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				The Autumns Interview by Heather Devera © 2001 Let’s start off with an easy one. What is your favorite cussword? Well, I suppose hell-shit, as in "hell-shit, she's awl I got." That's one of the many interpretations of "The Garden Ends" lyrics floating around. Shame on us for never printing them. Haha. I've heard shitfire for the first time and thought that was brilliant. Combo words def have more impact. How was your show last night (June 30, Spaceland) and when can we look forward to your next international tour? The show last night went well. We played with the Faint. It was a rare opportunity to play in front of another band's audience, which was nice. I have no idea when we'll be touring again. Depending on how "Le Carillon" [current e.p.] does, there is a possibility that we'll tour for it sometime in the fall. Undeniably the band has that magneto effect. I like to think it started with those slim cigarette pants and black uniform tees, but then you shot forth bands by mere mentions. i.e., Lift To Experience catapulting from your shoulders. While your cult status is flattering from a bird's eye view, does it not plague you? Very insightful question. The cult thing is a double-edged sword. I've struggled a lot over the past year with the possibility of never rising above this level - or doing so in such incremental steps that a feeling of progress never really sinks in. When I reflect on our situation, I'm thankful. I mean, there are people who will put out our records and get them in the shops and promote them at radio. That's certainly an enviable position by a lot of people's lights. On the other hand, you work long enough at it and you begin to fiend for some sense of financial security. Contrary to popular myth, poverty isn't always artistically inspiring. There are other forms of misery that inspire just as well and you're not worrying about making rent, you know? Your talent reminds me of the engaging "Billy Elliott" while "Children of the Damned" your rent sitch. Just kidding, lad. If we were to compare money frustrations, mine would definitely buy you a ticket to heaven. When things get almost criminal for me, haZel is quick to retort, "at least you're not in a third world country washing your underwear". As the music progresses, which film do you think best represents your next album? That's difficult to say. I’m inclined to think of David Lynch films in general because of the use of minimal textures in conjunction with jarring, bombastic outbursts of sound. Lynch/Badalamenti turn to brass a lot in that regard and that’s the difference, I guess. We’re doing it more with guitar and electronics. Things get as quiet and singular as the Eraserhead soundtrack and then as aggressive as... Well, I suppose the aggressive element reminds me less of Lynch, more...I don’t know, a heavier Jeunet and Caro - City of Lost Children. Actually, that’s a Badalamenti as well. Well, what can I say? He's always been an influence. I just watched the new video footage from The Troubadour. The quality was excellent, including sound, so congrats to how that turned out. I'm in the middle of watching the BMW films and am wordlessly and thoroughly impressed. From what I know of your past, The Autumns do not like to be cashed in with hit TV shows (i.e., Dawson's Creek, Popular, The Real World), but what about BMW's approach? Would a six-minute movie-video-commercial appeal to you if directed by David Lynch? Would you use yourselves as the actors or just have your music approach the background? Ah, beemers. So it was the car. Well, with regard to Autumns songs being used in TV, etc, it works like this. What we control is the song, the packaging, the videos (if and when we make them), etc. That's our end. If a record looks bad or sounds bad or whatever, it's nobody's fault but ours. On the other hand, if Dawson's Creek decides to use an Autumns song, good for them. Do I watch Dawson's Creek? No. So I have nothing to do with that show. They chose to use a song of ours and I didn't stop them. (Actually, to be accurate, we denied their request at the time. Unfortunately, Risk Records had hired someone to pitch songs from their bands to film and television. This person gave The Real World a song w/out our permission. He then proceeded to "ask permission" to give Dawson's Creek a song. We denied his request and he ignored our denial. We intended to sue, but soon understood that bringing litigation against Warner was nigh impossible. That left us in the position of suing our label. This was, needless to say, inadvisable). ANYWAY, that was our unwitting introduction to the whole issue of film and television. Since then, I've realized that it's pointless to expend time and effort trying to control where your art goes. The important thing is that you get the art part right. Any shitty show can use a good song. There's no law to stop it. The only situation in which we would fight to keep a song out of someone's hands is one in which the film or TV show was so immoral or destructive that we couldn't allow ourselves to be in any way connected to it without compunction. I think this scenario is somewhat rare. I suppose someone could make the case that Dawson's Creek or Party of Five is immoral because it promotes all that is inane and shallow in American culture. From where I sit, though, the shows aren't the problem. American culture is more often than not inane and shallow. A culture like that celebrates and reflects itself through film and television. I know I'm going on and on here, but when it comes to ads, I think the story changes somewhat. Advertisement isn't a celebration of culture as much as it is a selling of culture. In my understanding, advertising tends to be more directly linked to immorality. Companies like Coca-Cola and McDonalds, for instance, market to very young children, a practice quite obviously immoral to anyone not steeped in the world of advertising. It's pure manipulation designed to produce a generation of cradle-to-grave customers. So we would never involve ourselves in something like that, regardless of the artistic merit of the ad. When it comes to advertising, I imagine we'd avoid almost everything. When did you know you were truly in love with music? That's difficult to answer. I've been around music all my life. I started taking piano when I was three. I was early on obsessed with different musical figures; e.g., Donny Osmond, Barry Manilow, The Turtles. I used to perform their songs for the family at Christmas time. I think I started having really profound experiences with it in junior high, which is when I started my first band. I took most of my cues from my older sister, which planted me in firmly eclectic territory: The Smiths, Dokken, George Michael, Yaz, Depeche Mode. I also liked a lot of the Mtv hair bands that were big at that point. I loved Guns'n'Roses and Metallica, too. Anyway, things just snowballed from there. The more I got into music, the more it got into me. Eventually it started dominating my life. An anonymous sponsor wants to pay you to record a double cd. One from living in Hong Kong for six months, the other from the Arctic. Do you think you would be able to do this? Is this a hypothetical? I don’t understand. We’ll do it, though. What i meant to ask was do you think your music will be strongly affected by those opposing environments? Would you try to emulate music of the environment or keep it contained as a lush load of sad cargo? For i know your style has been graduating with each record, but to me your lyrics are still sad cargo. I'm assuming "those opposing environments" refer to film/TV, etc. on the one hand and keeping apart from all that on the other? I hope I've got that right or this answer won't make sense. Actually, why don't you tell me if I've got that right. Sorry. I feel dumb - like I'm missing something obvious. Wow, i did not think you would take the question like that. Your interpretation to the question is a lot better, so i'll let you answer it the way you want. But i meant the 'opposing enviornments' to Hong Kong vs. the arctic. No I'll answer it your way. Hong Kong vs. the Arctic. Well, I haven't been to either, but... I don't know. That's a very interesting question, actually. If I could bring a few people w/ me, I think I'd probably take the Arctic. That might not be the best thing, though. You can't get much done in the Arctic. I mean, you could probably learn a lot but you wouldn't have anyone to share your knowledge with. I don't like crowds, though, and Hong Kong is so crowded. I don't know. With the august shows this month [note: 2 months ago – blame on haZel], i imagine all that exposure has to wear you down a little, no? Although i love my day job, sometimes i am dogg (double g for emphasis) tired by the time i get home, it's hard to motivate myself to work out and then later write. While my life hardly compares to a musician's ambition, what keeps you at it? Do the Autumns want to be the next U2? Um, no, we definitely don't want to be the next U2. I don't envy that band at all. I can't imagine playing a stadium; I'd hate it. To think that all those people are out there largely because they've been told to be there by KROQ or Mtv or whatever -- that would just ruin it, wouldn't it? It's a circus at that point, I think. To their credit, they've played up the circus aspect of it, which is about the only thing you can do at that point, I guess. Not even humor would get the autumns through it, though. Unless I don't really have an accurate understanding of us, which is always possible. So anyway, the motivation is the music itself. If we'd been in it for fame or to sell a lot of records, we'd have quit a long time ago. It's only a true megalomaniac that can actually pursue fame or "power" for years and years without finding something more useful to do. I'm afraid of people like that. They're victims of a totally destructive illusion. The day we feel that we've truly hit the wall in terms of musical progress is the day we'll stop. A few more questions and you get to dump me soon. From Shakespeare’s tragedies, what best describes the Autumns history? I'm going to defer to Frankie on this one. He’s the Shakespeare expert. (Frank) "Nothing will come of nothing"- King Lear SHALL WE DANCE is on my top list of favorites [movies] and it leads me to ask you, if the Autumns were in a ballroom dance class together, which member would liken Fred Astaire’s steps the most? Well, you've put me in a bit of a bind here. I mean, by picking one Autumn I open the door to all sorts of speculation with regard to the other three. I think you might be better equipped to answer this than me. The question you're really asking is "which autumn comports himself with the most poise?" you've seen plenty of shows, so you must decide. If you make the wrong decision, i'm never speaking to you again. One of our friends gave you a mixed CD with intentions to get it played at the clubs and such. Are you going to tackle that b-sides market with club/swing/blues/international genres? Yes, you're friend is a stand-up fellow and we do intend to use his fantastic remixes at some point down the line. We&Mac226;ve put the project off for the time being, however. We feel that it's more economical to actually work on new material at this point (as opposed to reworking older songs). What’s on your "Should" list? My friend Tom and I have been planning on visiting the moon for quite a while now. I have to read Proust's Remembrance of things Past. We have a record to make and it turns out we're going to tour in the fall. Thanks for your time, Mattie. You bet.
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