Monthly Archive for July, 2003

Interview with Rocket Rockers’ Al Ucay

Published
by
Eric Wiryanata
on July 4, 2003
in Features and Interviews
. 0 Comments

Sebuah interview via e-mail dengan Al Ucay, vokalis band Rocket Rockers. Dipersembahkan dengan bangga ke hadapan anda oleh Eric Wiryanata.

Sepenting apakah image pada sebuah band?Apakah lebih penting dari musiknya sendiri?
Sepenting semangkok baso tanpa sambel atau pizza tanpa saus sambel. Bayangkan baso atau pizza tanpa sambal, rasanya akan ‘flat’ dan nggak ada yang menendang emosi untuk memakannya. Ya paling kalo dimakan rasanya akan gitu-gitu aja dan mudah lenyap dari pikiran. Begitu juga dengan band, gue pribadi ga mau band hanya flat dan tidak memberikan berkas/ingatan apa-apa ke orang lain. Untuk seukuran rock, attitude itu penting..sebagaimana jelimetnya skill tapi kalo attitudenya ga nembak, wah susah juga diingetnya. Itu yang gue rasakan setelah hampir 8 tahun mendokumentasikan acara-acara ‘rock/underground/bazzar’ pake handycam butut sampe akhirnya ilang. Yang gue dapet dari pengalaman gue ya itu, attitude bisa menyihir pola pikir sesorang. Untuk musik, memang jangan dilupakan juga, musik juga tetep no.1 dan harus terus progres dan inovatif.

Diperhartikan dalam beberapa show RR, seringkali Ucay memamerkan pantatnya kepada penonton. Apakah maksud dari perbuatannya tersebut?
Mungkin bukan memamerkan, tapi memberi simbol aja. Ya itu tadi, semua ini karena attitude. Mungkin dengan memperlihatkan pantat gue, band gue bisa lebih menjual hahaha…!! Pantia acara dihadapkan pada 2 pilihan; undang band ini karena aksi ‘pantat’nya atau jangan undang band ini karena aksi ‘pantat’nya karena menyebalkan. Itu saja. Jadi aksi itu ada unsur tes psychology-nya juga untuk membaca pandangan orang terhadap RR…hehe. Sampai akhirnya aksi itu banyak band yang menjiplak, dan gue mulai malas untuk melakukannya lagi.

Apa yang akan RR lakukan apabila mendapat tuntutan dari penerbit kamus Bahasa Inggris, karena telah mengutip isinya sebagai nama band?
Haha,…kami akan bawa kepengadilan! hahaha…siapa tau perkara ini berhubungan dengan pengadilan di Inggris, kan kita jadi bisa ke Inggris tuh! Ketemu sama pakar-pakar new wave disana…haha

Apa saja proses yang dilakukan oleh RR dalam menciptakan sebuah lagu.
Prosesnya ngga ribe2 amat sih. Hanya tinggal masuk kamar, kunci, ambil gitar dan teriak2 atau nyanyi asal-asalan sampe nemu nada yang bagus, baru rekam ke walkman. Abis itu persentasikan ke band, sampai akhirnya perang urat! Ya, perang urat soal keinginan dan idealis. Nah, biasanya lagu menjadi fix karena perang itu, ketidak setujuan akan fix-nya lagu itulah yg menjadikan lagu itu direkam. Maklum 5 otak, 5 aura dan 5 idealis…anjist!! susah!!

Apakah RR akan terus berusaha membuat sesuatu yang lebih segar,. Ada teknik khusus untuk membuat sesuatu yang fresh?
Secara teknik mungkin ngga ada. Kita hanya berusaha progress. Membuat sesuatu yang sama terkadang menyebalkan juga. Makanya kita ga mau terpatok. Kita memang meng-klaim sebagai band College Punk yang intinya hanyalah buat keren-kerenan aja. Tapi kalo soal musik, yeah! kita punya ramuan sendiri dan kembali kepada 5 otak tadi. Setuju tidak setuju. itulah yang bikin kita fresh: Terus ada perdebatan!. Ada yang didebatkan berarti ada yang dibuat kan?

Apa saja Pengaruh terbesar RR dalam berkarya? *Pengaruh terbesar dari musik:
-Aska: dulunya dia punya band grindcore, dia penyuka Pearl Jam sampe sekarang dan dia punya pengaruh besar juga di RR.
-Ucay: gue lebih ke suntikan attitude band. Soal musik…arrgghh! gue bebas bersyarat! Paling cerewet sama musik RR hahaha..
-Bisma: Dia dibesarkan oleh lingkungan punk!
-Lope: Lebih indie rock dan ugal-ugalan.
Influence: Pulley, Lagwagon, A-ha, New Order, Devo.
Pengaruh lain: Film, Girls and Money… (money? yeah..bales e-mail ini juga pake money kan? hehehe)kenapa lagi si ucay teh? hahaha…

Bagaimana cara loe menyikapi label band ?punk? pada RR saat ini? Apakah akan menjadi adil apabila RR dibandingkan dengan band band seperti April Lapigne, Busted yang notabene lebih manis? Mengapa?
Label ‘band punk’ pada RR? Hmm…sebenernya males juga sih ngebahas hal ini. Tapi mending gini aja deh: Punk itu sendiri yang gue liat hari ini ada 2 hal, yang satu kemasan attitude yang menyangkut dandanan, perilaku, musik (lebih kepada kemasan). Yang satu lagi lebih kepada movement..ada yang into politics, kemanusiaan dan mendalami punk lebih ke personal dll. Kalo kita lebih ke enjoy, enjoy disini lebih ke gimana kita aja! selama orang ngga rugi-rugi banget sama kita, ngga papa kan? Disebut punk kita seneng2 aja, ngga juga enjoy kok. Yang jelas kita tetep punya kontrol dan tau apa yang harus kita lakukan dengan RR. Toh lirik kita juga macem-macem, enjoy-nya ada, pergerakan/movement-nya juga ada…ya balance lah,..ngga cinta-cinta amat deh. Masalah adil apa ngga dibandingin ama Neneng April atau Akang Buset, wah itu ga adil! hahahaha…perjuangan kita lebih susah dari mereka dan kita lebih keren ah dari mereka! haha…

Apa RR ada rencana untuk Go Internasional? Langkah apa saja yang dilakukan untuk mencapai reputasi pengakuan Internasional?
Go International? Hmm..Jelas! tahap untuk ke arah sana. Propaganda kita dulu seperti apa. Nah, untuk sekarang kan RR sudah menjalin hubungan kontrak dengan Volcom dan Electric hampir 2 tahun, dan mereka cukup membantu mengenalkan kita ke dunia Internasional. Kita sudah dikenalkan kepada band-band yang berada di bawah bendera Volcom Entertaiment di USA dan band yang pernah di endors seperti Pennywise, Strung Out, NOFX..mereka setidaknya sudah mengetahui keberadaan RR di Indonesia dan mereka memberi respon positif, juga cukup mendukung kita untuk terus berkarya. Nah, tinggal dari RR-nya propaganda-nya seperti apa? Kita sendiri sekarang masih kewalahan masalah money dan untuk mendapatkan hasil rekaman yang ‘nyaman’ di telinga bule. Tapi kita terus usaha lah,…debat terus!! haha. Oh iya, kita juga sekarang sudah masuk kedalam SODA MUSIC DEVELOPMENT, suatu badan yang menangani management (keuangan, merchandise,stage,label), friendsclub dan propaganda newsletter. SODA MUSIC DEVELOPMENT berisikan; Robin Malau a.k.a Low Robb (ex-Puppen), Chaerul (Guitarist-NoinBullet)dan Tommy Prahara. Mereka sebenernya ingin mewujudkan tata management yang sebenarnya dan profesional (seiring dengan pengalaman mereka makan asam garam tentunya). Semua ini kemajuan bersama. Dan propagandannya adalah mem-blurkan masalah tentang indie, major, minor atau underground. Biarin ajalah, karena musik adalah musik dan kita harus enjoy didalammnya. Jangan sampai karena kita indie atau kita major atau kita u.g, tapi kita ngga enjoy didalamnya,..wah males kan? Makanya diblurkan saja…

Band yang termasuk kedalam SODA saat ini adalah: Burgerkill, Rocket Rockers dan The Bahamas. Siapa tau SODA juga bisa membuat propaganda sampai ke Internasional,..who knows…

Cita cita terbesar apa yang dimiliki oleh RR?
Bisa membuka konser NOFX!! hahaha… Kalo cita-cita lokal mah, yah,…bisa beli rumah sendiri, studio sendiri, bikin label sendiri, istri dan tour-tour juga propaganda terus ke luar nagri!

Bagi bagi ilmu teknik menyanyi loe donkCay.
Arrgghhh…ga ada teknik! kalo dibandingin ama band-band lokal lainnya yang serupa, gue termasuk yang agak buruk…atau paling buruk? entahlah yg jelas, gue ga pernah puas ama vokal gue. Gue lebih prefer kepada nyanyi asal keluar ludah. Makanya gue ga mau les vokal, takutnya jadi lembut,..hmmm

Seberapa pentingkah keberadaan fans? Dan dimanakah RR meletakkan posisi Fans dalam proses bermusik RR?
Fans?..Oh my God,…sejak awal kita enggan menyebut mereka fans, maka dari itu kita membuat rocketrockfriends, yah..sarupaning (semacam) “Sobat Padi” gitu lah! hahahah… Kita meletakan posisi mereka sebagai nyawa kami. Lagian siapa yang mau beli merchandise kita atau mau ngedengerin kaset kita selain mereka. Klise memang. Tapi emang gitu lah,..yah..keun weh…hehe

Dengan lebih terbukanya market terhadap musik indie sekarang-sekarang ini, apa lo rasa ini akan lebih baik untuk scene independent secara umum atau malah melonggarkan filter untuk band-band yang mediocre/pas2an untuk lolos?
Wah-wah,..berat nih,..hehe. Ya itu semua kembali kepada kontrol masing-masing, biarpun indie kalo kitanya ga punya kontrol ya sama aja gendeng. Kontrol disini dari segi musik/band yang akan kita bawa. Kalo untuk masalah filter tentang band pas-pasan wah gue ga ada ide. Soalnya kalo band pas-pasan itu mo ngerilis sendiri gimana? ga ada yang larang kan? toh semua yang pas-pasan itu adalah proses menuju yang ngga pas-pasan. Apa lagi RR, dulunya pas-pasan berat..ada kok rekaman latihan kita dulu,..anjist..ga layak dengar! sumbang semua! Tapi sekarang, lumayan lah.. ngga segitunya banget. Intinya: kontrol masing-masing dan jalani prosesnya!

What is your most intoxicant on your musical experience? Saat manggung atau menulis lagu.
Intoxicant? wah,..wah,..gue goblok amat ya ga tau artinya. Sorry, gue cukup bingung nih sama pertanyaan ini (aduh..malu nih, bodohnya saya). Yang jelas dalam menulis lagu kita cuma berusaha “sedikit jujur” soalnya kalo jujur, bullshit banget,..pastilah ada influence/sesuatu yang ingin ditiru. Pernah juga depresi gara2 bikin lagu susah dan ngga kelar2. Kalo manggung, gue berusaha mengeluarkan soul yang ada…lepas aja gitu. Ketakutan untuk dilemparin atau dibenci atau ga ditanggap sudah ngga ada sekarang,…kalo dulu masih sih. Kalo sekarang mah, keun weh! (biarin ajalah!)

Lagu terbaik RR adalah.?
Kalo gue pribadi: “It’s Just Another Holiday” (soalnya gue ngerasa orisinil pas bikin lagu itu)

Band yang gagal adalah band yang ?
Band yang ngga punya kontrol, attitude dan ngga niat (numpang sana-sini mulu,…cari job sendiri lah! Ngga usah manja..huhu)struggle man!

Rekomendasikan band-band lokal yang menurut loe layak untuk mendapat perhatian lebih.
Wah, bingung juga euy,..but i’ll do my best:
-The Upstairs (That’s my man! New Wave!)
-Full Of Hate (wah tua amat, tapi gue sayang ama band ini)
-Disconnected (seharusnya mereka lebih bergerak)
-Electric Youth (band selingan gue, disco,emo-new wave)
-Shaggy Dog (Ngga ada duanya!!)
-Sajama Cut (cool di recording, tapi dari segi live kayaknya butuh sedikit pembenahan)
-Homogenic (seharusnya band ini menyajikan yang lebih ‘aneh’ lagi dari sebelumnya)

Ada saran kepada band band indie lokal
yang baru memulai debutnya? *Propaganda-nya di perganas!!

Setelah membaca DRS Webzine. Apa pendapat loe sebagai pembacanya? (kritik, saran dan pujian)
Kritik: Hmm,..untuk review udah bagus, tapi apa ya?…sebagian ada yang masih gimana gituh,..eh,..ya agak gimana aja gitu..hihi…susah neranginnya.

Saran: Propaganda terus!

Pujian: Niat berat! pol!! bravo !!

thanks

Interview with The New Year’s Matt Kadane

Published
by
Ryan Koesuma
on July 4, 2003
in Features and Interviews
. 1 Comment

An Interview with The New Year. Brought to you by Marcel Thee for DRS Webszine.

Due to the limited distribution of records to Indonesia, only a select few here have had thechance to listen to your records fully, both from Bedhead and especially The New Year. How would you go about introducing or explaining your music to unfamiliar music fans who might have only heard 1 or 2 songs?
I would say the rest of the songs are in the vein of the one or two songs that this hypothetical fan has already heard. Or I would find some other smart-ass way out of your question. Most musicians I know hate describing their own music. I’d rather go streaking at a public sporting event.

What?s the biggest difference in approach, writing for Bedhead and the New Year?
If you had asked that right after the first New Year record was done I would have said that songs for the new band tended to originate on drums, with the guitar parts coming later. It wasjust the opposite for Bedhead. But I think now after just havingrecorded the second New Year record, which has more songs on it that began their lives with guitar, I’d say on balance the song writing method forboth bands is the same. Lyrically the approach has been even more consistently the same.

Why the name the New Year?
Bubba came across it in print and liked the way it looked.

How did you choose the other members of the band?
After Bedhead broke up Bubba and I gave up on the idea of having another band. But we both kept playing music and eventually got to the point where we wanted to record another record. Neither one of us could imagine making a record without playing live, so we thought maybe we should get a live band together, and that thought quickly led to me thinking that, although I play drums, I would rather have someone else play drums on the record we were gearing up to record.

My first thought was to call Chris Brokaw. He had been afriend for years, he lived in Boston, where I lived and still live, and I had a suspicion that he might want to play drums again since for thelast decade–this was around 1999–he had mainly been playing guitar. We naturally realized that we also needed a bass player, and our friend Mike Donofrio came to mind. Mike lives in New York, but New York and Boston are close enough that Mike, Chris, and I were able to get together and practice a few times before recording the record. So really we went from not wanting a band, to wanting a live band, to assembling one that ended up recording the record. Peter Schmidt from Dallas was always our choice for third guitar. He had been the unofficial sixth member of Bedhead–”Substitute Scmidt”–filling in for Tench when Tench was working in Russia. We’ve had a rotating cast of sixth members, I think more sixth members in all than the permanent five. Andy Cohen from Silkworm, another longtime friend, was the sixth on a two week US tour. And more recently Josh McKay from Macha, who we’ve known since we were in junior high school, has been the sixth, playing keyboards, guitar, and random percussion.

Was it due more to their skills or were you friends with most of them?
It was both. We would be friends with every one of these guys if we didn’t play with them. In fact we were friends with all of them before we all started playing music together. But we’re blessed in that Chris, Mike, Peter, Josh,(and Andy) are all stunningly good at what they do. Playing in this band is almost effortless. Bubba and I fret for weeks before we play a set of shows or a tour, worrying about not having practiced and things like that, but the other four guys are always so much more on the ball that Bubba and I are.

The New Year seems a little bit more ?rock? and the melodies simpler and catchier. Was this a conscious decision?
It just happened that way. Maybe the fact that, like I said, most of these songs originated with drums, and drums playing usually heavy beats, had something to do with the record being more rock.

How much do the other members (other than Matt and Bubba) influence the songwriting?
Not really at all, but that’s not what they signed up for. And they all have other bands in which they’re the principle songwriters.

What kind of environment setting would be the best place to listen to the New Year?s ?Newness Ends??
Sitting in a comfortable chair or lying on a couch in a room with incomprehensibly good speakers, like Andy Cohen’s new B&Ws. Andy played part of Newness Ends for me the other day to show me his fancy new speakers and turntable and I have to say that the record sounded as good as it ever did in the studio, which is sort of what you think of at the optimal sound zone for anything you record.

What records have you been listening to lately?
I really like the last two Deerhoof records. And the latest Nina Nastasia record. “Deceit” by This Heat, a record made over twenty years ago, sounds like it was made yesterday, and besides being precocious is incredible for its odd rhythms and sounds.

What kind of things other than other music influences your music and lyric writing?
I think just about everything in the external world is an influence of some kind.

Is there any books or movies you?d liken you?re records to?
What is your favorite line that you?ve sang in a Bedhead or the New Year record?
I don’t really have one.

How was working with Steve Albini like?
He’s one of the great ones and it’s always incredibly fun and edifying to record with him.

What kind of influence did he bring to your sound?
Before we actually started recording with him we were going for what could be characterized, among other things, as the “Albini sound”–ambient drums, guitars that sound like guitars, vocals that sit in instead of on top of the mix, etc.

Why did you decide to go with ?Touch and Go??
Trance Syndicate, Bedhead’s label, the only label Bedhead ever considered, closed shop right after that band broke up. Trance was distributed by Touch and Go, we knew and liked all the people up there, and so when we had a new band Touch and Go was the only label we ever considered. Much like Electrical Audio, Albini’s studio in Chicago, Touch and Go is one of the world’s greatest institutions, businesses, collections of people, I’m not sure exactly what you call it.

You?ve toured Europe and America. Any plans for touring Asia or Indonesia?
We would love to but I’m not sure how realistic it is since we’ve never had our records distributed in either place.

If you had to choose, which is your favorite Bedhead album?
I hate to have to chose but I guess I would say “WhatFunLifeWas.”

What?s next for the New Year?
A new record in February followed by select shows in the US.

Thank you very much for answering these questions!!
You’re welcome.

Interview with Pretty Girls Make Graves’ Derek Fudesco

Published
by
Ryan Koesuma
on July 4, 2003
in Features and Interviews
. 1 Comment

Marcel Thee, Editor in-chief DEATHROCKSTAR webzine, an interview with Derek Fudesco of Pretty Girls Make Graves.

The band is really made up of people who?ve previously been in other bands. You yourself were mostly known as the bass player from the Murder City Devils. How do you think all the members? previous experience influence the music of PGMG?
I guess because we all write the songs, we all bring a little bit of our own styles to it. I don?t think any of our previous bands influence us.

What are you approaching differently in PGMG than your previous bands?
Just the writing, non of us have ever been in a band were it was such a collective.

Good Health was, in our opinion, one of the best releases last year. Were you satisfied with the album? Or were there some ideas you couldn?t put on the album?
I think it is a great album, I do wish we could have had more time with it, I think it could have been ten times better.

How does the writing process in the band go? I?ve read that you guys go into huge arguments and discussions whenever you write new songs.
Yeah, we are getting better about it though.

Even though PGMG still sometimes gets tag as ?Emo?, a lot of reviews tend to really praise the emotional value of the music. Do you agree with this? Do you think there?s an extra emotional value that a lot of other bands just don?t have?
That word just paints an awful picture. But yeah, there is a lot of emotion that goes into what we do.

Musically, which bands would you say influenced you?
Me personally, Its changing all the time.. right now it’s Gary Numan, New
Order, Can, Souls of Mischief

Where did the name Pretty Girls Make Graves come from?
The Smiths

What records have you been playing lately?
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wilco and New Order

Lyrically, what influences PGMG? Are there any specific books or movies or records you?d recommend?
Thats a question for Andrea

What do you think is the benefit from having a female vocalist?
Nothing, but theres a lot of benefits of having a great singer.

Do you enjoy playing live or recording more?
They are both kind of the same, The feeling you get when you finish a
song and can sit back and hear everything.. Is almost as great as playing a really awesome show.

Which one of your songs would be a good representation of the band?
All of them

Thanks a lot for your time!! Good luck always!!
Thank you..

Interview with The Liars’ Angus

Published
by
Ryan Koesuma
on July 4, 2003
in Features and Interviews
. 1 Comment

Jarang emang gue mulai sebuah interview dgn intro2 macem ini, gak penting lah, toh yg penting yg keluar dari mulut si pemusik. Tapi sekedar info, Liars adalah band dari Amerika, yang saat ini ada di barisan depan musik yang dgn tidak adil, bersama dengan Out Hud, the Rapture, !!!, dan dance Disaster Movement dilabel sebagai “Dance Punk”. Iyah, dance punk ini memang trend mid-2003 banget lho! Garage rock mah 2003 awal banget sih..apalagi huip mental, wahh itu mah jaman bahula, sekarang mah gayanya mustinya Gantungan Kunci sama dance punk, ini tuh pertengahan 2003 banget deh, kalo topi supir truk itu? wah itu mah 2003 awal, ketinggalan deh kamu….ya udah, Liars:band dengan sound gitar noise gila, beat elektronika, dan vokalis sinting, gak jelas? Beli aja CD-nya di Aksara atau internet, atau check www.liarsliarsliars.com

-Marcel Thee,
Mid 2003

Everyone hates this question. But how would you describe, in a nutshell, the kind of music Liars play?
Honest.

Liars, along with other bands such as Out Hud, the Rapture, and !!!, have been tagged ?Dance Punk?. If anything, do you feel that there?s at least correctness in this ?tag?. Is there a certain combination of element of dance and punk in your music?
I don’t know what punk is anymore. We just try and make music we like. Sometimes we enjoy a good bass-line but sometimes we don’t want one at all….We are definatly not interested in “dance Punk” as a way of making music or as a way of indentifying ouselves in the broad spectrum of music.

There?s a major amount of guitar and sound experimentalism in your records, especially Fins to Make Us More Fish-Like. Were you influnced by noise experimentalist such as Massona and Merzbow?
Oh yes, and so many others…..Aaron likes to play his guitar in an attempt to revert back in time to when he didn’t have a know who a guitar was….

These experimental noises; does it come naturally and spontaneously to you guys or is it more of carefully planned out thing to ?enhance? the songs?
Often we start with a noise, a rare noise, and build from there. We try to let as much of the song rely on that noise as possible so as not to complicate the idea and distract it with regular sounds.

When a certain sound works great on a song. Do you tend to repeat the method on other songs or is it a >case of ?use just once and destroy?? Because each song on the records, especially They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, seem to have a character of their own but relate to each other sound-wise.
Well generally, yes, one sound per song, then case closed…but the continuity you hear in certain sounds through Trench is actually a vocal pedal effect that really was a staple for our overall sound for a long time.

There?s definitely a head fuck element on most of the songs, going from almost a quiet-comforting noise to full-on-chaos. Do you guys enjoy fucking with the audiences head sound-wise because there?s such a sense of confrontation in your music?
Thats all just song-writing with an idea in mind….holding things back, waiting for the right time to give and take, its like drama but without the soap.

Where does Angus get the inspiration for the lyrics and song titles like ?Pillars Were Hollow and Filled With Candy, So We Knocked Them Down? or ?We Got Cold, Coughed, and Forgot Things? ? Is there anything specific you try to convey with it?
Just a starting point for thought. A place to begin to think a little differently…

The one-sentence song-titles and minimalist sleeve art, is almost a kind of trademark of Liars. How carefully do you shape the band?s image? Is it important according to you?
No, those things happen very unconciously till suddenly people notice and make it into a”thing”….We extend ourselves into not trying to shape a band image..,..we are who we are and thats how it comes across.

Which of your records do you suggest a new listener should start with, and why?
Interesting….hmm, maybe “Atheists Reconsider” split EP with Oneida would forwarn any innocent listener about whats to come.

What kind of Australian-ism has Angus brought to the band?
Weird words for stuff.

What?s next for Liars? Any chance you?ll have you records officially released in Indonesia, or even play a gig here?
I wanna wanna wanna, we will be in Japan/Australia in Oct …. our new full-length comes out Feb 2004 on Mute…its called: They Were Wrong So We Drowned

big cuddle’kiss
love
LIARS/angus

Thanks for the answers, we really-really appreciate it!!

Interview with Eric Gaffney from the Field Of Gaffney

Published
by
Ryan Koesuma
on July 4, 2003
in Features and Interviews
. 0 Comments

Interview with Eric Gaffney from the Field Of Gaffney. An ex-member of Sebadoh. By Marcel Thee, via email.

Can you tell us a little about the FIELDS OF GAFNEY for those who only knew you through Sebadoh? How did you meet the other members (Jessica Cowley and Richard Marshall) of the band?
Yeh. I’d been working on the ‘Fields’ for 3 years before meeting Richard, who used to play guitar in Alice Donut in New York, and Jessica, who played bass in one band and drums in another when we met. They’re both quite versatile like myself. I met them both here in San Francisco.

Why did you decide to form a band rather than continue as a solo artist?
Well, I like being in a band ya know. I’ve been in bands on and off for 20+ years and it had been awhile. I did go solo for 2 or 3 years back in the mid-90’s. Had no idea when and where a band was gonna happen. I performed a buncha shows as solo guitar…standing up which although being sort of surreal and fun in that it’s just you an amp and your car, isn’t the same as the full sound with a group of any sort.

Is it mostly YOUR band playing your material, or is it more of a democracy where everyone collaborates in a band setting?
So far I’ve written all the songs for the group and sing them. We’re adding more background vocals since it started and eventually we’ll be presenting material we’ve written together.

Did you consciously approach your songwriting differently than when you were in Sebadoh? And did affect the songwriting knowing some of your older fans may have certain expectations as far as your ?songstyle? goes?
No, my songwriting stays about the same more or less. It has nothing to do with what band I’m working with. I’ve always approached songwriting as a variety pack grab bag, pulling from all sorts of influences, styles, and angles to keep it interesting as what I write isn’t all too complex really. For example I’ve always mixed acoustic-based recordings along with noisier more rocking material with little to no forethought.

As a solo artist, you nearly signed to the bigger indies; Sub Pop, Domino, and a major; Atlantic. Why did you choose not to go through with it?
All three of those deals fell through for one reason or another. Either because I asked for one-off deals with a slightly higher percentage or for whatever other reasons you might imagine. Aside from which I like having my own pretend label. Nothing left to the imagination as far as getting screwed over.

Some people may think that with you and the Sebadoh name it would be easier to get a deal, is this the case?
I don’t know. We’ve been doing home recording and dabbling in touring for a few months but the labels who contact us most often are offering a track on a comp or with a zine.

Are you planning to go on tour soon? You really should stop by Indonesia, the punkrock / indie scene is growing rapidly.
We just toured the southwest and a short northwest weekend thing and are busy working on distributing the new cd. (Nature Walk) We don’t have reviews, radio play or enough interest in it yet but working on it. Yeah someday we’ll consider Indonesia. Especially if we can sell a few thousand records there first of course.

Why did you decide to specifically cover ?I did acid with Caroline? by Daniel Johnston?
Oh, I had performed it once with Sebadoh, in Denver, CO. on a Firehose tour after sleeping 10 hours straight through the Rockies. Also, we were asked to be on a D. Johnston tribute which didn’t work out, plus I opened for him last year so was reminded that I liked that freaky LP it was from, at that time.

What have you been listening to recently? Is there any bands that has influenced your songwriting for Fields of Gafney?
Not much really. I don’t buy much of anything, so I listen to radio and the reduced collection I haven’t parted with. There is relatively little that has particularly influenced my songwriting. Rather everything I like or am intrigued by. Lately I’ve been listening to Charlie Patton. A record I’d had that’d been sitting around collecting dust.

How was Noisepop 2003? Is the festival-type setting more relaxing for the band than doing club shows?
It wasn’t a festival at all. The shows were all indoors. We have played outside once, in El Paso, Texas for a handful of students at the University. Outside shows sound not as good usually.

In your opinion why, in the end, did Sebadoh disintegrate? Did living so far away from each other influence this?
I figured after I quit they would’ve disintegrated sooner but they kept at it. I hesitate to guess why they disintegrated. Maybe it was because their fans outgrew them or because of the last record?

Do you ever see Sebadoh working together again as a unit?
No. I doubt it. Maybe, you just never know.

What do you think of the loobiecore website? There?s a lot of great vintage Sebadoh stuff up there. Would you ever consider putting some of your rare Sebadoh material on your site?
I would distinguish between my new band and what I was doing 10 to 15 years ago as far as putting Mp3’s or whatever on our site. It would be too cluttered. At some point I’ll probably release some really old 4-track recordings but in no hurry to.

How important is the internal band relationship to you now? Did your experience w/ Sebadoh affect how your aproach your relationship w/ the other members of Fields of Gaffney?
We try to make sure to give eachother anough time apart and not overdo it. We’re not about to live together anyway. I use whatever past experiences in music, touring, or with how to deal with business to our advantage.

What was the ultimate Sebadoh album for you?
The first one because it was done before it was brought to a studio. (cassette tapes) III was good because the studio (Fort Apache) sounded good and was cheaper to rent back then. I played all those songs using electric and acoustic guitars and sort of went all out. We’d practiced those for two years before that record. Smash Your Head I never liked much, even though I wrote three songs, put together the front cover and cd booklet stuff.

Which Sebadoh album did you enjoy working on the most?
Bubble & Scrape maybe. It was a weird album on my end in that I wrote most everything on the spot using a whammy pedal effect, with no idea what it would be, or a few songs were recorded in Berlin when I had a sore throat. One of those songs got sped up which ruins it for me. I came up with the title, added my childhood photos, and wrote a 1/3 of it. I should be happy with it but one never is. It may not have been properly mastered. As I remember it was a few d.a.t. tapes I brought in to Fort Apche and then they were sequenced. Nothing much else.

Sebadoh was, in a way, a part of the (or lumped into) the ?lo-fi? movement. Did it bother you? And are you using the same recording techniques in Fields of Gafney?
No dammit. I like the Lo-Fi tag. I’d been doing cassette taping as far back as 1979. If I’d had a proper home studio all along that’s mostly what I would’ve used. You make do with what you have. We used 4-track recordings for the ‘Nature Walk cd.’

What inspires you lyrically? Do you take care of the lyrics in the songs as much as the song itself? A lot of people would to love to know the meaning behind songs like ?Cecilia chime in melee?, and ?Telecosmic alchemy?, or at least how you got those titles!
It can take me years of re-doing lyrics until I can stand it. There is little to no meaning behind those songs…”You too can have Telecosmic Alchemy” is an ad from a 1970′ comic book. “Cecilia” was a joke. Jason and I recorded that in ten minutes during a recording break. I could’ve had a song there instead but used that. Some of my worst keyboard playing there.

Lastly, what are you planning in the future for the band? New songs in the can yet?
Yeah. Another record being planned. Still working the new one or just starting to. Be sure to check out our website for anything new. www.angelfire.com/indie/ericgaffney. Thanks Indonesian listeners. Remember! “Don’t let nobody control ya.”

Thanks a lot Eric, good luck with the band!