Left of the Dial interview
All questions by David Ensminger…

Are you the first post-structuralist heavy metal band? Why or 
why not?

TG: No, primarily because we do not consider ourselves a heavy 
metal band. although we do enjoy the genre, we do not presume 
to be a part of it.

“Our aesthetic, existing squarely outside the current wuss 
hegemony,” sounds 
a lot like Lita Ford telling MTV in the mid-1990s that she 
was sick of 
hearing nerds on the radio. Do you agree with her?

TG: there's nothing wrong with nerds (unless they're seeking 
revenge), but bad music is inexcusable. i think the nerd
 persona was just a fashionable image at that time in the wake 
of the hair band backlash.

If most bands put lyric sheets in liner notes because they 
want to show 
their poetic side, do you list all the equipment used on 
the record to 
reveal the poetic nature of the process, to make the 
invisible visible (most 
bands leave such things a mystery), or to advertise the 
equipment used?

TG:your first assertion is an interesting one, i suppose it is 
in a way, but moreover we just find such details very 
interesting. we are definitely not trying to advertise 
anything,in fact we omit certain equipment and modifications so 
as not to encourage hording or sonic plagurism.

You’ve said that “what most people today are calling irony 
is nothing more 
than bet-hedging.” Could you explain what you mean?

TG: i believe that's a josh smith statement. my take on it is 
that people are afraid to admit to liking things that may be 
considered contraversial or uncool so they act like they're 
just just kidding if they like such a thing. it's just a safety 
net if they get called on liking something "stupid".

Is the band not being ironic when it uses the language of 
traditional heavy 
metal, like “Nebula Ball Rests in a Fantasy Claw,” which 
almost seems like a 
collision between an illustration from Heavy Metal fantasy 
magazine and a 
science fiction paperback cover?

TG: well, i don't think a metal band would use such a goofy 
title. it's actually the name of an Electronic Plasma Ball 
sitting in a claw that i saw in a mail order catalog. it reacts 
to sound vibrations and looks like it generates 1000 volts. i 
almost bought it, but opted for the non-claw base model.

Although Trans-Am and Don Caballero have toured the indie 
circuit for years, 
it seems that people have all but forgotten bands like Left 
Insane and Gregg 
Ginn’s trio Gone (the rhythm section went on to become the 
original Rollins 
Band).  How much does your music consciously reflect in 
some ways what your 
peers like Trans-Am are or are not doing, and how do you 
avoid seeming as 
cheesy, masturbatory, and studied as Steve Vai and Eric 
Johnson?

TG: i don't know if we do avoid that. according to many 
detractors, we do not. we certainly would'nt mind being 
perceived as studied- although we very rarely practice. if 
there's any similarity between what we and trans am are doing, 
i would put it down to being roughly the same age and liking 
alot of the same music.

You’ve said, I assume jokingly, that Motorhead plays in the 
rock’n’roll 
style, Iron Maiden plays in the New Wave of British Heavy 
Metal style, Rush 
plays in the Canadian style, and Yes is prog rock, while 
the Fucking Champs 
play Total Rock. What are the tenets of Total Rock? Who 
laid the foundation?

TG: the term is actually "total music". it's a non linear form of 
composition which embraces harmony and elevates the riff above all 
else. the foundation has always been there, we just happened to 
find it- like the sword in the stone.

“We’re still trying to write a song we’re incapable of 
playing live,” Tim 
said, “That will be when we break up.” So is the greatest 
challenge a Sword 
of Damocles (a sword dangling over your head)?

TG: we've come close a few times. we're just trying to push 
ourselves and not rest on our laurels as it were. 

Tim, what’re the differences and challenges of recording 
bands like Melvins 
and Drunk Horse on one hand, and Tristeza and the Donnas on 
the other?

TG: the main challenge with recording drunk horse is to keep them
 from spilling beer on the floor, although i must give them credit; 
day two of recording the new album and not a drop unaccounted for.
 there's not too much of a difference recording all the 
aforementioned bands. i approach it in the same way: putting the 
band's musical vision first and my own ideas second. they're the ones 
that have to live with it!

You once said that the first time you saw Nation of 
Ulysses, they sucked, 
but had the coolest ideas, and later became their fifth 
member. What was 
your impression the first time you saw the Champs?

TG: when i first saw them i think they had only been playing for a 
few months and steve had just started playing bass, so they were 
pretty clunky. but i just thought "what the fuck IS this??!!" (in a 
good way.) they were doing some weird stuff for the time and for 
now. when i first saw the champs, i played a show with them with my
 old band and the bass player and i were just floored and pretty
 bummed out at how great they were. we thought, "what the fuck are 
WE doing?" the guitars sounded a little funny, 
but they had the goods.

You enjoy the 1960s recordings with featured instrument 
tactics like Blue 
Cheer and The Stooges, so what did you think of the re-mix 
of “Raw Power” 
that was released a few years ago? Is 20-bit re-mastering 
worth the hype?

TG: i heard it once in someone's car and i remember the solos sounding 
quieter- which is the crowning distinction of the album. i could'nt 
bring myself to listen to it a second time. fucking with a classic like 
that is just wrong. it's like re-writing the dead sea scrolls or 
something. there is certainly great advantage to processing at a higher 
bit depth and sampling rate for that matter, but i don't see alot of 
advantage in 20 or 24 bit mastering, when it's just gonna be dithered 
down to 16 anyway. besides, it's digital!

Although you like mid-period Black Flag, you’ve noted that 
gated reverb drum 
sounds make “Loose Nut” pretty gross. So what 
recordings/albums offer the 
best drum sounds?

TG: all the late 50's/early 60's atlantic jazz albums sound beautiful, 
plus they have the great recording technical notes like: "individual 
equalisation is not permitted". all the prestige/rudy van gelder stuff. 
brian paulson. of course all the zep albums. shel talmy!

Is Steve Albini the best or worst thing to have happened to 
drum sounds over 
the last dozen years?

TG: honestly, the only records i've heard recorded by him are the pixies 
record, the new rye coaltion and the jesus lizard. i like the pixies drum 
sound alot, the rye record sounds pretty dark, but i think i had a pre 
mastered copy. the jesus lizard records sound amazing, but that guy is such 
a great drummer it would be hard to make him sound bad! i've read alot of 
interviews with albini and i respect his appraoch to recording 
ethically and scientifically.

Lastly, how did your “Amphitheater,” an exact arrangement 
of cabinets that 
eliminates the need for monitors, come about?

TG: it's actually called the "amp-itheater system" when steve kroner quit 
ulysses the second time, i added another amp and cabinet and put the cabinet
 on top of the bass amp on the opposite side of the stage. it helped fill in 
some of the sonic space, gave steve g. a montior and also served as the tape 
loop amp. it also looked good to have a vox head on top of a marshall head. 
when i joined the champs they had an extra cabinet so i suggested the system.
 we've only played one show without it in 6 and half years and it sucked! it 
does eliminate the need for monitors for the guitars, which is good because
 we rarely soundcheck- there's only so many times you can hear "turn it down!"