francais

1 - Who, Age, etc... from where do you come from ? where did you grow up ?

Hugh, 27, - I come from Los Altos, inside the heart of Silicon Valley. South Bay. Riches, salty marshes, apricots, hills leading to the mountains.

Josh.As for me...I'm Josh Alper, I just turned 30 and I grew up in Palo Alto in the San Francisco Bay Area

2 - You recorded the album in a garage, why ? Is this a will or ... ??

Hugh Well it was both a will & what we could afford. None of us are any good at keeping ahold of any money to pay people for things like recording or whatever but also the four track suits us rather well.

3 - how do you meet Jamies STEWART of XIU XIU ? I did'n know JAMIE was a master of the sound ?

Hugh We met Jamie briefly up in Portland during a festival called Portland Arctics. His father had just died. He seemed incredibly sad. We met him for four more hours when he mastered our cd on pro-tools. He got all the levels equal & loud & did some major pro-tools tweaking on one track that we are very stoked on. The cd sounds good, I think. I really do appreciate him mastering the cd. I guess he was really busy at the time. It was fun hanging out with him. He was living in the Punk's With Press's warehouse. He had this crazy grim reaper dildo. We had fun.

4- WHY ZUM MEDIA ? How can you describe ZUM MEDIA ?Are you in contact with other bands of the label ?

Hugh It's all about George. George Chen. If you haven't met him, ask around. Just ask people, have you met this guy named George Chen from Oakland? It won't take long. Even in France, 3 out of 5 people know George Chen. No, really, we went on tour around the country with a 20 minute long cdr two years ago & nobody expressed any interest in releasing it as another format. A few months after we got back George expressed interest in releasing it, but he didn't want to release an E.P. & it took us this long to write enough material & get together satisfactory artwork to release it.

5 - how do you meet with virgil poter ? how was the release of the DVD on yr side ? you knew this guy before, you know his work ?

Hugh I feel really bad because I was the one driving when Virgil threw up. We played this crazy show at the 40th St. warehouse in Oakland. The Coachwhips headlined, spilled beer, created mud that everyone was rolling around in. After the show we were trying to round people up to head over to our friend Bean's apartment to film an interview for Virgil's "Burn My Eye". The idea was we were going to film lots of impromptu skits feeding off of the energy of all the wild creative people we surrounded ourselves with & our own frantic energy. We locked Virgil in the back of the cab with a twelve pack of beer before we drove the 4 blocks over to Bean's house. It all seemed o.k. until I got lost on the worst set of sharp turns you could imagine. Have you ever been on the very last car of a roller-coaster ride, enclosed, sitting sideways with 8 ½ beers in you? Half an hour later, after a what should have been a 4 minute drive at most, I fully expected Virgil to spring right fist forward into my jaw. Instead he said, "I puked on myself so I wouldn't puke on your guys' stuff." I'm an asshole. I'm sorry Virgil! Hence the beginning of that segment. & the only usable stuff ended up being Noel & Josh in the bath. There was some very good footage taken of Virgil asleep with his eyes open.

- Are you Sonics ? Look like you are influenced by 50¹s and 60¹s us trash ?

Hugh isn't the Sonics a basketball team? I like garage o.k. but I wouldn't call it a big influence on our band.

Josh I think we're more Concept Expressionists...I like the 60's energy and sound...the Dada and Fluxus liberation of context and reactions.

6 - Do the members of THE LOWDOWN have side projets ?

Josh Well Noel's is probably the best known being that he's in Comets on Fire. Hugh and I have started a Folky Psych band called Whysp (largely influenced by Forest and the Incredible String Band)

7 - Could you explain why a large of the us scene become more simple (technically and musically) like the Numbers, locust, erase errata, more direct, without message except havin¹ fun and being crazy?

Hugh I don't think their message is havin' fun & being crazy. You ought to ask them. I never while I was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. They were Ani. You know? You ever heard of the cult of Ani? She's a hruuumph-a-pumphh-pumphhhhh. You know, she was in the bar drinking whiskey. I'm not about to give anyone a carrot that has knuckles. The leaves are all droopy.

8 - You seems to be a nihilist/anarchist band ! Are you interested in the political life of the US ? What do you think of the futur of BUSH & of all americans ! Can you imagine the vision the world has of the USA ?

Hugh Well, America's on top right now, you know? I don't want to have my dick up anybody's ass except in the bedroom (consensually, you know, either way if it feels good to have a dick up the ass in a sexually pleasurable totally acceptable way). I think the Bush administration is very disturbing. The future of America? More imperial parading for the next 5 years. I think Sept. 11 made Bush a shoe-in for the next election. I don't have much faith in Wesley Clark as a canidate & who else is there that can win? The wealthy make a mess of the world, I don't think it's only the U.S. Greed is the root of all evil, I think. How did the Roman empire end? That may be a clue as to the U.S.'s future. Things are bad over here & we're bringing our shit to your backyard. I love living in America but we got some fucked up people running shit. What can I say? I'm for peace, love & understanding. Sorry about the ethnic slurs.

Josh Well definitely a bit nihilist...more absurdist I'm not sure where I stand on anarchy...its a vitality, but is it an answer, or a point of inspiration to stir things up. I mean o.k. revolution, but then what??? In some ways maybe humanity is eternally a damnable social animal... As for Bush? Maybe its more like the furor or DER Fuher of Bush! He's an ass...a white dude in a white world surrounded by his cronies and money worship selfish interests...a complete loser! And now California has voted in Arnold! I'm really frustrated with a lot of my fellow Americans...so much testosterone and non-self examination...a real problem for the world. BUT not the ONLY PROBLEM! Is there any answers to whats come about here in the world and the evolution of the U.S.???? I think the Beatles put it nicely in "Hey Bungalow Bill"