The Suicide Notes

The Suicide Notes started as a recording project for Tim (of Epoxies) and some friends.  The fun soon couldn’t be contained to just one small recording space and a full band was formed to play live. Three female lead singers were brought in to belt out those dark lyrics while harmonizing like the Ronettes. A backup band was meticulously chosen from the local talent pool including members of the Mean Jeans and Pure Country Gold. Suicide Notes play music in a fun, frantic ‘60’s girl group style only with some slightly demented lyrics. If you want another sense of what this group is like: imagine you’re on a hell bound train with Joey Ramone wearing the conductors cap while listening to The Shangri-La’s as you’re plummeting into the abyss. With lyrics like: “Life is about choice so i choose death so I don't have to see your face and smell your breath.” It’s this bitter and sweet dichotomy in their music that makes them so unique. However humorless squares: find your kicks elsewhere!  

Interview by J Castro

Let’s start with introductions: who are the Suicide Notes?

TIM: Name's Tim and I play drums and write songs. I also provide the rehearsal space and keep the fridge stocked with beer and the cupboards full of red wine to enhance an otherwise drab practice environment. Then we have Jessi Lixx, Double A and Miss Jo upfront on vox, Petey J Cool on guitar and our newest addition, John Cox on bass.

As a kid, do you remember what or whom made you want to write and or perform music?

TIM: I think the Damned had the greatest impact on me as a kid. Musically and visually they covered so many bases that it was impossible to avoid being heavily influenced by them. Van Halen also blew my mind; the first two records are fully insane.

The Suicide Notes sound: Maximum Rock N Roll said you sounded confused but melodic enough to forgive (whatever that means) you’ve been compared to B-52’s, The Go-Go’s and The Shangri-La’s. How would YOU describe your sound?

TIM: Those comparisons seem fair enough, I know ideas have been directly lifted from at least one of those bands. As broad as the term is these days, female fronted power-pop is an accurate description. We are six members who like a variety of genres so there's still room to wiggle in that description. We write music that we like to listen to.

The scene you guys have going on in Portland has become almost difficult to keep up with, great stuff seems to be coming out of there all the time, at least that’s what it seems like to an outsider like myself. Can you describe what it’s like being a part of that and is it becoming increasing difficult to keep your heads above the water so to speak?

TIM: It's always a challenge to remain relevant in this town. With the current migration, closing of venues and rent increases it's becoming a different monster. Lotsa cute bands are emerging- the civil war look is running rampant and it's almost impossible to avoid being offered smoked ice in a glass of whiskey. Keep it simple, a step above well liquor is fine but don't always go for top shelf. As long there's some dirt left around town we'll still have a pot to piss in.

The two EP’s you have out (S/T and Hey Baby) are both on Hovercraft Records, how did you guys hook up with those fine folks?

TIM: Tim Janchar proprietor of Hovercraft records and current bass player of Hey Lover took notice and kindly offered to release a couple singles. He WAS a friend of a friend who became a friend. The personal touch is nice.

He makes great sacrifices to push music he believes in. He's a rare breed and a necessity to keep a solid grass roots scene up and running. I could S his D all day but let's move on.

Tim, legend has it you started The Suicide Notes simply as a recording project. What led you to decide you wanted it to become something more: curiosity more than anything?

I never really imagined the Suicide Notes as anything more than a recording project but Lixx scrounged up Petey J Cool (Pure Country Gold) and Howie Doodat (Mean Jeans) and we made it happen. Recently Howie left and was replaced by John Cox (Satan’s Pilgrims, The Pynnacles) who is also a mega-shredder, we're fortunate to have such talented friends. I was also itching to play out again.  Recording is so fun and so creative but accomplishing a balls out live performance is what helps me sleep at night.

So Tim, there have been many a relationship laid to ruin due to being in a band with your spouse. What is it like for you being in a band with your other half and was there ever a concern when starting The Suicide Notes?

TIM: The relationship hasn't really been an issue, having said that when there are creative disagreements I'm more likely to push things into argumentative territory. She's good at diffusing that and starting irreconcilable and unending song writing warfare but in the end it's nothing that a stimulating game of mixed doubles at the racquet club won't cure.

This is the part of the interview that I like to call “The Fantastic 4” or “4 questions I stole from other interviewers” Here it goes:

1. What was the first album you bought with your own money?

                 TIM: Pink Floyd The Wall

      2.   What was the first band t-shirt you ever owned?

               TIM:  Fruit of the Loom

      3.    What was the first concert you went to without your parents?

               TIM: Siouxsie and the Banshees (there's other less cool and more truthful answers).

4.     What band or musician's picture was the first to get hung up on your bedroom wall?

TIM: Farrah Fawcett predates all band posters-I feel she deserves a plug.

I was reading this interview with Nick Cave and in it he said he felt that music, out of all other art forms, can change a person’s mood the fastest. Do you agree with this and do any of you have a favorite record you pull out when you want to be lifted out of a bummer mood?

TIM: Yep I agree that music is the most visceral art form. Recently I listened to Machine Gun Etiquette and it made me feel pretty good. Sometimes the best records put me in a "bummer mood;" sometimes being down is really uplifting.

Outside of music, do any of you have any hobbies or interests?

TIM: Well honestly music does absorb a great deal of my time. It is my main hobby and interest but occasionally traveling, surfing and vintage furniture hunting get in the way.

What lies ahead for The Suicide Notes for the remainder of 2014 and 2015?  Can we expect any new records?

TIM: Since 2014 is about done I'd say nothing, although we’ve had a super fun year. This last Spring we all jumped in a van and went on a “Mission to Sun Tour” to California with my (Tim) other band Sex Crime and we played a bunch of rad shows w/Maniac, Kepi Ghoulie, White Murder, The Stitches (+more!). We also had the honor to open for the legendary band The Sonics here in Portland this last October. We’ll be ending 2014 playing Seattle and Portland with LA’s The Muffs, which we’re super stoked about. For 2015 we're planning a completely non-music related trip to Hawaii and an ever elusive full-length record release coming to a store near you.

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The Estranged

The Estranged have managed to hitch the cold, brooding atmospherics that are associated with bands like Wire or Joy Division to the hard driving vehicle of punk rock. This marriage is, as most may think to the contrary, not an easy task to accomplish. The qualities that exist in punk and post-punk take a certain kindred spirit or a particular frame of mind in a person to fully appreciate what each of these genres has. So the binding of these two sounds doesn’t produce the most palpable form of music for most. It’s not power pop, or bubblegum, The Estranged play a type of music with a seriously dark and unforgiving side to it. I think many people don’t like to be reminded that these aspects are part of the very essence of what makes one human and it exists in everybody, in some more dormant than others. Once you come to this realization and let this band’s music sink into your soul, you’re gonna wonder where they’ve been your whole life. 

Interview by J Castro

Let’s start out with some introductions. Can you tell me who is in the band and what they do in The Estranged?

MARK: We just added Evan to our roster this year. So this is our current lineup:

Mark Herman - guitar/vocals
Evan Mersky - guitar
Derek Willman - bass
Keith Testerman - drums

I would like to get a bit of a musical resume from you.  Have you guys been in other bands and/or does anyone have any side projects going on?
MARK: Keith, Derek and I were in a band called Remains Of The Day that existed 15 years ago. It was more of a hardcore punk band. We put out 2 LPs and some 7"s and split up after that. Keith, Derek and Evan have and are currently playing with other bands. 

Can you pin point the one person that’s influenced you musically the most? If so can you tell me a bit about him or her?
MARK:  That's probably the most difficult question to answer but if I had to choose I would have to say David Bowie. What is there to say that hasn't already been said? He's amazing. He's been making music prolifically since the mid ‘60’s. I own almost every album he's released. He went through some weird phases in the late ‘80’s/early ‘90’s with the whole Tin Machine side project and Black Tie White Noise album, but I love everything else and I can't wait to hear his next album if there is ever going to another one. It’s kinda weird, but I've even had dreams about him. I once had a dream that I was at one of his shows and I gave him a hug after the show and the pinnacle of the whole dream was smelling his back during the hug and it smelled like a bouquet of flowers. Although, I don't have any preconceived notions about which single musician is going to drive me to write songs. I like to go through phases of listening to artists that suit whatever mood I'm trying to convey in my music and I also think its just nice to keep up with what’s new in the world. 

When first starting The Estranged, was this the sound you were looking for and envisioned in your head or did it just take on a life of its own over time?

MARK: I think I would've liked to have been a bit more experimental sounding in the beginning but our first couple of records were recorded really fast and ended up sounding pretty raw instead but honestly, I don't think we even had a clue as to what we were trying to accomplish when we first started writing songs. We all liked a few of the same bands, but that was it really. We never talked about any sort of specific direction our band was going to head into. Also, like I said earlier I tend to drift into phases of listening to sounds of whatever inspires me at whatever present time and I'm glad that we do that because the notion of pursuing a singular unequivocal direction to me seems fairly fruitless. So I'm sure that doing so changes our coarse stylistically but I will say that only until recently has it felt to me that we're actually capturing something coherently that's been in my head, although I may always say that about any of our new material.

You guys have had a long association with Dirtnap Records; they just released your third LP.  How did that relationship begin?
MARK: Ken from Dirtnap came to one of our shows and he must've liked us because he asked us shortly after if we wanted to sign to his label and we said yes. I don't think there's much of an interesting story behind it.

There are a few reviewers that have described your music as being hard to absorb at first but worth the repeated listens to really sink in. What do you guys think of that comment?
MARK: I think that is a good thing. I don't really enjoy listening to a whole lot of one-dimensional spoon fed type music. Their needs to be something below the surface that on first listen you may not be able to understand (or maybe not even hear). There needs to be something in music that is intrinsically linked to you and no one else and that proves your intent wholeheartedly without artifice but that is a very complex goal to achieve and I've heard a lot of bands flail at it but every once in a while you see or hear a band that succeeds at it and that is without end, the most inspiring muse to me. We often choose to play the way we play on purpose. If I'm writing a song and it sounds great by the masses' standards but if I think it’s cheap, I will scrap it. I'm not saying that I won't ever put my heart into a song that is easier for some sort of public to absorb. It just has to have the right context of representing whatever it is that I'm trying to embody in a song.

On your new self-titled album that came out earlier this year, there is a song called “Mark of Sin.” Was this song influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter? Do films and literature often inspire lyrics for you?
MARK: No, it was not influenced by the Scarlet Letter however, we've had a few songs that were inspired by books/films that may a bit too aptly titled: The Subliminal Man and Wicker Man to name a few. I do like to get inspired by films. I think certain moods of soundtracks can be hugely inspiring. Morricone, Francis Lai, and John Barry are a few of my favorites. 

Where can people go to listen or to buy your music?

MARK: I would hope that you could find our records in most independent record stores but if it’s not there you can always order it from any of our labels. (Dirtnap/Sabotage)

What lies on the horizon for The Estranged, any new releases or tours coming up?
MARK: We have an Australia tour that we're currently setting up for sometime in February and
we have a few 7" singles coming out in a few months as well but aside from that we're probably going to start working on writing material for our next album. Thanks for the interview!

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