[Moshe]

Thurston Moore, 49, Northampton, MA

By A. D. Amorosi
Thurston Moore may be a calm collected overlord of the No Wave and the alterna-everything. But when I find him in a New England-area airport, heading out to play Sonic Youth’s noise-pop classic Daydream Nation in its entirety, the man who championed indie-indignation by signing to Geffen and not making it look like a sellout would rather be home in Western Massachusetts. He could be hanging with his wife/SY bassist Kim Gordon, their kid and the neighbors with whom he recorded his new solo CD Trees Outside the Academy—digging summer’s end with “crisp corn on the cob, watermelon and fresh blueberries,” as he confides wistfully. Maybe he could sip from a cup of decaffeinated black tea from Starbucks, the company through which he’s releasing a celebrity-chosen (Eddie Vedder, Dave Eggers, Chloë Sevigny) selection of Youth songs Hits Are for Squares. He could be doing pretty much anything, in fact; he’s earned that right. “But what I’m doing is playing a grungy punk festival in Portugal,” he laughs. “It’s no magic carpet ride.”
People’s reaction to Starbucks is funny — a lot of knee-jerk stuff from indie folk who want to see you think small. But we got heat when we went to Geffen. We got heat when we recorded the original Daydream Nation on Enigma which meant we’d leave SST. And we got a lot of heat when we left Homestead for SST. There’s always somebody giving you heat; or us heat, at least. They should deal with their own problems, I say.
The next Sonic Youth record could come out through Starbucks. People may not go to record stores. But they go to junk food places and coffee shops. To me, it’s just like selling records out of the back seat of your car. I like the absurdist nature of an unorthodox band doing something in conjunction with an orthodox venture like Starbucks. It’s no different working with Universal, which we have since the early ’90s. Or for that matter have Cingular be my cell phone company.
I remember when we played Lollapalooza ’95 all these bands that were so crazy in concept like Jesus Lizard and Courtney Love’s Hole, despite how wild they were, theirs was pretty straight ahead rock ’n’ roll. Then we were kinda conservative nerds. But our music was completely fucked up. I always wanted to know: Why were these fucked-up people making such straight music. I mean, Stone Temple Pilots? There’s a paradox there I’ve always been enchanted by.
Daydream Nation is a real mélange of noise. I have no idea what the tunings were or what I’m even playing because it sounds so insane. Once I got the master tapes, I was in shock. It sounds like we just threw up a shitty mic in front of an amp. It’s like I was playing with rubber bands on my fingers! I hope I’ve become a more sophisticated player since Daydream. Then again, when I relistened to its songs so to play it live, the things that I thought so odd and complicated… probably were not.
I don’t like doing nostalgia moves. I like being nostalgic though. I talk about the old times because they’re so informative and so inspirational. But nostalgia keeps you away from new work. And that’s what keeps you pumping.
I find inspiration from feminine energy. I’m certainly informed by that. I’ve been with Kim (Gordon) since 1980 and she’s a fantastic intelligent intellect—beyond any rote value of feminism. It’s always been that way between art music and life. Rock ’n’ roll is just men coming to terms with their femininity. I mean, c’mon…heavy metal?
I’m not really a real guitar player. I’m more of an experimenter. I’m no cheerleader. I still feel like I’m in the position of an apprentice. I’m totally dissatisfied with everything I’ve done: a total critic. When the music I’m doing is free improvisation… I’m… freer! But when that music’s not happening, it’s really not happening.
I never met Portia de Rossi (one of the people selecting SY songs for Hits). But she’s said she liked us. And I think she’s cool.
Once Sonic Youth began – on Bad Moon Rising – to bring in certain traditional elements and pick concepts outside of bashing the guitars with electric drills and stuff: That was a radical move.
I can tell listening to people’s records where they’re really studied or they’re really instantaneous concepts: I like a balance: the studied art rock and the spontaneous composition.
Sometimes I approach songs as how-to songs: how to be a spiritual being, how to get beyond the trappings of humanity... I mean there’s a song on Daydream Nation, called “Silver Rocket” about … how to play rock ’n’ roll while becoming manifest as one with rock ’n’ roll.
Ecstatic Peace! – I never opened it as a competitive label. It was just stuff that came through my window and stuck to my brain so I had to put it out. If somebody else can put it out, God bless ’em. It’ll save me time and money.
First printed in November 2007

http://www.harpmagazine.com:80/artic...rticle_id=6338

[avantgarde1]

as always moshe good looking. do you ever get off here? and don't you run saucerlike.com? cause i can never log into the msg board. it always gives me some kind of weird error. anyways, goodlooking.

[pbradley]

Quite an informative article, thanks.

[lalie]

Thanks!

[sonicl]

Cheers, dood.