Interviews
By Jonas Kinet
1: So, who where THE OBSERVERS, what were they observing and what were
they all about?Colin : The Observers were a punk band from Portland, OR. We were all about
fun shows and fun times.
Doug: Fun shows and fun times are definitely a big part of it, and I also feel that the music itself has always been a focal point, at least for me. I also hoped the Observers would be a band that avoided the clichés of the rock and punk rock world but obviously we weren’t able to avoid all of them.
2: I got in touch with your band’s music through the ‘lead pill’ 7″and the first thing that struck me upon listening to it was that your
song structures and melodies were quite original for a punk band, which
made them differ from the usual punk sound while still being punk rock
songs, and I was wondering what influenced you when it came to writing
songs? There must be non-obvious and non-punk influences there, no?
Doug: Basically, when it comes to the song structures, I just try to keep the music a little unpredictable. Traditional twelve bar blues has been done a million times and bores me to no end. Lucky, my friend Chad who played drums for the band I was in before the Observers introduced me to a lot of cool Jazz stuff. Because of that, I started listening to and studying Jazz and even studied with Glen Moore from for the influential Jazz group Oregon. That’s when I started experimenting with changing time signatures, phasing, and freeform music. That carried over to The Observers. There is a lot more freeform influence on the Lead Pill ep. because that line-up seemed more open to that kind of stuff, but it has remained a major influence one the songs I write.
With that said, the melodies are more influenced by 1960’s pop music. I like songs that are still catchy and fun to sing along to so that’s a big part of the song writing too. If it wasn’t, the songs would feel to Jazzy, pretentious and would feel too much like math rock music masturbation.
but catchy while remain true to the Punk sound and ethos. Sixties music is the most responsible for the melodies
I try doing that with untraditional phrasings but I still try to make sure the song remains catchy and doesn’t get to
I think the Punk, Jazz, and 60’s pop influences are the most responsible for the sound of the band
3: Was having your own sound or stepping away from the more cliché
sounds or songwriting a concrete objective of the band?Doug: Most Definitely.
4: Doug was responsible for most of the songwriting, right? How did
the songwriting process take place at observers’ rehearsals? Were his
ideas and riffs always accepted by the other band members, or did he
get raised eyebrows and strange looks once in a while? Were you guys
all on the same musical level?Doug: Most songs I worked on for months even years and some cases before bringing them to practice. Usually, I didn’t bring songs to practice until they were completely finished with lyrics and everything. On the songs that Kashani and I wrote together, he would show me a couple different riffs that he wrote and I would take them and work on them and then bring the song to practice. It was the same way with the song “Normally Normal” that Colin and I wrote together. Unfortunately, sometimes what took the longest was just coming up with lyrics which lead to some really great would be Observers songs becoming Plan R or Raids songs. Plan R’s song “Not A Waste” is an example of that, but its probably for the best because they do that song so well and I think anything I could have contributed to the song would have made it worse.
As for guys accepting ideas, for the most part things were accepted without much resistance. But I also had a good idea about what I “could get away with” if you will. I tried not to bring real crazy ideas to practice but there were a fair share of things that were voted down and vetoed. One time I suggested we play a part of a song quietly in one verse but I was informed that that would be punk and so it never happened. After Skeeter left the band I was informed that drum solos were punk either and there would be no more of those allowed. That was probably for the best.
5: How did people react to your music, through the whole period you
existed? Did you feel that people were easily accepting your rather
original sound, or did you feel that some people needed to make an
effort to get into it?
Colin :I think people got into it pretty easily. It’s not all thatdifferent from a lot of punk, so people didn’t really treat it as
such.
Doug: I don’t think it is that original of a sound either. Like Colin said, it’s basically just like that early punk sound. The only aspects of the band that I feel some people had a hard time getting into at first were getting head-butted by Colin or even just having members of the band in the audience at all. It can put people out of their comfort zone so they don’t always like it at first. But even with that, there was only a hand full of times we encountered anyone who took issue with anything like that. Also, I’ve always felt like we are a “two listen” band. It seems like most people aren’t as into our recordings as much on the first listen as they are on the second or third listen.
6: What kind of shows did you usually play? Did you feel categorized
in one of the several subscenes people have created in their minds?Colin:We played a variety of shows. We played lotsa basement shows but also
played bigger ones with bigger bands. But the majority of our shows
were either at an all ages club or at this bar the Twilight, which is
no more.
Doug: We never had any set rules about where, when, or how many times we would play in a night so we played everywhere. I think our favorite shows were the ones in untraditional places like parks, art spaces, or the pedestrian bridge in Austin. We even played at a police station once in Omsted Falls, Ohio. We played almost every kind of venue you can think of at least once outside of a stadium or arena or something.
7: What were the strangest reactions you got on your records and liveshows?
Colin: None that really stick out, maybe Mission Of Burma or
Minutemen, who I think we sound nothing like.
Doug: In the Czech Republic some guys got naked when we played and danced around with everyone. That was a strange reaction I guess.
8: You stated in MRR that you used several effects during therecordings, like the using of a violin bow on the guitar (still
haven’t figured out on which part, allthough i have some ideas…)
that were left out of the live shows. Would you say that made the
observers a band that was stronger on the recorded stuff than live?
Colin: I think we were way stronger live. I just think didn’t need the stuff
for the recordings to put on a good show.
Doug: I think that although the recordings are different than the live show in some ways, the same energy is captured in both. I don’t think either one is stronger than the other, they just appeal to different things. I agree with Colin that you don’t need that stuff to put on a good live show, but it seems to help the actual record more a bit more listenable. Regardless, we really didn’t do anything in the studio that most every other band doesn’t also do like double tracking vocals or adding effects like compression and reverb here and there. But as you might have guessed, we never really saw eye to eye within the band on recording.
9: What other “weird” effects did you guys use during the recording
and which even weirder ideas got shot by the collective?Doug: Kashani gave his guitar pick-ups fellatio. That resulted in a strange sound. Once Pat Kearns (the guy who mixed most of our recordings) and I wanted to put a little effect on Mike’s drums in one song but Mike predictably shot that down. The Hajji (a.k.a. The Great Dick Tator) usually makes sure I don’t go overkill on feedback and Kashani wanted the trumpet louder in “Expiration.” That was decided by a coin flip. Beside that I can’t think of anything else that ever came up.
10: In the same MRR interview there’s talk about you guys playing
strange games and getting weird looks from dudes that put you up for
the night. Any other incrowd observers behaviour that one might be
encountered with and should get a little explanation?Doug: Kashani gives everyone nicknames which we always call each other. I guess that is the only thing people might have to adjust to, that and an unhealthy love for “poutine” (French fries with gravy and cheese curds) and Chinese Buffets.
11: How did you discover ‘beige’? Did someone talk you into reading
‘vogue’ through saying it was some new fanzine?Doug: In fact they did! I was hanging out back stage of a Disthunders of Exploited Pink Riots show when a man with a Mohawk read me an article about how Sid Vicious use to only wear beige. I thought, whats good enough for Sid is good enough for me and I bought every one of Beige’s records on ebay. Later I found out that I had been duped by the man with cool hair and it turns out beige isn’t cool, Vogue isn’t a fanzine, and Sid Vicious isn’t punk. Too bad and too late, I’m already addicted.
12: What’s normal for you, and do you ever really consider trading in
your critical mindset for a pair of no-brains, or trading in a more
selective taste in music for whatever the radio feeds you?Doug: Hopefully, “normal” doesn’t really exsist.
13: Do you ever think life would be easier, less hard to take if you
were ‘normal’ then and didn’t not have a critical, more analyzing view
on things that happen around you? I know I do, but then I realise that
ignorance isn’t only bliss, but also a rotten destiny in today’sworld.
Doug: Life would probably be a lot easier that way but its like that Onion Flavored Rings song “Virginites.” Once you have the critical mindset you never loose it, hopefully, and so whenever you try to be “normal” it just doesn’t work out. This means you just have to endure a life filled with rude awaking after rude awaking but maybe its best that way, because you’ll eventually you won’t be fooled anymore. Either way, once you lose that virginity or naivety to what’s going on around you, going back isn’t an option.
14: These days not too many punk bands include political topics in
their lyrics, it seems to me. You guys did. Did that lead to
reactions, or was that a reason for some people to tag you with acertain label?
Colin: Surprisingly there was very little reaction and what little we got was
all positive. I don’t think anyone was offended or anything. And I
don’t think it labeled us, just cause we have songs about lots of
things.
Doug: At this point, there is absolutely nothing shocking about a punk band with leftist politics. And I also don’t feel like we were ever labeled as a “political punk band” because there have been or are now so many other bands that are a lot more political than us. The only thing I can think of where we might get that label would be in the garage scene because we are probably more overtly political than some garage bands but in the hardcore and crust scene they probably don’t consider us political at all.
15: Did you guys play out or tour a lot? How did those tours go?
Colin : We played out some. Everything went absolutely fantastically. I’d
like to thank the city of Austin, TX for it’s gagantuan and undeserved
sweetness.Doug: We did four major tours last year in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The band was on tour for about four months this year and played over 100 shows. We probably would have played more shows than that, but because of other members touring in other bands we were seldom all in Portland at the same time. In past years we usually did one large U.S. tour and a series of smaller west coast tours. All the tours were all really amazing and despite some ruff times with each other in the van, I’ll always have great memories of them.
16: About the Euro tour more specific: You guys played a lot of shows
in parts of Europe where most US bands don’t even play one show, and
ditched places that are more popular to play, like there was a big
focus on the eastern part of Europe, and you guys didn’t play Belgium,
and only one show in The Netherlands. Was that a deliberate choice? Ifso, why was that?
Colin: There was a deliberate choice for sure. Ian had lived in Czech for a
few years in his adolescence so that built a fascination within the
band for eastern Europe. We only played a week out there, but it was
amazing.
17: How did that Euro tour go? How were the reactions of the localkids? Tops to remember and bottoms to forget (until some kid asks
about it in an interview)?
Colin: Euro tour = amazing. Some of the most fun
shows I’ve had. Roznov, Czech, Hannover, Germany, Ajka, Hungary, these
were amazing times.
18: Was it the first time you visited the old continent? Did it liveup to your expectations?
Colin: I had only visited once before, so it was still very very exciting.
19: What about Europe struck you as being completely different, ecfept
for the obvious things as the language?Colin: People just treat you better there. Meals and places to stay are just expected there, while here it happenes sometimes, but definitely not all the time. And in places of Eastern Europe, people just don’t play very often so it is very exciting for everyone.
20: How is your local scene in Portland? You can do a little scene
report here if you want…Colin: It couldn’t be any better! We’ve got Poison Idea, the Diskords, the
Minds, Dead Moon, Flip-Tops, Wolfgang Wiliiams and the Punk Rock
Faggots, the Hunches, the Culprits, Tragedy, Riot Cop, Nice Boys,
Sado-Nation, Absolute Rulers, the Gallows, Illegal Guardians, Blood Of
Christian Children, Antiworld, No Heroes and a zillion other great
bands. I LOVE IT!
21: Do you bump into Jerry A or Pig Champion once in a while? Does PI
still play shows over there? Did any of you ever apply for a job asPig’s personal backscrubber, with a payment through old punk records?
Colin : Every once inm a blue moon I’ll see Jerry A at a moviethater or Pig
Champion at a Turbonegro show, but usually they keep to themselves
outside of Poison Idea shows. PI is currently on hiatus as their
drummer quit and their bassist got kicked out, but they have a new
record that’ll hopefully be out sometimes in the next year or so!
22: So THE OBSERVERS are done for now. What caused the break up? Did
the ‘European curse’ have anything to do with that?Colin: No, it is something we had decided before we left for Europe. We just
weren’t getting along and not having fun. It’s supposed to be fun,
right?
Doug: I wasn’t aware that they all had made that decision until the European tour was almost over.
23: Did you feel it was a good time to stop? I mean, are you fullfilled
when you look at what the band achieved in it’s time of existing, or
do you rather feel that it was a bit to early with too many goals anddesires unfullfilled?
Colin: Absolutely. I feel we ran our course quite well, I have no regrets.
Doug: No. I’m thoroughly disappointed. The whole second album is written as well as songs for some additional 7”s. I wish this could have been a decision I was a part of or allowed to speak on before it had happened.
24: Is there any material that’s been recorded and will never see thelight of day?
Colin: I think a song or 2 on the upcoming MRR comp, I don’t
think theres anything else.
Doug: Besides those two song nothing else has been recorded. There should be a collection of our ep’s coming out on CD later this year.
25: Imagine someone writing an article on ‘American punk in 2005′, ora history of Oregon punk, or something like that, how do you think or
want THE OBSERVERS would be remembered?
Colin: I don’t imagine we’d be mentioned in either. amercian punk 2005
should focus on the Spits, Wolfgang Wiliiams and the Punk Rock
Faggots, Hellshock, Reigning Sound, World Burns To Death, Born/Dead,
Jello Biafra w/ The Melvins, Tyrades, Pedestrians, MOTO, The Epoxies,
Shark Pants, From Ashes Rise, Army Of Jesus, Signal Lost, Modern
Needs, Flip-Tops, Hunches, Taeve, George Moshington, Black Lips, etc.
as per a history of Portland punk, were just a footnote, it should be
about the Wipers, Neo boys, Stiphnoyds, Sado-Nation, Ice 9, Poison
Idea, Wehrmacht, Oily Bloodmen, Lockjaw, Smegma, Lo-Tek, Skate Drunx,
Procrastinator, the Rats and Dead Moon.
26:What are your best memories of being in the band?Doug: Hanging out with everyone in the van on tour. Meeting a ton of new and interesting people from all over the world. Playing fun shows with bands I admire.
Colin: Playing in Roznov, Czech. I can’t begin to desribe it but I’ve never been so
pleased by male nudity.
27: So, what’s up for you guys now? Are you focusing on new bands, or
did you have some bands going during the observers that will get somemore of your time now?
Colin: Lots of other bands. Ian has the fantastic
Raids and Clit Ripper. Mike has Bloodbath and Beyond. I’m in lots of
bands too. the future is bright for sure.
Doug: This break up has been like an ugly divorce in some ways so although I’m always writing music, it might be a little while before I start putting a new band together. We’ll see.