It's a given. Plans will change, and if they don't - they will get complex. This interview was to have taken place in person back in May - but as I have learned, these plans as well got a touch revamped.

Not to be the one to bitch, John Wozniak had his life completely upended in 2003 - the full story can be read here - when he returned home to find his basement studio and all of it's belongings drowning.

Surprisingly, had you not heard about this unfortunate incident, you would likely never hear the sorrow on Marcy Playground's latest album MP3. It continues in the brilliant trail of clever & infectious songwriting John first introduced on Marcy Playground in 1997. 3 albums down, a new label and seven years later - John gives us his side on music downloading, Los Angeles and Two-Ton Boa.

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+ How did you keep yourself from totally losing your mind when the roof fell in?

There was a gigantic cleanup job, and I was the only one who was going to do it. It was a HUGE mess. And when I say huge, I mean.... HUUUUGE (hand gestures and everything). I didn't have the luxury of time to go off the deep end.

+ Are you still living in the same house?

No, I sold it a few months back. It was an enormous log home with some acreage, in the Pocono Mtns in Pennsylvania. It was great... when I was home. But, for the last few years, I've spent most of my time in studios wearing my producer hat. So, it was rare that I ever got to spend time there anyway.

+ How can / did you put a price on the personal belongings you lost to insurance?

Actually it was pretty difficult. I found out pretty quickly that the
items precious to me (photos, journals, etc) were worthless in the eyes of the insurance company. Other items I had to do quite a bit of research on to try and figure out their replacement value. But, yeah... going through my things, one by one, figuring out the value was weird.

+ How has the new life on Reality Entertainment been, in comparison to the "major label" days?

Great. The budgets are smaller on an independent label, and the staff is
smaller, but the drive to succeed seems greater. Indie people are far less jaded than major label folk. Their goals are long term, and a bit more in line with what artists want out of a business partner. Honestly though, record companies are personnel driven. We'd go wherever the executive talent was. And in this climate you have to seek it out. One year the good people are working at a major label, the next year (or month) they're at an independent. I believe in our record company, and the people that work there..

+ Would you say that the radio has been good to Marcy Playground?

Absolutely. And, I might add, we've been good to radio. It's a symbiotic
relationship based on mutual good deeds.

+ Any opinions on the current state of MP3's and the digital age of
downloading free* ( * stolen ) music?

Well, as great as downloading music for "free" has been for fans, it's
pretty obviously putting a nail in the coffin of an already sluggish music
business. Labels are going under, or being consolidated, laying off
thousands of employees, butchering their rosters, and signing virtually
nothing new. Artists are either getting dropped, or they're getting
discouraged and quitting (I know a bunch of them). The number of annual releases and quality of music has plummeted. One indication of this most people will recognize is modern rock stations going back to playing the "hits of the 90's." I'm a studio owner as well as a musician. I own a major recording facility in Vancouver called Mushroom Studios. We've had a lot of success over the years (Hot Hot Heat, Fear Factory, Sam Roberts, Sarah McLachlan, etc).
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what downloading has done to the business side of things. Every month another major recording studio closes its doors (Polar Studios, Sorcerer Sound NYC, Le Studio Morin Heights, etc). Well known engineers and producers aren't working. I try to stay on top of it. I read the trade magazines, the sales charts, news articles, talk to people who've been laid off, etc. A couple of weeks ago I took a trip to LA to have meetings at the majors. LA is like a ghost town as far as the music business is concerned. I kept waiting for a tumble weed to pass by me in the hallway at Warner Bros.

+ Was the Mark Ryden cover art created exclusively for Shapeshifter?

According to Mark, it was one in a series of pieces he had done the
previous year for the Butthole Surfers album. Apparently they never paid him for his work... or used any of it. I'm not sure why, although it may have something to do with the fact that they were fighting with Capitol at the time. Anyway, when Mark found out that the concept behind Shapeshifter was a native American fable, he offered us one of the pieces in the series-- One that the Surfers had rejected. It was fitting for our album. At the time, we didn't know the history of the artwork, only that we liked it. And honestly, it doesn't matter. The picture we used was never going to be used for their cover. Paul Leary and I squared it all later. However, in the final analysis, the label should have told us something about this before we went to print. They didn't. So, if anyone feels the need, they can send their hate mail to:
CAPITOL RECORDS
1750 NORTH VINE STREET
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90028.

+ Did MP3 continue the recording process of recording vintage versus the use of computer aided production (ie: ProTools)?

MP3 is a hybrid of both. I recorded it at Mushroom on 2" tape using
mostly rare and/or vintage recording equipment. I mixed it through the same gear... only I used ProTools in place of my tape machine. I like mixing with ProTools because of the mutes and fades. My Neve console is almost 30 years old and doesn't have automation.

+ 'Jesse went to War' (from MP3) is listed as one of the salvaged songs - are there any ties to it and the current situation in Iraq?

I didn't write it about the war in Iraq, but if that's the chord it
strikes in people... that's kewl.

+ As for War - what are your feelings of the current state of America and her leaders

America is stronger than her leaders. America will survive, the current
administration won't. As for my views on the state of American civil
liberties... listen to our new song "Flag and Finger" on MP3. That'll give
you a pretty good idea of how I feel.
["Just raise the flag and finger / And leave it there to linger / Yeah this is my solution / This is my American revolution"]

+ You state that there were around 24 songs recorded for MP3 - are there any plans to release the others?

Yeah. There's going to be a rarities and B-sides CD set released soon (2
CD's probably). We'll put a few of those songs on it.

+ A question that I have wanted to ask for 6 years - who is Sherry Fraser? Is this the same 'S. Fraser' that shares credit on 'Ancient Walls of Flowers' from the debut?

Yep. The same. We met in high school, in Philadelphia, back in the
mid-80's (I was 15, she was 16). We fell madly in love with each other,
wrote music together, played in bands together, got into trouble together... and eventually ended up going to college in Olympia Washington together.
That was in, like, '91 or '92. By 94 we'd broken up, but have managed to
stay really close friends. She's a brilliant artist, classically trained
musician and composer. She plays about 30 different instruments [really
well]. She has a band called Two Ton Boa, signed to Kill Rock Stars, in
Olympia. It's very heavy music. She doesn't use guitars. It's all
distorted basses, drums, vocals, and various esoteric keyboards (like
harmonium, chord organ, tack piano, etc). We're getting ready to work on her next album at Mushroom. I'm going to engineer/produce it with her. Look for it to come out some time next year.

+ As with being a great songwriter, you can draw the listener in to your story - how much songwriting is based on actual life events? [ I am thinking about songs like 'The Vampires of New York' and 'Death of a Cheerleader' ]

Storytelling is a big part of my songwriting. I like music when it makes
me feel something. A strong story helps to do that. A unique voice can do that too. I think I have a pretty unique voice. I think that, now days, if you don't sing like Scott Stapp... you have a pretty unique voice. The percentage that's based on real life is fairly high... but I couldn't quantify it.

+ New York serves as Marcy Playground's starting point - how do you feel about the current state of the New York Rock 'n' Roll Resurgence?

There are 12 million people in New York City alone. The fact that there
needs to be a "resurgence" is pathetic.

+ What has Woz been listening to?

I've been listening to Nellie McKay's album "Get Away From Me."
It's the best thing I've heard in very very long time. She's on Columbia, and so I have to give credit to Columbia for having the vision and the taste to actually sign a genuinely talented artist. It's kind of shocking, I know. A major label with taste... [gasp].
And, OF COURSE, I've been listening to the new Stabilo album "Cupid."
I engineered and produced it, and I enjoy it daily. It just came out on Virgin in Canada (on import in the States), and it's brilliant. And finally, I've been listening to a band called The Shore. They were signed to Maverick by Scott Austin (an A&R guy with good taste). They remind me of The Verve, and I liked the Verve so....

+ Will there ever be a way for kids to buy the Zog Bogbean acoustic album from 1991?

Yeah, we'll set up an online store soon at marcyplayground.com

+ What scares you?

I have clinical OCD so... don't even ask.