THE INTERVIEWER: Well, what are your feelings on the upcoming tour? Have you done this gruelling type of a tour before?
DAVID AND DUANE: Gruelling??!!
DAVID: This tourΓÇÖs going to be the easiest thing weΓÇÖve ever done.
THE INTERVIEWER: WhyΓÇÖs that?
DAVID: Because typically the way our tours are booked ΓÇö at least in the states ΓÇö we play anywhere from 12 to 16 nights in a row, and have a day off, and 8, 10 nights in a row, and then a travel day, and then, you know, a week-and-a-half then a day off. With hour-and-a-half sets, you know, every night basically. And then Lollapalooza, we get I think what 40 minutes. Maybe. And four days in a row is the worst it gets, with sometimes two days to go drive, like, 20 miles. ItΓÇÖs going to be a piece a cake. ItΓÇÖs going to be a breeze. WeΓÇÖll be laughing the whole way.
THE INTERVIEWER: Who are you looking forward to seeing on this tour?
DUANE: Each other.
THE INTERVIEWER: In the band?
DAVID: Yeah, in the band.
DUANE: I want to see what Sonic YouthΓÇÖs going to do, because you figure theyΓÇÖre playing last after Hole. Are they going to play their hits, are they going to experiment, you know? What are they going to do?
DAVID: My little joke is IΓÇÖve been looking forward to meeting Sinead OΓÇÖConnor so I could show her how well I can tear a phone book in half.
THE INTERVIEWER: Can you do that?
DAVID: Hell yeah, I just tear it down the spine.
THE INTERVIEWER: David, when you write your lyrics, do you find yourself writing constantly or do you pretty much just write for each upcoming albums? Some people have said your lyrics are just thrown together.
DAVID: No, not constantly, whenever I have an idea or when the pressureΓÇÖs on (IΓÇÖll write). About a month ago, we had a demo coming up, and we were going to record I think 11 or 12 songs, and I only had lyrics for nine of them a week before we recorded. And everything IΓÇÖd written I thought was crap. I just hated. I couldnΓÇÖt come up with anything I liked. And, a lot of times I kind of liken it to being in school and, you know, like the big test is tomorrow and you better hurry up and write the paper or whatever. And so sometimes when the pressureΓÇÖs on like that, fortunately , something happens good, and I came up with stuff IΓÇÖll keep, some of it IΓÇÖll throw away, but ΓÇö
THE INTERVIEWER: How do you guys write songs together? Is it normally the lyrics come first, and then you structure a song around that, or is it normally the music comes first?
DUANE: Generally, one of the string guys ΓÇö me or David Simms ΓÇö will come up with like a basic riff or a groove or that kind of thing, and weΓÇÖll go to practice and weΓÇÖll say, check it out, and we just kind of play it over and over again till the auxiliary parts sort of suggest themselves. If you repeat something enough times you kind of go into this bored/trance state. And then the other ideas come out anyway. And usually the vocals are almost always last. I tend to think we write just like most bands do. A lot of people though, they just jam and then pick out the good parts.
