SHELLAC interview, part 2: Bob Weston

Shellac's Bob Weston and cat. (courtesy of missionofburma.com)


In June, Shellac's Steve Albini was nice enough to talk to TM about their new album, Excellent Italian Greyhound, amongst other things. Bob Weston, the bassist in Shellac, as well as recording engineer for many an indie rock band, not to mention the tape manipulator for Boston legends Mission of Burma, was gracious enough to answer some more inane questions over e-mail.


In your own words, how would you describe Shellac's music?


Hard rock trio.

Has it been easier or harder to operate in the method that Shellac operates over the years? [no tours to promote records, no promotion, etc.]

Not touring and not doing promotion sounds pretty easy to me. How could that get harder?

In a musical climate where records are constantly being reissued/repackaged or bands release albums every two or three years, has the Shellac pace allowed for more creativity/freedom?

Well, we probably spend the same amount of time, or less, than most bands between albums. We simply spread our time working on it way out. If we practiced a few times a week like most bands, our recoords would come out every 6 months at the pace we work.
But we only get together for a weekend every few months. So it turns into years between records. So, it doesn't change our creativity or freedom. I guess we do have a lot more time to mull over ideas, but our time together being creative is pretty short.

Since Shellac's 1000 Hurts was released in 2000, George W. Bush and the neocons have ravaged our country. How do you feel about the current state of affairs in North America?

Eh, it's depressing, so I try not to think about it. Clearly the worst President and administration in recent history. I'm assuming (and hoping ) that it will be the worst I ever see. I couldn't bear worse. My wife wanted to move to Canada after the last election.

What are some records you've been excited about in the past few years?

Mclusky, Antelope, Medications, LCD Soundsystem (my current favorite), Swirlies (They Spent Their...), Evens, Bearclaw, Stnnng....

From a recording engineer's point of view, how hard has it been to remain in the analog domain now that everyone has gone digital?


All the rock records I make are still done on tape. It doesn't take any convincing. No band has asked me to use ProTools.

What are some bands/artists you'd like to work with or what are some records you wished you had worked on?


Fugazi.

If Shellac were an animal, what animal would he/she be?


Possum.

A number of songs on Excellent Italian Greyhound have appeared in your live sets over the years, the song "Spoke" dating back to a Peel Session in the mid 90s. How much have these songs been reworked when going into the studio? Is the songwriting process still pretty much a collaborative effort?

Nothing gets "reworked". But the songs definitely evolve over time. We play them all differently as time passes. The versions on record are simply the way we played it that day. Some don't change much. Some may change without us noticing. Some have very open sections that are meant to be different every time. [The song "Spoke"] is random gibberish, with the final word of course being "Spoke".

As witnessed at Shellac's shows, [drummer] Todd Trainer has proven himself a bona fide rock star and a sex symbol for our turbulent times. Has this created any clashing of egos within the band? Will Todd continue to contribute songs on Shellac LPs?

We all put the songs together, so Todd will of course be involved. But Todd has emerged as the true rock star in the band and that's great. It takes a lot of pressure off the rest of us.

The song "Kittypants" is about one of the cats dwelling at [Steve Albini's studio] Electrical Audio. Is Shellac an avid enthusiast of cat rock? Will this inspire a new genre of music?

Steve and I are fully cat people. Todd is an Italian Greyhound man, as you probably already had assumed.

Any last words?

Yellow light means you should slow down and stop, if you can safely. It does not mean speed up--it's about to turn red.

Also, please use your directional signals. It makes life so much easier for other drivers and cyclists.

Superbad

Superbad (directed by Greg Mottola)

Actor Seth Rogen (Freaks & Geeks, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) has had a pretty good summer, with Knocked Up being a surprise hit at the box office, and now Superbad, a script he started working on as a teenager with his friend Evan Goldberg.

Superbad makes the wise decision not to rely solely on gross-out humor, although there is undoubtedly a fair share of it. If the movie seems relatively anticlimactic in parts, it's because there is more focus on the way these kids talk, act, and think--too many teen comedies are blissfully unaware of the fact that adolescence is a painful and awkward time, and Seth (the biting and sarcastic Jonah Hill) is pissed off at pretty much everyone. His best friend, not surprisingly named Evan (Michael Cera), is more withdrawn and shy, but has the same objective as his friend: to score some beer, get the girl, and get laid. Or does he? Cera's character is an interesting one, because in a conventional script, he would be the token sidekick. In Superbad, he's the one that contemplates the silliness of it all.

The real comic relief is delivered by the uberdork wanksta Fogell (newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse), from here on known as McLovin. McLovin has a fake ID, you see, so he's summoned by Seth and Evan to get alcohol for the big end-of-year party being thrown by Jules (Emma Stone), whom Seth is intent on hooking up with.

Naturally, the alcohol plan goes awry, and McLovin is treated to an all-night "patrol" with two of the local goofball cops (Rogen and SNL's Bill Hader). Meanwhile, the friendship between Seth and Evan is put to the ultimate test, and that's where the film's true poignancy lies.

While Superbad isn't a great movie, I admired the respect Rogen and Goldberg had for these two main characters, and their contempt for standard plot devices and reliance on teen movie cliches. Instead, they find a way to make a joke out of menstrual blood.

Stardust

Stardust (directed by Matthew Vaughn)

Stardust is part fantasy, part romance, part adventure and all creative fun. If Stardust is to be seen for one reason alone, it would be for Robert De Niro's hilarious performance as Captain Shakespeare, a pirate with a bit of a soft side (that's all I'm gonna say about it).

Tristan (Charlie Cox) is trying to woo Victoria (Sienna Miller), and does so by promising to bring back a falling star. This star, played in human form by Yvaine (Claire Danes), is the object of obsession for a coven of witches, led by a decaying Michelle Pfeiffer. At the ripe old age of 400, Pfeiffer's character is intent on ripping out Danes' heart in order to gain eternal youth.

Director Matthew Vaughn, whose only previous directing credit was the well done 2004 British gangster film Layer Cake, has plenty of fun with the material, based on a story by Neil Gaiman, but it's the bold and inventive performances that carry the film through to the end.

You Follow Me

Nina Nastasia & Jim White- You Follow Me

From the opening song on You Follow Me, "I've Been Out Walking," which has Nastasia gasping for breath to narrate a story, it's immediately obvious that you're in the hands of a great songwriter. With this, Nastasia's fifth album, she's already established an impressive track record of high quality.

While I loved Dogs, The Blackened Air and liked Run to Ruin, part of the charm of Nastasia's last LP, On Leaving, and this album, is the space allowed for the songs to breathe. Her voice and guitar are captured perfectly, and Jim White's drums are loud/present, the only three instruments heard on the record. Of course I would expect no less from someone like Steve Albini, but recording-wise, these sparse, tight arrangements fit her aesthetic the best.

Jim White, similar to a free form jazz drummer (thought I really do hate most jazz) in that he doesn't follow the rhythm as much as create his own style to fit the mood of Nastasia's songs, is incredible on the album, as well as in his main band, The Dirty Three.

Seeing Nastasia live last year, I was struck by the power of the song "Late Night," which is included here, with just as much as passion as that performance. Also good are "Our Discussion," "How Will You Love Me" and the last track, "I Come After You." Nastasia's songs are direct, immediate and affecting--you couldn't really ask for more.

The Freed Man

Sebadoh- The Freed Man

Sebadoh's III is often cited as being their best record, but it's not as fun and demented as The Freed Man, which is basically two goofballs realizing the potential of samples and tape manipulation. The songs by Lou Barlow and Eric Gaffney date as far back as '81 and end around the late 80s, around when the first "real" lineup of Barlow, Gaffney and Jason Loewenstein was formed. At 52 tracks, The Freed Man is a bit of a behemoth, but the songs are good, especially the throwaway pop of "Julienne," "Punch In The Nose," and "Moldy Bread." For post-adolescent yearning, heartbreak and disillusionment, you could really do a lot worse.

Bourne again

The Bourne Ultimatum (directed by Paul Greengrass)

The third installment in the Jason Bourne series is visceral, exciting, well-directed fun. Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, United 93) kicks the story off at a frenetic pace and doesn't let go. The camera work is at times a bit dizzying, but the action and fight sequences are so well done that it's warranted, and there are stunts aplenty, as opposed to the CGI saturation of most recent action films.

Jason Bourne (Damon) is starting to recall his true identity, and isn't that a bitch for the CIA dogs running the top secret Blackbriar mission. Weasely Noah Vosen (played with finesse by David Strathairn) and Pamela Lundy from the previous films (the superb Joan Allen) are trying to track Bourne's whereabouts, but just as they're about to nab him, Bourne throws them another catch-me-if-you can sucker punch, and it's off to another part of the world. London, Paris, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Tangier: the Second Unit crews on this film require a bathroom break apiece.

The Bourne Ultimatum is in essence another late-summer blockbuster, but it's also one of the best action films in recent years.

Say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud

Talk To Me (directed by Kasi Lemmons)

Kasi Lemmons' film Talk To Me is inevitably about race, but more than anything, it's about keeping your integrity. There's a key scene towards the end of the film where Petey Greene (Don Cheadle) is offered a slot on The Tonight Show, and his long-suffering girlfriend Vernell (Taraji P. Henson) tells his manager and best friend Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that something isn't right. Sure enough, Greene blows his chance at megastardom, and Hughes is left wondering why he would give it all up. Truth be told, Greene never really wanted to be a celebrity--he just wanted to "tell it like it is."

Based on the true story of ex-con-turned-radio-personality Petey Greene, who literally stole himself a spot on Washington D.C.'s WOL radio station, Talk To Me takes a fairly conventional biopic approach, but is nonetheless anchored by Cheadle and Ejiofor's great performances.

Greene is the ultimate anarchist, saying things over the airwaves that no one dared to utter during the tumultuous 60s, and acting off of his own convictions, posing the ultimate threat to "the man," who is initally represented as the WOL station boss (Martin Sheen). While there's been a lot of reference to Greene being the precursor to shock jocks like Howard Stern and the like, Greene's mission was more for social change than to simply stir up controversy.

While Talk To Me at times seems a bit too convenient and feels like we've seen it before, it's the friendship between Greene and Hughes that keeps it going, and it's a story that ultimately needed to be told.