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MAGNET #55
August/September 2002
Patrick Berkery
Guided By Voices
Universal Truths and Cycles
Matador Records
MAGNET visited Pollard with
some ghosts at his Dayton, Ohio, home.
What was the major
factor in parting ways with TVT?
Mainly it was trying to get back to doing things 100 percent the way we like
to do it. We went with TVT for their resources. There were people asking me,
“Why aren’t you guys being played on the radio?” So I was kind of gullible
and said, “Maybe we should be,” and we gave it a shot. When we worked the
contract out, it was the “complete creative control” thing, but you find
that when you have people that are supporting you and putting a lot of money
into you, you kind of have to play by their rules. And I found out that by
working with a producer—even though I like the two records that we did, I
think they did a good job—it’s like you lose a certain amount of freedom.
They have their stamp on it, also. I find both records to be a little bit
homogeneous. The quality of the sound is a little bit too much the same for us.
On the early records, that’s what we were conscious of, to make everything
sound different. And working with a producer, I found myself writing songs for
them a little bit to fit the personality of the record. We made the decision to
get away from that and to leave TVT because we wanted to get back to doing it
that way again, where there’s a lot more diversity on the record.
Was there a comfort zone
recording the new record in Ohio as opposed to New York, where you had done the
last two?
Oh, of course. When we used to do four-track stuff, we did it right in our own
home. There’s nothing more comfortable than that, you can do what you want.
There are no inhibitions whatsoever. You get in the studio and you’ve already
done the demo and you’re trying to recapture that same spirit. The thing I
didn’t like about working in a big studio with a producer is we had to do
demos in the studio. We used to do records in our living room, and now we’re
doing demos in big studios! There’s a lot of money involved, and there’s
people from the label in the studio making sure everything’s cool. It’s much
better doing it on your own in a comfortable place. The other thing about the
new record is I think the songs are better. I think being released from the
obligations I had on the last two records I was able to lay back and write
better songs. I just let them flow naturally instead of pressing.
Without the specter of
“can the label get this song on the radio?” hanging over you.
Yeah, I had people telling me they want me to write certain kinds of songs.
Was “Hold On Hope” one
of those songs?
It’s weird, but that wasn’t. “Hold On Hope” was like my own
embarrassment. When I was sending all the songs to Ric Ocasek, I would talk to
him on the phone three or four times a week and I’d tell him I’d written
these new songs and he’d say to send them. When I was waking up one morning I
kind of dreamt that chorus, and I thought, “Is that mine or someone
else’s?” I told him I wrote this really pretty, ballad-type song, and he
said send it, and I said, “Oh, man, it might be kind of embarrassing.”
Naturally, he gets it and goes, “Oh, that’s the big one, that’s the
monster ballad.” I go, “Oh, shit, here we go.” It got even worse. They did
a remix that was really, really, creepy and creamy. I thought it was kind of
career-threatening. I went through a complete tug-of-war with the label about
that song. So, though it seems like that was one of the pop songs they coerced
me into writing, no, that was my own thing.
Was Matador at the top of
the list when you were shopping for a new deal?
No, we were talking to a bunch of indies, and then my manager told me that
Matador was interested. And I thought immediately, “Wow, we’ve got to go
back,” because no one really has. At the same time we were talking to Vagrant
and Sub Pop. I liked the idea of Sub Pop because we would’ve been the only
band, I think, that was on Matador and Sub Pop. And there’s always been kind
of a nice rivalry going between Matador and Sub Pop. But I always considered us
to be the house band at Matador.
Was it amicable parting
with them the first time around?
Yeah, it was. The problem was that we were selling the same amount of albums
every time. And we thought, “What can we do to break through and sell more
records and get our music out to more people?” So we thought maybe we needed
to go to a bigger label. Then after my experience with TVT, I had the
realization that it doesn’t matter what we do. No matter how we record—we
could record into a boom box or in a big studio—we still sell the same amount
of records.
You up for some name
association?
Yeah, sure.
Ric Ocasek.
I’m a huge Cars fan. Especially the first record—that would probably be in
my top 50 albums of all time. I think he did a good job (with us). I listened to
Do The Collapse the other day for the first time in a couple of years and
I think it’s a really good record. The thing about Ric Ocasek is he still has
the same intimidating presence he’s always had. He still comes flamboyantly
into the studio with the same kind of stuff he used to wear. It was kind of an
intimidating experience, but he was a really nice guy and I appreciate the fact
that he showed us the ropes in a big studio. I think we learned a lot from that
experience.
Jim MacPherson.
We’ve got Kevin March playing drums now, a really good drummer and a really
good guy. But I had actually asked Jim to be back in the band. After Jon McCann
decided to leave, Jim was kind of bugging me a bit about wanting to be back in
the band. I said, “Well, you made a decision.” He’s working a job, he’s
a carpenter and he’s spending time with his family, and I understand that’s
why he left. But then I see him out every once in a while and he’d say, “I
really want to be back in the band.” Then when the opportunity came, he
couldn’t do it. It kind of bummed me out. To me, Jim is always going to be
part of GBV and any time he can do anything to help us out, he’s always
welcome.
Mitch Mitchell.
I consider Mitch to be my brother. He was in GBV for about 10 years, and the
only one getting close to that now is Doug (Gillard). Mitch has got rock ‘n’
roll in his blood. He’s in a couple of bands right now. He’s hardcore.
(Scat Records owner) Rob
Griffin.
[Howling, cackling laughter, followed by several coughs] I need a
cigarette on this one. I appreciate Robert Griffin because he was the first one
to be on the ball. Where no one else was willing to take a chance on us, he did.
He made it possible for us, and I appreciate that. We’ve had our ups and
downs, and we’re still going through some shit. I like the Scat years because,
when he signed us, it gave me the confidence that “Now it’s real. Now
we’re a real rock band.” We put out some really good records on Scat:
Vampire On Titus, Bee Thousand, Grand Hour. We became a much better band once
the pressure was on us. We kind of owe that to him.
Richard Meltzer.
He’s another guy who’s intimidating to me because I have so much respect for
him. It’s almost like meeting Lester Bangs. He told us he’d seen us play in
Portland and said it was the best show he’d seen since the Sex Pistols. He’s
a sweetheart, a good guy. I’ve heard that he’s now a GBV completist and
he’s trying to find everything. That’s very flattering for me.
Blue Öyster Cult.
They’re probably in my top five American bands of all time. I thought they
were a great band. They had five good songwriters, and they had the concept. You
felt like they were in their own alternative universe, especially the early
stuff. And their lyrics were amazing, very influential on the stuff I write.
Mac McCaughan.
I would probably consider Superchunk to be out best friends in the indie-rock
circle. In doing [the Go Back Snowball album] with him, I discovered he’s a
much better guitar player and songwriter than I thought he was. We always want
to do tours with Superchunk, but we usually just end up doing weekends because I
think they’re a little worried about the drinking. They drink with us, but
it’s kind of difficult for them. It’s kind of difficult for anyone, really.
The Deal sisters.
The Deal sisters are good drinkers. Kelly maybe not so much anymore, I think
she’s clean now. Kim can drink with the guys. I think she takes pride in it. I
haven’t talked to her in a long time, but I used to hang with her and we used
to be good friends, we used to go out drinking a lot. She could always go the
whole night. As a matter of fact, she could always go longer than I could and
she would always want to go back to her house and work on things on her
four-track and I was done.
(MAGNET writer) Jonathan
Valania.
I like Valania, man. There have been maybe five or six people who have made the
pilgrimage to Dayton and hung for a few days. He’s a trooper. He was able to
spend some time with the natives and I thought he was really, really brave to do
that. His band opened for us in Philadelphia, really good. He’s got the rock
‘n’ roll in his blood.