conducted by Steve Helmer
After you read the interview, listen to MP3's of "Kill The Porn Star" and "Evil Thoughts" on MP3.com at www.MP3.com/windellgreene
Shawn
1.) What does it mean to be under 25 and a punk rock alternative band in the 90s? You are all right around that age where people seem to give it up or make a smashing success right?
A: Well, first of all, I'm only 22- so, there! It means I am having a great time, and doing what I always wanted to with my life.
I would agree we are at that point, but everyone in this band is so into this we will keep going, even of we aren't a smashing success. I have never wanted to be anything else in my life, and I'm not about to give up. I don't want to a big rich rock star, because then what I'm about gets diluted, and misrepresented. I want to be true to my music, and myself.
2.) In regard to that last question, are you more punk or more alternatives? What members of the group fuel each style making up the music of Windell Greene?
A: We are more punk, but we really aren't either. Alternative doesn't mean anything anymore. When Matchbox 20, and Tonic, are considered Alternative it lost its meaning. Alternative is a business buzzword to get kids to like something. They probably wouldn't like it otherwise, but stick this word on it, and they'll like it because they like that word. We are such a culmination of so many things, that I think we are one of the few bands that can say they don't fit into a certain genre. We can play the most disgusting punk song, then go onto a slow acoustic number, throw in a noise jam, and experiment with computer generated sounds. No labels- that's what we're about. Have a person show up, and not be able to describe us. Well, everybody brings a different part to the music. Our drummer is into more indie rock stuff, like Sebadoah, while our other guitar player is into poppy punk, like Blink 182, and etc. Our bass player is mostly into older punk, like The Replacements, and I listen to anything I can respect. I pull influences from Charlie Parker to Dead Kennedys and Nirvana to Bob Dylan. If I can respect it, I like it. I do the majority of the writing, and that's why we are so messed up; if I'm in a pissed off mood when I write a song it comes out like Bad Religion, and if I'm in a better mood, it comes out like Jefferson Airplane. I guess we're just really confused…
3.) Did you know that there are more than 7.5 million unsigned bands in the US alone? What things do you do to stand above the crowd (7.5 million? now that's a crowd!)
A: Well, only a small fraction of them would even be in the same crowd with us anyway, but I think we have a fairly original style. People ask me whom we sound like, and I can't come up with a single band that we sound like. Even when I just stick with our hardcore punk stuff, we bring enough other ideas into it, that it doesn't sound like any other punk band I have ever heard. Don't get me wrong I'm not that full of myself; I just think we have made something slightly new from an old idea.
4.) What was the reason you were unable to release your CD under Invisible Records? Tell me what it was like negotiating a deal with them.
A: Well, they have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that it is cheaper to keep re-releasing old stuff by already established bands, than to risk any new bands. The A&R person was an acquaintance of mine, and she was so fed up with this way of doing business, that she left the label.
5.) How is your new CD "Peace and love won't work this time" being received by your fans without label
backing? What kind of feedback are you getting? How about show attendance?
A: It is being received very well. I have heard few negative things about it. I don't think our fans care about record labels at all. In fact, they just kind of clutter things up. Right now, someone buys our disc, and they know where the money's going. With a label, who knows who's getting the money. And, certainly everybody who can, has their hands in the dish, trying to get as many cookies as they can, and bands end up getting dick. Labels are really worth nothing, except promotion and distribution. Attendance varies; you can see one show, and we will have 200 people, but the night before was 30. It depends where we are at, what night of the week, and whom we are playing with. We definitely do better out of Madison- too many bands, so few clubs, and not enough people supporting all those bands.
6.) Is there a primary focus for future projects? Is it leaning into any particular style or influence?
A: Well, our rock songs are getting more complex, with parts working off of each other, instead of just full force bludgeoning in the head. But, our next big project is a concept album that will be predominately Industrial, Techno, and Goth style. The songs are going be as weird as we can possibly make them, with little harmony, and a lot of messed up shit pulling you in different directions. But, this is just a project. It is not the direction the band is moving. Our next studio album will be more of the last, with a few more acoustic numbers. More guitar solos, and just all around better musicianship. We have all grown immensely over the past year and a half as musicians. The last album is a bit of a disappointment because if you see the songs live, they are much better than on the disc. Oh well.
7.) You guys have got to be one of the most humble bands out there. Got any words of advice for bands that are full of "ego maniacs"?
A: Well, thank you for the compliment, and let me put it this way- FUCK OFF!! These bands are hard to work with, hard to watch, and hard to appreciate. Music is supposed to be about the love of the music, not who looks the best with their Gibson Les Paul, and who played the fastest solo. There is always someone better than you are, and there always will be. Just show your passion. That's what's important. I am very proud of my songs, but I don't think I'm god. Be proud, not pathetic. All I have to say is- My Name is KID ROCK!
8.) (I always step over lines) What are your views on the drug war in America? Should we all fear our
government? How about gun control too? Is the government killing the common man?
A: Well, that's a full question- alright drug war… It's a pathetic waste of time and money. If things are so goddamn free here, then why can't someone choose to get inebriated? It's funny how the two worst drugs for your body (Alcohol and Nicotine) is the legal ones! In other countries, they have legalized drugs, and usage goes down, as well as crimes. It's a case of I want what I'm not supposed to have. You really wanna stop gang shootings? Make drugs legal, then they won't have anything to fund the gangs. Now, the government… Of course we should fear our Government. Too many rich white Christian males run it. There are too many other people not being represented in our government. These are the men who have been responsible for every atrocity ever done to another human being. Whites- enslaved blacks, Christians- tortured every other religion out there, men- have held women down from everything. It's pretty sad to think WI just got their first female senator last year. Ok, Gun Control I hate guns. I don't think they serve any positive purpose whatsoever. If redneck fucks think they need to go hunting, go out with a knife, and see who's the better species. It's true that crime would still happen, but you tell me how someone is going to do a drive- by knifing. I don't think it's the answer to all our problems, but it's a nice start. Who the hell carries them anyway? Thugs and Rednecks. The only reason I would support them, is so more assholes can shoot each other while they're out deer hunting drunk. And, finally, Is government killing the common man? Absolutely, government is to blame for almost everything. They are still taking from the poor, and giving to the rich after all these years. They put so many regulations on everything; you don't know what you can do. And, they still won't give you free health care. It's time for a new system- Go Carl Marx! Go Che Guevara!
9.) What is the most fun part about trashing your gear on stage? I heard you do that once in a while, doesn't that get expensive to be replacing broken gear?
A: Trashing equipment is the ultimate high. It's like you get to the point where you have so much energy- positive and negative- you don't know where to point it, and a few drum sets later, it's gone. It gets a little expensive, but most of the time it's the drums hurt, and our drummer's got enough kits he can spare one.
10.) Do you guys ever do an occasional cover song in tribute to your favorite influences?
A: Well, right now we do 100% by Sonic Youth. We are working on more, including: Fearless Doctor Killers, by Mudhoney, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, by The Beatles, Unsung, by Helmet, and Dammit, by Blink 182
11.) In a parting question, any final "rants"? The ones on your web site are very cool!
A: Come see Windell Greene! Buy our CD! If you have any good ideas for dressing up on stage, send them to us, we are running out of ideas.
Mac
1.) What does it mean to be less than 25 and in a punk rock alternative band in the 90s?
A: Pretty hard to tell you the truth. After grunge died down people started listening to that happy shit that is on the radio all the time now. The people that don't like that now listen to 90's metal. It seems to me that we are one of the few working punk bands left in Madison. That to me is a good thing because who wants to do the same thing everyone else is doing. I could list about 10 bands off the top of my head in Madison that sound like Korn. Don't get me wrong I like that kind of music but it's starting to all sound very close.
2.) You are all right around that age where people seem to give it up or make a smashing success right?
A: We are still young and we are not going to give up. We owe it to our fans and to ourselves. We will accept nothing less. As far as a smashing success, I feel we are a success. It all depends on what you consider a success. When I set out to do this, I was like. "If we can make one Person feel how we felt when we wrote a song, then we are a success. We've done that and we want to do it again. As far as rich and famous, I don't want that. I don't think it is as fun as people think.
3.) In regard to that last question, are you more punk or more alternative?
A: We are more PUNKative for sure. Alternative means absolutely nothing these days. Alternative use to mean Alternative to the crap the big record company's shoves down people's throats. When Grunge exploded record company's started putting the alternative label on everything. They then went and bought up a lot of indie labels to get their bands. The same bands they wouldn't give the time of day to before the whole Seattle thing. Now, the word means absolutely nothing. The big boys bought it and are now shoving it on everything to get sales. I think we need a new word like "FUCK" They won't touch that one. I think music is music. Putting a label on your kind of music is impossible. Music is like people everyone is different. I think we are considered punk because we tell it like it is. We don't beat around the bush. We will say what we want and if people don't like it. We don't care. At the same time, that is what our fans like about us.
4.) What members of the group fuel each style making up the music of Windell Greene?
A: That's a hard one. I guess we all fuel each other. We all grew up together and experienced the same things. So when a song is written. We all feel and understand it. If you don't feel what you are playing you shouldn't be playing music. Music is basically telling some story people can feel and hear.
You have to believe it before you tell it.
5.) Did you know that there are more than 7.5 million unsigned bands in the US alone?
A: Oh' Shit I quit. (Haha)
6.) What things do you do to stand above the crowd (7.5 million? Now that's a crowd!)
A: Well, First thing to understand is that four million of them stink, or will be broke up soon.
One million will probably just quit playing all together. One million don't have the business sense
To make it, or they play country music. That narrows it down to 1.5 million. I think that's quite good odds. *lol*
I think our songs have a different sound to them but every band says that. I think if you just keep at something long enough you will make it. The problem with most bands is they can't stand each other. Combine that with people getting ego problems and you have a recipe for disaster. I've seen unsigned bands that without a doubt in my mind could have made it. The problem was like I said. They just couldn't get along and broke up. The thing with us is we are more than just a few guys that play music. We are also a family in a way. We all know each other well and when we have a problem we work it out through compromising instead of letting something stupid destroy what we have all worked hard for. We are all very committed to this thing. We kicked out one guitar player because he had an attitude problem and one member is on his way out. Steck has moved back from Texas, for the sole purpose of playing with us. That's what I call dedication. I can say in a few years if we aren't signed yet we will still be around. If our type of music gets popular again, we will already be established. The copy cat bands will then have to play catch up. When I say copycat bands, I'm talking about bands that change they're sound to whatever is popular at the time. I'm not trying to piss anyone off. I just like originality. The word QUIT is not in our vocabulary.
7.) What was the reason you were unable to release your CD under Invisible Records?
A: Invisible Record's A & R person wanted us signed to them. She kept pushing them to give us a deal. The problem was Invisible was not taking any new artists on board, and kept re-releasing old stuff. She was so frustrated by this she quit. It's been rumored that Invisible is going to go belly up soon. So it's just as well, we didn't sign with them. I hope they don't try to sue us now.
8.) Tell me what it was like negotiating a deal with them?
A: Big phone bills and a lot of frustration. We were going back and forth for eight months.
9.) How is your new CD "Peace and love won't work this time" being received by your fans without label backing?
A: well, without any label backing us it cost us a lot of money. In comparison to the cost of some of our friend's CD's it was very cheap, If you can consider $3000 cheap. By the time we got done with the CD, we had almost no money left to promote it. We've been doing everything we can with what money we have left to promote it. Just about all of our money is going to pay the CD off. Sure we play a lot of shows but all the money goes into the CD or the van. It's a constant struggle. As far as, the fans are concerned. I don't think they care if we are under a label or not. The good thing about being on a label is that they have distribution and promotion. A lot of places won't even pay any attention to you unless you have a label. For instance, we were trying to get a booking agent out of Chicago. They loved our CD. They told us it was policy that they could not book for bands without a label. They were like "Call us if you get under a label and we will be happy to work with you." So it's a catch 22. You can't get a label without getting big shows. You can't get big shows without a booking agent. So you are just like "How in the hell is this suppose to work?"
10.) What kind of feedback are you getting?
A: We have gotten really good feedback on the CD. Our sales are good and people seem to like us. We are being played on several radio stations. We got a show in every single venue we tried, except the Mango, but they closed down so fuck them. We've done plenty of interviews and things like that. I just found out yesterday that up in Oshkosh it is a ritual for people to go out and get drunk and then listen to our CD. I'm still not sure how to take that. 92.1 WMAD really supported us, and that surpassed me. We sent them our CD on Monday and they emailed us Tuesday morning saying they were going to be playing us. One of the DJ's, and I'm not sure which one, just plugged the CD like crazy on the air and even listed our upcoming shows. 90.5 WSUP was giving us support but I just received a few emails from fans saying they were requesting our CD and they were not playing it. The one show that they are playing us on. I use to sleep with the DJ all the time. Don't worry the DJ is a girl. She will probably kill me for this. "The things you half to do for airplay these days." (Haha) We have also received support from local and regional bands. Last but not least we received support from Stryker Records and of course D-Day Records. There are more people that have supported us but it would take awhile to list them all.
11.) How about show attendance?
A: Show attendance is weird. One night we played for 30 people and the next night for 200. Madison is very frustrating to us. When we first started, we played in the southern part of WI. We were the only punk band around that area. After two shows we would average more than 120 people per show. Sometime a lot more than that. Everyone knows who we are down there. I even got asked for an autograph in a grocery store. We have been playing Madison for about a year now and we have not even begun to make a scratch in the music scene. Right now we are making plans to start playing that area again. We left before the CD was recorded. A friend of ours has been playing down there for a few months, and to make a long story short, he released a CD and has sold 850 of them in one month. It's hard for people in Madison to support one band when there are 500 of them. All of which are trying to get into a handful of clubs. We just played with a well-known Madison band last week. They said the same thing happened to them. They would pull good crowds in Madison but then they started playing out side of town. Their CD sales went way up. They were packing places and getting paid much better. So I think we are going to start playing out of Madison more.
12.) Is there a primary focus for future projects? Is it leaning into any particular style or influence?
A: Well, I think we are writing more serious and complex things. Things people don't want to talk about, but should. We have a new song called Vacuity and a friend of ours that was abused as a child wrote the words. I'm working on a new one called "I Woke Up Early the Day I Died" About a guy that is friends with a girl. He finds out her boy friend is beating her up. He is wrestling with himself on what to do because he is afraid that she will just get mad at him. You see this happened to him before and the girl hated him. So in the song he does nothing and at the end she dies.
I was the guy
13.) You guys have got to be one of the most humble bands out there. Got any words of advice for bands who are full of "ego maniacs?"
A: You're never going to make it, if you don't lose that ego problem. If you have an ego problem that makes you no better than the High School football quarterback that thinks he's god. You will never be able to get along with other people in bands. Fans can pick up on things like that and no one likes an asshole. Just remember no matter how good you are. There is someone better.
As far as we are concerned, we keep each other in check. If one of us starts getting an ego, that Person will be informed he is being an asshole. I mean who wants to play with someone like that. We are all in this together. We all need each other to make it all work well. If one of us started thinking, he is the band himself. Then the whole thing would fall apart. Many good bands have been destroyed because of that. I guess we are humble because we are just happy to be doing what we love.
14.) (I always step over lines) What is your view on the drug war in America?
A: I'm not going to comment on this one because it would take 10 pages for me to explain it. So people wouldn't take me wrong. Anyhow Shawn likes hippies so I'm sure he will ramble on forever on this subject. (Haha)
15.) Should we all fear our government?
A: I have more to fear from my crazy ex-girlfriends than I do our government. It's not our government I worry about. I worry about the small countries with a small penis complex. That has a hard on for us because we are well hung. (Haha)
16.) How about gun control too?
A: Every time something happens people start screaming "more gun control" Instead of attacking the real problem. Like that school thing. They started saying that if those kids didn't have access to guns it would have never happened. That is complete bullshit. These kids were harassed by jocks every day. They got beat up and teased and the teachers didn't do any thing to help. That's why they all got killed. Not because the gun law's weren't tough enough. If all the guns in the country were all gone right now. People would still be getting killed. What are they going to say then "more knife control" The people that follow the law aren't the ones that is going to go shoot someone? It's the criminal that doesn't give a shit about the law that is going to do that. The more gun control you have the more law-abiding people don't have guns and the more criminals do. I think we need laws to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry guns. Here is a fact that backs up my statement and you can go and check it yourself. Texas made it legal to carry concealed weapons with a permit. In the first year the crime rate in Texas dropped by 50%. That is no bullshit. Think of it this way. If you were a criminal in Texas would you want to walk into a bank or something like that to rob it? Knowing that every Pearson in the place is armed? See my point. Right now the criminals have the guns.
It's people that don't have a clue about guns that are afraid of them. The stamen guns don't kill people. People do is true. If someone wants to kill you they're going to do it. Whether they have a gun or not. Stupid people would still blame the gun. People can make all the gun control law's they want but until they start facing the real problems it will never get better. You know like Marlin Manson or music. (Haha)
See my point!
17.) Is the government killing the common man?
A: It's not the government that is killing the common man. It's the greedy assholes that run it that are. If we could get rid of them, it would all be good.
18.) What is the most fun part about trashing your gear on stage? I heard you do that once in a while, doesn't that get expensive to be replacing broken gear?
A: The emotion we let out feels great. The money I save on head shrinks pays for all my shit to get fixed. (Haha) Sometimes we are just trying to kill the drummer. It is not uncommon for us to get equipment fixed after every show. We have screwed some stuff up big time. We know this guy that did way too much LSD in the 60s. He might not be able to tell you his name but he fixes stuff good and cheap. *lol*
19.) Do you guys ever do an occasional cover song in tribute to your favorite influences?
A: Sonic youth's 100% Sure they are mostly noise but what wonderful noise it is.
20.) In a parting question. Any final "rants?" The ones on your web site are very cool!
A: I ran around in my front yard naked and drunk yesterday. My neighbors got pissed off at me. If you think this is a free country try and do that. So I was talking to a friend about this and she said. "You mean you have been naked since yesterday." Sorry all this being Serious was starting to drive me crazy.
e-mail Windell Greene at:
Shawn- windell@mwt.net
AND CHECK OUT THEIR HOMEPAGE AT www.windellgreene.com!!!
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