Keith Murray (We Are Scientists) and Brett Newski live
Keith Murray (We Are Scientists) and Brett Newski chat absurd comedy, bombing jokes, sketchy DIY wrestling venues, 80s-90s action figures, REM, BNL and other bands famous for strong acronym usage.
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SNIPPET:
Brett: Are you working on any “missions” outside of music at the moment?
Keith: Well, you know, as ever with Chris and I, we talk a lot about about missions that we want to do, and then because music is our bread and butter, we often decide, “Maybe we should do one more musical thing before we start this other thing.”
We’ve always got eight different things in varying media in which we are simultaneously inexperienced yet utterly convicted of our expertise ready to go.
Brett: Yeah, you get such a buzz talking about projects you’re going to do and finish, and you have ten of them, and you do none of them.
Keith: Yeah. It is fortunate that we have one line of productivity in which we are reliable. And I think that lets us be okay letting go of other projects. We had a manager during our second and third album who often told us, in a way that I understood what he meant, but the phrasing left a lot to be desired, but he would say, “You guys have great ideas for lunch.” Which I assume meant, they occurred often, and then several hours later were reduced to shit?
Brett: Well it depends on what kind of lunch we’re talking about. Like, I had a horrible time at high school lunch, I’d put my tray on the table, and all the food items would be snatched off within nine seconds.
Keith: Well I don’t think he meant our ideas were often stolen and used. This was also our manager who, when we threatened to call our second album Do Smoke Detectors Detect the Smell of Smoke, got really disappointed when we changed our mind 12 hours later. He consistently brought that title up, over and over and over as an option we really ought to consider.
Brett: Is this the same album that ended up titled Brain Thrust Mastery? *laughs*
Keith: Yes! It was. So you can understand his disappointment in us.
Brett: Damn, that’s such a great album title. I showed that to my drummer Spatola, and he became a fan immediately without even hearing any of your songs.
Keith: I mean, it’s a good name for a second album. When people are anticipating failure. To call it Brain Thrust Mastery, you look like an asshole if you go head-to-head against that album.
Brett: I...relate to you wanting to do absurd shit on so many levels. You want to do it, and then you have someone go, “No no no, don’t do that. Don’t go that far.” Because I’m always wondering, should I put this thing that is hilarious to me out, when maybe no one will think it’s funny, and I wonder if they’ll stop taking me seriously. How do you deal with that?
Keith: There is a lot of wisdom in advice that steers you away from abject absurdity. I mean, look, we’re on our seventh record release. So I’m not that worried about if it’ll tank or not if you have a little “too much” fun, but I do think, for better or worse, we’ve positioned ourselves as a less serious option for people who consider themselves connoisseurs of music.
There are definitely bands who have gotten very far simply by assuring everyone that they’re very serious about themselves.
Brett: Actually I remember that! When I discovered you, I think I was in college, I was maybe 20 years old, and I remember that was a time where Indie music seemed so serious. It was the most serious era of music. You had arms crossed at shows, oversized flannel, tiny winter hats in the summer that looked like yamukas.
And these shows would be so packed, but everyone would look so miserable. And I feel it was one of those things where everyone was looking to either side of them going, “Is this person into this band? Oh I’m into this too.” It sort of seemed like a mass herd following a call to the wild or something.
Keith: The more benevolent way of looking at that is, I think the benefit of the serious approach is that there’s a sense of grandeur that sort of envelopes an audience. And sometimes I go to those shows, I’m thinking, this is kind of cool that they’ve warped all these minds into thinking there’s something almost supernatural happening.
It makes me embarrassed when I feel it myself, but that’s just not the thing that often grabs me about a live show. I prefer an exciting, fun show. Those are the ones that make me want to play music. Going to a very grand show makes me feel glad I was there, but I wouldn’t go home and feel like, I have to make some music right now.
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