By Kelley Simms
SUPER FUZZ
Fu Manchu
Photo by John Gillhooley
European tour, was it a success?
Scott Hill: We played to our biggest crowds
and a lot of sold-out shows. Everyone’s
into a little bit of everything over there. But
at the same time, we just did a west coast
run at the end of last year; it was the same,
sold out shows with a lot of people. I think
more and more people are wanting to hear
heavy rock.
Mosh: You're appearing in Chicago this
month. Do you have favorite cities you like
to play?
Scott Hill: We don’t favor one city over the
other, but we’ve had a lot of great shows [in
Chicago]. I think we usually do the Double
Door, but I think it’s closed down. We don’t
really have a favorite, but anywhere where
we can plug in and play loud is good for us.
F
or nearly 30 years SoCal stoner-rock
titans Fu Manchu have known pre-
cisely what they're doing. Since 1990,
the super-fuzzy foursome has consistently
transported listeners through a sonic land-
scape full of mountainous riffs with bursts
of beaming melodies and thunderous, low-
end rumbles. You know what you’re going
to get when you spin a new Fu Manchu
record and you know it’s going to be good.
On the band's 12th full-length album Clone
of the Universe (released in February on
their own At The Dojo Records) they do
what they do best. The seven spaced-out
tunes reaffirm everything you love about
the hirsute-named band. Throw in an epic
18-minute spaced-out extravaganza featur-
ing Rush’s Alex Lifeson, and you have an
absolute winner. Original member Scott
Hill (vocals/guitar), joined by Bob Balch
(guitar), Brad Davis (bass) and Scott Reeder
(drums), will collectively blow the Bottom
Lounge's PA system — as well as your
minds — when Fu Manchu perform on
Saturday, May 19. Scott Hill was kind
enough to give us some insights into what's
currently going on with the band.
Mosh: Fu Manchu recently returned from a
Mosh: What have you done sonically on
Clone of the Universe?
Scott Hill: The same thing we always try to
do to get it as fuzzy and as heavy as we can.
There’s one thing you can count on with a
Fu Manchu record - that it’s going to be a
fuzzy, loud and heavy record. That’s why
we wanted to start the band, and that’s
why we keep playing in the band. Ninety-
eight percent of our stuff is going to do
that, and I think people know what’s com-
ing.
Mosh: How did Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson
end up playing on "Il Mostro Atomico"?
Scott Hill: Our manager is friends with his
manager and they were both talking, and
our manager asked if Alex would ever
want to play any Fu Manchu stuff. So we
sent him the 18-minute song. We sent him a
rough demo of it, and he liked it and want-
ed to know what we wanted him to do. We
were like, “Oh my God, he agreed to it!”
We just told him to do whatever he wanted;
however long you want or however short,
whatever. We went into the studio and
recorded it and sent it to him up in Canada
and he recorded a bunch of cool stuff all
over the song. He said we could use what-
ever we want and wherever we want. We
were listening to it in the studio flipping
out because everything is so awesome
what he did.
Mosh: Fu Manchu has survived for almost
three years, which is quite impressive.
What were your initial goals when you
first started?
Scott Hill: Same as they are now, to play
some heavy rock. We didn’t think we’d be
around this long, that’s for sure. We just all
enjoy playing, touring, getting out there on
the road and releasing records. We’ll con-
tinue to try and do that for as long as it’s
still fun and we’re all into it.
Mosh: Did you ever hear the term “stoner
rock” before you guys got together?
Scott Hill: No, we didn’t. We started in
1990, and I’d never heard that term, I don’t
think that was around then. We were into
The Melvins, Blue Cheer, Laughing
Hyenas, early Kiss, anything kind of noisy
at the time; Tad and Soundgarden. I think I
first heard that term in 1994. We were doing
an interview somewhere on tour, and an
interviewer from England had come over
and said that term. I’d never heard it
before. It immediately brought to my mind
Grateful Dead-type stuff, which I hate -
that noodling nonsense type of stuff. I just
don’t like any of it, and that’s what it
reminded me of, so it wasn’t so flattering to
me. But now, I think it’s lumped in with
fuzzy guitars and heavy sounding songs.
Continued on page 49
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