other jobs then?
GREG: Well, I used to work
in this Italian restaurant.
I waited tables. Then they
sold the place. I didn't
like the guy that bought
the place. So, I quit. So
I'm one of the truly needy.
TN: I get the feeling that
you guys are expecting to
break out of that hardcore
mold...
GRANT: We've broken out of
it. It's just those people
who come to see us.
GREG: They come to see us
because we put on one hell
of a show.
TN: What if they decide
they don't want to see you?
Who else is going to come
see you?
GREG: Other people...
TN: But I didn't see a lot
of other people there to-
night.
GREG: Since we did arrive
very late tonight I didn't
really have a good chance
to look at the audience,
but generally a large per-
centage of the audience are
people that are very normal
looking, people who look
like they are into other
types of music, like heavy
metal or something.
GRANT: Heavy metal is
stupid, especially the new
heavy metal that's out now.
It's vile, it's horrible,
it's been around for 20
years.
TN: A lot of the oyunger
hardcore kids are into
those groups like Venom and
Twisted Sister.... I saw a
bunch of Led Zeppelin t-
shirts...
GRANT: Led Zeppelin can
chew up any one of those
fucking, weirdo-ass, let's
wear spikes and be assholes
heavy metal bands.
GREG: In Minneapolis the
"hardcore" kids don't
really come to see us that
much any more. Our audience
in Minneapolis is just a
bunch of regular types.
GRANT: They come to see us
as much as anybody else
except it's not
predominantly that.
TN: My friends who saw you
in Minneapolis said that
[you] didn't start out as a
"hardcore" band. You were
just a band.
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GRANT: We were a band who
played their balls off. As
we got better at playing,
we got faster at playing.
I hadn't touched my instru-
ment for four years before
Husker Du.
TN: Before that what were
you doing?
GRANT: I was in racing
cars... I was playing key-
boards which is kind of
hard while you're racing
cars. Especially those
Bach fugues, got no time to
downshift.
TN: Tell us about your
double album.
GRANT: It's bitchin', it
rules. It's got everything
anybody could need.
GREG: I think that sums it
up.
GRANT: Except for our next
album, by which time there
should be a need for
that... It's the ultimate.
It's the best thing that's
ever been recorded.
TN: Really?
GRANT: Well, "Silent Night"
is actually a pretty good
song.
TN: So you're starting to
do a lot of covers now?
GRANT: "Eight Miles High"
is the first cover we've
attempted to do since "Sun-
shine Superman" on
Everything Falls Apart.
TN: How different is it
from "Metal Circus"?
GRANT: Completely
different. None of the
songs are the same at all.
TN: Oh great!
GRANT: It's geodesic
shaped. The idea is that
everyone will have to get a
new stereo.
TN: This friend of mine
taped your earlier con-
certs, including a song
called "Drug Party"> He
still maintains that's one
of the best songs in the
world.
GREG: We still do that.
GRANT: That's one I really
have reservations about
doing, let alone recording.
You take the song "Diane">
A lot of assholes totally
misconstrued it, let alone
the ending of "Blah, Blah,
Blah"> If that is racist
then if we record "Drug
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Party" there's going to be
a lot of kids overdosing.
If everything is similarly
misconstrued... People
can't tell this from
anything else.
TN: When Truman Capote
wrote In Cold Blood, did he
advocate murder? You wrote
"Diane"...
GRANT: ...From a similar
point of view.
TN: What kind of effect do
you really have on people?
Do you think it might give
them some kind of sympathy
for what a girl might go
through?
GRANT: I just hope that,
not just girls, but anybody
would really watch out when
they get into the position
where somebody could do
that to them. Look at
Lucas. He murdered 200
some people who were
hitchhikers and who had
broken down on the road.
Just because you need help
doesn't mean that anybody
that's offering it to
you...
TN: What about the Atlanta
kids?
GRANT: The Atlanta kids is
a slightly different
story... I think they
needed Wayne Williams to be
guilty. If that hadn't been
a black person that would
have had very severe
consequences on the city of
Atlanta. A lot of those
murders weren't committed
by him.
TN: We try not to be like
other interviewers but
here's a question they al-
ways ask: who are the best
bands you've been playing
with?
What are some of your
favorite bands? What do
you listen to when you're
driving along? Do you
listen to the radio?
BOB: The radio does not go
on. Unless it's a talk
show, Larry King. My
favorite song is a take off
on Boy George's "Karma Cha-
meleon". (Sings)"...we wear
our jeans/but when we get
up on stage/we act like
country queens." That's
the only good song on the
radio this year.... I'm not
really in the mood to lis-
ten to anything after
soundcheck and playing.
You're really not in the
mood to hear Duran Duran's
new single.
GRANT: My favorite way of
listening to things on the
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road is a jukebox a block
away in a restaurant.
BOB: Distant hits... I'll
have you know that this is
the second night we've set
an attendance record in a
particular venue.
TN: Do you guys feel like
you're really on a roll?
GRANT: Definitely. This is
the roll we've been waiting
for. I don't want it to
get out of hand. We just
want to keep it right where
it is.
TN: No pictures of Bob in
Tiger Beat?
BOB: Matter magazine's next
issue is going to have a
Tiger Beat feature.
Favorite foods...
TN: Maybe you guys could do
a hardcore type "Spinal
Tap" except that everything
goes well.
BOB: There are so many
bands doing that now. And
they think it's serious.
GRANT: Nyah, nyah, they put
us eigth on the bill...
TN: About your symbol, I
thought that was kind of
interesting...
BOB: The circle is the
band, the three lines
across are the members and
the intersection is the
common train of thought...
Some people think it looks
like Psychic TV's. It
freaked me out when I saw
theirs because I had been
corresponding regularly
with Genesis P-Orridge and
we exchanged a lot of ideas
and stuff. It was kind of
telekinetic or something.
GRANT: What's really stupid
are the fucking people who
come to our shows, see
people slamming and really
get into the violence.
It's the sickest thing to
come between me and my
music. There was this cat
at the show last night. He
was standing right in front
of my drums. He pushes my
bass drum back and my snare
drum went, bang!, right in
my balls. It's hard to
sing while that's happening
to you. I talked to him
outside and asked him "Hey,
what did you think of our
show tonight?" He said,
"Yeah, it was pretty good">
I said, "what song did you
like the best?" He said,
I don't know the name of
any of your songs".
TN: A lot of people think
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