Online Interview with Ken Andrews circa 1996
SR: Who were your musical influences while growing up?
KA: Well it all depends on what phase your talking about.
I had my KISS phase, my Stones phase, my AC/DC phase, the Cars, new wave in general.
I think my influences are a stew of various ingredients in which you cannot taste any
of the ingredients individually, but they somehow taste good all together.
SR: When did you decide you wanted to be a professional musician? KA: When I found out we were getting a record deal. Until that point I was taking film school pretty seriously and had already begun to work as a freelance editor in L.A.
SR: A few years ago I read in East Coast Rocker magazine (when Magnified came out) they compared
your music to Nirvana, but the lyrics were darker. Do you like this comparison? Because I
can't really think of a genre of music that you belong in, so I have to describe you to my
friends as kinda like Nirvana. What genre do you think you belong in?
KA: Well lets face it, if it wasn't for Nirvana the whole scene in music would be a lot
different than it is now. They brought real rock band music back into the mainstream and made
it a commercially viable, and respectable genre again. When one band becomes the focal point
for such dramatic change it's easy to see how that band can become the reference point for all
other bands to be compared to.
Having said that, I recognize that in the big picture of things we sound similar to
Nirvana. I'm not sure how much of this can actually be attributed to hearing them, none of us
had heard them when we recorded our first album with Steve Albini. It's just one of those
sociological phenomenons where you see unconnected groups of people stumbling across the same
thing, in this case a particular style of pop rock songwriting. Sociologically speaking, it can
be argued that everything was simply building up to this point and that obviously one band is
going to end up being the flagship for the movement.
SR: I read that Fantastic Planet was completed over a year ago. What have you been doing
since then?
KA: We started doing the Replicants album record right after Fantastic Planet in the same
house we had been holed up in for the last six months. That took two months to make in July and
August. Then in November I went to Chicago for a month and produced a record for the band
Molly McGuire. They're from Kansas City, MO and play very well indeed. The album was
completed for indie label Hitit Records but has since been picked up by Epic/Sony and
should be released sometime this summer. My favorite song is called Plastic Pirates.
Then from January to the beginning of April I produced a band from Canada called Blinker
the Star for A&M Records. Blinker is mainly the child of a Jordan Zadorozny person who sure
can write quality song things. We had great fun recording what I believe is one hell of an
album which is going to be called A Burgeois Kitten I think. Unfortunately for an early 1997
release.
SR: Do you have any videos out? I have heard of the Replicants video. Did you not make a
video because empty V only plays crappy front runner video's that have mass public appeal,
and you would rather save the money?
KA: Well we did in fact make a video for Undone off Magnified but it only garnered
regional play and local show type stuff. It's not the greatest clip, but it's kinda cool.
SR: What kind of equipment do you use? (guitars, amps, pedals...)
KA: I use only the finest in guitar and amplifier products. No, seriously I have a
pretty big rig going right now and it would take too much time to get into it right now.
I'm playing four different guitars right now though: Les Paul Standard, Fender Telecaster,
Fender Jazz Master, and Troy's old Gibson SG with soapbar pick-ups in it.
SR: I have been trying for 2 years, writing away to the Lollapalooza people suggesting
you for the second stage. Have you ever been asked to play the large festivals either here or
in Europe? AT one Lollapalooza, my friend had his Failure shirt on, and some guy came up to him,
saying how great you were.
KA: We did play second stage for one LA Lollapalooza and it was not very fun. Maybe
we'll do it again. I'm just not sure.
SR: What music do you listen to in your spare time?
KA: My girlfriend got me well into Cibbo Matto lately. Bjork, Beatles, Pavement.
SR: What's the deal with the frog? Does it have any special meaning?
KA: Well Grasshopper...
SR: Is it true about the rock stars getting all the chicks? I know there are no chemistry
groupies waiting for me when I get out of lab.
KA: No, I live with my girlfriend.
SR: You mentioned that you just got a computer, and you have been surfing the net.
Do you think congress should be allowed to censor the internet?
KA: No.
SR: I read one time that Maynard James Keenan from TOOL refused to do an interview unless
you were there. How did you guys meet? When I saw you, he came on stage and introduced you
"these guys are called Failure, they are from LA and they are fucking great!"
KA: The first time I met Keenan he was at one of our shows. I think he had heard
about us and TOOL was looking for a good band to play shows with around town. We did play
some shows together and then much later after they got big they asked us to support them
on some longer tours. Maynard likes to be very dramatic sometimes, and enjoys fucking with
journalists, but I think in a way he was also really trying to help us as much as possible
because he really likes our music.
SR: What's it like being on tour, you know like being in a different city every day,
going all over the country, etc... a lot of musicians don't like it because they get burnt out
and tired real fast.
KA: It does get extremely tedious, but if the shows are going well it can be worth it,
unless Kellii is having gas.
SR: You walk into a 7-11, what's the first thing you grab?
KA: Marshmallow Munchies.
SR: Being from LA, I'm sure that you are sick of hearing this, and everything is over and done with, but how can OJ be so guilty, but be free?
KA: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thanks to sunray1313@aol.com, Ken Andrews, and JSJ for making this available.