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Or is there another reason altogether? We like to smash things. It’s fun. Have you never tried it? 13. Are there any bands at the moment who you admire and believe possess the same drive and creative ambitions that is present in your music? No. 14. A lot of the bands you have previously expressed admiration for have later gone on to produce records and tour without one (or more) of their most intrinsic members. A Roger Waters-less Pink Floyd, a Dead Kennedy’s without Jello Biafra and most recently the debacle of two separate Black Flag bands performing shows are only a few examples. Do you think that such actions damages not only the band’s credibility but also the credibility of music, particularly punk-rock music? The credibility of music…. Let’s see… So are you saying that because Roger Waters doesn’t play with Pink Floyd any more, Dark Side of the Moon becomes a flawed album because of it? That the bands inability to get along in some way lessens the sound quality? Let’s be serious. As for punk music, like I said I don’t generally draw any distinction between rock music and punk music, or even jazz music. It’s all just a bunch of notes and tones and rhythms and timbres, releases, decays, crescendos, accelerandos, etc. 15. The band has been together since 1995. Have you still got the same drive that existed back then and how many records do you think the band has left in it? Four thousand albums. About five thousand, give or take one thousand… about eight thousand records still, I think. Eight, maybe nine. Nine thousand records left. 16. Various members of the band has interests outside of Trail of Dead with Jason and his side projects such as a ‘Roman Scandal’ and you with your contemporary-art articles and science fiction novel being the most well-known examples. Despite this, does Trail of Dead still remain your central focus for creativity? Yes Indeed, what does Trail of Dead mean to you? Basically it’s a weird art experiment we started right after college. 17. As a writer on contemporary art, do you think that music is art or a completely separate medium? Music is an art. Cooking is an art, marksmanship is an art, screen writing is an art. Painting is an art. People have a tendency to think the word “art” only refers to painting, for some reason. Medium, on the other hand, is something you use to do your art with. These aren’t opinions, by the way. This is the truth I’m serving here. 18. You mentioned in a previous interview that following the release of ‘Source Tags and Codes one of the most noticeable changes you encountered was in the age range of the audiences at your shows . In England it has also been noticeable how audiences at rock shows have got younger in the last 3 years. Why do you think kids (in particular the mainstream youth) are being more attracted to rock music now then they were say 10 years ago? Are they more attracted to it than 10 years ago? I remember when Nevermind came out, the kids went ape shit over that. I don’t see anything like that these days. 19. As mentioned, the band have achieved a hell of a lot since its formation. Are there any ambitions which you think have yet to be realised? Most of our ambitions have yet to be realized. 20. Finally, in an increasingly turbulent world how important is music? More important than you could possibly imagine. Bonus questions (thought up by one of the interviewee’s friends): What’s your favourite color? A kind of royal, purplish blue color that shimmers like satin – I like to call it “oswald”. What’s your favourite food? My favorite food is Korean food, but I probably like Thai food equally. What kind of movies do you like to watch? Ones that change my life. Do you like cats or dogs better, and why? No way, I think they’re both great. Killer whales as well. If you could be any animal, what would you be? Human. What’s your favourite flavour of ice-cream? Heath Bar Crunch. Do you like girls with brunette, blonde or red hair better? Blonds in bed, brunettes the rest of the time. ADDENDUM (I'm gonna be childish and not ACTUALLY alter the interview) LATER E-MAIL RECIEVED FROM CONRAD: Dear John and Laura, Could I make two addendums to the interview? Question 9, could you please change 33rd to 30th? My research was three degrees off. Question 7: “human politics simply don’t matter in the long run.” Could you change that to “governmental politics”. Also, if there are any other questions you feel we didn’t touch upon, feel free to send more, See y’all, Conrad P.s. Also, could you change my color’s name to “veronica”? I looked it up, and oswald is already a shade of green. |