chickfactor: when did you first publish wiglet and why?
gilmore tamny: started it in november of ’90 after I’d moved to cleveland. I’d been writing stories in college and giving the whole trying-to-get-published thing a whirl, which, ugh, was seeming pretty miserable. my boyfriend showed me some zines — they were a complete revelation — and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
cf: what sort of things were in wiglet?
gilmore: interviews, comics, a confessional or two, essays, short stories.
cf: what thing in wiglet were you most proud of?
gilmore: ah, I think it had a really specific feel to it.
cf: why did you stop wiglet?
gilmore: I’m glad you asked me that. I’ve felt bad I’ve never written back to the people who’ve asked for issues of why I stopped putting it out. it was a convergence of miseries, really. I was having problems which I didn’t feel comfortable writing about, it didn’t fit into the wiglet idea, but couldn’t really talk about anything else, either. so I just sort of shut down and played guitar all the time. also, the person who had been the inspiration for wiglet had gone crazy a few years before and was going in and out of jail and institutions, which was just depressing as hell and I kinda needed to put an end to that era of my life. that’s all kind of grim, but I don’t know, it worked out for the best, I think I was getting ready to do something else anyway.
cf: what is so great about columbus [ohio]? do you find it funny that people are moving there cause of the scene?
gilmore: there’s a good chance at having a reasonable sort of life here — it’s cheap, there’s lots of interesting people, good stuff going on, good places to hang out, no distracting panorama either (that last bit of snideness is affectionate really — it is awful flat though. actually I’ve found myself wondering how people stay focused in stimulating landscapes — mountains, oceans, large urban decay, so on. columbus isn’t ugly by an means but it’s mor e reassuring than inspiring). I hope more bands move here! it’s exciting, that new blood.
The Yips were one of my favorite bands from the 90's; Gilmore Tamny gave really cool interviews (the one in the Matador zine about the clock radio falling down and playing the Kinks was pretty funny, at least) and "The Blue Flannel Bathrobe Butterfly" was right snazzy, even though I had it on CD, which was how almost everything was made back in the late '90s. Once the Aughts rolled around, making things easier to find, you weren't stuck with just Tim Adams' bullshit catalog or whatever, I ordered a copy on vinyl from Siltbreeze, although they dithered around with my order and sent me "Bonfire in a Dixie Cup" instead. Not that I minded, I mean, it's a great album, too. Probably even better.
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| https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll32/id/27272 |
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| https://ohiopix.org/record-display/p267401coll32/27312 |
From: Delbert Date: January 29, 2006 at 13:56
This Ohio band, originally called "Muffs" play vintage 80s good time AOR that you'd expect from bands such as RATHSKELLER, LION, THRILLS, ROADMASTER and SUGARCREEK.......oh yeah, we're talking the good ole days when AOR was at it's peak!!!! Lot of nice keys and uptempo rockers.
From: juan carlos Date: August 19, 2010 at 17:02
Good AOR/Rock, if you loved the Aldo Nova stuff, you´ll get into this one indeed. yeah Delbert! Nice keys and good uptempo rockers with many AOR tracks. The ballad "Be With You" and tracks 2,4,5,6,7 are my favorite tracks but WTF? "Can't Miss You" what an horrible track! a total filler. Get it anyway! 8.5/10
From: rick kerch vzla Date: February 17, 2012 at 15:19
Nothing really extraordinaire in here IMO...just a decent band that tried something in the music business but failed...first of all the production is really poor(typical of indie bands)and about the songs some are into the AOR territory some others into plain Rock...the highlights are "I'm Not Cryin'" & "I See Trouble"(both AOR),"Be With You"(nice ballad),"The American Affair" & "Rockit Roll"(a decent rocking track)...vocals are just ok too...70/100
Ian: How difficult are the times in between records and touring? When III came out, a recurring theme was, “How long is it okay to struggle for this thing you love. How long is it okay to live like this?”
Shane: Look, Van Gogh never sold a painting.
Ian: But with the band’s growing success, is that question getting harder to answer?
Micah: No, it just evolves.
Shane: It’s not like any of us sit around and go, “Look at all the things I’ve accomplished.” We’re just driven people trying to accomplish new things.
Cody: There’s no goal, per se. We’re just trying to keep progressing.
Shane: We’ll always have something to say.
Cody: That’s what drives our songs. If we lose that and the fire’s gone, then there is no band.
Shane: We don’t want to be Brett Michaels on a reality show looking for an excuse to keep wearing bandanas and eyeliner.
Ian: Shane, how does having a kid affect the answer to that question?
Shane: It just reinforces it, honestly. What kind of person am I if I don’t hold on to the key things that I’ve always believed in? What kind of role model am I to my son?
Andy: When Jack (Jackson, Shane’s son) gets older he’s going to be, like, “Holy shit, my dad does exactly what the fuck he wants to do.”
Ian: You’re all from small towns here in Ohio. How does that shape who you are as a band and as an individual?
Micah: Most of what we have been talking about just about sums it up for us. We’re all small town kids trying to do what we love for a living.
Ian: How does that impact going around the United States from town to town?
Shane: I’ll tell you exactly how. Because we work three times as hard as any other band day in and day out. There might be better bands than us, and I don’t care about that. I only care about what we can control and do as a band.
Micah:We don’t deserve anything. We work for everything we get and that’s Ohio to the core.
Brand New Flag is a raw album. It blasts from the speakers for most of the time. Churning melodies and amped up guitars hammer through many of the songs at times with the urgency of a Springsteen fist clencher, the clincher being Continental Distance which even has a Roy Bittan like piano break. This Little Light is a noirish account of a mugging and not a million miles away from Drive By Truckers territory while History Now could become an anthem for the Occupy movement as could the title song where they rail against the establishment singing, “I don’t believe in anything”. In addition they plant their feet firmly on the side of diversity with the life line described in the words of Let The Boys Be Girls, a defiant and proud refutation of “fitting in” as they dismiss God, schooling and military service with the defiant cry of, “we don’t need old white rich men to tell us who we can kiss goodnight”.
