Since then, Matthew (guitar), Mona (bass), Steve (drums), and Josh (guitar)--all with the last name of Parker--have developed a considerable fan base, particularly with the under-21 section of Seatown society. While the group of 20-somethings are light-years removed from the likes of 'N Sync, the quartet is young enough to remember what it's like to be a music-loving teenager in a decidedly non-youth-oriented burg. Matthew Parker considers the all-ages Paradox his favorite venue to perform in; when this interview was taped, the band was preparing to play the Roosevelt branch of the Public Library, as part of the library's Shake the Stacks program.

This new album of yours is quite different from the last one.

Mathew Parker: Thank you. No one else has noticed that, at least not officially.

It's a bit dark; the structure is almost like a concept album. What possessed you to make it?

M. Parker: Basically, I went through about two years of bad relationships and too much alcohol. It weakened my confidence in myself as a person; that's what the album kind of wound up being about--just about being furious at yourself and not knowing exactly what you're directing your anger at. How I dealt with that, I guess, was to write songs about it.

Hence the name.

M. Parker: Yeah, and of course, everything we do is half-serious and half-completely ridiculous. The album is very much autobiographical; at the same time, Semiautobiographical was just the most ridiculous thing we could think of.

Do you write all of the material?

M. Parker: Everybody chips in with the music, but I write the bulk of the song structures and all of the lyrics.

I've wondered how a band's members feel about playing songs that are deeply personal to one member of the group--The Smiths would be a good example.

M. Parker: From what I've been told--especially from Mona (Mona makes a point of saying this), and Steve, and occasionally Josh--is that the band has been such pain in the ass at times, that they wouldn't have stayed in the band if it weren't for the quality of the songs. So I'm assuming that they like my lyrics, at least.

Migliore was much more "poppy" than Semiautobiographical. Is this new record a definite step in a new direction, or is it a one-off experiment and you're not going to be deathly serious from now on?

M. Parker: [Laughs] If you look at the lyrics of Migliore, they're about as serious as the lyrics of the new songs. The lyrical intent hasn't changed much; Semiautobiographical is darker, because I was even more unhappy at the time the songs were written. As far as a step in a new direction, adding Josh to the band and having a second guitar, that was definitely done on purpose. I was tired if playing shows as a threesome and feeling like things were falling flat because we just didn't have enough. That translates to songwriting. When you're writing a song, what might have been just an "A" chord with three people--with four people, it's just a wall of "A"

One thing we all agree on in Peter Parker is that we love bombast, we love power. I'm a big fan of The Who. Apart from Josh, we've all been metalheads at some point, so we're into that huge sound.

When we went into the studio to make our second record, we had no idea that it would turn out to be like Semiautobiographical. I still don't know how I feel about this album sometimes. [Pauses] I wanted to make a more refined and intricate record--I wanted to try a little restraint. It just ended up being a point in the life of the band where restraint wasn't working.

We recorded an entire album that we scrapped because it just wasn't working. We spent months on it, and it wound up sounding terrible (laughs). Not terrible songs, but just the way it ended up--we were forcing ourselves to go somewhere that we weren't comfortable with.

I don't honestly know how we made Semiautobiographical. It's definitely the sum of our parts. We can't compromise or pull our punches...or even over-extend ourselves. Any time we try to do something we really can't do, we fall on our faces.

Who in Peter Parker is most influenced by Sonic Youth?

M. Parker: I am. Steve and Mona like them a lot; Josh has never been able to get into them. Sonic Youth is definitely one of my all-time favorite bands. Something like "Paxil" on the new album, that couldn't have been written if I hadn't listened to Sonic Youth for 10 years.

Who has the most education in music?

M. Parker: Steve took drum lessons in junior high, I think; I am self-taught; Josh has taken some lessons, but he's basically self-taught--he plays left-handed and upside-down; Mona hasn't ever taken lessons, to my knowledge. She started out as a drummer. So we're all self-taught, basically.

What is the most difficult thing that the band has had to overcome in the last four years?

We got Mona into the band, and two weeks later we played a show at the Crocodile Café. We weren't ready for people to be judging us yet; we weren't ready for two years. By the time we got to the point where I felt we were a good band, no one cared about us--which might have happened anyway. I think we've redeemed ourselves, musically, but as far as the social interaction in the Seattle scene, we just don't fit in...one of our biggest difficulties has been finding our feet.

Your choice of "I Can See for Miles" for The Who tribute album (this year's Who Cares [iRegular]) was inspired.

M. Parker: Thanks, that was fun to do. I've been hearing that song since I was two. It's really great to do one of your heroes' songs and not fall flat. As a band, it's one of our most favorite things that we've ever done--probably because we're removed from the song, so we can enjoy it more.

When I really listen to "I Can See for Miles," I realize just how nasty, mean and bitter that song really is. Did you discover anything new when it came to record it?

M. Parker: I had to figure out a few of the lyrics I hadn't understood before, because of Roger Daltry's slurring. Mostly, what I realized about that song is how complicated it is. Basically, it's just an "E" drone--this "whaaaah." But there's some pretty complicated chording in there, and there's the key change in the last third. That's true of most Who songs, though--even something like "I Can't Explain." You listen to that and think, "Three-chord pop, no big deal." Then you try and play it and realize that there's these suspended chords and all this stuff.

And John Entwistle's playing some pretty far-out shit.

M. Parker: Yeah...you can't fake the John Entwistle [chuckles], but I think we did a good job of finding an alternate way of playing the bass lines.

Are you a Roger Daltry fan?

M. Parker: I like his voice, but I think he's kind of an idiot. He's the luckiest man alive.

Who was cooler, Keith Moon or Pete Townshend?

M. Parker: Ohh...I love Keith. But it's Townshend, because he lived.

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Peter Parker