• MuchMusic (Canada) TV interview transcript

This was broadcast on Canada's answer to MTV, MuchMusic, and interspersed with short live clips of a Toronto gig. I'm going by a cassette dub and it's hard to hear what's said sometimes due to traffic passing outside the window (on the tape, not in my house) & tape hiss. Hopefully I've identified all the speakers correctly.

(starts with live bit of "Fourth of July")

Dean: My voice... Kinda whiney, I would say. Untrained. Ummm...

(laughter from Naomi)

Interviewer: It's a wild voice.

Dean: Well, thank you... I'm pleased you like it.

Interviewer: You've got a lot of guts.

(much laugher from everyone)

Dean: Got a lot of guts... Was that yet another veiled insult?

Damon: I think it was a compiliment.

Interviewer: Definitely a compliment

Dean: There's reviews that say I have a Neil Young fixation, which is rediculous. I have one of his records, but none of us are like big Neil Young fans.

Interviewer: Who are you fans of?

Damon: The old Manchester scene: Joy Division... (silent) That was the whole scene...

Dean: No it wasn't. Magazine.

Dean/Damon: Buzzcocks.

Naomi: Not really all that New Wave stuff.

Damon: Some of it.

Naomi: We like the Clash.

(bit of live "Decomposing Trees")

Interviewer: Is there a lot of pressure then when you go onstage toperform live to...

Dean: To not be mellow?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Naomi: It kind of feels like that just because of "performing" - I mean,it's not as... I mean, it's not as.... sort of... as laid back as therecords in the same way. It's just rawer or something, anyway....

Damon: I think there's pressure in the sense that it's usuallyinappropriate in a club. You don't really feel like being as delicate asyou might on a recording. And maybe you feel more like being a little bitmore outgoing and pushing it a little louder, cause it's nighttime and everybody's out to have a good time.

Interviewer: So how do you want people to react to your music.

Dean: Ummm... Ecstatically.

(clip of audience applauding)

Naomi: When we play really quietly, the chatting can be very loud, and it's distracting.

Damon: It's better when people listen.

Naomi: Yeah.

Damon: They usually do. They usually seem to get drawn in.

Dean: It's weird, sometimes between songs it's just like silent...

Damon: Yeah.

Dean: ...which is a really strange sensation to be in a crowded club andall of a sudden have it be, like, silent. It's unnerving.

[roll video for "Fourth of July"]