Last week we subjected Mellowdrone’s singer, guitarist and chief songwriter, Jonathan Bates to the "LiquidGeneration E-mail Interview." An interview that is quickly becoming known as a symbol of power and fame throughout the music community...and the Universe. The band's debut record on 3 Records/Red Ink, Box, is due to hit shelves on March 7, 2006. The record was produced by Tony Berg and recorded at various locations throughout the Los Angeles area. Last year Mr. Bates hit the road as a one-man Mellowdrone, and opened up for Johnny Marr on his UK tour. You play with a former founding member of the Smiths, you earn lots-o indie cred. Here are a couple of songs to put you in a Mellowdrone mood:
Mellowdrone - "Fashionably Uninvited" mp3 and "Oh My" mp3
Now while you're listening to those tracks, you can read the interview. You like how we did that? We thought so...enjoy!
LIQUIDGENERATION: If you could fight any celebrity past or present who would it be and why? And the follow-up: If you could party with any celebrity past or present who would it be and why?
MELLOWDRONE: I’d party with Benny Hill because he had sexy parties. I’d probably fight Daniel Day Lewis. He seems like a tough, wirey f***er.
LIQUIDGENERATION: Who’d you rather? Johnny Marr or Morrissey
MELLOWDRONE: yes, of course...
LG: What’s the worst band name you’ve ever heard? Bad because it’s trying too hard to be smart, bad because it doesn’t make sense or bad because it’s just annoying as sh*t.
MELLOWDRONE: Blues Hammer. Or the “Noun Verb Noun” band names. Like Butt Love Boy.
LG: What’s the last record you bought borrowed or stole?
MELLOWDRONE: Meshuggah’s Chaosphere… from Brian.
LG: There’s some pretty intricate songwriting on Box. How do you like to write? Do you use a particular computer program to create sounds and loops, or do you prefer to write on guitar?
MELLOWDRONE: Everytime its different. Initially, I keep my eyes closed. It seems to help me see colors & patterns that I then translate to song. Stream of consciousness. Lyrically its the same. I usually record onto Pro-Tools but I'm open to anything. I don’t really use loops anymore. If there's a need for one, I’ll make it from scratch to guarantee its “imperfect-ness.” No special techniques, just turn the “smooth” up and the “sh*t” down…
LG: Recently, an LG Staffer just got his ass kicked outside a bar by a bunch of drunks. Do you get violent or violently happy while drunk?
MELLOWDRONE: I think im f***ing hysterical when I'm drunk. Isn't everyone a comedian when they sauce? Tell your staffer I’ve been right there with him on that one.
LG: It seems like you have lived all over the place, from Venezuela to Boston to Los Angeles. If you could live in any of the places you have been again, where would you go?
MELLOWDRONE: Los Angeles (and California) has Baja Fresh, so I don’t plan on going anywhere for awhile.
LG: We hear that you’re a big David Lynch fan and so are we, especially the dream sequences with the little dancing midget in Twin Peaks. If you could create a Twin Peaks dream sequence, what might happen?
MELLOWDRONE: A beautiful, small woman would smoke DMT and proceed to kick the sh*t out of a bunch of Neo-Nazi’s (all with Oedipus Complexes) as a defense reaction to her body thinking its dying. While all of this is going on Chet Baker is doing his rendition of My Funny Valentine on top of a 89 Suburu. This would all happen in a parking lot of a Middle School right as a PTA meeting let out.
LG: What’s your favorite song you’ve ever written, and why?
MELLOWDRONE: Right now its Four Leaf Clover. The title is pretty cliché, but the song is the opposite. It doesn’t sound like anything else to me.
LG: Finally, what exactly is a “Mellowdrone?” Is it kind of like a really long Eno song?
MELLOWDRONE: That pretty much beats any answer I could come up with. Lets go with that.
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Posted by: corey | February 04, 2006 at 03:47 PM