Interviews
Prozac Boy
The Potato Stars

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the band and its history? Has the band changed since forming? What is the reason for the end of The Potato Stars?

Hmm, Potato Stars, always was a very ill-conceived idea, right from the the beginning back in 1995. A grossly malformed foetus that ought have been aborted at birth. How this abomination of nature survived so long, only Satan knows. I sold my soul to him one night at the Hydey so I could be the lead singer of a punk rock band, but the bastard took my soul and lied. Said I could only be the lead singer of a fucking stupid bastard cabaret band.

Incredibly, Potato Stars never suffered a lack of co-conspirators in the mayhem the band promotes. There've been about 35 'Spuds' to date, including members of bands of such merit and regard, I blush to mention, but won't, for fear of forever besmirching their back-catalogue sales once the word got out.

I'm pulling the pin on Potato Stars now, mainly because I'm living in Korea and have started another band, called Spork, and I wanted to see Potato Stars off properly, y'know.

Q. What is the songwriting process for the band?  Do you write the lyrics and music together or one first and then the other?

I write almost all of the lyrics, sometimes jamming, but mostly not. We don't 'jam' as such. Even more rarely do we fucking rehearse. In the past we did whole new songlists with each new line-up, but it all seemed like too much effort. At one time we could play twenty five songs over two sets, now I reckon we've got about nine songs. Or ten, tops. Eleven if we do 'My Sharona'. Twelve with 'Wild Thing'.

Oh, actually, last time we played, in April at the Rosemount, we played two brand new songs, 'Maylands To Graylands', and another one whose name I can't recall...

Q.  When playing live shows, is it important to make every show a spectacle or does it just happen naturally.  Do you feed off the crowd's reaction or do you try to create a reaction?

Anything we do onstage happens pretty organically really, with very little planning in advance. Sure, we kinda know what we're gonna wear that night, actually, we spend more time talking about that than rehearsing. The last line-up said they'd 'down tools' if they saw my bum crack or pubic hair while we were playing, so the gladwrap and gaffer tape option went out the window.

Q. Is there a story behind the name The Potato Stars?

About frigging time! At last I've been asked in a rock 'zine what we (ahem) musos call "the inevitable question". A potato star is possibly the purest form of naive art, in my eyes. You make them in kindergarten, don'tcha?

Q. I believe you have written a book of poetry.  Does poetry and music go hand in hand?

The difference is, I actually make money out of poetry, whereas leading Potato Stars only costs me money, time and sanity.

I currently have two books of poetry, 'Prozac Boy's Emotional Baggage Carousel', which has virtually completely sold out and is v.hard to get hold of these days <polishes fingernails>, and my latest 'Prozac Boy's Blind', which, oddly enough, is about when I went blind for two days during 1999. I can see now because I love my mum. No shit. Read the book.

There is another book due out early in the new year called 'Prozac Boy Traversing The Great Sandy Desert Of Emotional Emptiness'. Oooh, heavy!

Q.  What is the most astounding thing you and the band have done?  Tell us some adventures you've had.

We broke up acrimoniously on tour in Adelaide once. That was piles, of fun.

We've had a few good gigs though, one of the more memorable being when we played in the Perth *cough* Cultural Centre. The pigs on horses freaked as their mounts rocked out to that freaky Potato beat. I was wearing a NSW police shirt and our DJ, Adam 12, kept scratching 'fuck...fuck...fuck off'. That went down well.

Q. There is a lot of interest in Perth bands and Perth music at the moment, do you think there is a particular Perth sound and is it very different from bands from the Eastern States?

I've always thought music from Perth sounded different from anywhere else. For fuck's sake, Perth is 2 600 k's from the next nearest metropolitan city, there would be something very wrong if Perth music DID sound the same as the shit produced elsewhere.

Q. What bands have had the greatest influence on you and who are your favourite bands at the moment both from Perth and from elsewhere?

Dunno if anyone remembers them these days, but probably the biggest musical influence on Potato Stars would have been 'Dave Warner's From The Suburbs', ~ yes that' s the name of the band. They rocked. Pity he sucks as a writer though. I love acts like Uberfaust, any band who is daft enough to get dressed up and take the piss. The Dumb Angels were long time faves.

Q. What is your favourite live music venue in Perth?  Do you prefer small pub shows with a small audience or bigger shows with lots of people cheering you on?

My favourite venue is the one I'm on stage at, basically. Or the Hydey, which doesn't have a stage.

Q. Tell us the details of the final gigs you guys are having? Will you miss the scene?

Potato Stars are going to rock the clagged out waxy shite from the music lovers of Perth's ears. We have the best line-up of the frigging century - admittedly only three years old, but you know what I mean. Erm, it looks like a six piece at the moment. Seven, if we can find a good triangle player.

We're playing at the Swan Basement in Freo on Friday 28th of Nov., with Uberfaust, The Arachnids and Relinqua; and on Saturday 29th of Nov. we finally kill the beast, after eight years and one week, at the very first pub we played at, the Hyde Park Hotel, with Uberfaust, Kill Devil Hills and Maurice Flavel And His Truckload Of Hope (quite possibly the greatest band name ever!). Get yr sorry arses down to these gigs, you will be rocked, fer sher.


Interview by Justin