It’s a pretty ballsy move for a band to name an album, Teenage Symphonies to God. Every rock snob worth his or her weight in vinyl knows the story of Brian Wilson’s abandoned Smile project and how his overwhelming goal to create “teenage symphonies to God” drove him straight into madness (by way of his sandbox and his bedroom). While it’s unclear whether or not the members of Velvet Crush went cuckoo after recording their breakthrough 1994 album, there’s no denying that they ended up with a great pop album.

They’ve continued to release great stuff, and Glorious Noise jumped on the chance to send our new man on the scene, Ryan King, to interview VC drummer, Ric Menck. Read the full interview.

Interview with Velvet Crush

By Ryan King
April 2002

Velvet Crush has rocking out for over a decade, both as members of Matthew Sweet’s band, and as an independent unit. Their last release, the live EP Rock Concert, released last year, was recorded at Chicago’s Metro back in 1995. Certainly living up to its name, the set is characterized by drummer Ric Menck’s recollection, “I can’t believe we played the songs that fast.” As a special treat, after the show’s sayonara, a stampede through 20/20’s 1979 power-pop classic “Remember the Lightning,” the CD listener is treated to a coda from one of Menck’s straight-from-vinyl mixes. Glorious Noise caught up with Menck before the band heads to Illinois to record a new album.

GLONO: You have a pretty big record collection, don’t you.

RM: I have two: one in Los Angeles, one at my parents’ in Wisconsin.

GLONO:

Does your record collection have a smell?

RM:

The one at my parents’ has that kind of musty basement smell.

GLONO:

Do you ever sing along to records?

RM:

When I feel happy I sing out loud. All other times I’m singing inside my head.

GLONO:

What songs do you find yourself singing?

RM:

oh, i don’t know. lots of different songs. there’s one by the diodes – a canadian punk band from the 70s – called “i’m tired of waking up tired” that i find myself singing pretty often.

GLONO:

Do you know of any way to play records in the shower?

RM:

Pick out an album with one side you love. Position your hi-fi speakers outside the bathroom door. Set the tone arm so the record plays over and over. Lather, rinse, repeat.

GLONO:

When you go to someone’s house, do you check out the records they own? Does it tell you anything about the type of person they are?

RM:

Well, I usually get around to checking out a person’s record collection sooner or later, but I never judge anyone by what music they listen to. That’s too snobby. Sometimes I do try turning someone on to something if I notice it’s missing from their collection. I like making tapes for people.

GLONO:

Do you have a method or philosophy for making mixes?

RM:

no method or philosophy. i usually sit down in front of the hi-fi and let the music take me where it wants to go.

GLONO:

You are known for making tapes or records and getting them played before and/or after the show.

RM:

Yes, I do make pre-show tapes. I’ve compiled several volumes of scratchy 45’s onto discs for the soundman to play so the audience gets to hear something interesting before our show. These discs also help us get inspired before we play.

GLONO:

What do you like to hear before your own shows?

RM:

lots of different stuff. last tour we played an album by the action called rolled gold on the bus before every show.

GLONO:

You have often alluded to a “California” influence on your most recent full-length of new material, Free Expression. What is the California sound?

RM:

There’s sunshine and breeze in the California sound. I think beachwood sparks captures the sound of the canyons better than just about anyone.

GLONO:

Rumor has it you’ll be traveling from California to Illinois to do record your new album. Will you be bringing any records with you for inspiration?

RM:

We’re gonna record the next Velvet Crush album in Champaign, Illinois this summer. Our old friend Adam Schmitt will engineer, and hopefully we’ll get Nick Rudd to play guitar. I usually carry around a copy of [Bob Dylans’s 1966 album] Blonde on Blonde with me, and I’ll probably listen to that at some point while we’re recording. Whether or not it’ll be an influence, who knows?

GLONO:

Is there a “Champaign sound”?

RM:

The Champaign sound is more earnest.

GLONO:

When will your new tracks get wrapped up and released?

RM:

There’ll be a new VC soft rock album [Soft Sounds] this summer, a new VC hard rock album next autumn, and a VC demos/outtakes album [Melody Freaks] in a few weeks. All of them are on Action Musik, our own label, which is distributed by Parasol.

GLONO:

So Soft Sounds sounds like it’s done? Will Champaign be receiving the full on VC rock action?

RM:

Soft Sounds has been finished for a year, although paul’s still messing around with a few tracks we wanna add to it. the new album – the one we’re gonna make in champaign – is made up of mostly upbeat material so far, although i’m not sure it’ll be a total rock-out record. we’ll see which way the wind is blowing when we start recording.

GLONO:

You’ve got a couple of videos on Parasol’s website. Where did you get the visual ideas for the “Hold Me Up” video?

RM:

We told this guy we wanted to make a video that looked like the “you’ve got to hide your love away” scene from “Help.” Then we just stood there and smirked. we’ve always liked how that scene looks.

GLONO:

You guys sure know what you like. The art from that video, the album art from Teenage Symphonies to God, etc. all have wonderful style. We heard your buddy Matthew Sweet’s got a house filled with sixties and seventies stuff. Is there any chance that your house or Matthew’s house could end up being a museum?

RM:

Matthew’s house is already a museum!

GLONO:

Who remastered 1991’s In the Presence of Greatness? It’s really improved.

RM:

Matthew [Sweet] remastered Greatness at his house. Doesn’t it sound nice?!

GLONO:

He remastered it, too? [Sweet originally produced the album, which was remastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 2001 – ed.] When you and Matthew recorded that album at his house on the 8-track, was that Paul on bass and Matthew on guitar, or vice versa? Or was there some switching up? We’ve never known all these years. What about 1999’s Free Expression?

RM:

in the presence of greatness has paul on bass and lead vocals, jeffrey underhill on rhythm guitar, and me on drums. matthew overdubbed guitar solos and vocal harmonies. i can’t remember who plays what on free expression.

GLONO:

How exactly did you meet Matthew?

RM:

Matthew and I talked on the phone before we met. We had long conversations about music and life. On spring break my senior year of college I went down south and met Mitch Easter in North Carolina and Matthew in Athens. I drove a little Honda Civic, drank gallons of Mr. Pibb, listened to a lot of country music for the first time, slept with a beautiful girl in Nashville. It was a wonderful time in my life.

GLONO:

What music were you talking about with Matthew then?

RM:

i think we’d both just discovered gram parsons. this was long before the alt-country movement happened. i’d bought a beat up copy of the international submarine band album [1968’s Safe at Home] at a record store in des moines cause it looked interesting, and then a copy of [Parsons’ 1973 album] return of the grievous angel at a record store in omaha after that. i gave them to matthew and he fell in love with the sound of gram’s voice immediately. i think we were also getting into certain beach boys records at the time as well, and matthew turned me on to an album called cupid & psyche [1985] by scritti politti that i still love. mostly though, we talked about the kinda music we wanted to make, which you can now hear if you listen back to all the records he and i have made over the years.

GLONO:

Any idea why they seem to love Velvet Crush and Matthew Sweet so much in Chicago?

RM:

Maybe ’cause people in Chicago know deep down we’re good old Midwestern boys?

 

 

 

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