July, 2009: In the world of booze, speed, hot sex and greed, bands form and break up all the time. Of course, whenever the rare one we gave a collective 'thumbs up' to bites the dust, things get a little somber at the dog site. Frankly, we'd counted Seattle's BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS out for good, until the surprise records from bass player and label dude Jeff Davis hit our mailbox. Realistically, it's sort of a return for TBM: guitarist/vocalist Eric Balaban is focusing on his bizarre, noisy new project THE SECOND ACADEMY, while THE MOTHERS are playing a handful of dates to celebrate the release of "Chikara", a compilation-of-sorts buffed and polished by producer extraordinaire Jack Endino. Well, it's close enough to a full return for us. Read on and find out about the ins and outs of this arse-kicking trio.
Marchman: Let's get caught up. What happened during THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS' hiatus? I trust there were exploits in the land of the rising sun?
Jeff Davis: So I moved to Japan in August 2006 and left TBM with a new bass player, Brent Powell (really good at it). They played more shows for about six months, but never got the big gigs they deserved. Eric Balaban turned inward musically to create THE SECOND ACADEMY and the band hiatus was announced. Listen to THE SECOND ACADEMY's record to get Eric's thoughts during the hiatus. As you know, I spent my time during the hiatus in Japan. Yes, there are thousands of stories. Many adventures, many drinks, many culture shocks, and many nights of rock n roll. I took my whole family with me to live in Yokohama for 2 years. Yokohama rules by the way. Yokohama is to Tokyo like Seattle is to LA... but you can get from Yokohama to Tokyo in 45 mins on the train. The nights of rock n roll were fueled by my great Japanese friend, DJ Macky Ramone (he was officially knighted a Ramone by Marky Ramone during the Buzz Buzz USA tour mention in the TBM liner notes).
Marchman: The one that introduces the last couple of songs on the new record?
Jeff: Yes. The guy is now like a brother. Besides helping my family survive and go on super adventures, he taught me a lot about American and Japanese music. And we played a lot of vinyl. In the middle of the trip Eric visited Japan in Aug 2007. We decided a mini TBM tour was necessary. I practiced with a Japanese drummer, Hiroki, and we tour apart stages, with an intention to bury TBM (see the last show in Japan on Youtube). Fast forward, when I returned to Seattle, we released Chikara. Jack Endino did his magic to master tracks from numerous sessions into a single record that sounds like us live. We had to release it. Eric, Rob, and I practiced for the Record release party and had a great time together. I think the 2 years changed our perspective on playing and renewed our band friendship. We are now playing periodically in support of the record or a show that feels like it will be a good time.
Marchman: What inspired you to start your own label (Tsurumi Records)?
Jeff: In summary, because I had to. There's a list of inspirations I couldn't ignore. I mortgaged part of my house and released the 3 records simultaneously to ensure everyone I was serious. Here's a quick list:
- Most importantly, I wanted to capture the moment of these 3 bands and give it to the world to hear. Yeah the age old "it's all about the music." Maybe over said in the industry, but sincere for me.
Marchman: Tell me about your original Chicago band, THE SPIVEYS.
Eric Balaban: THE SPIVEYS were late 90's don't remember the exact dates. We started in Athens Ohio and then moved to Chicago. Our drummer and bass player decided not to make the move, so we put an ad out in The Reader for a drummer, and that's when we became a three piece, and when we met Rob Wheeler. Rob is the drummer for the MOTHERS. At that time we had two guitars, and no bass, and it worked for us. We toured the us and did a month in Europe, DIY and seat-of-the-pants. It was awesome, and a story in itself, as were all THE SPIVEYS years. We have a full length LP (By Ceasarean) and CD (V) out, as well as a 7" and some compilation spots. We sent our first LP (By Caesarean) to AmRep right before it stopped taking on bands, and someone who worked there, Mike Siddal, listened to the album we sent in and liked it, and put out our next thing (V) on his label Doubleplusgood Records.
Marchman: That would have been a great addition to the AmpRep catalog! Why did THE SPIVEYS break up?
Eric: Toward the end of THE SPIVEYS, Rob Wheeler moved to LA to do comedy, and the band broke up soon after, around 2001. Then I moved to Seattle and started the MOTHERS with some other drummers, until Rob Wheeler eventually joined (again) and moved from Hollywood to Seattle. That was the main incarnation of the MOTHERS. Me and Bob again.
Marchman: What was it like sharing the stage with NOMEANSNO?
Eric: NOMEANSNO were awesome. Yeah, their reputation is well deserved. They're a fun, tight, talented band, and a lot of fun. It was a personal high point for me to play with a band I used to listen to. Much like playing with FEAR (in THE SPIVEYS, though that wasn't as great a night)
Marchman: You had to stop playing for awhile because of radial nerve palsy. What exactly happened?
Eric: The radial nerve palsy happened all at once. Jeff invited us to hang out at a swanky hotel in downtown Seattle as a sort of small vacation. When I woke up in the morning, my hand didn't move. After about an hour of trying to "wake it up" we went to the emergency room, and the doctor explained to me that I had "Saturday night palsy.". You get drunk and pass out in a position that pinches a nerve and, because you're drunk, your body doesn't shift during the night the way it naturally does, and you damage the nerve. Of course the nerve heals very slowly (6 weeks or so), unless your on heroin or some such heavy shit, in which case the damage can be severe enough to require amputation. Ironically, I was really not that drunk. I blame the fact that the bed was really nice, and that I was used to sleeping on a crappy mattress on the floor. Going to a cushy, elevated bed did me in.
Marchman: Lets talk about the new disc a little. I understand you had 30+ songs available on THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS “The Graves” sessions, but there are a couple of songs from the “Half American Serviceman” album. If there was so much new material, why did you include old songs?
Eric: Yeah, the bio... There were a lot of songs that I was working on and demo-ing, before the MOTHERS dissolved. Many of them made it onto the SECOND ACADEMY LP (my new band). Though I suppose they were originally destined to be Mothers songs, I was simply just going on doing what I did during a time that the MOTHERS seemed to be stagnating. Those songs ended up being SECOND ACADEMY songs, and Jeff gathered up other songs for the MOTHERS album, since there were some laying around.
Marchman: Where did the name THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS originally come from?
Eric: The band name has a three-fold importance. First, I realized that the people I didn't like seemed to have children by he dozens, and the cool people tended to be the ones who decided NOT to reproduce. I wanted to make I sort of rallying cry to the good people of the world -- a sort of "fight by fucking". It was also the sort of name that seemed un-rock, and that felt good. We could have been something obvious, like Wolf Fight or Death Skull, but BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS felt much more punk rock, because it wasn't obvious and it was against the mold. And, it was a sort of "fuck you" to an old band mate who didn't like the idea that I was about to have a child.
Marchman: Has the lineup changed from the last album?
Jeff: The lineup is the same between the last two albums: Eric Balaban, Rob Wheeler, and myself (aka Joey Lazerhead). Their is an older track on the record, the original 7" version of "Let It End", with Jeff Silva on drums. Jack remixed and remastered it for this release.
Marchman: What is the SPARKS AND TWINKY material added to the end of the record? Are they a different band?
Eric: The SPARKS AND TWINKY stuff... SPARKS AND TWINKY were a Japanese band, all friends, that came to the states for a small tour. When they were here, we decided it would be cool to record them here, in my practice space at the metal shop, and so we did. One of the things we recorded was a MOTHERS song called "Sheltered", with Sachiya on second guitar. We were going to release a 7" with SPARKS AND TWINKY on one side, and the mothers on the other, with Mackey Ramone and both bands uniting to play "Psychotherapy" by the RAMONES. The 7" was never released, and Jeff decided to put them in with the collection of other unreleased stuff.
Marchman: Jeff, did Jack Endino produce the whole album this time? What was his involvement? I know he was always a fan of yours.
Jeff: Jack Endino's involvement was key to this TBM release, for many reasons. First, he was always asking about the next TBM release after we did "Half American Service Man." We kept looking at doing some smaller releases, an EP for LA recordings, a spilt 7" from a garage recording, and redo of tracks we put out on a comp. Well as these things built up, I realized we had a new full release on our hands. When I got back from Japan, I went to lunch with Jack and told him about my idea to start a record label and respond, "There's plenty of ways to lose money these days, so why not with a record label." Then he offered to take a crack at assembling and mastering "Chikara." Jack was pretty familiar with most of the material. In fact we had brought Aaron Mason from Bell Sound Studios in LA (where we recorded the first 4 songs on the LP) to work with Jack on mixing and mastering the tracks for the LA Sleaze Session EP (unreleased). In truth, I expected this record to come off more like a compilation of recordings from random times with various levels of quality. Jack took all the tracks and reworked them with his magic in mixing and mastering, pulling together a cohesive album. In fact, when he handed it to me, he said, "It's another Beautiful Mothers album." I couldn't agree more. One other thing he did for the album was finished recording "Idiot's Argument." adding in Eric's vocals over a recording off an old 8 track real to real... which even including Jack singing back ups on the chorus. TBM's latest album owes a lot to Jack Endino.
Marchman: Any East Coast tour plans this year?
Jeff: There's no plans for TBM to tour east this year. However, THE SECOND ACADEMY is planned to play CMJ in NYC on 21 October and a second date in Brooklyn. They are still working on the plan for shows on the way there and back.
Marchman: Thanks guys, great stuff. Nice to see a band we actually enjoyed coming together again!
Jeff: Thanks for the great review and having a site with such support for real music!
THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS are Eric Balaban (guitar/vox), Rob Wheeler (drums), and Jeff Davis (bass). Their latest album "Chikara" is available through Tusurumi Records. Find our more at myspace.com/beautifulmothers.
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