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Xiu Xiu Interview - 12/7/05 -
By Miranda Valentic, John Clark and David Loner
Interview conducted by David Loner
David Loner: are there any recordings that you have made as Xiu Xiu that have yet to have been released, due to your own displeasure with the song, or other reasons?
Jamie Stewart: Hmm, lets see, how can I answer that clearly? Usually if there is something we don’t want people to hear its because it’s just not very good. When something gets to be about half way done, we have a pretty clear idea as to if its going to be worth continuing. So I have sort of half-sketches littering my hard drive. There’s also a bunch of music for plays and short films that I guess will get put out at some point, as well as things for singles, I wish I had a more interesting answer for that, like an opera about Goutae.
DL: Do you have a particular favorite Xiu Xiu song?
Caralee McElroy: Let me think about that for a second. Do you have a favorite Jamie?
JS: Um, probably "Sad Pony Guerilla Girl", and there’s a song for the new record called 'Boy Soprano' (apparently the newest song performed live, featuring lead vocals by Caralee) that's one of my favorites also.
DL: Caralee?
CM: Yeah, that’s hard! I mean I've only recorded on one record, but I kind of look at them differently (the songs) from what would be (Jamie's) favorite. But I do actually like 'Sad Pony Guerilla Girl,' and 'Apistat Commander' is one of my favorites
DL: Have there been any books which have inspired you throughout the process of writing, or that inspired a topic within a particular song?
JS: Oh sure! Um, there’s a book by Junot Diaz called 'drown' that was influential, just in terms of how the lyrics are presented. There hasn’t really been any subject matter from books which has influenced (songs) particularly. As is often stated by me in interviews, all subject matter is from politics or things going on in our lives. Although that being said, there is a book I'm reading about Guantanamo Bay that will probably make it into the next record, but that’s more about the subject matter than the book individually. Charles Bukowski has been influential lyrically, anything by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Genet, just off the top of my head... This sounds terrible, but literature, more than songs, is influential on our lyrics, literature more than pop music that is.
DL: What has happened to former members of Xiu Xiu since their departure from the band?
JS: Oh, um, Yvonne Chen never liked touring at all, and wanted to open a store, called Otsu, a vegan restaurant that’s going really well. Lauren Andrews went back to college. Cory [McCulloch] and I just made each other crazy on tour.
DL: Which I guess answers another question we had: Cory had written on Shzine (a Xiu Xiu online message board) that all three of you were now going to be a full-fledged band
JS: Oh we did a tour together again recently in Canada, and other former members are playing with us tonight, Sam and Jherek (of the Dead Science) and others still perform but have their own bands and live in different cities
DL: Caralee, it’s been said that you were/have been involved in other groups; is this true or not?
CM: No. *laughs* A former tour manager of ours use to say he and I had a band called Tiger Game.
DL: That’s where I've heard "tiger" something before.
CM: *laughs* Yeah, but it's not true, well it was me on drums and Scott being "angry"... I think something like that.
JS: Something like that
CM: But no, Xiu Xiu is the first band I've ever really been in.
DL: Some of the fans are wondering if Xiu Xiu, as it is now, is a permanent thing, or if it will continue to be a continuous "revolving-door" outfit.
JS: Oh, well the two of us, live, are for sure. There's a pretty... pretty regular group of people who work on recordings in and out, but
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