It's a little known fact that Shag Bark Hickory
was not the band's original name. What made you guys
change the name and how did you decide on Shag Bark
Hickory?
Yes, the original name of the band was actually
Rotting Vomit Fetus Poop. This was an attempt to make
the most disgusting/offensive/ridiculous name
possible, since we were aiming at the same audience
that was into bands like Dead Horse, Internal
Bleeding, and Hot Stove. Oh, and the Meat Shits. And
there was one that had something to do with a fetus,
but I can't remember it at the moment.
Anyway, we did the first tape ("Welcome to Your
Funeral") and it was pretty harsh, but then we started
in a more "accessible" direction on the next tape and
figured we should switch the name before anyone
noticed. Which worked really well, actually, since no
one had any copies of the first tape with the original
band name on them. We called the band Shag Bark
Hickory because, like most Steven Seagal movies, it
was three words (see also: "Half Past Dead," "Hard to
Kill," "Out for Justice," "Above the Law," etc.).
Seemed to work for him, so we just appropriated the
idea and gave it a little midwestern flavor.
Delicious.
Oh, Dying Fetus. That was the name of that other
band. Dying Fetus.
What about your name specifically? What is the
story behind the name Bishop Lawrence? Or is that
your real name?
Bishop Lawrence is my real name in the same way
that "The Unicorn Princess" is Circus Boy's real name,
if that makes any sense. To answer your question more
directly, I don't really remember where it came from.
It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Looked
good on paper, you see.
Shag Bark Hickory seemed to be more of a
"studio" band. Why didn't you play more shows?
Well, Steely Dan is a band who we influenced quite
a bit. They were really the first big hit "studio"
band, and like Donald Fagen said: "Shag Bark Hickory
don't do many shows, and they're like a million times
better than us, so we feel kind of guilty doing any
shows or putting out albums or anything like that, you
know, music-related. God, we suck. Seriously, wait
until we put out 'Two Against Nature.' If you don't
believe we're ancient, talentless fucking
water-treading hacks by that time, you're probably one
of the morons who bought a copy of the album. Shit,
if you didn't figure that out before 'Katy Lied,' you
need to stop listening to music altogether. And
goddamn, did you see Fleetwood Mac is putting out
another record!? What the fuck? Wait, what were we
talking about again?"
Putting together a Shag Bark Hickory show was a
massive undertaking. Listen to the tapes! Guitar,
drums, bass, keyboards, saxophone, recorder, power
saw, crank, more keyboards, vocalists, backing
vocalists, guest vocalists, the list of people and
equipment required on-stage to do any sort of justice
to the sound on our recordings is ridiculous. We did
the one show, and unfortunately only two of us could
make it, and we had to patch together the rest of the
band out of random people at the venue, so it still
went really well, but it wasn't up to my Jarvis
Cocker-style demands for perfection. So we cancelled
that whole tour-- that was supposed to be our Monsters
of Catholicism Tour with Third Eye Blind and The Pope,
too. They lost a lot of ticket sales when we bailed
on the tour, but it just couldn't be helped.
What went wrong with the Anderson, Bruford,
Wakeman, and Me EP?
I didn't think we were talking about that ever
again. That was so long ago, though, that I guess
it's all right to name names now. First we brought in
Phil Spector, and that went okay until he started
demanding we let Brian Wilson come in and re-write all
the songs. We said no, but then he shot me in the
leg, so we let Brian Wilson come in and re-write all
the songs. Halfway through recording the newly
re-written songs, though, Spector shot Brian Wilson
twice in the stomach and quit. So we went back and
re-re-wrote the songs, now without Brian Wilson or
Phil Spector, and we picked Kevin Shields to produce
for us. It worked out okay for a while, until one day
we came to the studio to find Shields actually smoking
the master tapes. And then Phil Spector came back
that day, and Shields tried to roll him in a towel and
smoke him, so Spector shot the mixing board about
fifteen times and then Brian Wilson came to visit and
set the studio on fire. Then Kevin Shields wrapped up
the burning studio and smoked it. It was a huge mess,
and after that day, we just gave up.
Which do you feel is SBH's strongest album?
What are your personal favorite songs?
I don't know that I have a favorite song, really.
They're all pretty good. Right now, I know our fans
are screaming "YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT THEY ARE!" They
also celebrate our entire catalog. If I had to pick
just one SBH song to listen to over and over again
forever, though, I think it would have to be "You
Threw Up," which is the best song ever recorded.
However, if the restrictions were loosened and I was
allowed to alternate it with one other song, I'd have
to pick "Wikked Good," because that song proves that
(you can still) rock in America. And if you don't
like America, then you can get out.
As for our strongest album, I'd have to say that
would be "An American Tragedy." It focuses all of our
strengths into a laserbeam of rock firepower, and we
actually got Elton John to record an exclusive tribute
song for JFK, Jr. (God rest his shark-eaten soul) by
using me as a medium like Whoopi Goldberg in the
popular supernatural romance "Ghost." Also, it has
"Turn the Crank" on it, which is the third song I'd
listen to if they yet further loosened my song
restrictions to include a third one.
Do you find it highly suspicious that Andrew
W.K. acheived overnight success doing what Shag Bark
Hickory did five years ago? And might it be more
than a coincidence that some of SBH's members
"lost" their copies of the tapes? Do you think that
tape Andrew W.K. puts in the tape recorder in the
"She Is Beautiful" video is actually a copy of
"Lesbian In The Wind"?
I'm almost positive that it is. I think it was
Cap'n Munchies' copy, originally. I think that he
somehow also got a hold of The Necronomicon (the
notebook that holds almost all of the band's lyrics
and track listings), because there's one unreleased
song called "Nothin' But a Party" that he *had* to
have had access to. We set down the blueprints for "I
Get Wet" in stone with those lyrics, along with the
songs "Brad Michaels," "Partee Citee," and "Wikked
Good." We're talking with some lawyers about getting
in touch with his people and arranging distribution of
royalties. I think if Gilbert O' Sullivan can
successfully sue Biz Markie (who merely sampled part
of a song), then certainly we can obtain the copyright
to Andrew W.K. It's only fair.
Other than Andrew W.K., who else do you think
has been heavily
influenced by Shag Bark Hickory?
The influence of Shag Bark Hickory has permeated
every corner of society and culture. Check out the
original artwork for "Lesbian in the Wind"-- Princess
Di's head cut and pasted onto bikini models. What do
you see a scant few years later but a character doing
the same thing in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amelie!"
Additionally, we dealt a lot with the passing of
Princess Diana in general-- she really was, by the
way, the Last Good Person on Earth-- and Takashi
Miike's film "The Happiness of the Katakuris" clearly
took a cue from our research. As far as music goes,
you need look no further than Shaggy and Sean Paul on
the pop charts (the dancehall craze as predicted by
the original "Frogs"), Toby Keith and Alan Jackson on
the country charts ("His Own Pants" and "Hip Blunt
Generation X Communist" are clear grandparents to
"Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"), and Limp
Bizkit, Linkin Park, Hot Action Cop, Rage Against the
Machine, Audioslave, Slipknot, Disturbed, and on and
on and on and on and on (obvious, since we invented
the distortion pedal and were the first documented
group to combine embarrassing machismo, angry
white-boy vocals, and metal). No one has gone
untouched by a little Shag. This is as it should be.
Is it true that Shag Bark Hickory turned down a
multi-million dollar major record label deal to
remain true to the "indie rock spirit?"
This is absolutely true, although just like every
other band who does the same thing (*cough* Fugazi
*cough*), we actually took the money and just quietly
put the millions of dollars in the bank to finance all
the touring and pressing of the cds from then on. The
major labels look at it as an investment-- they give
you the money, let you build your name on it, and then
maybe twenty or so years down the line, they collect
when you sign on for a "modest sum" that guarantees
"artistic freedom" and you've already got a built-in
audience. Look at Aerosmith! The Rolling Stones!
The Eagles! The major labels know that if a band has
been around for fucking ever, there's a legion of
suckers who are going to buy everything they put out
whether it's actually worth listening to or not.
Because like that seventeen-year-old kid said on MTV,
"They're classic, you have to respect it, you have to
buy it!" That's how they get you.
But officially, yeah, we turned it down. Fuck the
labels, man, join the Avrilution. Stay true to the
independent scene. Like Avril Lavigne. That rhymed.
We just wrote a new song.
If you made them and they made you who picked up
the bill and who made who?
Theo Huxtable.
I see Shag Bark Hickory has quite a few
unreleased songs. Any chance you guys will get those
recorded and released to your legions of hardcore
fans?
There's been talk, but as of right now the band is
on what is called "indefinite hiatus." Basically,
what it means in our case is one of our members is in
Indiana, one is is Iowa, one is in California, and one
is in South Fucking Korea, and most of our guests are
scattered in Washington state and who knows where
else. But we do have a lot of songs written, waiting
in the archives to be dusted off and given life anew.
But we also all have our own individual projects-- I'm
trying to get my "Manimal" fan scripts produced into
actual episodes, Circus Boy is trying to get on the
staff of "HM" with a series of kiss-ass stories about
Bride, Cap'n Munchies is attempting to single-handedly
put an end to the North Korean problem with a hooker
under one arm, another hooker under the other, and a
beer can hat/IV drip, and Caesar Salad is trying to
open a casino/brothel/library in Long Beach.
Needless to say, these are all difficult tasks
which require tremendous energy and attention, not at
all unlike the recording of Shag Bark Hickory
material. I think as long as there are fans waiting
for it, there's always going to be that possibility
that we might get another album out there. And, since
there are so many die-hard fans, and they're mostly
fairly young and therefore likely to live for a good
long while, that possibility is going to be there for
a good fifty or sixty more years or so.