Nick Hyman (N): How did the Carson Daly show go? Casey Spooner (C):Oh, you know, it went good. I mean TV is just always weird. I'm learning. N: What song did you do? C: What do you think? Take a random guess. N: "Emerge" C: Yeah, exactly N: How's Carson? C: He's fine, I saw him for maybe a total of thirty seconds, twice. He's really tall and had on more makeup than I imagined. Very natural. With TV makeup you have to have more color cause the lights blow your skin tone out. N: Why did #1 take so long to come out in the U.S.? C: We took our time and were very careful about how we wanted to release and who we wanted to release with. We wanted to start small, so we first started with an independent label in Germany called International DJ Gigolos and worked with them and built our audience through that. We were told that you couldn't really break electronic music in the U.S. that you have to start in Europe. Once you release in Europe, then you can go the UK. So then we released with Ministry of Sound and after you've released in the UK, then you can come back into the United States. That was our plan. It took a little bit longer than anticipated. We tried to find the right distribution partners for each territory and it took a while to find all of these different people. In the end, Capital stepped in and said 'we want the world' which was a relief.

N: Were you courted by other labels?

C: Yeah, absolutely, we were courted by MCA, Sony, Atlantic, Virgin, Emperor Norton and many more. We never got in a rush. I know it's been a little bit frustrating for the fans because it's taken so long. We just refused to get in a hurry. We were already happy in a way and we didn't want to fuck up something I finally enjoyed doing. We never would have imagined ourselves on a major label. We were completely happy working the way we were working. We basically turned things down, and turned things down and turned things down over and over again. Finally it just got to the point where we felt that people couldn’t get the record that had heard about it and wanted it. It felt like a very functional thing in terms of distribution. It took a while but I’m happy because I feel like we are in control of our destiny every step of the way.

N: So Capital are good to you guys?

C: Oh yeah, it’s amazing. You imagine, and it’s different for every artist, that you sign to a label and you all of the sudden lose control. The reality is, they are so happy to work with people that have ideas and know what they want. We were also coming to it already established. It was kind of done, we had the art, we had an audience already with us. It makes it easier when all of that stuff is already defined, when it’s clear. But who knows after the first record, we made this record without any kind of A&R criteria looming over us.

N: The songs were formed very much like an installation piece.

C: We would work very slowly. We would work on a song and then we would stage it and incorporate it into the show and then repeat. We took our time building each thing. It’s a little nerve racking now to have to function on a tighter schedule. It’s gonna be less than three years to turn around new material. At the same time, we were learning throughout that entire process. It feels like things will move quicker because we have learned things.

N: What were you doing before Fischerspooner was created? Were you noodling around in the art world?

C: Yeah, exactly. I was just starving my way through New York trying to find a way to be creative and pay my rent which is a classic urban theme. Throughout the whole process, the first two years, Warren and I worked full time and we paid for all of the productions, the recordings, film work, photography and live shows out of pocket. It got to a point where it was absurd and shows couldn’t be done for less than three-thousand dollars and were usually closer to six-thousand. They just kept growing and growing and growing and we had to rent rehearsal space, a light rig, have wardrobe made and have all of this stuff. I was completely destitute and successful at the same time. But I’m happy.

N: What do you think of the fire that happened last night at the Great White show? C: God damn. It’s really good for me to hear because I’m always pushing for pyro and I’m always questioning safety rules a little bit. N: Are you guys safe? C: It’s getting moderately unsafe. I like the danger. I put myself in danger. N: Electroclash. Do you hate the term? C: Oh god, I don’t know. I don’t even think about it anymore. It is a good and a bad thing for sure. We were doing what we do before there was this term. We’ll continue to do whatever we want to do after the term. I fell like I have all kinds of stupid personal issues with it but ultimately it’s a tag for record bins. That’s fine and that’s a good thing in a way. I think most artists are uncomfortable when they’re generalized, categorized or lumped into something and it’s hard to accept because all of the something it’s out of your control. Then other people’s actions impact your labor. It doesn’t matter what the genre or what the discipline. You kind of always want to be your own thing.

N: Do you place a higher value on the visual or audio aspect of Fischerspooner?

C: It starts with the music and that’s the foundation for everything. Most of the visual things we generate wouldn’t be generated without the music. Since my background isn’t so much in literature but is in visual arts, when I’m writing I’m usually describing images. There’s a lot of material that will get generated around lyrics for a song that won’t actually make it into the lyrics and that stuff is used for visual inspiration. To me, it’s very integrated. It starts with the music and is built from there. Our whole initial concept was to create our fantasy of what we wanted pop culture to be like. With popular music, it’s necessary to have a visual component. Britney does not make a song without some consideration to her image or to a music video or to photography or all these other elements that serve to represent the music.

N: What do you think of Justin Timberlake’s solo career? Have you seen the “Cry Me A River” video?

C: Is that the one where he’s stalking Britney? The music is not very good. That’s my one criticism of pop music is that the music is not very good.

N: Since you’re creating your own pop world and are interested in the peripheral materials surrounding existing pop acts more than the music itself, who does do it for you?

C: I’m more into the cardboard cutout than the actual record itself. Which is not that unusual, that stuff is incredible. Who does it for me? Of course I totally love 2 Many DJ’S and all of that crazy bootleg culture. It’s fantastic. Warren’s the real audiophile. I’ve grown up all around the indie, serious music. I’m not ashamed to enjoy a new pop single. I like a lot of the stuff the Neptunes are doing, I like the “Slave” single for Britney. The problem with that is that the song never had an ending to it. That’s the thing I like about Warren’s music is that it has a beginning, middle and an end. I hate pop singles that have a start and an okay hook that just drag on forever, repeat and fade out. Why can’t they have endings?

N: Do you like Missy?

C: Yeah, I like the “Work It” song. It’s growing on me.

N: I think “Gossip Folks” is even superior.

C: That one is pretty good. I like it, but know that you say that the first thing that comes to my mind is that amazing device where the lyrics go back and forth and the way it links with the movement in the video that’s reversed and then forward. That device of the forward and backward is really beautiful.

N: Like Missy, you guys do different mixes for your videos.

C: We can just never stop. We could work on one record for ten years. We just keep going and redoing stuff.

N: Have you been approached by other artists or directors anxious to work with you?

C: We just worked with Kylie.

N: On Top of the Pops, how was that?

C: It was good. It was a learning experience. It was very interesting to come from this folk, underground, homemade pop sensation to dealing with someone who is a legitimate, super mega pop diva. It was interesting in practical terms to see how it worked. It wasn’t that much different. The core of the creative process is the same.

N: Did she contact you about remixing her single?

C: I don’t know if it was her particularly, or if Parlophone contacted our label and then it went from there.

N: Have you remixed any other artists?

C: No, that’s it. That’s the one and only.

N: Several people have remixed Fischerspooner, like Felix and others.

C: Oh my God, we’ve had everybody remix us.

N: Felix will be at Coachella, where you guys will also be performing. What should we expect from you guys?

C: Oh he is, cool! God, you know I don’t know yet. It will be good, I’m excited about Coachella because we’re doing our first proper American tour in April with a manager, tour manager, business manager which we never had before. We finally just hired all of those people. We’re doing fifteen dates in three weeks and it ends in Coachella. The good thing about Coachella is that I’ll be so good and warmed up. I’m gonna be a fucking dancing machine! (Laughter)

N: Have you performed at an outdoor venue before?

C: God yes! We cannot be outdoors and if we are it has to be nighttime. We cannot do outdoors in daylight, it’s embarrassing, it just looks awful. It’s not meant to be seen that way. It has to be a nighttime slot or I’m gonna freak out.

N: Let’s talk about your connection to Andrew W.K.?

C: My little Andrew.

N: You have to work together.

C: We were supposed to work together but then he got busy. Before the band, the first band I was in was called Sweet Thunder. It was put together by this girl called Kelly Kuvo who was also from Chicago in a band called the Scissor Girls. Kelly put together the Starbucks show. She met these guys and they offered her the opportunity to do shows at the Starbucks so she put together a festival or a review and invited these people to perform. The first time Warren and I performed was at one of these Starbucks shows. There were lots of different people because we just did one song. The second show, she invited Andrew W.K. to perform. I don’t remember how she met him, but he knew the Scissor Girls. He was from Ann Arbor. The first time I saw him perform at a coffee shop was devastating. I think he was 19 then. When he performed it was just him and a keyboard. I actually in a lot of ways, prefer just the keyboard act. Maybe it’s just in hindsight. We met him, and were older than Andrew, he was 18 and said ‘I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna get a manager, I’m gonna sign to a major label and I’m gonna do arena rock’ and Warren and I were like yeah right kid, good luck. You know, he did it so were really proud of him. At one point we were currated to do this art festival in Gents, Belgium and they offered us a really incredible fee and we couldn’t make it because we had another show and so we sent Andrew to lip sync our music for us. It was called “Fischerspooner Presents Andrew W.K. New Looks New Feelings” or something retarded like that.

N: Has that been documented?

C: I’ve never seen it, I don’t know what it was but he went to Gent and sang “Tone Poem” because he loves that song. He performed “Tone Poem” for me and then he performed some of his music. At that point he had done that picture and the person who did our album cover did his record cover, Roe Etheridge who I’ve known for years and has done tons of photography for us. He’s amazing and I feel completely indebted to him. He had made that picture of Andrew and the first time I saw it, and the way it’s shown on the cover doesn’t even do it justice like when you see it in person, was less brutal and more romantic is the only way I can describe it. The bargain we made is that he would go to Belgium and we would have that picture made into a billboard and he was going to perform in front of it but the shipping costs ended up being too much.

N: Who directed “The 15th” video?

C: “The 15th” was directed by Warren and Karen Fischer. The thing that is interesting about “The 15th” is that it’s caused such a row in the UK because the editor of NME thought we were making fun of him with his sort of new rock agenda. They thought that we were, which completely reveals their egotism. They had us categorized in this one compartment and they thought we crossed this line. It was also inspired by the fact that it was this Wire song that’s part of this rock history. It gets a little frustrating when people define music based on the instruments used and less on the music itself. Warren composes everything on the computer but it could easily be translated to this generic rock equation which is not interesting. It’s poking fun of that too. Also, we talked to Colin Newman who wrote the lyrics for Wire and he said it was about something that upon closer inspection is nothing. We liked the idea of having this band portray the production of the music but in actuality they’re not there because none of those musicians played any of that music.

N: Is there a media outlet that you are dying to infiltrate?

C: Live television.

N: You should do Jimmy Kimmel.

C: Oh, is that live? We are doing Jimmy Kimmel after Coachella.

N: He goes live to the East coast.

C: Thank God! Fantastic!

N: You had mentioned a particular fascination with Dawson’s Creek in an old interview.

C: But Dawson’s Creek is kind of over now. I just kind of fantasized that one of our songs would be used on one of those things or that we would be guests. Before we started this project, we wanted to really get on Regis and Kathy Lee, cause that was live. We talked about coming up with something where I was going to be an animal trainer because I’m interested in the safari look for network television.

N: What is going on with this ongoing documentary?

C: Karen, Warren’s wife, has been documenting everything for the past year and half. She’s documenting the in’s and out’s of the whole project. The thing that everyone is so mystified by, ‘what the hell is it?, what does the show look like?’ people just want a window into this live aspect. Karen decided that it was a good idea to share with people the documentary in progress with people on DVD. It’s a good way for people to get a window into what it looks like a little bit. It’s edited but you get some semblance of what’s going on. It’s Karen’s project and she’s looking for financing and it will eventually be a feature length documentary that will take years to finish. I’m assuming, most documentaries take a while. It will probably go through the entire arc of the first album. I feel really strongly about the film work because I came from a fine art performance background and most of the work I did was so ephemeral that once it was finished it was gone. So for me it’s important that there is a film component to what we do. It’s the only way to share with people in a lot of ways. My dream for the second album is that we wouldn’t necessarily tour but that we would make a feature film that would have all of the music in it.

N: Have you written anything for the second album?

C: Not really. I know I’m supposed to be working on it. I’m in that sort of weird germination period where you’re sort of waiting for an idea. C’mon ideas. I’m more wrapped up in getting through our first American tour. We have a show in Miami. We have a show in Paris. We’re working on a huge show for the Venice biannual and then a European tour, so I’ve got a lot of live events to deal with right now.

N: How long does it take to get ready for a show?

C: It depends on how much coffee the team has had. It can take two hours, it can take eight.

N: How many people are involved in the live show?

C: It depends, I mean depending on the size of the venue and the resources we have it fluctuates. It can be as small as four people or can be as large as twenty people based on the size of the stage and the resources. It’s very flexible.

N: Are these friends of yours that work on the show?

C: In varying degrees. We’re all friendly. The crazy thing is the people that were my friends when this started I only see when we’re working for the most part. Our friendship is our work in a way. Not all of the time. My life is my work. I just rehearse or I’m in the studio. Inevitably, the people you work with are the people you spend the most time with.

N: What was it like having the tabloid coverage over Kylie Minogue?

C: A dream come true.

N: Did you keep all of the clippings?

C: I’ve got the New York Post. My favorite ones were the Polish, Greek, Spanish and Austrian stuff. I’ve told my publicist that I don’t give a shit about Rolling Stone, I want the Enquirer or People. It’s more fun.

N: Had any crazy social situations in your travels? Your Standard Hotel show in L.A. had a bold message that Scientology works. Does it?

C: I don’t really think about it. It’s there, it’s a part of L.A. Somebody thrifted that shirt and Jeremiah stole it from them and wore it and it seemed completely and totally brilliant. I’m not gonna mess with that one. I’m moderately curious. The extent of my Scientology is that I went to the Christmas display on Hollywood Boulevard one year and did a personality test just to see. I think I was so distracted by the person giving me the test that I can’t remember the result. It was a retarded pencil drawn flow chart that supposedly surmised my entire personality. You know what’s really weird? I don’t have anything to wear to the Grammy party on Sunday. I wasn’t gonna tell you this because it might come off as being crass but I’m in Saks Fifth Avenue. I’m sitting in the middle of this clothing store amongst racks of clothing and lots of bland but wealthy people purchasing things and they must think I’m a freak because I’ve been in here not looking at clothes but going to different seating areas during this phone call. I’ve made it my office. I’m camped out in Saks. I’ve got a great chair but the music’s killing me.

N: You could pull a Winona right now and end up in every magazine. C: Oh shit. It’s so not worth it. I know, but I want it to happen differently. Not yet. I don’t like big department stores so it’s uncommon that I’d be here. N: Who makes the clothes for the shows? C: Different people I know. Mostly young designers. But as we gain more popularity, more high profile people are interested. N: Are you open to that? C: Absolutely, sure. The only thing that’s difficult is people that big are so busy that they have to turn around so much material they don’t have time make something from scratch and you have to settle with what they’ve got and work with it. Dior has been very supportive in giving us lots of clothes. They’re about to make me this couture look for this Paris show and those clothes are just incredible, the tailoring on them is insane. I’m not gonna pay for that shit, it’s absurd. It seems like a strange contradiction that as soon as people can afford it they get it for free. That’s very weird. I guess it’s based on this thing that you are an advertisement for what you wear.

N: So the Grammy’s.

C: I’ve never done anything with the Grammy’s. I’m going to the EMI Grammy party.

N: Are you going to the actual ceremony?

C: God no, that stuff is boring. You don’t really want to go to an awards show unless you are getting an award. All of those people, as soon as they get the award, are out of there. They have seat fillers to fill in. Although, I’d like to check out the Academy Awards just once.

N: Then you could get critiqued by Joan Rivers.

C: Oh shit. Yeah, I could handle her. She’s one to talk.

N: Who are you taking to the party?

C: Oh God, I don’t know. I’m going with Mr. Fischer I think.

N: How long have you and Warren known each other?

C: Oh God let’s see, fifteen years.

N: Where do you see Fischerspooner in twenty years?

C: I think it’s an idea that can evolve. Warren and I have a really great working relationship. We’ll go until we’re sick of it. In a lot of ways there are things that just now we are getting an opportunity to explore. For me, I’ve always wanted to perform as frequently and consistently as possible because it’s something I love to do so much. The biggest challenge of performing is creating the opportunity to be able to do it. I’m super excited to go on this tour and doing a show almost every night. It’s gonna be grueling, but at the same time it’s gonna be like going into this other world. There’s just so many things we want to do. I mean we want to make a feature film and that just takes time.

N: You guys would direct it as well.

C: Oh hell yeah we would. Oh my God, the FS movie. Wouldn’t it be beautiful? It will be total, absolute, complete escapism, which is the perfect timing with World War III. It’ll be a war time escapist musical.

N: Were you guys inspired by Hedwig And The Angry Inch in any way?

C: Not really. No, I mean I saw the show, but I thought the music was too Broadway. I don’t like that kind of music. I’ll tell you what I like right now is Johnny Cash covering Depeche Mode.

N: Have you seen the “Hurt” video?

C: No

N: You know who Mark Romanek is?

C: Of course

N: He directed the video for “Hurt”, the Nine Inch Nails cover.

C: It’s covered by Johnny Cash and Mark Romanek did the video? That I’m into. That’s interesting. What movie did Mark Romanek make?

N: One Hour Photo

C: Yeah, I didn’t see that. How was it?

N: I was disappointed.

C: It’s interesting to see these video directors move into features. Like Tarsem who did The Cell. They need to work with better scriptwriters.

N: If you were approached by another director, would you work with them?

C: I don’t know, the thing for us is that we’re using these opportunities to learn as much as possible. It’s more interesting for me for us to execute as much of it as we can as collaboratively as we can. If we did, we would have to do it as a very close collaboration. Whenever we write these songs, I have storyboards for every song. There’s so many visual concepts that never make it into the photography, the song or the video that are just sitting there. It’s frustrating, I have the ultimate music video for “Turn On’’ that I wish I could do. It all comes down to how the songs are released, which one’s the single and blah, blah, blah. The reality is we’ve only had a record out in the most underground way. We did everything completely ass backwards. You make a demo, then you sign to a record label, then the record does well, you have a big show and you make big music videos. We basically made a big show, made a record, made music videos, made photography and then when it was all over we released the record. It’s a bit ass backwards but that’s what I love about it. I like to think of it as folk art. It’s like folk pop.

N: Who do you listen to? You were a little vague earlier. C: Hang on, let me pull my IPod out. That’s the only way I can remember. Well, Le Tigre. N: “Decepticon”, what a fucking great song. C: God dammit I love that “Decepticon” and I love the DFA remix. I can’t even decide which one. N: What do you think about Peaches? C: Peaches is good. Right now I’m hot on The Rapture. I love “House of Jealous Lovers”. DFA produced it and I’m all about the DFA. I love Tiga. Crazy about Le Tigre, crazy about Kathleen Hanna’s voice. I’ll tell you who else I completely love is Belle and Sebastian, that record If You’re Feeling Sinister? specifically “The Fox In The Snow”, I’m nuts about that song. I love the band Suicide, love Silver Apples. I love this band, I think its one the guys from Yo La Tengo, called Dump and he did all of these covers of Prince songs. This is incredible, it’s called That Skinny Motherfucker. I love Bongwater which is Kramer and Ann Magnuson, that’s on Shimmy Disc. Early Madonna, I love. N: What about Basement Jaxx? C: Uhh, it’s okay. I hated that damn “Romeo” song. Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, The B-52’s, David Bowie, Dee-Lite, Radiohead.

N: There was talk that Radiohead would be at Coachella.

C: Really, I’m so scared. I didn’t know that. My new motto is ‘I don’t know, I am.’

N: Blue Man Group is there.

C: Oh no, I saw them at the Area 2 concert and that was embarrassing.

N: Who would win in a Celebrity Deathmatch fight, you or Blue Man Group?

C: (Gasp!) I will not ever deign to answer that question. God, that is rude. That is the rudest thing anyone’s said, Blue Man motherfucking Group! That is some shitty ass crap. Okay, we do a little more than bang on some pvc pipe. Okay I’m just gonna give you all of the names, Add N To X, I really love the Avalanches too, I’m into the Beach Boys, Blondie. I get all of The Beach Boys and The Beatles now that I’m on Capital. I put together a list and I think that they gagged.

N: The Beatles are putting out a de-Phil Spector-ized version of Let It Be later this year which seems topical considering his recent arrest. C: What the hell happened with Phil Spector? N: He met a woman at The House of Blues and went back to his house and she was shot dead. C: I met his daughter, she’s a writer. Can, Dolly Parton, Elliot Smith, ESG, Felix, Girls on Top, Hall and Oates. N: You guys just got reviewed with Hall and Oates in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. C: Tell me what happened.

N: Hall and Oates beat you by one grade. They got a B- and you got a C+.

C: Oh, well fuck them! I’ll get them. Honestly, if anyone can beat me by one point it should be Hall and Oates. Mary J. Blige, Michael Jackson, Missy Elliott. I can’t believe some of the stuff I have in here, New Order, Notorious B.I.G., Paul Simon and Peaches.

N: What do you think of the recent Michael Jackson footage?

C: I have to say that I think I like him more now after seeing all of this stuff. Before, I thought he was completely out of his mind. Now, what I think is completely brilliant is how his face is a state on his family and all of this stuff is about his obsession with childhood. Even the supposed pedophilia, everything ties into this obsession with childhood and this fantasy of what childhood is. I love that his face is connected to all of that because he has made himself look like Peter Pan. They showed this mannequin of Peter Pan at his home and his face looks like Peter Pan, this cartoon with a pixie nose. It annoys me that he only admits to having two operations so he could breathe. I wish he could be honest and say that he is obsessed with Peter Pan and is trying to transform himself into this cartoon character. I think he is exploring this obsession with childhood to the nth degree. He has an idea and is fucking going for it. I wish he would make some better music. I wish that Quincy Jones would work with him again. It’s really all about Quincy. I’ve got to take this other call. Talk to you later.

www.fischerspooner.com