If music be the food of love, then Eagles of Death Metal are a super-sized serving. Though their music has little to do with The Eagles or death metal, core members and BFFs Jesse Hughes (a.k.a. The Devil) and Joshua Homme (a.k.a. Carlo Von Sexron) have embraced the hard rockin', easy lovin'... more

If music be the food of love, then Eagles of Death Metal are a super-sized serving. Though their music has little to do with The Eagles or death metal, core members and BFFs Jesse Hughes (a.k.a. The Devil) and Joshua Homme (a.k.a. Carlo Von Sexron) have embraced the hard rockin', easy lovin' ethos of such bands. The pair went from kicking a football around together during their formative years in Palm Desert, to kicking musical ideas around as adults on the road.

Homme was the first to commit his life to music, forming cult desert generator party band Kyuss at the age of 14. After Kyuss' demise in '95, Homme regrouped, fulfilling many of his rock & roll dreams with his next band, Queens of The Stone Age.

Hughes' journey to rock was less direct, he got waylaid by university, a career (as a journalist), and a wife. As his relationship turned sour, the guitar seduced Hughes, who reunited with Homme to make sweet, rootsy rock & roll under the moniker Eagles of Death Metal.

At first, Eagles of Death Metal was perceived as a side project by Queens of the Stone Age fans, but the deafening buzz surrounding their 2004 debut album, Peace Love Death Metal, soon changed that. Homme found himself torn between two very viable bands, and was forced to choose between his two loves when both hit the road simultaneously.

As Eagles of Death Metal prepare to release their third album, Heart On, Homme talks to Suicide Girls about his passion for his bands, and how he spreads the love in the musical ménage à trios that is his life.

Nicole Powers: Are you sitting comfortably?

Joshua Homme: I am. I'm so comfy now. Thank you for asking. How about you?

NP: I'm extremely comfy. We have a big sectional couch here at the Suicide Girls' office.

JH: Wow. I love how you said sectional. That's great. I'm actually in a sectional myself. I'm sitting right in the corner where they both come together.

NP: I'm all about the corners of sectionals. The only problem is it makes you feel kind of greedy, because a sectional's supposed to do two or three people, but when you're sprawling in that sweet center corner other people are forced to sit in the extremities.

JH: Well, you know, I think sometimes you have to be good to you. I think you're doing the right thing right now. Just be good to yourself for God's sake.

NP: I think we're both on that page and in that corner of the sectional. We've got so much in common already. Who knew?

JH: I know, I love this. Same time tomorrow? What do you think?

NP: So I guess we should talk about the album.

JH: If we must.

NP: Sorry to do it to you because I know you've probably spoken about it a bit too much today.

JH: No, no, I actually haven't, you know, so I'm ready to knock the seal off and talk about it.

NP: Well let's start with the cover. Talk about judging a book by its cover, yours has an image of a bloody heart being squeezed by a well-manicured hand, with blood red nails digging into the flesh. What's that about?

JH: Well we didn't want people to get confused; so many people have been thinking it's called Hard On and I just think that that is so dirty, and we wanted to eliminate confusion.

There's almost a weird Hollywood Strip aspect with the way it looks, you know an eighties metal vibe to it, and for us, Eagles of Death Metal, part of what we're trying to do is unite the clans. We need to touch every scene and invite everyone to come and dance. I think that eighties metal vibe is one of the only things we really haven't tapped as far as who in the scene wants to come and dance.

NP: Talking about the metal vibe, it is heavier than your previous album isn't it?

JH: It's a matter of delivery I think, because I think the production value is a little more professional, and I think it's kind of electrified this time. It seems a bit more electrified. But I wouldn't say heavy metal.

NP: It's just a little bit harder, you know.

JH: Thank you. Oh, the album.

NP: I'm sure the ladies say that to you all the time.

JH: Well, I feel a little harder today.

NP: You're known for having some very cool guests on your recordings. Who guested on this album?

JH: Well, there wasn't many guests on this album...I think we decided not to have too many guests and instead go travel around the States and make the record. Like we recorded part of it in Boise, Idaho and Fargo, North Dakota, because we wanted to kind of be where the people were.

NP: I understand that's the other reason you chose to call your album Heart On, as opposed to Hard On, because it was written and recorded through the heartland.

JH: Yeah, it was written through the heartlands you know, because we are definitely an American rock & roll band. And America's not a dirty word. I don't know what it is actually, but it's not a dirty word. So we thought we'd just put a little spice in it and admit who we are, say that we want to spread a little faith and solidarity throughout the world for rock & roll.

NP: America's reputation has taken a bit of a bashing around the world.

JH: We've been the world's dickheads lately. I'm so sorry about that.

NP: Well, it's not you personally.

JH: Well no, not me personally, but I'm here to help correct it.

NP: Talking of Bush & Co, it brings me nicely to my next question. You have a history of songs that deal with the devil: "Chase The Devil" on Peace Love Death and "Kiss The Devil" on Death By Sexy. What's the most satanic song on the new album?

JH: I would say "Tight Pants."

NP: Why is that?

JH: Well because I would say that if you were talking to the devil, the devil wouldn't say, "you do this." It would be more like, "if you don't want get loose, I understand. I've been afraid too. If you're afraid that's fine." And that song encompasses that sort of attitude.

NP: The lyrics to one song on the new album say, "I came to LA to make rock & roll, along the way I had to sell my soul." Do you feel you had to?

JH: No, but it's fun. I think that Jesse came into this so late. This is essentially Jesse's first band. So he's what I refer to as a late bloomer. The benefits of being a late bloomer, you get to leap frog and just jump right into it. And I think Jesse's perspective from that is, "Wow, did I just sell my soul. What happened?"

NP: There is a weird dynamic between the two of you because for Jesse this is his main gig, while you obviously have Queens of the Stone Age too. How does that work?

JH: For me it's a bit like being a circus performer, it's very dangerous and there's a lot of concentration involved. This isn't a side project for me. I'm in two bands. I have musical schizophrenia, and this is one of those personalities. I've known Jesse since I was fourteen years old, and it feels great being side by side with somebody you've known for so long. He didn't have a moustache back then, but I knew he would. Those are the sort of things that kept us together.

NP: I know that Queens of the Stone Age have finished touring, so will you be able tour a little bit with Jesse for the new album?

JH: I'm absolutely going to tour quite a bit more. I didn't get the chance to do that that much on the last record, and it really hurt, for real. I really wanted to go because the Eagles of Death Metal audience has got to be the funnest audience in the world.

NP: And the music has a sense of humor.

JH: We don't take ourselves seriously, but we take the music seriously. I think, "where's all the fun bands?" ...and that's a shame because I think music is a pleasure device, and it should be used as such.

NP: Your lyrics focus on the fun things in life: Hollywood, women and rock & roll. But there's also heartbreak and loneliness in there.

JH: Yes, and I think on each Eagles record it takes a lot to articulate something that is more rock & roll, and more girl-centric, and more all the things you said without being silly and without being ridiculous about it. I guess the answer is that all that stuff is real. We're not going home and changing into our Mr. Rodgers clothes...The thing that we've always wanted to maintain is that it's got to be honest, and I think that's why Eagles is contagious you know.

NP: But to someone listening to a song like "Wannabe LA" in bumfuck wherever, it would sound like a glamorous fantasy, but, I guess, that's your life.

JH: Well the goal here is to live a different life, and to be the master of your own destiny. That's what we're attempting to do here, and to write about that journey as scientifically as possible. When you write about cutting loose, this is hopefully what it sounds like...

I think there's a mixture of the fantasy of it all and the reality of it all. When you go to a song like "Now I'm A Fool," it's very heartbreaking but it's very honest. And the lyrics to "Wannabe in LA" are about when I first brought Jesse up to Los Angeles to record. And so these lyrics, "I came to LA to make rock & roll, along the way I had to sell my soul," the next verse talks about him recording at my friend's house in their studio one morning and so it's personal, but universal at the same time.

NP: I guess there's a flip side to that song. In it you say, "I made some good friends that made me say, I really want to be in LA," but then you also have a song titled "How Can A Man With So Many Friends Feel So Alone."

JH: Yeah. I bet we've all been in that situation where you're in a crowded room full of people and you're like, "Wow, there's no one here." I think what I really love about Eagles is part of the way we go after this notion of playing for the ladies by touching your feminine side. Like admitting full-on the feelings you have, regardless of what they are, without being a total pussy about it, because, after all, we are men.

NP: So right now, you're touching my feminine side, is that it?

JH: Yeah, if that's alright, I'd like to keep doing it.

NP: Please do.

JH: Because I think too much of the time rock & roll gets turned into Bible study. We're too serious. Too many of the American males, like you're supposed to be in touch with your feminine side, but like you're not supposed to be a total puss. And I think trying to walk that line is not that difficult, you know.

NP: And what's going on in America right now with this whole pervasive Christian right puritanical thinking, it's almost like rock & roll artists don't feel they can be rock & roll anymore.

JH: Yeah, I know, down to their core. Like when we play festivals and stuff, when we roll in in a cloud of smoke, spilling bottles, you know, and you see a bunch of artists that are stretching, and reading, and on their computers, we're always like, "Whooaaa," you know. That's why I say it's very real. What's amazing is how many bands this is a business for, versus how many bands this is what they have to do because this is their way of life. So that's why I'm so proud of Eagles of Death Metal.

NP: But you also seem to know where the line is because you've reprimanded one-time band members for going over the line and maybe partying too hard.

JH: Well that's not actually true. That's what people think. Clearly too you can take something too far. My motto has always been, you've got to deserve to party. I celebrate what we just did, and not what we're going to do, and that's just a philosophical difference. It you party so much that it ruins everything you have, well then, quite frankly, you're partying too hard.


Check back next week for our second Eagles of Death Metal interview with Homme's partner in crime Jesse Hughes.

by Nahp A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. (image) [Apollo Suicide in Arboretum] This week Apollo tells us why she love Musicians. Members: 3,119 / Comments: 6,722 WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: I love it because I am completely obsessed with making music. Playing music, for me, is... more

by Nahp

A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.


[Apollo Suicide in Arboretum]

This week Apollo tells us why she love Musicians.

Members: 3,119 / Comments: 6,722

WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: I love it because I am completely obsessed with making music. Playing music, for me, is about 1,000 times more revealing than modeling naked. It takes a special person to put themselves out there and reveal their inner most thoughts with their music and I really appreciate that. I can't help but go weak in the knees for an amazing musician.

DISCUSSION TIP: Don't spam, and don't be an ass. Constructive criticism is great. Tell someone if you enjoy what you hear! If not, keep it to yourself or at least say something constructive!

MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: I can't say that there really is one! This is a great group! I believe musicians are just passionate people in general.

BEST RANDOM QUOTE: "You suck"

WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: EVERYBODY! Come join! I mean, come on, who doesn't like musicians?!


***
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This October 18th a number of SuicideGirls will be appearing on an episode of CSI: NY. This kind of acceptance from such a mainstream narrative television series on a major network truly proves that SuicideGirls has become a significant part of pop culture. The episode truly focuses on the positive aspects... more

This October 18th a number of SuicideGirls will be appearing on an episode of CSI: NY. This kind of acceptance from such a mainstream narrative television series on a major network truly proves that SuicideGirls has become a significant part of pop culture. The episode truly focuses on the positive aspects of SuicideGirls. They aren’t just in the background while the main characters are showcased. The SuicideGirls are integral to the storyline which makes for a very unique and exciting episode. I had a chance to talk with the creator of all the CSI shows, Anthony E. Zuiker.

SuicideGirls CSI: NY episode airs October 18th at 10pm EST

Daniel Robert Epstein: How did this whole thing get started?

Anthony E. Zuiker: About three years ago, I was in a B. Dalton bookstore and I saw the hardback SuicideGirls book, just by accident. When I opened up the book, I found the picture of Al nude in the bathtub with a pink wig. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, outside of my wife obviously. I was so inspired to keep looking at the pictures. I brought the book back to work and then it was stolen.

DRE: Oh geez.

AZ: So I went out and bought the book again. Then about a week later it was stolen. Then I bought it again and it was stolen again. So I figure if people are stealing these books out of my office or off my coffee table, it must be something of interest to people. Then, on accident I saw the SuicideGirls on HBO Real Sex. My wife, who has impeccable taste, was watching it with me and her quote about Missy was, “That bitch can shoot” meaning she’s a great photographer. When she pointed it out to me, I was inspired by that and then pretty much the next week I saw the Icons episode on G4. That was enough for me to pick up the phone and call Missy and say, “Hey. How’d you like to do a show with the SuicideGirls playing themselves on CSI: NY?” Missy, of course, was down for it. That’s how the whole thing started.

DRE: Was the reason it is on CSI: NY because that’s the show that you’re currently working on?

AZ: Correct. It’s just the one I’m on full-time. It’s the one I can control more, so I figured that was the best bet. All three are my shows but I work fulltime on New York. Since it’s the third installment of a franchise, we can be a little more radical on this show.

I wanted to make sure that we had SuicideGirls that all got along. It was a learning curve for me in terms of that. I was really focused on getting a lot of people that were veterans and people that were from Los Angeles, so it would be easy for shooting and travel. But in the same respect I wanted to be able to give the viewers girls like Amina and Al and Fractal and Nixon. We narrowed hundreds down to about eight girls. When we did that, I went back to casting and CBS and said, “Look. These girls will be acting and playing themselves. I don’t want to hire girls and put tattoos on them and call them the PatBrats. If I can’t use the word SuicideGirls, I don’t want to do it.” I wrote the outline then it got back to me that legal was very upset about any reference to websites because if you surf the website without being a member, you can still see nudity. With the whole Janet Jackson thing, we’re under a very difficult situation with that. So I had to de-website it but I wanted to make sure that I still got the story right and that Missy was happy with the story. When she read the first outline, she loved it. I talked to the girls probably three months ahead of shooting. I had Al come out from North Carolina. I flew Tim Kern, who does a lot of the tattoos for the SuicideGirls, from the Last Rites Tattoo parlor in New York. I wanted to make sure that the girls knew somebody besides the girls on set. Tim was also hired as a technical advisor. When the girls showed up, it was just so pleasant. I feel that the SuicideGirls are American royalty. To have 18 million people see SuicideGirls in a story that’s emotionally moving and really captures their spirit makes it a special show.

DRE: Jeremy Kasten just directed Wizard of Gore with a number of SuicideGirls like Amina and Fractal.

AZ: I heard about that.

DRE: Since it is a horror movie Jeremy used special effects to make it look like Amina’s leg was cut off in the movie. But you don’t do anything like that in the CSI episode.

AZ: Well don’t forget this is a network audience. I wanted to tell a story about a girl that at the end of the day felt trapped in the Midwest and was looking for a sense of belonging and found it in the SuicideGirls. Therefore I chose to have a girl from Wyoming who desperately wanted to get out and find her place amongst other girls like her and really tell an emotional story, but still give you the essence and the spirit of the sisterhood and what they represent. I didn’t want to go for shock value or missing legs or showy tattoos. I think the website has such great cache, great style and it’s so classily done. It’s so not about the nudity. It’s about the style and the spirit of the women so I wanted to make sure that we captured that.

DRE: How much do the attitudes of the girls of the show reflect the real attitudes of the girls that are playing them?

AZ: I think pretty good. Al sometimes is perceived as being a harder, rougher individual. But she isn’t. She’s a complete sweetheart. I talked with the girls by email. I watched a lot of the first tour. I talked a lot with Missy, who was involved every step of the way from wardrobe to the production meeting to script. I got notes from the girls. I addressed almost all of their notes. But again, I wasn’t so worried about capturing the exact attitude of the individual, more of the spirit of what SuicideGirls represented. I made sure that they all had different sassy, naughty, interesting attitudes. What I was so amazed with was that when I came to the set, they were just so gung ho. They were so low maintenance and so high-spirited. I would tell them constantly, “If I hired eight actresses in this town to do the same thing, it would be a completely different ballgame.” For the most part they’d be complaining. These women from SuicideGirls didn’t complain once. They went on stage. They were ready. They kicked ass. It was a dream to work with. If I could work with the SuicideGirls every day, I would.

DRE: How did they do acting-wise?

AZ: They’re phenomenal. They had the best attitudes of any group that I’ve ever been involved in with CSI. It was just really a pleasure. They were treated like gold while they were here and they all came to play. It’s funny because a lot the girls don’t like to wear clothes. So I constantly had to keep putting clothes back on them. One of the SuicideGirls wanted to wear something a little skimpier or that showed more breasts or more ass. I had to go in with Missy and have a talk with her and say, “Look. If we do this, we’re going to waste film, waste money and the audience will never see it. It’ll be part of the DVD.” She finally played ball and put some more clothes on, but it was really the spirit of that. Also what was great is when we were taking a break, Missy would take the girls and go shoot on our sets. I walked by Nixon and she was straddled on top of a dummy. She had a saw in her hand and was sawing off the dummy’s head. You definitely got a laugh to yourself when you walked by and go, “Wow. The SuicideGirls are definitely on the set.”

DRE: I’ve watched CSI: New York pretty much since the beginning and CSI since the second season. Sometimes the forensic investigators in the show could be very judgmental. Was that something that you tried to avoid in this episode?

AZ: You’re absolutely right. This was never going to be a freak show. That was very key to me. I’m a creator of a franchise so I understand what Missy’s done and I wanted to make sure that this was captured in the perfect spirit. I didn’t want to have my characters being judgmental. I kept the SuicideGirls out in front of the show, not in the back. I had my characters reinforce that spirit, rather than be judgmental towards it. To the American public, it’s already a bit radical. So to go radical upon radical I think is a mistake. I think finding missing legs and that kind of thing is not what we do. What we do is regard the world. We’re true to it. If you’re not a SuicideGirl expert, I think you’ll be moved by the show. You’ll probably shed a tear or two. You’ll have a laugh and go, “Wow. Those girls have really inspired me.” I want to inspire the viewers as they watch my show.

DRE: CSI obviously has long arms into pop culture. Besides this episode, do you ever see a time when a television character with tattoos and piercings could be the norm on a television show without being a freak?

AZ: I think it’s possible. For us, in New York, we deal with all kinds of worlds, but I think America is still a little bit conservative in terms of television. I don’t think people can get too radical from week to week, but I think going into a world for an episode is definitely tolerable and that’s what we’re doing.

DRE: What aesthetic do you think SuicideGirls is replacing or adding out there in the world?

AZ: SuicideGirls promote individuality, strength and the courage to really live as free as possible without any shame. These are unique girls and Missy has found a way to bring these unique women together via a website. Some of these girls have never even talked to each other before, but they knew of each other and you’d think they were all best friends. There’s really a deep sisterhood involved in that. The courage of what they exude is so inspiring, to the viewer and to me because we do live in a very conservative time right now, especially politically and in terms of entertainment. I think a show like this is going to break a lot of barriers.

DRE: Did Missy have approval over aspects of the show?

AZ: It was a mutual respect. There wasn’t a lot of “No, you can’t do this.” I involved Missy in every step of the journey. The only difference we ever had together was when she was a little iffy about doing the creepy Carrie-like opening but I talked her into it. I said, “Look. I think this is really going to be great in terms of doing an homage to Carrie.” As we dumped 50 gallons of fake blood on the girls in the teaser and they’re dancing to Pantera’s “Walk,” you know that the SuicideGirls have definitely arrived on the show.

DRE: Is it a coincidence that Goth icon Edward Furlong is joining CSI this year?

AZ: It’s a coincidence, but yeah, that’s really awesome. Eddie did a great job. He’ll be in the episode a week before the SuicideGirls one airs on October 18.

DRE: I’ve spoken with the creator of The Shield, Shawn Ryan, a number of times. His show is pretty much all character development. CSI drips and drabs character development throughout a season. With the serialized drama becoming such a big thing now on television, would you like to see more of that on any of the CSIs?

AZ: No, the formula is the formula. We are a procedural drama. We do a little more character on New York than any of the other shows. Our viewers expect an element of science and mystery and as we begin to open up the characters and feature more character stuff, it’s an added value to an already successful franchise. But we have no intent of reinventing the wheel so to speak and making it all character-driven. Though we’ve been opening up the characters a bit more since we’re in seasons seven, five and three of the franchise.

DRE: Is that satisfying to you?

AZ: Absolutely because we were never going to abandon what the game plan is, but people do want to know more about our characters. So we emotionally invest our people into the cases and maybe learn something new about them. In the SuicideGirls episode we have a story about a girl from the Midwest trying to get into the spirit of the SuicideGirls and you have one of our characters emotionally invested and having an issue that will come out later in the season. So you have a couple different levels going there, which makes for a really good drama.

DRE: How surprised are you that the CSI shows are among the most popular shows on television?

AZ: Well, I think that we’re definitely in a very healthy crime cycle. I think the viewer and the world will always enjoy a great mystery and a great drama. I think that the casts have amazing chemistry and we just tell stories differently than anybody else. I think that there’s a part of the show that while you’re watching it, you’re learning. It’s captured the world’s fancy because it’s just great drama.

DRE: Do you have a theory why CSI: Miami is so popular overseas?

AZ: I do. I think it’s David Caruso. It’s the fact that it’s colorful and sexy and young and probably captures the domain of Miami better than Vegas or New York. I think it really captures Miami and you feel like you’ve been there for that one hour. That’s our recipe for success.

DRE: What’s it like to have something that’s such a powerful marketing tool, knowing that you could take just about anything and make it very popular?

AZ: Well now we’re in a very interesting time right now. We’re in the Wild Wild West of multi-platform. We have a couple different tricks up our sleeves. We’re not only doing a show with SuicideGirls, but we also have the actress who played Omen, who’s not a real SuicideGirl, hidden on the site right now. People who are on the site will look at that and go, “Oh, is she a new girl?” But she’s actually an actress. People who watch the show may be driven to the website. If they do that, they’ll be pleasantly surprised that the girl on the show is on the site. She has a profile and pictures.

DRE: What tattoos do you have?

AZ: I have a Z in the middle of my left arm and then around it is a D for Dawson my boy, J for Jennifer my wife, A for Anthony and E for Evans, which is myself and my family with the Z in the middle.

DRE: Do you want to get more?

AZ: My wife is pregnant with our third child so I’ll add one more letter which will make it like a cross. Then I’ll probably do a little bit more on my sleeve.

DRE: What city is next for CSI?

AZ: At this point I think CSI: Hawaii would be great. Then maybe I can go out there and relax and my wife can sleep on a boat or something.

DRE: Do you ever see bringing SuicideGirls back for another episode?

AZ: I got an email from Al a couple days ago that said, “Hey. If you ever want to bring us back, I’ll definitely do it again.” We’ll see how the response is. If the response is overwhelming, there’s a possibility next season that we would bring them back. But it has to really work in the fabric of our season. Right now we’re still cutting the episode together. I have a feeling it’s going to be a big success and we hope that it’s everything that we dreamed it would be and hopefully this does raise big awareness for Missy’s brand.

DRE: When you say response, does that mean from the network or from the audience?

AZ: The audience. If we get a bump in the ratings because of the SuicideGirls, that’s a good thing.

DRE: I’m not an actual SuicideGirl, do you need any fat, Jewish interviewers to be on CSI: NY?

AZ: I think we have that covered. There are millions of them. We like to subscribe to the Bruckheimer School of good-looking, edgy people.

DRE: All right. I’m out then.

AZ: So am I by the way.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

When i, likely drunk, decided to interview Jhonen Vasquez for SuicideGirls, i knew i was embarking on a dangerous mission, and would almost immediately regret the decision. In spite of this, i rose, wobbling, from my workstation, staggered into the newswire office and declared it would be done. Asking... more

When i, likely drunk, decided to interview Jhonen Vasquez for SuicideGirls, i knew i was embarking on a dangerous mission, and would almost immediately regret the decision. In spite of this, i rose, wobbling, from my workstation, staggered into the newswire office and declared it would be done.

Asking you readers to contribute some questions would surely spell trouble, too. Allow me now to thank those of you who pried yourselves away from the naked girls for two minutes and actually took your time to think about what you were about to DO. And also to scold the rest of you. Childhood photos? Cheese?! Fucking hospital stays? People, i expect more of you, though i'm suddenly and acutely unsure why.

Jhonen's books have earned him a well-established place in comics and a hefty, if undesirable, credit for founding the Goth comic genre. His work is biting, insightful, revolting and hilarious without missing a step. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Fillerbunny, Happy Noodle Boy and other delightful characters have spawned a myriad of fandoms and questionable tattoos worldwide. His animated series Invader Zim, while short-lived, garnered immense popularity, he's worked in music video, and he's still expanding his genres. With its distinct drawing style, uncompromising humor, and bitter infectious world-view, his work has risen Jhonen to cult icon level in some 10 years, and we can only fear what the future may bring.

So here he is, appearing in SuicideGirls for the second time in all his belligerent mucusy glory, brazenly riding a giant pig directly into your brains, like the sacred whore of Babylon. Do try and enjoy.


ZE: Alright, so I had a dream about this interview last night for some unknown reason.

JV: You did?

ZE: Yes, I did. I had a question I asked you in the dream.

JV: Was this a dream where I was naked?

ZE: Yes, this is a dream where you were naked, indeed.

JV: Why was I naked in your dream?

ZE: You actually said you couldn’t do the interview unless you were, in fact, naked.

JV: Right, but it was a dream. I’m fully clothed now. Let’s make that clear.

ZE: You’re not, in fact, naked, to make the record clear, no one’s naked.

JV: The fact still stands that you had a dream where I was naked, you sick fuck.

ZE: Ehm. The question was “who the hell are you?”

JV: I’m apparently the naked guy: hater of clothing.

ZE: Is that all?

JV: Someday, I hope to at least be the guy with shoes and maybe a cummerbund.

ZE: Your new book’s called “Jellyfist”. What is a Jellyfist?

JV: Apparently it’s a horrible book of surreal comics I wrote and had Jenny do the artwork for, as my latest blight upon the comics world. As far as the word itself goes, I don’t know, we were just walking around in Chicago and Jenny was talking about something and the words “jelly” and “fist” came up in the same sentence when I stopped her and said that was a great name for the book.

ZE: What was it you guys were talking about?

JV: We were trying to figure out the logistics of someone we knew having sex.

ZE: [laughs]

JV: [laughs]
Anyhow, we concluded that massive amounts of natural and possibly supernatural physical jellies and a fist were involved.

ZE: Where was this fist going?

JV: It was pushing into the flesh of their stomach, into the gelatinous flesh of their stomach.

ZE: Through an orifice or just straight through?

JV: No, no, not fisting in the classic, playground sense.

ZE: No, of course not the classic sense. Okay.

JV: The book has nothing to do with fisting or even jelly, just in case any church groups were on the fence about picking up hundreds of copies of it.

ZE: There’s no jelly?

JV: Maybe in a couple of the stories. There’s one about young couples in love and the male cracks the female’s head open and releases a jelly-like, sort of this amoeba style creature that he then ingests which I guess could be a jelly-like thing.

ZE: Does he then give birth to the very same creature?

JV: He sort of mixes it with his own internal jelly and then launches it at a nearby child.

ZE: Launches it how?

JV: A cannon formed of flesh, a gun, forms out of his belly meat and fires it at the kid and the kid then, under the control of the jelly, crawls up between the female’s legs.

ZE: The circle of life is then complete.

JV: A sort of revisionist stork theory.

ZE: The cover image is a drawing of tiny wiener people trapped in a jar. What is that?

JV: The cover acts as a sort of “cover” to hide the contents of the book.

ZE: No, what is the idea behind the cover image?

JV: Originally, I wanted the cover to have a warm, homey, family photo album binding vibe to it, the sort of album your lace-doily-loving grandma might haul out. The jar of preserves is the only thing that stuck around from that idea, something Jenny came up with. Makes me think of all the jars of “things” you see in a Svankmejer film, like when Alice is descending in that elevator. As for the sausage shapes, I kept harping on Jenny to make the characters more balloony or sausagey, possibly to tap into the primordial human dread of balloons filled with meat.

ZE: Are these fetuses related to one of the characters in the book?

JV: Well, no one image would really tell you what the book was about, especially since I never intended for the book to be anything other than a stream of conscious nightmare with Jenny and myself doing the streaming, so we went with the ambiguous approach. If there are any baby-preservers out there buying the book based on the cover, they’ll be pretty pissed.

ZE: The press release said the project began as a really big, surreal trip. What was the very first story about, the one that started it out?

JV: It’s not so much the first story that started the project so much as the situation when the first story was done. I was working on some of my own stuff at the time, and Jenny just happened to be at my place, not doing much but wandering around the room, or playing Guitar Hero or something. I scribbled what would be the first “story” onto a scrap of paper, handed it to her and told her to draw a comic with that as the script, which she promptly did in a matter of hours. I loved how mad the end result was and pretty much decided right there to do a whole book with her. I don’t think she thought I was serious at the time.

ZE: That is what spawned Jellyfist.

JV: Yeah. It was just a fun thought, to do an entire book of stuff that even I didn’t know what the end result was going to be, other than it being fast and loose like that first comic. That’s not quite how it turned out in the end but that’s how it started off.

ZE: So you were inspired by her work.

JV: I had always liked her work, yeah, but it takes funny little moments like that to give me the bigger idea.

ZE: This is a question from one of our readers. Okay, so how was it working with Miss Goldberg? Does she share your loveable trait of absolutely despising humanity? I don’t know if you’ve worked with many females in comics or in any of the businesses you’ve worked in but I assume that this is the closest business interaction with the opposite sex. Did that change anything?

JV: Female or not, there’s always complications working with someone co-creatively, but this was a case where our differences were part of the plan, and when things started getting uglier in the process, I decided to take that one step further by doing the running commentary in the book itself. No, she doesn’t share my, what they call my “trait of despising everything”. She’s a much nicer person than I am, but I’m taller.

ZE: How would you say this compared to your earlier collaborative project with Crab Scrambly on “Everything Can be Beaten”?

JV: She smelled better than Crab.

ZE: Aww, poor Crab.

JV: Which isn’t to say that Crab smelled bad, it’s just that she smelled like cherries and Crab smelled like cinnamon...and crabs. I don’t like cinnamon.

ZE: [cat sound]

Would you say that Jellyfist is more advanced than Everything Can Be Beaten in any way? How do you feel about it?

JV: I was never very happy with Everything Can Be Beaten, based on the writing alone, but it’s a great showcase for Crab’s paintings. There was quite a bit more thought behind Jellyfist, and for all its gibbering absurdity, its’ a more complicated mess, where even the things I hate spark a bit more thought and conversation than the other book did. Maybe it’s an easy out, but incorporating my bitching into the book itself probably helped push it slightly above being just an inside joke between Jenny and I, and into something that lets the readers in a bit on what leads up to a hideous mutant project like this.

ZE: [laughs] I guess that’s the beauty of collaboration. I mean you both got something you didn’t expect, I’m sure.

JV: Well, she’d never done a book before so this whole thing was comic book boot camp for her… maybe she’s better for the wear that this project had on her mind. I hope she is.

ZE: You have traumatized her beyond repair? Will she ever work in comics again?

JV: Yes, I hope she does. She’s a great talent and a very good friend but whether or not we were designed to work together on a book like this, I don’t know, and I don’t know that we should ever do one again, not like this. Ever.

ZE: So would you say, overall, that you guys are both now happy with it?

JV: I don’t know if she’s even seen it. I kind of kept her in the dark [laughs] at the tail end of the project. I did all the layout on my computer over a few sleepless nights, long after the deadline was broken, and by that point I was so irritated at being made late on a deadline like I had never been before that some vengeful bastard part of me just wanted to do the final bit myself, and not show even her until the thing was published.

ZE: You’re a sadist.

JV: Nope. A masochist. This is comics.

ZE: You’ve been also branching out in several directions in recent years. A lot of your newest stuff involves other collaborations. Could you talk about working with bands and other artists? Is this something you want to pursue further?

JV: It was a while back, but I did the "Shut Me Up" video for Mindless Self Indulgence and people seemed to dig that. Thank YouTube for that one because I think that’s the only place people get to see it. I was pretty jazzed to hear that the band was a fan of my work, and them asking me to do a video of pretty much anything I wanted was awesome since, well, that’s pretty much how I work anyhow. That’s how that one was…they really had no direction other than “do a video” so I listened to the demo song they had sent me, and ended up with a loony retail guy chopping customers in half.

ZE: It’s still kind of on your terms.

JV: Yeah, but working with people in that way there’s always going to be some, you know, some little snags. We had a few on the video, after it was pretty much put together, because once the video was done the band ran into some trouble with airing the video without the band actually appearing in it. There were some changes made to the thing without my being involved, though I wish I had been. I like those guys and I want them to be shown in as cool or fucked up way as possible, but I don’t think the changes helped so much as they kind of flattened the thing.

ZE: You sort of cut your teeth on the comics because your comics have always been particularly cinematic.

JV: Yeah, I think when people say that, I mean, I’m very conscious of trying to do that whether it comes across or not, so when someone says it’s got a very cinematic feel to it, then I’m happy because that makes me think, “Hey, either this person is as visually retarded as I am or they are picking up on something I am successfully conveying, regardless of my otherwise crippling artistic deficiencies.” Hopefully it carries over into the non-illustrative work and into the actual motion picture work I am doing lately.

ZE: More reader questions. Have you ever felt pressure to make your subject matter more mainstream and less dark in nature?

JV: No.

ZE: Are you ever accused of stuff when there are school shootings?

JV: No. You know what, surprisingly no. I’m pretty critically invisible, which might be part of why I don’t get blamed for the school shooting or when I actually do shoot people. I don’t get blamed. Other people get blamed. I’m going to shoot you after this is done.

ZE: [laughs] Is there any subject matter you consciously try to avoid when sitting down to write a script or a comic?

JV: To date, no. It’s never crossed my mind to have to baby-sit anyone’s perception of right or wrong, no, so the only conscious decision making as far as content goes is whether or not an idea is right or wrong for the particular project. I’d love to think that the people who choose to pick my noise up are already well enough equipped with a decent balance of hard reason and absurdist thinking to not need to be sat down and told why something is okay or why it isn’t okay. It’s just like in drawing, the more you know what something is supposed to look like in reality, the better equipped you are to abstract it, to stylize it on purpose and have fun with it instead of simply interpreting it badly for lack of education.

ZE: Alright, someone has to know if you actually have a MySpace.

JV: Someone HAS to know?

ZE: They HAVE to know.

JV: What happens if they don’t find out?

ZE: No, no, listen to the rest, from what they’ve seen of your personality all signs would point to no, but they have seen some pretty convincing profiles.

JV: I’d actually like to know what happens if they just never knew, if they never found out I had a MySpace or not.

ZE: I had to include this question for that very reason.

JV: It sounds important to them. In fact, it sounds like a very big deal to them.

ZE: They have to know.

JV: Let’s have a bit of fun with that and not answer, yeah? Then we’ll scan the news sites for stories about some lunatic guy or girl, probably fifteen years old, clutching a GIR doll in their cold, dead hand, who leapt from a tall building, strapped with explosives after screaming “Why didn’t you friend me, Jhonen!? WHYEEEEEEE?!”.

ZE: They will no longer support your product.

JV: It’s creepy shit, man, how seriously people take that stuff, the levels of accessibility they think everyone should have just because they themselves write a blog about what color their shit was that day. Discretion is a dying artform. By the way, mine was blue.

ZE: Do you like processed American cheese or did you like it as a kid?

JV: That’s a horrible question. That falls into the “zany randomness” category of questioning.

ZE: I don’t know.

JV: But no, I don’t think I’ll answer that because then I’ll have lost all my power. I have to keep my mystery. I have to maintain my mystique.

ZE: [laughs] Will Questionsleep.com ever be updated?

JV: Does this person asking have any internet website building skills? Because maybe it will, maybe that’s the person that will make the site come to life. Let’s just say I’m cursed in terms of finding adequate web design help. Web designers are some of the shiftiest, most flighty, you know, sketchy people I’ve ever known and they’re dirty. They’re dirty people. Unclean, in my experience.

ZE: [laughs]

JV: They’re swarthy types.

ZE: They smell like cinnamon.

JV: No, only Crab smells like cinnamon.

ZE: Crab, sweet Crab.

JV: Only crab smells like delicious cinnamon sprinkles.

ZE: Cinnamon crab.

JV: He rolls in Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

ZE: I could so picture it.

JV: I’m picturing it now.

ZE: Frolicking.

JV: Sparkling.

ZE: [laughs]

JV: Glittering in the night.

ZE: Spends the night rolling in the cereal.

JV: There’s a lesson to be learned there, but I don’t quite know what.

ZE: Hold on here’s my favorite one from a reader. In the director’s cut of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, you mentioned you built a teepee in your back yard. Did you have any other play equipment in the back yard? [laughs] Well, did you?

JV: Jesus…I don’t even remember writing that…or even doing that. I envision a future in which I’ll be using other people’s brains as external hard drives of sorts, retaining memories that I myself have already discarded in favor of shiner, newer ones with more buttons, only, with all the misinformation about me out there I’ll be reclaiming all these diseased, distorted memories that never quite took place.

It wasn’t a teepee I built, but a concentration camp for the local children who opposed my ideas, my visions of the future in which I ruled over the neighborhood and then the planet in a kind and just and occasionally brutally mad way. The children were used as forced labor to build my ziggurat, manned by my army of intelligent insects. You know…that sorta thing.

ZE: That has all been very informative, thank you.

You can buy Jellyfist on Amazon and other Vasquez works at the Slave Labor Graphics goods dispensary. Do visit uncle Jhonen at his website, the never-ever-ever updated Questionsleep.com.

*It is my duty to inform you that i did makeup for that MSI video. UNGH!

by Laurelin (image) I hung his picture last week. I hung it in the kitchen above the stove, the space was perfect and as I pounded the nail into the wall I wondered if this was the right thing to do. It had been shoved in the back of my closet for one year and two months and today I hung it up, finally... more

by Laurelin



I hung his picture last week. I hung it in the kitchen above the stove, the space was perfect and as I pounded the nail into the wall I wondered if this was the right thing to do. It had been shoved in the back of my closet for one year and two months and today I hung it up, finally ready to not vomit when I looked at it. It’s a nice picture. It’s not a photograph: the kid fucking painted it. It’s hands down, the best gift I have ever received in my whole life, and for one year and two months after my 29th birthday the only creature that saw it was my cat when she tried to climb the vertical plastic shoe rack from Target in the back of my closet.

So, last week I hung the picture. I hung it, and when I walked in to the kitchen today to make tacos there it was above the stove as I sautéed the onions. I made tacos. I ate the tacos at the black and silver high top 50s diner style table in my kitchen and they were delicious. The painting watched, and when I was done I smiled and I knew that I had finally done the right thing. That chapter of my life was in plain sight and finally over.

It’s weird not having anything to harp on. Not having that nagging feeling of heartbreak, not having that sinking feeling as I lock the house and head to work or to the bar I hang out at. This feeling of freedom, to see these men and actually be happy to see them, to no longer have to fake it till I make it. My smile is genuine, my invites to events aren’t because I want to win them over but because once we were all friends and finally I am not a fucking idiot, and I can take this for what it always should have been: friends, co-workers, anything but what it was.

It’s like a veil has been lifted from my eyes and I can finally see, and I pray that I can constructively move forward. What did I learn from that last relationship? What did I learn from the last bartenders who broke my heart and what did I learn from the bartenders whose hearts I know I broke? As much as we think we can’t, we always put the pieces back together. We are able to one day not make the same mistakes over again, finally able to look at the bigger picture. And one day, hopefully, we can take that picture out of the closet and hang it in the perfect spot in the kitchen, right above the stove.




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(image) by Jeckyl Suicide (image) Ingredients 2 cups plain flower
 2 tsp baking powder
 5 ml salt
 2 eggs
 1 cup milk
 1 cup castor sugar
 2 tbs instant Cuppacino
 100g butter (room temperature)
 cupcake cups Icing:
 125 ml fresh cream
 1 cup icing sugar
 1 tbs instant coffee powder
... more

by Jeckyl Suicide




Ingredients
2 cups plain flower

2 tsp baking powder

5 ml salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup castor sugar

2 tbs instant Cuppacino

100g butter (room temperature)

cupcake cups

Icing:

125 ml fresh cream

1 cup icing sugar

1 tbs instant coffee powder

mini chocolate balls

Method:


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (celsius). In a bowl, sift together all of your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together your butter and sugar before slowly adding the eggs.
Add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Combine thoroughly before spooning into the cupcake cups, places in a muffin tray to hold them in place.
 Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
 Place onto a rack and allow to cool.

And now for the icing; In a bowl, whip the cream until it's stiff before adding the combined sifted icing sugar and instant coffee powder. Once the cupcakes have cooled, smother them in the coffee cream and then sprinkle with mini chocolate balls to garnish.


Viola!




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In the past few months I’ve spoken with a number of incredibly talented and iconic musicians including Mike Patton, Les Claypool and Page Hamilton. All three of these men have made their nut and name with super cool yet somehow popular music, oftentimes carving out their niche by paying for their music... more

In the past few months I’ve spoken with a number of incredibly talented and iconic musicians including Mike Patton, Les Claypool and Page Hamilton. All three of these men have made their nut and name with super cool yet somehow popular music, oftentimes carving out their niche by paying for their music themselves. Frank Black definitely ranks right up there with these unique performers. Black first cracked the music scene wide open with his preeminent band, The Pixies. In addition to making music with The Pixies, Black has had a exceptional solo career. His newest album, Fast Man Raider Man, is a bit more chill than previous endeavors, but it is certainly no less dynamic.

Buy Fast Man Raider Man

Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up?

Frank Black: I’m just driving my son Julian to camp.

DRE: How old is he?

FB: He’s eight.

DRE: Does he know how cool you are?

FB: Yeah he does [laughs]. He likes to be around sometimes when the press is involved especially photographers. I think he might have ambitions of his own.

DRE: Does he play music yet?

FB: No, we’re going to drama camp today just to give you an idea. He dances and stuff but he is in the Pixies movie.

DRE: I was really surprised when I popped your new album in and found out how mellow it is.

FB: What do you mean? I’ve done mellow before.

DRE: Sure, but I was just surprised that every track seemed mellow. Not in a bad way or anything.

FB: I don’t know, I mean, I’m just, I just feel that you. Well you know…you’re right, it’s mellow. It’s mellow [laughs].

DRE: Did you just not want to put something on there that wouldn’t be as recognizable as a Frank Black song?

FB: No, it doesn’t really work like that. I just write a bunch of songs. The Nashville guys rock more like the Rolling Stones than they realize. But the difference is that they’re all of the same vintage, the same generation. Heck we had Ian McLagan who was almost a Rolling Stone himself. But a lot of these guys, especially the American guys, play with a certain amount of restraint. It’s just the way they play rock music as opposed to people like the Rolling Stones who play things a little more blown out, a little more amped up. So if I like something a bit more restrained or a bit on the mellower side, I think of that situation as extra restrained or extra mellow. But to generalize what they’re actually playing I don’t think it’s dainty or anything like that.

DRE: Right, it is not going to be played on any soft rock stations if that’s what you thought I was saying [laughs].

FB: It is that end of the palette. It has a certain je ne se quoi. Pick something from the really rock end of my career like the record Doolittle. In reference to those records, yes there are songs that are played in an up tempo aggressive style but mixed in among those songs are also mellow songs and songs that are downright silly. So your observation is right, there are not any heavy rock songs on this album. Maybe except a song like Johnny Barleycorn or something but to me a song like End of The Summer is more of a Leonard Cohen-y vibe. Those kinds of songs are truly the heaviest of all. Leonard Cohen doesn’t have to yell at you to get his point across. He just has to say it very calmly and very coolly. It’s macho in a much different way.

DRE: Do you feel like you’re less aggressive personally?

FB: One would hope. One would hope that as a person when you’re 40 years old that you don’t have the same knee jerk spontaneous stupid reactions that you had when you were 25. So hopefully you gain some worldly wisdom and that’s why when you meet an older person and when I say older I mean someone 50 years old and they’re flying off the handle and aggressive and intense, it’s extra awkward [laughs]. You just go “Wow, what’s up with that dude?” If you’re at the mall and you run into some older person who has got all this aggression it feels wrong. As opposed to some younger doofus who belongs to a fraternity. You cut him a lot of slack because you just go, “There’s a guy who doesn’t know a thing about life.”

DRE: For your next project will you swing the other way and do something more aggressive?

FB: Well I don’t have a lot of vision. I just write songs and they come out the way they come out. But I suppose that there might be something in the air before I start to make a record. I might go, “Yeah, I think it’s time to rock out a little bit” or “I think it’s time to not worry about whether or not it’s going to rock and let these dudes play what they’re going to play.” But you don’t necessarily just sit around and make a concentrated effort. You don’t analyze everything that far, you just do it. It’s still rigid and music is still rubbing the muse so you don’t want to pigeonhole the muse.

DRE: I read that you recorded this album in Nashville. Was that important to get certain people to play on the album or did you want a Nashville mindset?

FB: Certainly the engineers and the studios itself have a certain atmosphere which is different than say, LA, London or New York. It is not so much about city but it’s indirectly about the city. Making records is not about ambience. You’re in a room that has four walls and a roof. Frequently it’s an industrial space. In the case of Nashville there are studios in other people’s homes, which is not that uncommon these days, but whatever ambience is at Cowboy Jack’s place is because of Cowboy Jack not because it’s downtown Nashville. Maybe it would be different if I were in New Orleans or something. For me, making records is very much about work. Sometimes the studio will be prepare for your arrival and the assistants will roll out the oriental rugs and start lighting incense and be burning Jesus candles to try to create a vibe, an atmosphere. Some people like working in atmospheres like that but as soon as I arrive, I go “What the heck is going on here? Blow out all these candles and turn on some frigging lights.” I don’t want ambience, I want the ambience to be in my record and I need to see what I’m doing here so I can capture it with my microphone plus the incense dries out your throat. The mood is on the record. It is in the way the people play. It’s not external stimuli, in fact, the less external stimuli you have the better. The less drugs and alcohol the better, maybe some coffee but you don’t want to have lots of stimuli. The muse is a mysterious thing, but then there is also all the practical mechanics of using all of your muscle memory and your knowledge about the way that you play, about the way that the other people play and keeping that heightened. Long gone are the days where the band sits around and says, “Hold on we need another five minutes with the bong here before we can get in the mood to play our art.” That’s just a crock of shit.

So you start to have a more serious approach. A lot of people say, “Oh yeah, you’ve been recording in Paris. There must be something about that city that really helps it be creative.” I would want it to be that way like it is in the movies but truly when you arrive you could be anywhere. There’s the tape machine, there’s the bathroom, there’s the drum room, there’s the control booth so it’s got nothing to do with Paris. You got to be tuned into the record.

DRE: I read that you did the last Pixies tour to pay for Faster Man, is that true?

FB: No. well I guess in a literal sense, maybe. I make money from a variety of sources but I can’t say I’ve ever done a tour to pay for something specifically. You just try to run around and make as much as you can. Sometimes you have good years and sometimes you have bad years.

DRE: You mentioned the Rolling Stones before and very often it seems they will record a new album just to get out there on tour.

FB: They go through a tour to make money and they don’t necessarily need to make a new record. But if the Rolling Stones don’t put out a new record that maybe just a 100,000 people are going to go buy it’s symbolically bad because you’re not a viable premium band, you’re county fair. That’s what The Pixies have to do at this point, we’re at that junction where we’ve got to decide if we a creative viable force now or are we county fair. Right now we’re still getting away with playing a few gigs under the guise of a reunion. That’s worked great but it can only last so long.

DRE: Can you clarify whether or not The Pixies are doing any new work?

FB: The thing is, I can say things and people can interpret what I say however they usually have some preconceived notion that they want to be confirmed. So if I say “Gee, I don’t know if we’re going to make a record.” Then, The Pixies Will Never Record Again is the headline. If I say we might record then the headline is Pixies to Record a New Album. I’m not a politician or Kofi Annan but you guys or your editors, if you’re in the mood, will just make stuff up. Even if it’s not in the interview. It happens to me all the time.

DRE: I’m sure it does.

FB: The British are the worst of all. The other day I did an interview and they even had the nerve to print the interview in a question and answer format to give the illusion that this is what I said verbatim. They actually printed all my responses verbatim, which would be fine, but the clever part was they didn’t change what I said; they changed what the questions were. That cast my answers in a whole different light. I had been thinking about writing to the editor saying “Shame on you! I know I’m just some rock dude and you’re just some goofy rock magazine, but you’re giving everyone the impression that I’m responding to question x but you didn’t give me question x you gave me question y. You’re deceiving everybody. You could have just asked me the question and now you’ll never know the real answer.”

It could be termed as a “juicy question” but they didn’t say it to me in a really juicy way, they phrased it to me in a dull way. So I gave them a little answer when they could have had the juicy answer to the juicy question. Now they’ll never know because they didn’t have the guts to just ask me the question because they assumed that I would get all thrown in a tizzy and hang the phone up or something. That isn’t true. I’ve only hung a phone up once in my life on a journalist and I’ve never restricted a journalist ever from asking me anything.

DRE: Would you like to do more Pixies material?

FB: I would love to.

DRE: What do the other people in the band want to do?

FB: The main thing the band is wrestling with is that we haven’t put out a record in 12 years but the records that we did put out are held in fairly high esteem. They’re all still in print and you don’t want to mess with that necessarily. You don’t want to screw it up by putting out a bad record or even a record that’s really great but everyone says it’s bad. So there’s a lot of hesitation, if there weren’t a lot of hesitation maybe we would have made a record three years ago. But here it is three years into the reunion and we’re going “Yeah, I think I’d like to make a new record. Should we?” We haven’t had any reason to make a new record until about now.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck