Virtual: Do you advertise anywhere?
Does Chicago Trax offer their services in
Recording and Mixing magazines?
I saw Dave (RAVE) Oglivie in the
Recording Industry Sourcebook under Producers and Engineers, but I didn't
find you or Chicago Trax.
Fluffy: No, not really in a formal sense. I really haven't advertised. I haven't gotten
myself listed in these sort of things, but it's definitely something I'm looking
into.
People can always
contact me through Chicago Trax at (312)
944-5599.
Virtual: Do you play any instruments or have you ever been in a band?
Fluffy: Yes and yes. I play guitar. I was never really in any bands that became
something other than garage bands, playing parties and small bars at one
point. This was all before I was 21. Since I got into the world of engineering and producing I don't find myself playing as
much anymore. Lots of people will go, "Play some guitar on this song", but that's pretty much a rarity.
Virtual: What are some of the bands you've toured with?
Fluffy: I toured with TKK and we toured with Siouxie And The Banshees, and we
also did a tour in England with EMF. I worked more for EMF than I did for
TKK in the sense that I was part of the PA crew. I did that too for the
Siouxie tour, but not officially.
I've also toured with L7, we did a headlining
tour. We toured with the Beastie Boys right before both of them played
Letterman, and before both of them did Lollapalooza.
I toured with
Ministry once, though I wasn't doing house sound. When they went on tour that was always a break for me.
Other bands I've toured with include Skatenigs, Acumen, Drag, before they changed their name to 13 mg. and Fear.
Virtual: What are some of the best live performances you've engineered?
Is there a
particular club you like working at?
Fluffy: Live performances in town in Chicago I'd have to say the Rivera Theater
(save any power tie nightmares) and the Metro are my favorites. There are
a lot of smaller clubs that are trying to put there PA in a good situation.
There are a lot of clubs in the country that have just shit.
I did live shows
with Acumen and I like them a lot. We kind of hurried up and did their last
record, Transmissions From Eville in studio B. We mixed everything in a day
and a half, two days. That was just so quick.
The Ministry show the other night was really good, really fucking cool by
the way. I particularly thought their lighting was great as well as the stripped down look of the stage.
Ray is
playing drums on a riser in back, Dwayne is playing keyboards in the back on a riser, stage right instead of centered, and wall of guitars up front. In fact, their front house engineer was a guy I remembered from the tour I was on, he was doing their monitors at that point.
Virtual: A lot of musicians drink and do drugs.
Does this sort of thing go on while
you're recording with a band?
Fluffy: Sure, bands are musicians. I try and persuade people to not do that. Very
few people can do tons of drugs, I'm not talking about smoking pot, a few
beers or a couple of shots, I try to limit myself to that. The bands that come
in are pretty serious when they come into the studio. When I worked with
Armageddon Dildos, hey they're from Germany, they wake up in the
morning and they drink beer. They weren't drunk while we were doing the
record, drinking beer is just part of their thing.
I try to persuade bands not to totally go off the edge with harder
stuff than that. It's really difficult unless you work in the studio all the time
to still have a perspective. I feel it's best to keep that stuff out for the
betterment of the record. I would never dictate any rules. I don't play mom
with people, I play Sargeant Carter with people, but I don't play mom.
There is as much of that going on as the band normally does, I guess. I
definitely don't feel I contribute to that sort of stuff. It's a lot easier to
whittle away time when your not so focused in the studio. It's also easy to
not have in the end what you really want. There is a lot more concentration
involved than I think people realize.
Virtual: Do you still drive a Monte Carlo, or have you ever?
Fluffy: I never owned a Monte Carlo, that was just another nickname. That was
more of a reference to the place, Monte Carlo. "When I'm in Monte Carlo,
I always play at Fluffy's black jack table."
Virtual: You've worked with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult on Confessions Of A
Knife.
Did you do anything on 13 Above The Night, because they thank you?
Fluffy: They thank me, but I didn't work on that. I thought that was very nice of
them. When Marsden moved to CA, it pretty much centralized a lot of his
stuff as far as writing and touring. He has a lot of stuff at home now and
better capabilities to use for rehearsing and demoing the songs before they
go into the studio, which is always really cool. Except when the demo
captures some special thing that your just not able to recreate and you just
want to kick yourself in the ass till you break your legs. I miss working with
those guys.
Virtual: Have you ever been the one to approach a band?
Or is it that the bands
always approach you?
Fluffy: No, I've approached bands before. The Electric Hellfire Club was a mutual
interest. I knew Thomas and Shane before the record and before Shane's
untimely death. I was on tour with Skatenigs and we were in Milwaukee playing at the
Unicorn, the lovely red, red room and all three of us just started talking. I
think Thomas may have even started the Monte Carlo thing, years ago.
Virtual: What are your plans for the future?
Fluffy: I have some things in the works but I'm hesitant to say until they actually
become more materialized. I'm really looking forward to the new Chicago
Trax. I have some stuff booked there with a band called, Alternate Society
and also with Headspin, who I've worked with for a couple of years. I'm just looking forward to more fun and many more better records.
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