K: What’s the scene in Portland like? What do you think about Eat Skull - have you played with them and are there other groups up there that sound similar? Is there a NW/Portland sound?
CG: The big bands in Portland are worshipped by the papers and the unconscious masses and they are atrociously bad. Modest Mouse, Decemberists, 31 Knots, Death Cab for Cutie or whatever. It’s like pirate theater rock or something; a bunch of spoiled thespians whining about coffee and the problems they are having with stretching their ears. There are a lot of bands with a violin and a “crazy” drummer or some shit like that. There are still bands that only listen to the Misfits and Psychobilly and there are still bands that think that garage is and always will be the only genre of music that matters. Tribal tattoos are everywhere.
There are, however, a lot of great new bands like Eat Skull, the Whines, and Meth Teeth. It is an easy city to get a show in and it is very easy to ignore the audacity of some of the bands out there.
Eat Skull are my good friends and are such a great band. We get to play with them in Portland and I’m super stoked.
There is not a Northwest sound. There are a lot of bands but I do not see some sort of communal sound. The rain is a big influence I guess. It seems like if a communal sound is developing than you would have a bunch of people copying each other and it really would not be a good thing. It’s odd why people are always so eager to lump bands together into a sound or a movement. I don’t understand that.
K: I read that you guys hadn’t been playing frequently before the release of Exit Dreams? Is that accurate/Why?
CG: Yeah. We really have only played about five times in the last three years because we had decided to break up and did not really want to play live anymore. The shows had become predictable, soaked in alcohol, and it really was not that fun anymore. The process of recording Exit Dreams took about a year for many reasons and then it took over a year to come out and the band was just kind of floating in limbo during that time. I guess we really weren’t a band anymore at that point and I don’t know what we are now. Some sort of reunion ghost or something.
K: What’s Home Alone 5…explain how that disc came about and if you guys are just tired of playing the same stuff or if this is this actually your last disc und why?
CG: Exit Dreams is our last album. Home Alone 5 is a limited edition vinyl thing with extra tracks from the Exit Dreams recording sessions on one side and us playing on John Peel’s radio show on the other. It shouldn’t be viewed as our last statement but I think that it’s still interesting and there are some good songs on it. We will have copies with us on tour and that will be the only way to get it until after the tours over and Larry puts it on his websight.
There are a lot of reasons for the break up but I know for myself that I got tired of the Hunches formula and I didn’t see much room for flexibility so it was really just time to move on. (CON’T)