1999.11.26 - Ultra Zine - by HS

Rob Crow

5 Questions to Rob Crow

ULTRA: How did you hook up with Zach and how did you make those Pinback songs sound like a perfect blend between - say - the acoustic Thingy and 3 Mile Pilot? It's uncanny.
ROB: Zach and I have been friends for years (there were several 3 Mile Pilot - Heavy Vegetable - Powerdresser shows, and I hold each memory of them deep in my heart) and we had been batting around the idea of trying to write stuff together for a while.

ULTRA: When you were contacted by the Cutty Shark people, did you know they were in fact an off-shoot of dance label R&S (1)? Had you ever heard of R&S before (2)? Did you care (3)?
ROB: (1) That's what they told me. (2) No. I still don't have any other records on their label. I got a feeling I wouldn't like them, though. Still hate techno. We thought it would be funny to have them get some people to do some remixes, though. We might use some as b-sides, but I still haven't heard them. Could suck. (3) Am I supposed to? Seriously. I'm not trying to be flip. Are they a big deal or something? I live a pretty sheltered life when it comes to stuff like that. I'm just glad that somebody wanted to finally put it out. I like the guy Geert that's in charge of the thing. I like the way he says "no problem". I even get to go to finally go to Europe at the end of January.

ULTRA: On the new Thingy album you strike a perfect balance between very hummable pop tunes and almost hardcore tightness + weird time shifts. Does it take hard work make songs like that 'work' as well as they do? Did you have any other, older bands in mind as examples when you started making music with Heavy Vegetable?
ROB: For the most part I try to make a sound I've never heard before, or present something in a way I've never heard before, which makes it difficult to figure out if anything "works" for anyone but me.

ULTRA: I am always interested in finding out how people cope with being in a lot of bands at the same time. Please make a list of all the bands/projects you are part of and describe in 5 words or so how you see them (or what is typical about them from your point-of-view)?
ROB: Thingy - pretty, powerful, angry, melancholy, we will all die cold and alone with advertisements on our bodies, so let's break something and kiss somebody. Pinback - the sci-fi lo-fi that makes the girls cry. Just kidding. It's refreshing to make music with someone who owns absolutely no records or CD's whatsoever. Optiganally Yours - ridiculous, fun, deadpan, only got beat up at one show. Physics - enveloped in sound. We have still never recorded a CD that sounds anything like what we do live. Snotnose - metal-haiku guerrilla street theater Fantasy Mission Force - punk fucking rock... Hey wait, my joystick is stuck. solo stuff - I can't believe that anyone but me likes this stuff but I find it very therapeutic

ULTRA: Are you aware of any bands on the Elephant 6 label (The Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal, The Minders, Beulah...)? Do you like their very sixties-inspired sound?
ROB: I think I saw The Olivia Tremor Control once, but I don't remember what they sound like.

ULTRA BONUS QUESTION: Atari 2600 games - what's the attraction?
ROB: The smell of cracked rubber on a broken joystick, the thrill of spending three hours turning over "Asteroids", the intensity of a 3 a.m. session of 4-player "Warlords", the secret pleasure of knowing how to find the invisible key in "Adventure", the naughty-naughtiness over wearing a homemade shirt featuring a screenshot of the extended block-art member of "Custer's Revenge" or "Bachelorette Party", daydreaming about maybe, someday, actually finding a copy of "Chase The Chuckwagon", oh, I could go on and on.