This is a transcription of the Micronotz' interview on KJHK, May 20, 1985.
David and Steve weren't there; they were impersonated by John and Jay. You'll realize this after awhile. Jay's "Born to Kick Burro" line is a classic!!!
Disk Jockey: Who do we have here? We have the Micronotz in the studio, all five of them, and they're going to go around in a circle and introduce themselves.
Jay: Well, I'm Jay, I'm the singer.
David: I'm David, I'm the bassplayer.
Steve: Uh, I'm Steve, uh, I'm the drummer.
John: I'm John Harper, I'm the guitar player.
Jay: Speak up John, I don't think they heard you.
Bill: I'm no, I'm not part of the band, but I'm the fifth person...
John: This is Bill Rich, the president of Fresh Sounds, Incorporated.
Jay: Chairman of the board, in any tense you want to put that word board!
Bill: We're here to talk about the record.
John: We're here to talk about the new record.
Bill: Which should have been out by now.
Jay: Yeah--
Disk Jockey: Ok, why don't you tell us something about the new record, when it's supposed to come out and all that...
Bill: It should be out in real early June, we've been planning for months to play it on this show before the semester ended.
John: We've really been looking forward to playing it on this show as a matter of fact.
Disk Jockey: Yeah, I could tell. We talked about that at the party.
Bill: Advance airplay...
John: So this is like the first time this record has ever even been played.
Disk Jockey: On any turntable..
John: Yeah, on any turntable......almost...
Disk Jockey: So we don't even know what it sounds like yet. Anyway, I'm looking at what's going to be the cover of the new record, and there's something interesting about that. You want to tell us about who's designing it and how you guys went about getting this person to design it and everything?
John: No.
(laughter)
Bill: No, it's real important.
Jay: A friend of ours in Austin, Texas, the singer for the Big Boys, his name is Biscuit, otherwise known as Randy J. Turner, is doing the cover for us front and back. He's real supportive of us, and we're real supportive of him, so, uh--
John: Also, the world famous artist Harvey Stafford is also doing some work on this too.
Disk Jockey: Harvey Stafford.
John: Yeah.
Disk Jockey: Who's Harvey Stafford?
John: He's a famous artist.
Disk Jockey: Okay, I'm sorry--
Jay: Artiste!
John: Don't you know?
Disk Jockey: I'm very illiterate when it comes to those things. Let's see, you want to talk about the label? I mean, not the label, but the cover and what's on it?
John: You want us to describe it?
Disk Jockey: Does it mean anything?
John: We don't know, we just got it in the mail just the other day.
Jay: It's a bunch of robots wandering around in like, it looks like nucular rubble to me. What does it look like to you, John, nucular rubble?
John: (pause) Nuclear rubble.
Disk Jockey: Yeah...Steve, you're kind of quiet over there, what do you think?
Steve: Well...I don't know...
Disk Jockey: Anyway...
Steve: Well, okay, go ahead, go ahead.
Bill: I think there's a lot more happening on the back of the cover than on the front.
John: Yeah, well I think the back is definitely a lot better than the front.
Disk Jockey: Yeah...
Bill: It's so hard to judge from this little reduction, black and white, but when it's--
Jay: Okay, for all you at home I'm gonna describe it. Okay, okay--
Bill: No, make them wait so they can see it in the record store!
John: No! No!
Bill: Yes!
John: No!
Jay: There's a big Micronotz like going into this huge sun, and underneath that is this nucular rubble with these four robot type characters wandering around amid the rubble having a good old time.
John: They're like Micronauts!
Jay: Yeah.
Bill: Yeah.
Jay: And on the back they got these two big Saturns at a 45 degree angle, I think that ought to be our new symbol, John. I think we ought to get a big silkscreen made, what do you think?
John: That's a good idea, Jay.
Jay: What do you think David?
David: Uuuhhhh, Aerosmith!
Jay: And then it's got this, uh we don't want to talk about the naked boy and the skeleton.
Bill: He has clothes on.
John: He has a leaf on. There's a naked boy and a skeleton, and the skeleton is just a skeleton and the naked boy has a leaf on.
Jay: And don't forget the spaceship.
John: Yeah, the spaceship
Jay: There. That describes it, folks!
Disk Jockey: All right. And as you all well know, this is on the Fresh Sounds label, and the Fresh Sounds label is located right here in--
Jay: Larryville, USA.
John: The best damn label in the world.
Disk Jockey: In the world. Right. Well, so now that you guys know what the record looks like, let's try and go ahead and listen to it.
Jay: Let's hear it!
Disk Jockey: You guys want to say anything to set it up? You know, anything about the record?
Steve: I really screwed up the part on "Proud to be a Farmer", my drum part is really messed up!
Jay: Is this side one, number one?
Steve: I'm sorry, but that's how it is.
Bill: Well it sounds a lot different than other Micronot records, but it sounds the same as the band has sounded for the past year, so...
John: So that proves that we're not really growing. We've sounded the same, you know, for about the last year.
Disk Jockey: Anyway....let's see...
Jay: Steve, you're not telling the truth as usual!
Bill: Let's hear it, let's hear it.
Steve: I know....
Disk Jockey: You wanna tell us what songs there are in order? People are gonna hear so they can write it down?
John: On side one--
Bill: No!
John: Oh, okay, fine.
(laughter)
Disk Jockey: Here John, you tell us what sides...
John: OK, on side one of this new record, the record is called "The Beast that Devoured Itself", by the way...
Jay: (low sinister tone) The...beast...that...devoured...itself...
Disk Jockey: Not "Destroyed"...
John: Devoured, yes. On side one, it's "Way Too Long", "Invisible", "Born to Kick Ass", (pause), sorry, this is the radio...
Disk Jockey: No, ass is okay.
John: OK. "Your Mind--"
Jay: "Born to Kick Burro!"
(laughter)
John: "Your Mind is Empty", "Brain Arrangement", "War", and "Decide Tomorrow". And those are the songs on side one of the new Micronot record.
Disk Jockey: Ok. what we're gonna do right now is listen to it, and uh, right after that side we're gonna come back and talk to you a little bit. And then we're gonna hear side two, uh, and I tell you, we talked this over and we're gonna go ahead and take calls. So, if you have a reaction to the record, don't call us. And, uh, we'll talk about other stuff.
John: Oh, oh....Jackie, wake up David.
(laughter)
Disk Jockey: That's the cue for the record to start.
Jay: But David's here!
("The Beast" plays...)
Disk Jockey: Okay, we're here with the Micronotz, in the studio still, and what you just heard was the first side of the record that's gonna be out....June, right? The beginning of June.
John: Yeah, June.
Disk Jockey: I'll just go ahead and read the song titles off again...(does it again)...and, are you guys gonna change the titles to any of these songs before they come out?
Bill: Nope.
Jay: Nope.
John: No.
Disk Jockey: So that's what they're gonna stay.
Jay: M-hum.
Bill: That's their names....
Disk Jockey: All right, good deal. Uh, anyway this record is on the Fresh Sounds label as we said before, and it'll be out in the beginning of June. And, uh, right around when the record comes out, you can expect to go to California and catch them, they'll be touring. And also on the other coast.
John: New York first.
Disk Jockey: New York first, okay. We can talk about that. But uh, I guess, what I kind of thought we'd talk about is about the record and about side one and something, anything about that side you wanna talk about, the songs on there, the record in general?
Jay: Well, I like side one, it comes first! What do you think about side one, John? Just to be a smart type of guy.
John: Well, I think the last song on that side is way too long.
Disk Jockey: Too long.
Jay: You think it is too long? It's different from anything else we've done. Steve, what do you think?
Steve: Well, I don't know, I kind of messed up the drums on that song.
John: It's kind of hard to say.
(laughter--phone buzzes)
John: PLEASE, STOP CWALLING!!!
Jay: (laughs) Cwalling??!!??
Bill: Let's move on...
Disk Jockey: Ok, well, is the record flipped? OK. We're gonna go ahead and we're gonna hear side two, but uh--
(John and Jay laugh for some reason)
Disk Jockey: But what? Our engineer--talk about some things?
John: Yeah, let's talk about some things.
Engineer: You got 'em in here, let's go ahead and talk to them!
Jay: Come on, yeah! We didn't walk up here for nothing!
Disk Jockey: We were gonna talk to you after the record too. Is that okay?
John: Okay, fine, whatever. It's your show.
Disk Jockey: Well, it's YOUR show tonight.
John: Well, it's my show so go ahead and play the other side of the record.
Disk Jockey: Okay, alright. Well, we are ready for the other side of the record.
Bill: What songs are on the other side?
John: Gee, yeah, what songs are on the other side?
Jay: I wanna talk about the tour!
John: Let's--can we talk about the tour?
John: I really want to talk about it!
Disk Jockey: Let's talk about the tour!
Jay: We're starting in Urbana, Illinois, and we're ending up in--
John: Lawrence, Kansas, May--
Jay: Lawrence Kansas, sure!
John: No, July 3 with Marginal Man. In Kansas City. Come see us. We're--
Jay: We're gonna be here July 3rd in Kansas City?
John: I think so, yeah.
Bill: Just on the way going to California.
(phone buzzes)
John: Yeah. QUIT CALLING!!!! HANG UP THE PHONE!!!
Bill: And you're picking up a different road manager.
Jay: Yeah, right now there's a lot of technicalities set up with this tour coming up. But, it looks to be like we're gonna take off the 24th of this month (ed: May) then, and go, and we're gonna do the upper midwest and then on to the east coast, and kind of slide down the east coast to Florida and over and up through Texas, come back to Lawrence and say hello, and say goodbye, and uh--
John: Go to the West Coast!
Jay: Go to the West Coast! Via Denver and Salt Lake, and Reno. And, hopefully make it back in Lawrence in time to pay fees in the fall, right?
John: Hopefully, we'll be back in Lawrence period. (chuckles)
Bill: Probably come back through Lawrence at the real end of July, and then go back north central for two weeks and fill in some dates, and then come back in time for KU.
Jay: M-hum.
Bill: Yeah.
Jay: Yeah.
Disk Jockey: You guys have most of your dates confirmed? Or is there still a lot of stuff to be worked out?
Bill: There's still a lot of tentative stuff--
John: But most of them are confirmed, yes.
Jay: I HOPE they're confirmed, I'm the only member of the Micronotz that's gonna have to pay rent on a place here in town this summer.
John: It's also cause he's the stupidest of the Micronotz.
Jay: (laughs) Yeah!
John: He hasn't figured it out yet.
Jay: And hopefully I'll have enough money to send back to pay rent. But that's my expectations.
Disk Jockey: Are you accepting subleasers?
Jay: Uh, that's--I thought about it, but, you know--
Bill: His roommates will just sell his motorcycle if he doesn't pay. There's no problem.
(laughter)
Jay: Yeah, I have assets.
John: Magnificent assets!
Disk Jockey: Are you going to be playing with any bands? That you know of....
John: Well, we're gonna be playing with Biscuit's band.
Bill: Yeah, down in Austin.
Jay: In Austin!
John: And I think we're playing with the...(pause) DK's?
Bill: Maybe.
Jay: Lots of talk about us playing with a lot of hot bands, like the Chili Peppers and all sorts of other name droppy type things, but--
Bill: But most of the shows are headlining.
John: We're headlining lots of--
Bill: There's some support slots...
Disk Jockey: Is that all the names you're gonna drop?
Bill: Yes.
(laughter)
Jay: Yeah.
Disk Jockey: We won't take that any further.
Bill: The Micronotz aren't a band that talk big.
Jay: Nah. Gravity has taken it's toll.
John: We talk small. But we act big.
Disk Jockey: Well ,are you gonna play any shows around town, in the area before you take off?
John: No, this last one last Saturday, two nights ago was our last.
Disk Jockey: So I, we missed it.
John: You all missed it!
Jay: If you missed the Green Hill you missed us for awhile.
John: No, well, the thing in Kansas City.
Jay: (sheepish) Well, yeah.
John: (obnox) Well, yeah.
(laughter)
Disk Jockey: Sounds like YOU missed it!
(laughs)
Jay: What thing in Kansas City? Was I there? Oh, THAT show in Kansas City! Were you there David?
David: Motorhead!
Jay: Okay.
John: This is getting old.
Disk Jockey: Okay, you wanna listen to side two?
Jay: Sure, let's listen to side two.
Disk Jockey: Ok, we're gonna hear side two, and Steve or Dale, or David will talk about side two. Either one, I don't care. And they'll announce the songs.
Steve: Well, on side two, we have "Tied to the Tracks", "Run My Life", "Polyester Slave", which is a song we used to do with Dean. A song called "Oh Baby" which is real slow and "Whatcha Trying to To Do" and "Proud to be a Farmer", and I messed up the drum part on that, I'm really sorry. But uh, that's on side two.
John: Alright, here it is.
Disk Jockey: And uh, didn't we have a cue last time we started this thing?
John: No, it's ready!
Disk Jockey: Well, you're listening to KJHK Lawrence.
(Side two of the "Beast" plays.)
Disk Jockey: Uh, we're gonna talk about the stuff they like to talk about, I guess. Whatever that may be. They told me the want to talk about MTV, so...
John: Oh jeez--
Jay: You want to talk about MTV? Is that like sex?
Disk Jockey: No.
John: S&MTV.
Jay: Hmm...what do you think of MTV Bill?
Bill: I don't watch it.
John: It has too much power over what people see and hear.
Disk Jockey: Do you ever plan on putting a video out? I mean you could do it if it looks like you may be commercially--
Jay: Sure, I've talked to RTVF teachers that like want to work with me and write some scripts.
John: "Work with me."
Jay: Do some scripts, but we're gonna be gone all summer, so maybe next fall.
John: Yeah, next fall we're gonna be on MTV for sure.
Jay: Yeah. Guaranteed.
John: No. But seriously, if we ever got a big record contract with a big label, then we'd probably be on MTV. I mean, that's just because the way things work out. I mean its, it doesn't seem like a real good thing to do.
Jay: But, if we were on a big label with a big contract, where would Bill be?
John: Shut up!
(laughter)
John: Who knows...
Bill: Let's go on to the next question.
John: Yes, let's go on to the next question.
Disk Jockey: Well, I don't know, that was a joke topic, well...as a lot of people know, one of the songs on side one, which was "Born to Kick Ass", appeared a little bit ago on the "Party Animal" compilation, Mystic. And, if you're listening you've probably heard it on KJHK. But you guys wanna tell us how that came about?
John: They, Mystic Records, I guess wrote us a letter saying they wanted a song for this new record. I guess it's the sequel to, I don't know, some other record they put out with 40 bands on one album...they asked us for a 60 second song.
Jay: One minute.
John: A one minute song. And we didn't have any. But we did have a new song that wasn't totally worked out, but we just cut out all the parts, all the extra parts, and pared it down to 60 seconds. And what we came up with was "Born to Kick Ass".
Disk Jockey: Were you pleased with it?
John: Yeah, I think that the version that's on Mystic Records is a lot better than the one on the album. Sorry.
Jay: I don't think so.
John: Well--
Jay: You weren't singing the thing.
John: Well, maybe Jay's performance, but I think overall there's a lot more energy in it, it's a lot rougher. But, um--
Jay: Well, I think the new album version's kind of crunchier. What do you think, Gene?
(long pause...)
John: Gene?!? No Gene here!!!
(laughter)
Bill: He left.
John: Gene left...but I'll answer.
Jay: David left too.
John: I think you're really full of it. I think that the one on Mystic Records is a lot crunchier. A lot rougher.
Disk Jockey: Is it because of the four track or--
Bill: He produced that one, didn't he?
(John laughs sheepishly...)
John: Oh, oh oh, here we go..
Bill: On his little four track.
John: No, a lot of it has to do with the four track. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that we did it ourselves. But I think it's faster, and the guitars are a lot more up front, in the Mystic version. It's a lot more mystic.
Disk Jockey: Jay, you want to say something?
Jay: Oh, I can just argue with him for hours! Because--
John: No, I can just argue with him for hours! Go ahead--let's argue!
Jay: Yeah, well, I'm just a good ol' boy from the hills, you know--
John: That's the nice thing about Jay, that's why we got him in this band because he'll put up with just about anything, and we can push him around.
Jay: I like to be pushed around. It beats TV.
John: Beats MTV.
Jay: You like to push me around Bill?
John: Bill likes to push everybody around!
(laughter)
Disk Jockey: OK, well, have we about exhausted that?
John: I think so.
Jay: Well, we've exhausted just about everything!
Bill: Well, we haven't talked about Near Death Experience or Short Notice yet.
John: Short Notice--I just got off the phone with the singer for Short Notice.
Jay: Who's that?
John: It's the world famous artist, Harvey Stafford.
Jay: I heard of the guy before, I don't know much about him.
John: I don't know--personally, I don't like his stuff that much, but he's an okay guy, I guess..
(they're talking as if Harvey was listening, which he was...)
Jay: Well, that means he's trying then, right?
John: Yeah, he's trying...he's very trying...
Bill: Well, let's listen to this song by the Big Boys...
John: Yeah, let's listen to this song.
Jay: I kind of wanted to thank KJHK and those people associated wherein for having us down here to be bimbos you know? Like on, late night radio. What do you think John?
John: Well, yeah, that's a good idea.
Jay: What do you think David?--oh, David left. What do you think Steve?
Steve: Well, yeah, let's thank KJHK. Thank you KJHK.
Disk Jockey: Is that all you want to talk about?
Jay: Let's listen to the Big Boys.
(Big Boys' "Jump the Fence" plays...)
That's all folks!
