The NO-FI "MAGAZINE"
interview with
at Melvin's (on Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles), January 12th, 1997
EEENIE MEENIE is a really neat band from North Hollywood. I first saw them in Spaceland at the SIX VOLT SUNBEAM record release party and soon after that they played at the 3rd ANNUAL NO-FI PRE-HALLOWEEN SHOW at The Alligator Lounge (And they may play the 4th annual one as well!!!). Anyway this band is made up of three bright and intelligent musicians whose reputation proceed them. Denise Siegel is the lead singer/guitarist and is also married to GRANT LEE BUFFALO. David Lovering is the Drummer and the former drummer of the PIXIES. Kendra Sparks, the bassist,...well, she's in EEENIE MEENIE, but I'm sure she has a history beyond it! We did this interview at Melvin's on Melrose as we watched the cool people pass by.
C = Chris Beyond (Me Me Me!)
DS = Denise Siegel (Lead Singer/Guitarist)
K = Kendra Sparks (Bass)
DL = David Lovering (Drums)
C: Where did it all begin for EEENIE MEENIE?
DS: How far back do you want to go? At it's inception or...well, I started writing some songs a long long time ago. It seems like forever now, doesn't it? Before the earthquake...and I showed `em to Kendra. I worked on them with someone else, but that didn't work out. Finally Kendra joined the band. We found David at our rehearsal studio. It's this place called Yo in Hollywood and they give you good deals. We were rehearsing in one room and Dave's band was rehearsing in another room. We heard them rehearsing and started talking to them. We got to be friends with everyone in the band...actually I didn't talk to David till much later, but the bass player in that band...she actually drummed with us for a little while and then he offered to drum with us...he just kinda'...
DL: Coerced them with sex and drugs.
(Laughing ensues)
DS: That's the story. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
DL: I just defected over.
DS: To keep a long story short...he just defected. just kinda' ran...kinda' came over there.
DL: Switched teams.
DS: Crossed the border...all that stuff. Came over to our side.
DL: It was just usual band stuff...just tiddely stuff. It wasn't the greatest situation, so I just got out of that.
C: You changed your address and changed the locks...(To Kendra) What's your take on this?
DS: She never says anything.
K: I do say some things. I think the band has changed a lot for the better since David joined. Before David came into the band we just had a series of drummers and no one was like as really as professional...he's just such a great drummer.
C: Drummers are usually the evil people in the band, so you gotta watch him though.
DL: I always thought it was bass players...that was my experience.
C: See, I've already started a war and we're still at the beginning. Tell all the cool people out there about your E.P.
(The waitress brings us the wrong food. I plead with her to give it to us anyway, but she doesn't.)
DL: A year?
DS: Almost a year ago now.
DL: It's on Krown Pocket. Eight songs?
DS & K: Six songs.
DS: He joined us post E.P. It's not really representative of who we are as a band as it was Me, Kendra and whoever else happened to be there. Brad produced half the songs and drummed on one of them. We took whatever free recording time we could get. We just hoped it would get us a real drummer. Grant produced the other three songs and Joey played on that. Now that David is in the band the songs are a lot more like...songs. Things are less nebulous and more solid.
C: I like the word nebulous, by the way. It reminds me of Star Trek 2 when they all went into the nebula and it blew up.
DS: I want to see that movie...oh you're talking about Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn! Oh!
C: With all the cool literary dialogue like, "Kirrrrrk! I Spit at thee!!
Kirrrrrrk!" Ricardo is the wave of the future. He's doing infomercials right now. Ok, if you are the nerdy kid, and you want people to think you're cool, what do you do?
DS: You join a band.
K: It depends on what band.
C: That's true...if you join the marching band, it's not gonna help anything. Ok, who are your favorite local bands?
DS: I like PG-13 a lot. They're nice people. It's hard to think of who else right now. I like that band that we played with at Mogals.
DL: VELORIA?
DS: No....not that they're not good, but that wasn't them, uh...I'm sure they're good. The crazy people!
C: "The Crazy People?"
DS: They're not really called the crazy people. Was it VELORIA that played that night?
K: No, it was a different band...what were they called?
DL: I don't know.
C: I'm lost.
DS: The lady looked like Grace Slick and it has a C in it.
DL: Oh! Oh, um...
DS: And there was a guy...
DL: TOUCHCANDY?
DS, C & K: TOUCHCANDY!
DS: Oh, yeah...they were bizzare. I like that. They're pretty cool. A lot of diversity and stuff.
(we talk about bands we don't like, but that's all off the record of course.)
C: Where are your favorite places to hang out for when people want to stalk you? They'll want to know in the future...so...
DL: I like the Silverrail. that's my new favorite place. It's a bar by my house. It's a good bar. pool tables...
DS: I still like Eagles...Eagles Coffee House.
C: It was better when you could actually play there though.
DS: Yeah, I know, but they still have really great iced coffee though. There's nothing like that Iced coffee in the entire world.
K: Yes, and the best blended drinks too.
C: You know, I may have never checked out the actual coffee. Just the shows.
DS: They wanted to get the actors in there. They were tired of the punk rock kids...they wanted to get the actors in.
K: It was one of the few all ages places to play. I like Eagles quite a bit myself and this bookstore in the valley.
(We talk about bookstores, smelly old shops and the difference between Chicago's libraries and our libraries)
C: What celebrities would you like to be friends with and why?
K: All the celebrities I'd like to be friends with are dead.
C: Dave, you used to be in the PIXIES, what toothpaste do you recommend?
DL: What toothpaste? Um...Gleam. Yeah.
C: I had to throw one in somewhere without focusing on it, ya' know? Tell us about the North by Northwest Convention.
DL: We drove up...it took us about two days to get up there with the van. We had good write ups about us and we had a good show. We had a car accident... just scratched up the fender. It wasn't while driving. It was just while getting gas...stupid.
C: As long as you didn't run into the actual pump or something.
DL: Actually we hit the thing that guard the pump so...anyway, we had salmon. We had beer.
C: Are you working on any cool inventions like a self hammering hammer or something?
DS: We're always doing that kind of thing. David is always working on his electronic inventions.
DL: The newest one is a touch-tone decoder.
C: Touch-tone decoder?
DL: Yeah.
C: I didn't tell you to tell me what it was...now everyone's gonna steal it! Hear that everyone?!? Touch tone...anyway... Would you rather be a pirate or a viking? There's kind of a competition going on right now.
DS: I think Viking.
C: Viking?
DS: Yeah. I don't know why. They have better helmets. I like their helmets.
C: Yeah, they do have helmets...skull and crossbones pirate hat...there's just no head protection going on.
DS: There are a lot of fashion directions you can go.
C: Pigtails or a beard.
K: I think I would pick pirate. It seems a little bit more victorian.
DS: Romantic.
K: Yes, be a pirate and run away to an island...
DS: Yeah, I guess I could see that.
K: The Norse you know....
DS: They're so hard core.
K: Too much blood.
DS: I like that. If you're gonna go for that, you may as well all the way.
C: There may have been straight edge pirates too, like, "I'm not gonna rape and pillage. I'm gonna stay home and put a skull and crossbones on my hand."
DS: It's really just a fashion thing. And I like the religious aspect of the vikings too. The pirates were probably...what were they?
C: What's your all time favorite tv show or movie or...blah blah blah. This is your typical teen beat question.
DS: Three's Company definitely, cuz it's the same story every week. You know exactly what's going to happen.
DL: America's Funniest Home Videos.
C: Ahhh, he likes the getting hit in the balls thing.
DL: You know, that's the one thing I hate...that and I think animals and babies should be exempt, cuz it's...just natural.
C: I worry that I'll turn it on and they'll say, "here's a guy accidently shooting a nail into his head." and then everyone laughs.
DL: It's sad.
C: And you see true pain going on and people laugh. It's evil.
DS: Did you ever see Dr. Who when you were a kid?
C: I loved Dr. Who.
DS: That was also my favorite tv show.
C: Today it's almost like watching the Power Rangers. the effects were so cheesey.
DS: I was about 12 or 13 when I watched it and by then Star Wars had come out and so you knew it was really bad. It was this guy getting into this little telephone booth and the really bad robots. But still, it was really imaginative.
C: My favorite Dr. Who was that curly haired guy.
DL: I ran into him in England one time. I was in a hotel. I was a big Dr. Who fan...well not a huge fan and he comes out of the hotel...and he was wearing the gear...and this is like 10 years after he was off the show. He had the scarf and the long jacket.
K: My favorite tv show? Afternoon cartoons were always my favorite. Not the modern Fox brand...Ren and Stimpy are good. Bugs Bunny...he warms my heart.
DS: I heard that Eddie Murphy actually had sexual fantasies about Bugs Bunny.
K: Yeah, I heard that.
DS: Yeah. Pretty Scary.
(Chris is silent)
DS: Maybe there's something really sexual about it...well, bunny rabbits fucking other bunnies and stuff.
DL: I once had sex with a hamster.
DS: Really? Up your butt?
C: Like the Richard Gere thing. Let's bring back all the rumors.
DS: People are just finding out about it now, I bet.
C: People in Thailand.
DS: Exactly!
C: Oh, um, uh...This one takes some thinkin'...if you were McGyver and in a prison cell with only a hairdryer, a toothpick, a stick of gum and a mirror...(because McGyver always carries a hairdryer and a mirror) how would you escape?
DS: I never watched that show, but I have a mental image of what it's like.
K: You can use the mirror to burn the bars or something, chew the gum and blow a bubble and put it on top of the hairdryer and heat the air like a balloon, make a handle out of the toothpick and fly out.
DS: There you go.
(Everyone laughs)
C: She knows, see? Let her talk! The silent one must talk.
DS: That was a good one.