This week's theme on the blog is "Awkward Interviews That Were Going To Be Published As Straight Q & A's Because I Didn't Feel Like I Could Write A Story Around Them." First is an email interview with Dave Kirchgessner from Mustard Plug. This was obviously done over email and resulted in some good stuff but I just honestly don't know enough to make it a compelling Q & A let alone a feature story. Sorry.
Bill: There was a longer than usual wait between Yellow #5 and In Black and White. Was there a particular reason for that?
Dave: In between albums, we went through some big line up changes with a new drummer and bass player. It takes time to find new people and teach the new guys the old material. Also as time goes on we just get a bit lazier about songwriting. I hate to admit but I think it’s true. Also we get a lot pickier about the songs that make it onto the album so we ditch a lot of songs and work harder on the ones we keep.
Bill: Who conceptualized the artwork for In Black and White?
Dave: For this album, we hired an outside photographer/art director for it. It was this local guy who we liked and was really excited about doing it. We worked together with him, basically giving him a rough idea of what we liked and let him run with it. It was actually really fun to have someone outside of the band who was really talented put his spin on it. It helps keep things fresh.
Bill: Are you working on any new material at this point?
Dave: Yeah, we’re finally working on new material. For pretty much the first year that the album was out we didn’t even bother working on new stuff, we just focused on getting the album out there. Now we’re just starting to come up with new stuff.
Bill: Over the years you guys have dealt with a ton of lineup changes, and on top of that you’ve been getting older obviously, but there hasn’t seemed to have been a decline in band activity. What would you attribute that to?
Dave: As we get older it gets a lot more challenging to keep up the same level of band activity. The older we get, the more outside responsibilities come up, such as families and jobs and stuff. But we try to keep the ball rolling and keep doing new things. I think the key is to take things at a reasonable pace. We’re not doing tours where we go out for 6 weeks and hit the entire U.S. We’re more likely to go out for 10 days and hit one region of the U.S. It makes it difficult to hit geographically distant places like Texas or the Pacific Northwest, but we try to hit the east and west coast at least once a year and the Midwest twice a year.
Bill: Whose idea was it to release a greatest hits record?
Dave: It was mine actually. It was released at a time when we were having a hard time getting our cd’s in stores. Our last album, “Yellow #5” hadn’t sold that well and stores didn’t really know which of our back catalog to order, so that usually meant none of them. Most stores, especially ones like Best Buy or whatever wouldn’t bother to stock 5 back catalog cds of a band that isn’t exactly selling like Justin Timberlake. So, the best of album made it easy for them to at least stock one Mustard Plug album. The other thing is, with new fans, they don’t really know which one of albums to buy so we made it really simple for them.
Bill: Are there any special plans for the band’s 20th anniversary?
Dave: I think I’d like to do something similar to what we did on the 10th, where we get a bunch of the old guys together to play a show and do a lot of old stuff. Maybe record it this time. We still have to make it to 20!.
Bill: It’s been ten years since the big revival of ska in mainstream circles. Looking back on it from a safe distance do you have any thoughts?
Dave: Yeah, it’s really sad how the mainstream media built it up to a non-sustainable level and let it crash twice as hard. It seemed to ruin a lot of really good bands. I think it’s just really tough for bands to weather going from an underground phenomenon to the point where people are telling you that you’re going to be a big rock star and then kind of treating you like you’re a 10 day old package of hamburger that someone left on the counter too long. I think it also really hurt the unique culture and community of ska music. It really diluted the culture and dismantled the networks. Everything goes in cycles though, and there’s a lot of kids now that are into it that were so young in 1997 that they don’t really even remember that. Those are the kids that are going to build the next wave.
Bill: Mustard Plug played Riot Fest back in 2006 when the lineup was more heavily tilted towards ska. This year the lineup is much more diverse, with more garage and even some thrash metal thrown in. How do you think the crowd will react to Mustard Plug, and do you see the group as ambassadors of the genre?
Dave: I was wondering how we’d be received until I found out that the Bosstones were on the bill. After finding that out I realized that there will be enough fans of the ska-punk, where I’m sure we’ll be received ok. I’m actually really looking forward to playing with such a diverse group of bands. That’s one of the things I really like about Riotfest. I never really feel like we have to represent any genre. I just see us as ambassadors of Mustard Plug.
Bill: Care to explain what happened with the 2002 Warped Tour?
Dave: Part of me doesn’t even really know. The jist of it is, we were playing the Kevin Say’s stage, which at that point was more of a riser underneath a small tent. The sounds guys that had been running that stage for the week we were on, were basically being jerks to us that whole week. The last day was Detroit where we have a huge crowd. The sounds guys are used to no one really paying attention to the Kevin Says stage, so when 600 kids showed up in front of it to see us they basically freaked out. They kept telling us they’d cut the sound if kids danced which is basically an impossibility. Finally after our third song they cut the sound for good. We were playing the Beer Song and just kept singing and chanting acapella. By that time the security had showed up along with one of Kevin Lyman former assistants and nobody was pleased with the situation.
Bill: When did you play a show with Weird Al and how did that end up happening? Is he really as frighteningly nice as he seems?
Dave: That was sometime in the early 90’s I think. Maybe 1994 or something. He very rarely has an opening bands but we begged the promoter to let us on the bill. He then showed up to one of our shows in Austin a few years after that. It was really cool. I could hardly believe he remembered us. He really is a sincerely nice guy. I have nothing but respect for Weird Al.
Bill: What are some of your favorite up and coming bands?
Dave: I’m probably not the guy to ask this since I haven’t heard much new stuff lately, but I’m pretty psyched that there is a new crop of ska based bands that are getting out and touring. Bands like Deal’s Gone Bad, The Green Room Rockers, We Are the Union, Royal City Riot, Fatter than Albert, etc. It’s good to see a new generation take shape.
Bill: As one of the pioneers of bad ska puns, what is the worst one you’ve ever seen?
Dave: There was a band called Skagina. That was pretty bad. There is a new one from Cleveland called Mein Skamf. That one is bad on so many levels I can’t go into it. At this point in the game they’re all pretty painful. I guess you gotta keep in mind that in 1992, with the exception of the Skatilites there really weren’t that many ska puns. So naming our cassette “Skapocalypse Now” seemed marginally original. We just didn’t realize how cheesy and overdone the ska pun thing would become over the next 15 years. Hindsight is 20/20.
Bill: Any last words or thoughts?
Dave: We had an amazing time last time we played Riotfest and I’m really looking forward to doing it again. I never thought I’d have another chance to play and hangout with ALL or the Bosstones, so it’s pretty amazing to be able to do it with both on one show.
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