ELASTICA

by Dr. Buzzard & Squid

RAD: When I first listened to the album, "No More Heroes" came to mind...
Justin: Was it "Waking Up",or, was it just generally?
RAD: Just generally... the overall sound. I don't see that you're copying, maybe just a couple of the bass lines.
Justin: It's just [Justine imitates the bass line to "waking Up" which is somewhat similar to the Stranglers' "No More Heroes"] and the last bit is different... You know it's like there are people who spend, who get paid , who are all they're paid to do is to find out if anyone is ripping off one of their roster's bands. And, people on the radio,DJ's on the radio playing "Waking Up" backed with "No More heroes", and I actually heard that thinking "Shit, I hadn't realized..."
RAD: I found the album quite refreshing...
Justin: Well there's like three or four songs that we could probably get in trouble for, technically...
RAD: Now, Epic is in charge of the stranglers in England?
Justin: No, it's Carlin (sp?), who is quite small, and obviously jumping for joy because they have not had any money off anything for a long time.
RAD: Seems like they ought to put their effort into something different, seems awfully petty.
RAD: Do you find when you're coming up with songs that you'll have something in your head and you're not sure whether it's just a memory or something you heard...
Justin: I always do that, you know, you're playing chords and you're trying to think of new ways to go, and so many times you think of one, and the reason you think it's good is because it's something else, and that's such a dangerous thing. I mean it happens all the time. You know, you might realize like a minute later or you might realize when the band listens to it and they're, like, "you know, that really sounds like this or that" OR you might not realize. Sometimes it's conscious, sometimes we think "let's arrange something that starts off or let's try to make it sound like this band 'cause you like them.

Due to technical difficulties the entire interview was not recorded (Sorry, readers), but one item that was covered was the British press. From speaking with Justine it seems that the British writers have a little too much time on their hands. Although Elastica deserve every inch of page that they take up in those magazines, too little of that is dedicated to their musicianship and their opinions about the current scene. The concert that night went splendidly. Of course they played their radio hits ("Car Song", "Connection"). We were also pleased to hear the single track "Rockunroll". Usually the radio hits garner the most attention and applause, but tonight, each song ignited the crowd into seething pop frenzy. While the neon "Elastica" sign flickered, the support for the foursome remained steady. The actual performance quality makes a person wonder if the album would have sounded even better had it been recorded live. You think I'm kidding? Well, just the same, each song hit right on target. Hopefully, the younger crowd will learn to more fully appreciate what a pop band is. Pop has much more to do with punk than the Jackson family. The encore brought the band out in green Budweiser sunglasses (do I smell endorsement here?) to finish off the crowd with "Blue" and the ultra-smooth and painless "Vaseline". For the older kids in the audience the calendar seemed to have been turned back to 1978. This is not to imply that they are ripping off the early punk scene, they aren't. What they are doing is rejuvenating the music scene instead of becoming another unnecessary Pearl Stone Pepper Temple band to be added to radio playlists (namecheck Candlebox or Collective Soul here). Thankfully, Elastica are not wasting our time nor our energy. So, if you missed this band when they came through your town, feel sorry for yourself, buy their album, hunt them down and catch their show. You won't be sorry.