ADAM: Greg, I read that you were an aficionado of plane crash data [thus the band name, the song "Aeroflot" off the first album, etc] . What does one glean from that sort of analysis?
GREG: Yes, I have always been a little obsessed with commercial aviation, especially the peculiar terrors we associate with airline disasters. 9/11 crystallized the fears we have about plane crashes, but even accidental disasters like the crash in Queens have a molecule of something unusually frightening that fascinates me. I'm not quite sure what it is-loss of control, the hubris of catapulting humans through the sky, the severe trauma and force and heat, the fact that a jumbo jet is just an elaborate missile with human components, the quaint precautions we take to survive an accident when surviving is nearly impossible.
Terrorists certainly understand the symbolic terror of commercial aviation, otherwise they wouldn't spend so much time hijacking planes. Commercial planes are like fruits on the vine for them, little capsules of humanity and jet fuel. I get a lot of flack from my bandmates for being so fixated. And sometimes I feel a little silly for intellectualizing something so terrible, like some wannabe Don DeLillo. But there you have it.
ADAM: And, finally, to change gears... the world ends tomorrow and the Ticketmaster Upstairs has to start recruiting for the Eternal House Band. Who's brought on board?
KELLY: Oh man. Can I include dead people? It would be a super round robin group of various combinations and solo performances of: Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Rob Crow, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bjork and Low.
Nick would be feeling much better, but would still play the occasional sad song, Kate Bush would don her leotard and dance for us during breaks, Joni would chain smoke and pull out her dulcimer on special occasions, Rob Crow would keep everyone on their toes compositionally, Mr. Lennon would somehow manage to piss everyone off because he was sick of collaboration, Stevie would keep things real and bring everyone together for sing alongs, Bjork would Diva her way into running the show and might insist on having Matmos along, and Low would be there as velvety emotional support.
Every once in a while, the West African Highlife Band would kick everyone off the stage and there would be a dance party.
GREG: I would have to recruit Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) on violin and vocals (because she is the pineapple finial to any music project and a genius in her own right), Chris Pederson (Camper Van Beethoven, Monks of Doom) on drums (because he did nothing wrong on Key Lime Pie, one of my favorite albums), Elliott Smith on bass guitar (because I'm beginning to realize he can play virtually anything and write better parts than most people for each instrument), Doug Martsch (Built to Spill) on guitar (because he is the Tone Master for those who love that umbilical union between guitar and amplifier), Anton Karas on the zither (because he played the music to the finest soundtrack of one of the finest movies ever made, The Third Man, and he did it all by himself), Leroy Shield (composer for Hal Roach studios) as pianist and main songwriter (because he is the finest crackerjack arranger of all time and would be a credit to indie music if he were still alive). Doug Martsch and Elliott Smith could alternate on singing, too, if they decided they would like to do that.
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