Pollard- Well most people say Bee Thousand. That's kind of like our definitive record. But I don't know...I just can't answer that question because all of our records are different to me, and I think they are to the really hardcore fans. I would suggest that if someone wanted to check us out, maybe Bee Thousand because that kind of defines our four-track phase. Then maybe Mag Earwhig, our last record. Those two sort of define the two stages, you know...of evolution. I don't usually tell them to check out the early stuff, man. Stay away from that! I didn't even want to do the box set...

I think it's great...

Pollard- Well, I'm glad. I was afraid, but Scat (Records) persuaded me into doing it because he thought that the fans would dig it. You might think it's ridiculous, which is what I thought. Some of the recordings are really bad. We tried to do it in a studio, we tried to do it right, and it just wasn't good. It's better to do something on the four-track...then it's allowed to sound bad..

Pollard- Well, it's more a question of where Guided by Voices is at - how much we've crossed that bridge into the big studio and what can we do with that. We need to keep exploring that - improving on that. I guess the next step was to get a producer. It was good that we hooked up with Rick. You know, we kind of toyed with using a producer. We did some stuff with Kim Deal and some stuff with Steve Albini on Under the Bushes Under the Stars. For some reason that didn't work out very well. I don't know why...I think we were just too scattered about ideas and what we wanted to do. We still had four-track stuff left over, so it was kind of all over the place. And I think Mag Earwhig was kind of all over the place too, because we were between bands. You know...I was between one band and a new band, so there was stuff from both bands. Whereas on this new thing, Do the Collapse, it's all the same people...in the studio with the same guys. There's more of a consistency to it, I think. It sounds a lot better.




Do you feel like it's done?

Pollard- It's done...I'm quite sure it's done. I could always change things. It's to the point now where Rick and other people have their hands in it creatively and artistically. He would let me, but he's a little more persuasive than other people have been. I believe him 'cause he's Rick Ocasek. So yeah, like there's one song that he thinks and some labels think could be pushed to be a hit. I thought it was a little bit sappy for my own personal taste, but they were like, "No way - that's the fucking hit," whereas I might have cut that. We actually had a string quartet play on some songs.

Pollard- Yeah, I just brand things like in prog rock - Genesis and shit. Plus, we come from the birthplace of aviation, so I like to have flight imagery. I don't know...it's just more interesting to think of those kinds of things without being too obvious. You know...I don't really even think about it. When I write lyrics it usually starts with a phrase, something somebody said or a title. Then I'll just let it go for a while...drink some coffee and let my thoughts stray. And sometimes it flows and ends real interestingly, and other times it doesn't. The ones that flow all the way through, obviously, those are the ones I use and then they're easier to put music to. It's a strange, almost spiritual kind of thing. The images almost come from... I try to string these phrases I've heard together or things I've made up that have been inspired by those phrases, and I try to get something going for a while where I have a lyric. But I don't consciously go, "I'm gonna write some songs about science."




Right. So you're not doing any "concept" albums?

Pollard- Well, I like to think that they're all conceptual a little bit. I try to make them seem coherent and flow, you know and I also use the covers and pictures to make it seem even more conceptual.

How do you do the cover art?

Pollard- I do the cover art. I did the cover art for Kid Marine which was cool, 'cause obviously it's all photographs. A chick let us look through the photo album of her boyfriend, you know...this guy that worked at an American Legion post in Northridge. I said, "I'm looking for some pictures for this - somebody who can be 'Kid Marine'." I saw these pictures of him with his uniform on at a football game, hoisting the flag and at bars, drinking and shit. And I kind of kick myself in the ass, because one picture of his was at a party and I was in the background getting fucked up...I wish I had used that. Kind of like Alfred Hitchcock in his movies, you know. So it was great...I just found this guy and used his pictures. It seems like maybe I even spent some time on it, but I didn't. It took me maybe a week to write the songs, but I was writing poetry for over a month and I picked my 15 favorites. It took me maybe a week to put music to them and another week to record it.




So is writing poetry a bit different? Do poems just come to you like the songs, or do you sit down with a cup of coffee and just bang them out?

Pollard- Yeah, that's what I do. It's not something I can just turn on and off. I have to feel like it - I have to feel like, "Wow, I'm in kind of a poetic mood today, things are kind of flowing." That's what happened with Kid Marine. Kid Marine is my favorite one, man. Just personally for me, I kind of don't care...didn't care what anyone else thought.