FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
1. AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH GUIDED BY VOICES' DOUG GILLARD
2. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
This Week at The Stone Pony: Winger -- A Live Broadcast Hosted by The Tour Bus (Saturday).
New on The Stone Pony Calendar: Frank Black and the Catholics (November 11), Glen Burtnik (November 15)
The latest album release from Guided by Voices, "Universal Truths and Cycles" (Matador) includes nineteen of the thousands of songs frontman Bob Pollard has written over the years. This prolific underground band has flirted with mainstream success often since it's inception in the mid-1980s, and has consistently released a unique, somewhat strange, brand of pop music. The band's output, another new EP was released after this interview was conducted, can challenge the most devoted fans to keep up. Those that do are rewarded with numerous musical gems, drawing on a diverse set of influences and blended to create a unique sonic experience. The live shows are just as memorable, and The Stone Pony brings the band to our stage on Saturday, October 12th. Ok, so it took us a little while, but we promise that it will be worth the wait! Any interview can only present a small fraction of what Guided By Voices is all about, but we recently made our best effort with the band's guitarist and co-writer, Doug Gillard.
The Stone Pony: Start off with a brief introduction.
You’ve been the lead guitarist with GbV since 1997. Can you share how you
first met Bob Pollard, and what led to your becoming a member of the group.
Were you aware of Guided By Voices’ music before you joined the band?
Doug Gillard: No, I wasn't. Bob was walking past this Journey cover band I
was in at the Ohio State Fair, stopped, and wanted me to play leads in his
band. I wondered what on earth Guided By Voices could be, but he promised me
they had a following. Now this was about mid '96. He told me to trim the
mullet, lose the Jheri curls, and get some Converse. I fell in love with the
music instantly, and it reminded me that I used to have Beatles records
before Night Ranger and Vandenberg took over in my formative years. Well,
let me tell ya, it was actually an easy transition. Other bands I was in as
well, like Gem, Death of Samantha and, later, Cobra Verde, were bands that Bob
admired before I even met him, and Gem and CV opened up for GbV in '93 and
'94. I joined in later '96, right before recording Mag Earwhig.
The Stone Pony: In interviews, you’ve discussed how GbV
doesn’t work too hard to create “singles”. GbV albums are great rides that
don’t rely heavily on the strength of a single song. The past year or so has
seen the record industry eliminating the single as a means of marketing
music, incidentally mirroring the rise of digital music distribution. What
do
you think the death of the single says about the state of the major label
record industry? Do you see any correlation between this shift and the rise
in GbV-influenced bands, such as The Stokes, The White Stripes and The
Vines?
DG: I haven't noticed the decline of the single as a means of marketing, because I don't follow things that closely. If that means bands concentrate more on whole albums as opposed to one or two good songs with a bunch of crap around it, then that is a good thing for music. Then again, remember the peak of Album Oriented Rock, where everyone made "grand" albums and didn't concentrate on a pop hit, and the "single" was some seven-minute epic that had to be edited down for radio? "Carry On My Wayward Son" comes to mind. That's not a good thing. I hope The Single isn't dead, ending up as something only reserved for boy bands, hip-hop stars, and whatever they loosely call a "diva" these days.
I see the correlation between the bands you mentioned above rising toward the mainstream attributable to the fact that people who grew up with that annoying indie rock mindset are now moving into higher positions in all aspects of media. Of the bands you mention above, I don't see The Strokes or the Vines adhering so much to that indie mindset in their approach, which is why there is a backlash in some camps - they actually dare to dress and act like they are rock stars and play rock in a musical combo band. Just shocking, isn't it? They can also play pretty well and have guitar solos - well, looks they just broke all the laws of indie, as it came to be known as after the mid-90's anyway.
There are other bands waxing mainstream that have actually
been influenced by more recent GbV stuff, which is a cool thing. There
are a ton of bands who were influenced by GbV in general, and never admit it
or cite it, nor do their reviewers. Jimmy Eat World and the Strokes are the
only ones I know of that do so publicly.
The Stone Pony: The band’s last album, “Isolation Drills”, received rave
reviews and fan reaction in 2001. Your web site lists two dozen “Best of”
lists from that year which praised the record, including “Rolling Stone”.
When you’re as prolific as GbV has been, is there ever any concern about
following-up the success of an album with something stronger, or different?
DG: Not having a top-40 hit certainly keeps that pressure
away!! F*ck success - who wants that? No, but we have achieved success -
time after time, year after year. We never have worried about the follow-up
factor. We are not big worriers. We're warriors. Each LP is a new
presentation of a diverse batch of well-written, interesting songs. We never
know how a record is going to do, but it is one of those bands that will
always have a core fan base that buys a certain amount. If we reach new fans
in the process, great. If not, we're perfectly happy doing what we're doing.
The Stone Pony: In addition to your work with GbV, you and Bob Pollard
released a collaborative effort, “Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire
Department”, in 1999. That album has recently gotten renewed attention when
one of its songs, “Do Something Real”, was included in the Steven Soderbergh
film “Full Frontal”. How did the song come to be included in the movie?
Where do you feel that album ranks among your work and is there a different
vibe to it from a GbV album?
DG: Soderbergh has always been a fan of the band, and he wanted a more DiY song to go with his new DiY-styled film, so, I guess he liked the title and that message and the way it sewed up the culmination of the narrative in the film. I'm proud of all the work and collaboration I do with Bob, and I really love all the songs on that release. I think the vibe on it is a little different than that of a more current GbV album, and there aren't near as many leads, which is a good thing. It's got more of a pop sensibility, which appeals more to me, personally.
The Stone Pony: An interesting side-project for the band, you were recently involved in shooting the new video for The Strokes’ song “Someday”; a spoof of the “Family Feud” game show where The Strokes and GbV square off. Did you all just have a great time working on the shoot and putting the video together, and do you have any idea where the concept for the video originated? Fans would probably think of those two bands getting together as just a cool party with lots of drinking and road stories; any truth to that perception?
DG: Julian grew up really loving that game, and was fulfilling some lifelong dream by playing the Feud. It was fun, but hanging out at that bar was even more fun! We actually beat those guys badly at that game, and it was re-shot with their victory (it's their video!) It was all good-natured, or de-natured, depending on what we were drinking. Kevin and I killed in the final big-money round where you are on the timer and the other guy is isolated backstage.
We don't exchange road stories with them, just drinking. And we're their drunk uncles.
The Stone Pony: Give us a little insight into the
creation of the new album. How many songs were recorded before the decision
was made on the 19 tracks which were included on the final release? Did the
band spend a lot of time in the studio working through songs, or were the
songs recorded quickly in few takes? When a song is first put together, does
it usually remain pretty constant through the recording processes, or do
they evolve from the original concept to the sound that makes it to the
official recording?
DG: We recorded probably a total of about 27 songs. They were recorded very
quickly, most in one take, some took two. In the first half of the sessions,
we recorded and overdubbed on one song, then mixed it before starting on the
next one. In the second half, we didn't have the demos for too long
beforehand, and played most of the songs virtually freshly-learned, so it
has a lot more spontaneity and is not too over-thought.
Two separate studios, too. The structure of the song is basically the same as it is on Bob's demo, then the vocals and guitar/keyboard/etc., and overdubs grow a bit from their first inceptions.
The Stone Pony: Staying on topic of the recording, can you run through the gear that you used during those sessions? What guitars do you prefer to use in studio, and are they the same instruments you use on stage? Any pedals or other special effects you like to utilize? Can you remember the first guitar you owned, and the first song you learned to play on it?
DG: We use our own stuff we use on stage, but then we borrow a whole bunch of crap from friends and our own "collections". My "collection" consists of about 3 guitars!! You know how Pete Townshend had the numbered Les Pauls, 1 thru 10, or whatever? I have "it", and the other one is "the backup"!! We borrow guitars, amps, and even rented a glockenspeil for "Cheyenne". A generous friend of ours, Tom, let us use his Vox AC15, I remember using Scott Bodine's Strat for "Christian Animation...", Tony Conley let me use some custom, hollowed-out Les Paul for parts of "Back to the Lake". I have a '55 Kay Jimmy Reed model I used on some things. Bob sang into what Todd Tobias put in front of him, and Todd puts the stank on things with some bizarre samples and sounds he found/invented.
On stage, Nate uses a Laney head and cab, has two Telecasters, and a Jeckyl and Hyde pedal. I have a '77 Les Paul Custom, and a '73 Les Paul Standard (Les Paul Stanley) and play through a Mesa Dual Rectifier head and some ridiculously heavy-ass Mesa 4x12 cabinet that used to belong to Page Hamilton (Jimmy Page Hamilton). Hey, those could be Before And Afters on Wheel Of Fortune. Tim used an old Fender Bassman tweed combo a lot in the studio. He plays a Fender Precision bass thru a Fender head and bottom and a SWR 2x10. I have Boss Tremelo, Blues Driver, and an Ibanez Chorus/Flanger on stage. We all tune by eyesight only - looking at the strings. When they look just about right, then we go for it.
The first real and not plastic guitar I ever owned is a weird Gibson SG / Les Paul Junior thing from '72 that's very light. The first song I learned just may have been "Smoke On The Water", and I remember making up some song called "Wolf On The Couch" that was basically BTO's "Takin' Care Of Business". Before that, I learned on my dad's guitar, and a couple plastic ones, and used open tunings because I didn't know how to form chords the right way. I still don't.
The Stone Pony: Any songs from the new album that are
particular favorites to perform live? As a guitarist, do you enjoy the
pop-punk or grungy sounds like “Back to the Lake” and “Everywhere With
Helicopter”, or the rock sounds of “Cheyenne” and “Pretty Bombs?” Are there
ever sounds from the studio that you’ve found difficult to perform live?
DG: Trick questions? I think all those songs fall into near the same
category for me - pop. And that's what I like to play. I like playing pretty
chords better than leads, riffs or just about anything. The "sounds of the
studio" (from a Todd Rundgren LP??) that I find hard to reproduce are them
string parts! Or when something is doubled, etc. Can't do the glockenspiel.
The Stone Pony: Another upcoming release is the Guided
By Voices DVD “Some Drinking
Implied”, which will be out in October. Can to make your best pitch to fans
about what they can expect when they buy the video? Are there any
particularly interesting clips or memorable moments that you’ve especially
enjoyed seeing?
DG: That video is a bunch of miscellaneous stuff compiled together,
including a high school lo-fi sci-fi film Bob and his friends did called
"Wild People", some footage of the band playing before mid-'96, and Geo from
Dayton giving great speeches to the camera and singing "Sympathy For the
Devil" at the end. My favorite part is in "Sympathy For The Devil", when Geo
says "call me Al, call me Lucifer..."
The Stone Pony: GbV is known for long sets, packed with
songs. To help promote “Universal Truths and Cycles”, the band has even been
playing the entire album through, before moving on to other material. Any
preview of what fans will be able to expect at the Stone Pony gig in October
and how late fans will be going home? Does the band pick a set list for each
show, or do you prepare a certain play list that you pick and choose from
throughout the evening?
DG: We rarely play the new LP in it's entirety - we've done it at some
select shows, but we usually mix it in with the rest. I'm not sure what's
planned for the Asbury Park show. We usually go by our mood that day, or
night. Fans will probably be going home around 2 or 3, hopefully in cabs, as
they will be mighty hammered. Bob writes a different ordered set list for
each show. He's got the master list in his head, and writes the list out
right before each show. He's a master of sequencing. You can tell that from
our albums. He was also a master at fading a song out when mixing at the
studio, and used to be called the Fading Captain. That's actually where that
came from, though I know you didn't ask.
Thanks, by the way, for waiting for us to play there for like the third time. I promise we'll be there this time, and are looking forward to it.
So's our manager David -- probably the first show of ours in a few years he can actually walk home from!
Their manager happens to hail from Ocean Grove, so it's an easy walk home for him. For the rest of us, it's back to Asbury Avenue for the early-morning drive home past the Palace. Can't wait for the show? Then buy the album and visit their official web site at www.gbv.com. But first, mark your calendar for Saturday, October 12th for proof that great music is being made, as long as you know where to listen.
'The Rising' t-shirts on sale
The Stone Pony Store is now taking orders for the special t-shirt commemorating July 30, 2002, Asbury Park's big day in the national spotlight. The shirts are the same ones sold at the club during the marathon event before and after the appearance by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the Today show. Shop safely and securely for cool Pony goods including hats, jackets, sweatshirts, tank tops and more.
Visit http://bamart.com/stonepony for details, or go to www.stoneponyonline.com and click on the "Store" link.
Have your party at the Pony!
The Stone Pony is the
perfect place for your party. We can accommodate six or 600, or anywhere in
between. We can arrange for entertainment as well.
Call 732-502-0600 Ext. 12 for details.
Now at asburypark.net: Support Sought From Governor
Supporters of the city's historic Palace Amusements building are undertaking a letter-writing campaign aimed at Gov. McGreevey. "The next really big fight over the Palace and the other waterfront landmarks is going to take place not in Asbury Park, but in Trenton," said Bob Crane of Save Tillie Inc., a group of music and amusement park fans which organized in an effort to save the Palace. "Our friends at MagicBus.com have done Save Tillie and everyone who cares about the Palace a huge favor."
Thursday Nights. Bounce Thursday: The Ultimate Dance Party with DJ Matrix and MC BJ, 20-oz. $1 drafts and $1 tube shots all night long, ladies free until 11, $5 with Monmouth University ID, 18 & up for everyone with two forms of ID, doors at 9:30.
