Splendid: How was it different?

Andy Maltz: Well, it's like all of the sudden you're writing this stuff that...

Sara Nelson: We had a whole set of songs.

Andy Maltz: Well, not really a whole set. We had like six songs. That's half a set. What it is, you start writing songs and all of a sudden you start getting interested in what becomes interesting rather than what makes a good song.

Splendid: So they were too complicated?

Andy Maltz: They were a little bit complicated. I don't even remember a lot of what we were doing. But it just didn't float my boat. We did keep one of them -- "How Do You Do It?" -- that's on the album. And after that, I was just like, "Now I know what I want to do." And once you know what you want to do, it's easy. Getting all the other stuff out of the way helped.

Splendid: A lot of bands say that, that they have to write all the bad stuff first and then get to the stuff that...

Andy Maltz: Yeah, you get to the stuff that you want to do.

Sara Nelson: Sometimes the bad stuff is related...

Andy Maltz: Yeah, it wasn't like it was... it was okay, but it wasn't what was getting me going.

Splendid: So you hadn't been a band for very long when you made the record.

Andy Maltz: No. We started playing shows in January that year and made the record in July. So that's like seven months of actual experience.

Splendid: It's a wonderful record...

Sara Nelson: Thanks. We like it.

Splendid: And I understand that Crypt Records, which has the Sonics and the Pagans and all these incredible bands, had not had a new band for a long time before they signed you. Can you tell that story, how that happened?

Andy Maltz: Yeah, in New York there's a record store called Wowsville, which is a place you go and hang out. If you stay there for half an hour, you'll see five people you know. So Tim, who runs Crypt, was there the day before Thanksgiving. A bunch of people were hanging out listening to records. So, Dave, who was in a band called the Tie Reds, he put our recording on, which was, at that point, new. We had just finished it. Tim heard it and really liked it. So he was just like, at the end, he was like...

Sara Nelson: "Play it again."

Andy Maltz: "Play it again." He played it again three times and left with it.

Splendid: So were you there at the time? Or did you hear about it later?

Andy Maltz: No, no, no. I wasn't there. I got a phone message from Alberto, who owns Wowsville. Alberto's from Spain. He's very excitable. And he was like, "Andy, Andy, Andy, someone wants to put out the record." And I didn't know who he was talking about. I didn't want to get my hopes up about it. But I knew that Tim had come by there, so in the best case scenario, it would be him, and it was. It was very much a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Splendid: So you guys are friends with the Tie Reds?

Andy Maltz: Oh, yeah, you know about them?

Splendid: Who are, I guess, no more?

Andy Maltz: That's right.

Sara Nelson: Dave and Teri have a new band now.

Andy Maltz: They're in Portland, Oregon. They have a band there, which I haven't heard yet, but apparently it's pretty rocking.

Splendid: It must be amazing to go out in Portland, because every great new band that I hear that I don't know anything about, it seems like they're from Portland.

Andy Maltz: Really? We played there when we were on tour. It was a lot of fun. We had a good time there. You know, some cities just seem to have cool people.

Splendid: Yeah. I guess it's really cheap to live there.

Sara Nelson: At least compared to New York.

Splendid: So when I heard that you guys were friends with the Tie Reds, I thought maybe "Jenna Lee" and "Teri Lea" were sisters.

Andy Maltz: No, no, no. That's Teri from the Tie Reds that that song's about.

Splendid: So I know that your influences are Chuck Berry, the New York Dolls...

Andy Maltz: Yeah. Well, you know, I just like rock and roll. Like everything right up to Chuck Berry and everything that came out of him...at least musically speaking.

Splendid: But that must have been already really old stuff when you got to it...

Andy Maltz: I'm older than I look. (laughs) No, but I always listened to really old stuff. I would listen to stuff, like old Beatles records, and the songs that I liked were always written by Chuck Berry or Carl Perkins. So I would be like, "Who are these guys?" And then I would go back and try to find out where everything came from. I was really kind of nuts about it.

Splendid: Almost every song on the record, you can hear a little Chuck Berry going off.

Andy Maltz: Yeah, well, that's just rock and roll.

Splendid: And another influence you mentioned was Hasil Adkins?

Andy Maltz: That was when I first met Kari.

Sara Nelson: The Haze-man.

Kari Boden: I was into Hasil Adkins and Johnny Burnette.

Splendid: I don't know anything about them.

Kari Boden: I don't even know that much about them. My boyfriend started playing them, and I loved these albums.

Splendid: It's kind of a rockabilly thing?

Andy Maltz: Hasil Adkins is this crazy guy from Virginia who lives in the hills. He does this one-man band rockabilly -- but rockabilly doesn't do him justice -- he does these crazy records and it's great. It's totally out there and his own thing.

Kari Boden: Yeah, it's really great.

Splendid: Is he still playing?

Andy Maltz: He's still around, still playing and making records. You should definitely check it out. The first one to get is Out to Hunch.

Splendid: Cool. So you've got a Rascals cover on your record...

Andy Maltz: Yeah. That's actually... I was trying to write a song, and I know the Mummies version of that song. I was trying to write a song like that, and then I just decided, what the hell, let's just do that song. Instead of trying to rip it off or copy it...

Splendid: Do you do any other covers?

Sara Nelson: We just recorded a Stones cover. On a Norton Records compilation...

Andy Maltz: So we do this song, "Think," which was a Stones song from Aftermath.

They are referring to a 7" on Norton (45-9643) which includes the Little Killer's cover of the Stones "Think" and the Dartford Renegades' "Off The Hook" on the B-side.

Splendid: That's cool, because you have a real kind of Stonesy sound sometimes.

Andy Maltz: Yeah, Chuck Berry, the Stones, the whole nine yards. But we started out doing all these covers. We would do covers, sometimes we would do them for months and months, and other times we would just do them once. But we started doing this new one, a Little Walter song. He's an old harmonica player who recorded on Chess Records.

Splendid: Are you the one who plays harmonica?

Andy Maltz: Yup, that was me. We do a song called "Mellowed Out Easy" that we just started working on. Maybe we could play it tonight.

Sara Nelson: At soundcheck we played it.

Andy Maltz: So far we have just played it at soundcheck. We haven't had the guts to play it live yet. And we've done other tunes. A lot of times, we play them for a while and then we don't play them anymore. We do something else.

Splendid: I don't know if you'll be able to answer this, but I think a lot about what makes a rock song a good rock song instead of a bad rock song, because they've all got the same kind of structure and ...

Andy Maltz: Yeah, I think about it all the time. I think there are a few things. I think English is really underrated in rock and roll. People don't pay attention to words. A lot times the words set up the rhythms and riffs. But also, if you look at the things that people emotionally connect to in a song, a lot of times it's the words. There are lot of people who spend all their time practicing guitar and trying to get really good, but they never pay attention to writing. I think the words are a big deal.

The other thing that happens is that once people get a certain amount of skill, they want to show everybody what they can do and they get away from the beat. They get away from the song. Nobody comes away from a song saying, "What a great drum fill!" or whatever. They come away thinking, "This is a good song." Those are the two things, I think. But mostly really good words. Because with Chuck Berry, for instance, everybody says "Oh, it's the guitar, the guitar." But I think it's the words. Hank Williams never made it above the third fret, but he wrote some great songs. Buddy Holly and all those guys were thinking in terms of singing.

Splendid: Right, because it's a form of communication.

Andy Maltz: That's right. That's the part of it that a lot of times you don't even think about it when you're listening. You're just like, you know, (singing) "Brown Sugar" or whatever, but it's good words. But it helps to put it in a good song with a good beat and a good riff and all that other stuff.

Sara Nelson: A beat that the ladies can dance to.

Andy Maltz: Yeah, you want to get the ladies dancing.

Splendid: That's what everyone wants. Uhm, so I wanted to talk about some of the songs on your album. You've probably been playing these for a long time...maybe you're bored with them?

Andy Maltz: No, no, no, we still like playing them.

Splendid: My favorite is "Volume". Does everyone like that one best?

Andy Maltz: No, a lot of people like "Happy".

Sara Nelson: A lot of people like "Volume".

Andy Maltz: Some people like "Chopping Block" -- a few people like that one the best.

Splendid: Oh, yeah, I like that one!

Andy Maltz: But they tend to be kind of weird. Anyway...

Splendid: Let me tell you what I like about "Volume".

Andy Maltz: Okay.

Splendid: I like that verse where you're going to the graveyard, and it's a "motherfucking cold place / they lay you on your back and throw mud on your face." Because it's like sex and death and rock and roll (Which is, come to think of it, the title of a really excellent Lazy Cowgirls song), and what else do you need?

Andy Maltz: That's exactly it. It's all about words, like we were saying.

Splendid: Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask you about the big break after "Messin' Around"... (There's a long pause on my copy of the CD between "Messin' Around" and "99 Cents") Is that so all these CD yuppies will have to get up and change the side?

Sara Nelson: Oh, no, no, no.

Sara Nelson: That was a big mistake. A very expensive mistake.

Andy Maltz: People who sent out the master version of the album sent out the LP master to the CD plant. And the LP master had that pause on it. So, but we ended up redoing...

Splendid: Oh, jeez, I thought you were giving the finger to people who don't have turntables.

Andy Maltz: No.

Sara Nelson: Well, we thought about going with that...but...

Andy Maltz: No, what we ended up doing...

Sara Nelson: You got the promo copy.

Andy Maltz: We used them as promo copies. It's not on purpose or an artistic statement. It was just a mistake.

Splendid: Are you vinyl people?

Andy Maltz: I like music. I don't really care as long as it sounds decent. I don't care. I have tons of stuff on CD. I have tons of stuff on vinyl.

Sara Nelson: I like CDs, because you can bring them in the car, bring them to work.

Andy Maltz: They're portable. Vinyl's great because it's just what I started out listening to.

Splendid: But I guess CDs are on the way out, too?

Andy Maltz: Yeah, at this point, I'm just getting into this thing where everything can be in one place. Like I see people walking around with their iPods.

Splendid: Are you going to try to get your songs in the iTunes store?

Andy Maltz: I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out how to plug my guitar in.

Sara Nelson: (laughs) That's true.

Splendid: I also really like this song, "Pucker Up", which is kind of fun song. It's not as dark or heavy as some of the stuff on your album.

Andy Maltz: There's a funny thing about that song. There's a Little Rascals episode that made me think about doing that song.

Splendid: Really? What happened on the episode?

Andy Maltz: Well, there's a monkey, and there's a case of mistaken identity where there's a monkey and a kid, and that's as far as I'll go...

Splendid: And somehow tying back to this "Pucker Up" idea?

Andy Maltz: Yeah.

Splendid: I don't know if I want to think about that too much.

Andy Maltz: Well, it's a funny thing...

Splendid: Also, "Spider" I really like.

Sara Nelson: That's my favorite.

Splendid: Is that sort of a blues thing, using this animal metaphor, because it's not really about a spider, is it?

Sara Nelson: She's good.

Andy Maltz: Well, all these things ....the ideas of how to do these things have been around forever. So you're just trying to do the best you can. A lot of people mistake originality for trying to do something different or new. But you already have that... you're already you and I'm already me.

Splendid: It's also impossible to do anything really new at this point.

Andy Maltz: It is, but just by doing it, it's going to be you. If you do it without trying to copy anybody... we all copy people, but at a certain point...

Sara Nelson: It's like cover songs. You hear five bands play the same song, but it's always different.

Andy Maltz: The idea of doing something like that... There are other songs about spiders and all kinds of animals, but you just do it the way you do it, and that should be good enough.

Splendid: It's a great song and a great album. We really enjoyed it.

Andy Maltz: Thank you.

Splendid: I see you're going to Europe, and it looks like you're spending at least three hours in every country?

Andy Maltz: (laughs) Pretty much.

Splendid: Are you excited about that?

Andy Maltz: Very excited. I'm not exactly apprehensive, but I'm a little anxious about it. It's a big deal and it's like seven weeks away and, you know, I like my creature comforts like everybody.

Splendid: It looks like it's going to be a really hard trip. Looking at the schedule and the amount of driving and travel...

Andy Maltz: It's insane.

Sara Nelson: You're doing a lot of nothing. It doesn't sound so bad, but it is. Because all it is, every day, is 30 minutes of playing.

Andy Maltz: And then another 12 hours of getting there.

Splendid: And you don't really have time to, I mean, you're in Florence, but you can't do the things you might want to do in Florence.

Andy Maltz: Exactly. We did 30 days in the States and all I saw was the highway, the road into the club, the club, where we crashed and then the highway again. But we have a couple of days off in Spain.

We spend the next several minutes in a short but animated discussion of what to see in Spain, and then return to discussing that night's show.

Kari Boden: My mom's taking pictures at the show. She's like, "Is that allowed?" And I said, "No, but I got you a permit."

Splendid: So how does she feel about the fact that you're a rock and roll drummer? Is she nervous about that?

Kari Boden: I don't know. I think she's excited.

Sara Nelson: She's glad we're not dead. (everybody laughs)

Andy Maltz: That's probably what my folks would say, too. My dad's never seen me playing. I think it's just lazy... He likes music. A lot of what he likes definitely made an impression on me.

Splendid: So what do you remember listening to when you were little?

Andy Maltz: Well, when we were kids we listened to a lot of AM radio, and it was still playing Top 40. We listened to Johnny Cash and Hank Williams and Beatles records. It was always open...like we could listen to whatever. We had tons of 8-track tapes and all kinds of crazy stuff. From Bill Monroe to Jerry Vale. It was just sort of like the push you give somebody on a bike when they start riding it. But we all grew up listening to and playing music.

Splendid: How about you? Did you have music in your life?

Sara Nelson: No. My parents didn't really listen to music.

Splendid: How about you?

Kari Boden: My dad...

Sara Nelson: Your dad was a bass player, right?

Kari Boden: That's right, he played the bass. I played flute, growing up, and the piano.

Splendid: It's a cool thing, that whole "Let's start a band."

Andy Maltz: It's not rocket...surgery. (We all laugh) It's not rocket science or brain surgery or brain science.

Splendid: But it must be hard to do it well.

Andy Maltz: Yeah, but it's not like I didn't know about it. A lot of people just try to do stuff and they don't know where to begin or what the hell they're doing. I'm so obsessed with it that I sort of know what makes it good, at least I try to make it good.

Splendid: Well, I think you've succeeded. Are you guys doing a new album?

Andy Maltz: Yeah, sooner or later. We're going to do a single. There's a label in England that's going to do a single with us.

Sara Nelson: Sweet Nothing. They did a Dirtbombs single.

Andy Maltz: We're going to go out there when we're in Europe, and do a single, too. We're going to try to get that done probably in the first week, so that will be ready when we go out to Europe. The album...

Sara Nelson: In the Fall.

Andy Maltz: If anything it's going to be next fall.

Splendid: You have a lot of stuff you want to put on it?

Andy Maltz: Yeah, we have some new tunes that aren't on this record, and then I'm sure between now and the time that we do it, we'll have some more. I'd say we're practically there, as far as material for a second record.

Splendid: I hear that that's kind of frustrating for a lot of bands, that you're out touring with stuff that people are experiencing as brand new and it's maybe three years old for you.

Andy Maltz: It's not three years old. It's about two or so years.

Splendid: And you try to play anything new and people are not receptive.

Andy Maltz: Oh, no, people don't necessarily know the stuff that we do from the old record. We're a relatively new band. We're going to play new stuff tonight. Hopefully it fits in well enough that people are not saying, "Oh, these guys are getting into disco" or whatever. One of the secrets is to not change that much.

Splendid: But not to stay exactly the same, either.

Andy Maltz: Yeah, you don't want to stay exactly the same either. People are always listening to Chuck Berry, and they say, "Well, it's all the same." But it's not the same, really. Once you know the ...

Splendid: The nuances.

Andy Maltz: Nuances. You know, like with the Ramones. It all sounds the same, but it's the Ramones. They're still great.