Nick:�Hello?
Rob:�How`s it goin`?
Nick:�Hey Rob, what`s happening?
Rob:�Nothing...I`m nursing a hangover...I went and saw Karma to Burn last night. You know those guys?
Nick:�Yeah, I actually played in a band with the drummer for a while.
Rob:�I actually have a message here - I interviewed them last night...you want to hear it real quick?
Nick:�Sure
Rob:�It`s from Rob- hold on
Nick:�cool...
Rob:�(playing tape recording of message from Rob Oswald , drummer from Karma to Burn-where he tells Nick that he has chopped the head off someone and is shipping it to him....Nick responds with hystirical laughter... )
Nick:�ha ha ha ha!....right on!
Rob:�This is my second interview, I just started at StonerRock.com and am new to this so I`m going to just ask you a few questions.
Nick:� Right on...
Rob:� What are some of the questions you hate being asked in interviews...hehe...
Nick:�What are some of the questions I hate being asked in interviews?
Rob:�Yeah.
Nick:�Ummm...you know, like stuff like-Who do you think it inspires,you know- who do you think you inspire with your music? Shit like that kinda like-you know, `cause it isn`t about-you know, kinda just doing it for ourselves -hoping that people dig it--But stuff like that really throws me off `cause you don`t really know how to a nswer it ever, you know what I mean? It`s like, what do you say to that? like (in a stupid voice)"I don`t know" I mean I`m sure there`s somebody-hehehehe....
Rob:�Yeah ,there`s no real right answer for that...
Nick:�I know, I know dude! It`s like a no win question. Where are you guys out of?
Rob:�Well, he (Danno) lives up on Vancouver Island...
Nick:�Oh, so you guys are up in Canada
Rob:�I`m in Portland Oregon, actually
Nick:�Oh your in Portland, OK I dig it...
Rob:�(I explain my current band situation and how I met Danno, blah-blah-blah...)
Nick:�Dig it, Dig it.
Rob:�What happened with Kyuss?
Nick:�Kyuss, I did 2 records with Kyuss and then left, you know, I quit and then moved to San Fransisco and played in a few bands up there umm... and then Kyuss did...2 more records, I think after that? And umm...there was some problems with management, and the record label-and they kinda wanted out of the whole thing so they just said, alright-we`ll just break up then, hahaha!!!!
Rob:�To get out of the contract or something?
Nick:�Yeah, well they held on to a couple of them, but they ended up getting out of it, you know, like recording some stuff they knew they wouldn`t like-hahaha, shit like that.
Rob:�Everybody keeps wondering what happened to your drummer....
Nick:�Alfredo-yeah, he quit one day-just -umm-kind of out of the blue
Rob:�really?
Nick:�Didn`t even see it coming just umm, I guess he just wasn`t in to it anymore , you know?
Rob:�That`s too bad
Nick:�Yeah, well he had a kid and everything, he just had a kid...with his girl and ummm.....
Rob:�He wanted to spend time with his family?
Nick:�I think that`s what it was - he never really came out and said that so I can`t really say so probably don`t quote me on that, but I think that`s probably what it is -if you want to write that, I don`t care- hhaha!!!!
Rob:�Well I`m personally just curious, `cause I heard a bunch of stuff like- Oh he`s in jail and....
Nick:�Oh-no , we actually said that at a show..jokingly like uhh, our drummer Gene Troutman was playing - and somebody said - in a crowd you know-WHERE"S ALFREDO- and one of us said-He`s in jail, and it was kinda just a joke--and I see it on the internet all the time , I see it everywhere , and I`m going like- Shit dude, right on-hahahaha!!! You can`t believe everything that you read.
Rob:�no shit....So do you get along with John Garcia?
Nick:�absolutely, absolutely, good bro`s-man... I see Johnny every now and again but not as much as I`d like to `cause I`m living up in Los Angeles now and he`s still in the des(ert) so...you know but whenever his band plays, or we play, he always comes out -you know and stuff- so- we get to hang every now and again...
Rob:�so you guys have a good relationship?
Nick:�absolutely, absolutely
Rob:�cool...The Queens is quite a bit different than the Kyuss stuff...
Nick:�Absolutely- It`s a completely different band than Kyuss you know...ummm, which is one of the things that uhh,we uhh, strived for and kinda achieved- was staying more focused with the songs structually- Kyuss tended to jam a lot- and I love that, and we still do a couple of things live where we`ll jam some you know but, basically we stay more focused with the songs you know and try to get to the next one-hahaha!!!!
Rob:�yeah...that`s good!!!
Nick:�instead of 17 minutes a song you know hehe!!! yeah so...
Rob:�You guys are definately real popular with the community members at StonerRock.com-which is really weird sometimes- because most of the bands they list you with- Oh I like Sabbath , and Sleep, and QotSA....
Nick:�hahaha!!! Right on
Rob:�..and you guys don`t sound anything like any of those bands...
Nick:�I know, I know- it`s cool though, I mean you know- I mean, if they find some elements in our music that uhh- that can go along with Sabbath or Sleep- then fuckin`- right on!hahaha!!! you know what I mean?
Rob:�I`ve been listening to your new record and...
Nick:�It`s pretty wild man...
Rob:�I really like it...
Nick:�Thanks-
Rob:�It wasn`t what I expected, but that`s exactly what I expected with you guys...something totally different...
Nick:�It`s pretty out there, you know- we went out to Joshua Tree, and umm...rented this... like... bungalo place and like, you know - sat in there for five days and wrote all the music...
Rob:�Really?
Nick:�Me and Josh did...and we uhh...and what you get is this like you know , some of the songs you can hear like- Oh , that was the fourth day you know what I mean? hahaha!!! It`s like just out there kinda thing and you know, and lack of sleep and ummm....you know... substances-(laughter all around!!!!) So you can hear where the album goes--rrraaaaooooorrrraaaoooo(circling sound) you know- it moves around a lot...
Rob:�right...
Nick:�...and that was the idea we kinda wanted to go with on this record is- not have any boundaries at all- you know- if it sounds good, and we like playing it, then lets turn it into a Queens song...
Rob:�How many tracks on the studio did you guys have to work with?
Nick:�We recorded with two -16 track recorders running in sync...
Rob:�Were they ADAT`s or something?
Nick:�No, they were two inch tape`s yeah
Rob:�Sounds like you guys used up all the tracks in some of the songs...
Nick:�yeah , we did man - we brought in a lot of friends that happened to be in town when we were doing it and like- hey would you come in and play on our record- you know? They were like yeeaah! you know so it was a lot of fun - we kept it in the familyand had you know prbably like , 8 different guests come in and play you know- there`s like, 2 different drummers on it you know , there`s like 6 songs with one drummer, and 4 with the other- so it`s uhh...we kept it real open and it`s basically , you know we kept it real open to our friends so if we play live it can open up a new thing as well- and we want to have a guest come out in-during a song or two, and some of the shows we will-- and sometimes we`ll just stick to the band, you know...
Rob:�cool...keep it kind of open...
Nick:�yeah
Rob:�So your new record is on Interscope...How did that come about? Did they approach you or...
Nick:�Yeah, well we were on Loose Groove, and we toured about a year and a half on that record and all the shows, I guess we got a bunch of interest you know- and there was a couple of different labels...and kind of unanamous , we wanted to go with Interscope just because- some of the past bands they`ve had that you know-like a Primus- who`s totally doing their own thing- we have nothing to do with what Primus does, but...that same idea where , they do whatever they want and ,nobodies telling them what to do- and somehow they can (Interscope) can push a single out of something that really isn`t -you know hahaha!!!!
Rob:�hahaha!!!I`ve noticed that...
Nick:�and so we were like- let`s take a chance with that- either way a major is always a big step, and there`s always going to be a risk- we were at the point where we were like- well, were up for the challenge, so lets do it...
Rob:�Right...you just got to let the lawyers deal with the crap...It`s so much of a headache, I mean those long contracts...
Nick:�I know man!!It goes from like a 3 page contract to like- 60 you know what I mean? It`s like- what the fuck does this all mean?- hahaha!!!- so it`s like, we took it to the next level on that which is why we still do our side projects and keep shit real simple with side projects...
Rob:�It only helps you with side projects- being on a major...
Nick:�Totally- here`s what not to do...So we are having a lot of fun, with all of it you know..
Rob:�That`s great . That`s what it`s all about right? Having fun...
Nick:�Absolutely...
Rob:�You guys had the producer who does Masters of Reality?
Nick:�yeah, he`s an old friend of ours and did 3 Kyuss records and ummm, you know Josh did produce the first one and I wanted Josh and Chris to do this record.... they`re easy to work with and I knew it was going to be a piece of cake and-they`re real open to other ideas like trying other ideas,,it wasn`t like a Nazi camp or anything...hehehe!!So it was real open and we had a blast you know? hahaha....
Rob:�You guys had a a real good enviroment....
Nick:�absolutely...
Rob:�and you guys were out in the desert writing this....alright... Well I`m getting close to my time limit...
Nick:�Dig it!!!
Rob:�I`m gonna come see you guys in Portland...
Nick:�Right on...
Rob:�You guys are playing the May 12th here...
Nick:�Well I will see you all up there...
Rob:�yeah man!
Nick:�Dig it...I`ll see you soon then...
Rob:�Thanks for talking to me...
Nick:�Cheers man, later.... |
