MTX
From Joey K
BDL: When did MTX get together, and who's been in the band thus far?
Dr. Frank: Well, we first got together in late 1985, and the first record came out in 1986. I'm the only person left from that era. There have been other people: The original drummer was a guy named Alex, who briefly played in the Overwhelming Color Fast, which is the only band that anybody would know about, that he played with; There's Jon Von, who was in The Rip-Offs, and now is currently just a guest guitarist with any band that he can talk into letting him be a guest guitarist with; There was Aaron, who was a bass player in Samiam, he left this band and joined that band, Samiam; And Byron, who was the original bass player, I don't think he went on to do anything. And the two guys now are Jym and Joel, and they've been in this band for about 3 years now.
BDL: Did you kick Jon Von out, or did he just leave?
Joel: I wasn't there, and I've admittedly only heard Frank's side of the story. My understanding is that everyone was kinda sick and tired of everyone else. That's the way it is, not just this band in particular, but also in many bands who have been in less than successful ventures, everyone's personal little idiosyncrasies and quirks tend to get on your nerves a lot more easily when things are going poorly. After the first European tour in 1992, I think that everyone needed some space. But actually, it doesn't really matter now, because we're on great terms now, and he got to do that thing with The Rip-Offs, and so I think he's happy with his station in life, and he's not doing a real band anymore, and I think he's happier that way. I'm sure you could ask Jon Von and he would tell you different things, but that's all water under the bridge.
BDL: How many times have you guys been to Europe?
Joel: 3 times now. I've been twice. One time was an abbreviated tour, and so the most recent time we went, was I think over 8 months ago, now. And that was to sort of make up a lot of those shows. I've actually crossed the Atlantic twice, myself, and the band has crossed it 3 times.
BDL: What's your favorite MTX album?
Joel: Well, I have a vested interest in the ones that I've played on. It's hard to have any objectivity with those ones whatsoever so I really think that those are definitely my favorites. But, I was a big fan before I was in the band, and my favorite would have to be 1992's Milk, Milk, Lemonade. It has a special place in my heart. I was at the record release show, it was my first show ever, the record release show for Milk, Milk, Lemonade.
BDL: And Frank?
Dr. Frank: Which is my favorite one? Now, that's really kind of a, um, that's not... You know, the thing is, a record is not, it's not a thing that when you make it yourself you can really have a favorite one. It's like you have a project that you try to do and it comes out in a way in that in some ways you achieve what you tried to do and in some ways you don't, and that's what makes all the records all different, because it's all the failures and strengths of all of them. But I would say that the one that probably still has the most significance to me is the Mr. T Experience and the Women Who Love Them EP, because it captures a time that was so tense and so horrible and it captures it so well that I look on it as a real landmark of my life. Everything in my life was in absolute 100% complete shambles, and it's amazing that any record at all got recorded, and the fact that it's kind of good it just keeps surprising me, so I have different things that I think of when I think of favorite records. I don't want to say that it's necessarily the best, it's the one that I'm most pleased that it exists, because it's so unlikely that it ever would.
BDL: That's kind of funny, because that's the one that got me hooked.
Joel: Really? That EP pre-dated my tenor in the band by a few months, and I really wish I could have been a part of it. In a way, it has a special significance to me as well, because it was the last release that existed before I was in the group, so it's one that I can enjoy in purely, with complete perspective on it. If I had been in the band, it probably would have turned out very differently. But it's good that it exists in the form it exists in.
BDL: What's better: vinyl or CD's, and why?
Dr. Frank: Well, you know, CDs are convenient, and that's basically the reason that yeah, they're better in that sense. Vinyl records, for rock and roll music definitely sounds better when they're done right. But they're rarely done right, and the people who have the magic know-how to make a vinyl rock record sound good have all died off now. And so, most vinyl records now are atrocious. So, you're better off with a CD, frankly, because everything's set up to arrange it that way. But, if by accident or by design, you end up with properly mastered vinyl, it's better. And it's also great, I miss the fact that you were limited when you made a vinyl album to a certain number of songs and a certain length, which now, you're not, and everybody's records are too long, including ours, I think. If we had the discipline of having to keep it to 20 minutes a side, maximum, and even that's pushing it, 15 minutes a side is better, then I think everybody would cultivate the umm... Brevity is the soul of wit, and I think that more people would live according to that rule if...
Joel: ...If they were forced to. Albums are engineered differently now, so they're engineered so that CD format will sound better. That's why a lot of times, vinyl releases, which these days are meant to be collectibles, you know.
(Extremely loud moaning in the background from George Tabb.)
Dr. Frank: They're collectibles, they're souvenirs, they're like Hummels, you know, you buy them and then hope that one day the band will die so that it will go up in value and you can sell it... Love is Dead probably sold 3,000 vinyl copies, or something like that, and 3,000 people are just waiting for one of us to die so they can cash in. I mean, I'm not mad about it. I've had people wish my death for worse reasons than that, and so, it is really less for music than for show.
Joel: My final comment on that is that artwork on LPs looks better, and colored vinyl is also a pretty cool thing.
Dr. Frank: I second that emotion, brother.
BDL: You just mentioned about a lot of people wishing you were dead, is that why you are known only as Dr. Frank?
Dr. Frank: Well, that's part of it. I don't like the idea of being "track-down-able," so you know, you've been around as long as I do, and you acquire enemies. I'm not that bad of a guy, but there've been some times when there are those who wish that... There are those who wish that I hadn't... Who have less than a totally positive... Mostly women. There are some women who I would not want for them to be able to track me down. The thing is, my last name has gotten a bit of circulation, unfortunately, and people will come up to me and they say "I know your last name," and they'll say it and then look at me with this challenge, and I always just say back, "Well, too late, cuz I changed it."
Joel: And they look so crestfallen.
Dr. Frank: Right, and that screws things up for them a little bit. And I just think that my family isn't really the issue here, and I've got my dumb stage name, I might as well use it.
Joel: I think that Frank doesn't devulge his last name because he remains an enigma, and Jym doesn't have his last name in print because I think he's wanted for taxes or something, but for some reason, my name is in the Lookout press release, and press articles always talk about how Frank and Jym are these shadowy mystery men, whose names shall never pass the lips of those who are members of the covenant who know it, and it's got my last name in there, and I feel that I would like my last name withheld for solidarity reasons, it's just that I feel kind of left out. But there's nothing that I can do about it now.
Dr. Frank: I always believed that when you put your last names on a record... I've always liked the pretentiousness of not putting it on, rather than the pretentiousness of putting it on, it's a different sort of pretension. I prefer a to b. It's just aesthetic. It's just how it looks on the record cover.
BDL: Who was your hero when you were growing up?
Joel: Dr. Frank.
Dr. Frank: (Laughs.) Bless you, my son. Um, my hero growing up, really growing up as a kid, probably was Mr. Rogers. And I was quite fond of Captain Kangaroo as well. Mr. Hooper, W.S. Gilbert, and Arthur Sullivan were big heroes of mine as a child. And Goya, the great painter, I was fond of him when I was a child, as well.
BDL: If you had to quit music altogether, what kind of job would you get?
Joel: Being in this band is sort of helping me perpetuate my reckless youth for even longer, because like most people, I was going to squeeze another 4-10 years avoiding to ever having to do anything with my life by going to school. And now, the longer that I'm able to get away with being in this band, the longer I can put off those 4-10 years that I'll have coming to me as soon as it's all over. So, that's what I'm planning to do to avoid responsibility, if this band were ever to end, would be to become a "student."
Dr. Frank: (Hesitates.)
BDL: Frank, would you just feed off of social welfare for the rest of your life?
Dr. Frank: I would say that the only answer to that is Supplemental Security Income.
Joel: Don't worry about that, we're set.
Dr. Frank: I had a job for a long time, and I don't have one now, and now that I know what it's like not to have one, I really could not go back, and it would be really a... I don't even want to think about what would happen if suddenly I had to go get a job. My delicate constitution could not handle it.
BDL: All the Lookout saga crap that was going on, do either of you pay any attention to any of that?
Joel: Are you referring to the gentleman standing behind us?
(George Tabb still stands with a group of people, being the social maniac that I imagine he is.)
BDL: Yes, in fact, I am. Do you have any opinion on the situation?
Dr. Frank: You know, I have a rule that I never say anything bad about a paying customer, in fact, any kind of customer, paying or not.
Joel: Exactly.
Dr. Frank: I think it's just not that relevant. I understand why people have had difficulties and problems with Lookout, definitely, it hasn't been, all along, 100% rosy for us, with them, although, now, I would say that it is 100% rosy. They're good friends of mine, and I feel like we're really in this together, and they are just as excited about it and as wound up in it as we are. That's really cool, and I don't think that's the case with a lot of other record labels. For us, it's great. I think that other people have had less than positive experiences. I think that making it your life's work to publicize it is just sort of... While you're doing that, you could be practicing or making more records or something that has some point. So, I think a lot of the people that are really, really upset, they need to move on.
BDL: Another upsetting topic, how do you guys feel about cops? Have you had any good or bad experiences with them?
Joel: Cops, the television program?
Dr. Frank: You mean, the pigs? The Man?
Joel: The Man on the street.
Dr. Frank: The word on the street is that
Both: THE MAN IS COMIN' DOWN ON THE PEOPLE.
Dr. Frank: You know, I have to say....
(Interruption by some lady needing assistance with hailing a cab.)
Joel: Anyway, we were talking about the Fuckin' Pigs.
Dr. Frank: Yeah, and I have to say that, at the risk of being uncool, I admire our men in blue and I believe that... I live in an area of Oakland where if it weren't for the minimal police presence that there is, I would have been history a long time ago. And I guess maybe it's the fact that I'm maybe a little older, and I'm maybe a little bit more wealthy than I was a few years ago. I'm glad that there's cops around because whether they're bad people, or whether they're republicans or whatever, I'm pretty sure that they're not gonna try to kill me like everybody else. So, it's a trade off.
Joel: You know, I thought you meant Cops, the TV show, and I was gonna say that I think it's on TV too often.
Dr. Frank: I don't like the theme song.
Joel: Yeah, the theme song is irritating, and everyone they ever arrest has their shirt off, I don't know if you've ever noticed that.
Dr. Frank: I thought you liked that.
Joel: No, well, actually, I do think that's funny, but now I know how to spot a criminal a mile away: They have their shirt off.
Dr. Frank: Right, you always talk about that.
Joel: Yeah, I know I always talk about that.
Dr. Frank: You learn something about your family.
Joel: I also think it's true that it's not fair that the police are there to protect people like us. And I know that's not true for everybody, and actually, for a time, it didn't used to be true for me, because they're not there to protect teenagers, or kids, either, and I sort of feel like if they were going to err on the side of someone, they would err on my side, so that sort of gives me peace of mind, even if it is sort of... impure.
Dr. Frank: Even when I've had difficulty with the cops, trouble with them, you know, when the van gets a parking ticket, or something, I think it's justified. I've never had a thing where I've been unfairly treated by the police, I think they've all... Listen, I've got a list of problems as long as your arm, and police are not anywhere near the top of it. It isn't even worth considering. Maybe if I were a member of the underclass, or something, I would have it more of a problem, or if I were a drug dealer, cops would be a main concern. I'm not, so they're not.
BDL: A simple question: what's your favorite place to play?
Joel: You, the gentle reader at home, whatever hometown you happen to live in, that is our favorite place to play, WE SWEAR.
Dr. Frank: Japan is nice, England's nice. Those are probably my favorite places.
Joel: Japan, is probably, I have to admit, the best place to play.
BDL: I guess the last lame question would probably be, would either of you marry me?
Both: Umm, uhhh....
Dr. Frank: You know, this is so sudden.
Joel: I'm flattered, but um, I don't have a ring on me. I think in all fairness, Frank should admit that he's already married...
Dr. Frank: Yeah, I'm taken. It's flattering, although, I think the communal proposal loses a little...
BDL: Well, you're both cute...
Dr. Frank: Bless you, my child. But I think that it's um... Let me give you a little tip for the future. Even if you've got a short list of possibilities, ask them one at a time. And don't let the other ones know about each other. Because that's a recipe for disaster. I learned that the hard way.
Joel: Exactly. Not everyone is as open-minded as Frank and I.
Dr. Frank: It's like, you know, you've got your list, "Cheryl, Amy, Brenda, Belinda, will any of you go to the prom with me?"
Joel: Yeah, "I've gathered you here today..."
Dr. Frank: You know.... I don't really know you very well, but I can tell from the expression on your face that someday you're going to make someone a wonderful wife one day, and so, I wish you all the best.