SP INTERVIEWS / ARTICLES

MTV Video Awards - Post-show Interview
Sept 4th 1996

Transcribed by Chris Tribout



Kurt: How are you gonna divide seven statuettes among three people exactly?

D'Arcy: We're gonna have to cut those things up, those awards.

Billy: We'll give the flags to the families, and we'll just cut off the arms and like...

D'Arcy: Cut the heads off. Cut the legs off.

Billy: No disrespect to MTV.

Kurt: Oh God, no. Does this sort of thing mean something to you, I mean, do you take it seriously or is it just a nice thing, or...

D'Arcy: That's a hard question.

Billy: Um, I mean, we've never been nominated for much of anything, so we have that kind of cynical-like award show thing.

D'Arcy: It's like, "Oh, we're not gonna win, who cares," and then when you do, it's like, "Wow!"

Billy: "This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

Billy: Nah, it's nice because, I mean, we're at a point where, it's like, we're still trying to convince people who wouldn't normally buy alternative music that our kind of music...

D'Arcy: Still trying to convince people that we don't suck.

Billy: ...to listen to our music. And things like this do get people to go, "well, maybe I'll listen to it." So, we like it.

James: We're down with that. We're down with that.

Billy: Totally down with that.

Kurt: Now, you guys have started Scratchie Records and you're signing new bands that don't sound...

Billy: Wait, I've gotta say, I can't believe how much press this label's getting. I'm stunned being an observer...

D'Arcy: We have good bands! They rock!

James: Let's get a close-up. Scratchie Records is... [laughs]

Kurt: You're signing bands that don't sound like, for example, what we hear everyday on the radio, I would assume, right? Are there lots of those bands out there?

James: No, not necessarily. I mean, they're really good. We've signed a couple of rock bands, but they're not very run-of-the-mill alternative rock bands. One of them being the Frogs, whose drummer/singer Dennis is now our keyboard player. And they're definitely not like your average alternative band. They sing about interesting subjects. [laughs]

Kurt: [laughing] What could you possibly mean by that?

Billy: As it said in a recent Rolling Stone, "the controversial band, the Frogs"

James: And actually, Billy might produce that.

Billy: No. But, ... no.

Kurt: Well, perhaps.

Billy: Move on.

Kurt: So, the possibility opens up now, you at some point will have new musicians in the band. Will the music change?

Billy: Oh, we were planning on doing that anyway. I mean, if anybody's really paid attention over the course of our three records, I mean, even though it's basically been rock, we've been evolving in a grander and grander scheme, and we've reached a point where the guitar things really can't serve the depth of the music, so, we're getting more into technology, and, we're going dub, dance house, techno...

James: Rock music is so passe.

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