|
So does this New Bomb Turks compilation pretty much clean out the vaults?
Yeah, pretty much. We might have a song here and there. We always wanted to do a live record, like a proper one. Get somebody with an eight-track board in there or something. We never really did that and we have so many shitty, crappy live cassette tapes sitting around. But we have a lot of good ones, too. Every once in a while we talk a little bit about trying to compile something like that, but I don’t know. That’s what we would do until that Ryko box set comes out in 20 years. Or no, it’ll probably be on fuckin’ K-Tel. We’ll be part of the [assumes TV announcer voice] ‘90s neo-punk box set.
You had some singles with Get Hip, right?
We had an early single on Get Hip and then they’d always distribute shit for us. We’ve just been friends with those guys for a really long time. In fact, if we hadn’t done the record with Gearhead, we probably would have done it with Get Hip. Epitaph, you know, they pretty much didn’t do anything for our last record, which kind of sucked. Our Nightmare Scenario record. By that time, it was obvious that they knew it was a three-record deal and they weren’t going to re-sign us. All of us in the band pretty much agree that the first album and Nightmare Scenario are probably our favorite records of all of them ... It just seemed like it was getting scatterbrained by the time we left Epitaph [in] 2001. It seemed like they were trying to figure out a different direction to go with the label. They signed lot of bands right when the Offspring took off and dropped most of them. We weren’t officially dropped, they just didn’t sign us up for another contract, but by that time, they had dropped the Dwarves and the Humpers and the Cramps and all these bands that were why we signed to Epitaph. It just seemed like they were concentrating on, you know, Tom Waits and stuff. Which is fine.
Yeah, that was a little different direction with Waits and the Tricky record.
Yeah, they did the new Nick Cave. Some of their newer bands I think are alright. Ikara Colt is a pretty cool band. They should try to diversify a little, because in Southern California, every time Pennywise puts out a record, it’s going to sell 300-500,000 copies, just because there’s that core audience for that stuff. It’s bound to pass. I hope. Eventually. The whole skate-punk thing. They gotta find something else to put out. But apparently not, because when you go to California, kids are still into that shit. That’s what they understand. They didn’t understand these four jeans-and-T-shirt-wearing, beer-drinking nice guys from Ohio who were into Pere Ubu and stuff.
What bands are you excited about these days?
The Starvations, [who] sound like ... Everyone says the Gun Club and they do kind of sound like the Gun Club, but they have the feel of kind of an American Pogues. They’re not Irish music, but [they’re like] an old-style country band that had been around forever, but they were young. There’s a girl accordion player. The singer just has a great voice. He sounds like if you could mix the guy from the Gun Club with a little bit of Morrissey. That sounds weird, but he’s got a great voice. Great lyrics. It’s Gun Club or Flesheaters. They’re kind of a scraggly, like an American Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds or something. They’re from L.A., which is completely weird. I always try to challenge anybody to name one band from L.A. that’s really great. X is about the only one.
How about Gillian Welch?
I like Gillian Welch. too, but I’m talking about like garage and punk bands from over the years. Everybody thinks L.A. is such a music mecca, but it’s mostly people who move out there get big. But anyway, I hate the Doors. I just think of it as the place the Stooges went to die. I love that Junior Senior record. It’s just full-on party, fun music. It’s the kind of thing I don’t think any American band can come up with anymore. Everyone is just so self-conscious about what they’re doing and there’s just so much anger and people are just so fear-mongering and weird. These guys are from Denmark and they’re just happy guys. I’m sure they don’t have perfect lives, but they just make really fun music. They kind of sound like Gary Glitter or the B-52’s or something. I like the new Dirtbombs record. I like OutKast and all that, but I haven’t really kept up. Of course, all the bands on Greaseball Melodrama I really love. I like Starlite Desperation, who have reformed. I like Soundtrack Of Our Lives. I like this band called the Riplets from Holland, a three-piece girl band ... I don’t know, there’s too many fuckin’ records. That’s the thing about being a freelance writer. The only thing that sucks now is that they don’t give you whole CDs anymore. They give you burned CDs or promos that come in these little plastic sleeves. Half the time, they’re just like, “Oh, you can just go and download a couple of the songs.” Look, I’m supposed to review this thing. I’m not going to go download a couple songs and just say what the band is like off of that. You’re a fuckin’ label. You knew going into it that you’d have to give out the free shit, so start giving out some free shit.
The security is also getting nuts with the labels watermarking CDs.
The new Iggy Pop came with a whole sheet that just went off about—oh, I also like Cobra Verde and the Drive-By Truckers. But anyway, this whole promo thing that came with Iggy Pop—oh, I like the Pirahnas, too. Anyway, it said if you don’t agree with the rules, you can send the CD back and we’ll pay for the mailing cost. I guess they feel they get burned when people burn CDs or whatever. That whole topic is just a snake eating its tail. I think it was Marx who said that capitalism produces the tools of its own destruction. I don’t think it’s deniable anymore that downloading is cutting into some sales. I think it’s pretty obvious. But when TV happened, they said people wouldn’t buy books anymore or go to movies. All that stuff still happens. My only complaint—and I know I’m talking too much, but I think this is important—is whenever you hear people say, “Oh, if they’d make an album of 10 good songs I’d go buy it, but they only make one or two good songs, so why should I buy the record?” I hate that, because if you’re really into music and an artist is worth a shit at all, they’ve got at least a few good songs. If you like the band, you’re going to want to hear all those songs to hear how they’re progressing and what they’re doing with their sound. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy: If you keep telling bands they only give you two good songs, so I’m only going to pay $2 to iTunes, then pretty soon bands are just going to work on two or three songs from now on. So I hate that argument, because that just shows fuckin’ laziness. And those are the people that usually just want to hear hits anyway. And then, the whole thing about bands need to get out on the road and play like in the old days. Not all bands make money from touring. In fact, 99 percent of bands don’t make money from touring. So to say, “Quit being lazy and get out there and tour,” it’s not that easy. We made decent money from touring, but most bands don’t. They come home with a busted van and $300 in the hole. I don’t think that argument works. Maybe for Metallica. They always made their money touring. Again, I don’t think downloading is wrong and it’s too late to stop it, anyway. The Turks have probably lost all of $7.98 to downloading. It doesn’t really bother me at all.
MESSAGE ON VOICEMAIL LATER THAT NIGHT:
“Hey, howdy, it’s Eric Davidson again. I know it’s annoying I’m calling back, but I wanted to say that there are good local bands in Columbus lately. There’s one called Jesus De Magico and a few others. Eric Wrong and The Do Right. Tough And Lovely. Some good bands. The Diverters and all that. And also I love the Black Lips from Atlanta. They’re really great. You can put that in there. Love the Black Lips. I don’t know. I don’t know what the fuck. Thanks. Bye.”
|