Lofidelica interview: Grasshopper (Mercury rev)

Mercury Rev, the band that got kicked out of Lollapalooza in 1993 for their loud and “weird” music, played in Skopje tonight, and it was damn magical. Your lofidelica host got to interview Grasshopper (Sean Mackowiak), the lead guitarist.
We are located in kanal 103 during Lizzy&Mauricio show, it’s packed with lots of colegues, guests and Italians. Grasshopper seems to be hungry so my first Q is..
I’ve heard you make amazing spaghetti sauce, is that true?
It is! How do you know that!
These things spread really fast..what’s your secret? Recepie!
Well..fresh tomatoes is a good start, then a little olive oil, then you add basil and regano...now the secret ingredient is hot sauce, I add hot sauce called “Franks”...Finally you can add a little red wine as well.
Red wine...sounds interesting..By the way, what does “rev” mean? I know “mercury” has something to do with science..
The planet Mercury...you know...and it can also mean liquid metal..While to rev means when you step on the gas on the car, it can mean revolve, or revolution..and reve in french means to dream...so all those things...
You started off making music for films, how can you relate the visual with the sound?
They are very closely related actually... sound and music are vibrations and there are different spectrums of the waves, so music colours and images come together..there are times when Jonathan tells me, I want you to make a sound like a nest of bees going crazy, then that gives me a picture and I can do that, easier then play an E chord or something..
The material you recorded with David Baker as vocalist was much noisier, why is that? Was David into noise?
The thing is we were fighting a lot with Dave Baker so..The noise came from the combination, because we were always fighting, like storm ...
What was the biggest change during the recording of The secret migration compared to the previous albums?
The biggest change was that we recorded a lot of it ourselves and we had our own studio. We had to travel a lot to the other studios while recording All is dream and Deserter’s songs...This time, it was nice that we were kind of close to home.
What are your influences?
Well usually you can’t verbalize an influence, it’s something that is subconsciously implanted in you, like listening to the music your parents play in the car while driving...The first guitarists that come to mind are Neil Young, Robert Quine...I was also into punk rock when I was young, The Ramones,
Clash, The Gun Club..I listen to a lot of different music now, even jazz or classical..
What about the new american bands?
There is an interesting underground scene in America at the moment, but the problem is that it’s not put out that much, you can’t listen to it unless you’re living in a student town where you get student radios..A band I like a lot currently are Blonde Redhead..
My friend saw a “Joseph Campbell” sticker on your piano? How are you connected with the Joseph Campbell campaign?
Well you know, Campbell claims that in all mythology there are archetypes of different stories, there are always same stories that keep appearing in every culture, and we were interested in that philosophy..
Ok my final question..any thoughts on this radio station?
Ohh I like it..It looks very...
retro?
..Indie... most of the radio stations in America are commertial and they’re not as open minded..also this building looks interesting, I’ve heard the architect jumped off the top when he finished the construction.
Yes, he did...and I think I can understand why..
What about Skopje, what are your first impressions?
Well the mountains look very beautifull, tomorrow i’ll do a lot more walking, by my hotel there’s a river...And tonight i’m going to go out experience the night life..
Have fun! :)


* A part of this interview was published in Utrinski Vesnik, on Tuesday, 14th June...