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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Del Boca Vista
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Quote:
The Interview
New York Rocker: Is the saxophone the only instrument you play?
James Chance: No, but I don't really wanna talk about that.
NYR: How long have you been playing?
JC: What interest is that to anybody? Why would anyone care how long I've played the saxophone?
NYR: I guess to get an idea of where you've been and where you're going. Do you not want to talk about your past?
JC: Not only that...I'm not interested in having a perspective on things.
NYR: Tell me about your disco project then, the one you're working on now...
JC: I already told you... it's my disco album, take it or leave it.
NYR: It's being sponsored by Ze records, formerly Rebel Records, the ones who put out the Mars 45?
JC: Yeah.
NYR: Were you given free reign to do what you wanted?
JC: When they first got me to do it, they actually thought it would be like a Donna Summer record, but they soon found out differently.
NYR: Why do you insist on performing different types of music under different names? Why not emphasize your eclecticism rather than deny it?
JC: Well, that's pretty boring...
NYR: You think having multiple personae is more interesting?
JC: I never think about it...they're just commercial labels, they have nothing to do with me.
NYR: Why did you change your name?
JC: To make it more commercial. Because I didn't like my original one.
NYR: Do you believe in flexibility regarding the musicians you collaborate with or do you favor sticking with one group through thick and thin?
JC: I hate all that sentimental crap. Every person in my band is totally for themselves.
NYR: Does that mean you allow each of the individual members to explore his or her own particular obsessions? It's not like Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, then, where Lydia calls all the shots?
JC: I'm pretty dictatorial. I do what I think is right.
NYR: Are you fanatical about having total control over the sound of the Contortions?
JC: Well, I don't have to be fanatical because I do have control. The people in my band make up the things themselves that I want. That's why I got them.
NYR: Was your entry into the musical world through jazz?
JC: I'd rather we not discuss it.
NYR: There's nothing to be ashamed of, James.
JC: It isn't a matter of being ashamed, I just don't want to talk about it.
NYR: What are your feelings about the No New York album? Are you satisfied with the results?
JC: I already told you about the album. Take it or leave it. Why should I give a sneak preview? They should buy it. I'm not giving them a free peak.
NYR: How did you feel about sharing the LP with the three other bands (Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, DNA, Mars)? Do you feel akin to those groups or not?
JC: NO! I feel akin to Teenage Jesus, but not the other two...Wait, I don't feel akin to Teenage Jesus either.
NYR: What was your experience with Eno in the studio? Did you relate well to one another?
JC: I DO NOT relate to people!!
NYR: Were you intimidated by him?
JC: Of course not.
NYR: Was he intimidated by you?
JC: More than I was intimidated by him...
NYR: Were you responsible for how the production sounds?
JC: I thought I was at the time...
NYR: Are you disappointed with the way it sounds?
JC: Disappointed is not a word I would use...
NYR: What would you change? Do you have a criticism of your cuts on the record?
JC: Why should I criticize it? That's boring...
NYR: Well, what do you think about when you listen to it now?
JC: I don't listen to it.
NYR: Do you listen to any music during the course of the day?
JC: Occasionally, but I don't pay attention to it.
NYR: Are you always bored?
JC: That's a boring question. Go on to another one.
NYR: What is it about sentimentality, about viewing the past, that you abhor?
JC: It's liberal crap. I just don't want to hear about it. Why should I clog myself up with that garbage? I mean, I try not to sit around pondering, I try not to think.
NYR: Does that make you a man of action, then?
JC: No, I'm more a man of reaction.
NYR: Going back to the performances last May at the Artist's Space. Can you tell me something about your theory of confronting the audience?
JC: It's no theory.
NYR: You intentionally try to make an audience feel uncomfortable?
JC: Of course I do, but I don't have to. I could just step right out on stage and stand there, and they'd still feel uncomfortable. But then, that's boring.
NYR: Are you going to continue those kind of tactics in the future?
JC: Wait and see...
NYR: Has Iggy been an influence in this regard?
JC: I'm not interested in talking about Iggy in this interview.
NYR: Listen, James, you've got to talk about something in this interview. You've got to reveal yourself a little to me. You were talking more when the recorder was off...
JC: It's not a matter of revealing myself. You want me to give free publicity to these other people.
NYR: Talk about yourself, then....
JC: Don't tell me to talk about myself! Ask me a question... You're the interviewer!
NYR: Where were you born?
JC: Timbuktoo, the North Pole...
NYR: I just want to know something about you, what your influences were growing up. Are you disaffected? Do you merely want to be part of the rock 'n' roll gristmill, with your face in Creem, touring on the road 300 nights a year?
JC: I'd never tour three hundred nights a year; I'd be dead within a month. You gotta be crazy to do that.
NYR: Do you feel part of the rock 'n' roll world at all? Are you comfortable in your role?
JC: I don't feel comfortable anywhere. I don't identify with any kind of group, or anything like rock 'n' roll. That's just another example of maudlin sentimentality — people having this big love affair with rock 'n' roll. I have nothing to do with rock 'n' roll...
NYR: That's pretty irreverent...
JC: Not even irreverent. If you're irreverent, it means you have a need to be reverent.
NYR: What do you intend when you cop a riff from, say, Duke Ellington's 'I Got It Bad', at the start of 'Jaded'? Is it supposed to outrage, amuse, impress?
JC: It's not supposed to be anything. I just play it.
NYR: Certainly you have ideas. It can't be entirely instinctual.
JC: Yes it is. All I do is just try to remember the notes.
NYC: Do you write music?
JC: Like write it down? No.
NYR: Can you read it?
JC: No. I used to know how, but I forgot.
NYR: I think, despite what you say, you are guilty of setting up strict categories of music, e.g. jazz, disco, new wave, etc. Is there a real difference between these types of music, as far as you're concerned?
JC: You just decide what you wanna steal from, and you steal it.
NYR: So, it depends on the source you're stealing from, then?
JC: I feel, that's a very confused question. Let's move on to something else...
NYR: Why do you draw delineations between the different types of music you perform?
JC: I don't think anyone else is interested in why I draw delineations; I think they would rather hear something more amusing.
NYR: How do you intend to tie your various musical personae together? Do you have any sort of career plan in mind?
JC: I don't even think about things like that. I don't think about my career. That's the worst thing you can do...have a career. If you're going to have a career, you might as well go to an office every day.
NYR: Do you have any ambitions?
JC: NO! That word is not in my vocabulary.
NYR: Do you read?
JC: No, I used to, but then I realized what a worthless pursuit it was.
NYR: Haven't you discovered a community of peers with similar interests in the new wave?
JC: NO!!
NYR: Don't you hang out with these people? What are you thinking when you're with them?
JC: Mostly how creepy and disgusting they are...
NYR: Is there a strain of self-hatred running through your personality?
JC: I didn't say it was self-hatred...
NYR: Yeah, but by hanging out with these people you supposedly hate night after night...
JC: I don't do it night after night, that was six months ago...
NYR: Are you often depressed?
JC: What is this, a soap opera or an interview?
NYR: Are live performances exciting for you? Do they alleviate your boredom?
JC: Yeah, I guess they're more interesting than most other things. But, it's still pretty banal...
NYR: Are you going to continue playing music?
JC: Well, it's about the only thing I can do. That's where the most money is, and it's easy.
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