WHICH SORT OF CAFETERIAS ARE BETTER: THE "FOOD COURT" VARIETY, AT WHICH VARIOUS FOOD STATIONS ARE "MANNED", OR THE SELF-SERVE SORT?
Japanic: Self-serving? Obviously. Is that even a real criticism? I mean, who
is it that we should be serving after all? The whole underground often
seems to have a chip on its shoulder. We are Japanic -- flashy,
narcissistic, over-the-top sometimes. At the same time, we have our
friends and our families and our obscure tastes too. It's just that
we adhere to the classical Greco-roman system of virtue: Help your friends
and harm your enemies. Not the other one.
TELL US AN EMBARRASSING SECRET FROM YOUR PAST.
Japanic: We're from Houston, Texas. We're very proud of it, but a
lot of what you mention is true; Houston does have a low self-image.
It wants to be New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, even Cleveland, Ohio. But
never Houston.
SAY SOMETHING FATUOUS!
Japanic: We don't think we're insincere, but somewhere in the sweat
and the limelight, between the dancing and the stop, in the hush before the
bleep, that accusation whispers by. We have a network of spies that tell
us, scenesters who tattletale because they can't let a week slip by
with out intrigue and spectacle. Don't get us wrong; we can deliver
the spectacle.
EVER READ GLAMOUR? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT "DOS" AND "DON'TS" PAGE?
Japanic: We're not the ones saying we're glamorous. That's
the media. Who's to say where it began? On-line communities, fanzines, local write-ups. A little mascara here, a pair of jeans so tight
they change the octave of our voices. I think it must be one of those
phenomena that got the cause mixed up with the effect. It's really our
audience that is well-dressed, glamorous. We're just the working stiffs.
DISCUSS THE 21ST-CENTURY RAMIFICATIONS OF FREUD'S SUGGESTION THAT SOMETIMES A CIGAR IS JUST A CIGAR.
Japanic: True cockrock was never insincere. Escapism, quietism, and their
diametric opposites, confrontation and activism are charges that apply to
any public ritual. Church ceremonies, school assemblies, political
rallies, sports contests, a Poison concert, wars -- they all call for
pre-meditated rules of participation, for distinctions between the audience
and the actors, for communal recitations and histrionics.
WHEN, IN YOUR OPINION, DID HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS START GOING DOWNHILL?
Japanic: I don't watch the news. I do read the letters to the editor in
the Houston Chronicle every day.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT US CALLING YOUR MUSIC FUNK, FOLK OR "DESEXUALIZED BLUES ROCK"?
Japanic: No, it's not the 80s come back again. I don't mind the
designations of funk or folk music however. Use them if you can. Our
music is for dancing, not nostalgia, for togetherness instead of cliqueism.
It is rooted in history, but the element of the unknown is clearly
introduced. No one before us could have written our stuff. Someone called
it "desexualized blues rock" and while I don't think
that's on the money either, at least it makes mention of the
blues-rock we all grew up on. We're very sexual. But so much more.
IF YOU WERE A BALLOON ANIMAL, WHAT BALLOON ANIMAL WOULD YOU WANT TO BE? WOULDN'T YOU WANT TO BE A GIRAFFE?
Japanic: No, that's not quite true. We are not bloated parodies of our
former selves. This (rock and roll) is a living. We have to live it.
THOUGH APPARENTLY NAMED AFTER A POPULAR HOME-MAKER'S MAGAZINE, YOUR ALBUM REMINDS US A LOT OF THE FUN WITH DICK AND JANE BOOKS. WAS THAT INTENTIONAL, OR JUST A REFLECTION OF YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNDS?
Japanic: I'm glad you asked that one. Every recording is a document and I
liked the literary associations. That was our goal when we put it
together, to make a document of our music in a discreet sense, and why it
has the feel of a collection of Japanic singles maybe more than that of an
album-oriented radio release. The CD's title, Red Book
refers to a number of things. Mao Tse-Tung's red book of quotations
for one. Also my (Tex) girlfriend has a red book in which she makes lists.
But the woman's magazine you see in grocery store check-out lines has
nothing to do with it. That's a red herring.
NAME FIVE PEOPLE YOU KNOW WHO ARE CURRENTLY BEING TREATED FOR SOCIAL DISEASES.
Japanic: We are: Margeaux Cigainero, vocals, Tex Kerschen, vocals, Brandon
Davis, guitars, Rob Smith, keyboards, and Josh Barry, drums. We do sign
autographs.
