Interview with Inger Lorre of The Nymphs

Delusions Of Adequacy: From what I’ve read, you grew up in New Jersey on the East Coast of the U.S. and as a kid you learned to play different musical instruments. Were you self-taught or did you take lessons? Did you want to become a musician at this early age or did your folks push you to take lessons?

Inger Lorre: Yup, I play violin, viola, piano, acoustic bass and guitar, electric bass and guitar, alto sax, toy piano, harmonica, and skin flute. I took lessons on all the above except toy piano, and electric bass and guitar. No acoustic guitar lessons either. My parents were scientists, and every birthday from 11 to 15 I would ask for a guitar…xmas too. They would give me really expensive SCIENTIFIC gifts…but no guitar. EACH XMAS AND BIRTHDAY, in order, I received, a TELESCOPE, a MICROSCOPE, a unicycle (yeah they were weird), and a metal detector… but NO FRIGGIN GUITAR!!!!! They didn’t want to encourage that sort of thing. They were upper class, and quite snooty, if ya know what I mean. My dad was the president of the board of education in our district of 6 or 7 towns….he was a big fish…I was the FUCK UP daughter…my sister was little miss goody two shoes, (Ivy League college, converted to Judaism, married a nice, rich Jewish guy, has a maid, nanny, Upper East Side apt. in New York, wears Prada…you get the picture. She DENIES that I’m her sister. NO JOKE dude. It hurts me, but that’s the facts….Oh, well…I love her, even though she hates me. She’s my sister… Oh, well.).

Finally I dated a rich drug dealer who got me my first guitar, a beautiful 1968 black SG with P-90 pickups!!!! The happiest day of my life… god bless Bobby Ebz. He wuz in a band called GENOCIDE from New Jersey…he’s dead now….Google him. He played guitar with G.G. Allin. He was my first FUCK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!-boyfriend…(sigh!!!!!!!).
This is true…..but unbelievable….my parents actually took me to a shrink for A YEAR, telling him that I HAD DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR, because, I must be crazy because I “THINK I’M GONNA BE A ROCK STAR!!!” for real!!! What a waste of money!!!! How misunderstood I FELT!!!!!

To all the kids whose parents are making them see a shrink…show your parents THIS INTERVIEW!!!!! My PARENTS’ reality was the one that was skewed, kids!!!! You should have seen how SORRY they were when I FAXED THEM THE 87 PAGE GEFFEN RECORDS CONTRACT with a cover letter that said “WHO’S crazy NOW mom and DAD?????!!!!”.

Believe in yourself! No one else EVER will!! KNOW what you love…what turns you on…what your favorite color is…your favorite song!!! NEVER JOIN THE “JOINERS!!!!”. Follow your fucking HEART DAMN IT!!!!!! Whew!!!!

DOA: After high school and a stint at the Pratt Institute, you headed out to the West Coast of the U.S., specifically Los Angeles. What was it like on the West Coast in comparison to the East Coast?

Inger: FIRST of all, California, to quote Sandra Bernhardt, “is the heroin of weather”. It’s ALWAYS beautiful…and the air is ALWAYS fragrant…and there is a SOFT-FOCUS quality about the light, which is why the movie industry started out here in the 20’s (and YOU thought it was a happy accident!). David Lynch talks about the LA light. It’s beautiful, and unreal, and you need to experience it to “get it”…

Also…it’s so inspiring…to be a NOBODY from NEW JERSEY of all places, whose parents said she wasn’t gonna amount to SHIT…and to see these people who were, like, GAS STATION attendants one week, and movie stars the next, (Johnny Depp). There is SO much HOPE and possibility… you always think…hey, Courtney Love was a stripper, and fat, and ugly too!!!! Wow!!!! Anyone can do this!!!! COOL!!!!!!!!

God BLESS Courtney Love…She was WAY cooler lookin’ when she was “ugly”…and by the way, she was NEVER really ugly, SHE just thought so. Fuck plastic surgery…there is NO SUCH THING as “UGLY”. God doesn’t make mistakes, man!!!! It’s ALL how you carry yourself. It’s ALL self belief!!! Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa weren’t frikkin SUPERMODELS!!!!! Yet they were two of the MOST BEAUTIFUL people I have ever seen photos of! You dig!????

DOA: How did The Nymphs form and what was the dynamic of the band? Were you the leader per se, or was it a democratic union in creating the songs and getting things done?

Inger: It was definitely my band…I wrote most of the music and words…I had most of the songs written before I even HAD the band, but during the band, when certain members would change a line of lyrics, or come up with a better change, groove, or drum beat, then they definitely got credit where credit was due…because we fought a lot. I don’t think ALEX, the drummer, was actually given his due…or given the attention he deserved for creating the grooves and beats that were the “HEARTBEAT” of The Nymphs…Those who MATTERED noticed though. When IGGY POP came to do the VOCALS on the TRACK “SUPERSONIC” (how many people can SAY THAT ABOUT THEIR DEBUT ALBUM???), HE ACTUALLY ASKED ALEX TO LEAVE AND JOIN THE IGGY POP BAND!!!!! TO HIS IMMENSE CREDIT, ALEX SAID “THANX, BUT NO THANKS. I LIKE THE BAND I’M IN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!”…BUT WHEN THE BAND BROKE UP, IGGY CALLED HIM IMMEDIATELY!!!!! HE PLAYED WITH IGGY FOR ABOUT TEN YEARS.

DOA: As part of The Nymphs, you played gigs with lots of other bands (Peter Murphy, Soul Asylum, Soundgarden, more). What was the best tour/set of gigs you have been on based on inter-band camaraderie? What was your best show just as The Nymphs?

Inger: Honestly, it’s hard to remember with all of the drugs we were doing back then (WHEW!!!! I’m surprised we survived at all!!!!)…Um, well, there were a STRING of shows in LA with JANES addiction, like seven in a row or something, at the HEIGHT of their popularity, that were just….um…MAGICAL would be too soft and diminishing of a word. They were RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES and I think anyone who was AT those shows would agree…the kind of shows where everyone in the first three rows upfront were simultaneously CRYING and singing all the lyrics to the songs, BOTH our songs AND JANES…wow… what a few great shows…

DRAMA-WISE? Opening for HOLE at ROSELAND in NEW YORK (I’ll keep my mouth shut about that one. Kurt was very recently dead and she was just NUTS. Little Francis was there with headphone protectors on…and there were THREE, count ‘em, THREE NANNIES!). Drew Barrymore was dating ERIC so that just added to the weirdness. Drew is the sweetest, KINDEST, most NORMAL, and down to earth girl though…

SOUNDGARDEN and the NYMPHS at the Club Lingerie in LA was pretty awsome!…FUCK!!! Chris could really sing his ass off then!!!! Plus he had really long hair…and was a STONE COLD FOX!!! Prettier than most GIRLS I knew at the time!!!!
And also, we had THREE NIGHTS sold out, opening up for the JESUS and MARY CHAIN at the UNIVERSAL AMPLITHEATRE!!! Wow!!!!! The crowd went NUTS!!!! And they were so NICE TO US!!!! So POLITE!!!! We finished the show and went into our dressing room and they had left 5 JESUS and MARY CHAIN sweatshirts, one for each band member! That was a really kind GESTURE!!! So we gave ‘em Nymphs shirts in return. It’s these little kind gestures that you remember YEARS later…

DOA: The Nymphs broke up in 1992 and you moved back to the New Jersey/New York City area. From what I’ve read, you met the incomparable Jeff Buckley in a bar and struck up a friendship and recorded on each other’s albums. What was the experience like, working with Jeff Buckley and creating songs with him?

Inger: It’s still too painful for me to talk about Jeff Buckley, his death and all that. I was living with him in his New York apartment at the time of his death. Go out and buy the book “DREAM BROTHER” for all the details about Jeff and me. You can get it in ANY major book store. There are hundreds of pages about Jeff and my life together…Sorry, I’d rather not talk about those precious, private memories… too fuckin’ painful dude…

DOA: I’m a big fan of Jeff Buckley and adore his album Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk – and one of my favorite songs off the album is “Yard Of Blonde Girls”. Did you write that song with him?

Inger: “Yard Of Blonde Girls”, nope, Jeff had NOTHING to do with writing that song. That song was written by my friend AUDREY CLARK of the 360’s (an AMAZING Boston band. Check them out on RCA…great 3 or 4 records…simply amazing!!!! You can contact her at 360’s on MySpace). Anyway, “Yard Of Blonde Girls” was written by Audrey Clark, Inger Lorre, and Audrey’s sister, LORI KRAMER. It was LORI’S verse, “through the yard of blonde girls… through the river, and the sea, gold sharks glittering, a tree of white, breaks the earth”. She is an AMAZING poet who has had a REALLY, REALLY hard life (in and out of mental hospitals, drug addiction, problems with the law…), but, even through all that, LORI is a genius, and a survivor. I adore that girl. She is WAY, WAY more talented than say, PATTI SMITH, who Lori worships. She wouldn’t believe it if I told her that her OWN poems blow PATTI SMITH’S poems away – and that’s NOT to say that Patti Smith sucks either. Did you know that Patti Smith is from NEW JERSEY???? Last Christmas I sat next to her on a train from New York to New Jersey…she was going home to visit her mother for the holidays…it was hard not to stare!!!! Ya know???

Anyway, Jeff always loved the song, and he never, ever got to find out that the lyrics I wrote in that song, “It’s in your heart, it’s in your art, your beauty…even in this world of lies…there’s purity. You got innocence, in your eyes, even in this world of LIES, you’re still hopeful, that’s very sexy…ok, ok…” were actually ABOUT HIM!!!! So when he was singing it, he was singing about HIMSELF!!!!! It’s funny that he chose THAT song to sing of mine, when it was about HIM, and like I said, he never, ever knew that it was about HIM!!!!

Also, there is a JACK KEROUAC (the famous beat poet who wrote the novel On The Road) record out there, called KICKS, JOY, DARKNESS. Steven Tyler is on there, Matt Dillon, and JEFF and me again doing this song called “ANGEL MINE”, which is a Jack Kerouac poem set to music I wrote. I play synthesizer on that one and Jeff plays guitar and sitar with a bow (and the MOUTH SAX). Jeff was a genius. It was a pleasure to know him…truly….

DOA: You released a solo album in 1999 called Transcendental Medication on Triple X Records. How would you describe the sound of your songs? Who collaborated with you on the album? That’s Jeff Buckley on the song “Thief Without The Take”, right?

Inger: Jeff and I do a duet on my solo album, Transcendental Medication. The song we sing together is called “Thief Without The Take” – it’s about robbing from yourself, and coming away with NOTHING…basically about fucking yourself over…which I did for WAY, WAY too long…

The album was recorded with a band called MOTEL SHOOTOUT. They were a Jersey band led by a guitarist/singer named KEITH HARTEL. I was dating the drummer in the band, PAUL BOTTIGLIARO. The album was produced by the famous producer (he is actually a NEW YORK genius who has worked with FOETUS, and the Royal Trux, and Sonic Youth)…his name is JAY WASCO, and his band is called JOHNNY SKILLSAW. JAY is a GENIUS…you will be BLOWN AWAY if you go check out Jay’s website on MySpace. I don’t know if it’s listed under JOHNNY SKILLSAW or JAY WASCO, but if you take the time to investigate, you will NOT be disappointed. You’ll see what I mean when and if you find him…hands down…THE MOST TALENTED PERSON I HAVE EVER MET…more talented than JEFF BUCKLEY and ELLIOTT SMITH and all of the Beatles COMBINED!!!!!! Go find him!!! It’s SO, SO worth it!!!!!!

Of Montreal – Icons, Abstract Thee EP

On the heels of the excellently effervescent indie-rock on Of Montreal’s 9th album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? and borne from the same sessions, comes the EP Icons, Abstract Thee.

Armed with the same biting and satirical lyrics and swirling vocal harmonies these 5 songs are not quite formed with the same visceral fortitude as their Hissing Fauna brethren, musically speaking. Yes they are distinctly Of Montreal, but they feel as though they were recorded when frontman Kevin Barnes was in a slightly lighter mood, although the lyrics suggest otherwise.

“Du Og Meg” opens the 21 minute disc and is musically upbeat using Of Montreal’s trademark peppy beats with some happy sounding horns and Barnes’ quirky voice that sounds like a young David Bowie. “Voltaic Crusher/Undrum To Muted Da” continues the frisky pace with a whimsical melody of playful keyboards and a quirky harmonized chorus that cuts right into the slower-paced “Derailments In Place Of Our Own” that entices with a classical string introduction before sliding into a scornful rant over slow acoustic strumming and a dark, foreboding bass line thump.

The mood shifts again with “Miss Blonde Your Papa Is Failing” featuring a bittersweet guitar melody with soft, Shins-like vocal harmonies that ends with some delicate acoustic guitar. Closer “No Conclusion” picks up the pace again and sounds the most like an out-take from Hissing Fauna. With an incredible amount of twists and turns, including a turbulent mix of jingly keyboards, twitchy guitars and a lot of psycho-stylized vocal harmonies, it’s woven with floating sound effects and click-clack percussives that create a theatrical mix of pop and rock that reminds me of Brian Eno’s early solo works.

If you haven’t heard Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? or aren’t familiar with Of Montreal, I recommend picking it up and introducing yourself to the sometimes intoxicating psych-pop musical fantasy world of Of Montreal. If you like what you hear, then you should seek out Icons, Abstract Thee as well as earlier Of Montreal material. If you’re already familiar with Of Montreal then you have an idea of what to expect from Icons and it won’t disappoint.

A New Dawn Fades – I See the Nightbirds

Instrumental duo A New Dawn Fades doesn’t sound like Joy Division, despite the band name. The tracks on I See the Nightbirds range from June of 44 math-rock to Letter E subtlety.

Most of the music consists of just guitar and drums. When first listening to it, I didn’t know that the band had only two members and didn’t notice the lack of bass or singing. On “Glories of Summer Camps Past” the music starts and ends furiously but its middle section just drifts along with some skilled, inflected beats backing a few guitar notes. In the hands of lesser musicians a passage like this would have quickly become boring but a New Dawn Fades knows how to introduce enough small variations to keep you involved.

On tracks like “Internet vs. Industry, Internet Wins Every Time” the guitar has been replaced with a keyboard and the drums have an echo to fill the space. It’s a short track, as are a few others, and that’s probably because the band knows better than to wear out its welcome with silly repetition. Opener “No Experts On Big Things” could easily be a Mercury Program cut. Its melodic “choruses” show the same understated guitar virtuosity that Mercury Program and Aerial M’s Dave Pajo give us. Clean guitar with a few well chosen notes — the recipe that goes against a lot of math rock, where the quantity of sound can outweigh the quality of note choice.

“He Carried A Whip In His Trotter” has a quietly modulated synth foundation overlaid with some interesting bell-like percussion and e-bowed guitar. That’s all there is to it, but it sounds full, and its mix of sadness and hope make it soundtrack material. Title track “I See the Nightbirds” has a similar guitar approach to that on “No Experts,” where the emphasis during the “verses” emphasize note choice and timing. It revs up here and there and it finishes the way “Summer Camps Past” does — going out with a bang.

The record ends with “Neornithes Returns.” Its acoustic guitar and strings set it apart from the other tracks sonically but not thematically. A New Dawn Fades represents the sound of rock musicians who realized that you can say as much with orchestrated instrumentals as you can with a pounding sonic assault.

Magnetic Health Factory – The Magic Skyline

File The Magic Skyline by Magnetic Health Factory under “So Bad It’s Almost Good”. For a sub-lo-fi amateur exercise, this has some charm.

The strength of The Magic Skyline is its tenderfoot songwriting. The pimple-faced compositions work because they don’t try to mask the album’s weaknesses. The end result is a collection of songs meekly representing the unrealized indie star in us all. The better tracks include “I Confess”, “Paper Thin” and “Nobody Else Does”.

But buyer beware – many listeners will find ample reasons to cringe: the singing is borderline pitiful, the musicianship unremarkable and the production is dainty. During vocals, watch out for breath “pops” caught on tape and pushed through your speakers. And considering Magnetic Health Factory claims to have started back in 1995, these serious flaws are a bit disconcerting. Why the lack in development? Simple answer – lack of talent. Examples of weaker tracks are “Everyone’s Shutting Up” and “Better Pills”.

The music is primarily the effort of Eric O’Connor, a Guided by Voices fanatic. He started as a solo multi-instrumentalist, but in August 2005 he relocated and decided to make his project a full-fledged band with guitar, bass, drums and even some synths. Previous releases include 2005’s Communication Breakdown, 2000’s I Can’t Wait to Not Talk to You and 1998’s Don’t Postpone Joy.

Whether or not you will like Magnetic Health Factory’s The Magic Skyline depends on your opinion of Guided by Voices and your tolerance for puttering musicianship, limited natural talent and weak production. But if you’re always willing to give a bereft novice his shot, after a few listens you might find that The Magic Skyline is redeemed by its vulnerabilities.

Charming – Turn Down the Lights

This New York City-based group brings us an album that is two years in the making and features what the group likes to call “indie pop soul”. But that description is only the half of the picture. The band mix pop, disco, soul, twee, new wave and even international accents not only throughout the album but with many style changes within individual songs. While this may instantly make you wrinkle your nose at the thought, this group somehow takes it all and makes it work. Even in the moments where they sound cheesy, they also sound as though they having a lot of fun which even makes some of the sillier 70’s disco moments work most of the time.

The smooth and luscious voice of Nicole St. Clair Stoops is at the forefront of the album and acts as the anchor that holds the wide variety of sounds together. While her voice may be lovely, it doesn’t have the ability to fit into a wide range of styles. So, perhaps as an effort to make up for that, the group changes up the music instead. But the problem here is that it doesn’t always work in the groups favor. While the disco influence can feel a bit too much at certain points however they do strike a good balance between that and twee in a few tracks like “Lost and Found”. Here Nicole’s voice sounds at home between her own cute-sounding voice dishing out the less-then-cute lyrics and 70’s high-pitched harmonies in the background.

The other style that works very well for them, which is perhaps best suited for Nicole, is the more piano-based soul pop such as on “Turn Down the Lights” – which has plenty of “ooh la la’s” and “whoa oh oh’s”. Despite the happy sound of the music, the lyrics speak of relationship troubles with lines like “He really isn’t so bad / when you turn down the lights”. Although I’m not sure they were thinking with the random stylistic change midway through the track because the song was doing so well up until that point. “Sunday Afternoon” is also a winner for Nicole with its cute pop quality. While the Latin American jazz infusion towards the end is a fun little piano-based diversion, I would’ve rather seen that as a separate song altogether. It’s almost as though the group is trying too hard and instead of focusing on what works well for them, they end up packing in way more than necessary and sometimes even ruin what could’ve been pretty good songs.

In “Stranger (I Will Never Be A)” the group falls more in the soul category with Nicole’s voice dripping with a sexy, smooth quality that remains a bit too light for the style. The song starts out with bare musical accompaniment before the backing male vocals quickly pick up the funk along with horns, strings and an electric guitar that pops up in places. This is a good attempt but no matter how hard she tries Nicole still lacks the brassy, deep quality needed for a true soul performance. This is just not her element and is why the lighter fare works more in her favor. Whereas “Oceans” has Nicole’s voice take on a more breathy quality and it floats along over an acoustic guitar and hopping beat for a more straightforward indie pop style that has the slightest hint of alt country. This is certainly a style that works well for the group and while they couldn’t help but put in a diversion of sounds towards the end, the addition of the piano definitely added to the song. This track also has me wishing they did more similar stuff, as well as incorporating some more of the power pop style of their past efforts.

Turn Down the Lights shows us that it’s ok to blend different genres although it’s important to keep in mind what works best both vocally and instrumentally for the group. And, it’s also best when the shift doesn’t happen mid song. While I think the album could’ve used more energy and a little less soul, it’s still a charming group of songs for those who enjoy pop music with a little funk soul.

Interview with Level Plane Records

Ask any band on the Level Plane roster about label owner Greg Drudy and you will hear nothing but the highest praise. According to The One A.M. Radio’s Hrishikesh Hirway:

Working with Greg has been great. Since he hadn’t ever put out a record like the One A.M. Radio before, I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d be getting into when A Name Writ in Water was coming out. He put so much time and effort into it and he is really supportive of what I am doing. He really takes care of his bands in a way that is rare among smaller labels; he understands that if you are serious about dedicating your life to music, you need a lot of support from the label, and he provides that to an extent that separates Level Plane from many others. Before I had put out a record with Greg, I asked a few friends who had worked with him about their experiences, and they were all glowingly positive. I am happy to add my voice to theirs in praise of his hard work.

Jeff Kane from City of Caterpillar/Malady and Dan from A Day in Black & White also told us that Greg is one hard-working guy, doing everything he can to help all of the Level Plane bands out while they are on tour and many other times as well.

For the past six years, Greg has put out some amazing and eclectic records from some of the best hardcore, post-hardcore, indie rock, noise, and electronic artists not only in the US but around the world. Level Plane has been home to records by Japanese avant-grind band Melt Banana, City of Caterpillar who managed to blend Mogwai’s beauty with Sleepytime Trio’s pure volume and abrasive chaotic hardcore, The One A.M. Radio’s introspective singer/songwriter hush, the mind bending, new-wave influenced A Trillion Barnacle Lapse, Air Conditioning’s harsh droning noise, Muslimgauze’s electronic work, and Drudy’s own Hot Cross, n explosively technical band along the lines of At the Drive-In or Fugazi. That doesn’t begin to count for the long list of other equally impressive records Greg has put out in the same time frame. Being one of my personal favorite record labels, I was more than ecstatic about getting to interview Greg. What I found was a sincere person who truly believes in what he is doing, which makes me more than happy to say that I will continue to be inspired by Level Plane releases for years to come. Here is how everything went down.

Delusions of Adequacy: How did Level Plane get started? How did you get it off the ground and what was your first release?

Greg Drudy: The label was initially started to release a debut 7” by my first band, Saetia. We had agreed to release an LP/CD with Mountain Records, but they thought it would be a good idea to get an initial release out there. We decided to take two tracks from our demo and release a 7”. It was also done to have a record to sell on our first tour. This first release was a mutual effort amongst all of the band members. All of the subsequent releases have been done by just me.

DOA: Where did the idea to name the label Level Plane come from?

GD: One night we were assembling copies of the Saetia 7” and I was also looking through the current issue of National Geographic. An author was discussing photography and the need for a level plane. It seemed like an interesting phrase and we were at a loss for anything else at the time.

DOA: When did you realize that Level Plane was going to be a full-time label, and was there a significant release that marked this?

GD: Well, the label still isn’t really a full-time label. It consumes most of my life, but I don’t make a living from it. Starting with the Forstella Ford Quietus LP/CD, I began to take the releases more seriously. I began to do more advertising and promotion for each release. They were really the first band I worked with that was on the road, touring, for a good chunk of the year. I felt like I needed to at least match their effort and energy if they were going to entrust me with their record. Prior to that, I was mainly doing 7”s or vinyl only releases that were pretty limited in pressing.

DOA: How many people are on the staff at Level Plane? Do you run it out of your house or is it in an office or some other place?

GD: I don’t have a staff at all. It’s just me running the label and the mailorder. In August of 2004, I met a guy from Charlottesville who came on board and started helping me with promo mail outs and tour support stuff. He has really helped me out greatly. This summer I had a lot of releases come out and many of the bands were on tour. John and I were in my basement for hours on end filling out tour posters and mailing promo CDs. It was brutal.

DOA: There were some other people that ran the label at first, correct? What happened to them?

GD: There have been a couple of people involved at various times. But time constraints, other priorities, and my personal moving around have whittled it down to just me.

DOA: Do you still have a day job? If so, what do you do there?

GD: I am primarily a freelance programmer. I worked for years in NYC during the dot-com boom. I have been on tour so much this year with Hot Cross that I haven’t taken on many jobs. In the downtime I have been focusing on the label and the mailorder. I am lucky to have a very supportive and understanding wife. Although, once this tour ends I might be getting a job as a parking lot attendant.

DOA: The records on Level Plane are pretty diverse. You can’t get much different than say The One A.M. Radio versus Shikari or Air Conditioning as opposed to A Trillion Barnacle Lapse. Is there a reason for this, your own eclectic interests perhaps?

GD: Definitely. My musical tastes are all over the map. Many of the earlier releases were in a similar vein because these were bands that Saetia was playing shows with at the time or that I was friends with from the NYC hardcore scene. I never wanted the label to be limited in the type of music it releases. I would rather release records that appeal to all of my tastes and be completely fulfilled in the end. Records like the Muslimgauze 2xLP or The One A.M. Radio LP/CD might seem to be particular standouts from the overall label catalog, but to anyone that knows me it would make perfect sense.

DOA: Do you actually “sign” bands to the label or is it more of a personal thing where you become friends with these people who happen to make excellent records and you want to help them out?

GD: I don’t work with contracts and I don’t really “sign” bands. Almost every band has members that I am friends with first. Some of them are people that I might meet while on tour and played shows with them. The fact that I play in a band and am always meeting people through that medium accounts for the large volume of releases. I am just constantly meeting bands that I think are creating outstanding music and I want to help them out as much as I can.

DOA: You’ve put out several releases from international bands such as Melt Banana, Kaospilot, and Envy. How did these come about?

GD: Each release from an international band came about in a unique way. Out of all of the bands, I had only seen Melt Banana play before asking them to do a record. On a whim, I e-mailed Melt Banana and asked them if they would be interested in doing a record with me. They responded pretty quickly and asked to check out some releases I had done. I shipped them a box of records and they were impressed with the quality of the packaging and the music. They asked me if I would release a 6” because they had never released a record on that format before. It blew my mind. Melt Banana is one of my all-time favorite bands, so to get to release a record by them was unbelievable. The entire experience was topped off when Hot Cross toured Japan. We were able to play in Tokyo with Melt Banana, Envy, and City of Caterpillar. It was an experience I will never forget.

DOA: Do you receive many demos? Have you ever released anything by a band that has sent one in? If not, has there ever been one you’ve considered?

GD: I do receive a good amount of demos each week. I actually listen to them all. When Hot Cross goes on tour, I bring along a box of demos to listen to in the van. They range from really well done and professionally recorded demos to some kids setting up a boombox in their basement. I have never released anything based solely on a demo. I did being to work with Transistor after they sent me a demo with eight songs and that same weekend Hot Cross played a show with them in New England. It was really awesome to get a kick-ass demo in the mail and then follow it up with a really powerful and energetic live performance. After that, I was definitely into working with them.

I am actually pretty critical of demos. I think that the level of effort and time someone invests in creating a well-recorded and well-packaged demo reflects how seriously they take their art and their band. With Saetia, we all saved up enough money to go into a solid studio and record a decent demo before we sent it around to some labels. I can’t imagine any label is stoked to receive a poorly recorded demo with a handwritten note that contains only an e-mail address and the band’s name.

DOA: Does putting out your own band’s records ever present a conflict of interest or work to the disadvantage of the band or label?

GD: I don’t necessarily think that it has been a disadvantage or a detriment to either the band or the label that I have released all of our records. At times, I do wish the burden was taken off of my hands. It can be really hard to balance the needs of my band with the needs of all of the bands on the label. I really strive to make sure that all of the bands are treated exactly equal, with the same level of attention and effort dedicated to each. I think it has worked out well so far. I am not sure if I will be releasing the bands next full-length, but that is far down the road.

DOA: You’ve done some split label releases before such as the Jeromes Dream/Usurp Synapse 7” with Cleanplate Records. What is it like working with people from other labels and will you be doing any more of these in the future?

GD: Honestly, working with other labels can be a great time and a stressful time. I am quite a control freak, and having to rely on others to get things done is often nerve wracking for me. It can be a real boon when neither label has sufficient funds to release the record or all parties involved are good friends. I will probably not do another split label release unless it is something like one label releasing the CD and another doing the vinyl or licensing the record out to another label.

DOA: Are there other record labels that you think are doing a good job or that you’ve tried to fashion Level Plane after to a certain extent?

GD: There are several labels that I think do an amazing job and have definitely been an inspiration or guiding force for me. I particularly like the way Jade Tree and Dischord both run their labels. They seem to be able to release records they believe in as well as take great care of all the bands. Very few bands leave those labels once they are signed and on board. I think that is always a telling sign of how a label works with and for its bands.

DOA: Where do you have your CDs and vinyl pressed? Is it pretty inexpensive? I know there have been some releases delayed in the past because of problems at the pressing plant, what is your worst experience with that?

GD: I typically get all of my print material (CD booklets, traycards, vinyl inserts, posters, and films) done through Imprint in Florida. They are amazing and great to work with. MCOM in Tennessee does all of my CD duplicating and assembly. Erika Records does all of my vinyl pressing and assembly. All of these places are a mix of good prices and good service. There are cheaper places, but they don’t have the same level of service. I also believe in keeping all of my manufacturing in the US so none of these places source out work to Canada or other countries.

DOA: I am always interested in finding out what music other people love. Running a record label, surely you have some records that you love; is there a favorite, one you continue to find inspiration in? Why?

GD: There are a ton of records throughout my life that have been inspirational. Like most people, I tend to latch on to one record for a few months or a year that really gets me going. Right now I would have to say that it is still The Mars Volta’s Deloused in the Comatorium. That record is completely amazing to me. The intricate and catchy vocal harmonies and the extremely tight and creative drumming really sets this record apart. There are two recent releases that I think are also outstanding. Both the new Pinback and Q & Not U records have been in constant rotation in the van since we got them. I can see myself coming back to both of these records many times in the future.

DOA: What’s in store for 2005? Any major releases that you wouldn’t mind sharing a few details about with us or giving a hint?

GD: Right now I have about four or five releases planned for early 2005. In January, there will be the final Bucket Full of Teeth LP/CD and a remix CD EP from The One A.M. Radio. It features tracks from the full length remixed by Alias, Daedalus, Caural, Hrvatski, and some others. Transistor Transistor and The Holy Shroud will be releasing their debut full lengths in February, and hopefully there will be a new Anodyne EP as well.

DOA: Where do you see the label in 10 years? Do you think you’ll still be doing it?

GD: I really hope the label is still going in 10 years. It has already been going for about six years, which is mind blowing to me as it is. Another 10 is an enormous hurdle. I just hope I will still be putting out relevant releases in 10 years.

Interview with Bob Mould

Over the past six or so years I must have notched-up nigh on a hundred interviews with bands for various publications and through various lines of communication. And I’d like to think I’ve become immune to the thin veil of fame. I’ve come to observe that so many artists can be as fallible and as regular living as us music-lovers. But then sometimes even the most cynical and faux-highbrow amongst us can still get star-struck by the very presence of someone whose music has touched our hearts, minds, and bank balances. It happened to me interviewing Kristin Hersh on the phone for my old student paper, I felt it the first time I met Madder Rose, and it sure as hell hit me on the day I talked to Bob Mould.

Heck, this was Bob Mould! A living legend who had injected monster melodies into the clogged arteries of American hardcore-punk throughout the 1980’s, during his tenure in the brilliant Hüsker Dü. The same man who gave Nirvana a run for their royalties during the American rock boom of the early-1990’s with his inspired heavy-pop trio Sugar. A distinguished songwriter who has also consistently challenged his audience and redefined himself as a solo artist – flipping through brooding acoustic introspection, surging guitar-pop, and experimental electronica.

Not everything marked by the Mould stamp is an essential purchase admittedly, especially with the debate still raging over the merits of his current electronic-orientated album Modulate. But there is little doubt that Bob Mould is one of the most expressive, intelligent, and influential American songwriters of the last 20 years. A gifted melody-maker responsible for some of the most important songs and sounds of the last two decades, that’s even before we mention his ability to extrapolate more that just raucous riffs from his arsenal of guitars. And with Modulate still hot off the presses, Mould has released a live album as well as a much more electronic album under the moniker LoudBomb.

With all this looming heavily in my mind, it was with some considerable trepidation that I found myself being led through the backstage maze of the London Astoria to meet Bob Mould. Would he shatter my love for his musical accomplishments if he turned-out to be a grumpy old rocker? Would he spit-out or swallow my questions about his past glories? Could he really be bothered talking to someone like me, this far down his heavily interviewed life?

After the warm introductions and handshakes, I sat down and fumbled with my Dictaphone. Then in walks Wayne Coyne, the frontman of the evening’s headline act, The Flaming Lips. Watching agog as two towering figures of America’s rich living musical history conversed in such a gentlemanly fashion, I knew then that somehow it was all going to work out just fine. From start to finish, Bob Mould was polite, patient, self-depreciating, yet passionate as he answered my reams of questions with the enthusiasm of a younger man blessed with the knowledge and experience of a 40-something professional. Talking to Bob was more rewarding, enlightening, and entertaining than I could ever have predicted. But as a fan, it was still more than a little weird…

Delusions of Adequacy: How has touring for the new album been so far? Is this is the first time you’ve ever really toured as a one-man-band?

Bob Mould: Well in 1991 after Black Sheets of Rain and before Copper Blue, there was a whole year where I did nothing but acoustic solo shows. I probably did 150 of them, almost all summer here in Europe, a lot of time in the UK. And I’ve done those sporadically throughout the last ten years, but this particular presentation is new. The album [Modulate] was finished probably last fall, almost a year ago. And in the interim of deciding how to release it, I started thinking about having some kind of visual presentation as well. I started getting hold of different filmmakers to put together all this visual stuff, knowing that I was going out solo, trying to give people more value. I had gone to a digital film festival in New York and seeing this enormous video presentation, I thought it would be great just playing in front of something like that. I put the album out in the States March 12th and on March 26th I began what was a 30-date US tour, where I played a lot of small theatres doing this kinda show where it’s me standing up playing to track for a 90 minute show with big screen behind me. It was a fairly elaborate put-together. It was interesting; I enjoyed it quite a bit. People who came with an open-mind, liked it a lot; some people just didn’t want to hear about it.

DOA: Did you get some hecklers, shouting out for old Sugar songs?

BM: No hecklers, there was a lot of old songs. The drum ‘n’ bass versions of Hüsker Dü songs were big! No, people like it. The record is one thing; the stuff on Modulate is a lot more aggressive live with me playing big guitar over it. The response has been really good to the films. And at these four shows, doing the abbreviated version with The Flaming Lips, people have been good with it. It’s a bit of a leap that I’m asking for people to come with me on, a little trip that’s a different thing.

DOA: By doing the video screen element, is it a way of avoiding being just another bloke playing acoustic solo?

BM: Yep…

DOA: And a way of compensating for the fact that you haven’t got two or three other people standing besides you on stage?

BM: Yes, exactly, and you know if it were just me standing with the guitar or on a chair with a guitar it would be the greatest thing in the world for 10 percent of the crowd. The other 90 percent, after half an hour would go, “is he going to stand up?!” It just adds value. We’re in a day and age where it’s not that cost prohibitive anymore, the technology is that much cheaper, so that it’s easier to put these things together.

DOA: How does it feel treading the boards after four years away from the music business? Did you ever think of not coming back?

BM: No. I just needed some time to get away from it. I was just tired of it. Tired of being the rock guitar guy. After 20 years of it, I just sort of hit the wall. Yeah, I know that’s my bread and butter so to speak, that’s my ace card. In my position I was watching a lot of – with the risk of sounding egotistical – lesser quality people doing a lot better with my sound. I thought, oh well, if that’s how it’s gone, I may as well pack it in for a little bit, sit it out, and see what happens. I just got tired of being that guy and wanted to find different ways to make music. I sort of told people that four years ago, and I guess everybody thought he’s just winding us up with some stunt. I really took a lot of time to think about it. I spent a lot of time with the samplers, with the synthesisers and different tools, but still wanting to make pop music. I always wanted to present it to people.

DOA: Is music quite an impulsive thing for you?

BM: It’s just what I do when I wake up in the morning. I would still do it whether I had a career or not.

DOA: When you stepped out of the music business, did you try to normalise and put some routine in your life?

BM: Absolutely, and I miss it! The touring makes me miss it. Yeah, I had full routine. Get up and have breakfast, work for a couple of hours, go to the gym for a couple of hours, socialise for a couple hours more, go home and sleep for a couple of hours, and get back to work for the rest of the evening.

DOA: Now, in-between all this, you did some work for the World Wrestling Championships on TV. Was that another way of just getting away from ‘being Bob Mould’?

BM: Well, I was a life-long fan and a student of the wrestling business. When I got the call to come over as a consultant for that, to help with the production of a regular TV show, I was floored. It was a dream come true, like managing a football team would be for some people or whatever. I threw myself into that for seven months. That took seven months of my life where I didn’t do a stitch of music, because I had to take all of that creative energy and put it into a different thing. Very difficult work, very hard work. Helping to put together five hours of live TV every week is not easy!

DOA: Did you make a lot of money from it, did it help you over your lull?

BM: No, I didn’t get compensated nearly enough for what I should have, for that amount of work, but it was a labour of love.

DOA: So, without wanting to pry, did you have a lot of money saved over from Sugar?

BM: Yes, and I’ve done well in other ways too. It’s been a prosperous decade…

DOA: If you could pigeonhole your new approach, what would you say? MAGNET magazine called it “Bobtronica”…

BM: “Bobtronica”?! That’s awesome! The presentation itself came from when I was watching this Madonna HBO special – and I thought why can’t I do that?! Or the Cher tour career retrospective – I was like why can’t I do that, tongue-firmly-in-cheek?! Would people get this? With my history, would people appreciate this? Well, the sound, it’s like zero percent guitar to a 100 percent guitar, zero percent electronics to a 100 percent electronics. I flip it around and move it around. At the end of the day, the decision-making process, the aesthetic and the sensibility, that’s where I put my imprint on it. When you listen to it, after a couple of listens you get past the shock, you hear all the same elements I’ve always used, albeit with different instruments.

DOA: Well that’s what I was just thinking. I didn’t like Modulate a huge amount when I first heard it. Then I kind of forced myself to listen to it – not in a sadistic way – just so that I could do you justice in interviewing you. And I do get it after a while. Basically, I think your greatest strength has always been that capacity for melody. I have friends who can take or leave most of your stuff, but they say when you write a great melody, it’s more than just a great melody…

BM: For most fans that’s pretty much where it sits. Yeah, it’s a difficult record, and for people who know the history it’s a shocker and it wasn’t what people wanted, I knew that going in. That’s why I’ve been trying to sell people on the idea “give it three or four listens and you’ll find your way in and it won’t seem so strange.” You know, the whole stack of it; it’s a work in progress. I have to go here to get to the next place. This isn’t the end, this isn’t the best, I need to refine this and move it in a different direction to get to the next place.

DOA: Did you ever stop and think – this is too weird, this isn’t me?

BM: Yeah, I got the kind of feeling “wow, people may hate this.” Once I got used to living with that fear, it freed me up even more for the first time ever! You know it’s not easy being me from my perspective! When I’m in the chair, I know what people like. When I’m winning, winning, winning with a certain way why would I mess with that? When I realised there was lot to be gained from failing in some people’s eyes, it made it all the more interesting!

DOA: You’ve recently acknowledged a new enthusiasm for a lot of dance music, like Sasha & Digweed and Daft Punk. Who or what turned you on to this kind of music?

BM: Just living in New York for the last decade, save a couple of years I was in Austin, Texas. You’re surrounded by electronic music in New York. I mean New York is one of the few places in North America where electronic music is the prevalent form. A lot of my friends who are in guitar bands moved to electronic music and were doing great things in New York. It just opened-up a whole new world and made me a fan again. Specific pieces of music, like Sasha’s The Expander EP, it was just like “wow, it’s the same layers as Beaster [by Sugar] but different!” Paul Van Dyk, recently the Daft Punk stuff. Also recently things by Röskopp, The Boards of Canada, Múm, stuff that’s further out. It made me a fan again. It made me go out and buy five records a week, which I hadn’t done in years.

DOA: Did you get involved with club culture much or was your new passion purely from buying records?

BM: Mostly from buying records. Yeah, some club culture but not like the Roxy scene, I’m a little old for that! Chill-out scenes, where people were spinning stuff that wasn’t so much about sticking a glow stick in your mouth and dehydrating to the point of near death!

DOA: You’ve said that a lot of your older songs have traditionally been written from the perspective of very real personal depression. Does Modulate maybe see you break away from that?

BM: Yeah, I think so. There’s still “Lost Zoloft” and “Sunset Safety Glass,” those aren’t the happiest songs in the world. “Comeonstrong” is pretty uplifting, “Soundonsound” is pretty uplifting….

DOA: “Trade” and “Quasar” seem quite ‘up’ too…

BM: “Quasar” is just a funny little pop song. “Trade” is a very old song. That dates back to the end of Hüsker Dü basically. It’s a song that band could never manage. I was working on one piece and it reminded me of that song, so I just re-approached that song with the new style. Yeah, I think it’s a little more ‘up’ record than usual. So that’s a nice break for me.

DOA: By tackling your depression, did the creative part of you ever worry that you might lose a lot instant fuel for your songwriting?

BM: Yeah, a little bit, but that’s hardly enough of a reason as I get older to stay depressed! I think when I was younger I had fuel to burn, it’s easier, but as you get older you’ve got to conserve your fuel…

DOA: Otherwise you might burn yourself out…

BM: Yeah, I think also there was a lot of coming to terms with where I am in life, where I fit in as a gay man in America, and getting more comfortable with who I am. You know, when you don’t hate yourself for what you are…

DOA: Did you go through a period of not liking yourself?

BM: You mean self-hating? Yeah – for 35 years!

DOA: Do you think that you’re underrated as a lyricist?

BM: I think people have missed a lot with not spending time with the words on this record. I think there’s really interesting wordplay that people didn’t take to. I don’t know if the words stand up separately from the music…

DOA: I think some of them do, I think it comes down to a practical level that most people can’t hear many of them because of the way you’ve recorded your vocals over the years…

BM: Yeah, the voice doesn’t sit out front, it’s another instrument in the mix.

DOA: It means you’ve almost got to sit with the lyric book and listen…

BM: Yeah, I always make sure to put them in for that specific reason.

DOA: Besides Modulate, you’re also putting out two other records this year….

BM: Yeah, The Loudbomb album Long Playing Grooves, which is great. It’s been available on the website for three months though, and we’ve been selling it on the road. That’s yet more electronic than Modulate, and then there’s the third record Body of Song, which is two-thirds done. I’ve got to finish writing four more songs and go back down to Georgia and finish recording it. But that stuff I also wrote over the last three or four years, it’s a lot more in the vein of Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain in the tradition of the folkier stuff and the confessional narrative linear songs.

DOA: I was listening to a few tracks off Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain last night, and although some of it’s acoustic, a lot of its played as if it were rock. Does Body of Song take a gentler approach?

BM: Some of it is gentler, and some of it’s pretty close to Sugar. So it’s sort of in that arc. There’s some of it where the other guys are playing, where we might add some loops and percussive things to it, just to liven it up. The three of us are still sort of looking at it and working on it.

DOA: Is Long Playing Grooves all instrumental or is it song-based?

BM: It was supposed to be all-instrumental, but I ended up writing words for nine of the 12 pieces! Some of them are very pop, but some of them are very electronic. It has a lot more, longer unfolding pieces.

DOA: Did these three albums come from a bulk of songs you’ve been writing and then you just filtered them out…

BM: I was writing everything in bulk. I thought it was going to be two records, but I made it one and then it just wasn’t working, so I split it up into three. It’s all been through different convolutions to get where it is. Leading with Modulate was the brave move! The brave and perhaps stupid!

DOA: Once you’ve got these three albums out of the way, are you going to continue alternating between the three forms?

BM: Yeah, at least two. The Loudbomb project gives me the studio electronic repository I really need. Things bearing my name will probably be more story-orientated. A logical split between things I can play live with a guitar and things that can be mixed into a DJ set.

DOA: How are you enjoying being your own label boss with Granary Music in America?

BM: It’s costly; it’s an expensive business to be in. It’s good. It’s very stressful seeing how corrupt the business is. I’ve always known, but you know when confronted with writing the cheques for the radio play and the good review in the retail house publication, it’s a little bit of a shock to the system. Low and behold after all these years thinking people maybe really liked the work, in fact the record company was paying them to like it! It’s very costly. What I would like to do over the next five years is migrate the fanbase from looking at my music in magazines and retail shops to looking to me directly for releases, so they come to the website direct. I really want, over the next five years, to try to filter it that way. I know I’m going to lose a lot of people because of that but frankly there’s so much product in the music shops now and there’s so many companies that are spending so much money on 17 year olds… I can’t compete with that. I’m not that guy anymore, they can’t dress me up and roll me out there and make me look good. I am what I am!

DOA: Do you think that the Internet has helped you resurface?

BM: I think it’s a good supplement to the publications that care and the non-commercial radio stations that like the music.

DOA: I think some people have got too obsessed with the whole MP3 thing. Personally I still want the record, and I still want to have the physical thing. I think an artist’s website should act as a conduit or information station. I can’t think of anything more boring than spending three hours downloading computer files. I can see the positive things from it, like Guy from Fugazi said he considers it a “very democratic form of radio” in the sense people can get to hear the things that they want to buy…

BM: I think that’s true. I think that before last month – when the music business in America shut-down all the Internet radio stations with the whole thing about them trying to play royalties comparable to commercial radio stations – I was the kind of guy who’d go on the Internet for an hour a day and have an Internet radio station playing in the background. They would show me the tracks, and the ones I liked I would write down the artist’s name and go to the record store and buy it or order it from their website. So I think there’s two distinct types of people as far as Internet music goes. There’s you and I who might get exposed to something and we go and buy the tactile product. There’s people who think it’s just kind of shareware that they can download and they have no concept that they’re taking money out of my pocket. They have no concept of being a patron of the arts. The best scenario is where people support the artist directly. We’re a ways from that yet – if people can get it for free, why would they pay?

DOA: But are those people into it anyway?

BM: No, exactly. You know you and I are old-fashioned music-fans who understand that you’ve got to support it to get it.

DOA: Stepping back a bit in time. There was a quote from an on-line paper that I found via your website recently, where you said in regards to Hüsker Dü “I’m surprised people even still say that band’s name.” Now that seems like an off-the-cuff, self-depreciating thing, but at the same does it reveal a bigger kind of resentment that the band seems to have been forgotten about even though the influence is still felt?

BM: Oh no, I don’t spend anytime thinking about how that band should be positioned. History will take its course. Hüsker Dü was a pretty influential band, and I knew that as it was happening. I had a feeling that Hüsker Dü was good compared to everything else that was going on at the time. There was only a handful of bands I thought were that good like Sonic Youth, The Meat Puppets, or ourselves. I don’t know what that band’s place in history is be going to be. I hope to God we don’t end up in the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame” or something. That would really defeat the purpose of the whole thing.

DOA: Hasn’t one of Hüsker Dü’s songs been inducted already?!

BM: Not one of mine!!! [Hüsker Dü's song "Turn On The News" written by estranged former band member Grant Hart was inducted into the "Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame" a few years ago]

DOA: The band’s posthumous fanbase doesn’t seem to have endured as much as the bands’ you overlapped with. I’m thinking of your peers like REM, The Pixies, and The Smiths who still command an influence as well as a current listening fanbase. I came up with three possible reasons why the band’s following doesn’t seem to have endured. Firstly, do you think that it has to do with the fact you never really compromised? Secondly, when you were at your most pivotal crossover point you seemed at your most fragmented. And do you think that even just the sound of some of the latter-day Warner Brothers records hasn’t endured as well as the earlier ones?

BM: What was the first one? The compromise? I didn’t see any purpose in compromising. It’s whatever gets you to the dance. If being a difficult bastard and being really single-minded about the way you’re represented is what got everybody paying attention at that point in time, that was the course to stay. It would have been very easy to mix the vocals up a little louder and turn the guitars down a touch and then maybe we would have been The BoDeanes or some other forgotten band of that era! The second one, the fragmenting thing? In my mind the band peaked at Flip Your Wig. The following two records where basically solo records…

DOA: I agree…

BM: I think both of the Warners’ records were solo records that just got divided up. There was very little in common between the three members at that point. If we’d have been smart, we would have packed it in about half-way through 1986. And what was your last possible scenario? The sound of those records not ageing so well?

DOA: Kind of. I think Zen Arcade still sounds fantastic, it’s got such a raw sound, but I think with the Warners-era stuff there’s a certain sound to them that hasn’t aged so well. I think your acoustic songs on Candy Apple Grey and Grant’s piano song sound quite contemporary but some of the other ones haven’t endured as well…

BM: Ah, I don’t think it was that different. I think Candy Apple Grey was the best-sounding record myself, because that was the one that had no interference. That was the purest sounding record that those three people made. Candy Apple Grey, from where I was sitting, sounded like we tightened up a little bit of the rawness. I don’t necessarily think it had a Flock of Seagulls thing going on though! But I know what you’re saying. They are just snapshots in time. I don’t know if I agree with that thought as much as your first two. But you’re asking the wrong person, I know every stitch and every flaw on all of those records.

DOA: If you could pick a favourite album from each of your three career phases what would you choose?

BM: For Hüsker Dü, I think Zen Arcade is “the one” in that band’s history, only because of the scope of the work, nobody else would have dared do that at that time. A double-length concept record?! How un-punk! It really set the stage for everyone to let their hair down. Solo? Workbook, because it was such a shock to people, in such a good way ultimately. And Sugar’s Copper Blue because that had everything I learned to date that was distilled into 40 minutes. A record with only one questionable song – you only get to do that once or twice in a lifetime.

DOA: Do you think that you’re good at starting bands but not finishing them?

BM: No, Sugar ended great, that had a great ending. Hüsker Dü had a miserable ending! I mean it had at least three endings I can think of, depending on who you talk to! I don’t know, I mean there’s no good way to end anything.

DOA: Do you think the wounds will heal in time?

BM: Between me and Grant, specifically?

DOA: Well, yes…

BM: No, I have no intent of ever going back to revisit that. I tried for many years to not shed negative light on anybody that I’ve worked with. I think that was the best way for me to go about it, and I think I’ll continue to go that way. I don’t like having shots taken at me, but I have other things to do. It’s bothersome, I don’t respond to it. Most of it’s not true…. So I don’t go back to revisit all that. I’ve tried through Grant and Greg’s attorney, who handles the Hüsker Dü estate, and through my attorney who represents my interests to try to figure things out. Most notably, over the past year. As everything’s got to logger-heads, I offered to buy those two guys out, so I could try to sue SST [Hüsker Dü's record label for the best part of their catalogue].

DOA: Is it true that in the early days your record sales kept SST afloat and you made your money from touring?

BM: Everything back then was pretty much, money in, money out. In the early-90’s when the Hüsker Dü reissue craze started it was not a coincidence that it landed right when Copper Blue came out. The live album, the reissues were pretty much on Sugar’s back.

DOA: So would it ultimately be your aim to try and tidy it all up by gaining control of the back catalogue?

BM: Yes, allowing everyone to retain their rights and their honour and all that. The three of us will never be on the same page to deal with it, and in lieu of that last year I offered a cash settlement to both of those guys to allow me to try to proceed single-mindedly to get control of the catalogue and then all of us could look what to do with it. And they said “no,” and that’s fair.

DOA: It would be a tragedy if all those records slipped out of print…

BM: Yeah, the legacy of the band individually, I try to keep that intact as much as possible. My personal relationships with the people involved with it? Fuck it, anything goes! But in the spirit of what the band is and what it means to people, no, I don’t desecrate that.

DOA: At the end of the day if someone couldn’t go into a record shop and buy Zen Arcade…

BM: That would be a stupid thing. That would be a stupid thing if people couldn’t buy that record. And I made an attempt to try to sort it out… and they said no…

DOA: So do you think that every 10 years you’ll get around to try sort things out?

BM: Oh, I could send the same letter next week and just upset the flames of anger and resentment a little bit more! Life is short… and I’ve been really fortunate since the end of that band.

DOA: So do you think you’re the most comfortable now than you’ve ever been with yourself and your music?

BM: Yeah. It’s funny when you said the thing about ending bands, that’s the hard thing as time goes on, working with people when you know sooner or later it’s going to end. There’s never a good way out of it. So this singular approach that I’m taking, it’s rewarding, it’s fun. And with the sessions for Body of Song, getting David Barbe [ex-Sugar bassist] and Matt Hammond [drummer on Bob Mould's The Last Dog and Pony Show solo album] together, for the three us to go into a room to see what comes up on these acoustic songs has been a blast too. There’s no intention of it being a “band.” The three of us are just playing in a room together without me arranging and producing everything.

DOA: You’d be happy to say that you’ve lightened-up?

BM: Yeah! I hope! It’s hard. I can be difficult. I’ll be the first to admit to that. I try! I try to lighten to up. I’m pretty self-aware!

DOA: Where do you see yourself in five years time?

BM: Probably sitting in a dressing room in a much smaller venue, doing the same thing! Ha ha ha!

Thanks to Joolz Bosson at Cooking Vinyl for making all this happen. Thanks to Mr. Mould for being such a gentleman.

Mould Gold
Fifteen essentials extracted from every Bob Mould era

1. Something I Learned Today (Hüsker Dü Zen Arcade 1984)
2. Broken Home, Broken Heart (Hüsker Dü Zen Arcade 1984)
3. Celebrated Summer (Hüsker Dü New Day Rising 1985)
4. Divide and Conquer (Hüsker Dü Flip Your Wig 1985)
5. Hardly Getting Over It (Hüsker Dü Candy Apple Grey 1986)
6. Ice Cold Ice (Hüsker Dü Warehouse: Songs And Stories 1987)
7. See a Little Light (solo Workbook 1989)
8. It’s Too Late (solo Black Sheets of Rain 1990)
9. If I Can’t Change Your Mind (Sugar Copper Blue 1992)
10. A Good Idea (Sugar Copper Blue 1992)
11. Tilted (Sugar Beaster 1993)
12. JC Auto [live version] (Sugar Besides 1995)
13. Egoverride (solo Bob Mould 1996)
14. New #1 (solo The Last Dog and Pony Show 1998)
15. Slay/Sway (solo Modulate 2002)

Interview with Hot Snakes

A super group of sorts, fans are bound to flock to Hot Snakes simply because two of its members – John Reis and Rick Froeberg – were members of such seminal bands as Drive Like Jehu, Rocket from the Crypt, and Pitchfork. Reis especially stays busy, still playing with Rocket from the Crypt and also releasing an album of mostly instrumental guitar-rock songs under the moniker Back Off Cupid. Joined by drummer Jason Kourkounis and bassist Gar Wood, Hot Snakes has all the energy and enthusiasm of those musicians’ earlier projects, but here the band takes on a more garage-friendly sound, blasting away with a modicum of practice and preparation time.

To be perfectly honest, Hot Snakes isn’t a full-time gig for these guys. They’ve moved on with their lives and have a variety of other activities going on. But the urge to rock never leaves the best musicians, and now Hot Snakes has released its second album, Suicide Invoice. We spoke with singer/guitarist Froeberg through e-mail about the “permanent” nature of Hot Snakes, the band’s approach (versus with his previous bands), and more. In as few words as possible, Froeberg lets us in on his secrets.

Delusions of Adequacy: How has the distance factor, and work in other bands affected how often Hot Snakes have been able to get together to work on the project?

Rick Froeberg: Pretty much how you’d expect. We’re not a full time band and we never really intended to be.

DOA: What has the addition of Gar Wood added to the band?

RF: He does it all. The best utility man in rock n’ roll. He can engineer, he plays multiple instruments, sings, he likes and enjoys playing with us, etc.

DOA: Are there many left over songs from the members other bands brought into Hot Snakes, or are they usually new to everybody?

RF: They’re new mostly.

DOA: The new album has a more direct, fuller straight ahead sound than Automatic Midnight. Was that a goal for the recording, and how do you think the band has improved?

RF: We tried to make it sound as crappy as the last one. We recorded in our own garage basically. It sounds almost like the industry standard. Go figure. Have we improved? Don’t know.

DOA: Do you feel that by trying to be minimal it just adds to the authenticness of the music, or does it sometimes just help cover stuff up?

RF: You’d have to define minimal for me.

DOA: By minimal I mean more of a DIY aesthetic, instead of a glossy sheen of other studio recording techniques.

RF: I think self awareness or lack thereof makes a bigger difference than does equipment or the money paid for the equipment in the perceived sincerity department.

DOA: How did recording in a Condo effectr the sound and attitude of the record? What was different about recording there instead of a studio?

RF: A Condo Effectr has a slightly less ringy sound than the Retomer Billiguiola, which is what we had originally intended to go with. It’s not quite what we had in mind, but it beats the usual studio drudgery.

DOA: In the past you have said you consider yourself an artist first and then a musician, so you still feel that way about yourself?

RF: Why of course!

DOA: Both are creative outlets that give freedom to express yourself, but do you think that being able to do both helps in each occasion?

RF: I think they’re part of the same process. Working in one medium can only help you in working in another. Like learning languages. Then again, you’ll probably be better at what you do if you specialize.

DOA: Is there any desire on your part to do music full time again in another band.

RF: Not at the moment. One’s enough for me.

DOA: You have done the artwork for the record you have played on. What do you try to convey through the art?

RF: Normally I try to make a record look like it will sound good. That doesn’t necessarily mean good design. I was in a hurry this time so I just went with an image I got a kick out of.

DOA: What is your idea of some of the most effective designs used on album covers for example, and what makes them unique?

RF: I’m the wrong person to ask about that. I don’t necessarily like any of them.

DOA: There is an obvious sense of humor in songs like “Gar Forgot His Insulin” and “Bye Nancy Boy” that shows the willingness the band has for fun. Is Hot Snakes sort of an outlet to not be as serious as a full time band?

RF: We’re serious.

DOA: I didn’t mean that members of the band weren’t serious about their music or playing in the band, but is Hot Snakes kind of a format that has more freedom and oppertunity to try something new that they wouldn’t in other bands?

RF: Sure. But we’ve been a one trick pony so far, right? We have the same amount of freedom as any other punk rock band. As far as the humor thing, yeah, we have a sense of humor. I think.

DOA: Is there the possibility of Hot Snakes becoming a permanent project, or will it be somthing that will happen when schedule allow it?

RF: I like ‘permanent project’. It’s all about doin’ it. At the moment we’re doin’ it. You know what I mean?

DOA: Do you think that after this record and shows to support it, do you think that you might want to get together and “do it” again?

RF: We’ll see.

DOA: Out of the bands you have recorded with – Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes – which has been the best experience and most fun to take part in and why?

RF: Pitchfork. It was the first time, and therefore especially exciting.

DOA: Would you consider Hot Snakes as sort of an extension of Drive Like Jehu but more stripped down and focused?

RF: Yeah kinda. For me and John it is a bit. I doubt it is for J or Gar.

DOA: Is there a fresher feeling between the band members when you can get together, since it is something new to do, instead of doing the same material over and over that would happen in other bands?

RF: Yes. We look forward to doing this. Absence make the heart grow fonder.

DOA: How did the idea for the band come about, was it kind of friends just saying “Hey let’s get together and do something” or had there been talk of it beforehand?

RF: I got involved at a later stage, but yes, that’s what happened.

DOA: Where are some of your favorite places to do shows around the country? If you had the oppertunity to do shows with another band, who would you like to share the gig with?

RF: I like Maxwell’s in Hoboken, The Casbah, The Michigan Fest thing was pretty good fun. Depends on more than the venue … it’s about who shows up, which is different every time. If we could tour with anyone we chose it would definitely be the White Apes.

DOA: Do you think not being able to play with each other frequently has made the music more difficult to come by, or does everybody know what to expect and hang loose?

RF: A little of both.

DOA: What is the goal of the music Hot Snakes put out, since everyone involved has played in many different group there seems to be some wide ranging influence taken from those other activities? There are hints of metal, hardcore punk (Black Flag, Minor Threat, etc..), early rock, and late 70’s early 80’s punk. What has been the inspiration for the music that has been created?

RF: There’s no real goal. We love rock n’ roll and we’re not getting any younger. Might as well use whatever is left in the tank.

DOA: Thanks for taking the time out to answer a few questions. Any departing nuggets of information, or personal visions you would like to divulge.

RF: Keep the ball low.

Interview with Aaron Scholz

It’s taken little time for Wisconsin singer/songwriter Aaron Scholz to prove himself as one of indie rock’s great unknown voices. As the modern genre truly features few artists worth getting terribly excited over, Scholz has emerged as a true believer who has the potential of injecting a little new life into the most staid songwriting conventions. His debut, 2000’s Perfect Child crackled with a homespun intensity, with heartbreakingly sad melodies perfectly matched with characters caught in various stages of disillusionment. With little more than an acoustic guitar and his plaintive voice, he delivered a lo-fi masterpiece that ranked with the greatest debuts in the singer/songwriter canon. The lucky few that heard his record waited with bated breath for the follow-up.

This spring, Scholz returned with his first foray into hi-fi recording with the more polished Come Back Down. Even as the lo-fi hiss was largely gone, the ability to paint narratives rife with solemnity and regret remained, as did his wonderfully expressive melodic sense. Now finding himself bridging the gaps between alternative country and fuzzy acoustic pop, his versatility with an affecting tune and a mournful twist of a phrase clearly places him among his heroes – Jack Logan and Ray Davies. Here, Aaron Scholz shares his formula for songwriting magic with DOA.

Delusions of Adequacy: First of all, congratulations on avoiding the sophomore slump with Come Back Down.

Aaron Scholz: Thanks! I know it’s a bit of different from Perfect Child, but in many ways it’s a huge leap forward. I think my new sound will still please people who liked the first one but might open a few doors along the way.

DOA: How would you compare your approach to writing and recording the songs from the new album to your debut? Did you learn anything in particular that influenced your change in direction?

AS: Perfect Child was really an accidental record, where I had a bunch of songs and chose 11 and put them on tape. The span of time they encompass is pretty large, as a few are from 1997 (“Advice” and “Love My Way”) and one from 1995 (“Aching Love”) with “Lovedom” and “The West” being only a few months old when the album came out. I did the whole thing by myself in my basement on a TASCAM cassette 8-track over about nine months, and then took the tapes to a digital studio and mixed and mastered everything that way.

Come Back Down was conceived as a whole concept in early 2001. I made demo recordings of each song (which sound a bit like Perfect Child) on my computer and passed those along to my band. Again there were a couple of older songs – “Caught Up” is from 1998 and “Too High” is from 1996 – but the rest had been written in the two years since Perfect Child. We went to a “real” studio and cut the basic tracks over two days in July of 2001. It took almost as long and cost nearly 10 times as much to finish, but I really wanted to make a different kind of record instead of doing Perfect Child 2. Wendy Schneider, who engineered the record, worked me very hard in my performance, especially on the vocals!

It also helped that my band had been together for almost a year when we started work on this monster. My lyrics shifted a little bit over time, but I don’t think I did anything but tread water as far as songstyles and melodies go – I suppose the pedal steel makes it more “country” than anything else and there are full drums on each song, but if you subtract such “hi-fi” elements, I’m really making the same type of music.

DOA: As much as any songwriter that I could cite from recent years, you seem to have a particularly refined grasp of rural Americana culture. Having grown up in Iowa, in what ways do you think your experiences growing up in small town America have influenced and informed your songwriting?

AS: I’m a hybrid kid – my parents were both from Chicago, but I was born and raised in Iowa, so I got a weird mixture of both sides. I’ve got a fair grasp on the culture of small town life and how a community is a very big deal because you literally can get to know everyone and you are a constant presence in everyone’s lives. Big cities obviously have communities too, but with a larger scale there are endless possibilities of what to do and where to go and what to see. “Secret Identity” expresses these differences pretty well – once you are perceived to be a certain way, it can be hard to break out and develop who you want to be. In a small town you’d be hard pressed to reinvent yourself, whereas in a bigger city you could find new people and new situations, etc. “Old Road” is about the vulnerability of small towns and how economic “progress” at the end of the last century turned these places into ugly pseudo-suburbs. I’ve always felt comfortable in either environment, and I think that’s why I’m able to take a birds-eye view of the differences in each situation. Wherever I go I am curious about the way things change and how people don’t realize who they are or what they could accomplish, or what society and their surroundings has made them value. I know I’m lucky enough to be a musician (and to have the cultural perspective that goes along with that) and to have lived where the world is green and spacious, and so my songs are often about trying to determine what other people are thinking about.

DOA: How would you define your songwriting process? What qualities do you see as integral to creating a successful songwriting dynamic?

AS: I’ve been writing songs for about seven years now, and I still don’t quite understand the process. I have a formal musical basis and an English degree, but that doesn’t really mean much as many of the best songwriters I know of have neither. I’m a very traditional songwriter – verses and choruses and the occasional bridge – and I rarely step outside that realm. Most songs are developed around one idea, usually a line or even just a single word. Often I write a single phrase of music with a lyric and run with it and it turns into a song – like “Learn to Crawl” came out of a single line (I remember my friends dying), which was a description of a personal revelation at 4 a.m. on New Years Day. This doesn’t always work, but in that case the idea was strong and the song pretty much wrote itself!

I’d say my best suit as a songwriter is my ability as an editor. I demand that my lyrics scan and each line add up to something that fits the main concept of the song. I place the bar pretty high, and while that can be frustrating I’ve realized that even the songs I don’t like when I’ve finished are technically correct. A lot of ideas get killed immediately because I get impatient and think I’m going nowhere – this is why tape recorders are so essential since you can bang out the little piece you came up with and listen to it later on and see what you think of it. (or in Bob Pollard’s case record everything and release it years later to critical acclaim).
People tell me how much they like my melodies, and this is where the mystery comes in. Lyrics are finite and earthy and rooted, whereas melody seems to come from some unknown space. I have this theory that when you write music you are reflecting a random sample of the sum total of all the music you have heard in your life up to that point. I wish I could explain how I came up with the melody for “Too High” but I really don’t know. I started singing the lyrics over a couple of chords, and after a bit of tweaking suddenly it was a song. I’m sure there are songwriters out there who claim they know how it happens, but I’m pretty sure I will never come up with a better answer than that.

DOA: In your liner notes you recommend that fans of Come Back Down should purchase the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society. Do you feel a particular kindred spirit with that album?

AS: I’m fascinated by The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society for many reasons…it’s really a classic on the level of Sgt. Pepper and Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake and The Who Sell Out and Forever Changes, but I’ve never seen it on any “Greatest Rock Albums” lists. I don’t think I would have liked this record (or appreciated it) as much had I heard it before last year – it made me realize that preservation is a strange commodity in a society where newer and bigger is the way everything happens. While I had already written a bit about memories, the songs on Village Green take the physical level of remembering and experience much further than I ever imagined – and it’s punctuated with some the best tunes Ray Davies has written! The record embodies that rare quality of making me proud of what I do – I like a lot of music, but once in a while I hear something that makes me forget my troubles and shortcomings and inspires me to keep going with what I do. I guess you could call Village Green an amazing musical antidepressant. (Oddly enough, a good piece on Ray and Village Green appeared in the Sunday, May 26 New York Times Arts & Leisure section.)

DOA: I was totally blown away with the warm, depressing tones of your debut, Perfect Child. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised that you managed to maintain a good portion of that displaced feel even with the transition to more advanced recording technology. How do you create such a unique and expressive mood with your songwriting?

AS: My first band in Madison, The Ultramaroons, was a rock band, and I figured out how to write songs in that vein rather quickly and really enjoyed what came out of those years. My strength has always been my acoustic playing, and so I still wrote a lot of quiet songs detailing my thoughts in detail. As I got to be a better bass player and drummer, I used my 4-track to orchestrate every demo as best I could and found that I was good enough to create an atmosphere on tape that I could never get out of my band. Perfect Child was the culmination of years of messing around and trying new things with my songs. I recorded many of them 10 times before I got exactly what I wanted! I still record demos for everything I write, and what I come up with shapes what my band plays. Come Back Down got fleshed out a bit more, but the essential feel of what I do comes directly from what I improvise on my demos.

DOA: I would assume that your music tends to get lumped in with the alternative country crowd, but from what I’ve heard, most of your influences are from among more traditional singer/songwriter and rock and roll artists. What artists do you see as the primary influences on your work?

AS: When I was a little kid, it was all about Lennon/McCartney, and I really thought The Beatles were the only good music in the world … when I was 14, I bought The Who Sell Out and Scoop and then was totally hooked on Pete Townshend. In college, I discovered folks like XTC and REM and Tom Petty and Elvis Costello. I started writing songs years later and wound up with stuff that sounded like a strange mash of Beatles and Who. When I moved to Madison in 1996 to join the ‘maroons, my bandmates introduced me to great American music like Jack Logan, Uncle Tupelo, The Jayhawks, Guided By Voices, Whiskeytown, The Replacements, and Big Star. These bands opened a lot of doors for me musically and had a big impact on what kind of songs I wanted to write. My songs have drifted into the rootsy side of things in the last few years, mostly from my exposure to Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash as well as the overwhelmingly large “alt-country” scene. At the end of 2000, I got turned on to the Kinks and I honestly felt like I did as a child hearing the Beatles – Ray Davies has such a marvelous touch and a great melodic sense as well as an enormous range, not to mention a kick-ass band! His stuff gave me yet another perspective on songwriting for me to explore and learn from. Much of Come Back Down was already written by the time my Kinks phase began – the only song I could say that holds any direct link to Ray Davies is “Starlite,” though “Old Road” sort of fits the bill as well.

I don’t mind being included in “alt-country.” I believe there is much more to my music than what is implied by a single genre, but so far I’ve done well being considered this way.

DOA: Do you feel comfortable with how your work has been received?

AS: Hmmm … well, most people I talk to are impressed with what I do. I know it’s a shot in the dark to actually get signed and be a success in this business, and trying to get the lead out for Come Back Down is sometimes a struggle. I know that I make good music and I really hate having to justify that to someone who has never heard of me – it’s like having a job interview where you know you are qualified but still have to put the suit on and smile and generate enthusiasm. The record biz is even more unfair than that – it really comes down to who you know and what they do for you, not how good your stuff is. I’d like to make money doing this, but honestly I’d just like to be able to continue making records and selling them and playing out. I’ve gotten a bit of good local press finally, and that’s paying off around town and hopefully will translate into getting to Chicago and Milwaukee. I am still surprised when people outside of Wisconsin have heard my stuff and want to buy a record!

The personal satisfaction is, of course, the best part of it all. I’m thrilled that I’ve found an audience, but I’m mostly excited to be able to do this at all and feel the pride of a job well done.

DOA: What is the Madison, Wisconsin, music scene like?

AS: It’s a strange time in this town … our longstanding and beloved rock club O’Cayz Corral burned down on New Years Day 2001, and that really hurt the scene since there wasn’t a comparable venue to take up the slack. The last five years have seen the close of most music clubs in Madison, prompting many bands to move away or give it up. Our downtown is going through an identity change: the Civic Center is getting a $100 million facelift, but it’s literally the only live music venue left near the capitol. The three near UW campus are large halls that bring in national acts, but the local scene has so little to do with that side of town. I always imagined a university of 40,000 would have a couple of nice hole-in-the wall music joints, but there’s nothing like that around here. The promoters who book national/regional acts do bring in good shows but haven’t figured out that supporting the local scene would be good for everyone’s pocketbooks.

It’s not all bad news! There’s a ton of acoustic music here, from bluegrass to blues to country, a great diversity of bands like The New Recruits, Sailor Harlette, Cuda, Bugattitype 35, The German Art Students, The Kissers, and Noahjohn. Many bars have opened their doors for shows, even when ill-equipped to deal with the consequences. The adversity of losing O’Cayz has brought many people together, and the bands support each other by coming out and enjoying themselves. There’s a healthy population of older musicians who have figured out how to live their lives well both on and off the stage. We have excellent record stores in town, and Milwaukee and Chicago are both close enough to see any show you want or get anything you can’t find here. I feel we’ve survived our problems well, and when a new club opens up, I know we will not take it for granted!

DOA: What have you been listening to lately, and are there any artists we should know about but probably don’t?

AS: I’m a pretty lame music consumer because I hate being disappointed by what I listen to. I get impatient and want everything I hear to be enjoyable, and sometimes that makes me really picky. Thankfully, we have a killer community radio station here – WORT 89.9 – and I get most of my new stuff from listening to my friend’s shows. The Hellacopters are one of the most amazing hard rock bands I’ve ever heard, I don’t know why they’re not huge in this country! Richard Buckner is really good, I’ve seen him a couple of times, and he’s got one of the coolest voices around and his records are mind blowing. I’m really obsessed with the first Cheap Trick record right now – I grew up in the Midwest, and their music makes sense to me somehow. My favorite record from Wisconsin has to be Charmed I’m Sure by The Blow Pops – it’s a pure guitar-pop record that does the most wonderful job of standing on the shoulders of my favorite bands. I must have listened to that one 50 times in a row! There was this band from NYC called Babe the Blue Ox who played some of the strangest and most amazing deconstructionist rock music ever. I highly recommend hitting the bargain bins and picking up anything by them. I’m also a sucker for GbV, and I have a friend who gets literally every release, so I spin them all, the good and bad and unmentionable. As always, I recommend buying Jack Logan’s records – he’s got a new one out with Bob Kimbell called Woodshedding, which is really wonderful.

DOA: Finally, as you are friends with them, who is truly the scariest member of Noahjohn?

AS: Oh hands down, it’s Carl. Lisa has the spookiest eyes and Eena has the most wicked tongue, but Carl has the right look for a Hillbilly psycho-killer.

Early-Gallon Drunk Reissued

In this digital age, where nothing can supposedly ever be truly deleted from existence, it’s still a strange scenario to find key musical works of historical importance and influence no longer officially available to experience. For all the gargantuan momentum behind vintage albums being endlessly resurrected, remastered, reissued and reshuffled, there’s still an infinite amount of music to be rediscovered for archival posterity. Quite how the likes of Neil Young’s Times Fades Away, Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue, Grant Hart’s Intolerance, John Cale’s Fragments of a Rainy Season, American Music Club’s California, Madder Rose’s Panic On and countless others remain unavailable is still largely a mystery.

Until recently, the early-works of Gallon Drunk were also filed next to such misplaced artefacts. A situation that has grown increasing galling with the band’s lukewarm latter-day long-players – namely 1999’s ponderous Black Milk and 2002’s somewhat forgettable Fire Music – being the only things still floating around to represent a dwindled-legacy. Furthermore, with Gallon Drunk’s sonic templates – as well as penchant for loud Hawaiian shirts and razor-sharp quiffs – having been endlessly leached on by the likes of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Clinic, Rocket From The Crypt and Morphine, the continued absence of Gallon Drunk’s original career-defining opening-salvos has been a travesty. Until now that is, as Gallon Drunk’s first three full-length releases have belatedly been given the long-deserved ‘deluxe’ reissue treatment, courtesy of Sartorial Records, the London label run by on/off/on band member Terry Edwards.

With such a momentous rebirth on the cards, it only seemed polite to cross-examine Tonite… The Singles Bar, You, The Night… And The Music and From The Heart of Town with the assistance of chief Drunkard James Johnston. So here goes…

Tonite… The Singles Bar (1992)

Although not technically a ‘proper’ album, this collection of Gallon Drunk’s early-singles and b-sides from 1988 to 1991, is/was certainly the best and only means to encapsulate the fiery formative line-up of James Johnston (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Mike Delanian (bass/percussion), Nick Coombes (drums) and Joe Byfield (maracas), that exploded gorily out from the underbelly of late-‘80s/early-‘90s British indie-malaise. Like a Molotov cocktail tossed into the crowd at a Slowdive concert, these London-dwellers certainly didn’t appeal to music-lovers of an overly-sensitive and fashion-driven disposition, but then that was probably part of the foursome’s bloody-minded battle plan anyway. Whilst drawing the ugly duckling straw of these three reissues, there’s still some truly tremendous stuff here to shred your speakers. The brutal Birthday Party-indebted snarling ‘n’ grinding of the “The Last Gasp (Safty)” and “Draggin’ Along” still possesses potent alcohol-sodden psychosis. The grave-robbing from primitive rock ‘n’ roll has lost none of its power, as testified on a brutally sluggish cover of Dick Dale’s signature-surf-tune “Miserlou” and by a rabid ravaging of the obscure rockabilly gem, “Please Give Me Something”. Throughout it all, a shared love of electro-punk pioneers Suicide is seeped into almost every available groove, most notably on two totally demented live tracks; one being a coruscating reinterpretation of The Silver Apples’ “Ruby” and the other being a swampy version of the eponymous “Gallon Drunk”. Some of the remaining material, like the murky dirge of “The Whirpool” and the utterly messy screech of “Snakepit”, hasn’t gained much extra in terms of listenability though, so this compendium is undoubtedly the third-priority (re)purchase, especially for the uninitiated.

James Johnston:
There was always a certain amount of friction in the original line-up, added to the fact that we wanted it to be as loose as possible anyway. If it ended up being a big mess – that was absolutely fine. We almost knew each other too well. It’s not that we didn’t take the music seriously; we just didn’t take each other seriously. I’d known Mike since school. Super-8 film-maker Nick Coombes I’d met through Mike when I was living in an adjacent bed-sit in Earl’s Court, having moved up from Guildford and then dropped out of a philosophy course, and Joe and I had been in a ridiculous band called Cow as teenagers. Everyone, except Mike, ended up living in a house in Turnpike Lane [in North London], where we eventually wound up using the living-room as a rehearsal space. Everyone fell into their roles in the band according to what instruments they happened to have available…regardless of whether they could actually play them particularly well or not. Song structure was very low down on our list of priorities at that point.

Reissue Extras:
The bonus material is a little disappointing on this new edition it’s a little sad to say. Whilst appending eight lo-fidelity live tracks from a 1993 US tour supporting PJ Harvey may have brought back good, albeit chaotic, memories for Johnston, it would have been far better to have snaffled-up a few missing compilation tracks and a previously released Peel session, to tell the full unabridged early-Gallon Drunk studio story.

You, The Night… And The Music (1992)

With drummer Nick Coombes replaced by the more dexterous Max Décharné, the quartet took a quantum leap forwards for this first complete studio set. Some fifteen or so years after its original release, You, The Night… And The Music continues to sound utterly transcendental, thrilling and borderline unique. And it remains one of the few records this writer can turn to when over-listening to music has bred contemptuous boredom. Its bubbling acid-bath of savage deconstructionist brilliance still exudes utter aural liberation. The nine original tracks maintain the feeling that the four group members had masterfully melted-down their collective record collections into a hot molten ‘anti-music’; with a blatant disregard for conventional song arrangements, only a cursory respect for understandable vocals/lyrics and broad dark self-destructive streak. From the sanguine scorned-lover garage-racket of “Some Fool’s Mess”, through the hard-Latin majesty of “Two Wings Mambo” and “Just One More”, via the mangled Mingus jazz of the vocal-less title-track and on to the closing Morricone mutations of “The Tornado”, this is an album of highlights, interrupted only by highlights. A red hot classic in short; both then and now.

James Johnston:
I’m happy for it to be listened to in any way whatsoever; we were simply making what we wanted to hear. We’d done so many singles so quickly that we’d run out of songs, so we started doing longer, more instrumental tracks like “Two Wings Mambo”, and more Latin and jazz-based noise. Our ‘difficult’ second album was our first one.

Reissue Extras:
Much better bonus material on this one; the definitive studio rendition of “Ruby”, a great unreleased instrumental entitled “All Mouth, No Trousers”, a delightfully disorientating remix of “Draggin’ Along” and four higher-grade live recordings from shows taped in Berlin and London.

From The Heart of Town (1993)

Essentially Gallon Drunk’s foreboding and cinematic story-teller album, From The Heart of Town charted Johnston’s temporary transformation into a vigorous and vivid lyricist, fixated with nefarious London underworld characters (“Jake On The Make”, “Arlington Road”), doomed urban romance (“Keep Moving On” and “Loving Alone”), blistering violence (“Not Before Time”) and booze-induced reverie (“Push The Boat Out”). Musically, the group matched Johnston’s sneered-out filmic narratives with a wider-screen musical accompaniment. Increasing the membership roll-call also helped to expand the Gallon Drunk palette. Well-selected new recruit Terry Edwards brought fantastic free-noise brass to the mix, as best exemplified on the aptly-named “Bedlam”, a glorious Funhouse-era Stooges homage. On the dolefully alluring “You Should Be Ashamed” Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier and Johnston’s ‘other-half’ Geraldine Swayne also dropped-in, to add luscious backing vocals. However, it’s Johnston’s mercurial guitar, organ and piano-playing that really drove the whole album along; embedding serrated hooks into “End of The Line”, scratching out scolding blues licks on “Jake On The Make”, attaching atypically pretty Hawaiian shimmers to “Loving Alone” and heightening the eerie ambience of the wordless “Paying For Pleasure”. With its near-perfect collision of savagery and sophistication as well as rawness and ambition, From The Heart of Town was rightly lauded upon on its original appearance, with a Mercury Music Prize nomination and intense critical acclaim. It’s just a tragedy that this incarnation of the band imploded with the departure of Décharné, following the never-ending touring before and after the LP’s launch – depriving us of a genuinely superior sequel ever since. But all in all, this is another masterpiece well-deserving of its no-longer ‘lost’ status.

James Johnston:
I wanted to do something related to London, more epic. Ultimately, the title and the cover is what really held it all together. The songs came first, and the title seemed to give the feeling of concept. We were living in London, and consequently writing about it. Most of the lyrics were written on a Dictaphone, wandering through town at night. I really wanted to do a London record, something that would really define the band… we all did, and it really helped with coming up with ideas. The studio, Elephant was fantastic. There was a huge 20ft plate reverb in there, a Hammond, pianos, a massive live room, all completely unkempt and held together with tape. The room sound was so incredible, really huge. If you stepped out of the door you were in Victorian London, Wapping still looked like something out of the Elephant Man at that point. There was an ancient stairway down to the bank of the Thames just next to studio, and the cobbled street outside was lined with empty warehouses. The atmosphere round there was incredible.

Reissue Extras:
Probably the best and more intriguing bonus material of the three re-releases; with highpoints including a wonderful acoustic take on Lee Hazlewood’s “Look At That Woman” (sung by brother Ian Johnston), the sublime instrumental glide of “The Amsterdam Run” and four truly awesome live cuts from the group’s hilariously high-profile 1992 US tour supporting Morrissey.

Visit: www.gallondrunk.com

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