Still half-asleep from the trek across the northwestern United States, Tim Kinsella was ever so kind to chat with 30 about the latest happenings in his musical career and just why it is he canít seem slow down.

interview on 2003/03/23 by Kyle Undem

Tim Kinsella could easily be considered as an artist with musical attention deficit disorder. Where as ADD might be looked on as a disturbance in the medical world, in Kinsellaís case, it could be deemed a blessing for art rock enthusiasts around the world. Since the breakup of the now monumental Capín Jazz, the man has been integrating his talents in numerous projects including Friend/Enemy, Owls, and Everyone. He is most easily identified as the force behind Joan of Arc - a band that has continued to recreate their fucked up noise rock sound through five albums, hundreds of shows, and two breakups. Kinsella is not about to settle into one project just yet. With the recently formed Everyone, a new Owls record half completed, and another new Joan of Arc record on the horizon expect to hear more about/from Kinsella than ever before.

30: You have covered a lot of ground since Capín Jazz, musically. What is it about you that wonít allow you to stay in one place?

Tim Kinsella: Capín Jazz was a really long time ago; I had just turned 20-years-old when we broke up. I donít really remember what I was thinking very well, but I know that it was a very conscious effort, at first, to really switch directions and do the opposite of how I had approached things just to keep myself interested and alert. Thatís really the major break. Since then, maybe Iíve just had bad tastes of not knowing whatís good or bad. I donít really care. I just want to keep myself interested.

30: Throughout the numerous bands and projects you have been involved with, what has been your favorite to work with?

Kinsella: I couldnít really name my favorite. Iím always just excited about what Iím working on. I have this new band that Iím really excited about called Everyone. Itís me, I play guitar, and this guy Brent plays bass, and these two people from this band called Town and Country. One of them plays guitar and one plays drums. Chris Connelly sings, so I like that band a lot. Iím excited about the new Joan of Arc lineup.

30: What band has been the most successful?

Kinsella: Well, Capín Jazz has sold more records than the other bands. But, I couldnít really judge success in terms of popularity. If I was to be like, ìOh, you know, it was really great, weíll never be that good again,î then why would I keep working? I just need to keep myself interested in the next thing.

30: What caused the breakups after How Memory Works and How Can Anything So Little Be Any More?

Kinsella: Thereís been a million lineup changes. I guess after How Memory Works was the first one. Thatís when our bass player, Eric [Bocek] quit and Sam [Zurick] was Ericís roommate and Sam didnít really want to quit, but Eric was making it tough on him if he didnít. So, they both quit and were like, ìAh, fuck it.î And then we were like, ìAh, might as well not fuck it.î And then there were a million lineup changes and Sam came back in, was out again, back in, my brother was out, then in, then out. I guess after [How Can Anything So Little Be Any More?] was the first time Jeremy [Boyle] was the only person left who had always done the band except me and he moved to Pittsburgh and didnít wanna do it anymore. So, we sort of kept and exhausting pace up to that point and he was in school, it was almost too much. After that it took a long time in my mind to realize that we can still do Joan of Arc without Jeremy, you know. It was still me, Sam, and my brother. Itís still 60% of the people that made the first record. It was still in tact. It was just a different person quitting that confused everything.

30: What is the process that you go through in selecting musicians for each recording?

Kinsella: Itís really very casual. Weíre all pals first and foremost and just sort of whoeverís around will play. Obviously if we need a violin part, and none of us can play violin, weíll call someone who can play it. But, the two new records were made just by me and the engineer being there everyday and whoever else came around that afternoon would play. It was like, ìYou wanna play drums?î ìNo.î ìYou wanna play drums?î ìOkay.î ìYou wanna play bass?î ìNo.î ìOh, I got an idea for a bass line.î ìOkay.î So, itís very casual.

30: Why did you decide to ditch the Pro Tools and go completely analog on So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness?.

Kinsella: I just sort of got exhausted. Those songs were first recorded about two years ago. It just got real tiring. I spent about a year-and-a-half with those songs on my computer and there were like 12 songs with 10 different versions of each one. They were all chopped up and layered. I just got super frustrated and was like, ìWhere the fuck is the song in here?î I just spent some time breaking all the songs down to their essentials, just like one guitar part and the vocals. And then I decided to book studio time before anyone else even hears it. And make everyone else approach it totally fresh because I was so freaked out and absorbed in it. It was really just a matter of practicality.

30: How would you say recording the album as a full band affected the outcome of the record?

Kinsella: I donít know because it was made with a bunch of different little bands. There were an intense couple of weeks with one lineup where we would learn all these songs in two days. Weíd have two days of 14-hour practices and then we did a 12-day tour and then got home and had three days to record all the songs. We sort of had this idea of exhausting ourselves and pushing ourselves so we didnít know what we were doing. We didnít have time to obsess over things or make choices. So, we didnít really know what we had until a month or two after we were done mixing it. And then listening to it and being like, ìWhere the fuck did that part come from?î or ìWhoís playing that?î So, itís mostly just trying to find a balance of going with your intuition and then something great happens and then ruining it by obsessing over it for a long time, and then being like ìAh, fuck it, throw it away!î

30: So, since this album took over two years to make, were you recording it during the same time How Can Anything So Little Be Any More? came out?

Kinsella: Well, that was all stuff from The Gap recording. It was about half that songs that we started for The Gap that didnít make it. It was the half that I liked. There was no actual new recording for that EP. Then we did The Gap tour and came home, and I just sat in my room and smoked a lot of pot, chopped it up, and thatís how it all came together.

30: A lot of critics are calling So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness your best album. How do you feel about this?

Kinsella: I hope itís the best work. I havenít listened to it since the test pressing, so I donít know. I canít think about that stuff. I know what Iím doing now is a lot noisier and thereís like a pendulum that swings back and forth between keeping myself honest. The new stuff is certainly a lot noisier. Iíd be afraid if I read a bunch of reviews saying this is the best one. Iíd be like, ìReally, I can write more songs like that.î I donít want to get like that.

30: Whatís the story behind the theme within the Live In Chicago liner notes?

Kinsella: Those were just recreations from this movie called Weekend. Itís like this old French new wave movie. I spent my last year of college doing this big project with it as part of it. I was just really racked up in that movie at that time and it happened to be the same time I was working on that record. It just seemed like a funny idea to me. We just made these Charlie Brown backyard sets of the movie. I guess that seemed appropriate. I donít really know how to explain where the impulse came from. It just seemed right. It seemed like a way to involve all my roommates and all my friends.

30: When Capín Jazz was together, you guys werenít that big outside of Chicago. But when Jade Tree released Analphabetapolothology after you broke up the popularity seemed to skyrocket. How do you feel about this success after the fact?

Kinsella: I donít know. I mean, itís cool. It sold a lot of copies and now I get this money. It pays maybe two or three months rent a year. Iím very lucky to have done this thing that I havenít thought about since I was 20-years-old and now Iím 28 and I get these checks for it. So, thatís good. Being in a band still feels very much the same to me now as it did then. Maybe Joan of Arc will break up and really get popular. I have friends in bands that play big shows and are very popular, so I sort of witness it from their side. Iíve never really envied it or longed for it. I just sort of feel like my life is the same way it was when I was 14, except I donít have to wake up early. I just like to do what I like to do and I feel very lucky that I can do it.

30: Are you still in contact with Davey von Bohlen?

Kinsella: A little bit. He lives in a different city. Iím gonna see him in a couple of days to buy a road case from him. I see him once or twice a year.

30: Is Owls still going?

Kinsella: I think so. We have the new record about three quarters written. We are all really excited about it. Thereís some tension, though. One person just disappeared and gave up on it. So, now we donít really know where it stands. Itís a question we ask ourselves all the time. Iíd say itís 50/50. I certainly hope it does come together because Iím super excited about all the new songs. Iíd love to be able to record them and play them all the time. Theyíre definitely different than anything Iíve ever been a part of.

30: Is ìWe Are The Owlsî from that Thick Oil Compilation what the new stuff will sound like?

Kinsella: I havenít heard that. I donít know how they mixed it because they just recorded it in that one place.

30: How was recording in that oil refinery?

Kinsella: It was great. Yeah, it was fun. We knew a bunch of people involved with the recording, so it was very casual. We just sort of hung out, had some drinks, and recorded. I wish I would have heard it and made some choices. There was this guitar overdub that we threw on at the last minute. Ever since weíve been like, ìWhat the fuck did we do there?î We questioned if we should have thrown it on, since we spent a long time writing the song. Victor, the guitar player, was like, ìI donít know where it should go. Iím just gonna record it over the whole thing and weíll just bring it in and out.î And we were like, ìWe arenít going to be here for the mixing, so we canít just have it go from the beginning to the end.î So, I have this fear that thereís gonna be this guitar overdub from the beginning to the end that really doesnít fit. Thatís a song that will definitely be on the new record. Weíll re-record it, so we know what it sounds like.

30: You have a new album coming out called In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust this May. Iíve been reading that this is a concept piece on your college studiesÖ

Kinsella: (Laughs) No. Where did you hear that?

30: I might have dreamt it, actually. I donít know.

Kinsella: Thereís really no concept to any of it. I never really approach music as a concept. The concept is that itís fun making noise. We have never really had this big operation, Pink Floyd The Wall type shit.

30: Why is it going to be on Perishable and not Jade Tree?

Kinsella: Itís kind of a long storyÖ It was sort of like How Can Anything So Little Be Any More? Half of it was stuff that was recorded for this record that we ended up not using and the other was stuff that was the rest of this record that Jade Tree didnít like. They didnít want to put out that long of a record. We recorded the whole thing at Perishableís studio. They played on a lot of it. They really helped us do the whole thing. Both records never would have happened at all if it wasnít for them making some deals with us and being really cool and supportive all the time. So, I donít really remember even having a conversation about it. It was just sort of how it happened.

30: Were both albums recorded at the same time?

Kinsella: Yeah, we didnít know which record was which. There was about two-and-a-half hours of music recorded. When it came time to chop it down into a record, we chopped it down to about an hour-and-a-half and sent it to Jade Tree. They were like, ìYeah, thatís great, but we arenít putting out an hour-and-a-half-long record.î They were like, ìWeíll put out these ten songs.î And weíre like, ìWeíll give you these seven songs and these other three.î So, it just ended up becoming two separate records.

30: What were you listening to at age 17?

Kinsella: I was really lucky in that there were tons of punk rockers where I grew up, specifically at my high school. So, there were this all ages club that had shows a couple times a week, like Green Day would play. Every Wednesday and Sunday thereíd be shows. I was really immersed in like the whole Dischord thing. Lungfish are still like the greatest band in the world to me and Nation of Ulysses, Fugazi, and Circus Lupus. 17 must have been mostly Dischord stuff and Lookout! stuff.