Yeah, I believe you've said in a couple of interviews that www.pitchshifter.com was the album you and Johnny Carter always wanted to make. So having done that, what's next for the band?

J.S.: Umm... Having done that, I've got seven new songs on the boiler already. It's been a real creative time. We've realized that you don't need to labor your point quite so much. Some of the tunes that came--"W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.," "Microwaved" and "Please Sir"--all those songs came together in two days apiece. And they're the songs that I think work best on the album. They're the ones that just go. And so I've got no fear about the next album whatsoever. Can't wait to get started!

So my impression is that your set focuses almost exclusively on the new material. Is there any chance of hearing any of the older songs played again?

J.S.: Yeah, we play "Virus," we play "Triad," and we play "Insects" sometimes.

Have you thought about taking old songs and remixing and re-recording them?

J.S.: "Triad" is a total remix. It's got a breakbeat in it. And I sing them all in the new style, so they all sound different. It's the same song but it's all different.

Ever thought about doing a "Symphonic Pitchshifter?"

J.S.: Heh, heh! Someone asked me if I'd do MTV Unplugged, and I said I'd do MTV double-plugged! Two of everything. Two drummers, two singers, two samplers - twice as much noise! When we practice, just for kicks we do a jazz version of "Microwaved"--total lounge! And a band called Bivouac, who are friends of ours, kind of Buffalo Tom-esque, they did a cover of "Underachiever."

J.S.: It's total jangly guitar. It's really nice. It's really, really fucking funny and when I heard it I nearly died laughing. It's got harmonica in it and I was just like, "Yes!!" In fact I kind of like that. I mean, the Sex Pistols did it--take a really fucked up song and get a choir of kids to sing it--and it makes it even more sick. I admire that.

The past ten years have been a pretty long and evolving road for the band...

J.S.: Nine years! Let's not get ahead of our ourselves...ha ha ha!

The release of Industrial on the Peaceville label back in '91, and now the new album out on Geffen. Are you happy with the way things have gone? Would you have changed anything along the way?

Yes, well two summers ago you were scheduled to play dates here in the U.S., including one here in Seattle at the Fenix. A lot of us were excited to finally see you make it over here, and then... poof! The tour got scrapped. What happened with that and with the subsequent fallout with Earache?

J.S.: Earache told us to book an American tour and said they would give us tour support. At that point the band didn't have any money because we were all on low advances from Earache. Trapped for like five LP's because they had signed us away when we didn't know any better. So we booked a tour, and we put in for tour support. A four month tour, coast-to-coast with Neurosis, and we put in for some stupid little amount like ten thousand dollars in tour support, which is nothing for that time. We were paying for the bus out of T-shirt money, and our own personal money, and not making any money whatsoever. Losing money, losing quite a lot of our money, but asking Earache to make up some of it. And they said, "Yeah, fine." And everything was going well until three weeks before the tour. And then the head guy at Earache rang up and said, "I've changed my mind, I don't want to give you any money. You're going to have to pay for it all yourself." Three weeks before the tour!! Neurosis already had the posters printed. Gigs scheduled, everything was done. Three weeks before the tour!! We needed to find ten thousand dollars and I couldn't. If you stuck a gun at my head and said, "Find ten thousand dollars now or you die," I would've said, "Pull the trigger now 'cause I'm never gonna be able to find it!"

Are you in touch with any of the bands still on Earache?

J.S.: Well, all the bands I liked on Earache split up because of Earache. They couldn't handle it any more.

That's fucked up.

J.S.: Yeah, it is fucked up.

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