Supernova - the 3 Cynical interview (November 1995)

I'm a fool who likes to drool....

Amphetamine Reptile Records released records by bands that traversed a path between garage rock and noise-rock....for the most part.  However, there were occasionally bands on the label that seemed to be well off that path.  Supernova was one of those bands.

My first encounter with Supernova was at the AmRep CMJ Showcase (a yearly event not to be missed) in September 1995 at The Cooler, a club in the Meatpacking District, New York City, which had a speakeasy-ish vibe to it.   The line-up was Unsane, Steel Pole Bath Tub, Supernova, Gaunt & Love 666.

I had never even heard of Supernova, and entertained the possibility it was actually Today Is The Day playing under a pseudonym (not a stretch given that 'Supernova' was the title of the first TITD record - released by AmRep only a couple of years earlier).

When Supernova took the stage, they were very clearly NOT Today Is The Day.  Very far removed from the heavy noise-rock I was accustomed to AmRep providing for me, Supernova were three....uh....child aliens from the distant planet of Cynot-3 (by way of Costa Mesa, CA), who were in search of tin foil and happened across some of the catchiest, most infectious pop-punk tunes this side of the Andromeda Galaxy.

To describe a Supernova show as a lower-budget version of the sci-fi theatrics of Man or Astroman? (and there was some membership crossover as original guitarist Hayden Thais a/k/a Hank a/k/a Dexter X a/k/a 00zX1 a/k/a 339837X jumped ship to join Man or Astroman? and, later, the similarly-minded Servotron) wouldn't be totally inaccurate, but would be a bit of an injustice.  They were incredibly funny, fun, and between their on-stage personas and catchy-as-hell bubblegum punk rock - they were just a damn good time who I couldn't resist seeing over & over again.

One only needs to hear songs like "Calling Hong Kong", "Costa Mesa Hates Me", "Bad Haircut", or the entirety of the 'Ages 3 & Up' LP to know this was a band just as worthy of being heard on your record player as they were to be seen live.

During the time we did 3 Cynical, which, not consciously, reflected our love and obsession for all things AmRep, The Presidents of the United States of America, with Supernova as openers, played Hofstra U.S.A., the "club" on the campus of Hofstra University on Long Island.  Although we had just recently graduated, we still knew enough people on campus to be able to get into these "student only" events.

Unlike every other AmRep interview we conducted, this one was not arranged beforehand by the fine folks at AmRep (and I mean that with all sincerity - they could have easily blown off a small, unknown zine like ours - but they graciously arranged every interview we ever asked for and put us on "the list").

We approached the aliens in Supernova - and asked if they would be up for doing an interview.  Having apparently found all the tin foil they would that night - they said "Sure!!!".

After the concert (and, by the way, POTUS were excellent that night), we went to a backroom at Hofstra U.S.A., with all of us sitting around a huge table.  The only problem was, we were completely unprepared for doing an interview - most notably, we had no questions planned and no tape recorder.  Aaron got a pen and wrangled up a bunch of loose pieces of paper, and just wrote furious notes as he tried to keep up with the conversation.

So - I'm not sure I'd consider this an interview as much as I'd consider it an IMPRESSION of an interview - but - as it turned out - I think it captured the comic absurdity that Supernova brought to the world better than any verbatim interview ever could.

Enjoy.

(P.S.  my soundtrack for this transcription is the 'Pop As A Weapon' compilation - which compiles all the early pre-first-LP singles...and it's pop-punk gold!).

_______________________________________________________________________

L-R:  Jo (Supernova), Aaron (3 Cyn),
Jeff (3 Cyn), Art (Supernova)

The following is a tremendous paraphrasing/partially fictitious interview with Supernova, one of the latest and greatest exports from Amphetamine Reptile Records.  The interview was conducted in a wildly merry drunken state by the forces of 3 Cynical after Supernova's show at Hofstra University in November of this year.  Using only a ballpoint pen and not a tape recorder, the interview became three pages of scrawling, violent note fragments.  I was advised to fabricate any parts of the interview I was unsure about by Jo, the guitar playing creature.  Also present were Art, the bass monsta and about a half dozen odd monstrosities.  The drumming manifold, Dave, was not present.

3 Cyn: For the love of God, where and when were you guys formed?

Nova:  About 3 or 4 years ago in San Diego.  We were informed of our serious mission and underwent extensive training.

3 Cyn:  Why Amphetamine Reptile?

Nova:  They offered the most tin foil.  Tom Hazelmyer is our puppy now.

3 Cyn: How about this tour with Presidents of the United States of America?

Nova:  It...is....wicked.  Landing permission was granted.

3 Cyn:  Say something that has something remotely to do with recording, but is impossible to transcribe because it's three weeks later, I was wasted at the time, and the notes from the interview are almost entirely illegible.

Nova:  Recorded on tin foil and transferred to vinyl.

3 Cyn:  How did you end up on the "Clerks" soundtrack?

Nova:  It was sort of by luck.  Chewie told us that there was this guy on Earth making a movie...

Amy:  I think I got blood on my pants.

(At this point there was a massive solar flare-up which caused tremendous atmospheric disturbance and a vortex was opened up, out of which burst forth numerous esoteric phenomena.)

Nova:  Steve Garvey!....Mickey Rivers?@#$%^&^^@!$@^@$^.  Our mission from Cynot-3 is to collect all tin foil to build our return ship.

3 Cyn:  The answer to the next question...

Nova:  4.

3 Cyn:  Man or Astroman?  Friend or foe?

Nova:  We don't know yet.  An upcoming show features us and them in North Carolina.

Jo

3 Cyn:  How is the tour going?

Nova:  Great.  We've had good responses, notably in D.C. and Atlanta.  Squirrels.

3 Cyn:  Your lyrics often reflect a sound knowledge of pop consumer culture, such as Oreos, and my personal favorite, "Gum Fighter".  Is this your eggplant?

Nova:  "Gum Fighter" was an attempt to resurrect the old Hubba Bubba commercials which we receive frequent broadcasts of in space.

3 Cyn:  You have a 5" out on Sympathy For The Record Industry.  ['Monsta!!']

Nova:  You are correct, sir.

3 Cyn:  Do you like recording with Mac at AmRep?

Nova:  Yes, Mac's a good engineer, but our preference is to record outside of AmRep.  We have a lot of freedom to do singles.  I enjoy the local weatherman.  Ken Doll.

3 Cyn:  What about that totally typical, stupid and boring issue which people shouldn't write about in zines, talk about amongst themselves, or discuss in public anymore because it's beaten to death, but I'll ask it anyway:  the major label issue?

Nova:  It's not necessarily a curse.  We are getting the best of both worlds.  We are on AmRep but we have major distribution, so our music gets out to people who normally wouldn't get it.

3 Cyn:  Future recording plans?

Nova:  None yet.

3 Cyn staff member Jen
showing off her awesome Supernova
t-shirt

3 Cyn:  Philosophize?

Nova:  Everyone plays.

(At this point, the disintegration of the Van Allen belt made it impossible to continue.  Splintering, fragmented shards of speech rip snort conversation pieces and low tide hamburger made a scene with Winslow.)

Supernova is a totally fun band that plays rock and roll.

Dischord Records podcast & 3 Cynical interviews coming up

This blog has led me to a podcast gig!  A couple of months ago, Brian Cathy posted in a Dischord Records Facebook group that he was starting a podcast that would go record-by-record through the Dischord catalog.  I got in touch with him to let him know that I was really looking forward to it & I pointed him in the direction of this blog, where a couple of years ago, I had made an attempt (quickly aborted) to blog my way through the Dischord catalog.  He read the posts I made and liked them & mentioned this blog in an early episode of the podcast.

He & his original co-host made it through nine episodes (up through the Youth Brigade 'Possible E.P.') before his co-host decided to leave the podcast.  Brian reached out to me about possibly guest co-hosting a few episodes with him, but I saw a window of opportunity and suggested that if it went well, why should it be a "guest" situation?

We recorded & released our first episode this past Monday - covering Side A of the classic 'Flex Your Head' comp.  It went very well and I received a lot of positive feedback and tomorrow, the episode covering Side B will be released.  I'm now on board for the long haul and look forward to bringing the same type of content you would have received here had I decided to stick with my original concept a couple of years ago.

The podcast is called 'End On End' - and you can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts.  A direct link to the episodes can be found here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/893587

As far as the blog is concerned, the next four posts are going to be reproductions of interviews done a long time ago for a one-off zine I did with some very close friends around 1996 or so called '3 Cynical'.  We only did one issue, which I'm very proud of, although a second issue was completely done - but I wanted the zine to be free and I was looking at expenses I realistically couldn't handle to get it to the finish line.

The zine, unintentionally, turned out to be something of an Amphetamine Reptile Records fanzine.  The issue that came out had interviews with Unsane, Supernova & Guzzard.  The issue that never came out had interviews with Gaunt, The Cows and Hammerhead.  Those interviews, unfortunately, are lost and were never published.  I hope to find them some day - maybe they're in a dusty old box in my father's house somewhere.  I don't know.  I'd love to have them back.  I'd even happily transcribe the tapes if I could ever find them.

But for now, I'm going to republish the interviews that were featured in issue #1 - which although published - so few people ever read them that I thought it would be fun to feature them here.  Keep in mind the interviews are almost 25 years old and, to be honest about it, I wasn't the best interviewer.  Aside from the three AmRep bands mentioned above, there's also an interview with Pacifier, a Long Island band from that time who were quite noisy and fit in well with the unintentional AmRep-thing.  Those guys are also all close friends to this day, so I'm sure it'll be fun for them to read as well.

A quick shoutout here to the people who helped me with that zine - almost all of whom remain friends to this day:  Lloyd Zare, Aaron Pagdon, Kerry Crandall Zion, Marc Lopez, Phil Lerman, Jen Maler, Ron Zion, Richard Gilman-Opalsky, Vinny Segarra, Suzanne Stillinger & Adam Zare.