The guys walk slowly into the office, sunglasses on, eyes glazed. I briefly meet all three members - Matt Friction (guitar/vocals), Jon Decious (bass), and Bob Ferrari (drums), upon which all three plop down onto the sofa. Jon lights a cigarette while Bob looks for something to drink; Matt stares off into space. One would think that the three are bored (and maybe they are), but a brief mention to the previous night gets made… and I realize that they’ve had a long adventure.
The situation they create for the interview somehow speaks of their music. Their pop rock songs are catchy but for all the right reasons: they’re melodic, danceable, and have that frenetic energy reminiscent of early rock n roll. Somehow the songs sound like they don’t care about what you think. Perhaps this is their ploy, or perhaps I’ve created this all in my own head, but somehow I buy it. Take a look at their video, “Little Razorblade” for example:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3058047
posted by Tom
“Little Razorblade” is a pop gem from the album
Teenage Graffiti - which is amazingly full of equally precious valuables. This makes for a hard follow up on the upcoming sophomore release. I wondered what the solution to this problem could be and of course a part of the answer involved cowbells; a track was recorded with the use of one. When confronted about this, Matt half jokingly defends himself,”There is
a cowbell, but I was violently opposed to it.”All in all, when it comes to writing new material, or songwriting in general, The Pink Spiders stick to an important rule: KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid… sounds simple enough, but it’s actually rarely executed.
When prodded about the direction of the upcoming album, Matt explains that it’s not a great departure from the last,”The heavy shit is better and heavier than the shit we’ve done before, and the poppy stuff is poppier and better than the stuff we’ve done before.”Sounds good… if it ain’t broke than don’t fix it.
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This Interview rocks! The Pink Spiders are Amazing! I love awesome Matt’s glasses look on him! He’s got the whole Intellectual Rockstar thing going for him..and the hat too!
Bravo! TPS kicks ass! I cannot wait till they come back to Chicago!
i find it so odd that these guys have made it so far. i say this, not because they don’t deserve it, they do. i’ve known matt since he played in oliver’s army with bob. Bob and I had played in a band together back in the day as the pink spiders were starting out. After that band broke up, the pink spiders really took off. It just astonishes me. I’m happy to see all the press they get, and it’s just crazy seeing them on MTV. I’m baffled sometimes, still. I’ve run into these guys in both NYC and Austin Texas on a number of occasions, but never in our hometown of Nashville, which I also find odd. But kudos to them for blowing my mind.
uhh basically…these guys are just amazing. They truly are a one of a kind band. The interview was wonderful.
a little longer woulda been nice haha buttt i can’t wait till their new cd comes out and I cant wait till they go on tour again because of course….I will be going to another 9 of them:]
THE PINK SPIDERS ARE TAKING OVER
( just let it happen:] )
Ummmmm, I love the pink spiders and was excited to hear an interview from them but 2 clips under 60s doesn’t cut it. Either you guys left out a lot of good material or your interviewer doesn’t interview well. And next time keep them all in one video, having to click 2 is annoying. That is all.
fuckin love the pink spiders.
better come back to the UK sooon btw.
i always like anything to do with the pink spiders, and these clips are no exception. but my only problem is that the audio is sometimes hard to hear. i dont know if it happened due to youtube hosting or whathaveyou, but maybe next time leave out the music bed of their song underneath them speaking because (and i know this all too well from interviewing them myself) they sometimes mumble and speak low which makes it hard to catch everything.
Michael,
Matt was never in Oliver’s Army. You are wrong and are completely out of touch with Nashville music circa 2000.