Wow! Question Mark was on my favorite radio show last night (Thursday January 15, 1998). Your host is Dave The Spazz (who seemed VERY excited and maybe just a teensy bit flustered!). Here's how it went:
DtS: Hey, who do we have on the line here?
JW: Hi, is this Dave?
DtS: Yeah.
JW: Hey, it's Jon Weiss. I've got Question Mark here.
DtS: You've got Question Mark?
JW: I've got him. You want him?
DtS: Yeah, let's get Question Mark!
JW: OK, here he is.
(you can hear JW in the background - "this is Dave The Spazz.")
?: Hello Dave. How are you doing? This is Question Mark.
DtS: It's Question Mark !
?: Yeah, we're in the studio right now recording.
DtS: That's amazing!
?: Yeah. We just did a really hip farfisa ? & Mysterians version of "Sally Go 'Round The Roses".
DtS: Oh man... the Jaynetts.
?: Yeah. Oh yeah.
DtS: Oh boy.
?: But when you hear this, it's y'know, a lot more fast. Y'know, it's that rock and roll garage
sound...Question Mark and the Mysterians...got that farfisa there just pounding away.
DtS: You got....that's like the same farfisa when I saw you guys a couple of months ago.
That was intense.
?: Right!
DtS: That's the same one there.
?: Yeah!
DtS: Oh man. You know what...how do you do it? That's like one of the best bands I've seen in years, like in 10 years.
?: I don't know. We just, you know, we've been doing it all the time. Like I said, you don't have to be successful in that sense of a way to be out there to be a success. As long as you know what you're doing. I mean, first of all, we're entertainers. You know, and regardless if you have a record or not, if you know you've music inside of you, you just wanna let people hear it. So that's groovy. So that's what we've been doing.
DtS: All my life I've been, just everything's just...with me, has been 96 Tears. Y'know?
?: MM Hmm.
DtS: And then I saw you guys had all these other songs, and I couldn't believe it, they're all hits. Hits! With a capital H! Hits!
?: Yeah. And we've got another song that we really want to turn you on with, it's Cherie Cherie by Alan Vega.
DtS: Uh huh.
?: Yeah, he wrote the song. And we'll bring it by you in a couple of months.
DtS: Oh that's cool. Hey, hey....
?: Yeah. No no, it's HOT, it's not cool! You'll notice the difference in the temperature when you hear it.
DtS: It's scorchin' hot!
?: But it's very innocent. Hmm? Oh yeah it's scorchin'! Yeah really!
DtS: Oh yeah. Hey....hey...how did you get your name, Mister Question Mark?
?: How did I get my name?
DtS: Yeah.
?: When I was born on Mars a long time ago, that was my name.
DtS: On Mars.
?: Telepathically, you know, we don't say our names. We just, like, you know...
(pauses)
DtS: Oh I heard it! I heard that!
?: It's kind of hard for earthlings to pick it up, so had to tell them it was a question mark. Well, you know, things like that...As far as the Mysterians, that's another story...you know, how we came up with that. But that's in my book. I'm writing my book right now.
DtS: You're writing a book? What's it gonna be called?
?: Are You For Real?
DtS: With a question mark on the end.
?: It's quite a lengthy book so the second volume is called To Make A Long Story Short.
DtS: Ba dum bum....
?: And we have a...the live album is coming out the end of this month on Norton Records.
DtS: Oh that was great! You're gonna hear me on that, cuz I was right by the front there, screaming...
?: Cool! Oh! You know what? We're taping for ABC In Concert. Yeah, we talked to them already. The show starts, uh, mmm hmm, at Coney Island High, that's where we're playing.
DtS: Saturday night.
?: Mmmm hmmm.
DtS: That's gonna be a big show, big Saturday night. Everybody knows.
?: All right! And we're in New York, like I said, right now, and we're recording our new album at Krispy Kreme.
DtS: Uh huh. Uh, wait...they make donuts there, don't they? Or I guess they record also?
?: No, they make hits! They don't make donuts, they make hits! Y'know?
DtS: They make hits also.
?: Yeah!
DtS: Hits are job one.
?: I ate some cookies today, and hey, they were fantastic.
DtS: Yeah? What kind?
?: I don't know. What kind were they, Jon?
JW: Oatmeal raisin.
?: Oatmeal raisin, yeah! I mean, but they were delicious.
DtS: Oh yeah! You can't get those on Mars.
?: Uh....
DtS: Or maybe you can! I don't know....
?: No, no, no, no, no, no no. Not at this moment you can't.
But later on we will be able to.
DtS: In a little while....
?: Uh, well, yeah.... about anotherrrrrr...250 years.
DtS: Okay. Hey....that's real different from recording...what, in a living
room?
?: No, it was never a living room. It was an outdoor patio
DtS: Outdoor patio! I just lost a bet!
?: Yeah, a small one story building. It's still there! We went back there in '96 and recorded 96 Tears again. And Midnight Hour.
DtS: In the same place?
?: Yeah. The same room is still there and everything. Yeah, we got it on tape and everything. We're gonna present that specially as a single in its own self, you know, when the time's right. (giggles)
DtS: Ay, y'know, that's like...that's some of the finest music in the world, I gotta tell ya. I don't even, I hate even putting a label like garage on it or something like that. To me, that was like pop...that was like bubblegum and...just everything.
?: Well, y'know, in reality, to us it was just music. Because we didn't have a label yet.
DtS: It's what you DO, right?
?: Yeah. Well Greg Shaw, he saw us in '71, right? And that's where it was first printed, in Creem magazine, about y'know, the punk, garage band, and all that kinda stuff. He was the one to first ever...it was ever printed, in Creem magazine, at that time. That was before Creem had the glossy magazine cover & all that kinda stuff, just paper. I have a copy too. So that's how the name came about, as far as the label on us. But no....just our music, and I guess now after 31 years people finally.....I guess we have innovated something, y'know?
DtS: You got IT! You got IT with a capital I....
?: We created hip, period. Hip. Hip, hip, hip, y'know what I mean?
DtS: You got it.
?: Yeah, we had...one of the songs on our first album, the "UP" we turned upside down.
The eighteen was "8" and a "teen" ......y'know, things like that.
DtS: Right, right. So, who's your personal hero?
?: Uh, no one really.
DtS: No one?
?: No. But you know why? Because when we went with Cameo Parkway....
DtS: Well, you're my hero.
?: Well, great! But I consider you my friend.
DtS: Okay.
?: I'd rather have a friend than a hero. (laughs)
DtS: That's true. They don't disappoint you.
?: No. But anyway, when we went with Cameo Parkway, there was an order of 15,000 copies from Detroit. That's when the music business heard about it. And they said well, he doesn't have 15,000 friends...ha ha , so somebody's interested in the song. So we had everybody. And if I would have thought at that time, about who's my hero and all that stuff, Elvis was with RCA Victor, the Beatles were on Capitol records, and I didn't even think about them, all I thought about was that the label The Twist was on was orange, and it was on Cameo Parkway, and that was my favorite color! So I said well, I'll go with Cameo Parkway cause that's my favorite color! Then when the record came out, it wasn't the orange label, and I was mad! I was mad! Y'know?
DtS: Time to look for another label there....
?: So anybody else I think would have said "man, if I sign with RCA Victor, man, I'll met Elvis and all that kinda stuff. Or if I sign with Capitol Records, I'll meet the Beatles and all that kinda stuff." Yeah, but when you're doing your own music and all that kinda stuff, you're interested in.....the people hearing it, that's all you're interested in. You don't care about who you're gonna meet.
DtS: I know.
?: So no, I don't have any heroes.
DtS: Oh, well. You know....I tell ya, as far as like just complete showmanship and the way you guys put on a show, it's like vaudeville all over again. I mean that in a good way. I mean that like just you know, entertaining. You come on, you put on a show, at at top notch. A ten. A ten in my book.
?: Well, like I said first thing: true entertainers, they get out there and they'll entertain regardless of whether they have a record or not. Because that's what you are first, you know, you're an entertainer. To put it in a short sentence, if there wasn't tv, radio, newspapers, nothing like that, and you had something to contribute to people, you know....music or if you were a dancer or whatever, you'd go from town to town and people would hear about you, and they'd say "man, who don't you bring that person over here? We heard all about it." Word of mouth, you know what I'm saying? That's what it's all about.
DtS: Ah, well, there's a lot of word of mouth in this town, buzz going all over the place....Question Mark, Question Mark, everybody knows.....Coney Island High, Saturday Night!
?: Right!
DtS: Oh man. Well I don't want to keep you, I know you're doing a record, you're doing your thing, I don't want to take you out of that whole thing. Hey, can I get a station ID from you while I've got you on the air here?
?: Cool.
DtS: Okay, cuz you know, I'll just be playing it to death all over the place. It's Music To Spazz By, Dave The Spazz, WFMU. That's the show. And the station. Not in that order. And the program.
?: Music to Spazz...?
DtS: Music To Spazz By. With Dave The Spazz. On WFMU. And you're the man.
?: On WFMU?
DtS: That's right.
?: And you're the man.
DtS: And.....no YOU'RE the man. I told YOU, you're the man. I don't.....you're whoever you want, you're Question Mark. I'm just saying that, that was...you don't have to write that down, haha!!
?: You want me to say "hi, this is Question Mark of Question Mark & the Mysterians?"
DtS: Something like that, yeah.
?: Okay.
DtS: Okay. Any time.
?: All right. Hi, this is ? of ? and the Mysterians and you're listening to Music To Spazz By with Dave The Spazz, on W-F-U-M.
DtS: F-M-U, but that's okay...
?: Well, yeah, but you know, people turn it around, you could dig it.
DtS: 'Cause you turned it around, like 8teen there! I got it! I got it! (applauds)
?: Let me do it again (laaaaughing!)
DtS: I'm hip! I like that one! Okay, what the hell, do it again.
?: Hi, this is ? of ? and the Mysterians, and you're listening to .....ptttt
(makes "raspberries" noise). Oh...
okay, let me start again.
?: Hi, this is ? of ? and the Mysterians, and you're listening to.......UHH! (laughing)...no...(laughing). You're still rolling, right?
DtS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going, we're rolling.
?: Okay, now I got it.
DtS: You got it.
?: Hi this is ? of ? and the Mysterians, and you're listening to Music To Spazz By with Dave The Spazz on W-F...U...M.
DtS: THANKS FOR BEING WITH US, QUESTION MARK !!
Hey, thanks a lot.
?: WAIT! Can I do it again?
DtS: Yeah, do it again.
?: eff - EMM - yooo. Okay. Hi, this ? of ? and the Mysterians, and you're listening to Music To Spazz By with Dave The Spazz on W-F-M-U.
DtS: (applauding) YEAH ! ALL RIGHT !!
Thanks a lot. Thanks for being here. And we're gonna see you all Saturday night.
?: All right.
DtS: All right
?: Bye!
DtS: Bye!
justina@juvalamu.com
