Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2014
Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss have been playing together as underground rock duo Quasi since 1993. Formerly married, Weiss and Coomes maintain a tight connection that is evident in their musical chemistry. Weiss is one of the most inventive drummers playing today, and her resume includes Sleater-Kinney and stints with the Jicks and Shins. Coomes has had numerous side projects including with Elliot Smith and Jandek. But for over 20 years now they’ve consistently returned to Quasi, and have just released their ninth studio album, the double LP Mole City. Quasi’s brand of slacker rock ranges from psychedelic boogie-woogie to experimental noise, but always with the essential components of Weiss’ driving rhythms and Coomes’ roadhouse piano and distorted guitar. With Mole City they’ve created a quintessential Quasi album filled with the bluesy melodic fist pumpers, atmospheric trippers and cathartic noise that fans expect. In between trips to the compost bin, Coomes spoke with Metropolis from his home in Portland, Oregon.
Tell us about the new album.
We recorded it entirely in a small room in my basement. We worked on it for two years, intensively for the last six months. It was actually pretty fun! For the most part, Janet and I were on the same page about how we wanted to do it.
Mole City sounds so much like a Quasi record. It sounds like you were deliberately trying to not break new ground.
That was intentional. We weren’t going to make an electronica-country record (laughs). The music scene has changed so much in the last few years. We wanted to restate our ideals as a band, to not take things for granted. We felt like it was important to make a strong restatement of who we are as a band. It was part of what we wanted to do with the record. We would be who we are and make a strong statement on those terms.
Mole City seems to be formatted for vinyl. Was that intentional?
It’s structured to be four 16-minute sides. Even when we were starting making the record, in our minds we were making a double LP. If we were smart we would have put large gaps between each side on the digital version! But we didn’t want to bother people, so we gave them a normal CD or mp3 or whatever people are listening to nowadays.
People don’t really listen to albums anymore.
It’s true! And we knew that was the case but we decided to embrace the archaic format. Even though our music is pop influenced, we are not a pop band. We are not trying to custom make records for a mass audience that will sell a lot of copies. It’s an art project for us. It does turn out that that vinyl is not as popular a format as it used to be but in the end that doesn’t really matter. We really intentionally varied our approach to different songs. This time we built some of the songs in the studio and we also took some old songs and deconstructed them and played around with them in different ways.
How do you and Janet maintain your creative collaboration after working together for so long?
Well it’s pretty easy. We have a rapport that kicks in pretty instantaneously now. Even during the past year or two, Quasi wasn’t taking all of our time and energy. Typically we do other things and play in other bands. So when we come back to Quasi it’s not like being locked down in a sort of confined environment. We can walk away and do other things, and come back to it with fresh ears.
Do you have anything else to add?
I never really have anything to say! No one’s a professional. If you make enough money, then you can call yourself a professional. But really everybody is just winging it.
O-nest, Mar 2 & Mar 7.
