STREET EATERS
Interview by Stephanie Dubick
Parasailing along a sea of transcendental fuzz rock, the Berkeley, CA duo, STREET EATERS, have easily blurred the lines between politics, art, and music. Their debut album, Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons, is crammed with early 90′s Riottgrrl-style flair parlayed with a DIY sensibility yielding highly creative and thought provoking videos that are cool and artistically pleasing. What’s even cooler is their desire to disengage any use of fancy-shmancy guitar licks, vying instead for a more iridescent layer of sound perfectly encapsulated by bass and drums only. As drummer, Megan March puts it, ”We don’t think about them (guitars) one bit in STREET EATERS. John (Geek,bassist) doesn’t play guitar, so drums and bass are what we are.” Though Megan herself is a guitarist she still doesn’t feel the need: “It would humanly be impossible to sing, drum, and play guitar at the same time. So until I figure that out I’ll stick to drums and singing.” Perhaps if one could grow limbs at an exponential rate, that problem would have a solution, but let’s be real here, she ain’t no Dr. Octopus, and honestly, the distorted bass lines and fiery, supersonic stylings of Megan’s punk-inspired drum beats, can do without that six-string wonder child congruent to most bands– because they’re not like most bands. They’re a couple who have taken their passion for music, and their passion for each other and in turn rendered an album heralding that love while offering an introspective view at the world in which we live. And when it comes to the idea of inviting another STREET EATER into the mix? Well, that idea looks pretty grim. It’s kind of an exclusive club.
I believe that the last time AMP spoke to the both of you was back in January. At that point, video-wise, you had released “Useless Eyes” and “Frigid Digits”. There’s such a dichotomy between those two songs. One is about the destruction of Earth and mankind while the other is about finding love/happiness in life and figuring out what it means. Was releasing these songs at once your attempt at showing listeners your different viewpoints of life, or did it just come down to, “Hey, we like these songs the best, let’s release them first?”
Megan: I like your interpretations of the songs, and what you are saying brings up some interesting thoughts. “Frigid Digits” is really kind of a love song between the hunter and the hunted, while “Useless Eyes” is from the perspective of insects who have weathered the rise and fall of many successful waves of species in the past, (i.e. dinosaurs), and will also outlive our own species – kind of taking humankind down a notch from our self-proclaimed glory.
John: In that sense, both songs can be seen as being about struggle and acceptance. The lyrical settings for the songs can be seen as showing how our experience in and with the world is really colored by one’s specific perspective. All that said, when we were thinking about what songs we’d like to use for videos we realized they both contain a lot of odd, lyrical imagery and musical movement/dynamics and seemed to be perfect candidates for a visual treatment.
I love the DIY approach to these two videos, as well as “Ashby and Shattuck”. Artistically speaking, is it a collective collaboration when evoking ideas for videos as well as when it comes to producing them?
John: Megan and I both have an eye for interesting imagery, and a lot of the footage we use in the videos is culled from our large collection of clips we shoot of interesting things we see around home and on the road. I’ve got a pretty good eye for editing and storyboarding these images and organizing the more-planned shots (which we both shoot
together), as well as doing weird technical things like stop-motion animation. Megan, meanwhile, produces all the additional artwork/drawings that are used in the videos, much as she does for our record covers, t-shirts, posters, etc. The “Ashby and Shattuck” video was actually made as a gift for us by Jen Shag of Starcleaner Records, who not-so-coincidentally also released a picture disc 7” with the same song on the A-side. I really enjoy Jen’s eye for mysteriousness and for achieving a cool grittiness to her videos; it works really well with the song.
When we talked to you last, how much of the new album had already been done?
Megan: That was around February, right? Since then, we recorded the songs “Waiting and Opportunistic”, as well as the CD-only bonus tracks “Elephant In The Room” and “No Time”. The first three of these were recorded at the Women’s Audio Mission in San Francisco with Terry Winston, while “No Time” was recorded by Megan in Berkeley. The other 8 tracks were recorded with Matt Waters at Waters Recording. We are really proud of how this record came together over time, because it allowed the songs to be built and recorded in such a way that they came out exactly how we wanted them to sound.
And now, you have your very first full-length album about to be released entitled, Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons, (which I think is a wonderful title). Where did you come up with that?
John: “Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons” is a line from the song “Livid Lizard”. In the song, it directly refers both to the oil-stained, sea-water-rusted eyes of the spill-spawned sea monster that climbs from the Gulf to seek his revenge, only to be totally unnoticed by the bloodshot eyes of people onshore consuming oil like water as they pollute their own environment to the point where an oil spill would just blend right in to the landscape. Then the monster realizes that we have become monsters ourselves.
The LP version is coming out via Plan-It X Records, and the enhanced CD version is coming out via Bakery Outlet Records. What are some of the major differences between the two versions of the album?
Megan: Well, the artwork itself is actually different. The LP version’s cover depicts a daytime scene while the CD version is set at night. The CD version also comes with a couple of extra unreleased tracks and enhanced content including four videos and some interviews, while the LP comes with a download card and full-sized artwork – we really
wanted to use each format’s strengths to the max.
What’s interesting to me is the sound STREET EATERS have in comparison to past bands you’ve been in, like THE FLESHIES, TRICLOPS!, and YOUNGER LOVERS. It’s a bit more Riottgrrl with a more fuzzed-out, DIY sound that fans may not be used to hearing from prior bands you’ve been in. Was the intent to produce a more DIY sounding band or do you think it was just the natural/organic sound that came out from the two of you working together?
Megan: It was definitely a natural sound that we stumbled into, we didn’t have a vision for what we wanted to sound like other than we wanted it to sound like us.
John: Some of the things that I think have become hallmarks of our sound were borne of necessity out of the limitations of being a band with only two people that didn’t (and still don’t) want to add anyone else. The heavy bass fuzz and tone, the tom-heavy/poly-rhythmic drumming, and cascading vocal harmonies are all part of us trying to fill up
sonic space to make as full a sound as possible.
Speaking of the harmonies, did you have to perfect the art of the harmonization between you two or was this fairly organic as well?
John: It was pretty much natural for us; we both really love to sing and are kind of vocal frontpeople by our nature. This is just the music we hear in our heads.
For the past three weeks, your new album has been the primary album I’ve been listening to, especially “Ashby and Shattuck”. There’s nothing more that I can connect with than a song about walking around at odd hours of the night by yourself. Adding the part about “if you’re there that’s ok, too” adds a layer of romanticism; you can take this walk I normally take alone with me. Who wrote this song and was it based on personal experiences, or even an attest to your own relationship?
Megan: Glad you like it so much! I originally wrote this song about being alone, by oneself, and thinking; wanting to just be alone. When I showed it to John, he interpreted it as a more romantic song than what I had originally intended, and added his part about joining the walk with me – which I agreed to. His response made this song more of a conversation as opposed to an inner dialogue, which to me makes the song much more dynamic. This kind of process is one thing I really enjoy about this band; even though I wrote the core of the song, it still very much includes John’s influence.
John: Yeah, I totally invited myself along on your walk, and I’m not sorry.
The versatility of the album, from a lyrical standpoint, addresses topics of love like on “Ashby and Shattuck” and social issues like on “Falling Through the Cracks” that (seems to be) based on the evil cycle of the pharmaceutical industry. There were two main lines that really got me. One was where you, (John), sing, “I’m at the mercy of a system where pain and profit collide… I am young but not invincible, I want to stay alive.” It’s obvious you don’t look kindly at that industry. Is this fair to say?
John: I am not medically insured, and have been repeatedly denied coverage even without having any serious preexisting conditions; it is a simple fact of life in America that if you are trying to buy insurance as an individual outside of a work-provided policy context you have very few rights and are facing a difficult and expensive path. As fewer and fewer companies, for example the nonprofit where I worked for four years, offer insurance to their employees, more people have to wade into this chronically un- or under-insured pool of people, which at last count topped 70 million. The health care
legislation that passed last year was so watered down, and so delayed (2014?!?), that I don’t necessarily see us joining the entire rest of the industrialized world anytime soon by offering universal health care for our citizens – this country is simply too mean-spirited (i.e. “nobody should get a free ride on my tax dime”-type of Tea Party garbage) and beholden to huge-money interests that want to keep the current system intact. Maybe public attitudes will shift, but I’m not holding my breath.
Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend that. But there’s also this line in the song, “The room for emergency is the only place for people like me.” I’m fairly sure who you’re talking of, but I would rather not assume. When you say “people like me”, which people are you referencing?
John: Well, that would be those 70+ million uninsurable people, including many working, productive Americans who pay taxes and contribute to society. Seriously, having traveled a lot and talked to a lot of different people across the spectrum internationally, I can
assure you the entire rest of the developed world thinks we are totally crazy.
So was this album in fact a theme of your outlook on current issues? And did you set out to make an album with a theme to it?
Megan: There was no theme per se, but it is a picture of our views and perspectives on life, personal and larger-scale, over a very specific and turbulent period of time.
Are there any specific tracks that are more personal to you then others?
Megan: “Ashby and Shattuck”, “Failure To Provide”, and in an abstract sense, “Frigid Digits”. Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet, “Failure to Provide” was written to express the frustration that women have over the lack of control over their own bodies concerning reproductive rights, and it seems really unfair to me that society considers women more human and deserving of life as genderless, unborn fetuses than as grown adult women who are capable of making their own choices.
John: In a sense, all the songs are all really personal to me as they all concern issues that span personal and political divides – 21st century America’s unending foreign wars, environmental degradation, and erosion of human rights have affected all of us, whether we are aware of it on a day-to-day basis or not. Sometimes it feels like this country’s sense of morality has taken a big punch to the gut. Obviously, something like being medically uninsurable or Megan’s fear that a profoundly-right wing Supreme Court might take away her right to choose are very immediate and pressing issues, but all these issues affect us in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
There’s no doubt that as a woman, ”Failure to Provide” does hit home with myself. But aside from politics, I’d like to talk about the tour. I’ve been keeping track of your blog on Streeteaters.com. It seems like you guys are having an awesome time. Have there been a lot more house shows that you’ve been playing? And do you prefer house shows to venues?
Megan: Yes, we are having a blast, and we are glad you are enjoying the blog; we’ve made a pact to try and write something for every show. We like playing house shows a lot, but we’ve had a great time playing at aboveground venues as well – basically we enjoy playing for enthusiastic audiences who are there to enjoy music and not be jerks.
Even though they may be all in different environments, they can all be fun.
I noticed the picture of that big-ass gulp of an energy drink. Was that really on tap?? I’ve never heard of an energy drink being on tap…
John: Yes, it was on tap, and it was jitterrific. Coffee would’ve been preferable, but hey, you take what you can get after a 7 hour drive.
Where else are you guys venturing to at this point and when does the tour officially end?
Megan: Well, we are leaving Bloomington from Plan-It X Fest and heading towards Columbus, Ohio…Two weeks left, mainly in the south, where we are looking forward to meeting up with homies like HIDDEN SPOTS, ONE-TIMERS, WITCHES, ZIPPERS TO NOWHERE, ADD/C, OVERNIGHT LOWS, BOM BON, WHITE NIGHT, and GOD EQUALS GENOCIDE!!
In general, being the fact that you’ve both played in many bands before, do you consider THE STREET EATERS to be the best project you’ve been involved in?
Megan: Well, we choose to live in the present and right now we are really happy to be doing what we are doing.
John: I totally agree with Megan.
Is there anything the both of you would like to add?
John: If you are in the Bay Area, come to our record release show July 14th at The Knockout!
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