Death From Above 1979

Death From Above 1979 is Sebastien Grainger (vocals/drums) and Jesse F. Keeler (bass/synths). They are from Toronto. There have been two-piece bands before, but that none have managed to make such as a big sound as Death from Above 1979. It has been said the DFA 1979 met in prison. Apparently when they got back on the outside they saw a world without guitars. Their music is loud and uncompromising.

They have been one of the most interesting international bands. Death from Above 1979 recently completed a visit to the UK that included three headlining shows in one night, and gig in a 15-year-old fan's living room. After two EPs, Death from Above 1979 recorded their debut album "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" for VICE Records. Look for their first video "Romantic Rights." They have been touring nonstop this year and should be back in America in Summer 2005.

*****

AL: How long have you been playing together?
Sebastien: We started this band in about 2001. We have both been playing in bands since we were kids. We were playing in a band together called Femme Fatale before we started this band. It was a more traditional format with drums and keyboards and bass and guitars.

AL: When did things become stripped down?
Sebastien: That was in 2001. We started writing the first songs then. We were playing around with the idea of a two-man band. It was more economical to tour as a two-man band. It was logistically difficult to bring five people on the road. One tour we were supposed to do as Femme Fatale we did as Death From Above because it was cheaper. We were able to get some free flights with one of our parents' points. We could only get two flights at a time. It was easy for us to go to different places. That is why we became focused just on this band.

AL: What was the initial reaction to the first shows?
Sebastien: I don't know. I don't really remember. Nobody knew who we were. Nobody knew our songs. Many of those early shows we played to very few people. That still happens. We played to less than ten people last year in New Jersey. They were mostly our friends. The first shows we did were poorly attended so there was no craziness. It was just a show at some kid's living room or some weird hall.

AL: Was the original interest in your band from other bands? Maybe they thought you would be a good band to open up for them?
Sebastien: Yeah. We headlined a bunch of small shows at the beginning. That was weird. We wanted to make a living playing music so we got a booking agent. He would get us on opening slots for bigger bands in our hometown. It was consistent. It was different bands with different audiences. We could play four times a month. We didn't burn out playing once a week in the same city because we were playing in front of different crowds. It is a result of us not sounding like many other bands out there right now. We are able to play with Anthrax and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the same week.

AL: You like that sort of diversity?
Sebastien: Definitely. That is something to be achieved in music and in your audience. You don't want one sort of person or one demographic to like your music, or you will drown very quickly.

AL: Who writes the songs in your band?
Sebastien: It's collaboration. Generally there is a discussion. We talk about songs and ideas about how we want a song to turn. We talk about how we want it to sound. Jesse will write a riff on the bass. We will get together and play it together. If this were two years ago we would have written a song in rehearsal. We haven't had any time to do that since. We tend to write songs in the studio. We write the music together. Then I will write the lyrics and the melody afterwards.

AL: Are all your songs about sex?
Sebastien: You are not paying attention. "Sexy Results" and "Pull Out" are about sex. "Going Steady" is about a family. "Romantic Rights" is about relationships and also about nothing. Only two songs are about sex.

AL: When you write lyrics are you just choosing words for their sounds or are you writing about your personal life?
Sebastien: I don't over-complicate lyrics. I try to write about simple ideas. I try to sing words that I won't regret singing a year down the line. I write for myself. Usually the melody comes first and the words become a vehicle for the melody. I will have a general idea what I want the words to be, so I will go back to things that I have written in the past. I go back to good ideas I have had for lyrics and sculpt those words into the cadences that I have set up with the melody.

AL: Is it difficult to drums and sing at the same time? Sometimes when you see a drummer singing the beats are not so complex.
Sebastien: It's just a matter of practice. It's all I know right now because we do it every day. I don't think about it anymore. I don't about being just a singer or just a drummer. I am so involved in it that I don't think about it any more. People ask us "Why we don't have any guitars?" I don't know. We just don't have any guitars. This is how we do it every day.

AL: When I first heard the album I didn't realize that it was only two guys and there were no guitars. It had this big sound.
Sebastien: That is a testament to the bass sound that Jesse created for himself. That may be an argument against using guitars in our band. His bass sound has such a tonal range. When I hear that bass sound I don't miss the guitars.

AL: I went to one of your shows recently and when you started the first song, there was a rush towards the stage and people were getting smashed. You had to stop the song and tell people to back up. Does that happen a lot?
Sebastien: That was an anomaly. Things are not usually that extreme. We stopped during the first song there because things were just too crazy. I am all for people having fun. But there are a few things that don't need to happen. People don't need to get hurt. People don't need to crowd surf. It's very selfish and shitty behavior.

AL: I think from the Los Angeles perspective: your record has been very popular since it has come out here. I think some people were excited to see you play.
Sebastien: I am not condemning what happened. I was trying to look out for the people right in the front of the stage. I think it is great that people are excited and I hope that they stay that excited. There was no security. There was no separation between the front of the stage and people's kneecaps. You need to pay attention to people around you. Some people at these shows are really young and don't know how to behave. I have been going to shows for years and at first I did some stupid things myself. It was not long after that I realized what was acceptable behavior. You can dance around and bump into people because that is going to happen. You have to be civil. I have seen people going around in an audience and punching people in the face. That is wrong. If people are offended that I stop a song, I don't want those people at our shows anyway. They can leave.

AL: How did you get involved with Vice Records?
Sebastien: They heard our first record a few years ago. They had been listening to us for a while. We had released the record in Canada already. When it came time to license the record in America, Vice Records were the best option for us. We had a lot of labels interested in us. But the philosophy and ethics of Vice Records was where our band was at the time.

AL: Some person that I know said your band was "Trendy and Emo." What do you think of that reaction?
Sebastien: That's fine. That's expected. People are going to react that way. I don't expect everyone to like us or to even know who we are. If you don't know who we are, and you have never heard our music, or have never seen our show, then it's easy to pass us off as a trend. And maybe we are a trend. As far as I am concerned, I am just playing music. I am going to play music regardless of show attendance or record sales. It doesn't bother me. If people stop coming to hear us, I build cabinets and drawers, and play guitar on the weekends.

AL: What is "Emo" exactly?
Sebastien: Emo is what happened to punk rock when it became personal and started talking about feelings. That is all it is. It's not a style of music. It's a similar idea. People try to attribute Emo to certain types of bands. Emo just means music that is about feelings instead of political ideas or social issues. It's not how a band sounds.

AL: It seemed to me like your band maybe had more to do with Heavy Metal music and dance music?
Sebastien: That's entirely possible. But what I was talking about was we have to do more with ideas than a style of music. I think we have more to do with Johnny Cash than Motorhead or any heavy metal band. I think we have more to do with Nina Simone than with any other rock band.

AL: So people who listen to Black Sabbath or Slayer are wrong to like your music?
Sebastien: Anyone can like our band. I don't want to alienate anybody. I think it's great. I didn't even listen to metal until six months ago. I didn't know what it was and I wasn't interested in it. Through playing in this band I have become interested in it. Not because I am trying to play metal, but because people were comparing us to those band

The Dirtbombs interview

The Dirtbombs
By alexander laurence

The Dirtbombs are really just Mick Collins. Collins (formerly a member of the influential band, The Gories) founded The Dirtbombs in the late Nineties and his distinct voice and guitar work are the cornerstone of their sound. The band has two drummers and two bass players, in addition to Collins. The Dirtbombs have a surprisingly diverse sound, from garage rock, punk, and glam, to classic soul and R&B. Mick Collins has helped to make it cool to be from Detroit. He is a mysterious figure and rarely gives interviews.

The Dirtbombs began putting out singles seven years ago. Their first album was Horndog Fest in 1998, which collected many of their singles. Following the release of Ultraglide in Black in 2001, The Dirtbombs gained international interest. They have played all over and have gained a large following.

With Dangerous Magical Noise the band has released their first classic. The album consists of mostly original tunes and shows a new direction for the band. I got to speak with Mick Collins in New York City right before their sold-out show at Bowery Ballroom. This is rock and roll at its finest. I was lucky to hang with one of the coolest guys in music. Check them out when they play near you!

AL: You have been touring all year?

Mick: This is the second leg of the tour. There are about four or five legs, I think. We are playing with The Sights for most of the tour. Up until January I think. We have played off and on all year. We have been on tour two weeks since the album came out.

AL: Have you played in Europe before?

Mick: Yeah. We are playing in Canada. We are going to England for a week. Then we are going to Europe for a few weeks early next year. They are all going to be big shows.

AL: Jim Diamond is not with you on this tour?

Mick: No. He is Australia producing an album. He'll be back when we go to Europe.

AL: What is the lineup like right now?

Mick: Ko from KO and The Knockouts is playing fuzz. Troy Gregory from The Witches is playing bass and taking over for Jim Diamond. We have had the same drummers for a few years now.

AL: What songs should people expect to hear?

Mick: The hits. We are not going to play every song off the new album. We are going to mix it up like we always do. We play some singles and some stuff from the earlier records. We play the new record and a few new songs that haven't been recorded yet. That sort of thing. We have been calling them out every night on this tour. We don't have a setlist before the show. We decided all that onstage.

AL: How did go about making the new record, Dangerous Magical Noise?

Mick: This was our pop record. The idea was we wanted to make a pop record. It's not the bubblegum record. I have been promising that for a few years. That is coming soon.

AL: How did you go about writing songs?

Mick: I listen to the radio and see what's happening. I wrote a bunch of songs that seemed that they should be on the radio. It's my band. I write some songs and we go into the studio to hear the songs.

AL: How do the songs start for you? Do you have a guitar part or some lyrics?

Mick: Yeah. It comes together. I get the song one way or another. I'll have a lyric line or a chord change. Maybe I'll have a guitar lick that I want to use. I'll write the song around that. When we have time to make an album, I'll teach them the song and we'll roll the tape.

AL: Jim Diamond's studio is pretty famous now. So many bands have recorded there now. Are most of the songs on this album live takes?

Mick: Just the drums really. Once they get the drums down, they will go home, and Jim and I will work on the album. We do all these albums the same way. I play all the guitars. I played a lot of the fuzz guitar on this record because we don't have a fuzz guitar player right now. Jim and I do it all now.

AL: What about some of these personnel changes?

Mick: Tom signed a record deal so he's not with us anymore. That is basically it. I have had this lineup for about four years now. People keep talking about "the revolving door." We had a group, and a stable lineup, but no one noticed. It's the Detroit way, for one person to be in a few different bands.

AL: We were just talking about the WFMU record fair that is going on this weekend. Do you collect a lot of vinyl?

Mick: Yeah. I am not going this year because I have to buy a car. I have get something more practical than records this year.

AL: Are there any records that you liked this year?

Mick: Nothing specifically.

AL: What about records from the past?

Mick: I really like the Ass Baboon and Venus record. On this tour we have been listening to the new Outkast record. I am having fun playing with The Sights. We also played with Whirlwind Heat earlier this year.

AL: What was it like playing the Siren Festival this past summer?

Mick: It's fun. But it's a big hassle because you are only on stage for thirty minutes. It takes about four hours of logistics just getting your stuff in and out of there. They work out for the better in the long run. Many people will come out to see you at a festival when they wouldn't go to see you at the club. We made a lot of new fans. The Siren Festival was actually organized very well.

AL: What do you think of this focus on Garage Rock in the past three years? Many of these bands that I have interviewed mentioned The Gories and The Dirtbombs are main influences on what they do. What do you think of this?

Mick: Most of them are not garage bands anyway. They don't sound like garage bands to me. They might think that they are garage bands, but it's not really my concern.

AL: How would you define "Garage Rock" or "Garage Bands?"

Mick: Most Garage Bands are really like 1960s punk bands. A real garage band is like a 1960s punk band heavily influenced by R&B. These bands nowadays calling themselves "Garage Bands" are not. They don't have it. They have vintage gear. They copied a bunch of Humble Pie riffs, and that's the extent of it. That isn't Garage. Television was not a garage band. They are an art rock band. Actually the Dirtbombs are more like Television than anything else.

AL: How did you involved in music?

Mick: I have been involved with music all my life. I have always been a music fan. I was in a jazz band in high school. I played trombone. I am the only musician in my entire extended family.

AL: What do your parents think about your music?

Mick: They don't. They know about it, but they really wish I stayed in IT.

AL: Do you have any hobbies outside of music?

Mick: I read a lot. I collect comic books. I like Grant Morrison. I like his work.

AL: Do you have any advice for people who want to start a band and are influenced by The Dirtbombs?

Mick: That would be a deathwish. Put your music online. Start playing shows.

AL: Do you like playing in New York City?

Mick: Yeah, I do actually. We were just talking about that in the van. I like playing New York City a lot, but I don't like doing stuff with the gear. I don't like traveling with the gear. If we could play different places and have the gear already there, and leave it all behind, that would be great.

AL: Do you have a lot of guitars?

Mick: Cheap ones. I can't afford real expensive ones. I would be afraid to take it onstage and breaking it. None of them cost more than one hundred dollars.

AL: How should people come prepared for the shows?

Mick: They should bring earplugs. We play for an hour.

Website: www.intheredrecords.com

Grandaddy Interview

I met the band Grandaddy first during the CMJ festival in late 2000. They played a show at Irving Plaza. They were one of the hot bands of the time. They were in the midst of a tour with Elliot Smith. We met at a sushi restaurant near Union Square. The show at Irving Plaza was spectacular and brought out fans such as David Bowie who has claimed to be a fan. It was a time when there were a lot of down to earth bands like Grandaddy and Badly Drawn Boy, and others.

The band lives Modesto, California, and the general area. They have beards. The band is down to earth. Grandaddy is Jason Lytle (vocals/guitars/keyboards), and Jim Fairchild (guitar). Other members are. Kevin Garcia (bass), Aaron Burtch (drums), and Tim Dryden (keyboards). They have a few albums out. Most popular is The Sophtware Slump (2000). After a lot of touring they came back with Sumday (2003). I saw them play in Los Angeles that year with Super Furry Animals and Earlimart.

Some time has passed. I was wondering what Jason Lytle and company were up to. I heard that they were working on a new album. I heard Jason had shaved off his beard and decided to move to Los Angeles. They decided to release an EP called Excerpts from the diary of Todd Zilla (2005). It is more a solo project than a group album. The songs are cool. A real Grandaddy album is coming out early next year. It was cool to revisit a band that I had championed in the early days.


AL: What is going on with Grandaddy? Is the band still together?

Jason: Um. Gosh, I haven't really prepared myself for answering any questions. It's all really hitting me. I don't know what is going on with Grandaddy. We are all still friends. There is a lot of uncertainty. People are trying to figure out what they are going to do with their lives. Is it really worth it to continue at the rate we are going? We have two releases coming out in the next six months. I really don't know.

AL: When you come back out and play is it going to be the same five guys?

Jason: If we do tour it will be the same five guys. It was set up in a way that I didn't want to do it any other way. Being in a band is not very appealing to me. But doing it with people that I was close to ensured that I would have a pretty good time. The reason why we have been doing this for so many years was that we are super-comfortable with each other. I wouldn't want to concoct a random band of hot players.

AL: You guys have been doing this for ten years now. Do you all have families now that weren't there in the beginning?

Jason: There are a few wives in the mix. There is one family. There are a lot of concerns having a family. As dull as it sounds, it's just reality for some of the guys in the band. Some of the guys in the band are really old.

AL: You guys are not that old. But there are a lot of new bands that are hungry coming up.

Jason: I see some of those older bands and it doesn't seem so appealing to me. I would be happier just turning into a studio dork. It would free up some time to ride my bike and go camping. There is this whole fantasy of touring in the rock and roll style. It's all about keeping the party going. The older you get the less flair it has. You just become a drunk.

AL: Touring is for young guys in their 20s.

Jason: Yeah. I am all for out with the old, in with the new. It becomes selfish after a while. It's good to play to your strengths and know when to give up.

AL: How much touring did you do after the last album, Sumday?

Jason: We did a lot. It always starts off the same way. There is not a clear picture. You never know what interest the album is going to generate. No one gives you an idea of what the plan is. Before you know it, you are swept up by it all again. We ended up being on the road for two years, even though some people might have told you there was going to be more control. It was much worse with the Sophtware Slump. That was all about endless, exhaustive touring.

AL: You spent a lot of time in Europe?

Jason: Yeah. When we weren't over here, we were over there. That life obliterates the possibility of having a life and anything else. It's all about touring.

AL: So you have had a year off. In that time you had the think about writing new songs and recording. Did you look forward to that?

Jason: You want to subject yourself to do something good but there is a burden that comes with it. I went into making this record with the attitude ÒI don't give a flying shit what the results are. I am just going to make the best possible record I can make.Ó If that means not touring again and walking away from it all. It's just better saying ÒI did the best recordÓ without any repercussions affecting you.

AL: Who did you tour with recently besides The Polyphonic Spree?

Jason: We just played some shows with them. We got stuck on some stinky touring situations. I don't know who has been leading our tours in the past three years.

AL: You are due for a massive concept album by now, don't you think?

Jason: (laughs) I don't know. Are we? I would like to do something all encompassing. I would like to wrap up what has been done so far. I would like to include the original idea for the band and newer technologies. The new album has the sense of that. It is what it is. The album is fifteen songs. It's a lot for me. I am not talking about the EP. It's very listener oriented. It's good. It's not a platform for whining about the career that I have fallen into.

AL: It's a culmination of your musical development?

Jason: It's all getting back to the idea of a musical journey. There was some moping on Sumday. This new album coming out is a pretty good mix. It's like a guilty pleasures.

AL: Did you bring in any musicians or children's choir?

Jason: There is a little help on vocal stuff. I did manage to scrounge up this opera singer to do some parts. If I had my way I would have a childrens choir on every other song. I am not good with little kids.

AL: You recorded in the same studio the same way?

Jason: Yes. It's the same studio and same configuration. It is slightly upgraded. It's a home situation like all the albums have been.

AL: The Todd Zilla EP was mostly a solo record?

Jason: It was mostly me. Aaron played on a bunch of the songs. The EP sounds a lot different because the house is set with two different studios. Studio B is a different format with less fidelity. That is were we did the EP.

AL: Was the Todd Zilla EP composed of songs that didn't make the album, some demos, or some B-sides for the album?

Jason: I am always faced with having too many songs, and not knowing where the songs fit in. After we did Sophtware Slump we did the Signal To Ratio EP. It's like a polite phone call before someone shows up at your house. It's like reintroducing us to those who care that we have music coming out soon. I am three-quarters done with the new album. It will come out early next year.

AL: Are you going to play some shows?

Jason: I have no idea.

AL: Do you play shows in the Bay Area still?

Jason: Me and Aaron and Kevin played as a three-piece. We played at some downtown festival in Modesto. It was a big sun burnt, beer guzzling, and polish hotdog thing. It was kind of stupid and fun. We called it Grandaddy Time Machine. We only played songs from before 1994. It was just an excuse to play. I am not exactly sure that it was a good idea or not.

AL: What do you think of Scott Peterson and Modesto? He brought a lot of attention to this quiet town.

Jason: I don't know. It's really fucking disturbing. I don't understand people like that. I was trying to make some connections with being from here and doing what he did. But I suppose that you can be from anywhere. It's fucked. He is like a privileged white kid who thought he could get away with anything.

AL: Is Todd Zilla your alter ego?

Jason: No. It's just a name that I thought was really funny. It's exemplifies where I am from: big, loud, dumb, awkward, clunky, and ignorant. All those things wrapped up in one name.

AL: When I first saw Grandaddy, you seemed really unique. It's five years later, now there all these un-ironic bands, who have beards, skateboard, and are very Grandaddy-like.

Jason: Gosh. Freaky.

AL: I think that actor Jason Lee grew a beard and is starting a band now. What's up with that?

Jason: Oh yeah. We are actually friends with him. We had a party in Modesto and he came over. When people come visit us they end up getting really drunk. I am abnormally drunk. I guess that we set the bar really high. Maybe we are in our own playing field. I feel bad about that.

AL: There is not much going on in Modesto?

Jason: Yes, there is a lot of drinking in Modesto. There are a lot of rehab places all over the place. That is a good clue that there are drinking problems here. I had to quit cold turkey to finish this album. I had to get my shit together.

AL: Most of us in the rest of the world are wondering is you can still get some pure ephedrine in Modesto?

Jason: You can get some crystal meth down the block.

AL: Are there any bands that you are listening to?

Jason: (long pause) There is a band called Division of Laura Lee. They have an album called Das Not Compute. For some reason that struck a chord with me. It is energetic and punky and has a pop element. There is enough atmospherics and keyboards and it blends real well. I appreciate when people do that really well. It's like raw with a hangover clouding things up. I like Fu Manchu. And shit. I don't listen to much new music when I am recording.

AL: Do you ever go see other bands play?

Jason: Not really. I haven't really been traveling that much because I have been recording. Bands never come to Modesto. So that means I would have to go to San Francisco, which is a few hours away. I did go to an art show a few weeks ago. Deerhoof was playing. That was my one big night out in a while.

AL: Do you ever get out to Turlock?

Jason: (laughs) Matter of fact I do. That is where Aaron lives. There is a bunch of cool shit going on in Turlock. People eating chicken. There are a lot of Assyrian old people there who walk with their hands behind their backs. Aaron has a nice garden. We work on the websites sometimes. I go over to his house. He has the house that seems like a bustling family. It's a change of pace for me.

AL: What is your house like?

Jason: It's 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It's a cookie cutter suburban neighborhood. It's all working class. It's 80% Mexican. Everyone drives big trucks and SUVs. I take care of the lawn but once you get inside it's all recording equipment and gear. I get embarrassed. Nobody can come in my house because I don't want anyone to know what I do. It's a weird other world once you get inside. It's a recording studio disguised by a regular house.

AL: Maybe you have to get more chairs on the porch?

Jason: I got enough of a facade going on.

Turbonegro Interview

Turbonegro Interview By Alexander Laurence

Turbonegro has made one of the biggest comebacks of this past year. They are trashy, big, hedonistic, loud, and outrageous. Their dark origins are very mysterious. They are said to have formed in a wealthy commune dedicated to the Manson Family and who live in the countryside. Others say they were sheep farmers from in Oslo, Norway. They did emerge somehow in some form about fifteen years ago. They had much more in common with heavy rock bands from the 1970s (Alice Cooper, Alex Harvey, Judas Priest) and glam metal bands from the 1980s (Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Guns and Roses) than with the indie alternative rock scene. Turbonegro's recordings were over-the-top and took no prisoners. Their gay esthetic is the most extreme.

Like many Scandinavian bands, all of the band's lyrics are in English. Lead vocalist Hank Von Helvete is one of the most entertaining frontman in rock. Other members included lead guitarist Euroboy, bassist Happy Tom, rhythm guitarist Rune Rebellion, keyboardist Pal Pot Pamparius, and drummer Chris Summers. These guys live all of rock and roll's excesses. Von Helvete bragged about confronting the LAPD on the recent tour. He also announced that maybe Sigfried and Roy could dedicate their lives to prostitution now, since they have been forced to retire. There has been a gay mystique to Turbonegro: I was hoping that they would explain what this was about. They have refused to do any interviews. But I was granted secret access to their temporary lair. Most of the band was cruising the neighborhood in the Tenderloin in Downtown San Francisco.

In 1997, Turbonegro recorded and released their great album Apocalypse Dudes. This is the place to start for any fan. The group had broken up mysteriously at the end of 1998. Darkness Forever! a selection of live performances, was released in early 2001. They spent many years in hiding and energizing themselves in the North Pole. The breakup, however, was short lived, and Turbonegro were back for tour dates in 2002, followed by the release of the amazing Scandinavian Leather in 2003. Songs about prostitution and the adoration of flesh dominate. They have their fans too. People dress up like them in levi jackets, makeup, and military hats. They call these people "The Turbojugend." One girl who said she was a faghag approached me. This was not any ordinary band. I was supposed to speak with Hank Von Helvete, but he said that he had to save his voice for tonight's performance. I spoke mainly with Rune Rebellion and Chris Summers. Afterwards, their manager entered the room. He was wearing a tutu.

*****

AL: Where are you from?

Rune: We are from Oslo, Norway. It's the capital. It's known for pretty boys, I guess. There is a good gay scene.

AL: When did the band get together?

Rune: We originally formed in 1989. This present lineup has been there since 1995. We had certain problems internally in the band in 1998. We quit for a few years. We put the band on ice. Then we came back together in early 2002.

AL: When did you record the album Scandinavian Leather?

Chris: We started recording last year in October. We produced the record ourselves. Any record with outside help is a sellout.

AL: Are all the tracks live takes? Or did you do studio tricks?

Chris: I wouldn't call them studio tricks. Fuck, man. You are making an album. It's not the same as playing live. Everyone always nags and says that they want to record live so it's more real and more like the live show. It's all bullshit. They are fooling themselves.

AL: You spend a lot of time in the studio?

Chris: We recorded drums and bass guitar. Then we add more guitars. We work from there. There are a lot of overdubs.

Rune: Euroboy owns his own studio. Why wouldn't we want to utilize the studio and make the album sound as good as possible? It is necessary for our strong dark sound.

AL: Who writes the songs?

Chris: Tom writes most of the songs. He writes all the lyrics too. Euroboy writes some songs too. He works on the arrangements.

AL: How many songs did you write for this album?

Chris: We had two or three songs left over that we didn't use on the album. Most of those songs showed up as b-sides on the single.

AL: How is the tour going? This is the second big tour you have done this year in America.

Chris: We played some small clubs six months ago. We also played some big shows with Queens of The Stone Age in between. This tour has been great. The whole tour is sold out. We are playing some decent sized venues. The band sounds better than ever.

AL: Hank Von Helvete was talking about his confrontation with the LAPD the other night at the Hollywood show.

Rune: Really? It was probably a lie. I don't listen to what he says onstage. We are all trying to channel some dark force.

AL: What's up with the Christmas trees onstage?

Chris: They are not Christmas trees. They are just trees.

Rune: They make us feel at home. We will have some trees tonight. There will be trees every night. People need protection when they do their dirty business.

AL: How do you prepare for a gig?

Rune: I drink some wine before a show. It helps me get into an artistic mood. I eat food.

AL: What is the focus on darkness about?

Chris: We are from the suburbs of Norway. It's one of the darkest places on the planet. It is dark half of the year.

(We get interrupted by one of the members of The Dwarves)

AL: What is the Turbojugend?

Rune: That is our fan club.

Chris: Jugend means "youth." There are chapters of it all over.

AL: What sort of music inspires you?

Chris: All kinds. The last record I bought was The Neptunes.

Rune: I like The Bells by Lou Reed from 1979. It's probably his worst record.

AL: When will you do another record?

Chris: Maybe next year. I am not sure.

Rune: It depends on how long we tour with this record. Things are just happening now. America is really great. The UK is picking up. After this American tour we are going to Australia. Then we are going to Europe to play the UK and Scandinavia.

AL: What is your favorite part of doing music?

Chris: I am not too crazy about being in the studio. I like touring now. But maybe if we did that for too long, I would get bored.

AL: Has Socialism influenced the band at all?

Rune: We are consumers.

AL: Do you get money from the government?

Chris: Some bands do.

Rune: If you are a musician, you are not really affected by the government and the social welfare system. You are pretty much on your own. If you are a farmer, you can do anything you want. If your crops fail you can get money from the government. If our record bombs, the government isn't going to give us any money.

AL: What do you think of some Death Metal bands like Burzum? What do you think of Varg Vikernes?

Chris: He's a fucking fool. He's a Nazi. He's a fucking jerk. We know a lot of those Black Metal bands like Darkthrone and Satyricon. They are friends of ours.

Rune: We are not really a Death Metal band. Many of those bands come from the same background as us. We hang out with them.

AL: Are you more into American music or British music?

Chris: Definitely more into American music. There are some great English bands. There are even some good German bands: imagine that! Most of the music we like is from California. Some of the best punk rock bands like Black Flag are from here. And most of the best Hiphop bands are from California.

Rune: Music isn't about where you are from.

AL: Have you seen any films?

Chris: I just bought three DVDs. I got Bob Roberts, Bad Boys, and the second Fletch movie.

AL: What do you think about people who call Turbonegro "Dumb Rock?"

Chris: I could see if people see a picture of us that they could think that we are a dumb band. If you just listen to our records, you can get a sense of what the band is about.

Rune: We have a wide range of people in our audience. There are university professors and this whole intellectual crowd. We are not an easy band to categorize because we have so many sides to the band.

AL: People think of the name "Turbonegro" as this dark military force that's campy at the same time.

Rune: The way we develop our image is like this: we ask ourselves "What would be the dumbest thing to do?" What would be the most self-destructive? We have a gay image. We are a punk rock band. We all dress up in Levi's, which would be a big corporative enemy. It's an image that we have developed throughout the years. When we do the most stupid thing, it actually works out.

Chris: We make these obstacles for ourselves. Every time it works. It's like black magic.

AL: Do you believe in any higher intelligence?

Rune: I believe in my own intelligence.

Chris: I believe in him too. Hank has been talking about religion lately. Maybe it's more evidence of his confusion.

AL: Do you have any advice for young people who want to start a band?

Rune: Do believe the hype.

Website: http://www.turbonegro.com/

The Datsuns Interview

Interview with Dolf De Datsun by Alexander Laurence

I saw the Datsuns for the first time six months ago at the CMJ festival in NYC. They blew away everybody in the place. The next day I ran into some of the band members at another gig in town. Dolf told me that they had just signed to V2 Records that day. We talked about doing an interview then, but their album wasn't even out in the USA. So I waited. Dolf De Datsun, Christian Datsun, Matt Datsun and Phil Datsun are friends from Cambridge, New Zealand. The band have been playing together since high school. Their first band was called Trinket.

After changing their name to the Datsuns, they started their own label, Hell Squad Records, and released a few singles while developing a reputation for their furious live performances. They were compared to early 1970s arena rock. They reminded me of Thin Lizzy, Fastway, Motorhead, and even Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers. In early 2002, the band opened a handful of dates for the White Stripes and the Von Bondies. A tour of the U.K. and the U.S. followed, and much interested formed in the USA. They created a buzz for themselves at CMJ and at SXSW.

I finally spoke to Dolf after six months of contact through emails. They are coming back to the USA for a monthly tour to play some bigger venues like Irving Plaza on May 18th with The Star Spangles and The Paybacks. The Datsuns will also play the Siren Music Festival this summer in Coney Island.

******

AL: Were you in college when you started the band?

Dolf: I did go to college. Christian did. I am the only one who graduated. We have been playing since 1995. We learned how to play our instruments playing together.

AL: Did you have music lessons?

Dolf: No, not really Phil and I went to a few instructors when we first started out. But all we did was say to them "There is this really great song by this band. Can you teach us to play it?" We went to three or four of those meetings.

AL: Was there a lot of live music in New Zealand in the 1990s?

Dolf: Hell no. A trip to Australia was really expensive. Nothing that kids could do. It's a three hour flight. It's very far away. It's like going from San Francisco to Chicago. Bands started to come through as I got older. Music started to get better. Before that bands hardly ever came through to New Zealand. They only started having festivals around 1994 with bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden. There was only one a year.

AL: You had to follow things on the internet?

Dolf: We totally missed the internet, totally dude. I am 23. The internet didn't really happen till 1998 or 1999. I was out of school by then. We come from a town of eleven thousand people. I think that I saw Green Day once. I saw the Foo Fighters once. That was pretty much it. We would go see local punk rock shows. We saw The Smugglers, from Canada, and Guitar Wolf, from Japan. In 2000, we saw The White Stripes, before they became popular. The more we got into music the more we realized that what we were into wasn't part of the mainstream. We focused on a lot of smaller bands like The Hellacopters who would come through.

AL: Was your influences mostly coming from your record collections?

Dolf: Of course. Yeah. What music you are into is obviously an influence.

AL: When I first saw you guys play I thought of bands like Thin Lizzy, Fastway, and Motorhead.

Dolf: We like those bands. I have been listening to those records for years. Recently I have been listening to The Sweet and the early Alice Cooper. The Sweet live was awesome. I have some film footage of their shows. I love Cheap Trick too. We play a song by Cheap Trick in our set now.

AL: Thin Lizzy was not really a glam band or a heavy metal group. "Whisky in The Jar" was this folk song brought into a modern rock context.

Dolf: I like bands who are not just into one thing. For us we try to play pop songs in a heavy way, or we play heavy songs in a pop way. Like with Thin Lizzy, it's not quite heavy metal and it's not quite glam. I like songs that are heavy but catchy as well.

AL: Are these songs on the album fairly new or old?

Dolf: "Harmonic Generator" we have been doing for a long time. Two-thirds of the record we have been playing for a long time. The rest is about a year old.

AL: How do you write a new song?

Dolf: Christian will write a riff. I'll sing parts of it and that will develop into the chorus. I could sit down and write a song. But by the time I take it to the others, it evolves and changes. We are four-way songwriters on everything. But it all comes together when we get in the practice room.

AL: Since some of these songs are four years old, do you have a few albums of new material?

Dolf: We only play about two songs from four years ago. We wrote about thirty songs before we got anything. They were bad. In the first four years we were just learning how to play. "Harmonic Generator" came along about 1999. Since that time and this record there are another thirty songs we wrote that I love. We never recorded them and they will never see the light of day.

AL: What is Hell Squad Records?

Dolf: It's our label. It came to a point in New Zealand where there was nothing going on and no labels were interested in new music. You have to realize that Australia is whole different country. It has nothing to do with us. It got to a point where we were thinking "Hang on. We are not part of this. We don't want to be part of the mainstream. We don't want to write songs for the radio. We don't want to create a look for ourselves. We don't want to pander to a market. We want to be ourselves. No one is going to put out our records, so let's do it ourselves." It wasn't a bitter thing or angsty. We wanted to do this and so that's what we did.

AL: Were there a bunch of singles first?

Dolf: Yeah. Before this album we did four singles. We did four 7-inch singles for us. We did another EP for another band on vinyl too. We recorded the album in May 2002. It came out in the UK last October. It contained songs from the early singles like "MF From Hell," "Lady," and "Fink For The Man."

AL: It does sound like songs written over years. Some bands write a bunch of in a month and take another month to record them.

Dolf: That's what I like about it though. For a rock record goes, it sounds different from song to song. I think that is important to have diversity in rock.

AL: What is your live set like?

Dolf: Since the record has just come out in North America, it makes sense to play songs from the record. Let me see. We do about eight songs from the record, and plus seven other songs, in the live show. We do a few b-sides, a few new songs, and a few covers.

AL: How did Hell Squad Records and your band get noticed in other parts of the world?

Dolf: We started putting out our own singles in 2000. I had just finished at University and I had more time to take than ever the music more seriously. The rest of the band had day jobs. After school, I decided to be a bum and do the label. It was only about sixteen months ago that they quite their jobs to do the band.

AL: When did you do the bigger festivals?

Dolf: We played in Australia first. That was in 2000. We would take out a loan, go to Australia, come back and work it off. We did that a few times. We did an American tour a year ago. We played SXSW twice and CMJ. When we played in London and the UK last summer and things blew up there.

AL: You became popular with other bands?

Dolf: Yeah. We haven't seen anything like this before.

AL: The "New Rock Revolution" started in the summer of 2001. Bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes went over to the UK and became bigger than they were in the USA.

Dolf: What set us apart from all of that was, because we come from this small rural town from the bottom of the world, our influences aren't as cool. We didn't know about the MC5 or Johnny Thunders until we were twenty, because we couldn't find those records. I love The Stooges but I didn't know anything about them until three years ago. The roots of our music is a lot more deep seated in music from the early 1970s or late 1960s. Things like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and T. Rex were things that we could find when we were growing up. We liked Thin Lizzy because we could find those records. Our influences are not hip. They are not cool.

AL: Do you get bikers with mullets coming to your shows?

Dolf: We do. But in the UK we get kids coming to our shows. We get young boys and girls who haven't seen rock and roll before. They think: "What the hell is this?" Someone performing on stage. Someone getting wild at a rock show. They have never seen anything like it.

AL: Did all the people who were listening to boy bands and Britney Spears a few years ago, grow up and start listening to rock and roll?

Dolf: They still listen to that junk. In my book, if a kid likes Avril Lavigne, Britney, and The White Stripes too: that's a cool thing. That means that there is one record in their record collection that is passionate and actually makes sense. Maybe that one thing will get through to them and maybe they will discover others records. People get scared about homogenization: about something that is underground coming into the mainstream. I think that good stuff will last.

AL: There is a snobbery out there too. Some people will only like The Datsuns, The White Stripes, or Interpol because these are the cool bands.

Dolf: The kids like them. What I was getting at with the snobbery is that you could love a record, and it could be amazing, and only you and your friends could know about it. All of a sudden it becomes popular and you don't like it anymore. I think that is fucked up. The songs are still good. Just because there is a fifteen year old kid standing next to you at the show doesn't mean it sucks. Get over it. Be there for the music.

AL: What's up with The Datsuns website and the messageboard?

Dolf: We do that ourselves. I don't go anywhere near the messageboard. I haven't looked at it for a year. I think it sucks. I vote to take it off. It's pretty funny and amusing. But at the same time you think "Get a life" and do something else. These kids live on the internet. It's sweet that kids are on the internet. It's cool for them because they can find out a lot about new music really quickly. The other side to that is there's no specialness. Before the 1980s, the only way you could find out about a band was to listen to the record. When you went to see them that was the only time you would ever see them. Now you can pick up a magazine or go on the internet and find out everything about that band. You can find out the dude's birthday or who they are sleeping with. It takes away all the mystique away from the music. Not that I am trying to have mystique myself. When you got a record, you would studied it and create a special relationship to it.

AL: You can't have a special relationship to a record when you are writing about it in messageboards.

Dolf: Even if you are a band who hasn't sold any records, you can have a huge amount of information out there. You can be a new band and have all this information and an elaborate website like you are a big superstar. I think that's fucked up. There is this website that I found out about where people pretend to be celebrities. People pretend to be Julian Casablancas. It's supposed to be his journAL: "Hi, I'm Julian. I met up with a friend." Blah blah....

AL: I was reading the fake journal of Marcie Von Bondie the other day. I was looking for reviews of Von Bondies shows.

Dolf: We are really good friends with them. And it's not her, dude. Their idea of a good time is to pretend to be a celebrity or a person in a band. That's fucked up. All I do is email. It's all bullshit.

AL: When I bought The Datsuns CD I got a DVD with it. Do you see yourself as a band that makes videos?

Dolf: All our videos are live shows. That's what we do. We are not actors, dude. We don't have a video with a little story. We are a rock band, so that's what we are going to put in the video. The one for "Harmonic Generator" has a color machine.

AL: You are coming back with The Star Spangles in June.

Dolf: I just heard about that. I don't know all the details. It's with those guys, but also we playing with The Paybacks and the Forty-Fives. I don't know all the dates right now. We are doing the last two shows in LA. Then we are going to Japan. We are playing in Australia with The Sahara Hotnights. Then we have nine days off. It will be the first break we had in sixteen months.

AL: This headlining tour in June, you will be playing bigger venues.

Dolf: Come on. Things happen so fast these days because things like the internet. The way modern life is, people expect things to go up and up all the time. We are just going to show up and see what happens.

AL: How did you end up recording "Harmonic Generator" with the Von Bondies?

Dolf: They were in between shows, and we had a place where they could stay. We were trying to make things as fun as possible. Come into the studio and sing on this. The early version of it sounded new wave. We had a drum machine and we had a robot voice on it. It's way different now.

AL: What should people coming to see you this summer be expecting to see when they come see you on tour?

Dolf: We try to put as much energy as possible into the show. We are loud. People should bring earplugs. People should drink more. People need to loosen up more over here. We need to do more all ages shows. We played two shows at the Bowery Ballroom. Both nights sold out. The first night was eighteen plus and everybody was dancing and shaking. The next night was totally different. Just that three years difference.

AL: Does it piss you off when these hipsters stroke their beards and sit their and try to decide if it is cool to like you or not?

Dolf: I am passed that point. I don't care because they already bought the ticket, dude. When I see a show, I don't always dance. So I understand if people don't want to move around. It's cool when people are shaking it around a little bit and tapping their feet and getting into it. The harder we work and more the audience gives back: it's an exchange that's gets better and better.

Website: www.thedatsuns.com

Interpol Interview w/ Sam Fogarino

INTERPOL An Interview with Samuel Fogarino by Alexander Laurence Interpol has recently replaced The Strokes and The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs as the next IT band. Believe the hype, this band rocks. Interpol was formed in 1998 when they met at NYU. Between 1998 and 2000, they perfected their unique sound in the city's decrepit rehearsal rooms. In 2000, their original drummer, Greg, left the band. Interpol decided to try out Samuel Fogarino, whom guitarist Daniel Kessler knew from the store where Sam worked.

With a revitalized lineup, Interpol resumed live shows at venues including Brownies, Mercury Lounge, and The Bowery Ballroom. Throughout 2000 and 2001 they opened for indie favorites like Trail of Dead, Arab Strap, and The Delgados.

Interpol's first release, at the end of 2000, was the third installment of the "FukdID EP" series on Chemikal Underground label. Around the same time, the band also contributed "Song Seven," to the Fierce Panda Records compilation, Clooney Tunes. In April 2001 Interpol played in Glasgow, Manchester, and London, capping off their visit with a session for the famed John Peel on Radio One.

In November of 2001, the band tucked themselves away in Connecticut at Tarquin Studios to record their debut full-length, Interpol (Matador). The album was recorded and mixed by Peter Katis (Mercury Rev, Clem Snide) and Gareth Jones (Wire, Clinic.)

I spoke to the drummer and met the other members of the band during a date on their sold out tour of America that started at the end of August. Interpol is: Sam Fogarino (drums), Daniel Kessler (guitar), Carlos Dengler (bass), Paul Banks (guitar and vocals)

****** AL: It's funny how people compare Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to Jesus and Mary Chain and Interpol to Joy Division. They think that Paul sounds like Ian Curtis. Interpol has way more guitars that Joy Division and Joy Division has a bass guitar as a lead instrument which Interpol doesn't really.

Sam: I can hear it a little bit. Nobody denies it. But Paul is a 24-year old man. He had never heard of Joy Division until two years ago, and he's not the biggest fan either. Personally, Paul is way more melodic and intoned. Ian Curtis was like this monotone. God bless him. I am not dissing him.

AL: Did you always play in bands? I knew you because I used to see you in Williamsburg all the time.

Sam: I was musically active for ten years. I played in a few bands. The original drummer Greg left amicably. I had always known Daniel. I met him through a mutual friend in Chicago over the phone. I wanted to go see a Firewater show at Brownies. I got put on the guest list because Daniel worked at Jetset Records.

AL: How did some of the early EPs come about?

Sam: Emma and Paul from Chemikal Underground did this "FukdID" series a la Subpop. It was like a limited edition EPs that they do every year. I was aware of this series and Interpol had done one in 1998. I was in this other band The Tonups which was my first New York band.

AL: The Tonups were another well-known Williamsburg band.

Sam: Yeah. We had a really good 7-inch called "Kill Me Slow." I was friends with Doug Henderson who recorded all the Chemikal Underground stuff. He knew I was unhappy in the Tonups. He thought that Greg was the weakest link in Interpol. The Tonups was like a garage rock band. If they would have come out now, with The Hives and all that, they would have done better. It would have been cool.

AL: It's all about timing.

Sam: Bad timing. Daniel and I had always talked about music. Then at the end of 2000, Interpol put out this self-released EP. Daniel called me around then. We had been out of touch for six months. He said "I really think that we should meet up." We had always talked about doing something. By then it seemed like a good idea. It was very serious. He gave me what has been dubbed either the "Precipitate" or "Grey EP." I took one listen and thought "that's it, I'm in." I had one rehearsal with them and next thing you know I am playing a show. Next thing you know we are doing a Peel Session.

AL: You played out in the local clubs for a while?

Sam: Yeah. For the first year that I played in the band and we played all the New York clubs like Brownies, Mercury Lounge, and Knitting Factory. The whole New York thing was bubbling under. It was a phenomenon. John Peel was already playing the previous EPs at that point and that caused an international interest. We were invited to do a John Peel session. From there we were invited to do a festival in Brittany, La Route du Rock. From there we started talking with Matador Records and things have been crazy ever since. I joined at the perfect time. All these EPs came out then. We started writing a lot of new songs.

AL: People always ask me what's going on musically in NYC? It's so diverse and big that there's never been one thing going on. So till now, where there's been this focus on rock bands, you couldn't really describe any one thing that was prevalent.

Sam: Yeah. I always thought interesting stuff was going on in New York. The media decided to shift its lenses over to New York at some point. I was enamored by New York from the early 1990s with bands like Cop Shoot Cop, Foetus, and The Swans.

AL: There's always been this mythos that drew people to New York. That you could be Andy Warhol, and start your own Factory, and all your friends are like Edie and Nico and Lou Reed.

Sam: Exactly. Hence that place Luxx in Williamsburg.

AL: If you are a guy you want to be Warhol or Lou Reed. If you are a girl you want to be Edie. Or maybe you saw Breakfast at Tiffany's and have modeled yourself after Holly Golightly. Those are the icons that in the mind of anyone who has moved to NYC in the past thirty years.

Sam: That's so true. Definitely.

AL: The Strokes sort of fit the mold of an Uber-NYC band. Have you been on tour all year?

Sam: Not really. It seems like it. In the past year we have been back and forth to Europe. Mainly in England in France. This is our first proper American tour. This is the first time we will leave the northeast region. After we did the Peel Session in early 2001, we did a small tour of England. We did one show last year at La Route du Rock in France. We got invited back which is a rare occurrence. We have been to England a few times. We played at the Reading Festival. I had never been to Europe in my life. It was great. I have always been curious about seeing London.

AL: So how is the American tour going so far?

Sam: I expected to have maybe this nice, humble crowd of fifty to hundred people. It would be a handful of the alternative set who like to check out new music and who are curious and excited about new music. But what happened is every show except one has sold out in advance. We are playing two nights at the Troubadour in Los Angeles our first time and it's sold out. What the fuck is going?

AL: What is all this focus now on New York bands about?

Sam: I am friends with Nick from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He's on tour with Jon Spencer and The Liars. We have never done a show together, but maybe we will. I have been in New York and living there for almost six years now. It was funny. After we got back from our first stint in England, the NME put out this article "We (heart) NYC." What is going on? If you are in the eye of the storm everything is normal where you are at but there is all this shit swirling around. You can't feel it yourself. But all the eyes of the world think that there's this big scene going on. Everybody wants to know what it's like. I don't know. I live in a loft and I play with my cats. I go to the Verb Cafe or the Broadway Diner. We have been busy doing these tours and we haven't settled down and thought about the scene. I just live there.

AL: Since they had already done some recordings, how do you write songs now that you are in the band?

Sam: I was excited by the sound. I could sympathize with it, because I was actually working on my own music at the time. I wanted to go in that direction anyway. I saw that Paul and Daniel had a better grip on it. I thought that I can just play drums on this and I don't have to add anything musically. I did bring keyboards into the band. I got the repertoire down and then I assimilated their very open process of writing songs. If someone brings in an idea and it sticks and everyone latches on, then it becomes a song. If people ignore it, then you let it go. Usually Daniel is the instigator. He comes up with ideas for songs. Paul writes all the lyrics.

AL: What about "The Specialist?" That is a favorite song in the set. How come that was not included on the album?

Sam: Yeah. It was a battle. We didn't want the album to be too long and a burden to listen to. It was hard to decide which songs make it on the album because you have recorded a lot of songs and you like all of them. What is going to be a B-side is a difficult choice. The resolve was that some songs are going to have an existence: they won't be on the album, but they will be on an EP. It will see the light of day. "The Specialist" will have its own special place! It ended up on the first single that Matador released.

AL: You probably hate to hear this question: many people compare your band to.... Kiss! (laughter) Around the time of Dressed To Kill....

Sam: I think we are more Rock and Roll Over to tell you the truth....

AL: Somewhere between Kiss and Joy Division?

Sam: That's great: "Transmission" meets "Dynasty."

AL: I was in the Kiss Army when I was ten.

Sam: Me too. Kiss lead me to The Cars which lead me on to The Clash and Elvis Costello. It snowballed. I liked all the Classic Rock bands too like Zeppelin, The Who, and The Stones.

AL: Some members of Interpol were born in England?

Sam: Paul was born in Essex. Daniel was born in London. Paul left Essex quite young but he has lived all over the world. His father worked for a big corporation so the family moved around a lot.

AL: What other hobbies do you have?

Sam: None. Now it's just playing and touring and traveling. When I worked at Beacon's Closet I spent most of my time buying the music and records. I wasn't too involved with clothes. I take a lot of photos. I am the tour documentarian.

AL: What expectations should people have when they come see Interpol live?

Sam: They should have no expectations and come and be surprised. They can smoke pot or take speed: it doesn't matter to me. That's the thing that bugs me about Joy Division: we are not always this depressing and hyper-serious band. There's a lot upbeat stuff and different moods. There's a cinematic quality about the music of Interpol. That's our common ground. Musically there is no common influence. We do have an affinity with film, atmosphere, and different literatures, and that has more influence on what we do than a fucking Cure song.

AL: Have you seen any movies or read any books recently?

Sam: The only film that I have seen recently is Trouble Every Day, a film by Claire Denis. It's beautiful and sadistic as hell. We all read a lot. I am reading Before Night Falls and Perv; a love story by Jerry Stahl. Next I am going to read Helter Skelter. My mother read that in the 1970s. I had the 45 by The Beatles. I put two and two together and say I am going to play music now. It's just too much.

AL: Are you going to release more EPs?

Sam: We are going to release some singles, b-sides, and live tracks. After this month-long tour we go to Europe for five weeks. We are going to tour the USA again in the winter and early 2003.

website: www.interpolny.com