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
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
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!!!
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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!!!
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
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
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...
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.
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 15th 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 11th
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
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
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.
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
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............................................