email interview with Rennie Sparks!
1. state yr full names!
Rennie Sue Sparks, Brett Lemuel Sparks
2. describe the new album?
Lots of songs about birds and parking lots
3. do you rue the day you left chicago for new mexico yet?
no, no, not at all. It's beautiful here and very unique. Big, big skies
full of strange lights and colors.
4. when was yr first gig and how did it go?
We played a few songs as part of a variety show in which the star act
was a performance artist who stuffed her dress with a suitcase full of
cottage cheese. We really sucked.
5. whats the worst song the handsome family have put on tape?
Probably, "Happy Harvest" on Odessa. That was back before we gotten
help
for our mental problems.
6. does the alt.country tag rattle you?
No, I don't know what to call us so I'm glad someone does.
7. what was the first lie you remember being told by an adult?
My mother told me that "Santa Claus was a very very bad man."
8. do you have nicknames for each other?
We barely speak to one another at all.
9. which country do you love touring most?
I like Sweden a lot. The roads are empty and the people are so
depressed and beautiful. Also lots of Elk.
10. have you earned enough by now to have a legal team? ever need use them?
Yes, it's all very complicated to pay your taxes correctly when you're
self-employed in the US. My brother (a lawyer) has recommended we
deposit
all our money in either Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. Maybe when
we actually get some money we'll do that.
11. i've just moved in with a german jeff tweedy lookalike. you still good friends of the real one?
Woowee. Sounds cute. Yes, we love Jeff. We just played four shows with
him
in about two weeks. He's been so generous and helpful.
12. what was yr worst experience of teenage angst,besides diabolical poetry?
I was a very very bad teenage girl. Mostly I took a lot of drugs and
broke
things. I also voted for Ronald Reagan in the hopes that he would bring
about WWIII.
13. do you remember appearing on prime time irish television on 'The Late Late Show' last year? what was going thru yr minds?
Hard to forget. It was really scary and unreal. Thankfully it wasn't
live
as they had to prerecord us and then put a giveaway car on the stage.
14. will there be another set of short stories?
Not for awhile. I'm slow.
15. any side projects planned?
We're always tinkering. I've been trying to paint some happy pictures
though they always end up kind of scary.
16. have you ever actually had beer thrown at you?
More than once. But, I've probably thrown a few myself.
17. what song of yrs could you never leave out of the setlist?
That's a really intersting question. I guess the last few years it's
been
"Weightless Again." Maybe that will change.
18. what advice would you give a new generation of confused people?
Mystery is a good thing. Embrace it.
19. will you one day just retire and age in peace or will it be a las vegas happy ending?
Depends on whether we get that Cayman's Island account going.
20. thank you!
much thanks to Rennie for being a sweetheart and replying
back home