root of twinkle 1993 relics interview

8/6/2019 Root of Twinkle 1993 Relics Interview

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Lunch. Rich [Freitas] was in that. Charley [Eastman] wasin that. Chris Kelley was in that. Dave was in like a weekof it or something or a pre-Naked Lunch thing.Dave: I was in one practice but I never played anything.I was in a band called Hanging Garden.Root: Was that like a Cure cover band?Dave: More Echo-Bunny. It was original music.

One day in the Emporium among those racks ofstationary that are like seventy years old, Vanessa and Evaencountered Rich, who's a nice shbrt little guy (but he'llpunch us out if we say so) . We asked if the Relics stillwanted an interview, to which he promptly replied, "Sure,how about Tuesday?" The abysmal pain was that Rich feltthe need to take Michelle's Volvo to North Carolina, didn't

~ f : ~ : : < . Root: H?w old -:vere you guys?: : ~ Dave: Ftfteen, stxteen ...

get back until really late Tuesday night, and so missed theentire interview that he himself had scheduled. Meanwhile ,TV a n e s s ~ , sleuth that she is, had to investigate the situation \ ,by calhng the number on a very tattered and ancient 'business card Michael had once given her when he wasdrunk. To her surprise, Dave answered the phone. Queldebacle! Luckily Dave knew the meat: Michael was inNew York and would certainly be back by Tuesday.Unfortunately, Alex was no longer a resident ofPortersville, and was denying hibernation in Uncasvillewith his sister. Anyway, Michael called back at six onTuesday night, which was about an hour before theinterview was supposed to start, to say that he'd call theother boys and set everything up; we agreed to meetdowntown at nine-thirty. It was that easy. Eva and Vanessawere sort of late getting to Kaplan's, but still there was noone there except like five hundred tanned, Teva-cla


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s relics, C o V \ ' H I I \ I A ~ l fve>M.... ffv e. (s) .What! You're better now, and you'd be totally Dave: If we can find a place to do it. The last idea I hadpsyched to get that many people now. recently and talked to Rich Martin about was if we couldAlex: When we started out the whole thing, the point of it find a place outside and do an outdoor festival orwas to be really fun, and we used to do a lot of joke something, because no one will rent to us.material. We used to do a song called "Vitamin D Added," Root: Do you guys have any money to put into it?that had like the "Peter Gunn " theme song, and Michael Dave: For a while there were like six of us who werewould be like "I don't like lemon-lime yogurt..." The trying to find a place that would rent to us so we'd have ourshows were tongue-in-cheek, but so explosive. We had own building and could put shows on and do the whole allsome straight forward, Relics-type songs, but it was a lot age club thing. We couldn't find a place that would workmore tongue-in-cheek. Plus we weren'tproficient enough out with zoning, because they all wanted like, pavedto play things more seriously. Slowly we learned to play parking lots and stuff, and there wasn't enough moneybetter and weeded out the covers, but a lot of people had behind it.been waiting to hear all that cover stuff that they already Root: So how long ago was it that you were renting theknew. Stonington Como? That was when Michael started doingRoot: So when did you actually decide you could do W\ 0 W .. he moves.something with this other than crazy r - - - - - - - ._ . ._ ; . ; . . . . ; . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . ; ; . . ; . . . ; . . . . . . : : . . ; :_______ -, Alex: Those were in the days of Water. We'd give Michael a tease on that

one. That was the Christ-pose thing.Michael: I just like to stretch out whenI'm hitting higher notes, you know? Iwasn't trying to be Christ or anything.These guys gave me so much shit aboutthat.

stuff?Michael: What are you talking about?We still do "Le Freak." We're notserious all the time.Root: Who's that by?Michael: Chic!Alex: One of the first 45's I bought!Root: Jim Wilbur said in this letter hewrote to us after he read theSkimbleshanks article a while ago thathe was reminiscing about the old daysand how you guys and Jeff Mihokstarted it all.Michael: Hell of a compliment. TheReducers and Paisley Jungle started itall, though.Alex: I used to go see the Reducers anddance my ass off.Michael: We were just one of the firstbands in this area to do original music.Alex: In our age group.

Root: So what was it like releasingWater?Michael : It was our first big studioexperience, and it was a lot of timewasted.Root: Where was that recorded?Michael: At Presence Studios [in NewHaven].Alex: Water was the one where we ranout of money when we were doing it.We started on the Thanksgiving of1988 and we did it all through 1989,going sporadically. So the hard partabout Water, and the very feel of Wateris that Water was constructed in stacksover time, so it was very strangeMichael: Yeah, in the high school agegroup we were the first to not do covers

and go play at dances. We were doing ' - - -------;:--r---r------------ ' because we put down the bass tracks,originals and playing at dances, and covers too, but...Dave: We were also the first to put on our own shows.Alex: See the thing is that Jeff Mihok and I started to try towrite together with acoustical guitar and I rememberduring that point in time that that was really effective. Heand Jim had actually done a high school project where theywrote a song and performed it, and he and I tried to writetogether, but were pretty different personalities. At thatpoint in time, he was into much cooler music than I was. Iwas listening to Stiff Little Fingers, so I was all into thatkind of stuff. Jef f was always a big influence. Jeff wasalways very inspirational. He did bands in college andstuff. It was like this whole circle of peOple started to dostuff, but we were strongest in this area . Hanging Gardendid do parties, but they didn't do anything as far as theRelics did. There were a lot of creative people around at A : t : Z ; ~ ~ that time, and Jeff was definitely one of them.Root: So, are you guys going to do any shows thissummer?

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and then a year later we were finishing them up. It took ayear and a half to finish that, because we were done inFebruary 1990. We had a lot of time to think about whatwe were going to do with it, and we'd jus t go into the studiowhenever we had money ..Michael: We were just completely changing our ideas aswe went along.Root: So when all this was going on, were you writing thesongs that were on Hereaj(erthis?Dave: Yeah, up at the studio we'd written the songs forHereafterthis while we were still finishing the other songs.Root: What pain that must have caused you.Dave: It did, because we didn't have enough money to goback in and record the better songs.Root: So do you guys hate Water now?Alex: No, I still like it.Michael: You know what's really funny? We listened toour first tape A Sanctuary in the van when we were on theroad not long ago, and I had not listened to it for years

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'/oc.t d " t S ~ ~ d iff rc,lrcs-. buse I bad completely shunned it an d never wantedto hear it ever again, bu t no w I think it's no t really thatbad for kids sixteen or seventeen just trying to make it .We just popped it in for fun because I had KeithRichards live on th e other side.Alex: We did that on four-track in Rich's basement.Michael: In Rich's upstairs pretty much.Alex: Yeah. I actually remember singing vocals in th e bathroom.Michael: At the end on A Sanctua.ry. there's this coolbit with Dave and Alex 'cause they added this weirdthing where they changed th e pitch control to maketheir voices sound like Munchkins, an d Alex goes,"Anyway, th e tape's called A Sanctua.ry." an d Davegoes, "Don't yo u know?," and then someone burps.[Ha-ba]Alex: Yeah. we slammed a door an d burped. Actuallythere's this funny laugh that goes "Hih hih ha ba ba hahal," like that, and then the door slams an d then there'sa burp.[Ha-ha]Michael: That's our foray into comedy.Root: What's th e part in Hereafterthisthat's at likesome party?Michael: Dave an d I were at his sister's wedding, an d Iwas telling his nephew "don't trip on th e wires". Therewas a D.J., and there were wires on the ground, and I wasfilming with the video camera, and he was about to trip, soI told him. "Don't trip on the wires." I just thought that wasa cool way to intro the record, but it didn't come out as wellas I thought it would. But it says, "Don't trip on the wires.Why?"Root: Well on Water, who did most of the songwriting?Alex: I did most of it. but some of the songs were cowritten, bu t the lyrics I had written exclusively.Michael: There are songs where you'll do lyrics or I'll dolyrics, but now there are songs where we both do lyrics.Alex: In the first tape, the lyrics were so young, but byWater, particularly "Foreign," the lyrics really began tocongeal with ideas that everyone could relate to. It wasmore communicable.Root: Michael, what was it like singing stuff you hadn' twritten?Michael: I could relate to the ideas in the lyrics, so I couldeasily pick up the emotions from the songs. It isn't really abig deal.Root: Kind of like acting?Michael: Exactly like acting.Root: All your songs are really cinematic. Do you pu tthings together visually?Alex: Yes, for a lo t of songs. In particular on Water,"Momento Mori" was inspired by this bizarre fuckingdream that I had, and this bass line that Dave had. I hadthis dream that all of these famous people had come backfrom the dead and they were coming into the street, so thewhole thing was, everbody in the street was trying to get allthe famous people and say, "Look, look, you're notwanted." because as soon as society tries to go farther,everything stops. "Don't return, we'll only kill you again"is the idea like, "I hear the poets, politicians, priests,musicians" whatever, that whole line is written about that.The same thing with "Herringbone." It was written on thatchordal thing, but I can always picture that woman,"walking across that sea of sand." I think we definitelyhave visual images for whatever we're doing. I do look atthings visually.

IRoot: Was it about being trapped in Mystic or trapped inthis area with the water so close? I get a sense from it that itwas about you guys being stuck somewhere and havingthis huge expanse right there and not being able to accessit. How do you guys feel about the water?Alex: I think water is the most powerful thing that exists.I think land has some power to it. particularly forests andwoods, but I think water is amazing. Water is just likeintuition, because water connects everything. I'm going towax like, ridiculous or something here, but the title Waterwas inspired by a concept I had been reading about incollege which was the Phoenicians or somebody whobasically believed that in the sky there were doors andwindows, which were the stars and planets, and above thesky was what they called waters above the firmament Itwas like getting out to an expanse in the sky. I wanted tocall the album Waters Above the Firmament, but they wereall like, "No, no, too lon g .. " so it just got edited down toWater. We've all been through a lo t of struggles, a lot ofinter-personal things which have put us where we are. Anysongs that aren't emotionally moving to us we just cast off.Root: So where are you headed? Where are you now?Alex: Creatively stuck right now. Actually, I wouldn't saycreatively stuck, because in a way I feel our best materialhas been written in the last year. We've always beenamazingly slow writers, bu t that depends on the qualityversus quantity ideaMichael: We're no Lotus.Alex: We have to know how to play the songs; I meanwe're not the kind of band where it's like, "Oh here's thesong," and everyone's "joop!"- zooming right into it.Dave: We build it.Alex: It's that balance of emotional and technical thatmakes us slower moving, and more cautious.Root: Some people have problems with the fact that yourstill playing songs of f of Water. Do you guys think thatyou'renot moving fast enough?Alex: I do agree that we're not moving fast enough, butit's a financial difficulty. We want to put ou t our songs, butwe'd have to do a live tape or a very inexpensivelyrecorded tape. We're kind of stuck up about that; we don'twant to do that.Root: I think what some people would like to see you dois write quite a few more songs, like Lotus or somethingand come out and say, "Well we have new stuff and wedon't need to play all the old stuff anymore."Michael: The thing is, we play songs that we like; we playthe songs that we still think are valid. you know?Root: How many songs have you actualy written sinceHereafterthis? Songs that you really like and that youwould record? That' was like two years ago.Dave: About six.

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LJ t ~ U e ? . \.1 . rot1 r j f 'Vl .k - ( ) -- : ~ ~ ~ d d ~ ' : . ; ~ ~ ~ I a t ~ : ~ wantto write twenty-five songsin~ i c ~ a e l : "Bunk Satori," "Ditch," "Dwelling," "Worried # 5 ~ Michael: There's shitloads of ideas you come across butStck .... ~ ~ ~ = - - - . : : : . .-r dismiss as not worth using.Dave: "Bunk." Alex: That's always how we've been.Michael: "Bunk" I said. "Fictional," "Woods," and Michael: We could make more songs, but if they're not"Raccoon," which was actually written in '89 or '88 and we good, why bother?just didn't record it. We don't stop playing the songs 'cause Root: Well, is that what you see as a problem with Lotus?they're old. We stop playing the songs cause they don't do Michael: Well, I think they place too much emphasis onanything for us. that, yeah. It wouldn't be bad if they didn't come up to youAlex: All the songs that we haven't been able to record are and say like, "We wrote thirty songs this week," orstill so crucial, and we're gonna keep playing them, whatever.because it's like you've got to keep tending the fire until Alex: I think a lot of what they're doing, and I don't meanyou can finally put them out. to sound arrogant about it, but I think they work in reactionMichael: We're a song band, we're not an image band. to how we work. I don't think we creatively inspire them,We're not here to make a statement everytime we play our and I don't think we're the reason that they do things, but songs. It's not a matter of being the art band We don't want think some of the motivation for them to set themselves- to be the art band, we want to be a good song writing band.. l'l apart is to do things we haven't done. I f you want toRoot: For awhile you were the art band. 1 ' ~ '-'11'' develop yourself as an individual, you've either got to dresMichael: That's because there was nothing else. We were S . l differently, or act differently, or talk about different thingsdeemed the art band. That ended when there were more and that's what they're doing. There's a healthy rivalry,bands forming in the area. although it's been ignored a lot because we just don't dealAlex: I still think we're an arty band, because we have the with them that much. Still one difference is that we don'tpotential for psychedelia. You're not gonna ever bear the really go to see their shows but they come to see ours.same tempo, the same emotion. Michael: I go to see those guys.Root: So on that note, where does the sweet weed come Alex: Do you?into this? . Michael: Well not a lot, but they don't come to see us a loMichael: The sweet Weed? though, either.Root: I mean does marijuana have any play in your tempo , \ U ' ~ \ V Alex: But they've turned out more for us. The only thing and the like? ' I j "l(t- want out of them is a couple of songs that I love, and thatDave: Oh definitely. ""' hasn't happened yet; I'm not their audience and I'm notMichael: We smoke. Yeah, we smoke before we play. ,._\\ -' Q- their target, but the most important music to me I love andRoot: Do you think it's cooler or better? What's the reason 1 1 ,, I may only love one or two songs off this record or that...behind it? " '" Michael: But you don't have to love 'em to respect them.Michael: I don't know if it comes out better, but it makes Alex: I do respect them; I think they're great musicians.you more aware of people around you. It's a bond. Michael: I personally don't like the music at all, but I thinDave: We can still play the songs if we don't smoke. they're very good, and there's defmitely an audience forRoot: Can you actually play well if you don't smoke? them. It's not something I would buy though, but that'sDave: The emotion's cool. Actually, I like Kingo's solo tape.better. Kingo's got a better voice than Charley.Michael: Marijuana Root: Do you like any bands aroundhas nothing to do with here?that. Dave: Alexander FieldRoot: Are you guys Michael: Mindbender's the shits, man. Iactually nervous going they ever get it together they'll be big.onstage? Is it better to They've got a good sound.play to an audience you Root: What is it about Lotus' soundknow? though?Alex: No. Michael: It's too heavy for me. They'reMichael: It's worse for very powerful and they have a greatme, because people in sound, it's just that's what I liked when Ithe audience like Eva was fifteen and stuff, and I don't like itwill make me laugh and anymore.make faces at me. Root: Can you see them getting signed?Root: Sorry. Michael: They write good songs but IMichael: No, it makes 1 >_- don't see them getting signed to a majorme laugh, but if I didn't know you I guess I'd feel much or selling lots of records. But they could easily get anworse. independent deal.Root: Well anyway, what's the deal with like, Polaris Root: How about yourselves? Is a record deal a goal at allRecords? or whatever?Michael: Polaris offered to repress our record, to pay for Michael: I believe really strongly in what we do and in ouhalf the promotion, and at which point if we sold enough songs, and I think they're marketable.records, they would sign us. So we decided not to do Dave: We feel too good in the band right now to stop.Polaris. [Matt Tarbox drives by with muffler trailing on ground.]Alex: Until we catalog what we think is important, I'm not Root: That was Matt Tarbox! O)'\ J1. e..J st L'l ) ~ ( ) ' v - 1 ' ) , - -11'\ ~ -

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r e-lt I\ 5 . . . -e. J., )f ,..1....-.Michael: Was it? I was supposed to go back to his house fafter this interview.Root: So is the big thing about your band that as long asyou're enjoying it, you won't really care?Dave: That's part of it; you have to have fun .Michael: Well obviously we're thinking career-wise, but ifwe're not having fun there's no point in doing it. Plus, Idon't want to write songs to fit a certain market. Fuck that!Let's write songs we like, and if it sells, that's great.Root: Well, lastly, someone wanted me to ask you if youwore boxers or briefs.Alex: Boxers.Dave: Boxers.Michael: Boxers.Root: Rich?Alex: Boxers. I occasionally wear briefs, but I'm ninetyfive percent boxers.Michael: I stopped wearing briefs after ninth grade, Ithink.Root: Are briefs something your mother forces you towear?Michael: When you're younger, I think it has something todo with forrning your dick when you get big, and so youhave to have the tighty-whities to keep your dick rightthere so it doesn't grow down your leg or anything.[All: Hahahaha!]Alex: Michael, do you have any wine left?Root: Probably not.

Michael had indeed finished the wine, so we all walkedback to the Depot. The Relics stayed, and we left. In the caron the way home we listened to Hereafterthis and openedthe sunroof. Through it we could see a sky crowded withstars and planets. We were thinking about the blue magicof those early Relics shows, when we were undoubtedlystill kids, and when what we saw on the stage was as unrealas a vision. We were seduced by the succesion of images:them as a band, ourselves watching them, and otherswatching us. We thought about clove cigarette smoke atthe Stonington Como in summer, the parking lot litteredwith kids and flower petals; the plastic couch at the Elk's,Michael's scuffed wingtips and pulled-up Billie Holidayshirt, and small rooms, thick with incense, glowing withthe light of purple-black lightbulbs and televisions gonestatic. We never thought we'd be talking to them. Nowthings are considerably different. Yeah, we're older, butthere's something else. We know now that bands are justcollections of twenty year-olds, and we're almost twentyourselves. We did grow up a little with the Relics, and now,a little regretfully, we're almost completely grown. Whathappens to the music? Where is its place in all this? Wedon't go to shows anymore and gaze at and lock gazes withthe effortlessly beautiful, and effortlessly fluid boys whotouch something and make it sound like an end in itself.We know now that they're just wasting time or waiting fora record deal or postponing life for a few more years. TheRelics interview felt like the closing of some kind of circlefor us, one full revolution from the revolution theyinstigated at first by writing originals in a town toosummer-crowded for its own good. To them and us in thedew on the grass, they are older, perhaps less sober, andyeah, in a band we like. Are these, finally, the real Relics?Guess so.

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root of twinkle 1993 relics interview

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