Interviewed Autumn 1992
by Mike Appelstein
Caught In Flux #1

How long have you been playing music?
Scott and I have been playing music together for 1 1/2 years. This is about the amount of time Scott has been playing drums, though reports from his drummer brother indicate there were times Scott snuck in and tried his hand at his brother's kit before he actually started "playing" drums. I first picked up a guitar when I was quite young and learned to play "Down In The Valley" and "By The Time I Got To Phoenix." Then I gave up until about three years ago.

Were you or Scott in other bands prior to the Spinanes?
The Spinanes is Scott's first band. I was in a band called Cradle Robbers for one month and one performance. This band included Lois Maffeo, Jan Brock and Lori Pollack. We played three originals and an Aerosmith cover. Other than that, only the Spinanes.

Is the name "Spinanes" a takeoff on David Nichols and company?
When I came up with the name "The Spinanes," I was, of course, aware of the world-famous Cannanes, but gave the similarity no thought until it was pointed out to me on a trip to Olympia. Please note: our name only has one "N," followed by another "N" two letters later. This makes it most unlike The Cannanes. Dream note: Could a Verlaines/Spinanes/Cannanes tour be far behind? Maybe Mickey Spillane could MC.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a two-person band? How do you account for all the great music with such a lineup (Courtney Love, early Some Velvet Sidewalk, Soft Cell)?
Advantage of being a two-person band: rest stops are very quick. Disadvantage: it is obvious when you screw up playing. If not to the audience, then to the other person. We cannot blame any song mishaps on a keyboardist. Two person bands have been around forever. Chad and Jeremy, Peter and Gordon, Sonny and Cher, Flo and Eddie, Delaney and Bonnie, and Wham! UK are but a few of the fine duos preceding us. I am quite fond of trios and quartets myself. And four people playing guitar across the front of a stage with a lone drummer sitting in back always knocks my socks off.

How did you enjoy the International Pop Underground Convention? What are your feelings about Girl Night, during which you played?
I adored the convention. I got to see tons of friends, make new ones, eat only Fig Newtons all week, sleep outside with my best buds, and disco dance for four hours in a row one night. I also got to experience Beatlemania firsthand. I was working at the front door of the Capitol Theater on Saturday night when someone came careening down the stairs at high speed. "There's kids coming in through the windows upstairs! They're getting in through the marquee!" Right on.

Blessed summer-camp elements of the event aside, it was always a great time.

I think a lot of people approached the convention as the be-all and end-all. I've even heard people talking about it, saying how things will never be that great again, but I don't think that was the point. There are folks all around the country and world who have vaguely similar ideas about how to approach music, work and life. It was good for me to be around some of those people for a week. It gave me energy to return to Portland and continue working on projects that were important to me, including the Spinanes. It was great to go get coffee with folks I had only met briefly in other cities, or met through letters. It was nice not to be the worst-dressed person around.

Girl night was a present of the highest order. I was glad we were able to play. I could go on for pages about the merits or disadvantages of such a project, but I think I will limit myself to repeating what a friend Spinanes mine told me: "We have been hearing what men think and want and feel for at least 2,000 years. We write as men taught us, we write in a way that was formed, or at least recorded, by men. It is time to inject some of the female experience into the world experience." Was it necessary to emphasize the female experience and create that atmosphere? I think so, although I understand people who disagree. Ultimately I was dizzy with nerves and Scott was overwhelmed by the number of people there. It was the first time we had played in front of anyone.

How collaborative is songwriting?
I write the songs that make the whole world sing. Scott writes his most perfect parts. We co-wrote an instrumental called "I (Heart) That Party With The Monkey Kitty."

Could you share some secrets about Pat Maley's recording techniques?
Pat Maley's secrets of studio wizardry are something we swore never to divulge. Of course we are permitted to say he was a dream to work with: didn't eat more snacks than were offered to him, always had a sharpie available.

How did you get the cool echoey undercurrent in "Halloween Candy?"
We recorded in the Capitol Theater, a black cavern echo chamber Nikki Sudden only dreams about. That weird whale-esque sound was in fact my two incredible tracks of feedback. I was so excited.

Please share some tour stories. What are your memories of the Bicycle show?
Our tour was fantastic. We were only heckled twice. Our biggest crowd was in Brooklyn and our smallest was in Manhattan. We played to the other bands – sometimes not to all of the other bands. I love touring. It is hard sometimes, and not a good way to pay rent, but the stories are endless. Some of my favorites...getting caught in a thunderstorm in Missouri and wondering if we were going to die as lightning struck all around us, only to turn on the radio and learn such an event is so commonplace that they weren't even talking about it...Al Larsen jumping around in the forest in Colorado singing about Sasquatch...jamming in Lawrence, KS for three hours while waiting for soundcheck (some gent off the street even brought his sax and joined in)...hearing stories about how the other bands were stopped by the police...driving from Portland to Minneapolis in 33 hours...going to the zoo in DC and seeing a gorilla that blew my mind...seeing friends. I think Scott really liked driving 500 miles a day in a Geo Metro. I know I did.

The Bicycle show was right on. I still have two cans of American Beer sitting on my mantle. On our way there, we thought, "This is no show, this is a mafia hit." (Note: Bicycle was located at the end of a rather desolate Brooklyn sidestreet. –MA) We watched the trains crossing the bridge at night, our friends got chased by a pack of wild dogs on their way to the show; I loved everyone sitting out on the roof, Dulcet and all the dogs. I always say a rock show has a good change of being great if there are dogs wandering around. Nice dogs. Not mean ones.

What are some of your recent favorite records, books, objects, etc.?
A brief list: Crackerbash. Miller's Crossing. Jesus Lizard. Jodie Foster. Boys of Life. Flour. The Medusa Complex. Any kind of dance music. K Records and its roster. Henry Reed. Unrest. My Girl. The X-Ray. City Of Quartz. The Man I Married. Sleeping. Uncle Tupelo. Girls in Rock. Erle Stanley Gardner. Crime And The City Solution. The History of Luminous Motion. Charlie Watts. Coffee. Chewing Gum. Satan's Pilgrims.

The Spinanes' two singles are "Suffice" / "Halloween Candy" and "Rummy/Hawaiian Baby." They have one track on the International Pop Underground Convention live CD, "Jad Fair Drives Women Wild," and appear on a Northwest compilation album, I-5 Killers, Vol. 2. Since this issue, the band has signed to Sub Pop Records; they will be recording a full-length album for the label later in 1993.