Interview taken from HermAphrodite #3

Jonathon Fire*Eater have since split. ( Sniff. ) But you can revel in their past majesty

using ‘Tremble Under Boomlights’ and ‘Wolf Songs For Lambs’, on Deceptive.

It's All Hallows Eve, and I'm in a right pisser of a bad mood.

Coming down here ( from big-person University ) involved my being stuck on a broken train for an hour outside of York station, with no-one telling us what was happening, and no way of contacting those I was supposed to be meeting in Leeds. So when I do get into town, my rendez-vous friends have decided hypothermia not to be a viable option for their evening and so haven't hung around...

I'm already an hour late to the interview, dodgy old men keep trying to perve on me, and my tiara has snapped. The lovely Jonathon Fire*Eater were, very probably, exactly what I needed then…

So then. Downstairs we've left Juliet and Mary Shelley. I ( a cool faery wot likes the Manics ) am upstairs with Marlene Dietrich. And we're talking to Stewart ( 'I sing' ) and Walter ( 'I'm the organ player'*) of the ROCKIN' American band 'Jonathon Fire*Eater'..

Who aren't dressed up. But they claim ignorance as an excuse.

Walt - " We didn't know it was Hallowe'en..." ( HOW? )

Stewart - " We're dressed up as Americans..."

me - " You do that rather well..."

Becca ( thinking about it ) - " Mmm, I think you can pull that one off."

So then. Jonathon Fire*Eater's cunning Hallowe'en costume involves them wearing, um, American's clothing. ( And in Stewart's case, a big duffely navy jacket lined with what appears to be loft-insulation. )

But they're not just looking monochrome.

Which I didn't think they could do.

( Maybe it's that most of their press photos are in black & white... )

me - " You're wearing colour - I'm very impressed - I didn't think you could as a band..."

Stewart - " This is our new approachable look..."

me - " So are you going onstage in that ?"

Stewart - " No, I'll probably change..."

me " Into..."

Becca - " Black..."

There are ollective nods...

Hmm.

From the clues offered, I’ve come to the conclusion that the band are not really ones for putting on an act.

Any sort of act.

So even though they do get changed before they go onstage, none of them look differently as to how they did beforehand. ( Or afterwards. ) No role-playing. Just directness.

They like being who they are.

Lucky really.

On their first mini-album ( 'Tremble Under Boom Lights', Deceptive Records ), as well as some very nice songs ( etc. ) there is also a credit to the pixie-phone player.

And I was intrigued.

I love the idea of a 'pixie-phone'.

And I knew that if I asked what it was then it wouldn't turn out to be as cool as it was in my head.

( Like an actual telephone that will put you through to a pixie who will, on request, make certain noises for you, for the greater benefit of your musical recordings... )

But I still wanted to know.

Walt - "It's just like a multi-coloured xylophone..."

me - " Was it a pixie-sized xylophone?"

Walt - " It was about that big..."

( 'That big' being - for the benefit of those not in the room at the time / able to see hand-gestures in the past - is, yeah, approximate pixie-sized... )

Stewart - " How big's a pixie though ?"

Becca - " Well how big do you want a pixie to be?"

Stewart - " You're a pixie tonight."

Me? I don’t think so...

me - " Oh no, I'm a faery..."

And was fiercely defensive on that point.

me - " Pixies don't have wings..."

The band nod sagely.

Becca ( in reference to her costume, really ) - " I'm just a tart..."

From pixie-phones, my mind leaps to the usage of toy instruments.

Whether children's guitars ( or whatever ) or their talking toys, both would make good samples.

I can cite Placebo, The Eels and Urusei Yatsura as purveyors of this kind of experimentation with sound.

So does Stewart have any toy intruments?

No.

Why?

Sewart - " Because I'm trying to grow up."

Walt - " Oh actually, I do have sort of a toyish organ..."

He starts giggling.

We move on.

I don't like asking the 'how did you get your name' question of bands.

( Or anything that you can guarantee which will be inquired of in every single interview they do. )

And besides, in their case, I think I'd rather not know.

( Though there probably is no coherent and readily explainable explanation with it... )

None of them are called Jonathon.

And none of them mentioned circus skills.

So it may or may not be that.

Anyways... What I really wanted to know about was the little starry thing in their name.( Fire*Eater. ) How did it get there ? ( and also... ) Why?

Stewart - "It's a typo... ( I look disbelievingly at him ) It is, it is."

And that is apparently the truth.

( And they refused to make up a more interesting story for me. )

Walt - " We didn't want it there but it got put there."

me - " Well no, it's really cool...

Stewart - " Oh you like it?"

me - " Yeah... It's just a bit confusing,"

Stewart - " What's confusing about it - do you look at the bottom of the page?"

( You're asking ME. That question. Foolish mortal boy... )

me - " Well yeah, I do an awful of footnotes...”

( I think I'm biologically predisposed towards them - I even use them in conversation. )

me - " ..but I was just thinking that there could've been no reason to it being there. That that's the reason, because there is no reason..."

( Which is itself a very Brechtian thing. )

Walt - " That's a reason for a lot of things in this band - there being no reason..."

And you can get away with so much like that...

me - " Are your lyrics supposed to make sense to anyone outside of the band ?"

Stewart - " Um, there's no reason... ( pauses ) Um, yeah, I think so."

me - "So we're all supposed to find our own meaning to it, there isn't no one set thing you can get from them... Cos some of them are a bit confusing too."

Stewart. " Yes! What? No, exactly!"

Though he didn't believe me that some of his songs were 'confusing'.

Maybe that's not the best word to be using - what I really meant there was that quite a lot about the band which is not easily and instantly penetratable.

The lyrics to the songs make grammatical sense.

But not thematically.

Unless you really

really

think about it.

And the lyrics are a really

really

strong part to their songs.

So you do want

( need )

to understand them.

I ask if they all write the lyrics together...

Stewart - " No, I write the words."

me - " So it's your fault..."

Stewart - " Yeah, it's my fault, okay, alright."

me - " Does it mean something to you ( Walt )?"

Becca - " Does it have to mean something to you? It means something to him ( Stewart ), because he's written it. So, from somewhere in there ( she puts her hands over his head ) does it have to go to somewhere in there (she puts her hands over Walt's heart ) to you?"

He looks as blank as a boy can...

me - " Or has it been too long a day for you...?"

Walt - " It's been too long a day..."

Which somehow starts Becca off about Glastonbury...

A subject which unleashes bitter memories for the band...

Stewart - " Oh you were there? You were one of the ten..."

>>> Part 2

Last revised: 26/07/01