Chavez interview with Matt Sweeney and Scotty Marshall; by Ricky Powell, from Ego Trip, 11/95

I listened to the album, the shit was ill. It sounds like there's a lot of crescendos in there. What kind of influences took you over?
Matt: (after much fumbling) You know shit like the big, crazy crescendo-building part in "Dream Police?" When Cheap Trick got kinda evil? Some of their songs are kinda dark and not so sugary. I guess we like music that's uplifting but not corny. We make good-time art rock for the people.

Scott: I always wanna go straight for the hook. 'Cause I like pop music, I like Kiss, and they say "No, man, you can't give away the hook. Ya gotta earn the hook."

How did you get together?
Scott: Matt and Clay knew each other and played together for about a year by themselves. James felt sorry for them because no one would play with them. Matt knew James from Wider--Matt played bass and James played drums. Then they go a good, solid man by the name of Davey Hoskins on bass and recorded a demo. Matador like the tape and decided to make a single out of it. Then Davey split and they called me up in LA. I was finishing up graduate film school and they said "C'mon, come out," and I said no. I said, "Am I gonna be a rock star?" and they said "Sure!" and I said okay. So I came out and now I'm a rock star. It worked out great.

Matt: Scott's got a fantasy life and we sort of help him along with it.

Did you graduate from film school?
Scott: Yeah I got my master's degree. I'm a master. As if that means anything in film. I directed the video we made (for "Break Up Your Band"). I wanna make movies but I'm still in the band. I want to do both.

Matt: I would be happy if everyone in the band was doing other shit. Relying on your band to go anywhere I sort of setting yourself up. Assume failure from the get-go and if anything happens, that's great, but we're not counting on anything. ("Pentagram Ring" is plying in the background) Do you think I sound like a sissy when I sing high like this?

Nah, it's good. It's kind of like The Who.
Matt: See! That's exactly what this song is supposed to be about. Thank you!

I like it man. What's the most hectic joint you ever smoked?
Scotty: I was in ninth grade or something and the Three Stooges were on TV and all of a sudden the TV's upside down. I'm trippin' out and we go to the beach and my friends have jet skis and they're riding around and I start to think the jet skis are animals. I got all afraid of the skis, saying "I don't wanna ride," and ran home. I got a bag of cheeseballs and I'm sitting there eating and then I started getting paranoid that I was gonna choke and no one would find me 'cause everyone was out at the beach. I was repeating to myself "Settle down, settle down." And then these two smokin' hot girls in bikini start walking toward the house. I'm looking at them and I'm like "Oh shit, they must have the wrong house," and they're like "Scotty? Scotty?" It's Janet Jones, this is years ago when she's in Flamingo Kid. She's standing there in this bikini with this other totally hot girl. She says "Hi Scotty is your dad home?" And I'm like "Uhh... Uhhh...no," I'm just so fucking baked I didn't know what to say. They're standing there waiting for me to invite them up so they were like "Alright we'll see you later" and they left.

Matt, you got a story? Did you smoke a joint before you got married?
No, I didn't. My wife smokes pot but not as much as I do. She gets annoyed when I'm stoned. I don't blame her... (stupid crap excised) Our drummer's Chinese.

Scotty: He's got blue hair. The kids on the street called him Chino Rock with the Blue Hair.

Matt: And he gets pissed off when people say he looks like Bruce Lee.

Can he kick ass?
Matt: He's sort of scary-looking. He was in this band Live Skull from the ye olden noise rock days. Do you wanna see our tour movie?

OK (we watch it) Scott, you have some good cameos in there.
Matt: Scotty's had some good cameos in movies and shit.

Scotty: I was in Laverne & Shirley when I was eight.

Really? Are you down with Squiggy... (laughing) How come there were no black people on Happy Days? There were no black people in the '50s?
Scotty: There was Sticks, the drummer in the band. He had sticks in his hand... look, I don't know! Ask someone who was involved with it, I was just on it when I was eight!

Was the Fonz a geek off-camera?
Scotty: I don't know. I hear he's one of the nicest and most sincere people in the business.

OK, it's been a pleasure. I think it ranks up there with the Doug E. Fresh interview.
Scotty: I used to be in a breakdance crew.

Oh...?
Scotty: I was into breaking, not really popping. Trying to perfect that shoulder roll move and could never quite do it. The L.A. Breakers came to this kid's Bar Mitzvah once and I was so psyched that I joined a breakdance crew. There was a time when I breakdanced more than surfed. We were poseurs but whatever...

-- Ego Trip, P.O. Box 2328, Astoria, NY 11102.