the no-fi "interview"
with

by Mary Lenoir Bond

I have been a Gliss supporter for quite some time now. No-Fi's regular readers may remember my review of their CD and a show review of them as well from the summer. So, I figured interviewing them was just the natural progression, especially since they are finishing up a brand new CD out sometime early next year. I got to hear some of their new material during the interview as well as getting to finally see their music video for the song "The Swell". The video was actually shot on 16mm and it looked incredible. I asked Dave what his girlfriend thought of him making out with one of girls in the video and I was told she loved it. The video in all was gorgeous and the ocean scenery went perfectly with the song.

I assumed the boys would be pretty mellow, super polite and quiet, but the experience was actually quite weird and the drummer, Al, and bass player, Philip, were actually really funny and enjoyable. Guitarist, Dave, very quiet and Marty mostly sat there, sort of like a cat, looking pretty and acting just a bit bothered.

(Note: I later learned that they were awfully drained due to recording all week and Marty going through some personal stuff- so cheers to them for not rescheduling the interview!)

The house was a bit hidden and I had to brave a couple barking dogs beyond a gated area to find their recording studio, but luckily I love animals and the dogs were all bark, no bite! When I first arrived Al was on the computer working on some vocals that Marty was singing in "the producers office" a.k.a. the... Dave was sitting silently and Philip was fingering stuff on a keyboard. The room was very small and rather cramped, but you could tell they were used to it. There was another room right next to us that was full with band equipment and recording stuff. They had "The Royal Tennenbaums" playing on the TV with the sound off as they worked on the new songs- the ones I heard were called "Kissing The Boulevard" and "Stoner On The Moon". They informed me that they will be playing at the next The Sundance Film Festival and were also going to be on the cover of some West Coast music magazine this January that is given out at places such as Tower Records.

They weren't very talkative actually, so I went into questions next:

MB: Um, were did the, where did Gliss come from, the name? Is it like a cross between glitter and bliss- or what is it?
(silence)
MB: Uh, what is it?
MK: Um, it's just an it's actually just a, based off of, um, a classical music expression. Like staccato is "da da da da da", crescendo is real smooth- transition from note to note and I was in a studio and playing guitar part and uh, this guy who was recording was "Whoa! Repeat that- that Gliss you did!" and I said "What? What's that?" and that was, that's pretty much it. It was like that quick. Yeah, I always like the way it sounded.
MB: That's an interesting little story
MK: It's just a really smooth little word and uh, I think it fits really well.
MB: I like it.
AL: Well, it was between that and Sandwich (laughter).
PW: Either that or Tighty Whitey (more laughs).
MB: Um, are you... Where are you guys from? Are you from LA or...where are you from?
MK: I'm from Iowa.
DR: I'm from Orange County.
MB: Are ya? And you, Al?
AL: I'm from New Orleans.
MB: (gasp) Are you? Yeah! I love New Orleans! It's so beautiful.
AL: Yep, I'm going home for Christmas in a couple weeks.
MB: Where? Where abouts in New Orleans? Closer to the...
AL: Uh, my Dad lives across the lake and my Mom lives just on the outskirts, but I was pretty much living in the uptown area (Philip starts singing "Uptown Girl" in the background) or the French Quarter most of my life.
MB: I like The Garden District.
Al: Yeah, that's pretty nice.
MB: Have you done all the touristy things- like gone to Anne Rice's house and Trent Reznor's house?
AL: Uh, I went to a couple of parties and I went to Trent Razor's studio. A friend of mine plays for him, so he took me around and it was uh, an old uh, mausoleum- not a mausoleum... a...
MB: It used to be a crematorium, yeah.
AL: And they built a huge studio out of it.
(Someone says "of course" and everyone laughs and someone jokes that he probably drives a hearse)
AL: (continues... would be cool to record a record down there cuz there is such an old vibe...
MB: Yeah...
Al: A lot of people have recorded great records there, hopefully one day we'll get to take this show in the road and record in some strange cities around the world...
(Someone says France and Al says "There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance" and then someone else suggests perhaps just the France at Disneyland and we laugh)
MB: (to Philip) And where are you from?
MK: He's from a test tube.
PW: (ignores Marty's comment) Ohio.
MB: Well, speaking of Disneyland- what's your favorite ride at Disneyland?
PW: I guess it would be cliché to say "T he Pirates of Penzance."
MB: "Caribbean" and no it wouldn't.
AL: Penzance? That's that new one that they're working on. I haven't been to Disneyland. I've been to Disneyworld in Orlando...
MB: I think its pretty much the same thing, isn't it?
MK: Space Mountain is fun.
DR: I like Peter Pan.
MB: I like Peter Pan too!
AL: I got hassled for holding up the Thunder Mountain ride.
PW: You pulled a gun?
AL: No, they put the bar over my legs before I could sit down and the ride took off and I was still half way up and uh, they thought I was trying to pull some hijinks, but it was one of the few times I wasn't trying to pull shenanigans.
(The guys all discuss and laugh about what an apparent jokester Al is)
MK: Do you have your phone Philip?
PW: Yeah
MK: Can I borrow it real quick?
PW: Sure (hands Marty his phone)
MB: Uh, you're going to make a phone call in the middle of my interview?
MK: I gotta take my Aunt to the airport at five in the morning. I just gotta double-check it.
(There's some more joking around, but we get back on track shortly)
MB: So are you guys going to make another video?
PW: Basically videos are whatever falls into our lap. We don't usually...
MB: Have a budget for that?
PW: We never pursue it.
AL: It was a mutually beneficial situation for the two parties when we did the last one.
PW: They just pop up. I mean people will approach us and say "we wanna do something" and we're "all right."
AL: Which is good.
MB: Yeah.
PW: I don't mind!
MB: Kinda lucky. Who's this guy who that's gonna- Hess gonna produce your new? Or He's gonna mix it?
PW: He's gonna mix it.
AL: He's mixing it.
MB: Okay, so you guys are putting it out yourselves, it's...
AL: Oh, well we're gonna try to shop it, but as far as the actual production- we're doing it here and He's gonna mix it.
PW: His name is Barry Goldberg. Um, He's kind of, ya know, I guess his list of credits is mostly...
AL: He's worked with Marilyn Manson.
PW: Marilyn Manson, Seal, L7.
MB: Hmm, how'd you guys get hooked up with him?
PW: He's a friend of mine.
AL: They go back. They used to date. They were in prison together (we all laugh).
PW: He and I have worked together a bunch in the past,... yeah, he actually, you know what is legendary for? Kind of famous for? Head engineer of a fucking Doggy Style record.
DR: That's bad ass.
AL: Working side by side with Snoop and Dre!
PW: I was like, "How was it working with them?" and he was like "It was all love, those guys are just all love" and you know they just smoked out, all three of them.
AL: Barry's a smoker?
(NOTE: I decided to cut the rest of this conversation...cusp uh, well, uh... anyway...
MB: So, who would you rather be friends with- Jack Black or Jack White?
(Silence)
MB: (continued...) Uh, assuming you know who both of those people are...
PW: Jack Black.
AL: I'd say Jack Black, I don't know much about Jack White.
MB: You know who he is, right?
AL: Yeah.
DR: Who is he? I don't know who he is.
MB: The White Stripes guy...
PW: Oh! Jack White is actually good friends with my wife's sister- he actually came to her birthday party.
MB: Hmmm (I hide my lusty crush on Mr. White).
PW: My wife's sister is the publicist for Girlie Action, it's a big independent publicity firm and she's good friends with Jack White...
MB: Hmm, uh huh (still suppressing crush...).
PW: Yeah, I was thinking Jack Black and Black Frances...
MB: Who's that?
PW: He's from the Pixies. Or you know- the guy who later became...
MB: Frank Black?
PW: Yeah.
MB: Oh! Okay.
PW: So actually Jack White.
DR: Jack Blacks a little too agro for me.
MB: He is pretty obnoxious.
MK: Yeah, I'd just be like- chill out man!
AL: I have a natural affinity for obnoxious people...
MB: So you picked Jack Black?
AL: I think it's unfair to pick one- just cuz I don't know Jack White.
MB: Uh, okay- then how about Jack in the box? (I laugh at my own joke)
AL: Jack in the box- only after two a.m.
PW: Jack Shit between seven a.m. and ... (we laugh)
MB: And Marty, who would you rather be friends with?
MK: The White Stripes guy.
MK: No, I heard the way he talks, he sounds like a down to earth guy.
MB: Uh, yeah, I like him. (still hiding...)
MK: He sounds like ACDC's guitar player- that worked for me.
PW: They were great on Saturday Night Live!
MB: Uh-huh! Oh yeah! (Getting a little more obvious, but still saying keeping it cool, on the down low...)
PW: I was surprised, I mean she is just such like a...silly drummer, but for some reason it works.
MK: It works, yeah, totally.
MB: I love them. (And uh, I better shut up now, so I move on...)
MB: (continued) Okay, starting with you Dave- who would you rather go on a date with...
(A few "oooos")...okay, listen: Shannon Dougherty, Drew Barrymore, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Gwenyth Paltrow, Kirsten Dunst, Molly Ringwald, Winona Ryder, or Audrey Hepburn?
DR: Dunst.
MB: Okay, now you- Marty (now there is discussion of some crush Marty apparently has on Rose McGowan and I said he can't pick her, so...)
MK: Okay, who's the youngest one on the list?
(Everyone laughs and someone says "heh, that should tell you something!")
MB: It's Kirsten.
DR: I already nabbed her.
MK: Okay- maybe her. (points to Gwenyth Paltrow on the "Royal Tennenbaums" video)
MB: Eeeeee- Gwenyth?
MK: In this movie she looks good.
PW: I need to hear the thing again.
MB: Yeah, I was trying to give you a good variety (I read the list again).
PW: Yeah, I would pick her (pointing to Gwenyth as well).
MB: Oof! Really??? And what about you, Al?
AL: I don't know.
MB: You have to pick one!
AL: Can I pick three?
MB: Yes!

MK: I'd have to say Marilyn Monroe would be my second.
PW: She's not really your type though, at all.
MK: Yes she was, in certain ways.
PW: What ways?
MK: She partied (everyone laughs) She did! She was a wild one! She'd have been perfect for me.
AL: Yeah, she partied her ass right into the ground...No, I think, I think Kirsten Dunst, Winona Ryder- I've always had a soft spot for her, especially now since she uh...
MB: Is a criminal?
AL: Yeah, bad girls...
(Then there is discussion of liking Audrey Hepburn and that Bette Davis would have been fun to party with, then I move it along...)
MB: Okay, this kind of ties into the last one- Marty you go first- if you were a girl, what would you look like and why?
MK: What would I look like?
PW: He'd look like Marty with tits.
MK: I guess about six foot...with brown hair...
(Someone says: "Think Daria!" We all laugh. Remember Daria- from Beavis and Butthead?)
MB: Okay...Marty, so you'd be six feet and have brown hair and...
MK: Petite.
MB: Six feet AND petite?
PW: And a lesbian (we all laugh).
MB: Yeah, and you'd be sixteen?
MK: Yeah, about seventeen- Preppie or Mod...School girl. I'd be a schoolgirl. That's what I'd be.
MB: Yeah, with those little outfits?
MK: Yeah.
PW: But carrying a gun.
AL: Stop, you're getting me all hot.
PW: Hooker by day, cop by night.
(Then there is a bunch of inaudible joking and laughing)
MB: You're cooky for a bass player! (To Dave) You act more like a bass player, your personality...
PW: It's all the crystal meth (more laughter).
MB: Okay, Dave? What would you look like?
DR: I have no idea. It's not something I have thought much about, unlike Marty over there...(everyone laughs) I, uh, don't know, how to...start...
AL: Pick Daria.
MB: Okay Al, what about you?
AL: I don't know- I guess, I'd look like me with boobies, I'd be all tarded out...
PW: You'd be that short haired chick on, on uh, the new Pamela Anderson show...
MB: Oh yeah! She's cute.
AL: Nice full lips- I ran into her at an award show- her and Pamela had a little tiff over whose seats they were sitting in- it was some humanitarian save the animals kind of thing and here are these two hot babes arguing over a seat.
PW: You'd rather be arguing over their seat! (laughs)
MB: Okay, now you Philip.
PW: I think I'd like live in the woods and just let it all grow out- hair every place.
MK: Like a hippie? Like Madonna in the early days...
PW: Make my own furniture and kill my own food...
MB: You mean you're not going to say that you'd look like your wife?!?
PW: No, no but I'd be the chick that was uh, gonna go for her.
MB: Wait, what? (a few laughs)
PW: I'd be a lesbian.
AL: Phil the lesbian.
PW: I'd try to get her to change her ways. I'd be a Nettie.
MB: What?
PW: A Nettie- think Chewbacca.
MB: You're just weird, aren't you?
PW: Yeah, but, luckily I'm married.
AL: He's as weird as a three dollar bill. (he says in some bizarre semi British accent)
MB: What are you talking about?
AL: Philip.
MB: Oh.
PW: So, next question...
MB: Uh, do you believe in reincarnation?
AL: Is that that breakfast drink? (Everyone cracks up) I like it with milk- the vanilla one is good, I don't like the chocolate or strawberry (everyone still laughing)
PW: I like Ensure (more laughs)
MB: Okay, uh, Marty- do you believe in reincarnation?
MK: I can't say that I do.
DR: I can say that I don't (Marty laughs).
PW: I used to wonder why people that always claimed to have been reincarnated were always...
MB: Famous?
PW: Either someone famous or royalty or some crap.
MS: That's not true!
PW: I mean, when are they ever like "I was an abused milkmaid who died at seventeen of herpes" or something (some laughs start up again).
MK: Is that fatal?
PW: It can be in large doses (more laughing).
MB: Um, Marty- you write most of the songs, right? Or do you write all of them?
MK: I bring it to the room and everybody has their...
MB: Do people add to the lyrics or...
MK: No, but like, everybody has their turn. I come up with the basic song and then everybody...
MB: Is that how you do every song? You come up with the lyrics first? And like a melody or what?
MK: Sometimes I'm making them up as I'm recording them- I'm not a big lyric guy until the songs recorded. I kind of like, have a couple of lines that I like and just kind of play with it- until it's time to do it. I don't like to get too stuck into it, keep it fresh until it's time to be recorded. It's just... or I'm lazy! I think it's a little of both. I like melody, I like harmony, I like the song- I'm more of a- the lyrics usually come for me right about recording time. I have words...
MB: Yeah, I like your lyrics.
MK: Yeah, I think they just kind of happen, like sometimes they just kind of evolve from doing it live. I kind of just make them up and then they stick.
DR: If you can remember them, then that's what...
MK: Yeah.
MB: Really? So you don't ever actually write them down first?
MK: I never, I don't think I ever really write then down, I just remember them and I figure like is like sticking with me- that should be the song.
MB: Really? Hmmm. Who is your favorite songwriter? You can pick two.
MK: Old and new? Old one- that's John Lennon for sure (Note: Interesting, I am transcribing this part of the interview on the anniversary of John's death, Dec. 8th. Spooky) and a new one- I think Martin Gore- is probably the most genius person in the last twenty years.
MB: Dave, do you have a favorite guitar player?
DR: Um... Yeah... it would have to be Jason Martin from Starflyer 59.
MK: That's right!
MB: Starflyer 59? I haven't heard of them. Should I have?
DR: Most people haven't.
PW: They're kind of Mercury Rev, Flaming Lipsish.
MB: Oh! Where are they from?
DR: Uh...Orange County.
MB: So, they're a local band?
DR: Kinda sorta. They don't really play in Orange County very much, but uh, yeah- that's where they're from.
MB: Are they your favorite local band?
DR: I think they're probably one of my favorite bands period.
MB: Hmmm, Al do you have a favorite drummer?
AL: I like Jimmy Chamberlain from The Smashing Pumpkins. I think he's a great drummer.
MB: Really? What's he doing now? Is he still around?
AL: He's playing in a band with Billy Corgan called Swan. Hhmmm, who else? I like Stanton Moore from Galactic.
MB: Phil, Favorite bass player?
PW: I like a lot of guys whose names I don't know. I love the guy who plays with The Violent Femmes obviously. He's an insanely good bass player. Um, I love the guy who used to play with The Stray Cats- whoever that cat was, Slim Jim Phantom.
AL: He was named after the famous Slim Jim beef product.
MB: What? Are you serious? Are you making that up?
AL: No. Probably so...(everyone laughs)
PW: Never let the facts get in the way of a good story (more laughter).
(Most of the boys are drinking coffee now and everyone seems pretty tired and a bit silly)
AL: Uh, Marty would just like to go on record as saying "brick tire."
MB: Saying what?
AL: Brick tire.
PW: Which is basically the word that means that whatever the hell we're saying makes no firkin' sense and we've reached a dead end and RETREAT!
MB: Brick tire?
AL: Don't ask us where it came from cuz it doesn't make sense.
PW: Don't you ever just say something and you don't know what you're saying- it just kind of comes out?
MB: Sure
PW: That's a brick tire.