|
|
Taken March 15th, 1997
HOW DID STARBUCK COME ABOUT?
Well, Tone and I have talked about playing together again for quite a long time and it just finally happened. It's something that has been brewing over the years, and I guess the timing was just right now. We tried to start it up in January of '96, but we just couldn't pull it off. I guess it's just all timing. I don't know.
THE NAME. WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?
The name is all Tone's idea, and I really didn't care what the fuck the band was called, though I was pushing for Dirka. The name has nothing to do with the coffee, it's really all a joke, and that's about all I'm allowed to discuss about it. Tone's got this plan to create this big theme around the name and it's origion. So, it's supposed to be left in the air to figure out.
DIRKA? NOW YOU KNOW I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK YOU ABOUT DIRKA, THOUGH I DO KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.
Well if you know then why ask?
FOR EVERYONE THAT DOES NOT KNOW OF COURSE.
Well, if you put it that way. It's very simple. It's Croatian 'to shake'. That's it.
WAIT A MINUTE! I THINK YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING THERE!
Oh that. Well, it's also slang to jerk off. And I think it's only an Croatian-American slang work, I don't think it means that over there. But I might be wrong.
WHY IS THERE NO BASS PLAYER IN THE BAND? AND, HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE GUITAR-BASS CONTRAPTION?
The bass player thing is simple. We had a friend that was maybe going to play bass for us. We jammed with him once and he sucked. He lost all the natural ability he once had, plus he had become a big flake. Other bass players in the area also sucked, or were just complete idiots. So, the majority of '96 was comming up with a solution, and that solution was my guitar bass thing. I completely stold the bass idea from Scott Lucas of Local-H. I saw them open up for someone, I can't remember, at the Roxy, and I saw his set up and was completely blown away. I then talked to Scott after the show about it, and even received his blessing to rip him off. So I did, and the rest is history.
EXPLAIN TO ME JUST WHAT YOU DID TO YOUR GUITAR, AND YOUR EQUIPMENT.
I basically just installed a bass pick-up in my guitar and an output jack for the bass. I placed the pick-up under the top two strings, and killed the other two pick-up magnets. I then run the output through an Octave pedal, so I can get a deeper tone, which then goes to a Ampeg SVTIII head to and Ampeg cabinet with eight tens.
HOW ABOUT THE REST OF YOUR EQUIPMENT? WHAT DO YOU USE?
Well, I mainly play an '84 Fender Telecaster, with the bass pick-up installed. I use a Marshall JCM800 100 watt head, that has an added master volume and tone control. I play through a Marshall slant cabinet with four twelves. I play clean through the Marshall head and use a Big Muff Distortion pedal and a Boss Compressor Sustainer Pedal. I also use a Boss Super Phaser pedal and a Boss Digital Delay for accents here and there, but hardly ever use them. I've got this whole rack system, but I don't use it anymore. I really just want to keep it simple. An amp, a few pedals, and no reverb. Just sorta raw. I also use GHS strings.
WHAT GAUGE OF STRINGS DO YOU USE?
I used to use the thick and thins, which I sorta still use. But now I've customized my strings a little more from simple trial and error. I use sizes .10, .13, .17, and .36, which are guitar strings. Then my top two strings are currently .56 and .46, and bass strings. I still haven't settled with the bass strings. I'm still experimenting.
WILL THERE EVER BE A BASS PLAYER FOR STARBUCK IN THE FUTURE?
I don't know. But as of right now, no. It's not even an issue or thought. But I can never say never. You just don't know what will happen tomorrow. But as of right now, and with our current outlook to the future, no. If a real bass is needed, I could do it, but probably still wouldn't. The bass would take away from this unorthodox way of writing songs and playing them. I've done bands with bass players all my life. This is something new and completely different, and something I have never done before. It's something I'm not used to, which I like. It's fun.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL DRUMMER JOHNNY BRUNAC?
Well, nothing really happen to Johnny. We just kinda knew that he couldn't handle the rehersal schedule, and he has a lot of stuff going on with his life right now. He's unemployed, getting married in June. There was just too much shit going on for him that he put us aside. So we gave him the boot, even though he kept telling us he want to be a part of this. It was all on good terms. He's a good guy, Tone and I are still going to his bachlor party in Vegas. Tone's actually one of the guys putting it together. So, it's just unfortunate that the timing with him was bad, but we were ready and due so we had to move on.
THE SONGS. WHO WRITES THE SONGS? DO YOU GUYS BRING SONGS IN, OR DO YOU CREATE THEM IN A JAM SITUATION?
Well, the songs were all written before the final go with the band. I wrote all thirty or so songs we are going to work on. Tone and I both agreed that with the amount of good songs that I wrote, we should concentrate on them first, then worry about any other songs, or new ones later. Tone actually suggested it and it sounded sensable. I think Tone is my straight man in this group. I sorta get lost in the songs and performance and so I start to lose my sensability, so he there to put me straight. But I know Tone to be a writter himself, but I think he was in this one band situation in which they expoited him to do everything, and I think my songs has brought him a level of comfort. So, I guess as of know I brought in the songs, Tone added his parts to them, and John, and now Sean put their input in as well. So, we've kinda agreed to keep the music as the band, and the lyrics to whoever writes them, so far it been only me. And when the publishing deal comes through it's going to be split three ways, even if one of us does a complete song by himself. The way I see it, if it wasn't for the other two guys there wouldn't be a band, there'd just be the one person, and that's not what we're all about.
WHAT DO YOU MOSTLY WRITE ABOUT?
I mostly write about myself. I mean what else should I write about. I write about my feelings, my life, and the environment I see around me. Before I used to write about things I knew nothing about, but I feel I have matured as a songwriter, and hopefully I'm getting better. Truly I believe that my songs have already been written. You know? They're all just floating around out there and I just have to get out there, live this so called life of mine and I should find them all. There's no great secret to my songwriting, because the songs are just me.
ANY INSIGHT TO WHAT SOME OF YOUR SONGS ARE DIRECTLY ABOUT?
Well, I think the songs speak for themselves. At least I hope they do. But I don't know, I don't want to explain what any particular song is about and then completely ruin it for somebody who thinks it's about something else. Something that might be the complete opposite. Even though the songs are an extention of myself, they can easily become an extension of the listener. Though we are all different in many ways, we are also all so very much alike.
OKAY. BUT SOME SONGS ARE REALLY PRETTY DIRECT. "VUKOVAR" AND "ETHNIC CLEANSING" FOR INSTANCE, DIRECTLY HAVE TO DO WITH WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CIVIL WAR IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, WHERE YOUR FAMILY IS FROM.
Well that is true. I did write "Vukovar" and "Ethnic Cleasing" because of what happened over there. But take "Vukovar" for instance. That song is written for a town that was one of the first ethnically cleansed cities in the former Yugoslavia. A city that was eighty percent Croatian, in Croatia, yet, and were completely expelled from the homes or killed. It's a song about struggle, and somebody's struggle could be like someone's own personal "Vukovar", you know. That's how I see it. And that's why I'm finished explaining my songs, I've already said more than I should.
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO HEAR SOME OF THESE SONGS LIVE?
We're going to start playing a limited number of gigs in the summer. It just depends on how we feel. Right now there is too much to be done in breaking Sean in with the songs, as well as fine tuning them. I'm a perfectionist, and out of the 13 songs from the original thirty we are working on, only two of them are really tight as far as I'm concerned. So, the summer looks good.
HOW ABOUT RECORDING? I'VE HEARD THAT YOU GUYS PLAN ON RECORDING IN THE FALL. IS THIS TRUE?
Yeah. That's our only real plan. We hope to be ready, get some gigs under our belts, then go in and record. But actually we probably will record something this summer before hand. Probably before we do any gigs. So far we have the two songs that we could record ready. It's just, are we sure we want to do these? So, this summer, probably even before, we are going to record a two song, maybe three single. But hopefully this fall an entire album. Twelve songs, not one more, even though we do have a shit load of songs. I just think that sometimes two many songs can sometimes be too much for a person to listen to. Plus more songs just means more decisions for us to make in regards to them.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU RECORD YOU ALBUM? WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR IT? IS ANYONE INTERESTED?
If anybody was interested in it we probably would be working regular jobs. Um, that's a good question, and it's one that we are still wondering about ourselves. I mean, we all know that a record deal helps, but we kinda threw ourselves into this without even thinking about them. You know? We're going to record a quality album. Try to get as much help in doing it as well. I've been really thinking of starting our own label, just for us, to distribute the album. Now my distributaion is mostly in the promotion sense. To promote us. But we all have friends that hopefully we help out. Also we plan on getting legal representaion to assist us in selling our finished product to anyone interested. So, we kinda have an idea of what we're going to do, and then we're unsure of the exact approach to take.
ANY INFO ABOUT THE ALBUM AS OF YET?
Well, we have a title. "Face" I've picked a working song set. Which I sould probably mention more of to the guys. It consists of twelve songs, though we are working on thirteen. We want to go after a big live sound for it, raw, but not cheap and thin. Try to do most of the music in one take, limit the overdubs greatly. We are interested in our friend Pete Mazich to maybe help in producing it if he could. Tone and I both respect his ear for music as well as his knowledge of sounds and studio production. Hey if you're reading this Pete, what do you think? He's a great talented musician, and can probably help us from fuckin' the whole thing up completely. We also have got the album's concept and everything. In a sense, the album is done. All that's left is the recording.
SO WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE FUTURE FOR THIS BAND?
I really see big things for this band, but I've said that about other bands I've been in before too. I just think this time it's different. But then again maybe not, so I don't really have much too say about the subject. I'll just keep doing it, and we'll see what happens.
WHY DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME?
I can only speak for myself but, I just think I've grown up alot. I've definitly matured as a musician. I have developed a singing voice, where I kinda know what I'm doing with it now, unlike in the past where it was one big adventure. I think I've become a much better songwriter. I can play the guitar in my sleep, I've been doing it so long. I don't know, um. I just know what to expect from it all now. My expectations are very low, but my enjoyment is greater than it ever was before. After I gave music up for a year, back in '94 and '95, I told myself it was over. Music brought me down and I no longer wanted any part of it. But it's in my blood, and it keept calling me back. I began writing and I got sucked back in. Only this time I think my time away refreshed me, and gave me a greater understanding of what music meant to me. It was an extention of myself, that when I re-established made me feel whole again. Only this time I had to make music for myself, of myself, and not let anything influence it in any way.
CAN I ASK A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT YOU? IN REGARDS TO MUSIC AND THE BAND.
Sure, as long as it's related in some way to the band. I didn't come here to talk about myself. It's boring.
OKAY. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING GUITAR? DID YOU TAKE LESSONS?
Um, I started playing guitar at twelve. It was an acoustic. I took lessons for about a week then quit. I hated it. When I was thirteen I started up again. I took lessons for about two weeks or so then got completely bored with playing "Mary Had A Little Lamb", so I quit again. But I liked it so I just started teaching myself by ear and I sucked. I then took up the drums when I was forteen and was okay, but my rolls sucked. Then went back to guitar at fifteen, playing skate punk, thrash stuff. The I had this big revelation at fifteen at the start of tenth grade. This punker dude turned me on to this band called U2, and their "WAR" album. I then bought "BOY" and found my sound. I realized I played a lot like The Edge only I was missing something. The delay pedal. That summer when I was sixteen was when I really learned how to play the guitar. It became my life. Now I play that style for fun, because I started realizing I sounded too much like him. So when I got back into music I stripped myself from my processors and used what I learned and became my own guitar player.
SO I CAN ASSUME THAT U2 IS A BIG INFLUENCE ON YOU. WHO ELSE HAS INFLUENCED YOUR MUSIC?
You assume correct. Um, god um, there are so many influences, I don't know where to start. I've stolen from just about everybody. God um, Nirvana, The Doors, Peter Murphy and Bauhaus, The Smiths, Jane's Addiction, The Cult, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Black Sabbath, R.E.M., Midnight Oil, Radiohead. I mean there are so many I can't think of them, plus all of the punk bands.
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Right now? Um, the new U2 "POP". It's got just great songwriting. The new Veruca Salt, even though I think it's over produced by Bob "Stay away from my band" Rock. I love those girls, and I hate chick bands. Marilyn Manson "ANTI-CHRIST SUPERSTAR". It's just one piece of work. Fuckin' incredible. I've also been listening to that band Material Issue and their album "International Pop Overthrow" from 1991. It's just pure power pop. It's great, I totally forgot about these guys. The new Local-H "AS GOOD AS DEAD". Just bitchin' and well under deserved. Does any body still say bitching? Anyways. Every song is great. And one of my favorites, Klapa Sibenik "MAJSTORI PIVACI". It's just a classic. I constantly listen to this one, always in my tape player in my room. The singing moves me and makes me think about Croatia and Sibenik. I'm going to be really pissed when that tape snaps or warps. I keep telling myself to record all my Croatian music to other tapes. Because Croatian tape quality just SUCKS! Eh, but I'm too damn lazy.
MORE from the Interview Coming Soon!