Post by urgeintheicebox on Jan 5, 2006 17:10:19 GMT -5
Xiu Xiu Interview - 12/7/05 -
By Miranda Valentic, John Clark and David Loner
Interview conducted by David Loner
David Loner: are there any recordings that you have made as Xiu Xiu that have yet to have been released, due to your own displeasure with the song, or other reasons?
Jamie Stewart: Hmm, lets see, how can I answer that clearly? Usually if there is something we don’t want people to hear its because it’s just not very good. When something gets to be about half way done, we have a pretty clear idea as to if its going to be worth continuing. So I have sort of half-sketches littering my hard drive. There’s also a bunch of music for plays and short films that I guess will get put out at some point, as well as things for singles, I wish I had a more interesting answer for that, like an opera about Goutae.
DL: Do you have a particular favorite Xiu Xiu song?
Caralee McElroy: Let me think about that for a second. Do you have a favorite Jamie?
JS: Um, probably "Sad Pony Guerilla Girl", and there’s a song for the new record called 'Boy Soprano' (apparently the newest song performed live, featuring lead vocals by Caralee) that's one of my favorites also.
DL: Caralee?
CM: Yeah, that’s hard! I mean I've only recorded on one record, but I kind of look at them differently (the songs) from what would be (Jamie's) favorite. But I do actually like 'Sad Pony Guerilla Girl,' and 'Apistat Commander' is one of my favorites
DL: Have there been any books which have inspired you throughout the process of writing, or that inspired a topic within a particular song?
JS: Oh sure! Um, there’s a book by Junot Diaz called 'drown' that was influential, just in terms of how the lyrics are presented. There hasn’t really been any subject matter from books which has influenced (songs) particularly. As is often stated by me in interviews, all subject matter is from politics or things going on in our lives. Although that being said, there is a book I'm reading about Guantanamo Bay that will probably make it into the next record, but that’s more about the subject matter than the book individually. Charles Bukowski has been influential lyrically, anything by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Genet, just off the top of my head... This sounds terrible, but literature, more than songs, is influential on our lyrics, literature more than pop music that is.
DL: What has happened to former members of Xiu Xiu since their departure from the band?
JS: Oh, um, Yvonne Chen never liked touring at all, and wanted to open a store, called Otsu, a vegan restaurant that’s going really well. Lauren Andrews went back to college. Cory [McCulloch] and I just made each other crazy on tour.
DL: Which I guess answers another question we had: Cory had written on Shzine (a Xiu Xiu online message board) that all three of you were now going to be a full-fledged band
JS: Oh we did a tour together again recently in Canada, and other former members are playing with us tonight, Sam and Jherek (of the Dead Science) and others still perform but have their own bands and live in different cities
DL: Caralee, it’s been said that you were/have been involved in other groups; is this true or not?
CM: No. *laughs* A former tour manager of ours use to say he and I had a band called Tiger Game.
DL: That’s where I've heard "tiger" something before.
CM: *laughs* Yeah, but it's not true, well it was me on drums and Scott being "angry"... I think something like that.
JS: Something like that
CM: But no, Xiu Xiu is the first band I've ever really been in.
DL: Some of the fans are wondering if Xiu Xiu, as it is now, is a permanent thing, or if it will continue to be a continuous "revolving-door" outfit.
JS: Oh, well the two of us, live, are for sure. There's a pretty... pretty regular group of people who work on recordings in and out, but it's probably about the same 7 or 8 people working on stuff, but just to different degrees.
DL: In the case of a particular song, we've tried to find the definition of "Apistat" in Webster's dictionary and found that no definition came close to it; what does "Apistat" actually mean?
JS: Um, as far as I know, I didn't title the song, Yvonne Chen did. It's some... it's a really boring answer, actually. A friend of hers use to say that, "Apistat" as a kid or something, and he thought it meant something else, but I can't remember what, I think we just pulled it out of nowhere, the title of the song.
DL: Is there a shortlist that you can give of all the instruments you have been using so far on tour in this year
CM: Right now live we have: a basic guitar, drum machine, synth, and then we have a couple of drum things, a bike-bell, a bell-hop bell- is that what it's called? We haven't really named it yet; it's just a bunch of different bells, desktop bells, in a different pitch. There’s something else that I’m not supposed to say the name of because Jamie hates the name of it, but we call them "Croatians." They're these little disk bells. They look like disks, but they sound sort of like regular bells, and then there is the harmonium. Jamie has been playing snare, some other bells, mandolin... that's about it.
DL: The last two records, Fabulous Muscles and La Foret, have held politically-charged songs ("Support Our Troops," "Saturn,", "Pox," etc.). Do you feel that your personal wishes are directed towards people, or is it a matter of personal statement?
JS: No, I mean just the literal, blatant meanings of the song, there’s no subtlety about them at all
DL: Caralee, do you ever differ with a song? Also, how much input do you put into a song, and do you always know what Jamie is talking about in songs and their meanings?
CM: That's a really good question... when we play live I do a lot of arranging with songs that I didn't record on. I'll write a new part on an instrument when we're recording, which I haven't been too involved in, but I’m getting more into it for the next record. Lyrically, I don't know what's going on with that; it's Jamie's part. Sometimes it's better for me to kind of interpret what I think the song is about for myself, because sometimes, when I know what it's really about, I think of it differently, so I find that it's better for me to think of it as I think it is, rather than what it's really about, and what it has to do with the music.
DL: Jamie, do you ever feel as if you're running out of subjects for songs?
JS: Oh, lyrics have always been difficult for me to write, so I think perpetually I feel like I'm running out of subjects *laughs* but I have never not felt that way about songs.
DL: Do you feel like there are certain songs, subjects in songs that you shouldn't have to explain?
JS: Oh yeah, definitely... most all of them *laughs* Just mostly for the reason Caralee was stating in that she wanted to interpret them in her own way. It's not important at all for someone to feel the way we feel about a song; there's no point in that at all. It's for someone to listen to and hopefully get something out of for themselves. What's there for us is there, but we don't think that it should be similar for everyone.
CM: Yeah, and some subjects are very obvious, but it's still there for interpretation.
DL: Is there anyone in the current music scene that either of you would like to collaborate with?
JS: Oh yea. Michael Gira, Broadcast, Deerhoof, which we're kind of working with because Greg Saunier, their drummer, is producing our next record. And John Dieterich played on some tracks on La Foret, so i guess that has happened, though not collectively.
A ton of classical composers. Like a caveman or something, like a sperm whale, that would be really crazy.
DL: Caralee?
CM: Oh um, I guess this isn't really collaborating but while we were recording (La Foret) and we got to go see Antony and the Johnsons, and we ended up hanging out with his guitar player and his cellist and they said that Antony really wanted an accordion player. I don't really know how to play the accordion, but it's kind of similar to the harmonium, so it's like 'oh my god', because I'd so love to... it'd be so awesome to play with him, but it's not really collaborating; it would just be playing with him.
DL: On La Foret, your artwork (in the US) was designed by Miya Osaki. How did you meet her and how did she become involved with the band?
JS: She played on La Foret. She played a couple of songs on the record... she and I have been friends since we were fifteen. She is my oldest and closest friend so... *laughs* I've known her longer than I haven't known her. She actually played in Xiu Xiu at the very first show we ever played.
DL: oh wow
JS: It was Cory, Yvonne, Miya and myself, so how we've been involved is that we've been friends for almost twenty years, and we play in another band called 7-year rabbit cycle with Rob Fisk and Kelly Goodefisk and George Chen, who is incidentally Yvonne's brother. But I don’t know what else to say but that she's a huge, huge part of my life.
DL: are there any questions which you, throughout the years, have grown to hate and cannot stand to be asked, other than the pronunciation problem?
JS: Um, 'where did the name come from?'
CM: *laughs* yeah
JS: "Are your songs real or fake?"
DL: What do you mean by that?
JS: Oh I mean, "Is the subject matter real?"
CM: "Who's the guy on the cover of A Promise?''
JS: Talking about "Support Our Troops", but that's totally my fault. As are all songs *laughs*
CM: Yeah, but I mean those are questions that have been asked and answered sooo many times.
JS: Yeah, and they're brought up by people who do like, weekly papers, who are entertainment writers as opposed to entertainment columnists. I mean, I don’t mind answering them, but it's just, I just find the words coming out of my mouth.
CM: yeah
DL: You can just sit back.
JS: Yeah, I can just sit back and look out the window or something.
CM: Paint your nails.
DL: Now that Xiu Xiu has existed for half of a decade, a small number of fans (or large) have been influenced by your music, leading to tattoos, artwork, mash-ups. how do you feel about this?
JS: Oh, incredibly fortunate
CM: Yes, it’s really incredible, and it’s the sweetest thing ever, that people care about it that much.
DL: Is there anything you would like to ask, or perhaps tell fans?
CM: ....what do you want to say Jamie? *laughs*
JS: ... I'm single *laughs* you should say you're not single Caralee *laughs*
CM: I'm totally NOT single. *expounding laughter from both Caralee and
Jamie*
FIN
By Miranda Valentic, John Clark and David Loner
Interview conducted by David Loner
David Loner: are there any recordings that you have made as Xiu Xiu that have yet to have been released, due to your own displeasure with the song, or other reasons?
Jamie Stewart: Hmm, lets see, how can I answer that clearly? Usually if there is something we don’t want people to hear its because it’s just not very good. When something gets to be about half way done, we have a pretty clear idea as to if its going to be worth continuing. So I have sort of half-sketches littering my hard drive. There’s also a bunch of music for plays and short films that I guess will get put out at some point, as well as things for singles, I wish I had a more interesting answer for that, like an opera about Goutae.
DL: Do you have a particular favorite Xiu Xiu song?
Caralee McElroy: Let me think about that for a second. Do you have a favorite Jamie?
JS: Um, probably "Sad Pony Guerilla Girl", and there’s a song for the new record called 'Boy Soprano' (apparently the newest song performed live, featuring lead vocals by Caralee) that's one of my favorites also.
DL: Caralee?
CM: Yeah, that’s hard! I mean I've only recorded on one record, but I kind of look at them differently (the songs) from what would be (Jamie's) favorite. But I do actually like 'Sad Pony Guerilla Girl,' and 'Apistat Commander' is one of my favorites
DL: Have there been any books which have inspired you throughout the process of writing, or that inspired a topic within a particular song?
JS: Oh sure! Um, there’s a book by Junot Diaz called 'drown' that was influential, just in terms of how the lyrics are presented. There hasn’t really been any subject matter from books which has influenced (songs) particularly. As is often stated by me in interviews, all subject matter is from politics or things going on in our lives. Although that being said, there is a book I'm reading about Guantanamo Bay that will probably make it into the next record, but that’s more about the subject matter than the book individually. Charles Bukowski has been influential lyrically, anything by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Genet, just off the top of my head... This sounds terrible, but literature, more than songs, is influential on our lyrics, literature more than pop music that is.
DL: What has happened to former members of Xiu Xiu since their departure from the band?
JS: Oh, um, Yvonne Chen never liked touring at all, and wanted to open a store, called Otsu, a vegan restaurant that’s going really well. Lauren Andrews went back to college. Cory [McCulloch] and I just made each other crazy on tour.
DL: Which I guess answers another question we had: Cory had written on Shzine (a Xiu Xiu online message board) that all three of you were now going to be a full-fledged band
JS: Oh we did a tour together again recently in Canada, and other former members are playing with us tonight, Sam and Jherek (of the Dead Science) and others still perform but have their own bands and live in different cities
DL: Caralee, it’s been said that you were/have been involved in other groups; is this true or not?
CM: No. *laughs* A former tour manager of ours use to say he and I had a band called Tiger Game.
DL: That’s where I've heard "tiger" something before.
CM: *laughs* Yeah, but it's not true, well it was me on drums and Scott being "angry"... I think something like that.
JS: Something like that
CM: But no, Xiu Xiu is the first band I've ever really been in.
DL: Some of the fans are wondering if Xiu Xiu, as it is now, is a permanent thing, or if it will continue to be a continuous "revolving-door" outfit.
JS: Oh, well the two of us, live, are for sure. There's a pretty... pretty regular group of people who work on recordings in and out, but it's probably about the same 7 or 8 people working on stuff, but just to different degrees.
DL: In the case of a particular song, we've tried to find the definition of "Apistat" in Webster's dictionary and found that no definition came close to it; what does "Apistat" actually mean?
JS: Um, as far as I know, I didn't title the song, Yvonne Chen did. It's some... it's a really boring answer, actually. A friend of hers use to say that, "Apistat" as a kid or something, and he thought it meant something else, but I can't remember what, I think we just pulled it out of nowhere, the title of the song.
DL: Is there a shortlist that you can give of all the instruments you have been using so far on tour in this year
CM: Right now live we have: a basic guitar, drum machine, synth, and then we have a couple of drum things, a bike-bell, a bell-hop bell- is that what it's called? We haven't really named it yet; it's just a bunch of different bells, desktop bells, in a different pitch. There’s something else that I’m not supposed to say the name of because Jamie hates the name of it, but we call them "Croatians." They're these little disk bells. They look like disks, but they sound sort of like regular bells, and then there is the harmonium. Jamie has been playing snare, some other bells, mandolin... that's about it.
DL: The last two records, Fabulous Muscles and La Foret, have held politically-charged songs ("Support Our Troops," "Saturn,", "Pox," etc.). Do you feel that your personal wishes are directed towards people, or is it a matter of personal statement?
JS: No, I mean just the literal, blatant meanings of the song, there’s no subtlety about them at all
DL: Caralee, do you ever differ with a song? Also, how much input do you put into a song, and do you always know what Jamie is talking about in songs and their meanings?
CM: That's a really good question... when we play live I do a lot of arranging with songs that I didn't record on. I'll write a new part on an instrument when we're recording, which I haven't been too involved in, but I’m getting more into it for the next record. Lyrically, I don't know what's going on with that; it's Jamie's part. Sometimes it's better for me to kind of interpret what I think the song is about for myself, because sometimes, when I know what it's really about, I think of it differently, so I find that it's better for me to think of it as I think it is, rather than what it's really about, and what it has to do with the music.
DL: Jamie, do you ever feel as if you're running out of subjects for songs?
JS: Oh, lyrics have always been difficult for me to write, so I think perpetually I feel like I'm running out of subjects *laughs* but I have never not felt that way about songs.
DL: Do you feel like there are certain songs, subjects in songs that you shouldn't have to explain?
JS: Oh yeah, definitely... most all of them *laughs* Just mostly for the reason Caralee was stating in that she wanted to interpret them in her own way. It's not important at all for someone to feel the way we feel about a song; there's no point in that at all. It's for someone to listen to and hopefully get something out of for themselves. What's there for us is there, but we don't think that it should be similar for everyone.
CM: Yeah, and some subjects are very obvious, but it's still there for interpretation.
DL: Is there anyone in the current music scene that either of you would like to collaborate with?
JS: Oh yea. Michael Gira, Broadcast, Deerhoof, which we're kind of working with because Greg Saunier, their drummer, is producing our next record. And John Dieterich played on some tracks on La Foret, so i guess that has happened, though not collectively.
A ton of classical composers. Like a caveman or something, like a sperm whale, that would be really crazy.
DL: Caralee?
CM: Oh um, I guess this isn't really collaborating but while we were recording (La Foret) and we got to go see Antony and the Johnsons, and we ended up hanging out with his guitar player and his cellist and they said that Antony really wanted an accordion player. I don't really know how to play the accordion, but it's kind of similar to the harmonium, so it's like 'oh my god', because I'd so love to... it'd be so awesome to play with him, but it's not really collaborating; it would just be playing with him.
DL: On La Foret, your artwork (in the US) was designed by Miya Osaki. How did you meet her and how did she become involved with the band?
JS: She played on La Foret. She played a couple of songs on the record... she and I have been friends since we were fifteen. She is my oldest and closest friend so... *laughs* I've known her longer than I haven't known her. She actually played in Xiu Xiu at the very first show we ever played.
DL: oh wow
JS: It was Cory, Yvonne, Miya and myself, so how we've been involved is that we've been friends for almost twenty years, and we play in another band called 7-year rabbit cycle with Rob Fisk and Kelly Goodefisk and George Chen, who is incidentally Yvonne's brother. But I don’t know what else to say but that she's a huge, huge part of my life.
DL: are there any questions which you, throughout the years, have grown to hate and cannot stand to be asked, other than the pronunciation problem?
JS: Um, 'where did the name come from?'
CM: *laughs* yeah
JS: "Are your songs real or fake?"
DL: What do you mean by that?
JS: Oh I mean, "Is the subject matter real?"
CM: "Who's the guy on the cover of A Promise?''
JS: Talking about "Support Our Troops", but that's totally my fault. As are all songs *laughs*
CM: Yeah, but I mean those are questions that have been asked and answered sooo many times.
JS: Yeah, and they're brought up by people who do like, weekly papers, who are entertainment writers as opposed to entertainment columnists. I mean, I don’t mind answering them, but it's just, I just find the words coming out of my mouth.
CM: yeah
DL: You can just sit back.
JS: Yeah, I can just sit back and look out the window or something.
CM: Paint your nails.
DL: Now that Xiu Xiu has existed for half of a decade, a small number of fans (or large) have been influenced by your music, leading to tattoos, artwork, mash-ups. how do you feel about this?
JS: Oh, incredibly fortunate
CM: Yes, it’s really incredible, and it’s the sweetest thing ever, that people care about it that much.
DL: Is there anything you would like to ask, or perhaps tell fans?
CM: ....what do you want to say Jamie? *laughs*
JS: ... I'm single *laughs* you should say you're not single Caralee *laughs*
CM: I'm totally NOT single. *expounding laughter from both Caralee and
Jamie*
FIN
