Forever Since Breakfast, 1986
"I think the songs are really good, but I don't like the way the record
sounds. We went into a big studio and put it in the hands of the guy who ran
the studio. So the way it sounds really bugs me-so sludgy sounding. It sounds
amateurish even though we spent a lot of money on it."
Devil Between My Toes, 1987
"I still like it. It's sort of experimental and weird because it has a lot of
instrumentals. Some of the vocals don't sound all that great. But I'd like to
do that sort of stuff again."
Sandbox, 1988
"It's my least favorite. We attempted a power pop, Cheap Trick thing with it,
and the experimental failed. The cover is so cheesy, with like six or seven
pictures of us on it. We had to rent a lot of equipment to get a big sound.
the guitar sounds good, the vocals don't. It probably should have been an
EP."
Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, 1989
"It's a really good record, by they fucked it up when they were mastering it.
But because it got fucked up, they gave us an extra glossy cover for free. So
that was cool. It's sort of a combination of Devil Between My Toes and
Sandbox, but we had started experimenting with sounds by then. That's what I
like about it now."
Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, 1990
"It's dark and weird. It's a concept album. It's got a linear story about
this alcoholic from the Midwest who's pissed off about living around here. He
kills someone and ends up getting the electric chair. I let Greg (Demos)
produce it, which it's why it sounds so different from the rest of our
records."
Propeller, 1992
"We did Propeller at this place called Encore. And that guitar part on "Mesh
Gear Fox," after I sing "It's rock and roll time," I was playing that
bah-nah-nah-nah thing, and the engineer comes running into the booth where I
was and goes, "No way, man. That's just noise." So eventually we just started
doing things on Toby's four-track, although I never had it in my mind that
you could make a record on a four-track. But we got to a point where the
songs sounded better on a four-track than they did in a studio."
Vampire On Titus, 1993
"I played all the drums on that. I can play drums, but not well. On Vampire
On Titus, I cheated. I had to think of the song in my head, then I did the
upper-body drums. Then I did the music over it, and then I did the kick-drum
with a drum machine. I wanted to prove to myself that I didn't need a
drummer. It's my favorite record. It's the most versatile."
Bee Thousand, 1994
"Right before Bee Thousand, I made this pseudo compilation by going through
old yearbooks and finding pictures of cluster of people that looked like
bands. I cut out the pictures, named them like a band and put them on the
sleeve of the compilation. I did that for like 15 songs, including "Gold Star
For Robot Boy" and "I Am A Scientist" and other songs from Bee Thousand. It
was inspiring to write songs like that. I'll do that again."
Alien Lanes, 1995
"I thought Alien Lanes was a better record than Bee Thousand, and I still
think it is, but a lot of people don't think so. It's recorded better because
we did some eight-track stuff on it. It has more personality and it works
better conceptually than Bee Thousand."
Under The Bushes Under The Stars, 1996
"With Under The Bushes, we attempted a solid, big studio record. I think we
succeeded. It's a big step for us. And the more I listen to it, the more it
grows on me. It's a move away from Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand. The songs
are more complex and have intros and bridges and everything. I think it will
have staying power."
Interviewed by Eric T. Miller of MAGNET
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