Your Question:

09/16/2020 Han

Hi!
I am a high school student/ contemplative high school drop-out because the stuff we learn is inane and ridiculous and teenagers are mean. Any advice on how to stay somewhat sane while being forced to sit in the back of a freezing Canadian classroom for two-and-a-half hours? I'm assuming-- which I know is a terrible road to walk down, it makes an ass out of you and me and all, but you did write a song called Everyone I Went To High School With Is Dead-- that you didn't like it either. What did you get up to to cope with it?
(I write a lot and it works-- most of the time, but good advice from strange adults on the Internet is always appreciated.)

My Answer:

My first thought is to tell you to stay in school. School is actually one of the easier parts of life, believe it or not, and it only lasts a few years until your aren’t obligated to learn anymore. The learning part is what I’m talking about in terms of being “easy”, relatively speaking — relative to all the real life horrors of adulthood. My advice is to get through the inane stuff by keeping yourself occupied by what you really want to learn, whatever that is—dive deep on your own —assuming that if you’re bored with what you’re being taught it’s easy for you to skim through it and have plenty of time to dig into extracurricular learning. I think it’s important in life in general to always be learning. You can’t be bored if you are challenging yourself to learn something new. Everyone I Went To HS With…is more about 1) the choice to follow cultural patterns and 2) the real life horrors of death before one graduates and enters the “real world”.
How did I cope? I didn’t socialize much except with 2 people, I practiced a lot and I followed my own path. I always enjoyed the learning part of it all.

YOUR QUESTION:

08/11/2020 Rob

Would you consider Rage Against The Machine hypocrites? A band that preaches socialism and anti capitalism, all the while being signed to a huge major label amd cashing in millions while playing concerts in big corporate owned theaters and arenas and selling tickets thru a billion dollar company aka Ticketmaster....Seems like they are full of shit just like every other politician

MY ANSWER:

Yes, I would. But I would also consider pretty much everyone a hypocrite. People love to sermonize their self-righteous opinions while ignoring their own faults which they may not even be aware of. Consider all the people who bitch about the environment, NFTs, farms, etc yet still fly on airplanes, eat meat, have children. Everyone is wrong. The preaching is where it gets you in trouble.

Your Question:

08/11/2020Chris

Can a bands image hurt the way they or their music is perceived? Marilyn Manson has such a clown image and then he does a mature blues rock album yet people can't move past the eyeliner and makeup. Korn has such a horrible image of dreadlocked baggy pants wearing bros, and when they hooked up with Terry Bozzio and did an electronic album, nobody took it seriously. Can a bands image take away from the music?

My Answer:

You’re asking me a subjective question. Of course anyone’s image affects how they are perceived for better or for worse. Perception is the responsibility of the beholder. I’m not sure why anyone would take Marilyn Manson or Korn seriously solely based on their music. But what you personally get out of the music is your own issue based on all of your own biases, reference points, education, psychological hangups, etc. KISS’ image, for example, had a strong, positive affect on me as an adolescent. Over the course of 40 + years how I perceive all that now has changed. Think about the kinds of music you might listen to that aren’t encased in any sort of image, like contemporary classical music. Would your impression of the music change if you knew what György Kurtág, e.g. looked like? Keep in mind that a public figure’s persona is probably filtered through a lot of other intentions and collective altering.

Your question:

08/22/2020 Gabriel

Hey, Trevor. Hope you're doing well.
Some years ago, I stumbled, I don't know how, in a channel of a woman who talked a lot about Mike Patton. She talked in a manner that I didn't know wheter she was talking about the same Patton or not. I kept watching and she indeed was. Allegedly, she studied with you guys in Eureka.
She's utterly mentally off. She keeps writing dream journals of you guys and believes that you guys are involved in some sort of cult and mind control programs. I don't have any comments about it. Do you?
Also, I have watched your Amoeba video and the music that you presented there interested me a lot. I was never much into jazz because most of the stuff that I was presented to, apart from swing, sounded like masturbation and some of the classical stuff, I like, I can see why it's great, but the things you presented there has a flavor that I liked. I'm also looking for some classical music that sounds totally angry, sheer chaos, full of hatred. Do you have any further recommendations? Something friendly, please.
Why do you consider Melissa a thrash record? Was King Diamond actually scary back in the day with that voice?
What was the most bizarre thing you witnessed in Eureka? Is Eureka like the movie Gummo? Were your music teacher happy that you were able to "escape" Eureka?
Do you like any authors from the Early Modern English era? That is, between the 15th and 17th centuries? What period in history do find most fascinating?
Thanks, Trevor. Have a nice day.

My Answer:

You’d be surprised in the amount and degree of “mentally off” fans who are sadly quite delusional. My only comment is that I hope she gets the help that she needs and is left unharmed by insecure bullies.
You want to hear some angry, chaotic, full of hate, friendly classical music? Hm, I see. Try Schönberg’s Survivor From Warsaw, Penderecki’s Threnody For The Victims of Hiroshima, Dumitrescu’s Cogito, Davies’ Eight Songs For A Mad King. I’m not sure about the hatred part — you might want to venture more towards Puce Mary or Wetware for that. I consider Melissa thrash because that’s what it was called back then. They definitely weren’t SpeedMetal, or BlackMetal, although they sort of reference all of that as well as Rush and Priest if you as me. Who cares what it’s called? And no, I never found the King to be scary. The most bizarre thing I saw in Eureka was discarded deer legs in the forest. Yes, my teachers were happy I left. 15th-17th century English is an era I have yet to explore. I like the 20th century.

your question:

08/21/2020 Jack Engel

What musical piece, song, or album are you most happy with how it turned out? I don't mean the most financially successful either, I'm talking about as a musician and an artist.

my answer:

Two things come to mind: MadLove & the solo piano Nocturnes played fabulously by Vicky Chow. The MadLove record (a financial failure) was probably my proudest compositional & production moment.

your question:

08/17/2020 Simon James

Bryan Adams Reckless was a great record. Agree? I will disappear now, I promise. Keep up the good work, I love the new Bungle single.

my answer:

Can’t argue there isn’t some good song writing on that record although I can’t ague that I’ve ever listened to it in it’s entirety. I guess I’ll do that and try to figure out if you are hoodwinking me. This is why it takes me so long to answer these damn questions.

YOUR QUESTION:

08/15/2020 Liz

Hello! Random question. My husband and I were watching commercials from old toys from the '80s and watched this one for My Pet Monster: https://youtu.be/PQ1-RH_8fro. That bass line in the jingle certainly sounds a lot like the bass part for "Dead Goon." What say you?
(I also sent this to your Twitter... sorry for the repeated question.)

MY ANSWER:

Ah, nostalgic toy commercials—the apogee of married life. I think it sounds only vaguely similar. Kinda the same tempo and 8th-note vibe, but only uses half the notes and isn’t chromatic at all. But I think one of the kids in that commercial fell victim to auto-asphyxiation if I’m not mistaken. I very well could be mistaken.

YOUR QUESTION:

08/15/2020 Josashi

Its been many years since we've spoken and you may have no recollection of me at all but, on three separate tours disco volante, secret chiefs 3 and California, we (varoius others included) smoked copious amounts of weed and discussed music. I hooked you and Trey up with some really good weed on a couple of those occasions. Anyway I have a couple of questions. I would have sent a text but, my phone with you and Treys contact info has long been destroyed. My first question is about a conversation we had in regard to soul, r&b, funk and hop hop.i seem to recall that you have a love hate relationship with those forms of music.
1. Have you heard Hiatus Kaiyote? If so, what do you think?
2. You and Trey said you'd "hook me up" next time you were in town. Well, I'm just wondering if that offer still stands? I'm out of weed..

MY ANSWER:

I have serious doubts that I smoked “copious” amounts of weed back then. I would venture to say you smoked me out once. And I thank you for that. In terms of the love/hate relationship you speak of it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve been influence by R&B, funk and soul for as long as I’ve played bass and probably longer due to watching Tina Turner with my father on the Flip Wilson show or wherever. So, you my friend, need to cut back on the herbal jazz. It’s more likely that we were relenting the influence of funk on white boys in SF in the ‘90s. 1) No, but I will give it a shot now…..ah, just watched their Tiny Desk concert from just a few months ago. Love it. Much the same vibe in terms of tempo, but it’s a strong vibe. 2) We lied.

Your Question:

08/15/2020

Curious why you guys decided on the new release to swap “Spreading” and “Raping” in the running order but keep everything else in the same order.

MY ANSWER:

The sequence of an albums songs, much to the bafflement of the digital era’s skip and search culture, is integral to the shape and direction of the whole. As the 2020 Raging Wrath added a few songs and left others out from the original 1986 version, the sequence demanded altering.

YOUR QUESTION:

08/14/2020 Me

Hey, what does SpermChurch mean?

MY ANSWER:

Whatever you want it to!

YOUR QUESTION:

08/13/2020 Simon James

Firstly, thanks for having patience in answering my last vague question.

I live in Japan. I know Zorn spent some time here, and you’ve been here with Fantomas. Seeing as you’ve toured with X girl and Melt Banana to name a few Japanese bands, along with your interest in pushing musical boundaries, have you ever considered living here yourself?

MY ANSWER:

As much as I love Japan I can’t see myself integrating there as an American. I would like to spend more time there. Book me some gigs!

YOUR QUESTION:

08/13/2020 Jcr

Of the 4 demos, OU818 and Goddammit I Love America are pretty polished and sound great....obviously Wraging Wrath and Bowel of Chiley are raw and poorly recorded. You rectified Wraging by re-recording it.....any chance of Bowel of Chiley 2.0? Ready to get your slap bass on?

MY ANSWER:

Nah. No chance. Most of that stuff is crap — us experimenting and mostly failing in my opinion. Let it die. May the master tapes disintegrate and the adolescence of it all evaporate from our collective memories.

YOUR QUESTION:

08/01/2020 carlos

hi trevor,
i've been listening to you for about 15 years. and i just saw you for the first time alone, mostly alone, at the center for new music in sf with this girl on the computer, i think you call yourselves sperm church, good name and then with amendola at uptown in oakland. i also saw you on youtube play standup bass at the luggage store, a song called pentagram. i hope to see you again in the bay. you're musical ideas have always been interesting to me. a few questions: what inspired that song, pentagram, there's a lot textures and then you break into song with the bow. can you give a reference for the tonality of those parts or even the time structure? also, i recall reading or hearing something about you doing variations on chopin's work. i love chopin. i recently got into his preludes and his nouvelle but i heard his nocturnes 15 years ago. will you or have you already composed and released this concept? will you play an online concert during the covid crisis?

MY ANSWER:

The piece Pentagram is essentially a guided improvisation divided into 5 sections. The first part is based on 5 chords which are played on harmonics, the second section is based on a very simple rhythmic idea which can be varied to no end. The other sections are similarly written with multiple options for improvisational variation and return points. What inspired this piece is a need for ritual. I’ve since put this piece away for further consideration but will perhaps revisit and refine it in the future.
I did reference Chopin’s Nocturnes with my own short and much simpler pieces for piano which you can find on my Tzadik CD “Nocturnes” along with some chamber pieces for strings.

YOUR QUESTION:

07/31/2020 JC

What was Eureka High like in the mid.80s? Was it like every other high school with different cliques and social structures? Were you and Trey and Mike part of the metal denim jacket Judd Nelson Breakfast Club circle or were you guys not in any circles? Did being in a band impress those Eureka girls?

MY ANSWER:

Yes, cliques galore. The punks & metalheads did not hang out together, the jocks and beauty queens walked proudly and the goths and ROTC geeks were banished by everyone. We didn’t subscribe and had skater punk and J.R.R. Tolkien nerds as friends. That said, we ate lunch off campus away from everyone else. So yes, Judd Nelson mostly. Impressing girls, yes, likely, although our general anti-social and misanthropic auras kept them at bay.

YOUR QUESTION:

07/31/2020 mariano

Hi Trevor! first of all, thank you so much for all the music and for being an inspiration with all your projects; it make me become a composer when i first hear Bungle a long time ago. So i have a couple of questions as a musician, 1) When it comes to the compositions in Disco Volante, there´s a sense in dealing historicities of the musical materials to add or insinuate a social critique or humor effect on the compositions? 2) i want to know how is your opinion referred to the state of current technique (compositional) assosiated to the nowadays esthetics.
I hope not to bother with my questions,sorry for my english; cheers from Cordoba, Argentina!

My Answer:

1) It’s never easy to reference my personal mindset from 25 years ago. Also, if I’m understanding you correctly you are asking if there were historical references to the material? Probably. There are always lots of little hidden compositional gems that most people will never find, nor need to, but they do work as part of the structure.
2) I’ll do my best to interpret your question: Today’s compositional techniques have far exceeded what was already over my head in the ‘80s. The kids are up to some crazy shit these days and I love it. Today we see a lot more people breaking down the walls between improvisation and composition (although Earle Brown, John Coltrane & Stockhausen were doing that years ago). The weight of the last century as well as 20 + years into this one rests on the shoulders of all whom wish to carry the torch. More power to them!

YOUR QUESTION:

07/27/2020 Ellie

Hey Trevor! I was just wondering if you have ever heard of Break of Reality "the farewell" specifically, where the cello and drums are paired to enhance the drum sound? I guess what I am trying to ask if this is something you will ever incorporate in your music and your opinion of this song, I personally think it sounds amazing.

MY ANSWER:

Hadn’t heard of them so I checked a live video just now. It’s pretty “cinematic” with a lot of pop qualities to it. I love both of those concepts but somehow this is a bit too obvious to me. Not really my thing. Pairing percussion with strings is a great orchestration and I certainly have done that. This would be a fun group to write for if they’d be into doing some less conventional material. That said, it does sound really good, you’re not wrong.

Your question:

07/27/2020 Nate from Toledo

Whats up man!
I've never had the chance to see any of your work in person - but boy do I enjoy the hell out of it ... nothing like some Mr. Bungle in the backyard BBQ to really spice up the tunes for everyone. You can thank my (now deceased) - he was a huge Faith No More fan ... and I never really understood why until I got older (37 now).
Anyway - just wanted to say thanks for all the tunes! I'm a huge fan -- keep 'em coming!
I suppose I should 'submit a question' --- I'm sure you've been asked every music question ever... Maybe I can live vicariously through a recommendation.
What would you listen to, cook (eat/drink), and watch on a date night with the wifey, or for a BBQ party?
Eh .. heres a music one. What do you listen to the most this month in the car? Whats your go too song from when you were a kid?

My Answer:

Hey, not much, what’s up with you?
For a date night with the ol’ ball n chain I’d probably listen to Bootsy and try to get her all riled up. Then hit her with some incredibly sexy Twilight Zone episodes from the ‘50s. For a BBQ I’d put on The Ornette box set from Atlantic, or perhaps Tricky.
The last thing I listened to in the car was the Hearty White show on WFMU. It’s on every Thursday at 6pm. Highly recommended.
Go-to song from adolescence: Either Nausea by X or Be True To Your School by the Beach Boys.

Your Question:

07/22/2020 El Deano

Hi Trevor. I saw Madlove in Toronto in maybe 2013? I wanted to say hello to you and some guy in the jacks says 'oh so how do you know Trevor' and I got nervous. I'm a grown adult for god's sake.
Anyway next time i'll catch you hopefully.
I play, write and dream on the side and my day job supports the family. If you weren't a musician what would you do? I'll guess anthropologist or a scientist of some ilk.

My Answer:

I’m pretty approachable when it comes to meeting strangers. It’s once I get to know you that you should be afraid. I think if I weren’t a musician I’d probably either work in a library or be a park ranger and clean up trash in the forest.

YOUR QUESTION:

07/21/2020 Tomek (Warsaw, Poland)

Hey Trevor. I have recently seen lots of interesting posts about your father and his hot rods (sorry to hear about him passing away) and it took me to some kind of nostalgic memories that are not mine. But I just couldn't stop thinking about my returns to places of childhood and the strangeness of them. How do you feel when returning to Eureka? Is it odd, strange, or is it just right feeling?

MY ANSWER:

Thank you for the sentiment. Returning to Eureka, which I’ve been doing at least one a year for the last 30 years, is always a bit strange. The dichotomy between familiar/unfamiliar, changed/unchanged, new/old, etc has a trippy effect on the brain. It doesn’t help that Eureka, like a lot of small towns is now inundated with meth. The chill hippies on the Arcata plaza have been replaced by gutterpunk Plazoids who are certainly not taking care of Mother Earth. I think return, in general, is strange. Memories are strange. I grew up in one household, as rare as that is, and my dreams are often set in that same place, so in a way I’ve never left. Definitely still feel connected to that place and will probably decompose in a mushroom suit there.

YOUR QUESTION:

07/20/2020 Sophia

Would you consider doing online bass lessons?

MY ANSWER:

I have and I do for anyone who takes lessons seriously. Try DMing me in one of the socials. I’ll try to remember to check them.