INTERVIEW
We met up with Polyethylene Pet in their offices at Precognitive Records. Various members spoke freely, as a cloud, with customary humour and obliquity. |
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| So, we understand you have a new album in the works? | |||||||
| sure we do... | oh, yes - you should definitely wait for it... | it'll be good. we hope to get Mike Johnson and Dave Willey (from Thinking Plague and Hamster Theatre) on it. | ...and maybe Kerman... | yeah, that's gonna happen... | and others... | Bette Midler... | Lassie.... |
| What's it going to be like? | |||||||
| a lot like a Wednesday... | more like a Friday, i'd think... | ||||||
| Will there be a lot of new music on it? | |||||||
| there's music on it??? | i think i told them that... or something to that effect... | oh? well, then. | i don't believe there's any music on it, per se... | it will be new though if it actually comes out. | |||
| How would you describe Polyethylene Pet? | |||||||
| we're a conceptual art composition. | we're a collective of one | plus1 | we're puppetmasters. | we're a refreshing new lime drink. | |||
| What is your relationship with +1? | |||||||
| ... ah yes, the alien... | it depends. it's largely sexual. [laughs] | +1 is our favourite programmed broadcast...[suddenly everyone shouts] WK40! [and then sotto voce] this is CWK40 |
they perform certain ...functions... for us. all useful things in the right context. |
i thought Side Effect Souls was brilliant! good stuff. this comment bought for you by Red Balloon. |
Side Effect Souls, brilliant?. what a crock! [laughs all around] | of course, we're purely conceptual whereas they're completely imaginary. | yeah, that's the basic relationship. |
| Actually, isn't it true that +1's never played their own show? Only as part of Polyethylene Pet performances? | |||||||
| they don't exist, except at our shows, that's true. | and their recordings | right. | they disappear when i sleep... | we all do. | that's right. [laughs all around] | ||
| And, apparently "+1" is also a Christian boy band??? | |||||||
| no fucking way! | that's true. | and thus now a large rectal vacuum | right. | WAY and, i guess, WORD also [laughs] | a Christian boy band? seriously? i hadn't heard that one. | google it. we came first, though, of course. we came long before. | yes. we always do... [laughs] |
| What about Natalie Tonebasher from "The Dali Dramas"? | |||||||
| She's quite real. | Yoko Ono meets George Clinton and the Spice Girls | ... more like George Forman... | yes, and also, as i recall she was a novel, a doctor and a steamship or some such? | a destroyer on the sea of love. | that was it! [laughs] | ||
| Your concerts are known to be quite abstract and yet musical and fun. How do you manage that? | |||||||
| really? known by who? | of course, our last show was 27 years ago, so it's hard to remember. [laughs] | well, this newest "concert" of ours is totally imaginary. so is this interview. is that abstract? | is it fun ??? | we don't play at our shows, +1 does that for us. it's all part of the agreement. | we do love doing concerts, as long as we don't have to be there. | our concerts tend to be about the concert experience. | we're only a rock band at the meta-level [laughs] |
| Yes, speaking of which: what is the idea behind this new piece? | |||||||
| we just wanted to create a unique online experience using simple but effective tech. | we did? | i did. | he who must be obeyed. [laughs all around] | this is how the next +1 show would look and sound, were they to have one, which they won't, as far as we know. | but it would look and sound exactly like this. | except the band wouldn't look as good. | |
| Thanks for speaking to us, you guys. | |||||||
| sure, our pleasure. | yeah, ok. | anytime... | come back with money next time. | thanks for talking with us. | take care of yourself. [laughs all around] | ||
| Back to Concert Hall | |||||||