A Place to Bury Strangers performing at The Echoplex on October 16, 2009.

[View with PicLens]

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Download: Xu Xu Fang Mix Tape Podcast by Bobby Tamkin

1. Jane’s Addiction “Trip Away”
2. A Place To Bury Strangers “I Know I’ll See You”
3. Jackie Mittoo “Get Up and Get It”
4. Bob Marley “Natural Mystic”
5. Lee Hazlewood “For A Day Like Today”
6. David Axelrod “The Mental Traveler”
7. Kraftwerk “Spacelab”
8. Gas “Eins”
9. Igor Stravinsky “The Rite of Spring Part I: Danses des adolescentes”

Xu Xu Fang like pictures of horses better than pictures of people and will release their new EP Seven Days Now this week. Founder Bobby Tamkin speaks to Scott Schultz about radio drama, fog machines and stoned Oklahomans who like Gossip Girl.

The new EP Seven Days Now is more electronic than These Days’ stoner rock psychedelia. Was the shift a matter of incorporating new musicians to the sound or were you consciously looking to change?
Bobby Tamkin: That’s the weird thing about the band. Most styles of music have elements that I like, and I want to explore those. Sometimes I don’t know if the guitar song is going to fit with the electronic beat-based stuff, but it’s not a conscious effort. If there could be different styles of music back to back, I would love to do that, but I don’t know if that would make a cohesive record or show.
You use a lot of sound effects in your music. Do you factor the effects into your songwriting, or do you add them after the tracks are recorded?
It depends on how the song was created. It may have started with a keyboard sound or an effect, or it may start with a drumbeat. There’s really no rhyme or reason. Suddenly it ambles into something, and at some point I will stop and figure it’s ready to go. Some of the sounds I personally record, probably 85 percent of the effects you hear. I like to run around with a microphone and capture sounds. I love the sound of horses.
Where were the horse sounds recorded?
The horses were a combination of both homemade and post-production. I had a recording that I made of horses, but it wasn’t strong, so I enhanced it with a little sound effect synth sound. Part of the fun is creating it all on my own.
How many musicians have been members of the Fang?
It’s unfortunate that it’s been a process. It comes down to whether people are up to do it. Show up and play—no drama. Enjoy the music and play it. If that’s the case, you’re all set, but there have always been different circumstances. Everyone is always a little unique. It would be cool if it was the same setup all the way through, but it’s getting there, it’s getting there. Our current lineup played together for the first time when we opened for Swervedriver at the Fonda. That was a little over 11 months ago.
Your music seems influenced by movie soundtracks and radio theatre. Do you have any favorite soundtracks or soundtrack artists who inspire you?
Oh man, that’s almost an impossible question. The score I’ve been listening to a lot lately is Bernard Herrmann’s North By Northwest. Bernard Herrmann is pretty much my favorite. It’s like hearing Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ over and over and over again, but there are subtle changes. He died in ‘76. The last score that he did was Taxi Driver. He died in the middle, but he was awesome. He’s partially responsible for the modern sweeping scores that you hear today.
Did you begin the radio drama piece with script, music, or concept?
I had a few bits of music that I recorded and didn’t do anything with. I really liked those old radio theater mystery dramas with the sound effects and I thought, hmmm, it would be interesting to make something like that, but make it a little more contemporary musically. I came up with a loose idea of what I wanted the story to be, and then I scripted out simple scenes and had friends do the voices. Then I wrote a bunch of new music for it to fill it out.
How many characters did you voice?
Just one.
The rat who turns in his friend to get whacked?
Yeah—terrible voice! It was so poorly acted. If you don’t know me, it may seem like the character was supposed to be that way, but if you know me, you know that I could have been so much better. Once I had the band together, we decided to play live. We didn’t have a singer yet, but we figured it would be cool to have images up behind us of L.A. in wintertime, and L.A. WEEKLY wrote a story about it and said that we played a live soundtrack to film, and I was like, ‘Hell no—this isn’t a film!’ I went back and shot hours and hours of more stuff, and I ended up editing all over again and finally it became some sort of a narrative and what it had been described as. It was never intended to be a score to a film.
From there, how did you segue into actual songs?
I didn’t want to make another film. I could have improved upon it, definitely, but I didn’t want to make something that would compete with it. Songs seemed like a good challenge: to write a song. It’s hard.
What was your first song?
‘These Days.’
Do you have more new songs beyond those on Seven Days Now?
We have eight new songs that haven’t been recorded yet. So we’re going to write two more and then make a full length with all new stuff.
How would you describe the new music?
That it’s more like The Mourning Son. Less dancey, more guitar. The real shape of it will happen when I get into the studio. At that point who knows what it could turn into.
You had two songs played on Gossip Girl, and they’ll be using a third song this month. Are you attracting Gossip Girl fans?
I guess it’s a testament to the producers and music supervisors that they would put songs like ours into a show like that. It was a total surprise. There are probably some 16-year-old stoner chicks in Oklahoma who check us out on Myspace after seeing Gossip Girl, and that’s totally cool.
Adam Franklin of Swervedriver found you on Myspace and gave you an opening slot when they came to L.A. last year, and Gossip Girl also found you with minimal hype. Are you just lucky?
We seem to have some sort of homing beacon like Batman for cool people. Adam Franklin liked the concept of the horse heads, and that drew him to us, and then he checked out the songs and like the music.
How did you come up with using the horse head pictures for the band photos?
I didn’t have a band when I put my first song up, and I wanted to put portraits of people to represent each musician, but then I figured if I put up a horse head, I wouldn’t have to change pictures. So I came up with a bunch of unique looking horse heads until I could get my band together, and then I just kept it. For a while it was funny—certain horses were more popular than others and would get more comments. I don’t know why.
You guys have some heavy jam breaks during your live songs, where Barbara (Cohen—vocals) dissolves into the murky mix with all three guitars going full rumble. Are you looking to make your jams even larger onstage?
We’ve always talked about doing one jam for the whole show. Just play ‘Good Times’ for an hour. It would be really fun to play that way, but the audience will get bored after a while unless they’re on something.
How long has Xu Xu Fang been using fog onstage?
Since day one. We also use the Stargate and really we’d really go nuts with the lights if we could. We’d need a full time person just for lights and fog. Barbara and Jenna (keyboards) don’t like the fog, because they say it messes with their voices. We had a residency at the Silverlake Lounge and we fogged that place up like crazy. I think he may have told us to stop at some point.
Your first CD had a very L.A. quality. Is the city a character within the story?
I love the atmospheric sounds, the rain—which we don’t get a lot of, but I think it has a real evocative sound in this city. The blasé—neither here nor thereness—fits the tone of ‘These Days.’ This city is so unique and there are so many great bands from so many scenes that are each unique but distinctly L.A., like Jane’s Addiction, NWA, The Doors, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Love, Van Halen…I think the bombast of the city is definitely in our stage show. The music is intelligent, but it’s not afraid to go huge.

MANIMAL VINYL AND RADIO FREE SILVERLAKE PRESENT XU XU FANG WITH VOICEsVOICES, DOWNTOWN UNION AND THE VOYEURS ON THU., APR. 30, FOR THE RELEASE PARTY OF XU XU FANG’S SEVEN DAYS NOW AT THE ECHO, 1822 SUNSET BLVD.,ECHO PARK. 10 PM / FREE / 18+. ATTHEECHO.COM. VISIT XU XU FANG AT XUXUFANG.COM.

Download: A Place To Bury Strangers “To Fix The Gash In Your Head”

(from the self-titled album on Killer Pimp)

A Place To Bury Strangers believe in girl groups who ride motorcycles and custom-made guitar pedals that punch identical holes in ceiling and floor. They perform today at Coachella opposite Paul McCartney, who would probably like them. This interview rescued from the archives and conducted by Vanessa Gonzalez.

I can’t tell you how excited and surprised I was to see the Crystals listed as the first influence on your Myspace page.
Oliver Ackerman (guitar/vocals): The Crystals are AMAZING!
Who do you think would win in a fight between the Crystals and the Shangri-Las?
Oh, are you kidding? The Shangri-Las would kick the Crystals’ ass so easy. They were like the bad girls of all that stuff. They would take their motorbikes and run-over the Crystals—back and forth over their head most definitely! Drive them all up and down the street!
But musically you prefer the Crystals?
Do I PREFER the Crystals? Ahhhhh…I dunno know? I really like the Shangri-Las as well. That’s kind of a hard call. I guess it depends on your mood, ya know? Sometimes the Shangri-Las are what you want to hear. But ya know, the Crystals—some of the songs are just sung so well, and they’re such good songs. It’s hard to beat that, too.
Sometimes you get hit, and it feels like a kiss?
Yeah, totally. Especially if you’re kinda drunk. That’s so bad.
Has Phil Spector’s ‘wall of sound’ influenced your production values?
Definitely. That stuff is amazing, and that is stuff I grew up on. And as an aesthetic, and even I think song structure and writing style, I like that kind of stuff—the old pop classic sort of thing. I don’t have all these orchestras and instruments but we definitely try and make as many different sounds and have things come together and make it interesting. I definitely make a lot of pedals to achieve a certain sound, or some specific idea, as well as sometimes you’ll discover some cool idea within some sound that you’ve created. There are songs that have nothing to do with the pedals, but that definitely helps us get the sound that we want—to manipulate that anytime. It just works from what’s appropriate.
I heard you guys record in your RV?
Sometimes we get to places where we can do a little bit of work, but not really that much. There’s sorta some room to do some things, but not really as much as you would like.
How was the first album recorded?
Most of that album was just demo songs that I recorded myself with all sorts of different mediums—drum machines and stuff. All sorts of stuff thrown together—experimenting with 8 tracks, and the computer. It’s like almost everything was just kind of an idea for a song—songs that I wanted to listen to and hear myself, whether anyone else was going to or not.
So they were not intended for release?
Exactly. We were just kinda demoing things out, and then we released these EP CD-Rs that we would sell at shows or give away so that people would hear the music. And then we played a show in Austin, and the guy that runs the label that released our record wrote on a napkin that he’d like to release a bunch of the EPs as a CD and that he’d give us all the profits or something like that, and we were really reluctant to do it actually. It sounded kinda good, but it also sounded like not a good idea—I don’t know why. But I’m glad that we did it because it seems to have worked out pretty good.
Why the reluctance?
I guess I felt like everything wasn’t ready, or that it wasn’t really quite like a whole album or anything like that. Definitely all the songs were recorded to sound the way that I like to hear things. But I guess I had heard some things from different people—‘Your music’s got to be really slick…’ and all this bull crap that I don’t really believe ‘…to be listened to and appreciated by people.’ But I know that kind of stuff is just shit. And I’m really glad that people like the album the way it is because it means that we can kind of continue to work and create things that we think sound good, whether it’s commercially viable or not. I think that we can focus on just kind of making everything sound really good rather than sound commercial.
Like Times New Viking? They’re ultra lo-fi, but it sounds amazing and they write good songs and…
Times New Viking is an excellent example.
What was it like going on tour with Nine Inch Nails?
It was RIDICULOUSLY high tech! MY GOODNESS. It was AMAZING! It was really fun. It was also like, completely silly—you just feel like ‘What are you doing there?’ They had this huge crew of 85 people or something like that with all these really cool nicknames like ‘RADAR’ and ‘LAZER’ and ‘FOXTROT’ or something. It was so amazing. I guess they sorta look the part. It’s just a bunch of dudes all dressed in black with headsets and walkie-talkies. They weren’t menacing or anything like that. But they all had really cool names. I don’t know where they got em’ from. They put on just a ridiculously good show. They had these walls of light that were moving around and going in front of them and behind them and all this—just so intensely planned. But they were playing all the instruments live, and it was really cool. It wasn’t cheap, like you could easily imagine a lot of people would do. There were video cameras across stage and then maybe some sensors on their hands and they would wave their hands across the lights and stuff and the lights would shoot out of their hand—really crazy ridiculous things.
Is that a level that you are trying to attain?
Not quite. I thought what they were doing was cool. It wasn’t exactly something I would have done per se. But what would you do with millions and millions of dollars to put on some show? It was kind of ridiculous. I don’t think I would do that. I think maybe just keep things simple and just give the money to someone less fortunate—hand out cars to all the audience members.
Was being the opening act for a band with such an intense fan base uncomfortable?
Everyone was really cool actually. People were cheering and going nuts and it was really good. We were definitely well received. But talking to a bunch of these kids when you go out into the crowds—some of the fans, it’s almost like their lives revolve around Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails patches and hats and they have screen names for the fan club and stickers all over their car. I definitely had a lot of people ask me, ‘What’s Trent like? Gee, I wish I had a demo tape of my band with me so that you could give it to him.’ Almost all the shows were at these basketball stadiums, so we’d be in a locker rooms for a whole basketball team—rows and rows of showers, and all these closets and huge screens TVs, and the catering was unbelievable. Baked salmon with lemon-pepper and wine sauce drizzled over it—crazy, amazingly good food. Everyone was really nice. It was super cool.
How did you get into making pedals?
Just trying to create sounds that I couldn’t get in other places. I failed miserably for years and then kindda figured out how to make things work. And then I started the company because I wanted to go to Europe for a month as a vacation, but I didn’t really have any money, and I had this idea for a pedal that no one else had ever come out with before, and I just kind of marketed that real quick and I made enough money to go. Total Sonic Annihilation. The flagship of Death by Audio. At that time I was pretty much on my own. I was living in Fredericksberg, Virginia, with about two to three people at most that you’d want around you at any given time, and we had this really huge warehouse that we rented for nothing. A couple bands practiced there. They all paid the rent, so I was living for free in this huge warehouse. And I was the only one who lived there because everyone else was afraid. I don’t know—some people like home life or something! So I was just in there, doing that stuff, and you could be up all night experimenting. I was playing in that band Skywave at the time, and our last album Synthstatic, we recorded—it took maybe two and a half years to record and mix. I was doing that every single day—recording and mixing that album. I left Virginia because it felt like Skywave wasn’t going anywhere. Like the last Skywaves tour—one of the guys didn’t even want to go on the tour, so we had someone else come as a replacement. And then the other guy in the band was married and had two kids and couldn’t really do too much. So I was just kind of like, ‘Well, I guess I’m going to move to New York.’ Then shortly after I was there I met two guys who were interested in doing something.
Can we do the rest of the interview as Two Truths and a Lie? I’ll give you a category, and then you tell me two truths and a lie about it. Lets begin with A Place to Bury Strangers: The Early Days. And I’ll start us off as an example. 1. I was so excited the first time I heard Oceans on the radio, that I pulled over to write your band name down. 2. The first time I visited your Myspace, I listened to your 4 songs for 3 hours straight. 3. I wrote you guys a fan letter after I bought your album, but I was too embarrassed to ever mail it. Which is the lie?
Number 2.
No, the last one. I haven’t written a fan letter since New Kids on the Block in Elementary school. But I really did listen to your songs for 3 hours straight.
That’s amazing. Someone must have drugged you.
Your songs did. Okay, your turn.
Alright. 1. Our drummer got hit by a car, and then plays a show…right after getting hit by a car. Alright…what’s another truth?
Oh no, don’t tell me which are true—I have to guess!
I know, I know! I’m just messing with you. Alright, this is the lie right here. These are just all going to be about drummers. 2. Our drummer threw a stick into the crowd, it hit someone in the face, and then BAM—they fell to the ground. 3. One time our drummer dropped his sticks and then played the rest of the set with his hands.
Playing the drums like the congas is the lie.
Nope, that’s true. Couldn’t even tell!
Closed fist or open handed? How did he do that?
I don’t know; he was an animal!
So the lie must be the second one.
How’d you know?
The way you called him an animal I figured he must have played a show immediately after getting hit by a car!
Yeah, that’s true.
How badly was he hit by the car?
Not that bad. He was okay.
Alright, next category. Geography. Tell me two truths and a lie about cities you’ve been to.
1.There is a place in Canada named Regina, and the sign, when you drive in, says ‘The Place that Rhymes with Fun.’ 2. There is a place in Portland where you can get drinks for 50 cents. It’s called the Lionshead. Next time you’re in Portland you have to go.
50 cent drinks! For like, a full pint of beer? Any drink?
Yeah, totally! I mean, it all comes in plastic glasses, but it’s totally worth it! TOOOOTTTALLLY bottom shelf booze. But still worth it!
Tell me something about Seattle.
Of all the places I’ve been in Seattle, at least fifty percent have something to do with space, like the Space Needle, or the Cosomonaut or the Apollo. I even ate a sandwich that was called the Space Blaster or something.
Which is the lie? What was the first one? I don’t even remember. Oh yeah. The town in Canada. I hope that one’s true. I’m going to say the last one is false.
No, it was the place with the fifty cent drinks. Doesn’t that suck? Didn’t you want that to be true?
So what was Regina like?
It was like New Jersey or something like that. It was kind of industrial and really desolate. But the place really did rhyme with fun. Those wacky Canadians.
Next category: guilty pleasures.
Alright, let’s see… 1. Jameson Whiskey. 2. I really love to shoot guns. 3. I love scrambled eggs and Cool Ranch Doritos.
That’s like trailer park chilaquiles. I’m going to go with the last one. I can see you wondering around your empty warehouse shooting guns off all night while you’re playing with your Sonic Annihilator pedal.
Actually, I don’t like shooting guns. I’ve done it a few times, but I don’t think it’s that cool.
Too bad. But that was a good lie. And the fact that you eat scrambled eggs with Cool Ranch Doritos is an awesome truth.
Shooting guns isn’t even that bad. It can be fun now that I think about it. But alright, what else you got?
Childhood.
Alright. 1. Me and some friends were trying to figure out what drugs were, so we rolled up herbal tea and cigarettes, and smoked it together. 2. When I was young, I used to drive like a maniac, and I’ve taken a car to 160 mph—a Chevy Caprice. 3. I am a—well I’m not so much anymore, but I used to be a juggling MASTER. I used to be able to juggle knives and swords and stuff.
Knives AND swords?
Oh no, just knives. I didn’t say swords.
I’m going to have to say the last is false.
How’d you know?
What kind of tea were you mixing into your cigarettes?
We tried all sorts of stuff—all different flavors, and none of it worked. We must’ve smoked like a pound. We used to do all sorts of stupid things.
Last category. Touring.
1. We had an RV and I’m the only person’ s who ever got it slightly wrecked by scraping the whole side of the RV on some cement, and then we tried to lie to the rental place about it. 2. One time, at the end of a tour, and this is a tour with a car, and you couldn’t start it except push start it because it was about to die, and the last date was a 24-hour drive back home and we push started the car and drove the entire 24-hours without stopping it once, and filling up gas while it was running. 3. One time while playing a show I was jumping around and got totally knocked out, and when I came to I didn’t know what the hell was going on. It was so insane, like the earth was ending, but the show never ended.
Taking after your warrior drummer, the show must go on.
Most people I don’t think even noticed it because there was all this feedback, and they just thought it was part of the show. Things were kind of crazy anyways.
The lie is the last one.
Dang it. Yeah, it is.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS WITH PAUL McCARTNEY, SILVERSUN PICKUPS, PEANUT BUTTER WOLF, MORRISSEY, THE BLACK KEYS AND MORE ON FRI., APR. 17, AT COACHELLA AT THE EMPIRE POLO FIELD, 81-800 AVENUE 51, INDIO. 11 AM / $269 / ALL AGES. COACHELLA.COM. VISIT A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS AT APLACETOBURYSTRANGERS.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/APLACETOBURYSTRANGERS.

This interview by Vanessa Gonzalez.

I can’t tell you how excited and surprised I was to see the Crystals listed as the first influence on your Myspace page.
Oliver Ackerman (guitar/vocals): The Crystals are AMAZING!
Who do you think would win in a fight between the Crystals and the Shangri-Las?
Oh, are you kidding? The Shangri-Las would kick the Crystals’ ass so easy. They were like the bad girls of all that stuff. They would take their motorbikes and run-over the Crystals—back and forth over their head most definitely! Drive them all up and down the street!
But musically you prefer the Crystals?
Do I PREFER the Crystals? Ahhhhh…I dunno know? I really like the Shangri-Las as well. That’s kind of a hard call. I guess it depends on your mood, ya know? Sometimes the Shangri-Las are what you want to hear. But ya know, the Crystals—some of the songs are just sung so well, and they’re such good songs. It’s hard to beat that, too.
Sometimes you get hit, and it feels like a kiss?
Yeah, totally. Especially if you’re kinda drunk. That’s so bad.
Has Phil Spector’s ‘wall of sound’ influenced your production values?
Definitely. That stuff is amazing, and that is stuff I grew up on. And as an aesthetic, and even I think song structure and writing style, I like that kind of stuff—the old pop classic sort of thing. I don’t have all these orchestras and instruments but we definitely try and make as many different sounds and have things come together and make it interesting. I definitely make a lot of pedals to achieve a certain sound, or some specific idea, as well as sometimes you’ll discover some cool idea within some sound that you’ve created. There are songs that have nothing to do with the pedals, but that definitely helps us get the sound that we want—to manipulate that anytime. It just works from what’s appropriate.
I heard you guys record in your RV?
Sometimes we get to places where we can do a little bit of work, but not really that much. There’s sorta some room to do some things, but not really as much as you would like.
How was the first album recorded?
Most of that album was just demo songs that I recorded myself with all sorts of different mediums—drum machines and stuff. All sorts of stuff thrown together—experimenting with 8 tracks, and the computer. It’s like almost everything was just kind of an idea for a song—songs that I wanted to listen to and hear myself, whether anyone else was going to or not.
So they were not intended for release?
Exactly. We were just kinda demoing things out, and then we released these EP CD-Rs that we would sell at shows or give away so that people would hear the music. And then we played a show in Austin, and the guy that runs the label that released our record wrote on a napkin that he’d like to release a bunch of the EPs as a CD and that he’d give us all the profits or something like that, and we were really reluctant to do it actually. It sounded kinda good, but it also sounded like not a good idea—I don’t know why. But I’m glad that we did it because it seems to have worked out pretty good.
Why the reluctance?
I guess I felt like everything wasn’t ready, or that it wasn’t really quite like a whole album or anything like that. Definitely all the songs were recorded to sound the way that I like to hear things. But I guess I had heard some things from different people—‘Your music’s got to be really slick…’ and all this bull crap that I don’t really believe ‘…to be listened to and appreciated by people.’ But I know that kind of stuff is just shit. And I’m really glad that people like the album the way it is because it means that we can kind of continue to work and create things that we think sound good, whether it’s commercially viable or not. I think that we can focus on just kind of making everything sound really good rather than sound commercial.
Like Times New Viking? They’re ultra lo-fi, but it sounds amazing and they write good songs and…
Times New Viking is an excellent example.
What was it like going on tour with Nine Inch Nails?
It was RIDICULOUSLY high tech! MY GOODNESS. It was AMAZING! It was really fun. It was also like, completely silly—you just feel like ‘What are you doing there?’ They had this huge crew of 85 people or something like that with all these really cool nicknames like ‘RADAR’ and ‘LAZER’ and ‘FOXTROT’ or something. It was so amazing. I guess they sorta look the part. It’s just a bunch of dudes all dressed in black with headsets and walkie-talkies. They weren’t menacing or anything like that. But they all had really cool names. I don’t know where they got em’ from. They put on just a ridiculously good show. They had these walls of light that were moving around and going in front of them and behind them and all this—just so intensely planned. But they were playing all the instruments live, and it was really cool. It wasn’t cheap, like you could easily imagine a lot of people would do. There were video cameras across stage and then maybe some sensors on their hands and they would wave their hands across the lights and stuff and the lights would shoot out of their hand—really crazy ridiculous things.
Is that a level that you are trying to attain?
Not quite. I thought what they were doing was cool. It wasn’t exactly something I would have done per se. But what would you do with millions and millions of dollars to put on some show? It was kind of ridiculous. I don’t think I would do that. I think maybe just keep things simple and just give the money to someone less fortunate—hand out cars to all the audience members.
Was being the opening act for a band with such an intense fan base uncomfortable?
Everyone was really cool actually. People were cheering and going nuts and it was really good. We were definitely well received. But talking to a bunch of these kids when you go out into the crowds—some of the fans, it’s almost like their lives revolve around Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails patches and hats and they have screen names for the fan club and stickers all over their car. I definitely had a lot of people ask me, ‘What’s Trent like? Gee, I wish I had a demo tape of my band with me so that you could give it to him.’ Almost all the shows were at these basketball stadiums, so we’d be in a locker rooms for a whole basketball team—rows and rows of showers, and all these closets and huge screens TVs, and the catering was unbelievable. Baked salmon with lemon-pepper and wine sauce drizzled over it—crazy, amazingly good food. Everyone was really nice. It was super cool.
How did you get into making pedals?
Just trying to create sounds that I couldn’t get in other places. I failed miserably for years and then kindda figured out how to make things work. And then I started the company because I wanted to go to Europe for a month as a vacation, but I didn’t really have any money, and I had this idea for a pedal that no one else had ever come out with before, and I just kind of marketed that real quick and I made enough money to go. Total Sonic Annihilation. The flagship of Death by Audio. At that time I was pretty much on my own. I was living in Fredericksberg, Virginia, with about two to three people at most that you’d want around you at any given time, and we had this really huge warehouse that we rented for nothing. A couple bands practiced there. They all paid the rent, so I was living for free in this huge warehouse. And I was the only one who lived there because everyone else was afraid. I don’t know—some people like home life or something! So I was just in there, doing that stuff, and you could be up all night experimenting. I was playing in that band Skywave at the time, and our last album Synthstatic, we recorded—it took maybe two and a half years to record and mix. I was doing that every single day—recording and mixing that album. I left Virginia because it felt like Skywave wasn’t going anywhere. Like the last Skywaves tour—one of the guys didn’t even want to go on the tour, so we had someone else come as a replacement. And then the other guy in the band was married and had two kids and couldn’t really do too much. So I was just kind of like, ‘Well, I guess I’m going to move to New York.’ Then shortly after I was there I met two guys who were interested in doing something.
Can we do the rest of the interview as Two Truths and a Lie? I’ll give you a category, and then you tell me two truths and a lie about it. Lets begin with A Place to Bury Strangers: The Early Days. And I’ll start us off as an example. 1. I was so excited the first time I heard Oceans on the radio, that I pulled over to write your band name down. 2. The first time I visited your Myspace, I listened to your 4 songs for 3 hours straight. 3. I wrote you guys a fan letter after I bought your album, but I was too embarrassed to ever mail it. Which is the lie?
Number 2.
No, the last one. I haven’t written a fan letter since New Kids on the Block in Elementary school. But I really did listen to your songs for 3 hours straight.
That’s amazing. Someone must have drugged you.
Your songs did. Okay, your turn.
Alright. 1. Our drummer got hit by a car, and then plays a show…right after getting hit by a car. Alright…what’s another truth?
Oh no, don’t tell me which are true—I have to guess!
I know, I know! I’m just messing with you. Alright, this is the lie right here. These are just all going to be about drummers. 2. Our drummer threw a stick into the crowd, it hit someone in the face, and then BAM—they fell to the ground. 3. One time our drummer dropped his sticks and then played the rest of the set with his hands.
Playing the drums like the congas is the lie.
Nope, that’s true. Couldn’t even tell!
Closed fist or open handed? How did he do that?
I don’t know; he was an animal!
So the lie must be the second one.
How’d you know?
The way you called him an animal I figured he must have played a show immediately after getting hit by a car!
Yeah, that’s true.
How badly was he hit by the car?
Not that bad. He was okay.
Alright, next category. Geography. Tell me two truths and a lie about cities you’ve been to.
1.There is a place in Canada named Regina, and the sign, when you drive in, says ‘The Place that Rhymes with Fun.’ 2. There is a place in Portland where you can get drinks for 50 cents. It’s called the Lionshead. Next time you’re in Portland you have to go.
50 cent drinks! For like, a full pint of beer? Any drink?
Yeah, totally! I mean, it all comes in plastic glasses, but it’s totally worth it! TOOOOTTTALLLY bottom shelf booze. But still worth it!
Tell me something about Seattle.
Of all the places I’ve been in Seattle, at least fifty percent have something to do with space, like the Space Needle, or the Cosomonaut or the Apollo. I even ate a sandwich that was called the Space Blaster or something.
Which is the lie? What was the first one? I don’t even remember. Oh yeah. The town in Canada. I hope that one’s true. I’m going to say the last one is false.
No, it was the place with the fifty cent drinks. Doesn’t that suck? Didn’t you want that to be true?
So what was Regina like?
It was like New Jersey or something like that. It was kind of industrial and really desolate. But the place really did rhyme with fun. Those wacky Canadians.
Next category: guilty pleasures.
Alright, let’s see… 1. Jameson Whiskey. 2. I really love to shoot guns. 3. I love scrambled eggs and Cool Ranch Doritos.
That’s like trailer park chilaquiles. I’m going to go with the last one. I can see you wondering around your empty warehouse shooting guns off all night while you’re playing with your Sonic Annihilator pedal.
Actually, I don’t like shooting guns. I’ve done it a few times, but I don’t think it’s that cool.
Too bad. But that was a good lie. And the fact that you eat scrambled eggs with Cool Ranch Doritos is an awesome truth.
Shooting guns isn’t even that bad. It can be fun now that I think about it. But alright, what else you got?
Childhood.
Alright. 1. Me and some friends were trying to figure out what drugs were, so we rolled up herbal tea and cigarettes, and smoked it together. 2. When I was young, I used to drive like a maniac, and I’ve taken a car to 160 mph—a Chevy Caprice. 3. I am a—well I’m not so much anymore, but I used to be a juggling MASTER. I used to be able to juggle knives and swords and stuff.
Knives AND swords?
Oh no, just knives. I didn’t say swords.
I’m going to have to say the last is false.
How’d you know?
What kind of tea were you mixing into your cigarettes?
We tried all sorts of stuff—all different flavors, and none of it worked. We must’ve smoked like a pound. We used to do all sorts of stupid things.
Last category. Touring.
1. We had an RV and I’m the only person’ s who ever got it slightly wrecked by scraping the whole side of the RV on some cement, and then we tried to lie to the rental place about it. 2. One time, at the end of a tour, and this is a tour with a car, and you couldn’t start it except push start it because it was about to die, and the last date was a 24-hour drive back home and we push started the car and drove the entire 24-hours without stopping it once, and filling up gas while it was running. 3. One time while playing a show I was jumping around and got totally knocked out, and when I came to I didn’t know what the hell was going on. It was so insane, like the earth was ending, but the show never ended.
Taking after your warrior drummer, the show must go on.
Most people I don’t think even noticed it because there was all this feedback, and they just thought it was part of the show. Things were kind of crazy anyways.
The lie is the last one.
Dang it. Yeah, it is.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS WITH THE SIAN ALICE GROUP AND IN WAVES ON SAT., OCT. 4, AT THE TROUBADOUR, 9081 SANTA MONICA BLVD., WEST HOLLYWOOD. 8 PM / $12 / ALL AGES. TROUBADOUR.COM. VISIT A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS AT APLACETOBURYSTRANGERS.COM.

(from 59:59 out now on Social Registry)

Sian Alice Group come from England where they listen to Big Star’s Third in an assortment of borrowed mansions. Their excellent 59:59 is out now on Social Registry and they play tomorrow night at the Troubadour. This expensive transatlantic interview by Chris Ziegler.

What is the most Russian quality of your music?
Ben Crook (guitar): Vodka. I’ve been to Russia before perestroika. A school trip in 1990. I went wearing a Stone Roses t-shirt and it was really weird. I got drunk as a fifteen-year-old in Russia watching tanks on the street. Sixty-year-old men come up to you like, ‘Can I be your pen-pal? Take me back to London!’
Sian Ahern (vocals): I went to Moscow in maybe the year 2000. A car blew up in the middle of the road. Like a car bomb? No one really explained what was going on, and I couldn’t figure out why the car had just blown up.
What was the most insistent request you received abroad?
BC: To get laid?
Are they that insistent?
SA: Yes, where was that, Ben?
Rupert Clervaux (drums/piano): In Latvia, a Russian guy pointed a gun at me and my friend’s faces when we said we didn’t wanna come back to his house and drink vodka, and the guy who owned the bar had to call the police. We went there days after they’d been accepted into the EU so there were a lot of Russian-Latvian aggressions—sort of crackling aggression from every Russian you met. We went into this bar—pretty drunk, like four or five in the morning, and my friend sat down and started making friends with these people who looked pretty tough.
Did he specially pick them out?
RC: Yes, he’s stupid like that. On the third or fourth round of vodka shots—it’s like dawn—my friend says, ‘Oh, no, we can’t have any more.’ And the guy starts getting really aggressive: ‘You turned down a shot! We are all leaving!’ And he pulls up his shirt—the handle of a pistol—and the bar owner is straight on the phone, and within five minutes these two policemen come in and just sit in the corner. And when the Russian people leave, the policemen start shouting at us.
Could you understand any of it?
RC: I could see two of everything but I couldn’t hear anything. And my first night in Latvia is a really good story. We were in this place called the Hotel Victoria, and we went out the first night and took a cab ride that was forty lats—maybe forty or fifty dollars?
Did it come with a foot massage?
RC: And we went up at a Latvian strip club. It wasn’t a particularly nice experience. But they serve alcohol, and I in my drunken state demanded to be left there. My last memory is stroking a cat on the opposite side of the street from the club. The next thing I know, I’m woken up on the pavement from a girl from the club. ‘You can’t sleep here! It’s dangerous! What hotel? I’ll take you there!’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you’re so nice—but it cost fifty lats to get here!’ And she walks me… literally around the corner.
Was that the best way you’d ever been ripped off?
RC: It was awesome. I was like, ‘Wanna come upstairs?’ And she’s like, ‘…no.’
Is ‘Dusk Line’ a reference to a Ballard short story?
RC: You’ve been talking to Kelsey Aloise! It’s from a short story—‘The Day Of Forever.’ I remember reading it when I was really really young. It’s about how the world has stopped turning and every city is named after the time of day when the world has stopped turning. It’s set in Columbine Center in French Africa on the dusk line. I remember really being attracted to that idea. But it’s not a song about that. It’s about something else. It treats the dusk line as a powerful thing if you’re on it—it’s a source which you don’t understand. There’s another book in that song—The Fountainhead.
That’s a strange combination.
RC: It’s not pre-planned.
Rupert, you said you felt the band is at a point where you can incorporate all the good music you’ve ever listened to—what did you mean?
RC: It means you get old enough to realize you can give up all the crap that sometimes goes with making music or being in a band and enjoy making music for what it us. There’s a really good quote from Ben, if you want to get into quotes—‘1% of everything is good.’
BC: Should we go lower?
RC: Into decimals like Pitchfork. They have that pinpoint view on things.
It’s an unfeeling machine.
RC: We should have been 7.8 instead of 7.7.
BC: I’m still angry about that point-one.
RC: One thing we all agree we really dislike—this idea that there’s some black art of making music. Bullshit! Do what you do—make an album a year to at least document what you do. Someone said to me, ‘Rupert, you do everything yourselves—produce yourselves—but if you got someone else, maybe you could unlock something?’ No—fuck you! There’s nothing to unlock! We wake up in the morning and make music and that’s what we do. Our age ranges, but I’m 32 and I’ve been listening to music for so long—there’s so many things I love and so many things I know why I don’t love, and I wanna take all those things in.
BC: As soon as you say you’re something, you’re out of date—you’re history! Create, don’t destroy—don’t define, just enjoy!
Did you prepare that especially so it rhymed?
BC: Always. That’s the #14 answer. I’ve got 22 answers. I hope you’ve got 22 questions.
Rupert, do you still live in the studio?
RC: Kind of but right now—
BC: —we’re all in a riverside mansion.
RC: I haven’t lived anywhere for so long. I develop great habits like not cleaning my teeth! General lack of hygiene—stuff like that! But if you have a studio, you spend most of your time in it anyway…
SA: Rupert always lands on his feet—he’s the world’s most glamorous hobo!
RC: Thanks, Sian—that’s great! But right now we’re in a house you wouldn’t believe.
BC: A Jacobean mansion on the Thames.
There’s not like a dead man in a tuxedo cooling on the driveway, is there?
BC: A dead butler just inches away.
RC: More like an old guy in a tuxedo sitting next to me—and I’m just taking one for the team.
BC: But we appreciate it!
RC: It actually is tied into our musical career. The amazing people at Social Registry—a wonderful label—this guy Jimmy C.—the first time I met Jim I was six months old, and I was taken to visit him in the maternity unit. And I was like, ‘Look, this 2008 release date—‘
‘Too soon?’
RC: ‘I need to learn how to play a few instruments here!’ But his parents have this really beautiful house, and I’ve known his parents as long as I’ve known him, and so I look after their house when they’re away, and it’s a big house, so I need Ben and Sian’s help. So we have a lovely place to hang out in.
I hope you aren’t having wild parties.
RC: Never. You have to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Plus I’m a lonely kind of person.
How far into the new record are you?
BC: We’ve actually got songs we’re holding back for the one after. The plan is to get quite far ahead—get to the stage where we can track away and concentrate on melodies and final touches on tour. That’s one of the benefits of being self-sufficient.
RC: If you have two hours spare in the day, you can record for two hours. Two weeks spare, record for two weeks. You’re not watching the clock. We really mean it. We see our role as musicians—not a pompous thing—but we think we’re good at what we do and we want to get better, so we exercise it!
BC: This is a blessing—we’re pretty thankful we can wake up and make a racket—that’s pretty good! And slip a beer on the way, and see friends, and travel to other countries—that’s pretty fucking good! So we’re well advanced.
Have you named the record or the songs?
SA: None as such.
RC: Working title—‘Album Two.’
I think that’s taken.
RC: We might call it Third, but that would be stupid.
BC: Songs in E&A.
Oh yes—the British press said you’re protégés of Jason Pierce.
BC: I think friends.
What is the Jason Pierce Music Academy like?
RC: Not much music happening!
BC: Lots of people getting fired! There are the people that got the honor roll for it and their tuition fees are paid, and then there are those who are paying.
Where is Sian Alice in this?
BC: Lecturing, hopefully.
What is your current land-speed record on tour?
SA: That’s my question.
RC: The flurry of policemen who collared Sian—ask them.
SA: In Pennsylvania, we got pulled over for 84 in a 65. Not bad.
Were the cops impressed?
BC: That state trooper got confused because it was an English girl driving a huge van with a bunch of dudes in sunglasses in the background. He said, ‘If I book you are you gonna turn up to get a ticket?’ We were like, ‘We don’t know—we’re English.’ But our bass player was American and the cop said, ‘Yankees or Mets?’ ‘Actually, I’m from Massachusetts so I’m going to say Red Sox.’ And the guy gets a Red Sox pen out of his pocket and says, ‘This is what I used to sign tickets for Yankees fans.’ So as he lets us go he pounds on the top of the car and says, ‘You guys are English? Go to church. English people don’t go to church enough.’
RC: And we jumped out of the car and signed on the ticket—‘You and your people are responsible for the largest number of deaths since the world began!’
BC: That’s a little hard on Pennsylvania state!
You’ve said there’s no rock drums on 59:59—is that like how the Monks threw away all their cymbals?
BC: The Monks for me are a huge influence. I heard them for the first time when I was 15—over half my life ago!—and I started writing a movie about Vietnam through like the music of the Monks.
What was the first scene?
BC: Them shaving their heads in the jungle. It was pretty flawed. But ‘Higgledy Piggledy’ been a huge car song.
You named your song ‘Way Down To Heaven’ after that.
RC: It was a sudden choice to call that song that—it used to be called ‘I’m On My Way,’ and that was the most boring song title ever. We were just listening in the car and were like ‘Just call the song this—it’s way better!’
Why weren’t the Germans the first to land on the moon? They had the Monks on their side.
BC: Things happen faster in Germany.
The birthplace of amphetamines.
BC: ‘This banjo—let’s plug it into this amplifier—what’s next?’
What’s the next big thing you can’t wait to work on?
BC: There’s lots! This album is underway, and I think it’s gonna be big. But the third album I got some thoughts.
RC: Actually, me and Sian were talking and sadly we’ve decided to fire you before the third album.
BC: But we’ll reform—the third album in 2028! Like Futurama—with our heads in glass bottles. Can I tell you a really secret thing? I heard from a friend of Liam Gallagher’s old drug dealer—when he was going out with Patsy Kensit, they were doing a ouija board trying to talk to John Lennon. ‘Can you hear me? Can you hear me John? Would you like a line, John?’ And they tap out a line on the ouija—then he goes to the bathroom, and he comes back and it’s gone. ‘No way! John Lennon did a line off our ouija board!’ Meanwhile Patsy is like wiping her nose. But to this day, he still believes.

THE SIAN ALICE GROUP WITH A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS AND IN WAVES ON SAT., OCT. 4, AT THE TROUBADOUR, 9081 SANTA MONICA BLVD., WEST HOLLYWOOD. 8 PM / $12 / ALL AGES. TROUBADOUR.COM. SIAN ALICE GROUP’S THE DUSK LINE IS OUT NOW ON SOCIAL REGISTRY. VISIT SIAN ALICE GROUP AT SIANALICEGROUP.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/SIANALICEGROUP.

Download: Mike Bones “Pope John Paul”

(from The Sky Behind The Sea on Social Registry)

Thanks to Nate for the set-up: New York guitarist extraordinaire Mike Bones (Vice calls him New York City’s best guitarist) will be performing a free last-minute solo show at Family on Fairfax at 2 PM tomorrow—that’s Saturday, Oct. 4—which leaves you plenty of time to come stop by the Eagle Rock Music Fest later (also free) and maybe even go see Sian Alice Group and A Place To Bury Strangers at the Troubadour that night! All info: 2 PM, free, all ages, 436 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036!

Via the Family blog:

Yes there is the Sunday instore with Joseph Mattson & Six Organs Of Admittance but before that Please if you can come by family this saturday, october fourth, at 2pm for a very special instore with NY musician Mike Bones. Bones is currently touring as part of the very awesome Sian Alice Group but in addition to that he also writes his own beautiful songs. I am horrible at descriptions but Mike is an amazing guitarist and lyricist and all around sweetheart. Here’s the VBS tv practice space on him from a while back.