Ben Is Dead Interview
by Dave Ehrlich - From Ben Is Dead Magazine.
Although the Fastbacks hail from the land of flannel & hype, they couldn't be further from...from...oh, you know... GR**GE. Theirs is the sound of pure pop personified- dangerously speedy geetars, gleefuly inane melodies, girly-girl vocals and more. With over a decade's worth of effort behind them, and a much deserved avalanche of attention finally heading their direction, the Fastbacks look set to conquer the world. Punk rock, indeed. Their latest LP, Zucher, is out on Sub Pop NOW.
Dave Ehrlich: Okay, I was trying to do this thing the other night where I figured out what cereal each Sub Pop band would be, and...
Kim Warnick: What Cheap Trick song?
No, cereal...and you guys were Boo Berry.
Lulu Gargiulo: Oh, no. Boo Berry? Ohhh.
Well, yeah. Because you've been around forever, you're crunchy and sweet and essentially harmless.
LG: Sugar Smacks. Definitely no question about it.
Kurt Bloch: We'd be oatmeal, 'cuz we're sloppy and crappy!
But in no way are you Count Chocula, 'cause he was evil. The whole band boos and hisses at the mention of the much-despised Count.
Mike Musburger: Who'd be Count Chocula then?
I guess Tad would've been.
KW: Now he's in Mudhoney! (everyone laughes at this).
I was wondering about how you feel when you get all these reviews that claim that your sound has "matured" or whatever, or about when you get tagged as having never progressed at all...
LG: Oh, it's totally stayed the same.
KB: And changed.
LG: ...and changed.
KW: We've stayed the same but we've gotten better at it, better songs.
Have you ever made a conscious effort to alter your sound, or change your direction?
KW: (shocked) We don't have conscious efforts, not a one!
KB: While we don't really make a conscious effort to do anything, we still want to make the records and be the best we can, but at the same time, we don't really have to do the same things that other bands do. You know, get a major label deal...
Have you ever been approached?
KW: (proudly) No.
MM: That's not true. Eddie Rosenblatt wanted a bunch of Fastbacks stuff.
KW: Who's that?
MM: He's the presidents of Geffen. He called up Sub Pop and asked for a bunch of stuff.
KW: And where did that get us? What'd he get?
KB: They served him a warm diarrhea milkshake for breakfast!
To go with his Boo Berry.
KB: We have never been taken out to dinner by anybody!
Uh, Beat Happening gets this a lot, but you know how-
KW: How they're so naive and innocent?
(The whole van explodes into mirth at this).
Well, you're all obviously past being 15 years old, but you're constantly seen as having this teenage quality, this sound.
LG: We don't try to sound innocent, we try to sound rockin'!
KW: We are punk rock.
That teen quality is a really cool thing to be able to hold on to, but Calvin (BH) always seems perturbed by that take on them.
KW: You know what? Calvin is perturbed all day long. He was born perturbed, but we love him.
LG: (still sore) The only time I got perturbed is when you brought up Boo Berry.
From the very beginning.
LG: (laughs) From the word go.
Do you think people have an aversion to sweetness in music, like they're pop-phobic?
KW: They're starting to like it more, I think.
LG: All of the good pop bands, nobody liked.
KW: But people are getting sick of all that crappy, slow, monotonous bullshit.
(laughing) So you're not big Codeine fans?
KW: No, no, Codeine's fine, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about that non-melodic bullshit that's out there.
KB: There's cheerfulness in our stuff, but it's never that cheerful.
It's never asinine.
LG: But we're pop, we're definitely pop. But all the great guitar pop bands, nobody liked.
KW: What about the Three 'O Clock? Now there's the greatest band in the world. Michael Quercio's the best.
LG: Another one's Cheap Trick.
Well, everyone's finally admitting it now.
KB: They were always great.
Terrie from the Red Aunts says she hates pop music, but how can you? It's what good songs are built from.
KW: She said that? She hates pop music? Well, I hate her. She's a liar, a liar, I hate them now!!
LG: She plays guitar like a girl!
How's that?
LG: Like this. (pretends to be holding a pick, with pinky sticking way out, like from a tea cup or something) And they never strum the whole guitar, just like three strings at a time.
KW: (screams) Women are so retarded!!
Do you feel any sense of pressure, what with all the press and attention you got when you signed to Sub Pop?
KB: We're not pressured by anything, because we were around way before Sub Pop was. If anyone's gonna be putting pressure on anyone, it's gonna be us on them! WE'RE GETTING OLD, MAKE US FAMOUS!
So you all met in photo class in high school?
KB: Me and Lulu did.
LG: We used to take pictures of Queen, Lou Reed and the Ramones when they came through town.
KB: And everyone was scared of Lulu, because she had this giant-ass afro, and always ignored the photo teacher. She would just go right into the darkroom at the start of class, not stay for any part of the lecture, and tell the teacher to shut up. She'd bring her tape player in and listen to David Bowie and Earth, Wind & Fire!
KW: Things are a lot more fun now than they were.
Really?
KW: Yeah, like in the last three years or so.
Why's that?
KW: Because we're old and we don't care anymore!
KB: We're more punk than we ever were!
So you don't practise as much as you did?
LG: Oh, no. No. We have to listen to our records to figure out how to play the songs!
