Sometimes, the yearly 'best of' lists just have to sneak one or two albums on that had been overlooked the year (or two) before. It just happens that way - 2 ears plus 24 hours in a day minus the four hours I sleep plus 18 million releases per year.. . and so it goes.

     This year, you'd be correct in believing that Mezzanine~C14's He Keeps Silent And Sacrifices Himself will be on my set of best & brutal. Eleven tracks of grizzly madness, just on the cusp on thirty minutes - you and your tortured soul may have just found the official soundtrack to your nights of 18th century-style mauling.

     Herein lies a trivial discussion between Mezz~C14 leader Will Walker and a nameless assassin. All names have been left undisguised so that the guilty may be hunted down, beaten to within a breath of life and scarred for the remainder of their futile existence.

 

With all the references to the Jesus Lizard - that could serve as a blessing for all the kids who have no idea who they are (maybe to discover them too). How do you feel about the comparison?

I'm flattered! The Jesus Lizard were an amazing band live as well as their records and to be compared to a band that intense is a great compliment.

Who would you say are influences?

This is a toughy. I would have to say The Didgits, Tar , Hammerhead, Reverend Horton Heat, the 1st Unsane album alot of the early weird punk indie, Ammrep, Touch & Go, and Sub Pop stuff.

He Keeps Silent.. .' has this raw, grizzly sound - was anyone injured during the recording?

Band members No, but there was a brawl after one of the drunken sessions. Mark O. (Emandee's owner) and I had downed a 5th of Bacardi in a couple of hours and I was wasted. I went to get a slice of pie (pizza) and I set down a $5'er on the counter... looked away then looked back and it was gone. The dude next to me was smiling and the dude working there asked for the money. The guy working said he did not take it and the dude next to me kept smiling, so I assumed it was him. I followed him outside and demanded my money back, he refused. So right on the street in Willy'sburg I proceeded to pummel this dude in front of this girlfriend. It was not one of my proudest moments.

Damn, so did any "officials" get involved?

No I was lucky enough that the cops didn't roll by and no one called them on me

Is there any music out there now that excites you or deserves to be heard?

There is a lot of music that is coming out that I'm stoked about. Ring Cicada, Giddy Motors, IfIhadahifi, FiftyWatt Head - I could go on and on.
Most of the bands are on smaller indie labels and rock hard. I haven't heard or played with a "BIG" band lately that can compare to the unknown bands that are out there touring and busting their asses right now. The sad part is that it's hard to get people to come see these bands unless they have big money or big indie pushing them. I would encourage people to go out and see bands they have never heard of. People need to go see the opening act. There is a lot of shitty music out there, but you might just stumble on an amazing band.

You are at least the fifth person to mention Giddy Motors, any particular album?

'Make it Pop' is really good.

How did your relationship with breakeven begin, and what more can you tell us about what breakeven is doing as far as helping artists?

I had heard of a couple of band on Break Even and liked what Peter (owner) was striving for, so when we finished recording the self titled album I sent him a copy. A few weeks later he got back to us and asked if we would like to release it on Break Even and we said 'Yes'. Break Even is run by Peter Buckley, he's a scientist for a pharmaceutical company. He's a die hard music /comic book fan. He started the label to put out good underground comics and records for a cheap price so that the bands and writers would be involved in every aspect. He works hard to keep things very simple and to deliver good music and comics to people that appreciate them with out raping their wallet.

I have read some bizarre stories of "supernatural happenings" occurring at Emandee Studios, did you encounter any while recording?

No not really. The only thing that was somewhat weird was that I'd go in there with a 5th and some beer and it would disappear on me. By the end of the session I could never figure out where is went.. .

The van story: you traded it for shirts - what happened there?

Yeah we had bought an old van for a 2 week tour we were doing. It made it to the first 4 shows, but on the way to the Nyabinghi (Youngstown, OH) it started to act funny. About a mile away from the club the rear end went out. The guy who runs Nyabinghi (Greg) totally helped us drop the rear end in the club parking and replace it with one from a junkyard. We were back on the road for 2 days then the tranny started to act funny. We were going from Detroit to Kalamazoo, MI to open fro Wesley Willis and the tranny went out. We were near Lansing and knew some people there, so they helped us load our stuff out of the van and store it at their house til' we could get a U-Haul.

Pissed and wanting a beer we went to Mac's in Lansing. I started talking to a guy who had seen us play with Unsane about 4 days earlier. We told him what had happened and just by luck he was looking for an old van to hunt with and worked and a a screen-pressing plant. We ended up trading the van for 100 MC14 t-shirts.

Where can kids get your earlier releases, and how many are there (what labels, etc.)?

The first EP Machinegun Camera is out of print, it was put out by Homicide Records and was a small run of 500. The first full-length was released by Break Even and you can get it from Break Even, Amazon.com, Interpunk - basically all the usual online stores.

Summer tour, any plans?

No tours this summer ,but we will be going out for 30 days in this fall. I believe it starts Oct 18th.

The ultimate Mezz~C14 tour - you can pick the bands (any - current or past) - who's coming?

I would most likely pick Killdozer, Didjits And Scratch Acid. I could watch those bands play night after night and never get tired of seeing them.