MGMT

A classic interview with Andrew and Ben From MGMT in 2008 just as they broke as major new players on the music scene.

MGMT Interview on Moe Train’s Tracks

Andrew Vanwyngarden, Ben Goldwasser (MGMT)

Monty Wiradilaga, Brian Kracyla (Moe Train’s Tracks)

Starlight Ballroom – Philadelphia, PA

Here’s a great interview that was rescued from The Tracks’ vaults…  Back in early 2008, MTT caught up with Andrew and Ben from MGMT in Philadelphia, PA.

MGMT had just gotten a major break in the music scene with the widespread critical success of Oracular Spectacular.  Keep an eye on MoeTrainsTracks.com for tons of great new content!

Moe:  We saw you guys down at Bonnaroo for your set, it was a great way to open up the weekend.  I was a pretty epic show if I must say.

Andrew: Yeah, it was fun.  We had been to Bonnaroo before so it was good to see it from the side of the artist instead of the person in the crowd.  It was only our second festival show.

M:  Oh really, where was the first, Coachella?

A:  Yeah.

M:  So how do they compare?

A:  I don’t know, Coachella was crazier for us because we were more nervous.  Bonnaroo was a little more relaxed and cool.

M:  You guys just started tour together with a band right?

Ben:  We started practicing with them about a year ago.  I think we were kinda thrust into exposure a little too quickly for our taste.  We played on national television after we had only been touring with the band for a couple of months.

M:  Was that on Letterman?

B:  Yeah.

M:  You looked a little nervous.

B:  Yeah, we were very nervous!  But we’re getting more comfortable and we don’t have to think as hard when we’re playing, its kinda getting to be more natural.  We’re getting used to playing for crowds.

M:  Did you guys have sound problems at Bonnaroo in the beginning, what was going on?

B:  Yeah, well, the festival thing, we hardly ever really get a sound check so it’s always a little weird starting out.

A:  I think the monitors were pretty messed up.

M:  (to Andrew) Oh, by the way, you had on some pretty fucking crazy pants.  I remember walking up to set and saying ‘holy shit’, those bright blue ones!

A:  Tropical floral bellbottoms, yeah.  Really big bellbottoms. 

M:  They looked comfortable though!

A:  Yeah, they’re real comfortable.

M:  Saw you guys backstage, you guys looked pretty chill, pretty relaxed, so I guess you feel like you’re falling into place with everything.

B:  We’re good at hanging out.  We’re good at relaxing.

M:  Any standout moments yet from your recent successes?

B:  We just played at the Oxygen festival in Ireland and that was really crazy.  There were all these people climbing up the towers that were holding up the tent and we had to stop the show because this girl made it all the way to the roof of the tent so that you couldn’t even see her anymore and everyone was yelling at her telling her to come down.

M:  Did she take a spill?

B:  No, it would have been ugly if she had!  That was probably at least 60 feet up in the air or something.  It was pretty crazy.

M:  I saw a video of you guys at some festival in Scotland that you guys were playing and you were walking around the grounds, checking out the scene; Andrew you like the thrill-rides?

A:  As much as I’d like to keep the myth going that I like thrill-rides, I’m new to them.  I’ve been on like Space Mountain and most of the Disney rides, and I like those a lot.  I was like twenty when I started going on roller coasters, so I don’t think I’d go on the Slingshot thing.  I would vomit.

M:  You guys got together at Wesleyan, and you were actually making music that you thought would be annoying?

A:  We knew it was annoying.

M:  Just to fuck around, just playing, just to amuse yourselves?

A:  I dunno…  We were young and foolish.

M:  You were freshman?

A:  Yeah.

M:  So it was basically putting that freshman energy, that drunken and banged up energy back into the music.

A:  Yeah, exactly.

M:  What’s up with the clothing optional dorm?

B:  At some point it was designated a “clothing optional” dorm but there aren’t many people walking around naked there.  There were a few, and we were friends with most of them.

A:  I did naked calisthenics with Vin Popper on time.  (all laugh)

B:  Nice.

M:  Tell us about some of those early dorm session jams.  We used to do the same thing.  We’d go out to parties, get all fucked up and come back and just grab our instruments at like 2 o’clock in the morning and start jamming.  So what was it like with you guys getting together?

B:  It was a lot like that.  It’s was just kinda very casual, just having fun.  We had a lot of other friends that we played music with and we were both in other bands at the same time.  It wasn’t like we started a band in order to get successful and get fans and all that, we just started it for something to do and didn’t really care if anyone liked it.

M:  You guys just probably wrote the album for yourselves.

B:  In a way, I mean, we know we were writing it for other people because we had signed a record deal at that point, so we had a delivery date, so there was a little bit of pressure on us but when we were writing the songs we didn’t think that anyone was actually gonna hear the album, so it was pretty much just writing it for ourselves.

M:  So I guess its still a surprise with all of this going on?

B:  Yeah, its still a surprise.  And, I don’t know, it keeps getting crazier!

M:  When you guys were first recording you guys had a pretty gritty sound right?  I mean, if you were recording back in your dorms you’re going to have that unintentional gritty, natural sound.  Did you guys try to replicate that sound?

B:  In a way it was the other way around because we were doing a lot of stuff just on computers, so a lot of it was very electronic and very clean sounding.  I think we’ve tried to get dirtier.

M:  You had the producer who worked with the Flaming Lips.  Did you guys pick him because he had that psychedelic background?

A:  We kinda just chose him because we talked to him and we’re fans of the Flaming Lips and other stuff he’s done, like Sleater-Kinney and Mogwai.  He’s not the kind of producer that wants to mold the band into something, he kinda just lets them do their own thing.  So, he was good for us.

M:  So did the album come out exactly how you wanted it to come out?

A:  At the time I think it did, yeah.

M:  Looking back now, what do you think?

A:  I’m sure now if we listened to it a bunch, we’d probably change stuff.  But we think it’s good that we can’t because it captures that moment.

M:  I see you in a lot of pictures wearing sunglasses, you’re not becoming Bono are you?

A:  I hope to God not!!  If I am you should stab me…

M:  What’s your beef with him?

A:  Nah, I just don’t like him.  I heard he’s a great guy, and he seems like he’s got good intentions.  I think it’s really the sunglasses that piss me off the most.  So, now I’m never going to wear sunglasses again.

M:  Will you burn them in effigy?

A:  We stabbed an effigy at our senior recital.

M:  Ben, you said, “To give music meaning you have to have your back up against something”; What, you don’t remember?

A:  (laughs) You sound like Thoreau or something.

M:  Yeah, I guess you were being pretty introspective.

B:  I guess maybe just having some resistance kind of helps.  With us, when we got signed and we had to deal with all the kind of big-record-label bullshit for the first time, I think it kind of forced us to look at what we’re doing and try to give it as much meaning as possible and try to ask ourselves why we were doing it in the first place.

M:  So what’s your validation?

A:  I don’t think we’re validated.

M:  No?  What will be your validation then?

A:  If aliens approve of our music.  So, we’re waiting for contact.

M:  Waiting for the return in 2012 when the earth ends?  I know you guys are joking around about your future, about what will happen hen things will come, but we’re sitting inside of a big tour bus.  Obviously this is probably five times bigger than your dorm room was.  You said that when the fame comes around and you get the big label money that you would go get blow jobs, you would ride horses to your gigs, and go get castles.  What’s going on with the success?

B:  Yeah, we’ve both gotten blow jobs before, which is cool.  We’re working on the horses and the castles.

M:  What have you benefited from just by being in the business?

A: We get a lot of free clothes, a lot of free stuff.  And we both got haircuts for the first time in a long time.  We used to cut our own hair and now we can afford real haircuts.

M:  If you guys think that everything musically has been done before, how does MGMT stray away from the norm’?

B:  I don’t know if everything’s been done before…

A:  All the good stuff has.

B:  Yeah, all the good stuff’s been done before but pretty much…

A:  You could string your guitar with celery or something, but that doesn’t mean it gonna be good music.

B:  Any new good thing I think comes out of recycled ideas and using them in creative ways.  Rock and roll is a pretty basic, simple form of music but there’s so many possibilities with it.

A:  You don’t have to make up your own language to write a good poem.

M:  Who is it that does that again…

A:  Sigur Ros!

M:  Oh yeah that’s right.  Did you guys see them at Bonnaroo, what’d you think?

A:  I heard for somebody that it’s much better to see them in a wide open cathedral-type space, like an indoor space, and I could see how that’d be true.  It didn’t translate that well to the festival thing.

M:  Yeah, it’s pretty grand I guess.  So, what’s the future of MGMT, or have not realized the present yet?

A:  We have trouble comprehending what’s happening at all times.  But the future should hold good things.   We’re trying to get a cabin somewhere in the woods.  James is gonna cut firewood, I had a vision of him walking towards me with an arm full of firewood and I’m gonna smile and then our dog is gonna lick our faces.

M:  (laughing)  Alright guys, thanks a lot.

High On Fire

High on Fire Interview

Matt Pike, Jeff Matz, Des Kensel (High on Fire) with Monty Wiradilaga and Brian Kracyla

Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo 

MT:  We are sitting here back stage at Bonnaroo with High on Fire.  What’s going on guys?

M:  Not a whole lot, just got done playing, just checking out the fest’.  I am Matt Pike.  I sing and play guitar in High On Fire.

J:  Jeff Matz, I play bass.

D:  I’m Des Kenzel, I play drums.

MT:  That was one hell of a set guys.  That was just brutal, back to back metal sets on the same stage.  What were the promoters asking for, total destruction or what?!

M:  It seemed like a big jam band thing before that and then Dillinger, then us, then Shadows Fall.  That’s kinda brutal, someone booked it kinda cool, definitely surprising.  The energy comes up a little bit.

D:  Yeah, I thought it was cool that it was the “metal stage” for today.  Going on after Dillinger, not an easy thing to do.  We thought we played pretty good and then we were like ‘Yeah, good luck Shadows Fall.’  (laughs)  But I’m sure they’re gonna hold their own.

M:  They were playing good.  It definitely lights a fire when you after go on after them.  And all of us have been touring buddies for a while and shit.  It’s kinda funny to have to go on after each other.  All the metal bands nowadays are really super tight and really super good and you have to play after your buddy live or something.  You’re like, ‘Whoa, step it up a bit!’

D:  It definitely keeps us in check as musicians.  We’re like, ‘Man, we gotta go play after that?!  You fuckers.’

J:  We’ve been doing our homework, that’s for sure.

MT:  I interviewed Dillinger Escape Plan earlier and I said that it was basically, ‘Wake the fuck up Bonnaroo!  It’s the last day.  Here’s some metal ya.’

D:  It’s your last chance!

MT:  So what did you guys think about the crowd?  Did you expect anything?  Did you expect just hippies or what did you expect a mix of?

D:  We weren’t really sure what to expect…

M:  I was kinda of surprised at it!  Cuz I expected a bunch of hackey-sackers looking at us all weird and shit.  Like, “Hey, man, you must be the devil!”

D:  But I think something like this, 4 days, even though it’s the last day and we were figuring that some of the people might be tired, everybody still wants to let loose.

J:  That was a good enthusiastic response from the crowd.

MT:  There were a couple of moments during your set that I had to laugh a little bit because, for one, the girl standing right in front of me hit you with her bra!

J:  No, it was her underwear.

M:  It was her underwear and…

D:  It was a pair of panties and it had skid marks on it!  We all saw it!

MT:  It did not!  It had skid marks?!

D:  She probably been wearing whose panties for like 4 days in the tent man!

M:  Don’t say it out loud but I saved them for my tour manager.

D:  Oh yeah, we’re gonna have fun with those later on, stashing them in someone’s pants or their jacket pocket or something!  (all laugh)

MT:  I thought that stuff was just reserved for guys like Frank Sinatra.

D:  Vince Neal or something…  Nah, the panties Vince Neal got, they didn’t have skid marks.

J:  Are fans are for real!

M:  I only got one pair, that dude got hundreds.

D:  The panties Vince Neal got thrown up on stage had front butt skid marks.

M:  Damn bro, why you dissin on Vince?!

D:  No, I’m not hating!  You want front butt or back butt?

MT:  (to Matt) Could you possibly the first metal pimp?

(all laugh)

D:  The first metal pimp!  Man, come on, don’t pump his ego!  As if we didn’t already have a road case for his ego.

MT:  But I saw him.  I saw you looking over there, working your magic.  I saw you giving her the eye.

M:  Well, you’ve got to give them the eye, especially if they throw you their soiled panties.

J:  Give them the eye among other things…

M:  It could even be the stink eye.

D:  She gave you the brown eye!

MT:  Give her the shocker after your set.

D:  I actually got hit in the head with something during the set.   I saw a few lemons get tossed up on stage and then some piece of plastic something hit me in the head.

M:  Ha, lemons are awesome, dude.

D:  Lemons mean you rock!!

M:  Well maybe I’m not fucking Jerry Garcia.  Oh well.

J:  Bitter pills to swallow.

MT:  There was something refreshing about your set.  I haven’t seen too much metal with a smile.  You had a smile on your face for the whole set.  Maybe I’ve seen it with the lead singer of like Dragonforce..

M:  I’ve done it for the last thirteen years because it’s totally ridiculous.  It’s the funniest thing that I’ve ever done in my life.  Just playing and doing metal and trying to take yourself too serious, you can’t help it after awhile and you have to laugh.  If you have any sort of comedic value or if you knew anything about our band, we laugh a lot.  We take ourselves very serious when we play but when you take yourself too serious with your fans and they know that you have personality, you can’t help but to smile or laugh.  It’s for everyone.  We have a rapport with our crowd and it’s like; yes, we’re goofballs and we play very seriously and very somber sometimes’ but it’s all about emotion and it’s all about a rollercoaster that we all go through.  High On Fire is basically about life.  Every lyric, everything we have is about us being alive and us having some rapport with our fans.  If you can’t smile, you can’t cry, or you take yourself too serious, you have corpus paint on.  And I’m with a bunch of goofy ass dudes that are all fucking hilarious.  That’s all we do is laugh all day.  Then we’re supposed to get all serious about playing?

MT:  And you drink Pennsylvania beer, well done by the way.  Congratulations on the Yuenglings.

M:  It’s not bad shit.

MT:  You guys have a new album coming out.  Let’s talk about it.

D:  Well, we’re still in the writing process.  We’re hoping it’s gonna come out this year.  Just typical High On Fire fashion we’ve had some setbacks…

M:  It’s not that it’s not fuckin good.  We have a lot of everything.   We had a fallback, my drummer had a little bit of surgery.  We…

D:  “Your” drummer?!

M:  Our guitars haven’t been in tune lately.  So, we’ve been recording on a…

MT:  Part-time basis?

M:  We all kinda suck.  Eventually we’ll get around to it.  Too many bong hits, too many beers.

D:  Hopefully our label wont here that last comment.  Sorry guys, too many bong hits.

M:  That was a fucking joke.

MT:  For the past couple of years, metal has gone through a transformation from a point where it was just straight shred, see how fast you play, to a more technical style.  I guess in your old band you played a little faster, faster riffs, now you have got more, I don’t want to say regimented, but more calculated riffs.

D:  I feel personally that now “metal” nowadays is a big mix; whether it’s old school thrash or punk rock or hardcore.  Long haired dudes and guys with cropped hair can get along.

M:  It’s a weird meld because the progressive kind of met the style of punk rock a little bit, the nitty gritty and the total rush style, like Getty Lee and that kind of stuff.  It’s kind of like we all crossed over, we’ve evolved.  Every band that we’ve been on tour with has kinda been like that.  Everybody plays perfectly or has some kind of study behind them and is really kind of better than our forefathers.  But there’s still something you get from our forefathers because it’s a different thing when you’re sitting there in a studio recording and when you’re on an open stage and you know how that’s going to transfer to people sitting there watching you.  Everybody’s trying to find this feel about it.  It has to do with feel and it also has to do with being technical.  It’s being zen about how you play.  Lots of bands are picking up on the fact that there has to be a little rough about it and it has to be a little more choppy, the chops have to be a little better.

J:  And the groove of course has to be there.  Its very groove oriented too.

M:  The forefathers have handed all of this down.  It’s a lot of study of Prague records and classic rock records and AC/DC and Circle Jerks and Black Flag.

D:  Yeah, I’m sure a lot of these metal bands nowadays had Shout At The Devil but they also had Black Flag Damaged or the Circle Jerks Golden Shower of Hits.  Mix it all together.

MT:   So you guys have a big punk background as well?

D:  Oh yeah, totally.

M:  Absolutely.

J:  Definitley.

MT:  Like who?

D:  Like I said Black Flag, Circle Jerks…

J:  Poison Idea, the Germs…

D:  Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Nuerosis…

M:  Christ On Parade…

J:  Tragedy…

M:  Bad Brains!

J:  Oh yeah.

D:  Bad Brains for sure.

MT:  You putting horns in your music then?

D:  Oh yeah, we’re gonna have a little reggae breakdown!

M:  I don’t know if we’re that crazy about it but…

D:  I don’t know if we’re the crack smoking Rasta type.

M:  I haven’t smoked enough crack to add trombones and trumpets.   I’m just kidding, dude.

MT:  Last thing.  Do you guys have anything to say to your fans?  There were a lot out there representing today, tearing it up.

M:  I’d like to say thank you.  We’ll continue to keep doing what we’re doing and, fuck, we love you all very much.

D:  Yeah, thanks for keeping us out here.  Just be patient, the next record will come out and we’ll be back out touring soon.

J:  It’ll be worth the wait.

M:  We will not let you down.  It’s in the works, man.  We’re just taking time to do it right, that’s all.

Neil Fallon (Clutch)

Neil Fallon (Clutch) Interview on Moe Train’s Tracks

Neil Fallon, Brian Kracyla and Monty Wiradilaga

Moe – All right, we’re sitting backstage with Neil Fallon, “leadman” from Clutch. I just recently got turned on to your music. I was on your site and I saw one of your videos. From the first couple notes hit, I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is some hard rockin’ music,’ and I immediately e-mailed Chip (Manager) and was like… I gotta talk to ya.

Neil – Right on! Cool!

Moe – There’s not too many “front to back” albums that I’ve heard, but your album “From Beale Street To Oblivion” is definitely a “front to back” album. Thumbs up…

Neil – Oh thanks.. Thank you.

Moe – Absolutely… Let’s talk about the album. You definitely took a little different approach to this album. I see from your beginning that you keep on changing your style a bit..

Neil – Yeah.

Moe – What did you do different with this album?

Neil – Well, we didn’t go into it with any preconceived notions, we kinda just followed our instincts. And people hear this and say this is much more of a blues style record for lack of a better word. It’s not really a blues record. But, there’s some slide guitar and some harmonica from Eric Oblander.. and that’s from the creative standpoint… and Bryan Hinkley did some guitar work with us. But what we did is we wrote the album in it’s entirety pretty much, and we went out on the road and toured on it for three weeks, just playing the record.

Moe – Just testing everything out?

Neil – Yeah, and learning the material inside and out. So we went into the studio, we were basically able to just roll tape, and not worry about, “Do I do this part four times or six?” And that, I think lent.. I was easier to get a raw..

Moe – It seemed live.

Neil – Yeah.

Moe – I thought it seemed real live. Real gritty.

.

Neil – I think this is the definitely the “livest” studio record that we have.

Moe – Is it easier to do that?

Neil – Oh yeah. And creatively, it’s less stress. You don’t waste time. You’re in, you’re out, and then you can worry about the pretty parts on top.

Moe – Well, when you were playing the songs out on the road, did you actually take notice of the audience’s reaction to what you were playing and sort of gear that towards your album or did you just go ahead and choose your favorites?

Neil – No. No, because the thing is I think when people are listening to music for the first time, they’re listening. They don’t know it, so they’re not going to dance.. They might cheer after a song, but maybe that person’s in a bad mood and you don’t want to make a creative judgment on this guy who’s been at the bar drinking eighteen beers all night. (Laughs)

Moe – Very true. (Laughs) Well speaking of those guys, you’ve got some crazy “Gearheads.”

Neil – Mmhmm.

Moe – And they’re pretty rabid fans. Do you have any outlandish stories from your “Gearheads?”

Neil – Oh sure, I mean… It’s a mixture of flattery and fear. (Laughs)

Moe – (Laughs)

Neil – We’re very fortunate to have that kind of fan base where there’s people who are quite content to see four shows in a row.

Moe – You’ve got that following… Definitely.

Neil – And that’s a great spot to be in. Of course like any rock band, you’re gonna be in a nightclub, and there’s gonna be that weirdo that you know… But that weirdo probably does the same thing the next night to another rock band.

Moe – Yeah, that’s true… Talking about weirdos, are you a little weirded out about people obsessing about your beard? (Laughs)

Neil – (Laughs) Yes and no. I just learned about this website with my beard being placed on other people’s faces.

Moe – (Laughs)

Neil – Which, at first I was like, not too sure about it, then I saw the humor in it. It was funny.

Jammin.

Moe – Who’d they put it on? Like random celebrities or what?

Neil – You know, just bizarre photos. Like guys surfing, carnies, the promotional photo for that movie “300…”

Moe – (Laughs) Oh jeez…

Neil – I don’t know man. That dude’s got a lot of free time on his hands.

Moe – Yeah, I bet! You do have crazy fans… How about Clutch? Any crazy Clutch stories?

Neil – Yes and no. I have a pretty high tolerance to craziness ’cause I’ve seen it so much for so long.

Moe – I’m sure you have.

Neil – Like today for example… We were parked along the side of the road, and you know, some guy was walking by and hit his head on the rear view mirror of the bus and knocked himself out for a second.

Moe – Nahh, really?

Neil – Yeah!

Moe – (Laughs)

Neil – And that was like, ‘Ok, that just happened.’

Moe – That’s insane. (Laughs)

Neil – But it just seems like “all in a days” thing. I wish I had been writing them down all these years, but what are ya gonna do?

Moe – You’d have quite some stories! Well you’ve played for about sixteen… seventeen years?

Neil – Yeah, sixteen.

Moe – What, you’ve been averaging about one hundred… hundred and fifty shows a year?

Neil – Yeah. Some years more than others. We’ve done quite a few this year.

Moe – What are you up to? Two thousand?

Neil – I would guess. Maybe. Something like that.

Moe – That’s insane. You guys definitely need an award for hardest working band, I’ll tell you that much!

Neil – Yeah, or “most muleheaded!” (Laughs)

Moe – (Laughs) Well, it’s good to be out on the road. You certainly have got a lot of fans who are definitely looking forward to seeing your show. I’ve been in the crowd talking to people, and I’m asking them, “Who are you looking forward to seeing?” “CLUTCH!” Yeah, they’re yelling it in my face, and I’m like, “Whoa! Allright!”
Neil – Right on! (Laughs)

Moe – You’ve got a huge, huge fan base out there that’s looking forward to tonight’s set.

Neil – Right on. We’re looking forward to it.

Moe – Yeah man.

Neil – We haven’t done… We rarely do things like this.

Moe – What do you think about this scene? The Bonnaroo scene…

Neil – It’s great that you know, they kinda opened up the genres a little bit. Because, you know, we’ll do metal fests or something like Sounds of the Underground and people hear us and they say, “You should do Bonnaroo.” Then we’ll do something along the lines of Bonnaroo, and then they say, “You guys should do Ozzfest.” It’s kind of like a weird limbo for a band like us.

Moe – You guys don’t do Ozzfest?

Neil – No.

Moe – Not a fan? (Laughs)

Neil – I don’t know! At this point, these things are good to but our home is in a nightclub.

Moe – John Paul Jones is playing… You guys are a fan of Led Zeppelin?

Neil – Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

Moe – I know! So what do you think? You’re going to be gone aren’t ya? You’re not gonna be around!

Neil – Yeah, we’re blazin’ out tonight. Who’s playin’?

Moe – John Paul Jones, ?uestlove of the Roots and Philadelphia Experiment, and also Ben Harper.

Neil – Oh wow! Together?

Moe – Yeah!

Neil – Rad!

Moe – I was kinda hoping that you were gonna play!

Neil – (Laughs)

Moe – But, you’re not gonna be here so…

.

Neil – No, I wish we were, but we got another three shows…

Moe – Yeah.

Neil – And then we’re home for about five…six weeks.

Moe – So what are ya gonna do? Six weeks off?

Neil – I’m gonna do absolutely nothing!

Moe – I don’t blame ya!

Neil – I’m gonna hang out, play with the dog… You know, maybe try to get rid of these pizzas that I’ve been eating for the past five weeks. (Laughs)

Moe – (Laughs) B, do you have any questions?

King B – You’ve got a completely different fan base here. How do you feel about Crocs? Do you own a pair now that you…

Neil – You know, it’s funny you mentioned that! My dad bought a pair and he called my wife up and said they were too small for him, and would I like ‘em.

King B – Ugh… Please tell me that you don’t own a pair!

Neil – We had to gently say, “Well, I’m not really a Croc personality.”

King B – (Laughs)

Neil – I’m sure they’re great if you work in a kitchen, or a garden…

King B – This will probably be the most amount of Crocs attending one of your sets!

Neil – Yeah! Especially like orange and lime green!

King B – (Laughs) You’re from Maryland, right? The band’s from Maryland…

Neil – Yes.

King B – I was just curious… Me and Moe had the worst drive down here ever, and I just wanted to make sure that we weren’t…

Neil – Was it through 95 in Virginia?

King B – That’s exactly what my question was gonna be. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t crazy. Every time I go through Virginia, it’s like the worst experience of my life!

Neil – Yeah. That’s in Springfield, Virginia called “The Mixing Bowl.”

King B – I know “Virginia is for Lovers” and everything, and we all understand that… (Laughs)

Neil – Yeah, that’s one of the other great things about the band is that we might get traffic every once in a while but I don’t have to do a daily commute in something like that. I would go postal man… I really would.

King B – I just figured that you had previous experience just driving around there.

Neil – I do. I don’t do it… I just won’t do it!

King B – Actually, I was curious. I was reading an interview earlier today and you said that the favorite city that you had ever played in was Amsterdam.

Neil – It’s probably one of the top five.

King B – Just from talking around here, I’ve gathered that a lot of the really killer shows are overseas. Australia…

Neil – Well festivals… Oh, you mean for us?

King B – Right, You. For you and your personal opinion.

Neil – I mean, I guess maybe that’s because I’m also there in a tourist capacity. You know, and that’s exciting. I know, let me think of an example… Philadelphia, Pennsylvania really well.

Moe – That’s where we’re from!

Neil – Cool! Oh! Great town, but I’m gonna be more excited about going to Oslo, Norway for the first time… You say, “Wow!”

King B – Yeah, understood.

Neil – There might be half as many people at the show in Oslo but it’s got more of an initial thrill. If we went there three times a year, I might feel differently.

King B – What about any city that… a city that you played and as soon as you were done, you were like, “Fuck this place! I never wanna play this place again!

Moe – (Laughs)

Neil – (Laughs) There are a lot of them, but we’re probably gonna play ‘em sometime later this year, so I’m gonna keep my mouth shut! (Laughs)

King B – And Philly’s not one of them!

Moe – You never know!

.

Neil – Philly’s great. The Troc is one of our second homes away from home.

King B – Great… Great.

Moe – The Troc is definitely classic. Is that you’re favorite place to play or what? In Philly…

Neil – Yeah, well, that’s probably the only place we do play there. We played The Middle East once, and that was kind of “bogue,” but…

Moe – Yeah… The Troc has a good scene! They always have a…

Neil – I like it. You can get some decent food around the corner, and you know, blaze out!

Moe – Right! Definitely! Neil, thanks a lot for the interview. I really appreciate it.

Neil – My pleasure!

Moe – We’re gonna be right up front watching…

Neil – Cool!

Moe – Definitely… And you’ve got a TON of fans here!

King B – I’ll be throwing Crocs on stage!

Moe – (Laughs)

Neil – (Laughs)

Moe – Thanks again, Neil. Appreciate it.

Neil – No problem!

Radiohead Confirmed As To Recording At Jack White’s Third Man Studios

At last month’s Bonnaroo, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke said onstage that “this song is for Jack White.  We’re not going to tell you why, but you’ll find out.”  Speculation about possible RadioWhite collaborations have been circulating, and Jack White recently confirmed on BBC Radio that Radiohead did indeed record at his Third Man Studios.

“I don’t know how much to tell about it except that I didn’t play with them or produce it, but they came and recorded at Third Man.

I don’t know what else they want to be said about that, so that’s all I probably can say…”

That statement dispels the rumor that they did a collab, but there could be a Third Man release in the near future.  Personally, I’d love to see Jack White tear it up with Radiohead.  Maybe in somewhere down the road…