James Beavis talks to No Age! They forget to answer more than 3 questions!
tks: Questions! Between the release of Weirdo Rippers in 2007, Nouns last year, and now, you guys have garnered a somewhat formidable worldwide following. As a band whose ethos seems to revolve around the idea of a show being a communal, shared experience, has this newfound relative celebrity affected the way you approach shows?
na: No. We have been very lucky to have the opportunity to travel a little bit and see different parts of the world, but I would not really say we are celebrities. I guess that word means different things in different places, but living in a place like LA we could not be further from the definition of a celebrity. So, no. We approach shows the same way we always have. We want to have a lot of fun when we play and we want whoever is watching us to have a lot of fun also.
tks: You’ve intimated in other interviews the importance of having your own personal politics, the idea of being ones own individual within the larger world (acts such as being denied the opportunity to wear an Obama t-shirt on national TV, so scrawling ‘free health care’ on it instead come to mind). Do you see your personal politics as an integral part of the music you create, or are they separate ideas?
na: I don’t think you need politics to make great music, but I do think that being a free thinker and not settling for the way something is helps to make different sounding music. Music goes beyond politics and social boundaries, you never know how other people are gonna hear what you make. I don’t like music that hits you over the head with its message. I think music can be part of a more personal tapestry that you live with through all different occasions in your life. I also believe that what you do is way more important than what you say. So, I try to live my beliefs through my actions and playing music is part of that.
tks: Nominated for a Grammy! How was hearing that news??
na: It was a trip. I never thought in a million years I would ever hear the words Grammy and No Age together in the same sentence. It seems totally absurd that something like the Grammys would know we exist. I am psyched to see the artwork in Nouns recognized because us and our Brian Roettinger put a lot of hard work in to making it the best we could. It is also cool because Sub Pop showed a lot of confidence in us to put the money up for such an elaborate package, so it is cool to show them that we were not just throwing their money away.
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And that is where we finished (thanks Randy!). Cross your fingers for Part 2 sometime soon!
No Age’s Eraser:
[youtube:http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=n368OU17cz0]
