US Maple (l-r Al Johnson, Todd Rittmann, Mark Shippy, Adam Vida) (photo: Todd Rittman)

I caught up with Mark Shippy minutes before his band, US Maple, hit the stage on Saturday, June 12th at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. We stepped outside into a calm Chicago night on Western Avenue, relatively speaking, and took up a position right around the corner from the club's front door.

Oh, and one thing -- this was my first rock interview. Actually, this was my first interview of any kind where I wasn't the one in the hotseat. Asking Splendid to do it was an impulse decision made weeks before the show, and then carefully ignored until twenty-four hours before the main event. By the time we were standing face to face my stomach was beginning to regret it. I did know that I didn't want to do the same 'ol interview, though. Anyone looking for the "US Maple approach to music" conversation can reference the Eight Forty-Eight interview on NPR from the same week.

Nick Meiers: Well, thanks for doing this.

Mark Shippy: Sure.

NM: This is my first one. This was done on a whim, and I'm supposed to try and shoot for 2,000 words (3000 minimum, actually, which is why you're seeing the article here -- Ed.), so let's see if we can do it.

MS: Okay.

NM: Seen any good movies lately?

MS: Well, I haven't seen Showgirls yet. I hear that's a good one. But I almost got through all of Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg, and there's something going on there man. I mean, I guess that came out around 9/11, so a lot of people didn't pay attention to it as much as it should have been paid attention to... but anyway, I didn't get to the end.

NM: Who are you listening to these days?

MS: I haven't listened to a lot of stuff these days. I mean, I like Slade. I like Stomp Your Hands / Clap Your Feet. It was an especially good album from, I think, 1971 or '72 -- good production with early '70s stuff, you know -- and a lot of David Bowie, especially Low, and I like Heroes. A lot of people say the title track is the only good song on the record, but don't listen to them -- "Blackout", "Kill the Lion", they're all great.

NM: Do you have a favorite Ronald Reagan memory?

MS: Ya, I wanted to vote for Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro, but I was only 12.

NM: I still have that pin. Favorite Ray Charles Memory? I'm trying to stay with the current events.

MS: Wow, let's see... I'm trying here. I'm trying to think because I remember seeing him on TV when I was a little kid all the time. I think I like the clips from like way back when.

NM: Not the Pepsi commercials?

MS: I like the Pepsi commercials, those are good, but I think I like the older stuff better, the black and white footage that they show on, you know, late night TV.

NM: Is there anything you'd just like to get off your chest at this point?

MS: Off my chest?

NM: Air out to the world?

MS: Man, there's a lot of ants right here.

NM: You're right... oh my God.

MS: This ant colony is really really crazy, and even if I don't look at it, it's in my peripheral vision: the movement, the swarming, the mass.

NM: That wasn't planned in the interview.

MS: Off my chest? Wow, I don't know. I can't decide; those ants are distracting me.

NM: What neighborhood do you live in?

MS: I live in Wrigleyville. It's kind of by default. I didn't plan on living there. I moved in with someone years ago, into a small apartment on Lake Shore and Addison, and it's nice. I'm across from the lake. I'm up on the 17th floor so I have a nice view. It's facing north towards Evanston and if there's a really nice storm coming in from Canada, I can see it coming in from the north...

NM: Ever see any tornados up there?

MS: Water spouts? I don't know, I'm not really sure. I've got a big view of the lake.

We're interrupted by a man on the street asking for change.

Man on Street: Hey, come on, man, can you spare any change?

MS: I don't have any change. (He taps his pockets to make sure)

MoS: I need some help there, sir.

NM: I've got some change.

MoS: I'm living on the street. I'm hungry.

NM: There you go.

MoS: Please help me, sir. (He turns back to Mark)

MS: I'm sorry, I don't have any change. I've only got keys.

MoS: Come on, I'd appreciate it.

MS: I don't have any money with me right now.

MoS: Please, come on, man.

MS: I know, I'm sorry, I'd give you something if I had it.

He turns back to me.

NM: That's all I've got.

MoS: I haven't eaten at all today, please help me... come on.

NM: That's what we've got for you.

The man walks off and we take the opportunity to step away from the overwhelming swarm of ants that has gathered under the sidewalk light a foot or two away from us.

NM: Any Chicago events that you're looking forward to this summer?

MS: Chicago events...

NM: Festivals, openings, anything. It's an opportunity for a plug.

MS: Oh, I don't know, like during Jazz fest usually, like not in Grant Park, but in the Cultural Center and the area, different places are having good jazz shows. You might get to see Joe McFee, Fred Anderson, or whoever doing a special show with someone from out of town.

NM: After all this time do you get butterflies before shows?

MS: Ya, a little bit. I mean, Chicago's pretty comfortable, so not as much in Chicago. I get butterflies, I guess, when friends are coming from out of town and stuff and I want to kind of say "Hi" to everybody, and I don't really have a lot of time after the show.

NM: And I'm taking up so much of it here.

MS: No no, it's okay right now.

NM: In all this time you guys have been playing, the music scene in Chicago and the music landscape in Chicago has changed up and down, left and right. What do you think? Any thoughts on that? How is it these days? How's it different?

MS: Well, to me it seems like there's kind of a lull, but that's just as far as what I know about what's going on. I mean maybe compared to ten or twelve years ago. Of course, back then it was stuff that people didn't know about either, like Milk of Burgundy. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on at 6 Odum that's great, but a lot of those people are from out of town, and the stuff in Chicago... A lot of people have moved, as far as people that I know and have known for years -- old friends and stuff. You know, I mean, you still see some good things here and there. I think The Watchers are still around, aren't they?

NM: Yes, Kris Poulin is still recording them.

MS: There's a lot of good bands. Cheer Accident is still plugging away. Does Kevin Drumm still live here or is he in New York now? I think he lives here still and he's a great artist.

NM: Finally, are there any questions that you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but they never ask?

MS: Actually, the movie thing I really liked. That's probably my favorite question because I do like seeing a lot of films. I want to see more (Claude) Chebrol films like The Bitches, and -- what's the one they did a remake with Richard Gere last year? What was the one with the woman who commits infidelity... Diane Lane.

NM: I don't know that one.

MS: Oh, it's a copy from a Chebrol film. It's Adrian Lyne, and I want to see the original one, though. Anyway, let's see, I like great B horror films especially from like the '50s and '60s. There's a lot of good stuff out there.

NM: On your last record, Purple on Time, was some of it or all of it done at the Key Club? (Key Club Recording Company in Benton Harbor, MI)

MS: All the initial tracking was done at Key Club.

NM: So did you eat at the rib place?

MS: Ya, oh ya, that place is excellent.

NM: Isn't it?

MS: Ya, it was pretty nice. They give you a little cup of water and stuff.

NM: Did you guys stay up stairs?

MS: Ya, we stayed upstairs. It was very comfortable. We watched a lot of Twilight Zone episodes because Jeremy (Lemos) got the box set on DVD, and wow, there were a lot of episodes I hadn't seen. I didn't realize because they have hour and a half long episodes and they rarely show those on the SciFi Channel. Usually they're the hour-long ones.

NM: When you were at the Key Club, did you ever do the black light thing?

MS: Oh ya, watching the Flickenger with those little balls bouncing, the meter, you know.

NM: Where they've got the paper and pens to work in the black light.

MS: Right. That's nice. It's very aesthetically pleasing.

NM: Cool. Well, thanks for talking with me.

MS: You think that's 2,000 words?

NM: I think so. I think along with what I'll add in here and there. (Which meant a bunch of these bracket things that I decided against.)

MS: Ya, add something, or paraphrase big time like that, via Bruce Finkelman.

At that moment Bruce Finkelman, owner of the Empty Bottle, was crossing the street and if my limited attention span eyes caught it right, he was sending a bird our way with a smile.

NM: I'm sure the homeless guy will give me at least a page.

MS: Right. If you can remember, and you have a good pictographic memory.

NM: Well, thanks, and have a good show.

MS: Hey, thank you.

-- Nick Meiers