Interview: Blonde Redhead
by Gordon Downs
It was a scrumptious summer evening in the year 2000 when I would first come across the eclectic sounds of Blonde Redhead. I had spent the better half of the day and evening in Los Angeles, wheat-pasting posters around Hollywood for some made-for-TV movie starring Andrew McCarthy (Less Than Zero kicked ass!) It was a shit job, but it paid well and I got all the free Andrew McCarthy posters I wanted! So after a long night of making a motherfucking mess of my truck, my buddy and me hopped on Interstate-5 South and headed back towards Tijuana. We arrived at our destination a couple of hours later: a small house located in the backyard of a less-than savory suburb in San Diego. My friend at the time was sharing close quarters with some dude who was really into graffiti and shit like that. As we entered the small domicile we found all the lights shut off with my friend’s roommate sitting rather motionless in front of single lit candle, and a small radio that was playing some strangely interesting music. The dude sat there as he acknowledged us, looking as if he were in a trance or all smacked out. He could have been, I dunno? He looked pretty stoned to say the least. We exchanged our salutations and I immediately asked him what it was that he was listening to? “Blonde Redhead.” He replied, with a slight but certain smug tone in his voice. “Oh?” I replied, “I’ve heard of them,” I said, trying to regain some ground with this prickly hipster thief. Though honestly adding, “But I haven’t actually ever heard their music before.” It was true. As it would turn out, I had been completely oblivious to the existence of one of the best bands to emerge from the nineties.
Maybe it was the fact that I had been behind the wheel of mini truck for twelve hours, maybe I had accidentally eaten some wheat paste earlier in the day, or maybe it was the pot I had been smoking – but as I sank down on the couch in that tiny house that late scrumptious summer night back in 2000, I became an instant fan of Blonde Redhead. I was physically exhausted and mentally hallucinating, so I was very much in tune with what was coming out of the small but effective speakers. Strange and hypnotic sounds, with a melancholy vibe as thick as an Apple Bottom! I had seen advertisements for Blonde Redhead in various publications at the time: small red squares, with headshots of what I thought were two people. An Asian woman, and some dude, their eyes blacked out with a pen. I was curious but never made an attempt to seek out their music. However after that first experience of hearing them, I decided to take a look into their catalog.
It would turn out that the album I came across that summer in 2000 was Blonde Redhead’s fifth album, “Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons,” which was released through Touch & Go Records, the label which the band had called home since 1997 when they released their third album, “Fake Can Be Just As Good.”
Descriptively, it’s hard to tell a person that has not heard them before what Blonde Redhead actually sound like. All of their albums contain a variety of different musical elements that have become their distinct and eclectic sound. Taking a general stab at trying though: Sonic indie-rock with a subtle European flare to it – emphasis on the word “sonic.”
Since forming during 1993 in New York City, Blonde Redhead have released a total of six albums, the most recent being “Misery Is A Butterfly” which was released in the Spring of 2004 via 4AD Records. The groups name is derived from a song by the eighties no-wave band, DNA. Consisting of Italian twin brothers, Simone (drums, keyboards) and Amedeo Pace (guitar, vocals) and Kazu Makino (guitars, keyboards, vocals,) Blonde Redhead were originally a quartet before they became one of the most talented trios in modern rock.
It’s an extremely brisk afternoon in San Diego, as I sit inside the seaside establishment of Cane’s Bar & Grill located in Mission Beach. Amedeo Pace sits across from me looking extremely over dressed for “the beach.” He wears a virgin white shirt with ruffles, many, many ruffles and a deep bluish/blackish overcoat with matching pants and extremely expensive looking shoes. Boots even! There I said it! The motherfucker was wearing boots! It looked like he could’ve had a sword too…maybe. John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is onstage preparing to sound check, as he will be opening tonight for Blonde Redhead under the moniker of his side project, Performance 6.
When I ask Amedeo, about the lack of bass in their live shows, he replies with an obvious and humble Italian accent, “We did have a bass player at the beginning of the band, there were two bass players.” The fourth and former member of the band was Maki Takahashi, a friend and fellow art student from New York. But it would be shortly after the release of their debut album, “Blonde Redhead” (released thru Sonic Youth’s drummer’s Steve Shelly’s label, Smells Like Records) that Takahashi would leave the band. “We just felt it wasn’t working with us.” Pace continues. “The sound was kind of cluttered, and the bass (pauses) it felt like it kind of took up a lot of the space onstage and in the music. So we got rid of the bass, and it was actually really messed up at first.” He willing admits. “The first few shows without the bass player were like a real nightmare. But then it was good, because it showed all of our weaknesses between the three of us musically, so we had to kind of strengthen within the trio and compensate for the bass. I think we’ve kind of developed something that’s working now.”
With a large cult following both here and in Europe, there’s obviously a collective chemistry within the trio. On their previous albums like, “La Mia Vita Violenta” the band was consistent with making a cohesively eclectic sound-scape. The tunes would range from mellow/melancholy sonic lullabies, to quick cutting guitar riffs and melodies that sound the way Darvon feels.
The title of the latest album, “Misery Is A Butterfly” suggests a much more somber mood that is quite prevalent throughout the entire album. Though the record does contain several upbeat songs such as, “Falling Man,” “Maddening Cloud” and the closing track “Equus,” the album has an extremely more than in general depressingly relaxing vibe throughout the majority of it. In 1994 Kurt Cobain sang about, “missing the comfort in being sad”. In 2004, Blonde Redhead provide that comfort and sadness at the same time on “Misery Is A Butterfly.”
“On this record,” Pace continues, “we really wanted to have a feeling throughout the whole record. It does flow a bit more,” he admits. “I feel like it does. I think [the new record] is a, (pauses) it jokes around a little more. My favorite records I think are the ones that have a mood to them, where you can just sink yourself into them without too many distractions.”
Something Blonde Redhead fans are finding more interesting than distracting is the fact that they’ve switched record labels, going from the Chicago based Touch & Go Records, to the groundbreaking European label 4AD.
“We finished the record actually a year ago today.” Amedeo continues. “I remember the war started when we went into the studio. Then it took us about a year to find a label that we wanted to do it with, and for them to put it out.” When I inquire if there was a specific reason for switching from Touch & Go to 4AD, Pace replies, “The change, (pauses) because we… well, first of all, our records in Europe were never dealt with in a good way. As well as we think they could have been. So we thought it would be really nice to on a label that is strong in Europe as well as here. It’s good to push yourself and try new things. And 4AD was so enthusiastic about the new album, and they were so into it. I felt like Touch & Go was into it, but somehow I had the feeling that they really wouldn’t understand it as well.”
I ask him how he felt the response has been so far (the album had only been out a couple of weeks at the time) he begins to reply, “I don’t know why people have different ideas about it. Some people say it’s very melancholy, some people feel like it’s very claustrophobic…” at this point John Frusciante suddenly plugs in his guitar to his amplifier and continues his sound check. Amedeo looks down at my micro-cassette recorder and laughs. We both point outside towards the Pacific and head for the door.
As we sit on the boardwalk, his brother Simone, and another individual from their posse, (both overdressed as well) frolic about on the sandy and vacant beach in front of us. Early bird indie-rockers, beach goers and the local beach scum all shoot stares as they pass by us on their bikes and roller blades. Actually, the indie-rockers weren’t so much shooting stares as they were casually trying not to notice this dude with an extremely ruffly shirt sitting on the boardwalk while some dude in a flannel shirt is holding a tape recorder up to his chest.
As we settle down outside I ask him about the concert when a disgruntled fan through a penny at him when they were opening up for the Chili Peppers years earlier. “It was a dime actually.” He says with a laugh. “I just felt kind of ridiculous. I laughed, because first of all, the audience was as far as the water (he gestures towards the shore which is about 40-50 yards away from us). And I couldn’t believe that somebody actually threw it in my fucking mouth. But, I laughed and thought to myself, ‘This is ridiculous, what are we doing here?’”
He sighs and looks at the beach, and comments on how attractive the Pacific Ocean looks as his brother and cohort return from their brief stroll on the waterfront. I ask him if the view is similar at Coney Island? “I don’t go to Coney Island that much.” Is his response.
As we end our interview I ask him a question I ask to all of the folks I talk to: Do you have a message for the kids? He looks at me rather puzzled, as if no one had ever asked him what he wanted to say to the kids before? He thinks about it for a moment, and then the puzzled look on his face turns chagrin. “I’m feeling pretty negative.” He replies earnestly. “I feel real negative about the world, so I can’t help but look at young kids and saying ‘It’s going to be tough.’ And I wish it was different. I feel like it’s going to get harder and harder with everything, like the environment, weapons, wars – who’s going to survive it?”
Being that this was before the recent presidential elections, I tell him I don’t think that much will change in the future. And as far as the presidential elections go, I told him I felt that no matter how much or how hard the Democrats try, Bush would end up staying in office another four years. “I believe in democracy.” He replies, adding, “I hope he doesn’t win.”
“A week I think?” Is the response I get from Kazu Makino, when I ask her how long they’ve had off since ending the last leg of their tour? It’s been a few months since I had spoken with Amedeo, and Blonde Redhead find themselves in Newport, Kentucky on the second night of their fall tour of the United States. “We did totally different things but we were quite active still.” I ask her if they’ve been writing any new material since releasing “Misery Is A Butterfly”? “Yeah, I recorded something for someone else,” she replies with her hushed and seductive voice, “but we haven’t recorded anything for ourselves”. When I ask whom she recorded with she simply replies, “Prefuse 73.” Originally, New York flanksters, Liars were set to open up for Blonde Redhead during this tour of the states, making it one of the hottest tickets of the fall touring season. Unfortunately though, Liars ended up backing out leaving the opening slot on the tour to Helio Sequence. “Yeah,” Makino adds, “it was quite disappointing, but you know, stuff happens so we dealt with it. I’m sure we’ll have another chance to play with them. Things happen for reasons, so I don’t have any bad feelings about that anymore. We’ve got another good band to tour with, so you know…” When I inquire as to how they came across Helio Sequence as a potential opening act, she replies, “The Secret Machines. I just placed phone calls to other bands and asked for help and they all came up with great ideas. And in the end result I know [about] many more good bands. So it all worked out.”
With the presidential elections finally being over, and anti-Bush sentiment running higher than ever before, I ask about her opinion on the GOP’s recent victory? “Horrible.” Is her reply, adding, “I don’t even know one Bush supporter, I don’t know how this is even possible? We can’t vote. So there’s nothing we could do but just watch it happen and it’s quite painful.”
Painful indeed, but apparently America has spoken, and apparently what America wants is exactly that: pain! Bring on the pain!
In a pivotal year for America and the world; an election year that would lead to serious ramifications of world politics and social change; it’s comforting to know that Blonde Redhead will be there, providing a certain comfort in being sad.
2004 Misery is a Butterfly (4AD)
2004 Equus 7″ (4AD)
2004 Elephant Woman 7″ (4AD)
2000 Melodie Citronique EP (Touch and Go)
2000 Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (Touch and Go)
1998 In An Expression Of the Inexpressible (Touch and Go)
1998 Slogan / Limited Conversation 7″ (Touch and Go)
1997 Fake Can Be Just As Good (Touch and Go)
1997 Symphony of Treble / Kazuality 7″ (Touch and Go)
1995 La Mia Vita Violenta (Smells Like)
1995 Split 7″ w/ Sammy 7″ – (Nipple Hardness Factor)
1995 Flying Douglas” / Harmony 7″ (Rough Trade)
1995 10 Feet High / Valentine 7″ (Smells Like)
1994 S/T (Smells Like)
1994 Vague / Jet Star 7″ (Smells Like)
1993 Big Song / Amescream 7″ (OXO)
