Allllllllllll righty. First things first. This here interview was conducted in, I BELIEVE, April of 1994, so it’s kinda old, BUT hasn’t been seen outside of Wisconsin very much, so here it is. It initially appeared in the zine IF YOU HAVE SCENE, WHAT WE HAVE ZINE!, which is produced by my buddy Punk Parent Dan. Every issue is basically a collection of CD and show reviews, as well as a lot of really cool interviews with bands like The Poster Children droolswoonpant (sorry, slight Rose Posterkid lust attack), Giants Chair, The Red Aunts, and Brainiac (duh). To aquire your VERY OWN copy of this fine fine zine, send a buck or so plus postage to IF YOU HAVE SCENE, P.O. Box 12741, Green Bay, Wi 54307. This interview was run in issue #7/16, if you want yer own copy. it gots a keen interview with Girls Against Boys in it too. So hey, enough grandstanding, it’s time ta get to the goods…
(Like I said, this interview was from a while back, so don’t freak out when the interviewer says something really old-newsish…)
SZ: Why did the CD [Smack Bunny Baby] come out on Grass Records instead of Limited Potential?
Juan: Mike didn’t have the money to do it. Dutch East was distributing the 7″. They called us up and asked us to do it on their label instead. Since Mike couldn’t really afford to do it, we kind of had to move along. We still love Mike, we love him like a father.
SZ: So Grass is part of Dutch East?
Juan: It’s actually a in-house label of Dutch East, a sister label of Homestead. We were the third band they signed.
SZ: So how is this tour going?
Tim: So far so good…..It’s only the second day! Well, we went out for a week, then went home for a week, and now this is the second day of the second leg.
SZ: So is the whole tour with Tar?
Tim: This is the only show with them, last night we played with Seaweed.
SZ: So you’re just playing with whoever.
Tim: The last 2 weeks are going to be with Lungfish. These first 2 are opening slots, a few headlinings here and there. To 2 people…
SZ: Last time you said the best reason to come and see you was because you had a pretty girl in the band….. So what is it now?
John: They have a…..Pretty man child now!
Tim: ……All right! So there is no good reason to see us!
SZ: Do you still play all 3 songs of the Limited Potential 7″? And is it still available?
Juan: Yes we do and no it’s not. It’s long gone. No represses.
SZ: So how is the new CD doing?
Juan: It’s doing real well.
SZ: Are you locked into any kind of recording deal?
Juan: We have to do one more record. If we wanted to do one with a major, they would happily let us go to do one. We just wanted to do 2 records and they were really cool about it.
SZ: Have you been writing new stuff?
Juan: A little bit. We just recorded some new stuff for comps. We’re going to be on a Pere Ubu comp with New Bomb Turks, Breeders…. All Ohio.
Tim: We plan to record in October with Eli [Eli Janney from Girls Against Boys]. He’s going to be home then so we’re going to try to get back together with him.
Tyler: We should have a few 7″s and comps out before that.
SZ: Did you want Eli because he has an understanding of the band? Seeing he plays a synthesizer also?
Juan: That was one of the big reasons, that he played keyboards in a rock band.
Tyler: Plus he did Nation of Ulysses.
Tim: Plus he knows punk rock. We’re not the most studio minded band around. If we go into a studio with someone who doesn’t really understand our music…. We get crushed.
Tyler: Especially when you come from a small town…. Not really a recording town.
SZ: So how is it writing new material now that Michelle is not in the band? I know she used to play with different tunings and such. Do you play the same?
John: I was very into de-tuning.
Tim: When we worked with Michelle, we showed her exactly how to tune and how to play. John has an understanding of that style, he’s able to write his own parts and songs.
SZ: So you don’t see the sound changing.
Juan: I think it has changed, just in a progressive way.
SZ: So what does the future hold?
Juan: Watch our hairlines recede, our futures get farther away from us, and watch us go on welfare.
(…find the CD by Michelle’s new band, Omatic, called Dog Years on Grass Records. It’s tre bien.)