Jumping back to pre-historic Pitchshifter, you recorded some songs for John Peel's BBC Sessions. What chances does that have of seeing the light of day?

Jon: That's a strange thing, because they're technically owned by Strange Fruit, John Peel's label.

So it's up to him...

Jon: I think we could... There's two Peel Sessions we did with him and I think we could put them out but we'd have to strike up some kind of deal with him. Maybe if this album goes massive then we'll wait a few years and bring out a Best Of... Ha ha ha! At some extortionist's price, so that the only way you can get the Peel Sessions is to buy this two hundred dollar box set of everything we've ever done. Including the first demo...which is awful!

I have friends who would pay the money, you know... In fact, I've a friend who owns that first demo of yours.

Jon: Oh, god! I listened to that the other day. Painful! I hate all the old stuff. Just from all the years of playing it. When we were doing that back then there were not many other people making that kind of sound, I don't think. What we were doing was good but we never got any recognition for it. There was no vindication for it, so to listen to it now just brings all that back...

You always seemed to get compared to other bands. And those comparisons never seemd to be very accurate as far as I was concerned.

Jon: Yeah, Godflesh, Ministry. Someone called us a cheap man's Rage Against the Machine. And I'm like, "So who's the rapper then?" I wonder what they'll say we are on this new one... Heh.

Jon: Stuart... Stu left for the band that he'd formed--another band called Skin Limit Show. His latest band is called Hellvis. Stu kind of went off the deep end a little bit; he turned into a bit of a heavy drinker. I see him every now and again.

Pitchshifter's website is an integral part of the band, as important to you almost as much as your music. The band is both personable and accessible, and very connected with the fans via the site's message board. If someone asks you a question directly on the message board you take the time to write back. That kind of personal interest and involvement is not something you find very often in the business, and I think that kind of involvement really shows in the loyalty of your fans. Does their influence play a tangible role in the band?

Jon: Um, they have influence us in the way that we try to please them. I know as a fan of music... When I met Jello I was getting him to sign my records. "Sign this fucking record! It's the original Bedtime for Democracy. Sign it!" I mean, I know what that's like. So in that sense I guess the fans do affect stuff. Like artwork. I'm always trying to print as many pages as the record company will give me and put as much information on it as I can, 'cause I know that's what you want when you get the CD and open it. I hate CDs anyway because they're so small and horrid, so I want to try to have as much stuff to look at as possible.

In that way, they do have an influence. But music-wise, I don't think they do. We write music for ourselves. It sounds really fucking selfish, but it's kinda like our way out, you know. England's shit. Let's not fuck around. Forty percent of children under the age of fourteen live under what is classed as the "European Poverty Line." In England... You know, my country's fucking shit. We've still got houses without heating and we call ourselves "civilized." It's a tough country and music's a way out.

I don't think I could let anyone or anything dictate how our music's gonna be. It's the one thing... It's like the one golden thing in our lives. If you're good at soccer, that's your one golden thing; no one can tell you how to play your game. It's the same for us with music. If there was anything we had to change I wouldn't go on. I wouldn't fucking do this anymore because it would be tainted. Ruin the thing I love and I'd leave it. And that's why I don't think we'll ever be popular, because we fucking refuse to write dumb, catchy music.

Jon: To be popular? Heh. I'd like the money to buy my freedom. In a world based on cash you need cash to buy freedom. You need cash to put space between you and the bastards. For that end, yeah, but not for the materialistic things. "Ooo, look at my five changer cd player..." Yeah, whoop-dee-fucking-doo! Know what I mean?

Your fans all seem to be quite the gift givers. The band's logo turning up as a huge crop circle, giant iron clocks in the shape of the same PSI logo, song titles tattooed across their backs in big, bold letters, women carving the band's name in their flesh...

Jon: Yeah, what's up with that?

My question exactly. Do you ever worry about being stalked, hunted, abducted by aliens?

Jon: Oh, I have been! I've had to change my phone number. There's a French girl who came to see every show in France. She must have lied to the label or the tour manager or someone, but she got my phone number. She would call me and say, "I want to talk about us." Who is this? Us what? What do you want? She was like, "Don't try to lie to me about the thing we have between us!" All this shit... So I had to change my number. At the house I lived in before my current place I started getting fan mail to my home address, which is fucked up I think. They know where I live and they've got my phone number. Ahhh!!

No, but the woman in Connecticut, she's like, "I've got a present for you." She'd carved "Pitchshifter" in her arm with a razorblade. It was like, "Heh, heh. Umm...thanks. Don't ever do it again or tell anyone else to do it. GOODBYE!"

That kind of stuff's a bit scary. But there's great people, you know. A guy gave me this sandblasted Pitchshifter stone paperweight with the logo in it. Heh, heh! I was like, "This is cool!" My dad's got it on his desk; he's all proud of it. I think the clock's in our A&R guy's office. He was begging me, "I've got to have that clock!" Somone gave it to us in America. It weighs like fifty pounds and there was no way we were going to be able to get it a seat on the airplane. We get all sorts of stuff. I've had people come up to me and say, "Oh, I read that you like Marmite." Marmite's this yeast extract that looks like molasses, but tastes really salty like soy sauce and it's made in England. Kids would bring it to me at shows. Stuff like that's great!

Now what's the story I heard about the couple who were shagging sidestage at your of your shows this past summer?

Jon: Oh...that! Now where was that? Belgium, I think. I didn't see any of that because I was playing the festival. Twenty thousand people there at the festival. Our manager Stuart was videotaping us playing and he hears this banging noise underneath the side of the stage. So he pans the camera over and there's this couple there fucking. I didn't know what was going on until later that night on the tour bus when we watched the tape. It's quite impressive that you can copulate with 20,000 people just a few feet away. But the most impressive thing when you watch the tape is that the guy (who is on top) is fucking his girl in time with our music! I mean, most of our songs are like 174bpm, and this guys going for it throughout the whole set. I'm thinking, "This guy's an athlete! He was going for it all the way through. He probably has sex along with Atari Teenage Riot!"

Yet another one for the PSI record books...

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