Let's try cooking the Neva Dinova way. You'll need a thousand fish pellets, some habaero, and a pound of Bush's baked beans. Add in a touch of dreamy sadcore indie pop, a mournful tenor croon, and get yourself on the LA Times' Staff Top Ten Records of 2002. The results are perfect for those Sunday mornings when your heart can't handle anything beyond the space of your headphones. After years of kicking around Nebraska and selfishly keeping this excellent record to themselves, Neva Dinova joined Crank! and decided to let the rest of the world in on what everyone in Omaha already knows:
Keith Daniels: How much time have you got?
Lead guitarist and vocalist Jake Bellows: I got plenty of time. I actually had a buddy who stayed up too late last night and gave the fish a thousand pieces of food. So while we're doing this I'm going to try and fish some of these pellets of food out of the fish bowl...
KD: [laughs] Is it really true that they'll just keep eating as long as there's food?
JB: Yeah, and also your tank will get some sort of fungus problem. [sound of things banging in the background] I can't find a suitable tool for this job. I've never done this before. A spoon would seem to work, but I need a longer spoon than I'm using... I'll figure it out, it's ok. Don't worry.
KD: A lot of the songs on this album deal with the question of god, like "Jesus' Choir", "Lucifer's Lament". What's your concept of the afterlife?
JB: Well I've just got a lot of questions I suppose just like everyone else. Just guessing, taking shots in the dark. I don't really have a very well-defined concept of it, but it's just a bunch of ideas and theories. I have no idea. I'd like to think that there's something around that.
KD: Were you raised in church?
JB: Yeah, when we were little we used to go to church, and go to church camps in the summer. Church camps were usually pretty fun. Just go canoeing down rivers and stuff. It's really just a good way to go on vacation without having to take your parents with you.
KD: What was the one thing you did at church camp that you're probably going to Hell for?
JB: Oh, one time... Well it wasn't something I did that made me think I was going to Hell for what I was doing then... but it was that God knew, and he was going to send me to Hell, and this is how I know. All the kids would have different jobs, and one time we had to clean the ladies' restroom. Something had happened in there, something awful. Everybody else went straight to their area of the ladies' bathroom and started cleaning, and I kicked open this one stall and something terrible had gotten itself all over the wall. I'd never seen anything like it. It was if somebody had taken a fire hose full of human shit and filled a turtle up with it until it exploded. There was like shell and stuff... I don't know what the Hell it was. I said "Guys, get out here. I'm getting a hose. I think I'm just going to spray this whole bitch down. I don't think I'm going to touch any of that shit." [laughs] So we just hosed the whole thing down. We ended up soaking a bunch of sanitary napkins; the machine popped open. It was kind of a disaster, but anyway, I was pretty sure that God had a hand in that bitch.
KD: [laughs] And that's what led you to be skeptical about Christianity?
JB: Well, I just knew that somebody was keeping a little bit too close of an eye. I didn't appreciate that, being watched all the time.
KD: Would you still consider yourself a Christian?
JB: Yeah, I think so. Actually, not exactly a Christian. I believe in God, and I like stories of good people and things like that. It doesn't matter to me whether it's Mahatma, or somebody they make up. It doesn't matter to me whether the stories are true. It's just kindof fun.
KD: It's hard to avoid religion when you live in the Midwest.
JB: Yeah, that's true.
KD: I'm from Oklahoma, so...
JB: Oh? What city?
KD: Oklahoma City.
JB: Oh yeah, went through there one time. I didn't really get to stop and do anything. I kindof wanted to, but I didn't know what to do -- so I just kept going. Hey, where do you live right now? Where's 405?
KD: Oklahoma City.
JB: So you're there right now. I never understand why people leave their hometown. It just seems like where you have your friends and family is where you would want to stay, but people have a desire to get up and go. It's understandable, but I would miss my brother I think.
KD: That's another thing about living in the Midwest. Everyone's always moving away to California, or New York.
JB: Yeah, everybody always wants to bail. You always lose people. It's too bad. My cousin just moved out to Los Angeles, and she's wanting to be one of those Victoria's Secret sales-people at the store.
KD: What is Victoria's Secret, anyway?
JB: Well, I thought it was just a soft-core porno mag. That's how I always treated it.
KD: [laughs] No, I mean, what's her secret.
JB: Oh! I'm sure it's a good one. She guards it with her life. I think it's under one of those bras. We'll figure it out.
KD: What's in the water in Omaha? Why are there so many great bands [Bright Eyes, Cursive, the Faint] coming out of there right now?
JB: Y'know, I hope it's a sign of things to come about, not necessarily Omaha, but about the way that responsible artists and bands are starting to link arms and help each other up the mountain. For a long time, especially in music, it seems like bands and artists were trying so hard to do something for themselves that they didn't end up helping each other very much. They feel like they've gotten screwed a thousand times, so why do they need to go out on a limb for any of their buddies, or any of the bands that they think are good? It seems like in Omaha they're starting to use a little bit of a different formula. They're starting to say, "Geez, y'know, we like music too. We're music fans first, and then musicians. Maybe we'd like to see some of the bands that we like get to play for people." So it seems like some of the bands are starting to help each other out.
KD: A Three Musketeers kindof thing.
JB: Yeah! It's pretty nice. Not all the band reap tons of the benefits, I guess, but more than before. So I think it's a nice thing. A good deal.
KD: Music in general seems to be getting better. I can't remember a time when there were more great bands, from everywhere. Do you think that what's happening in Omaha applies to the whole world? Or is it just music getting better when the world is shitty?
JB: Well I think the world's probably still pretty shitty, but I don't know. That's not what you meant is it? Let me understand your question... would you mind saying it again?
[I rephrase the question.]
Yeah, I wonder, y'know? I've actually heard the word "zeitgeist" thrown around pretty often about what people are doing, and the paths they've taken with music. I think that it's become less respectable to just try and sell records. Musicians, despite what everybody thinks, are just like everyone else. They want to be cool, and it ain't cool to suck anymore. So I think everybody's trying to be better than that.
KD: Who are some of your favorites among the new bands that you've heard?
JB: You know that Icelandic band... I can't really pronounce the name because I'm from the Midwest, so I just say "Sugar Ross". I heard a song from them, and I thought they were awesome. There's another one I heard the other day... The Notwist? You know those guys? Some sortof German band. They write their lyrics in English but they use it in such a haiku style. They use the words in such a mathematical way that it ends up having all these nice entendres. It's really good, and the music is great on top of it. You wouldn't think a bunch of people writing lyrics in a language that they don't speak would be that great, but it's really good. I'm trying to think of some more bands... I know there are a bunch of 'em, but... [silence] You wouldn't believe how many pieces of goldfish pellets are in this! There must be a thousand in here, and they're all just lining the top. I don't know how to get it.
KD: I dunno, spaghetti strainer?
JB: See that would be smart, but I can't fit it down through the hole that I've got to use right now. I'm trying to use a napkin...
KD: Uh... cheese grater?
JB: Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Maybe. I'll see if we got one of those. Anyway, we don't have to talk about goldfish pellets.
KD: [laughs] Neva Dinova formed in 1993. Why did it take seven years for a record to come out?
JB: Well... it actually didn't. I mean, it took seven years for somebody else to put out a record of ours. We actually put it out before Crank! put it out.
KD: Yeah, I was thinking that you self-released it in 2000.
JB: Yeah, we've actually done that three or four times. [laughs] We've been around that long. We've got a bunch of songs we've recorded, and pressed up, and tried to get somebody to listen to, but, y'know, it's difficult. If you've got no reason to listen to it, and nobody has had a reason so far... It seems like a record label, regardless of what other things they might do, does lend you at least a little bit of credibility so that somebody might give you a chance that wouldn't normally. That's helped us a little bit. Although, y'know, I don't think we've sold too many records. I think a hundred or so.
KD: You've been working on the band full-time for several years, but some of the other members of the band have day jobs. I assume they haven't been able to quit yet.
JB: Yeah, that's true. I can't really afford to quit, either. I actually quit for other reasons. It wasn't like I broke my back, but I blew up my L5.
KD: Your what?
JB: My L5. My disk. It exploded while I was up at work, and I couldn't straighten my right leg for a while. We had to go through workman's comp. It's the biggest fucking pain in the ass. I tell ya, if the devil exists, he works at St. Paul Fire & Marine. Fucking insurance company.
KD: So what's the trick to getting by when you're poor?
JB: I've got a buddy who runs a Chinese restaurant in north Omaha, and he'll hook me up with a meal just like a prince if I need one and haven't eaten in a while. What else that happens is... I've been trying to learn how to hustle pool, but I'm not good enough to do it yet. I'll get a hundred bucks, and I'll be like "Ok, this is seed money." I'll go out and play a couple of money games, but what happens is I go and I try to play and I'm not good enough, so I keep renting pool-table time. I end up spending all my money renting the pool-table time, and never actually getting to wager at all. I don't really like to bet, anyway. Like, the casino... I don't know if it's a funny joke anymore to act like you want to blow a place up, but the casino... I don't like it.
KD: You have a casino in Omaha?
JB: Well, just across the river.
KD: Indian casino?
JB: Yeah, Indians own some land over there. You can start a casino out there and not really worry about it, if you're an Indian.
KD: I think it's great that the Indians are running casinos. Maybe they'll get lucky and win back their land from the white people.
JB: Yeah, man. [laughs] I've got this good buddy Craig, and we're always joking anytime we're out to the bar. We'll be talking to somebody, and he walks off to the bathroom. If he comes back and I'm standing in his spot he's like "You guys are always trying to steal our land." [laughs] Just a spot at the bar and he's all pissed off.
KD: I remember being so poor one time that I was eating peanut butter right out of the jar with a plastic spoon.
JB: Ooh, a plastic spoon? I think it tastes better with a... [laughs] I agree with ya, it's not bad. Well, the other day I was going through all the cupboards in my friend Keith's house. That's where we keep all our equipment, so that's where I spend most of my time playing music, and all I could find was sixteen ounces of Bush's Baked Beans. I mean, that's a pound of beans man! I threw it on the range, and put some Habaero in it, thinking that if I spice it up it won't be like a pound of beans. [laughs] But it was. It was just like eating a pound of beans.
KD: When the band was first starting, which list was longer? The things you wanted to do, or the things you didn't want to do.
JB: We've been trying to keep it real simple. We started out so principled. We were pretty young, so it was like we were all principled at that point. It was like, right before you start thinking that you're actually stupid, so you think you're real smart. There were more things that we wanted to do, and there were only a couple of things. We wanted to play music, we wanted to improve, and that was it. We tried not to focus on getting the message out. It doesn't make you good because people hear your music, and it doesn't make you good just because you're on a record label. It's just a crap shoot to get somebody to put out your record. There are a ton of good bands that end up giving up because they can't afford to do it, or whatever. We just decided that we were going to play music until we were crotchety old men because Heath's grandpa always played in a country band that was just kickass. We thought, "Man, what a great way to do things. You can just play music your whole life and it doesn't really matter if you do well, or not." You just get to play.
KD: About what age is that when you realize that you're actually stupid?
JB: That was about 17. The tail-end of that one was pretty revealing.
KD: Do you have any non-music-related hobbies or collections?
JB: I like to play pool, I mentioned it. I enjoy riding mountain bikes, but since I hurt my spine I haven't done it. It's been months since my surgery so I should just get out and get on it, but I loaned my bike to a buddy of mine in another band called Race For Titles, who are a real good band from this area too. That doesn't necessarily include us. I think we're a decent band, but we've got a long ways to go. I'm excited to try and record another CD.
KD: Have you started on that yet?
JB: Yeah, we've done a bunch of preliminary recordings in the basement. Four-track and some eight-track, which has gone pretty well. Just trying to look for the vision, and get it right. I like to record it before we go into the studio so we know what we're doing.
KD: You don't have to use up as much studio time then.
JB: For sure, for sure. That's where you end up screwing yourself. You go in there and you don't know what you're doing, and use up all your studio time. By the time you figure out how to do the song you're out of money and the engineer hates you. I remember this one time when we were down recording in Presto it was funny because A.J., the guy we were recording with, is real quiet at first. He doesn't have much to say. He's a scientist, and a great engineer. He's highly educated, and we're kindof base, crass, as humans. Our jokes and things are pretty low-brow. We were hanging out outside, and this guy comes rolling down the road in his wheelchair, one of those electronic kinds, and he pulls up and he goes "Hey, do you guys know where Priscilla's is?" A.J. was like "God that rings a bell, Priscilla's, what the hell is that?" "Isn't it like an adult novelty-shop just up the street?" I'm thinking to myself, and then A.J. remembers that, yeah, it's just up the street, and it's some sort of masturbation club, y'know? And I just happened to glance down at this dude's trousers and he's got this wet spot. Poor fella. I think that maybe it's too late for Priscilla's. [laughs] Like the mood struck him but his chair wasn't fast enough to get him there, and now I don't have the heart to tell him because I don't think he has feeling below the waist. I'm not going to tell him. Shoot, I'll just let him go down and check it out.
KD: Who's your all time guitar hero?
JB: There are a couple of guitar players that I'm way into. One of them, I wish I knew his name [Joe Jack Talcum], plays guitar in The Dead Milkmen. He just knew how to play. Lightnin' Hopkins, and naturally I'm a big fan of Hendrix. I'm a little spaced out. I set my alarm for noon so that I would make sure and catch you, and it takes a little while to get my brain working.
KD: That's surprising, that you like Lightnin' Hopkins. Do you like a lot of rockabilly? Gene Vincent and all that?
JB: I actually don't know too much of it. I ran into a recording of Lightnin' Hopkins one time doing "Trouble In Mind", and I was just blown away. I thought it was so great. It was so tasteful. I prefer that to just straight guitar wanking, but that's not really what I do. I'm more of a wanker, I guess, [laughs] but I really appreciate that.
KD: Chet Atkins would be good in that...
JB: Oh Chet Atkins, yeah, I've got a couple of his records downstairs too. I think he's awesome. Contemporaries, I would say Doug Martsch from Built To Spill.
KD: What record in your collection would surprise someone the most?
JB: Normally the Eminem stuff would surprise people. I think he's a great poet, and I always wanted to be in a rap group when I was a kid, like Run D.M.C. and Erik B. & Rakim and all those giants. I don't have that many cds, but I love Johnny Thunders, I love the New York Dolls. I love the Flaming Lips. That new album just kicks ass. Oh man, isn't it just like...? It really was kindof depressing to listen to, because it was so good. It just seemed like so many levels above what everybody's trying to do. Do you work for these guys as a living, Suicidegirls?
KD: Sortof. Right now I have a day job.
JB: What a kick-ass job that would be, huh?
KD: I don't actually get to hang out with the models or anything, [laughs] but I do get to talk about music all day so...
JB: Well that's what I'm talking about. I've heard about these models. We have hot indie-rock girls here too, but it's a little different. They'll ride a burro to town. That's my favorite joke, nobody knows about Omaha, they think it's pretty much cornfields and cows. So I like to perpetuate the myth. Our girls, y'know, they're indie rock and everything, but with overalls.
KD: What's the population of Omaha, anyway?
JB: I would say that it's definitely creeping on a million. Maybe not just city limits, but including your suburbs. It's kindof a sprawled-out city. It's got a lot of the same characteristics as a lot of Midwestern towns. It's like everybody just wanted a big chunk of land.
KD: And there's no ocean or anything to stop 'em.
JB: Yeah, it just keeps going in whatever direction.
KD: What's the best music to listen to while driving?
JB: I'd have to say Django Reinhardt, who I forgot to say is my all time guitar hero. I like to throw in some Django. The dude's constantly amazing. You can listen to his CDs a bunch of times and then you hear it full out and you're like "What the Hell did he just do?" Fantastic. Did you ever see that movie Sweet and Lowdown?
KD: I don't think so...
JB: Sean Penn plays a guitar player. He's like the second greatest guitar player of all time, and the only person better was some crazy French gypsy [modeled on Django Reinhardt] who always makes him cry.
KD: You've got to watch out for those French gypsies.
JB: Yeah, exactly. We've got a French gypsy of sorts working with us at the record label. His name is Fred Emery. He's a champ, but he's from France, so we like to give him a little bit of hell... I finally got all those pellets out of there! I've been working on that the whole time. I'm like breathing hard! I've never lifted that many pellets in such a short amount of time.
Listen to
"Dances Fantastic"
More MP3s and information can be found at NevaDinova.com.
Keith Daniels: How much time have you got?
Lead guitarist and vocalist Jake Bellows: I got plenty of time. I actually had a buddy who stayed up too late last night and gave the fish a thousand pieces of food. So while we're doing this I'm going to try and fish some of these pellets of food out of the fish bowl...
KD: [laughs] Is it really true that they'll just keep eating as long as there's food?
JB: Yeah, and also your tank will get some sort of fungus problem. [sound of things banging in the background] I can't find a suitable tool for this job. I've never done this before. A spoon would seem to work, but I need a longer spoon than I'm using... I'll figure it out, it's ok. Don't worry.
KD: A lot of the songs on this album deal with the question of god, like "Jesus' Choir", "Lucifer's Lament". What's your concept of the afterlife?
JB: Well I've just got a lot of questions I suppose just like everyone else. Just guessing, taking shots in the dark. I don't really have a very well-defined concept of it, but it's just a bunch of ideas and theories. I have no idea. I'd like to think that there's something around that.
KD: Were you raised in church?
JB: Yeah, when we were little we used to go to church, and go to church camps in the summer. Church camps were usually pretty fun. Just go canoeing down rivers and stuff. It's really just a good way to go on vacation without having to take your parents with you.
KD: What was the one thing you did at church camp that you're probably going to Hell for?
JB: Oh, one time... Well it wasn't something I did that made me think I was going to Hell for what I was doing then... but it was that God knew, and he was going to send me to Hell, and this is how I know. All the kids would have different jobs, and one time we had to clean the ladies' restroom. Something had happened in there, something awful. Everybody else went straight to their area of the ladies' bathroom and started cleaning, and I kicked open this one stall and something terrible had gotten itself all over the wall. I'd never seen anything like it. It was if somebody had taken a fire hose full of human shit and filled a turtle up with it until it exploded. There was like shell and stuff... I don't know what the Hell it was. I said "Guys, get out here. I'm getting a hose. I think I'm just going to spray this whole bitch down. I don't think I'm going to touch any of that shit." [laughs] So we just hosed the whole thing down. We ended up soaking a bunch of sanitary napkins; the machine popped open. It was kind of a disaster, but anyway, I was pretty sure that God had a hand in that bitch.
KD: [laughs] And that's what led you to be skeptical about Christianity?
JB: Well, I just knew that somebody was keeping a little bit too close of an eye. I didn't appreciate that, being watched all the time.
KD: Would you still consider yourself a Christian?
JB: Yeah, I think so. Actually, not exactly a Christian. I believe in God, and I like stories of good people and things like that. It doesn't matter to me whether it's Mahatma, or somebody they make up. It doesn't matter to me whether the stories are true. It's just kindof fun.
KD: It's hard to avoid religion when you live in the Midwest.
JB: Yeah, that's true.
KD: I'm from Oklahoma, so...
JB: Oh? What city?
KD: Oklahoma City.
JB: Oh yeah, went through there one time. I didn't really get to stop and do anything. I kindof wanted to, but I didn't know what to do -- so I just kept going. Hey, where do you live right now? Where's 405?
KD: Oklahoma City.
JB: So you're there right now. I never understand why people leave their hometown. It just seems like where you have your friends and family is where you would want to stay, but people have a desire to get up and go. It's understandable, but I would miss my brother I think.
KD: That's another thing about living in the Midwest. Everyone's always moving away to California, or New York.
JB: Yeah, everybody always wants to bail. You always lose people. It's too bad. My cousin just moved out to Los Angeles, and she's wanting to be one of those Victoria's Secret sales-people at the store.
KD: What is Victoria's Secret, anyway?
JB: Well, I thought it was just a soft-core porno mag. That's how I always treated it.
KD: [laughs] No, I mean, what's her secret.
JB: Oh! I'm sure it's a good one. She guards it with her life. I think it's under one of those bras. We'll figure it out.
KD: What's in the water in Omaha? Why are there so many great bands [Bright Eyes, Cursive, the Faint] coming out of there right now?
JB: Y'know, I hope it's a sign of things to come about, not necessarily Omaha, but about the way that responsible artists and bands are starting to link arms and help each other up the mountain. For a long time, especially in music, it seems like bands and artists were trying so hard to do something for themselves that they didn't end up helping each other very much. They feel like they've gotten screwed a thousand times, so why do they need to go out on a limb for any of their buddies, or any of the bands that they think are good? It seems like in Omaha they're starting to use a little bit of a different formula. They're starting to say, "Geez, y'know, we like music too. We're music fans first, and then musicians. Maybe we'd like to see some of the bands that we like get to play for people." So it seems like some of the bands are starting to help each other out.
KD: A Three Musketeers kindof thing.
JB: Yeah! It's pretty nice. Not all the band reap tons of the benefits, I guess, but more than before. So I think it's a nice thing. A good deal.
KD: Music in general seems to be getting better. I can't remember a time when there were more great bands, from everywhere. Do you think that what's happening in Omaha applies to the whole world? Or is it just music getting better when the world is shitty?
JB: Well I think the world's probably still pretty shitty, but I don't know. That's not what you meant is it? Let me understand your question... would you mind saying it again?
[I rephrase the question.]
Yeah, I wonder, y'know? I've actually heard the word "zeitgeist" thrown around pretty often about what people are doing, and the paths they've taken with music. I think that it's become less respectable to just try and sell records. Musicians, despite what everybody thinks, are just like everyone else. They want to be cool, and it ain't cool to suck anymore. So I think everybody's trying to be better than that.
KD: Who are some of your favorites among the new bands that you've heard?
JB: You know that Icelandic band... I can't really pronounce the name because I'm from the Midwest, so I just say "Sugar Ross". I heard a song from them, and I thought they were awesome. There's another one I heard the other day... The Notwist? You know those guys? Some sortof German band. They write their lyrics in English but they use it in such a haiku style. They use the words in such a mathematical way that it ends up having all these nice entendres. It's really good, and the music is great on top of it. You wouldn't think a bunch of people writing lyrics in a language that they don't speak would be that great, but it's really good. I'm trying to think of some more bands... I know there are a bunch of 'em, but... [silence] You wouldn't believe how many pieces of goldfish pellets are in this! There must be a thousand in here, and they're all just lining the top. I don't know how to get it.
KD: I dunno, spaghetti strainer?
JB: See that would be smart, but I can't fit it down through the hole that I've got to use right now. I'm trying to use a napkin...
KD: Uh... cheese grater?
JB: Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Maybe. I'll see if we got one of those. Anyway, we don't have to talk about goldfish pellets.
KD: [laughs] Neva Dinova formed in 1993. Why did it take seven years for a record to come out?
JB: Well... it actually didn't. I mean, it took seven years for somebody else to put out a record of ours. We actually put it out before Crank! put it out.
KD: Yeah, I was thinking that you self-released it in 2000.
JB: Yeah, we've actually done that three or four times. [laughs] We've been around that long. We've got a bunch of songs we've recorded, and pressed up, and tried to get somebody to listen to, but, y'know, it's difficult. If you've got no reason to listen to it, and nobody has had a reason so far... It seems like a record label, regardless of what other things they might do, does lend you at least a little bit of credibility so that somebody might give you a chance that wouldn't normally. That's helped us a little bit. Although, y'know, I don't think we've sold too many records. I think a hundred or so.
KD: You've been working on the band full-time for several years, but some of the other members of the band have day jobs. I assume they haven't been able to quit yet.
JB: Yeah, that's true. I can't really afford to quit, either. I actually quit for other reasons. It wasn't like I broke my back, but I blew up my L5.
KD: Your what?
JB: My L5. My disk. It exploded while I was up at work, and I couldn't straighten my right leg for a while. We had to go through workman's comp. It's the biggest fucking pain in the ass. I tell ya, if the devil exists, he works at St. Paul Fire & Marine. Fucking insurance company.
KD: So what's the trick to getting by when you're poor?
JB: I've got a buddy who runs a Chinese restaurant in north Omaha, and he'll hook me up with a meal just like a prince if I need one and haven't eaten in a while. What else that happens is... I've been trying to learn how to hustle pool, but I'm not good enough to do it yet. I'll get a hundred bucks, and I'll be like "Ok, this is seed money." I'll go out and play a couple of money games, but what happens is I go and I try to play and I'm not good enough, so I keep renting pool-table time. I end up spending all my money renting the pool-table time, and never actually getting to wager at all. I don't really like to bet, anyway. Like, the casino... I don't know if it's a funny joke anymore to act like you want to blow a place up, but the casino... I don't like it.
KD: You have a casino in Omaha?
JB: Well, just across the river.
KD: Indian casino?
JB: Yeah, Indians own some land over there. You can start a casino out there and not really worry about it, if you're an Indian.
KD: I think it's great that the Indians are running casinos. Maybe they'll get lucky and win back their land from the white people.
JB: Yeah, man. [laughs] I've got this good buddy Craig, and we're always joking anytime we're out to the bar. We'll be talking to somebody, and he walks off to the bathroom. If he comes back and I'm standing in his spot he's like "You guys are always trying to steal our land." [laughs] Just a spot at the bar and he's all pissed off.
KD: I remember being so poor one time that I was eating peanut butter right out of the jar with a plastic spoon.
JB: Ooh, a plastic spoon? I think it tastes better with a... [laughs] I agree with ya, it's not bad. Well, the other day I was going through all the cupboards in my friend Keith's house. That's where we keep all our equipment, so that's where I spend most of my time playing music, and all I could find was sixteen ounces of Bush's Baked Beans. I mean, that's a pound of beans man! I threw it on the range, and put some Habaero in it, thinking that if I spice it up it won't be like a pound of beans. [laughs] But it was. It was just like eating a pound of beans.
KD: When the band was first starting, which list was longer? The things you wanted to do, or the things you didn't want to do.
JB: We've been trying to keep it real simple. We started out so principled. We were pretty young, so it was like we were all principled at that point. It was like, right before you start thinking that you're actually stupid, so you think you're real smart. There were more things that we wanted to do, and there were only a couple of things. We wanted to play music, we wanted to improve, and that was it. We tried not to focus on getting the message out. It doesn't make you good because people hear your music, and it doesn't make you good just because you're on a record label. It's just a crap shoot to get somebody to put out your record. There are a ton of good bands that end up giving up because they can't afford to do it, or whatever. We just decided that we were going to play music until we were crotchety old men because Heath's grandpa always played in a country band that was just kickass. We thought, "Man, what a great way to do things. You can just play music your whole life and it doesn't really matter if you do well, or not." You just get to play.
KD: About what age is that when you realize that you're actually stupid?
JB: That was about 17. The tail-end of that one was pretty revealing.
KD: Do you have any non-music-related hobbies or collections?
JB: I like to play pool, I mentioned it. I enjoy riding mountain bikes, but since I hurt my spine I haven't done it. It's been months since my surgery so I should just get out and get on it, but I loaned my bike to a buddy of mine in another band called Race For Titles, who are a real good band from this area too. That doesn't necessarily include us. I think we're a decent band, but we've got a long ways to go. I'm excited to try and record another CD.
KD: Have you started on that yet?
JB: Yeah, we've done a bunch of preliminary recordings in the basement. Four-track and some eight-track, which has gone pretty well. Just trying to look for the vision, and get it right. I like to record it before we go into the studio so we know what we're doing.
KD: You don't have to use up as much studio time then.
JB: For sure, for sure. That's where you end up screwing yourself. You go in there and you don't know what you're doing, and use up all your studio time. By the time you figure out how to do the song you're out of money and the engineer hates you. I remember this one time when we were down recording in Presto it was funny because A.J., the guy we were recording with, is real quiet at first. He doesn't have much to say. He's a scientist, and a great engineer. He's highly educated, and we're kindof base, crass, as humans. Our jokes and things are pretty low-brow. We were hanging out outside, and this guy comes rolling down the road in his wheelchair, one of those electronic kinds, and he pulls up and he goes "Hey, do you guys know where Priscilla's is?" A.J. was like "God that rings a bell, Priscilla's, what the hell is that?" "Isn't it like an adult novelty-shop just up the street?" I'm thinking to myself, and then A.J. remembers that, yeah, it's just up the street, and it's some sort of masturbation club, y'know? And I just happened to glance down at this dude's trousers and he's got this wet spot. Poor fella. I think that maybe it's too late for Priscilla's. [laughs] Like the mood struck him but his chair wasn't fast enough to get him there, and now I don't have the heart to tell him because I don't think he has feeling below the waist. I'm not going to tell him. Shoot, I'll just let him go down and check it out.
KD: Who's your all time guitar hero?
JB: There are a couple of guitar players that I'm way into. One of them, I wish I knew his name [Joe Jack Talcum], plays guitar in The Dead Milkmen. He just knew how to play. Lightnin' Hopkins, and naturally I'm a big fan of Hendrix. I'm a little spaced out. I set my alarm for noon so that I would make sure and catch you, and it takes a little while to get my brain working.
KD: That's surprising, that you like Lightnin' Hopkins. Do you like a lot of rockabilly? Gene Vincent and all that?
JB: I actually don't know too much of it. I ran into a recording of Lightnin' Hopkins one time doing "Trouble In Mind", and I was just blown away. I thought it was so great. It was so tasteful. I prefer that to just straight guitar wanking, but that's not really what I do. I'm more of a wanker, I guess, [laughs] but I really appreciate that.
KD: Chet Atkins would be good in that...
JB: Oh Chet Atkins, yeah, I've got a couple of his records downstairs too. I think he's awesome. Contemporaries, I would say Doug Martsch from Built To Spill.
KD: What record in your collection would surprise someone the most?
JB: Normally the Eminem stuff would surprise people. I think he's a great poet, and I always wanted to be in a rap group when I was a kid, like Run D.M.C. and Erik B. & Rakim and all those giants. I don't have that many cds, but I love Johnny Thunders, I love the New York Dolls. I love the Flaming Lips. That new album just kicks ass. Oh man, isn't it just like...? It really was kindof depressing to listen to, because it was so good. It just seemed like so many levels above what everybody's trying to do. Do you work for these guys as a living, Suicidegirls?
KD: Sortof. Right now I have a day job.
JB: What a kick-ass job that would be, huh?
KD: I don't actually get to hang out with the models or anything, [laughs] but I do get to talk about music all day so...
JB: Well that's what I'm talking about. I've heard about these models. We have hot indie-rock girls here too, but it's a little different. They'll ride a burro to town. That's my favorite joke, nobody knows about Omaha, they think it's pretty much cornfields and cows. So I like to perpetuate the myth. Our girls, y'know, they're indie rock and everything, but with overalls.
KD: What's the population of Omaha, anyway?
JB: I would say that it's definitely creeping on a million. Maybe not just city limits, but including your suburbs. It's kindof a sprawled-out city. It's got a lot of the same characteristics as a lot of Midwestern towns. It's like everybody just wanted a big chunk of land.
KD: And there's no ocean or anything to stop 'em.
JB: Yeah, it just keeps going in whatever direction.
KD: What's the best music to listen to while driving?
JB: I'd have to say Django Reinhardt, who I forgot to say is my all time guitar hero. I like to throw in some Django. The dude's constantly amazing. You can listen to his CDs a bunch of times and then you hear it full out and you're like "What the Hell did he just do?" Fantastic. Did you ever see that movie Sweet and Lowdown?
KD: I don't think so...
JB: Sean Penn plays a guitar player. He's like the second greatest guitar player of all time, and the only person better was some crazy French gypsy [modeled on Django Reinhardt] who always makes him cry.
KD: You've got to watch out for those French gypsies.
JB: Yeah, exactly. We've got a French gypsy of sorts working with us at the record label. His name is Fred Emery. He's a champ, but he's from France, so we like to give him a little bit of hell... I finally got all those pellets out of there! I've been working on that the whole time. I'm like breathing hard! I've never lifted that many pellets in such a short amount of time.
Listen to
"Dances Fantastic"
More MP3s and information can be found at NevaDinova.com.
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
starbuck42:
I ♥ Neva Dinova.
yuki:
oh i love them