Petting Party

I recently developed my own brand of guerrilla interviewing which I guinea-pigged on up-and-coming American band Times New Viking. It basically involves taking your interviewees down a sketchy alley in Hackney-ghetto Dalston and clear a space amid broken glass for them to sit by using your foot as a broom. Bear in mind these are the type of places usually only inhabited by squealing pig-children on bicycles and waddling middle-aged eastern-european couples who invariably manage to talk loud enough to obscure voices on even the most high-tech voice recorders. Actually, my voice recorder is from Argos so it kinda added to the ghetto feel.

You guys are from Columbus, Ohio. What was the best thing about growing up there?
Beth: I’d have to say a lack of pretension.
Adam: It’s really laid-back, really pretty. As a kid you could go to the country or go to the city. It’s in-between rural and lots of people concentrated…
Jared: Lots of big cities.
Adam: There are a lot of subtleties and differences between regions. People have a lot of pride.
Beth: There are a lot of Ohio tattoos!
Adam: We get made fun of. We’re the second most made fun of state after Iowa. In a movie if you want a boring place it’s always Ohio.
So even though there’s so much pride, people still get made fun of?
Adam: Well, that’s kinda plays into it. They say we have no culture. People party there a lot too because it’s kinda boring. Last year there were more beer sales per capita… after Texas!

What did each one of you want to do before you became internationally recognised lo-fi pop stars?
Jared: Become an internationally recognised lo-fi pop star.
Beth: We were all at art school together, print makers, that kinda thing.
Adam: We always wanted to be artists… I wanted be a janitor actually.
Uhh, being a janitor is a pretty unusual aspiration.
Adam: I like clean stuff!

You’re on your third album now. What nefarious plans do you have to take over the world?
Adam: We have loads of ideas, and energy.
Beth: We could set up an academy to teach people to make anti-art and lo-fi pop music. Hey, [to Adam] you could clean it!
Adam: I know what I want to do. Motivate kids in America.
Jared: Start with the children.
Adam: Just get them to feel confident about themselves.

You’ve got a pretty hectic tour schedule at the moment, having just got in from Bristol, you’ve got some more UK dates followed by a few European dates and then back to the States ‘til the end of July. That’s got to be knackering! What’s your ultimate tour pick-me-up/hangover cure?
Adam: All you can really do is forget the concept of time and don’t watch TV. When we go back we have 31 travel days and we’re playing 28 of ‘em. That means we’re driving every single night.
Beth: Driving is nice though.
Adam: Listen to country radio. Best thing to do though is just keep going.

Every interview or review I’ve ever read about you guys always rants on about the unlistenable quality of your production values. Do you find questions and comments about it detract from your music?
Jared: It does and it doesn’t. I mean it’s part of making people actually listen to something. There’s not a lot of good music journalists though.
Beth: It would be cool if people would talk about the songs instead of how they can’t understand what we’re saying. We actually print the lyrics but no-one ever talks about individual songs. It’s kinda interesting.
Adam: The way our records sound is honestly just natural to us. The fact that [you can’t hear the lyrics is] the last thing we actually thought about for a long time, and that’s the only thing people ever talk about. In Ohio everyone just records on 4-track ‘cos there’s really nothing else to do.
Except for partying?
Adam: [laughing] Yeah except for partying and recording in your basement! [That’s how] we grew up on our friends bands.
Jared. Not a lot of people come to Columbus.
Adam: You *just* get into your friends bands.

[At this point TNV are called back into Barden’s Boudoir for their soundcheck so my remaining questions about preferred sandwich fillings and the benefits of major label signings are consigned to the bin]
Okay well just one quick thing before you go. I bought you guys Super Mario Kinder Eggs and was wondering what Nintendo character you identify most with?
Beth: The ‘T’ in Tetris.
Adam: Uh, mine’s Toadstool from Super Mario Bros. Oh wait, Super Mario Kart. The whole genre of Toad.
Jared: Scotty Pippin on NBA Jam. He’s a nice all-around even player!
Adam: I’m gonna break my egg open and fill it with whisky and do shots out of it

During their set I notice that Times New Viking seem to have developed a sort of ‘perfection-on-the-fly’ attitude to playing that sees them going to great pains to recreate their ramshackle sound on stage. As it is on record, it is near impossible to make out specific lyrics during a TNV show. This may be due in part to simple things like Adam singing with the microphone in his mouth for an entire song. Even Beth sings as if her microphone isn’t there. This never detracts from the somewhat magical element of their music. It makes you smile and feel happy inside whether you know what the hell they’re saying or not. TNV themselves are correct; it really doesn’t matter because the lyrics are right there for you.

After the gig, Adam excitedly shows me a beautiful vinyl copy of ‘The Paisley Reich’ where the lyrics are actually etched into the grooves of the unplayable side. It is, quite simply, irresistible. After a few plays it becomes obvious that this is how TNV should be played. On a shitty record player, at home, with your eyes shut. You don’t give a fuck about lyrics then.

***Originally printed in Beat Happening Magazine Issue 2 June/July 2008***

All words Rachael Williams

Picture: Matador

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Filed under: journalism, music