much faster. And I felt a lot better about listening to that Twin Infinitives
record, and meeting people who are really into it, a couple generations
younger. And then I met three people at the same time who were the same
types as the people who had been in the band. So I thought “Man, wouldn’t
it be crazy…” And a lot of bands have been doing this thing where they go
out and play the whole album. Like classic rock acts doing their famous
records. So I thought that’d be cool to do it once, only. And in Brooklyn, where
we worked on the record.
Is that the only way that you’d want to do something as Royal Trux these
days?
of thing. I’m terrible at being my own manager, is what it is. Yeah, but that
was good, just to know that they did it. That kind of healed that part of my
past. “Oh, that’s nice! They got back together and everything was cool.” A
nice, warm environment like that, a charity thing. Yeah, I don’t know, I’ve
talked to Jennifer about it. Probably the last five years, we’ve gone back and
forth about it. “Well, if you find the money…” But then it gets bogged down,
in typical Royal Trux fashion. I mean, if there really was a demand, I would
do it, but I don’t think there is. I think it would just be the same as what I
do already. Up and down. Who knows! Hit me up. That’s where I am. Put the
word out!
I wanted to ask you about flying.
Yeah, I think so. Well, money would tell the tale. But I talk to Jennifer on and
off, and it’s always like “Ehhhh, you know…” It’s not that much, really. And
she’s doing her thing. So it just doesn’t make sense for what Royal Trux was.
I don’t even know. That Twin Infinitives thing was really great, and it was a
good vibe in the audience, but doing the whole tour, and all of the records,
and being Royal Trux again? That’d be weird. I don’t see how anybody could
have a warm place in their heart for it. I’m always suspicious about people
when they say “Oh, I love Royal Trux!” I’m like “Oh, man. You like the...the
pictures of them, and the stories you heard?” ‘Cause that’s again, I was so
in conceptual mode at all times, I’m not even sure what kind of signals I
was sending out. It’d be cool if we could do it -- that Twin Infinitives thing
sounded cool, man. I had a great time rehearsing that, and enjoying that
record again. Learning the parts, I was like “Oh, this is pretty good!” But I
don’t know how much interest there would be for a band that sounded like
that now. But I’m doing this new band with the guy from Wolf Eyes, Nate,
and a dude who was in AIDS Wolf back in the day, and I guess he was in an
early incarnation of Arcade Fire too. But he works under the name Drainolith
now, that’s how he walks the earth. And the three of us got together and
started doing this band where it’s improvised, no one’s in charge of it, and
just trying to see… It’s kind of like Twin Infinitives, trying to find that thing.
I want to be in a band. Just haven’t met the right people yet. I’d love to just
be in a band! You know, Jon and Julie did some Pussy Galore reunion thing,
with Yo La Tengo…
Yeah, I was going to ask, you didn’t feel any inclination to participate in
that at all?
Well, no, I was just too far out, it was too short notice. And since it was that
special thing, they’re really the band. But I was like, “If you wanna do a tour,
I’m totally down, I’d do that in a second.”
Yeah? You’d do a Pussy Galore tour before you’d do a Royal Trux tour?
Yeah! Well, Pussy Galore’s a little bit easier. Jon’s always good about making
things easy to understand, and direct. I feel more comfortable -- it’s a
one-to-one correspondence of what people are there. A Royal Trux thing could
just be a disaster! Just a bunch of old junkies. Single, ‘cause their junkie
partners died. You know what I mean? Old dudes like “Oh yeah, I got my arm
amputated!” And then some kids, they got the totally wrong idea about,
some goth junkie art punk thing or something. And then some rocker dudes
who are like “Wait a minute, I’m at the wrong show!” But Pussy Galore was
always very straightforward. They’re doing this reissue for one of the records,
so I talked to Julie in e-mail a little bit.
So that’s a thing that could potentially happen?
Yeah, I mean, it’s totally up to Jon and Julie. But I told them “if.” I was not
pushing for it.
Oh, yeah. (Laughs)
Do you fly now?
Well, I haven’t in a while. But I would. When Royal Trux was coming to an
end, I just started sending the word out. I heard Robert Smith from the Cure
refused to fly.
...That’s why you refused to fly?
No, I just used it as an excuse not to go to Japan or something.
So you never had a problem with flying, you just didn’t want to go places?
Yeah. The last time I flew, though, was a long time ago, like a month after
9/11 or something. And I got pulled out and searched and everything. And
every time I come across the Canadian border, I get “randomly searched,”
they say, so that part of it kind of freaks me out. So I don’t seek it out.
Is music your only soure of