What are you working on currently?
Chan -I've already done it. It's going to be out in February or March.
And what is it? I was reading an article recently - an interview that you
did - saying that you were working on some piano
stuff, which you did tonight.
Chan -Yeah. It's half piano, half guitar. But tonight
was not a good representation, I don't think...
Is it solo - is it just you?
Chan -Yeah, totally. Yeah. It's really simple, basic,
songs. No nothing, no overdubs, no
distortion...
When did you record this? Was it just recently?
Chan -About three days ago. Three days ago for
three days. I recorded for the first day,
the second day I was two hours late, and the third day
was like, mixing, and having beer, talking to some friends that came by.
So it was a really quick recording. Was all this stuff you had written and worked out
ahead of time?
Chan -No. (Just) things I've been playing...they're covers. Most
of them - all of them are covers except for one song,
"In This Hole," which is my song.
I was going to say, tonight I thought it was very
cool that you did the Velvet Underground song ("I Found A Reason") on the piano.
Chan -Thank you! Yeah. (Singing) "What comes is better than what
came before..." 
Yeah, it's so beautiful
that song. I remember when they came and I
heard them when I was probably like seventeen. I
think they need to come back around. 'Cause
really, they're just...so innovative, and the
characteristics that I find in their music when I'm
listening to it...it's just...it's this
combination of arrogance and avant-arrogance... I love them. I love them so much.
Frank Mullen /
Matteblack
Is there a lot of stuff that you haven't released,
that you've recorded?
Chan -I have two CDs of stuff that I haven't released, but I'm saving
them because, at the time, I was - I don't
know. I feel funny about some of it, sort of
emotionally, like personally, I don't know if I
want to release it. So I think when I do another record
I'm going to take the ones that I like and make another record.
Yeah. And is there a lot of stuff that you write, and possibly record, or don't even record,
because it's just for you?
Chan -Hmm... Good question. The ones that I haven't
brought in the studio or ever played
again are the ones that are the first songs that I
ever wrote, that are either on a cassette or I know them and I'll never
play them again. Or I've forgotten them.
How did it feel when you were here in SF the last
couple of times? You played at Bottom
of the Hill which is a tenth the size of
this venue (Great American Music Hall), and then you come here and it sells
out...
Chan -I like it (Bottom of the Hill) because it's the only place I've ever
played in San Francisco, so I know the
bartenders... It's as if I played a club in a hometown where I knew
everybody, you know what I mean? People had told me that the acoustics here
are really good. I don't know if I actually suit this place... But this is an amazing place.
I don't know - I felt really small. I didn't feel very...confident. I mean, I felt funny, like I wanted to break the ice because I felt so much tension,
but...
So you're going to Australia in
December to do some shows. Are they going to be solo
shows there as well?
Chan -Yes. I just want to chill out (laughing). I can't
rock - I don't want to rock anymore. I mean I do
later maybe, but right now I'm just taking it as it
comes. Actually the only reason that I'm recording,
why I recorded this and I'm releasing it, is
because I'm afraid that...it might never come out. I think that
just 'cause I love playing these songs - because
they're all covers, most of them... I feel like I love them more than I've ever loved
any (others). I don't know. I just feel more confident doing it, for some reason.
Doing the cover songs? What are some of the songs
that you're doing?
Chan -"Devil's Daughter" by Michael Hurley, "Kingsport
Town," I don't know who wrote that,
"Wild As The Wind" Nina Simone, "Satisfaction" Rolling
Stones... Oh - "Naked If I Want To" by Moby Grape... Oh there's one...I can't remember...
oh - John Lee Hooker.
It's cool that you're doing "Naked If I Want To." I heard you perform that on an internet broadcast.
Chan -Really? The Matador thing? Oh - no - Knitting
Factory. No?
Brave New World was the program. You did a couple of songs live and that
was one of them, and I really like that song. So I look forward to hearing that,
and hopefully everybody else does too. I want
to thank you very much for talking to us.
Chan -Thank you!
I really like the album Myra Lee - I just picked that
up a few weeks ago.
Chan -I was 21 then...
Do you think your
music has changed quite a bit since
then?
Chan -My personality's changed a lot.
Do you look back at those songs, and kind of wonder
what you were thinking about back
then?
Chan -I feel sad. I know what I was thinking
about then. (Laughs) I don't need those
songs to remind me! It's really flattering, but when you're looking forward and you don't
want to think about the past, and it's like, "I'm so
glad I'm not there anymore!" You know what I
mean? Just confused... wondering what
the hell you're doing and everything
seems so desperate and empty and just...lost. And
just thinking, "Man, I'm so glad that I'm alive!" I mean, that's what's so great... They were
different.
They are different, and I think they just get
better every time. I look forward to
hearing the new record.
Chan -Thank you.
I said, "They're not going to do this." They showed the man getting something to eat, this guy coming in, leaning over and then the man like this (acting it out), thinking he could get the gun from the guy - trying to grab it, and the guy just went "PIFF!"
And the man fell back, and then his body went into seizure, because he
wasn't dead yet. The bullet was lodged in his brain, obviously. They
just left the camera there. The camera in the bodega was showing the whole thing.
Just something like that - you know what I mean? Like
getting Newsweek and knowing you're obviously being lied to on every page. "Oh
yeah, by the way! 40,000 people were found dead in a hole,
but..." You know, things like this. Things like
that that are just so subversive. 'Cause
if, you're watching the news, you don't want to be
watching someone who was shot in the brain,
but you want to know what's going on, but,...it's
just like this weird play. You want to know the truth about the
40,000 Rwandans at the camp who were killed. But it's always, "Oh, but we don't know! We're not going to investigate, we're not going to send troops, blah
blah blah. We're not going to help or anything."
Like things like that, so fucked up, things
like that make you go crazy. Or if someone dies,
or if there is the end of a
relationship or maybe something's going
on in your family, or something in your past that
you... Something. There's always something
that makes you look for a creative outlet.
You may scrub the hell out of your bathroom tiles, or organize your lace curtains,
it could be anything.
