You were on MTV recently. How was that?
We were on Pete Wentz’s new show, and he interviewed us onstage.
Rihanna and Maroon 5
were on the show as well. We were the only
people there without managers and teams around us. We didn’t pull up in
an Escalade. Everyone else there was filthy rich and had a crew of 10
people in Escalades and managers with cell phones and stuff. I have no
idea why the fuck we were on there.
But everybody at MTV was like, “I’m so excited you guys are on here;
it’s like real music.” People seemed very excited. It certainly wasn’t
ever our goal to do that, but it was really funny.
Does doing stuff like that change anything for No
Age?
Not at all. We’re still driving ourselves to Austin in a minivan
right now. We just get in the minivan and go. You’d think there’d be
more people at shows, but we played to 50 people last night.
Hopefully, some kids will see the MTV thing and be like, “This is
fucking what I’ve been waiting for! This is weird. This is cool. It’s
not a rap video; it’s not Fall Out Boy.” No offense to Wentz.
The first time I saw you guys in Seattle was at ArtWorks,
playing to like four or five people. Now you guys are playing this big
Sub Pop festival, but you’re also playing some other shows up here,
right?
We’re playing the Sub Pop 20 thing, which is cool. Then the
parking-lot show, which is free [the KEXP/Free Yr Radio show with
Mudhoney on July 23]. And then we’re playing a house show. We can’t say
the address, but it’s going to be fucking insane.
So do you feel like you’re able to maintain your “punk” or
DIY ethics even while doing these bigger things?
Yeah, and no one’s really given us shit for going on MTV, and I
would expect more people to be like…
“You’re a sellout”?
Yeah, and no one’s said that! You can see we think it’s funny, we’re
joking, and we’re not seriously into this shit, you know? I could give
a fuck if they play the video. It’s obviously very cool and we’re very
fortunate that they are. But if they didn’t, I wouldn’t fucking care.
We don’t watch MTV. We don’t even have cable. For us it’s not that big
of a deal.
Would you have ever predicted this kind of success back when
you were playing basements with your old band Wives?
Not at all, but Wives did that to ourselves. That’s kind of why we
started a new band, with a new attitude. Wives were more in your face
and more “fuck off.” If you’d asked me to be on MTV then, I would have
told you to fuck off.
But then No Age started and, regardless of the fact that we wanted
to play weird pop music, we just didn’t want to shoot anyone down. I
don’t want to say no to people. I don’t want to play only all-ages
shows. I don’t want to only do anything. I want to do
everything. No restrictions. I don’t want to hang out with DIY punks
all day, because those guys are fucking annoying. I don’t want to hang
out with mainstream people all day. But I can hang out with people and
have an interesting conversation with both kinds of crowds.
I feel like we’re trying to experiment with this. I’m trying to
figure out how to do a tour where we can rent spaces and bring our own
PA, keep the same press, tell people there’s going to be a warehouse or
a parking-lot show, have four other local bands or a touring band
play—like a traveling circus.
The SP20 Festival is in Marymoor Park in Redmond, a suburb
of Seattle.
Oh yeah, that’s where the Old Fire House is. I played a show there
once with another band.
Well, the park is a lot bigger than the Old Fire House. Are
you excited for the shows?
I’m excited to see the Vaselines, and I’m stoked to see Green River.
One cool thing that kind of turned me around about bands getting back
together was I saw Bob Mould play Hüsker Dü songs when we
were in Barcelona. He played his own set, and then shredded through
eight Hüsker Dü songs; he did those songs with the biggest
smile on his face! Grant Hart wasn’t up there with him, some other
dudes were, and he was so stoked. I was just like, “Oh my god, dude.
These are some of my favorite songs!”
Also, I saw the Germs play recently with Shane West as Darby Crash.
Mika Miko played with them, so I went, thinking it was going to be
lame, but Pat Smear had the biggest fucking smile on his face. He was
so excited to play those songs. The songs are great, and these guys are
50, and they were still so happy to play them.
Maybe spending some time away from the game renews that
excitement.
Totally, and I think that’s sort of “no age.” Whoa, dude, we’re in
Texas and this car just drove by and just called me a “faggot queer”
and flipped me off! Anyway, “no age!” Even when they’re old, they’re
still stoked to play the songs. I think we’ll end it on the “faggot
queer” note. 