A Popup Interview with Boomslang

A Popup Interview with Boomslang
[ Artist Website ] | [ Buy Our CD ]

VR:
How do you feel about NAPSTER's situation?

Boomslang:
The most important thing is getting music into the hands of listeners. That said, musicians need to eat too, and deserve to get paid for their work. So, I guess I'm on the fence.

VR:
Nice shirt your wearing, where did you find that?

Boomslang:
Rainbow. Great looking cheap clothes for your stylish modern musician chick on a budget.

VR:
Have you ever paid for advertising for the band?

Boomslang:
No.

VR:
How big of an impact do you think the underground, indie scene has on the current pop culture?

Boomslang:
Who knows? I spend so much time doing band promotion, booking and working at my day job that I have no time to follow popular culture.

VR:
What is your favorite song on the radio?

Boomslang:
Who listens to the radio? My current favorite song is All Good People, by Yes, followed closely by Starship Trooper, also by Yes.

VR:
Most people will never know what it feels like to be on stage in front of a crowd, explain to them that feeling:

Boomslang:
It's absolutly awesome. Imagine the best orgasm you've ever had, coupled with the feeling of home-coming to a beloved family, and the way you feel when you get a big raise. Having people you don't know sing along with you in indescribably good. Like the previous description, but add your favorite dessert to the mix. That's when it's good. When it's bad - indifferent audience or just an off night - it's like dying over and over and over again.

VR:
Tell us a story about the making of a song:

Boomslang:
I used to teach Special Education in Jersey City. I had a kid in my class who was a thug - stealing cars, getting arrested, the whole megillah. He also beat up the other kids and refused to do any work in class. He scared the hell out of me and I had no idea how to deal with him. When I asked for help, I was accused of not liking black people and not knowing how to deal with assertive black boys. (I happen to be black, grew up in a black family full of assertive blck men. All the other kids in the class were black and I didn't have the same trouble with them. maybe they were only pretending to be black.) Anyway, I was basically told to let this kid's criminal impulses hold sway in my class-room because he was so oppressed by the white-man. I was enraged by this and became very, very conservative - a neo-Republican. Some of my friends started calling me the Fuhrer. I also became very pro-death penalty. My song Won't Shed A Tear ( On the CD Bloody Tales From the Suburbs) came out of that kill-all-the-criminals, burn-the-ghetto period. When I quit that job, most of my liberal sentiments returned.

VR:
What would you like to change about your city's local music scene?

Boomslang:
There should be more venues for acoustic artists. For God sake, there should be more venues period. There's only one place to hear live music in Jersey City and if you're not part of the gang, forget it.

VR:
Do you feel that "underground" is just a marketing term like anything else?

Boomslang:
Depends who's throwing the term around. If you're talking about an unsigned band that no one's heard of except local people, then it's accurate. If it's some industry guy who's talking about some 'edgy' band just signed to a big deal, then it is just a marketing term. As far as I know, there is no 'underground' sound. There's tremendous variety and great music of all types.

VR:
Will mp3.com really provide an avenue for people to make it?

Boomslang:
It's a decent way to start - to get your music out to people, but you can't rely on any one time to 'make it'. Musicians have to open to all avenues of exposure.

VR:
Give us a run down of your audio equipment:

Boomslang:
I have a cheap Jwin stereo, a CD burner, a portable CD Sony CD player and a Dell CD burner.I also have a boombox with a built in mic and a 4 track.

VR:
What do your lyrics talk about?

Boomslang:
The death penalty, inter-racial love gone wrong, un-wanted children, alienation and murder. You know - happy Celine Dion type stuff!

VR:
Are there any established artists with whom you would like to collaborate?

Boomslang:
Yeah - Jon Anderson from Yes - he needs some darkness in those new-agey lyrics he's writing nowadays. He seems to be getting a bit far from the actual people. Pete Townshend, my guitar father, would be interesting to work with because I love his playing. I'd love to work with Matt Cameron - excellent musician and hot guy. Dave Grohl is a great drummer and guitarist, he'd be interesting to work with. We're

VR:
Tell us about the hardest time surrounding a gig or studio project.

Boomslang:
Recording the current CD, Bloody Tales From the Suburbs was a nightmare. I'll say at the outset that the reason I put up with all this crap was because I thought this guy was the only guy in my area that I could afford. The engineer thought he was a producer and had all these dumb ideas that I had to argue him out of. (For some reason he built a wooden box and put it around the bass drum - please explain that to me.) When he had the bassist, Kevin, over-dub his parts, the engineer kept telling Kevin what to play. Kevin's ideas were great, the engineers were stupid and bad. I had to shut the engineer up, support Kevin's ideas and keep Kevin from punching the engineer out at one point. Listening to the rough mixes, I hated the bass sound, so I wanted to re-record them, using Kevin's vitage bass amp. The engineer told me in 3 seperate conversations that this was impossibe, never done, wouldn't work, stupid, he threw all kinds of crap at me. I had to put my foot down hard to get these parts done the way I wanted them. When we went in to actually do them, the engineer would barely talk to us, and wouldn't look at Kevin at all. When I decided that I had had enough drama, I went to get my masters from the clown. He was highly offended that I would even think of taking the project somewhere else. Kevin came with me and threatened to kill him if he didn't give me the damn thing. When we finally got it, the guy actually cried over my 'betrayal' (Can you stand it?) When I took the master to the next studio, first it wouldn't read. The engineer there told me that the tape used in the other studio ( at the first engineer's suggestion) was not industry standard, so not compatible with their equipment. Through some miracle, after an hour of finageling, he got the thing to work, but the drum tracks were recorded out of sync. (More joy for me!) When I called the first engineer to let him know and to get my money back, he told me that I must have done something to the tape to mess it up. Again, he and Kevin had one of the most entertaining bouts of verbal fisticuffs I've ever been party to. Since the people at the second studio were so competent and patient, I scheduled more time there. When I showed up, I was told that the person who booked me was not supposed to be reserving time, so my slot was not honored, and I was bUmped. The jerks very graciously offered to give me another slot, since the official booker was now at the desk. Finally, we found some one who could convert this tape to the proper digital format without charging me a small mortgage payment. We finished up there, at the Den Studios in Parsippany, N.J. with no arguments, fist-fights or other drama. Hell, we even had fun. Go figure.

VR:
Has the internet really been helpful to your promotion?

Boomslang:
The internet certainly provides numerous out-lets for exposure. I don't think we've sold any CD over the web, though. I won't count it out though. The web is vast, and we have to put as many sign-posts out as we can so that people can find us. I had a blast filling out this interview questionairre, though.

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