Pavement was one of the greatest indie bands of the '90s. They eloquently expressed the frustrations and disconnection of modern America while finding a cathartic way through to celebrate and enjoy life among the wreckage. Scott Kannberg (a.k.a. Sprial Stairs) was a founding member of Pavement on guitar and vocals. Matador recently reissued the pivotal early Pavement album Slanted + Enchanted in a 2-CD Luxe + Reduxe edition incorporating the EP Watery, Domestic and a wealth of b-sides, Peel session tracks and live songs. It's quite a staggering collection, as immediate and emotional as ever but enhanced by the added perspective of time and the band's subsequent artistic achievements. A Pavement 2-DVD set Slow Century came out at the same time as the S+E reissue. Slow Century features a documentary, live performances, and all of the band's highly entertaining videos. Some of the videos are just hilarious, casting Pavement as sort of an ironic update of The Monkees.
When Pavement broke up, it
felt like the whole indie rock thing was over. Fortunately, Scott
Kannberg didn't waste any time before returning with a new musical
project under the name Preston School Of Industry. While Pavement's
other singer/guitarist Stephen Malkmus has put out a couple of
interesting albums continuing the more progressive late Pavement
sound, Preston School Of Industry feels like an extension of Pavement's
mid-career peak from such albums as Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
and Wowie Zowie. The first Preston School Of Industry EP
Goodbye To The Edge City and the PSOI singles found Scott
experimenting with different styles such as electronic textures
and horn arrangements. PSOI's full-length CD All This Sounds
Gas is concentrated on indie rock with a slight country twang.
A great album in its own right, All This Sounds Gas also
does a good job of demonstrating what Scott brought to the Pavement
sound. The album also insightfully addresses the sour feelings
at the end of Pavement, providing fans with the chance to process
the lingering fallout from that period. Scott Kannberg started
up the San Francisco-based label Amazing Grease a few years ago,
an outlet which shows that he is not only a major talent but also
has a good ear for other bands.
Nick Bensen: Your early music (along with the work of others such
as Bob Pollard, Lou Barlow and Nick Saloman) was largely responsible
for the lo-fi home recording movement. What gave you the idea
to put out self-produced music at a time when even most indie
records were done in studios with producers?
Scott Kannberg: Our early records were not really lo-fi home recordings like the others you mentioned. We recorded everything in a real studio. Gary Young was the engineer. It probably sounded lo-fi because we didn't have a clue on how things were to sound and we just put everything on there, all the mistakes etc. and we didn't know how to mix or master things correctly. We were so excited to hear ourselves that we just said "fuck it, it sounds cool". I think Gary thought we were crazy wanting it like that. He was into Zappa and Yes and we were Silver Apples and Pere Ubu. At the time, putting out our self-produced stuff was really our only option. We were just following in the footsteps of what others were doing at the time. K records were putting out singles, so was Am Rep. Plus, there was this little fanzine scene going on and I think we thought it would be cool to be part of that.
NB: What were your earliest musical influences?
SK: Kiss, Devo, Stones, Blondie. But I really started to get into music when I was 18 or so. I loved Punk Rock and then English Post Punk like Echo and the Bunnymen. REM also got me into a lot of bands by namechecking their favorites. That's how I got into Wire and Television etc. etc.
NB: What do you listen to these days?
SK: I'm kind of into West African
high life stuff from the 70's this month.
Oh, and I like the new Spoon disc.
NB: Can you share a few high points and low points from your years with Pavement?
SK: High. Playing to 30 thousand people in the wind and rain right before Nirvana at Redding 92. Making Mark E Smith care. Making a few great records. Low. Coachella festival 99.
NB: What was it like doing the HBO Reverb show near the end of Pavement?
SK: Didn't really like it. Lots of hot lights and stupid questions from the interviewee. When you listen to the show, you can actually hear my guitar in the mix. That usually didn't happen.
NB: Which are your own favorite songs from the Pavement recordings?
SK: Hit the Plane Down, Your Time to Change.
NB: How did you form your current band Preston School Of Industry? By the way, it's a fantastic California image to use as a band name (the grim, imposing brick institution rising up at the point where the Central Valley turns into the foothills).
SK: It's not really a band. It's more of a solo thing, I guess. Most of the people who have played with me are from other bands and have been nice enough to help out when needed. Initially, I thought it would be good to have a band, and hopefully the band experience will come again, but right now it's only me.
NB: Can you tell us a little
about the other people who have played with PSOI? The line-up
I've seen live is amazing.
SK: We've had lots of different people involved. As of the last
tour we had Chris Heindrich, Jim Lindsay, Dan Carr, and Mike Drake.
Jim and Mike are in the band Oranger who are about to release
a new record and are touring with the Apples in Stereo. Dan used
to be in Creeper Lagoon. Chris used to play with Jim White and
David Dondero.
NB: Chris is really good on pedal steel.
SK: Chris is great. We met him playing steel for David Dondero and asked him to come along for the Wilco tour. I'm hoping he flies in for the next record.
NB: The first PSOI release Goodbye to the Edge City had a lot of diversity for a five-song EP while the full-length All This Sounds Gas seems to be held together thematically, as if the songs back up the subjects and perspectives of the other songs on the album. Do you think that the EP was more about exploring possibilities and the album was more of a specific focused statement?
SK: The album was definitely more focused and thematic, but not on purpose, at least not at the beginning. I had 20 songs mixed, but I wanted only 10 or 11 on the record. I went through tons of different orders and songs for it. And in doing so, I noticed I did have songs that were not only thematically connected but also more focused. It's weird, because some songs were really old and some were brand new. I guess I noticed I had a concept record after the fact. Ha. The EP had songs that were a little more rough around the edges and I thought a perfect bridge between the old (Pavement) and the new (PSOI).
NB: Is it fair to say that All This Sounds Gas is concerned with the end of Pavement or are the critics reading too much into the lyrics?
SK: Yeah, some of the lyrics were about the end of Pavement. That's what was going on. But it's also about new beginnings as well.
NB: The same songs that have a melancholy weight on All This Sounds Gas become very joyful and fun when played live. Do you approach recording and live shows with very different attitudes?
SK: Yeah, I don't take playing live that seriously. You can't. It just gets stupid. I mean, I'm serious about playing live but if it's not perfect it's not the end of the world. I love seeing bands having fun. There's nothing worse than seeing a band with no sense of humor.
NB: What's the story behind the excellent B-side "Save Our Happiness" (from the single "The Idea Of Fires")? Some of the lyrics come from the EP track "How To Impress The Goddess pt. 2" but the context seems altered on "Save Our Happiness". The production with all the backwards sounds is particularly cool.
SK: I had the "Save our Happiness" version for a while before I re-did it for the EP. I like both versions. "Save our Happiness" was pretty much done off the cuff while I did that Phish cover tune. "How to Impress the Goddess" is the folkie version.
NB: What are PSOI's touring plans for the rest of this year?
SK: Nothing planned as of yet. I've got a really nice tour diary up at our website. It's been so long.
NB: Are you working on writing and recording any new music?
SK: I'm hard at work on the next PSOI record right now. I've got a friend coming up to Seattle in March to play the drums, so hopefully sometime after that I'll have it pretty much done.
NB: You have been running the Amazing Grease label for a few years. How did it start out and what's the label's philosophy?
SK: No philosophy really. Just wanted to put out cool records by bands I liked. Still going by those rules.
NB: I know that Amazing Grease has released your own EP, some things by Oranger and the Noise Pop compilation. What else has the label put out and what is in the works?
SK: Panty Lions "So Dang Rad" out now. Coming in May, a Film School EP and a new Moore Brothers CD. After that, a cd by a band from Austin called Canoe.
NB: There were something like 33 bands involved in the Noise Pop project. Was it tricky to pull it all together?
SK: Yeah, but not really as tricky as you might think. It was all done pretty fast. It was fun to do that.
NB: Can you tell us a little about the new Slow Century DVD?
SK: Well, it's finally been
released. I think all in all it's pretty good. I was hoping the
documentary section could've been a little more comprehensive,
but Matador really wanted to get it out at the same time as the
Slanted reissue, so we were pressed for time.
Many thanks to Scott for taking time to do this interview and for his cheerful help in resolving the technical problems that plagued the interview file. For more information, go to www.amazinggrease.com and www.matadorrecords.com.
Interview © 2003 Scott Kannberg and Nick Bensen.