 |
 |
|
 owadays it’s easy to size up a band’s musical formula at first glance: four mop tops, three chords, two Stooges albums. Stylistic nods and skinny ties abound. What’s typically lacking in these prefixed combos is gravitas; a weight that endures after the last mangled, borrowed chord has prettily evaporated. I couldn’t immediately place what was different about Inouk’s debut album, No Danger, until my fourth or fifth listen. In their look and sound, which is dark, eccentric and thoughtful, the band stands apart from pastiche trends with an unusual grasp of drama; No Danger is a stylistic melange delivered with melancholic richness and depth. “Search for the Bees” is a measured, bluesy meander; the countryfied lament “Somewhere in France” is lyrically inscrutable but heartbreaking nonetheless. They’re more heartfelt than trendier groups but less cloying than emo fodder.
With all their emotional flotsam confined to the record, vocalist Alexander McMahon, twenty-one, and bassist Jesse Johnson, twenty-eight, were free to tell me about fucking women for money. — Grant Stoddard What’s touring been like?
Jesse: We’ve done two or three so far. We just got back from the UK. We were over there with Modest Mouse. The response was really positive. A lot of people seemed to know the songs. Does anyone in the band have girlfriends?
Jesse: Just one of the five of us has a girlfriend, but we’re all usually kind of involved with someone to a greater or lesser extent.
Alexander: Mostly lesser. You have to have somewhere to keep your stuff when you go on tour. Has being on the road been getting you laid?
Alexander: It’s amazing how much of that rock and roll cliché is a reality. There will be girls lined up to meet the headlining band. The ones who don’t make it into the dressing room will line up outside the first support. The ones who don’t make it into the first support’s room will seek out the second support. And so on. They’re crazy. It’s like there is this whole species of girl that goes to shows to [finger quotes] “hang out” with the bands. Do you get to take advantage of the situation?
Jesse: Yeah.
Alexander: Sure. I talked to the singer of Interpol, and he played down that type of thing.
Alexander: The opportunity is there; not everyone knows how to grab it.
Jesse: I don’t know what he’s talking about. But the volume of girls changes geographically. In the UK, girls wanted to hang out again and again.
Alexander: Yeah, in the UK it’s a much larger group of girls. They are part of a larger breed of person that naturally gravitates towards people who look like they’re in bands.
Jesse: They don’t need to see you perform for the "band guy" thing to work its magic. Once they know you’re in a touring band, they figure you’ll be getting up to no good at some point. And they want a part of that, because it’s more interesting than whatever they were going to do.
Alexander: One of those Interpol guys gets around though, right?
Jesse: The bass player. Being in a touring rock band, are you expected to be a freakish manimal in bed?
Alexander: Jesse doesn’t have to worry about that. He’s kind of insane with that stuff already.
Jesse: Whoa! I don’t think I’m insane.
Alexander: Oh, you know what I mean. It’s safe to say that there won’t be any sleeping, right?
Jesse: Sure, but I’m not busting out the hot wax and shit. But I’m sure I can perform better in bed than I do on stage. What have been some of the most sexually memorable cities you’ve played?
Jesse: Glasgow.
Alexander: We played this place called The Garage, which was this huge space with three smaller clubs inside. But there was not one attractive girl in the entire place.
Alexander: Yeah, not the Great part of Great Britain. I’ll tell you something else: Philly sucks for girls. Boston kills Philly for girls. And that’s saying something. Do the various permutations of hooking up on the road make their ways in to your sexual repertoire when you get back home?
Alexander: I have a theory about this. Y’know like how there are always rumors about male rock stars having man-on-man hookups? Well, you know, the rock-and-roll bit yields as much sex as a normal human being can handle. Which is great, but after a while, you find yourself indulging in different kinds of hanging out, just to keep things interesting. So you find yourself hanging out with more and more girls at a time, you hang out for longer, but after a while even that must get dull.
Jesse: Really?
Alexander: Maybe. So anyway — after you’ve tried everything in the book, the gender switch is just somewhere else to go. What were the last day jobs that you had?
Alexander: I write an anonymous column for a New York paper.
Jesse: I give music lessons, and I worked as an escort for a little while. Oh come on.
Jesse: No, really. Women hired you to have sex with them?
Jesse: Yes. Is he fucking with me?
Alexander: It’s true, I swear.
Jesse: Damon and I, we were sort of obsessed with that world for a little while. We ended up seeing this ad in the Voice, so we went and had our photos taken by a transvestite. Did you have to get naked?
Jesse: No, we both wore suits, and she took the photos. We went through the process, and we were hired. At the time, there wasn’t a lot of work. It would have been walking around with older ladies, maybe putting out. I got impatient and put up an ad on a website, then ran an ad in the paper for a few weeks. I started to get a few phone calls. From women?
Jesse: Yes. What kind of women were you meeting with?
Jesse: Well, the first call was actually pretty amazing. It was four in the morning one Sunday, and I get this random phone call. Two girls get on the phone; they’re partying in an apartment together and they want me to come over. I get there, and they’re running around in their underwear, listening to music, and there’s this big ol’ pile of Colombian on the dresser. I left with one of the girls several hours later and hung out some more at her place. That was the first time. How much did you ask for?
Jesse: I was so excited I almost forgot to get paid. But they ended up giving me $80. So I fuck two chicks, do some free coke and get eighty bucks.
What made you think anyone would pay you for sex?
Jesse: I’d known girls that had done it. I thought it’d be an interesting and funny way to earn a little cash.
Yeah, but women can get laid for free. What are you, thick like a can of Pepsi?
Jesse: No. I mean, I don’t think so. I’m pretty much average. But if you wanna write that, that’s great. n°
 |
|
click to buy No Danger
|
© 2004 hooksexup.com.
|
|
•Tweet