With the Fountains of Wayne set in the background – we got the opportunity to hang out with Damian Kulash (lead vocals and guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass), of OK Go, after their set at the Paradise – and a little bit from guitarist Andrew Duncan. To learn more about the fascinating HOT DOUG’s hot dog hot spot to eat in Chicago, what made Damian come to the conclusion that his voicebox is like a vagina and what these intellectual jokesters have to say about USA For Africa’s WE ARE THE WORLD, read on!

Carina: Well – the story is, about a month ago you were interviewed in a vegan restaurant in Philadelphia by Melissa, and her sidekick Sarai, also for this magazine...

Damian: OK...

Carina: And Melissa asked you a question...”If there was a musician you could interview, who would it be?” You said Andrew W K…

Damian: Yeah, that’s right.

Carina: So, Andrew W K’s manager saw some pictures that I took of him, he liked them and asked if I wanted to meet and interview him, so of course I said yes, and we told him about you – and that you said that. He was so flattered and he thinks you’re an awesome band and he had nothing but nice things to say about you guys and he’d love to meet you… So, I just wanted to tell you that.

Tim: Wow, that’s awesome!

Damian: Yeah, everything I’ve ever heard about him or read about him, he’s just like … I just love his ideas about music and the way he goes about excelling at them… like this profusion of like – WAAAHHHH – you know? I just love it.

Carina: Yeah, I think it was like 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning and he was just talking and talking and… his music is like fun music, but he was just wow – he totally blew me away. I didn’t know what to expect. Anyhow, he had nothing but good things to say about you guys.

Damian: Good, and we him.

Tim: We love him.

Andrew: Yeah we do!

Damian: So, rock us…

Carina: So, the magazine is called defyUnlearn because we defy labels

Damian: Well done.

Carina: And we want people to unlearn what they have been taught.

Damian (pointing to Zac, Artist Development Representative): He works for our label, sort of.

Zac: Yeah, sort of.

Damian: We defy him! (To Zac) We defy you!

Zac: Yeah, pretty much – on a regular basis.

(Laughter)

Damian: I don’t know if you’ve learned, but we defy you.

More laughter

Tim: PS: We STILL defy you!

Carina: So, that’s what it’s called and at the end of our interview, I’ll ask what defyUnlearn means to you guys.

Damian: Ok. So, we have to be thinking about it now?

Carina: Well, it’s kind of a big question but if you have an answer right away, by all means…

Damian: Tim, do you already have an answer ready?

Tim: No

Damian: Neither do I. Ha ha ha…

Deb: Onto the next we shall go then.

Carina: Go ahead.

Damian: You’ve got to defy and learn - see I don’t have one either.

Tim: defy unlearn?

Deb: Yeah.

Damian: defy Unlearn ? – oh! I thought it was defy and learn.

Carina: See, that’s my accent – sorry.

Damian: Oh, that’s ok.

Tim: Unlearn, what you have learned…

Deb: Like, unlearn what has been taught to you

Tim: That sounds like Jedi stuff.

Carina: Well, it’s just because we have a lot of different genres of music on our site. We cover a lot of different things. So, we tell people to be limited in labeling.

Tim: Right.

Damian: Awesome.

Deb: So, I’ve been doing some research on you guys, and there are some really cool things that some press have been saying – I don’t know if you guys have heard…

(An intruder comes into the room and starts talking to someone)

Damian(to intruder): Umm, we need to have quiet in here. Sorry, (then to Deb) yeah?

Deb: So, of course looking on MetroMix, because you guys are from Chicago – and I have to ask you guys, before I go any further…. Do you ever go to Weiner Circle?

Tim: Yes. Weiner Circle is awesome!

Damian: Yes.

Deb: I had a fun experience at Weiner Circle and wanted to hear a Weiner Circle story, if you had one.

Damian: Well, all the Weiner Circle stories I have are always after a party, at sort of at the pathetic hour.

Tim: Yeah, at like five in the morning.

Deb: Absolutely! That’s the best time to go! Definitely!

Damian: And there honestly was a better place to go until about a year and a half ago – (to Tim) Do you remember that place down on South Side – where the Polish Sausages were?

Tim: Oh yeah…

Damian: Do you remember where that place was? Was it on Jackson or something like that?

Tim: That was Taylor Street. Yeah…

Damian: It has all been removed, in favor of expanding USC I think – so now it’s kind of, it’s slated for just early gentrification and now that whole market is gone. It was the best sausage, hot dog, like the best thing that comes in a phallic shape, that you eat – that I’ve ever had, it’s in there. It covered… it was better than all bananas, it was better than all sausages, all hot dogs, (to Tim) Anything else that looks like that, that you eat?

Tim: Push Pops!

Damian: Push Pops! Better than every push pop I’ve ever had.

Tim: and Slim Jims...

Damian: Slim Jims, but that counts as a sausage, I think. Don’t you think so?

Deb: Definitely.

Tim: Oh yeah.

Damian: Do you think Slim Jim is beef jerky – or do you think beef jerky comes in that shape?

Tim: I just think the Slim Jim is a variation of beef jerky.

Damian: OK. And it is kind of in that shape.

Tim: Yeah.

Damian: I suppose there are those frozen ice pops…

Tim: Popsicles?

Damian: Popsicles, yeah…. that are like that.

Tim: And this place is still better than that?

Damian: Still better than that! Wow!

Deb: And the service… can’t beat the service.

Damian: Well, the service… we’re not talking Weiner Circle, I’m talking Taylor Street.

Deb: Taylor Street, right.

Damian: Weiner Circle’s fun, but I think Weiner Circle is nowhere near the Taylor Street experience. And I have to say that I am a new proponent of HOT DOUG'S. Unfortunately it closes at 4 PM, instead of 4 AM…

Deb: Oh, no fun.

Damian: And you need to have a hot dog place open late, but at Hot Doug's, they not only have just like vegetarian hot dogs, that are not just tofu pups or whatever, but they are really good. But they also have, and this is what’s so fucking awesome, they have… and it rotates, but there’s always a couple of really crazy things, and you can get, at different times of the year, you can get rattlesnake sausage, antelope sausage, alligator sausage, (To Tim) anything else?

Tim: I think you can even get Kangaroo.

Damian: Kangaroo sometimes…. All that kind of stuff, but frankly, you can’t really tell the difference, but you know you are eating an antelope, and that fucking rules…Ostrich sausage, I believe they have.

Carina: That must be more expensive though. Those types of meats?

Damian: Probably. It’s not the cheapest hot dog going, but it’s the best. I mean, I don’t skim when it comes to the dog.

Tim: Hot Doug’s is the best?

Damian: Well, it’s not better than Taylor Street. But Taylor Street ceases to exist.

Tim: Is it better than Weiner Circle?

Damian: Yes. In my opinion, it’s better than Weiner Circle.

Tim: It’s probably more expensive than Weiner Circle.

Damian: Yeah, and Weiner Circle serves a different purpose. Weiner Circle feeds you at 4 o’clock in the morning. If Hot Doug’s was open that late, then I would really go there.

Tim: Right. Hot Doug’s is more like, I’m going to have a hot dog meal today.

Damian: Right. Hot Doug’s is said with a British Accent, whereas Weiner Circle is said with either a Chicago or maybe a Southern accent.

Deb: Got it, right. So, what Metromix had said about you – back to what I was saying – just a quote, “OK Go is both ridiculously tight and obviously ready for the world.” Kudos to you guys. Right on.

Damian: Thank you.

Tim: Thanks, that’s cool.

Damian: I think that’s right, I think it’s understated, but …

Tim: Yeah.

Deb: But one that actually stuck out a bit more is – do you guys over go onto CMJ.com?

Damian: No, I haven’t been to the website.

Deb: Well, they said that, “Get Over it” is the greatest hand-clapping stadium anthem since “We Will Rock You”.”

Tim: Wow!

Deb: Which I think was pretty apparent this evening, seeing that the crowd was certainly rocking out.

Damian: Thank you. It’s a pretty good song. Do you like that song (to Tim)?

Tim: Yeah, I love that song.

Deb: And MTV 2 put it on their “Hand Picked 2“ CD.

Damian: Yeah, they gave us the Rookie of the Year award. The hand was for hand-picked (referring to the shape of the award)

Deb: And actually, you guys are back in Boston next month, for the WBCN Xmas Rave –

Tim: Xmas Chanukah, really…

Deb: And I just have one more quote for you, and then I’ll jump into the questions. The other one, also from CMJ.com, is that, “Mediocre people may indeed do exceptional things all the time, as “What to Do” reflects, but this disc shows alternately just what exceptional people can do when they put their mind to it.”

Tim: That’s kind of a lie.

Deb: Is it?

Damian: Yeah, I think that we’re mediocre people with the really good luck. I mean, it’s a really nice thing to say, but… Tim is unquestionably mediocre. (laughter) I mean, I’m sure you’d say the same of me, right (looking to Tim)? You’d be wrong, but you would say it.

Tim: Well, yeah. I’d actually be right. I think I’d be even more right, than what you just said about me – so.

Damian: Oh, that’s funny.

Deb: Well, I think the press may think alternately – that you are exceptional.

Damian: Well, that’s good. And I’m not going to stop them. I would love to have people blabbing that kind of nonsense about us.

Deb: Now, can you tell us about, I’ve read about, a short film series that you guys are doing with Brian Perkins, out of San Francisco? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Tim: Wow – she’s done her homework on us!

Damian: Yeah, he’s tall. He’s had a moustache for a while. He has curly hair.

Tim: Yeah, his hair can get really big.

Damian: Really tall. And it can get this silvery sheen to it. As if it were gray hair – I don’t know how he did that.

Tim: I’m not sure, but his voice is so deep.

Deb: So, you think it’s like an age thing, where he gets better looking with age?

Damian: Yeah. He’s going to get really hot – I mean, he’s already hot.

Tim: He’s pretty hot.

Damian: Actually, I have a picture for you Andrew (sitting across from Damian) that he sent to me, for you…

Andrew: Oh, I have that disc for you.

Damian: Oh, ok. Well…

Tim: It has the new hit single, “Work the Nerds” on it.

Damian: Oh, “Work the Nerds” - you got your new single (to Andrew) for us?

Andrew: Yeah, it’s sitting on the dashboard.

Damian: Hot, hot…. I’d love to hear that. That sounds great.

Deb: So, these are one minute snippets that the last half is a song you guys are doing – and you are also acting in it?

Damian: Yeah, yeah.

Deb: Can you tell us a little bit about the content and what these movies are about?

Damian: Well, they are about real life situations. You know, some of them slightly demented lives; the series is called “The Truth in Music Project” and instead of having music portend to ridiculous things like truisms about life, why don’t we just have music about real life situations. So, for instance, in one of them I play an asshole manager of a 9 – 5 cubicle office and I’m yelling at a young woman for having misfiled a purchase order. I keep screaming at her, things like, “A P.O. needs a dollar amount, you can’t just give me a plus tax and service and shipping, it’s a number, not words….” - that kind of thing, and I scream at her a lot and make her feel terrible and then in comes the REO Speedwagon styled power ballad, to which the words are “A P.O. needs a dollar amount”, you see? And it sort of emotively explains to people that the P.O. does indeed need a dollar amount.

Tim: Right.

Damian: You know what I mean? It’s not a purchase order if it doesn’t have a dollar amount. You know?

Carina: Absolutely, you don’t want revenue recognition issues.

Damian: Right, and there’s other ones . There’s one where Andy has trouble with a friend of his because this friend keeps throwing the basketball off, like they’re playing catch and the basketball keeps going way off – and there’s sort of a German/ Techno kind of craft work styled song, for which the words are, “Accuracy is Important Too” – you see what I’m saying? And that is the truth.

Tim: That is the truth.

Damian: And there is another one called, “You Secret Robot is Really a Pile of Junk” - and that one’s - It’s about a very specific situation.

Deb: So, how do you fare acting versus – do you think you might want to get into an acting career?

Tim: I do.

Deb: With the experience that you’ve have.

Tim: Yeah, yeah.

Deb: You’ll be taking film offers?

Tim: I will be taking film offers.

Damian: I’ve been denying them for him. He doesn’t know, but I’ve actually been taking them for him.

Deb: So, yeah, we heard about the boy band dance that you guys did on “This American Life” and the Orpheum has a much larger stage than the Paradise does – do you think you’ll bring it out for the Orpheum show?

Damian: Unlikely.

Deb: Is that a retired act, do you think?

Damian: No, It’s just something we don’t…

Tim: You’ve got to be at the right place, at the right time.

Damian: It’s a very, very special moment for us. It’s like you can’t be marrying your wife all the time. You do it once, and then maybe do it again later in life when you want to explain to her that you love her again. The dance - you can’t just do it all the time.

Deb: Right.

Damian: Rock is something we have been able to channel - and albeit in an extremely powerful fashion sometimes, on a nightly basis, but dancing, we’re not born athletes in that way and the choreography was – it strains us mentally in a way that can only be endured infrequently, so…

Tim: It strains us physically as well.

Deb: Oh, sure. I bet.

Tim: You know, it’s not the easiest thing to do with our bodies.

Deb: Ok, totally off subject – your biggest guilty pleasure?

Damian and Tim: We don’t have any.

Deb: The one that you don’t like to admit to.

Damian: There’s nothing.

Deb: Nothing?

Damian: Very few things.

Carina: If you want, to go back to when you started your tour, or you can go back to a previous one – I saw you at Skate-fest, by the way…

Damian: We were loud at Skate-fest.

Tim: Oh yeah!

Damian: We were extremely loud, it was fun. We didn’t even bother playing the chords to our songs – we just screamed the whole time. It was fun.

Carina: Do you have a funny moment that you can think back on and that you want to tell us?

Tim: I think the best moment was USA For Africa.

Damian: Yeah, we had a really good time. I was in a really shitty mood on the way to New York because I was really sick and we were playing Name That Tune using the iTunes on my computer, because a lot of the hits from the 70’s and 80’s are on it and so – it went over pretty well. And then came USA for Africa’s “We Are The World” – and of course everybody knew it was from USA for Africa, but then we got to play – who is the singer, and try to - in real time, name who was singing, and that’s a really fun game. And you’d be surprised how hard it is, if you don’t know, for instance, was Patti LaBelle in that? I don’t know. Do you? Dionne Warwick? I don’t know. Do you?

Tim: I don’t know. But you know when Michael Jackson is singing, you know when Cyndi Lauper is singing. You know when Huey Lewis is singing.
Damian: Oh, Huey Lewis – he’s out there! You know it’s HU-EY! You know? And Bob Dylan, obviously. I would say the most recognized woman would be Cyndi Lauper but that’s only because of the WAH- WAH- WAH- WAH (Damian’s rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s part of We Are The World) – yeah, she takes a very kind of Ethel Merman approach to that song. In fact, all of her songs have that. But anyway,

Tim: But that’s a great approach to take, I think.

Damian: It is. Tim ‘s working on a side project actually, called Timothy Charming.

Tim: Yeah.

Damian: We recorded the first song for his EP so far.

Carina: What is it called?

Damian: Timothy Charming.

Carina: Cool.

Damian: It’s Tim doing the hits.

Tim: Yeah, I do the hits.

Damian: With a little bit of an Ethel Merman approach.

Tim: Yeah, I’ve done, “It’s Getting Hot In Here” by Nelly, so far.

Deb: Nice!

(We get to hear a sample of the Timothy Charming version)

Tim: Yeah, so that kind of stuff.

Damian: It’s really good. We’re definitely going to do WAR - “What is it Good For?” … well, we were going to do, “No Woman, No Cry”

(And again, we get to hear a sample of a Timothy Charming version)

Damian: and probably a Zeppelin song. (singing)…”wahhh wahhh wahhh wahhhhhhhhh…We come from the land of the ice and snow…”

Tim: Oh, right. So, go look for it, it’ll be good.

Deb: (To Damian) Since you write most of the lyrics, do you think your college degree has led you to where you are?

Damian: It’s made me significantly more self-conscious about writing lyrics.

Deb: Is “Don’t Ask me” about a particular person?

Damian: Uhhh, more or less. But not the person who probably thinks it’s about her. It’s more about a situation than it is about a specific person – but I use a particular person for that model. But, it’s a girl that I broke up with many, many, many years ago, but one that I particularly miss and remember the experience being with and I wanted it to be a general relationship break up song. In general I like writing about specific things but I don’t want people to necessarily know everything– it’s not my diary, I’m not trying to be like, “and today, I was sad about …” I like to write songs that use a specific instance to suggest something that to me, feels like a more universal experience. Elvis Costello is one of the best proponents of this type of writing. It’s a very show-don’t-tell – like, instead of saying, “I miss you or I am angry at you” saying, “Since when were you so generous and inarticulate” you know? Which is a line from ”I Want You” by Elvis Costello, which you know he is sitting with somebody post breakup and they’re like, you’ve never been like this before and fuck you, you know? Which is very specific to his situation but makes you understand it and feel like, because everyone’s been in that position, but nobody any longer responds to a song in which you say – It’s time, when are you coming home? It’s time, when are you coming home?

Deb: Is “Return” about anyone in particular?

Damian: Yes, it’s about my friend for whom this tattoo is and also whose ring that is. She died on her 22nd birthday after having fallen out of a window.

Deb: Oh, wow – I am really sorry.

Carina: Sorry.

Damian: Me too – it was awful. It’s a song about her that I wrote…
We had one arrangement of it that we didn’t like so much and then another recording that had the right arrangement that we didn’t like the sound quality, so we’re going to record it again, I think.

(Referring to the live set of Fountains of Wayne, Radiation Vibe is playing.) This is a great song.

Deb: It is a great song.

Carina: Yeah, I actually have this CD, it’s pretty awesome. So, back to a tour story, can you think of a moment of a cliché?

Damian: a moment of a cliché? That has happened to us?

Carina: Yes.

Damian: No… That’s a good question to ask... Oh wait – here’s a cliché – I lost my voice the morning of Conan O’Brien and they had to take me to this extremely expensive ear, nose and throat doctor, who specializes in singer’s voices…. stick a camera up my nose, I could watch it on the video screen – while they went up my nose, into my sinuses and sort of needled around in the back of my head and then down the back of my throat and sort of hung on to my voice box. And I could watch –what is surprisingly very much like a vagina in my neck. The voice box – looks like a very, very talented set of labia. Just the whole experience of losing your voice, the one day that you are going on national TV and then getting the Mariah experience of - Oh my God, take me to the doctor! – You know? Steroid shots in my ass, the whole thing, so, that was pretty cliché, in a pretty exciting way…Wow I really like this song too! (Referring to Fountains of Wayne playing Sink to the Bottom). Was this released as a single at one point?

Carina: Yes it was.

Deb: Here are some of what we call “Deb’s Quickie’s” quick little one word answer types of questions.

Damian: OK

Deb: Song that’s best to drive to.

Damian: Headache by Frank Black

Deb: Song that reminds you of your childhood.

Damian: Darling Nikki - by Prince

Deb: Song that’s best for sex or reminds you of sex.

Damian: Anything but a slow jam, unless it’s by Sade – but no other slow jams.

Deb: No D’Angelo for you?

Carina: (Laughing). Oh God!

Damian: Uh, no. D’Angelo you could dance to and you can have during dinner and stuff.

Tim: He’s kind of too good.

Damian: Yeah, if you’ve been dating for more than six months - well, no – if you’ve known the person for more than a year and a half and you can laugh during sex, without it hurting anyone’s feelings – then, you can put on D’Angelo. Because unquestionably, if D’Angelo is on, you’re going to laugh.

(laughter)

Damian: Like, you can’t be having sex with someone and have D’Angelo on and not laugh at it – you know. Because there is a fucking cliché, you know what I mean?

Deb: Ok, so – favorite band when you were 13?

Damian: Fugazi

Tim: Stone Roses

Deb: Band that you still like, year after year?

Damian: Fountains of Wayne.

Carina: So, back my first question, what about defy Unlearn? What does it mean to you?

Damian: Is there a comma in the middle of it? Defy, comma, unlearn?

Carina: No.

Damian: This is where we have to think about our grammar… that’s too serial second person verbs, you know what I mean? You need a comma in the
middle there.

Laughter.

The interview comes to an abrupt halt as Fountains of Wayne finish their set it’s time to turn the dressing room over.

Deb: Thank you very much for your time.

Carina: Thank you.

Damian: Thank you guys.



Interview by: Carina and Deb