We sat in a park overlooking Santa Monica Beach and recorded the following conversation. You're seeing it hear exactly how it happened. If you want to read the eloquent version, check out the printed version!
[HUMOR DISCLAIMER: Since you are on the internet, you are automatically classified as an intelligent person, but just in case someone else logged for you, we want you to understand that there is some humor recorded in this interview, which we assume you will pick up. For example, the guys in Tourniquet don't really do heroin. You get the picture...]
I am Doug. Doug, Doug, Doug. Let's see what it sounds like when I say the word "leaf."
Aaron -- "I am Aaron."
Ted -- "I am Ted. I'd like to say the word 'leach."
Aaron -- "I'm Robin Leach, no, I'm Aaron, still."
Ted/Luke -- "Ha! Aaron Still!"
Luke -- "I'm Luke."
Okay, there's no smoking going on during this interview.
"No, none at all. Nobody has cigars."
Ted -- "And I'm not naked right now (laughter)."
Brian McGovern, we're so glad you're transcribing this.
Ted -- "Is he?"
Yeah.
Ted -- "Hey Brian!"
Aaron -- "I just blew smoke at you, Brian -- but I'm not smoking."
After I told Brian the camping joke, he's always asking me to go camping.
Ted -- "He is not!"
He's from Montana, and they do a lot of camping up there.
"Really."
"Hmm." Why did Tourniquet mellow out so much?
Ted -- "Didn't we have the same question when Vanishing Lessons came out? I remember . . . meaning from . . ."
From Pathogenic to Vanishing . . .
"Well, when you're together in a band for that long . . ."
Ted -- "I mean, if I wasn't so heavily sedated, I'd be able to give you an accurate answer(laughter)!"
"Well, actually . . . completely off the record, we've all been doing heroin, and it's really changed our whole . . ."
You don't have to transcribe that part, Brian.
Ted -- "I would say, some decisions have been very conscious, as far as musical changes. For example, the change from Pathogenic to Vanishing, there was a conscious decision. We had a new vocalist, Luke, who is a real singer. Also, we made a conscious decision in the songwriting, that we wouldn't have any cut time -- cut time, meaning, like, speed metal . . ."
Where you change the time signature.
Ted -- "Well, cut time is, like, fast. Like a fast polka beat. That doesn't necessarily mean a change in time signature, but it means . . .you know what I'm saying? Like Psychosurgery, the verses in Psychosurgery, that's cut time. But anyway, there were two conscious decisions. One was that, to eliminate cut time, and the other one was to eliminate the yelling, or thrash, whatever vocals. Neither of those were on Vanishing Lessons, so if that's synonymous with mellowing out, that was a conscious decision. We definitely, on Vanishing Lessons, went more for a groove, heavy groove vibe, than a lot of riffing. Like in songs like "Bearing Gruesome Cargo," the riff is pretty simple. It's pretty straight forward, but it's a groove. When we play live now, songs like that, we can't get away without playing those live. Those are some of the live favorites. So, you're talking about the change from Pathogenic to vanishing Lessons, that was a conscious decision."
What about even further mellowing out, with your little EP, that came out after Vanishing Lessons?
Ted -- "'Your little EP . . . My Little Dog China! (laughter) Well, that was (laughter). That was also a decision, because of the release of Twilight on Vanishing Lessons, which we got a great deal of unexpected attention from that song. It became the number one CCM rock song, and we'd never even had a song on the rock charts that I know of. So, that song seemed to really . . . I think it's important to know first hand that everyone in this band likes such an incredible variety of music, that it's gonna come out on the songs. We don't just sit at home, and sit there and spin Carcass and Sepultura all day, although I like both those bands.
We have people in this band who like a lot of mellow stuff too, and a lot of the classical music I like is really mellow and beautiful. I know I've said this in interviews before, that if people are against beauty or melody in music, in my opinion, they are really missing out on a whole other emotional level that provides the same kind of enjoyment that getting in a fit and running around does. So, that EP was something Frontline wanted to put out for more rock radio attention. And then, of course, "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" went on and did the same thing that 'Twilight' did. So, that was just a different side of Tourniquet. When we finished with POD, and Vanishing Lessons went out, people said, 'What happened to the medical words? Where's Gelatinous?' I mean, believe it or not, we could, lyrically, outdo 'Gelatinous.' I could write a song so confusing, that people wouldn't have any idea what it was about. But, it's like, do you want to repeat yourself again and do the same thing, or do you want to do different things? So, that's what we did."
What changes made for Vanishing Lessons will be corrected on this new one?
Ted -- "I guess 'corrected' assumes that there was something that stinks. The one that I can think of, and I'm sure Aaron would agree, was the guitar sound. The guitars would be up louder in the mix, and the guitars would have a more consistent sound. I think we're much happier with the guitar sound on 'Hand Trembler' and 'Perfect Night For a Hanging,' the two new songs. They're just some much more disgusting guitar sounds. So, that, if you want to call that a mistake, I would say, that would be corrected, and has been corrected already on the best of. But, if you listen to a song like 'Heads I Win,' that guitar sound I like just as much as the heavy, because it's just totally different . . . we used other guitars on that. What did we use on that, a Les Paul, Marshall amps, Fender, a lot of different stuff on that, a little Gorilla practice amp, an SG on the lead.
"But, as far as seeing anything that we've done as a mistake, I personally don't see anything that we've done musically as a mistake. Of course, you learn right away that you're not going to please everyone. A mistake would to put out songs that either aren't finished, or that people aren't really happy with, you know, saying, 'You know what? This song really isn't that great.' And we have done that. We had a couple songs that have not made it on an album that had that happen."
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Jeremy - heh, yeah, I know it's an old interview, but the fact that they dug it up and posted the whole thing, unabridged, impresses me. Sad to see that you've noticed the HM shift away from metal, too. I'm so sick of seeing emo/hardcore/nu metal everywhere...
And Singa - that one page interview was almost depressing compared with the coverage Tourniquet would have got years ago (I mean, there weren't ANY photos - back in the day, a new Tourniquet album would have meant a cover spot and multi-page article, at least, but this is a comparatively tiny article with no pictures and very, very little new or interesting info (the only thing I bought it for was to have what Luke says about art and Christianity and all that - cool stuff)
Posted by:
lucid hysteria on November 6, 2003 02:50 AM
