Interview: Sam Coomes of Quasi
Interview: Sam Coomes of Quasi
Jason LeValley of Psychedelic Scene:
Hi, Sam.
Sam Coomes of Quasi:
Hey. We’re back.
LeValley:
We’re back. Yeah. Well, thank you again for doing this interview.
Coomes:
No problem. Let’s get down to it.
LeValley:
All right, so the new record is called Breaking the Balls of History. What’s the story behind the title?
Coomes:
Well, it’s a lyric of one of the songs, and it seemed to emphasize some of the themes on the record in a way that seemed nice. So we just made it the title. It’s a little bit of reference to the feminist side of what we were talking about on the record.
I think the change around 2016 –the political climate sort of goaded us into trying to get back to work.
LeValley:
Okay, what do you mean, the feminist side?
Coomes:
Well, some of the songs, it’s a theme that runs through a few of the songs, and it’s a theme that runs through our work in general a little bit.
LeValley:
Okay. Your last album, Mole City, came out in 2013. What inspired you to revive Quasi for the first time in a decade?
Coomes:
Well, we never stopped, really. We were active or semi-active during that period, but things didn’t align to the point where we felt we needed to make another record until recently, and things started to change. I think the change around 2016, that the political climate sort of goaded us into trying to get back to work. And we could use our platform as a band to do fundraising and things like that because a lot of the things that we believed in seemed to be under attack at that time. And then Janet had a big car accident and was pretty severely injured. And as she began to recover from that injury, we started using band practice as a form of physical therapy for her. Really? So we started practicing a lot, and pretty soon we started writing songs, and it all snowballed from there.
Photo of Quasi by John Clark
LeValley:
Okay, what, if anything, sets the new record apart from other Quasi releases?
Coomes:
It’s maybe a little more focused than the last couple of records. It’s really just emphasizing the duo-ness of the band, just Janet and myself in a room playing without a lot of overdubs or anything, trying to maximize (loud sound) oh, my God, Oh, no. Sorry. Trying to maximize what we can do just as a two piece so that the record really reflects what people are going to experience when we go out and play live shows.
LeValley:
Okay. I’ve listened to the three tracks that you’ve posted online, and I know it’s not your job to explain the meaning of your songs, but can you give me a clue as to what “Queen of Ears” is about?
Coomes:
“Queen of Ears” is about music itself. It’s about all the chaos and things that can bring you down in the world around you. But music, you can rise above as you immerse yourself in the world of music; it helps you transcend the physical world around you.
You can rise above as you immerse yourself in the world of music; it helps you transcend the physical world around you.
LeValley:
Okay. Does it complicate matters to be in a band with your ex wife?
Coomes:
No, that was a long time ago. Early on it was complicated, but that water was passed under the bridge many years ago.
LeValley:
Okay. How does the band’s creative process work?
Coomes:
I have no idea. I don’t understand it at all. It just happens.
LeValley:
Well, you’re the primary songwriter.
Coomes:
Yeah. So I’ll write the basic elements of the song–the chords, the structure, the words, the melodies, and then I bring it into Janet and then we just knock it around, stretch it out, push, compress it together, try different things until it sounds good.
LeValley:
Okay. The new album, Breaking Balls of History, is coming out in a couple of days on Sub Pop, which seems like a natural fit for you guys. How did that come about?
Coomes:
I think Janet has worked with them before, so she had, I guess, some contacts there and also they had reissued some of our earlier albums, so we had a little bit of a history with them. So it was natural for us to, when we had some music together, just send it their way and say, what do you think? And they were interested.
LeValley:
All right, great. When we spoke previously, you mentioned that you’ve had some experience with psychedelics. How have psychedelics impacted your life?
Coomes:
I think actually psychedelics have played an important role at the time that I began sort of more methodically and purposefully using them. It was a very unsettled period in my life, like emotionally, also just physically. But it helped me over time get outside of my head, get over myself and get over the ideas I had about who I thought I was supposed to be and what I thought I was supposed to do and just open things up for different possibilities. And I think they were a pivotal influence in my life at that time.
LeValley:
Okay. Have they influenced your music at all?
Coomes:
I don’t think so because it’s interesting, but psychedelics have influenced the type of music I listened to and have been influenced since forever. So that influence in the musical realm was already there and I don’t sense a radical shift in the sound or style of my music after intensive psychedelic use relative to before it.
LeValley:
Okay. Would you consider any of your music psychedelic?
Coomes:
Oh, all music is psychedelic.
LeValley:
Yeah, it can be.
Coomes:
If you’re on psychedelics. It just depends. Some is more evocative than others while you’re actually in the experience itself. But I don’t really listen to my own music apart from the process of creating it. Once it’s done I never really listen to it, so I wouldn’t know. I haven’t even listened to it in the same way I’ve listened to other music while on psychedelics.
LeValley:
All right. So I think you just finished a tour with Jon Spencer, right?
Coomes:
Yeah, that’s correct.
LeValley:
Yeah. Have you played with him before?
Coomes:
Oh, yeah, we’ve been playing together for something like four or five years now.
A couple of albums and done many tours.
LeValley:
Oh, you played on his album?
Coomes:
Yeah, we made two records together.
LeValley:
All right. And was that with…under what moniker was that?
Coomes:
Well, the first record was actually just under Jon’s name, Jon Spencer. The second record was made pretty much with the same people, but by that time, Jon had decided the band was called Jon Spencer and The Hit Makers. So that is the name of the band. Now, it also has Bob Burt, and we’ve had a little bit of a rotating cast of drummers of late, but, yeah, we’ll see. Moving forward, starting Friday, I start doing a bunch of touring with Quasi, so I won’t be able to get back with Jon for some time.
LeValley:
Okay. And how does the Hit Makers differ from the Blues Explosion?
Coomes:
Oh, it’s totally different. The lineup for the Hit Makers is Jon on guitar and vocals. Myself on synthesizer. Bob Burt is playing a gas tank and a garbage can similar to what he played in Pussy Galore– also another band with Jon in the 80s. So there’s a history there. And then a conventional drum kit also. So it’s basically drums, percussion, synthesizer, and guitar.
LeValley:
All right, well, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. I really appreciate it. And I wish you all the best of luck on your tour with Quasi.
Coomes:
Thank you so much.
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