Topic: Glassjaw.net: The Justin Beck Interview (June 2008)
Interview conducted by Gojiro on behalf of Glassjaw.net:
Firstly, lets get the obvious question out of the way.. When's the
new album coming out ?
As far as I am personally concerned, there will be a release well
before the end of the year. There is no good reason why we
shouldn't release something.
Do you have any plans to play any Festivals this summer? I?ve heard
rumours of Leeds/Reading.
That's funny. I heard the same thing. Do we have anything locked in?
No. But I did hear some shit like that.
Is the constant secrecy due to there just being not enough "album
ready" material to show or is it just to build the hype for the new
record?
Bitch, do I lie? I ain't skurred. Again, you've probably heard my
say it before. There is no secrecy. Just juggling muliple schedules
of multiple parties.
Should we believe the hype?
Who's hype? I'm the first to walk off stage and say we suck.
However, I think our new stuff is pretty satisfying. The songs
you've heard are one thing. But the other shit, the real new shit,
is on some next level shit. Get with that.
Please can you log onto the forum and upload like 20 seconds of John
Lennon or something??
I can hardly manage our myspace, let alone upload a song.
Where is the album being produced and who by?
The album is being produced at my house with us and my good friend
Jonny Flo.
Please explain your writing process.
It's like a really self-involved ego orgy. It'll be like starting
riff on the rhodes, looping that shit and then saying to myself damn that's
fucking hot. Then, I jump behind the drums and play to that
loop like it's the hottest shit ever. I even put on that really
angry gospel jungle face where it looks like I'm smelling someone
taking a nasty shit. Like when Manny's feeling the riff, he'll snarl
and look like he's smelling shit. Like that. Then at that fucking
point I jump from instrument to instrument, floating my own boat,
thinking the next riff is hotter than the next. So yeah, it's
fucking vanity at its finest fuck you.
How far along are you with this process?
Me personally? Baker's dozen. A sweet one at that.
Tell us why Ross Robinson is not associated with the new album?
Ross is like a fine delicacy. He's like the best bowl of pasta ever.
But in all reality, if you ate that same bowl of pasta every night
you'd probably hate it after awhile. So with that being said I
think we're feeling like eating Chinese on this one.
What?s the deal with the flag that you've have draped behind you on
stage recently?
I'll finally put this stupid fucking question to rest. Collectively
as a band one of our favorite shows ever was Mr. Show. We know every
joke, every episode, everything. There was one episode where David
Cross played a redneck who wanted to secede from the United States
and claim independence. In this sketch, he made his own flag. We
always reflected upon that and thought it'd be a hysterical way to
pay tribute to Mr. Show and also tap into the deeper meaning of just
doing our own thing. So, at that point creating our own flag was
simple. It was one star for our nation. And a stripe for every
member. I sat and toyed around with a gazillion different flag
layouts and at the end of the day when you study flags, you come to
understand that there are a couple of generic templates that
encompass all flags around the world. So for the ingredients we had
in front of us and the colors that we had in mind, the Puerto Rican
or Cuban template that most people recognize the GJ flag as, was the
one that made the most sense.
So fine, we're a fucking four piece at this point. That extra stripe
is for Todd's replacement or we might bring Dave Allen back on
sprooms or possibly the lead bass. Besides, have you ever seen a
four-striped Puerto Rican flag? It looks stupid.
Did you prefer the Camden Barfly show or the Brixton Academy show?
Brixton Academy because I didn't have some drunk schmuck grabbing my
ball sac the entire set asking for a guitar pick when I really only
had 7 picks on my person and I couldn't really afford to give one
away.
Why did you have such a bad support band in Cardiff? Please tell me
it was the promoters fault.
Promoter.
With Warner brothers sucking at promoting a band like Glassjaw Are
there any plans to market the new album in a different way to how
has previously been done? Something along the lines of Nine Inch
Nails or Radio head?
I'll be honest with you. I'm over promotion. I'm content with
putting music out and letting people find it. Only if we did
something on our own would we try to push some envelope. At the end
of the day when you're bound to a massive corporation, you just have
to make the best of the situation. At this point, just putting music
out would be more than satisfying.
Is it true that Star under my bed may not be on the new album but
instead as a digital single??
I wouldn't be shocked if the whole album was giant digital single.
Think about it. Albums are irrelevant. They came about because you
couldn't press an individual song every two minutes. But nowadays,
you can take one song split it up a thousand times and release it.
It's that easy. So yeah, more focus on songs not albums, not hype,
just songs.
Is it true that no older song will be on the new album??
No, but if you love some old shit go check out Roadrunner. Those
dudes are claiming that you need our first album that we told you
not to buy.
Do you feel you have anything to prove with the new record? There's
a lot of expectation for you guys to meet after being away for so
long. Feel any pressure?
Nah. No pressure.
Any chance of songs you seem not play anymore i.e. el mark,
convectuoso, Ry Rys song, trailer park Jesus making it back into the
set in the future?
Maybe. We usually don't play them because either a) I fucking hate
them or b) they were songs that we'd play and you assholes would sit
there and scratch your balls so we took them off the set and threw
them to the bottom of the ocean.
Who the hell is Lloyd Hoffman, and why are his T-shirts so cool?
Don't fuck with Lloyd Hoffman. That's all I am at the liberty to say.
Explain how you have managed to expand the company to this level
from what started out as a fairly small operation?
Hard work. Doing the right thing.
Everyone in the band has a lot of other commitments (merchdirect,
saves the day, head auto/ C.C), with that in mind will glass jaw
ever be a full time concern as a band again??
I think about Glassjaw every day. What do you consider full time?
Would you prefer it if I blogged every day about bullshit in the
studio and released shitty music every other day? Sure, then you get
a full time pile of shit. Again, we're just kinda fucking around and
hopefully soon enough something will pop out. But in my mind,
Glassjaw is a full time gig.
Any plans for a vinyl release of the new record or any of the older
records??
Sure, why not?
What's the deal with EYEWTKAS re-mastered, is this just roadrunner
being greedy bastards?
Greedy bastards. I'll give you the real shit kicker. I got a phone
call from them last week saying how they wanted to not only remaster
it, but also include that version of Convectuoso that was on our
European single for Ry Ry's song almost ten years ago. Reason why
it's so funny, ironic and just plain unnecessarily mean is that when
we were mixing EYEWTKAS we were writing that song in the studio next
to the control room. Our A&R hit record and kept it on a little
digital file I guess. Months later, when we were offered a Deftones
tour in Europe they told us that if we wanted to get any support
from the label, we needed to release more material to qualify for a
European single. We told them we had nothing and they told us, "You
have that live version of Convectuouso." We didn't really see it as
a "live" recording, but more of a practice tape, basically three
assholes writing a song and figuring out what to do with it. Being
young and a bunch of pussies, we didn't want to upset the label so
we allowed them to put it out. Fast forward a couple years later,
we're getting ready to release Worship & Tribute with the intended
closing track of Convectuoso which we finally felt we perfected.
Right before mastering W&T, we received a cease and desist from
Roadrunner claiming that we were in breach of contract and that
they, in fact, own the rights to our song. So since it was
"released" it was considered part of "their" catalog and it was off
limits for years to come. When you think about it, that was
insulting enough. To be told you can't release your own art even if
it was recorded years later on someone else's time -- that was
frustrating. But for them to come around just last week and express
to us that they want to try to exploit that song specifically, we
felt was pretty tacky and tasteless. The moral of the story is we
have nothing to do with this release at all. I'm assuming they're
figuring that a couple of you will think that we added something to
it or that there's something new you've never heard. This isn't the
case. You've seen it all before and you can probably find it online
for free.
Why do you think it is that you have a bigger fan base/can play
bigger shows after a 5-6 year hiatus than when you were a 'full
time' band?
I just think the options are getting slim. What, are you going to go
to an Avenged Sevenfold concert?
Are you in favor of Barack Obama "painting the White House black"
this November?
My wife's black.
If Hitler had won the war would merch direct exist? If so would you
be producing SS youth caps and T-shirts?
No, I would have been in a fucking oven. But if I avoided the oven
somehow, I would have loved to produce shit for the SS. All kidding
aside, I'm a huge Hitler fan. Crazy, he was. Yeah, genocide isn't
the coolest. But he was a fucking genius, unlike our genocidal
president. Hitler came from nothing and there was no nepotism
involved. He was dedidated and had a clear vision on what he wanted.
You don't find shit like that today. Everybody's a lazy quitter. And
that man had persistence. Keep in mind, this just came out of the
mouth of a fucking Jew.
If dr. know from the bad brains asked to play 2nd guitar in
glassjaw, would you let him?
No. I would kick myself out and make him play first guitar. And then
I would make myself a roadie for Dr. Know like Craig Bonich in Head
Automatica was for me. Did I mention he was my roadie? He used to
change my guitar strings and get me water and stuff.
What are you currently listening to?
Bobby Valentin. Floetry Live. Mint Condition. A lot of new Glassjaw.
Suggest some good movies.
Ask Manny that shit.
Deftones VS Quicksand.. Discuss !!
Quicksand. That shit changed my life.
Head Automatica or Saves The Day ?
Fuck both those bands. They're fucking up my schedule.
Do you have any musical side projects ?
Bex Machine. Dead Fossils. WTN. CR. The rest are top secret.
