Download: Sean Carnage’s Mondays mega-mix

(full tracklist with liner notes here!)

Sean Carnage has done so much for L.A. music that there had to be a movie made to help document it—40 Bands 80 Minutes!, now recognizable as early home to much of the most vital actives still performing in the city. He’ll be celebrating four years of DIY shows (across six venues!) all this month at Women during his traditional Monday night residencies, and he’ll have the official Sean Carnage birthdayversary spectacular on July 27. This interview by Drew Denny.

The first time I attended a Sean Carnage night was at Il Corral—Is that where it all began?
That’s cool that you were there! Il Corral was really special, and that’s where Monday Nights began—on August 1st, 2005. I covered the back story of the Il Corral and the atmosphere of the times in my movie 40 Bands 80 Minutes!, so I’d recommend checking that out. Il Corral was everything a Rust Belt kid like me hoped California would be—wild (but still innocent) punk rock fun. Stane (Il Corral co-founder) installed a rope swing in the music area, so that gives you an idea of the venue’s play zone atmosphere. I was really lucky to be able to host shows there. A high proportion of the performers who played there were bona fide geniuses, and for once in my life, I realized what was going down as it was happening and turned on the video camera. People doubted my selection of performers for 40 Bands 80 Minutes! when it came out over two years ago. (Including L.A. RECORD—LOL!) [LOL @ us—ed.] But damn near every person who appears on the screen in my movie has gone on to do important stuff. The Los Angeles artistic and musical community is something to be proud of.
How did you get started?
I love underground music as a style and as a craft, and I had been involved as a musician, promoter, writer and fan for about thirteen years in Cleveland, Ohio. I moved to L.A. to retire, but couldn’t shake the music. So I started booking again after taking about three years off.
Did you know when you began that it would last this long and be so loved?
Derek Hess did Mondays at the Euclid Tavern for 8 years. Speak In Tongues also lasted 8 years. I knew if I could bring regularly scheduled music into the D.I.Y. and all-ages realm, it would work.
What was Speak in Tongues? I’m researching Pentecostalism and speaking in tongues for my thesis right now, so I have to ask…
Speak In Tongues—and the guys who lived there—changed my life. It was all-ages D.I.Y. for eight years—an amazing run. I learned that you don’t need to do shows in bars. You can strip away another layer of mediation and do it yourself. Not an original concept, but it was new for me in the mid and late 1990s, and it informs everything I’ve aspired to since. (SIT hibernates at speakintongues.com)
It seems that at any location—Il Corral, Pehrspace, the Smell—you create a space that fosters a family of bands that might not have otherwise had any place to play, or at least not any other place where they’d feel quite so at home. Was this always a goal of yours?
I was seeing a ton of excellent shows around L.A. in the early 2000s and that was tremendously inspiring. So I just started asking bands if they wanted to play my night. All the attendees of those initial Mondays were way turned on by the energy of it all. When we moved to Pehrspace in 2007, it only got better.
Which bands did you start out with?
The first show was Haircut Mountain Transit, FM Bats, Buko, Ugly Shyla, Szandora… and Jell-O shots. Jon San Nicolas and my boyfriend at that time, Richmond Tan, helped me so much. We were noisy and gay right from the start! Now Mikhai Tran helps me tons with the shows—taking photos and weaving our distinctive bracelets, which are unique for every show.
How political is your programming process? By that I mean, how much—if at all—do you concern yourself with representing or attracting a certain group?
A lot of the people behind Mondays’ success are gay, and I’m proud of that. It’s emblematic of a new non-political phase of the gay rights movement. Young people can now be themselves and not worry what people think about their sexuality. That said, I bring up sexual orientation because with the passing of Prop 8, we still have so far to go. I suppose this is preaching to the choir—musicians are usually pretty progressive—but Mondays have been my modest way of saying ‘we’re here, we’re queer,’ and building something positive and constructive that every music fan can enjoy.
Is there is a unifying factor among the Sean Carnage bands—in terms of genre, style, or scene? If not, what is it that you consider when choosing bands to book?
I’m looking for the best music. I don’t pay particular attention to style. I listen more for general musicality. And the execution is important. I really cherish the Monday audiences so I am always trying to find new ways to thrill them. What’s nice is that most of the bands are already friends, but because they operate in different areas of the music scene, my shows bring them together—often for the first time. The other unifying factor is the between-sets music of Kyle H. Mabson. Kyle’s become my partner in the shows since I met him fall of 2005. I feel like Kyle’s really changed how underground music is experienced. He brings the dance party and that amps everything up.
Who are some of your favorites right now?
I love the new Amazements album. I like American Gil and the Major Dudes a lot. Certain performers like Billygoat, Birth!, D. Bene Tleilax, I.E., Whitman, Nicole Kidman, Moment Trigger… they’re all Monday superstars.
My best friend and band-mate, Geoff—Pizza! and Big Whup—and I just made a compilation that includes tracks from both American Gil and Nicole Kidman. We love them! What is it about those Inland Empire kids that makes them so amazing?
Haha—good question! It astounds and humbles me the people from the I.E. drive so far to attend shows like mine. I don’t 100% understand the local culture there, but I’ve always gotten a good feeling from both the music and the personalities of the Inland Empire folks. Maybe there’s something about living in the 909 that is similar to living along Lake Erie? I’ve always related to people with backgrounds that are similar to mine, but for lack of scientific evidence, I can’t really say much else except: I like what I hear.
Tell me the craziest-best-worst-funniest-most-miraculous-most-tragic Sean Carnage night story. Please?
This past Monday, people were freaking and beating each other with pool noodles on Women’s front lawn for 20 minutes after the music ended—that was pretty crazy!
I heard the police came a few weeks back and threatened to shut down Pehrspace—have there been any recent developments in that story?
I don’t have anything new to report, but Pehr is continuing to host a small number of weekend shows, so please support them every chance you get.
How are you getting by in the meantime?
I’m proud to be hosting at Women. They’ve given me the space to do some really ambitious programming, like the four-week 60 Watt Kid residency in July which features a ton of new bands.
Is there anything we—as Sean Carnage and Pehrspace fans—can do to help in this struggle?
No matter what venue you see live music at, be mindful of the neighbors when you are outside the space. It’s hard—I’m trying to inspire people to be free, but on the street you have to be low key.
What will you do if you can’t continue booking there?
I’ve been lucky to have done Mondays at Il Corral, Pehrspace, the Smell, Zamakibo, House of Vermont and Women, so if I have to find a new home I will. I figure that after 200+ shows in a row, I’ve earned some vacation. So I’m taking this August off to prepare the new Monday home and I’ll be back the first Monday in September.
Sounds like a good plan… And finally, I’d like to say CONGRATULATIONS! What are you doing to celebrate your anniversary?!
On Monday, July 27th I am hosting some truly amazing bands—60 Watt Kid, Shirley Rolls, the Seizure, Mikki and the Mauses and Single Mothers. Then I’m going to take August off and figure out where the heck Mondays are gonna live in the fall. Then I’ll be back on Monday, September 7th with… I.E.! I will be keeping everyone updated through facebook.com/seancarnage and seancarnage.com.

SEAN CARNAGE’S ANNIVERSARY MONTH BEGINS WITH 60 WATT KID, HIGH CASTLE, ITALIC INDIAN, SKULL KISS AND GARRETT PIERCE ON MON., JULY 6, AT WOMEN, 1852 CRENSHAW BLVD., LOS ANGELES. 9:30 PM / $5 / ALL AGES. SEANCARNAGE.COM. 60 WATT KID WILL BE IN RESIDENCY EVERY MONDAY IN JULY. FOR COMPLETE LINE-UP AND MORE INFORMATION VISIT SEANCARNAGE.COM.

Stream: Midnight “Black Rock ‘n’ Roll”

(from Farewell To Hell out now on Nuclear War Now)

Satan’s favorite party band is Midnight from Cleveland, who match the best parts of Venom and Motorhead with the sleazy visuals of the Mentors. They’re true members of the new black trash generation of bands—keeping the faith of rock ‘n’ roll metal and forsaking the trappings of over-technical playing and production. These guys serve up beer- and blood-soaked blasphemous anthems with the best of them and yes, your flesh shall burn as you enter the flaming pentagram. This interview by John Henry.

I was recently down in New Orleans with some friends of mine that do a metal DJ night called Hades Night and they played your new record. I was immediately sold on that Venom/Motorhead trash metal sound you guys do. Is there a scene of other bands in Cleveland doing this kind of music? Have you done other bands like this before?
Athenar (guitar/vocals): Maybe—I guess? NunSlaughter is from here. They’ve been around since the eighties. They’re more death metal-style. I was in a band called Boulder. Some people would call it like between Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath and Motorhead—I don’t know, hard rockin’ metal? We did like three albums. We started in the early ‘90s and went all the way to the beginning of the 2000s. 2002 was, I think, when the last album came out. I’ve always been a fan of heavy metal but in the case of most of my favorite bands anyway their musical tastes doesn’t necessarily reflect their fan base. You wouldn’t guess the stuff that I listen to by what I play. I don’t consider myself part of any metal scene or punker scene. I just like good music. I like songs. I’m not much of a free-form jazz type guy. I like some or whatever, but a good song is a good song whether it’s done by Love or Twisted Sister, you know? Distorted rock guitars and bass and drums­­—that’s all it is. The lyrics and the singing is maybe all that differentiates it.
The first thing I thought when I heard you guys is that you obviously get the joke. You’re not some guy living with his mom and using her credit card to buy spiked gauntlets and thinking he’s evil.
That would be even funnier, I think. Again it’s just whatever you like, I guess. You look back at Venom obviously—they’re just playing songs. They were fans of Kiss, you know, and so am I. Most music you want to have a good time with. You don’t want to just put it on and then pretend you’re depressed and wear razorblades on your wrists. That’s more humorous than anything else, I would think.
You fool with fascist imagery but you’re obviously not skinheads.
We’re bald but that’s not by choice. It’s just our age—but you know, it’s just imagery. It looks sort of Star Wars. If you look at Star Wars, what was Darth Vader and all the imperial guards? What were the Stormtroopers, you know? It’s the same kind of shit but who made it? George Lucas. It’s imagery. It looks cool.
So the reason you guys wear executioner hoods is not to hide your identities from the cops or that you’re really ugly?
Yeah, I would say the latter!
How did you get the band started?
Originally it wasn’t necessarily supposed to be a band. I do all the crap on the records and stuff. That’s just all me doing everything like the drums and guitars, the bass. The guys I’m playing with just forced me to have a band. They called up and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a band.’ I said, ‘Nah, it was just meant to record the stuff.’ Then they came over and knew all the songs and forced me to have a band, which is cool because in the end it turned out all right.
A lot of black metal guys do that—record by themselves and get guys to play it later. It’s just one idiot with an idea and it works out from there.
That’s kind of what I was doing. I was saying, ‘Well, if Prince can do it and Quorthon can do it…’ Those were the only people at the time that I knew that did that kind of stuff, you know—recorded everything by themselves.
Do you do the band artwork as well?
That back patch was ripped off from an old Venom design—Cronos standing in the fire like that. People that know it would think it was funny and people that didn’t know would think it was generically cool. I have no idea how to do that kind of stuff. I have the idea and say, ‘Hey, do this or that’ and let people with tech skills do that part.
How did you hook up with Nuclear War Now Records?
My friend Omid. He does a label called Outlaw Records and I’ve been friends with him for years and I’m the worst at self-promotion which he’s always been good at. I just make it till it’s recorded and I’m done with it. He’s good at actually taking stuff and getting it to people who might be into it. So he gave it to Yosuke at Nuclear War Now and he liked it and he said he’d put out a reissue of everything that’s already been out. Like I said—the way the band started out is I just wanted to record like a mini LP and that was intended to be it, but then my other friend who had some bands booked at a studio and the band ditched said, ‘Hey, can you come to the studio tomorrow and record a few songs? Whatever you want to record.’ So I said, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll make up two more Midnight songs.’ I made up two more Midnight songs that night and then recorded them the next day and that was the 7-inch. Then I was like, ‘OK, that’s it—there’s no more.’ Then Yosuke at Nuclear War Now wanted to put out a compilation and he said, ‘Oh, will you do one song?’ and I said, ‘OK, I’ll just make up one more song.’ So I got all the bases covered—a 12-inch, a 7-inch and a comp track. Now there’s Farewell To Hell which is the newer one that just came out in September. We actually have two CDs worth of crap.
Which has ‘Black Rock ‘n’ Roll’? I fucking love that song.
It’s on Farewell To Hell. That was a tune that when I made it up I thought it was going to be too simple and retarded. I didn’t know if it was going to be too dumb.
What about the live shows? Is it violent or more of a party?
It just depends on the mood, you know. They’re not all the same. There have been full-scale bloodbaths and then there are parties. There’s been some snooze fests, too, you know—we were supposed to be billed before the puppet show.
At the end of your tour this May you end up at the Chaos in Tejas fest—how’d you hook up with that?
There were a couple of people from Cleveland that moved to Texas a few years ago and I guess they turned us on to some other people and that’s where that guys from. It just kind of started from there. We’ve already played Texas and it’ll be our third time playing there. I don’t know what any of these gigs are going to be like. I have zero idea. That’s the way I usually go into it. I’m like, ‘We’ll find out when we get there.’ That might be kind of bad but it’s less to worry about. Just worry about it when you get there. What’s that place like that we’re playing at in East L.A.? Gang members out here are only into rap and shit but you talk about the west coast and they’re into crazy metal—that’s pretty cool. We played Mexico once in Nuevo Laredo—I don’t know, I guess it’s a drug cartel border town? It was pretty shady. They were a lot of people saying, ‘All right, hurry up—go over and play and get back over to the states.’ When we were there some Mexican biker gang wanted us to play for a biker rally coming up in a couple months. I was like, ‘Uh, what?’ But I guess it would be cool as long as we played the right tunes.

MIDNIGHT WITH D.A.F. AND MORE ON MON., MAY 18, AT THE BLVD, 2631 WHITTIER BLVD., BOYLE HEIGHTS. 8 PM / $8 / 18+. THEBLVDCAFEANDBAR.COM. AND WITH SUMERIAN AXE, BASTARD, MUNDO MUERTO AND BROKEN PATTERN ON TUE., MAY 19, AT DIPIAZZA’S, 5205 E. PACIFIC COAST HWY., LONG BEACH. 9 PM / CONTACT VENUE FOR COVER / 21+. DIPIAZZAS.COM. VISIT MIDNIGHT AT NWNPROD.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/ATHENARSMIDNIGHT.

No Age “Eraser”

No Age have just released their album Nouns on Sub Pop. They spoke the day before they left for tour.

What’s that ‘HAUNTED FUCKING’ tape in your album liners?
Dean Spunt (drums/vocals): That’s a band—that’s Jack from Kiosk. They’re a band from Australia, and that’s his other band and he sent me a tape. It’s good shit.
And ‘LANDLORD’?
D: Cory—the bass player for BARR’s band—they’re fucking good, too. Kind of like thrash but a little more hardcore. His Hero Is Gone kind of thing.
And ‘MOISHE OYSHER’S CHANUKAH PARTY’?
D: ‘80s-style nardcore. With a twist.
Do you feel like you’re L.A.’s ambassadors to the outside world?
Randy Randall (guitar/vocals): I was the teen mayor of my city growing up, so I’m used to being a dignitary. We were trying to get a skatepark built. The city council asked us how many kids were doing drugs—this was in high school—
D: You were a rat, Randy! They wanted you to be a rat!
R: They didn’t wanna know who—they just wanted a number. So I said at least fifty percent. I thought it seemed accurate.
And the next day there were fifty percent more cops at school?
R: The principal tried to call us in—like ‘Hey, guys, don’t say that.’
D: I knew there was this teen city council thing—I didn’t know they were kind of a mafia.
How do writers change your quotes when they print your interviews?
D: I’ve changed my position on that—I don’t read interviews anymore. The good ones started making me feel weird.
R: People are saying such nice things, and we know it’s not true.
D: ‘That’s fucking bullshit! I suck!’ I can deal with flattery, but everything in the press either says the same thing—an alteration of the press release—or nice things, and for me it’s a little too much.
R: Dean, did you know ‘Brain Burner’ is about drug addiction?
D: That’s what I’m talking about—Rolling Stone said it’s a song about drug addiction.
R: ‘A requiem to L.A.’s punk godfathers who were lost.’
D: They read other stuff and think they know what’s up—‘So you guys are the ambassadors of the Smell! Is it a scene?’ And obviously they’re trying to get me to say, ‘The Smell’s a great place, we play with Mika Miko and Abe Vigoda…’ ‘So D.I.Y.—tell me about D.I.Y.!’
R: I did an interview with an Australian reporter and the guy could give a shit—I don’t think he was even listening to what I was saying. And then I mentioned barbeques, and his ears perked up—‘You have to come to Australia! We’ve got barbeques!’
What band would you have the most questions for between Black Flag, Minutemen or Husker Du?
D: I have so many questions for Grant Hart, but Black Flag—I wanna know what Greg Ginn was thinking. With Minutemen, you know what Mike Watt was thinking.
R: He has the hootpage!
D: Fuck it—my answer is Greg Ginn. I’d ask about starting a label before there were really labels, about touring without a touring circuit, specifically about the guitar tone and how he sounded. Things like that—you never hear what he has to say.
R: He wrote all the lyrics but how did it feel to have Henry get the attention? He’d gone out of his way not to be the frontman, but he was still so in control of everything—such a control freak, but he didn’t wanna be the public face.
D: But he was also the epitome of D.I.Y. and that community around bands—‘I’ll put out stuff I like, and my brother will do the art for all the things because he’s my brother, and I’ll do this on my own and make records and go on tour.’ He’s more than Black Flag the band—the music is amazing, but at the same time, his spirit and ethic and stuff are really influential. And I’ve never heard him talk about that shit. Or what if he’s like, ‘No, I was just trying to make as much money as I could!’
R: ‘And it was cheap—my brother did the art for free!’
D: And that’d be cool to know, too.
R: I’d talk to Greg Norton about his moustache.
D: Did you know he has a restaurant called Norton’s? Like a fancy steak restaurant. I found the website and there was a picture of him and his wife—he still has the moustache. I wrote him a really creepy Myspace and he invited me to come down. So I wrote him again like ‘I’M SUCH A FAN OF HUSKER DU!!!’ and freaked out on him, and he didn’t write back.
Who else have you creeped out lately?
D: Janeane Garofalo—I think we creeped her out. We met her at Mess With Texas and we didn’t have anything to talk about.
R: Damon from Fucked Up chewed her ear off on politics.
D: We just wanted to be like, ‘You’re funny.’ I wanted to hear a joke! Me and Jennifer talked about it before, like if I met Janeane—
R: Is that the one celebrity you can ‘do,’ Dean?
D: No, no—
Do you think you need a bassist?
D: No. Who says that?
R: The guy from the New Yorker said we needed one. I think he wanted to play bass for us.
D: If anything, we need a second guitarist. The bass is an amazing instrument, but Randy really fills out the low end. I like higher trebly bass. I hate groovy bass.
How does it feel when people call you trendy haircut bitches?
R: Who said that?
Some guy on our website.
D: Have you seen either of our haircuts lately? We have the least trendy haircuts ever.
R: Someone once said ‘These guys look like they’ll come to your town with their girlfriends and have sex with their girlfriends in your town!’ But it wasn’t like having sex with their girlfriends—it was our own.
D: We’d bring our own girlfriends? I don’t like reading that shit—I don’t even need to know. My cousin cuts my hair.
R: When we were in Germany with Mika Miko—the Germans have a very succinct way of criticizing you, and a guy comes up to me—‘So I see you try to go a moustache. Why do you do such a thing?’ I hadn’t shaved in a couple weeks and I can’t grow facial hair, but it made me look at myself differently the next day.
Was there any L.A. label you would have signed with?
R: PPM? We’re gonna try and do a 7” on Slash. To be honest—we’re not really famous. The perception of us being a band—‘Are you guys gonna play Coachella?’ No, no one asked us. ‘You know all these people—you could announce a barbeque on Myspace and a thousand people would show up!’ No, fifty people showed up and they’re all friends. Maybe more people read it, but only fifty showed up. That’s a pretty good barometer.
The barbeque barometer?
R: I think we’re doing alright. I felt successful since our first shows—‘Wow, we’re actually pulling off being a band!’ I don’t think there’s anything to shoot for—all the other stuff is icing on the cake. I play music I like to play and do that primarily. That’s amazing. I count my blessings every day. For us, we don’t think we deserve it—but it’s awesome to see friends who work so hard for so long get attention and catch people’s eye. We’re psyched on having awesome friends since before there was any sense of attention and I hope we’ll know them when there’s no attention afterward—friends first, then all that other stuff. That’s the straight answer—or the more diplomatic answer.
What do you think L.A. is missing?
R: More all-ages venues and more vegan restaurants.
That’s a permitting nightmare.
D: Every time I come home, I’m glad as shit to be home. ‘Fuck yeah—I’m so excited! Things are so cool here!’ I think we should open up a store—No Age should have a store. But I don’t wanna sell anything. Maybe there would just be a bunch of couches and we can practice there, maybe.
You can get some good couches at that St. Vincent on Avenue 21.
D: Our good friend Buddy Akita from This Moment In Black History bought a couch from that St. Vincent, and brought it home and opened it up—it was a sofa bed—and inside they found a paper bag, and there was $9,000 in the bag.
No bloodstains or cocaine residue?
D: No, just cash.
That beats the age-old story of how PPM started.
D: But that’s pretty good—‘Backstreet Boy hits young label owner, who starts label.’
R: That really did happen, but Dean started the label by shoplifting from the Gap. That’s how it really started.
D: I don’t know if I should talk about this. I’m not supposed to talk about the Backstreet Boy thing. Just say PPM started a few different ways.
R: We’re debunking myths here.
D: Let’s debunk the Randy-breaking-his-neck-brain-surgery thing.
R: I had my head broken open a couple times. I don’t really remember. I have plates and screws from where they put things together.
Did it give you new cause to contemplate your mortality?
R: I was already pretty dark before then.
D: One time in Cleveland, I had to do an enema. I had impacted bowels and I was freaking out. I did one on the bathroom floor.
R: And we also ate at Olive Garden, and drank their decorative bottles of wine. We didn’t know if they were wine—but oh boy, was there wine in there!
How did the New Yorker miss these stories?
D: He didn’t have the scoop! Drugs and enemas! A Cleveland Enema—like a Cleveland Steamer, but a little more sanitary.
What’s the most unsanitary experience you shared?
R: Being in the car for thirteen hours—just because of all the bowel movements. Being in a van for like a month, and driving Portland to L.A.—puking on each other and Dean pissing in bottles and hiding them in the back of the van.
To turn them in somewhere later?
R: I heard J.D. Salinger saves his own urine. Maybe when he dies someone will donate it somewhere. If you owned J.D. Salinger’s lifetime supply of urine…
D: That’s so creepy.
I didn’t know you guys knew so much disgusting stuff.
D: We like interviews where we don’t talk about music.
R: There’s so many more interesting things we know about life.
D: ‘Don’t you wanna hear about our new record?’
R: ‘This record is a lot like a full record because we sat down and wrote it, and that’s different than before because we didn’t write a full record!’
D: ‘Why is this record different than Weirdo Rippers?’ Can I put something down? I’ve never been to the Silverlake Lounge. I plan on dying never having gone there. Not that I know anything, but I’m not gonna go. I mentioned that and someone said, ‘How? Really?’ I’ve never been to the Scene, either.
Have you ever been to Disneyland?
D: Uh, no—fuck you!
R: I told myself I’d never go to the Henry Fonda til we played there.
And sure enough…
R: We don’t get banned from venues—we ban ourselves. We can’t fuckin’ go there!
Do you have a plan if you ever end up playing late-night TV?
D: We don’t but we should.
R: A slogan to put on my guitar. Or I could write Fugazi on my sneakers so people know about Fugazi.
D: We could run up and put our genitals on the camera.
Is this the first No Age interview where you talk about genitals?
D: Oh, God, no—most interviews I bring up genitals.
Your press kit is noticeably lacking genitals.
R: They cut that out.
D: We almost left the label because of that.
R: ‘You cut off our genitals, Sup Pop! I need those for something!’
When’s the last time you wore a Radiohead shirt?
D: Never.
R: Can somebody give me a Pablo Honey t-shirt?

NO AGE’S NOUNS OUT NOW ON SUB POP. VISIT NO AGE AT MYSPACE.COM/NONOAGE OR NOAGELA.BLOGSPOT.COM.

By Nikki Darling
Photo: Johnny Misheff

White Williams aka Joe Williams got his start in the Cleveland underground noise scene in the early 2000’s. His music harkens back to the early days of such fuzzed out seventies electronic solo artists as Bowie on Reed, John Cale, Brian Eno and others. He has since gone on tour with good friends Girl Talk and Dan Deacon. He is now on tour with the band Ecstatic Sunshine promoting his first solo album Smoke. He speaks with buddy Nikki Darling about 400 pound sound guys, Mousetrap and drums that sound too “Bright.” He plays this Sunday at The Echo.

Are you the one that dropped the glass of water on the head of Lloyd Banks in Girl Talks dressing room during the MTV awards?

Oh man, did Frank and Greg (Hearts of Darkness’s) tell you that? I don’t know who it was, it was definitely not me because I wasn’t even there, they dropped some water on 50 Cent or something and they got kicked out right? I’m surprised to hear that’s all that happened to them.

What’s your favorite show to watch late at night?

Um, probably, the most watched is Late Night at the Apollo. Growing up I watched that one lot, it was on after Saturday Night Live, amateur night or hour or whatever it was. They had all these weird rituals like rub a tree stump, or tree trunk-weird mixture. The crowd control is what was fun to watch, like everyone going nuts if someone was about to get kicked off.

I was expecting you to say The Drew Carey Show since you rep Cleveland so much.

Yeah, well I think I watched it to try and see if there were references to Cleveland but they got boring and repetitive. It is sort of weird to see someone rep their city so hard, that’s kind of unique, its kind of like rap. Like, Drew Carey raps for Cleveland. That’s cool.

He yells it out at the end: Ohio! So is it weird that I’m interviewing you?

Yeah, it’s pretty weird, yeah. I think all press is sort of surreal to me still though. I think its still sort of, were starting to understand it a little more I think.

What’s been the best part of being on tour so far?

It’s been awesome. Certain shows have been really great, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, that was a great turnout. The band were touring with Ecstatic Sunshine, is really great, it’s less business when you’re on tour with a band you like and can hang out with. The relationship with the band you’re playing with is usually like, okay here’s your hour, and you just get to say hi and bye, but um, we’ve been hanging with Ecstatic Sunshine and so that’s been really fun.

How many people have compared you to Brian Eno?

Oh man. Some people, I get the most random things, hip hop was the most recent and we did some hip hop shows in Chicago and people started asking me what I thought of being described as hip hop, and I’m like, hip hop? Have you listened to the music? Marc Bolan, comparisons are crazy. There’s not a lot of modern music, and actually a lot of times the music I am influenced by never comes up. I was just reading an interview with David Byrne in Wire and he talks about how Thom York made a comment that the first person who gets to write about you says a bunch of stuff and sort of sets the record for what other people are going to say. That that sort of sticks with you like telephone, and I’ve seen things written about me where they like switch David Bowie’s name with Mark Bolan’s, but its like the same thing. But I know different people read it, so, I guess its okay.

Okay, then use this opportunity to set the record straight. Who are some musicians that you’re influenced by?

John Cale and Iggy Pop, Lou Reed. Before that I was kind of listening to Kevin Ayres and English stuff like Soft Machine. There’s been a lot of solo artist stuff that I like, and also a lot of modern music, Warp Records, I like all that stuff. Modern rap music, stuff that I hear on the radio.

Whoever people say you’re influenced by it’s always these seventies electronic solo artists, I mean, with obvious reason. Why does your stuff sound so much older than the music your peers are making?

I definitely pay attention to production quality of all music, it doesn’t matter if I like it or not I pay attention to how it’s recorded. I definitely have affection for music from the 70s or 80s in protest to modern rock. Like the drums sound almost like they’re in a cave, not enhanced. All the production today is sort made to make the artist sound more huge than they are, it’s a level of execution that has made modern rock music sound real stale, its so bright sounding I cant explain it, I like drums that sound like you can hear them in the room, not so, bright and blended, I hate that.

Did you know that Rolling Stone was going to be at the Halloween show you played with Telepathe and Hearts of Darkness’s?

It was kind of like a few days before it actually happened, they came to Webster Hall, it was kind of a surprise to know they were interested because the record, I mean I didn’t have any expectations good or bad for it. But yeah, I found out a couple days before hand that they would be there, so I had to show up and be on time and all that stuff.

What are some of the reactions you get from people when you come offstage? Because half of your audience at shows has probably never seen or heard of you before, they’re there to see someone else and see you too.

Definitely. Um, I’m still impressed with, a lot of time people say they liked it, a lot of people request songs from the record, that’s kind of strange because I’m not expecting people to know it, it hasn’t been out that long. A lot people recently have been complaining that I’m not playing long enough, but I hate being on the other side of that when a band plays too long, like when you go to a fest or a big arena rock show. Plus the record isn’t that long; there aren’t that many songs on it. I mean, I only have one record.

Okay, what’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

I like Kashi Good, Heart to Heart cereal. I know that’s not the best cereal answer, Trader Joe’s food too. That s the kind of food I like.

Organic mom food?

Yeah, well Lucky Charms as a child.

Favorite board game?

I played Life a lot as a kid, I think before that I was really fascinated by Mousetrap, but I wasn’t that interested in the game I was more interested in setting up the trap and I guess, Guess Who.

Coolest moment on tour so far?

Oh man, okay, during the Girl Talk tour people had sex on stage, in Philadelphia. That made a Rolling Stone article. In Montreal our friend tried to make us break into a cemetery and the police came and followed us. Our friend Naomi ran away and gave the police double middle fingers and drove away like seventy miles an hour. On this tour one of the sound guys was a weed dealer and he grew up as a carny and he smoked us out and this other guy who worked there, one of the sound guys, he was leaning on 400 pounds and this guy, he kept talking about the color of crank in Fort Lauderdale, it was straight off the boat and how yellow it was and he also said that two bumps of cocaine was like chugging a Redbull. Like he was telling the other guy, “I quit coke” and the other guy was like, what about those two lines I saw you do and he was like, “oh that’s like chugging a Redbull.” That night in Montreal was definitely the most fun we’ve had on tour.

Best movie you’ve seen recently?

Um, probably The Ten, the David Wain movie. I just saw 2001 from start to finish, that was awesome. But I’m a super David Wain fan; yeah he’s my favorite. The Baxter sort of freaked me out it was so subtle, but it didn’t compare. Wainy Days, his online show is so good. We want to ask him to do a video for us, I think Animal Collective asked him but he couldn’t do it because he was busy. So were gonna get em.

He’s your favorite member of Stella?

He’s my favorite member from The State.

Oh I see, you’re hardcore.

“New Violence”
[from Smoke; on Tigerbeat 6]

WHITE WILLIAMS W/ MAGIC BULLETS SUN., JAN. 27, AT THE ECHO, 1408 SUNSET., LOS ANGELES. 9 PM / ALL AGES. WWW.ATTHEECHO.COM.