We Are Scientists Interview Pt. 1: Change in Members, Weird Al, LSD Parrots
The We Are Scientists lived up to the hype with their ability to be hilarious. They took a lot of time to answer these questions so I had to split it into two. This section involves more serious questions about the change in line-up and how they adjusted. You should check out their website for a good laugh.Allan: How was your reaction to Michael’s decision to leave the band?
We Are Scientists: It was a decision we came to mutually over the course of many conversations and much thought and several coin tosses. So the element of surprise was sucked out of it. It was more like a retirement than a resignation. Lots of build-up; big party; gold watch; catering by Nathan’s Hot Dogs. The works.
A:With the addition of new members to the band, were there any issues incorporating the new members into your band?
WAS: No “issues”, I don’t think — no behavioral problems or anything like that, no criminal records to get expunged or vicious drug habits begging for aggressive rehab. The biggest creative challenge was figuring out how best to play our songs with four guys. The old songs were all written with three sets of hands and vocal chords in mind, and the songs on Brain Thrust Mastery were all written without regard for how many actual people would be needed for a religious live rendition.
So on the old songs we had the job of figuring out in which direction to aim our new weapon, Max. Do we beef up the guitars by doubling them? Add a subtle bed of key pads? Maybe crow-bar in a Dre-style synth lead? It turns out that you should always crow-bar in a Dre-style synth lead.
And on the new songs we often had to figure out how to either strip down the album versions or just play them altogether differently, but well. Not to have them be shitty — this emerged as one of our guiding principles.
A: Was songwriting for this record any different from what you did for your previous releases?
WAS: Not markedly. The big difference was that we spent a good deal more time thinking about the production, messing around with how the songs would sound. The time was well spent: they sound good (everyone thinks).
A: Do you ever wish to write funny or quirky songs that portrays more of your character rather then seemingly serious stuff?
WAS:Not really. We feel that funny songs suck. Quirky songs are usually bad, too, although they succeed maybe 20% of the time. There’s never been a good funny song, though. A band like Art Brut makes fantastic songs — don’t get me wrong — but they aren’t fundamentally funny songs. They’re rock songs whose lyrics are incisive and witty, and make you laugh. Weird Al Yankovic’s songs are fundamentally funny songs, and yeah, they might make you chuckle sometimes, but they fucking suck.
I think we have no more intention of making songs that portray our funny side than we do of making, say, video shorts that portray our non-funny side. The video short is a medium whose apotheosis is humor. The video short can do drama, too, but have you ever seen a good dramatic video short? Do you email your friends telling them to check out this amazing dramatic video on Youtube? No, you tell them to check out the video of the parrot who took acid and thinks the G.I. Joe action figures are his family.
A: Going forward what are you hoping to achieve?
WAS: I’d like to continue making songs that everyone in every country loves, and I’d like to put LSD inside a parrot and find out if that changes how he thinks about Joes. This latter would be filmed.
A:Are you ever in awe with the amount of success your band has achieved already?
WAS: I don’t think I’ve ever felt self-awe; there’s something inherently delusional about it, I think. You can feel awe toward other people and their achievements because you tend to hear about them in capsule form, and everything — bad or good — is more affecting in capsule form — all the tedious interstitiality gets left out. How could you ever be in awe of yourself? You’ve had so much time to get used to the idea.
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[...] We Are Scientists Interview Pt. 1: Change in Members, Weird Al, LSD Parrots This interview covers topics including the new album, Michael’s departure from the band, and Weird Al. [...]