Blythe, the band’s ever-outspoken frontman, has announced that he’s running for president in 2012. His goal to be the next leader of the free world, man of a thousand nukes, permanent detainer of American civilians, marionette to the megabanks is driven not by a desire to entrench himself in the oceans of Halliburton money or get his own Goldman Sachs diamond-encrusted bidet. Randy wants to get his hands on the wheel to veer the nation back onto the road of rationale and responsibility, of motivated awareness and kinetic progress. As he says himself, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem.

Needless to say, we had to get this guy on the phone.

I’m curious to the core motivation is for this presidential run, but no matter what comes of it, what matters most is that you’re getting people to start talking about relevant issues. We all need the music, but that’s the meeting point of a million perspectives and life circumstance – once you’ve got their fucking attention, what do you do with it? You go to church and they pepper the sociopolitical instructions throughout. You turn on the TV and you’re inundated with agenda-based bullshit. But with music…

There you go. Someone is smart and has gotten the point. (laughs) I am indeed running for president – I was thinking of going for the Republican bid. I was watching some of these primary “debates” and was like ‘Oh my god, these are the best people out of all the far right wing people in the United States that they can muster up?’ The world has got to be coming to an end. This is a sign. So I figured well, I’m gonna run for the presidency.

You have ideas on how to bring our economy back into balance, I assume?

Yes, I will be putting those out soon. I’ve been writing, and I have a statement I’ve been working on about the economy. That’ll be my next policy statement, and I don’t think it’ll be that popular, but it’ll be real.

A lot of people have hit me up on Twitter, and have told me ‘I’ve never registered to vote, but I just did just to vote for you.’ I know there’s a lot of people out there. I know I’m gonna get some votes. There’s no doubt about it. And hopefully, I’m gonna get the majority vote, and we’ll see what happens. We’ll see if we have another Bush episode.

Ultimately the reality of money sets in when it comes down to the fact that 94% of the presidential winners have been the ones with the most money.

Oh definitely, and as I said before, I’m proud to say that so far I’ve only spent $1.99 on an editing app on my iPhone called Splice for the campaign commercial. What really infuriates me about politics, aside from the bipartisan politics which has completely paralyzed Congress to the point where nothing’s getting done, is that it’s so blatantly about money. It’s so blatantly about who has the most juice and cash in Washington with the lobbyists.

It’s what the Wu-Tang Clan said, man: C.R.E.A.M. Cash Rules Everything Around Me, man. And it’s the truth. So my campaign is all about taking away the bells and whistles. Let’s take away the gratuitous name-calling. These people aren’t really saying much. What they are saying generally though, it’s just…

Batshit crazy.

Yeah, exactly. Batshit crazy. She’s gone now, but the fact that a woman like Michele Bachmann can get up there, spout absolute nonsensical garbage day and night, and say ‘I am a serious presidential candidate, and my facts are accurate.’ Then you’ve got Newt Gingrich, who admits to smoking pot. Whatever you think about smoking pot, whatever your stance is, the following statement should blow anybody’s mind: Newt admits to smoking pot in the 60s. He said yes I’ve done it, I know I shouldn’t have because of the legality. And it’s illegal now in 2012. The big difference is that in the 60s, it wasn’t immoral. But now, in 2012, it’s immoral. He has selective morality! A man who is running on the family values but dumps his wife when she has cancer…

He wants to put people on death row for bringing cannabis into the country! Death for marijuana!

Fucking unbelievable. I’m a sober man. I have smoked pot, I don’t think anything’s wrong with it. I don’t think you should smoke too much of it, because I think it makes you stupid, but it does have its uses. It does in fact have medicinal uses. It’s a plant. I think it should be legal. Like anything else, it can be abused.

Here in California it’s an accepted part of the culture, and often times its easier to find a weed dispensary than a Starbucks or 7-Eleven. I smoke regularly, and a medical marijuana prescription has not only enabled me to legitimately obtain it rather than going through a sketchy dealer, but also to know the quality consistency, and remove the stereotypical Cheech & Chong stigma associated with it. It comes down to a responsible integration into society that isn’t irresponsible or harmful to the people. It comes down to individual rights, to a person’s ability to govern themselves.

Right. This is factual, not some sort of hooplah. Look at the Dutch society, look at Holland. The coffee shops are only now being regulated so that only Dutch citizens can go to them, but not even the majority of Dutch citizens smoke weed or hash. Not all of them at all. I have friends who live there who don’t smoke weed. It’s there, it’s just…

Not a big deal, because it’s not made a big deal.

Exactly. Now you’ve got a guy who says that it wasn’t immoral for him to smoke it, but it is for kids today, and he wants to put to death people for a fucking plant. It’s utterly ludicrous that this man is in the race to hold the highest office in the land. It’s insane. People are babbling about so much nonsense, and paying attention to the total circus going on right now is absolutely insane. So that’s why I’m running for president.

Well here’s hoping you can get on the ballot. Because no matter what you’re dealing with on the likelihood of what we’ll be facing in November, you’re getting the same results, the same investors – the banks – pulling the strings, the same bullshit no matter which side you fall on. The lack of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats at this point really seems to only come down to color coding and grudges. If Obama were white and Republican, he’d be on the money already. They’d be carving his face on Mount Rushmore.

Sure. Sure. It’s so fucked up… I talk to older people, like 80 year old people, about the state of our country as it is now. I’ve talked to people who lived through the depression. Everybody says bad things abotu the next generation, oh, things are horrible now, so on and so forth. I’m asking these people, what do you think about this Congress? And almost everybody who has any political astuteness whatsoever and has been around awhile says this is the worst Congress they’ve ever seen. Ever. It’s like having a bunch of Pee-Wee Herman’s up there going ‘I know you are but what am I?’

It’s fucking ridiculous, and the country is suffering for it. Nothing is getting done. We’re in an incredible amount of debt to China. It’s fucking amazing – how did things get this way? Personally, I think it started with Reagan, but we can go on all day about this stuff.

I don’t know, man. I’m half tempted to just buy a bunch of fucking gold and bury it.

Yeah, Canada’s looking pretty nice, too. But I hate the idea of running away just because a group of corrupted motherfuckers is ruining it for everyone, and tricking them into playing party to it. This is an incredible country, an amazing nation, and we have fucked it up so badly. There has to be a way around, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a pretty process.

It’s not going to be pretty. The basis of my ideas for fixing America is going to hinge on personal responsibility and accountability. Taking a look at this situation and saying ‘Ok, it shouldn’t be this way. This is what we have to do to fix it.’ Not, ‘Oh, this isn’t fair.’ Because life is not fair. We have to deal in reality.

Solution-based reality.

Yeah, let’s stay in the solution. That’s the last thing on my ‘Thanks’ list on the record, which is very, very brief. It says if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Everyone is going to have to be a part of the solution. I’ve got bad news for you: things aren’t just going to turn around.

We’ve been sitcommed into believing that no matter what the problem is, you can tie it up with a bow at the end of the schedule. Things have always bounced back, once we’ve gotten a new face in the cockpit, a new wave of distraction and complacency. But things seem much different now. The explosion of awareness that the internet has brought means we’re not going to be as easily swayed by the big gloss-over. The way our rights are being attacked, the way that information is being attempted to be censored, or the fact that the government has full legal authorization to detail and torture its own citizens without charges – permanently!

And Obama signed that on New Year’s Eve, when everyone was drunk and partying, having a good time. He signed it into law “with reservations,” as if every administration after his would treat it with the same kid gloves. What about after your administration, when the United States has carte blanche to round us up and throw us into detainment camps in fucking Cuba or somewhere. People just aren’t waking up. It’s such a bummer. I have friends who are political anarchists, who are like revolution this, revolution that. And the only thing I believe is going to cause a revolution in America is when things get so repressive that we’ll have a full armed revolt. Everyone is so sedated and pacified by all this technology and media and lies. Things are going on right underneath their noses.

In full, plain view.

Right, it’s not even a fucking secret anymore. It’s not even some illuminati shit. ‘Oh, we’re going to sign into law something that completely strips you of any rights as a citizen whatsoever – forever.’ Get the fuck out of here.

Keep up with Lamb Of God and pick up their new album Resolution at their official site.

What was it like being back at Voodoo Experience, being asked back for your second year?

John Wicks: This year’s a big change from last year. Last year we were not really known and we had an early timeslot and it was kind of rough to be honest and we had a small but enthusiastic crowd. It’s a lot different. Now we have wind in our sails this year.

I actually caught you at Austin City Limits and was blown away by your set, especially when you got the crowd to crouch down for Moneygrabber.

Noelle Scaggs: Thank you!
James King: When you can do that to that many people you wield some power. It goes to your head.

What’s it been like on the road? What’s been your favorite festival to play?

Noelle Scaggs: We’ve done Lollapalooza; we did the Southern Music Festival with Zach Brown Band in Charleston, South Carolina when we started this tour. We did pretty much all of the festival that you really want to do

John Wicks: ACL. ACL was great.

Noelle Scaggs: It’s always really fun to go to Austin for us because it’s kind of like our roots. That’s where we obtained our record deal and got the attention that we were really hoping to get in the business end of it. Taking that leap and really doing what we’ve done manifested in a lot of the things that we hoped would’ve happened, so every time we go to Austin it’s really special to perform in front of that crowd.

I’ve noticed it’s not as much about the suit and ties anymore and you’re having a bit more fun with your fashion. What’s inspiring your look?

Noelle Scaggs: It’s really just your own individual thing. We all got to the point where we were like, “We don’t want to be in uniform. I don’t want to always be in a dress.” It’s not always comfortable, especially when you’re doing festivals and you’re walking around in ballet flats and it’s been raining the whole day and it’s muddy and soppy. You need to be comfortable; you need to feel like yourself and all of these guys have really great style. It’s just a matter of just jumping on it.

James King: I think the festival thing really settled it for us when were just slogging along in 100 degree heat outdoors and wearing suits.

Noelle Scaggs: It was such a drag.

John Wicks: It was really about sweat. You know, sweat is such a killer when it comes to suits and traveling.

James King: Those things get nasty in the back of the bus; they get all moldy. I mean, we’re trying to keep an air of formality. A couple of us are still wearing ties. We’re trying to mix it up a bit though, too.

Noelle Scaggs: We still know how to look good though without necessarily being in that type of clothing. We still dress really nice but now you can really see us as individuals and our taste and what we like; even the photos are different. It’s just really great.

James King: I think part of that too is that the direction of our vision artistically is also reflected in that. I mean, we started out in skinny ties and black suits and we were putting forward kind of a vintage thing. That’s what people latched onto: that we were part of this cadre of revival Motown soul acts & we accepted that graciously and still do but I think part of the thing is that we like to push it forward and we don’t want to get stuck in a nostalgia trip and just be associated with just another soul revival act. We’re trying to throw a modern influence into it; some of what we grew up with, throw our own musical experience into the mix and make it our own thing and I think that’s what’s made us stand out a little bit. To come full circle to your question about clothing, our fashion and music has followed that. We’ve still got one foot firmly planted in the soul foundation and definitely the 60’s influence.

Where do you feel like you’re headed musically? What influences have you been digging lately?

James King: We’re just branching out really. It’s like, we’ve got our fingers all kinds of different styles right now and it’s kind of refreshing. The groove element is still there and John’s laying down the foundation of everything that we do and giving that essential element of soul and funk that we need.
Noelle Scaggs: We’re still focused on writing really good songs at the end of the day and whatever it is we’re inspired by, we’re gonna write 40 songs before this next record is due and we’ll figure out the story from there. A lot of songs are probably going to be written on this tour. The guys went into the studio for 3 days while we were still at home and just cranked out idea after idea so we’ll be playing with a lot of different types of sounds and just going from there.
John Wicks: From a drumming standpoint, I’m just as influenced by krautrock and drum programming as I am by Al Jackson and all those drummers from the soul era.
James King: I play an instrument – saxophone— that a lot of people just associate with old, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. I’ve got influences from every possible genre that’s out there and I’m trying to throw that into what I do, in my own way.

What have you been bumping lately? What’s you’re favorite record right now?

John Wicks: Major Lazer
Noelle Scaggs: (laughs) He still loves Major Lazer. I’ve been diving deep into our Spotify account and creating this radio playlist for us and just discovering all these new different bands. The M83 record just came out and I really, really love that record. Metronomy is another great record that James put me on to that I’ve been listening to as well; Fleet Foxes is still one of my favorite bands, YACHT, the Kooks… there are so many amazing bands out there right now. Our opening band called Walk The Moon is really, really good. I think they just signed with Warner Brothers actually; really great record, great live; they’re talented kids.
James King: I really love Metronomy and I actually play on two songs on that M83 record. I can’t wait to hear it. Last year I wore out that Deerhunter record to the point that I was hearing it in my head.

What’s it been like hitting the talk show circuit? You’ve been on everything!

Noelle Scaggs: It’s really fun. Just even being invited is really an honor for us being a band that is fairly young in the game and to be asked to go on Leno twice, which never happens in the same year, has been great. It’s funny because when you actually do those shows there’s a lot of waiting around and three minutes of fame. It’s a great experience though, being up there and having all these celebrities being exposed to your music and people hearing about you and getting whatever fanbase you can. I still say to this day that the biggest show we ever did was Daryl Hall’s “Live From Daryl’s House”. To this day we have people coming up to us at shows who’ve seen us on it because it just got syndicated and they’re like, “I was watching TV and I saw you on ‘Live From Daryl’s House’ and it was amazing”. People are very stoked about that and it’s an honor and a blessing to just even be invited on any of these shows.

I’m sure you’ve also seen a lot of celebrities at shows. I’m pretty sure I saw Christian Bale at your side stage (for Austin City Limits). Do you know him?

Noelle Scaggs: He was there filming for a film project that he’s working on right now and they were filming a few bands and we were one of the bands they wanted to film during our set. It was weird just looking down and seeing Batman in the corner.
John Wicks: He was definitely a character too. He just had this vacant look about him. It was actually a little bit intimidating.

Who has been your most surprising celebrity fan to have?

James King: Jack McBrayer.
John Wicks: Jack McBrayer is really a rabid fan and he’s super, super cool.
Noelle Scaggs: Fred Savage, I just found out, is a really big fan of ours. A friend of mine works on a show he does and he was really excited when he found out he knew us.
John Wicks: Kat Von D is also a fan.
John Wicks: Our big break was really Adam Levine taking us out on tour.
James King: That really opened so many doors for us, going out on tour with them.
John Wicks: Just being exposed to those huge crowds. We were on a college tour with them.

What would you say was the rowdiest college campus then?

James King: The rowdiest? Probably Cornell.
John Wicks: Definitely. They were crazy.

Where are you headed after this?

Noelle Scaggs: We go to Atlanta. We’re actually headed there tonight, driving over there. We’ll be playing this venue Center Stage there so that should be really fun and then from there we head on to Florida and then Athens, Georgia, North Carolina, and the east coast. We’re everywhere.

And where does that leave recording?

Noelle Scaggs: We’re not going to be recording until after this tour. The actual physical, heavy writing isn’t going to start until afterwards.

Keep up with Fitz and The Tantrums at their official site.

That’s just the kind of magic Mr. Johannes makes. Having cut his teeth as a cofounder of Eleven with his late wife Natasha Shneider and former Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, Alain would go on to leave his mark as a contributor to such acts as Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Eagles Of Death Metal and Mark Lanegan, as well as his own stunning 2010 solo record, Spark.

In our latest conversation with Alain, touch bases on several exciting issues, including the 20th anniversary of Eleven’s Awake In A Dream and the new music accompanying, as well as his new band Arthur Channel, his work on Chris Cornell’s latest (and arguably best) solo album, and, of course, updates on the future of Queens Of The Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures.

It’s great to get in touch again, how are things?

Good, good man, thank you. Just getting some coffee… We had a late night with Queens again.

Ahh, how’s that coming along?

Really great. Just putting in days, super top secret, but it’s going to be amazing. I’m really excited about it.

Really looking forward to that. Is there any sort of finish line visible on the horizon?

Oh yeah, definitely. Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can’t say exactly when, but it’s a really good start.

With the 20th anniversary of Awake In A Dream on us, you have the Eleven single This Little Finger going to radio on 11/15. What are your feelings involved with reintroducing it to people?

There’s so much good music left unheard, you know? I was riffing a little bit with the fact that with the demos and songs left out, and at the time it seemed like the thing to present to the world. There’s some amazing songs. Some of those 8-track demos were the trickiest ones, technically speaking. The machine that it was recorded on is rare, and I realized that I was running away from it, because it’s still hard to hear hear Natasha’s voice. Making Spark was this trance… this focused thing that just kind of happened to me. This was very much a conscious, ‘alright, let’s go relive this stuff.’

What happened with a lot of 8-track recordings was that Jack (Irons) had left for Pearl Jam, and Greg (Upchurch) was joining us for the first time. We didn’t have a studio yet, and we just did these recordings. By the time we got signed… Natasha and I were very much in-the-moment kind of writers. We started a whole bunch of songs and recorded them in this format very quickly, and then it came time to do Avantgardedog and we said alright, we’ve got all these new songs and ideas. So we left almost an entire record behind. (laughs)

And of course, there was a lot of growth there because of the studio, and time had passed. But listening to them now, there’s some incredible songs. And I’m just trying to bring them forward, but not too much. At first it was difficult, because I’m too much of a perfectionist. It needs to sound the best it can possibly sound! But really, no, this only has to document where we were at, and it doesn’t really matter. 

So it was less about the trepidation of going through the material than the task of honoring the sound?

Yeah, just trying to change it so that I can have more access to it, but after all is said and done when I pulled up the tapes and started putting it all together, I realized ‘Oh god, there’s no keyboards here.’ We had locked it up with a sequencer which was like a recorder if you want to use it that way. Who knows what that machine was in the mid-90s – I can’t even begin to imagine what it was. So it became about taking the original demos and enhancing it a little, and going through the process of bringing out all these separate things.

I think that’s what happened with This Little Finger. It was probably from the Howling Book sessions, as the first song we recorded. And then by the time we were done with the Howling Book record, it really didn’t fit the architecture anymore. But it’s a great track.

There’s also unfinished stuff that I’m still trying to figure out what to do with. It might even be part of Rarities but those last recordings we did, a couple weeks before Natasha got diagnosed. There’s five songs that are really amazing, that have quite a heavy live and rocking kind of vibe to them. I’ve been thinking of asking some of our dear friends to finish them, to get Josh to sing.

That would be a dream come true for fans. As for the new single, This Little Finger, those drums sound awesome. Is that Jack playing?

Yeah, that’s Jack. That’s crazy Jack with his ability to make everything seem like a beat, even when he’s going mental. It’s actually Jack on all three songs, and Greg is going to actually be prominently featured on the “long play” (laughs), if you can still say that. And we had just gotten back together, he had left Pearl Jam, and had been kind of hibernating for a year or two.

It’s kind of fascinating how the Matt Cameron / Jack Irons thing tends to work. They seem to lead and follow one another through various projects, despite the fact that their styles couldn’t be more different.

It’s kind of funny, because there’s four songs on Thunk that we had to take out so that Matt could come in. They’re great songs, but we didn’t want to have a super long record, and it was our way of telling Jack ‘Well, there you go, you leave, that’s what you get.’ (laughs)

It expands outward incestually, with Jack and Matt both in Eleven, then Pearl Jam, and now Matt’s back in the fold with Soundgarden as well. And you’re working with Chris Cornell, mixing his new album and touring, right?

Yeah, the live record, which is absolutely fantastic. I got to join him onstage for a couple tunes here in LA, and I got to experience the show, which really helped me approach the mixing of it. I just went after trying to capture the feeling of being there, in the hall. Also, being a huge fan of his and a friend, we hadn’t really spent much time together for almost ten years. It actually started with The Keeper, a song for the Machine Gun Preacher movie.

That’s a great song.

Yeah, so we did that together, and we both performed on it. So we’d been texting and chatting over the past year, which led to the Songbook involvement, and now I’m gonna go join him for a week in South America.

You’re in a new band called Arthur Channel, but there’s not much info out there just yet – John Greene on vocals and guitar, and Greg Richling on bass. How’d the first show work out at the Viper Room?

It was good, you know. Those guys started it – Greg, Jack and John – and they came to me to mix it. Once I mixed the record, Jack said ‘Hey, come play with us.’ So we’ve done two gigs, and when I get a little time I’m gonna play some guitar on it. So conceptually it’s just those three guys. Greg produced the record, and I’ve been in the middle of crazy since I got back from South America, working on so many records. Lanegan’s record is done, and I produced a couple other really awesome things. So I was kind of unavailable when the inception really started, so I’m kind of a late-comer, as it were. But it’s really exciting – John’s a great songwriter. He has a beautiful voice.

That Vapor track is tremendous.

Yeah, it’s kind of cool to be in a band where I can just show up to play guitar. Jack and I have plans to do something as soon as there’s some time. But obviously I’ll be tied up here for a little bit. I hear a second record in the works already in my head, that I’d like to get to by the end of the year.

A follow-up to Spark?

Yeah, another solo record.

That’s really great news. Do you have a dry erase board somewhere at home, just to keep track of all the chainsaws you’ve got juggling right now?

Well yeah, kind of. (laughs) Artistically, Natasha and I have always had that forward motion… at the time, the way the business was structured, it didn’t allow for output at the same rate we were into. So it was frustrating, so what we did was actually turn it off, whether consciously or unconsciously. It’s not possible to just work on records and release them as you were going. There’s labels, and studios are expensive, and you always needed to get other people involved… I mean, that’s the reason we became autonomous down to the artwork.

Any discussion of Spinnerette coming back to life in the future?

Oh definitely, but not the next record. I’m working with Brody whenever it’s time – she just had a beautiful baby boy – for her solo record. I think that’s just going to be pretty much a solo record.

So it won’t have the Spinnerette name…

Not this time. And that’s coming out great too. It’s really a matter of, ‘I’ve got a couple of hours… Oh, I have to mix this thing,’ then whoever calls with a ‘Where’s my… so and so?’

And then in the middle of all that you’ve gotta run down and play guitar with Chris Cornell in South America.

That’s going to be so much fun. I’m just keeping the boat afloat, taking care of [family]. Just gotta keep it going so I can take care of what I need to. But I’m really blessed that, somehow… I don’t really solicit so much as people just come to me. And then when I resonate with the music, like Black Box Revelation, then off we go.

And it’s good to have a studio in the house so if shit happens, it can move quick.

Has there been any conversation beyond speculative about a new Them Crooked Vultures record?

Oh yeah, there definitely has. But as you can see, the way that the cycles happen, you know Dave jumped right into Foos, and then Josh toured more than a solid year with Queens for the self-titled album. So I expect at some point after the Queens cycle that there will be. And I think JPJ’s been busy…

He’s been all over the place. It’s been really great to see him play with Seasick Steve.

John actually takes his daughter to bluegrass camp every year. He’s really way involved with it. We were in Nashville and had a day off, and he said ‘Come on, let’s go.’ I asked where, and he said ‘Don’t you know? We’re in Bluegrass town!’ And we went over and hit the town, and I sat out to absorb for a little bit. I wasn’t about to just jump in and start smearing the wrong thing all over the place. But it was incredible, it was more like a rhythmical function, and you just have to feel where the changes come. There’s never more than three chords, but there’s just thousands of songs, and you just have to feel the pull of when to change. It was really cool. I felt very honored that he invited me.

There’s no better way to learn than immersing yourself around people who have that edge of ability.

It’s always good to push yourself. You become a little less defined. You’re just more of a musician, here’s the musical situation. You always have to listen first. What world are we living in? What are the rules? And what are the freedoms within the rules? And you jump in, and hopefully you do a good job.

I’m very excited about the Lanegan record that’s coming out next year.

You’re definitely not the only one… (laughs)

Yeah, and Black Box Revelation have just been touring and building their profile as well. They’re such great players, and they have such great chemistry. Jack Irons’ son Zach has a band as well, Irontom, and it’s really incredible. We recorded it here, and the production is done. Hopefully we’ll find a home soon there.

Keep up with Alain Johannes at his official website, and follow him on Twitter.

Photo by Cord McPhail.

Produced by The Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk, Murder The Mountains is a leveling up of both sound and depth for the band, with attitude for miles and a gloriously infectious sound. The results have been tremendous, and with the world catching on Red Fang is riding the wave while on tour with Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon.

Check out the pyromaniacal video for Wires off the band’s new album:

Bassist and vocalist Aaron Beam chatted with Antiquiet about touring with one of the biggest names in metal, how they decided which songs made the cut for the new release, and the occasional Britney Spears indulgence.

What do you expect from your upcoming tour with Mastodon?

I think that musically and stylistically we fit with Mastodon really well. We’re hoping that there are a lot of Mastodon fans that will appreciate what we do and will come out to see us and will like us. And we just hope to have a good time with those guys and with Dillinger, who I hear are pretty awesome guys. So I’m looking forward to just meeting those guys.

What’s your equipment of choice when you’re on the road?

We all use SUNN Beta amplifiers, they’re like a late 70s’ hollow space head, and we sort of started using them by accident. We just use some old beat up guitars, although we just got some new ones that we’re gonna try out and see how those work. But yea, I have JL bass, Bryan has a Mustang, and David has an old Fender Telecaster thin line from 1972 or something.

Is that the same equipment you use during recording?

It’s all the same for recording as it is for live. We get a pretty distinct sound from those SUNN Betas, and so we try to capture more or less what we sound like live in the studio. That’s the only way to do it really.

Murder the Mountains is your second album. What’s the major difference in sound from the debut record?

I think that there’s more collaboration on the second one. More people contributed more secondary parts on this one than on the first one. The first record, of course we worked together on it, but this one you hear a broader array of influences because all four of us listen to different kinds of music. And so that comes into what we all are writing. It’s just a little bit more diverse I guess.

I heard you guys recorded way more songs that you needed for this album. How do you feel about the tracks that didn’t make it?

They’re good, they’re solid tracks. Some of them we didn’t even finish mixing, so maybe we haven’t even finished writing them. They just wouldn’t have necessarily worked in the sequence of this album. And we’ve released a few of them already as just bonus tracks, like we made outtakes of “Black Hole” available as sort of a teaser for this Mastadon tour.

And we made one of them available on the deluxe iTunes download edition of our record. We’re happy with the songs, they just didn’t fit in with the sequence of the record. It would have made it a lot longer than an LP.

What made you guys decide to go in a comical direction for your music videos, such as Wires and Prehistoric Dog?

Well the lyrical content for Prehistoric Dog is pretty ridiculous. It’s about dogs that come from outer space and destroy all humans. So the lyrics are pretty ridiculous already. But also, some of our videos are more entertaining. A lot of directors try to do a very clever video that just hinges on one trick. So once you see the trick you’re like ‘Okay I get it,’ and then you’re bored with it.

Or the typical video is just people standing in a field or in a warehouse or something, and the camera just shakes around a lot. Those are boring also. We’re cracking ourselves up all the time in real life, so we wanted to make a video that reflected our personalities. It doesn’t really reflect the music but it does reflect our personalities.

I know there have been instances when you’ve invited audience members on stage. Do you prefer smaller, more intimate shows to the larger arena shows such as Mayhem and this current Mastodon tour?

Well Mayhem took a little bit of getting used to just because it was so big and outdoors, and the people were a little further away from us because of the guard rails. But you just interact with people in a different kind of way at those shows. And then you do get to have a personal interaction with them because you usually do signings at your merch tent. So you get to meet each one of them face to face and you end up interacting with them even more personally after the show.

As far as while we’re performing, they’re two different things. It’s kind of how you love two of your children equally but in different ways. We played a show, and I realized it is possible to play a big arena show and make it feel like an intimate little show. When we played this festival called Hellfest, it was in a tent, which I think helped a little bit. It was huge, but it was packed so it still had that same kind of energy that a small club show would have. So I can’t really say I prefer either one; I like both.

We’ve got a couple questions out of left field from Portugal. The Man frontman John Gourley, who we asked to add some flavor to the mix. If you could make one of your band members eat one thing, what would it be and who would eat it?

Hmm…I’ve seen John and Bryan throw up plenty of times, so I don’t need to go in that direction. But on the other hand, I guess I would say I personally have eaten a lot of crazy things. I’ve eaten a live cockroach, so I’m probably the right person to ask because there’s nothing I wouldn’t eat and there’s nothing I’d get grossed out by. So I’d like to see Bryan try to eat an entire ostrich egg omelet.

Is there any guilty pleasure music we should know about? I’m specifically asking for music because we all know you nerds love L.A.R.P-ing.

(Laughs) It’s hard for me to say that I have any guilty pleasures anymore. I don’t really feel guilty about anything that I listen to. I listen to some pretty ridiculous stuff. When we’re driving a favorite of Bryan’s is “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake. I like some Britney Spears; some of the old stuff its much better.

We’ll get pretty mellow in the band sometimes and listen to some Neil Young. I guess there’s a couple of things that I listened to in high school that I still think are great, but won’t necessarily listen to when people are awake. Like, I love The Descendants, which would probably be my guilty pleasure right now.

If Red Fang were a Voodoo doughnut, which flavor would it be?

It would be probably beer and cigarettes. It would taste so good.

Keep up with Red Fang and their dates with Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon at the band’s official site.

While the album has made top ten debuts on more than one continent, Velociraptor! failed to crack the Billboard Top 200 charts in its first week of release in the United States. The bands previous effort, 2009’s West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, established an industry foothold for the band, and earned them headliner status at festivals all across Europe. This past September, the lads from Leicestershire dropped their latest effort Velociraptor! (read our review) which shot straight to number one on the UK album charts. Described by guitarist and principal song writer Sergio Pizzorno as a jukebox record, Kasabian has found a way to pay tribute to their musical heroes while still managing to push preconceived musical boundaries to the limit.

Part of what makes Kasabian so fascinating is their nearly decade long rise to dominance across Asia, Australia and Europe while going virtually unknown in America. If Coachella was held in Manchester England, the boys from Leicestershire would already have multiple headline appearances under their belts. With Velocitaptor!, Kasabian has created a record full of material which could work across numerous FM radio formats all while managing to keep their trademark blend of hard rocking psychedelic-tinged guitar riffs and animated dance grooves.

We recently sat down with Kasabian vocalist Tom Meighan to discuss America, his influences, Velociraptor! and the current state of music in 2011.

You spent time in San Francisco recording your last two records. What is it about San Francisco that brings out the best in Kasabian? Any favorite locations in the area?

There’s a place called Laslow’s that we go to which is a bar. A friend of ours, Brian, runs it, and that’s great, but it’s just because Dan The Automator’s studio is based in San Francisco. If it was in LA, we’d go to LA, and if it was in Antarctica, we’d go to Antarctica.

The goal of your last record West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum seemed to be for the listener to play the entire record front to back and digest as one piece – a concept record. With Velociraptor!, members of the band have gone on record and shared that it is a jukebox record with various styles and flavors for the iTunes generation. Was this a deliberate move on your part?

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was literally our mental record. No, it wasn’t a conscious decision. We just make music and what comes out of Serge’s brain at the time, and the vibe we’re in at the time is what we produce, it’s like a photograph.

As a huge fan of hip hop, what was it like to have Days Are Forgotten remixed by Z-Trip to include a flow from LL Cool J? Are there any other hip-hop artists you are eager to work with?

I grew up on hip-hop music, since I was 10 or 11. I loved NWA, Public Enemy, KRS-One, and Cypress Hill. I’d like to work with RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan one day, but the LL Cool J thing was fantastic, and that was by accident.

Portions of your last two records were recorded in San Francisco. With America not embracing Kasabian in the same way the rest of the world has, do you find that being unknown allows you to hide out and helps the creation/recording process? What do you feel the band has to do to break down the walls and achieve stateside success?

I don’t really care, to be honest. We have to break down the walls by playing loads of songs, and if it gets on the radio, we have a hit. That’s how it works nowadays, isn’t it?

On stage, Kasabian comes off as a fearless well oiled machine. In interviews, you always seem confident and sure of yourself. Is there anything that scares you?

Yes. A lot of things scare me, but I’m not going to tell you what they are.

In a day and age of YouTube and piracy, many artists shy away from performing new material before an album is released. Yet you performed numerous songs from Velociraptor! before its release. How do you feel about fans sharing clips of your shows on YouTube? Do you feel that those early live clips helped create a buzz for Velociraptor! or did it hurt your campaign?

It’s up to them, isn’t it? It damaged me in many ways, yeah it did.

While sounding futuristic, Velociraptor! manages to pay respects to the sounds of yesteryear be it Motown or The Beatles. What up and coming artists currently excite you?

A lot: The Horrors, I love the Kills, Noel [Gallagher’s] got a great record, a fantastic album. I love what Liam [Gallagher] did with Beady Eye. There’s a lot of great things out there. I’m glad that Adele’s done really well, but I bet she’s sick of it now that she’s so popular.

Velociraptor! has some of the most personal lyrics Sergio has ever written. How much of a challenge was it for you to properly convey the emotions of another human being?

Well he’s my brother, so what he puts down, he has to go through me like a telepathic Elliot and E.T.

You have performed everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl to the rooftops of New York and an airplane. What’s the next venue hurdle for you guys?

Wigston Swimming Pool.

With many months of touring behind Velociraptor! on the horizon, what is the one thing you can’t live without on the road?

Wet wipes.

Kasabian are currently on tour, giving super short answers to all your questions in the backstage area. Pick up Velociraptor! and find out where to see them at the official Kasabian site.

Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland is a schizophrenically diverse talent in a band as polarizing as they come. With rap-rock tilt and a violently aggressive narrative (provided by frontman Fred Durst), LB makes “music for the sneering scumbags who find kinship in the dregs of cultural rot,” as I personally described in my unflattering review of their new album Gold Cobra. Hardly the most favorable depiction of a band that’s sold 50 million albums in their incendiary career, but a reactionary testament to lyrics that run the gamut of variations on “Douchebag, I’ma fuck you up.”

To our surprise, Borland reached out personally to respond – taking specific issue with our one-star rating for Gold Cobra.

“The hatred you have for Fred is part of the reason we’ve succeeded,” Wes DM’d via Twitter. “I could see 1 out of 5 if you were expecting OK Computer, but… As far as LB records go, Gold Cobra is perfect. Your review was smart and I appreciate the kind words towards me, but I’m proud to be here.”

This led to a response loaded with questions and a discussion of the review rating (which was raised to two stars prior to the conversation – the rating, not any of the review itself), which led to a candid and fascinating email conversation that transpired between last night and this morning. Read the entire transcript below.

From: Wes Borland
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 7:56 PM

First of all, I’ve totally seen where you’re coming from, and I’ve seen it over and over again. I know many people who have a similar attitude towards our band (I was one of them 10 years ago when I quit) and in these weeks leading up to the release of the album, I’ve been promising myself that I wouldn’t succumb to curiosity by reading reviews, and I did. I was told that there were starting to be several great ones, so I read them and they totally got it and hit the nail on the head as far as identifying with our intention. But a few have had a tone similar to yours: the band is OK, but I don’t like FD.

There is no way in Hell that our band would ever have been as successful without Fred as the singer. Period. No matter what effect he has on people in a ‘TMZ Personality’ kind of way, he is an astonishing front man and performer. I’ve never seen anything like it and the feeling I have during our shows can’t be touched by any other experience I’ve ever had. I have talked to folks time and time again who hated us and had all these preconceived notions… after seeing us live they can’t wait to see the show again. We are a ridiculous band. We have fun. We are obnoxious. We provide an escape for ourselves and our fans through what we do and our fans seem to be so happy with this record and so are we. It would be appalling for us to try to come out with some kind of “oh, we’re in our thirties and Fred just turned 40, so let’s make a grown up meaningful record that makes us feel like men” album. We made a record that is 100% not thought out to be anything but other than what it is: a Limp Bizkit record. We went into the studio and did what came naturally to us. I’m pretty sure most of our negative reviews will be from people who always hated the band and are totally disgusted that we came back together to do anything for any reason. I am so proud to be a part of this band. Thanks for your time.

From: Johnny Firecloud
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 8:08 PM

Hi Wes,

Thanks again for reaching out directly and explaining your reaction so thoroughly – I appreciate it.

The one star review was clouded judgement and has been changed. The instrumentation is fucking fantastic, and there’s a wide consensus on that. But the general negating aspect, Fred’s impact, moves beyond the vocals and into the personality of the sounds, which in the writing rationalized my take/rating on the whole. If a kid says “Limp Bizkit sucks because they pander to negativity, hatred and violence,” what is the rebuttal?

To answer your question, I caught you guys in 1998 in New York with… Incubus and Staind? Pretty sure it was ‘98. It was a fun-ass show, without question. I couldn’t get enough of that first record, and you’re absolutely right – Fred isn’t some talentless punk. I don’t mean to imply that he’s coasted to success, by any means. But Break Stuff changed things for me as a fan – shit suddenly got dark and disturbing, and no longer an escape, as you put it. And the people singing the songs & wearing LB shirts were the same people throwing fists where conversations would suffice. The encouraging soundtrack to aggression & intimidation became the Limp Bizkit MO. I couldn’t connect anymore as a fan.

The question I keep returning to is, what brought you back? With your talents, why identify with this monstrosity of character? Of course I don’t refer to your relationship with Durst, but the intentionally flagrant extremes that come to define LB. At what point does the vitriol become radioactively toxic? Is that the Limp Bizkit brand?

And I ask this not as a challenge, but as a fan of your ability in need of perspective: What makes you proud to be a part of the band that you didn’t feel before?

Thanks again, Wes. I appreciate you taking the time to discuss this.

From: Wes Borland
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 8:27 PM

Hey Johnny,

The thing that brought me back is the same thing that may have been off putting to you. There’s something in me that enjoys the feeling of the train about to come off the tracks for some reason. I didn’t get that feeling in anything else I’ve done solo, or when I briefly played in Marilyn Manson or with From First To Last. There’s a chemistry that the 5 of us have that just works. I also feel more creative in this environment as well because it challenges me to be a better artist. My ideas don’t have to fit into any one spectrum and I can truly be as unhinged as I need to be onstage. I’m a sensitive and irritable person that bottles a lot of anger up and LB is the perfect outlet for me to vent. I can do whatever I want when I’m on stage and I never attack anything but inanimate objects, so nobody’s getting hurt. As far as Break Stuff goes, I always looked at that song as an interpretation or explanation of someone’s defenses to outside attacks. It’s not as much of a fight song as it is a fighting back song. I would encourage anyone to fight back and to fight back harder than they’ve been attacked. I hated getting fucked with when I was younger. I cried and cried at home after school and I never wanted to go back. I can identify with wanting to fight back and I feel like Fred has always tried to be communicative about his lyrics being anti-bully in interviews.

From: Wes Borland
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 8:33 PM

And just out of curiosity, would you say for instance a band like Pantera also panders to negativity, hatred, and violence? What about Slayer? Is it the same?

From: Johnny Firecloud
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 9:37 PM

The outlet you find in LB is undoubtedly the same outlet sought by much of your fanbase – and that’s by design. But seeing how the band bore the brunt of the Woodstock ‘99 fallout, I’m sure we’re covering dusty ground in discussing how the fans don’t take the aggression out on strictly inanimate objects. Aggression and discontent are as deep a part of the mainstream climate as ever, so of course there’s going to be a market for explosive & controversial. This isn’t about indecency, so much as artistic ownership of yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater and a perceived imbalance of impact on the record (singer vs. the band). Why do the guitars drop so often when the vocals begin? It may be the copy the label sent me, but Fred’s voice seems so prominently above the rest. I have a few more production questions on the album as well if you’re up for it (that don’t center on vocals).

Fred may have discussed anti-bullying in interviews, but the work speaks loudest and longest, and he comes off as a textbook bully. Not many hormone-rocket teenagers are going to grasp the subtlety of violently lashing out against the right people / the bullies / etc. when chanting “douchebag I’ma fuck you up.”  And when you’re such a talent on your instrument, how does one defend the creativity of such lyrics, in their total consistency on the album? It’s harder than ever to buy into the White Male Angst these days, no matter where it’s coming from.

I was never much of a Slayer fan, though I was in awe of their musicianship. The whole Satanic thing kept it at an arm’s length for me, because it seemed even to the ten year old I was when I discovered them that there was a schtick involved. A part played. Would I call it the same? Only to the extent that I’d compare the poorly-drawn [pentagrams] carved into arms & torsos with highly violent attitudes and perpetually clenched fists in high school hallways.

Which brings us to Pantera. Did they stir up the hate pot? Definitely. There’s a discrepancy in the Pantera comparison, however – and here’s where it gets sticky. Setting the words aside entirely, in my ears Fred’s lyrical designs and vocals fall far short of someone like Phil Anselmo. Fred’s spectrum seems far more narrow and consistent in destructive lyrical design. Though to be fair, the people wishing for an instrumental version of the record & that you’d “just get a new singer” aren’t fans who’ve stuck around over the years.

I chose to review the record because your work demands more than dismissive kneejerks, regardless of the final outcome. At the very least, with your permission, this conversation can be a balancing counter-argument to my own, from the horse’s mouth.

From: Wes Borland
Date: Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 10:30 AM

OK. Woodstock. Dusty ground for sure, but you’re basing your idea of our involvement there on the media’s slanted view of what happened. We were the poster child, in a nutshell, because we have a song called Break Stuff. The crux of that whole fiasco didn’t take place until the next day, yet news stations everywhere were broadcasting images of our set immediately followed by the fires burning and fences being taken down 24 hours later. We’re going to have to agree to disagree on what happened there, because my view and the popular view (which basically uses us as the scapegoat and excludes a plethora of additional problems: overpriced vendors, ATMs running out of money, alcohol influenced mayhem, and general mob mentality behavior) don’t match up. We never said: “please fight each other, burn everything, and rape.” We didn’t even allude to it. We did our thing.

White male angst. I think his vocals are beyond that now. Fred is one of the most hated people in music and he has to constantly put up with a slew of negativity thrown his way. Things he did began it and the more he fought it, the worse it’s gotten, so what do you expect? Of course a guy like that is going to be angry. It’s a cycle. He’s grown a lot and I personally find him easier to be around than ever. We’re friends. The hatred of our band at this point has been accepted and infused into what we are. I think that’s why I’m able to discuss it this easily now. It comes with the territory.

Heavy music should be made as an expression of violence in order to keep the maker and the listener from going on psychopathic killing sprees. I’ve found through talking to other people over the years, that as humans, many of us need to express a repressed hunter-gather primitive side that is no longer accepted in civilized modern society. Some people do it through video games, some love horror and violent movies, some people play paintball, whatever. I have a part of me that needs to go to war, but I’m not a soldier. I have a need to punish myself and flip out, but I don’t really want to cause permanent damage to my body or anyone else’s. I truly feel that LB is that outlet for many many people. It’s important. You didn’t like Slayer because of the satanic thing. See, for me, that was what really drew me to them. It was evil and forbidden and it made me feel something that I had never felt before. I could express feelings in my mind by listening to their music.

Brass tacks: this is really just a matter of opinion at the end of the day and because of that, we aren’t really ever going to get anywhere. I never thought once about the guitars coming down or the vocals being too loud, because I’m not biased in the same way that you are when I’m listening to it. To me it sounds like a snappy bombastic mix. I like the bragadocious, in-your-face vocals because they’re crucial as a part of the hip hop element we have. I absolutely love our record and I love our singer. I’m fine with you publishing this, I think it’s an interesting dialogue to be sure.

Thanks,
-Wes

Photo by Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

On the powerful 14 track collection, the preeminent independent Hip-Hop pair strip away loops and samples in favor of slide guitar, piano, and often a single drum beat in the process of cultivating a starkly mature release that embraces a bold sentimentality with Slug’s trademark unflinching honesty.

Riding the crest of a tremendous legacy and responsibility as de facto godfather of the Rhymesayers crew, Daley finds himself blending a renewed depth of family values with professional drive on The Family Sign, the focus on themes of personal value and cherished relationships.

On a day off between shows, I caught up with Sean for a conversation about Beck, of all people, as well as The Family Sign, his thoughts on fan tattoos and his evolving relationship with the Slug character. As it turns out, he’d been doing a little reading up of his own, having caught a Twitter debate between myself and some friends over Beck’s bizarrely awesosme career.

It’s strange, to know what you’re up to today through Twitter before hearing a word from you. It makes these conversations feel a little stalkerish sometimes… ’so yo, how’s the laundry coming?’

I’m interested in the Beck conversation that you’ve got going on with @Kibbe and @Jerko. One Foot In The Grave was the first album I ever heard from this dude. I was like “oh, it’s the ‘Loser’ guy,” and went in and bought that and Stereopathetic Soulmanure, and hated both of them for a minute. But I’d still listen to One Foot In The Grave, just trying to break into it.

It takes the right track or the right moment for an album to click sometimes – especially when the artist in question is off the deep end of creativity.

I had a job at this record store, the coolest one in town. And while I was working there, these little indie-rock weirdo alternative college radio girls were picking up the Odelay record. When that happened I was like ‘Alright, let me go back and listen to these older ones again.’ And something clicked, I figured out how to love him, like damn, this dude is on some shit. Then came Midnite Vultures, and he was making some sounds that were kind of… how do I put it? I got yelled at once for saying Prince was a shitty version of Rick James, when what I should’ve said was that he was a derivative of the guy. So there were some songs on Midnite Vultures that were derivative of Prince, and I was like ‘Ah, fuck this shit.’

Then he came out with Sea Change, and I’m like ‘this dude’s a genius!’ I keep coming back and forth with him.

Midnite Vultures is Beck’s high point so far, as far as I’m concerned. He paid real homage to Prince, to the Rolling Stones’ Emotional Rescue and that over-the-top deadpan supersexuality, particularly with Debra – the song’s goddamned perfect.

It’s funny because you like that, but that turned me off! I was really just mad though. He was doing Prince better than Prince was doing Prince at the time. I think that made me be like ‘Aww… what an asshole! He’s just rubbing it in!’

I don’t think there’s another contemporary artist who I’ve had the type of love/hate relationship with. I get so turned off and I leave him alone for like a year, and then all of a sudden I’m just all about him again for like two years, and it comes back around. It’s just a weird cycle. The only other artist I can think of that I’ve had that kind of relationship with is Prince.

That’s kind of the price you pay for the depth of artistic variety the guy has. To go from the future-disco funk-sex jam of Midnite Vultures to the total quiet heartbreak of Sea Change is outrageous. And just when you think you’ve got him locked, the guy goes and does a full INXS covers album.

Absolutely. The guy’s a damn genius.

You’re careful not to be too instructional in your lyrics, and you’ve said “I don’t like to be preachy. I like stories. That’s the stuff I get off on.” But ultimately isn’t a well-told story just a clever way of preaching, or getting a message across?

Yeah, it’s a big trick, and I’m just really learning how to use it. But it’s definitely something I’ve been trying to figure out, how to write the perfect way. At the end of the day, I still fall short of perfect, but that’s how it’s supposed to be for me right now. I’m supposed to be falling short so that I can push myself the next time, and the next time, and so hopefully when it finally clicks and I figure out how to put frosting on these vitamins, that’s when it’ll all come together how it’s supposed to. And maybe it never does come together. Maybe I never reach that goal, but maybe I’m here to gather the resources so that a Brother Ali record will come out and do what it’s supposed to do. My job in the whole thing maybe was never to be the speaker, but to facilitate other speakers or inspire a kid from fuckin’ Omaha to be that speaker. Who knows?

In the 7 Years With Atmosphere And Rhymesayers book you mention at some point Sean & Slug became the same person – is there a perspective shift from Slug the man with all kinds of people looking up to him to Sean the dad husband son friend?

What I’m referencing there is kind of from a negative time in my life where this person that Slug was kind of becoming, Sean was turning into that. I had a period of time from 2005… well, it’s still a work in progress. I’m twisting and turning Slug into Sean. It’s still gotta be the same person – I’m fortunate to be in a position where people allow me to be myself. So rather than Sean becoming the life of the party, which is what Slug set out to do back in 1998, it’s time for me to turn Slug into that guy that my mom raised.

That brings us to a real talking point on the album: She’s Enough. That song’s about as polar opposite of mainstream Hip-Hop as it gets, but the track resonates – particularly with women.

It doesn’t seem like  a feminist anthem, though, so much as a celebration of monogamy and appreciating what you have. Is that right?

You can throw monogamy in there, or whatever you want, but just appreciating something that you do have, something that you love and care about, and celebrating it. And at 99 BPM. And that was really the starting point of the song. I wanted to write a song about love, but to a fast beat. It’s rare. It’s happened, but it’s rare. Anytime someone talks about love on record, it’s usually 80 BPM or less. So that’s what drive us into it, and turned that song into more than just an exercise. I tend to overthink this stuff. That song was also a challenge to me because I had to be careful not to use too many Slug colloquialisms.

I wanted to make this a song that anyone from my family could relate to. From my mom to my step-dad to my son, to even weird art freaks that I hang out with. Anybody in my family. It wasn’t necessarily aimed at my demographic or anything in particular, but I want this to be something accessible enough from anyone from my grandmother to this hipster kid on the corner, know what I’m saying? It was really kind of an interesting exercise, at first. We were so happy with the results, it made us smile, so we decided to put it on the record. And goddamn, I’m so glad I did, because that BPM doesn’t rise over 90 but like two times on the whole record! It’s a pretty slow record. We needed that to anchor the record somehow, so it doesn’t sound like we made it in 1996.

In Millennium Dodo Anthony’s just dropping this sick 4-note progression over a slow beat/chill guitars. At what point do you know you’ve got the track locked and stop adding flavor?

Well it’s funny, because it was harder when we were doing strictly samples. There’s a thing about adding another sample, where it’s like, if it works, that’s amazing, you found another thing that works! When using the live instruments, it’s not really the same. Because we know we could add more guitar parts for days, but it’s easier to stop at the point where you know it’s communicating what you need to to get the point across. But with samples, there’s a certain kind of pride and vibe to be like ‘Oh, I added something else.’ Look at the Bomb Squad and what they did with Public Enemy, fucked our heads up. And even a record like Paul’s Boutique, records like that have so much going on. Those of us in our early twenties when that came out, it changed our world! Musically, it was a matter of showing off how dope you were with the more layers and sounds you could pack into it.

With us now, with five instruments, that aint necessary. Sure, there’s spontaneity, if someone busts out a little thing in the studio at the last minute and we like it, we keep that. But now we try to be minimal, really embrace the whole ‘less is more’ philosophy, you know?

Bearing that shifting philosophy in mind, a lot of your songs reference tattoos, and you obviously respect the art. How do feel about people that have an Atmosphere based tattoo, even direct lyrics on their skin? I noticed you don’t sign people’s bodies anymore…

I stopped signing people’s bodies because they wanted to get that autograph tattooed. I’m usually going ‘No, don’t do that. You should get a pretty flower, or a squirrel rockin’ a cowboy hat, riding a triceratops.’ I appreciate tattoos, and it doesn’t freak me out when people get lyrics tattooed or things of that nature, because I know it has less to do with me and more to do with them. I look at my tattoos, and think of the reasons I got them. There’s connections I have with certain things, and I decided to mark my body to celebrate that or mark that moment or experience. So in that sense I embrace when people get lyrics tattooed on themselves or whatever. Whether it be my lyrics, or AC/DC lyrics or what have you. Whatever. I embrace it, but when it starts to cross into something about me, like you want something of me on your body, I tend to try to talk people out of that. Because that’s not what it’s about. You connected to this. It wasn’t me that connected you to this. You got connected to this. You decided to be a part of this.

If we play a show and 1,500 or 2,000 people show up, it aint about the band anymore. It’s about the likemindedness of this audience, and them becoming a community for one night. They don’t know each other, but tonight they’re all together for a reason. Sure, I could ego trip on that and say it’s because I spit hot fire… [laughs] …but the real reason is because you’re treating yourself to go out. You’re not at work right now, you’re not at school. Maybe you’ve  been struggling for some reason, but tonight you decided to dedicate some resources, some money, time and energy to being here. And there’s a lot of reasons why you may have chose to do that. But at the end of the day, you have to realize I’m just a part of that equation. I’m not the whole thing.

So that’s where I’m coming from when I tell cats like, look, I didn’t save your life. Thank you for carrying me with you while you saved your own life. Thank you for letting me be a part of that, but I’m not the only part of that. Survival is a motherfucker. People look for catalysts, because they haven’t been taught that they can find the answers within themselves.

You said on Twitter the other day, in response to a fan, that “Atmosphere doesn’t have 25 good songs. sorry.” You can’t mean that, can you?

I don’t have 25 joints that I would bump in my car. Maybe I didn’t give that the right context, necessarily. That’s just like picking my favorite kids. I love all my kids, even the ugly ones. Not just the honor students.

Stay on top of Atmosphere’s movement and pick up The Family Sign at Rhymesayers (if you know what’s good for you).

It’s a collaboration with hip-hop producer Dan The Automator of Gorillaz fame, though not very clearly labeled as such. And it’s a comparatively lo-fi exercise, with much of the rough demo tracks used as-is as opposed to being re-recorded, with dance loops used liberally and pop choruses used shamelessly. Frankly, it gives hardcore fans a lot to hate, and has already polarized Antiquiet; Johnny went so far as to call the lead single “inexplicably bad” when we got our hands on it last month, while I’ve been a bit more forgiving for the redeeming qualities of the creative left-turn.

Last week, we had the honor and the challenge of discussing all of this with Dredg frontman Gavin Hayes. The bottom line? If you love Dredg, their artistic courage likely has a lot to do with it. The band’s first two albums, Leitmotif and El Cielo were bravely unique, and Pariah was a masterful work of art. But by no means has Dredg ever been the sort of band to play it safe. All they’ve ever promised themselves or anyone else is to keep things interesting.

Here’s our conversation:

You just got off a tour with Circa Survive and Codeseven, where you were supporting Circa Survive. I read an interview where you said the goal was to get in front of new listeners. I think that’s cool, to still be able to look at a support slot as an opportunity after headlining for years.

Yeah, it actually went well. I mean we’re great friends with those guys and actually Codeseven as well. I mean we love touring with people we know and get along with, so from that standpoint it was great. And I think it did give us a lot of exposure. Pretty much all sold out shows, and I think a lot of people were unfamiliar with Dredg, so I think it was all worthwhile.

I’ve been listening to the new record. You guys have always changed things up, from record to record. This new one, I think, goes a little bit further than just a slightly different direction with the music. Did you set out to do something so wildly different, or did it just kind of wind up there?

No, I mean, it was intentional. The way we viewed this record is, you know, we wanted to do it with Dan; he’s kind of an old friend now, we had worked with him back in 2005 and have hung out a lot since then, and have always talked about collaborating on something, and it seemed like the time was right.

We’ve been a band for well over a decade, we’ve put out an array of records, and we just felt like… we put out our last record, which was along the lines of some of our newer material mixed with a lot of our older ideas and kind of the roots of the band… As you said, we’re always trying to push ourselves to do something different, and you know, the last thing I want to do was regurgitate a record. It just bores me as an artist and bores us as musicians.

I’ve been getting emails about it, and it’s pretty split, like some people think it’s a shitty direction to go…

(laughing)

…and others think it’s a bold move, and they like it, you know, and they just expect us to deliver something that they question initially and maybe end up liking or continue to hate.

But I mean the way I view this record is that it’s a collaboration. It’s Dan The Automator and Dredg. It is a Dredg record, but he had a lot of influence on the record, and we weren’t scared of any of those emails or any of the repercussions it may have caused or will cause.

I want to get back to that in a second. But first, well, it seems like it would make sense, you know, after Pariah was so well received, and it seemed like this big concept album that seemed very painstakingly done, it almost seems natural to want to say, ‘hey, fuck it, let’s just clear our heads and do something quick and direct and fun’ where you’re not premeditating every little thing.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, that was our goal as well, to get a record out quicker than what, the three or four years it took us to get Pariah out…

Was that just for the sake of changing things up, or were the recording sessions for Pariah grueling?

It was a little of both. We were going through some business changes, as well as some personal things and then when it came down to the writing it took longer than we had thought, and the recording ended up taking a lot longer, and a lot of nit picking and this and that… So I mean this record seriously was like the antithesis of that. We were in the studio for like two days, and the rest was recorded at Dan’s house. A lot of the sounds you hear are actually from the demos we recorded. Like if there was a keyboard line, Dan was like, ‘why even go back and try to record this? It sounds great, and we’d just be trying to reproduce it anyhow…’

He’s just about the feel of the track…

Yeah, and everything was like that. I mean the vocals were very just… on the spot. He’s more about feeling than perfection. There were certain takes where I felt like ‘eh, you know, that’s a little bit more in key’ and I was focused more on technique as opposed to feeling. Which, you know, in the end, I think is cool, that’s what Dan’s about, and I’ve been a fan of his work and I trust his opinion, you know?

It does very much come off as, like you said, a collaboration between Dan and Dredg. And he even wrote three of the songs himself, with you just doing vocals. Was the rest of the band cool with that all along, or did there have to be a discussion about this idea that he was just going to do some songs, and everyone was just going to roll with it or sit it out?

Well yeah, no, we all met as a band, and he explained, like ‘listen, this is how I work. No matter who I’m working with, I always write songs. And if none of them beat the stuff that you guys wrote, then cool. They don’t have to make the record; I’m not worried about that, I’m not hard-nosed about that.’ I think he ended up writing six, and three made it. He’s like, ‘if none of ‘em beat it, we won’t put any on, if a couple do, then whatever, you know?’

I think everyone was fine with that. He understands we’re a band and have been a band. And it wasn’t a surprise to anyone, didn’t require any arguing or explanation.

So it was just a fun project…

We were all on the same page. We had talked about working with a few people, and we were like, ‘let’s just do something different.’ Dan comes from a different perspective than the rock world, and the other people we were looking into were all rock based producers, like we’ve done with every record, you know. So we just felt like it sounded interesting and fun and it would bring something interesting to the table for the band, and the timing was right after Pariah…

It sounds like the closest thing to a full-on genre-hop we’ve [heard] from Dredg; It’s not radically different or anything, but it is out there, away from the rock songs a bit. Are you at all worried about how fans might react to hearing all these drum loops and hip-hoppy elements and such?

Yeah, I mean obviously I would like our fans to enjoy it. Even with Pariah, we put it out and there was people talking shit about it, ‘it’s not as good as this record’ or ‘it’s not as good as that record…’

(laughing)

It’s nothing new (laughing). People’s opinions… it’s easy to email someone in a band and tell them how you feel, and what they should be writing…

Do you get a lot of emails like that from fans? Like ‘what the fuck are you doing!?!?’

Yeah. Really passionate, hate filled emails. And I don’t understand that, personally. Like if I went to a shitty movie, I wouldn’t email the director to tell them I was never going to watch [their movies again]. And if I loved the movie, I wouldn’t email them and tell them that, either, I’m just not that type of person… I don’t mind it but…

So how do you deal with that, do you respond back?

Yeah, I respond to pretty much every email… Most things are positive, you know, but you get those occasional people that are upset about content or style or whatever, you know. Some I’ll avoid, like I’ll respond once, but if it continues, I’ll just drop it…

We still struggle with that. We’re an independent site, it’s not like we have bosses to reel us in before we go on record and say something retarded, so we’ll constantly get sucked into the comments sections of our articles, where we’re in there going ‘no, you’re the asshole!’

(laughing)

After awhile we just go like, ‘Jesus, are we above this, or is this at all valuable?’

It’s a weird line. I don’t know if it’s productive or if I should avoid it. I usually do avoid it, but now with Facebook, I’ve kind of opened myself up, and it’s more my face, which can be good and bad I guess.

I’m not scared of it, to be honest.

Is the deluxe edition of Pariah still in the works?

No, that’s been shelved, I believe. That was going to come out, but it was just a matter of money, and not being able to fund it, basically. There’s no creative answer for you there.

I wish we could do it. Maybe someday if we ever make money as musicians…

You recently said that the music business is as reliable as a crack head.

Yup.

In what ways has it disappointed you?

Well, I mean obviously going into the business, I knew it was fickle, and a tough business. I mean anything in the arts is a risk. Dedicating a large portion of your life is risky because first of all, to achieve some longevity in the business is very tough, and I think even if our career ended today, we will have had a great run, a really long run, with the same members, and I’m proud of the music we’ve recorded and the shows we’ve played and so on… It’s just a tough business to maintain. It’s a different lifestyle, and financially it’s tough to maintain in this business…

I remember seeing bands at the Fillmore; I grew up in the Bay Area, so I’d go to shows there, and we’ve had sold out shows there… When I was young, seeing people there, I’d be like, ‘damn these guys are rich!’ I thought they were huge. Then I’m up there, and I’m bumming money for drinks and shit. It’s a whole different outlook when you’re actually the person doing it.

I know it’s… a lot of our friends are in the same boat, we’re not in a unique situation…

All business evolves… I feel like there’s decades, or maybe five-year spans of things kind of locking in and being run a certain way, and I feel like things are still in transition. Which is great because it leaves a lot of space open for ideas and for someone to come up with a new way…

Are there specific cases where people are saying, we’re going to figure this out, things will be different when we do ____, or is everyone kind of throwing their hands up?

I think a lot of people are trying to spearhead new ideas about how to monetize labels. I don’t know. I wish I could tell you which way it was headed, but I do know how downloading music is just so accepted now. I was tripping out on that this morning because people are emailing me their opinions about the [unreleased] record. So I’ll respond, jokingly, ‘oh, is that out?’

People don’t even think twice. They’re writing the musician about their record that they obviously just downloaded or whatever, you know.

It made me laugh, I’m not… it doesn’t upset me at all, I mean I remember back when I was 10 years old, and I mean, so it’s not really a new idea.

That’s refreshing, because I’ll talk to bands sometimes, and they’re just like ‘this is fucked up!!’ and I’m just like, I know you were in that parking lot trading tapes and tailgating. Kids can’t appreciate any sense of responsibility when they have the same $15 to spend but now instead of wanting one record, they want 20, because of the internet.

Yeah. And the funny part too, the ironic part is my musician friends are the ones that download more music. I have friends that work in the tech world, and a lot of them are out buying records. It’s funny.

I had a job at Universal for awhile, and I expected burned CDs to be confiscated on the way in. But everyone was like, ‘hey, can you burn that for me?’ or ‘oh, let me burn this for you!’ or ‘oh, has that leaked? Bring it in!!’ Some of the people talking the loudest about how bad it is are doing it as excitedly as anyone.

But to take it all back to the business side, do you think it’s always going to be a struggle to make a living as a musician?

Yeah, I mean I start to wonder what’s going to happen to music and art and stuff. You read about a lot of bands that are just straight up saying, ‘hey, we can’t tour anymore, we can’t afford to do this.’ Now with gas prices going through the roof and shit, I was thinking about how that’s going to affect our US tour, and there’s a lot of different things that are hurting artists.

Obviously art and music is considered a luxury and it’s not really a necessity by any means, but on many levels, it is. I kind of worry about what’s going to happen to culture a little bit. Maybe you’ll just weed out the best people, and those people will make it, and that’s the way the free market works, you know?

So what are your plans now? When the album comes out, you’re heading right back out on the road?

Yeah, we actually start down there in Southern California, a couple of nights there, and then we’re heading North. Then out to the East coast. I think we finish in Texas, then come home for like two days and then we head overseas for some festival dates and some supporting slots, some big shows out there, some headlining dates there. About a month in the US, a month over there. Then we’ll see where we’re at. I think we’re putting holds on possibly another US tour in July, middle to late July.

I read maybe after that, you’d get right back into the studio for another record? Sorry to talk about it before this one’s even out, but…

Yeah, I mean we actually have a lot of material already. I think we can write a lot quicker now. I think it’s possible, honestly. If the record’s not doing so well, we’ll probably get back into the studio a little quicker. (laughing)

Are there any parts of the process of this one that you’re already ready to rebel against? Like, let’s do something different from Chuckles and do it like this…

Yeah, I already want to veer back to maybe a guitar-driven record. This one seems to be more rhythm and vocal driven. A lot of that was you know, how it was written and everything. Dino was doing a lot of the writing and sending it to me, I was living in Seattle at the time. So a lot of it was written remotely.

It’s just kind of how it came out. It wasn’t like ‘turn Mark down!’ He was just doing a lot of guitar parts over existing songs.

But yeah, I mean I think maybe something, maybe we’ll make the weirdest record we can or something, you know? I think that’d be great… We’ve always talked about doing an instrumental record as well, so, maybe something along those lines. I’m not sure.

For tour dates and more info, head to dredg.com.

Last week, CNN reported that Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine is pushing for the sale of 24-bit audio on iTunes and other online retailers. In a news conference for Hewlett-Packard, Iovine said: “We’ve gone back now at Universal, and we’re changing our pipes to 24-bit. And Apple has been great. We’re working with them and other digital [download] services to change to 24-bit. And some of their electronic devices are going to be changed as well. So we have a long road ahead of us.”

The term 24-bit refers to the “depth” of an audio recording. We can explain this technical dimension somewhat by comparing it to video; most of us have bought at least one HD television after reading a little bit on video resolution. Audio CDs are limited to 16-bit, which you might compare to a basic cable channel coming in at 480p. 24-bit is theoretically audio’s equivalent to the 720p or 1080p video coming from our Blu-Ray players or digital cable services.

However, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, and it might be a little more accurate to compare the depth of an audio signal to the number of different colors each single pixel on a television could be (rather than the total number of them). Audio sample rate (which we’ll get to later) is somewhat equivalent to video frame rate.

Yet for those of you not aware of the so-called “Loudness War” that has been raging since the late 1980s, the music most of us listen to is almost without exception “compressed” to be as loud as God allows, to compete for our attention next to whatever came before on the radio or in our playlist. And when everything- all of the colors so to speak- are so relentlessly saturated to be as bright and loud as possible, the question arises: Are we even using 16 bits’ worth? Why do we need 24?

Our own Tom Davenport, in a recent editorial for Gizmodo entitled “Why 24-bit Audio Will Be Bad For Users,” presented the theory that 24 bit audio is a consumer con, and a format that regular consumers will “never need.” This sparked a debate here at Antiquiet. There was the speculation that Iovine’s idea is simply savvy marketing designed to turn audiophiles into even bigger suckers to sell his possibly overhyped Beats Auio headphones. There was my confidence in my own precious hi-fi system and few 24-bit audio sources (I was ecstatic to read that 24-bit audio could be coming to iTunes). And of course, as always, there was the passion we all share for cutting through bullshit.

So we had a bit of a debate, and finally Saturday night we sat down with the most experienced professional we could blackmail, Sean Beavan of the band 8mm. Over the course of an extremely enviable engineering career spanning two decades, Sean has had a hand in the mix of several favorite albums of yours and ours, including Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral, and Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. Also possibly Chinese Democracy.

The bottom line is that while it may not be appropriate for every consumer, the 24-bit audio format has at least the potential, for those that care, to be the best thing to happen to the art form of recorded music since the CD. I choose these words carefully, because there’s as much subjectivity involved as science, as Sean explains in much depth.

It absolutely must be understood that 24-bit audio isn’t just about “ripping” the fully mastered recordings we’re all familiar with to a slightly different digital format. Just as the mastering process for vinyl is- and in fact must be- completely different than the mastering process for 16-bit CDs or radio; to bring 24-bit audio to market, it’s nearly guaranteed that the labels will locate the pre-mastered tapes (or Pro Tools sessions or what have you) and remaster them responsibly to take proper advantage of the benefits of the 24-bit format. And you may or may not be surprised to learn that these differences aren’t so subtle. Even a non-audiophile can hear them on a regular consumer stereo system. You may also be surprised to learn that the infrastructure to properly bring what is essentially an entirely new format to market is already in place (more or less) at the labels.

Through the course of our internal discussions, Tom Davenport clarified that his piece as it was originally submitted to Gizmodo was directed more towards Dr. Dre and his headphones rather than Jimmy Iovine and 24-bit audio. It was in fact originally titled “How Dr. Dre Engineered the 24-bit Con.” As Tom says, “it’s really an observation that the headphone manufacturer [is] pushing this, and that I predict the marketing around 24-bit stores will be conning people who really shouldn’t care.” Which is a very fair suspicion. “For some people and circumstances there’s no doubt 24-bit is appropriate. Of course, [Gizmodo's title change] changed the angle and my attitude somewhat.”

With that said, the more you examine the technical and subjective aspects of the format, the more you may come to see it as the opposite of devious marketing: Quite possibly a huge gamble on Iovine’s part, and actually a miraculous, radical idea to cater to a minority of consumers- specifically the hardcore fans- to give them something that most people are not willing to pay for, and in fact may not even be capable of appreciating the value of at all.

24-bit audio, as even Jimmy Iovine seems to see it, could represent a small revolt against the “Loudness War,” and a refocus on the art. Not a gimmick to wrench a few extra bucks out of our hands, but finally a genuine value-add, and an entirely new reason to pay for music… That is, if the labels don’t fuck it up. After all, while, as Beavan explains, Iovine himself is a qualifiable audiophile, there may very well be pressure from insensitive “bean counters” to cut corners on the 24-bit mastering processes, or even to make the 24-bit audio louder (at the cost of precious dynamics), just as we’ve seen them do with 16-bit CDs.

And on the other hand, as our writer Fernando Scoczynski speculates, it’s not necessarily purely about giving better sound to consumers; Aside from the obvious creation of a new revenue stream, there’s a very convenient cross-promotional opportunity presented by this initiative. Why (really) would Iovine go so far out of his way to cater to such a small minority of consumers? Fernando answers:

It just so happens that Mr. Iovine recently teamed up with Dr. Dre to release a line of high-end audio equipment called Beats Audio, promising greater fidelity than most devices out there today. At the Hewlett-Packard event where the promise of 24-bit was made, they also took the opportunity to announce their upcoming iPad-competitor, the TouchPad, which will feature audio technology provided by (you guessed it) Beats Audio. How convenient is it that both the device and the change to 24-bit were discussed on the same event?

Perhaps this 24-bit initiative only exists because it will help Iovine and Dre sell Beats Audio. Or maybe Beats Audio enables Iovine to bring a new format to market that has previously been unfeasible. Either way, it’s hardly a scam.

Now it wouldn’t hurt if record contracts paid a little more respect to the artists in recording contracts when it comes to new formats. In a revelation that could easily warrant its own headline here at Antiquiet, Beavan reveals that many major label recording contracts let the label hold back a significant portion of an artist’s dues from CDs (while they’re paid 100% of their earnings from vinyl) through an absurd and outdated clause held over from the mid-1980s that essentially defines CDs as an “unproven format,” that may or may not take hold among consumers. Fascinating, shocking even, but I digress.

These two clips just scratch the surface of the extremely in-depth discussion I had with Sean in his studio. Everything summarized above (and much much more) is explained in detail in the full lecture, which we present to responsibly educate the audiophiles, aspiring audiophiles, and those curious enough to spare 45 minutes. And in addition to cutting through the bullshit orbiting this 24-bit audio story, there are some interesting (albeit nerdy) little anecdotes from the early days of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson that will definitely be of interest to at least the more hardcore of fans out there. Either way, we hope you get as much out of it as we have. Enjoy, and sorry for ruining your lunchbreak if you’re heading down the rabbit hole.

Big thanks to Fernando for getting the ball rolling on this story, and for writing hundreds of words that wound up getting no further than my interview notes.

In addition to continuing to produce music for everyone from Guns N’ Roses to Envy On The Coast, Sean and his lovely wife Juliette are very active with their band 8mm. Feel free to browse our ongoing coverage of them, and keep up with them through their official site at 8mmLovesYou.com.

Keep up with Tom Davenport’s opinions on this story and other developments in his world and the audio world in general over at his personal site.

P.S. The debate has spilled onto Reddit, and somewhat responsibly at that.

Thus, the stage is set for The Silent Comedy to thrive, as the bluegrass-infused, gospel-inspired cabaret rockers embark on their largest tour yet.

The band, founded in 2006 by brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman, specializes in barn-burning intensity in live performance, utilizing guitars, piano, accordion, banjo, harmonica and dark lyricism to create a theatrically dramatic rock sound inspired by their lifelong travels through Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Europe. From playing folk instruments in the foothills of the Himalayas to drawing crowds around pianos at Spanish shopping malls, the boys have kept their musical outlet alive by any means possible, and the investment is finally beginning to show a flood of return.

The Silent Comedy was originally formed as a recording project and a vehicle for exploring the music the brothers had loved while growing up, but soon took on a life of its own as the material began to take shape around a sound that was as exciting and richly complex as it was unique, with the soulful energy of a Southern-Baptist spiritual revival.

With percussion beast Chad Lee, the beautifully mustachioed Justin Buchanan on banjo, guitar and mandolin and secret hellfire-passion weapon Tim Graves on guitar, harmonica and backup vocals, the brothers Zimmerman have found seamless counterparts in their musical kin. The quintet’s anachronistic aesthetic, sonic stylings and progressive spirit has catapulted them into greater exposure through recording and relentless touring.

On a sunny Saturday earlier this month, we met up with The Silent Comedy in downtown Los Angeles for something of a tour-trailer revival, in which the guys played a few tracks off the beaten path of their usual set before a sold-out show at the El Rey Theatre. We also sat down with Josh to discuss the band’s direction & creative relationship and more:

A few introductory words to the performance from Josh: “Poison is a pretty old song of ours, but it’s gone through a few incarnations. There’s really nothing to do in Kingman Arizona, so we just drank a lot and messed around with our sounds. It’s cool doing it acoustically, because it gives the song a whole other life.”

“Wine is brand new. We’ve only played it at a show once before, but we love it. We play it all the time at practice just to have fun. Playing it acoustically helps us to get to know the song better, because it challenges you to do different things.”

“Company Town is one that my brother wrote that we recorded for a digital compilation for a studio in San Diego called Black Box Studios. It has a whole community of musicians around it, so we’re a part of a big comp that consists of about 30 local bands. That should be out in April. The song’s another one we love – it’s about anger at corporate domination, set in an old mining town where when they payed you, they payed you in company credits and you could only shop at the company store.”

After developing their DIY studio chops with with early EPs and their debut LP Sunset Stables, the band self-produced a full and proper sophomore album, last year’s Common Faults, to critical acclaim and an ocean of new fans. Pick up the album and learn more about The Silent Comedy at their official site.

Big up to The Video Mouse for shooting this with us.