What's the first music that made an impression on
you?Brian Ritchie: It was probably something from Mary Poppins. I was really into Mary Poppins when I was a little kid. I wanted to marry Julie Andrews. I forced my parents to buy me the soundtrack album. But the first record I can remember buying on my own was "She's a Woman" and "I Feel Fine," a single by the Beatles, but that was after they'd already split up. I found it at a rummage sale. I said, "The Beatles -- I heard about those guys. Maybe I'll check 'em out. Ten cents -- what the hell, I'll listen to it." Then I decided I wanted to play guitar.
My parents wouldn't let me learn a musical instrument when I was a kid because the teacher advised them that I didn't have any musical talent whatsoever. I wanted to play trumpet. I said, "Get me a trumpet. I want to play trumpet!" And they said, "Brian, we can't. The teacher said you don't have any musical talent." So finally I harassed them enough so that they bought me a guitar. I was about 13.
Why did you switch to bass?Ritchie: I was forced to because, as everyone knows, there are tons and tons of guitar players and hardly any bass players. Most guitar players try to play bass, but they're completely baffled by it. You'd think that there was no relationship between the two instruments by the way that guitar players try to play bass. But I had a natural talent for it, so I was stuck. Eventually I grew to like it.
Gordon -- first musical impressions?Gordon Gano: I'm not sure exactly, but real early I remember hymns in church, and also my father would listen to country & western music -- Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams. And my father and mother would both listen to show music musicals. I remember getting into a few of those. I liked them; I still do. All that music -- the hymns, country music and the show music. I think it's all great.
When did you start playing?Gano: I started just playing some simple chords on guitar -- which is not much different from what I do now -- maybe in the 6th grade, and in the 7th grade I started writing my own songs and just kept going since then.
Victor DeLorenzo: What was that song?
Gano: I'm not gonna tell ya.
DeLorenzo: Wasn't it "The Oatmeal Song"?
Gano: No, no, that's not it.
Ritchie: He wrote a song about oatmeal when he was a little kid. His sister told us about it.
Gano: That's not it. It was "Oats."
Ritchie: I'm sure you worked oatmeal into it.
Gano: Maybe -- you know, a little avant-garde twist...
Ritchie: I'll sing it for you -- his sister taught it to me -- "I love oats, I love oats..."
Gano: I consider this an insult. He is completely perverting the original "Oats" song.
Then you'd better set the record
straight.Gano: All right. This is a prestigious paper, right? I should give you the scoop? All right ... it's more of a chant. It was like, "Oats, oats/Cows like oats/Horses like oats/People like oats....," and you could go on for a long time.
Ritchie: Now, if this comes out as a bootleg, we'll know... The Gordon Gano fans are desperate.
Gano: And I was of course at that time heavily influenced by Jonathan Richman to play those kinds of children's songs.
We'll get around to that one later.Gano: Lou Reed was my babysitter.