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We’ve heard it for so long that it doesn’t even
matter to me anymore. to it now — for better or for worse — we’re
stuck with it (laughs)!
Mosh: Monster Magnet sort of defined the
stoner rock sound. You opened for them on
your Daredevil tour. What do you remember
most about that time?
Scott Hill: Monster Magnet was a big influ-
ence. We first heard them in ’89-’90. We got
to open up a bunch of shows on the Dopes to
Infinity tour, which I think was in ’95 and the
Daredevil record came out. We made a video
for one of our songs called “Tilt,” and we
sent it to Dave Wyndorf from Monster
Magnet, and he really liked it and said come
along. That’s one of my favorite Monster
Magnet records. It was awesome to see those
guys every night and hanging out with those
dudes, hearing a bunch of different weird
stuff at sound check. It was cool; I’m a big fan
even to this day. Mosh: All your recent albums are on your
record label, At the Dojo Records. Are there
pros and cons to having your own label?
Scott Hill: You own everything. You own the
song. You decide everything from the art-
work to the color of the vinyl; if you want it
on vinyl or CD or download...everything. It’s
also good fun writing the songs, getting in
the studio, doing the artwork and getting the
final thing in your hand. It feels good to go
through that whole process. The only bad
thing is that you have to pay for everything
as well. So for us, we do a lot of shows, and
we’ll save all our money from shows and T-
shirt sales and put it all toward recording,
artwork, and pressing. I think the good far
outweighs the bad, and like I said the only
bad thing is just coming up with the money.
It costs a lot to put out a record, but we’ve
kind of got it down just doing all these things
[ourselves].
Mosh: When Fu Manchu began you were the
guitarist. When did you take over vocal
duties?
Scott Hill: When we started I just wanted to
play guitar. We made a friend of ours sing,
and he didn’t want to sing either. We made
him sing on our first 7,” and he wasn’t into it
after that. We tried out a bunch of singers
and a bunch of guys didn’t work out. So
everyone said I was doing it, and I didn’t
want to have to write words or sing. So we're
pretty loud at practice - and I could never
really hear my voice at practice, but then we
get to our first show, and I’m like, “Oh god,”
I could hear my voice really loud. So there
was no one else to do it, and I didn’t want to
just get a singer. I never really wanted to do
it, but after this many years I’m finally used
Mosh: Fu Manchu has always captured that
cool surfing, skateboarding, El Camino-
driving, California custom van vibe. It’s
obvious that your environment plays a big
part in your songwriting.
Scott Hill: Oh yeah, I’d be out surfing and
[get] a riff in my head, and I’ll remember that
or a lyric. I grew up at the beach my entire
l ife. I’ve always been into muscle cars and
custom vans. I grew up skateboarding, surf-
ing, and motorcycling. That’s just what we
do, from being a kid growing up here. The
cover of the California Crossing record, with
the El Camino at the beach, that’s the beach
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