[ann ashtray]

When did you started playing guitar ?

TM: Around the same time. Not before. I was already playing the piano, because of my father. And I was always given the bases. But this is my big brother who introduced a guitar at home. He worshiped Hendrix and Duane Allman, or dreamed of playing like them. It was pretty good, but it left me indifferent. But as soon as I discovered punk in 1976, I expected that kind of home to let off steam like a brute on his instrument. I plugged it on the stereo and just trying to make the biggest fuss as possible. I felt like writing songs for the Ramones and the Sex Pistols! I was not planning accomplished musician myself, I just wanted to be part of a group.

I loved the minimum side and thought the Ramones. I thought "that's my thing, others only keep their Blue Oyster Cult! ". By installing me in New York, I was playing with everyone and anyone. That's how it worked for everyone, chance encounters and circumstances. I worked in a record store with a guy who was in college with Talking Heads ... We met all lofts in Soho ... There was this whole world would become a famous day as David Byrne, Lydia Lunch, Gus Van Sant and Jean-Michel Basquiat hanging there. Glenn Branca'll often. It was never a question of money, but of pleasure and desire to create, to be together. And then we were all going to see the Ramones at CBGB!


This is where the two circles , one more arty and one more rock, were so mixed ?

TM: Because we had in common not to have money. This brought us together . Below 14th Street , you could really live for nothing. There was even a certain pride in the idea that there was no commercial purpose in what we were doing. The money was in no way a sign of success , only had artistic interest . This is also what destroyed everything in New York in particular, as soon as the money began to point his nose. Lydia Lunch is the first to have felt the wind . She started very young teenager in 1974 and in 1980 she left. For her, it was already over .

You have followed the scene of Brooklyn , which has a lot compared to Manhattan before?

TM: Honestly, the New York of the past no longer exists. Of course, there were whole scene a bit creative and artsy Brooklyn , but this has not much to see. These types are not rich , but it still feels a certain comfort, environment, standard of living. Brooklyn is certainly cheaper than Manhattan , but it's impossible to live in Brooklyn or Williamsburg nothing , as one would do in Manhattan in the 1970

And London , much less ...



TM: Sure, living in London is not cheap! I can, because after thirty years of Sonic Youth and a large back catalog , I do not go too badly . But I am far from wealthy , I saw correctly , with the need to always work regularly. Basically , I live in London as I live in New York. In less space. I live in a small apartment , nothing fancy . However, I found some wild energy who deserted New York. In New York 's cultural life has been cleaned , moved to the washing machine. It still trembles slightly in Brooklyn , but...


You play with British musicians now ...

TM: Because I live here. It happened spontaneously. James Sedwards , my guitar is my neighbor, and I loved what he did. It was he who suggested I call Debbie Googe , My Bloody Valentine, for the bass. Everything happened naturally , envy , affinity . As for Steve Shelley , drummer of Sonic Youth , it is virtually connected telepathically. We get along well and it's the best drummer I know. But I have to share it with Lee Ranaldo and many others who are fighting over ! In addition , he lives in America. I hope to continue with it, but it is not always simple. Anyway, I'd really like to record another album with them as a real band. The Best Day is a solo project in which they participated .



It is essential for you to play with a second guitarist ?

TM: Absolutely. First, I do not trust at all to my technique. I'm an instinctive first. To be completed by a much more accomplished guitarist brings a lot technically . Lee was already much better guitarist than me, with his classical training. And I think James is an expert musician more than him. James is a pure technician, but who knows how to play . His first teacher was Jimmy Page, but it is also influenced by Swell Maps or The Fall ! There was even a fan of Sonic Youth ! He reminded me that when Sonic Youth played at Reading in 1991 with Nirvana , he had managed to get backstage and hanging around with us. He had peine16 years . More than twenty years later, we play together . That's cool ...