God Lives Underwater – Life in the So-Called Space Age – Interview

God Lives Underwater

Life in the So-Called Space Age (A&M)
An interview with David Reilly
by Scott Hefflon

I’ve been a fan since your first EP came out, even before all those stories about how you got signed…
None of that’s true. All that stuff about black widow spiders being mailed? Disregard all that, that was American Records’ publicity department.

How did you get signed, how’d it all start?
Jeff (Turzo) and I have been in bands for a long time, since about 15 or so. Once, around Christmas time when we were both on vacation, we got together and wrote a song. Just one. We sent it around to labels, and a bunch of labels wanted to sign us. We had to come up with a name and more material as the days went on. We came up with the name, flew to L.A. to meet (producer) Rick Rubin…

Where’d the name come from?
Jeff came up with GLU, then I came up with the words to correspond with the letters. I’m a big fan of having God in names and stuff.

How’d you hook up with Rick Rubin?
The A&R department at American didn’t want to sign us, but our manager, who used to work there, played it for Rick. Rick wanted to meet us, so we got flown out there, played him one new song, and he said he’d put something together. Actually, it took him a long time, but eventually we gave in and signed with American.

How’d the switch from American to 1500/A&M go?
American was going out of business for a while, so we were happy to switch. We got out of our contract, then Gary, our manager, got a deal from A&M to sign bands. So he signed us. It’s been good. We did our own thing, turned the record in, and that was it.

You’re pretty much self-produced these days, aren’t you? In your apartments?
Yeah. I live in Reseda and Jeff lives in L.A.. We both have studios in our apartments, and we’ll work on tunes separately for a while, then get together and finish them. Sometimes we start together and finish separately. Whichever.

We aren’t exactly talkin’ about two guys with four-tracks fartin’ around in their bedroom.
No. We both have pretty happenin’ computers. We’ve never recorded in a studio, we’ve always recorded at home. If I go to a studio, I’d have to learn how to manipulate all the gear I’d be using. It’s pretty expensive to learn how to use stuff when you’re on the clock.

Do you find you end up tinkering around a lot more, playing, basically, then having a ton of material not really suited for your album?
We have about 25 finished songs that didn’t make the album. But it’s not because we don’t like them, it’s that we didn’t want to have CDs that are over 10 songs. We ended up running with the songs that stuck in our heads the most, the ones that worked with the album’s ambiance best.

Did you go for themes of sound or themes of lyrical content?
We don’t really go for anything. It just happens. We just start out making something, then the lyrics that end up going with it are the day to day events happening at that exact moment. Both ups and downs. Mostly downs.

Are you into conspiracy theory, alien intervention and stuff?
Yeah, but I don’t know if the lyrics reflect that. Maybe if you’re listening to “The Rush is Loud” you might think that. But I’m mostly just the paranoid type. The song is actually more about paranoid psychosis. I usually don’t sing anything really political or conspiratorial, it’s more personal. And I don’t like to explain what the songs are specifically about, because if people like to think it’s about one thing, they’re going to be bummed if it’s not. There’s a song about one person, and someone else is going to think it’s about them. You know, the ballads. I like your magazine, by the way. There’s a newsstand in Hollywood where I get it. You did a piece on Spiritualized I liked. I love Spiritualized.

Do you have the limited-edition copy of Pure Phase that came in a glow-in-the-dark case?
Oh yeah. And I have a promo copy that had Jason wearing a space suit and the helmet was filled with smoke. It was an alternate cover for an import or something. From what I understand, they put out a lot of variations, different covers of the records that they sell at shows, also live recordings and b-sides. More and more Spiritualized in your face, all the time.

Is that a route you’d like to take God Lives Underwater?
No. Maybe one other thing, but just an album a year.

But what about the other 25 songs?
We were thinking about putting out a limited-edition thing with a few of the songs on it, but we still haven’t decided what to do with them. We may just save them for the next record.

But probably by then you’ll have another whole batch of songs.
Probably, yeah. Unless the touring is completely hectic, which it looks like it might get.

I saw you guys at the Sextacy Ball with …Thrill Kill Kult and Lords of Acid, I was wondering how the hell you ended up on that tour.
We’ve never understood how we’ve ended up on any of the tours we’ve been on. We don’t think we really have anything to do with the bands we’re on tour with. It’s usually best for us to headline because we usually end up with a band that’s completely techno, or a band like Korn, or a band that’s industrial. We like those bands, particularly Korn – we got along with them really well – but I don’t think we’re industrial enough for industrial kids, too much programming for metal kids, and too much guitars for techno kids.

So where do you fit in? Who do you want to tour with?
Someone who’s just a pop band. Like… Well, there’s a lot of stuff I wouldn’t turn down, but we have our eyes set on some pretty big stuff.

I see you predominately as a rock band (or a pop band without the negative implications) that just happens to understand and utilize high tech equipment.
And I think every rock should do that. It’s as if the bands that aren’t are stagnating because they’re scared of technology. Many great bands – Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nail, David Bowie – all are technologically proficient.

It seems many bands are still working within the Led Zeppelin parameters.
And there’s only room for so many of those bands.

Electronics create a whole new frontier to explore and lay claim to.
I hope there is a frontier, but that sounds good. We’re playing Boston pretty soon, by the way.

Yeah, at The Middle East, one of the only rock clubs left in this town. The Powers That Be (or wish they were) are really putting the squeeze on night life in Boston so we’ll all have to stay at home and watch their choreographed debates and the latest scandal they’ve gotten involved in. You’re originally from the East Coast, aren’t you?
Just outside of Philadelphia, yeah. But we moved to L.A. three years ago.

Did you find the change in geography and culture changed your writing?
No. Not really. It’s the same everywhere, really. It just depends on who you choose to hang out with. In L.A., there’re more movie stars to hang out with, if you get into that sort of thing. There’re problems and conflicts no matter where you live or who you are, so, to me, geography doesn’t have much to do with it. If we moved to another planet, things might shape up, but I really don’t think so.

What does your new album title, Life in the So-Called Space Age, mean?
The phrase was written on the back of a Depeche Mode album, Black Celebration, yet it was never a song title or an album title of theirs. So we used it. It seemed appropriate for the content of the material. I’m a big Depeche Mode fan.

Obligatory question: What are your influences?
That’s pretty easy: Depeche Mode, the Beatles, especially the psychedelic stuff, and Bowie from Space Oddity up to Scary Monsters. I like the direction Bowie’s going, and I think by the next album he’ll be more comfortable with it. The songs are back to the way I like them, the content is comparable to older Bowie material. Jeff listens to a little more electronic stuff, but I’m more into shoegazer. I’m really into ’70s rock, kinda obscure stuff like Bloodrock, Cactus, Trapeze… I really like the sound of the recordings. And the whole movement, what they were singing about. I think Grand Funk is a real influence on my singing style, and perhaps a little Bowie.

The almost mandatory statement made by electronic bands is that they try to use electronic equipment to create an organic sound. Perhaps the degree to which you’ve achieved that goal is due to your appreciation of ’70s rock.
That’s almost definitely where it came from. It comes naturally to us because we have that sound emblazed on our consciousness. When we twist knobs, it goes right there.

This album also has a lot more experimental stuff, for lack of a better term, ambient.
We have a lot of experimental stuff in the archives. It’s always been an interest of ours. Back in the psychedelic teenage years, we’d have battles on the weekend to see who could write the scariest song that’d freak everyone out. We’ll probably put more on our records as time goes on.