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SKiP has entered the room.
SKiP: hello
Sandy has entered the room.
Sandy: Thanks Jim-ster
Sandy: This is the way that lazy journalists will conduct interviews in the future
SKiP: this is the future
Sandy: Jim, meet SKiP. SKiP, meet Jim.
GoodbyeOhio.com: ok still working on the drummer
Sandy: Yeah, ya know, drummers...
SKiP: (whistles)
Sandy: He's coming now
Sandy: Where the f is Tommy?
GoodbyeOhio.com: hes online
GoodbyeOhio.com: he wont respond to my msgs
Sandy: Jim, please re-invite [Tommy]
SKiP: maybe he's at a bank robbery
Tommy has entered the room.
Tommy: Finally...
Sandy: Totally, Jim rulez! Hey Tommy, wrong album title...
Tommy: ...Finally
Sandy: Speak on it, Mr. Jim.
GoodbyeOhio.com: JD Salinger and Cereal Killers are profound cultish albums that most 90's powerpunk fans have somewhere in a box. They're also both very shiny, neat albums- very far from the gritty, dirty-live-feel of the Surface Wound EP... Can we expect a similar evolution from Surface Wound, or do you all have different ideas of what this band will become?
Sandy: Yes! A real question!
SKiP: I really wanna see The Wound go SST stylee. The grit of "Produced by Spot". I want us to sound like we got to practice in Black Flag's rented church
Sandy: It's funny; the thing with SW is that it's weird to be in a power trio, and just have two folks to bounce things off of. It kind of forces us to be real and not second-guess ourselves...Also, the song-writing process is more...long distance. Skip is bringing the Left Coast punk rock stylee. I hate the past, and have no interest in re-creating it in any way, even stuff I love.
SKiP: Sandy has true suburban angst these days...
Sandy: Nothing's changed in 39 years
GoodbyeOhio.com: suburban angst was always a factor in this breed of music, how has life experience changed that?
Sandy: The kids still don't understand. They tell us to turn it down.
SKiP: Well, before you had like teenage angst, but now it's that "American Beauty" kind of angst.. that "Fight Club" kind of angst
Tommy: gritty-dirty-live feel...I love that comparison! The beauty about writing this record was that we all went on our "first instincts" regarding what we wanted to do musically...no producers..no one shoving ideas down our throats...
GoodbyeOhio.com: like the energy is higher, but the mood is down and desperation is more evident.
Sandy: Except I don't have enough time to masturbate in the morning shower
Tommy: come on Sandy..there's always time for that!
Sandy: Re: the recording, everything was essentially first take, played together (rhythm tracks first, then vox and guitar a few months later). We didn't fix anything.
SKiP: we recorded over a 9 month period, though... I think even those songs will evolve as we play out more... or at all
GoodbyeOhio.com: all recording, or some rehearsal at the beginning?
Sandy: A bit of rehearsing, on an almost monthly basis in Tommy's basement
Tommy: yeah..my basement..just like the old days
SKiP: Basements never die!
Sandy: Only I think your basement is nicer
GoodbyeOhio.com: its funny, because when i read the liner notes, i thought "the vintons" referred to his parents.. guess that speaks on the youthful energy of the music
SKiP: the kids love us, and I mean their kids
Tommy: I was waiting for my mom to come down and start yelling "turn it down"...but it was my wife
GoodbyeOhio.com: given the circumstance of recording, it really does sound and feel like a live album.. this begs the question.. live shows? whats the status and your opinions on taking that challenge on...?
Sandy: Yes yes yes
SKiP: free time
Sandy: We just have to start sleeping with club promoters again. It's a hard town, New York
SKiP: tolerence level of shitty clubs may be an issue
Tommy: ahhh...Sandy's specialty
GoodbyeOhio.com: much easier for the fan to tolerate
SKiP: we're gonna play in subway stations, pool halls, retirement homes
Sandy: I'm thinking of assembling an anti-SXSW gig with SW, and possibly Dave Derby… I am applying for a subway permit, Skip -- did I tell you? How cool would that be?
Tommy: one way or another...we will find a way to play out live...
SKiP: I want the banner!
Sandy: Seriously, we'd pick a station central to our gigs and play at lunchtime. Get a generator...
GoodbyeOhio.com: Skip- I understand that this band was formed via newspaper ad. What exactly did the ad say and what did you expect from this experience? (continued)
Sandy: sounds like a two-part question!
GoodbyeOhio.com: you know what, its not. im losing my mind
Tommy: "I'm losing my mind, and I don't care"----sorry, poor reference...
Sandy: Noice! Everybody now, "I see Donna everywhere" in nasal harmony!
SKiP: it was the mighty CRAIGSLIST!!! yaggah yaggah
Sandy: SKiP's entire life is ruled by the vagaries of Craigslist
SKiP: I was working a crappy-ass web job that I was commuting from the hills for (a job that I got on the cl...), and to take up my spare time, I decided to hit the cl. Anyway, I saw the ad, it make a TMJ reference, a minutemen reference and a METAL reference. So, they wanted a guitarist singer, I came on as a singer, and had to play the gitter (but they think I can play, so keep it on the qt)
Sandy: To paraphrase the ad, it said: two middle-aged serious rockers who still want to rock but aren't willing to sacrifice their bourgeois lives for it want a similarly credentialed guit/vox
Tommy: and the rest is, as the rock and roll cliche goes.."history"
SKiP: I'm still waiting for the METAL
Sandy: Tommy and I were at the point where it was gonna be a duo, and I was gonna get a baritone/octave-down guitar. And now Ian McKaye is rocking one!
GoodbyeOhio.com: the guitar on 'i thought i' is particularly groovy.. what influenced your work on this ep skip?
Tommy: Sandy :-)
GoodbyeOhio.com: i noticed the offhand comment [in the liner notes] about sandys influence on the guitar parts.. what is the story behind that?
SKiP: I had written a bunch of Mission of Burma songs with a band that went nowhere, and I though this power rythm section had it DAW-EN
Sandy: Skip insisted I take credit for a few things I did on geetar.
SKiP: unlike me (...) sandy is a perfectionist
Sandy: ANAL
Sandy: in every way
SKiP: you like it anal?
Sandy: Skip, my son may read this you fucking hippie
SKiP: you can only hope
Sandy: ...with all the tuition I pay, I'm pretty sure he can read...
GoodbyeOhio.com: Tommy- being police-employed myself I've got to ask- how do you receive the reactions you get to your edgier after work persona from the more conservative coworkers? We've got a guitar guy who plays out in our department, and the shit he gets is unreal.
SKiP: I don't know how it's going to look for Tommy when we play the critical mass benefit...
Sandy: Tommy risked life, limb and career to play some shitty obscene rap tunes in Florida and for that I will always love him
GoodbyeOhio.com: but he managed to escape the arrest
Sandy: but he didn't know he would.. Tommy, answer the man: do your peers mock you still?
Tommy: I knew the risks....and my Dad who was in the FBI at the time wanted to disown me...not pretty stuff... my peers are jealous....who else gets to be a cop by day and rock star by night...pretty fuckin' cool!
GoodbyeOhio.com: I'm sure there are some hilarious studio anecdotes.. some wild chicanery. Anyone who cares to share something that will make me laugh about the sessions, rehearsals, etc. please go ahead.
SKiP: I cried actually, through most of the sessions
Sandy: Rightly so.
SKiP: I had to drink away the pain
Tommy: we drank merlot wine.....seriously....
SKiP:it was some serious merlot
GoodbyeOhio.com: it bums me out to think this music was fueled by merlot
Sandy: Skip and I have different recording styles. I like to play and he likes to banter. But it all worked out.
Sandy: Dude, it was Pinot Noir. I'm not Sideways!
SKiP: and merlin, we played D&D during the down time. I don't like to play guitar is prolly what it was... I was hoping for guitar elves to come when others weren't looking. more bare chords in the future
Sandy: Waaaaaaaaah, I don't like to play guitar, Waaaaaaaaaaah! I bet Dimebag never said that
SKiP: I cold-smoked dimebag
Tommy: the music was fueled by that inner angst that still lives in the three of us, which is one of the reasons were still doing what were doing
GoodbyeOhio.com: so are you trying to replace skip as guitar player and keep him on vocals only or what
SKiP: I gotta forge ahead... more sloppy guitar ala pavement
Sandy: Skip would like that, so he can go all Iggy pop live, but actually, I want a second bassist
SKiP: I want a third bassist
Sandy: I'm calling the Neds Atomic Dustbin
SKiP: One day, the guitar will be good to me. We're still embryotic, IMHO
Tommy: and you'll be good to the guitar
Sandy: Without Skip's playing, these songs wouldn't exist in any tangible form. His 'newness' adds the salsa.
Tommy: and the merengue...
SKiP: Sandy really has a Danzig like presence on bass
Sandy: Noice
GoodbyeOhio.com:How did the collaboration with Tim Quirk come into play? This project seemed to be a distinct venture from past arrangements. Are these the TMJ songs the fans were expecting (recorded by a different group)?
Sandy: Well, they were the beginnings of them, or so we thought. Tommy and I had been jamming as a duo, I saw Tim on the left coast and showed him some riffs, he dug them and had been writing lyrics, some of which fit. But TMJ could never finish the tunes. So Sometimes and Why We Try became SW songs.
SKiP: They could have become wonderlick songs...
Sandy: OK, I"m throwing the flag on that one.
Tommy: with the crazy schedules of the TMJ'ers, it was impossible to make it happen as TMJ
Sandy: I drunk-dialed Jay the other day
GoodbyeOhio.com: was he all hollywood?
Sandy: He was in Austin doing something
Tommy: NOW that's funny...did he pick up?
Sandy: He's always been Hollywood, but in a loveable way
Tommy: Hollyweird
Sandy: Yes, we spoke - a co-worker of mine had worked with him on the Rotten TV show and wanted to harass him
GoodbyeOhio.com: sandy, you point out that tmj couldnt get it together to finish these tunes, and now sw has evolved to do the job. You've got a new band now, and you've all got jobs. How do you all make time to work diligently on the music, and how deep do you want to get into this gig?
Sandy: When I worked at a record company in the 90s (and was still in TMJ), being in a band was a bit weird. Now it's cool, and I don't really talk about it at work.
Tommy: I think we all want to let the SW trip take us to wherever it wants...and we will follow...
SKiP: People still freak to think I'm in a band... Im so gosh darn unassuming. The recording came about as a symbol of commitment to the cause, but we still have to schedule things out
GoodbyeOhio.com: must be odd to be the unassuming guy at work and then run into some mental wynona riders fan who thinks youre a god.. that ever happen?
SKiP: I'm the one in the WR that no one recognizes. Everyone else in the band seems to run into the freaks
Sandy: But you're the voice!
SKiP: I tell most east coast people and they're all like "who?"
Sandy: The vision!
SKiP: I'm the shadow. I always get "if people only knew..."
GoodbyeOhio.com: Three current CD's and/or musicians each that you'd recommend to our loyal readers, and 'Surface Wound EP' doesn't count (nor does Dirt Bike Annie)… and why.
Sandy: That's easy (for me): Death from Above 1979, The last Elliott Smith record, which took a while to sink in. and I like Out Hud a lot, although they're really just Love Tractor moves to Williamsburg. Skip hipped me to No Means No, and I do love them now, but they're not current
Tommy: The new Green Day album is brilliant... Bill Wittman just sent me a link to John Bonham outtakes which is un-fucking believable...
Sandy: I love GD too. A great album to be so popular.
SKiP: This band called Brown Belt, Guided by Voices, Naked Raygun... brownbelt is a local band kinda on the idlewild/killers tip. I was going to bring up the No Means No... definitely a post mortum influence. I want the Wound to sound as distinct as NMNs "Wrong".. or Naked Raygun's "throb throb".. I'd love to sound like tindersticks too, but that might throw people off just as much.
Sandy:I wish we sounded like the next Desaparecidos (sp?) record (Conor Oberst's good band)
GoodbyeOhio.com: skip, youre anxious to do something loud and aggressive.. arent you?
SKiP: gets back to the earlier question... I think the sound of the Wound should surprise the past fans of both bands, something more brutal AND achingly beautiful
Tommy: and honest...
SKiP: honest in that raw way
Tommy: i agree
GoodbyeOhio.com: which is why live will be great
Sandy: However, it's my mission to write the sweet choruses under all the grit, so that's something I'm gunning for with new material...much to Skip's chagrin (he hates choruses)
GoodbyeOhio.com: How did Morrison Bowmore scotches and Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket affect your recording experience?
Sandy: Bowmore is my poison. Inspired many a writing session...
SKiP: why is there tape on your nose?
Tommy: we all can't wait to play live..
Sandy: Tommy, we may have a gig. I'm thinking of throwing a house party when we move....We'd play on my deck. God bless Wes, btw.
Tommy: NICE! I'll bring the beer!
SKiP: Who will bring the MILF babes is what I wanna know
Sandy: Fuck my asshole neighbors. I bring the MILF stylee
Tommy: burn down the suburbs!.....
Sandy: Now you just have to stay sober SKippeeeeeeeeee and you can land one
SKiP: aw, I was hopin for the keg of milwaulkees best
Tommy: or Black Label.. Schlitz.
GoodbyeOhio.com: Skip, what was your previous knowledge, opinion, and experience with Too Much Joy, and Sandy & Tommy, what were your previous knowledge, opinions, and experiences with Wynona Riders and Toyboat?
SKiP: what is weird is that a popular review of the WR record mentioned TMJ.. so I was like "wow, isn't that WEIRD?":-!
GoodbyeOhio.com: i dont see too much of a comparison... too much, except for eccentric intelligence
SKiP: it was definately the cynicism and literateness(sic)
Sandy: I gotta go for a bit boys, carry on....
Tommy: Sandy is hairy.. he’s just like Sean Connery
Tommy: hairy, but in a cute way
SKiP: I was watching this James Bond festival, and I was all "why does that guy look familiar?"
Sandy: OK, I'm back. And, by the way, fuck the both of you (not you Jim).
GoodbyeOhio.com: alright, lets wrap up.. final statements? dirt? sincere message to fan readers?
SKiP: I shot some video for Slow bus home (it will get finished someday) and watching these two play made my jaw drop. that WILL happen live. the answer is more RAM
Sandy: I love you all, but especially Jim.
Tommy: I personally can't wait to get out and play live with SW...I think all WR and TMJ fans will be pleasantly surprised
SKiP: I gotta jet! kisses
SKiP has left the room.
Tommy: I'm gonna get going..I'm gonna dye my hair black now
GoodbyeOhio.com: thanks for your time yous and ill be in touch
