Buzz Blog

With so many damn release shows happening this past weekend (which I hope you at least got to one of them), it was kind of a foregone conclusion that in covering a show this weekend, I'd end up at one. So in traditional fashion for this blog, I threw all of them up on a wall and threw a dart. I probably should have done it sober and not put a dart through an old MP3 player and a DVD box set for the third season of " The Shield", but a few "practice throws" later and we were headed to The Urban Lounge.

--- This past Friday they were holding the release show for Bronco in a special four band lineup. We were treated to the SLC cousin duo out of San Francisco by the name of Callow for the opener, the six piece ensemble that is Fauna, and longtime rockers The Rubes before the featured band closed out. We chatted with the first three for interviews, along with over 300 pictures (of the dark and blurry) for you to check out in this gallery here. 

Callow (Sami Knowles & Red Moses)

http://callow.bandcamp.com/

For most of this interview, the duo chose to answer as a band.

Gavin:  Hey guys! First thing, tell us a little about yourselves.

Callow:  We moved out of our apartment a couple years ago to tour, and we're still doing it.

Gavin:  What first got you both interested in music, and who were some of your favorite acts and musical influences growing up?

Red: Music is in everybody, I just like to make it. My influences range from Pavement and Silver Jews to Pink Floyd and Queen. And, though I'm not religious, I'm sure church hymns played a role as well.

Sami: My mom loved music-- everything from Motown and funk to folk and psychedelic rock, so I pretty much came out of the womb shakin' my hips and formulating harmonies.  Oh man I think I've loved all types of music at various points in my life.  For the past few years I've been steeped in traditional Haitian rhythms.

Gavin:  How did you all get together to form Callow?

Callow:  We met in San Francisco and initially started out as a four-piece.  We soon realized that in order to tour as much as we wanted we needed to shrink.

Gavin:  Was it difficult for you working only as a two-piece rock band, or was it easier to create music together in that sense?

Callow:  We've found it to be much easier. There are fewer conflicts of interest with only two people, and it has definitely made touring for long periods more manageable.

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Gavin:  Last year you released your debut self-titled EP. What was the recording process for that like, and were there any difficulties along the way?

Callow:  Honestly the recording process could not have been smoother and more enjoyable. We recorded the four songs live in two days, and mixed on the third day.  Both the recording and mixing were all done analog.  It was our first experience mixing analog, and it kept us from getting too hung up on silly details. We think it made for a really authentic recording, and captures the tone of our live performance.

Gavin:  What made you decide to work at Owl Sight Recorders, and how was it working with Laif Erickson for mastering?

Callow:  Alex Laipenieks and Tyler Jensen (of Owl Sight) are both sound guys for several places in the bay area, including Bottom of the Hill in SF.  We met and hit it off right away. They really got the flavor of our music, and their  basement studio in Oakland was full of an impressive collection of vintage equipment.  The vibe was just right all around. Laif is an old friend in SLC who Red has worked with a lot over the years.  He's always a breeze.

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Gavin:  You self-released the album and gave it away for free online. What made you decide to do that rather than find a label and do a proper release?

Callow:  We really just want to get our music out there.  At this point our concern is to not necessarily capitalize on the tunes. While money to pay our way on the road is nice, we'd like to think about a bigger picture. A label will surely play a role in our future. It's just got to be right.

Gavin:  What did you think of the public reaction to it when you finally released it?

Callow:  We were really happy. All the reviews have been complimentary and our audience seems to like it.

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Gavin:  Are there plans in the works for a second EP or a full-length, or are you focused more on touring and playing gigs for now?

Callow:  We're just now wrapping up a three-month tour through Northern Califonia and the Northwest. Salt Lake marks the finale. We plan to spend the next few months recording a full-length and doing short tours throughout California. August is our set goal for another extensive tour to promote the new album.

Gavin:  Going state-wide, what are your thoughts on the local music scene, both good and bad?

Callow:  Well, 99% of our shows are out of Utah, but we are always treated like family when we return. The Salt Lake music scene is unique in its cohesion. The musicians here really support each other.

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Gavin:  Is there anything you believe could be done to make it more prominent?

Callow:  Build a chain of cities linking Salt Lake to another big city? (Chuckling)

Gavin:  Not including yourselves, who are your favorite acts in the scene right now?

Callow:  Aside from old friends like Bronco, The Rubes, David Williams and Glade. We're fond of Red Bennies, Coyote Hoods, Calico, La Farsa... the list goes on and on.

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Gavin:  What's your opinion on the current airplay on community radio and how its affects local musicians?

Callow:  KRCL is great. Circus Brown is always in our corner and other musicians seem to feel the same. We used to play a lot on “Kickin Judy with Tristin” and Angie/Tracy from “Chubby Bunny”.  Community radio is an essential component to a vibrant local scene.

Gavin:  What do you think of file sharing these days, both as musicians and a music lovers?

Callow:  Music is to be shared.  We'd rather folks have our music and potentially come to a show in the future than not know about us at all.  We support the artists we love by going to see them play live.

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Gavin:  What can we expect from you guys over the rest of this year?

Callow:  More touring and a new record with new songs. Maybe some fireworks.

Gavin:  Is there anything you'd like to promote or plug?

Callow:  We have a few more shows in SLC before we go.  We're playing Thursday (3/31) at Alchemy Coffee (390 E. 1700 S.) starting at 7PM.  Friday (4/1) we're doing a live in-studio with Circus Brown on KRCL 90.9 FM, sometime between 8-10PM.  And Saturday (4/2) at The Woodshed (60 E. 800 S.) starting 9PM sharp.  And, we love ginger tea straight from the root.

Fauna (Sarah Custen, Michael Greene, Zach Spears, Adam Nelson, Steve Pinette & Wachira Waigwa)

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Fauna on Facebook

Gavin:  Hey guys! First off, tell us a little about yourselves.

Mike:  Well... we all mostly grew up in Utah. Ogden, Layton/Kaysville and Alpine. Two-thirds of us live together, and all-thirds of us work part-time, odd-hours, or just plain shitty jobs. But sometimes we drink and play music. Those are the good times. We've known each other for quite a while, since high school or college, but only started playing music together in the last couple years. Before that we went camping, bowling, played kickball, hung out.

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Gavin:  What first got you each interested in music, and who were some of your favorite acts and musical influences growing up?

Adam: I come from a really musical family and started playing the trumpet in 4th grade. I have four older brothers that exposed me to a lot of cool music that has influenced my musical tastes. Bands like Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Tower of Power, Bjork, Stereolab.

Mike:  I grew up in California in the '90s so I listened to a lot of rap originally. But mid-high school, Rage Against The Machine served as my sort of transition into a more rock direction, and drew me to the idea of picking up a guitar. I only took a few lessons, but mainly learned to play guitar (and eventually song structure) by deconstructing/tabbing/figuring out Tool songs. But through this I became far more interested in the structures, transitions, i.e. when I heard a song I picked it apart instead of merely listening to it. I have a large umbrella of musical taste that ranges from Autolux/Pulp/Olivia Tremor Control to more well knowns like Prince/Bowie/Neil Diamond. Most bands have at least a little to offer. Although I will say I have little interest in Reggae or Ska.

Sarah: I grew up in a house filled with Doo-Wop, Showtunes and Indigo Girls. I started taking violin in the 2nd grade and was a big orchestra geek as a teen--way into classical--and also way into Weezer all throughout high school. Most of what I've gotten into since then has been CDs that Mike burns for me. 

Steve: What first got me into music was just... the counter-culture to Utah, to growing up in Utah. My favorite music growing up was Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, and Pink Floyd. Now I'm really into anything by the Anti-Con Collective, Animal Collective, Themselves, etc. 

Zach: The first time I heard Bright Eyes’ “Lifted” was the first time I wrote a song. It made me want to write music. Pink Floyd was also an influence as well as The Beatles and The Shins.

Wachira: My parents raised me on classical music, and my favorite instrument in the orchestra was the timpani. When my dad later introduced me to Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, my love for the timpani was transferred to the drum set, which I didn't actually get to start playing till I was fifteen (my parents insisted I take piano until then). The first tape I ever owned was KrisKross (who I would still get down to, by the way, if I still had the tape). In junior high, I dabbled in metal. I was really into 311, Tool, and the Wailers in high school. Afterwards I got more into jazz, salsa, and hip hop. Now I'm into anything that feels sincere, regardless of genre. It also helps if it's unique.

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Gavin:  How did you all get together to form Fauna?

Adam:  Our friend Jeremy was at a party one night and met a recent emigrant from Connecticut named Nate. They promptly got into a rap battle, exchanged numbers and went out to breakfast the next morning. Pretty soon we all got to know Nate, who's really into creative projects and producing music--he was really the catalyst for us taking our casual jam sessions more seriously and thinking that we could actually go somewhere with it. We made this Christmas album with him called Seasonz Greetingz (he does this every year instead of buying presents), back then it was just Adam and Chi. Then Zach got involved, and we played a few shows, a few months later Mike joined, then soon after that Sarah, and then Steve came on board a few months later. We didn't all start playing together as this line-up until Sarah and Zach came back from Spain and Hawaii, respectively.

Gavin:  With all of you coming from different groups and projects, how was it meshing styles together into this kind of eclectic mathematical sound?

Steve: Any side projects that any of us are involved in happened after Fauna. Coming from diverse musical backgrounds is what gives us a unique, eclectic sound. Wachira being a music major at the U brings a lot of ideas for different beats, mixed time signatures and that rubs off on all of the other band members. We all want to bring something new and unique to the listener, but without being hard to listen to.

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Gavin:  Last year you released your debut album Puddles Into Rapids. What was the recording process for that like, and was it problem with departing and filler members to put together?

Zach: The recording went pretty fast, just four days in the studio spaced out over a month, because Sarah was leaving. So we were super focused and methodical about it. It was this new, big thing to us--being in the studio. We were a little awed. We ate a lot of Gardetto's Mix.

Adam: I was excited to record in a real studio. Before then I had only dabbled in basement studios and small projects. The whole experience was a little intimidating at first but we settled in and for our first album I was pretty pleased with the results.

Gavin:  What made you choose to work with Midnight Records for the recording?

Mike:  Our friends, Oh! Wild Birds had worked with them, and recommended them. We really only gave ourselves a couple options and didn’t really shop around, because Sarah was leaving for Spain. We were really more interested in putting down what we had created already, as opposed to some sort of elaborate production.

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Gavin:  Why did you decide to self-release rather than find a proper label?

Wachira: We didn't really have a choice at the time, it’s not like you make a phone call and you’re signed. As a band we would love to find a proper label and quit our day jobs and play music for a living.

Gavin:  What did you think of the press and public reaction to it when it finally came out?

Steve: Puddles Into Rapids was released under the radar, and it was kind of anti-climactic, for us at least, because it had been a year since we'd recorded it. We were waiting on Sarah and Zach, off sewing their wild oats. But our families and fans loved the album, and it looks great. Hayden Halvorsen did the artwork. We had some good press later on after the release and hopefully it can continue to garner some attention. We are really excited for our next album and feel better prepared to release it with all the bells and whistles.

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Gavin:  Are there any plans in the works for a second album yet, or are you simply playing around for now?

Sarah:  We are recording our second album right now with Choi Eskee up at the U, in the music building. We're hoping to release it in May. Choi's a cool guy, loves baby animals. We are really taking our time with this and trying to make sure it sounds like we want it.

Gavin:  Going state-wide, what are your thoughts on the local music scene, both good and bad?

Zach:  There's a lot of great bands, really unique stuff, but it seems kind of like every-band-for-itself. It would be nice to see people helping each other out more, bands promoting each other and going to each others' shows, which we've been terrible at as well. We could use more support from the public, the legislature... everyone giving a shit about the Arts more wouldn't hurt.

Mike: I think a lot of bands, including us, feel a little bit "on the outside looking in" or maybe just not as well connected.

Adam:  I feel like there is not a consistency between bars and venues. One bar might pay you $200 with free drinks and another might not pay you anything. There needs to be more communication between bands so that there is some sort of standard between venues.

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Gavin:  Is there anything you believe could be done to make it more prominent?

Zach: It does seem pretty insular, like a band can be really well-known in Salt Lake, but that doesn't usually carry to other states, or even other parts of Utah. Maybe more bars being less self-interested? We always try to connect with other bands, listeners, and try to promote other bands and be supportive.

Gavin:  Not including yourselves, who are your favorite acts in the scene right now?

Steve: Birthquake, Stereotype, Big Blue Ox, Blue Bird Radio, The Devil Whale. A lot of our favorite acts have called it quits--The Futurists, Oh! Wild Birds, Vile Blue Shades...

Mike:  We've played with a lot of interesting bands in the last year or so with names that elude us.

Sarah:  Yeah, we need to get out more!

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Gavin:  What's your opinion on the current airplay on community radio and how its affects local musicians?

Mike:  It seems like local stations mostly play bands that have already made it, to a certain extent, rather than trying to promote up-and-comers. And the focus is more on Indie than local--you're just as likely to hear an obscure band from anywhere in the US as from Salt Lake. UtahFM has been good to us, it's a good alternative to traditional-style radio.

Gavin:  What do you think of file sharing these days, both as musicians and a music lovers?

Wachira: We live in the dark ages and don't know a whole lot about that. I guess if we were actually making money from our music, we might feel differently, but right now what really matters to us is just that people hear our stuff, that they're picking up on what we're putting down.

Adam:  File sharing to me is checking a CD out from the Main Library.

Mike:  Personally, file sharing has grossly expanded my musical palette, considering if I had to pay $10 to check out a band's album, I would have only gotten so far as a college student. And I would have paid a lot of money to terrible, terrible bands. The prices discouraged extensive inquiry into new music, at least for me. I think file sharing increased the movement and spread a band could make, especially to those who would not have listened anyways if you had been forced shell out money. I think file sharing kind of forced the issue of what sixty minutes of music is worth and the answer is "it depends". What I think it's worth and what you're willing to pay are usually not the same. But it's a gray area and will never fully satisfy those who want to listen to music and those who want to sell it to you.

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Gavin:  What can we expect from you guys over the rest of this year?

Steve: We've been named as an official uRecords artist--that's an upstart radio/recording project at the U. We're planning on releasing our second CD in May and doing a West Coast tour in July. Oh yeah, and a music video. Adam bought a video camera.

Gavin:  Is there anything you'd like to promote or plug?

Zach: Ourselves. Peace. People. Music. Peace for ourselves and all the people through music. Thank you to Gavin and City Weekly for the support and exposure. We have really great fans and friends that we would like to thank as well.  Many thanks to Andy Nelson, Dan Sharp, Susan and Carol, Kevin, Bert and Jeremy, Cody,  Shaun and Shasta.

The Rubes (Scott Harker, Greg Midgley, Tommy Nguyen & Charlie Lewis)

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http://www.myspace.com/therubes

Gavin:  Hey Greg, first thing, tell us a little about yourselves.

Greg:  We are members of a crack commando unit sent to prison for a crime we didn't commit.  We promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Salt Lake underground.  Today, still wanted by the government, we survive as soldiers of fortune.  If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and you can find us, you can hire The Rubes.

Gavin:  Damn good to know, we'll talk later. What first got you interested in music, and who were some of your favorite acts and musical influences growing up?

Greg:  I can remember two really pure moments, the first was being twelve and discovering Revolver by The Beatles at the library, the cover was so interesting and the music was even better.  Prior to that I hadn't ever really wanted to learn how to play music. The other was about the same time, listening to the radio one night and hearing a boogie-woogie piano performance.   The music just had so much energy and joy. That began my continuing struggle to learn how to play rock and roll and the blues. As a teenager I would buy records at Randy's Records (RIP) and some big influences were The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin, but more important was discovering artists like Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Buddy Holly.  That stuff all related to those two heavy experiences I had earlier on.   When I got to know Scott (Harker) better and realized he liked all that stuff too it was cool, you know most people liked Motley Crue or Nine Inch Nails or whatever music helped them have a social life. No one else liked Elvis in my neighborhood.

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Gavin:  How did you all originally get together to form The Rubes?

Greg:  I was best friends with Scott's younger brother, Scott's a few years older than me. Eventually we started jamming, talking about music. We took some music classes together at the Community College, and started trying to learn songs we liked and write some music. There was a funny period of trying to find drummers to play with, one guy we played with was pretty good, and he would play our Bobby Darin covers and Led Zep songs on the condition we do some Chicago. That didn't last too long, we had like a solid two years of trying to find other musicians to play with, we met all these characters, one guy would only play drums in the dark with glow-in-the-dark stickers on his drums-most of the people we met just didn't have the same perspective on rock and roll. So me and Scott were recording our early compositions in my parent's basement, and around that time I got a job at CD store, where I met our drummer Charlie (Lewis') brother Oliver. Not long after I was playing in a band with Oliver and Charlie, and at the same time Charlie started playing with me and Scott... that would have been like '97 or '98.   Eventually another friend of Charlie's, Dan Thomas, who is an awesome drummer very active in the music scene here in Salt Lake agreed to play bass. We got about forty cover songs plus our little batch of ten or so original compositions together and played our first gigs. A year or two later Dan got busy with his other projects as drummer and so we started looking for a bass player.  We lucked out and found Tommy Nguyen, after all the weirdos we'd met in the past we knew it would work when we played a Chuck Berry song and he could play it right off the bat. The rest as they say is history.

Gavin:  With some of you experienced at the time and some of you brand new, how was it hashing out your sound and establishing yourselves in the scene at that time?

Greg:  When we first began playing in public, it was about the same time me and Charlie were performing in our other group, Blue Hour, which was a very different band...sort of shoegaze/noise/post-rock stuff. So, with the exception of Tommy, we were all equally green.   We figured that the bands we loved, like the Beatles or the Stones had cut their teeth playing covers of 50's rock and roll, and we should go the same route. When Tommy joined, we started to really get more prolific writing our own songs. We just wanted to keep the feeling of rock and roll in our stuff.  We'd played lots of different venues, battle of the bands, ect... and most of the time we couldn't relate to the other bands. When people tell me they think we are "fun" I consider it a compliment, because most of the bands we'd played with were so self-conscious, leaden, postured. I can't speak for the others, but I wanted our sound and stage act to project something entertaining, good-humored, basic. I'm not putting other styles of music down or anything, there was just like 500 blueshammer bands out there and zero rock and roll bands.

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Gavin:  What was it like early on playing the clubs and getting recognized? Especially with Tommy at the time not being allowed in the buildings due to his age?

Greg:  At first with Dan on bass, it was great to just get experience, learn how to book a show, ect...  When Tommy joined, we played lots of all-ages venues and that wasn't always easy, the young-uns in 2003 usually went for a different sound. The famous story about Tommy being underage was that once up in Ogden, we played Beatniks, and the bar manager at that time was none other than Bad Brad Wheeler.  We got to the gig and met him, told him Tommy was underage. He was very nice about it, but told us Tommy couldn't be in the bar-there were big problems for a bar if they got caught with someone underage inside. I think it was Tommy who thought up the work-around: he would play outside the bar standing by the back door.   We asked Brad if we could rig up a speaker and have the back door open, and to his great credit he allowed us to do it.  So we played our set and Tommy is so good he managed to play without being able to see any of us.  He even had a little fan club hanging out with him by the back door. Luckily he turned 21 a little bit later, and we didn't have to worry about it. Liquor laws here in Utah have always been bizarre and arbitrary.

Gavin:  In 2003 you released the debut album Clown College. What do you remember from recording that album, and what was the reaction to it when it came out?

Greg: Clown College was recorded in a grandma's basement in Orem. I have really good memories of doing it, and we had a great attitude about what we were doing. The more you record and write, the harder it is to not scrutinize every little note and detail. We sound best when we play live together and put other sounds on top of our basic group sound. I remember a lot of people having nice things to say about the music, good reviews from local journalists, ect...  It felt like a step in the right direction. One funny story about recording it was that we stayed at the La Quinta Inn in Orem so we could record non-stop one weekend and finish, and the hot tub there was like 50 degrees and probably had dysentery in it.

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Gavin:  Since that time you put out two more albums over the following five years. Did you find it easier as time went on or did it just present new challenges?

Greg:  The older we've gotten, there are more personal responsibilities and we can't pursue music as single-mindedly as in the past... we used to have a van, would go out of town to play one-nighters. Those van payments add up! So you kind of have to shift your attitude towards what you are doing. There isn't anything wrong with being ambitious and trying to carve out your place in the world, but these days our biggest challenge is to just make schedules work, keep pushing ahead, writing and trying new things. We get asked to play weddings and events because we have a reputation for being all around entertainers. I think the challenge is staying connected to our creativity and songwriting.

Gavin:  The last album was the self-titled from 2008, regarded by many as the best one so far and one of the best that year. What's your take on that kind of recognition?

Greg:  I'm flattered by any positive reactions. We did that album with Mike Sasich, and he did a wonderful job trying to make our concept of no-frills, "live" recording work. I'm no expert, but there are plenty of things that can make that approach difficult for a recording engineer. I hear it back and of course it makes me wince when I hear "mistakes" or a performance that doesn't sound relaxed to me, but if other people have dug the album or given it high marks that really motivates me to keep writing, keep performing. That album was a kind of left turn for us too, because we got more introspective and toned down some of the sarcasm/cleverness. One reason we did mostly acoustic songs was we would go out of town and have to perform for three hours, so I thought it would be nice to have an quiet acoustic set to give people's ears a break. Scott has always had a great love for folk music and I really dug his songs on that album the best, how authentic his feeling is for that music.

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Gavin:  This year marks the tenth anniversary for the group, What are your thoughts on surviving this long in a music scene where many bands fall apart in a year?

Greg:  A band is like a marriage, as hackneyed as that sounds, it's true. I like to think we all respect each other and although the overall output of the band might have suffered a bit from different members being involved in other projects, when we do pick up our instruments and play, we know that there is a unique feeling between the four of us when we make music. There have been times with The Rubes where I just go off the deep end, beyond sensible improvisation, but they are right there with me, and that's a great feeling.  There is nothing wrong with a group just lasting for one night, one month, one year, and I think we like the aspect that, if larger success came to us someday it would be nice and all, but we've paid a few dues, and we can kind of own our style and songs...we've lived in our music for a while now.

Gavin:  With everyone in different projects and keeping bust, is it difficult to keep everyone coming back to play, or is there a general concession that the band will always be around?

Greg:  I like to think that as long as we live in the same place, we are a solvent group. Activity kind of ebbs and flows, but I'm always looking towards the next gig and trying to become better performers, better writers.

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Gavin:  Do you have anything in the works for a brand new album or are you simply playing gigs on occasion for now?

Greg:  We have been working on a new album, stay tuned! I hope it's not just plain laziness, but we haven't put up deadlines to finish, every album in the past was so stressful to coordinate the recording, manufacturing, publicity;  maybe I've lost a bit of hunger to be the cool band with the "album of the year". I'm in college full time, and really focusing on improving my own musicianship. Stuff I never worried about when we first started and it was enough to be able to just play three chords on the guitar. But we want to keep making records, writing music that represents our position on rock and roll. The current (inter)national status of rock and roll is pretty dismal.

Gavin:  Going state-wide, what are your thoughts on the local music scene, both good and bad?

Greg:  I have sort of tuned out on the Utah and Salt Lake music scenes. Most of it I can't relate to. I have a really strange taste in music, I'll openly admit it. I either want to hear stuff as far out as it gets... like Sun Ra or I want to hear the most traditional, straight down the middle kind of thing. Someone performing "Stardust" or "Your Cheatin Heart". On the positive end of things, I think we are fortunate to have a live music scene where people can get out there and express themselves without having to jump through too many hoops and hassles. There are plenty of superb bands out there play all the time, but I haven't heard a "new" sound or been influenced strongly by new band in town.

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Gavin:  Is there anything you believe could be done to make it more prominent?

Greg:  I hate to be pessimistic, but not really. I think lots of people don't want to go to a live concert. They can download it. Unless the whole online culture takes a new turn, I'm not convinced that a vibrant music culture will really have room to expand.

Gavin:  Not including yourselves, who are your favorite acts in the scene right now?

Greg:  I really enjoy the Joshua Payne Orchestra, SLAJO, Blackhole and Red Bennies.

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Gavin:  What's your opinion on the current airplay on community radio and how its affects local musicians?

Greg:  I am one of the lucky artists who gets airplay on community radio, and that's just kismet... I'm sure plenty of folks feel like they don't get as much exposure or there should be more diversity.  Since most commercial radio sounds like a computer program decided what songs to play, I think it is healthy that a DJ takes a stand on what music they like and champion it. There are so many channels to publish your music now that no one can really complain that they aren't being heard.

Gavin:  What do you think of file sharing these days, both as musicians and a music lovers?

Greg:  Well as a listener I dislike the way digital media fragments the listening experience... I'd rather really savor an album; but being a totally promiscuous music lover, it's great to track down rare stuff, out of print or just one of a kind you'd never track down any other way. People were happy listening to noisy 78's back in the '20s and I suppose people now are hearing digital music as the norm. For musicians, it makes it easy to share your stuff, but I think it also devalues it. It's makes the novelty stuff and banal ephemera from non-artists and schucksters appear to stand on the same ground as real art.

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Gavin:  What can we expect from you guys over the rest of this year?

Greg:  We'll be performing at the Utah Arts Festival, playing some club gigs, and (keep your fingers crossed) complete our recording in progress. Working title: Clown Village.

Gavin:  Is there anything you'd like to promote or plug?

Greg:  Keep a lookout for "Timechimp", he might warp into 2011!

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