interview realised by
mathieu et natasha
for positiverage.com
in december 2000.

[version française ici]

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On your last record, as the precedent, you seem to open your music.
Your music become more and more heavy, and in the same time, you are using a
lot of electronic stuffs. Dick Dale must be furious ! Do you want to sound
hardier than Shellac to ridiculise Steve Albini ?
This is always a weird question. I wonder if people actully do sit around and consciously think about what kind of music they're designing for themselves. I suspose every band we play or interact with has an affect on what we do, but the ideas of competion or forming categories aren't why we started the band. Nonetheless, Albini knows we'd crush him.

You have opened your own recording studio because you didn't find
one which sound as you wanted in the past ?
No, it's just a way to have recording resources without outside pressure or finacial restraints. We've had so much fun screwing up our records that we've decided it would be even more fun to fuck with other people's. It's also just another step in controling every step in the chain of the band's existance.

Did Steve Albini like your studio ?
Yeah, he's been extremely supportive, and has helped us revise a lot of the layout there. One of the main reasons in recording this record was to get his input on the studio, because he had just gone through the same process of putting his place together in Chicago.

Are you fan of 80's electronic ? If yes, what do you like in 80's
electronic ?
We're all new-wavers at heart. I use to drive my friends crazy listening to the Art of Noise, but luckily it didn't ever carry over into my hairstylings. I'm a big fan and collector of old roland, oberheim, and sequential circuits synths from that time.

You have create too your own sampling softawre. Do you want to
control all things ? Human products aren't good enough for you ?
There's a lot of great ready-made instruments out there, and we're as geeky out vintage gear as the next band, but you just can't replace the peculiar obession to modify or make things yourself, and you get shocked a lot more often which is something of which we can't seem to get enough.

And for your on-line mailorder (Zerotec) ? Is it for helping the
small records company and the independant bands ?
Zerotec is predominantly a sysytem to help bands who don't have the setup to sell and distribute their records on line. It's actually grown a little quicker than we thought it would. Estrus Records, who put out our first three albums in the US, was the initial test subject and their records are constanly doing great. The real difference between Zerotec and other on-line CD stores is through the access. With Zerotec you can actually order from the bands or labels website even if you have never heard of Zerotec.

What does become your clone project ?
Clones were a way to maximize the franchise of Man or Astro-Man? using DNA. There were two separate astro-clone band replicated from our DNA. The all-male version was the Alpha
Clones, and the all-Female version was the Gamma Clones. Both Clone bands and the original band toured at the same time which caused massive confusion. Personal I think the Gamma Clones rocked the hardest.

How react the human public ? Do you think we will see some clones in Europe ?
No the clones are a one time deal. If you missed them, I don't see how your life will ever be complete now.

When do you think your fans will be able to come with you on your
planet for a big intergalactic party ?
I don't know, but I like that idea. I think it would definitely be better than the earth-style van or bus tour. There's a place in the United States, Branson, Missouri, where country performers play sometimes as much as three shows a day one hundred days a year, and then they take the rest of the year off. We'll look into the market for that on an intergalactic level.