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Warning: this contains alot of bad language and obscene talk that may not be appropriate for younger readers. So if you are under 18, or are an adult who is offended easily, DO NOT READ THIS. QUESTION: What is Darvoset’s opinion on world issue messages in an artists’ work? Is there a belief system or philosophy the band shares about music and what it should and should not consist of? JAY- Hmmmm. Sure you got the time to listen to this answer? We have many views about music; I’ll discuss 2 of them for you. The other guys can jump in when they want to. This will be a long answer. If you don’t like to read, skip this part by scrolling down. Lol. Firstly, to try and be original. Key word being TRY. You can’t always achieve originality, but you have to care. It’s obvious which bands just don’t give a fuck. I mean the ones who totally model themselves on a favorite band of theirs and just rip them off over and over again. The minute we think a song is too much like something else, we cut it. I throw away so many good chord progressions if I think it’s overly familiar. It’s hard to be catchy and not repeat the same old patterns. It’s all been done. That’s the reason we like to play darker music. There are more possibilities for patterns and forms that aren’t that friendly to the human ear. If you go outside Western major scales, the chances are better that you’re not gonna repeat a hit song, as hit songs generally do not utilize non Western sounding scales. If you want an all major chord catchy song that is gonna hit radio, it’s a 99.9% chance you’re doing someone else’s hit song from the past with new words. We’re not just about lyrics as many bands are. The actual arrangements and melodies of the instruments have got to be fresh too. DREW- Too many bands just strum the same boring overused C F and G chords over their own lyrics. Never expanding on the notation, never going outside the key signature for some interesting accidentals and harmonies. That would put us in a coma. KRISTINE- Another “philosophy” is about honoring the music. Meaning, writing music for music’s sake, not to get out some kinda message about toxic waste or whatever. Messages are fine, if it’s not the reason you make music. Get into music if you love performing music; don’t play music cuz you love preaching about 3rd world countries. Go off and do that; become a lecture hall professor - you don’t need music to do that. JAY- If your commitment is to songs and music first, and your message second, that’s cool. As long as your songs are good, you can sing them all about War crimes in Iraq for all I care. But a shitty, off key, unimaginative melody set to great lyrics about the rain forests depletion is still a shitty song to me. I’d rather see a musician learn all he can about the language of music, learn some new chords, master their instrument- than mouth off about why fur is bad. Time spent lecturing is time you could have been practicing your bass or guitar, getting better. The combination of messages with quality playing can be magic, it’s when the playing abilities and songs are lacking that I lose interest in the message. A great or original player needs no message to get my love and respect, but a great messenger in the music business with no musical chops never will get it. DREW- It just always seems to be the case that the music quality suffers when the focus is on other things, even if those things are good causes. Now if you’re freaking Beethoven, and a genius, and want to talk about issues, go for it! Lol. But most of these bands who preach can’t even tune their guitar strings yet. And couldn’t find a good song if it grew next to their balls. I said MOST, not all preachy bands. That leaves room for exceptions, dick heads. Save the hate mail. Lol. JAY- Yeah, he’s right. A good example of an exception is Green Day. Personally, I think they could have, and should have, said more in “American Idiot” against the control of the media in this country than they did. I’m glad they spoke out, but seriously, they didn’t say anything “controversial”. That shit has been way over hyped. Anyway, I was gonna say, they didn’t forget to write a hooky pop song FIRST. The lyrics could have been about wiping dingleberries out of you ass, it was still gonna be a hit. The shit is just fucking catchy as hell. They brought a message, but remembered the song. That’s the way to do it. Green Day are a great band, they’ve outlasted all the other 90’s groups. They’ve proven they have genuine talent. I didn’t care for them when they first came out. They were a little too immature, booger picking kiddie clowns for me. Now I like em a lot, and so do my kids. Maybe it’s just cuz Billie Joe is wearing eyeliner and dressing like Duran Duran now! Lol. They’ve gone from typical punk morons with nursery rhymes for songs to one of the most stylish, durable major label mainstream bands out there. QUESTION: So the band in question should appeal to you in order for you to accept what they have to say about things? KRISTINE- Not so much appeal to us, but be skilled enough to where we can respect them being a musician. There are tons of bands I hate, that I know are good players. It comes down to priorities- whether or not a bands’ priorities are on music or something else. Don’t you think a professional chef should be a good cook? Come up with new tasty recipes? Who cares if he’s a crappy cook, but a hell of a flute player? That’s not his purpose, you know? Now if he cooks me a good meal, I’m more likely to warm up to him and listen to what he wants to say. Chances are people will listen to a talented, musically accomplished musician’s rants more than a mediocre musician’s rants. So if you want your non musical views to be taken seriously, (if you choose to be outspoken on social issues in your music) first focus on getting prolific musically. Think John Lennon (very opinionated, political, genius) vs. Milli Vanilli (lip syncing, no talent frauds). Who would you rather hear from about what you can do to help AIDs victims? Yeah, John for me too. Lol. QUESTION: If a band is good at being a band, not being a chef, you’ll listen to what they have to say about politics. Understood. Lol. RAN D- Go into politics or write for Hallmark cards if you want to spread your opinions more than write a memorable song. We love music so much that we need no other motivation besides that love to create it. If you asked me – “Why do you choose to make music your career?”- I’d answer- “Because I love making music, it makes me happy”. Simple answer. THE ANSWER WOULD NOT BE- “Because there are starving people with AIDs in Africa, and the icebergs in the Atlantic may be melting soon, and I just have to do something about it through music by raising awareness”. Long winded, bullshit savior complex answer. DREW- It’s simple- Do what your job description describes, and do it well. No one cares if in addition to delivering my pizzas, you can juggle. JAY- Yeah, I’m so sick of people not doing their jobs. Or doing them, but then expecting props, bribes, and accolades for doing what they’re supposed to be doing anyway! Lol. RAN D- A good example of what he's saying is soundguys. You know, the guys who mix you at a live show? Fuck, here's some dickweeds who's JOB it is to mix bands, make them hear themselves, and make sure the audience hears them properly. God forbid you ask them to turn you up in a monitor mix! They act like you just requested them to let you fuck their wife! Something totally unreasonable. ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU'RE HERE FOR? They get offended that you want them to do what they're paid to do. It's amazing, I've heard one dude say he only mixes bands properly IF HE WAS TIPPED BY THE BAND TO DO SO! Asswipe, it's your job! If you don't like it, quit. The damn club and promoter is already paying you to be there, don't think we're giving you shit. When I order a Big Mac, the cook in the back doesn't decide if he's gonna make it or not. I don't need to tip him. He has to, he works at fucking McDonald's. Do what you're supposed to. Incompetant people everywhere man. JAY- God damn,so true. If you’re hired by a major label record company, you job is to create hit songs. Don't cry when they fire you for not delivering. You think a company signs you to babysit your ass? To worship your "genius" as an "artist"? They want money, honey. If you don't make it for them, you're gone, like da wind. And they'll find the next pop joke who will make them hits. When I hire a plumber to fix a leak, I do not expect or want a lecture on why poverty is bad from him. Fix my damn pipes (his JOB) and be gone! Lol. I would like musicians to not forget to make music (their JOB) that is daring, interesting, and entertaining. Spare me the lectures on shit I already know about. By the way, what I’m now saying could be construed as a lecture about musicians who lecture. Lol. Keep in mind I WAS ASKED A QUESTION. It’s the same as watching a crappy band live. I’m not rude or asshole enough to approach the band and tell them I thought they sucked donkey dick, they should quit, give up their dreams, and have no chance making it. What kind of miserable mother fucker is devoid of manners enough to walk up to someone and say- “You know what, I just wanted to let you know I fucking hate you and your music”? I’m not Mr. fucking sunshine myself, I don’t like a lot of things other’s do. But that just takes the shit filled cake. We get people emailing us now and then telling us what we are doing wrong in OUR OWN MUSIC! Fuck you, did we ask you? Shit. KRISTINE- I know that putting yourself “out there” in the public eye is asking for it, and we can handle it. But the rudeness of people is astounding. Whatever happened to keeping bad things to yourself? If you have nothing good to say, say nothing? Didn’t you pay attention in freaking Kindergarten? Christ. JAY- Back to the live band sucking ass example- That might be my honest opinion, but I don’t feel the sense of entitlement to blurt it out and have it be taken as literal truth. It’s not my place; no one (especially the performing band) cares what I think. I have no reason to believe they want to know what I thought of them. BUT IF THAT HYPOTHETICAL BAND ASKS me after the show what I thought, I’m gonna tell them, good or bad. Sorry. Silence speaks volumes. If I thought you were a great band, I’d come up and tell you. If I say nothing after seeing you perform, assume I didn’t like you. Or that I was too drunk to talk. Lol. DREW- Treat us the same. If you don’t like us, show it with your wallet and ears. Don’t buy our CDs, and don’t revisit our webpages. Simply don’t listen to our music. Keep silent, there’s no reason to write us telling us you think we blow. We’re not gonna listen anyway, and change for you. You just show us what a piece of shit you are. QUESTION: Wow! Why don’t you just refuse to answer questions you don’t like, like a lot of performers do? RAN D- Not answering a direct question during an interview is just rude, and giving opinions as an answer to a question is not the same as forcing it on people who never asked anyway and don’t care. I’m assuming you (the interviewer) care and want to know what I think CUZ YOU ASKED ME. JAY- That and, usually a refusal to answer is taken as a “yes” anyway. Such as -Ricky Martin being asked continuously if he’s gay. He never answers, and most people go “Ah, see he didn’t DENY IT, HE’S GAY!” Goddamn dude, just say yes or no! We don’t pick the questions, but we’ll answer them. I wouldn’t have brought this shit up on my own, I’d rather talk about sex or reptiles or Star Wars. Lol. QUESTION: Well on that note, would you be afraid to answer if I asked you if anyone in the band is gay? JAY- YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU VIOLATE OUR PRIVACY LIKE THAT? Lol. What’s the stock answer? “Uhh, we don’t see how that is relevant to liking our music”. Lol. Seriously, of course you can ask, and we’ll answer. No one in the band is gay. The makeup is just a look, calm down. Last time I checked, the only thing that made a guy gay is sucking dick. We don’t do that, well the guys in the band don’t, can’t speak for Kristine! So no amount of weird hair or makeup should indicate anything homosexual about a person. Until you catch a dude kissing a dude, holding hands with a dude, sucking off a dude, or he tells you he’s gay- he ain’t gay and shouldn’t be accused of it. Word. DREW- But Jay has a lot in common with gays: He’s married! That means he ain’t getting no pussy, just like gay guys. Lol. JAY- ASSLICK. Got me good. Goddamned One Eyed Willy Butt pirate. Lol. DREW- Kick back Captain Cactus head dickless wonder. Fucking pineapple headed sick ass. lol. We bag like this all the time, not to worry. lol. We’re not afraid of answering any questions, as long as it’s not too invasive of our family’s private lives. If you (the media) didn’t want an answer and DON’T CARE what we think, please don’t ask us questions then. lol. OK. Moving on….. KRISTINE- I’ll get this conversation outta the gutter, hopefully. Lol. I think alot of bands feel that they need a higher purpose, to serve something nobler than music. They use music much like a University. College itself isn’t what matters, it’s the job you’ll get from going. You don’t stay in college, you eventually leave. It’s a stepping stone to something else altogether. Music isn’t like that for us; we’re not leaving to do something else. QUESTION: But is that all you’re about? Is that enough for you? Isn’t music without meaning superficial? A band is more than it’s hair and songs. What happens if you never break big around the world? JAY- Damn, breaking out the big gun questions now huh? We on trial or what? Lol. Look, don’t try to paint us to be only this hair and image band with no brains. Our music is very serious, we are serious people. Our music has a lot of meaning within it. Are you saying music that doesn’t lyrically address hunger or some shit is meaningless? Beethoven is utterly worthless then. In fact, there goes ALL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC! John William’s Star Wars theme is meaningless, I didn’t know that. Why do words, lyrics- make or break what you define as “meaningful” music? Damn, there goes most of the whole jazz and rock era then. There’s a lot less protest songs than personal songs. I guess ‘meaning’ equals endlessly singing about problems. Fuck that, we’ll sing about anything we damn well feel like writing about, including politics, or not including politics. The choice is always up to the artist, we shouldn’t feel pressure to put shit in our music we don’t want to. Some snobby critics and writers might not take us seriously based on our subject matter? Ok, so be it. We couldn’t give a squirt of rancid 2 day old piss. QUESTION: Calm down Jay! Lol. I was asking rhetorically, I don’t necessarily agree with what I’m asking. But it’s something a lot of writers do care about. JAY- I know. Lol. And I too wasn’t necessarily bitching at you specifically in my answer. It’s more an in general response to that line of reasoning, that way of thinking. I was answering rhetorically too. Don’t worry, I’m not about to kick your smart ass! Lol. KRISTINE- This ain’t fucking Clash of the Titans you guys. To answer the original question-Of course it’s enough. I’ve dreamed of doing this since I was a child. I never dreamed of speaking about mathematics or acid rain in front of audiences. That would scare the shit out of me. And if we never break, oh fucking well. We still will have done what we wanted to, made the music we chose to. And I like our songs better than anyone’s at the moment. If that’s conceited, I don’t care, I just love this band. We’ll be typical worker bee cloned stiffs if we don’t “make it”, just like you and every other corporate guy. But we have a shot at beating that system, and we’re taking it. You can say we’re freaks, you can say we’re gods. You can say we suck, you can say we rule. But you can’t say we’re cowards. Only cowards don’t show up for life. Success, failure, neither can happen if you don’t try. RAN D- The Psychedelic Furrs were right- ‘You can never win or lose if you don’t run the race”. (Line from LOVE MY WAY) Lol. We’re running the race, bitch. DREW- I wanted to be a baseball star as a kid, even as a teen. Are baseball players “superficial” too? How come music is so scrutinized for integrity, and needs to be saying something “important” but sports are not? A home run is like having a hit song. What the hell is a homerun saying about world problems? It’s all entertainment. I couldn’t make baseball happen due to a knee injury. I never thought I’d get another chance to achieve greatness. With Darvoset, that chance has been given back to me, and I’m not gonna take it for granted. How can something be superficial when it’s everything to you? It matters because we care. Anything is serious if you are serious about it. RAN D- We make music we love, we live it, we dream it, we need it. We’re not using it to achieve becoming an actor, get elected, solve world hunger, or to write a book someday. It is not a means to a greater end for us. A Doctor’s job resume will say surgeon, not world leader. Is he less of a person for merely being ‘just’ a doctor? Why is becoming more than what you’re good at and do for a living necessary? And why is spreading your views seen as such a good thing anyway? I mean, if you’re INFORMED it can be. Realistically, how many snot nosed teenage punk bands with numbers in their names are informed? JAY- But speaking out just to speak out might be an exercise in freedom, (a great thing) but it can also be an exercise in ignorance. A musician’s resume will say songwriter. There’s no shame in that, it’s enough. For any musician to think they’re some kind of world leader, prophet, or spokesperson for anything- simply cuz they learned 3 basic chords and got on the radio is pretty damn arrogant, and laughable. If you read what we’re saying closely, you’ll understand that we’re actually humble. We’re saying we’re just imperfect humans, nothing more. We don’t have all the answers, hell we don’t have any answers. We make music; we don’t feel that makes us any more important than the local fast food worker. It would be so much easier and more acceptable to just go with the flow and say “yeah, we have the right and obligation to speak out, we’re all important self indulgent musicians, and you should listen to us”. We don’t think our opinions matter more than anyone else’s simply cuz we can play songs. Shit, that’s better then believing in some kinda divine birthright to preach about everything like some bands, isn’t it? Well to me it is. I think we should be applauded for humility, not attacked. I guess our heads just aren’t big enough yet. Talk to me in 5 years, maybe I’ll be the next Bono by then. Lol. Terms I can live with about myself? Father, yes. Husband, yes. Musician, yes. Asshole? Yes. Lame ass? Yes. Best lover in the world? You betcha. Genius? Uh, if you want to call me that, ok. Seer-guide-leader? HELL NO. Not on the agenda. Music is all I want to do. Well that and stroke it. LOL. Yes, music’s enough. DREW- We want to be the best musicians we can be, great songwriters, and to make a living doing so. End of story, that’s all we want. Well, hot bitches too! Hope all of this has made some sense. If not, just skip it. LOL. QUESTION: Well I think I know where you’re all coming from now. The important thing is that YOU know precisely where you’re coming from. I’ve never talked to such a self assured, opinionated band before. I originally had about 20 questions to ask you guys, I think we made it through 2! No one can say you’re wishy washy or have nothing to say that’s for sure. Thank you for a very lively and engaging interview/talk. Good luck with your new CD, and upcoming shows. DARVOSET- Thanks. |