Who are you and what do you do:
AC: My name is Alex Cooper, I’m a 29 year-old guy who lives in Montreal and plays music in a couple of bands and works a vapid office job to support this and other mysteriously-driven endeavors.
LDJ: I’m Louis-David Jackson and I regurgitate POP music. I have musical bulimia.
JM: Jeremy MacCuish, I play drums in a few bands, including Southern Souls participants Parlovr, Cotton Mouth, Cobra & Vulture.
.
Why do you do what you do:
AC: It is a mystery, really. Aren’t all of our motivations pretty mysterious? I guess I do it because it just feels right and as soon as it doesn’t, then I’ll stop doing it.
LDJ: I love how music is always a surprise. I never know if I am going to like the next thing I write. Most of it is complete crap. So when a song comes along, and I dig it, it feels like I’ve been sifting through garbage and found a portrait of myself. Feels cool.
JM: Music is my favorite thing. I’m lucky enough to be able to play a little. I’ve been able to attach myself to some good, unique songwriters. I get to travel to far off places, meet inspiring/interesting/crazy people from all over. Not having any money doesn’t bother me so much. It’s pretty much a no brainer.
.
Current obsessions:
AC: To be very current and very frank: my girlfriend.
LDJ: TWISTER staring Bill Paxton
JM: John Irving books. I’m now finally finishing up Owen Meany – I misplaced it for a while after our last tour.
.
Story told to you when you were a child that you will never forget:
AC: A story about my Dad, who was invited to dinner and offered a large sum of money by a millionaire woman to try to persuade him to be the father of her children and how he turned it down. It made me feel weird and it made me think about how weird it is to be a parent. This was my Dad’s ‘birds and the bees’ story. Also, there’s another story (this one turned out to be bogus) that my Dad repeatedly told to me as a child about how he got shipwrecked at night while out at sea and how he had to swim to shore for hours and when he did he collapsed but someone found him and gave him a Mars bar and he was brought back to life. My dad never worked for Mars. I don’t know why the Mars was so integral to the story. Marketing must have really been powerful back then. It worked on me: I really miss the Mars almond chocolate bar since they discontinued it a few years ago.
LDJ: That if you play with your belly-button too much, your ass will fall off. I believed that for a very long time.
JM: My mom used to read me Greek myths. I always liked the Theseus/labyrinth/minotaur story.
.
Song you wish you wrote:
AC: I Am the Walrus by the Beatles
LDJ: Pilot at the Queer of God – The Flaming Lips………to name one
JM: Dylan’s Visions Of Johanna.
.
Most played track on your itunes:
AC: I don’t have an iPod or iTunes. But I was driving in our van the other day and I played Tourettes by Nirvana four times in a row on cassette tape. It is the best driving song ever, I believe.
LDJ: If I had one it would probably be Well Well Well by John Lennon.
JM: Handsome Furs – Serve The People.
.
Most cherished musical object:
AC: Don’t really have one….I guess I’d say a cheap classical guitar that I bought at a Salvation Army 5 years ago because I’ve written almost every single song in the past 5 years on it.
LDJ: Grandpa’s acoustic guitar
JM: My ride cymbal – the dryest, deadest sounding cymbal I’ve ever heard. I don’t think I’d be able to replace it.
.
Go-to album on a rainy day:
AC: The best of Simon & Garfunkel
LDJ: Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hot
JM: Dr John – Gris Gris is a great rainy album.
.
Proudest moment:
AC: As a musician/artist: writing the first song that I actually liked (it took a long, long time). As a social being: being in a 7 year relationship and getting engaged.
LDJ: Probably moving out from my parents place
JM: I’m a such cheeseball, but it’s true: every day I’m with my amazing girlfriend is an accomplishment and a half.
.
Most vulnerable moment:
AC: As a musician/artist: Losing my voice on tour. It’s the worst. As a social being: Getting a divorce/breaking the said engagement.
LDJ: Anytime before a show is a good time.
JM: A lot of mundane social situations feel that way to me, in the moment. Not to say they aren’t enjoyable or worthwhile.
.
Are you most influenced by your surroundings or your inner monologue:
AC: My inner monlogue when I’m drunk. Everything makes sense then, even if it’s falsely inflated and vain. If I let myself get influenced by my surroundings, I’d feel crushed by the negativity. There’s too much jadedness around my close surroundings, from myself included.
LDJ: I have no clue. I`m gonna say a bit of both.
JM: Inner monologue, no question.
.
Favourite venue to play in and why:
AC: Casa del Popolo in Montreal because it is at home and it just feels right.
LDJ: Tons of favourite venues!! El Mocambo, Divan Orange, Glasslands, The Horseshoe. Always a great atmosphere and all run by amazing people.
JM: L’Internationale in Paris, Vox Populi in Dolbeau, PJ’s in Detroit. I guess it seems obvious, but it’s all about the folks who frequent the pace, and the ones who work there, not so much the room itself.
.
Dream venue to play in and why:
AC: Hmmm. I don’t know what venue, but maybe Glastonbury Festival in Britain just because I think it’s going to end really soon and when I was a teen I used to go there every year and it was like the motherlode of rock festivals. All of my favorite bands played there and it was so much fun. I guess it’s gross and commercial now, but yeah, maybe Glastonbury.
LDJ: THE BIG “O” because it could never happen and because THE BIG “O” sucks.
JM: Can I change the question? I think it would be a blast to record at Abbey Road.
.
Top album released this year:
AC: Eeeesh. I really liked Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker but I guess that came out in 2010, technically.
LDJ: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
JM: Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital.
.
First band t-shirt you ever purchased from a merch table:
AC: Garbage. And I met Shirley Manson and she gave me a kiss on the cheek!
LDJ: Black offspring t-shirt with the smash cover on it. Loved it to shreds.
JM: The Snitches. Still wear it!
.
Band you’d leave your bandmates for:
AC: Honestly, my bandmates are the only real musical partners I’ve properly known, so it seems kind of a crazy idea to think of leaving them for another ‘band’. I think I’d forgo some Parlovr tours if I were asked to go on a Flaming Lips tour though!
LDJ: Cottonmouth
JM: My bandmates are pretty great about sharing me! Thanks bandies.
.
Album you wish your parents exposed you to in the womb:
AC: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon. I had too much Beatles and Beach Boys pop when I was a kid, which was great, but not enough raw anger. Could have done with some larger doses of pure emotion. More emo.
LDJ: Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club
JM: My folks were listening to Culture, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Talking Heads – I wouldn’t trade my womb experience for any other!
.
Album you want to expose your kin to whilst in the womb:
AC: The Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips. It’s so whimsical, silly and profound, all at once. Child-friendly colors and sounds but dark enough to send terror down an adult spine, too.
LDJ: Pixies – Trompe le Monde, Nirvana – In Utero and anything Beatles
JM: Anything by Culture, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Talking Heads.
.
Last record you purchased:
AC: I bought a digital EP from Mozart’s Sister, who’s a local Montreal artist/songwriter. She’s the bee’s knees.
LDJ: I think it was another copy of Stankonia from a thrift shop. So easy to find anywhere and they go for a buck sometimes. Best damn touring album to have in the van.
JM: The Uncle Bad Touch tape.
.
If for some reason you lost the ability to make and play music, what would fill that gap:
AC: Writing short stories, maybe? No, probably just becoming a Dad. Hopefully these two things aren’t mutually exclusive though…. We’ll see. Or not?
LDJ: Hopefully something creative or people oriented. I would try really hard to find something that I loved and that could sustain me for the rest of my life and do that. I`d maybe try to open up a breakfast joint. You can never have enough of those around.
JM: Lots of school to do, but I think I’d be a pretty decent scientist.
.
