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>Give
us an early musical memory. What turned you on musically when you're growing
up, what were your major influences?
My
earliest musical memories are the records my parents had. My father listened to
very straight stuff, like piano bar music, but now he's a big bluegrass
fanatic. He took me to a festival last year. My mother is responsible for the
Beatle influence, I also heard Sergio Mendez, Herb Alpert, and Paul Mauriat
Orchestra. I was very excited about this music, I really haven't changed my
view of it. The earliest memories are generally the strongest.
>Did you have like-minded friends and form a band back in Syracuse? And what
convinced you to move to San Francisco?
Like the stories in my CD-ROM tell, I grew up in a very rural area in Northeast
U.S. MTV didn't exist, and AM radio played 70s hits like Bread and 10CC. FM
radio was playing corporate rock through the 80s. A small contingent in my home
town discovered New Wave and the new records from England. None of my friends
had any real musical talent, but we had bands and had fun dressing up and going
to shows while we were still in high school.
Before
I had carved out a future for myself in my hometown, a close friend talked me
into coming along with some friends that were moving to California. It's been
several years now, and we've all stayed. Anyone who's moved from a small town
knows the city living difference. I'll probably go back home to die, however.
>Was
the first band that you got to play in SF was the Sneetches? How did you join
them and for how long? Then, why did the friction with them occur?
Hector
Penalosa introduced me to Mike Levy in 1986. I joined the Sneetches as the bass
player. I wanted to write songs and eventually lead a band. It wasn't the
project to do that in, of course, it's Mike and Matt's group. The friction was
primarily in my personality, I'm a bit outspoken, and those guys are a lot
quieter. Flying Color shared a rehearsal space with the Sneetches, so I just
moved my gear across the room when they asked me to join after 9 months with
the Sneetches. Mike and Matt were very annoyed with my leaving, and they are
uncomfortable in my presence to this day. Alec Palao and Daniel Swan are
fantastic guys and they play in a fun band called the English UK that features
John Wesley Harding.
>Tell us about your Flying Color days.
>How and when has your relationship with the band began. What was the
memorable moment being on the band. And what was the circumstances surrounding
the breakup of the band.
(I'm including my liner notes from the re-release of the Flying Color LP that
is to be released this autumn on Munster Records of Spain.)
CVS
field trip essay: April 9, 1996 San Francisco
Flying
Color struck me as a strange name, the first time I heard it. I thought of a
rainbow colored bird, certainly not a group of dark haired guys that knew how
to sing Beatles or dB's songs. The friends I'd recently moved to San Francisco
with had heard of the group, and we went to see them. I think it was some
drunken autumn party in 1985. I was interested in the band--but more so in the
girls that came to the show. I was 20 years old.
The
second time I saw Flying Color play was when they opened for the Lyres at a
club in Berkeley. By then, I had met Hector and we were becoming fast friends.
I boldly ventured backstage, and told them I'd like to play with them sometime.
Richard showed up just in time for their set-- I thought he might not like
playing in the group anymore. Soon after, a gig they played at a S.F. nightclub
blew my mind with its perfection of intent.
My
participation in the recording of the album was that I sat on the studio floor
while Hector sang "WISE TO HER WAYS." I think by that time the group
was very anxious to have the record out-- they'd been working on it on and off
forever, it seemed. About this time I'd joined the Sneetches, playing bass.
Nine
months later, over a Japanese noodle bowl, Hector asked me if I'd like to take
Richard's place in the band. Chuck Prophet was being considered, but Hector was
concerned he might overshadow the group somehow. I was shaking nervously, but
took the offer with delight. My debut with the band was playing lead guitar
through my bass amp! Soon I bought proper gear and we went on our first tour
for seven weeks. I was thrilled, but I had yet to find my place. I was just
playing Richard's guitar parts.
My
favorite part of touring was the sound check, watching John play simple drum
beats alone in the empty club. My mind would fill with songs and riffs, ideas
to go over his drums. At this point, John was going for the "beat."
He'd set up only a kick, a snare, and his hihat cymbal.
After
the noise of the first record had diminished, it was time to start recording
the second album. Tom Mallon, our producer, in the peak of his labors with
American Music Club, was frankly underwhelmed with the material. He put
together a list of songs he thought were worth pursuing, everybody had their
own ideas about which songs were the best. My pride may only have been bruised,
but Hector was now ready to go. He formally quit within weeks, but we didn't
want to lay it to rest yet. I stuck it out through the summer of 1990, at which
point I was thinking of fronting my own band, so I left too.
Conflicting
agendas broke up the group. We moved on, without releasing the material we'd
written and played in 1987-88.
-------------------
>How
did you meet Paul Collins?
>Give us a story about you guy's long journey to the East. Did you have fun
on the road with him?
>So
you headed for the east, but after six months of living in Manhattan, you moved
back to SF. Why?
>Those
days with the Flying Color and P.Collins have any sort of influence on your
musical life?
Paul Collins was living in San Francisco for a few years after he moved from
Spain. He saw the last Flying Color show I played. Paul asked me to play on his
album. I was pretty excited about meeting him, I'd been listening to his
records since I was 15 years old. We became good friends and he produced some
early cvs recordings. Paul was planning a trip back to New York City, where his
family lives. I was ready for some fun and music, so I quit my office job and
instantly turned into a traveling hobo musician. We would play anywhere,
anytime. We sang in restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, theaters, anywhere they'd
have us. Music is a universal thing that has no politics attached, so we were
welcomed by all sorts of strangers. Paul wrote a song called "The Kindness
of Strangers." Once we got to the brisk autumn winds of New York, things
changed a little. We had to find regular gigs, so we started calling ourselves
"The Wandering Minstrels." We did the coffee scene and the open mics
in Manhattan. Paul's record came out on the Winston cigarette label in Spain. I
introduced Paul to a guy named Arty Lenin, from Syracuse. We sat around playing
guitars and trading songs around. Wonderful, for about six months, then it was
time to get back to business of getting some kind of music career happening for
myself. I didn't feel at the time that I had a support group of friends in New
York, I felt like getting back "home," which is definitely San
Francisco.
>After returning to SF,you decided to get it alone and found your way as a
solo artist. Hadn't going solo ever come into picture before that? And why did
you still form a working band Pop Gem Factory while you're going
solo.
I
didn't feel ready to go it alone, although I'd played a couple of solo shows
while I was still in Flying Color. It takes confidence to do it well, and I was
still building that confidence. By the time I'd made it back from New York, I
felt good about myself and had written some good songs. I played with a handful
of different people around San Francisco, and felt comfortable with Bennett
Bowman and Peter Straus. We've been playing on and off for five years now. The
reason I gave my music a band name, Pop Gem Factory, is because I wanted to
give some sense of collaboration and group effort to the members of my band. In
my own search for what to do with my career and the music, I found it best to
release the records in my own name, Chris von Sneidern. As much as I like a
band, and love playing with my own band, it is still very much a cvs thing-- I
write the songs and delegate who plays what parts. I've tried different
formulas but it keep returning to the practice of overdubbing much of my own
playing. It's the worst way of keeping band members interested and involved.
>Please
give us comments on your each albums. Any particular favourite disk or songs?
Big
White Lies sounds like the most together record, albeit overproduced. The
critics that write pop fanzine reviews love BWL because it is very sugary and
full of "heavenly" harmonies, and "shimmering" choruses. An
album like Go! is less produced with overdubs, but that's all intentional. I'm
trying to be less self-indulgent now. Artists go through cycles of fear of
being stagnant or in decline. The defense is to try something different,
changing your environment of musicians, studio, or trying on a new style of
music. Fans hate that, because then you've changed into something else, and
therefore you've let them down. I sometimes wish for Elvis Costello to make ten
more This Year's Model's, but I know better. I like "Roll On," "Annalisa,"
and "451" because they offered no resistance in being recorded. I
really like "One Side In Heaven" because it's fun to sing.
>How did you moved into song writing and how important are your lyrics to
you?
>What do you feel is intrinsic to your own music and your playing.
>Tell
us about the secret of SF. Do you dig SF? Do you believe that there's some
certain atmosphere that keeps you going? Is there a good working relationship
with other musicians?
The
weather here is great for working in that it never gets in the way. Every day
is in the 60s-70s never too warm to wear your stylish overcoats. If that isn't ‘atmosphere,'
what is? Seriously, the S.F. scene is and has always been fairly diverse. There
are hundreds of bands that would never exist outside of the eclectic world of
San Francisco. Many bands here are weird just for the sake of being different,
I think. Combining banjos and trombones with trashcan drum sets and electric
violin is the key to getting noticed and embraced by the local free papers.
That happens everywhere, but I see it more here than anywhere. I keep my thing
going and get some decent gigs here in S.F., the papers and radio stations are
good to me, for that I am grateful.
The
San Francisco folk thing that some Heyday label artists had going on was
actually more popular in Germany than here, which may come as no surprise to
some. Apparently those S.F. bands were playing relatively cheap and attracted
quite a following.
>There must be some things going on in the pop music world, such as Yellow
Pills,Poptopia,Audities...etc. Do you feel that there's really a pop scene
happening somewhere under the main stream? Do you consider yourself as
pop/power pop artist? How would you classify yourself?
I
just got invited to Poptopia again this year. The last one I boycotted because
I suspected it was a plot to promote one guy's band. Regardless, it turned into
a ‘movement,' as Martin Scorsese would say. It's worth checking out, I hope to
participate and behave myself this year.
I've
been told that there's exactly 3,000 pop fans out there that buy records and
read the fanzines, etc. That number may be growing, because I hear the ‘pop'
word all the time now. I've always been into the same music and now the 15 year
nostalgia formula is invoked for the new wave- power pop scene. Sex Pistols are
back together, Buzzcocks, Devo...just count back fifteen years and that's your
hot retro thing that's either being copied or reformed. I dig it.
I'd
say I'm pop. Power pop? I don't like the name-- never seemed appropriate. The ‘power'
in the power pop band genre looked more like nervous nerd or drug energy,
rather than the sexual tension and anxiety that true rock ‘n roll exemplifies.
However, I heard "Yellow Pills" on the radio last week and it sounded
so good.
>Do
you have any idea of what your next record is going to be like? And tell us
about the NY session with Richard X. Heyman.
I
recorded in New York with some new friends. Dennis Diken is a great guy to have
around in the studio, he knows records and knows how to make them too.
>What have you been up to lately? Recordings, studio works, live shows...any
projects lined up for the future? And/or anything you'd like to get more
involved with?
I've
been producing more artists since the last John Wesley Harding disc. I just
completed mixing Hector Penalosa's (Flying Color) 2nd solo record; I hope to
get Chuck Prophet's album underway before JWH starts thinking of starting his
next. San Francisco is a small town, which is good since I don't have a car now.
My little studio has become a hotbed of activity lately. My performing and
recording career has taken a plunge as a result. My next album is starting to
take shape in my head, it will surely change several times before it's
recorded.
>(...yes
everyone get asked this question...)What records you've been listening lately?
Are there any records you've found particularly
stimulating?
I
heard Jason Falkner's record this week; I believe that I approve. I'm going to
get a copy of it and investigate further. Other things: Olivia Tremor Control,
The High Llamas, Beck, and the sound of my telephone ringing incessantly.
>The
last,but certainly not the least...message to your friends in Japan!
Everyone
is welcome to drop your old pal cvs an email, I'm good for a little bit of
gossip sometimes. Thanks for all the letters, and for buying the records. I
look forward to seeing the cherry blossoms this Spring if I can get there,
otherwise send them to me.
>======================================
>Thank you very much!