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WILLARD
GRANT CONSPIRACY
Robert
Fisher (singer)
 The core of WGC is made up of Robert Fisher and Paul Austin. How did the two of you meet? How did the other members join the band ?
Paul and I met when he wrote a review of a show that James and I did for a fanzine he was putting out. Later on, he asked me to audition on drums for a band he was in called Blue Section . With a few small breaks, we have been playing music together ever since. Everybody joins the band in
their own way and leaves that way too. The people who play and have played in the band are all musicians that we admired first as players and friends.
The name of your band refers to a conspiracy, and on the first two albums, the names of the members are not given. Was WGC from the outset planned to be a core (Robert, Paul) with many acquaintances orbiting it ?
WGC was never really planned. It was and still is a happy accident that we all continue to find a way to play together. The reason we didn't include credits on the first two records is because
we wanted listeners to deal with the music and not the pedigrees of the players involved.
What bands did you play in before forming WGC ? What were the influences on these bands ?
The only bands I played in before this were unknown outside Boston. I don't know what influenced all the members of these bands. All I can answer for is my own influences. For musical influences, it was all the music that I have ever listened to enough to have an opinion on either
positive or negative. A great deal of creating is knowing what you don't want to do.
Did you intend to play this kind of music from the outset ? What do you think of the evolution of the group after three albums ?
When we started playing we didn't have an agenda. We didn't identify a musical style and start writing to conform to it. We just made up songs that we liked and decided which ones were worth keeping and which ones weren't. We let the songs tell us what kind of approach to take.
In France, before the arrival of artists like Will Oldham and Vic Chesnutt, American folk-country was often seen in a negative light. What is it like in the USA ? Has that 'scene' - which seems to be very active presently - always existed ?
I'd be interested to know what music was seen in a negative light.
I don't see any evidence of a scene that exists. Bands that explore musical roots have been around forever. It's a cycle that comes around and goes. The sixties were also a time when people in rock looked to traditional music for inspiration. Contemporary folk, country, blues and jazz performers have always leaned on the collective musical heritage. As the relative youngster, rock is continuing to reference its elders as well as itself.
In France the name 'country music' was quite pejorative. You know, this music is not part of our culture (neither is pop music)... and the songs we heard on the radio before Chesnutt & Oldham were generally western or rednecks music.
There is a great deal of country music that appeals to the denominator. I think it is mostly the stuff churned out by Nashville and the major labels for commercial purposes just like all the below average rock acts that are created by the majors to be exploited for making money off of the manufactured MTV concept of youth culture. Country Music is just like every other form of merchandised music; hidden behind the commercialism are the roots that form the legitimate genre.
You are influenced both by folk-country music and by less 'rural' groups, such as the Velvet Underground; how do you reconcile both kinds of music ?
I don't ever have to reconcile it. We just play the music that we like.
I know and this is one of the reasons why I like the sounds of WGC. The question may also be how to reconcile (for instance) a sound of mandolin with an electric guitar...
My original answer still applies. We use the instruments that are available and sound good together. It is more interesting to use the wide variety of sounds that are at our disposal to give color and emotion to the music than to be constricted by the traditional bass, drums, guitar
format that rock usually favors.
Similarly, the band comprises folk-oriented members (Paul Austin), electric-oriented members (James Apt) and more experimental characters (David Michael Curry). How can you combine these different personalities ?
I have to tell you that I don't think of Paul as folk-oriented or James as electric-oriented or Dave as experimental. I think those categories are entirely too restrictive and mostly inaccurate. WGC is composed of a number of people, all of whom have strong ideas about music and their own instruments. The collaborative nature of our playing is part of what makes for a unique musical personality. It also keeps things fresh for members and audiences alike.
On each album, there are digressions like firework noises for 15 minutes at the end of the first album, recordings of people talking and radio sounds on 'Flying Low', and recordings of violin between the songs on 'Mojave'. Do you enjoy creating these changes in the 'rhythm', which tend to destabilize the audience ?
The sounds between the songs are not intended to destabilize the audience but if that is a result then I don't mind it. Too much of music is stable. Life isn't stable and there should be room for music that reflects the unstable elements. When we listen to music in real life, we are very
rarely hearing it in a vacuum of silence. We are always listening through a variety of outside sounds. By bringing some of these elements into the recordings we can contribute some of our own outside sounds to the ones that exist in each listener's environment. I hope they are entertaining.
Robert, during WGC's most recent concert in Paris, you said that your three passions were alcohol, sex and religion. Indeed, your lyrics often deal with these topics. How can you cope - if you can - with all three of them, since the first two seem to be at odds with the last one ?
I made that comment as a joke. That will teach me to use humor on-stage.
I'm not just thinking about what you said during the show. In your influences, you talk about "The Baptist Church" and "Charles Bukowski" and I wanted you to talk about it.
Well, I guess that I am always interested in people and ideas that express a strong code of ethics or moral certainty. Being raised a Baptist, just like any religious upbringing would do to anyone, left marks on my character. I don't personally believe in a physical church or traditional dogma but I do believe in a spiritual nature. The conflicts and contradictions that present themselves during a life and how people choose to resolve the various situations are always fascinating and enlightening.
Robert's lyrics are usually moody and disenchanted. What do the other members of WGC think of them?
I think my lyrics are realistic, observational, and even hopeful. There is even some humor in them, if you look hard enough.
After attending several WGC concerts with different line-ups and listening to the live album ('Weevils In The Captain's Biscuit'), one feels that your songs are even more powerful onstage. Do you have the same impression? Do you enjoy playing your songs in front of an audience ?
I would hope that the songs are equally powerful both live and recorded. I like playing live a great deal. As the singer, I am always trying to inhabit the songs completely each night we do them. Music should be a soulful and emotional experience for the performer and the audience.
After touring Europe several times, what is your perception of the Old Continent? Do you feel a difference in the way your music is perceived in the different countries ?
We have been very lucky to have traveled as much as we have, become friendly with as many interesting people as we have and to have a sense about how our music relates to other people. I am always pleased by the response we get in all the places we have played. I hope we have the
chance to continue making records and touring for awhile.
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Apt
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