnthefriendlyrocker@hotmail.com.

But then I think of a 3rd question:  What does the name 90day men mean?

Over to Cayce - It actually comes from a book by Samuel Yochelson called “The criminal personality”.  The criminally insane, who may or may not be insane and have committed a crime, are taken off to take a 90 day test by pshchiatrists or psychologists.  After 90 days they decide if you were crazy and did not mean your crime, or not crazy and meant your crime. 

END OF INTERVIEW 

Baseball Fury interview

What was your favourite toy as a kid. 

Andy Fogarty - Scorpinox, a transformer, after the film.  He was a greenish scorpion guy.  A triple changer.  He changed into a scorpion. a Decepticon base, and something else. 

END OF INTERVIEW 

HANDSOME FAMILY INTERVIEW; PT 2

 (a few months later, and less coherent)

Brief Brett Handsome interlude:  “So Brett, how’s things been since you last came to Limerick?”

Brett - Pretty good really.  We’ve just finished the new album.  Our sixth.  I’ve been listening back to a tape of the mixes in the car.  I think there’s one or two changes I need to make to it when I get back.  Then it’ll be ready. 

FTFR (Delightful techy conversation bit) - So Brett what kind of studio do you have?  Is it true you recorded you’re previous albums on a computer?

Brett - Well yeah, I knew nothing about all that crap.  We originally bought the PC just to get the web page goin’.”

Ftfr - Who did the drawings on the webpage?

Brett - Rennie did all of em.  But yeah, recently I upgraded the PC cos to many times in the middle of a mix you’d be just ‘maxing out the RAM’.

(for a scary second I fear ‘Oh no, Brett Sparks turns into techy kid using phrases like ‘maxing out the RAM’.  In a Handsomes tune it may be a lyric refferring to Max, the sheep shagger.  But in everyday speech .... euuuugghh!  But never fear.  In one hour’s time, Brett would be on stage playing Giant of Illinois solos which would scythe my head in half and maxed out the JAM!)

Recently we got the new version of Pro Tools with the hardware plugin mixer thing.  It’s fuckin great.

....End of Brett Handsome interlude....

True Romance Interlude # 5

Vincent Coccotti - “I am the antichrist.  You got me in a vendetta kinda mood.  You’ll tell the angels in heaven you’ve never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you.”

Return to bandog review.  All the hits.  Con and Dan stare into each other’s eyes in a private status Quo moment.  Everyone just kinda knows bandog are putting on a good show.  Like a band trying out its new wings and liking it.  Flying is COOL!!

Roll on Los Handsomes.  Brett writes the music.  Rennis writes the words.  Brett sings ‘em.  Drum machine, guitar, bass, 2 vocals. 

“Like John the Baptist in the rain.”

Each lyric is the source of a river who’s fish know something you don’t and has lots of illegal pipes flowing into them.  That line quoted above is the second last line of their song ‘My Ghost’.  It’s a song about time in a mental hospital and being “tied to this fucking twin bed..... while the nurses play crazy 8’s.” 

“Like John the Baptist in the rain.”  He’s open for business but the rain annihilates his salvation water.  John’s standing in the river.  Tears and rain and river water all the same.  Long hair.  (Scotty to bridge, trippy bitcoming up captain!)

I had a dream the other night, a touch email talking about a broken hearted man and vegetarians being told to fuck off and misinterpreting a bisous.  Swimming in deep waters, always coming up for air.  Helpful cherubs light the way with pollen bulbs.  Inhale water and my Turkish delight lungs cope for a little while, my nipples attempt to become gills before it’s too late.  (OK captain, we’re out, but we cannae take much more)

They played, ‘The Giant of Illinois’, ‘Dutchboy’, ‘Weightless Again’, ‘Down in the ground’, ‘I know you are there.

end of part one.

Gee I wonder what jingle I’ll play next?

Part 2 of the Unofficial Handsome Family interview; 

Me - “So Rennie, ye’re having the crack ye are?  Hicup.”

Rennie - “Yes, we’re having a nice time.”

Me - “OK, let’s see, aaaaaaa, last time you told me the Giant of Illinois’s shoes were well made with hand stitching and were burgandy before and after they filled with blood.  Do you mind me asking, in Weightless Again you say, “In our motel room, your reading moby dick.  Drinking slice and gin, on the other bed.”  Who is that person reading moby dick?  Higup.

Rennie - Oh, that’s me.

Me - REALLY?  Wwwwooooowwww!

More drunken tooing and froing, i.e. I’m so pissed I don’t notice my girl pinching my ass trying to get my attention.  But to go some way towards expressing appreciation for the greatness of the Handsomes, I give Rennie a big hug.  Slightly cringetastic in the sober light of day, but sure hey, it’s a big bad world and they don’t come around too often, so...  They said they’ll be back.

End of interview. 

BURNING AIRLINES interview

A while ago, back before the war, Burning Airlines came to our fair town and delilghted all that came along to check them out.  J Robbins was in Jawbox, so ‘nuff said. 

Circumstances of the interview – Burning Airlines have just blown our heads off with their catchy at-the-races kick ass well constructed tunes.  We waltz around with beer in our hands/mouths, and have a chat.

Mark:        What was your favourite toy when you were a kid?

Ivan:        I hate this question!

Pete:        I've had so many.

Mark:       The earliest you remember.

Pete:        Wow that's a tough one, that's a good question.

Ivan:        That's a bad question!

Pete:        I had this robot thing that ran on a track and it was a bunch of little robots. It was a sorta like a precursor to the transformers, a little robot would go into a bigger robot, OK I can't remember what it was called. If you were to have one today it would probably be a collector's item.

Mark:       That'll do nicely!

Ivan:        How did you get to join Government Issue, if you don't mind me asking?

Pete:        I was playing in a band called Dove and we played with G.I. at CBGB's in New York and Tom Lyle liked the way I drummed so he asked me to join the band.

Mark:       What happened the old drummer?

Pete:         He's an accountant now.

Mark:       Oh good!

Ivan:        Do you keep in touch with John Stabb and Tom Lyle?

Pete:        Not really. I see them from time to time. It's kinda like 'hey' 'howya doin'.

Ivan:        Are they still involved in the punk scene?

Pete:        I think they're getting out of it yeah.

Mark:       He knows more about the other bands you were in than I do.

Ivan:        But I know very little about the current band you're in.

Mark:       Just for the record, shout out the names of bands you were in for all the readers who will be reading this.

Pete:        KISS!

Mark:       You were in KISS.

Pete:        The Damned, Soundgarden uhh… and the Sex Pistols.

Ivan:        You can't argue with that, dude!

Mark:       I thought I recognised your face!

                Are you from Washington yourself?

Pete:        Yes.

Mark:       What's up with George Bush?

Pete:        I dunno, why's everybody so down on George Bush?

Ivan:        He's a great guy, a goddamn great American!

Mark:       He's an asshole, he wants to dig up Alaska.

Pete:        So. Fuck Alaska, let him! I don't wanna pay over two bucks a gallon for gas, y'know.

Mark:       That's what we pay here.

Pete:        Exactly!

Mark:       Gas is a luxury, you can't…

Pete:        Ah sure you can, pave the earth that's what I say.

Ivan:        What's DC like at the moment, is it still a good scene?

Pete:        Oh the music scene? I dunno. We just played with Bluetip in Groenigen, they're great.

Ivan:        But you don't call around to each other's houses and drink coffee and shit.

Pete:        Although the old drummer from Bluetip and I worked together in the same shop.

Ivan:        What shop was that?

Pete:        A backline hire company, kinda like Music Bank.

Mark:       Yeah we had Bluetip here about two months ago.

Albert:      He was told he was very handsome by a drunk woman on the street earlier!

Pete:        Yes! I'm a handsome bastard!

Mark:       OK we said 2 or 3 questions, this must be about question number nine- tell us about your tattoo.

Pete:        Which one?

Ivan:        Do you have any crap punk-rock tattoos, Misfits or Black Flag?

Pete:        No.

Ivan:        Damn!

Mark:       That one on your arm.

Pete:        It's just uh an oriental fish that's all, nothing to it.

Mark:       Diane, note to self- get a tattoo!

Ivan:        The latter day G.I. stuff was very "rock" how did you feel about that, it's very different to what you're doing now.

Pete:        I think the stuff we do now is a lot more produced.

Ivan:        Do you?

Pete:        Oh yeah.

Ivan:        But there's no Hammond organs or keyboards.

Pete:        (indignant) Yeah there is!

Ivan:        Jeez that's blown my argument!

Pete:        I mean nowadays you can get a Hammond organ sound on a little chip, you don't need a big wooden box with tone-wheels on it.

Mark:       One song you played here tonight- I think the chorus was "everything here is so clean" or something like that.

Pete:        "Everything here is new"

Mark:       It reminded me of 'Fashion' by David Bowie.

Pete:        Oh really, cool!

Mark:       Is there input from all three members in the songwriting?

Pete:        No it's mostly J and Mike. Once they've got something to show then we all sit down and work it out.

Ivan:        Are you involved in any other musical projects?

Pete:        Not at the moment, but last Fall I worked with these guys who used to play in Camper Van Beethoven.

Ivan:        Take the Skinheads Bowling!

Pete:        Yeah! We did a support act, a mini-tour with the band Cracker. So it was this weird Camper Van Beethoven reunion thing going on. It's a long story, I worked with those guys for a while, it was fun.

Ivan:        Can You confirm or deny the rumours that you were asked to be the next drummer for Guns'n'Roses?!

Pete:        I will neither confirm nor deny that!

Ivan:        OK I'm saying nothing then.

Mark:       What's your name?

Ben:         Ben.

Ivan:        Gentle Ben.

Ben:         Yes I've been called Gentle Ben before. If I'm not gentle my glasses get broken.

Mark:       Gentle Ben, what was your favourite toy when you were a kid?

Ivan:        Don't be asking that question!

Ben:         I wanna say Micronauts but there was a toy before Micronauts that was really cool. I can't remember the name but then there was a series of aliens that they made, I don't know if you remember 'em, how old are you?

Mark:       I'm 26.

Ben:         Oh you wouldn't remember 'em.

Ivan:        He's an old bastard!

Ben:         I was about 10 years old when they came out.

Mark:       My brother is actually 40 tonight or at least we're having a party for him tonight.

Ivan:        Party back at his brother's place!

Mark:       But enough about him.

Ivan:        Yeah let's talk about your sister man!

                So how did you get involved with these rock'n'roll deviants?

Ben:         Well I've been attempting to be a rock'n'roll deviant myself, I've known the drummer for many, many years, about 16 years.

Ivan:        Did you play in bands with him?

Ivan:        Any bands we would've heard of?

Ben:         The first one was called Dove.

Mark:       Yeah Pete told us about them.

Ivan:        I feel like I know this band!

Ben:         We met in college.

Mark:       What were you studying in college?

Ben:         Classical guitar.

Ivan:        (drunk) What're you doing playing the drums?!

Ben:         I don't play the drums!

Ivan:        No you don't play the drums.

Ben:         (to Mark) And he was giving you hell about asking silly questions.

Mark:       Yeah!

Ivan:        (indignant) Hey- I'm the drunk guy!

Mark:       Are you from Washington?

Ben:         Yeah.

Mark:       What's up with George Bush? He's lost control of the senate.

Ben:         He has which is a good thing. Thurman will take off soon, he's the oldest senator, he's like 87 years old.

Ivan:        Old enough to know better.

                What's DC like at the moment, do you all hang out and drink coffee with the Make-Up and Bluetip.

Ben:         We hang out with the guys from Bluetip.

                (Mark disappears)

Ben:         OK I'll just keep talking, he's obviously got better things to do.

Ivan:        Tell me about it!

                Oh! What about De Soto records? Is that still a collective thing or is it just a subsidiary of the Dischord corporation?

Ben:         Yeah it is its own thing, I can't really speak that much about it because I don't know that much about it. J is the one to ask about it, he was sorta a co-founder of De Soto.

Ivan:        Maybe I'll do that.

                So how did you join Burning Airlines?

Ben:         As I was saying I've known these guys a long time, Pete and J were playing in G.I. together. When they started Burning Airlines I was a big fan of theirs so when they needed somebody extra I was more than happy to oblige.

Ivan:        He's signing a poster! How long have you been playing with KISS?!

Ben:         With KISS? Oh not long enough!

Ivan:        How are you finding that Dutch Gold? Pretty bad?

Ben:         It's very American. It's like Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Ivan:        Is it?! I was just gonna ask you what Pabst Blue Ribbon is like.

Ben:         It's a lot like Dutch Gold.

Ivan:        Oh OK! Well then I'm missing nothing. I don't need to go to America.

Mark:       (returns) I'm about to hijack J for a minute.

Ivan:        Oh, so I guess we'd better end our conversation about beer!

Mark:       No, in your own time, I've a bone to pick with him about Jawbox.

Ivan:        You hear that- he's got a bone to pick! The guy with the beard has got a bone to pick-fair enough!

                So apart from playing with Burning Airlines what do you be doing?

Ben:         At this point not much really but when we do go home I actually play upright bass.

Ivan:        Upright bass, by golly!

Ben:         I make whatever money I can doing that.

J:             He plays in Airmail Special.

Ivan:        I like the sound of that.

Ben:         Sometimes I put on a tuxedo and go play for a lot of money.

Ivan:        Yeah you'd look good in a tuxedo, we should get you guys over here sometime.

Ben:         What's the pay?

Ivan:        Better than these guys!

Ben:         I think I'll just wear a tuxedo from now on and charge extra.

J:             Wear it with Burning Airlines, cultivate your natural panache.

Ben:         I could get a battery-powered bow tie that spins around.

Ivan:        What the hell is the story with the keyboard anyway?

Ben:         You'll have to ask J what the story with the keyboard is.

Ivan:        Yeah why'd you get him playing keyboard?

Ben:         J played keyboard on the record.

J:             We all played a lot of things on the record.

Ivan:        It takes a lot of people to play a keyboard.

J:             Well we played it individually.

Ivan:        So it wasn't kinda Rick Wakeman, Emerson, Lake and Palmer type stuff.

J:             No it was like Dave Greenfield, Stranglers kinda vibe, which is actually the same thing.

Ivan:        So Ben do you own that keyboard?

Ben:         I believe J owns it or the band owns it.

Ivan:        If he breaks it does he have to pay for it?

J:             Absolutely!

Ben:         Well I think I've paid for it already, paid for it in kind.

Mark:       We were talking to Pete earlier and I said that the song with the chorus 'everything here is new reminded me of 'Fashion' by David Bowie.

J:             'Fashion' by David Bowie?

Ivan:        He's calling you a fag!

J:             Yeah just spit it out, put it on the table!

Mark:       It's like the sound of the keyboard or something.

Ivan:        Not keyboards again!

J:             Hey David Bowie is bisexual OK!

Mark:       The song, the sounds or the words…

Ivan:        Get to the goddamn point would ya!

J:             No that song evolved backwards…

Ivan:        So if we played it backward would it have a Satanic message?

J:             No it would be 'Fashion' by David Bowie!

Ivan:        Is it true that you wrote a lot of the music for the later G.I. stuff?

J:             When Pete and I joined G.I. it was kind of a dictatorship on the guitar player's part and when Pete and I joined we managed to work things out. When I listen to the G.I. stuff now the basslines are pretty overwrought.

Ivan:        Nah, they're fuckin' rockin'.

J:             Thanks, to me it's the sound of an 18 year old trying to show the world that he really knows how to play bass. When it worked it was cool but when it didn't it kinda sucked.

Ivan:        That stuff sounds a lot more 'rock' than the earlier G.I.

J:             Yeah my favourite G.I. records are still like Joyride.

Ivan:        Make an Effort.

Mike:        Yeah that's an unbelievable record!

J:             That could be like the best hardcore record ever. I fuckin' love that record.

Ivan:        So what was it like growing up in DC back in those days?

J:             I missed out on a lot, I was like a suburban kid. I shut myself in the house and had no friends and played piano. I tried to learn Chopin and stuff, I was like this depressed Joy Division kid. I was sad!

Ivan:        You were a tortured artist! Oh, speaking of being an artist, you did a lot of photography and artwork from the G.I. records onwards.

J:             Yeah I've kind of given up on it for a while. I'm much more interested in doing music.

Ivan:        Is it still something you do in your spare time?

J:             Not really, I've done it for this band. I can only ever have real enthusiasm to do it for the band. I did it as a job for about a year when Jawbox broke up and I hated it, it was totally poisonous.

Ivan:        Yeah we haven't talked about Jawbox, I have to confess I never listened to them much.

J:             You and everybody else!

Ivan:        Hey you're drinking Dutch Gold as well! Horrible piss!

J:             In Maryland where we're from there's a beer called National Bohemian and it's like art student beer.

Ivan:        Does it have a naked Dutch guy on it?!

J:             No, he's a half-naked Dutch guy. No it has a Bohemian guy winking. It's student beer. Piss. This is what Albert got so we're drinking it.

Ivan:        He's robbing you blind!

                What about De Soto records? That's something you've been involved in since the Jawbox days.

J:             Kim Coletta (bass player from Jawbox) and I, we started De Soto but it's really Kim's label now.  She's like an incredible, friendly, organised business person, really driven and really, really great. She just got her shit together in a million ways. For me, my contribution to De Soto is just like to do artwork for her if she needs it or to be like "hey why don't you put these guys out? Ah c'mon, Shiner, you should put out Shiner!"

Ivan:        A name to watch out for kids!

J:             Shiner's amazing, they're from Kansas City, I think they'll tour over here in November and they're a really fuckin' great band!

Ivan:        As good as you guys?

J:             They're louder than we are!

Ivan:        I could live with that.

Mark:       I've a quick question to ask cos I'm going away.

Ivan:        Hey where the hell are you going with your goddamn corduroy jacket?

Mark:       My brother's birthday. I wanna know who wrote the bass line for 'Static'?

J:             Basically it's a Lemonheads rip-off cos I got the first Lemonheads single. I used to write all these crazy overdeveloped songs and I heard that Lemonheads song and a little light bulb went on where it was so simple- just chords and a melody and it was like the best song I'd ever heard. So I thought 'why don't I stop trying to second guess myself and get down to it and write a fucking song. 'Static' was the first song I ever wrote like that.

Ivan:        What do you think of the current state of punk-rock? Everything seems to be neatly categorised and safe.

J:             Yeah it's really irritating. I don't think there's anything that exciting about punk-rock anymore. But when we played with Clearshot before I was so thrilled to hear a band speak that language and make it sound fresh.

Ivan:        Any bands that spring to mind in America at the moment?

J:             There's bands that have some of that spirit, like Dismemberment Plan, The Eternals. That's two.

Ivan:        We never asked this guy any questions.

Mike:        Uh, I have the high score on Space Invaders. That's all you need to know!

Ivan:        Did you play it much back in the day?

Mike:        Yeah actually. Other kids would play basketball, I would play Space Invaders.

Ivan:        Any other arcade games you used to play?

Mike:        Um Jammer Lammy! Tony Hawks.       

Ivan:        They're recent, what about older games?

Mike:        Oh yeah! Robotron 4084 and Gyrus. That's about it.

Ivan:        Were you playing in a band before Jawbox?

Mike:        Yeah. One called Admiral. Don't bother listening to them!

Ivan:        Are you doing anything else besides Burning Airlines?

Mike:        Yeah, I play bass in another band called Jack Potential. We have a record called 'Alibis' on Deep Reverb. About 6 years ago we put out a 7" with an entirely different line up. That was on De Soto. J played bass on that, I played guitar and sang.

Ivan:        So what do you think of Dutch Gold?…

                Conversation deteriorates into rant about beer.     

END OF INTERVIEW 

Eamonn Dunphy’s (9-11) interview with Noam Chomsky

Eamonn Dunphy has been going up my charts of late.  His coverage of the ‘war’.  I hear shit on his show that I don’t hear elsewhere.  And I heard him interview Noam Chomsky last week.  Who the fuck is Noam Chomsky?

Noam Chomsky speaks honestly.  He is one of the worlds most challenging intellectuals.  He is a world leader in linguistics at MIT.

He sees America, the land where he lives, And sees the bullshit.  This society whereby corporate media, while not resorting to violence per say, manage to control the pubilc by ‘manufacturing consent’(that being the title of one of his numerous ace books) in the citizens of America, by basically pumping them full of propaganda and bullshit 24-7.  And in the recent events the American public is having to wake up and has a serious bullshit hangover.

There’s more to planet earth than little houses on the prairie, Knight riders, babe-filled baywatch beaches.

Anyway, Noam is the man.  So when they repeated the interview on Saturday, I taped it.  Here’s a bit of it.

Eamonn Dunphy - In Europe opinion is divided between some who want to give unqualified political support to the American political establishment in whatever they chose to do and others that argue this was an inevitable consequence to American foreign policy.  They are preaching caution and urging America to reflect and get to the root of this problem which is American Foreign Policy .

To which of those views are you most attracted or from which are you most repelled?

Noam Chomsky - I am most attracted to the second one although I wouldn’t put it this way.  The ones who are calling for total solidarity with the USA, that call makes sense.  And it could be taken seriously on moral grounds if the same people had given solidarity to the victims of European and north American attacks. 

So did they give total solidarity to the Nicaraguans when the USA attacked them in the 1980’s and 10s of thousands were killed and their country was virtually destroyed?

Did they call for the US to adhere to the world court judgement demanding that it terminate its unlawful use of force.  And we can go through any number of examples?

E.D. - Yes.

N.C. - If they didn’t do that, and of course they didn’t, in fact they took part in these assaults, then we know that although the call for solidarity in a very narrow sense, is ligitimate, it is based on utter hypocracy

Terrorist actions don’t come out of nowhere, everybody knows that.  And if you want to reduce the possiblity of further and even more violent attacks then you look at the reasons.

If your goal is to contribute to an esclating cycle of violence, then you don’t look at the reasons.  

There’s an close analogy near to where you are, though in a microcosm.  In northern Ireland there are hard men on both sides, whose sole interest is to escalate the cycle of violence...

‘You did something to me, I’ll do something worse to you knowing that you’ll do something even worse to me.’  OK.  That’s one way to react.

The other way to react, is to ask what lies behind it and try to deal with those circumstances

E.D. - How do you believe, Prof Chomsky, that the USA should react now, and its allies, what would be the wisest and most humane response?

There is a correct response, and I think everyone should know what it is.  This was a criminal act, a crime against humanity, a criminal atrocity.  In such cases there are legal means to proceed.  In fact there is even precidence for them.

For example when Nicaragua was attacked it didn’t response by saying ‘We’ll bomb Washington’.  It responded by going to the world court, receiving a judgement in its favour.  When the US dismissed the judgement, it went to the UN security council, as it should, the security council debated a resolution calling on all states to observe international law, it was veto’d by the US.  Then they went to the general assembly where a similar resolution was passed unanimously except for the US and Isreal, And then of course there was nothing they could do.  But they did not turn to say, trying to kill as many Americans as they could.

That’s a legal approach.  The US could pursue this approach.  Maybe not the in the world court.  Unfortunately the US cannot go to the international criminal court because it has rejected its jurisdiction.

But you could imagine an independant court set up or some other international judicial body, or the security council.  And it could present a case saying, ‘OK here’s the perpetrators, here’s the evidence about it, there should be an international effort to apprehend and bring them to justice.  That is the legal way.

Dunphy and Chomsky go on to talk about the best course of action.  Chomsky says it would be best ‘in the longer term, (to) find out what is the source of violence.’

He then spoke of how Bin Laden’s network were a CIA pakistan organised group who were funded to fight against the Russian occupation.

How there is enormous hatred of America in the Middle east for its bombing and sactions on Iraq which killed over a million people and only kept Saddam Hussein in power.  It rounded up with this question

E.D. - Finally Professor Chomsky,  can we conclude from the disposition of President Bush and his senior advisers, that there is very little hope that any of the things that you say and that many Europeans say which are accurate and reflect the reality of the situation; there’s very little chance that wisdom will prevail here, and every chance that there will be a response that will find favour with the mass of people in the USA who are hurt and angry but wont in any way tackle the roots of the problem

Noam Chomsky - Not only will it not tackle them, but it will escalate the problem.  Again you know that from Northern Ireland.  The dynamics are very familiar. 

But I’m not that pessimistic.  So for example, yesterday Chirac was in Washinton and gave that message. 

The French foreign minister warned that the US was about to fall into what he called a “diabolical trap’.  That Bin Laden and his network, who of course are praying for a massive military response, as it will help them mobilise support for them around the world.

He knew what he meant when he called it a ‘diabolical trap’, because French intelligence played a leading role in preparing what Virginsky called an ‘Afghan trap’ for the Russians. 

And when they drew them (the Russians) into a war that was going to destroy them, Virginsky took credit for that later saying “We prepared that Afghan trap by provinding assistance to the Mujahideen even before the Russians had entered.”  The French were right at the fore front of this effort, and when Vedrine speaks of a ‘diabolical trap’, he knows what he’s talking about.  

End of Interview.  Radio programme contiunes, thus;  as if A Noam Chomsky interview weren’t a big enough scoop for Dunphy, he then uses the F word!!!  Quoting from a caller to the programme,

ED - “James from Galway says that you can tell Noam Chomsky to go and fuck himself, he’s been reading him all week and he’s no good.”

You can transcribe words of sense all day

But it’ll make fuck all difference to some thick bastards.

END OF INTERVIEW

Interview Medulla Nocte

 Medulla Nocte are the dogs bollox being bitten by the crocodile’s fangs.  Hard!

At the AMC noisefest last July I experienced the amazing energy of Medulla Nocte for the first time.

I’ve seen a few bands in my short life that I’m getting on with, but none, je repete none, have blown my head off with such relentless fuck-off energy as this UK 4-piece.

I want to take time to try to explain what I thought was different about them.  As I found out afterwards (sort of confirming my guesses) their ‘tunes’ come from a dark places of the soul (my favourite).  They say they try to be as unsettling as possible.  They write about depression, bad shit, psychiatric problems.  Rather than bottle the bad shit up they let it out in a highly organised, well crafted, explosion release.  All 4 in the band give it 100%.  There’s really a lot to dig about them in their attitude as a band and in the power of their live show.

They were 10 times more powerful than anything.  They revved it up sound wise, vibe wise, craziness wise, passion wise, fuckin giving the facts wise.

They blew my head off in a way it seldom gets blown off.  Forever.

I got my balls and dic(taphone) in my hand and went over to talk to Paul.  He was a gentleman (I use that word in the ‘Rory Gallagher was a gentleman’ way).  And he had a strangely amusing Yorkshire accent.  I mean, the screams he was coming out with.  The last thing I was expecting was an ‘Emmerdale Farm’ “how ‘do Amos?” accent.  Anyway.  Here we go.

Fionn (Hereafter known as CS of Cavity Search) - OK you’re the singer.  What’s you name?

Paul (hereafter known as P) - Paul

CS - OK Paul, this is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything about Medulla Nocte tonight.  I’m a fucking changed man.

P - Cool

CS - What are ye like?  What are ye singing about?

P - Ah just an ‘ard life.  Yeah lots about dealing with depression and stuff. Bad experiences... broken friendships... just shit, ye know what I mean.  Psychiatric problems.

CS - One of your t-shirts says ‘All our friends are dead.’  Can you explain what that is about?

P - Yeah.  Well it’s quite an old song.  The lyrics are kind of about the people you grow up with.  You know you go to school and everyone’s bright and has ideas. And the next thing you know they’re just settled into work and marriage and kids and everything that they had is just burned out. 

CS - I see what you mean.  Yeah the first thing you said tonight in your show was, “don’t try this at home...  This is strictly professional.”  It was an appropriately confident sounding introduction to what was about to happen.  (Laughter/ovaltine)  I dunno.  It was mad to see a band like ye, as hard as ye giving a voice to what you said you were talking about.  How long have ye been going for?

P - We’ve been going about 7 years.  We’ve been going with this line up for about... Jammer the drummer joined up 5 years ago.  And Mark our bass player joined about 2 and 1/2 years ago.  So ye know.  2 albums.  A lot of tours.  We’ve done a lot.  We’re getting ready to record another album at the end of the year.  This is the last UK stint.  We’ve been going quite a long time. 

We’ve done about 650 gigs I expect.  It was around 600 when we lost count. 

CS - OK I’ll be honest.  I’ve fucking never seen 4 human beings give it so much.  I’ve seen a lot of singers this weekend.  But none of them were physically exerting themselves as much as you.  I mean, do you stay on the road?  How many shows do you do in a row?  Does it catch up with you or are ye just fit?  Does your voice ever give out at all?

P - Not any more.  It used to when we first started touring.  But as it turned out I had dodgy tonsils.  So I had my tonsils taken out.  Ever since then I’ve never had a sore throat. 

I dunno.  When we’re at home, because we don’t do this for a living yet, we don’t earn enough money to make a living at it, so we still have day jobs.  We do long weekends we do four or five gigs in a row. 

But then we did a 2-week tour of Europe with Devon Townsend.  And then we came back and done this UK tour again.  I mean we’ve toured for 18 days solid.  We did an Entombed tour.  It was like 17 days and we were in a van and we had a couple of days off which we filled in with gigs of our own.  But we just keep going.  When we’re on tour we’re fit as fuck.  Not like if we haven’t played for like a month.  But when we rehearse hard as well.

CS - Are ye’re rehearsals, like, that...?

P - Probably more intense.

CS - Yeah? (laughter/ovaltine)

P - That’s where we’re at our most intense.  Maybe not as physical, but musically.

CS - Here yeah, another question is how do the songs come about?  Do the lads write riffs first?

P - Yeah.  The guitarist comes up with some riffs.  And then we rehearse, play along with this... some drums...  We know when a song is going to be right.  I’ve always got words.  I’m always writing words.  Sometimes I just yell make a load of sounds over the top of it.  And see how it sounds.

CS - Yeah and then let the words fit after that kind of thing?

P - If everybody looks at each other smiling..

CS - It’s working.

P - We’ll pursue it, ye know what I mean?

CS - Yeah.

P - When we’re laughing... you’d see us laughing sometimes onstage because it’s really really intense... cos the people we play to when we’re onstage, are ourselves.  If we didn’t give that amount of effort, we’d have a big fuckin argument.  If anybody isn’t.... well it doesn’t happen

CS - Yeah it’s full on.

P - Exactly.  It’s from years when we used to play, when we were first going.  When we’d be play to like fucking 10 people in a bar in England.  We’d be like, “these 10 people have got to take it on.“

CS - ha ha ha

P - We still play those places you know.  Regardless of the amount of tours and work that we’ve done.  Some people still don’t know us.  Like tonight there are quite a few people here who didn’t know much about us.  But ye know, people have come and bought the t-shirt and they’ve enjoyed the gig and that’s cool as fuck with us, ye know.  It’s an energetic show, which is why in England we have the reputation that we do have.

CS - Yeah in England, how do your shows work out there?

P - Yeah ye still get the odd duffer (?).  Like we went to York.  This tour we’ve gone to towns where people don’t usually go to just to make it harder for ourselves.  And we’ve played to 25 people and sold 19 t-shirts.  (laughter/cola cao) You know what I mean.  And it was a great gig.

CS - Cool

P - Yeah so many other gigs that we’ve been to places where nobody goes and it’s been fucking mental.  We’ve done some big stuff as well.  Ye know, Soulfly and Cradle and all that as well.  It keeps it interesting for us.  We’ll go and play some DIY shows.  We just do what we got to do.  We’ve got a reputation in England as the UK’s most intense and we have to keep that up.

Cos now, in England, there’s a lot of bands coming up that sound like us.  Ye know.  And will openly admit that we’re an influence to them, which is great.  But we have to keep ahead of them.  We can’t be outdone.

CS - I was speaking to Decimate.  I asked what are Medulla Nocte like?  They said a bit like Labrat.  I was saying that I’d seen Labrat.  And they said ‘yeah we know them’ and that Labrat might try to sound like ye, or at least ye’re an influence on them.

P - Yeah.  And they’re good guys.  They’re good mates of ours Labrat.

CS - I mean I seen Labrat

TAPE RUNS OUT.....

I don’t notice that the tape runs out.  We continue talking.  Not for too long.  But I think I recall us chatting about Labrat’s abrasive as fuck noise show that they did in Limerick with tonight’s Freebase (although, I may be mixing them up with Subvert, doh).  Anyway, I suppose if this form of music has a name, Labrat are the younger kids, while Medulla Nocte are the Frank Sinatras of it.  A great fucking show. 

I asked him, Mark and Jammer what their favourite toys as kids were.  All I remember is that Mark said his knob.  I think Paul said some car racing shit, and Jabber action man, or maybe I’ve been infected with Albert’s lies virus.  Either way, they were lovely fellas who scared the shit out of us and cheered us up in the one huge swoop.

END OF INTERVIEW

JAD FAIR POEM

Well I have one request.

In fact I have a quest.

And that is to be your Supermannnn!

Super man!!!          (said up high and girlyish)

And you can be my Lois Lane and we’ll go walking down lover’s lane and we’ll see all our troubles go straight down the ......

thing that water goes down.

And we will always have a smile and never have no sad look on our face because we will have a love that time cannot ...... stop.

And we’ll take it on up to the ummmmm.... pinnacle and I’ll even buy you some cotton candy. 

Wont that be dandy?

Then we’ll jump into the station wagon.  Take it up to the North Pole, and sit there on Santa’s knee. 

Just you and your Supermannnnnnn!

I will not be satisfied being your batman.

Or even the fantastic four.  Cos I want more in the candy store.

Supersize it.

Gimme some of your fine love.....

I wanna be your SUPERMANNNNNN!

Hmmm.  It doesn’t quite read as well as it sounded when delivered by Jad the man.  Incidentally, a copy of same video can be obtained from me for a few pints and maybe a sexual favour coupon.  Or butter vouchers...  Or a euro changeover one-rover-one...

Or 3 dots...

GRAMMY SHAMMY

OK, So it’s the Grammies last week.  Mary J Blige has just blown everyone’s head off with ‘No more Drama’.  You might think R ‘n B yeah, whatever, not my cuppa.  But jesus this girl kicked so much ass.  There were evident parallels in the song with September 11th healing, ‘No more pain.... I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired...’  It kind of started low key, but after about 2 minutes of groovy hoveryness, a big drum fill in that made the drummer jump out of his seat and Mary was off.  There was so much energy.  By some wierd jungle law she called forth the power of ‘10 At the Drive ins’.  Totally let it rip.  Full on, half-rap half-improvised note perfect fuckin soul on a plate.

I can’t remember the last time I felt so blown away.  I’ve watched it 4 times on video and it’s lumps in the throat every time.

  There being 2 sides to every coin, the next person to take the stage is the CEO of the grammy Academy, mr grammy with a beard that nobody could trust.

He does some spiel about hall of fame shit, shouts out to Tom Dowd, Al Green, Joni Mitchell.  So he’s temporarily in my good books.  But then he says this next bit which stank of teacher giving out to the class.  Also, because I’m a really kick ass reporter bringing you the funky shit that matters, I transcribed this asshole’s entire speech.  So you better fucking read on!

Mr grammy:  “Everyone is watching tonight because they are passionate about the music.  You are fans of the music.  There has always been a very special connection of historical importance between the fan and the artist.  A relationship which enriches and entertains the public, motivating and sustaining the creator. 

In recent years industry consolidation combined with unbridled advances in the internet has created a disturbing disconnect in our relationship.  And trends say that it only promises to get worse. 

No question, the most insidious virus in the midst of this illegal downloading of music is piracy on the net.”

Some people shout something in the audience.  They don’t sound like they’re agreeing with him. 

He continues, “It goes by many names and its apologists offer a miriad of excuses.  This illegal filesharing and ripping of music is pervasive, out of control and it’s oh so criminal.  “

“Boooooo!” shouts some one in the crowd.

Now it’s time for the hound dog eyes bit;

“Many of the nominees here tonight, especially the new and less established artists (change of camera shot over to ‘Train’(below), writers of ‘Drops of Jupiter’ the most half assed middle of the road Ocean Colour Scene / Paddy Casey toilet paper non-rockin song, nominated for rock grammies) are in immediate danger of being marginalised out of our business. 

Ripping is stealing their livelyhoods, 1 digital file at a time, leaving their musical dreams hopelessly snared in this world wide web of theft and indifference.”

He then goes on to introduce the 3 college kids “Say hello to Namir, Stephanie and Ed” who wave at the camera, Namir shaking his head with embarrasment and shame. 

They’d been asked to download as much music as they could over a 2 day period from illegal music sites.  He says they managed to download 6000 songs in 2 days. 

“That’s 3 kids folks.  Multiply that by millions of students and other computer users and the problem comes into sharp focus.  Songwriters, singers, musicians, lables, publishers; the entire music food chain is at serious risk.  The IAAS estimates, now listen to this, that an astonishing 3.6 billion songs are illegally downladed every month.  This problem’s not going to be solved in short order.

It’s going to require education, leadership from Washington, and true dilligence to help our fans, and that would be YOU (he points into the camera in a ‘your country needs you’ rehearsed manner), to embrace this life or death issue.  And suppotr our artistic community by only downloading your music from legal websites.  That will ensure that our artists reach even higher and deservedly get paid for their work.”

So what’s the problem Fionn?

It’s all a load of bollox.  Major record lables are reaping what they sow.  From the A and R guys they employ to scope out the new happening talent, to the producer they get to fuck with the band’s sound till it becomes a marketable product, to the stylist who removes all warts of reality, to the rags that get paid to advertise these shit bands, to the MTV tastic video to send the kids/adults wild with ‘gottahaveitness’ to the full colour westlife ‘world of our own’  billboards that I don’t want to have to look at, to the ridiculous price of Cds.  It’s all an empire built of bullshit and Shaggy’s ‘it wasn’t me’ pubes are all over the coffee table.  Six’s ‘together, you and I’ fastest selling Irish single of all time is completely artificial.  They are 6 contorted souls in a contractually binding situation which has them singing what they’re told to sing and smiling when told to smile.  Happy days.

So if the record companies shrivel up and die because the artificially inflated record industry is fucked up by the new technology flood gates of the web, then good riddance.  For years they’ve been peddling shit bands down our throats, exporting artificial exponents of each country for foreign markets. 

Now that kids are educating themselves on how to do it themselves, the money which before went towards paying for infrastructural costs of record companies might now more directly enhance the “historically important connection between the fan and the artist.” 

Cheaper recording techniques, and more accessible technology to make promoting your own band (websites, CD sleeve design, touring the underground circuit) easier.

Artists actually not looking over their shoulder worrying about mr producer.  Getting to spend time at artistically more honest musical directions, instead of worrying about massive studio costs. 

Previously I’ve written about this “historically important connection between the fan and the artist,” and how what we’re talking about i.e. MONEY, really fucks up the connection between artist and fan.  MCD are a favourite dart board of mine, charging ridiculous money to see gigs. 

Paying 5 euros into a gig and paying 20 euros automatically changes your mindset.  Paying 20 means you’re expecting ‘wow these guys must be good.’

And I think that that musically, dimishes the work of the artist.  Artificial inflation of one’s reputation by hype all washes away to be bullshit at the end of the day. 

Which, hopefully from going to AMC gigs you’ll know it is bullshit.  You’ll know that bands can exist and excel outside the bullshit of being signed.  And underground gigs usually kick more ass than big overdone shows. 

This debate is huge.  But think about it.  A society of music made by real people!

You know what time it is.  I hope this has churned some ideas.  More soon.

END OF THING

What Was your Favourite Toy as a Kid?

The yolky thing formerly known as Cavity Search

So whadd’ya know? 

‘A night in bed with a bag of Telly Savalas’ heads’ (to give it its correct unedited title) was the job. 

Last Thursday the 15^th of June (2000)  saw the most successful AMC gig to date.  There were nervous twitches before the gig about whether our arses would be covered in terms of covering expenses.  So with the arrival of the 250+ crowd, our arses ended up getting decked cheek to cheek in the finest queen’s silky vanilla flavoured undies.  The warehouse owners were well impressed with the turnout and the success factor.  This does the AMC no harm at all at all.  It means that if ever Tom Waits or The Handsome Family check their answering machines and decide to accept our invitation to Limerick, we’ll be able to put on the quieter stuff there.

The 3 bands put on jolly good shows with ludlow starting things off around just before 9, bandog just before 10 and Veneer rocking us into the 11^th hour.  All of the above bands members mums and dads showed up for the gig, as did a lot of punters who gladly took the opportunity to check out 3 of Limerick’s best and see what all the fuss is about.  And I think I saw an odd hen party or 2 there thinking they’d get to see Telly Savalas strutting his naked head stuff around.  But alas no.  Sure I’m sure they had a laugh anyway.

‘Twas a great atmosphere.  And Cavity Search ace reporter Fionn the friendly rocker was there, this time with his Dic(taphone) in his hand to get a few interviews.  Of course, as the night went on, the footage on the tape got a little sillier with 20ish minute conversations with Ger Veneer and Flan C. Jnr. talking about Woodcock hill and the future of the mosh pit in the Celtic Tigers layer respectively. 

Most of what was recorded dragged on.  But there were a few Gems.  And also, everybody I met was asked what their favourite toy as a kid was.  Hence the change of zine name.  It doesn’t read quite as funny as it sounds on the tape.  Maybe we’ll release it up in Black Spot some day.  But until then, here goes:  (note: this was all fucked together hastily so apologies for whatever…_

me - What was your favourite toy as a kid?

bandog’s answers

Con  – Lego              Why? Cos I could make it and break it

 Dan  – I was asked this in the only other interview I ever did. 

Dan’s girlfriend Ellen – His knob

Dan - No!  So the right answer is lego, yeah?

me - Yeah.  Of course that’s pretty middle of the road, not very rock n roll. 

Dan – A bit like bandog really.

 Mike – My knob. 

me - That’s original.  Everybody else picked lego. 

Mike - Oh yeah I used to make my knob out of lego too. 

Sean – The didgeridoo.  Oh yeah, you were in Aus.  That’s right.

 Ray-bandog  - Match box racing cars

ludlow

Ronan – Subutteo.  Yeah, we used to make our own cups out of tinfoil.

me - Jaysus subutteo.  That’s a bit of a 70’s game.  You must be pushin on a bit yeah?

Ronan - Nah, I played it in the eighties.  D’you ever play it by yourself?

me - I dunno.  I only really ever had hand-me-down subutteo with a moth eaten pitch and all the men broken.

Ronan - No, all my players were in top condition.

Barra –

Veneer family

Steve – Football.  Most other people have answered lego.  Lego, go way would you.  That’s just for computer nerds. 

Ger – Lego

Eoin – lego

Annie – Buckeroo

Colm – Lego

Shane –

Lisa -

Tooth family

Shane – Calculator

Anna-Marie -

Liam – A short piece of rubber

Siaffra -

Mark – Snoopy, the hand made dog

Nancy – A pet rabbit called susymaron

Stephen – A short piece of rubber

Cian – Farm machinery  Real-life size or maniature?  No, they were only small.  But they were great, there was a little tractor and you could load up the bails and they’d all come out perfect. 

Dave – The millennium falcon.  The big giant one. 

Assorted non-rocker meagre human members of the crowd

  Orla – Action man.  You could move his eyes around and all that.  But it was fierce disappointing when you took his clothes off.  Nothing there at all. 

me - Yeah, the makers of action man really missed out on a great opportunity to sexually educate us all but instead they just put in that silly eunuch mound. 

Yeah, terrible.

James the Canadian from Toronto – A dead Elvis doll

  Jean – Elmo.  But sure Elmo’s only around a few years.  Are you still a kid or wha’?  OK, Grover so!

  Other Gems on the night

A passer-by in the jacks notices that my machine is stuck on pause and points it out to me.  I reward him with an interview.

Mr monkey nuts. - What are you recording this for now in fairness?  Is it for an art project or some shite?

me - No it's for some article I'm putting together called Cavity Search.

Mr. Monkey Nuts - Yeah there's loads of that shit going on up in Dublin.  There's nothing like that down here.  Fuckin send it onto me now will ya?  I'm at grabisfix@hotmail.com.  When you're sober now tomorrow don't forget.

me - Thanks a mill head.

 Rachel - Here’s a poem about fleas which is well known for its length.  ‘Adam had ‘em’.

 Since making this tape a number of the contributors have expressed anxiety about ‘what the hell did we talk about?’  So what you read here is what came out of the folk, most of whom were after a few drinks.  But all discussions were conducted with candour and with nutra-sweet candourel spoonful.  I think the following interviews will go down as an almost landmark cross-sectional view of the Limerick underground scene (if there is one) and its creative pulse.  Or else it will be a drunken pile of shite.  You decide.  I’d say the latter.

Barra O’Toole, the interview

me - Hey, Hi I’m Fionn the friendly rocker.  Ludlow boy, wanna do an interview?

Barra - Sure.  Barra O’Toole.

me - So Ludlow, you’re last gig was a year and a half ago.  What was that?

Barra - Yeah down in the belltable.  Since then we’ve just been writing.  We got a website together.

me - Yeah I signed your guestbook. 

Barra - Was that you?  Alright.

me - Yeah did I see you at that Sparklehorse gig last year in Galway?

Barra - Yeah.  We asked for a song and Mark Linkous said he would play it if someone bought him a whiskey.  So we bought him a Jim Bean.  He said “Jim Bean?  I’m signed to a major record label.  I thought I was at least worth a Jack Daniels.”  So we did.  The bass player drank the Jim Bean.

Ronan ….  The interview

me - So what’s the plan for Ludlow.  5 years / 5 months down the road.

Ronan - Sure we don’t even know what’s happening 5 weeks down the road. 

me - Sure that’s the best way to have it anyway.

Ronan - Yeah.  We’ve the website set up and sure we’ll take it from there.

Ger Lane – The seriously chopped down interview (abridged at Ger’s request(but we left in all the juicy bits))

me - So, happy with tonight?

Ger - Yeah, it’s amazing.  Great turnout. 

me - I didn’t quite catch what you were saying about woodcock hill?

Ger - Yeah I was just making the point that everytime you go up there these days it seems to have more and more cars and people and less trees.  I’m not OK with that.

John Baird, Limerick's bespeckled movie kid.

me - Making an album/making a film.  Any parallels?

John - Set your own goals.  Aim to achieve what you want to achieve.  If you don't, at least you tried.

me - Apart from the Blair Witch Project, it seems you do need a lot of money to make films, true?

John - You can do shit with a lot of money and you can do well with a little money.  In some ways it dictates film making.  You just have to believe in what you're doing be it music, film, painting, within the resources you have.  Aim to achieve the best out of what you've got.

To quote a man I heard once 'Aim for the stars, you'll hit the top of the trees.  Aim for the tops of the trees and you'll hit the lower branches.'

The valued opinion of Charles Foley, 60's rock legend, was sought and given:

me - What do you think of young rock and roll?  Differences between today and yesterday? 

Charlie - It's surviving.  The technology has increased.  The music is much louder.  But human nature is what it is throughout the millenium.  Kids will enjoy themselves no matter what. 

me - But compared to the showband days, do you see kids freaking out more or less than they used to do, or did it feel more rebellious for them with the priest looking over their shoulders at the discos?

Charlie - Yes you have a point there, there would have been more of a deterrant, something more to rebel against.  But the music is more overpowering these days overall.

me - Anything to add. 

Charlie - Until the next time.

Eoin O'Siocru - I'm here with my mother, 2 sisters, 3 dogs, 4 cats, and 5 sheep

me - Yeah I met them in the bog earlier.

me - Dave SAY SOMETHING.

Dave Marley - I like eggs when they're fried.

me - Why?

Dave - Cos they're nice.

We're taping over the foo fighters, are ye all OK with that?

Dara - Never heard of them man.

Albert - As long as it's not 'My Hero'

me -  I heard that you said Yo La Tengo's gig was only grand?

 Albert - For all those who were at their show in Dublin Yo la tengo their rendition of  'You can have it all' the acappella thing with the dancing they did was one of the most relaxing, soothing, coolest rock and roll moments of 2000. 

me - Any others?                              

Albert - Magnetic fields - 69 lovesongs, by it it's fantastic.  The latest Superchunm album.  Other than that kids buy some Husker Du, Replacements, GoBetweens, lots of Nomeansno, some Ween if you're a fucked up weirdo, some King Missile, who's new album is one of the greatest r n r covers of all time.

A brief segment of the Flan Costelloe Jnr. interview, which went on much too long, but was worthwhile....

me - I mean, full respect to Costelloe's, they always supported rock and roll throughout the years in Limerick.  But at the last 10 Point Rule gig, someone got thrown out, it all went a bit pear shaped.  So your comments are colouring in the facts a bit.

Flan - We'd love to have gigs in Costelloe's again, You're more than welcome.  I'll let the world know that, we'd never stop any band from playing...

me - But when a mosh starts to happen, where does the line get drawn?

Flan - The line gets drawn when......... a mosh has to be controlled.

me - Yeah, but the best moshes are out of control ........etc....but I've no problem with a venue holding such a view

 Cian O Siochain - I'd personally like to thank the prople at ProCo, who made my RAT distortion pedal, soldering pieces onto it and passing it down the line to the next fella.  I want to say "You're piece made my day."  They do it 8 hours a day.  And it sure takes spirit to solder that motherfucker on

me - And minimum wage...

Bandog interview.

me - Happy with tonight lads?

Con - I quit

Sean - The amount of TITS around here tonight ...

Ray - They should throw all the monitors on the stage into Lmierick dump and get some fans, not as in humans, but as in the things that cool you down.  They should get them up on stage.     

Me - s that why you stink?

Ray - No.  Do I stink?  No?  Then why are you making me paranoid then?  There's lots of lovely ladies around tonight.

Me - Yeah I'm sure they'll all be throwing themselves at you once they realise who you are.

Ray - That's just Super!  I just got a rush of overwhelming superness up my spine!!

Dan - People were expecting Telly Savalas I think.  I should have cut my hair a bit shorter.  One guy said, "I loved that whole Divine Comedy thing you had going."  I thought is he serious or does he just know my second name is Devine?

END OF INSANE LIMERICK MOJO

Band Interview

 If you'd like to do an interview, just fill out the answers to these questions and email them to me...

markmoonboot@yahoo.com

So what do you think of Limerick you're a whore's knickers?

What's you're favourite colour?

How long have you been together?

Define punk?  Love? 

Who writes/plays what?

How do you write music?

Which is your favourite westloaf/spice girl?

What advice would you give a young band?

What are your turn ons?  turn offs?

Are you talking to me?

Bla bla bla............................................

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