Interview with Billy
London 1991
Transcribed by Nikki Christoff
If you would like a copy of this interview on tape, email Nikki
Billy: We on?
Interviewer: We are on. What are we going to hear?
Billy: This is a new song. Kind of not done. But, um, it's called Drown. We've been playing it here and there on tour.
*Billy plays a excellent version of Drown on acoustic*
Interviewer: That's beautiful.
Billy: Thank you.
Interviewer: That's very nice. It's not on a record yet. But, you play it live.
Billy: Sometimes. Still working on it. This is a song of the record "Fish", it's called Suffer.
*Billy plays Suffer*
Interviewer: Wow, beuatiful.
Billy: Thank you.
Interviewer: That' really good. Very different on a record.
Billy: The difference is sometimes...it's the same song, but it's a different interpertation. It's how you approach it and stuff.
Interviewer: What's your favorite song of yours?
Billy: I don't know. Um, I like them all. I like all the songs. But, sometimes I just don't like how I did them. Ya know what I mean? I like the song, and I still like how it sounds on the record. Then there is other songs, I still like the songs I just don't like the way I did it on the record. Um, probably the song the consistently stays with me is 'Snail'. Because its a song that like it was't, it didn't, it wasn't one of those songs when you play it you say, 'hey this is a really great song'. We had to work on it and work on it, and kept it in my mind, and kept thinking about it. Ok, i'm going to try ad pay a song I haven't played in a while. It's the B-side of our sub-pop single. It's called La Dolly Vita.
Interviewer: Yeah! Very good.
Billy: I haven't played this for about nine months so i'll give it what we call it, a college try. It's a dumb american saying.
*Billy plays La Dolly Vita*
Billy: I barely remember how to play that.
Interviewer: It sounded good to me.
Billy: Thank You. I was remembering the words at the last second. I was going like, 'Ok, what's the next line.'
Interviewer: Do you play your songs often or not at all when they are done once on a record.
Billy: Well, a song like this we don't play live. Mostly not because it is a bad song. but because the band has never found the right way to play it. We've managed to record it in the studio. I would much rather not play a song and have it be sacred. I don't want to sound religous about it. But, I mean if something is dear to your heart, and you got to go out every night a ruin it and trying to play that song live is we keep ruining and ruining. Part of the problem to was that it has and alternate tuning. So, if your playing it to friends...
Interviewer: I could sit here for hours listening to you
Billy: Ok, i'll play another song. This one is called Obscured, and it'll probably be on the next record, but who knows what will happen to me in between. So, i'll give it a try. It's kind of a strange song.
Interviewer: Strange?
Billy: Strange, huh, me strange? *laughs* This is a strange that is strange and emotional.
*Acoustic version of Obscured*
Interviewer: It sounds sad.
Billy: It sounds sad?!?
Interviewer: It does. Is it not intended?
Billy: Um, no it's just my melonchy self. I don't think of it in terms of sad or happy. I just think of it in terms of how I feel. And, a lot of times that i'm happy, I have mixed emotions of happiness. A lot of sadness has to do with disappointment, ya know? Your sad because your disapointed about something that you want, which is happy. You want happiness. So to me it's just one complete messyness. You can seee me go through the album. This is all the time of the album.
Interviewer: What about Tristessa?
Billy: On guitar?
*plays begining part of Tristessa*
Interviewer: Yeah your right.
Billy: See it wasn't written on acoutic and transfered ya know.
Interviewer: It wasn't?
Billy: No. See now Rhinoceros
*Billy plays opening of Rhinoceros
Billy: See I wrote it on this. And then you take the song you have and you make it work fo rthe band. Then you add exta parts. Do you want to hear a song off the record? You keep picking the rock songs. No, i'm just asking is there a song you want to hear?
Interviewer: Um, Snail?
Billy: Snail, You want to hear Snail? Ok, i'll try. It's transfered to acoustic. Ok.
*Acoustic version of Snail*