...I finished the interview with Caustic...THE LIGHTNING ROUND! (Caustic interview : Part III)

This is the final part of my three part series of the interview with Caustic. If you have not read the other parts, click HERE for part one, and HERE for part two. I had a great time doing this with Matt. He's a no bullshit kind of guy and he helps make my day. I've really looked forward to his responses over the last few days and they have made my day a bit better than the last. For those of you who are new to this blog solely because of the interview with Caustic, I urge you to become one of my regular readers. You can subscribe on the right side of the page. This is here mostly for me as an outlet where I can tell people what made my life better today. In a time where so many people put a lot of time and effort bitching about things, I am trying to do the exact opposite and shine a light on things that make me happy.


Now, for the lightning round... I asked Matt seven questions that for some reason I thought would be short answers. I should have known better than to expect a word association type answer to these...

Falken: Inferno 

Caustic: Madison's Inferno Nightclub is where I've played, DJd, booked dozens of shows (and the mighty Reverence Festival) and basically called it a second home the last decade or so.  I hear so many horror stories of how hard people have it to do nights, get gigs, and have to deal with club owners that deserve a cold, calculated death rather than bully, rip off, and berate people who work for them.  Inferno's the exact opposite, and Apollo (the club's owner) is just one of the most stand up guys I know.  Fucking great club.  I don't know where I'd be in so many ways without it, as it was because of booking all those shows pre-Caustic that I was able to meet so many people that would become friends and offer me so much help when I was getting going, and even today.

Falken: Metropolis Records

Glee will be calling shortly.

Caustic: It's like I moved from one dorm to another-- There are new house rules, new people (although I've known some of the staff for a good chunk of time, namely my sekrit boyfriend MetroJim), and a less family-oriented but still decent atmosphere.  I dunno-- it's working out well so far and hope it's the start of something really good.  We're only in bed for this one album so far, but hopefully the relationship is mutually beneficial and we can keep going.  It's not like we've bought a dog together or anything, but I'm feeling good about it and have 100% creative control over my stuff still, so I just hope I sell enough to keep them in my corner for a while.  So far, so good.  I do miss the Crunch Pod family/gang, but we're all still pals so it's still good.

Falken: Wax Trax Retrospectacle

Caustic: I finally got to see Chris Connelly perform with the Revolting Cocks.  Without RevCo (the original members from the first 3 CDs, not the Menudo version out there now.  No offense to anyone playing in that version, but it's not RevCo to the vast majority of us.) there really wouldn't be Caustic on many levels, and they tore it up.  Sascha-less KMFDM was okay, 242 were fun, but Revolting Cocks are god.  One of the best shows I've ever seen. I had a shit-eating grin on the entire time.

Falken: .... up and riot?   

Caustic: Eehehe, the question I've been asked most since quitting drinking (other than "SERIOUSLY?!?!?") is "So will you still play 'Booze Up and Riot'?"  Well HELL yeah I will.  First off I still love the song.  Secondly it's not about ME at all-- the song it about crowd mentality, specifically the crowd mentality we had for several years here in Madison when dipshits would riot every Halloween downtown.  It's a fun song and I embrace myself as being/have been a part of it, but the song, unlike 'My Crutch' or 'White Knuckle Head Fuck', isn't actually about my drinking.  It's about the mob mind.

What's funny is I'm currently reading an awesome book about just this subject called 'Among The Thugs'  by Bill Buford and it's about late 80's, early 90's UK football hooligans.  It's brilliant in conveying how he (a U.S. journalist with little understanding of how the game is even PLAYED, let alone the mindset) gets swept up in the moments of the riot.   Having just been a part of the massively peaceful government protests here in Wisconsin and being a fan of shows where the crowds just go crazy it's given me a lot to think about in terms of how strong an individual's will is when it comes to certain group situations.  Fascinating stuff.

But I digress-- it's still booze up and riot.  Booze ain't going anywhere and neither are dumbasses doing it.  I can still riot-- I just do it on Red Bull.

Falken: drummers

It's exactly how Matt came in to this world.

Caustic: I love them live-- honestly the people I watch most during shows are the drummers and wish I had the time to learn how to do it.  I'd love to have a regular live drummer but the way I've designed Caustic for road shows doesn't make that easy.  I've had the pleasure of having lots of pals guest in on drums for shows, from Mike Jenney of Alter Der Ruine to Sean from Servitor Sanctum to my pals Bob and Emily here in Madison.   Caustic's lack of a regular drummer comes from my early necessity to be able to travel light so I could play shows as cheaply as possible.  I'd love to have someone like Matt Berger (Stromkern's drummer), Joe Letz, or freakin' Smith (of the much missed Babyland) haul ass on stage for me.

Falken: best show you ever played

Caustic: Honestly, in recent memory I'd really have to say our set at Resistanz was pretty much by the book on how I want a Caustic show to happen-- tons of energy, lots of surprises (to me and others), and just a fuckton of fun.  We're not for everybody, but it's shows like that which make me really proud to make the music and do the shows we do.  Having Brian and Katja from The Gothsicles (who wipe the floor with Caustic live, btw.  God they're amazing.) and Keef Baker up there doing their thangs enhanced every aspect of the gig, and all the special appearances were just because, fuck man, my FRIENDS are here!  The more, the merrier.:)

I have a lot of "best shows" in my mind, but that's the most recent one.

Falken: favorite show you ever played

Caustic: Whenever I get asked that (which is infrequent enough, mind you) the first show that pops into my head is the Green Bay show we did a few years back in a VFW type room with a few punk bands.  No stage, no sound guy, no lights (we turned out the back half of the fluorescents above the crowd) and we did it in front of a big electronic BINGO board.  Fucking awesome.   I have so many great memories of that show just because the room was full of people just there to have a good time and we all just partied together for 45 minutes, handing out plastic farm animals we bought at a gas station, having equipment problems (Brian's keyboard stand collapsed the minute the set started and he was playing it on the floor for a while), and just nothing but positive energy. 

I've played venues 50 times that size (it was a SMALL room, mind you), but that one's still closest to my heart, I think.

My only regret is not being able to talk the venue into letting me run a bingo game during the show, but we tried.

Falken: Matt, thank you for your time and doing this interview with me. It's been a blast for me getting these responses in.

Hopefully soon, we can get another Caustic/am.psych show up and running somewhere in the midwest and get the crowd rolling for a few hours.

Caustic: My pleasure, man.  I always enjoy running off at the mouth.;)  I appreciate the opportunity.:)

Thanks to all who have read this blog, I hope to keep you around for a while. There may be more interviews coming as am.psych will be playing the WTII Records (far from) Mini-Fest in June with bands like Christ Analogue, PTI, Dark Clan, Iris, Trigger 10d, Stiff Valentine, and many more. I also hope you stay tuned so that you can see what else "makes my day" in this crazy world we call home. It's been an adventure to say the least.

Proud member. Just sayin'.