A few months ago I wrote to New York's God-Co in hopes of getting an interview and info some T-shirts. Four months later, I got a letter from the band, when they were in the middle of a European tour. The band took it upon themselves to interview each other for Fever Pitch, so my job is now made a lot easier. Thanks guys.
God-Co lineup - Sharon, singer, clarinet player / Craig: guitar player, drummer / Fly: bassist / Markus: tour manager, runs Serios Audio Label / Michael: drummer, straw oboe
Craig What advice do you have for someone just starting to play bass?
Fly 1. Don't worry that you know nothing about playing any kind of stringed.. don't worry that you know nothing about music.. just don't worry. 2. Pick up the bass, put it on and make sure it fits.. 3. Practice moving your fingers around the strings.. play anything you want no matter how bad or good you think it sounds.. as soon as you think it sounds good, then try something else. 4. Try tuning the stringsin different interesting ways - try playing backwards, upside down, using toys, tools, cats, etc.. 5. Listen to tapes of every kind of music you can find, and try playing along with all of it. 6. Make up songs and play them in front of people with overwhelming enthusiasm... your happiness is always more important than technical execution of musical structure.. 7. Try to play with other musicians whenever you can (ie - jam) and when possible, perform with your favorite bands.
Sharon If you were in Melt-Banana, what would your contribution to the music be? What instrument would you play?
Craig That's a hard question, not because their music is so full, but becasue it is so complete... my first thoght would be some kinda of other percussion, besides the drum kit. Some kind of bali/java setup. That would be good, because it would emphasize one kind of rhythmic element that's already there, instead of trying to change the idea of the band (which would be a danger in adding piano or oboe..) The obvious answer is a sampler, but then the tendency would be to get too dense. It's a good question, becasue God-co and melt-banana are working on a collaboration right now, and it's hard to give all the pieces their own space. I think of the songs completed so far, the best ones are the most open.
Craig What are French girls like?
Sharon There are really only 3 girls in France. Ther eis Julie, she is femme with long hair colored with purple henna. She is energetic and develops deep crushes on both boys and girls, mainly if they are in bands. She plays guitar in the only "Riot Girl" band in France, they are called Safety First. She lives in Paris, of course. Veronique lives in Nancy. She is butch with short shaved hair and a shelf. She is more practical than Julie and very "down to each". She's a bit older and more experienced. Then there's Marie, she's from the South (Marseille). She's flighty and jittery and awkward. Like Julie, she's naive, young and has lots of energy. These are the girls of France ooh la la.
Craig How did you first hear the music of Godco?
Markus Saw the CD at a record store, thought what a stupid name for a band, but looked nice and liked the title of the CD, listened to it a bit at the store, did not buy. Went back to later again - listened and bought it. The CD was "I am Not This Body", the first album. I don't mind the name of the band today, it grew on me.
Craig When you were an athlete, did you hang out with all the other athletes? What sports did you play?
Fly No one wants to hear about sports... All I can say about it is that it was all about competition to an extreme point - all my "friends" were athletes, but we would have cut each others throats to "make the team" and the coaches encouraged it. It was ridiculous, that kind of competitiveness is self-destructive and fosters mistrust if everyone... but I guess it's just the American Way for some people. It's dumb.
Fly If you could be any cartoon or comic book character, who would you be? And who would be your girlfriend/boyfriend be.. (if you want, draw pictures)
Craig Astro boy! Tetsuuan Atomu: I am a robot and proud... I could fly anywhere. My boy/girl friend would be Kerokerokeroppi.
Fly Would you have offspring? What would they look like and would they have special powers?
Craig 1. yes 2. 3. yes
Sharon Why would you want to release a Godco CD on your label, when there are already so many GodCo CDs on so many other labels?
Markus I don't know any other people who are in bands.
Sharon Why are you a fly?
Fly Because I'm usually around when shit happens (HA HA) Why are you a Sharon?
Sharon I was supposed to be a Linda or Lisa but my Grandmother Lily wouldn't allow it, because if you're Jewish and a baby gets named after you or even kinda named after you, then you will die soon. So, my mother decided to name me after my dead uncle Eli instead.
Craig What did you like to do when you were growing up?
Michael Not in any particular order: play lots of music with older folks than me, so that I would learn from folks better than me, swim a lot, listen to lots of music, eat lots of fruit right off the trees (Miami, Florida) oranges, star fruits, avocados, etc... Oh yeah, and I like a lot of other youths from my generation, did our share of psychoactives. These were not experiences I regret having personally, but kids if you choose to dabble in experimental activities (psycoactive) therapy on yourselves, do so with the utmost of care, because our brains are not to be tampered with like a car alarm.
Date created: 20 August 1997 Last modified: 20 August 1997