Part 1 is directly below this, or click here if your scrolling finger is injured. One of the topics addressed yesterday was Kleenex Girl Wonder's Japanese tour- all I can say is that to me, the poster at left screams "devoted fan base." I'm not sure what the sweater screams. A note on today's portion: for those blissfully unaware of Prasad up to this point, he's a high school friend of DM's who went to Wisconsin with Graham, then transferred back to Maryland and shared a house with us.
Again I will remind you that you can see Graham Smith, Sprites, and Joe Jack Talcum from the Dead Milkmen this Saturday March 12th at Galaxy Hut.
How do you feel about fellow former indie wunderkind Conor Oberst and the unfathomable hype he's getting at the moment? If you were in his position would you have hooked up with Winona Ryder given the opportunity or is the potential of Dave Pirner residue (even a decade later) too gross?
Hey man, yeah, MORE money, MORE money. He's gotten this level of buzz before, though, and he didn't manage to capitalize on it except for finding a way to fund a bunch of other bands through his label, so whatever, I have no problem with the dude. But yeah, his shit isn't that great. I've always maintained that the "independent rock music arena" could use a lot more beef, so I like to think I have that with him. But whatever, dude is on the cover of magazines. I'm not. Winona Ryder is, though, for the record, gross, even ca. 1994.
On a related note, are there any bands or artists you'd like to publicly express your distaste for?
Oh hell yeah. But not really. I don't really hear all that much shit that I don't like. I feel like rap music is in a lull, but in fact the good stuff is just a lot more spread out, and I haven't kept up with producers, although there's nobody really doing anything super crazy like people were around 1999-2002. So that's a complaint, I guess. Really there's just so much great stuff out there right now that it's unbelievable that anybody even has the time to bother with par-baked bullshit.
One of the things I've always enjoyed about your lyrics is that it's evident that you actually read- you've got a large vocabulary and you're not afraid to throw in an obscure reference or two. (I may have mentioned I work in a bookstore- I used to get the Martin Amis part of The Pathetic Fallacy in my head every time I walked through the A's in fiction.) Why do you think that's such a rarity? Are most musicians largely illiterate or something?
I don't really read that much, unfortunately. When I do it's usually bullshit. I think that there is a certain amount of rational disconnection that needs to happen when most people listen to music. For me it's always the opposite. Some songs just grab you even if the lyrics are shit-- I mean look at the Apples in Stereo, seriously some of those lyrics are so bad, but I've still listened to the records a million times-- but usually bad lyrics can ruin an otherwise decent tune. The way I write lyrics is probably off-putting to most people-- the new record especially, tons of lyrics, written in a weird way, crammed in. I don't know, it just feels right. I like trying to do silly rhyming shit, because somebody made this rule that songs have to rhyme, so Jesus, have some fun with it, guy. It's pretentious or whatever, I admit that, and like I said it's probably off-putting to a majority of the music-buying public. But I gotta be me, I guess. I try
to be as catchy about it as possible, if that's of any solace, populace.
So what are you up to outside of the music realm? Ruined any lives recently, or are you still mining the last one for material?
I'm not up to much. Lives have been ruined and lost, figuratively, and I moved away from Chicago. I'm working at a copy/print shop still, writing new songs as much as possible. I spend all my hours in tha music realm.
How did you end up playing shows with Lou Barlow?
It just happened. I think he was looking for solo acoustic type things, which was nice, because I like to think I do it relatively well and I think we complemented each other. He was really great, too, and the crowds were enthusiastic. But I had never met the guy. I guess, now I have.
What's next? Anything new we should be looking forward to?
New record, "Yes, Boss," to be recorded in the forthcoming months and hopefully come out by the end of summer. It will be quite good, and if you see me live at any point in the future, you can hear these new songs which are also good. Also feel free to e-mail testboss@gmail.com if you want to recieve MP3 demos via the emailnet.
Any classic Prasad stories you'd like to share?
One time I was working on something in Photoshop late into the night, I think it was actually Prasad's birthday, and he came over relatively coked up, I think, or at least acting really strange. I never really knew what his deal was, so. He just sort of sat there for a while, I think he knocked over an ashtray of mine. Then he said that I was spending too much time working on the "face" of what I was doing, which I believe was the cover of the Japanese "Tossed Salad: The Early Years" compilation. I think he meant cover. Then he told me about a new program that people in the know use instead of photoshop, which was also called "Face." Then he left.
Do you like sports (just wondering)?
Hell no. I actually do not like professional sports at all. I guess I like the concept of sports. I like tennis, especially. But for the most part, I think people should watch more good TV as opposed to doing sporting things so damn often, much less watching sporting things on TV.
Do you think you'll ever get the popularity and acclaim you so deserve? If not, why not?
Yeah, I get exactly what I deserve, every day. Do I think I'll connect with a shitload of people and get money, money? Probably not. But it's fun to try.
MADE UP QUESTION: Anything you'd like to plug?
Yeah, go to uncrushable.com to watch stupid shit me and my friends are working on. That's about it.
--MZ--
If Graham just watched Gilbert Arenas for a game or two, he'd be a convert. A hip-hop enthusiast like himself should be down with the NBA.
Posted by: DM | March 10, 2005 at 11:40 AM