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5onec- Icufh hehjm&! Thurston [Ducire hpeuhs!
Thurston Moore: Are
you taping this?
Flagpole: Yeah, it's prob
ably too loud.
TM: Sonic grind... he's
making a Quix-o-Tic live
bootleg. He's taping this
right now!
FP: Yeah, tomorrow
morning, this will be the
hottest thing selling out of K-
mart.
[crazy loud incoherent noise
babble] Okay, this is going. So
how's the new equipment
working out? [A van filled with x
all of the band's gear was o
ripped off last year.] ®
TM: New equipment? Well %
its not really new, its kinda old >
equipment that was lying ^
around the studio. So I really |
haven't bought anything new, I n
guess; no I didn't even buy any
new guitijs. I replaced a couple pedals and
there's one new Jazzmaster guitar that I have,
but its not new, its sort of an old Jazzmaster
that I bought, but I guess it is new. The amp
that I'm using was something that was in the
studio that I hadn't seen in a long time. The gui
tars were guitars that were sort of there but we
weren't using, so they're kinda junked-up gui
TM: A lot of it has to do with
our budge* We can't really afford to have name
bands play with us, even if we like them. And
we're not really interested in having name bands
play with us 'cause they already have something
going, but a lot people have never heard of a lot
of bands we're into and different musicians that
we know. These bands are so used to playing in
front of just ten people, and to get them in front
of like hundreds of people is really great.
Because I think most audiences completely
respond to new music that they hear, especially
when its really interesting experimental music.
Like Quix-O-Tic.
FP: There a lot of duets on the
new album; I know when the crew
cuts a new song the music comes
first...
TM: What about it?
FP: But on the duets...
TM: Duets?!
FP: Yeah. Like on some of the
songs you and [bassist] Kim
Gordon are both singing.
TM: Right.
FP: Is that like a joint effort
in writing that material?
TM: Well... not so much.
The four of us really write a
lot of it together, and who
ever writes the lyrics is the
one who's singing. On this
record, we got more involved
two or three of us
singing certain sections
together. That's something
we've always wanted to do.
I mean, weie not profes
sional singers, so it's not
like we can do that with
any real learned ability,
but we ve been getting
into doing that more
lately. But the ones that
we sing together, the
main singer is the lyric
writer, and it just sort
of works out that way;
its kinda fun.
FP: As far as the
new album being called NYC
Ghost & Flowers and a lot of folks comparing its
style to the beat generation -free formed lyrics
and all—was there a conscious effort to go in
that direction?
TM: Well, I definitely think we were
reflecting on our experience in that environment
for the last 20 years, and we felt a certain kin
ship with that history. Especially after 20 years
and reflecting on it. I think a lot of our inspira
tions come horn our literary inspirations, and lot
of the literature that we're interested in is sub
Q * forming in 1981, New York's
OilLLt: Sonic Youth has plowed the
underground American rock world with its glo
rious din of free-form noise experimentalism,
performance-art freak show and punk-spirited
wall of guitar sound.
On June 23, just after performing in Atlanta
at the Tabernacle with Stereolab and Quix-O-Tic,
guitarist-vocalist Thurston
Moore took time to
speak briefly backstage
with Flagpole corespon
dent Simon Dasher.
The pair sat in a *
dressing room which
included a 1940's full
size radio that was con
tinuously manipulated by
members of Quix-O-Tic
and most definitely fueled
the energy of the entire
interview. Here goes:
tars. But I made 'em work. Making old new.
FP: You guys do a really good job of bringing
experimental bands on tour with you, and it gives
audiences a look at more bizarre work, and that's
good, but how do you think it affects these artists
performing in front of a rock audi
ence?
underground beat literature that is primarily
New York-centric. And we did sort of consciously
tap into that.
FP: A couple miles down the road at an
amphitheater, Phish is putting on a show. Do you
feel akin to that band whatsoever?
TM: Not necessarily. I'm not really that well
versed in Phish's music so much. But in a way, a
lot of the music we have a association vrith, be it
Loren Mazzacane-Connors or even something like
the No Neck Blues Band [is] underground music
We realize our profile has a history to it, so we
are more well known to some degree, but I
always thought that genre of underground music
lends itself more towards what Phish has tapped
into.
FP: You've been performing for 20 years: have
you noticed a change in audiences over the years?
Maybe tamer?
[Some Bouncer Guy: "Folks, Its two o'clock;
thanks for coming, everybody's gotta leave."]
TM: I don't think they've gotten tamer. I
think it's a broad awareness of more disparate
musical styles that go on with the underground
bands. The audience is always changing after a
few years. When people get older, they tend to
go out less and see concerts because it is more of
a youth scene. People get older and get
domestic, or they get burnt out on the whole
club thing. It's like you always will see a new
influx of young people, and it does change. I
find more generally that the audiences have
more acceptance of broader stylings of music
than just wanting to hear specific punk rock or
specific whatever, and that's kinda of interesting
right now.
[Some Bouncer Guy: "Okay, you kids gotta go
now."]
FP: Okay, Mr. Me ore. It looks like we gotta
vacate the premises. Thanks a lot. That's all.
Correspondent's note: All in all, everything
ended nicely. The Tabernacle staff let us mull
around a few minutes longer before shutting it
all down. Unfortunately Quix-O-Tic and the radio
had to be separated, but no one was hurt.
Outside in the lots some kids were hanging out,
talking up the show that had blazed on a few
hours earlier, and the Atlanta heat was subdued
by night and forgotten. Goodnight.
Simon Dasher
Sonic Youth opens for Pearl Jam at the Philips
Arena in Atlanta on Monday, August 7.
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m FLAGPOLE AUGUST 2, 2000