[ interview ] [ fan q&a ] [ bio: j.s. clayden ] [ bios: mark clayden ] [ bios: jim davies ] [ bios: jason bowld ] [ bios: dan rayner ] [ p.s.i. intro ]
[ there's no place like home ]


Name: Martyn
Age: 15
Location: England

Were there any songs in the pipeline for P.S.I. that you would have liked to put on the album but couldn't?

J.S. Clayden: Yeah. We had a tough choice this time. There were a few tunes that didn't make it onto the record that we thought were good enough. We hope to release them as B-sides later in the year.

Mark Clayden: We always have too many songs. Jim and J.S. and are unstoppable.

Jim Davies: Yeah, I reckon some the unused tunes will be either B-sides, or form the basis of new tracks.

If you could do a track with anyone, who would you most like to team up with?

J.S.: DJ Shadow. He's the boss.

Mark: Deftones.

Jim: Leftfield, Orbital, Underworld.

How's Mark's record label, Hit and Run Records, coming along?

Mark: It's coming along slowly but surely. I'm still on the lookout for bands and I'm also spending time on my new band, The Blueprint.

Who's your favorite character from the League of Gentlemen?

J.S.: Papa Lazarou. He kills me. I have the freakshow poster from that in a frame on my wall.

Mark: Papa Lazarou.

Jim: Pauline, the job club woman. "Not you, Mickey, luv!"

[ jason, j.s., mark, jim ]


Name: Kerin
Age: 27
Location: Shropshire, England

When do you think a band becomes a band, and not just a few people playing music for fun?

Mark: As soon as you play a gig, or release a CD. Anytime people are paying to hear or see you play.

Jim: When you actually write your own tunes.


Name: Alan
Age: 20
Location: Florida, U.S.

When Pitchshifter tour America, would J.S. consider appearing on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher? It would be interesting, because the show has tons of musicians on (a Mr. [Johnny] Rotten springs to mind as a favorite guest), and I think it would be great if J.S. were to be on one night.

J.S.: Sounds like a giggle. You send the limo and throw a suit on.

Mark: Bring it on.

Will Pitchshifter ever release an acoustic or ballad-type song? J.S. has a good voice, and I think he should come out and do an Incubus-style love song.

J.S.: We always said we'd never do any acoustic stuff. Well, actually, we always said we weren't actually capable of doing it. There is an acoustic guitar and vocals-only version of "Stop Talking (So Loud)." Jim and I did in our studio for a laugh one day. Who knows what'll become of it.

Jim: The day 'Shifter do a acoustic tune (except in a piss take form) is when the band should end!

Do Pitchshifter have another album in them somewhere, or is P.S.I. laying it all out on the table for one last go?

[ j.s. clayden ]
photo by craig young
[ give a listen! ] "Super Clean" MP3
96kbs/46sec/557kb

J.S.: Might I suggest you binning that application for the job in crisis counseling.

Mark: It's not over till the fat lady sings.

Jim: The thought of writing 20 new songs fills me with dread at the moment. In six months I'm sure I'll feel different.


Name: Daniel
Location: West Yorkshire, England

J.S., You've mentioned that your alternative job would to be a graphic designer. I'm hoping to get involved in advertising media and web design myself. What would be your ideal design job?

J.S.: Something cool like Fight Club, or doing band art or websites. Something fresh and not dull and corporate. Skateboard graphics, t-shirts... Anything fly.

As I believe the new album is going to a success, you'll be making promotional music videos for the singles, etc. If you could choose any director, who would it be, and what would you want the video to be like?

J.S.: I would choose David Lynch. He would make the video weird by proxy and no one would get it, but it'd be cool. The Wachowski brothers, for obvious reasons -- The Matrix blew my mind when I first saw it. David Cronenberg; I can imagine a video like Dead Ringers -- that would be sick!

Mark: J.S. took the words out of my mouth.


Name: Neil
Location: Berkshire, England

Have you considered doing a Remix Wars type album for P.S.I.? Who would you ask to remix it?

J.S.: Yeah, we have toyed with the idea, but we need the record company to play ball for it to happen. Personally, I would love to get mixes by DJ Shadow, Squarepusher, Bad Company, Decoder, Crystal Method, Peshay, Aim, Prodigy, Orbital... We could be here all year!

Jim: I'm dribbling at the thought

Due to Pitchshifter's style, in the past you've toured with a wide variety of bands with a wide range of styles. Now that sampling/loops are on the increase in music, do you think you'll be touring with bands whose sound is now similar to yours? Or would you keep the line-up more varied to avoid that sort of tour?

J.S.: Well, touring is just in the lap of the gods really. It's all to do with schedules, and availability, etc. We just try and tour with bands we like. Are there any bands out there who you feel we fit in with? Tell me the names!

Mark: We are and have always been happy to tour with most bands. We hate being pigeon-holed.

Jim: You can't get much different from us than Bad Religion, who we are touring with soon.

[ jim davies at ozzfest 2000 ]
photo by craig young


Name: Big Al
Location: Scotland

What's your favorite remix you've done for someone else, and what's your favorite remix that someone has done for you?

J.S.: My favorite remix I've done for someone else was the mix for Clawfinger we did. We totally mangled the original by getting a local ragga MC to toast over the tune and overdubbed a stack of rude drum 'n' bass breaks. I don't think Clawfinger knew what the hell to make of it. The favorite mix someone has done for us would be the Kyo-Jin mix of "Hidden Agenda." Slammin!

Mark: My favorite mix we've done is a remix we did for The Stereophonics, believe it or not. It was unreleased, but it is awesome. Kyo-Jin is my favorite remix by someone else.


Name: Scott
Age: 17
Location: Iverness, Scotland

You said Jello Biafra influenced you to make music, and that working with him was one of your finest moments. Is there anyone else you'd like to collaborate with? Maybe a band like Einstürzende Neubauten, or Bad Religion, or Conflict?

J.S.: I would love to do a tune with Incubus, Rage [Against the Machine], System of a Down.

Mark: There are still a few bands I would love to tour with. I'm sure we will in the future.

What do you plan to do when Pitchshifter ends? Do you plan to make music, or are you going to do something else? Maybe move into politics?

J.S.: Fuck no, I could never be a politician. I intend to fade even further into obscurity at an exponential rate.

Mark: I have a new band The Blueprint, and we have started strings2go.co.uk.


Name: Shane
Age: 16
Location: London, England

Has Pitchshifter split from their morals of trying not to sound like an American band? The drastic changes in albums suggest the music is of the old Pitchshifter, and stands for different things than that of the new Pitchshifter.

J.S.: Well, what is "sounding like an American band?" We don't sing in an American accent, or use words like "ass" or "sidewalk" in our tunes. We sound like us. If that is more inline with what's going on in the USA than the UK right now, so what?

Mark: I still live day-to-day with all the same beliefs I had when I formed the band in 1989. We have always written the music we wanted to write.

[ mark at cbgb ]
photo by craig young
[ give a listen! ] "Trancer" MP3
96kbs/46sec/556kb


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