What have you learned from your years in the music-making industry?
Jesus, I donāt think Iāve learned anything. Iām just kinda rolling along. Learned how to use monitors, which takes a couple of years. I donāt feel like a seasoned veteran, although I probably have learned more than I know.
Probably more than youāre admitting.
It probably just seems like that. Iām constantly like, āWhat the fuck? Iāve been doing this for this long, and I havenāt figured out this yet?ā Itās always like that.
So no life advice?
I have no advice. [Laughs] Get lucky, I guess.
Whatās going on with the new record? Some of us nerds are getting anxious.
Oh, good. Well, we just got done a few moments ago with a few days of practice. And weāre just trying to figure out where to record and whether we want to record to tape or digital. Some of us are still a little distrustful of the digital technologyā¦ [Another] concern is tape is supposedly not very good quality these days, because all of the plants closed down and got reopened. Iāve just heard from a few sources that the tape is not that good, that it shreds and bleeds onto itself.
Are you still living in Boise? Whatās going on there, you keeping tabs?
Oh, not much. Thereās a community radio station. Finn Riggins is a band I like a lot. Weāve played with them a couple times, brought them to Seattle a while back. Brett Netson has a new band that I havenāt heard, but Iām sure theyāre good.
Oh yeah, what are they called?
I think theyāre called the Brett Netson Band. I think itās basically Caustic Resin. Heās got a record coming out soon, too. I canāt remember the record label. I think it comes out in the middle of November or something.
So this is your only show this year?
Well, it was when we set it up. And [the publicist] asked if he could say something about it being our only show. But a few weeks later we got some more offers, so now weāre playing a couple more shows. I told [the publicist] I was really sorry. Then I told my booking agent and he said, āYou should never agree to something like that.ā And I said, āYouāre right. I should never talk to anyone and let you talk to everyone.ā
Can you tell me about āVelvet Waltzā? Because itās one of my favorites.
Well, itās hard to know what to say about it. It was a long time ago. I can remember not wanting it to have cymbals. And thatās why it was called āVelvet Waltz.ā That to me was the Velvet Underground, they had straight-up pop and rock songs that didnāt have any cymbals, and I didnāt really know of any other bands that did that. It was one of those songs where we did it and it didnāt seem very good, and so I had to have Brett Netson come in and bring it to life. All the wah guitar is Netson, as well as the big solo at the end, as well as other parts of it. That to me was the magic of that songābringing Brett in.
Heās like your secret weapon.
Um, [laughs] well, heās a member of the band, so heās not that secret.
Would you call him a weapon?
Well, I would say heās the best guitar player alive right now, I would totally say.
So what can Seattle expect from this show? Youāre not going to do an improv jam of one song the entire time, are you?
Uh, well, weāll see. [Awkward silence] Probably not, though. We havenāt been around for more than a year, so we havenāt had any time to learn any new songs, or even any old-new songs. I think the show will be fun because of its newness. I really like the first few shows of a tour, and this one will be even more so ācause of how long itās been. The first few shows of a tour have a really fun energy, because there are going to be fuckups, but thereās more experimentation. Weāre not as familiar with the material, but over a tour you get tighter. But sometimes not being tight is great, too. You might flub some things, or you might do some things you wouldnāt usually do, and rhythmically you listen a lot closer, but towards the end of the tour it becomes this muscle memory thing. So [at the beginning] itās a little looser, and hopefully cool in that way.
So you havenāt been touring as much latelyā
We took a year off, on purpose.
Okay, so you took a year off. What does the average Doug Martsch day consist of? You can be as detailed as you want.
[Laughs] Well, Iām not gonna be very detailed, ācause thereās not a lot going on.
You could get detailed about not much, and I still think itād be interesting.
I wake up, make some breakfast. Iāve been spending time with my wife and my dogs. My Maltese dogs.
Tell me about your dogs.
Theyāre these little white dogs. Theyāre like Paris Hilton dogs, or something. So I hang out with them. Sometimes I get to go play basketball, spend some time working on music. And then thereās the little business-y shit that we still have to do.
Like this.
Thereās a little bit of this. But lots of looking into studios and putting together the shows. And getting plane tickets. I donāt really have anything interesting that I do regularly. Iāve been screening shirts. I donāt do that regularly, but Iāve been making my own screens and screened some shirts of basketball-related images. The most interesting thing to me right now is the radio show. You can stream it live on the internet at www.radioboise.org. My show is on Wednesdays, 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. Mountain [time zone], so 7:00 to 10:00 your time. And then Brett Netson has a show Friday nights from 10:00 to 12:00 Mountain. We both just play whatever we want, like college-radio style. So that just started about six months ago, and I was really active at the beginning, helping build up their library and putting together logs for automation, before they had DJs, and for overnight playlists and stuff. Back in basketball season I played a lot of fantasy basketball and watched a lot of basketball on TV, so that kills a lot of time.
Whoās your team?
Portland.
Yeah, have they always been your team?
Yeah, but Iām pretty new to basketball. Iāve been into it a little over 10 years. When I was a kid I didnāt give a shit, or when I was in my 20s.
Okay, last question. Whatās the status of your beard?
I donāt know. My beard is probably three-quarters white. [Laughs]
Is it still giant?
Itās not giant. Itās definitely past itchy stage.
Anything else we should touch on?
Iām really looking forward to playing with Disco Doom.
Okay, Iāll go type this up and make us sound smart.
Good luck. [Laughs]
This story has been updated since its original publication.