So, I know you plotted this out 20 years ago, right? [laughter]
Right, absolutely. [laughter] We knew that everybody would come around and…
And the vision…
That's right. Now we're offering our consulting services and multi-level marketing. And if you want to buy in now, you can, and this is the time where we cash in. And we're going to tell you how to start your business for the entry level cost of… [laughter]
No, I wish it were like that. It's funny because this has come up a lot this year, and it has never ever occurred to us that it would be like this. And the thing is, this was not by design but more by default because we were outsiders, and we were always sort of part of the underground. We were not really in whatever clique necessary to not have to rely on our own resources. We developed this as we went along out of necessity and having to rely on this grassroots thing and effectively be a DIY band. And doing everything ourselves was the only means of survival for us. So the situation everyone finds themselves in now, we've sort of been in this whole time. So this is nothing new for us.
You thrive in the uncertainty of it all.
Yep, uh-huh, well, welcome to our world.
What do you think are some of the misperceptions about the band to the outside world in terms of the music?
To the outside world?
Yeah.
I guess that we're a bunch of stoned hippies that play, you know… I guess it's that noodle-y jam band thing now that we're a bunch of stoners who take drugs and play the same note for an hour over and over again. It's that perception; that there's no depth or quality to the music and the fact that there doesn't need to be because we're all stoned. You can just sort of write it off. Sometimes it bugs me and sometimes I don't even care. I think there's a lot of similarities with… the same people who appreciate the longer passages that a band like Sonic Youth plays and that Built to Spill plays, or even a band like Sigur Rós or bands that can get into really long, sometimes beautiful passages, and sometimes stuff that's really out there, but they're by no means jam bands and by no means do they get lopped into this thing or get discredited for being in the club that we're in. So there's always that. And then you sort of have the other end of the spectrum, you know, the people who appreciate the music of King Crimson and Frank Zappa and Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Certainly these are lofty characters to be associated with, my point being that there are attributes to our music that sort of at least strive for those qualities. And we have a little bit of everything in what we do. That's sort of our sound I guess. I don't know, I mean, I'm at a loss.
[laughter] No, I hear you. As a fan of music, and as someone who also encourages people to listen to music without judgment and free from how it's marketed, it's incredibly frustrating from my end to see that you can mention the name moe. and it already has this description attached to it without ever hearing the sound.
Exactly, you know what I mean? You mention any jam band, it's automatically disregarded by not only the people who write for Pitchfork, but most of the people who would gravitate toward that web site and the bands they're in. And I don't think they have to be mutually exclusive. The interesting thing is that you find so many of the people in our scene will listen to a lot of the bands associated with the Pitchfork web site, but it doesn't go both ways. It's really kind of a snobby attitude. If it wasn't for that attitude, and people were more receptive to it, they would be like, "Oh right, I do like this," and it is OK if they didn't have the attitude about it, but, who knows.
Yeah, I completely agree. And people look at me like I have two heads sometimes when I say I went to see Animal Collective and it reminded me of the Disco Biscuits in a lot of ways.
Right! That's what I'm talking about. It's the same reason why those bands work so well at so many of the festivals we all play. It's why so many of the fans in our scene really appreciate stuff like that. I can't tell you how many times I have conversations about those kinds of bands. This is the kind of music we're listening to; we talk about the new Shins album and stuff like that. There are probably more Wilco fans inside of the jam band scene then there are outside of the jam band scene, but Wilco is not a jam band, you know what I mean? That's the kind of thing that boggles my mind.
Yeah, mine too. Definitely.
And anyone who's seen Wilco knows that they jam when they play live. They'll take a song and they can stretch it out for ten minutes, and to hear those guys go off on something, and hear Nels Cline just beat the crap out of his guitar, it's awesome! It's great! But Pitchfork would never talk to us. So, this is what I want the outside world to know. [laughter] It's OK.
Yeah, it's fine. Come on in.
Yeah.
Yeah, but going back to it, there is, of course, some truth to all of the stereotypes. I remember years ago someone--and this was back when the Grateful Dead were still playing in the 90s--saying, "Well, the only reason why people like it is because everyone's on drugs." That's why they'll go and listen to this music, even though… you know, this is probably toward the end when they weren't really playing well anyways. I always took that as, "That's not true! That's not true!" And then, maybe this isn't the right way to look at it, but recently I've just thought, "Well, fuck it, at least they're making music that is interesting enough where people come hang out and want to take drugs and listen to them play for three or four hours." [laughter] And other people don't. But, what's wrong with that? Anyways, I know there is that element -- I've been to every moe.down, I know what's going on [laughter].