SHELLAC ATTACK (Trinity
News, April 27, 1995) :
Steve Albini is
back in Chicago after a week long tour in Europe (which this hack
caught in London and has been babbling about endlessly ever since). So
why was the tour so short?
"We have other job commitments. Our drummer
Todd is the manager of a very large warehouse and shipping facility in
Minneapolis and our bass player, Bob Weston and I are recording
engineers with very busy schedules. We have to accomodate our straight
jobs and recording schedules, which means we can only take time off at
intervals. If we take too much time off, it is too much of an
imposition on our jobs."
At the London show some members of the
crowd were very hostile towards you and the band. A Melody Maker
review of the show remarked that Shellac appear to be a magnet for
assholes.
"Well it's sort of a professional hazard. I
have to say our London show was one of the most boisterous crowds. I've
never been comfortable with the fact that people treat our shows like
a riot booth and come bottled up.
In general it's a pretty small percentage. If I really twist up my
logic I can feel flattered by the fact that people are not shy about
giving their opinion directly, but generally it's more revolting than
flattering. We bring it on ourselves by not being terribly slick or
suave on-stage. The London show was particularly a drag for that
reason. There were inevitable delays, and delays invite people to fill
in the gaps."
There was a lot of new material in the
set. Can we expect new material to be released soon?
"We write stuff at a fairly slow pace. We
don't have enough new songs which we're really happy with to do
another record yet. We probably are going to do some recording soon,
but we like to do songs both early and late in their development."
"At Action Park" (Shellac's
stunning debut album) was one of my favourite releases of last year.
Anyone who I've played the record to loves it (at this point Albini
says he is flattered). Why did such a good album have to have such a
low profile?
"I'm more
comfortable with letting the record develop its own audience. I'm in
an unusual position; I get records shoved under my nose all the time,
and it is kind of offensive. I'm glad that Shellac isn't being
presented in a way that is irritating. There is no shortage of bands
who are presented as the next fantastic thing or whatever. The more
you hear that story the more expectant you become. I think there are
enough bands trying to attract attention to themselves that it is OK
that there are some new bands who are reserved about their public
image. It's fine by me for Shellac to be one of them. If we continue
to put out good records and play decent shows the band will eventually
attract its natural audience. You don't have to go shaking the tree to
get every single person to pay attention to a Shellac record. I'm
comfortable with the notion that some people will not like us, but
those who do will probably eventually hear us."
You have said that all Shellac songs
are either about baseball or Canada. Is that being flippant to
distract lyric analysers or is there some truth in that statement?
"We discovered
after recording the album that most of the songs did not necessarily
have a central theme but were talking in some way or other about
Canada or baseball. It is a flippant remark but not completely off the
mark. There is no reason for those two subjects to show up so much,
but at the time of writing and the entire duration of the band we've
been interested in the ridiculous aspects of Canada. Canada is a huge
country with a very small population and consequently a very big
attitude problem, especially towards the United States. A lot of its
culture is parasitic of its parent countries, (notably Scotland,
Ireland, Eastern Europe and France), so much of Canadian culture is a
hundred-year-old version of European culture. The other part is due to
its proximity to the United States and a common language, which makes
Canadians act a lot like Americans. In the States people are sick and
tired of celebrity but in Canada they are still fascinated with folk
heroes."
At this point Steve Albini apologizes for going
off on a tangent. With this interest in Canada and the subject matter
of Shellac's first single "The Rude Gesture" (A Pictorial
History) which contains the song "The Guy who Invented Fire",
there seems to be a fascination with primal history of civilization.
"The band's conversation topics tend to be
quite convoluted. The subject matter of our songs is much more about
rudimentary behaviour and universal truths existing within any
culture. There are so many moments within a day when people do things
which are indicative of a few stories and experiences in their lives.
When people say or do things it often involves the history of a
certain personal saga. If you think about it beyond a superficial
level, it is quite revealing and often quite touching."
You have often expressed your
dissatisfaction with the music industry. Do you see yourself as always
working in music?
"My profession is as a recording engineer
and my passion is as a performing rock musician, in that sense I have
cast my die. For the foreseeable future I'm going to be a recording
engineer and the majority of business that I get for my services is
not exactly within the professional industry. Most of what I do is
speaking directly to a band, who are people I can understand quite
well. Strictly speaking I don't consider myself part of the music
industry. I would consider myself part of the underground of hobbyist
musicians. On a social and professional level I'm a recording engineer
who doesn't really have much contact with the social and political
world of the mainstream."
So where does that leave the
hero-worshippers and the "Deity of Din" title?
(Long pause) Ermm, that is sort of their problem. We have never done
anything to pander to anybody's expectations, whether it be somebody
in a record company or someone in a peer group or someone who could be
classed as a fan. We do things based on what we intuitively know to be
the right thing to do. It is a lot easier to do that than to do what
people expect of us."
Some people will not give Shellac a chance
simply because you are involved. How do you feel about your notorious
reputation (Courtney Love being the most publicized example).
"Again, that is a professional hazard of
being a loud mouth and straightforward with my opinions. It is a trade
off. I could be extremely modest and try to preserve an artificial
comradery with a bunch of people, but it would be futile. If you are
really honest with people you are never at a loss for words. That
could be the single biggest reason that people have trouble with me as
a personality. They don't like any of their notions to be challenged.
If someone asks me what I think I'm not too shy to tell him. Most
folks are much more judgemental and spiteful than we are. They just
don't have that side of their character made public. It is a matter of
tempering an un-conventional attitude to music with a little
straightforward plain English."
Are Shellac ever going to play in Ireland?
"We'd love to. I've never been to Ireland.
We've always had it in the back of our minds as one of these places
where we have always wanted to go. We made a few tentative steps in
trying to put together an Irish tour. If we can hang that trip on
making a percentage back on some other shows such as a longer tour in
England or France or something, then it is conceivable, even if we
stand to make a loss. All of us have been in bands for so long that we
have often lumped our losses and operated idealistically. It is
possible to do things in a reasonable way and not be taken advantage
of and we do it more than liberally. After ten years or so the
willingness to do it as a charity isn't so strong."
If or when Shellac do play here I would strongly recommend your
attendance. Steve Albini was a polite, relaxed and warm interviewee,
completely different from the cantankerous and bitter caricature which
the music press have been regurgitating for years. But for you the
listener, the nature of Albini's personality is neither here nor there,
and as the old story goes it is the music that matters. It should also
be noted that there are two other talented musical forces behind
Shellac: bass duties by Bob Weston (ex Volcano Suns) who has recorded
terrific records by Archers of Loaf and Sebadoh, and demonic,
psychotically charged drumming from Todd Trainer, also singer and
guitarist in Brick Layer Cake, drummer in Rifle Sport and manager of a
warehouse and shipping facility in Minneapolis.
In my opinion Shellac are the most exciting guitar-trio in the world
today, but don't take my word for it, find out for yourself and ponder
over Todd Trainer's words: "Press is a
matter of curiosity for me but it usually disgusts me. I mean, who's
to say McDonald's is better than Burger King."
This interview taken from: http://www.southern.com/southern/band/SHLAC/biog.html |