Questions of Doom with Aaron North of the Icarus Line and now NIN!

09/08/05

Aaron North, guitarist of thee heaviest band of the year, the red-eyed-freaks, THE ICARUS LINE answers Poptones.co.uk’s Questions of Doom about Buddyhead.com (the gossip prankster site), touring with Primal Scream, touring with Courtney Love, that incident where he pulled Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitar from the case at the Hard Rock Cafe and played it too ensuing death threats, impersonating the Datsuns at an NME awards show, the internet, the influence of Kevin Shields and talks about one of the heaviest rock albums that Poptones.co.uk’s has head in a dog’s age - Penance Soirre.

With Buddyhead.com you are breaking down the barriers between rock star and fan. The whole concept ... do you think the Internet is responsible for killing the division?

No. I think it only really strengthens it. With Buddyhead… it’s just another media outlet.

And how so?

I think when “superfans” of bands spend all their time flocking to an artist’s website, it strengthens the division… cos what these kids should really be doing instead of reading every last word from some dumb asses blog like its scripture from god, or when they’re not wasting the rest of their time on message boards or in chat rooms or jerking off, is they should be spending their time doing their own creative thing. Making art… whatever… there’s nothing that really interesting on the internet anyway is there? Definitely not enough to be on the thing for hours and hours everyday. I hate the internet. I don’t even have it in my home. I’m answering these email questions from my friends house actually.

In England, bands are now using the Internet to build their fanbase and releasing recordings before they get a record deal. Is that how Icarus Line used buddyhead.com?

No, not at all. I don’t think the band was ever even mentioned on the site for the first few years. I’ve always tried to keep it as seperate as possible. We never had problems finding labels to put out our records anyway. There was always some indie label somewhere that was interested. It never occurred to us to use the internet in that way. I don’t think we were even aware that it could be used that way.

Why all the hate against NYC bands?

I actually don’t think there is a lot of hate against NYC bands… some of my favorite bands are from New York… Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Battles, TV On the Radio… I don’t think we “hate” anybody. Just cos we don’t like a band, doesn’t mean we hate them. If i hated every band I didn’t like, I would hate 99 percent of the bands in existence. I don’t care enough to hate all those, or any band.

The striking thing about the Icarus Line is that they have refined the screamcore of the first into a more classic rock template of fucked-up psychedelia - was that the intention?

We never sat down and said, “Let’s make this album like this...” Actually, I don’t see as big as a difference between the two records. The last song on the first record was the direction the band was going in at the time we finally recorded those songs. I don’t see as much psychedelia on the new record as most people… i dunno… of course it is there in a couple songs, but for the most part, it’s a pretty striaght forward rock record. To me at least.

Do you think that punk rock is rebelling against mediocrity?

I think punk rock is dead, and has been for a long time. Any time people can start using a word to describe how people dress as opposed to what music is like stylistically or idealistically, it’s a dead term as far as “rock terms” go.

Writers have said that you were the last punk rock band left but when I listen to Penance Soiree - I feel that you are the last rock’n’roll band left....

Well… for the most part I’d agree. There are a handful of really good rock bands out there right now, but it’s few and far between. I don’t consider all of these bands with no bass player, or no guitar player, or no drummer real “bands”. At some point people got lazy or thought it would be cute to get out there with a half assed band. Our concept from the beginning was always to have the best musicians we could find in the band… regardless if we were all friends or not. We never chose a drummer based on if we could be friends with him or not. If he was the best drummer we knew, he was in the band. Don Devore is arguably one of the better guitar players on the planet… the dude had his own band (Ink & Dagger) with a sizeable following for years, and the guy is on bass in the band. I can honestly say i think we have the best rhythem section on the planet. We always wanted to have a lot of talent (maybe too much) on stage, all playing together at once… like led zeppelin, the who, guns n roses… absolutely no weak links on stage.... a BAND.

Courtney Love has championed you from the beginning - you are on tour with Courtney Love and the Suicide Girls - how are the shows going?

I dunno… just another show.

I find it unusual that you are touring with Courtney because, she seems to represent a lot of what Icarus Line rebel again - the Hollywood rock star?

It’s been apparent from the beginning that our band is never going to appeal to a wide audience. It would be way easier… and a pussy thing to do… to go out on tour ourselves, pick a “cool” band we like to open, and play to a few dozen people every night who already like us, or… we could play to people who don’t know us at all, get yelled at, have things thrown at us, have us yell back, have us throw things back, and have a really entertaining show. I find that with The Icarus Line, it’s always a more entertaining show when we play to people who hate us… we play better too… cos there’s something to prove. When bands play to their fans, they can give the most mediocre performance ever, but the fans will still love it. When you play to people who want you to die, it brings something out of you and your performance that would otherwise not happen.

Some of the funniest situationist pranks have been pulled by the Icarus Line. What happened with you impersonating the Datsuns at a music awards show?

I can’t even remember all the details… I will say this… isn’t that new Datsuns album one of the most terrible things you’ve ever heard?

Yes. Yes it is. Without a doubt.

I think it’s great that all of those bands the “media” jerked off the last couple years… they all had their chance aftersigning their million dollar deals and getting a million dollar recording budget, to make their “big” albums, and they all totally sucked.... The HIves, The Datsuns, The Mooney Suzuki, etc etc etc

In almost every article written about you - it mentions the ‘Stevie Ray Vaughan’ incident. Do you think ‘Fuck me, enough ... it was two years ago....’. Or do you think that a band who actually does what they want to do - is a shock to the bland conformity of what people expect from rock bands?

Yeah, I’m pretty fuckin tired of talking about that. If people want to know what happened, they can read the 3,687 other interviews I’ve done where I was asked that… so if you’re a journalist reading this, and you are ever forced to interview us by the boss at your magazine when you’d rather be interviewing The Killers or whatever… DON’T FUCKING ASK ME ABOUT THAT. But yeah… anywhoo… I do think most “rock n’ rollers” in bands these days are a bunch of pussies. Everybody is afraid of pissing somebody off that they could use as a stepping stone into fame. Don’t piss that guy off cos then NME won’t put you on the cover… don’t piss that guy off cos then you won’t get played on MTV… everybody is worried about everything but making good music. Who fuckin’ cares.

Is rock a religion to you?

No. i don’t even listen to too much “rock” these days. I’m a sucker for old folk and pussy singer/songwriter stuff.

You are anti-drugs, yet your guitar has provided the Icarus Line with a the most sprawling freaky psychedelia on Penance Soiree - is it o.k. to just say no and still get on the guitar and freak-that-shit-out?

I’ve never been “anti” drugs… i just choose not to use them. If you wanna get fucked up… more power to ya. I’m on prescribed medicine that doesn’t allow me to take drugs anyhow… or would lead me on a serious path into further dementia. Yeah dude. Obviously you can not be a junkie and still slay on guitar. If that’s what ya wanna call what I do. I’m probably the shittiest musician in the band, but I don’t let that stop me I guess.

One quote that struck me as inspirational was When you are poor - you have nothing to lose. These acts are about empowerment’. Why do you think this is true? And what have you done that has made you feel that way?

I dunno… I don’t think it even has to do primarily with a monetary situation… but attitude as well. When you’re not a “careerist” in this music enviroment… you don’t fall into the same pitfalls as 99 percent of the other bands out there. When you legitimately just don’t give a fuck, it’s total freedom. Let me tell you… in this band… we’ve had the opportunity a million times to take a different path that would inevitably lead to more money, fame, etc etc… but I think growing up in L.A., it made us understand that all of that is bullshit if you can’t make good music that you’re proud of, or be the best live band you can be. We could have made a slick, cute, pop album no problem… that would have been way easier than pushing ourselves harder than ever before to make this album. We could all write the catchiest, dumbest pop-rock songs you’ve ever heard… shaked the right hands, been nice to the right people, and we’d probably be able to pay our bills on time… or at all. But who the fuck is going to give 2 shits about Jet, The Killers, The Used, or any of these wack ass terrible bands in 10 years anyway? Nobody.

You’ve come from a hard-core punk and independent background - what are your feelings about the stringent almost rules that bands need to follow within this environment?

They are bullshit. They are what have made the term “indie” as irrelevant as possible. The people who are always waving the “indie” flag are usually in a position where there’s no alternate option anyhow. Hearing some band that sounds like Lightning Bolt or some shit say they would never sign to a major label is obviously stupid, cos they never could anyhow. If some band that sounded like Franz Ferdinand was making the argument, that would be different. “Indie” is dead. The big “indie” labels act like majors, and the ones that don’t go through major distributors anyway. The rest is usually some super small label putting out records of some kids playing grindcore music that was recorded on a 4 track, and who the fuck wants to listen to shit like that? Not me.

Do you feel that Penance Soiree has upped the game for the other bands that are into the new heavy psychedelic - like The Warlocks?

Fuck. I dunno. I’ve never heard the Warlocks. I don’t listen to any of those type of bands.

Sonic Boom lives in LA. Have you ever played a show with him?

No… and i didn’t know he lived in LA. That’s rad… is he still on junk?

As the Icarus Line get bigger - do you find the temptation to stray from the original vision affects what you do and what you write on Buddyhead.com?

No. Not at all. We still all feel like the kids who snuck our way into the party or something, and then got kicked out after pissing everybody off. The Icarus Line isn’t going to get any bigger anyway. There’s a unique bias against the band in the press… and not just NME or MTV… down to the very lowest level of the underground, like Punk Planet and shit… all of these people will never cover our band or admit we’ve made a good record or anything like that. Without any exposure in these kinds of things, you can’t get any bigger. You can only get so big on word of mouth.

When touring with Primal Scream - did you pick up any techniques from Kevin Shields?

Not really. But it made me feel a lot better about my playing… cos he sucks just as bad as i do! But he makes it work cos he plays with soul and feel in his own unique way. The kind of shit you can’t learn from taking lessons or reading a book.

Alan Moulder worked on your album. He also did the legendary ‘Loveless’ - what was it like working with him?

Awesome. He’s a great guy and super talented. Just to be able to work with somebody that had good musical taste, and had similar reference points was awesome. To be able to say, “We want this to sound like Tones On Tail” or whatever and then him know what you’re talking about was awesome. And he didn’t have a fucked up ego when we didn’t like what he had done, and we’d start all over or whatever. It was a strange experience. We worked on it with him in London for a month.

What’s on the stereo?

Hmmm… I’m always listening to a lot of Dylan… that new live Bob Dylan record from 1964 has been getting a lot of play… that new Elliot Smith record, Devendra Banhart, Phil Ochs, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, The Duke Spirit, Big Business, The Replacements (always), and Gayrilla Biscuits.

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