INTERVIEWS/Articles (45) (Vintage), Mazzy Star 1988 to 1997

General discussion about Mazzy Star

INTERVIEWS/Articles (45) (Vintage), Mazzy Star 1988 to 1997

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Nov 15, 2014 4:09 am

INTERVIEWS/ARTICLES (VINTAGE), MAZZY STAR (+OPAL w. HOPE), 1988 to 1997,
including a few pre-Mazzy Star Opal interviews from the time Hope was with the band and before Opal had changed its name to Mazzy Star (which occurred in 1989)
.......................................................
ARTICLES INCLUDED IN THIS POST, SO FAR:
-1988, JUNE, OPAL (WITH HOPE) ARTICLE/INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROBACK, SPEX mag
-1989, MARCH, OPAL (WITH HOPE) ARTICLE/INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROBACK, SPIN MAG.
-1990, June 9, MAZZY STAR article/INTERVIEW with HOPE & DAVID, MEKODY MAKER
-1990, June 16,MAZZY STAR article with an interview with David Roback, The N.M.E. U.K. music mag.
-1990, JUNE 16, MAZZY STAR ARTICLE/INTERVIEW (WITH DAVID ROBACK), SOUNDS MAG.
-1990, JULY 22, L.A. TIMES, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1990, JULY, SPIN MAG, PHOTO OF HOPE WADING IN THE OCEAN ACCOMPANIED BY A QUOTE FROM HOPE
-1990, NOVEMBER, UNHINGED mag INTERV, w. DAVID & HOPE (Reprinted in 2005 book "Tell Me When It's Over")
-1990, (unknown mag source and date), ARTICLE by ARION BERGER w. INTERVIEW content w. DAVID & HOPE
-1991, JAN.5, MELODY MAKER, MAZZY STAR ARTICLE WITH INTERVIEWS
-1991, JAN., OPTION mag, INTERV. w. HOPE & DAVID, by Bruce Warren
-1993, SEPT. 2, ROLLING STONE, SHORT ITEM WITH ONSTAGE QUOTE FROM HOPE
-1993, OCT. 5, RADIO INTERVIEW, KCRW, SANTA MONICA. CALIFORNIA (TRANSCRIPTION)
-1993, OCT.9, NME, MAZZY STAR INTERV. w. HOPE & DAVID
-1993, OCT.23, MELODY MAKER, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1993, OCT. ISSUE, LES INROCKUPTIBLES mag (France), INTERV. w. HOPE & DAVID
-1993, NOV.30, L.A. TIMES, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1993, NOV, RADIO STUDIO,VPRO,AMSTERDAM,THE NETHERLANDS,MAZZY STAR INTERV.(TRANSCRIPTION)
-1993, DEC., RAY GUN mag, INTERV. W. HOPE
-1994, MARCH 30, WESTWORD, INTERV. w. DAVID ROBACK
-1994, April 1, SEATTLE TIMES ARTICLE/INTERVIEW WITH DAVID
-1994, May 22, MTV INTERVIEW WITH DAVID (only a small fragment remains of the interview)
-1994, June or July, ITV TV INTERVIEW UK, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW, "THE BIG E" TV show
-1994, Sept. - Oct. issue, EB METRONOM mag , INTERV. with HOPE & DAVID
-1994, OCT. 6, ROLLING STONE, INTERVIEW WITH HOPE + JAMC RE. JAMC SINGLE, "SOMETIMES, ALWAYS"
-1994, OCT.20, ROLLING STONE, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1994, OCT. 28, MAZZY STAR TV INTERVIEW, MUSIQUE PLUS TV CHANNEL, MONTREAL (TRANSCRIPTION)
-1994, NOV., GUITAR PLAYER, INTERVIEW WITH DAVID
-1994, DEC., DETAILS MAG, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1994, DEC., MUSICIAN, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1994, DEC., Ray Gun HUH mag, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1994, Winter Edition, THE BOB mag Issue 47, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & DAVID (Reprinted in "Tell Me More" book)

[NOTE Sept. 28, 2021: LATER ARTICLES FROM 1995 to 1997 HAVE NOW BEEN MOVED TO A SEPARATE POST IMMEDIATELY BELOW THIS ONE because I today reached the site's length limit for single posts] Scroll down to find the later articles collected together]

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1988 JUNE issue, SPEX mag - OPAL Article/INTERVIEW with David after Hope had joined the band. It's a German mag [ENGLISH TRANSLATION TEXT PASTED BELOW, PLUS ORIGINAL GERMAN]
Thanks go to Gordon Hobs for finding and sharing the article elsewhere. Earlier, he posted screenshots of the article pages and photos. Here's a link to a music blog where Gordon found a link to a downloadable PDF of the complete June 1988 Spex mag with this Opal article. Scroll down the blog page to find the post about the Opal article. https://tapeattack.blogspot.com/2015/07 ... dpWQ2miX2I
Opal-with-Hope had played Europe, including a number of German dates, in late winter/spring 1988. Hope had replaced Kendra Smith as Opal's singer the prior year, 1987, after Kendra quit, mid-tour, after a Nov. 12 Providence, RI show on their 1987 North American tour, mostly opening for JAMC. Hope was persuaded to join, and played her first gig singing for Opal Nov. 20, 1987, Detroit, St. Andrew's Hall. In 1989, the band changed its name to Mazzy Star. "The rest is history."

[My attempted English translation from the original German, using multiple translation services, and comparing results. Unfortunately, the German writer is particularly difficult to translate in spots as her style and content are sometimes non-straightforward and eccentric, and confuse translation services and me. It's likely that meanings that ended up in some English sentences, are not the same meanings as the German writer intended. And some English sentences have unclear meanings. But hopefully I was able to render David's own comments accurately enough. He's easier to follow, even in German! He's quite talkative in this interview. -BB]


Opal,The Hippie Literature Supplement
Text: Clara Drechsler,Photos: Wolfgang Burat

-Tell me, do you know Rudi Dutschke?

DAVID: (From a distance: sigh...) Who is that? Do you want me to know him?

-He's one of our great ones, now dead. Rudi Dutschke, the student leader.
His wife, Gretchen, had studied in the States.

DAVID: Oh no.

-Now, in the year '88, we celebrate the twenty year anniversary of the
'68 Revolution. Vietnam...ever since it's been said: "I've been there before".
People said that in 1987. If this record [Happy Nightmare Baby] had been released in the Summer Of Love [1967], would it have been a visionary giant omega...looking ahead
to '68, then? That's how I see it... "

DAVID: (groans)

-...Because now it's '88

SIGH SIGH SIGH...! MANY have written how much Opal owes to early
Pink Floyd and T Rex. But actually they should also like
hitting a bomb aftermath to those in our wetlands habitat Royal
waters like the bomb stamped Status-Quo-Cassette (called "Molly Golly's Dirty
Laundry" or something like that) - before
But the piece I am alluding to is a short SOUND EXPERIENCE that
sounds like a time-lapse delicate flower (pause picture) ...
For Diedrich, it sounds like a blown organ pipe...he stared at the
Turntable, as if that's where the noise resides, and said
several times admiringly, "What a great sound!". It fizzles out, so to speak
backwards into nothing. He sounds as if he was swallowed up in time
if you know what I mean - his disappearance plugs a small gap in Time,
something like that! Smell! THAT is a sound. Then it's complete
and natually interesting going forward.

What, on occasion, is blues-boogie at its best is this uniquely alluring music,
accompanied by undergrowth of hippie trifles by Dave Roback (formerly of
Rain Parade) and his friends. This music gropes you! It is pleasant
thinking-of-fucking-music if you're not smoking and have to write an article.
It also offers much for the pure music enthusiast.

AH! Again the TABLA! The tabla can be recognized by the GUMMI in the middle,
which makes its very own 'Boom' sound. This sound has something specifically
trickling. Nothing hippie about it. Sounds very good.

Or, imagine you are in a fairy tale, and set yourself a task
to build a footbridge, where a hard footstep is followed by a
soft footstep, and you solve the task by touching the farmer's sheep with
their bellies or back upwards in the mud...They then walk over at a medium pace,
and the treading on the soft bellies produces a whirring or a sort of
chewing sound...Stepping on the hard ones, on the other hand, breaks off
a withered chord.

By the way, Roback is a sleeping pill with a beret. His eyes are as deep as
dark lakes, and his voice seems far away.

His male buddies played badminton in front of the hotel on the traffic-free
street. The women, the new singer HOPE, who replaced Kendra Smith after the
last American tour, and Suki Ewers, keyboards, his partner, sulk in the
rooms.

All these people hate journalists, maybe becausethey just despise them,
but maybe also because the journalists are a bitter discomfort in their
more beautiful, more refined world, due to their journalistic quality of
hanging around people. Maybe because she’s late and they'd gone to bed.

DAVID: "Rocket Machine" - well, We sound like a lot of bands. T Rex also
sounded like a lot of bands...it has something to do with the groove...
the percussive element, the conga, you know...

[It's been noted elsewhere the Opal song "Rocket Machine" has a T Rex-
like sound. Presumably, the interviewer asked David about this, though
she only records his answer, not her question or comment about the song -BB]

-Ah! Progressive pop music!

DAVID: Progressive pop music? I would never have called it that, but I wouldn't
forbid myself to...I wouldn't forbid myself anything. But I remember
this phrase! But I thought it referred to being thematically progressive
- and this T Rex stuff was really very down-to-earth, as far as the theme
was concerned. The background vocals - on a number of T Rex records he got
these singers from the Turtles, Flo and Eddie...that's the nice thing about
a T Rex-song, those vocals...maybe it's also about the atmosphere.

-There's something to that. What is Opal about? About creating an atmosphere?
Or rockin' and expressing yourself? More the atmosphere...?"

DAVID: Yeah.

-Because the songs kind of expand...uh..like "Soul Giver", it starts off
really innocently... "

DAVID: Recorded live in the studio, it looked for its own final
form...When you make music, it reacts like a living being...it takes control
over you...or let's say, I create the beginning - then IT starts creating me.
Soul Giver was creative of itself.

-Just as DEATH is, after all, a black dot over your left shoulder
(a SPEX riddle for adolescent hippies).

DAVID: ...and the idea was that it was sorta-kinda-already-there,
and it finds us, we're just the medium...Maybe it has already
been written on another planet.

-And you think that?

DAVID: It's possible...much of what I write are fragments...words upon words,
fragments...like a mosaic...you know what a mosaic is...In the beginning,
as individual fragments, they don't make much sense, but as a mosaic they make
sense to us...to me...Often when I write, I see myself on the stage, performing
...so I often think of an audience. Sometimes I see only myself.
Freedom in my definition, to write songs..., freedom is
always the freedom to write songs that either sound like something else,
or extremely different.

-Good

DAVID: I think the words...these THINGS...are flowing out because my brain
is leaking...all very autobiographical...even if it sounds very
fantasy-oriented, it's actually autobiographical. Sort of.

-Who owns this band? Who is in charge, apart from the guy on the
other planet who dictated a song? (Who actually owns rock music again?)

DAVID: I've always seen it like this, that Opal is everyone's band - it's as much
Suki's band as it is mine. It's still Kendra's band. She's still very close to us.
It's Hope's band...Hope has always been a close friend of Kendra and me. She's a folk singer from Los Angeles, and I once produced a record with her. She has a powerful voice - she's done a lot of surrealistic folk music...Going Home was the name of the record. Really interesting, very spooky...empty...

[Hope's early duo with Sylvia Gomez was called Going Home. Sylvia played guitar
and Hope sang. One guitar and one voice. David produced a studio recording of them
playing their songs around 1985 or '86 that's never been released, but is findable on
you tube and elsewhere, unofficially]

-Sounds excellent, provided there is no misunderstanding here. Dave Roback is also
a man of taste.

Hope in Cologne I found less felicitous. That she
a) supposedly burst into tears because she had hoped Opal would somehow be
more popular in Germany, but instead suffered from hotels with horrible service, and
b) allegedly lives in highly exaggerated fear of BACTERIA, we heard with regret
from the various tour operators, who
a) have coarser minds, but
b) are at the ends of their frayed nerves, because lately they've been
so lucky with the little Yankees who have been through Europe by gondola
and fed on fruits by the roadside, or carried olives and grain mills with them,
like the soldiers of Alexander the Great when they conquered Persia.

Not so Opal, who expect a minimum of attention (which I do not find disgusting).
But this midget woman with her tiny nose really finished me, with her folky-clear
and firm voice interpreting the things I imagined somehow in the slacker,
mild, conversational tone versions of etheric Kendra Smith.

Such a mini-female image! On the other hand, her presentation was quite good
on "Life's a Gas", where she appeared exhausted with her shaker in front of
her nose and looked as if she was about to die.

DAVID: Yes, playing live...has of course the dimension of jamming...

-...And that is different than when you make tracks in the studio for all time and
for many generations (as a CD), remaining in a form, embedded in a river where
nothing is worn away or washed away...a continued arbitrariness in an eternally
same sequence...whoosh. I don't exactly find it screamingly bad when a superfine song
structure collapses live to a dull heaviness, but a second guitarist would have
been quite nice.

Finally, they played "Heroin," a piece you can listen to repeatedly, so long
as you can accept the drug-related depravity alluded to in the title.

DAVID: Yes...why do we like to play this piece?...Well, one evening in Italy
we played a miserably long show...and they still wanted to hear something,
and so we went out again. What can we play now?...And then I remembered Heroin,
because this song is so...it has this...the tempo picks up,
then it slows down again...you can play it for quite a long time,
it's just physically pleasant to play music like that.
I've been painting a lot lately...I'm so busy on my own
with some film projects or writing music that might end up in my films
...I've filmed everything that seemed interesting to me.
I'm trying to get into the habit of taking a camera with me. You always stumble
on things that seem interesting. Until now it's only been fragments...Things
that catch my attention, and I assume there must be a reason certain things
attract me...

-That's what Robert Altman said the other day in an interview. He said the same
thing,the actual film is made on the editing table. Not that this director is to be
revered unconditionally.

DAVID: ...As with the music...it makes no sense until you happen to look at it again.

-To go back twenty years

DAVID: Yes, my parents were against the war...I was still very...small - but
I remember some...revolution...hm...it was always something somewhere...
And music...there is always music...that...seeps through - as you
say, of course, the Doors are a band of...today...not the past.

Right! One should not disregard such things.
Of course, there is music whose figureheads for a long time were part of
what was once the latest new genre, continuing on in that role,
eventually being replaced by the next, younger generation of bands,
to be replaced again by their descendants, independent of fans of the
the original bands from early on. And after that, we have...
the All-Time-Original-Records of Rock music discovered by young folks
for the first time, transcending
...a procedure...which is so infinitely slow,
as Dave Roback turns his eyes, while brutally difficult, the revivals
attempt to exclude, and dramatic side effects, and raise counter-movements.

THIS is the world we live in. Dave Roback is from Los Angeles,
and moved to San Francisco because he loves cold weather,
actually Berkeley, also called Berserkeley, where he went to school.
.........

A Paragraph IN LARGE BOLD FONTS ON PAGE 2 reads:
"David Roback is a sleeping pill with a beret, but the Opal LP has been one
of the most popular of the past year with editors and readers alike. Live,
the second guitar was missing, and Kendra Smith was also missed by some,
but with a little patience and the right alarm chimes, Clara Drechsler
managed to create a coherence from Roback's quiet, finely spun
explanations (which should finally shed light on the creation of
a small work of the century)."

[Photos: Hope, David, Suki, Keith, Will]
Image
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[Opal Article June 1988 Original German Text]

1988 - SPEX - Musik zur Zeit 06-88

Text: Clara Drechsler
Fotos: Wolfgang Burat

Opal Die Hippie Literatur- Beilage

»Sag mal, kennst du Rudi Dutschke?
«
»(Aus der Ferne: Seufz ... ) Wer ist
das. Soll ich den kennen?«
»Das ist einer unserer großen
Toten. Rudi Dutschke, der Studentenführer.
Seine Frau, Gretchen, hatte
in den Staaten studiert.«
»Ach, nein.«
»jetzt, im jahr '88, feiern wir nunmal
das Zwanzigjährige der '68er
Revolution. Vietnam... seitdem
heißt es: 'l\lIes schon mal dagewesen',
sagen die Leute jetzt, 1987.
'Wäre diese Platte im Summer Of
Love veröffentlicht worden, wäre sie
ein visionäres Gigantomega' ... vorausschauend
auf '68 also? So komm
ich da drauf ... «
»(Stöhn)«
» ... denn jetzt ist ja '88«.
SEUFZ SEUFZ SEUFZ ... ! VIELE
haben geschrieben, wie sehr
sie Opal an die frühen Pink
Floyd und 1 Rex erinnern,
aber eigentlich müßten sie auch wie
eine Bombe einschlagen im Anschluß
an die in unserem Feuchtbiotop
Königswasser wie die Bombe
eingeschlagene Status-Quo-Cassette
(sie heißt "Molly Gollys Dirty
Laundry" oder so ähnlich) - vor dem
Stück aber, auf das ich anspiele, steht
ein kurzes KLANGERLEBNIS, das sich
anhört wie eine per Zeitraffer aufplatzende
zarte Blüte (Pausenbild) ...
für Diedrich klingt es orgelpfeifenhaft
geblasen .. . er glotzte in den
Plattenspieler, als müßte in dieser Kiste
das Geräusch wohnen, und sagte
mehrmals bewundernd, »Was für
ein toller Ton!« Erverpufftsozusagen
nach rückwärts ins Nichts. Er klingt,
als würde er in die Zeit verschluckt,
falls man versteht, was ich meine -
sein Verschwinden stopft ein kl eines
Zeitloch, so ungefähr. Dufte!
DAS ist ein Ton. Dann geht es ganz
normal interessantweiter. Was dann
20_
kommt ist Blues-Boogie, vom Feinsten
dieser einzigartig gewinnenden
Musik, begleitet und unterwuchert
von den Hippiekleinigkeiten
des Dave Roback (früher bei Rain
Parade) und seiner Freunde. Diese
Musik fummelt an dir! Sie ist angenehme
mal-wieder-ans-Fickendenken-
Musik, wenn man nichtsich
das Rauchen abgewöhnt hat und einen
Artikel verfassen soll. Gleichzeitig
gibt sie auch für den rein Musikbegeisterten
viel her. »AH! Wieder
die TABLA! Die Tabla erkennt man
am GUMMI in der Mitte, der den
ganz eigenen 'Boumm'-Sound ermöglicht
« Dieser Sound hat etwas
spezifisch tropfendes. Nichts Hippiemäßiges
dran. Klingt sehr gut
Oder, stellen Sie sich vor, Sie
haben sich im Märchen die Aufgabe
gestellt, einen Steg zu bauen, bei
dem auf den harten Schritt ein
weicher folgt, und lösen die Aufgabe,
indem sie die Schafe ihres
Bauern jewei ls mit dem Bauch oder
dem Rücken nach oben im
Schlamm vergraben ... Sie gehen
dann in mittlerem Tempo rüber, und
der Tritt auf die weichen Bäuche erzeugt
einen surrenden oder gewissermaßen
kauenden Klang ... beim
Tritt auf die harten bricht hingegen
ein vertrockneter Akkord ab.
Roback ist übrigens eine Schlaftablette
mit Baskenmütze. Seine Augen
sind tief wie dunkle Seen, und
seine Stimme scheint aus weiter Ferne
zu kommen. Seine männlichen
Kumpel spielten vor dem Hotel auf
der verkehrsberuhigten Straße Federball
oder Badminton, die Weiber,
die neue Sängerin HOPE, die Kendra
Smith nach der letzten Ami-Tour ersetzte
und Suki Ewers, Keyboards,
seine Lebensgefährtin, schmollen
auf den Zimmern. Alle diese Leute
hassen journalisten, vielleicht, weil
sie die verachten, aber vielleicht
auch, weil die journalisten in ihrer
schöneren, feingefügteren Welt einen
bitteren Mißklang darstellen, in
ihrer Eigenschaft als herumhängende
Personen. Vielleicht, weil sie spät
ins Bettgekommen waren.
»'Rocket Machine' - tja. Wir klingen
wie sehrviele Bands.1 Rex klangen
auch wie sehr viele Bands ... es
hat irgendwas mit dem Groove zu
tun ... das percussive Element, die
Conga, weißt du ... «
»Ah! Progressive Popmusik!«
»Progressive Popmusik? So hätte
ich es nun nie genannt. .. aber ich
würde es mir auch nichtverbitten .. .
Ich würde mir garnichts verbitten .. .
Aber ich erinnere mich an diese
Wendung! Nur hatte ich gedacht, es
bezöge sich auf thematisch progressiv
sein - und dieses 1 Rex-Zeugwar
doch echt sehr bodenständig, was
jetzt die Thematik angeht. Die Background
vocals - auf etlichen 1 RexPl
atten hat er ja diese Sänger von
den Turtles geholt, Flo und Eddie ...
das ist das nette an einem T Rex-
Song, diese Vocals ... vielleicht geht
es auch um die Atmosphäre.«
»Da ist aber was dran. Worum
drehtes sich denn bei Opal? Darum,
eine Atmosphäre zu erzeugen?
Oder 'Rockin' and expressing yourself?'
Mehr die Atmosphäre ... ?«
»Yeah.«
»Denn die Songs expandieren irgendwie
... äh ... so z. B. 'So ul Giver',
erst hebt es ganz harmlos an ... «
»Live im Studio eingespielt suchte
es sich gleichsam selbst seine endgültige
Form ... wenn man Musik
macht, reagiert sie wie ein lebendes
Wesen ... es übernimmt die Kontrolle
über dich ... oder sagen wir, ich erschaffe
den Anfang - dann fängt ES
an, mich zu erschaffen. 'So ul Giver'
war kreativ aus sich selbst heraus.«
So wie der TOD ja auch ein
schwarzer Punkt über deiner linken
Schulter ist (ein SPEX-Rätsel für heranwachsende
Hippies).
» ... und die Idee war, daß es sortakinda-
already-there war, und es findet
uns, wir sind nur das Medium ...
vielleicht ist es schon geschrieben
worden, auf einem anderen Planeten
... «
»Und das denkst du?«
»Es wäre möglich ... (penn). .. vieles,
was ich schreibe, sind Fragmente
... Worte über Worte, Fragmente
... wie ein Mosaik ... du weißt,
was ein Mosaik ist. .. zuanfang, als individuelle
Fragm ente, machen sie
nicht viel Sinn, aber als Mosaik ergeben
sie für uns Sinn ... fürmich ... Oftmals
wenn ich schreibe, sehe ich
mich selbst auf der Bühne, vortragend
... ich denke also oft an ein
Publikum. Manchmal sehe ich nur
mich selbst«
~ »Freiheit ist in meiner Definition,
tunes zu schreiben ... eh, Freiheit ist ~
immer auch die Freiheit, tunes zu
schreiben, die entwederwie irgendwas anderes klingen oder aber extrem
anders. «
Gut
»Ich glaube die Worte ... diese
DINGE ... laufen aus, weil mein Hirn
leckt... alles sehr autobiographisch
... selbstwenn es sehr Fantasy-
orientiert klingt, istes eigentlich
autobiographisch. lrgendwie.«
Wem gehört diese Band? Wer hat
hierdas Sagen, von dem Typaufdem
anderen Planeten abgesehen, der
direinen Song diktiert hat? (Wem gehört
eigentlich nochmal die Rockmusik?)
»Ich habe es immer so gesehen,
daß Opal jedermanns Band ist-es ist
genausoviel Sukis Band wie meine.
Es ist immer noch Kendras Band, wir
sind uns immernoch sehr nahe. Es ist
Hopes Band ... Hope war schon immer
eine enge Freundin von Kendra
und mir. Sie ist'ne Folksängerin aus
Los Angeles, und ich habe mal eine
Platte mitihrproduziert.Sie hatsoeine
kraftvolle Stimme - sie hatviel so
surrealistische Folkmusik gemacht
... 'Going Home' hieß die Platte,
wirklich interessant, sehr spukhaft
... leer ... ganz anders als Opal,
sehr anders.«
Klingtdoch ausgezeichnet, sofern
hier kein Mißverständnis vorliegt.
Dave Roback ist doch auch Geschmacksmensch.
Hope in Köln
fand ich weniger gelungen. Daß sie
a) angeblich in Tränen ausbrach, weil
sie gehofft hatte, Opal sei in
Deutschland irgendwie angesagter,
stattdessen aber unter Hotels mit
gräßlichem Service zu leiden hatte,
und b) angeblich in stark überzogener
Angstvor BAZILLEN lebt, hörten
wir mit Bedauern. Von den verschiedenen
Tourveranstaltern, die zwar a)
grobgestricktere Gemüter haben,
aber b) trotzdem am Rande ihrer
Nervenkraftwaren, weil sie in letzter
Zeit immer so'n Glück mit den kleinen Amijungs hatten, die durch Europa
gondeln und sich von Früchten
am Wegesrand nähren, oder Oliven
und Kornmühlen mit sich tragen,
wie die Soldaten Alexanders des
Großen, als sie Persien eroberten.
Nicht so Opal, die ein Mindestmaß
an Zuwendung erwarten (was ich
auch nichtsowiderlichfinden kann).
Aber diese Zwergenfrau mit ihrer
winzigen Nase hat mich wirklichfertiggemacht,
wie sie mit doch sehr
folkmäßig klarer und fester Stimme
die Sachen interpretierte, die ich mir
irgendwie in der schlafferen, lau nenlosen
Konversationstonversion
von Atherisch, Kendra Smith eben,
vorgestellt hatte. So ein Miniweibsbi
ld! Ganz gut war dagegen ihre Präsentation
bei "Life's a Gas", wo sie
sich völlig übermüdet ihre Rassel vor
der Nase schwenkte und aussah, als
würde sie gleich eingehen.
»ja, live sp ielen ... hat natürlich
diese Dimension des jammens ... «
... und das ist was anderes, als wenn
sich Stücke im Studio se lbst machen,
dann aber für alle Zeiten und viele
Menschengeschlechter (a ls CD) in
Form bleiben, eingebettet in einen
Flußlauf, an dem nichts abgetragen
oder weggeschwemmt wird ... die
fortgesetzte Willkür in einer ewig
gleichen Abfolge ... fasel ... zisch. Ich
finde es auch nicht gerade zum
Schreien schlimm, wenn ein superfeines
Gefüge live zu dumpfer
Schwere zusammensackt, aber ein
zweiter Gitarrist wäre schon noch
ganz nett gewesen.
Schließlich spielten sie "Heroin",
das Stück, das man immer wieder
hören kann, sofern man von derdrogenmäßigen
Verworfenheit des Titels
einmal ausnahmsweise abstrahiert:
»ja ... warum spielt man gerne
dieses Stück... also, an einem
Abend in Italien haben wir eine
elend lange Show gespielt ... und sie
wollten immer noch was hören, und
wir also raus, was kann man jetzt
noch mal spielen ... unddannfiel mir
'Heroin' ein, denn dieser Song ist
so ... also er hat dieses ... das Tempo
zieht an .. . dann wird es wieder langsamer.
.. das kann man ziemlich lange
sp ielen, es ist einfach körperlich
angenehm, so Musik zu machen.«
»Ich habe viel gemalt in letzter
Zeit. .. ich beschäftige mich so allein
mit irgendwelchen Filmprojekten
oder schreibe Musik, die vielleicht
mal in meinen Filmen unterkommen
soll ... ich habe alles mögliche
gefilmt, was mir interessant schien,
ich versuche mir anzugewöhnen, eine
Kamera mitzunehmen, man stolpert
ja immer wieder über Sachen,
die interessant zu sein scheinen. Bis
jetzt sind es nur Fragmente .. . Sachen
... die mir auffallen, und ich
nehme an, es wird schon einen
Grund haben, daß bestimmte Schwere zusammensackt, aber ein
zweiter Gitarrist wäre schon noch
ganz nett gewesen.
Schließlich spielten sie "Heroin",
das Stück, das man immer wieder
hören kann, sofern man von derdrogenmäßigen
Verworfenheit des Titels
einmal ausnahmsweise abstrahiert:
»ja ... warum spielt man gerne
dieses Stück... also, an einem
Abend in Italien haben wir eine
elend lange Show gespielt ... und sie
wollten immer noch was hören, und
wir also raus, was kann man jetzt
noch mal spielen ... unddannfiel mir
'Heroin' ein, denn dieser Song ist
so ... also er hat dieses ... das Tempo
zieht an .. . dann wird es wieder langsamer.
.. das kann man ziemlich lange
sp ielen, es ist einfach körperlich
angenehm, so Musik zu machen.«
»Ich habe viel gemalt in letzter
Zeit. .. ich beschäftige mich so allein
mit irgendwelchen Filmprojekten
oder schreibe Musik, die vielleicht
mal in meinen Filmen unterkommen
soll ... ich habe alles mögliche
gefilmt, was mir interessant schien,
ich versuche mir anzugewöhnen, eine
Kamera mitzunehmen, man stolpert
ja immer wieder über Sachen,
die interessant zu sein scheinen. Bis
jetzt sind es nur Fragmente .. . Sachen
... die mir auffallen, und ich
nehme an, es wird schon einen
Grund haben, daß bestimmte Dinge
mich anziehen ... «
Das hat RobertAltman neulich im
Zweiten auch gesagt. Der eigentliche
Film entsteht dann am Schneidetisch.
Nicht, daß man diesen Regisseurnun
bedingungslosverehren
müßte.
» ... wie auch bei der Musik ...
macht keinen Sinn, ehe man zufällig
wieder einen Blick drauf wirft.«
Um nochmal zwanzig jahre zurückzugehen
...
»ja. Meine Eltern sind gegen den
Krieg ... damals ... war ich noch sehr
klein - aber ich erinnere mich an
manches ... Revolution ... hm ... es
war ja immer irgendwo was ... «
»Und Musik ... es gibt immer Musik
... die ... durchsickert - wie du
sagst, natürlich sind die Doors eine
Band von ... heute ... nicht von 'frü her'
... «
Richtig! Man soll sowas nicht
außer acht lassen. Natürlich gibt es
Musik, deren Aushängeschildersich
so lange in das nächst-neuere Genre
hinweg fortgesetzt haben, in der
Funktion dann von nächst jüngeren
abgelöst wurden, die schließlich
wieder durch Nachkömmlinge ersetztwerden,
die unabhängig davon
Fans der Urbesetzung gewesen waren,
und nachher. .. eh ... haben wir
die ALL-Time-Original-Platters der
Rockmusik in bis dahin nie in Erscheinung
getretene junge Körper
transzendi ert ... eine Vorgehensweise,
die so unendlich langsam ist,
wie Dave Roback seine Augen wendet,
dabei brutal schwierig, die Reviva
ls auszuschließen versucht und
dramatische Nebenerscheinungen
und Gegenbewegungen aufzieht.
DAS also ist die Welt, in der wir leben.
Dave Roback ist irgendwann von
Los Angeles nach San Francisco gezogen,
weil er kaltes Wetter liebt. Ist
in Berkeley, auch genannt Berserkeley,
zur Schule gegangen.
.........
[IN LARGE BOLD FONTS ON PAGE 2]:
David Roback ist eine Schlaftablette mit Baskenmütze,
aber die Opal-LP war bei Redaktion und Leserschaft
eine der beliebtesten des letzten Jahres. Live fehlte
die zweite Gitarre, auch Kendra Smith vermißte
mancher, aber mit etwas Geduld und den richtigen
Weckaminen schaffte Clara Drechsler einen Zusammenhang
aus Robacks leisen, feingesponnenen Erklärungen
flerauszuhören (die schließlich das Entstehen
eines kleinen Jahrhundertwerks erhellen sollten).


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-1989, MARCH, OPAL (WITH HOPE) ARTICLE/INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROBACK, SPIN MAG.
[mazzystar.free.fr webmaster Emma found this article & posted this Google Books site link for it in the "Photos" thread (on p. 2):
https://books.google.fr/books?id=bT9Dc3 ... &q&f=false
She included the rare band photo from the same article]:
Image

LYSERGIC GARAGE PARTY
Every place has its own musical logic. LA's goes like this:
More cars equal more garages and more garages equal more garage
bands (which equals more heavy metal). It's no accident that LA
has produced the finest psychedelic music of our decade, a
raging lysergic garage party whose prime movers were the Dream
Syndicate and the Rain Parade. All this occurred back in the
dawn of the 80s, before Classic Rock nostalgia, college
Deadophilia, and designer tie-dyes made the 60s sickly.
After the peak of the so-called Paisley Underground, Dave Roback
(the Rain Parade's wizard of guitar fuzz) and Kendra Smith (the
original Dream Syndicate bassist) formed Opal, named after a tune
by Syd Barrett, rock's most glorious acid casualty. "Happy
Nightmare Baby," Opal's 1987 debut, wah-wahed into the hearts
of occultists and garage guitar fans everywhere.

Kendra Smith then bowed out of not only the band but the music
scene, partly because she didn't like touring. For the new album,
tentatively titled "Ghost Highway," Roback enlisted the vox of
Hope Sandoval, a latina from East LA (a place Roback calls "another
world") and a good friend of Roback and Smith. "She was a quiet
figure," says Roback, "lurking in the shadow of shows." Before
Sandoval joined Opal, Roback produced an album of her haunting,
surrealistic folk, and she brings some of that sensibility to
"Ghost Highway." I like to write songs for the female voice,
Roback explains. "Opal's different now because I try to write with
Hope in mind, from her point of view."

Roback finds comparisons of Opal's thick, warped guitar to certain
artificially induced altered states quite favorable. "Music's great
because there's no pictures. It stimulates the fantasy centers in your
brain. Especially loud, distorted guitars. Of course, you could get
involved in someone else's fantasies and it could be hell, a drag,
complete boredom, absurd. Or you could get involved in someone's
thoughts and they could be completely interesting. Projecting your
own thing - people do that all the time. But in the hands of the
right person, like Jimi Hendrix, well...."

"Ghost Highway," on which Roback and Sandoval are joined by Keith
Mitchell and Suki Ewers, swirls and mind-fucks; but like any ritual
act, Opal's shaman rock is at its most powerful when it's live.
"We like to tour," says Roback. "We're very experimental. There's
a strong unconscious element to the band. It's like an experiment
without knowing what the point of the experiment is."

But Roback's ultimate raison d'etre is rock's purest and most profane.
"I just really dig being in some dark club in the middle of the night playing my guitar really loud."

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1990, June 9, MELODY MAKER, Mazzy Star article/interview with Hope & David

Two photos accompany the original article, one of Hope by Laura Levine, plus one of Hope & David by Merlyn Rosenberg.

Thanks go to Twitter user @nothingelseon who tweeted a photo of the Melody Maker page with the Mazzy Star article on it. I'll post his photo in comments section below.
................................................................
[1990, June 9, MELODY MAKER, Mazzy Star article/interview with Hope & David]

MAZZY STAR, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY

HAUNTING, SENSUAL AND DESOLATE, MAZZY STAR'S 'SHE HANGS BRIGHTLY' IS ALREADY A STRONG CONTENDER FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR. EVERETT TRUE TALKS TO ITS AUTHORS, DAVID ROBACK AND HOPE SANDOVAL.

After her third vodka and soda the girl got up and said, flirtatiously,
"Excuse me."

The young man said, "May I ask you are going, miss?"

"To piss, if you'll permit me," said the girl and walked off between the tables back towards the plush screen, -Milan Kundero, "The Hitchhiking Game."

"When I'm singing, all kinds of things run through my mind. Sometimes I just think like a normal person, a person who wouldn't even be singing, sometimes I just think I hope I remember the next verse." -Hope Sandoval, Mazzy Star.

It's always at the boundary of the sensual and the sordid that we derive the greatest pleasure. The mingling of the two states of mind - wanton lust and purest love -create a third where desire is tempered by knowledge, unfamiliarity with restful content. In love, in life, we don't want total knowledge, we want to be teased, excited - caught with our pants down.

Hope is one half of LA band Mazzy Star. Together with guitarist David Roback, she has just released an album, "She Hangs Brightly" through Rough Trade. It's full of music that mixes the sordid with the sensual, the wanton with the innocent.

If you want, you could call it sweetly psychedelic, mournful folk music or ethereal blues. But really it's just hauntingly sensual, personal music, full of the eerie ghosts of the past and the imagination. Mazzy Star make music to surrender to, to lose yourself inside its infinitely changing dreamscapes. It's beautiful. It's moving. It's mystical. It's about the best damn record you're gonna hear all year.

"It's quite mystical," David agrees with me over the transatlantic phone line to California. "Like travelling without necessarily leaving where your feet are standing. With Mazzy Star I can travel places in my mind into Hope's life and voice and guitar. It's like when you are looking at a painting on a wall and you fall into it, that's what
playing music means to me. It's haunted with its own private ghosts; when we play music it's a time when we confront a lot of inner ghosts and inner things, we reach down to them."

David used to be in the more overtly psychedelic Rain Parade, a group he left to form Opal, which also featured the haunting balladeer, Kendra Smith. Along the way, he recorded the supremely enchanting "Rainy Day" album with various Dream Syndicaters and Susanna Hoffs.

"Rainy Day" is full of exotic, surrealistic cover versions, the most wondrous of which is their bewitched interpretation of Dylan's "I'll Keep it With Mine" - a song I lost my heart to a thousand times.

Opal - aside from possessing a sense of enchantment and finesse not witnessed this side of Cowboy Junkies, and with a far more expressive voice - are most fondly remembered for their sublime debut EP, "Fell From the Sun". Rough Trade have also released both a greatest hits and "early recordings" package, well worth dipping into.

But if Opal occasionally veered too much into trippy, languid '67 territory, Mazzy Star make no such mistake. Look back to the previous statements made about Rainy Day and Opal. Now, imagine an album, filled with such moments, songs imbued with an innate sense of calm and desire, songs with titles like "Ghost Highway", "Blue Flower", and "Before I Sleep".

Imagine the agitated, restless drawl of Velvet-een guitars on "Be My Angel" (my absolute favourite track presently) backing a wantonly seductive voice. Imagine a voice that is glacially cool,yet as fierce as a furnace, deep as the void. Yeah, Mazzy Star are really that good.

DAVID: "I met Hope a while back in '83, through this group she was in with another girl, playing real depressing acoustic folk music.Well, me and Kendra really liked that stuff, so I produced an album
for them."

That album, which has never been released, may soon find an outlet through Rough Trade. The group were called Going Home, after the Rolling Stones' song.

"I knew he was in The Rain Parade," Hope reveals, "and I just thought he was interesting. We didn't talk much during the first four years we knew each other, because we're both shy. So, we'd see each other and talk to other people in the room, but not to each other directly. And when Kendra left Opal, he asked me to join. David's very shy, that was my first impression of him, very shy and very mysterious."

That shyness makes itself apparent the more you listen to the diamond pure, chillingly beautiful, sensual music of "She Hangs Brightly". At times you feel almost ashamed to be listening, like a voyeur, sneaking glances into an intensely private and personal world. Mostly, however, you feel privileged.

So, when David felt that Opal had run their natural course, he already had a perfect vehicle to give shape to his musical vision.

HOPE: "Opal was no big deal. It was fun sometimes, but it was hard for me because David was doing most of the writing. I just wasn't that into it - it was great you know, but my creative input wasn't enough. I like Mazzy Star more, because I wrote half of the songs on the album."

DAVID: "Yeah, Hope had done a tour with Opal supporting Jesus and Mary Chain in America, and a few dates in Europe.I wanted to try something different, not shackled to the ball and chain of the past. Too many people carry on bands long after they should have been put to rest...do you know what cryogenics are?
Opal haven't done everything they could do, they've been put in deep freeze, and may, or may not, come back in the future."

Did you have any kind of definite idea what you wanted with Mazzy Star?

DAVID: “What we wanted was to write together and do what comes naturally. I find it hard to understand people who are motivated otherwise. We'll be doing this when we're old. I don’t know if Mazzy Star is a progression - whether we're going forwards or backwards - but it's a side of what I want to do. This album leans
towards acoustic music, but part of the reason for that was because when we were starting out, me and Hope were doing a lot of recording at home with acoustic guitars. I imagine, as we start playing with a
band, we'll lean more towards the electric.”

The band David refers to should contain “She Hangs Brightly" contributors William Cooper and Keith Mitchell (from Opal).

Mazzy Star's songs deal in abstracts: vulnerability and distaste, slovenly lust and sensual love. As Allan Jones rightly remarked in his review of their album a few weeks back, “The music itself belongs to the other side of midnight, those somber, cold-sweat hours between dawn and what's left of darkness when the ghosts
start dancing". It's on incredibly eerie, evocative record.


What images were going through your mind when you were recording it?

DAVID: “The images behind our music tie into the musical world we live in. I guess it must provide something we need from our lives, emotionally, but this is probably true about a lot of things people do."

“I could talk about Hope's imagery more clearly than mine, because when you're looking at the inside, it seems more complex, it shows up your craziness more Hope’s songs are very emotional, sometimes very rebellious in a personal way, sometimes cynical, sometimes very serious...really, it's very diverse. Maybe your question
is best left unanswered.”

In the music of Mazzy Star, I can hear traces of pretty much every band covered on that apocryphal "Rainy Day" album...Buffalo Springfield, Bob Dylan, Alex Chilton, the Velvets. They also bring to mind newer bands such as Cowboy Junkies and Galaxie 500.

DAVID: “Mazzy Star have many different sources from the tradition of music. Many people have trouble realising what they do relates to the past, because that means it isn’t fresh or original enough. But the very fact people have the psychological condition to accept certain things sound good influences them. It’s not necessarily
confining or limiting. We've never made any claims to be making a total break from tradition.”

The album's mood varies a lot, doesn’t it?

DAVID: “We weren't trying for any one particular mood. It was recorded live because we like to leave things unresolved. I don't like playing the same things time and time again. It's more of a challenge not knowing exactly what you're going to do."

“ I have a fondness for improvisational musicians like Hendrix. He stands out as a great experimentalist, very spontaneous - most great musicians have that quality in their music. A lot of our music is about projecting our minds far away - not travelling through some imaginary void but that’s what it is — travelling through some imaginary darkness. It's real to us. Everybody’s concept of reality is private to them.

“We don't see ourselves as a backdrop to a big party, like a lot of music. We're not trying to be real serious either - we're serious about creating great music, but in an abstract way. We don't have a pamphlet to hand out about it. It can help people. Music has always helped me in my life to carry on. When life gets really hard, music is there. "

Where would you imagine Mazzy Star being played?

DAVID: “I visualise it being played late at night, middle of the night, something that happens around midnight in
a darkened room.”

Mazzy Star: they're just so bewitching.

"She Hangs Brightly", Mazzy Star's debut album is available now through Rough Trade. The band should be touring over here later this summer.

Image

Image

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1990, JUNE 16, N.M.E. MAZZY STAR ARTICLE with an interview with David Roback
One photo by Merlyn Rosenberg accompanies the article.The caption under it reads:
"Mazzy Star hanging brightly".

Thanks go to Twitter user @nothingelseon for Tweeting a photo of the original NME page the article is on, here: https://twitter.com/nothingelseon/statu ... 6615907328

I found a better image quality copy of the photo than the one found in the Tweeted mag page photo. I've added it here.
...........................

ANOTHER FINE MAZ

"I don't know that we fit in that well, really, we're not part of a fad or a trend.
But I don't think we're hard to relate to, either — we're not coming from
another planet or anything."

David Roback , one visual half of Many Star, may not evolve from a different universe,
but the wrong end of a telephone connection in Los Angeles is a pretty far out
alternative. According to record company schedules, David and partner-in-mystery
Hope Sandoval should be over here touring with Ultra Vivid Scene,
but hometown commitments prevented any trans-Atlantic excursion.

Shame, as response to Mazzy Star's debut album 'She Hangs Brightly'
has been sweaty to say the least. Rough Trade are convinced they've found 1990's
answer to Galaxie 500, and for sure, Mazzy Star weave similarly vacant spells,
teasing tales of tragedy and suspending belief with an adaptable yet succinct
marriage to Roback's gently rocking guitar and Hope's nerve-wracking voice.

Then again, literary enthusiasm is nothing new to David as a founder
member of Rain Parade and then the offbeat Opal, much of his past decade has been
laden with critical acclaim. Now, words of praise pass by like water off Roback's back.

"It's nice, but I don't really think about it a lot," he sighs. "I don't really read
the music papers, it's such a distraction. I mean, the whole music scene is so grotesque
in a way. Some parts of it are totally fantastic, sure, but I sort of stay out of it.
I'm a Rip Van Winkle type — I do what I want and try to create my own world."

Hence Mazzy Star, a ridiculously relaxed outfit which realises a mutual ambition first
nurtured when Roback and Hope met in 1983. Seven years on, the duo talk dreamily of
fulfilling each other's musical dreams and of using 'She Hangs Brightly' as
an escape capsule.

And what are Mazzy Star escaping from? The wonderful West Coast, that's what.

"It's a tough life out here," protests David. "Growing up in LA is very oppressive,
there's a lot of poverty. It may look glamorous, but that's not the reality. In our
lives we've really had to struggle, and that's what I like about Hope — she's very
independent, she's a very rebellious person."

Yet 'She Hangs Brightly' isn't exactly what many would perceive to be a rebel
rockin' record, is it?

"Anyone who's a writer or musician or artist has to deal with rebellion in a very
personal way. There's a certain freedom you have to have in your own work, but it
doesn't mean you have to scream bloody murder all the time."

Mazzy Star scream, but quietly. Listen carefully.

• Mazzy Star will follow up their LP with a new EP 'Halah' and UK dates in October.

-Simon Williams

Image

Image


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-1990, JUNE 16, MAZZY STAR ARTICLE/INTERVIEW (WITH DAVID ROBACK), SOUNDS MAG.
[found reproduced as text on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 5593088285 ]

MAZZY STAR: ASTRAL PEAKS

Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, June 16, 1990

From the ashes of Opal, David Roback has created the most auspicious Mazzy Star. Roy Wilkinson applauds their blue-skied guitars.

DESPITE ITS massive presence in '90s life, Los Angeles is a shadow of a city.

Built on water pirated from hundreds of miles away, the City Of Angels shouldn't really be there and the past isn't.

Mazzy Star's constituents span LA — Hope Sandoval from East LA and David Roback from down by the beach — but their music mines beyond their hometown's lack of heritage.

Mazzy Star's debut album, She Hangs Brightly, is spectral, sad blue-skied guitar music reverberating with a ghost of Americana past. From their country blues to the tarmac-wheeling Suicidal wraith 'Ghost Highway', Mazzy Star's music feels as if it's echoing from some sacred rock 'n' roll tomb.

Everyone will have heard the styles that Mazzy Star rework but, as familiar as their base material is, it retains an eerie undertow. As with the sun-kissed opening stretch of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, everything on the surface is fine. But just below, an air of unease looms.

"There's an unresolved quality," says MS guitar man Roback. "When people are talking, or when they make music, their emotions dictate that things are resolved. But really, whatever comfort or reality is in their minds is just a fiction they're creating for themselves. I would hope that nothing in our music pretends to be resolved."

MAZZY STAR'S name is "a fiction", a little phrase they coined after Roback's former band OPAL slowed to a halt.

Hope Sandoval had replaced Kendra Smith as front bod for OPAL's last tour, after Roback had produced an, as yet, unreleased album for Hope's group. Afterwards, Hope put her "surreal, haunting folk band" Going Home on hold and began to work on an album with former Rain Parader, Roback.

The album was to be an OPAL record called Ghost Highway, but as the songs developed, the pair felt a clean break with the past was needed. Mazzy Star took its place in the firmament.

As with the most driven of the original hillbilly country stars, Mazzy Star take the simplest themes and bend them between immense happiness and a kind of implacable abjection. Amazingly, they manage to sound like they're doing this for the first time.

"Yeah," says Roback. "Hank Williams tuned in to a lot of the must [most?] mundane but powerful music in that style. We're not hillbillies, but to us the styles we use are as fresh as if we'd just discovered them ourselves."

Not that Mazzy Star are honkytonk fare. Their cover of '70s weird-out merchants Slapp Happy's 'Blue Flower' is an invincible,tambourine rattling hit of overdriven guitar mainlined with melody. Like the Mary Chain of Darklands. While the title track is a sprawling piece worked from The Doors' most hazy moments.
Despite Mazzy Star's American core, Roback is a Britophile musically. Soul II Soul have "a great spirit", while the last great show he called to mind was one by veteran Glaswegian folk artist Bert Jansch. Like the virtually forgotten Jansch, Mazzy Star cast themselves outside the whirlwind pop success treadmill.

"We're just craftsmen," says journeyman Dave. "We're part of that tradition. Hand tooled kinda stuff."

Roback sounds genuinely bewildered by pop's inbred, plasti-smile optimism. "I'm not sure what everybody's partying about. No one invited me to this big party that they're always talking about and I wouldn't go if they did."

Delivered with Roback's laconic growl this outburst rivals American Music Club's Mark Eitzel for implausible hopelessness. And like AMC, Mazzy Star are going back and picking out the unsettling aspects of the American dream.

No one has shown their deftness of touch with classic guitar music since the mighty Galaxie 500.

© Roy Wilkinson, 1990 interview, June, 1990, Sounds mag.
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1990, JULY 22, L.A. TIMES, MAZZY STAR INTERV.

[Thanks go to mazzystar.free.fr webmaster Emma for finding this article & sharing the link from L.A. Times' archives, here:
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-22/ ... mazzy-star
No photos accompany the original article]

Mazzy Star: Shining 'Brightly' :
The personal visions of David Roback and Hope Sandoval have fueled a fast-moving
album on the alternative-rock charts
July 22, 1990|ROBERT HILBURN

Yes, Hope Sandoval, the slender, soft-spoken singer of the L.A. rock group Mazzy Star,
has heard all the comparisons between the Cowboy Junkies, a critic's choice in 1988,
and her group, a critic's favorite in 1990.

Mazzy Star's "She Hangs Brightly" is one of the year's strongest debuts--already in the
Top 10 on the CMJ New Music Report survey of college and alternative-rock radio station
play lists.

But Sandoval just doesn't see much connection between the austere, country-accented
blues of her band and the austere, country-accented blues of the Junkies.

"I feel what they are doing has been done. . . . That whole folk approach," she said
somewhat curtly during a recent interview in a modest, Fairfax area restaurant.
"I think (we're) a lot more rock 'n' roll."


If influences must be found, the dark-haired singer said, look to the Rolling Stones
--not to that group's flashy, bad-boy side, but the more soulful, blues-minded strains
of such songs as "Love in Vain," which Sandoval heard on a live Stones album as a
teen-ager and has prized ever since.

Across the patio table, David Roback, the other half of Mazzy Star, smiled as he
listened to the talk about influences. He apparently found it amusing that he has
spent the last decade trying to find his own musical voice and now people are trying
to categorize it.

"I've never even heard the Cowboy Junkies record," he said. "But then, I don't listen
to a lot of contemporary music. I kind of purposely try to avoid it because I don't
want to be influenced by it. I prefer the Rip Van Winkle approach to art."

This deliberate distance from the contemporary pop scene contributed to Roback's being
a somewhat elusive figure on the L.A. rock scene since the early '80s.

Inspired by the poetry of Patti Smith and the independence of such '60s rock figures as
John Lennon and Syd Barrett, Roback has followed his own musical instincts to a
remarkable degree in an era when so many bands are little more than clones of last
week's hitmakers.

"I felt like a punk," he said of his early interest in rock. "That's the attitude
I identified with. But when I picked up the guitar and started playing it, the music
didn't come out sounding punk. It was something else. . . .."

Roback's journey to find his own style has stretched from New York to Berkeley,
through a series of bands--including one with former Bangle Susanna Hoffs.

He formed Rain Parade, one of the key band's in L.A.'s much publicized
"paisley underground" scene of the early '80s, but then left it after one album
and "retired" to Berkeley to work on music away from the commercial pressures of
the Southern California pop scene.

After a few years in another band, Opal, with former Dream Syndicate bassist
Kendra Smith, guitarist Roback teamed up with Sandoval and formed Mazzy Star.

The clearest link between Mazzy Star and the Cowboy Junkies is the sparse,
understated music of the Velvet Underground. But the more significant tie may
be the way both groups are the result of a personal vision that has been
nurtured for years.

Just as Roback went in and out of several bands while developing his sound, the
Junkies' Michael Timmins moved through a series of strikingly different styles,
from the severe intensity of England's Joy Division, improvisational jazz, some
Delta blues and, finally, some softer, Waylon Jennings-style country.

Each step of the way, Timmins and Roback seemed to reach deeper into themselves,
stripping away filters from their emotions to offer a musical sound that is
disarmingly honest.

Each guitarist, too, was lucky to find a female singer who conveyed in both voice
and lyrics the rich emotional strains to perfectly accompany the purity of
his vision.

Timmins found his band's voice in his sister, Margo, while Roback found Sandoval
singing in a duo, Going Home, while she was still attending Mark Keppel
High School in Alhambra.

There's one difference, however, between Timmins and Roback. Where Timmins went
to New York from his native Toronto to pursue music, L.A.-native Roback went to
New York to become a painter.

"I went to New York mainly to be part of the art scene," said Roback, outlining
his own story. "But I gradually found myself getting more inspired by what was
happening in music than in art. . . . People like Patti Smith and Television."

Returning to the West Coast in the late '70s, he joined a band in Berkeley
with Hoffs--an old schoolmate from Palisades High School in Los Angeles--called
the Unconscious. But he soon left it. "She was more into the pop side of things,"
he said, "and I . . . Well, I don't know what I was looking for. . . . Something
more serious, I guess."

The line could sound biting, but Roback said it in a way that didn't declare
value judgments on different pop intentions. There was even a touch of
self-deprecating humor--as if he were merely a victim of the some all-powerful
rock 'n' roll muse.

Roback moved back to Los Angeles, where such bands as X and the Blasters were
building a punk/new wave scene that was even more active than what he had
seen in New York.

"When I started playing music, it came out sounding very psychedelic for
whatever reason," he said, explaining the reason for Rain Parade's "paisley"
connections. "I guess it was just what I grew up liking. The Beatles and
Jimi Hendrix were the best groups for me. . . . The late Beatles more than
the early Beatles--their message, the whole political and spiritual involvement."

Though Rain Parade generated considerable attention around town, Roback,
who sang in the group, left it after the first album because, he said, he
could see the limits of the group. He wanted something more challenging.
He also felt uncomfortable being lumped into the L.A. neo-psychedelic scene
and returned to Berkeley.

About the move to Berkeley, he recalled, "I was very idealistic. I thought
I would retire and make music on my own, not be part of any scene. It didn't
seem all that radical because my heroes had done it--people like John Lennon
and Syd Barrett--at certain points in their lives.

"I didn't feel the acceptance or attention was important to me. I wanted to
make music that I felt and if people liked it, fine, otherwise the music would
be enough reward."

He found in Kendra Smith someone with similar views, and they started recording
together. "There was a sense of beauty about getting away," he said of the time.
"We were poor, very poor, but it didn't really affect our ability to live the
kind of life we were living because all we wanted was some empty rooms and some
instruments and some paper. We owned our lives and it was a wonderful time.
I'm glad we did it."

Finally, Smith and Roback decided to play live, and that's what led to Opal,
a group whose restrained yet passionate sound was a link between the Velvet
Underground and Mazzy Star.

While on tour in 1986 with the Jesus and Mary Chain, Smith left Opal and Roback
asked Sandoval to take her place. Mazzy Star was born two years later.

If Roback does 90% of the talking in interviews, it's not because he's trying to
take all the credit for Mazzy Star. It's just that Sandoval, who writes most of
the lyrics, is so reserved. She must have said a total of 20 words in response
to a dozen questions.

Sandoval, who is in her early 20s, doesn't like to explain her lyrics--which often
revolve around desire and doubts in relationships--any more than she talks in
detail about her background. She does say she was born in East Los Angeles, where
her parents worked in a factory and she was the youngest of 10 children.

She also said she started listening to the Stones when she was about 13 and admired
Keith Richards' guitar playing so much that she began playing guitar herself.
But her main interest was singing, appearing at small clubs around Los Angeles
in the early '80s with the duo Going Home.

Her shyness during the interview eventually led Roback to begin sounding more
like a manager or a publicist than a musical partner.

"I think Hope deserves a lot of attention," he said. "I think she is a great
singer and a great songwriter. When I first heard her, I thought she could
be someone like Bob Dylan, someone who could speak for a lot of people her age."

If she felt uncomfortable talking about themes, Roback finally offered an
interpretation of Mazzy Star's music.

"I see a lot of hope in her songs," he said. "It's like that movie . . .
'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.' Something nice can come out of a very caustic
environment. . . . Something that tells you all isn't lost."

Roback paused, as if reflecting on his own, long musical journey.

"At times, I felt like the music world was on a dead-end street, that everyone
was simply rehashing the same old ideas. . . . But rock is still a potentially
great art form.

"No matter how down you are, there may be a light in a song that gives you
strength . . . something spiritually regenerating. To me, that's the goal
of a musician--to find that light."

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1990, NOVEMBER, UNHINGED mag INTERV, w. DAVID & HOPE
First published in Unhinged magazine, issue 7, November 1990.
Text reprinted in the 2005 book "Tell Me When It's Over, Notes From The Paisley Underground,"
edited by Clive Jones.
........................
MAZZY STAR : A SENSE OF DETACHMENT, by Paul Ricketts

Sometimes things start to click for no immediate reason. Or maybe, one name is
intrinsically more attractive than another equally good name. So Clay Allison
became Opal and they in turn have now metamorphosed into Mazzy Star. Their
first album "She Hangs Brightly" has ridden up the independent charts, maybe it's that
their sound is now right for the times. Since the first Rain Parade records, David Roback
has seemed a figure encouraging a sense of detachment from the rock world, valuing
being mysterious above being garrulous, so it came as a pleasant surprise that Rough
Trade organized this interview, which I aimed to be mostly about the new group hoping
to cover the rest of the story as soon as their projected tour happens.

PR: Where did the new name Mazzy Star come from?

DR: Well, it's just a name, it doesn't mean anything more than your name or my name, it felt kinda right. If there's a deeper meaning, I'm not really conscious of what it is.

PR: Can you introduce the people playing on the new LP? Is Sylvia Gomez Juan
Gomez's sister?

DR: No, she isn't. She's the former partner of Hope; they had a duet called Going Home.
I produced an LP by them a couple of years ago. They were a haunting, surreal, acoustic
duet. That's how I met Hope and I was very taken with what they were doing. She plays
on one track "Give You My Lovin" — acoustic guitar. Then there's William Cooper. He
was also in Opal. He played bass on a couple of Mazzy Star tracks. And Paul Olguin
(pronounced "Olegween") also played bass.

PR: So you played all the other guitars?

DR: Yes.

PR: What about the others in the band. They've all been with you a long time —
Keith Mitchell and Suki Ewers, are they with you permanently?

DR. Keith is permanently in the band. Suki played on some of the sessions, but she's
dong other stuff of her own right now. I've been playing with Keith for a long time now,
We've gone through several phases together.

PR: How much do you think your sound actually depends on his drumming
because he doesn't play like other people drum, at least when he's playing with
you?

DR: We don't think of it that way. We just do it. I've never thought of it that way. I think
there's interdependency, an interaction.

PR: You did a tour with the Jesus and Mary Chain. Would you like to see Mazzy
Star going in a more electric direction like that?

DR: The first LP really represents a lot of ideas in the first stages of formation done on
acoustic guitar and then brought to the band to be worked upon. I think that once we've
started touring, or playing live more, there'll be a natural progression towards sounding
more electric because live we tend to be more electric.

PR: Is that why the "Happy Nightmare Baby" album was so much more up-tempo
than the Clay Allison records?

DR: There's a sort of pattern for me. I work things out in an acoustic way and then the
band takes hold of them and becomes the predominant force, because basically we like
playing live and recording live and get a lot of spontaneity.

PR: Are the bulk of the songs here reasonably recent? "Ghost Highway" you
played here in 1988.

DR: Most of them date from after that.

PR: Are they jointly written?

DR: Almost all of them are jointly written. Almost.

PR: Do you sit down together to write a song?

DR: Sometimes we sit down together and do it on the spot. Hope will have an idea. We
don't have a specific formula; we'll have an idea and build on it.

PR: Are there any songs that you could say lyrically are one person?

DR: Yeah. "She Hangs Brightly", Hope wrote the lyrics. "Ghost Highway", I wrote the
lyrics. A lot of them we wrote the lyrics together like "Ride It On". Hope is the singer
and I'm the guitar player. We both focus on what we're doing. She focuses more on
singing and lyrics and I'm more on guitar, but it's not black and white. We both write
lyrics and Hope plays guitar when we write, though not in the live band. It's a real 50/50
collaboration.

PR: On the acoustic tracks there seems to be a lot of country blues in the sound;
and then there's an Eastern influence creeping in there too. Is that how you intend
it or is it just something that happens?

DR: It's something that happens. Looking back on it, I'd agree with you that the
influences are there. I like a lot of old time blues; there's a certain simplicity and
something about the stories — the oral traditions of the blues singers are intriguing to me.
We never thought about it. We just did it; then we go "Look at this". It's just the variety
of what we are.

PR: Music coming out of clashes or crossing the boundaries of musical forms
always seems to hold so much more potential and likelihood of branching out. Do
you know where you may branch out to now?

DR: I don't have any conscious idea. I do what's right for me at the moment. It's much
easier to look at that in retrospect. If we started thinking constantly about what we
wanted to do, that would take our attention off the songs and the meanings of doing each
song and that's not how we operate.

PR: How do your songs come? Is it just BANG they're there...

DR: Songwriting is like an ecstatic state. Suddenly it all comes out of you. It always
provides a psychological relief. I'd probably go mad if I didn't write the songs.

PR: Does the state of writing the song fade the longer you go from the writing? Are
they in a state of grace which they gradually lose?

DR: No, I think I can always go there. It's like a private world that I can always return
to. I can always project my mind into that world. It's as real to me as anyone's concept
of realitv is. I'm so caught up in what I do. They're so real to me even if they can't be
seen. Someone would walk In the room and they wouldn't see it, but there's a whole
world Inside vour mind. You know that's what songs are - rooms in a vast haunted house
inside of my mind. I keep discovering places to see.

PR: When you're playing live, is that the same thing?

DR: I think it's very similar. I really let my imagination go. There's other elements
coming into it, but I think when someone writes, you imagine someone else hearing it.
Either you imagine yourself standing in a room watching yourself. Playing live is
enlarging on that concept. Or, you'll have a person in mind.

PR: Do you pay much attention to the audience? Do you find them a support or a
distraction to that?

DR: It really depends. Sometimes I'm much more aware of the audience. Sometimes I'll
forget everything except my guitar. It's as though I go inside my guitar. Or I'll be
thinking about the whole band and that takes up all my attention. The audience is like a
blur on the edge of my mind. I appreciate the audience and, the kind of music I've
always played, I've always had a strange audience. We're not playing a backdrop to a
party. There's nothing wrong with a party, it's just not where we're at. A lot of it is like
a difficult ordeal. It's not really in my nature.

PR: I heard that when you played that one Opal gig in London that you left in a
hurry as if you were really angry. Was that how it was or was that just an
impression?

DR: We had some problems with immigration. We didn't have our bass player and just
kinda improvised. But, the audience was cool. We enjoyed the London show. I was kinda
strung out about it because we really wanted to have the whole group there, so we just
improvised at the last minute. But that's always been in the spirit of the band - a little
bit crazy and a little bit out of control. It's not predictable. It would get very boring if
you did the same thing every night. Our songs change a lot from night to night for better
or for worse. That's in the nature of it.

PR: So was that tour the end of Opal and where Mazzy Star started?

DR: What happened was that when Hope and I really got into working together that the
persona of the band was getting pulled in a different direction with the different people
and we felt that we would start something altogether new as much as possible; and give
ourselves a completely blank screen to work upon, free of the past and free to work on.
I think it's a bad idea how people keep something together past the point where it's
changed so profoundly that they should change the way they look at it. I think it really
represented the total desire to be free to do what we were doing. Hope is a very different
person. We didn't really care about commercial abstracts and maintaining that band.
Opal kinda went into the deep freeze, a cryogenic for Opal. Opal's frame is still there
but it's on ice. Maybe one day we'll defrost it. We wanted freedom. Mazzy Star is a
whole new project. Hope is a very strong writer and I just felt we needed the break.

PR: If I could ask Hope a few questions now. Can you tell me about your other
band first. About Going Home?

HS: It was just another girl and myself on guitar. We played quite a few shows of our own.

PR: Did you just write the songs that were recorded for that album?

HS: No, we wrote many, many. Probably enough songs for two or three albums.

PR: Do you think any of that stuff will get released?

HS: Yes, definitely. Most likely through Rough Trade.

PR: On the new album, which songs did you write the words to?

HS: Most of them.

PR: Can you tell me what they're all about?

HS: Not really.

PR: They're just ideas rather than stories?

HS: They're both, I guess.

PR: How soon do you think you'll be playing live?

HS: Oh soon, in another month or two, we should be doing some shows, but when we're
ready. We're rehearsing right now.

PR: Is it going to be what's on the album, or is it going to be newer stuff?

HS: Probably new stuff.

PR: Are you going to be doing any covers? Are you still going to be doing "Rock
Section"?

HS: Probably not...well, maybe. Maybe. Yeah maybe once in a while when we play live.

PR: How many new songs do you have apart from the record?

HS: Oh, I don't know. We have so many songs. We probably have enough for another
record, but we'll definitely be writing a whole lot more before we go into the studio and record.

PR: Where was the Mazzy Star album recorded?

HS: In Venice, California. I don't remember the name of the studio.

PR: Did you record it live with the band, the whole band just setting up and
playing?

HS: Yes we did.

PR: Were these all the tracks you recorded?

HS: No, we actually recorded a lot more. We actually did a whole other record, but we
didn't use it. We went and did something else.

PR: What was the other record?

HS: It was just songs that we decided we didn't want put out. We had to start all over
again.

PR: Why didn't you like the other record?

HS: Oh, I don't know. We just weren't in the mood for it.

PR: Are some of the tracks on this album tracks that would have been on that?

HS: Yes.

PR: How many tracks got lost?

HS: I'm not sure.

PR: What was different about the mood of the other one? Was it harder or more
laid back?

HS: It was both.

PR: What makes this album work and the other one not work?

HS: I don't know. I don't really know. I just enjoy it more.

PR: Do you have any plans for releasing a single from the album?

HS: Yes. I'm not sure which song it will be - I think it will be "Halah".

PR: What sort of singers do you listen to — what influences you?

HS: I listen to David Bowie and a lot of the Rolling Stones early stuff when Brian Jones
was still with them. That sort of thing.

PR: Do you listen to any American stuff?

HS: Not lately. I usually don't know where a band's from when I get into them, but it
usually turns out that they're not from here.

PR: Do you catch bands playing out live at all?

HS: No.

PR: Are there any particular singers that you listen to and think "I'd like to sing
like that"?

HS: Not really. I'd like to be able to sing like Aretha Franklin, but I know I'd never be
able to.

PR: When you're singing are you thinking more about the song or more of the voice
as a musical instrument?

HS: Both, I guess. Probably voice as an instrument more than the song.

PR: Do you ever try to make your voice like an instrument? Do you think like "I'll
sing like a saxophone"?

HS: No (laughs).

It was only nine in the morning in Los Angeles to my teatime in London and I got the
feeling that Hope was still half asleep and so I asked David a few more questions as he
seemed to be more wakeful than I am at 9 a.m.

PR: What's the current state of Serpent Records?

HS: I'm thinking about putting out some records by other people and I'll do a solo album
of my own.

PR: Totally solo?

DR: No there'll be other musicians on it and I'll be singing, because I'm not singing on
Mazzy Star much. I'll be doing that this summer.

PR: Will the sound be very different?

DR: It would be slightly different, but not shockingly different, because I'm involved in
both things, but I do have this other side to me.

PR: In what way?

DR: Well, I do have a lot of other songs and I've been meaning to get around to
recording and releasing them.

PR: What was it you didn't like about the previous Mazzy Star LP?

DR: It wasn't that we didn't like it. We were developing our ideas. I like it, I like it a lot.
It just didn't grip. We felt we were changing - changing a lot. We were doing a lot of
experimenting in the studio. Some of that is on the album. It's not that we didn't like it,
it's just that we'd start on something that we'd get more excited about and went on and
left the other stuff on the shelf. I have a habit of doing that. There's a lot of stuff that
never gets released. I get wrapped up in new stuff and the other stuff gets forgotten. But
some of it will get released sometime like the early Opal LP. It took Kendra and I years
to put that stuff out. I don't know why.

PR: Are you planning on releasing any other stuff by Clay Allison?

DR: Maybe. We have about over twenty unreleased tracks. Kendra and I have talked
about it, but we haven't come to a decision. That might be the kind of thing to put out
on Serpent. Serpent is a label to put out whatever odd things we wanted to put out.

PR: Where did the photo from the front cover of the album come from?

DR: It's taken from an old hotel in Brussels - it's an old antique photo I found, uncredited.
I don't even know the name of the hotel, but it would really be a trip if I
checked into it one day. I'd love that. It's cool to imagine yourself waking up there.

PR: Are you thinking of releasing the Going Home LP?

DR: I think we're thinking about the fall. That'd be on Serpent, or possibly through
Rough Trade. It's a really great record. I mean, they played on it, I didn't. Some people
might find it depressing, but I think it's great.

PR: You're using slide guitar a lot — do you prefer the feel of it? Do you find that
your imagination is more in touch with that method, the movement of the hand
rather than having to put your fingers down?

DR: Well, there's an incredible freedom in slide guitar. I wouldn't say I prefer it over
other styles, but I love slide guitar, it's very evocative.

PR: WIIen you play live, is there going to be a second guitarist?

DR: Yeah, that'll be William Cooper, he was doing bass on the LP. I think that Paul
Olguin will play bass. It could change at the last minute. We seem to have a habit of last
minute changes, but that's what we're planning right now.
..................
First published in Unhinged issue 7, November 1990


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1990 (date and mag source unknown). Mazzy Star article by Arion Berger,with a small amount of interview content with David & Hope.
(posted by Connie to the Facebook group as a photo of the mag page. The page has one photo of Hope by Laura Levine, L.A., 1990 + one long column of text) pasted here below):
..................................

As the guitar-playing, unchanging half of Opal, David Roback worked
out moody, ethereal music against sparkling female vocals. As half of Going Home,Hope Sandoval played the role of singer-songwriter, strumming and crooning in a strictly folk vein. After Roback came in to produce one of Going Home's records, he and Sandoval started writing songs together. Eventually, they formed a band (actually a duo with a backup) and gave it an appropriately enigmatic name: Mazzy Star.

Mazzy Star's first project, She Hangs Brightly (Rough Trade) combines Roback's earthbound guitar churnings with Sandoval's celestial vocals, grounded as they are in folk storytelling. She manages to sound at once sweet and throaty and completely free of tricky maneuvers - just taking each note at a walking pace, half talking the occasional few words, sometimes adding a weary fillip by slipping off-key at the end of a line. The music's overwhelming ambiance is blue: cornflower on the jauntier numbers ("Taste of Blood." "I'm Sailin'") and indigo on the draggier ones ("Blue Flower," "Before I Sleep," "She Hangs Brightly").

Although the album was recorded "live" in-studio, it gives the impression of music heard far away, invoking The Jesus and Mary Chain's bright surf-guitar swirlings as a soundtrack for a bad dream.

Despite all the moodiness here, and the often unintelligible lyrics, there's something sweet and deeply emotional about these songs. "Ride It On" and "Give You My Lovin'" are beautifully simple, intense sketches of states of love, without any distorting artiness.

Roback and Sandoval seem to be the kind of archetypal musicians who let the music speak for them. They're both shy, vague and polite, conceding that yes, they're pleased with the album, they do write well together and they do, inevitably, create music that is tough to classify.

"We haven't made any effort to fit in commercially," says Roback. We're both kind of anti-industry. But there are advantages to obscurity. It keeps your mind free of bullshit." (Hope agrees, "That's just the right word.") We're just doing what comes naturally to us, as writers, as musicians. We do it for ourselves, more than anything."
-Arion Berger

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-1990, JULY, SPIN MAG w. a single PHOTO OF HOPE WADING IN THE OCEAN ACCOMPANIED BY A QUOTE FROM HOPE RE. NEARLY DROWNING IN THE OCEAN AT AGE EIGHT
https://books.google.ca/books?id=fTAxVG ... in&f=false

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HOPE'S QUOTE:
"Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star)
'I almost drowned at the beach when I was eight. It was the first time I ever went deeper than
my ankles into the waves, and I didn't know how to swim. Two friends saved me. I thought of it
as a near death experience, but neither of them were worried. Maybe they didn't want to make me
feel uptight. I can swim now, but not in the ocean. I'm still afraid of the waves, definitely
not a surfer. I do like to go to the beach and hang out, though.' "

[There are also credits shown next to the photo in small printing that turned out fuzzy & hard to read
in the page scan I have, even when the printing's enlarged. They read something like this]:

QUOTE: "Purple (unreadable word) chiffon wrap by Giorgio di Sand'angelo, black bathing suit and
jewelry - her own. Hair and makeup by Erica (name unreadable).
Photo by Christopher Kehoe"
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-1991, JAN. 5, MAZZY STAR ARTICLE WITH INTERVIEWS WITH HOPE & DAVID, MELODY MAKER
Two photos accompany the article, embedded below. They were shot in NYC, August, 1990.Photo credit:
Stephen Sweet
The article consists of two different interviews, one conducted in person August. 1990,
the other by phone, December, 1990.
Page scans from the original paper were found at this blog:
http://didnotchart.blogspot.ca/2012_02_01_archive.html
mazzystar.free.fr Forum member Spoon posted the above link earlier in another thread, "Band(s)
history, anecdotes,trivia."

Below is a text version of the article I made from the page scan photos.
..................................................................................
Image

GIVE ’EM ENOUGH HOPE, MAZZY STAR by journalist Everett True,
photos by Stephen Sweet taken in NYC, Aug., 1990

Mazzy Star's debut album, "She Hangs Brightly," was voted one of the Top 10 albums
of 1990 by the Maker writers. This year they set to cause an even bigger splash when
they finally tour Britain this spring.
Everett True drinks decaffeinated coffee and discusses gigging with Cocteau Twins,
psychiatry and swimsuits. pics: Stephen Sweet.

Lightning crashes all around and a peal of thunder booms out. The tiny plane lurches,
and drops several hundred feet out of the sky. Across the aisle, photographer Stephen Sweet
looks green and waves gamely at me, as another torrent of rain lashes the windows and
more lightning chars our already frazzled nerves. A voice comes over the Tannoy, urging us
to stay calm. No problem: I've already passed out.

It's August. The previous night we'd been checking out Rough Trade's brightest new stars at
a dismal nightclub in New York City, and felt quite let down. Mundane realities such as
bad sound, lack of preparation and an indifferent crowd conspired to blot out the shimmering,
haunting sound of LA's Mazzy Star and we left feeling strangely unsatisfied.

Maybe we expected too much: after all, their album, "She Hangs Brightly" was pretty much
the most devastating debut of 1990 Formed out of the remnants of the sweetly psychedelic
Opal, Mazzy star create music for the twilight hours, mixing wanton love with the purest
lust, lasciviousness with desire, glaciers and furnaces, mysticism and magic.

Mazzy Star are centered around the quite stunning voice of torched diva Hope Sandoval
and (ex-Rain Parade) David Roback's deceptively intricate layers of psychedelic and mournful
guitar. It's an album to lose your heart to, thousands of times over, letting its subtle and
great washes of melancholia sweep over you.

But on stage, Hope's dispassionate passion seemed to slip all too often into nervous disinterest,
David's restless drawl of Velvet-teen guitar lost beneath a surge of bad sound. The sensitive
drumming was quite superb, though, Mind you, it was only Mazzy's fifth concert, and for songs like
the haunting, Doors-ian, "Ghost On The Highway" and wanton "Be My Angel", we were
prepared to travel anywhere.

Hence our current predicament. At the last possible moment, after being sent to wrong rail
stations and the like, Rough Trade have decided to put us on a flight from NYC to Boston,
right in the middle ot the worst monsoon Massachusetts has seen for years. Another peal of
thunder crashes round the terrified plane. I grit my teeth and swear.
Right now, I could be watching Sonic Youth and STP live at some abandoned theatre.

An eternity later, we arrive - we're late. We hop the first cab around, and they've never heard of
the venue. We finally arrive at the club and we're not on the guest list. It's sold out.
We weedle our way backstage (eventually) and Hookie's there (Revenge are also playing),
but Hope and David certainly are not. But the band is.

Four hours later, the rain is so thick you can't see past your nose and we discover Mazzy Star
aren't playing, and furthermore, the interview we came to follow-up isn't happening.
Apparently, David and Hope aren't satisfied with the night's running order.
According fo Rolling Stone, Opal broke up in the middle of a US Mary Chain support four,
when Kendra Smith - David's previous chanteuse - walked out in a storm of emotion. I could well
believe it.

Fortunately, we managed some sort of interview that morning. But thanks to the auspices of Rough
Trade US, it was at nine in the morning, it lasted about 30 minutes, and David and Hope weren't
exactly talkative. Here's a sample...

Journalist: "So you played a whole bunch of new songs last night."

Band Member (Male) (looking disinterested): "I don't pry into people's lives and I
feel music is pretty personal. I don't want to answer that."

Journalist: "I read that Hope is the youngest of 10 children. That must have been
interesting growing up in such a close knit community. Presumably, it colored Hope's
perceptions of life, maybe made her more distant from her contemporaries, as she
had no real need to make outside friends...perhaps this is where some of the
distance, aloofness in Hope's singing comes from?"

Band Member (Female) (barely audible): "I only grew up with two brothers and one
sister, and all of them except one are a lot older. None of them were ever involved
with music."

[Journalist]: So how did you get involved?

"Oh, I just did it. I've been singing since I was really little."

But I'm being unfair. The tour's not going too well, David and Hope are notoriously shy,
personal folk (one listen to their album will tell you that: often listening to
Mazzy Star makes me feel like a voyeur, peeking in at two very private, sensuous lives).
The last thing they need is some journalist poking his nose into their affairs.
After a few more rounds and toast and decaffeinated coffee everyone begins to loosen
up.

I ask David about growing up in LA in the Sixties. "It was weird," he pauses, taking
time to order another coffee. "I was fairly different from the other kids. I didn't get
on with them. We didn't have many common interests. My hobbies were history and
psychiatry. I had a friend from down the street whose father was a psychiatrist,
I was very much into that, I'd study anything.

"I'd psychoanalyze my friends," he continues. "I knew some strange people, aggressive
thinkers who had a strong influence on me when I was little. It's a good place to
start - if people started thinking about bullshit like that earlier, they'd be a lot
healthier.

"Daydreaming was my escape capsule. Music can trigger that. I still daydream a lot,
in narrative form, mostly."

Part of Mazzy Star's appeal undoubtedly lies with Hope's devastating looks.
Although this is something the band play down, Hope did appear
in this year's Spin Magazine's "swimsuit" issue, an experience she recalls with repulsion
("I thought it'd be a lot looser than it was.They wouldn't let me wear anything I wanted”).
It also reported she nearly drowned the first time she went on the beach when she was eight.
Even now she has a fear of waves.

How much of the attention you receive do you think is down to the way the band looks?

David: "It's not for me to say. I think of Hope as a musician, first and foremost,
and there are a lot of people who are good-looking and their music isn't at all stylistic.
It has a lot less to do with our music than other people's"

But all the images are of Hope...

Hope: "That's not us. They have so many they can choose from. I think you can start feeling really
bad about yourself if you think people only view you a certain way. I hope it has nothing to do with
anyone's looks and that it's only down to the music. I would like to give our listeners more credit
than that. I think the record is great and even if it had been made by the ugliest people,
it would still be a great record."

David: "And to prove that, for the next album I'm gonna have my body burned, If you think Hope
looks great in the pictures, fine: and if you look through her family albums
she would be the same girl. You look like what you look like, you know.Beauty is an emotional
state of mind It's a feeling, combined with something else.”

What upsets you?

David: "Somebody stealing my guitar. People being swallowed, big fish eating smaller fish,
Economic cannibalism, which is rampant everywhere I look. ”

About the only criticism that could be levelled at Mazzy Star's music is that it doesn't
fit in with the consensus of 1990, isn't fashionable, is too deeply
rooted in the sounds of the past, is backwards-looking. When I listen to a Mazzy Star song, I can
hear traces of Reed and Cale, Neil Young, Big Star, the blues and psychedelic guitarists of
decades past. You certainly don't hear much of 199O - whatever that is!

David: "Academic analysis of any art form will always lead to a group of people who are only
there for the critics to analyse. There's a certain establishment notion about what is current and
what's not, and it seems to me, examining history, that that's always the first to disappear,
to be forgotten. Nobody's gonna give a damn in the future about what 1980 sounded like, or 1990.

"If we're talking abstract visualizations, I see Mazzy Star in terms of letter rather than colours.
We're the colour of the letter Zee - probably a dark, rich colour but it's not a consistent
colour, more a colour for every mood."

It's now December, 1990, and since we last talked, Mazzy Star have supported Cocteau Twins on
an extensive tour of the US. It was successful, by all accounts - although one did hear rumours of
inter-band rancour. The promised UK tour never materialized, neither did any new product.
Their album got voted in at Number Seven in the Maker's end-of-year critic's poll. And once more,
I find myself talking to David and Hope at the end of a transatlantic line.

Why has it taken you so long to put out another record (they haven't even started work on the
new one yet)?

"We plan to make a new record, but it's not planned out yet," David replies, his deep voice
resonating over the line. "That's not the way we work. We've got a lot of new songs from the
last few months, and we're entering a new period in our musical history. It's not so much a
change in direction inasmuch as everybody's life has different periods, marked by personal
events, what you're doing. It's winter now and there are new things going on."

How was the Cocteau Tour?

"When I'm up on stage I'm usually so, y'know, my mind goes into another place," David says,
true to form. "I don't really have a grip on outside reactions.

"The Cocteau's have a well produced, consistent show which was exciting to witness.
It was sort of the opposite of what we were doing, which was spur of the moment,
experimental stuff. They're an interesting band to tour with."

"I only once saw their show the whole way through, because we're always pretty busy
ourselves trying to get our own thing together, then I'd go straight to the hotel to sleep,"
Hope adds later. "We hung out with them the last night of the tour and they were very nice
people. Nobody else does what they do and I don't think anybody ever will.”

You're naturally quite shy people. Do you find it a strain touring for such long
periods of time?

"Well, shy people don't necessarily want to communicate with other peopIe," David
expIains. "I don't find it's a strain, because we get to play our music which puts
everything in a different perspective.”

"I didn't find it draining,” Hope adds. "I just got kind of nervous, especially as it
was the first time I'd ever played anything that big. I prefer smaller places, because
I feel closer to the audience.”

Hope lists among her favourite bands Soul II Soul and Galaxie 500, while David saw
a Lush video which he thought was interesting.

Hope: “I've pretty much the some favourite singers I've had since I was a teenager -
Kendra Smith, Billie Holiday, Patti Smith, June Tabor - I don't have any favourite male
singers, though I like listening to Neil Young. I guess it doesn't matter so much
with men.”

I guess it doesn't. Mazzy Star's first offering blew a great many critics' minds.
Doubtless, 1991 will see them shining even more brightIy.

Image
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1991, JAN., OPTION mag, interview w. HOPE & DAVID,
"MAZZY STAR," by BRUCE WARREN
[Later Update 2020-09-19: the first post of this article that was here was partial only as just a small portion of the article was available to me previously. But yesterday Instagram user @subculturalartifacts kindly sent me photos of the complete text from the mag pages (thank you). Also, the clear image of Hope here is from @subculturalartifacts' photo. The full page photo, and the photo of David & Hope are from some other source I don't have info on. Photo credit: Emily Kintzi]

The article contains some interesting info, including a new-to-me version from Hope of the story of how Going Home got a tape of their music into David Roback's hands.

......................................................................
MAZZY STAR, by Bruce Warren

Image

Mazzy Star is the sound of a late night. psychedelic country blues hoedown, where former Rain Parade and Opal guitarist David Roback plays Syd Barrett to lead vocalist Hope Sandoval's Patsy Cline. Mazzy Star's debut album "She Hangs Brightly" (Rough Trade), is an emotionally intense collection of moody blue love songs. An enigmatic and astral sounding record, the music of Roback and Sandoval is detached and otherworldly, thick and seemingly distant. Often, as on the title track, when the haze of the Delta blues fades away. the notes hang like a deep fog in an opium den.

The paisley blue ambience of Mazzy Star born from a relationship which Roback and Sandoval formed when Opal still existed. Kendra Smith, bassist of Opal and then partner in rhyme with Roback, was friends vith Hope. It was Smith who passed on a tape of Sandoval's emotionally barren love songs to Roback.
"Back In high school," recounts Hope, "my friend Sylvia Gomez and I were always really depressed, and we'd just stay In the house and write songs. One day Kendra came by, asked us to play some songs, and she liked it. We made a tape and Kendra gave the tape to David."

"Eventually Hope and Sylvia did an album together, which I produced," says Roback.
"I remember hearing this tape and I thought this was interesting enough for me to get
involved. Not many people have heard Going Home. and if you hear it, it may sound haunting
and depressing. But it was very surreal folk music, whose sound I was attracted to."
While Going Home was never released, it began a collaborative effort between Roback and
Sandoval. Meanwhile, Opal was in the middle an American tour with Jesus and Mary
Chain when Kendra left the band under an air of mystery.
"After Opal shipwrecked," relates David, "Hope joined Opal and we did some live shows."
"We finished the tour and then went to Europe," continues the soft spoken Hope .
"But it was hard. Stepping into Opal was the hardest thing I ever did. Everybody missed
Kendra, and we decided the whole thing was bullshit. Opal was David and Kendra's thing.
So we started Mazzy Star."

"Wc didn't fit in anywhere." says Roback of Opal. "We were completely doing our own
thing. Whether we were ahead of our time, behind our time, or simply just in some other
dimension, we weren't part of the music business or pop culture The '80s were a big drag,
they wore on and it was a boring time for music. It was a phony era of everybody coming
together, and it just wasn't true

While the songwriting team of Mazzy Star goes a step beyond Opal, there are
elements of psychedelia in Matty Star's music. "Opal was playing very trippy music,"
says Roback. "There's two sides to psychedelia, a very superficial, exploitative side that's
shallow and annoying. Then there's the side that is very intense. It also had something to do
with the non-western and oriental influences in the music. If you think about the thousands
of spaces between two notes, there is a lot of room to create.

While "She Hangs Brightly" hinges on some of Roback's psychedelic ideology, the music is
more langorous and acoustic sounding. Songs like "Halah," which is a laconic "Puff the
Magic Dragon," and "Ride It On" mix folk and blues influences. Both are simple, straight up
love songs with Sandoval's pouting vocals evoking a desperate loneliness which tears away
at the heart of the storyline. Likewise, "It's Raining"* is an otherwise honky-tonk blues, with
Roback's slide guitar facilitating the seemingly desperate strumming.
"There are a lot of acoustic and electric guitar treatments on the songs," says David, "but a lot of it was
recorded live."

Mazzy Star isn't totally void of hallucinatory vision. The title track, replete with a creepy
walking bass line, beacons of trippy guitar effects, and dreamy washes of cymbals, is an
eerie highlight on the record, as is the evil blues of "Ghost Highway." "That was one of the
first songs Hope and I were doing together," says Roback of "Ghost Highway," which gets a
T-Rex meets dirty blues treatrnent. "We were out on the road together down in the south.
When you're out on the road you get into this state of mind — you travel a lot and you play
every night, and your guitar is really loud."

Trance-like, spaced-out, and sustaining a haunting beauty throughout, Mazzy Star's debut
is a striking effort. Both Roback and Sandoval are somber and almost shy about the project.
Hope rarely discusses the lyrics to the songs, clutching to her privacy in a quiet, disaffecting
manner. David speaks mostly for Mazzy Star, and often, for Hope. "I heard a lot of
individuality in Hope's music. We're both into doing our own thing. It wouldn't have any
meaning if we had to sacrifice our freedom. That's why we're drawn together."
......................................
[*"I'm Sailin'", maybe? There's no song on the album called "It's Raining"-BB]

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-1993, SEPT. 2, ROLLING STONE, ONSTAGE QUOTE FROM HOPE

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star,"
here: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... P-So2N.htm ]

L.A. Confidential
Rolling Stone’s news column - September 2, 1993

The always trippy Mazzy Star previewed material from their forthcoming album,
So Tonight That I Might See, at the blues haunt, the Mint. Curiously,
vocalist Hope Sandoval admonished the rapt crowed for its applause.
“Why are you clapping?” she asked. “You weren’t even listening.”
--David Wild.
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1993, OCT. 5, RADIO MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW, KCRW, SANTA MONICA. CALIFORNIA (TRANSCRIPTION)

[Mazzy Star as a trio with Hope, David, & Will played this radio studio gig,
performing 3 songs. There are 4 interview sections before & after they play,
& in between songs. An audio file of this recording is findable in the Bootlegs list.
I once tried upping this recording to youtube but it was blocked by a copyright claim
by KCRW. I believe the recording originally came from DIME (dimeadozen.org) via a
torrent upload there by Forum member hanwaker. I've transcribed the interview
portions below]

Interviewer: "...On KCRW. Mazzy Star is appearing at the Alligator Lounge, October 14.
That's in Santa Monica, on Pico. Heidi Berry will be opening the show. And today,
very happy to have in the studio both David Roback & Hope Sandoval. It's great to have
the two of you here. How are you doing?"

Hope: "Fine, thanks"

Interviewer: "Hi David"

David: "Hi"

Interviewer: "(laughs). It's been a couple of years since the last release which was ah,
independent release at first, then Capitol picked it up. Um, I guess, ah, you must be in
a good spot right now. You must be feeling pretty good now that the album is done and it's out.
And, ah, is it kinda like havin', havin' a baby, or you know, is it, was it, ah, you know,
are you, are you feeling good about casting this album out into the audience?"

David: "Well, um, we get to start playing our songs live right now, which is really
exciting, you know, for one thing, something we've been looking forward to doing"

Interviewer: "Yeah, so it's um, the album is kind of, ah, when the album comes out it's
a point where you can bring it the public and, uh, must be great to finally get it in
front of an audience to see the reaction to the songs, that sort of thing?"

Hope: "Yeah, that's always good"

Interviewer: "Yeah, (laughs), um, when you're writing the songs, I mean do you, do you
find that you have to go to a certain place in your head, and, a certain place, get away
from people, um?"

Hope: "I mean, yeah, and it depends, you know, on the song, but you usually, you have
to sort of get away and, um, just have your own space, basically"

Interviewer: "Yeah. Do the, do the ideas come together when you're together, or do you
have ideas that you bring to each other individually?"

Hope: "Um, it varies, I mean often we write together. Sometimes we just do it on our
own"

Interviewer: "Yeah, yeah, um. Does, does, the writing come easy for you, do you think,
or does it,um, is it a laborious sort of thing, do you think? You know, is it,
you know what I mean, uh?"

David: "Well, you know, I think, when I watch Hope, right, it amazes me how easy
it seems to come to her, I mean, but you never really know, you know? 'Cause
the songs just kind of happen, you know?"

Interviewer: "They seem to anyway, huh?"

David: "Yeah, they really do, I mean, there are just certain times when you, you just
feel like writing, and you do"

Interviewer: "How does that, ah, how does that come across to you Hope? Does it surprise
you that, um, someone might think you have an easy time writing? Does it seem hard to you?"

Hope: "Sometimes it seems hard, um, but you know sometimes it's easy"

Interviewer: "Whoo! Thunder from above" [Did the interviewer hear a crack of thunder outside the studio?].
Um, we're going to hear a live track here next that, um, is this, is this one from the album,
or is this the one, an older one?"

Hope: "This is from the new album"

Interviewer: "Fantastic"

Hope: "Bells Ring"

Interviewer: "Mazzy Star live on KCRW"

[Bells Ring is performed]

Interviewer: "Mazzy Star live on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. The song,
'Bells Ring,' you'll find it on the new release from Capitol Records called
'So Tonight That I Might See.' The album is in stores today, and the band, Mazzy Star,
um, both Hope Sandoval and David Roback will be appearing at the Alligator Lounge
in Santa Monica, October 14th. And that is, uh, a show that is opened by Heidi Berry.
We are happy to have in the studio both Hope Sandoval and David Roback again. It's great
to have you guys here. Um, David, uh, I, I know that, um, you've had, uh, a
couple of situations, ah, band situations that, ah, people might be familiar with,
uh, the group Opal, and ah, you've done some work with Kendra Smith. and, and, Keith
Mitchell, and um, it was, ah, ah, you both came out of different, you know, band
situations before the two of you met. Ah, I'm wondering, um, Hope, I know you were with
um, ah, another guitarist at one point, ah, a group called Going Home, right?

Hope: "Mm, hm"

Interviewer: "How did the two of you meet? How did you and David come together?"

Hope: "Um, well, I used to go see David play when he was in The Rain Parade,
and, uh, we met through a mutual friend, and I was doing music with Sylvia,
um, who I was working with. She's a guitarist. And, I don't know, we just played the
tape for David and Kendra, and they really liked it, and we went into the studio"

Interviewer: "I see"

Hope: "And that's basically it, we started working together"

Interviewer: "So, I guess you first saw David, in what, like 1984, around there, would that be?"

Hope: "Yeah, around there, yeah"

Interviewer: "It's been a while. Now, are you both from Los Angeles originally?"

Hope: "Yeah, uh, well, yeah, I am"

Interviewer: "Really, how about you David?"

David: "Um, yeah, actually, I'm from here, and up north."

Interviewer: "Do you remember what you first, ah, thought when you first heard the tape of Hope, um?"

David; "Well, I, when I first heard Hope's music I was really, um, I don't know,
maybe blown away is a good way to describe it. I just liked her music. I liked
the, the songs, and I wanted to, you know, see them, I wanted to, you know, help
them, and I just wanted to help, and that's really all I did. They had a, a
really fantastic thing going, and I just tried to help"

Interviewer: "How did you guys settle on the name Mazzy Star. It's a fantastic
name for what you're up to. I think it's just a fantastic name. I can't think of a
better-?"

Hope: I think we were just trying to give ourselves sort of a western name, um,
I don't know, that's what I was thinking about"

David: "Yeah, that had sort of a northern feel"

Interviewer: "A northern feel?"

David: "Yeah"

Interviewer: "A northern, like night time feel? Or, anything more specific than that?
Or just a, you know, a northern sensibility?"

David: "Well, you know, there's just so much in a name, really, you know, names are names"

[Into Dust is performed]

Interviewer: "Mazzy Star from the new release from Capitol Records called
So Tonight That I Might See. 'Into Dust' is the track and it featured Hope Sandoval
vocals, David Roback guitar, and William Cooper on, ah, violin on this particular track.
The album is in stores today an, uh, Mazzy Star is set for a live appearance
here in Los Angeles at the Alligator Lounge October 14. Yes,
all morning long I've been saying the 15th, and Hope walks in and says it's
the 14th. So yeah, I was wrong, it's the 14th at the Alligator Lounge. Heidi Berry
is opening the show, and we're happy to have in the studio both Hope Sandoval
and David Roback of Mazzy Star. Uh, this is actually the second release under the
name Mazzy Star. The first one came out in 1990 I guess, on Rough Trade Records
that was fairly soon after picked up by Capitol. It wasn't too long, was it?"

David: "Well, it was after Rough Trade, um, sort of, um, dissolved, really, as an
independent company. We'd always been involved with independent companies, and
they have a really tough time surviving, you know, but it was a little while after
they dissolved"

Interviewer: "How are you surviving, in uh, the world of major label, uh, record
companies?"

David: "Well, I don't really know that we're really in that world, you know.
We're just sort of keeping on doing our music, and that's really all, nothing's
really changed"

Interviewer: "That's good. Um, you know, it seems like there might be some tendency
of a record company to, at some point or another, uh, force itself upon an artist"

David" "Well, we, we post guards at the door, and they don't get, they don't get in"

Interviewer: "Yeah"

Hope: (laughs)

David: "So that's the way it is"

Interviewer: "So you guys just deliver the album and, and there it is, let, let, let them figure it out?"

David: "Well, you know it's all just people, and, you know, people are people, but we do our own thing, and that hasn't changed"

Interviewer: "Yeah, um, I, that's actually something I wanted to ask you about because
is it, is it hard to hang on to what is purely Mazzy Star, um, is it hard to kind of
shut other things out sometimes?"

Hope: "Um, sometimes, but usually not, I mean we just sort of do our own thing.
We don't get too involved in what's going on"

Interviewer: "Do you have an easy time doing that?"

Hope: "Um"

David: "It's alright. You know, people are just people, you know, people at big labels,
small labels, you know, just, they're just people, you know, and whether it was
someone at a small label or a big label, you know, it doesn't really matter, just they're
people and you deal with them on that level and everything's fine, you know, just, we
do our own thing, it's, nobody's really tried to change that"

Interviewer: "Um, this, ah, next song is actually a song you guys, um, ah, put out on
the first album, the one we were just referring to. It's called 'She Hangs Brightly,' by the way, and, uh, I guess it's still available through Capitol, isn't it, still in print?"

David: "Mm hm"

Interviewer: "Yeah, um, you know, do you do a lot of the songs from the first album when
you, uh, do live performances, or is this a special one?"

Hope: "Um, yeah, we do a lot of the old stuff when we play live"

Interviewer: "And, any particular reason why you settled on this one this morning?"

David: "Well, just, just, we just thought it would be a good one to play today, and just
talked about it this morning on the way down here, and I thought, let's play this one.
But live, yeah live, we do things, you know, what ever we feel like really,
old or new. We have things that aren't on any album that we do live"

Interviewer: "Mm, hm. We have Mazzy Star live here on on Morning Becomes Eclectic.
The album 'So Tonight That I Might See' is in stores today"

[Halah is performed]

Interviewer: "Mazzy Star live on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. A song that you'll find on
their first release that was originally put out on Rough Trade. It's still available on
Capitol Records called 'She Hangs Brightly.' The new album is 'So Tonight That I Might See.'
It's new from Capitol, and it's in stores today. I'm Chris Doridas and this is
Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW. Mazzy Star appears at Alligator Lounge in Santa Monica,
October 14th, and opening that show, Heidi Berry. This is actually the first, uh, well,
first date for you guys in Los Angeles since, well The Mint was in August. That was
pretty, that must have been exciting. I mean, there was such a good crowd of people there.
Nice welcome back, wasn't it?"

Hope: "Uh, yeah, it was"

Interviewer: "(laughs). I mean, what, line wrapped around the building even when the
thing was full. And I think that's really a nice way to have a welcome back. Um, then
you guys are headed out to, uh, Europe in November, early November, and then back into
the United States before Thanksgiving. I guess you'll wind up in Los Angeles, so people
can see you again at that point if they miss you at, uh, The Alligator, right?"

Hope: "Mm, hm"

Interviewer: "Um, you know, I have to say you guys are, when you start playing it's like everything, uh, everything falls away. You're, you're such shy people and it just, I, I think it's..."
[In the audio file I have, the interview cuts off early at this point while
the interviewer is in mid-sentence]
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1993, OCT. 9, NME INTERVIEW with Hope & David, by Danny Frost
[two photos accompany the article, both by Stefan De Bastelier]

Thanks go to FB group member Angie Gillies who shared photos of her hard copy pages of the article there.
....................................................
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CONSTELLATION PRIZE

Mazzy Star could be a marketing man's wet dream, truly alienated LA-dwellers living an
un-Caliornian existence and singing dark songs that speak volumes to gloomy bedsit dwellers
everywhere. But, as DANNY FROST discovers, they're not a rock 'n' roll creation, they're
For Real. Starry knights: STEFAN DE BATSELIER [photos by Stefan De Batselier]

This may be Santa Monica. where moneyed Los Angeles clips the edge of the Pacific, but still
there's no shortage of human debris. Smug Range Rovers cruise Ocean Boulevard as WASPish
rollerbladers, high on holistic breakfasts and feel-good therapy, weave in and out of the bums, bag
ladies and mean drunks that litter the sidewalk.

To its big-haired residents it's known, with barely a dash of Bill & Ted irony, as "the saintly babe";
to the culture-shocked daytripper it's an essay on LA's gaping divide stuffed into a square mile of
concrete and Lego. It's also one Hell of a weird place to be meeting Mazzy Star.

If ever a latter day Joe McCarthy were to initiate a Senate investigation into un-Californian activities,
Mazzy Star would be high on his paranoid list of defendants. Personally inaccessible and painfully
shy, sealed off, it seems, from the sun, surf and parteee culture of rock 'n' roll Los Angeles, they
make records more fragile and gut-knowingly desperate than almost any other.

Records like their recently re-released debut, "She Hangs Brightly", a brittle alloy of whispering
folk rock and mordant, simmering blues, delicately psychedelicized by the reflective fuzztones
of David Roback's guitar. More than anything though, Mazzy Star impel you to hang utterly rapt
on every breathy syllable of Hope Sandoval's voice. Charting a harrowing map of magic and loss,
it's a voice to make a milkshake of the hardest heart. Mazzy Star just sound so...doomed...

Which in normal circumstances would make them a marketing dream, heaven-sent to adorn the
walls of bedsit depressives the world over, filling pages if rock rags with garulous gloom to be
lapped up by every hormonally-challenged adolescent ever to have donned black and claim that
parents, like, well they just don't uderstand. A marketing dream as money-spinningly surefire
as Kurt Cobain's raging angst or Bobby Gillespie's jumping jack flashness.

A marketing dream were it not for the fact that Roback and Sandoval really are the genuine
article, disaffected by rock 'n' roll culture and bewildered by a world that would dearly love to
take them to heart. Earlier on the phone Mazzy Star's US press rep talked darkly of cancelled
tours, interview walkouts, amd profound, belligerent silences, Mazzy Star are her worst nightmare
made very real indeed.

It's the corner of Ocean and Washington and we're sat in the world's most despicably furnished
hotel room. To the right, pink rayon drapes a tacky sofa bed while we shift uneasily on turd-brown
leather settees. Hope Sandoval stands on a balcony, swaying and hugging herself, eyeing the ocean
with uderstandable mistrust. At the age of eight she nearly drowned in it, and she's still afraid of
the waves. "This room is really weird," she shivers. "Not how I remember it at all..."

Back on the dung-hued sofa, David Roback is engaged in a pregnant pause. Hidden behind
impemetrable shades, he's staring a question into screaming submission. Perhaps his pedigree
has earned him a right to such reticence. Emerging originally from the same "Paisley Underground"
scene that gave us Green on Red, The Dream Syndicate and the briefly barnstorming Long Ryders,
Roback's Rain Parade were the best of the bunch, leaving the headspinning "Emergency Third Rail
Power Trip" as a trippy gift in the wake of their dissolution. Then came the Velveteen dusk of
undervalued college rock faves Opal. Hell, everybody's been burned before, but Roback's
obsessive avoidance of "the biz" would seem to suggest a man who's remained badly scarred.

"I think a lot of it's frivolous," he finally concedes. "It's like being popular at school. When it comes
down to it, what does being popular at school mean? It means nothing. School is a very vicious
place, sociologically, and so is the world of rock. Rock is populated by all types of characters,
including playground bullies..."

Mazzy Star are a serious pair and, like Mark Kozelec's Red House Painters, they're busy building
a sound outside the continuum of sex, glamour, volume and projection that still defines the archetype
of rock 'n' roll. And if they remain a well-kept secret it'll be for precisely that reason.

"Well, you know, glamour, rock 'n' roll behaviour, you can't categorically say that that is wrong,"
David demurs. "Rock 'n' Roll behaviour has in a way always stood for something really cool, something
that's actively anti-establishment. But you know, let's be who we are, let's be about now. It's 1993.
It is 1993, isn't it?! We are the people of now, so we're gonna write about now, we're gonna sing about
now, we're gonna be about now, in some way. So, can we endure our own time? No, we can't, because
there' so much that's f---ed-up about our time.

"It's not like our music is actively reporting about today, but today, especially in our last two records,
has much more to do with it. In the '60s, the message was tune in, turn on, drop out, the message of
Timothy Leary. But let's talk about Rip Van Winkle: was his message any different? Rock, rock history
and rock mystique is so rooted in the past, and it's gonna have to be updated."

Echoing Roback's call for a clearer musical vision, Mazzy Star's new album is called "So Tonight That
I Might See," and it's a beautiful thing. Kicking off from the jauntily framed despondency of their debut, it explores still darker alleyways. Again our companions are strands of psychedelia, stripped of the genre's original escapist abandon. Again the Velvets and The Doors float by and whisper hello, while the rivetting Hope Sandoval flicks through a photo album of loves lost to other loves, and greater loves lost to the
big D. "Mary of Silence" is a particularly harrowing descent to the depths. "The End" minus Morrison's
preposterous bombast.

"Certain things happened to us after the making of the last album that changed our lives, " sighs Hope.
It's like that song by The Smiths, that line in that one song - 'I've seen it happening in other people's lives
and now it's happening in mine'. That sort of captures the whole feeling of the album, now that I think
about it. Some people say that it's a darker record, and it probably is darker. But if it is darker, it's because things change, and not for the better...Maybe it has something to do with being around death.
Death is all around me."

An assertion you'd be tempted to deride as melodramatic, the staple stuff of goth gloom, if you weren't here to catch the shy catch in her throat. There's no deeper-than-thou posturing to Sandoval, just as there's
no calculation behind the super-waif exterior and the Ophelia-like vinyl persona. It's hard to see, though Britain will find out in October, where such an intensely private person locates the courage to climb on a Stage.

"It's very difficult. Especially with the acoustic songs we do. It's very quiet ant you can even hear people in the crowd talking. people who really aren't there for the music — people Who are just there because it's cool to see us or something. It's difficult because the lyrics are real personal. Often I just think. 'What am doing here?'

"Making music I would say is definitely a therapy. but I'm still trying to find what it is that people think is so great about playing live. I guess when you become popular — and I suppose Mazzy Star are sorta popular now — it gets more difficult, more difficult to just get up there and play and not worry
about people looking at you. In the end, I just try and close myself off from the audience as much as possible..."

It's the sort of hermetically-sealed stagecraft that can gain a band a bad name. Image-wise, at least, Mazzy Star have opened themselves up to allegations of detachment and head-up-arse retreat from the world that critics have been quick to seize upon...

"You can talk shit about Mazzy Star all day, " David almost shouts, suddenly defiant, "but we're most definitely not about detachment. "

But you do come across as ill-equipped outsiders. people who have a problem coming to terms with the
world...

"But don't you? Come on, honestly? You go around, you interview people, you fly places, you work with people...Don't you find the world an alienating place? Look at LA. LA in particular is a very alienating environment."

"l think it has become alienating," adds Hope with her zillionth frown of the afternoon, "but I don't think it's always been that way. I can remember a time when I felt comfortable here. When was a little girl, I was pretty comfortable, before I got involved with that other side of LA, which is Hollywood and the West Side... It's all very different from where I'm from, which is East Los Angeles. I suppose I never really knew what really went on here."

Is it LA's plastic nature, its sense of superficiality? Or is it the danger?

"It's... it's both. Because where I grew up it's a very rough part of town. But when you're in so close with it, you're more comfortable with it. I don't know whether that's good. but that's the way it was for me. My brother was involved with gangs, and everybody knew that in the neighbourhood so nobody messed with you. And that's how I grew up.

"Now it's quite different. Now I live in Silverlake, which is just like Hollywood, and nobody cares who your brother is and nobody cares who you are. As far as they're concerned, you're an outsider, you don't belong here. People will just take advantage of you and they don't think twice about it."

"This place is so f—ed up, you know," reflects Roback. "People are so f—ed up. so out of line, so out of their minds. They're locked out, written off and that's just not cool. You wanted to know what's going on this evening, for entertainment?" he grins morbidly and points vaguely westwards. "Well. there's a really cool drive-by shooting over here, someone's gonna be killing their entire family over there or, hey, you could just stay in and catch it all later on TV. But I don't wanna come down so hard on LA; a lot of cool things have happened here. LA is a cancer patient, it's riddled with cancer, but you don't put cancer patients down, you fight to make their lives a little better. "

Image
[caption under the photo reads: "Mazzy Star: Dave, Hope and Clarity"]

Perhaps it wouldn't mean a great deal to the derelicts and undocumented immigrants taking a pleasureless siesta under the palms of the seaside strip, but it's nice to know that Roback and Sandoval inhabit our world. And maybe if you needed a hint as to the roots of their vivid despair. you wouldn't have to look much further than 50 yards from this Santa Monica hotel window. That they'd rather not be stars, that they'd rather not party with Bobby and Eva and Arthur Lee, well, that's probably to their credit. too. Maybe we should give them space to make their exquisite records and otherwise leave them well alone...

"Everybody is creative," says Roback. "It's people who are popular who try to claim a sacred right to that creativity. That's what's all wrong. I mean, what if I said we weren't doing a photo shoot for this interview?"

Well. we'd probably go sort of white and maybe pass out...

"What if I said that this interview was going to be illustrated by your drawings of us? Hey, it would bring out something in you. Everybody can draw, we all proved that when were three tears old. Hell, our moms and dads would all love it."

Mazzy Star are a serious pair, alright, in fact almost macabrely so, but that, folks. is a gag. Cherish it. There aren't a great deal more where that came from. Hope Sandoval may quote "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" but you won't find her dying with a smile on her face, after all.

So, will people find any comfort in "Tonight That I Might See"?

"l know that they're gonna find comfort in it." she responds. "I know that people are feeling the way we do and that they're gonna find comfort in it. But I also feel that people who don't know, who can't relate, I hope that they can listen to the record and wake up to reality. I hope they're going give it a chance at least.
Even if they're not giving it a chance musically, I hope they're gonna take a moment, and realise that this is not a time for celebration..."

And later, if you found yourself in a Sunset bar diseased by surf Nazis and power-drinking film types on a mission to score, and if you took a moment to consider how the cool evening was treating the bums on the beach, maybe you'd see what she means.

Image

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-1993 OCT.23, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW, MELODY MAKER

[I found the text from this article reproduced on the Facebook page for:
Big Figure Promotions - Real Music for Lost Souls. here:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 7466539100 ]

Mazzy Star: Don't Talk Just Bliss

Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 23 October 1993

Mazzy Star may make beautiful records, but they also make terrible interviewees. Chris Roberts extracts some
sense from their silence and decides that the US duo's music really is like a reflection of a moon on a lake
THERE WILL BE no showy boasts of having slept with bisexual goats here, no sad/ funny anecdotes written by
alcohol, no great claims, no claims at all. There will be lots of excruciating long silences, the occasional
brief nervous chuckle. At the end of it your interviewer will be utterly exhausted, and vaguely troubled deep
within what remains of his soul. When he finally puts the phone down, he will realise he's missed the first
15 minutes of the Holland-England match, and that will seem like the least of his worries. Much later, he
will play the new Mazzy Star album again and it will make perfect sense.

This Mazzy Star album, their second, is So Tonight That I Might See. At first its gravitas seems deathly dull,
and then it is like reality, and then you decide it is incomparably sad and beautiful. At first you smirk at
how everything ever written about them mentions reflections of moons on lakes, and then you think: it's a
lot like a reflection of a moon on a lake, actually, and bung in a few weeping swans. It makes Cowboy Junkies
sound like Deicide, and so on.

I had been warned. Interviewing David Roback and Hope Sandoval is like drinking sand. That their reticence
supports the music's external quiet and inner turbulence is scant consolation when you're cast as the geek
keeping the conversation going. Mazzy Star just mute me out. My voice changes to that I adopt when, say,
friends proudly put their teething infant on the other end of the line.

I can understand this, I say, you're not keen on anything to do with the music business outside the music,
you hate the interview ritual, you loathe pop culture in general. Is that fair comment?

"I'd say," whispers Hope, "that was fair comment."

You dislike explaining the records? ("I dislike having to explain, yes.") You believe the records speak for
themselves and say what you have to say? ("Yeah.") It seems you're ruled by your heart over your head.
Are you very emotional people?

They laugh. THEY LAUGH! And then Hope says, "Isn't everybody?"

Well no, I say, some people are very cold. And some are plain worn out.

"Some people have different values," allows David, after a dozen eternities. "It's just… talking about yourself
can be very awkward. We're musicians, and that's what we do. It's… intense and personal. People use us as a
backdrop, we're not one of those cabaret/party things going on."

Do you sometimes feel like the whole world's partying except for you?

They laugh again. THEY LAUGH! AGAIN!

"No," says David. "I don't think so. I think that things like television, and also a lot of music, which are
about making money, just portray the whole world as… festive. It's all edited, sensationalised. It's not reality."

Can you counter that? Or are you powerless?

"I think we can counter it. We're all very powerful. Just not organised."

I read recently that you considered the rock 'n' roll myth to be dead. How would you suggest updating it?

"It really… not only is there a new generation of musicians, but also of writers and critics who want to find
something. Everybody wants to feel they discovered it, that they identified a pattern, that something's going on.
I've heard music that I thought would change the world. And it hasn't, y'know? It makes the cover of a magazine.
And then there's the next. Popular does not mean better. It's very exaggerated, there's no revolution in music.
It depends what people are tuned into at any given time — in John Lennon's era it was different. Now there's
a whole industry of analysis of music, of inventing movements. Even the idea of a global village — it may be
valid in some way, or is it the illusion of one? Or many many illusions?"

After his so-called "psychedelic country" (he hates the phrase) work in the Eighties with Rain Parade and Opal,
David Roback encountered Hope — "just a set of eyes, like a cat" — on the West Coast, and their collaboration
resulted in 1990's landmark She Hangs Brightly.

Since then they've toured, both with Cocteau Twins here and acoustically in The States, and "written in seclusion". So Tonight…, from the bitter 'Wasted' to the forlorn 'Into Dust', utterly validates their painful introversion.

"The past is over," says Hope. After several false starts (Can you describe how you feel when you sing? "No"),
I ask if she enjoys singing.

"I used to enjoy it more than I do now."

Oh. Why's that?

"We're like a rock band, as opposed to a folk band. We get all this attention, and it's all so loud, it's all
big crowds and that's frightening. I preferred a handful of people. There's never intimacy. Audiences become
so predictable. We're part of this… music scene… I know, next week they're at a Belly show or something.
I'd rather play alongside June Tabor than in front of a bunch of sheep."

Some of them appreciate it, surely.

"Everyone tells you it was great, but you know you could've sucked and they'd love it even more. Most of
the time I feel like everybody's expecting you to… fly. And you're just getting up there and trying your
best, that's all. It's not about 'satisfying' people."

Are they all love songs? ("Some of them are. And some of them aren't.") You're very shy. ("Yes.") Surely
it gets easier the more you do it? ("Not really, no. It gets worse.") But you'll go on doing it?
("Well, I'm gonna do it for the next month. And I like the records. We'll see.")

Does coming to Britain make sense to you?

"Oh yeah," David relaxes. "We worked with Rough Trade before, and we've always had friends over there."

"I don't have friends there," says Hope, unprompted. "I don't know anyone. Not like David."

I'm going to let you go now. I mean it seems like there are things in life which you prefer to doing interviews.

"Don't you?"

And we laugh again. WE LAUGH AGAIN!

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1993, OCTOBER ISSUE, LES INROCKUPTIBLES (LESINROCK) mag (France), INTERVIEW / Article w. Hope & David. English translation from the French text. [English and French text both pasted below]. I found scans of hard copy pages of this article had been posted to Twitter by someone. I didn't have the article before then. The translation's my attempt using several translation services, plus French-English dictionaries. This article is unusual and remarkable largely 'cause it's at the extreme end of Mazzy Star interviews where the journalist is apparently left completely exasperated and repulsed by the difficult interview subjects he finds David & Hope to be. The journalist included just two longish quotes, one each from David & Hope. Plus one short line from David about James Joyce. We're left assuming this is likely 'cause these quotes were the only ones the journalist deemed usable from the two who he described as "paranoid," "reluctant," "detestable," "inaccessibe," "inflexible-rigid," "terror-couple," "jerks."...The two evidently made a big impression on the journalist -- but not in a good way. The quotes he includes are good ones though, imo, informative, particularly David's quote where he seems to describe how Hope is an artistic muse to him, although he doesn't use the word "muse." He's said similar things about Hope in some other interviews, e.g. that he writes music for Hope, and writes with her in mind. But he says more about it in this interview than elsewhere I've seen. Unfortunately, the journalist makes it clear he has zero appreciation for the way their musical partnership works, as David describes it.
...............................................
BEAUTY & THE TRAMP

By JD Beauvallet, Photo by Renaud Monfourny
The most beautiful sound of the year comes miraculously from the most beautiful jerks of the year, Mazzy Star. No question of entering the insides of the paranoid and reluctant couple of San Francisco, largely exceeded by a "So Tonight That I Might See" too big for Hope Sandoval and David Roback.

In a San Francisco pub with a portrait of James Joyce - ("One of the best lyricists in the history of rock," Roback says) [Hope later covered Syd Barrett's "Golden Hair," a song created by Syd putting music to a James Joyce poem of the same name -BB] - a curious old lesbian listens over her lesbian activist diary to the pitiful dialogue of the deaf and dumb that we are trying to start with Hope Sandoval and David Roback. With the terror-couple finally gone, she comes to the journalist. She loves rock music, but has never heard of Mazzy Star. She'll never hear about them: it's hard to see how Mazzy Star could ever shine, as Hope Sandoval - hopeless - and Dave Roback, seem entrenched in an inflexible rigidity worthy of the Shakers, other notorious paranoids, enemies of light and men of evil life.

[HOPE]: "I'm not interested in the greatest number [of fans]. I have no desire to please people," says Hope Sandoval in a tone of reciting a grocery list. "People pay to see a concert, we offer them music. I'm not on stage to talk. The only recognition I'm looking for is from David. I'm not jealous of the success of 10,000 Maniacs or REM, but rather of June Tabor. Pleasing and attracting the masses, it's a real job and I'm certainly not going to devote my life to it. The Velvets never tried to attract. What's the point? In the same day, a guy can be happy, then depressed. I'm certainly not going to make the slightest effort to accompany every mood of every person."

On a human level, a detestable group. But here, the human has totally faded behind his music, crushed by a talent who stole all the coverage. No need, finally, to come to San Francisco to meet Mazzy Star, thin bearers of an album far beyond their means. Because here, the exact opposite of Suede, it is the record more than the band that wears the pants. So Tonight That I Might See is much more mysterious and interesting to meet than Roback and Sandoval, death-drags from California. Him, shabby and at her feet, admiring from afar his inaccessible star, poor sucker still under the balcony, unable to climb. A Hope Sandoval totally adored by Dave Roback, poor schmuck on his knees: in front of her, in front of her voice, in front of her whims.

[DAVID]: "I always have her [Hope] in mind when I compose. I want to tailor it. But even if I wasn't there, she would still be so talented, her music could do without me. On the other hand, Mazzy Star would be nothing without her. I love her ideas, her presence, her words... I love her, period."

Image
Hope & David in San Francisco, 1993, Photo by Renaud Monfourny

Image
Hope in San Francisco, 1993, Photo by Renaud Monfourny

......................................
-On Feb. 28, 2020, shortly after David Roback's death,
Les Inrockuptibles site re-published this same 1993 interview, here:
https://www.lesinrocks.com/2020/02/28/m ... r-en-1993/ adding this new title, and short new intro, QUOTE:
"|Death Of David Roback, Our Lunar Encounter With Mazzy Star In 1993 -
David Roback died on February 24 at the age of 61. In 1993, we met Mazzy Star's paranoid and misanthropic couple, Hope Sandoval/David Roback. Story of a nightmare interview."

The republished article from Feb. 2020 was (and still is) available on the lesinrocks.com site only partially. Only half the article was posted for free on the site. The 1993 issue was not otherwise findable online, as far as I could tell. The republished version from Feb. 2020 included one "new" old colour photo shot in San Francisco that apparently was not included in the original 1993 version. The 1993 hard copy page scans that turned up this week had one photo, a different one, a black and white one of Hope that's been findable online for years. The colour one I'd not seen before Feb. 2020. Both photos are by the same photographer, Renaud Monfourny, and are likely from the same photo shoot in San Francisco. Hope's wearing the same clothing in both. The colour one may be an outtake that didn't see the light of day till 2020.

Back in Feb., I hoped the site would allow purchase of the complete article, but they don't allow individual article purchases. To access the full article, they required people to be subscribers to the mag which entailed automatic billings to your credit card every month. You could cancel at any time - but not online or by phone. You had to send a hard copy letter to them by registered mail announcing you were cancelling. Too complicated, imo.

So, I'm glad that just by waiting some months, the article has, by luck, became available in full by some helpful person posting to Twitter scans of the original 1993 hard copy pages of the article.

....................................
[ORIGINAL FRENCH TEXT
Belle et le Clochard

Par JD Beauvallet Photo Renaud Monfourny

Le plus beau son de l'année Vient miraculeusement des plus beaux cons de l'année, Mazzy Star.
Pas question d'entrer dans les entrailles du couple paranoiaque et indisposant de San Francisco, largement dépassé par un So Tonight That I Might See trop large pour Hope Sandoval et David Roback.

Dans un pub de San Francisco où trône un portrait de James Joyce
( "Un des meilleursparoliers de l'histoire du rock", dixit Roback), une
vieille fée curieuse écoute par-dessus son journal de militante lesbienne
le pitoyable dialogue de sourds-muets que nous tentons d'entamer avec
Hope Sandoval et David Roback. Le couple-terreur enfin parti, elle
Vient aux nouvelles. Elle aime le rock, elle n'a jamais entendu parler de
Mazzy Star. Elle n'en entendra jamais parler : on voit mal comme Mazzy
Star pourrait un jour briller, tant Hope Sandoval — sans espoir — et Dave
Roback paraissent engoncés dans un rigorisme digne des Shakers, autres
paranoiaques fameux, ennemis de lumiére et des hommes de mauvaise
vie.

"Le plus grand nombre ne m'intéresse pas. Je n'ai aucune envie de faire
plaisir aux gens", débite Hope Sandoval sur un ton de liste de
commissions. "Les gens paient pour voir un concert, nous leur offrons de la
musique. Je ne suis pas sur scene pour faire causette. La seule reconnaissance
queje cherche, c'est celle de Dave. Je ne suis pasjalouse du succes des
10 000 Maniacs ou de REM mais plutbt de June Tabor, Plaire et séduire les
masses, c'est un vrai boulot etje ne vais certainementpas consacrer ma vie ft.
Le Velvet n'ajamais cherché séduire. A quoi bon ? Dans la mémejournée,
un type peut étre heureux, puis déprimé. Je ne vais certainementpasfaire le
moindre effort pour accompagner chaque humeur de chaque individu."


Humainement, groupe détestable. Mais ici, l'humain s'est totalement
effacé derrière sa musique, écrasé par un talent qui a piqué toute la
couverture. Pas besoin, finalement, de venir à San Francisco pour
rencontrer Mazzy Star, maigres porteurs d'eau d'un disque largement
au-dessus de leurs moyens. Car ici, à l'exact opposé de Suede, c'est le
disque plus que le groupe qui porte la culotte, "So Tonight That I Might See"
beaucoup plus mystérieux et intéressant à rencontrer que Roback et
Sandoval, traîne-la-mort de Californie. Lui, minable et à ses pieds,
admirant de loin son étoile inaccessible, pauvre couillon toujours sous le
balcon, incapable de grimper. Une Hope Sandoval totalement adulée par
Dave Roback, pauvre con à genou : devant elle, devant sa voix, devant ses
caprices. "Je l'ai toujours à l'esprit quand je compose, je veux lui donner du
sur mesure. Mais même si je n'étais pas là, elle aurait toujours autant de
talent, sa musique pourrait se passer de moi. Par contre, Mazzy Star ne
serait rien sans elle. J 'aime ses idées, saprésence, ses mots. . . Je l'aime, point. "
........................................................
On Feb. 28, 2020, shortly ater David Roback's death,
Les Inrockuptibles site re-published this same 1993 interview, here:
https://www.lesinrocks.com/2020/02/28/m ... r-en-1993/ adding this new title, and short new intro, QUOTE:
"|Mort De David Roback, Notre Rencontre Lunaire Avec Mazzy Star En 1993 -
David Roback est mort ce 24 février à 61 ans. En 1993, nous avions rencontré le couple paranoïaque et misanthrope de Mazzy Star, Hope Sandoval/David Roback. Récit d’une interview-cauchemar.."




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1993, NOV. 30, L.A. TIMES, MAZZY STAR INTERV.

[thanks go to mazzystar.free.fr webmaster Emma for finding this article & sharing the link
from the L.A. Times' archives, here:
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-30/ ... r-universe
No photos accompany the original article]

Mazzy Star: A Duo Working From Inside Out : Pop: They're bringing their internalized music to a
public stage--this time the Coach House--whether or not they connect with the audience.
November 30, 1993|MIKE BOEHM | TIMES STAFF WRITER

The music on Mazzy Star's new album, "So Tonight That I Might See," is inward and deep.

It seems to flow from the fragmentary consciousness of a mind falling toward sleep during the
last sentient moments of an emotionally wearing day.

This is not the rock of the shake and strut, but of the murmur and sigh.

Guitarist David Roback and singer-lyricist Hope Sandoval, clearly are not folks who have shakes
and struts rattling within their marrow, just waiting to be exorcised in that modern rite, the
rock concert.

Speaking over the phone recently from a tour stop in Vancouver, Canada, the laconic Roback said
that he had no misgivings about the contradictions inherent in playing such internalized music
on a public stage.

He dismissed the notion that an ideal Mazzy Star universe would have a recording studio, fans
willing to sit by their stereos and be drawn into those studio-woven moods, and no tour itineraries
where clinking beer bottles might disrupt the music's suggestive spell.

"No. . . . We like playing live," Roback said. "There are a lot of chance elements, improvisational
elements. The music can succeed whether or not the connection is being made with the audience.
Whether it succeeds for us internally, or makes the connection (with concert-goers) are two
separate issues. When you're connecting, it does definitely add something that we like, and it
does happen a lot. Sometimes it doesn't. We're prepared (to play) even if it doesn't happen."

When he hands over the backstage phone to Sandoval, a different perspective emerges.
*
Roback is a rock veteran, having first recorded in 1983 with Rain Parade, one of the leaders of a
psychedelic revival in Los Angeles whose adherents (the Dream Syndicate and the Three O' Clock
were others) were collectively dubbed the "paisley underground."

He subsequently formed the mid-'80s band, Opal, with Kendra Smith, an alumna of Dream Syndicate.
When she left, Roback turned to Sandoval. Mazzy Star's critically praised debut album, "She Hangs
Brightly," marked her record debut in 1990.

Now in her mid-20s, it is she who has to do the dreaming aloud in concert.

Sandoval said she still finds the stage an uncomfortable place to be--even more so now that she has
an audience that knows her music than in the days when she was an unknown folkie on the Los Angeles
club scene.

"Personally, I have a hard time playing live," Sandoval said softly. "A big part of it is because the
lyrics are really private. . . . I think with this record it's a lot harder to do the whole live thing.

"I think the record is really dark and a lot of it is acoustic, and it seems like a lot of the times
the audience isn't ready for that," she said. "A lot of them are just hanging out, drinking. (There are
times) when you can hear the girl alongside of you (in the audience) talking about her wardrobe or
something. It gets that way when you get kind of popular. You get all these different kinds of people,
and some don't care.

"I used to get really hostile about it," she added. "I used to just lose my temper and tell the audience
to shut up. On this tour, I've been sort of holding it in. If I'm onstage and the audience seems really
noisy, I'll turn to the band and say, 'We're not doing 'Into Dust' (an acoustic number) tonight.

"When I started out playing live, it was different," said Sandoval, who began performing in her teens.
"I felt good about it. Nobody knew who I was. I just opened for so-and-so. Now, I'm playing to people
who are coming out to see the band. There's too much attention on the band and me. It's sort of hard
to concentrate and just relax, because a lot of people know the records, and they sort of have this
piece of you almost. It just seems really weird. I don't understand it myself."

Thrown by the prospect of revealing herself to an audience, Sandoval greets an interviewer's questions
about her songs' themes the way most people react to beggars in the street. Mainly, she just wishes
they weren't there.

As the album progresses, desires and desires unfulfilled unfold in a flickering play of shadow and light.
Darkness descends quickly from the start ("Fade Into You"). Hope emerges in "Blue Light," which longs
for connection with a "best friend" who has shining eyes. Such connection, however, seems beyond the
emotionally paralyzed narrator's reach.

A chill, deathly stillness enfolds "Into Dust." But on the next, and concluding track, "So Tonight That
I Might See," Sandoval seems to be praying for a restoration of absent light during a murmured mantra
that calls to mind the incantatory song-poems of Patti Smith.

Roback isn't inclined to say much about Mazzy Star's musical guiding lights. On various tracks, you get
echoes of the Doors at their spookiest and the Stones and Velvet Underground at their most played-out,
along with traces of old English balladry, and a skewed appropriation of Chicago blues crunch on
"Wasted," the album's most assertive song.

"A few of our songs have organs, so people say it reminds them of the Doors," Roback said in a dismissive
tone. "There is sort of a tradition (that the band draws upon), but the essence of what we do is not to
recreate something from the past at all."

As to the name Mazzy Star, Roback assures a questioner that it does have a specific meaning, and that he
and Sandoval have no intention of divulging it.

"So much about music is overdetermined by television and what people write and say about it," he said.
"You have to leave something to people's imagination, so they feel they can participate. Music is music.
We don't want to be part of that over-determination. We feel you should be able to shut your eyes and
listen to it."

* Mazzy Star, St. Johnny and That Dog play tonight at 8 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano,
San Juan Capistrano. $15. (714) 496-8930.

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1993, NOVEMBER, RADIO STUDIO SESSION, VPRO, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, MAZZY STAR INTERV.
(TRANSCRIPTION)

[Mazzy Star as a trio (Hope, David, & Will) did this radio session, playing three songs,
Ride It On, Into Dust, & Halah, with a five minute interview section after the first song,
Ride It On. The interviewer asks questions in Dutch which I can neither understand nor
transcribe, so I've transcribed only Hope's & David's answers, not the questions.
The audio file of this recording is findable for downloading in the Bootlegs list thread in this Forum.
I've also upped it to youtube, here: http://youtu.be/tNRg4_9fMKA ]
.............................................

Qu. (interviewer speaks in Dutch)

Hope: "Well, because there are so many horrible things happening in our world,
you know, and most people, especially in music, rock music, are just, you know, it just
seems like they're celebrating something, you know, maybe celebrating all the money that
they're making, I don't know"

Qu. (in Dutch)

Hope: "I think it's always been that way"

Qu. (in Dutch)

Hope: "Well, maybe once in a while"

Qu. (in Dutch)

David: "I, I don't think you did that. You know that interviews are difficult,
and when - it certainly wasn't an insult but sometimes they don't, they don't
touch on what's really going on with the music, through no fault of the interviewer,
as much as they might, and maybe on some level we, it's, we don't want them to"

Qu. (in Dutch)

David: "The subjects never change. There, there are only a few subjects in life like love,
and mortality, and, uh, it just is the matter of the climate of the day how, how they're
answered, 'cause they, they really have no answer"

Qu. (in Dutch)

David: "We're actually, you know, we're musicians, and, and um, you know, we, we,
I think we'd rather not, you know, have to do interviews at all if we didn't,
you know, really have to because, um, it's just, it just, um, that's just not
where, where we're at."

Qu. [Someone else with an American accent, likely a Capitol Records handler, interjects
with a comment/question to David]: "...Excuse me, can we just move off of the negative part
of the bad, you know, interviews and stuff and go into the positive, you know,
what we like instead of what we don't like?"

Qu. (in Dutch)

David: "Oh, we like playing music, and that's really why we're here, you know
We're here to play our songs and this is actually our, you know, first concert tour
with Europe, so it's really very exciting for us. We played in Paris last night, and um, you know,
it's, it's exciting because I think when we were in the studio we were sort of a little bit
more focused on our acoustic side, or today when we did this radio show here. But when we
do our live show,we, we, we're, we're involving more electric instruments, and it's really
quite a, a thrill for us to be, you know,taking this, these ideas that we have and, um, you know, playing,
um, with a full band, and it's really, it's, it's very, uh, you know, sort of an adventure, really"
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...........................................................................................................................
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1993, DEC., RAY GUN mag, INTERV. W. HOPE
Ray Gun issue no. 12
One photo accompanies the original article, a photo of Hope. Photo
credit: Melodie McDaniel. I made this text transcript from a photo of the
magazine pages showing the full text. It, plus the photo of Hope, were
posted to Instagram May 23, 2019 by @raygunmagazine, here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx1HaejHndu
In answer to my question I posted for them at Instagram, they said what they'd posted to Instagram is the entire 1993 article. In the Instagram photo of the mag pages, a few of the
words are hard to discern. Words I'm not sure of, I placed in square brackets with
a question mark [?].
........................................................

Mazzy Star, by Karen Woods

The photographs give no clues. What you see is a pretty woman in a dress,
gazing politely into middle distance with a detached looking man in the
background. These people can be anyone, anywhere, thinking about anything.

Actually, they are Mazzy Star. Instrumentalist David Roback and vocalist
Hope Sandoval are intensely private people who obviously feel - perhaps rightly -
that the music they create should speak for itself, who can't - or won't
understand the constant demands to explain, explain, explain. So usually
they just...don't.

Yet they have gotten away with it since releasing the critically acclaimed
She Hangs Brightly in 1990. The music that comes out of this intensely private
partnership offers an articulate, [natural-?]
explanation of who they are with languid, dreamy melodies and uncomplicated
arrangements with Sandoval's soporific vocals drifting lullaby-like over the top.
Mazzy Star could be the antidote to an overdose of teen spirit.

Considering Roback's background, none of this is a surprise. With Rain Parade
he was one of L.A.'s paisley underground, itself a kinder, gentler answer to the
harder movement it countered. He then went on to form Opal with former
Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith, releasing an EP and an album on Rough Trade.

After the demise of Opal, Mazzy Star made She Hangs Brightly, still in the same
vein, but darker and more melodic. Three years on, Mazzy Star has moved from an
independent to a major label, is ready to launch So Tonight That I Might See on
the [world-?] and still are not willing to talk about it. After an
abortive attempt at a phone interview with both Roback and Sandoval - even though
all three of us live here in Los Angeles - we try again with just Sandoval.
It works out, but she speaks so quietly at first I keep checking the level
on the recorder, scribbling notes to myself at the same time.

I know that Sandoval is a native Angelino. I did not know she had been in a band
before. "I was doing a folk thing called Going home with another girl, Sylvia Gomez,"
she says. "She played guitar and we used to write songs and do shows around L.A.
[not-?] coffeehouses, but places like McCabe's and the Anti-Club."

She and Roback first met almost ten years ago, when Sandoval was still in high
school. "I met him through Kendra Smith. He and Kendra were both interested in
Going Home, and David asked us if we could record a record, because he really
liked it and he thought maybe we could get a record deal." She gives an almost
audible shrug. "But no one was really interested. I guess it was really the wrong
time for what we were doing, they don't really want to take chances on things like
that. Really mellow, just a guitar and a voice." A short, ironic pause. "But now,
of course, I guess people are interested."

When he and Roback decided to work together as Mazzy Star, she says the
partnership was both spontaneous and unselfconscious. "It clicked right away
because we like the same kind of music. We do have pretty much the same taste,
so we wanted to do the same thing. We just basically started playing together -
we just did it, we didn't talk about it."

Sandoval writes lyrics, Roback does most of the music, but she also plays guitar,
and keyboards as well. "But I'm not traditionally schooled, I just play by ear,"
she says. I play guitar out of necessity to write music, although I do plan to
play a little bit on tour for this record." Considering the imagery
and literacy and intimacy of her lyrics, I wonder if she writes poetry as well:
"No, I don't. I don't know a thing about it."

When the conversation drifts finally to music in general, not Mazzy Star, she
becomes almost voluble. I'm not quite prepared for this, and I have a page and a
half full of completely illegible notes. "I listen to people like June Tabor.
I think she's really [inspiring-?], really, really good. And Nina Simone, those
are my favorites. And Billie Holiday, of course, and Kendra Smith. I really like
her voice. I like things I can get into for that moment," she adds dismissively
when I notice they are all women.

"It's not that I'm closed minded," she says. "I just find myself listening to
the same things over and over. I have a really small collection of CDs. I
just don't really know what goes on. We're distant from the music scene. It's
not a conscious thing, that's just the way it is."

I start to ask why, then realize she's already answered the question, Mazzy Star
style. That's just the way it is. But she answers it again, without being asked.
"The music scene, especially here, is so different now, in comparison to what it
was like in the early Eighties. Even though I wasn't working with David then, we
consider that to be more of our scene, bands like Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade,
Green On Red. I don't go to shows that much, because there just aren't that many
people I want to see." She does mention Luna, "because I loved Galaxie 500," and The
Red House Painters. Neither surprises me.

The music Sandoval likes is the music she and Roback make: moody, "for that moment"
music that is [too often-?] labeled "introspective," for lack
of a better word. But there is definitely a brooding quality...So if the word fits...
"I never really thought about it," Sandoval says. "I guess people will listen to it,
and it might make them feel a little melancholy or depressed. I don't know if that's
a good thing or a bad thing. We don't think about it that much."

Pure self expression rather than an attempt to communicate. "Yeah." So much for
my theory. "That's the way it is with everybody, when you think about it,"
says Sandoval. "When people put records out, there is no way they are going to know
what the audience is going to think. If they sit and wonder, What kind of song
should I write? What am I trying to get people to feel? They're just projecting
their own feeling onto the people they think they're making records for.
What they're really trying to do is satisfy themselves." She considers this
for a moment. "That's basically what we try to do. We just try to get ourselves
happy."
.................................................................................
[Below is the comment @raygunmagazine included with their May 23, 2019 Instagram
posting of this 1993 article, QUOTE]:
"Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star by frequent RayGun photographer Melodie McDaniel for
Issue #12 (Dec/Jan, 1993 [Dec. 1993]). Another early RayGun contributor, Karen Woods
wrote the feature for this special 'LA Issue.' Mazzy Star would grace the cover of
RayGun a few years later, also shot by Melodie. Photographing them was a much more
enviable task than trying to get anything compelling out of an interview."

[Contrary to what the @raygunmagazine suggests above, I'd say Hope's responses in
this interview to questions are more informative, elaborate, and thoughtful than
usual for her in a 1990s era interview].

Image

Image

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1994-03-30 (DENVER) WESTWORD site, article/interv. w. David Roback
[no photos accompany this article]
https://www.westword.com/music/the-quiet-man-5053835

THE QUIET MAN
MICHAEL ROBERTS | MARCH 30, 1994

David Roback, the guitarist and conceptualist behind the mood band Mazzy Star, doesn't reveal much about himself--and you get the feeling that he'd like to retract the little he accidentally divulges. When penning songs, he leaves the lyrics to his co-writer, vocalist Hope Sandoval, and when responding to questions he tends toward variations on the answer, "I don't know." As in, "I don't know if music is overanalyzed or underanalyzed." Or, "I don't know if what we do takes more or less intensity than something else." Or, perhaps more to the point, "I don't remember a best or a worst interview."

Then again, it's hard to blame Roback for his reticence. The spacey, indefinable music found on So Tonight That I Might See, Mazzy Star's latest album on Capitol Records, is as wispy as a puff of smoke. Weight it with too much baggage, intellectual or otherwise, and it may float away on the gentlest breeze. Accept it as it is and it likely will seduce you with its subtleties, tempt you with its textures and leave you hungry for more even before the last note fades.

Roback probably realizes this, but that doesn't mean he'll elaborate on it. He delivers a solid "no" when asked if he's being evasive simply because he fears he'll besmirch the enigmatic qualities of the sounds he's made by describing them. "When you start out to be a musician," he notes, his voice a halting monotone, "you do what you do musically, and there's really no obligation to explain. People sometimes expect an explanation, and sometimes you have something to say about what you did. And sometimes you don't."

Amend that last statement to read, "And almost always you don't," since throughout his career Roback has responded to most requests for exegesis with impenetrable silence. For that reason, his fans have few clues about Roback's musical journey beyond the albums that bear his name.

It was the early Eighties when Roback first came to the public's attention, thanks to his presence in the Los Angeles-based band Rain Parade. On recordings such as the 1983 disc Emergency Third Rail Power Trip and an EP from the following year, Explosions in the Glass Palace, Roback and company constructed layer upon layer of psychedelic guitar washes that seemed to flow effortlessly into one another. Since the most obvious touchstones for this approach were the Velvet Underground, the Doors, Love and other progressive late-Sixties acts, enterprising scenesters pegged the band as a standard-bearer for a new L.A. movement dubbed the paisley underground. While Roback didn't exactly promote this label--"I thought it was more of a journalistic angle than anything else; the kind of thing that goes on all the time in the media," he says--he helped create the impression that a close-knit cadre of performers was pushing the trend on Rainy Day, the single most memorable document from this period. Together with former Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith, Three O'Clock lead vocalist Michael Quercio and Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs (still a year away from becoming a temporary MTV star), Roback oversaw the production of a handful of graceful, idiosyncratic cover songs. Hoffs's versions of Lou Reed's "I'll Be Your Mirror" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" were particularly beautiful, and Roback's blistering take on Pete Townshend's "A Quick One" put the lie to critics who suggested he couldn't rock out.

With the dissolution of Rain Parade, Roback briefly joined forces with Smith, drummer Keith Mitchell and guitarist Juan Gomez in a group called Clay Allison; the fruits of this collaboration can be found on Fell From the Sun, a 1984 EP issued under the first three members' names. The core of that band later took on the moniker Opal and put out a disc called Happy Nightmare Baby. Smith split during a tour to support the platter, and as a replacement Roback recruited Hope Sandoval, whom he had met while working in the studio with Going Home, an act Sandoval had formed while still attending high school. By 1990 the membership had solidified to the degree that Roback tagged the group with yet another new handle: Mazzy Star.

The 1990 release She Hangs Brightly, initially issued by Rough Trade and now available on Capitol, shows Roback exploring familiar musical territory, but his work shows signs of experimentation and growth. For example, "I'm Sailin'" displays the kind of country influences that the Cowboy Junkies brought to a wider audience, while "Ghost Highway" is built upon a more conventional (and even catchier) pop-guitar riff. Roback modestly stays in the background of most tracks, allowing Sandoval's naturalistic singing to set the tone. But it's Roback's musical settings--which simultaneously seem intricately planned and wholly organic--that make Brightly stick in one's mind.

The cult following that sprang up in the wake of the album was large and rabid enough to attract industry-wide attention; as a result, Mazzy Star is the first of Roback's groups to appear on a major label. Rather than responding to the possibility of reaching a larger audience by smoothing out his sound, though, Roback delivered to Capitol executives a follow-up that is, if anything, even more challenging than its predecessor. So Tonight That I Might See drips with psychedelic influences, but Roback's echo-laden studio work is so idiosyncratic that it manages not to sound like a simple reproduction of a previous era's styles. More important, songs such as "Fade Into You," "Wasted" and a cover of Arthur Lee's "Five String Serenade" are moving, mysterious and as fragile as glass figurines.

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In Roback's view, Tonight is so delicate because "we had stopped playing live concerts for a while. That's why the album has some more acoustic songs on it. In that sense, maybe there is a little bit of a different feel to it." He adds that he felt under no pressure to shorten the lengths of his compositions so that they would be more radio friendly: "It's not true that everybody who listens to music just wants to be entertained for two minutes and that's it. People have a lot of different interests in music, and I think that a lot of times that's forgotten, because maybe that's not where the money is happening."

Beyond these observations, Roback avoids discussing specific elements of the recording. Hell, he avoids discussing the specifics of just about everything; he claims that the majority of questions he hears are too general, but he has no opinion on those that aren't. In fact, the topic that gets the most reaction from him is not music, but drugs. Upon being asked if he advocates the use of narcotics, this leader of a band that makes what many listeners feel is the perfect music to trip to replies, "I don't want to suggest to people that they should start smoking crack. That would be a totally insane, totally destructive thing. But on the other hand, I think there are different types of drugs, and some are worthwhile. And I think that those drugs sometimes add a dimension to people's lives that may or may not be there without them."

Have drugs added a dimension to your life, David?
After a long pause, Roback answers, "Yes."
Thank goodness he didn't say, "I don't know."

Mazzy Star, with Acetone. 8 p.m. Friday, April 1, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, $11, 290-

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-1994, April 1, SEATTLE TIMES ARTICLE/INTERVIEW (W. DAVID ROBACK)

[This article was found at Seattle Times archives, here:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=1903283 .
No photos accompany the original article]

Seattle Times, April 1, 1994
Mazzy Star: Wide-Ranging Explorations

By Ken Hunt

Concert preview:
Mazzy Star and Acetone, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Moore Theatre; $10.77; 628-0888.

Mazzy Star approaches its music the way a medieval architect might have
approached designing a cathedral.

Here, a sumptuous layering of elements would be appropriate, while another
section would benefit from an airy quality. A reference to a period long gone
might be coupled with a design of timeless quality. The effect is one of complete
immersion.

Mazzy Star's broad and subtle explorations within the genres of blues, folk, rock
and psychedelia produce just such an absorption on its two albums,
"She Hangs Brightly" and last year's "So Tonight That I Might See." From the rich,
reverberant layering of "Halah" to the ethereal folk of "Ride It On" to the
country-tinged "Fade Into You," Hope Sandoval's soured-innocence vocals and
David Roback's guitar orchestrations create a mood like a sad, but pleasantly
remembered, dream.

While Sandoval and Roback form the core of Mazzy Star, they record and perform
with a stable group of musicians, including keyboards, bass, guitar, drums and the
occasional cello. The extended band is essential to the execution of the music,
Roback said. "Once Hope and I have a song, we get together with people in the
band; each song's a little different, and we experiment. A lot of times it comes
together the first time we play it with people."

Mazzy Star formed in the late '80s after the demise of Roback's previous band,
Opal. That band wrote in a stricter psychedelic vein and received above-ground
attention for such eerie introspections as the album "Happy Nightmare, Baby."
Roback met Sandoval when he produced an album by Sandoval's acoustic band,
Going Home. "Opal was a different band, and Hope and I wanted to start over,"
he said.

In 1990 the band released "She Hangs Brightly" - named after the Opal-esque
centerpiece song - to a froth of critical praise. The attention revived when the
band moved from independent label Rough Trade to the giant Capitol and re-released
that album the following year. The next two years passed in near-seclusion, writing
songs and lyrics, Roback said. "We took some time off to experiment with different ideas."

The heavier blues emphasis of "So That Tonight I Might See" grew naturally from
seeds within the group's style, Roback said. "It's not like we set off to change what
we were doing; it's just what we were into doing this time," he explained. Of the
music's organic feel, Roback said, "I think we tend to favor acoustic instruments
and tube amplifiers."
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MTV Interview, May 22, 1994
A fragment of a longer interview that preceded the MTV broadcast
of the song "Bells Ring." This snippet from David is all that's available
from the video files I have. This comes from a video webmaster Emma found &
shared in the forum here and which I've upped to youtube, here:
https://youtu.be/aVOrOs37jl4

The interview snippet is:
QUOTE from David: "When I first started working with Hope,
I always felt, wow it would be really fantastic to play guitar
with Hope someday, and then, you know, the time was right we just
started doing it. We just, it just, uh, happened right away. We
just started doing it."
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-1994, JUNE or JULY (likely date) - Mazzy Star ITV Network TV INTERVIEW, UK, The Big E show, with Hope & David.
Taken from a video recording. (See details posted below the interview text)
........................................................

[Transcript from video recording of interview]:

HOPE: I think it, it is pretty difficult for us to do promotional stuff. We're sort of introverted people, so, it is pretty difficult.

HOPE: We like to experiment a lot, so-. I think if you gave us three years to record a record, to write, record it, produce it, we would take the three years. That's what I think.
DAVID: Yeah, but we would, we would probably end up recording several records in that time, and just selecting, you know. See like any-
HOPE: Changing our minds constantly [chuckles]
DAVID: Yeah, we did, we do a song, you know, given a different day, you know. We'd probably do it differently. I think anybody would, anybody really would

HOPE: I like to sing. It can be a problem 'cause when you're, it, it automatically makes you the, the front person for the band, even though you might not want that. Even though your, your partner's just as responsible for everything. But, you know, everybody seems to focus on the singer.

HOPE: We've had bad reviews too, um. I mean, of course, you know, when anybody gets insulted
in any kind of way, you know, it affects you, so, in that sense, yeah, you know, it does affect us, but-
DAVID: I don't think we take it too seriously
HOPE: Yeah
DAVID: You know, because that's not really who we, you know, we're not making music for the critics. And, um, it's not very, really ultimately very important to us whether they like it or not. I mean-
..........................................

Above is text of the TV interview segments with Hope Sandoval and David Roback transcribed from a video on you tube from a late night British TV show called The Big E, on ITV network, likely broadcast June or July 1994. It was broadcast with the four short interview segments you see above interspersed with scenes from the official colour version of the song Fade Into You.

Presumably, the TV show cherry picked the 4 short segments from a longer interview that was not broadcast in its entirety

My source for the video was a youtube channel called "Doing It For The Vids." Their original upload is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGUzo-hwxOM
As the original yt uploader says, following the interview, there is, QUOTE: "also an advert for So Tonight That I Might See, which I expect was shown during the breaks in the same program, since they were next to each other on my old VHS tape."

The original uploader gives no date for the broadcast. My guess is it's likely from 1994 'cause the TV ad for the album So Tonight That I Might See says "The Album, OUT NOW, Includes 'Fade Into You'." The album was released in 1993, but 'Fade...' became an unexpected hit in 1994. I believe Capitol Records would have been using the belated hit "Fade..." to promote the album in ads in 1994, as we see here. Mazzy Star toured Europe in 1994 during June and July, and played dates in Britain in both those months. So this interview likely dates from June or July, 1994.

A helpful Facebook fan group member alerted me to the video's existence on yt.

I've re-upped the interview to my own Hermesacat yt channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzFDEa3QhOw
because fans were not finding it at its original channel. It had been on yt 6 months and received only 61 views total in all that time. To ensure more fans will find it, I re-upped it.

However, my own yt upload of the video is an edited version. Unfortunately, yt won't allow my own upload to contain content from that same "Fade..." video. Yt blocked worldwide my first upload attempt because of a copyright claim forbidding my upload to contain that content. The TV ad for the album after the interview also contained clips from that "Fade..." music video. I removed those scenes too and retained just the shot at end of the ad that mentions the album.

I also made my own second edit, one that includes all the "Fade..." music video scenes. I also cropped the video in both my edits to remove visible VHS tape tracking error images that appear at the bottom and top of the original video's frame.In the original, after the interview segments end and before the TV ad for the album starts, there are a few seconds of unrelated video I removed. Yt and FB won't let me upload my complete version. But it's been upped to Google Drive where anyone interested can DL it, here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HsBIwl ... sp=sharing

Two screenshots from the TV show video:
Image

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-1994, Sept. - Oct. Issue, EB METRONOM mag no. 50, Mazzy Star interview with Hope & David
(English translation from German original I attempted using multiple translation services and comparing results)
Thanks go to site member Gordon Hobs who found and shared scans of the article pages and cover from the magazine (See p. 4 of this same thread for his post). Gordon also provided this link to a music blog which has a link to a downloadable PDF of the entire magazine issue including the Mazzy Star article. Scroll down the blog page to find it
https://tapeattack.blogspot.com/2020/11 ... KjJh4OaB1E
Text: Reinhard Schielke
Photos: Moni Kellermann

Two photos accompany the article, both of Hope & David, both by Moni Kellerman. One is used on the front cover of the mag.
.................................................

Impressions From the Land of Slow Motion

"Somebody calls you, you answer quite
slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes."
("Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", The Beatles)

"What one cannot speak of, one must remain silent about." (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

Man had warned me: Mazzy Star play gorgeous floating songs, but an interview, if any,
with guitarist David Roback and singer Hope Sandoval is always - no matter
when, where and how it takes place - overshadowed by brusque aversion to journalism per se,
insecure arrogance, as well as an almost pathological, permanent shyness.

Asked how he would describe an interview with the two.
an English colleague once replied: "It's like drinking sand. It's choking you.
You hold your throat while they ignore you in slow motion."

On a hot summer day, I set off for the interview in the even hotter "Rose Club"
in Cologne, where in the early evening hours, one of their three gigs in total on
German soil is to take place.

Once before, around 1988/89, Hope and David made guest appearances here, at that time still under the old name Opal, David's former band. After the departure of singer Kendra Smith, a very young Hope Sandoval took over the vocals for a short time before she and David formed Mazzy Star, with two records to date (She Hangs Brightly", 1990, and So Tonight That I Might See, 1993).

The rather aloof sounds of Opal of a trance-psychedelia experience, transformed into a sound so nightmarishly surreal, and so floating in space, and so not at all in the musical world view of 1994. Mazzy Star play heavy, opiate songs, which slow into a haze of psychedelic kaleidoscopes.

Behind them the unapproachable voice of singer Hope in an aura of loneliness, hopelessness. Melancholy hovers. Music for the Twilight Zone - the rumour goes, that David and Hope go for weeks enclosed in their little studio, not seeing daylight except at dawn to step into the pale neon light of Los Angeles.

THE INTERVIEW
An interview with Hope and David needs a lot of patience, inner balance and few questions.
I am invited into a small, stuffy room above the club.

Their English manager is very nice and tries to address their - let's call them sometimes slovenly - peculiarities as traits to be ignored.

Both answer briefly, and if at all, only after agonizingly long minutes. Answers to questions about records, the studio, and live shows, come short and precise;
questions which arise involving mood, atmosphere, and possible autobiographical influences, end up in
"off", and disappear into infinity between the question and the question after next.

Both sit behind an almost impenetrable invisible wall of silence when it comes to precise things from
Mazzy Star's life. Consequently, there are only two possibilities: The unprepared, occasional journalist gives up after a while (and the two of them would have once again reached their goal), or else you let yourself persist with their question and answer game. So then:

EB/M: If I had to describe what I feel when I hear your music I think of long lonely walks in the moonlight,
of cool summer nights on the shore of a lake, or the music of - Kaleidoscope. Does that even exist at all with you, songs that put you in an emotional state when you write them? That they are an expression of a certain experienced feeling?

(Noise...)

HOPE: What was the the question?

(Replay... )

DAVID: Yes.

HOPE: Yes.

EB/M: You have covered Five String Serenade. The original is by Arthur Lee. Do you know Love, and do you know Arthur's opinion about your recording, in my opinion, a very sensitive version?

DAVID: I know him. We were talking about this song before we went into the studio and recorded the entire album. I once saw Love at 'Raji's' in Los Angeles.

EB/M: When you play live, do you feel you are more attracted to the audience, or are you consciously looking for distance? At your your last concert in this club I got the impression the tight space is more likely to trigger anxiety, an anxiety from...
(Noise... From the open Window, Humid, warm air penetrates into the small room and pushes the sound of passing cars between Hope and David and me. I sit opposite them on the edge of the bed as I catch myself inwardly waiting for the answer).

"Remember, this is live and is just an interview that's a little bit different," my inner voice reassured me. Slowly, almost like in slow motion, she turns her head and answers

HOPE: You mean the distance to the audience?

EB/M: Yes. (Noise...) So a very special atmosphere when you're on stage and feel the tense atmosphere inside you...

HOPE: Yes, it moves inside me.

EB/M: Would you rather be with David working alone in the studio?

HOPE: Yes, we love studio sessions. We spend most time at home.

(A train rattles past and cuts Hope's last word and an uncertain smile.)

EB/M: Hope, you sing a song (Sometimes Always) on the new Jesus and Mary Chain album. How did this collaboration come about?

HOPE: They called me. Actually two years ago. Due to time constraints, collaborations never happened before. This time, after finishing 'So Tonight ...", I was able to listen to a song they'd chosen they wanted me to sing on. I liked it immediately, and I did them the favor.

(I take a little break, and follow up with concepts to confront, rather than questions)

EB/M: Reincarnation?

(Noise...)

DAVID: I think between incarnation and reincarnation
there is no difference.That's all I can say about it.

EB/M: Cocooning? (to cocoon oneself, isolate from the outside world; a horror vision that is becoming more and more a reality thanks to video games, texting, phone sex, etc. Or: If one day no one will be able to have a real conversation)

(Noise... Hope wants to hear the the word again. I define the term. Finally slowly and almost painfully, the answer comes)

HOPE: There are supposed to be people who can live comfortably under these chosen conditions. If they have chosen this path, they have to walk it

EB/M: Future plans?

DAVID: We'll get some more time living in London, write some new songs, and then fly to Frisco

EB/M: Record company?

DAVID: We don't need anyone promoting our music. There are a few people we can trust. The rest are of no interest to us

THE SHOW
"If we're talking abstract visualizations, I see Mazzy Star in terms of letter rather than colours.
We're the colour of the letter Zee - probably a dark, rich colour but it's not a consistent colour, more a colour for every mood." (-David Roback)
[This is a quote the journalist took from a Jan. 5, 1991 Melody Maker interview, and put into his own 1994 article. -BB]

A Mazzy Star concert is an unpredictable gamble of internal and external influences, depending on your own inner attitude, or the mood of Hope and David (in this, the other band members play decoy, no role), as well as the external conditions (in this instance, up to about 55 degrees hall temperature, an almost ideal setting, few people, subdued Light). In the middle of this incubator celebrate Mazzy Star, undeterred. Mazzy Star saw the tense atmosphere. The songs drip, sluggish as beads of sweat from the stage.

Hope seeks almost no eye contact with the audience, lost in thought looking down her microphone, and looking over to David from time to time.

The rest of the band seems not to exist. While David is in a concentrated sitting position demonstrating clean, flowing guitar riffs, Hope is motionless, aside from her tambourine striking against her thigh, and begins an absent minded, hypnotic,
Patti Smith-like voice chant, towards the end of an almost ten-minute number (the title track).

Well over the half the set consists of songs from their two albums, plus some unreleased new pieces, all something more spatial and compact, less transfigured. Musical test balloons.

One more word about Hope: In contrast to Opal's appearance, they have become much more professional, and now have mood swings under better control

Yes, it almost seems as if she plays the role of the lost, traumatic singer, who now and then picks up the guitar, or plays blues tones on the harmonica. What has remained is that detachment, that almost arrogant coolness that Mazzy Star surround themselves with.

Why does one succumb to this inexplicable fascination that emanates from Mazzy Star? Focused nearly only on Hope, one admittedly charismatic singer? But isn't she just a means to a purpose, a catalyst for all songs, only by blind agreement realizable with David Roback?

And what about the rest, four musicians who, for my musical feeling, are just a loose musical supporting program? Interchangeable accessories that can be replaced at any time depending on the mood?

David and Hope often play unannounced acoustic sets before a handful of people in unknown places in L.A.
Or, are they just identifying with unforgotten idols like Nico, Jim Morrison, Tim Buckley, Nick Drake, silhouetted
like ghosts in the musical cosmos of Mazzy Star?

And that they reach that level, that magical aura, even if only for a fraction of a second? For a vanishingly
small moment become one with...?
So tonight that I might see ...
-Reinhard Schielke

Image

Image

Image


..................................................................................
[ORIGINAL GERMAN TEXT]
ES/METRONOM Nr. 50, September/Oktober 1994
MAZZY STAR

Impressionen aus dem Zeitlupenland

"Somebody calls you, you answer quite
slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes." ("Lucy
In The Sky With Diamonds", The Beatles)

"Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen." (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

M an hatte mich vorgewarnt:
Mazzy Star spielen
einfach nur wunderschöne
entschwebende Songs,
aber ein Interview, wenn überhaupt,
mit Gitarrist David Roback
und Sängerin Hope Sandoval ist
immer - egal wann, wo und wie es
stattfindet - überschattet von
schroffer Abneigung gegenüber
dem Journalismus schlechthin,
unsicherer Arroganz sowie einer
fast schon krankhaften permanenten
Schüchternheit. Gefragt,
wie er denn ein Interview mit den
beiden beschreiben würde, antwortete
einmal ein englischer
Kollege: "Es ist, als ob du Sand
trinkst. Es würgt dir nach einer
Weile den Hals, wie sie dich zeitlupenhaft
ignorieren."
An einem heißen Sommertag mache
ich mich auf zum Interviewtermin
in den noch heißeren
"Rose Club" zu Köln, wo in den
frühen Abendstunden einer von
insgesamt drei Gigs auf deutschem
Boden stattfinden soll.
Schon einmal, so etwa 1988/89,
gastierten Hope und David hier,
damals noch unter dem alten Namen
Opal, Davids früherer Band.
Nach dem Ausstieg von Sängerin
Kendra Smith übernahm die damals
blutjunge Hope Sandoval
kurzfristig den Gesangspart, ehe
sie und David Mazzy Star gründeten
und mit zwei Platten ("She
Hangs Brightly", 1990, und NSo
Tonight That I Might See, 1993)
die eher spröden Opal-Klänge in
eine Trance-Psychedelia-Experience
verwandelten, zu einem
Sound, so alptraumhaft unwirklich
im Raum schwebend und so
gar nicht ins musikalische Weltbild
anno 1994 passend.
Mazzy Star spielen schwere,
opiate Songs, welche sich langsam
zu einem Nebel aus psychedelischen
Kaleidoskopen verdichten,
hinter denen die unnahbare
Stimme von Sängerin Hope
in einer Aura aus Einsamkeit,
Hoffnungslosigkeit ung_. Melancholie
schwebt. Music for the
Twilight Zone - es geht das Gerücht,
daß David und Hopc tage,
ja wochenlang nicht ans Tageslicht
gehen, sich in ihrem kleinen
Studio einkapseln und erst bei
Anbruch der Dämmerung ins
fahle Neonlicht von Los Angeles
treten.

DAS INTERVIEW
Ein Interview mit Hope und David
braucht viel Geduld, innere
Ausgeglichenheit und wenig Fragen.
Ich werde in einen kleinen
miefigen Raum über dem Club
geführt. Der englische Manager
ist sehr nett und versucht, die angesprochenen
- nennen wir es
mal salopp - Eigenartigkeiten der
beiden einfach zu ignorieren.
Beide antworten kurz, und wenn
überhaupt, erst nach quälend langen
Minuten. Antworten auf Fragen
nach Platte, Studio, Liveshow
kommen kurz angebunden
und präzise; Fragen, welche sich
mit Stimmung, Atmosphäre, etwaigen
autobiographischen Einflüssen
beschäftigen, landen im
Off, verschwinden in der Unendlichkeit
zwischen Frage und
übernächster Frage.
Beide sitzen
hinter einer schier undurchdringlichen,
unsichtbaren Mauer des
Stillschweigens, wenn es um präzise
Dinge aus dem Leben von
Mazzy Star geht.
Folglich gibt es nur zwei Möglichkeiten:
Der unvorbereitete
Gelegenheitsjournalist gibt nach
einer Weile entnervt auf (und die
beiden hätten mal wieder ihr Ziel
erreicht), oder aber man läßt sich
konsequent auf ihr Frage- und
Antwort-Spielchen ein. Also
dann:
EB/M: Wenn ich beschreiben
sollte, was ich bei eurer Musik
fühle, denke ich an lange einsame
Spaziergänge im Mondlicht, an
kühle Sommernächte am Ufereines
Sees oder an die Musik von
Kaleidoscopc. Gibt es das überhaupt
überhaupt
bei euch - Songs, die euch
in einen emotionalen Zustand
versetzen, wenn ihr sie schreibt?
Die Ausdruck sind für ein bestimmtes
erlebtes Gefühl?
(Rauschen ... ) Hope: "Wie lautete
die Frage?"
(Replay ... ) David: "Ja.
Hope: "Ja.
EB/M: Ihr habt NFive String Serenade"
gecovert, im Original
von Arthur Lee. Kennt ihr noch
Love, und kennt ihr auch Arthurs
Meinung zu dieser, wie ich finde,
sehr einfühlsamen Version?
David: "Ich kenne ihn. Wir unterhielten
uns über diesen Song,
bevor wir ins Studio gingen und
das gesamte Album einspielten.
Love habe ich mal im 'Raji's' in
Los Angeles gesehen.
EB/M: Wenn ihr live spielt, fühlt
ihr euch eher zum Publikum hingezogen,
oder sucht ihr ganz bewußt
die Distanz? Bei eurem letzten
Konzert in diesem Club hatte
ich den Eindruck, die räumliche
Enge löst bei euch eher ein
Angstgefühl, eine Beklemmung
aus...
(Rauschen... Aus dem offenen
Fenster dringt schwül warme Luft
in den kleinen Raum und schiebt
das Geräusch vorbeifahrender
Autos zwischen Hopc und David
und mich. Ich sitze ihnen gegenüber
auf der Bettkante und ertappe
mich dabei, wie ich innerlich
auf die Antwort lauere. 'Denk'
daran, das hier ist live und das
etwas andere Interview', beruhigt
mich meine innere Stimme. Ganz
langsam, fast wie in Zeitlupe,
dreht sie ihren Kopf und antwortet.)
Hope: "Du meinst die Distanz
zum Publikum?•
EB/M: Ja. (Ra~schen ... ) Also
eine ganz besondere Stimmung,
wenn du auf der Bühne stehst und
quasi die angespannte Atmosphäre
in dir spürst...
Hope: "Ja, es bewegt sich in
mir."
EB/M: Ist es dir denn lieber, mit
David allein im Studio zu arbeiten?
Hope: "Ja, wir lieben Studiosessions.
Wir verbringen die meiste
Zeit zu Hause.
(Ein Zug rattert vorbei und zerschneidet
Hopes letztes Wort und
ein unsicheres Lächeln.)
EB/M: Hopc, du singst ein Stück
("Sometimes Always") auf dem
neuen Jesus And Tue Mary
Chain-Album. Wie entstand diese
Zusammenarbeit?
Hope: "Sie riefen mich an. Eigentlich
schon vor zwei Jahren.
Aus zeitlichen Gründen kam es
vorher nie zu einer Zusammenarbeit.
Dieses Mal, nach Beendigung
von 'So Tonight ... •, konnte
ich mir in aller Ruhe einen von
ihnen ausgewählten Song anhören,
auf dem ich singen sollte. Er
gefiel mir sofort, und ich tat ihnen
den Gefallen. •
(Ich lege eine kleine Pause ein,
um sie anschließend mit den
nächsten Fragen, vielmehr Begriffen
zu konfrontieren .)
EB/M: Reinkarnation?
(Rauschen .. . ) David: "Ich glaube,
zwischen Inkarnation und ReInkarnation
gibt es keinen Unterschied.
Das ist alles, was ich dazu
sagen kann.
EB/M: Cocooning? (sich einhüllen,
von der Außenwelt abkapseln;
eine immer mehr zur Realität
werdende Horrorvision dank
Videospielen, Bildschirmtext,
Telefonsex etc. Oder: Wenn eines
Tages niemand mehr in der
Lage sein wird, ein richtiges Gespräch
in natura zu führen ... )
(Rauschen... Hope möchte das
Wort nochmal hören. Ich präzisiere
den Begriff. Schließlich
kommt langsam und fast
schmerzhaft die Antwort.)
Hope: "Es soll Leute geben, die
unter diesen gewählten Bedin-
gungen leben können. Wenn sie
diesen Weg einmal gewählt haben,
müssen sie ihn auch gehen.
EB/M: Zukunftspläne?
David: "Wir werden noch einige
Zeit in London wohnen, ein paar
neue Songs schreiben und dann
nach Frisco fliegen.
DIE SHOW
"Wenn wir über abstrakte Vergegenwärtigung
von dem sprechen,
was Mazzy Star wirklich darstellen,
so sehe ich die Band im Kontext
von Buchstaben und der dazugeordneten
Farbe. Wir sind die
Farbe des Buchstabens Z - sicherlich
eine dunkle, kostbare
Farbe. Aber es ist keine gleichmäßig
bleibende Farbe, eher eine
Farbe für die komplette Stim mungsskala.
(-David Roback)
Ein Konzert von Mazzy Star ist
ein unberechenbares Vabanquespiel
innerer und äußerer Einflüsse,
abhängig von der eigenen inneren
Einstellug bzw. Stimmung
von Hope und David (in diesem
Falle spielen die anderen Bandmitglieder
keine Rolle) sowie den
äußeren Bedingungen (in diesem
Falle bis auf ca. 55 Grad Saaltempcratur
ein geradezu idealer Rahmen,
wenig Leute, gedämpftes
Licht). Inmitten dieses Brutkastens
zelebrieren Mazzy Star unbeeindruckt
Mazzy Star, zersägen
zeitlupenhaft die angespannte
Atmosphäre, die Songs tropfen
träge wie Schweißperlen von der
Bühne.
Hope sucht so gut wie keinen
Blickkontakt zum Publikum, umklammert
gedankenverloren mit
dem Blick nach unten ihr Mikro,
schaut ab und an hinüber zu David,
der Rest der Band scheint
nicht zu existieren. Während David
in konzentriert sitzender Haltung
saubere, dahinfließende Gitarrenriffs
vorführt, schlägt Hope
regungslos ihr Tambourine an
den Oberschenkel und beginnt einen
geistesabwesenden, hypnotischen,
an Patti Smith erinnernden
Sprechgesang, von dem sie erst
gegen Ende einer fast zehnminütigen
Nummer (dem Titelstück)
zurückkehrt. Weit über die Hälfte
des Sets besteht natürlich aus
Songs von ihren beiden Alben
plus einigen unveröffentlichten
neuen Stücken, allesamt etwas
räumlicher und kompakter, weniger
verklärt. Musikalische Testballons.
Noch ein Wort zu Hope: Im Gegensatz
zum Auftritt von Opal ist
sie wesentlich professioneller geworden,
hat jetzt ihre
Stimmungsschwanlrungen besser
im Griff, ja, es hat fast den Anschein,
sie spiele geradezu die
Rolle der weltverlorenen, traumatischen
Sängerin, welche ab
und an auch mal zur Gitarre greift
oder Bluestöne auf der Mundharmonika
anschlägt. Geblieben ist
jene Distanziertheit, jene fast arrogante
Coolness, mit der sich
Mazzy Star umgeben.
Warum erliegt man dieser unerklärlichen
Faszination, die von
Mazzy Star ausgeht? Etwa fokus siert
nur auf Hope, einer zugegeben
charismatischen Sängerin?
Aber ist sie nicht nur Mittel zum
Zweck, Katalysator für sämtliche
Songs, nur im blinden Einverneh men
mit David Roback realisierbar?
Und was ist mit dem Rest,
vier Musikern, welche für mein
Gefühl lediglich ein lockeres mu sikalisches
Rahmenprogramm
bilden? Austauschbares Beiwerk,
je nach Stimmung jederzeit ersetzbar?
David und Hope spielen
oft an unbekannten Orten in L.A.
unangekündigte Akustiksets vor
einer Handvoll Leuten... Oder
sind es einfach nur Rückschlüsse
auf unvergessene Idole wie Nico,
Jim Morrison, Tim Buckley,
Nick Drake, welche silhouettenhaft
und wie Geister im Musikkosmos
von Mazzy Star erscheinen?
Und daß sie jene Ebene,
jene magische Aura, wenn auch
nur für einen Bruchteil von Sekunden,
erreichen? Für einen verschwindend
kleinen Augenblick
lang eins geworden sind mit ... ?
So tonight that I might see .. .
-Reinhard Schielke

**************************************************************************************************************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************************************************************************************************************

-1994, OCT. 6, ROLLING STONE, INTERVIEW WITH HOPE + JAMC RE. JAMC SINGLE, "SOMETIMES, ALWAYS"

[Text of this article was found at defunct, but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star,"
here: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... P-So2N.htm ]

Single of the Moment
The Jesus and Mazzy Chain
Rolling Stone - October 6, 1994
By Matt Hendrickson

If it had been up to William and Jim Reid, the brothers who front the Jesus and Mary Chain,
they wouldn't have chosen "Sometimes Always" to be the first single off their new album,
Stoned and Dethroned.

"It was a surprise to us that people thought it should be a single, because the demo was
so bleak," says William. "Even after we recorded it, it still didn't seem like a single."

"I've given up guessing what could be a single or what couldn't be," says Jim with a sigh.
"Whatever song we think will be a big hit, it never is. What we do now is just make the
record and listen to other people's opinions."

"Sometimes Always" features the hypnotic voice of Mazzy Star lead singer Hope Sandoval.
She's rumored to be the girlfriend of William Reid, to which he curtly replies,
"We're just good friends." The song is a gripping tug of war between Sandoval
(the jilted girlfriend) and Jim Reid (the repentant boyfriend).

The Reid brothers had been waiting for more than three years to record with Sandoval.
"We always really liked her voice," William says. "But we didn't have the song that
could work until 'Sometimes Always.'"

"They sent me the song, and I thought it was really good," Sandoval says.
"[Mazzy Star] were in London, touring, and I went to their studio and met them for the
first time. The recording took two days, and it was really difficult. They produce their
own records, so they were really picky, which is totally understandable. The fun part
was having wine and talking and laughing."

Originally when we conceived the record, we were going to have many more guests on it,"
says Jim. "But for various reasons, it didn't work out, so we just asked people
we really liked." Former Pogue Shane MacGowan also appears, handling the vocals on
the harrowing lament "God Help Me."

Stoned and Dethroned is the Jesus and Mary Chain's sixth release (counting 1988's
B-sides compilation, Barbed Wire Kisses). It was originally planned as an all-acoustic
album, but the band scrapped the idea after a few months of recording. "Everyone
thinks the band is all guitar and feedback," Jim says. "It's quite easy to plug a
guitar into a fuzz pedal and make some interesting sounds. We were trying really hard
not to use electric guitars, and it got to the point where we said, 'This is silly.
Let's just make a record.'"

The band is hitting the road with Mazzy Star this October and is looking forward to a
tour more suited to its tastes than its difficult stint on 1992's Lollapalooza tour.
"Lollapalooza was a big, big mistake," William says with no hesitation . "Aside from
the fact that we hated playing in the daylight, it was supposed to be a meeting place
for people who were different. But we felt different from all the people who were
supposed to be different. It was like everyone was trying to be a professional freak
or weirdo."

"We are freaks and weirdos," Jim stated matter-of-factly. "But we don't make such a
big deal about it."
**************************************************************************************************************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************************************************************************************************************

-1994, OCT.20, ROLLING STONE, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star,"
here: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... P-So2N.htm . It's also found at archived
fan site, Mazzy Star Boulevard, here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110623181 ... lence.html .
mazzystar.free.fr Forum member MikeRMD noticed a clipping of this article for sale on ebay which is how we now know the photo below was included in the original article. I've also embedded a version of the same photo in the "Photos" thread. The version here is less cropped than the other but is slightly poorer resolution/quality]

Rolling Stone - October 20, 1994
Incense and Insolence
Mazzy Star Carry The Torch For ‘60s Psychedelia
And The Importance Of Being Difficult
By Alec Foege

Image

"It was totally unpleasant for me," says Hope Sandoval, Mazzy star’s laconic lead singer.
The dire seriousness with which she makes this confession about her band’s recent appearance
on Late Night with Conan O’Brien is at once touching and unintentionally comical.
"If you’re nervous in front of 500 people—"

Sandoval chooses her every word with utmost care, as if she were baring her soul, and yet
negates each response with a scowl and a sidelong gaze, her dark hair wisping into her eyes.
This time even the cool, beret-wearing David Roback, Sandoval’s songwriting partner and the
guitarist in the group, appears ruffled and tries to catch his band mate’s eye. "They were
nice to us," he says, filling the void with an easy smile. "It wasn’t unpleasant in that way."

After another elliptical lull, Sandoval rejoins the conversation. "They were really nice
to us," she says. "I just get nervous and tight. . . . And it’s so bright. . . . .We’re not
used to all the bright light."

One hour and two bottles of red wine into a friendly but halting conversation that at moments
bears a disconcerting resemblance to the more abstruse exchanges in Waiting for Godot,
Sandoval and Roback have made a few salient points: (1): Regardless of the success that has
recently befallen the group, Mazzy Star do not relish fan idolatry; (2) Mazzy Star prefer to
let the music on So Tonight That I Might See, their second album, speak for itself;
(3) Mazzy Star do not enjoy doing interviews; and (4) performing live, particularly performing
live on television, has a lot in common with a visit to the dentist’s office.

"For me recording is better," says Sandoval. "Live, I just get really nervous. Once you’re onstage,
you’re expected to perform. I don’t do that. I always feel awkward about just standing there and
not speaking to the audience. It’s difficult for me."

Despite a public reticence that verges on the bizarre, Mazzy Star have eked out a bona fide hit
with "Fade Into You" nearly a year after So Tonight That I Might See was first released. Exposure
on MTV’s Buzz Bin and VH-1, as well as Sandoval’s cameo on the Jesus and Mary Chain single
"Sometimes Always," recently eased Mazzy Star’s lush, majestic music into the limelight. They
were even willing to brave an October appearance in front of an arena-size crowd at Neil Young’s
annual Bridge School benefit in San Francisco.

"Things are basically the same," Sandoval says of Mazzy Star’s newfound fame. "We’re just sticking
to our ways. Writing the way we’ve always done it. There’s really no need to change."

Rain Parade, an early Roback band, first hit the scene in 1982 as part of a loose aggregate of
psychedelic ‘60s-influenced guitar bands in Los Angeles – including the Dream Syndicate, the
Bangles, Green on Red and the Three O’Clock –that became known after the fact as the Paisley
Underground. The moniker acknowledged the scene’s two main influences – the Velvet Underground
and Woodstock-era acid rock. Dark, moody and drenched in guitar feedback, Rain Parade’s music was
not merely out of sync with the early-’80s trend toward synthesizer-based New Wave. "They were
the trippiest, most hypnotic of all the paisley bands," recalls Steve Wynn, leader of the now-defunct
Dream Syndicate. "All the other bands in the scene felt some obligation to rock now and then. But the
early Rain Parade played at three speeds: slow, slower and slowest."

Roback left Rain Parade following their first album and formed a quartet called Clay Alison with
Kendra Smith, the original; bassist from the Dream Syndicate. That group, which included Mazzy Star
drummer Keith Mitchell, mutated into a new band, Opal, whose sound was defined by Roback’s spare,
distorted guitar work and Smith’s lyrical voice.

"When I was playing in Opal, we were friends, Hope and I," Roback recalls. "But I don’t think we were
really part of the music scene in the way that people may have perceived it at that point. Actually,
we were both sort of alienated – that’s what we had in common."

The waifish Sandoval had admired Kendra Smith as a teen-age Dream Syndicate fan growing up in
Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, Going Home, a folk duo she formed in 1986 with her friend Sylvia Gomez,
soon caught Roback’s attention; he even offered to produce their first album. Although the resulting
recording was never released (4AD will finally issue the disc next spring), Roback invited Sandoval
to join Opal when Smith left the band midtour. While the new band’s musical precepts remained the
same, Sandoval’s kittenish vocals inspired them to collaborate under a new name – Mazzy Star.

Mazzy Star’s debut, She Hangs Brightly (1990), garnered critical acclaim and cultish attention by
dosing drug-frazzled indie rock with acoustic guitars and a pedal steel. But within a year of the
album’s release, the band’s label, British indie Rough Trade, closed down its stateside operation,
leaving the group without an American label. Capitol snapped up the group and in 1992 re-released
She Hangs Brightly. The band has mined the same sluggishly resplendent vein ever since.

In concert, Sandoval’s wan countenance and commanding alto are undeniably the center of attention;
Roback lurks in the shadows with a virtually anonymous backing band. Although Sandoval and Roback
share songwriting duties, the word chemistry overstates their relationship. For one, Sandoval lives
in Los Angeles; Roback is based in Berkeley, Calif. She’s moody, and he’s withdrawn. Fortunately
their edgy songs often get along fine without them. "For ‘Into Dust,’ David’s guitar part was just
so moving," Sandoval says. "We didn’t even stop and write. He just played the guitar part, I sang,
we recorded it, and that was it. What you hear on the record is basically the first time we did it."

These days, Mazzy Star sell out every show. But you wouldn’t know it from the crowd reaction at the
band’s packed club dates; rock acolytes don’t come much quieter. "They’re understanding that that’s
what it takes to get us to stay out there longer than 30 minutes," says Sandoval. "It’s just like
anything else: If you were talking to a group of people, and everybody was there to listen to you,
it would be rude if five people were having a drink and a loud laugh. Obviously we’re not the
Red Hot Chili Peppers." The particularly subdued "Into Dust" is known within the band as the
"Shush Song," a reference to the devoted fans who shush the uninitiated whenever it is performed.

William Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Scottish band that will begin a five-week U.S.
tour with Mazzy Star on Oct.10, feels that it’s unfair to expect more than music from musicians.
"Some bands – and Mazzy Star and the Jesus and Mary Chain are among them – feel uncomfortable
doing all the other stuff: the business and the bull sessions and doing the deals," he says.
Reid also defends his California friends; notorious reputation for stalling interviews, admitting,
"It’s not the perfect arena to be in if you happen to be a shy person."

Whether Sandoval and Roback’s aloofness is a gambit or a genuine case of the introverted blues
(it’s probably a bit of both), there’s no doubt it’s contiguous to the band’s ethereal, swirling
music. All that is difficult and apprehensive about the pair in person becomes that which is
most splendid in their music. On "Mary of Silence," Sandoval’s echoey voice blends with a
repetitive, funeral organ part as Roback’s combustive guitar plashes in the distance.
"So Tonight That I Might See," the album’s title track, has all the primal drama of the Doors’
"The End" without its mawkishly serious stance. If music is "cinema of the mind," as Roback
likes to say, then Mazzy Star are a beautiful art-house flick dubbed in English, its reels
shown out of order.

"I know Dave pretty well, and I don’t think it’s an act in any way," says Steve Wynn.
"Sometimes when people demand to do things the way they want to do it, it’s taken as
arrogance or snobbishness. It’s really just a matter of wanting to do something the way you hear
it in your head ." To ensure absolute control, Roback produces al*l of Mazzy Star’s recordings.

While little else on the charts indicates a groundswell of dirge-like, introspective music,
enduring interest in the dour, faceless Pink Floyd suggests that supermarket-aisle recognition
is no longer a prerequisite for rock super-stardom. "There’s something nice about being
unknown and anonymous," says Roback. "People who are unpopular or aren’t successful are
making great music all the time. But it’s also interesting to be able to do our concerts
and to realize some of our ideas. So I don’t see success as a negative thing."
*************************************************************************************************************************
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1994, OCT. 28, MAZZY STAR TV INTERVIEW, MUSIQUE PLUS TV CHANNEL, MONTREAL (TRANSCRIPTION)

A transcript I made from a rare Mazzy Star TV interview.
[Later Update Dec., 2020: Previously, videos available I knew of of this TV appearance were partial only, and were missing a section of interview. But recently, a complete recording of this TV appearance turned up from youtuber kns4evers, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TsoLEQFmrU .
Not only does it have the complete interview, it has live performances of two songs, "Bells Ring" and "Ride It On." Previously, I only knew of "Ride It On" from this set. Below, I've added text transcribed from the interview section of the video that had been missing, It turns out it was the first part that was missing]

This Musique Plus (French Canadian music video channel) interview
from Montreal doesn't show a date at the youtube upload but must date from 1994 as the JAMC-Hope duet
"Sometimes Always" single mentioned in it was already out (released July '94),
& the gig can't be from 1995 as there's no record I know of of any Mazzy Star gigs
anywhere in 1995. The interview content shows "So Tonight That I Might See" was the
current release at the time, & that the band had only just started doing some writing & demos for what would become the third album, Among My Swan (1996).The interview notes Mazzy Star was in town to open
for JAMC in Montreal that night & that Hope was to join JAMC
onstage to sing on "Sometimes, Always." A JAMC gigs list here
http://aprilskies.amniisia.com/gigs/gig ... _sort=1994
shows JAMC toured North America Oct., Nov., Dec. 1994. I see just one Montreal
date listed, Oct. 28, 1994 at the venue Metropolis. So, that's the likely date of this TV interview.
The "new" Rolling Stones song Hope mentions liking here may be
"You Got Me Rocking", released as a single in Sept., 1994, from the Voodoo Lounge album.

Although the interviewer asks Mazzy Star questions in English,
Musique Plus is a French language channel, so the interviewer speaks to his audience
in French when introducing the band, & in translating their answers into French on the spot, etc.
.....................................
TRANSCRIPT [Updated Dec. 2020 with previously missing first segment of the interview]:

[The Interviewer Introduces the band in French, and Mazzy Star as a trio [Hope, David, plus Will Glenn] plays "Bells Ring" live in the TV studio, then the interview begins]

INTERVIEWER: Welcome to Musique Plus. Is it tonight on the stage, is it just the three of you, or
you ave other musicians?

HOPE: We have other musicians?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, who?

HOPE: Name them?

INTERVIEWER: Or-, Yeah

HOPE: Um, we have Jill Emery, Suki Ewers, and Keith Mitchell. They're the people

INTERVIEWER: Uh, huh.
On the album, David, I think you've played almost everything, or, ah?

DAVID: Well, the album has a lot of acoustic songs, but on the electric ones we had to bting in a whole band, you know. So it's kind of, a little bit of both, actually.

INTERVIEWER: Uh, huh. It's going to be the same on stage tonight?

DAVID: Yeah, yeah

INTERVIEWER: A good mix of the first and the second album?

DAVID: There'll be some songs from each album

INTERVIEWER: Yeah? Okay

[The interviewer now speaks to the TV audience in French, translating and summarizing what David and Hope said]

INTERVIEWER: The song you're going to play is from your first album. Apparently, people are discovering your first album right now.

HOPE: Um, yeah, apparently so.

INTERVIEWER: Because of "So Tonight That I Might See"? Because it took a while, like ten months before it became gold in the U.S.

HOPE: Yeah

INTERVIEWER: Do you ave an explanation why it took so long?

HOPE: No. No, I have no idea

INTERVIEWER: One of mysteries of life, probably

HOPE: Yeah

[The interviewer now speaks to the TV audience in French]


INTERVIEWER: Ride it On, Mazzy Star

[Mazzy Star as a trio plays "Ride It On" live in the TV studio]

[The interviewer speaks to the TV audience in French]

Interviewer: "Were you born, both, in California?"

Hope: "Yeah, I was born there"

David: (nods head)

Interviewer: "Do you still live there?"

Hope: "Yeah"

Interviewer: "You don't live together?"

David: "Well, we, no, we live in different cities, actually. We haven't been
there much though because we've been, um, traveling. We've been living in London
for the last few months"

Interviewer: "Mm, hm. 'Cause I've, the first time I've, I've heard about your
duo it was from British magazines more than the United States, Were you really
discovered in England, or?"

Hope: "Well, we were on a British label, so we were more popular"

Interviewer: "That's why"

David: "Rough Trade Records"

Hope: "Rough Trade Records"

Interviewer: "Rough Trade. Uh, huh"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French to summarize/translate what's
been said in the interview, so far]

Interviewer: "Also, you, I don't know, you've been labeled, I've read, 'Gothic Country,'
'psychedelic Patsy Cline singing Velvet Underground songs.' What do you think of those labels, uh?"

Hope: "Um"

Interviewer: " 'Cause your music is very smooth"

Hope: "Well, people are always trying to label things, and so we sort of don't pay attention to it
much, you know"

Interviewer: "And what do you say to people who find your music too dark, uh?
Does your music seem like dark to you, or just the way you sing it?"

Hope: "Um, sometimes it seems dark but, I mean, that's part of life, you know,
part of reality, you know, sometimes life is dark, so-"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]

Interviewer: "So, Hope, you've mentioned that your main inf-, often that
your main influence was early Rolling Stones songs?"

Hope: "Um, yeah, like, we listen to, still do listen to early Rolling Stones music"

Interviewer: "But what particular songs in mind, or?"

Hope: "Um, well, um, off 'The Rolling Stones Now' record, um, the song 'Going Home' which is the big inspiration on, not only me, but David, and everybody in the band"

Interviewer: "Do you still listen to the Rolling Stones?"

Hope: "Yeah"

Interviewer: "I mean the new, the new albums?"

Hope: "Yeah. I like that one new song. I don't know the name of it but I like it"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]

Interviewer: "Why are there two versions of the video clip for 'Fade Into You'?
MTV, I guess, was not happy, uh?"

David: "Well, we were experimenting with different things. We did a black and white
version, and we did a, we shot a colour one in the desert. Um, we didn't, we did it
for ourselves, really, with different filmmakers that we liked, and just, you know..."

Hope: "Yeah"

David: "...Just really our own thing"

Hope: "Experimental"

David: "Yeah"

Interviewer: "You shot them both at the same time, or?"

David: "No"

Hope: "No, a couple of weeks apart"

David: "Two months, yeah. They're both interesting in their own right, so-"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]

Interviewer: "Apparently, you've already begun working on a new album, writing
new songs, uh?"

Hope: "Yeah, well, we've done some demos. We started doing demos, ah, um, a few songs
for the new record"

Interviewer: "Do you, do you always write while you're on the road? Do you
record your ideas"

Hope: "Um, yes, we write when we're on the road"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]

Interviewer: "Also, I've read that you'd like to release some very old material you recorded like ten years ago. Who was in Going Home? David, you produced Going Home?"

David: "I was the producer, and that was actually when I first started working with Hope, and Hope was singing with her, with her friend on an acoustic guitar. We recorded quite a few really, um, very interesting songs, and we hope to, um, release them soon"

Hope: "Yes"

Interviewer: "When can we expect this?"

Hope: "Um, I'm not really sure"

David: "Maybe this winter, maybe this winter, probably"

Hope: "Yeah, maybe"

Interviewer: "A full album?"

David: "Yes"

Interviewer: "Under what name"

David: "Oh, it will be under Going Home"

Hope: "Under Going Home"

Interviewer: "Yeah? Okay"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]

Interviewer: "Also, Hope, tell me about your collaboration with The Jesus and
Mary Chain, 'Sometimes, Always' "

Hope: "Um, well, they asked me about, uh, three or four years ago to sing on their
semi-acoustic record, and, um, last year about this time I met with them in their
studio in London, and-"

Interviewer: "The Drugstore?"

Hope: "Right. And we had a few drinks and we recorded it (laughs). And, so, that's it"

Interviewer: "Yeah, and you shot the video with them too?"

Hope: "Yeah. And they asked me to do the video, so-"

Interviewer: "[So, you've liked your end (-?)].And you're gonna sing it tonight onstage with them?"

Hope: "Yeah"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]

Interviewer: "You're going to release a new video, uh, the song 'She's My Baby,' but it seems
there's more interest on the B-side, 'Halah,' and there's a video for that too which
you shot how many years ago?"

Hope: "Uh, about five years ago. Four or five years ago"

David: "Two or three years ago"

Interviewer: "Three years ago"

David: "...But it's been a long time, actually"

Interviewer: "Uh, huh. Thanks a lot for stepping in to Musique Plus. Have fun onstage tonight"

[Interviewer now speaks to his audience in French]
*************************************************************************************************************************
.........................................................................................................................
*************************************************************************************************************************

-1994, NOV., GUITAR PLAYER, DAVID ROBACK INTERVIEW

[Text of this article was found at defunct but but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star,"
here: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... P-So2N.htm ]

Guitar Player, Nov 1994
So Tonight That I Might See
By Chuck Crisafulli
Mazzy Star's music may be dreamy, but it doesn't slumber. The L.A. group's work--often
compared to the Velvet Underground and the early Doors--has the feel of being half
awake, with Hope Sandoval's serene vocals and David Roback's gritty bottleneck lines
swirling in a meditative groove state between dream/logic and full consciousness.

"We always go by feel," says Roback, formerly with early-'80s psychedelic-revivalists
Rain Parade and the elegant space combo Opal. "There's an improvisational element
to what we do. We don't play dots on a page. My approach to the guitar is in response
to the song's feeling. Every song has a certain atmosphere, and our performances
have to be part of that."

There are dark atmospherics aplenty on the band's latest Capitol record, So Tonight
That I Might See. From the melancholy drift of "Fade Into You" to the fractured
blues of "Wasted," Roback evokes moods by stripping his guitar work down to raw,
unsettling essentials. "I never thought that a guitar part had to be complex to
be satisfying," he remarks, "not that complex guitar parts can't be satisfying at
times." He also rejects any absolute truths about guitar playing. "Anybody can do
whatever they want, if it works," he stresses. "That's the bottom line. You're all
right as long as you're playing to the song."

Roback does most of his writing and playing with a Martin 000-28, getting out his
electric jones on a Telecaster. "The Telecaster can create a lot of sounds besides
the one it's most famous for," he says. "It's really a very versatile guitar." He
depends on Fender amps, using an old Deluxe Reverb and a Vibroverb . "I like the warm,
fat sound of tube amps, but size doesn't really matter," he opines. "Guitars can
sound really good through small amps."

Mazzy Star has made quite a splash in alternative circles, but if their moody music
doesn't top the pop charts, that's fine by Roback. "We've found our own way by doing
what we wanted," he shrugs. "We're not interested in being the world's most popular
band. We want to do what we like, and I really don't know how that might fit into
the context of the contemporary music scene. I've never really paid much attention to that."
**************************************************************************************************************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************************************************************************************************************

-1994, DEC., DETAILS MAG, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star,"
here: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... P-So2N.htm
mazzystar.free.fr Forum member MikeRMD noticed a clipping of this article for sale on ebay which is how we now know the photo below was included in the original article. ]

Details: December 1994
Lucky Star
by Caren Myers

"Are you in Mazzy Star?"
The chubby girl with purple hair is poised, piece of paper in hand. Hope Sandoval, the singer
for Mazzy Star, nods faintly. Pleased, the girl turns eagerly to David Roback, Mazzy Star's
guitarist. "And are you in the Jesus and Mary Chain?" There's an embarrassed silence.
Ordinarily, the fact that Hope has been dating the Mary Chain's William Reid would be of
interest only to those select fans for whom indie music is as glamorous as the cast of
Melrose Place. Unfortunately, one of them is here now, looking only slightly crestfallen.

"Will you sign this anyway?" she asks. Hope signs dutifully. That's the first time I've
ever been asked for an autograph," she murmurs. "It's like she's controlling you - for
ten seconds, she's got you doing what she wants you to do." Mazzy Star don't want to do
what people want them to do. It's not that they're so very contrary; they just can't cope.
This summer, their languid, country-inflected single "Fade Into You" wafted onto MTV,
frail and strangely touching. Next to the usual vein-bulging tales of trauma, David's
lonesome slide guitar and Hope's soft, nearly affectless voice sounded pleasingly alien.
Now their second album, So Tonight That I Might See, has gone gold. David and Hope find
this alarming. "We never thought people would like our music," says David. At all? "Well,
we thought maybe a few people would like it." And he means a few. Like five. Preferably
very quiet people who lived very far away. And who, if they came to see Mazzy Star play
live, wouldn't do anything embarrassing like stare at them.

When Mazzy Star released their first album, 1990's She Hangs Brightly, its shivery collage
of slow, sparse blues and sepulchral lyrics retraced a neo-Velvet Underground vein that had
been mined before - by Opal (David's previous band), by the Cowboy Junkies, by the entire
roster of 4AD. But Mazzy Star's ghostly atmospherics and Hope's sullen-child persona made
them moodier pinups than the rest. They found an audience of fans who shrank from alternative
music's new macho flourishes.

So Tonight That I Might See is more of the same, only more so: sadder, more distant. "I could
feel myself growing colder," whispers Hope on "Into Dust". "I could feel my eyes turning into dust."
The record has taken off, maybe because its self-effacing creators don't stamp their own stories
all over its lovely, numbing songs. In an age obsessed with messy revelations of inner pain,
Mazzy Star's eerie, faintly psychedelic lullabies offer a soothing retreat for those weary of
catharsis. Most bands thrive on attention. And if they have to shut themselves away in a studio
for a few weeks a year - well, that's the price of fame. For David and Hope - who like to spend
their breaks from Mazzy Star making even more music together - releasing records, at the risk of
attracting attention, is the price for months undisturbed in the rehearsal room. Ever since Brian
Wilson took to his bed in 1973 and didn't leave until 1975, rock recluses have tended to be either
Syd Barrett-style drug casualties or anonymous agitpropists like the Residents. J Mascis, Dinosaur
Jr's leader, broke the mold: He just didn't like to talk. After J, it was possible to be
spectacularly uncommunicative without even being eccentric. Mazzy Star follow in his footsteps.
Hope passes every question on to David, and David unfurls a full arsenal of minutes-long silences
and vague generalities. Occasionally, for variety, he'll speed things up.

ME: Did you ever...
DAVID: No.

Despite their misgivings, Mazzy Star agree to meet me in a Mexican restaurant in Berkeley, David's
neighborhood. They lope in just late enough to be trendy, in matching dark glasses. Hope's family
is Mexican-American, but she's too self-conscious about her Spanish ("It's real slangy") to speak to the waiter in anything but English. Hope has always been shy. When she was in the fourth grade, her timidity was so severe that she was put into a special education program. Being with the rowdiest kids in the system didn't help, and she eventually refused to go to school at all. The city had to send a home tutor. David and Hope order Bohemia beers, glance at each other, smile fleetingly. Hope props her chin on her hand and gazes at the other diners. There's a pause. Then David touches her arm affectionately. "What are you thinking about?" he asks. Hope looks
at him. "I'll tell you," she says finally, "but I still think it's an invasion of my privacy." She
takes a deep breath. "I was just thinking that a lot of people drink beer with their food."

Hope was born twenty-eight years ago in East L.A., the daughter of a butcher. Her parents both had kids
from previous marriages, so Hope has five half-sisters, three half-brothers, and one full brother.
He's now a punk florist who makes barbed-wire bouquets. Hope met David when she was fourteen, trekking
off to see bands with her friend Sylvia Gomez. David grew up in Hollywood with "a few" siblings. His
parents "weren't musicians". In the early '80s, he formed the trippy Rain Parade with his brother Steven.
Along with the Dream Syndicate, the Three O'Clock, and even briefly the Bangles, they contributed to
an L.A. '60s revival that was dubbed the Paisley Underground. Hope and Sylvia hung around the clubs,
meeting the musicians and getting smuggled in under bouncer's noses. One time they got in by passing
themselves off as go-go dancers for Green on Red. But sometimes they'd get busted for being underage.

Hope still remembers how horrible it felt to stand in the parking lot while the band played inside.
Sylvia went to college, and Hope and David started dating. When Opal split, Mazzy Star became Hope and
David's project. And somewhere along the line, their romance ended. Which makes me wonder if they feel
nostalgic, and whether the dark intimacy of So Tonight That I Might See is about that. I wonder if
David is still in love with Hope. I wonder what it's like spending their time together when Hope's
got William and David's got his memories. I can guess they're not dying to talk about it. So I ask
the simplest question I can think of.

How long did you actually go out?
Hope laughs nervously, glancing at David. David is silent, frowning like he's trying to remember
something. Time passes. Finally he thinks of an answer. "A lot of the things we do are very interesting,
and I think we're very fortunate to be able to do them," he says. Then he leaves for the bathroom.

Once he's gone, a nervous-looking guy with long hair approaches the table. He's clutching the CD of
So Tonight That I Might See.
LONG-HAIRED GUY: Excuse me, but may I swoop down on you with a humble request?
HOPE: Um . . . it depends on what the request is.
LONG-HAIRED GUY: Just some kind words for a frustrated sculptor.

Hope writes him a few kind words ("Hope Sandoval"), shaking her head. "I don't know what's happening here,"
she says. The sculptor thanks her and bows stiffly.
"Your music has touched me," he says.
"That was nice," Hope says wistfully. "Though sometimes I get really nervous and I don't know how to
handle it." She looks genuinely spooked, like she's recalling scenes of Beatlemania-type hysteria.
Don't you want to communicate with these people? "Yeah," says David, who has just returned, "but
sometimes you write a song for one person, and then everybody else hears it later."
And is that person usually Hope?
David shifts warily in his seat. "I think," he says slowly, "there's a sense of each other's presence
often in our work, whether it's directly about one another or not . There's a sense . . .
of . . . a presence."
We're all quiet again. Hope and David stare into space, in different directions. There's a tangible
feeling of loss - the things that go unsaid still hang between them. And now I think I can see what
touched the sculptor.

Image

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........................................................................................................................
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-1994, DEC., MUSICIAN mag, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW with Hope and David, by Dave Domartino

[Thanks go to Facebook fan group members Jim Johnston and David Morgan for posting photos and scans
of the mag pages from this interview at FB. I made this text transcript from those photos. David's band photos are clearest so I've reproduced those here. There are 5 band photos in the article. Emma's post below this one is of the photos David posted to FB. I include my own slightly different edits of some of the same photos. That's why there are duplicates]

[The table of contents page at the front of the mag says]:
MAZZY STAR: Pop's avatars of atmosphere want to make music, not conversation. But they're not shy about telling you why

Image

Image

Scant feet from San Francisco's landmark City Lights bookstore sits Vesuvio, a combination bar and coffee-house. From it, immediately prior to my entering, a familiar figure emerges. He is Paul Kantner, once of the local sensations Jefferson Airplane, now of the better known group Just a Guy Leaving a Bar. Who cares? After all, once inside I will await the entrance of Mazzy Star, a popular " acombo led by David Roback, whose onetime group Rain Parade helped usher in the so-called "Paisley Underground" of early '80s L.A. rock. Translation: They played psychedelic music.nYou know, like "She Has Funny Cars." No, wait. Wrong band.

Inside Vesuvio, I wait frustrated for over an h
our, contemplating the "difficult interview" ahead. For I have been told many that Mazzy Star are precisely that. By the person who wrote the bio for their first album ("Absolutely the worst interview I ever did.") By a writer who'd once spoken to them ("absolutely hellish") and would call me the next day to see how "it" went. Even by their publicist, who, in theory, actually gets paid to say so.

But I have done my share of difficult interviews. And now I have waited in a San Francisco bar and, in longhand, written over 75 questions that even in the worst case scenario - i.e. "yes," "no" and the intriguing "I dunno" - should yield one hell of an informative interview. And I have sat at a table, upstairs at Vesuvio, with a behatted David Roback, and a very beautiful Hope Sandoval, and had conversation.

Like, what did David Roback think of the albums Rain Parade made after his departure?

"I never thought about it."

Did Roback find it odd that a former Rain Parade partner would later make an album with Crazy Horse?

"I never heard that."

Pregnant pause.

Background music, courtesy of the Vesuvio public address system: James Brown, "I Feel Good."

But no, this is not another interview horror story, and Mazzy Star are as cooperative as they can possibly be, given the peculiar circumstances of our quiet conversation - in a crowded, noisy bar - and the even stranger turn of events in this, their fourth year together. For this is the year Mazzy Star are happening, biz-wise. They're happening because MTV has taken to them because "Fade Into You," the opening track on "So Tonight That I Might See," is a hit a year after the same album was released, and mostly, it seems, because nearly anything can be a hit these days if it sounds like something new.

"I wouldn't have expected it," says Roback of Mazzy Star's sudden pop-chart emergence.
"I don't really see how we fit into the contemporary music scene." Still, when he and Sandoval left the States earlier this year for London - where they lived, recorded, played and hung out for five months - their second album seemed to have come and gone. Now it's back. "I think it's kind of funny," says he.

Roback and Sandoval drink red wine and allow nearly every one of their teeth to be slowly and methodically yanked from their respective jaw bones - or, rather, answer nearly every one of my 75 questions

A hellish interview? No, not really. But sitting at Vesuvio, where Mazzy Star "fits in" is the question that lingers. The answer, from 1994's vantage, may be surprising: in the tra- dition. In the finest of rock 'n' roll tradition.

Image

First consider the shorthand version of David Roback's career since 1983. Rain Parade; the short-lived Clay Allison, with fellow Paisley Undergrounder Kendra Smith of the Dream Syndicate; a name and personnel change later, Opal; Smith departs, Sandoval sits in, and now... Mazzy Star. To those who view the Paisley Underground as a bogus, press-manufactured non-event - which includes Roback himself, partly—that may seem a not particularly impressive pedigree.

But consider the music Roback has had a hand in making since 1983, the artists with whom he has aligned himself and how relevant those artists remain today. On the initial Rainy Day compilation, he and his Paisley Pals covered the Velvet Underground, Big Star, Buffalo Springfield—era Neil Young, Dylan by way of Nico's Chelsea Girl, the Byrds, the Beach Boys, the early Who and Electric Ladyland Hendrix. You would have to be deaf—or too young—to not notice the overtones of early Pink
Floyd in Rain Parade's Emergency Third Rail Power Trip or in Roback's later work with Smith in Opal. Mazzy Star's 1990 debut She Hangs Brightly was not only hip enough to include a cover of obscure Brit art-rockers Slapp Happy ("Blue Flower"); the song ends with the guitar riff from the Velvets' "I'll Be Your Mirror." And as So Tonight That I May See wends its way up the top half of the pop charts, one surprising beneficiary will be pop legend Arthur Lee, whose "Five String Serenade" may bring
him the sort of sizable royalties he presumably earned when the Hooters sang "She Comes in Colors" a decade ago.

Roots-wise, David Roback has drawn from nearly divine inspiration. Could one be blamed for asking the man if he was any sort of record collector?

"I don't collect records," Roback says, after a pause, two hours into our conversation, "Because I don't like to own a lot of things. I've heard a lot of good records in my life."

Fair enough. The overwhelming impression after protracted conversation with Mazzy Star is that these people are genuine, if mildly evasive, musicians who are truly puzzled by their commercial success—and not especially thrilled by it either. In an era when bands like Oasis are hailed in the U.K. as the best group in the world, and gleefully announce their desire to be "up there with the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks and the Who," Mazzy Star prefer Greta Garbo's much better deal.

"If it was up to me," reasons Roback, "I would have heard Hope's voice on the radio a long time ago. Because I always thought it was good to hear it." This after I wonder aloud if they'd thought "Fade into You" would be a hit. "If it was up to me," he notes an hour later, "I would turn on the AM radio and hear Syd Barrett and John Coltrane and a lot of things you don't hear. So in terms of my taste in music, you know..." Pause. "I dunno."

As repeatedly demonstrated by the surplus of records made by, er, rock critics, merely having good taste in music - covering the right artists and namedropping the right names - never guarantees much. Mazzy Star offer more. They have taken their influences and made music of compelling originality. If I wanted to be a prick, I tell Roback, the snottiest thing I could say about Mazzy Star is that sometimes his guitar sound veers too close toward Big Star's Third album - which bore the original "Holocaust," covered on 1983's Roback-produced Rainy Day album.

He thinks about it. "I've always thought that most guitar players, you know, owed a lot to the past," he says. "Because you can learn things from people. I think that the guitar is an incredible instrument, you know. That wouldn't bother me. I'd accept that."

There's an evenhandedness and intelligence in Roback's manner that betrays his age —35 or so — and familiarity with the workings of the music business. Sudden stardom or wealth do not seem to be the sort of things he spends time thinking about. "Neither of us ever had any money," he tells me. "We didn't really care about it, you know what I mean? We figured it didn't really cost that much to do all right, to be okay. We just do the music for other reasons."

Three years ago the pair became clients of Elliot Roberts' high-powered Lookout Management firm. Neither had ever had management before. "We wanted to work with Elliot because he was a cool guy, notes Roback, "and he worked with a lot of songwriters."

Hope Sandoval, who for the most part allows Roback to answer nearly every question, pipes up. "I think the difference is that we have more time to do music and write," she says. "It gives us an opportunity to stay away from the industry part of it and produce music. I just think if you get caught up in that sort of thing, it seems like it could be really confusing and distracting."

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Though a decade younger than Roback, Sandoval is by no means a newcomer enjoying a rapid rise to fame. While still in high school in Los Angeles, her band Going Home—a duo including guitarist Sylvia Gomez - recorded an album produced by Roback that, he says, "we're considering releasing very soon."

For most fans, of course, Sandoval is the pivotal figure in Mazzy Star. She doesn't seem to like it, herself. She sings, she's ethereal and she's reputed to be romantically linked with William Reid of the Jesus & Mary Chain (she sings on that band's recent single "Sometimes Always"), with whom Mazzy Star began a seven-week tour in October. Not surprisingly, Sandoval doesn't say she's Reid's girlfriend, and she doesn't say she isn't. In fact - I know, I'd been warned - she often doesn't say anything at all. Yet to conclude that Sandoval is bitchy or unresponsive is both a miscalculation and an insult. The better word is shy. Very shy. Is fronting a band cool, or weird, I ask her toward conversation's end.

"It's weird," she instantly replies. Gazing out the window, down the street in front of Vesuvio, Sandoval mostly looks like she'd rather be at the dentist's office, or at least in the safe haven of IRS headquarters, getting audited. Occasionally she lets loose with a real head-scratcher; my favorite was her response to a question about comparisons she must have received to her friend Kendra Smith, whom she replaced in the final days of Opal.

"I don't remember ever being compared to Kendra," she tells me. "I really have no memory of it." She looks over at Roback. "Was I compared to Kendra in the beginning?" She looks down at the table. "I know I was compared a lot in the beginning to that girl from Cowboy Junkies - I don't know her name - and the girl from 10,000 Maniacs. But I don't remember Kendra.

"Patsy Cline, she's been compared to," Roback helpfully adds.

Most fascinating in this conversation with Mazzy Star - or probably any conversation with Mazzy Star, if you've got a tape recorder and like to ask questions—is the pacing, the dynamics of who says what, and when. At work are three variables: your question, the bandmember who will answer your question and the amount of time that will pass before your question is actually answered. The overall impression, in retrospect, is that Roback can and will sincerely answer any question, but often feels that he's dominating the interview. So he occasionally clams up until his partner speaks. Thus:

MUSICIAN: Do you think there's a lot of room for growth within the context of Mazzy Star? [four seconds elapse] Are you looking to grow? [five seconds] Are you looking to just further explore what you 've got? [six seconds] Do you have ambitions?

SANDOVAL: [after 12 full seconds] I think there's always room for people to grow, just like anybody else. Speaking with Mazzy Star, those purveyors of icy blue musical melancholia, the most animated moments come not in discussion of music, textures, the record business or other people's music. They occur when I mention a concert where Sandoval had berated an audience for clapping, since they'd just talked through most of her performance.

"I did do that," says Sandoval, about as forcefully as her petite frame can muster. "Because that was the truth. We had just played 'Into Dust,' and I couldn't hear myself because there were so many people talking. And after we finished, everybody applauded. It was obvious that nobody really listened, and everybody was just going through the motions of what you go through when you go see a band that you're told is supposed to be really good." She looks down at her glass of 7-Up and concludes: "I don't like playing live."

Doesn't she think that she'll simply get numb to that eventually?

"I think I've been numb from the beginning," she says. "And I'm still numb. I just try to block everybody out."

Roback, commiserating, adds his two cents. "People always want to fuck with you, no matter what you've done," he says. "No matter how great you've ever been, they always want to fuck with you, because that's the nature of the world. They always want to fuck around with you."

"The frustrating thing is," Sandoval continues, in a rush of feeling, "you play a live show and the audience pays what, ten dollars, and it's like they've rented you for the hour and a half you play. It's bullshit. It's bullshit."

So you'd rather just be a studio band, then?

"No," she says. "I would prefer to be able to play live and for them to just come and listen and that's it - and not expect anything else. I don't understand why people expect me to communicate with the audience. They've paid ten dollars to listen to the music live, and that's all it is. And there's nothing wrong with me that I just come out and sing and don't speak, and don't dance." As Hope concludes her impassioned statement, the Vesuvio P.A. system blares "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll" by notoriously shy rock stars the Rolling Stones.

"We've never been the backdrop to a party," concludes David Roback, "All through the '80s, there was, like, this big party going on. Hope and I were never invited to this party, We certainly aren't going to get up and start entertaining this party we were never invited to. That hasn't changed. We like to play music. We're not trying to make a big deal out of it. "We're just doing it. "
............................

SIX-STRING SERENADE
AVID ROBACK plays a 1960-vintage Martin 000-28 guitar made of Brazilian rosewood through an old Fender Vibraverb amp - and, he notes, is most fond of older Fender and Ampeg tube amps. Onstage his mid-'60s Fender Telecaster runs through either a Fender or Silvertone amp. "Sometimes I use an old Epiphone guitar, sometimes I use an old Kay," he says. "1t depends on the song. If I play slide, I use the Kay. I paid 50 bucks for it. It's a cheap guitar." HOPE SANDOVAL favors AKG microphones
and uses a new Jerry Jones guitar, based on the classic Silvertone model with lipstick-tube pickup. "It's a beautiful guitar," says she


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1994, DECEMBER, Ray Gun HUH mag, INTERV. with HOPE & DAVID, by Mark Blackwell, mag cover photo and one other photo from the mag here are by Kevin Kerslake who directed three 1990s official Mazzy Star music videos

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Mild at Heart, Mazzy Star Shines Softly

The kind manager of the band gently taps on the door to the rear compartment of the tour bus. Silence. Another light knock. Silence still. He slowly cracks the door open. Darkness. He urges the door open and ushers me inside. There is a small candle burning on the counter at the end of the tiny room. The window shades are drawn. Very soft acoustic music emanates from the speaker system. the manager announces my presence and eases the door shut behind me. Two obscured figures are seated to the left on the couch. I feel my way into the seat across from them. As my eyes adjust to the dim, it becomes apparent that the form on the left is a girl and the form on the right is a guy. The guy is cradling an acoustic guitar. I suppose they must be able to see me, so I smile and say hello.

"Hi," replies a soft male voice, somewhat hesitantly. I shake a nearly
invisible hand. The figure quickly looks down and begins to gently strum the guitar

There's a brief silence.

"Hello," hushes the faint female voice with immediate trepidation. Another soft, invisible handshake. The girl shifts uncomfortably and her head drops.

Despite all preparations for this, I'm somehow fast struck with a loss for words.

"So...uh...how's the tour going?

Silence.

"Um..." ponders the detached female voice, as if searching for some elusive solution. She glances furtively at her companion for assistance. He continues to look away, strumming the guitar. She slowly looks up at me. I can just make out her face now. Her mouth forms the words slowly, "It's...going...alright."

Oh, man. This is going to be a disaster.

By all accounts, the core members of Mazzy Star — Hope
Sandoval and David Roback - are not of the breed to run
off at the mouth. They are notorious, as a matter of fact,
for saying pretty much nothing. They both, as they will
readily say, want their music to speak for itself. Yet they
do deign to speak to - or at least sit quietly and stare at —
members of the press now and again. They don't really
like to do it, just as they don't really like making videos,
performing on television, playing in front of large crowds,
speaking to audiences between songs, hearing drunk rock
fans shout out during their ultra-quiet numbers, or
getting painful tooth fillings. But there are some things
you just gotta do.

"Well you don't really have to." murmurs Sandoval,
when asked about having to answer to the demands of
rockdom. "You don't...have to answer...anything..."

She pauses for a moment and looks around the room.

"You don't have to...perform on TV. But...we do."

Sandoval gazes up at me solemnly, as if apologizing for some horrid betrayal.

"We...do...interviews...and we have done a couple of...TV shows and....
"
She never finishes the thought. Apologizing for my own intrusion
into her world, I express empathy that such self-revelatory, extra-curricular activity must be a drag.

"Um..." she fumbles, "...yeah, it is sort of irritating."

A journalist once described talking to Mazzy Star as like "being at the zoo, tied to a tree in the sloth cage." Another recently wrote that their conversation bore "a disconcerting resemblance to the more abstruse exchanges in Waiting for Godot." Since much ink has
been dedicated to describing the reticence of this pair, it would probably be unwise to dwell on it again here. But it's hard to avoid, given the fact that the whole thing is just so damn weird. The diminutive Hope Sandoval makes the quiet likes of, say, Juliana Hatfield, seem like a riled up Roseanne Barr. When the singer manages to speak a complete sentence, she frequently pauses along the way, as if she's in search af some elaborate term that's perpetually just out of reach. At times it's almost like this tiny girl from Los Angeles is acquainting herself with the English language.

Her guitarist partner is a little more free with his diction, yet he's also an avid fan of the frequent mid-sentence suspension and chooses short cuts whenever possible. Such as when he's questioned about the nature of the material Mazzy Star has just recorded in London in preparation their next album.

"Um...," Roback slowly extemporizes, fiddling around with his guitar, "It's just different songs. Still Hope singing them. Just... new songs."

I elaborate at length on the extremely low-key. introspective nature of the band's music, querying if the new songs are in a similar vein.

"We're doing,..you know...musically...what we want to do. So...it's real natural for us."

So there's the scoop on the next Mazzy Star album.

Mazzy Star is in the midst of a long, slow burn. The band's last record, So Tonight That I Might See came out over a year ago, yet its subtle sound is just finding its way into major ear circles. For some reason or another. the enchanting track "Fade Into You" caught on in the fall, around the time the Jesus and Mary Chain released its single "Sometimes Always," a duet featuring Sandoval as guest. Suddenly she and her Mazzy Star were all over the airwaves, partially spurred by the thumbs-up from Los Angeles' KROQ, the puzzling gatekeeper of commercial-alternative radio nationwide. Though the radio station was actually late to get behind "Fade Into You," they wasted no time hammering it into the ground in their inimitable fashion, alongside their various Smashing Pumpkins favorites.

All in all it was perfect timing for the Mazzy Star/Jesus and Mary Chain fall tour— a bill which was booked long before the single broke — which is making a stop tonight at a former sawdust mill called the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia. That's where this tour bus With the dark rear compartment is presently parked, Mazzy Star having just finished an hour-long afternoon soundcheck in the outdoor field behind the club. (I, by the way, was allowed to gaze upon this exclusive performance, although the manager couldn't stress enough the dire necessity of my staying out of sight - for fear of somehow upsetting the touchy band.) Now Mazzy Star has retreated into its mobile cave to relax before the dreaded moment arrives to step out into the spotlights — or lack thereof. Seems the task of performing live isn't an easy one for Sandoval.

"lt's always been a problem," she murmurs. "And...it still is a problem."

Just being up there in front of people?

"Yep."

So why are you in a band in the first place?

"I...never really made that decision. It just sorta...happened. I was in a folk duet...with another girl..."

In 1986* Sandoval and her pal Sylvia Gomez formed Going Home,
an acoustic folk group based in Los Angeles. Roback, a friend and fan of the duo, produced an album for them which never saw the light of day. Now that Mazzy Star is gaining momentum, the 4AD label may release the Going Home record late next year. Sandoval notes that Mazzy Star fans will recognize her stamp on the project.


[*1986 is a date often repeated by journalists as the supposed year Going Home was "formed", but multiple interviews/articles state the duo were writing songs together when they were in high school. There's a direct quote from Hope where she says she wrote her first song at age 15 (1981 0r 1982) with Sylvia Gomez. Also, there's evidence they were playing public gigs by January, 1985, or earlier. -Hermesacat/BB]

"I just think it's...weird," she says of the eight year old recording I just think it's bizarre that these two...young...teenage girls were writing songs like that. It's weird because...a lot of it is really dark and sort of...morbid. I like it."

"It's...acoustic guitar," Roback adds, just to make things clear. "And voice."

Roback honed his axe in the early '80s band Rain Parade, a moody outfit now lumped in retrospect into the "Paisley Underground" school of Los Angeles psychedelia which included trippy, poppy bands like The Three O'Clock and Green On Red. The guitarist soon began working with former Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith and present Marry Star drummer Keith Mitchell in a group known as Clay Allison, which in time turned into the lush Opal. When Smith gave up her duties as Opal vocalist, Roback asked Sandoval to come aboard. This was the genesis of Mazzy Star.

"I started working With David..." explains Sandoval, "and...we started working With other people...and then...before you knew it...I was in a...band"

She says "band" almost as if it's a dirty word.

Mazzy Star released its critically lauded, sparse debut album, She Hangs Brightly, in 1990. Sandoval's misty words about loss and longing were a fine compliment to Roback's entrancingly low-key strains of straightforward acoustic and droning electric guitar. Her voice is tinged with an almost detached, yet distinctively charged
emotion similar to that of the finer ilk of female country singers like Patsy Cline.

"Um..." Sandoval ponders, "I've listened to Patsy Cline I like Patsy Cline. I don't...I've never thought...that I had a country style until people started saying that."

"So who were your inspirations?"

"There are so many," she muses. "Well...I used to listen...well I still do but...I was really inspired by early Rolling Stones music..."

"What was it about them that you liked?"

"Um...I don't really know, just...It just seemed...like a really natural kind of thing...they were doing..."
"They still..."
"Um..."
"I'm sorry, go ahead."
"Um..." She looks down into her lap and then back up.

"That's okay... I'm done."

Sandoval certainly doesn't borrow any of her on stage antics from Mick Jagger. Her presence in the dim front spotlight, as her band recedes in virtual velvet darkness, is much more akin to that of Brian Jones. Not of Brian Jones from the Stones days, but of Brian Jones now. Sandoval lurks behind the microphone like a pillar of salt, her hand moving gently to shake the maracas held at her side. Despite the alluring intensity of the performance, it almost seems like the mere playing of the songs in public contradicts the vibe the band is trying to get across.

"It's not really...a contradiction," Sandoval says. "It's just difficult for us to play live. I think we could enjoy playing live if...we didn't feel like we were expected to do certain things or behave a certain way...Everybody in the band is really...low key and doesn't feel the need to...hop around or jump around or say anything. Everybody just wishes that they could go on stage and just...play the songs. Um...you go out there and try to play a quiet song like "Into Dust" and you can't hear yourself...and maybe people just aren't really into it. That's the only reason playing live is really hard...because they expect this show that you know you're not gonna deliver."

"The thing that's always kept Hope and I going," adds Roback. "is that you know...that there's someone out there digging what we're doing. That's what's important. We always know that there are people out there who are digging it."

It seems like it would get rather frustrating if the rest of the crowd chooses to talk amongst themselves.
"We've stopped playing songs in the middle," says Roback, "and just said, you know what? Forget it. Then we go on and do something else."

"I...I've gotten in trouble for telling the audience to shut up," stammers Sandoval.

"What do you mean 'gotten in trouble'?"

She sheepishly looks down and remains silent. She takes a sip from her glass of red wine. Roback glances over at her and speaks quickly, as if coming to her rescue.

"People give Hope a little bit of attitude sometimes about that," he says. "People sometimes.... Some people want to hear the music. They come to see the concert and they have a right to listen to it."

I ask them what they think the appeal of their music is. There's a very long pause.

"I...don't really know why our music appeals to people." murmurs Hope. "Maybe David does."

Roback ponders for a moment. He strums his guitar and then speaks.

"Sometimes music...that's more kind of down at times appeals to people. We're not the kind of band that could be a backdrop for some big party, you know...getting drunk...or something. That's not what our music is all about. Not everybody's constantly in the mood to hop in their sports car and drive to a party. I can only talk about what appeals to me...about Hope's voice. Not that...we're not trying trying to knock people having a good time and going to a party."

"But don't you ever get the urge to sit and write a really rockin' song?"

They both look somewhat baffled for a moment.

"I think...we'll do whatever we want," says Roback, whether it's more acoustic...or we could do something really electric...and you know...more aggressive. We could do that. Whatever. We do whatever we like at the moment."

At this particular moment, the band's song "Halah" is getting quite a lot of airplay as the follow up to the successful "Fade Into You." Oddly enough it's a song from the band's 1990 album, but once again that's partially a product of KROQ's doing. As a result of the renewed interest in the song, it's being issued as the B-side of their new single "She's My Baby." As such interest in Mazzy Star continues to grow it seems that those rock n' roll pressures that the band genuinely seems to despise will only get greater and greater. I ask Hope If she's nervous about the prospect of the band's getting
bigger. She pauses for a moment.

"I...I don't know what you mean."

"Are you getting less nervous as you go along?"

"No."

"Well, just from a personal standpoint do you look to
success with trepidation?"

"If it happens...it happens," she says hesitantly, "Not much is gonna change on our side of things. I mean...we're just gonna concentrate on doing what we've always done. We've always made records...and David's been making records before he started working with me and people have always liked them. It's just that...more people like them now. It'll basically stay the same the way it has for the past ten years. Just making records...and after they're done, going on to the next."

"What would you be doing if you hadn't woke up and found yourself in a band?"

"I wanted to be a school teacher."

"What kind of a school teacher?"

"Um... probably a school teacher that taught young kids...like...special education teacher or something, but...um...that takes up a lot of time and energy. The girl that was in Going Home [Sylvia Gomez] was a teacher. that's part of the reason why she's not in Mazzy Star. She went on to get her degree and she's still teaching. She still loves music and writes songs, but her life is being a teacher."

"Did you ever pursue teaching?"

"No, I never pursued it...because um...I just never pursued it. But...it's never too late...."

But from the looks of things, that's probably not going to happen any time soon. Despite the fact that Sandoval and Roback are ultra-touchy when it comes to confronting the trappings that come with their work, they both seem to genuinely love the songwriting that lies at the core. And despite their grandiose reticence, they do warm up considerably during our conversation. I could eventually see them as well, as I adjusted to the bat-cave conditions. Though it's hard to figure somebody out by trying to gin talk out of them for a couple of hours, these two seem like genuinely nice, subdued folks who simply like to make music.

"Would you be this shy under normal circumstances?" I'm compelled to ask before leaving them be. "Like if I met you somewhere else. Um, you know...this quiet?"

"You think we're being quiet?" Roback deadpans.

"Not that it's difficult or...uh...unpleasant to talk to you or anything... Um..."

"I know what you mean," smiles Hope. "I think...that you could find that out by asking yourself the same question. I mean if you were to go to a wedding... Let's say you went out on a date and your date took you to a wedding...you might be quiet, you might be shy. It depends."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I mean...when I'm with my friends...I'm not really that quiet...then sometimes...I am."

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1994, WINTER Edition, THE BOB mag Issue 47, INTERVIEW w. HOPE & DAVID,
Reprinted in the book "Tell Me When It's Over, Notes From The Paisley Underground", edited by
Clive Jones, 2005.
[I found an ebay listimg for the same magazine issue which showed a photo of two mag pages
from the Mazzy Star interview.The text was out-of-focus, unreadable, except for the intro line in large printing. One band photo appears on the mag pages, a photo of David & Hope by Laura Levine from 1990 I found a better copy of elsewhere to include with this article]
.............................................

MAZZY STAR: AT THE DENTIST, by Jud Cost

Jud puts on his white coat, grabs the pliers, and starts pulling!

[the above line appears as an article intro in the mag page photo, but not in the reprinted article as found in the book]

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I think my dentist might have felt right at home interviewing David Roback and Hope
Sandoval of Mazzy Star. Frankly, I'd have preferred 40 minutes with my dentist.
Every time I thought we were beginning to get somewhere, Roback drew the curtain,
choosing to deal in muddled generalities rather than the very things that make one
interview different from another: "specifics and local color", as my old journalism
teacher used to bark.

I've done interviews where I could have left the room and I still would've gotten enough
out of the artist to pack a hefty Q&A - it's the Pete Townshend syndrome: ask a question
and then be careful to slow down the answer after 45 minutes so you can flip the
cassette. Roback, on the other hand - whether purposefully obfuscating the waters in a
Nixonian feat of verbal sleight of hand, or possibly just not finding the questions
stimulating enough to warrant much response - allowed little of himself to poke through
the cloud. Unless you look at the big picture: This is somebody who prefers to remain
private. As to why he's doing interviews in the first place, that's best known by Capitol
Records, who set this one up and has just released Mazzy Star's second album, "So
Tonight That I Might See".

Some of our discussions turned out to be amusing in spite of itself, while other moments
bordered on the panicky, on my part anyway, as I reached the end of my list of questions
and sensed we might be a little short of usable material. In transcribing the following -
something I had not been eagerly anticipating - I've come to see that maybe Roback
attempted to retain what he thinks music loses when it appears on television - a sense of
mystery. Then again, maybe he thought what he did say would be a better read. I guess
there's only one way to find out about that. Here's what transpired, in toto. As Bob Dylan
once reputedly said to Columbus, "Good luck".

JC: So, why so long between albums, three years I think?

DR: We've done a lot of writing in the meantime, because when Rough Trade (initial
label for first Mazzy Star album "She Hangs Brightly") went bankrupt it disrupted our
continuity with what we were doing. We've been doing a lot of things.

HS: Yeah.

JC: Who does what in your songwriting partnership? How do you chop it up?

DR: we don't actually "chop it up" any one way. It varies from song to song. (Since)
Hope is the singer, she ends up expressing herself more through the singing. and I end
up expressing myself more through the guitar and other things that I do, It varies
depending on the song. We both do a little bit of everything.

JC: I'd like to get a little biographical detail on you, Hope. did you grow up?

HS: I grew up in East Los Angeles.

JC: Is there music in your background, in your family?

HS: No. (long pause).

JC: No? How did you become interested in music?

HS: I was just always interested in it.

JC: Who did you listen to?

HS: I listened to a lot of oldies, old music. I had older brothers and sisters. So many
different things, like the Four Tops and early Rolling Stones and early Beatles.

JC: When did you start writing songs on your own?

HS: I stared to write songs on my own when I was about 13.

JC: What prompted you to want to do that?

HS: I didn't really think about it, I just started doing it. I'd gotten my first guitar from
my sister.

JC: What did the songs you were writing sound like?

HS: It was a lot like folk music. I was in another group before I joined Mazzy Star, called
Going Home. It was just me and a guitar player, another girl. It was sort of folky
sounding. It sounded like the Marine Girls, but not really, because they had a bass player
and two or three guitars, and they all sang.

JC: Where did the two of you meet?

DR: Going Home recorded one album. I actually produced it. Hope and I met several
years before we writing together - in Los Angeles - working with her and her
friend Sylvia Gomez.

JC: After Kendra Smith left Opal, didn't you play a few shows with Hope on
vocals?

DR: We were all friends. Kendra and I - we'd all get together and play acoustic guitars.
(After Kendra left) we did a few performances with Hope (in Opal), and then Hope and
I decided we wanted to start something entirely new of our own.

JC: You've gone from Clay Allison to Opal to Mazzy Star over the years. What's
changed and what remains the same?

DR: It's different because it's different people. It's me and Hope (now), and Hope has a
different style of songwriting and singing.

JC: I get this overwhelming feeling in listening to Mazzy Star of ennui which builds
into real intensity through repetition.

DR: So much of what we do is really the song. It's a different group of songs, and they
all have a life of their own. We did a lot of writing together from the very beginning of
our working together, and I think that's what's made it what it is, whatever it is - it's
songs we write and perform.

JC: Do you consciously attempt to write songs with the same "sound"?

DR: It's a combination of different things. It's the work we did before we started playing
live. We were doing a lot of acoustic stuff when we started playing live. Our first live
show together in New York was with the Jesus and Mary Chain, so we've played in a
very acoustic setting and a very electric setting. So I think that we really had a variety
of experience.

JC: What were the major differences when Kendra left and Hope arrived?

DR: They were all new songs and a whole new collaboration. It changed a lot because
of that. I still play guitar, so there was some continuity, but if you change who you're
writing with, it changes from that point of view.

JC: What kind of music were you playing before your pre-Rain Parade band, the
Sidewalks?

DR: (evasively) I played music before I started playing live shows - with different
friends, and we did different things. It got going more after that.

JC: In playing the first Rain Parade album recently, "Carolyn's Song" sounds like
the only thing that points toward what you're doing today.

DR: I did write that song. I heard a cover version of that by This Mortal Coil. That's a
song I would really associate with that period. I think there were some interesting songs
(on the Rain Parade album), but I don't really think about it.

JC: Your first post-Rain Parade band, Clay Allison, seemed a softer reaction to the
neo-psychedelia prominent in LA at that time.

DR: We toured. Sylvia Juncosa went on to do lots of other things. Kendra and I wanted
to get away from what was going on in Los Angeles. We felt very stifled by the whole
scene here. It became, like, a drag. All the critics started to make this big deal about the
whole scene out here, and it transformed almost overnight from sort of like a very
unselfconscious underground scene into a sort of ... a myth. And we just went on and
started experimenting with new songs and getting away and doing other things.

JC: Were you particularly inspired by anyone, past or present?

DR: There wasn't any one thing that was an inspiration to us. There were a lot of
different things - things in our personal lives. The people we were involved with were
our own set of friends. That's pretty much how we work. I just worked with Going Home
and our own little group of friends. We were travelling around. It was things like that,
you know.

JC: How did Opal, your next band, differ from Clay Allison?

DR: We wanted to start a new band, and it had some of the same people. In Clay Allison
we were doing a lot of acoustic music, which was very unpopular at the time. Kendra
and I wanted to do a lot of electric things also, because she'd been the bass player in the
Dream Syndicate, who did this incredible electric thing, One of the reasons I'd left my
previous group before that (Rain Parade) was because I wanted to do something more
electric myself, so I think in Opal we just wanted to do something more electric, so that's
what we were involved in.

JC: Do you recall how you got the name Mazzy Star? Where did the germ come
from?

HS: No, not that I can think of.

JC: well, what did you do, pick it out of a hat? David?

DR: No, I don't recall. But I think it was a germ that we found in a hat (laughs).

JC: After Rough Trade went belly-up, it was on to Capitol Records. Do you view
that as a major accomplishment?

DR: I wouldn't really view it as an accomplishment because we were really quite
comfortable working with Rough Trade. It was really a bad moment when Rough Trade
went belly-up, as you say. We were very comfortable working with a smaller label.

JC: How is it different, working with Capitol?

HS: It's definitely different.

DR: We've kind of remained isolated from them and been so focused on our work that
we haven't gotten too involved with them.

JC: What did you enjoy doing as a kid, David, aside from music?

DR: Gee... (long pause). Ask Hope something, and I'll come back to that in a minute.

JC: Okay, then, Hope, what did you like to do as a kid? It wasn't so long ago for
you.

HS: I can't really recall anything.

JC: (mildly irritated) Oh, come on. There must be something in your childhood you
can remember. Barbie dolls, baseball ... karate!

HS: No, I didn't like baseball when I was a kid.

JC: Well, what kind of a kid were you then?

HS: I don't really know what kind of a kid I was. (long pause) I really can't think of
anything.

JC: Okay. Most of the Mazzy Star material is very slow. Did you consciously choose
to keep the tempos uniform?

HS: I think we were just in that kind of mood, and when It came down to it, we chose
the songs that we liked the best. I guess they all ended up sort of...

DR: You know, we haven't been on tour since the Cocteau Twins tour. When you're
working in the studio ... when you're playing live there may be a bit more of the other
dimension to what we do because it's more elective, and we're trying to put across
something in a different context. We've never really thought about wanting to have a
certain tempo.

JC: What do you like to do in your spare time, David?

DR: (very long pause) I like to travel, to go to different places. Um, um, I've been up
North, and I like it up there. (pause) We were travelling around while we were recording
our albums in different places. You know, there's so many interesting places. It's really
hard to say - to single these things out. We've done a lot of writing.

JC: Do you read books?

DR: Yeah, I read books.

JC: What have you read recently?

DR: (very long pause) You know, I really read a lot of different things. It's kind of hard
to pick out one, because if you pick out one, it's like you're leaving something else out.
Let me ask you. What's the last book you've read?

JC: "Jurassic Park". I like that guy, Michael Crichton.

DR: Well, I definitely haven't read that one. He's science fiction, isn't he?

JC: Do you read science fiction?

DR: Yeah, I've read a lot of science fiction.

JC: Okay, any particular authors your favorites?

DR: No, I like a lot of authors.

JC: I see you've recorded an Arthur Lee (of Love) song for the new album. Have
you ever worked with Arthur?

DR: Yeah, I've met Arthur Lee. He gave us a tape of that song before we recorded it. I
have a lot of respect for Arthur Lee. I always have. I think he's one of the great under-
appreciated writers, a brilliant writer. It's exciting to do one of his songs.

JC: Since you say you like to travel, touring must be right up your alley?

DR: We're gonna do a tour soon. It's always very interesting. It's interesting to perform
our songs.

JC: Why? The feedback from the people?

DR: Yeah, it's about that and it's about actually creating the noise. Do you know what I
mean? It's just fun.

JC: Since you're on a major label, how would you feel about playing very large
venues and getting heavy rotation on MTV?

DR: Personally I have a lot of trouble relating to music as perceived via the television.
I think it takes away a lot of the mystery, a lot of the potential for the listener. I really
think music is something you share with somebody who's listening to it, and I really
have never cared for the way music is marketed on television. I think it takes away from
the active participation of the person who's hearing it.

JC: Can you see yourself playing 60,000 seat domed stadiums?

HS: I wouldn't. I just can't imagine relating to an audience that size.

JC: What do you think you'd lose by playing larger venues?

HS: I don't know if I'd lose anything.

DR: I think that idea implies some sort of impersonal thing. We've always played
smaller clubs. I think sonically it would be an experiment that we'd have to deal with -
putting our sound across in such a big room.

JC: Can you see the Mazzy Star sound evolving into anything radically different?
Any interesting experiments in the offing?

DR: (animated) Absolutely: We're about to enter a very experimental stage, playing live,
and that will probably influence the next album. We took some time off after the Cocteau
Twins (tour) and focused on songwriting and stopped thinking in terms of playing live
and got very involved in writing. Hope is a very prolific writer. That's what I see. I see
a live thing happening, and who knows what will happen? That could change us. We're
open to whatever happens.
...........................
First published in The Bob Magazine issue 47, winter 1994

The Bob Magazine, P.O. Box 7223, Wilmington, DE 19803
thebobmagazine.com, e-mail: greg@thebobmagazine.com, 302-477-1248


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Last edited by Hermesacat on Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:19 am, edited 150 times in total.
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (13) Vintage, Mazzy Star, 1990 to ?

Postby Emma » Fri Nov 28, 2014 7:22 pm

Hermesacat,

Thanks for sharing your collection of Mazzy Star/Hope Sandoval interviews.
I set the Maximum characters per post parameter to unlimited if you want to gather all your articles in one post.

Here are two additional MS interviews from the LA Times (July 1990 and November 1993)
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-22/ ... mazzy-star
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-30/ ... r-universe

and an interview of Hope Sandoval for Through the Devil Softly (2009)
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/18 ... sandoval18

You can add them to your post in chronological order if you find them interesting.
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Emma
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Posts: 117
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VINTAGE INTERVIEWS collection (CONTINUED) 1995, 1996, 1997

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Nov 29, 2014 5:16 am

VINTAGE MAZZY STAR INTERVIEWS collection (CONTINUED) 1995, 1996, 1997
[Sept. 28, 2021: Today I had to separate the vintage interviews collection into 2 separate posts. Previously I had them all collected together in one long post, above. But the site would not accept another new interview in the same post today 'cause I'd reached the site's 350,0000 character limit. So, I've moved all interviews dating from 1995 to 1997 to this post instead, and will continue posting any new found 1989 - 1994 interviews to the original interviews thread above]

ARTICLES CONTAINED HERE:
-1995, GALE MUSICIAN PROFILE (via ANSWERS.COM), w. MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW QUOTES
-1996, SEPT. 21, BILLBOARD mag, article w. INTERVIEW quotes from HOPE
-1996, OCT. 1st TO 5th (?), SCENE MAG. (CLEVELAND), INTERVIEW WITH DAVID
-1996, OCT., 1996, ALTERNATIVE PRESS, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1996, NOV., RAY GUN MAG, INTERVIEWS (SEPARATE ONES WITH HOPE, & THEN DAVID)
-1996, DEC. 9, DENVER POST, INTERVIEW WITH HOPE
-1996, DEC. 12, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, INTERVIEW WITH DAVID
-1996, DEC., POP mag (Swedish), INTERV. W. HOPE (English translation)
-1996, (date unknown). FRONTERA MAG, ARTICLE w. INTERVIEW QUOTES FROM HOPE
-1997, JAN., STROBE MAG, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW
-1997, JAN., ROCK DE LUX MAG (SPAIN), MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW, plus English translation
-1997, MAY, FRONTERA MAG 2.1, ARTICLE WITH QUOTES FROM HOPE
-THE BOOK OF ROCK (PHILIP DODD, 2001?) PAGE SCAN, SHORT MAZZY STAR ARTICLE & PHOTO W. QUOTE FROM DAVID
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1995, GALE MUSICIAN PROFILE (via ANSWERS.COM), w. MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW QUOTES

[found at: http://www.answers.com/topic/mazzy-star . This article includes some
quotes from published interviews I don't yet have from Musician mag, & Billboard.
I see there are two facts wrong here re. Going Home: the claim Hope's duo started
in 1986 & that a Going Home album was released in 1995 (but did Going Home bootlegs
start appearing in 1995, maybe?). The magazine references at the end are useful as
a bunch of Mazzy Star articles & interviews I don't yet have are listed there]

Gale Musician Profiles:
Mazzy Star

For The Record...
Members include Keith Mitchell, drums; David Roback (born in Los Angeles, CA),
guitar; Hope Sandoval (born in Los Angeles, CA), vocals.

Band formed as Opal, 1984; Sandoval joined and group changed name to Mazzy Star,
1987; signed with Rough Trade Records; released She Hangs Brightly, 1990; signed
with Capitol Records, 1991; released So Tonight That I Might See, 1993.

Addresses: Record company—Capitol Records, 1750 North Vine St., Hollywood,
CA 90028.

Pop band:
Described variously as dreamy, moody, and unusual, Mazzy Star created its own
musical galaxy by mixing blues, country, psychedelic, and acoustic folk into
skyrocketing success. From the beginning of the band’s career, critics consistently
compared their airy, ethereal sound to groups of a different era, like the Velvet
Underground, the Doors, and the Beatles.

In 1982 guitarist David Roback played in an underground band called Rain Parade.
The group later became known as part of the "Paisley Underground," a collection
of psychedelic 1960s-influenced guitar bands based in Los Angeles. After Rain Parade
released their first album, Roback left to form Clay Allison with fellow Paisley
Underground member Kendra Smith (original bassist for the Dream Syndicate),
drummer Keith Mitchell, and guitarist Juan Gomez. Clay Allison dismissed Gomez
and dropped their name before their 1984 release Fell from the Sun on Serpent/Enigma.
Until they renamed the band Opal, they simply recorded under the names of the
three remaining members. The following year, Opal released its first EP, Northern Line,
on One Big Guitar Records.

In the meantime singer Hope Sandoval and her friend, guitarist Sylvia Gomez, had
formed a folk duo called Going Home in 1986. After Roback met Sandoval and heard
Going Home play, he offered to produce their first album. The recording was completed
shortly thereafter but was not released until 1995.

After Opal’s second album, Happy Nightmare Baby, came out on SST Records,
Kendra Smith quit the band—right in the middle of their tour with the Jesus & Mary
Chain. Left without a singer, Roback invited Sandoval to take Smith’s place for the
remaining shows on the tour. "When I was playing in Opal, we were friends, Hope
and I," Roback said in Rolling Stone."But I don’t think we were really part of the
music scene in the way that people may have perceived it at that point. Actually,
we were both sort of alienated—that’s what we had in common."

Birth of a Star:
Once Roback and Sandoval started writing music together and headed to the studio,
they decided to change the band’s name to Mazzy Star in order to have a completely
fresh start. In 1990 the new group released their debut album, She Hangs Brightly,
on the British independent label Rough Trade Records. Even without major label
distribution, the album garnered some sizable attention. Yet Mazzy Star hadn’t
approached their music with stardom in mind. "I never really thought too much
about success," Roback told Steve Appleford in Billboard. "The size of your audience
is like the size of your car or something. Bigger audience, bigger car, bigger house."

When Rough Trade closed down its U.S. operation — leaving Mazzy Star without
a label — Capitol Records snatched them up with a contract in 1991. Capitol rereleased
She Hangs Brightly with major distribution, but the growing sensationalism startled
the shy, reclusive members of the band. "We were more at home at a smaller label,"
Roback admitted to Craig Rosen in Billboard. "With the kind of music we make
and the thing we do, I don’t think we fit in with the Hollywood industry….
I heard someone say that underground music is more accepted today, but I really
have my doubts about that. I have to see it to believe it."

Style Shined Brightly:
For the next two years Mazzy Star stayed in seclusion, excommunicating themselves
from the press and the music scene. They spent their time experimenting with
different ideas and writing songs for their next album. The result, So Tonight
That I Might See, hit the stores on October 5, 1993. "It’s not like we set off to
change what we were doing; it’s just what we were into doing this time,"
Roback told Ken Hunt of the Seattle Times.

Almost a year after the album’s release, the first single, "Fade into You," became a hit.
As Mazzy Star’s popularity took off, reports of the bandmembers’ eccentricities,
aloofness, and reluctance to take the limelight escalated. Many interviewers
commented on their shyness and the long, quiet pauses between questions and answers.

Diminishing conversation even carried over to Mazzy Star’s live performances.
In one concert Sandoval reportedly reprimanded an audience for their applause
after they played "Into Dust," since the crowd had just talked through most of it.
"I couldn’t hear myself because there were so many people talking," Sandoval
recalled in a Musician interview with Dave DiMartino. "And after we finished,
everybody applauded. It was obvious that nobody really listened, and everybody
was just going through the motions." "Into Dust" would later become known
within the band as the "Shush Song," referring to the devoted fans who "shush"
the uninitiated every time they perform it.

In the same Musician interview, Sandoval went on to say that she would rather
have the people who come to Mazzy Star shows just listen to the music.
"I don’t understand why people expect me to communicate with the audience,"
she continued. "There’s nothing wrong with me that I just come out and sing
and don’t speak, and don’t dance."

Resurrection and Collaboration:
With Mazzy Star’s fame on a steady rise, Capitol Records released the second
single, "She’s My Baby," with "Halah," a song from their first album, on the
B-side. Instead of playing the intended single, radio stations across the
country—along with MTV—resurrected "Halah" almost three years after its
original release. And in late 1994 the Jesus&Mary Chain released their album
Stoned and Dethroned; on the single "Sometimes Always, "Sandoval provided
guest vocals. (She is said to be romantically involved with Jesus member
William Reid.) With the timing of the album’s release and Mazzy Star’s new
explosion, the two bands embarked on a global tour together.

Furthering their exposure, Mazzy Star contributed the song "Tell Me Now"
to the Batman Forever soundtrack in 1995. But despite the group’s success,
they still held on to their own creative direction without being swayed by
fame and accomplishment. From their first album, Roback has produced
every piece of music in order to ensure its integrity. "All through the ’80s,
there was, like, this big party going on," Roback told DiMartino in Musician.
"Hope and I were never invited to this party. We certainly aren’t going to get
up and start entertaining this party we were never invited to. That hasn’t
changed. We like to play music. We’re not trying to make a big deal out of it.
We’re just doing it."

Selected discography:
She Hangs Brightly, Rough Trade Records, 1990; reissued, Capitol, 1991.
So Tonight That I Might See, Capitol, 1993.

Sources:
Books:
The Trouser Press Record Guide, edited by Ira A. Robbins, Collier Books, 1992.

Periodicals:
-Billboard, August 25, 1990; October 16, 1993, p. 16; June 25, 1994; August 13, 1994;
October 29, 1994.
-Guitar Player, January 1994; November 1994.
-Musician, December 1993; December 1994, p. 23.
-People, July 31, 1995.
-Rolling Stone, August 23, 1990, p. 36; September 6, 1990; December 13-27, 1990;
-December 9, 1993; October 6, 1994; October 20, 1994; November 17, 1994.
-Seattle Times, April 1, 1994; June 2, 1995.
-Spin, January 1995.
-Additional information for this profile was obtained from Capitol Records press
material, 1993.

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1996-09-21 BILLBOARD mag., Mazzy Star article w. a few Interv. quotes from Hope.
One photo accompanies the article
https://books.google.ca/books?id=wwkEAA ... &q&f=false

Image

Artists & Music
Mazzy Star Shines On Third Album Long-Term Development Key For Capitol Act
BY STEVEN MIRKIN

NEW YORK—Buttressed by the hit single "Fade Into You," Mazzy Star's last album, "So Tonight That I Might See," has sold more than 1 million units. Still, Capitol Records is not resting on its laurels for the duo's third album.

Instead of counting on an "out of the box, chart-topping debut" for "Among My Swan," due Oct. 29, Capitol is continuing to take what it characterizes as a "long-term approach" toward the band's growth.

"Mazzy Star is the quintessential artist-development band," says Clark Staub, senior director of marketing at Capitol, who asserts, "David (Roback) and Hope (Sandoval) are artists. Every album they make is a work of art."

According to Sandoval, Capitol did not interfere with the making of the album, which continues Mazzy Star's narcotically plush, psychedelically attenuated melancholy, interspersed with somewhat more aggressive electric guitar workouts.

The duo never felt any pressure to replicate the style or success Of 1993's "Tonight," nor did it feel rushed to capitalize on "Fade Into You." "We really didn't think about it," Sandoval says, adding that she and Roback went into the studio with the intention to "write some good songs and make ourselves feel good about what we're doing. (On) every song on this album, we tried to please ourselves."

Staub hopes that what pleased the band will please its fans. " 'Among My Swan' is not a trendy album," he says, "it's just a good, solid album."

While Staub counts off the Los Angeles-based duo's sales figures with pride, he cautions that it took more than two years to reach that level.

"The beauty of last time was that everything that happened was real," he explains. "It was not just about the one song but about the music. Mazzy Star really penetrated into the consciousness—you had this quiet, beautiful music that people connected to, which was nice in a time Of very frenetic guitar pop."

One of the most satisfying elements of the success of "Tonight," Staub says, was the breadth of Mazzy Star's audience. "You're not selling to just 14-year-olds, and you're not selling to just 35-year-olds." As proof of this, Staub points to the wide variety of press coverage the band received, from spotlights in the usual music media to reports in People, Time, NPR (which identified the band as one of the leaders of the "sadcore" movement), and even Martha Stewart Living, which included "Tonight" among a list of albums to play during a dinner
party. "We didn't ask for that," Staub says, laughing.

While Capitol has been cautious about over-exposing Mazzy Star, even to the point Of not releasing a second video from "Tonight," the label has already begun to set up "Among My Swan." The band is the cover star for the October issue of
Alternative Press magazine; the label has blown up the cover and sniped it in Mazzy's top 12 markets (Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Detroit, Minneapolis, Boston, Atlanta, San Diego, and Washington, D.C.).

The band has been kept in the public eye since "Tonight" through its appearances on two soundtracks: last year's "Batman Forever" and this summer's "Stealing Beauty."

The films, Staub points out, nicely bookend Mazzy Star's demographic, with "Batman Forever" appealing to the collegiate crowd and the critically acclaimed, art-house "Stealing Beauty" skewing toward the band's baby boomer fans.

Retail outlets at every level were serviced with a complete advance copy of the album in early September.

Starting in mid-October and continuing through mid-November, the label will conduct a contest among its retail clients. While details have yet to be worked out, the contest will be decided by in-store play and point-of-purchase plans. The winning store, Staub says, will host a Mazzy Star in-store performance, the only one the band will give this year. The contest's intention, he says, is to create customer interest just prior to and immediately following the album's
release. "People will be walking through stores going, 'I know this woman's voice; who is this woman? Oh, it's the new Mazzy Star album.' There will also be an extensive listening-booth program during the entire month of November.

College radio, which was the band's base before "Tonight," will be serviced with the album Oct. 7; one week later, commercial alternative and triple-A stations will get the album's first single, "Flowers In December." A video for "Flowers In
December" should be completed by Oct. 1. Until then, VHI and MTV have been reserviced with the Clip for "Fade Into You"; the song has also been sent to radio for recurrent air-play. In mid-October, all radio and video outlets, as well as the press, will be sent a deluxe video set, which will have the "Flowers" and "Fade Into You" clips, four songs taped live during the band's European tour, and the never released video for "She's My Baby." The package will also include a complete copy of the new album. A second single and video, "I've Been Let Down," will be released in the spring.

In keeping with the label's desire to build the album slowly and the band's natural reticence to publicity, prerelease press will be limited. In its place, the label hopes to book the band onto the late-night talk-show circuit, a setting where Mazzy Star excels, Staub says.

For all the planning that has gone into setting up the album, he adds, the album will be doing most Of the work. Advance response, he says, has been incredible. "This time, we know the potential of acceptance for the sound of Mazzy Star. We're going to be going out at the front end, emphasizing the sound of the record and letting people judge for themselves."

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1996, OCT. 1st TO 5th (?), SCENE MAG. (CLEVELAND), INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROBACK

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star," here:
http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... pintro.htm
There was no date shown for it but hints are given in the article. It refers to their show "this Friday"
at the Odeon. A gig list from Mazzy Star's 1996 tour found elsewhere at "Everything Mazzy Star"
shows that show was Oct. 6, 1996 at the Odeon in Cleveland, so the article was published
in days just prior to Oct. 6 ]

Scene Magazine
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Mazzy Star's Magical, Mystical Tour

by Steven Batten

Listening to Mazzy Star's latest is perhaps best experienced snuggled in front of a hot, cozy fire on a cold,
dreary winter evening. Or perhaps nestled alongside a lazy, babbling brook at the edge of a golden, grassy field.

The serene, tranquil soundscapes that characterize the duo's third effort, Among My Swan, are likely to be the
perfect complement in either case. David Roback's mystical, almost hypnotic melodies and Hope Sandoval's mesmerizing, meandering vocals attempt to transcend both time and place, with considerable success. In fact, with Among My Swan, the duo is now more fully realizing a sonic journey that began with its 1990 debut, She Hangs Brightly, and its promising 1993 follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See.

It's somehow fitting that Roback should be calling from Copenhagen, the seaport capital of Denmark, where the days are growing shorter and the nights colder. Roback's pleasant, though reticent demeanor, seems somehow well suited to his current climate, and as he details his surroundings, you get the impression that it could well be the mood of the new album to which he is referring.

"It's just the beginning of Winter here," he relates, "and the days are really getting shorter the further north
you go. The sun only comes out for a few hours a day, so it's starting to get that dark, winter vibe to it."

Perhaps Roback's fondness for such climates manifests itself in the music he writes, but he isn't saying. It's also
likely that the duo, which splits time between foggy London and the sunny coast of California, is equally influenced by the subtly clashing cultures in which they choose to reside.

"It definitely affects our lives," Roback allows. "And music is so much a part of our lives that it must affect it.
But I couldn't say specifically how."

The distant, mystical and mysterious vibe that surrounds the band is a pleasant side effect of the duo's unconscious decision to eschew the high-profile rock and roll lifestyle for a more focused, meaningful existence.

"We've always sort of considered ourselves to be an underground band," Roback explains, his distrust for the whole rock and roll machine clearly evident. "When we started playing music together, it had absolutely nothing to do with popularity or the music industry, and it's stayed that way. That's the reason why we make music."

Perhaps despite themselves, Roback and Sandoval have built a considerable following over the course of their last two albums. "Fade Into You," the beautifully intoxicating single from So Tonight, paved the way for a larger audience as it took commercial alternative radio and MTV by storm, essentially because it stood in stark contrast to the regular rotation fare at that time.

Likewise, the band's current single, "Flowers In December," has taken root at radio. From his vantage point, however, Roback hasn't really seen much of an effect of platinum records and MTV on the band's loyal following.

"You know, it's always been hard for me to really tell who our audience is," he says. "When we play clubs, it all
becomes a big blur in my mind and I can't really say exactly who's in the audience." Roback is equally
ambiguous regarding has songwriting partnership with Sandoval (he writes the music, she the lyrics and melodies), which has blossomed over the course of their three releases.

"We write a lot of songs together," he says, downplaying their collaborative formula. "I don't really see it that way, as growing, or going backwards or forwards or any particular direction, other than just song by song. That's how Mazzy Star really works -- we just work on a song by song basis. We have a song we like, and we record it. So we don't really look at it as a progression. We don't analyze it in that way at all."

To wit, the particularly press-shy Roback and Sandoval have shied away from elaborating on what the individual songs mean to them, leaving the songs open to interpretation by critics and fans. Roback says he wouldn't be entirely surprised if fans interpreted completely different meanings than their original intentions.

"I don't often hear how people interpret our music," he says, "but it wouldn't really surprise me if people interpreted it in a very personal way, because I think that that's the way that people react to music. If you took a well known song and asked 10 people to write down what the lyrics are (about), you'd find surprisingly different interpretations of what the lyrics are because people hear what's in their own imagination."

Therein, he says, lies the inherent beauty of the songwriting process. "I think music is something that's very available to all people, to get involved with."

Roback is equally noncommittal regarding his preference for touring versus the studio setting, though he allows that the live setting offers certain facets that the studio can't.

"There's an element of the unknown every time you go to a different city and a different environment to play," he says. "Plus you're really projecting your sound into a much larger space. That's kind of interesting to sort of see what happens with the element of chance involved."

Given the low key, often serene nature of the band's performances (they'll play at the Odeon this Friday, December 6, with special guest Sparklehorse), it's often difficult to discern whether Roback and Sandoval are enjoying themselves, a question Roback dodges with trademark reluctance.

"Sometimes we enjoy it," he says, countering quickly, "It really depends on the concert. Some concerts are more interesting than others."

With the band's fan base growing rapidly, it's likely that their forthcoming Cleveland date will be the first time that many in the audience have experienced Mazzy Star live. What does Roback think they can expect?

"I think you would pretty much just expect to hear our music," he offers cooperatively, maintaining his elusive demeanor. "I think whenever you hear music live, not only are the musicians playing it differently, but you're also responding to it differently, because you're listening to it in a different context than if you were listening to it at home or in your car, listening to a record. So the context really is changed for both the musician and the listener."

Onstage, Mazzy Star are flushed out with the addition of musicians Will Cooper (strings), Keith Mitchell (drums) and former Hole member Jill Emery (bass) . The focus of the current tour's set, Roback says, is on the new album, though he maintains that they don't pin themselves down to any standard set list. Somehow, that's just not surprising.

"Our show really changes day to day, depending on what we're in the mood to play," Roback relates. "We don't really have any one group of songs that we play, but we've been incorporating some of the new songs. We've been thinking a lot about how these new songs sound live, so that's one of the things we're into now."
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1996, OCT., ALTERNATIVE PRESS, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Mazzy Star Boulevard," here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120702032 ... icles.html
One can purchase a digital copy of the article here:
http://www.altpress.com/magazine/issue/99_-_mazzy_star
The Mazzy Star Boulevard date on it appears wrong as AP's own website describes the issue as October, 1996
& that it went on sale Oct. 1, 1996 (not Nov.).I haven't purchased it myself so I don't know if there are
photos accompanying the article.

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Mazzy Star - Tangled Up in Blue

by Alternative Press, Issue #99, October, 1996

Mazzy Star went platinum with 1993's So Tonight That I Might See without compromising their artistic vision.
An anomaly in the top-40 charts and in the crass world of rock, David Roback and Hope Sandoval's music reflects its creators' own melancholy dreaminess. Dave Segal intrudes upon their privacy and tries to unravel the enigma of these beautiful dreamers. Lee Locke attempts to get them to say "cheese."

"London's great if you like looking at clouds," observes David Roback while strolling in the city's Muswell Hill
neighborhood. "And I do."

Rock and fuggin' roll, eh? No, actually, and that's part of Mazzy Star's substantial charm. Guitarist/songwriter
Roback and his creative foil, singer/lyricist Hope Sandoval, shun the gaudy trappings of the rock lifestyle. Instead they retreat into a small, intimate circle of musician friends in London and California (where they divide
their time), surfacing every three years to release glimmering, gem-like albums. She Hangs Brightly (1990),
So Tonight That I Might See (1993) and the new Among My Swan (all on Capitol) are immaculate amalgams of folk, blues, country and psychedelia. Suffused in a woozy, post-coital haziness courtesy of Roback's deft deployment of feedback and effects and Doorsy keyboard atmospherics, Mazzy Star's mellifluously moody music is best enjoyed with lover or by yourself at 3 a.m. Add Sandoval's seductively deadpan vocals to the equation, and you've got what one hardcore Cleveland fan calls "heroin for the ears."

Every Mazzy Star story revolves around the interviewer's frustration with David's and Hope's notorious reticence
and evasiveness. The subtext of these pieces is that David and Hope owe it to journalists and readers to illuminate very personal things about themselves and their art.

"If it were up to us," admits David, "we'd do maybe one interview per album."

Frankly, there were many questions that should've been asked but weren't during our Saturday-afternoon interview at the Woodman pub in Muswell Hill, the region where Hope cohabits with Jesus And Mary Chain guitarist William Reid. Why? Well, Hope and David already appeared to be in great distress merely talking about their music. Delving into personal matters could've ended the interview prematurely, resulting in grave consequences for this reporter's occupational-being.

What kind of questions? There's the matter of Hope and David's interpersonal dynamic. Were they once lovers? If so, that has important ramifications to the nature of their ongoing collaboration. (Neither David's brother Steven nor fellow L.A. musician Steve Wynn-who were also interviewed for this story-could comment with authority on this subject.) And how does David feel about Hope seeing William and her working with him? (She sang a duet with Jim Reid on the Mary Chain's 1994 hit single "Sometimes Always"; William also plays guitar on the new album's slow-building stormer "Take Everything." William declined to be interviewed for this piece.)

Another question never aired: Is Hope aware of the powerfully erotic effect she has on Mazzy Star's male-and probably female, too-fans? Tact prevailed, though, as well as a self-preservational instinct: Watching Hope restlessly scratch at the table during our talk, I feared that she'd go for my eyes next if the boundary of good taste were breached.

Sitting in a secluded corner of the Woodman, Hope and David look about as cheerful as the hapless souls grilled during the Spanish Inquisition. Most musicians love to gab about themselves and their work; Hope and David are not most musicians. Triple-takingly beautiful in tight blue flares and red midriff-baring shirt, Hope squirms, twists her hair around her index finger and looks into the distance from the first touch of "Record" on the Sony Pressman. David-looking a lot like ex-Monkee Mike Nesmith with his long sideburns and ever-present beret-speaks hesitantly in the soothing tones of a cool liberal-arts professor. Long silences follow almost every question.

Mazzy Star's creative nucleus could've coined the phrase used in that beer ad: Why ask why? Why do we need to know the motivation behind Mazzy Star's elegiacally gorgeous music and star-crossed lyrics? Because, basically, we're nosy bastards.

Many Mazzy fans probably are wondering what the band were doing in the three years between So Tonight and Among My Swan. They toured their asses off in the aftermath of the late-blooming popularity of the "Fade Into You" single. What else?

"We've just been experimenting in the studio," says David between gulps of stout. "We don't really take a long time when we're actually working on an album. We do a lot of other experiments that never see the light of day."

"We're constantly writing and recording," says Hope between sips of red wine. "It's just when we decide to release stuff..."

Capitol hasn't pressured you to be more prolific?

"We don't really talk to [Capitol] a whole lot," says David. "We just do our own thing."

What's the best thing that's happened to you since "Fade Into You" blew up?

Hope and David look at each other for a small eternity. Beads of blood form on my forehead. Finally, David answers, "In your personal life there's a lot of things...Sometimes it's good that a lot of bad things have happened."

Surely your lives are much easier now.

"My life isn't any different," Hope claims. "I mean, how big a hit [she makes it sound like a disease] was it?"

Well, it got tons of airplay and MTV rotation, it helped push sales of So Tonight to around one million.

"Yeah, but when all that was happening we were here [in London]," argues Hope.

"We missed it. When we went back home it was over. It's hard to imagine what it was like," she says wistfully.

But you must have purchased some luxury items.

"Same car, no house," David retorts.

"It's not that much," Hope insists.

"It's been a little bit easier for us to get some help from people," David admits.

"Everybody's been a bit more friendlier," Hope notes.

"Yeah. Other than that," says David, "it's very abstract, really. It's not like The Beverly Hillbillies or anything."

So what negative repercussions resulted from your unexpected popularity? Are old "friends" coming out of the woodwork wanting a piece of your action?

"I think that people who are involved in some kind of scene, maybe that happens to them. But it really hasn't changed anything," says David.

"Yeah. We sort of don't have a lot of friends," says Hope. "We maintain the same friends we've had for years."

Among My Swan is Mazzy Star's most consistently sublime album. It's more of the same, maybe more minimal and somber than before, but the overall quality is higher than that of their first two excellent LPs. Hope and David are joined by mainstays Will Cooper (keyboards, strings) and Keith Mitchell (drums), and ex-Hole bassist Jill Emery. Trance-aholics will buzz to the psychedelic triumvirate of "Rhymes Of An Hour" (also on the Stealing Beauty soundtrack), "Umbilical" and "Rose Blood" (imagine John Barry's theme to Midnight Cowboy dipped in the choicest LSD). Neo-country aficionados should cotton to the slinky charmer "I've Been Let Down" and "Cry, Cry" (echoes of Dylan's classic "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"). Lovers of chilling balladry can brood to "Disappear," "Flowers In December" and "All Your Sisters," which has the disc's spookiest lyric: "Gonna put something in you/ Make the devil feel surprised/All your sisters wanna fly/Around my golden sky." "Look On Down
From The Bridge" aptly closes the album in understated spiritual mode.

Nothing on Swan rocks, but it doesn't need to. Some tracks could garner heavy rotation on VH-1, but they aren't by any means like the anodyne pap that clogs the charts. Hope and David write memorably beautiful songs bathed in a muted amber light; there's a shimmery gravitas that never allows the music to slip into schmaltziness.

Mazzy Star's magnetism largely derives from Hope, who is the queen of Sad Girl Music, a subgenre with more adherents than you'd think. Astrud Gilberto, Nico and Joni Mitchell are the godmothers of Sad Girl Music. Current pretenders to Hope's crown include Drugstore's Isobel Monteiro, Cranes' Alison Shaw, Sharkboy's Avy, Tricky's Martine, Low's Mimi Parker, Lisa Germano, Cindy Dall and Kendra Smith (David's old partner in Opal).

On Swan, Hope's never sounded more alluring, her voice going down like honey liqueur, so detached it seems beamed down from the clouds. Melody Maker's Taylor Parkes accurately described her voice as having "a timbre that is utterly unique, a wasted, watchful murmur. It is peculiarly sexual, but utterly without desire."

Questioned about the meaning of the new album's title, David asks, "What is the title again?"

Hope sullenly shoots back, "I'm sure you know it."

"Hope will help you with that," David says.

"Uh, it's just what it is," she answers after a lengthy pause. "What does it mean to you?"

The world doesn't care what I think about it.

"We care," says David, as he and Hope laugh. "You flew all the way over here."

It is enigmatic, and people will probably wonder what it's about.

"Do you like the title?" Hope presses.

Yeah. It messes with proper syntax, which is always good. (Now it's my turn to pause.) So there's no grand meaning behind the title? It's just kind of suggestive of something?

"Um, there's a meaning behind it," Hope ventures. "I don't know if it would be grand to you or to anybody else. I think what you feel about it is probably more important...If you even care." (Jeez, she makes one feel like such a cad.)

I do care. I think your fans will care and want to be enlightened. Many will scratch their heads in confusion.

"I think that's a good thing," says Hope. "It keeps people thinking. I believe in letting people make up their own minds."

Mazzy Star's music is undeniably melancholic. Some believe that melancholy music resonates deeper than the upbeat sort, endures longer, soothes souls in a more thorough fashion. Hope and David don't necessarily agree.

"I think one of the great misconceptions people have about what is called melancholy music is that it's negative," says David. "I think a lot of times it has much more to do with personal release from melancholy, overcoming those feelings. I always thought a lot of what's called melancholy was about escape. I don't think people like sad music-they like the bliss that comes after listening to sad music."

While Mazzy Star's music taps into a sad vein, it also rouses the carnal spirit. Some friends of mine claim that So Tonight is a really good record to have sex to. Is that a coincidental by-product of what you're doing?

"Are those close friends that told you that?" Hope inquires.

Yeah. I agree with them. Has anybody ever told you that?

"No one's ever told me that," David claims.

"The last journalist that told me that, I hung up on him and called my manager," says Hope.

Moving swiftly on, then, did you see the Mazzy Star entry in that Alternative Record Guide done by a monthly magazine run by the son of Penthouse magazine's publisher? There were some really negative statements made by a certain Bay Area female critic. Neither Hope nor David say they've seen it. Some choice passages: Hope "is sullen to an extent few have ever equaled." "She exudes female passivity but little else." "...emotionally anemic..." "The pair clearly have a career ahead glamourizing heroin addiction."
How would you respond to that?

"It's just a person," Hope replies.

The writer's creating an image of you that a lot of people are going to read.

"I think she's creating an image of herself more than an image of me," says Hope.

"Everybody's opinions are just a reaction to something that is happening in their own personal lives. If we were to react to everybody's opinion...There's so many weirdos and uptight people."

"It doesn't really have an impact on us, don't you think?" David says to Hope. "It's really remote. Journalism is such a massive industry. There are so many clichés."

"It's like journalists just write for each other," says Hope.

That's true, to a degree. Do those statements anger you or make you want to confront the person who wrote them?

"I have so many problems in my life, I don't need to deal with anybody else's problems," says Hope. "It doesn't matter. It's so small."

"It's just a dream to us," says David. "It's not real. We just make music. We would do it at home if nobody cared, or we'd do it in front of thousands of people. We didn't ask for any controversy, to be judged, dissected by vicious people who want to put you down."

Mazzy Star were not exactly overnight sensations. David's musical history dates back to the early '80s with Rain Parade, an L.A. band he led with his younger brother Steven. Part of the short-lived "paisley underground" scene along with Dream Syndicate, Green On Red, the Bangles and others, Rain Parade were responsible for Emergency Third Rail Power Trip. In his book Kaleidoscope Eyes: Psychedelic Rock
From The '60s To The '90s, Jim DeRogatis considers that debut work "not only the best album from any of the paisley underground bands, it ranks with the best psychedelic-rock efforts from any era."

However, David left Rain Parade after that smashing LP. "It became a drag. I just had to get away and do something else," David explains. "Musically it wasn't working out."

Steven Roback, now leading Viva Saturn and an underrated author of many great songs himself, says, "[David's departure] made sense at the time. There were too many cooks in that band. We needed to have a separation so we could all feel more productive. I was sad when [David] had to split. But he needed his own band, and I needed my own band, and that's what happened."

Ex-Dream Syndicate leader Steve Wynn, whose band shared many bills with Rain Parade, remembers being shocked when David left Rain Parade. "It would be like me being thrown out of Dream Syndicate," he says. "I never knew why it happened."

Wynn-who considers himself a fan of David's work-believes that bassist Kendra Smith left Dream Syndicate shortly after David split from Rain Parade in order to form Opal, partly because she and David were dating. Wynn has no hard feelings over this (nor over being the only Dream Syndicate member not asked to contribute to Rainy Day, an album of covers by several paisley underground fixtures).

He and David rarely communicate, but around 1989 Wynn received a strange call from Roback. "David said, 'I had this great idea that you and I should start a band, sort of a modern version of Cream. A freakout, acid, jamming kind of band. You could sing.' I said, 'Wow, that's a great idea. We should try this. Wanna get together later this week, next week?' 'Well, I don't really have any plans to get together. I just want to talk about it.' 'All right, give me a call when you want to get together to do this.' 'Okay.' We never spoke again."

Talking to the Roback brothers, it seems like there's a great distance between them-emotionally as well as geographically. Each claims not to listen to the other's music. But Steven says that he's not surprised by Mazzy Star's success. "David's a good artist and a good businessman. He hit on a formula that worked for him. He knows how to exploit people's strengths, so I'm not surprised at all." He punctuates that sentence with a weak laugh.

Are Steven and David competitive with each other, or do they have a mutual admiration?

"A little of both," Steven says. "There's a mutual respect on a basic level. I think we have a distant admiration of each other's work.

"David understands what he's doing. It's a completely calculating persona. The more you insulate yourself from the press, the more you become a blank screen for projection of cultural myths. That's why he's so silent. He understands that."

David once said in an interview that he didn't follow Rain Parade after he left, which suggested bad blood.

"I don't think it's bad blood so much as the need to clear the palate. We needed to clear our brains. If you're looking for dirt on a blood feud, it's not there. Sorry.

"One thing that David and I have talked a lot about is art history, rock and roll history. Our understanding of that plays into it. You don't want people to intrude in your personal life because you can say something, and it can really be taken out of context. It can come back to haunt you.

"I'm happy to give you what I can about David, but my head is pretty much focused on this whole other realm. There's not too much I can really...offer."

Wynn and Steven Roback remember seeing Hope near the front of the stage at many Rain Parade gigs with her friend Sylvia Gomez. (Gomez later played on She Hangs Brightly.) The two high-school friends had a folk band called Going Home. David produced their album in 1982 or '83, but it remains unreleased. After Kendra Smith left Opal in the middle of a 1987 tour with Jesus And Mary Chain (not before contributing vocals to the psych-glam classic Happy Nightmare Baby), Hope replaced her, and it seemed right to rechristen the band. Mazzy Star were born.

"When Hope and I started working together," says David, "there was no past, no other band, no progression; it was just our own thing. We've managed to accomplish a lot of things together."

The mutual respect Hope and David share is very evident. Some observers may be under the misguided notion that Hope is merely an attractive mouthpiece for David's vision. Actually, she writes nearly all the lyrics and also contributes substantially to the musical side. For instance, she co-produced Swan.

Does Hope need turmoil or conflict in her life to write lyrics?

"I don't know if people need it," she says. "I think it's just there, so people write about it."

In your own experience, is it a spur to create, or can you create when things are going well?

"I don't know. I never really have things going well."

From an outsider's perspective that statement seems hard to believe. Young, beautiful, talented, part of a commercially and artistically successful band free to create without compromising, living with a fine musician who appears to care very much about her-what's the problem? Aahh, that's the crux of this whole story-and Hope will not reveal anything about it.

When William Reid enters the pub after the two-hour interview, Hope displays a palpable sense of relief. He's here to drive her and David to rehearsal at nearby John Henry Studios. They debate whether to allow me to watch Mazzy Star rehearse for their upcoming European shows. Ultimately they agree to let me do so, which is unprecedented in the band's history, road manager Jim Holman later confides.

We pile into William's compact car. He drives us to his and Hope's place so she can get her notebook of lyrics. At the house, David goes to the back garden to pet William's cat. He speaks of his love of animals, nature and the beauty of Cambridge (where Syd Barrett lives, he notes). David's markedly more relaxed here than he was in the pub.

Soon after we're back in William's car and studio-bound. Once there, David and I get out. We watch Hope say goodbye to William, but after ten seconds or so David can't bear to witness it anymore and says, "Come on, let's go."

In the dimly lit rehearsal room, the band have been waiting for their prime movers. Kurt Elzner, who's in the Seattle band Pretty Mary Sunshine and will play guitar on Mazzy Star's upcoming tours, says, "I had four beers and misgauged the alcohol content. I was so hungover I slept until 2:30. I'm not drinking anymore."

David responds, "You came to the wrong country. Drinking is the national pastime in Britain."

The band members laugh and then kick into "Disappear," the first track on Swan. It oozes an easy bliss. Next is a pretty version of "Halah" from She Hangs Brightly. On "Flowers In December," Hope blows a nicely mournful harmonica, David and Kurt strap on acoustic guitars, and Will Cooper plays violin. It takes two tries to get it done to David's satisfaction. "I've Been Let Down," which may be the first single from Swan, has a lovely countryish lilt and deserves to be as big as "Fade Into You."

After a half-hour, Mazzy Star's road manager signals for me to leave. The rehearsal was as low-key as anyone would imagine. David and Hope may be the leaders, but they rule with a light hand.

Many writers use the adjective "waifish" to describe Hope, but she appears to be much tougher than that word suggests. If she were to leave Mazzy Star she could likely embark on a fruitful solo career.

Still, one question nags: Why is Hope so unhappy? Steven Roback has one theory. "The music business is not an easy business to feel good in," he understates. "When you're dealing with record companies-no matter how much they seduce you with money and promises-you have to remember you're dealing with people with a business mentality. That can be an area of disappointment. You can't mistake the business relationships for friendships. And it's hard to be on the road; it takes its toll on you. I think David understands that. He can work within that structure. It's probably harder for Hope. Commerce is the vehicle, and you have to go out on tour and promote
your record, be lonely and experience all those things."

Hope's and David's moroseness is unfortunate for them, but for music fans of discerning tastes, the blood, sweat and tears seem worth it if it results in such exquisite music. When asked how they would like posterity to remember Mazzy Star, David responds, "I'm not ready to write my own obituary right now."

Hope says, "I don't really need history to remember me. I don't really think about it."
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1996, NOV., RAY GUN MAG, INTERVIEWS (SEPARATE ONES WITH HOPE, & THEN DAVID)

[text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan sites "Everything Mazzy Star,"
here: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... pintro.htm
& Mazzy Star Boulevard, here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120702032 ... icles.html ]

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Mazzy Star in "singer speaks" shock.

Rock writer rushed to emergency room. "Couldn't get her to shut up," mumbles an anaesthetized
Jim Greer as his gurney trundles headlong through the hospital doors.

by Jim Greer

For the past few days I've been going over a stack of Mazzy Star press clippings and have
talked to a number of people who've previously interviewed the duo; the unifying thread of
both the articles and the conversations, making allowances for differences of perspective
and personality, seems to be GET OUT OF HERE FAST! THIS INTERVIEW WILL BE A DISASTER! But
we at Ray Gun will not be so easily cowed.

In the past, it seems, the pair have given such reluctant and unforthcoming interviews that
some writers have been reduced to printing an actual count of the seconds between question
and reply - and when the reply does come, it tends to be along the lines of "Um, I don't
know. Maybe." Which can be frustrating, after a while, both for the writer as well as for
the reader eager for more complete picture of the enigmatic band's collective personality.
Ah, but we've got a plan. Simply put: Divide and conquer. Due to a fortuitous logistical
arrangement, singer Hope Sandoval is here in Berkeley and guitarist etc. David Roback is
somewhere in Norway. Ray Gun editors call up the record company loudly demanding that
interviews must be done right away, for obscure but ominous-sounding deadline reasons.
The ruse works - I'll get to talk to Hope here alone, then jet off the next morning to
Oslo and put the screws to her partner. The result of my efforts should be either a
softening of the glacial Mazzy Star silence or a doubling of same, with jet lag.
Either way, my frequent flier mileage wins.

First things first: Mazzy Star has a new album out. The reason Mazzy Star has agreed to
do (a very limited amount of) press is that Mazzy Star has a new album out. The band has
made it clear that it doesn't understand why anyone would particularly need or want to
talk to them, especially. Everything they had to say they said on the record. Just listen
to the record, seems to be the implied message. So, okay, the new record: Among My Swan
(I'm not even going to try to figure that one out), while similar in vein to the previous
two Mazzy Star records, is a great improvement over what some found to be the stylistic
torpor of the last one, So Tonight That I Might See - though that record did represent
the band's commercial breakthrough, due mostly to the late-breaking success of the
single-and-video "Fade Into You", as well as the added exposure the band garnered when
Hope guest-sang on the semi-popular Jesus and Mary Chain track "Sometimes Always," which
was in MTV rotation at roughly the same time. Fans of either that record or the previous,
far better debut, She Hangs Brightly, will not be shocked by any severe stylistic swerves
on Among My Swan. Nevertheless there's evidence of a broadening of the traditional Mazzy
palette; a more purely pop sensibility sticks its tongue out on a couple of the newer
tracks among all the usual country-blues-such-girl-in-a-pretty-dress-whirling-around
sort of stuff, and songs like "Disappear" and "Take Everything" demonstrate an increased
willingness to experiment with a broader range of sounds, the former featuring a
dissonant-but-beautiful bell accompaniment. There's even a song called "Happy" that seems
to mean it, which in itself could be called a stylistic breakthrough for the determinedly
melancholy duo.

Whether the new record duplicates the platinum performance of So Tonight or not remains
of course to be seen, but the prospect of either its success or abject failure doesn't
seem to trouble the two Mazzy Stars one whit. They seem more bemused by their newfound
Modern Rock Star status than enthusiastic about sustaining at least the more public
aspects of that status. "What time are you flying to Norway tomorrow?" asks Hope as we
sit down at a quiet table in the Berkeley bar (The Spam? The Spit? The Splat?
Can't remember) she's chosen for our interview. "Do you like flying or is it sort of a
drag for you?" "Um..." I begin, hesitating, thrown a bit off guard by her forthrightness.
Hope laughs. "You must not like it, because you hesitated. So why not just do it over
the phone? Or is it more exciting in person - I mean as far as just talking to the
person in person."

"No, it's not that," I reply, slowly getting used to the idea of having the interviewing
tables turned on me. I wonder if this is a new tactic she's developed to avoid answering
questions. Contrary to anything I'd been led to expect, Hope appears relaxed, confident,
maybe a little quiet, but no more so than you average sober American. "You can't really
get a sense of the person over the phone; you need to meet them so you can better tell
what they're like, I guess. Phone interviews can be so superficial - they're really
just used for sort of utilitarian promotion; although I guess there's some aspect of that
to any kind of press. I mean, why are you here now? Because you've got a new record out.
It's not because -" Hope interjects, laughing, "It's fun!" "Do you prefer to do phone
interviews? Are they easier?" She considers for a moment. "Yeah. It's easier. But it's
obvious why it's easier: It's easier for basically the same reasons why you just said
it's better to do it in person."

We talked for a while about the making of Among My Swan, which Hope tells me was recorded
partly in Berkeley - at a studio called Live Oak that the band has used for its previous
records; it's a basement studio in a house here where bands like En Vogue usually work,
but they like it - and partly in London, at the Jesus and Mary Chain's studio and at the
Cocteau Twins' studio. "Do you like London?" I ask. "Yeah, I love London," she replies.
"I mean, my boyfriend (William Reid from the Mary Chain) lives there." "What do you eat
there?" I ask, genuinely puzzled. "Umm, fish and chips," she answers with a vague smile.
"I'm big on sandwiches, too. They have great sandwiches in London." "I notice you have a
co-production credit on this record." "Well, David does most of the producing, but we
both analyze each and every song, and sort of decide what guitar or whatever - mean
obviously mostly that's his, because he's the guitarist, but I figured I should get
producer's credit because I was involved with most of it."

"Has the level of record company involvement changed with the success of the last record?
Did Capitol execs come sniffing around the studio any more than usual?"

"They just seemed like the way they've always been," she says. "They're interested, but
they're not gonna force anything on us. They're businessmen, they don't want to hurt the
relationship in any way. They want to make things go as smoothly as possible. I know if
things got really bad for Mazzy Star it might be a different story, but right now, they're
just sort of "Let them do what they need to do and leave them alone, and they'll make a
good record."
"What about the composition of the audience? I ask. "I know a lot of bands seem to notice
a sort of immediate change once their video gets played a lot on MTV. The audience seems
to get younger and, I don't know, stupider in general."
"I don't think that we've reached that point," she replies. "I've heard that that does
happen, but I don't think it's happened to us yet. If it has, it's so small that we haven't
noticed it."
"What, no mosh pit?" "No. They didn't really do that for us. Well, when we toured with the
Mary Chain, I would go onstage and sing "Sometimes Always" with Jim, and people would sort
of do that slam-dancing thing."
"Has playing live gotten any easier? I know you used to be real uncomfortable with it."
"Well yeah, all those people just staring at you...."
"But I thought performers were supposed to crave that kind of attention."
She demurs brightly.
"I mean, it's natural for anyone to crave attention, and yeah I guess some people sort of OD
on it. I mean, I like attention just like the next person, but playing live is sort of -
it's really asking for it."
"Do you feel obligated to put on a show?"
"I feel obligated to sing well, and that's it. I sense that (desire for more interaction) from
them, yeah, and that's what makes it uncomfortable. I mean, it's not so bad now most people
who come to the shows now realize it's not going to happen, and they accept it, but in the
beginning....people would demand it. Like, they demand a show."

Hope looks momentarily perplexed at the thought of her demanding audience. The thought to me
that at some point I'm going to have to ask Hope about her lyrics, since after all they
represent a large part of her contribution to the Mazzy Star experience. Knowing her
reputation for standoffishness when it comes to discussing specific lyrics, I decide to try
a more general track, first bucking up to the task by ordering one more in a succession of
7 & 7s. (Hope sips occasionally from a glass of red wine, but barely manages to finish it
by the end of our interview).

"Judging from the sort of overall bent of your lyrics, one might think you have a somewhat
jaundiced view of relationships. In general, I mean."
"I think some of that's true," says Hope, tracing her finger lightly over the lips of her
wine glass, "but I think people sort of project their own feelings into the lyrics, to
coincide with what's going on in their own lives. But I guess you could say that."
"Do you mind people coming up with different interpretations of your songs, or is that the
point?"
"It doesn't matter what people think about the lyrics. You can't control it anyway."
"Is there a song on the new album that you would call flat-out celebratory and uplifting?"
"Yeah: 'Happy'"
"I wasn't sure if that was meant to be sarcastic. When you come up with a lyric, do you
have a specific meaning in mind that you want to communicate, or is it more of a broad
emotion?"
"I don't really think about any of those things, I just sort of talk about what is
happening at that particular moment," says Hope. "I think most people, probably everybody
who writes lyrics, they are talking about themselves, even if they attempt to sort of talk
about their friend, it is themselves, it's their feelings, it's their opinion of the
situation. So I think most people, if not everybody, is talking about themselves who
write lyrics."
"Does your opinion about things in general and situations differ a lot from time to time,
or are you pretty consistent in your thinking?"
"I'm sure it changes."
"Does that mean you're (pause for comedic effect) moody?" I joke. Hope laughs.
"I don't know, I don't know."
"How do you choose what material makes it onto any given album, for instance this one,"
I ask, changing the subject.
"We record a lot of songs and then just sort of decide what our tastes are that
particular month or week or whatever."
"Do you ever revisit unused material?
"We plan to do that after each record, but it never happens. We just sort of get bored
of it. We just sort of feel like if you don't write new songs you're just stagnating or
whatever."

At this point, I decide that the Ray Gun plan has been an unqualified success thus far.
On their own, unable to fall back on the protection afforded by simply lapsing into an
elliptical silence, dropping the conversational ball to be picked up and similarly fumbled
by the one or the other, Hope and David were forced to be more articulate than their
reputation would admit. Or at least Hope was. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Heady
with evident interview mastery, I stretched a bit further than my rock writer resources
were currently capable of extending, going on an extended and web-headed analysis of
the difference in Hope's singing on Among My Swan as opposed to her earlier stuff. All
of which boiled down to me suggesting that her melodies were a bit more developed on this
record than in the past.

"Umm...I think I know what you mean," answers Hope kindly at the end of my rambling
exegesis. "You're the second person who's said that, so I guess maybe it's true, I guess.
It's sort of hard to tell, I mean you just keep playing and singing music and it's just
sort of whatever happens happens."

"Do you think your voice has improved?"
"(Emphatically) No, I don't think that, but people have told me that they think that."

We talk a while longer, mostly about not terribly interesting things, which is my fault,
I eventually start fumbling around with the "What's the last record you bought/book you
read/movie you saw" type of fanzine idiocy that usually marks my seventh or eighth
cocktail, when Hope is rescued at last by the arrival of her "ride," in the person of
William, her boyfriend to whom I am politely introduced, before the two disappear into
the Berkeley evening. Early to bed for me: I've got an eight AM plane for Norway.

Oslo, Norway. The airport hotel. A hellish (only in sense that all intercontinental
plane travel is hellish) 18-hour journey has ended here, with my head in the minibar
awaiting a call from David Roback, Mazzy Star's other half. Flush with my previous
success, I anticipate similar accomplishment with Roback, who in any case has a reputation
for somewhat more loquacity (of course in a relative sense) than his partner. And she
wasn't any problem at all. He calls later that evening, and we fix a rendezvous at a
place called the Library Bar off the lobby of the Bristol Hotel in downtown Oslo. I'm
glad of the chance to be away from the airport, if only temporarily(my flight out is
scheduled for some ungodly morning hour the next day). David is sitting in a booth in
a corner of the bar when I arrive, talking to a couple of friends. At least, I assume
they're friends. I'm early and so take a place at the bar so as not to compound the
imposition of the interview by showing up rudely early.

Roback's easy to spot even in the well-populated bar; with his beatnik black attire
and matching beret, he might as well be wearing a sign that reads "Musician." No one's
really sure what David's doing here here in Norway. His record company publicist
professed complete ignorance, and when I asked Hope, she shrugged and replied, "Ask him."
Which I proceeded to do, but was rewarded with an elliptical reply along the lines of,
"Traveling." Well, I could see that, Beatnik Boy.

In general, David proved a far more difficult nut to crack then had Hope. He was
unfailingly polite, and made an earnest attempt to answer my fruity rock writer questions,
but his answers tended to be not only exactly the same as hope, but unrevealing in the
extreme - along the lines of "There are no rules in music. It's just what sounds good
to you," which I'm sure opens up worlds of meaning in some alternate universe where
rock cliches have before been uttered or written, but it didn't do a hell of a lot for
me. In another, less accomplished musician, such reticence and apparent lack of of
insight might be suspect; but Roback has earned the right to keep his trap shut.
Beginning with his early 80's work in Rain Parade, a seminal band among the
"Paisley Underground" (a short-lived flowering of LA-based psychedelia), through
the proto-Mazzy psuch-natterings of Clay Allison and the enormously well-regarded
(if commercial obscure) Opal, David's track record basically defines the hoary
term "artistic integrity."

When the very 30-something guitarist (there's no hair under that beret, is what
I'm thinking) looks you in the eye and says that, "We're just doing what we've
always done," that "always" contains a lot more history than your typical out-of-nowhere
MTV wunderkind. But if you happen to be unaware of his honorable rock record, he's
not well inclined to disabuse you. So, really, it was probably just the jet lag.
I opened up by expressing surprise at Hope's lack of reticence, to which David replied
simply, "You can't believe everything you read." We discussed technical matters
concerning guitar sounds and amps and such that can't possibly be of interest to
any one reading this now, which obviously is my fault again, and he confirmed to
me pretty much everything Hope had already said concerning the process of writing
the new album. The only point of dispute seemed to be whether the bell sounds he
used for the songs "Disappear" and "Happy" were sampled (as Hope as informed me),
or "created" (David's word) and "definitely not sampled." Like it matters.

Or the subject of record company involvement, David evinced an even more
fanatical desire to be left alone than had his partner. "I'd rather just put
stuff out on a cheap cassette than let somebody else tell me how to make my
music," he averred. I'm thinking to myself, "Why a cheap cassette particularly,"
but my mind tended to wander badly throughout the course of our chat .
David insisted, "I don't really notice the audience," when playing live,
but affirmed overall that the process of touring was an enjoyable one,
because "you get to present the songs in a different environment." What do
you talk about rock music? David couldn't remember the last band he'd seen play
live, apart from the ones he's been on tour with.

His musical world seemed unremittingly insular, as evidenced not only by his
zealous guarding of any and all personal facts by his seeming proud rejection
not only of the music industry but of most of the music itself. If ever a man
could be said to be self-sufficient, it would be David Roback. Some of that
self-sufficient spirit inevitably translates into Mazzy Star's ambiguous and
affecting music. But apparently the secret behind that transmutative process
will remain as tightly wrapped as the man who writes the music keeps himself.
An enigma wrapped in a puzzle on a bed of lettuce, or something. Obviously
I was a little more than tired by this point. I said good-bye to David and
caught a cab back to the airport hotel, where I crawled into bed to await
my wakeup call so I could get back in another metal tube and be flung across
the ocean. But the joke was, I couldn't get to sleep. The God of Jetlag, or
that crazy Norse God Loki, would not let me shut my eyes. I put my tape of
the new Mazzy Star record in my Walkman and turned the volume way down, hoping
to be lulled asleep by the gentle strains of the music. It didn't work: I just
got more disturbed, and lay there in an agitated clump. Which is probably just
the kind of reaction those two were looking for.
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1996, DEC. 9, DENVER POST, INTERVIEW WITH HOPE SANDOVAL

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star," here:
http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... pintro.htm]


The Denver Post - December 9, 1996
Mazzy Star wishes we'd all shut up and listen
Dreamy California band insists it isn't background music
By G. Brown
Denver Post Special Writer

Mazzy Star albums could come with a warning: "Avoid driving a motor vehicle or operating machinery while
listening to this product." The elements in the California-based band's slow, dreamy "nod-pop" are Hope
Sandoval's soft, ethereal voice (her torpid turns make Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins sound caffeine-crazed)
and David Roback's hazy, wistful touches of guitar and organ.

And the music is blended with mystique. Roback and Sandoval are reticent interviewees - some rock scribes
have published actual counts of the seconds between questions and "Maybe I don't know" answers.

"So Tonight That I Might See," from 1993, spawned the beautiful MTV video hit "Fade Into You," but Sandoval
sounds more little-girl-lost than ever. Problems playing live: "We hardly play 'Fade Into You.' We like
playing it, but we don't play it very much," she said recently. Mazzy Star will perform at the Boulder
Theater tomorrow night.

"I still have a lot of problems playing live. It's harder to control everybody when there's so many
more people in one room.

"When a band gets popular, when it's in the middle of being a small band and being a big band, the
audience doesn't know what's going on.

"If you've never been to a Mazzy Star show, you don't know that it's really awkward to show up and
socialize and have some kind of party while the band is playing. It's not background music. It's
frustrating to go on stage.

"I just think it's rude when somebody's talking over a very quiet song and not paying attention.

"I don't see the point in showing up."

The roots of Mazzy Star were planted in Los Angeles' "paisley underground" scene of the early '80s. Roback
split the Rain Parade after that group's only album and formed Opal. Around the same time, Sandoval was
singing in Going Home (Roback produced the folk duo's first album). When things soured for their respective
bands, they got together. Cult following grew A haunting, serene beauty was achieved - Roback's simple,
atmospheric arrangements, the fuzzy strum of his guitar work and touches of neo-psychedelia highlighted
Sandoval's languid, morose vocals.

Mazzy Star's debut album, "She Hangs Brightly," established a cult following, and "So Tonight That I Might See"
went platinum.

There are jumps in style on the new "Among My Swan." "I've Been Let Down" moves along like an acoustic
country tune, and guest musician William Reid of Jesus And Mary Chain (he's Sandoval's boyfriend) scorches
a guitar solo on "Take Everything."

The single "Flowers in December" uses an unassuming Neil Young-ish harmonica to accompany a message of
longing. Changes on stage "We wrote that song pretty quickly, right after we released 'So Tonight That
I Might See.'

"We played it live a lot and it basically stayed the same," Sandoval said.

"But we change the set a lot on stage. Last night (in Boston) my voice was going out, there was people
talking and chatting . I turned around to David and said, 'We're not doing "Into Dust" tonight, we're not
doing "Give You My Lovin," we're not doing "Blue Flower."'

"I knew that I couldn't do the songs. I knew that people didn't care."

MAZZY STAR When: 8 p.m. tomorrow Where: Boulder Theater Tickets: $ 15. Call 830-8497
©1996 The Denver Post Corporation
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1996, DEC. 12, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ROBACK

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star," here:
http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... pintro.htm ]

The San Diego Union-Tribune - December 12, 1996
Mazzy Star is 2 auteurs of the austere
By Jeff Niesel

No music venue is too austere for the Los Angeles band Mazzy Star. Although some critics have said
the group's soft, plaintive melodies would make fitting background music for insomniacs, guitarist
David Roback said the band's ability to play quiet melodies has served it well on its current tour,
which recently passed through Europe and lands at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach on Wednesday.

"Sometimes when the mood is right, we will do a lot of acoustic songs. But you have to have the
right environment for that because the acoustic songs tend to be more fragile when they're played
live," said Roback. "We actually play a lot of different types of places.

"For example, we played at a 19th-century Gothic Revival church in London a month ago, and that
was a very interesting context to play in. It was a very quiet and eerie environment. We like to
play in different places; that's one of the interesting things about doing concert tours."

As the guitarist of the Rain Parade, Roback was one of the founders of Los Angeles' "Paisley
Underground" scene, the mid-'80s neo-psychedelic rock movement that included bands like the
Dream Syndicate and the Bangles.

But after only one album, 1983's "Emergency Third Rail Power Trip," Roback left the Rain Parade
to form Clay Allison with former Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith. Smith and Roback recorded
the brilliant "Happy Nightmare Baby" in 1987, but when Smith decided to retire to the country in
the midst of a tour, Roback had to find a replacement.

He recruited Hope Sandoval, the singer in a band called Going Home, and the pair began recording
together as Mazzy Star. The duo's debut, "She Hangs Brightly," came out in 1990.

("When I) met Hope, I thought she was an interesting songwriter. Her voice is really amazing,
too," Roback said. "I really liked her songwriting and her attitude. She is a strong individual,
and that's something I could hear in her music immediately." On the two albums that have followed
"She Hangs Brightly," 1993's "So Tonight That I Might See" (which includes the single "Fade Into
You") and the recent "Among My Swan," Mazzy Star hasn't altered its Velvet Underground-inspired
music.

Roback's blues-based guitar chords provide a melancholy backdrop for Sandoval's equally sorrowful,
whisper-thin vocals . Roback said the group, which spent three years recording "Among My Swan,"
doesn't worry about changing from album to album.

"We approach things on a song-by-song basis. We don't see things on an album-to-album progression,"
he said. "We just don't look at it that way. We've been doing a lot of different writing and
experimenting. We have written several albums' worth of music but haven't publicly released them.
We do a lot of work that doesn't get released."

DATEBOOK: Mazzy Star with Sparklehorse
8 p.m. Wednesday; Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $15.
©1996 The San Diego Union-Tribune
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1996, DECEMBER issue, POP mag #21, Mazzy Star interview w. Hope. Photos by Andrew Catlin
My English translation from Swedish original provided by Facebook group member Per Ranmo
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Image

In recent months, Hope Sandoval has been happily busy recording Mazzy Star's new, third album "Among My Swan." God knows what her life would otherwise have looked like. Hope Sandoval is Mazzy Star's singer, lyricist and front person. But she is described as easily autistic, she has ended live shows mid-set on tours, and gotten up and left from interviews.

She spends most of her time behind the blinds in her flat, tends to isolate herself altogether, and has also managed to develop a shopping mania that for a period knew no bounds. From record companies, there have been whispers of long-term drug problems. Indeed, Mazzy Star also sounds like Neil Young on heroin.

Since the debut album "She Hangs Brightly," which was first released in 1990, and again in 1992, their blues ballads have only gotten slower and slower. The new album "Among My Swan" is, if possible, even more murky earthy than the previous records. The fuzzy psychedelic guitars sometimes sound like they're going to burst, sometimes, as if every note was encased in a soap bubble that has slowly been tossed towards the microphone.

By phone from her home in northern California, Hope Sandoval's voice is heard barely above a whisper. She draws on the words, thinks for minutes before answering my questions, and doesn't want to tell me which city she moved to.

HOPE: -"Previously, I moved around Los Angeles. I grew up in East LA. It was tough there, but my brother was in a gang, so no one dared touch me. The school was horrible. I hated school. Everyone was mean. But I'd rather not talk about my childhood."

East LA is about as far from the sunny, tourist-friendly, beach-California as one can get. Hope Sandoval never goes near the water. She can't swim and was eight years old when she was tricked for the first and last time in her life to go down to the beach. Only chance saved her from drowning.

In the early eighties, around the same time Hope graduated from high school, David Roback's group Rain Parade released their first album. Roback is the second half in Mazzy Star's creative core duo. Together with Green On Red, Dream Syndicate, Long Ryders, Three O'Clock, early Bangles and a handful of Los Angeles bands, they made up the bulk of the wave, heavily influenced by the late American sixties, which went by the name The Paisley Underground. The name comes from the original psychedelia artists' love of paisley pattern shirts and record covers.

HOPE: -"I was a teenager and a big Paisley Underground fan. I can certainly appreciate the music still, but never listen to it anymore, And I don't know anything about all those bands David so long ago wanted Rain Parade to sound like."

A couple of years before that, Hope Sandoval got to know Sylvia Gomez. She was dating one of Hope's many half-brothers who now calls himself a punk florist and makes bouquets of steel wire.

Sylvia and Hope hung out at Paisley Underground clubs, went to as many shows as possible, and mingled with as many band members as they could. They were minors and once entered a Green On Red concert by pretending to be the band's go-go dancers.

David Roback left Rain Parade after just one album. On his own album of covers songs "Rainy Day" from 1983, he enlisted the group as musicians, while the Bangles girls, among others, acted as singers. Together with Dream Syndicate's singer Kendra Smith [Kendra played bass in The Dream Syndicate and only rarely sang in the group. -BB]
he then continued to do wayward country psychedelia in the duo Clay Allison which, by extension, became Opal. During Opal's last tour, David Roback and Hope Sandoval met up. She and Sylvia Gomez had formed the acoustic duo Going Home. Roback heard Hope's voice, and wanted to produce their debut album that was never released, but hopefully will come out eventually, and then Kendra Smith quit Opal during the ongoing tour, and Hope had to jump in as a replacement.

HOPE: "I didn't like Opal," says Hope unhappily. "It wasn't my band, I was just a temporary replacement and never took part in any decisions, any songwriting or any recordings. I never want to work like that again."

Mazzy Star is actually a group of a varying number of members. Sylvia Gomez is constantly present in Hope Sandoval's life. She wrote a song on the first album, and appears on both the sequel "So Tonight That I Might See" and the new album "Among My Swan."

Otherwise, David Roback is behind the composition, production and arrangements, while Hope writes the lyrics. When Mazzy Star made their first album, the two were still a couple. He was writing all his music directly at her, for her, and with her voice in mind. She doesn't write for anyone in particular. Perhaps David Roback even composes after Hope leaves finished lyrics for him. She has no idea how he works.

Mazzy Star's two main characters have both chosen to isolate themselves, but not together. They are no longer a couple, do not live in the same city, do not share life in any way.

HOPE: "When I have something finished, I fly to Berkeley and leave it to David. It's my only solid habit, the only thing I do regularly. I write lyrics when I feel like it, go out when I have to, meet my friends when I think it fits. But when a song's lyrics are finished then I know what I have to do; Then I'll get on a flight to Berkeley. It's because of me the record has taken three years. Maybe David has also needed that much time, I don't know that. My lyrics took three years in total to write.

Mazzy Star has moved ever closer to their country roots. The same morning I'm talking to Hope Sandoval, she's been listening to Kansas Minnie [Memphis Minnie -BB]. In the harmonica intro on "Send Me a Flower," [Flowers in December -BB], the strongest song on "Among My Swan," we're reminded of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" straight off. On The Jesus And Mary Chain's "Sometimes Always" Hope sings a duet with William's brother, Jim Reid.

HOPE: -"That recording was Hell on Earth. It's William's song and he had a very definite idea of how he wanted it. I had a hard time getting my ideas through, and my voice didn't sound the way it usually does. There is lots of will and power in the lyrics, it is a small war. It's just that I sang about William's war, and not my own."

"Sometimes Always" is an exchange of words between a couple. A modern version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's love war. He's left her, and now he wants to come back. At first she holds to the idea it's unthinkable, but he begs on his knees for another chance. Towards the end of the song, she softens, showing how happy she is because he still wants her. "I always knew you'd take me back," concludes William Reid.

HOPE: -"I can get so annoyed when it's expected I will just be a singer in someone else's band. Mazzy Star is as much mine as David's band. We came up with half the group name each, and that's how everything that has to do with Mazzy Star works. There's no reason for anyone to believe otherwise. But with The Jesus And Mary Chain, I was actually just a singer."

Hope Sandoval writes lyrics about two things. About Him, the one who is there but maybe someday will go, or maybe has already left her. And then about Her, death.

HOPE: -"It's been a while since death crept into my life. I don't think much about death, and I'm not particularly afraid of dying. But then it happens, She strikes again, and I'm as scared as I used to be."

The resemblance between The Velvet Underground and Mazzy Star's slow, low-key blues has been demonstrated time and time again. In fact, it lies entirely with David Roback. It is he who steals Lou Reed's guitar riff, John Cale's sunglasses and The Velvet's typical way of combining guitars with violins. Hope Sandoval does not own a single Velvet Underground record.

HOPE: -"Honestly, I had a hard time with The Velvet Underground for a long time. It was my friend Sylvia who had every recording they made, and forced me to listen until I heard what good songs they write. I don't like hysterical idol worship at all. Neither does David. That is why we do not do so many interviews."

Just like early Velvet Underground-Nico exceptions, they once in a while have turned their backs on the audience, stood along the stage edge, and appeared completely black-clad on stage, hiding Mazzy Star from the audience. They play in dim light and crawl along the walls without looking up from their shoes. To be truthful, The Velvet Underground did so because Andy Warhol projected films on the wall and preferred the audience watch them instead of the band.

HOPE: -"I've said that I don't like live shows, but I think I'd like to change my mind on that point. It's the moments between the songs, when people expect me to say something I can't say. We're going to play again and it feels okay, but then you always have time to forget between the times how fucked it is to tour."

HOPE: -"I'd rather not be a star. And I don't like the record business. Things have changed, and not for the better. We never intended to start selling lots of records. I usually say that my life after I started making records with Mazzy Star can be summed up in that Morrissey song..."

Suddenly, a much stronger voice sings through the phone:

HOPE: -"'I've seen this happen in other people's lives / And now it's happening in mine.'"

In the Smiths song "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" Morrissey looks ahead, and it strikes him that he might die with a smile on his face after all. Maybe, maybe Hope Sandoval will do the same.

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QUIBBLES, ADDITIONS, & CORRECTIONS re. the Dec. 1996 POP mag article, by me Hermesacat / Bob Beatty:

[The journalist describes as "autistic."Autistic? At first, I thought this word must be due to poor translation from the Swedish. But no, the Swedish word in the mag is
"autistisk," which has the same meaning as the English word autistic.
There's no milder definition such as "shy" I could see in a Swedish-English dictionary. But it's misinfo, and is contradicted by this passage appearing later in this same interview, QUOTE: "Sylvia and Hope hung out at Paisley Underground clubs, went to as many shows as possible, and mingled with as many band members as they could." Doesn't sound like an autistic or shy person's personality does it? Also, people who know Hope today say she's anything but shy, quiet or withdrawn off stage. Instead she's engaged, very talkative, "life of the party," even. -BB]

[One paragraph by the journalist makes dubious claims about Hope supposedly having "long term drug problems." But I've been told by two reliable sources Hope was never a junkie or "druggie," and was not a recluse either, as the article claims -BB]

[Hope's "punk florist" brother was Ron, but I believe he's her full-brother -BB]

[The journalist's paragraph describing Hope's childhood frightening swimming incident is contradicted by Hope's own words from another interview, QUOTE: "I almost drowned at the beach when I was eight. It was the first time I ever went deeper than my ankles into the waves, and I didn't know how to swim. Two friends saved me. I thought of it as a near death experience, but neither of them were worried. Maybe they didn't want to make me feel uptight. I can swim now, but not in the ocean. I'm still afraid of the waves, definitely not a surfer. I do like to go to the beach and hang out, though." -Hope, Spin mag, July, 1990. -BB]

[The article gets some facts wrong re. Syvia Gomez's contributions to Mazzy Star albums. Sylvia wrote "Give You My Lovin'" on the first Mazzy album, but has no credits at all as writer or performer on the other two albums. -BB]

[The journalist does correctly note that on one Mazzy Star song, David "steals Lou Reed's guitar riff." In "Blue Flower," David inserts a guitar solo of about a dozen notes that's note for note identical to a solo Lou plays in the Velvet Underground song, "I'll Be Your Mirror," except David plays it an octave or so lower. -BB]
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[SWEDISH text below provided by Facebook Group member Per Ranmo who has a copy of the Pop mag]

De senaste månaderna har Hope Sandoval lyckligtvis varit upptagen med att spela in Mazzy Stars nya, tredje album, »Among My Swan«. Gud vet hur hennes liv annars skulle sett ut. Hope Sandoval är Mazzy Stars sångerska, textförfattare och förväntade ansikte utåt. Men hon beskrivs som lätt autistisk, hon har avbrutit livespelningar, ställt in hela turnéer och rest sig upp och gått från intervjuer. Hon spenderar det mesta av sin tid bakom persiennerna i sin lägenhet, tenderar att isolera sig helt och hållet, och har dessutom lyckats utveckla en shoppingmani som under en period inte visste några gränser. Från skivbolagshåll har det viskats om långvariga drogproblem. Mycket riktigt låter Mazzy Star också som Neil Young på heroin. Sedan debuten »She Hangs Brightly«, som släpptes först 1990 och sedan en gång till 1992, har deras bluesballader bara blivit långsammare och långsammare. Nya »Among My Swan« är om möjligt än mer grumligt jordnära än de tidigare skivorna. De fuzzade psykedeliska gitarrerna låter ibland som om de ska brista, ibland som om varenda ton vore innesluten i en såpbubbla som långsamt fått singla ner mot mikrofonen. Per telefon från hennes hem i norta Kalifornien hörs Hope Sandovals röst, knappt starkare än en viskning. Hon drar på orden, tänker i minuter innan hon svarar på mina frågor och vill inte berätta till vilken stad hon flyttat. - Tidigare har jag flyttat runt i Los Angeles. Jag växte upp i East LA. Det var tufft där, men min bror var med i ett gäng, så ingen vågade röra mig. Skolan var hemsk. Jag hatade skolan. Alla var elaka. Men jag vill helst inte prata om min barndom. East LA är ungefär så långt ifrån det soliga, turistvänliga beach-Kalifornien man kan komma. Hope Sandoval går aldrig nära vattnet. Hon kan inte simma och var åtta år när hon för första och sista gången i sitt liv blev lurad att följa med ner till stranden. Bara slumpen räddade henne från att drunkna. I början av åttiotalet, ungefär samtidigt som Hope gick ut high school, släppte David Robacks grupp Rain Parade sitt första album. Roback är andra halvan i Mazzy Stars kreativa kärnduo. Tillsammans med Green On Red, Dream Syndicate, Long Ryders, Three O'Clock, tidiga Bangles och ytterligare en handfull Los Angeles-band utgjorde de huvuddelen av den våg, starkt influerad av det sena, amerikanska sextiotalet, som gick under namnet The Paisley Underground. Namnet kommer sig av de ursprungliga psykedelia artisternas kärlek till paisley-mönstradeskjortor och skivomslag. - Jag var tonåring och stort Paisley Under- groundfan. Jag kan säkert uppskatta musiken fortfarande, men lyssnar aldrig på sådant längre, Och jag kan ingenting om alla de dar banden som David så gårna ville att Rain Parade skulle låta som. Redan ett par år innan dess lärde Hope Sandoval känna Sylvia Gomez. Hon var ihop med en av Hopes många halvbröder, som numera kallar sig punkflorist och gör buketter av ståltråd. Sylvia och Hope hängde på Paisley Undergroundklubbarna, gick på så mânga konserter som möjligt och minglade med så mânga bandmedlemmar de kunde. De var minderåriga och tog sig en gång in på en Green On Red-konsert genom att utge sig för att vara bandets go-go-dansare. David Roback lämnade Rain Parade efter bara ett album. På sitt eget coveralbum »Rainy Day« från 1983 tog han hjälp av gruppen som kompmusiker medan bland andra Banglesflickorna agerade sångerskor. Tillsammans med Dream Syndicates sângerska Kendra Smith fortsatte han sedan att göra egensinnig countrypsykedelia i duon Clay Allison. Som i förlängningen blev Opal. Under Opals sista turné traffades David Roback och Hope Sandoval. Hon och Sylvia Gomez hade bildat helakustiska duon Going Home. Roback hörde Hopes röst, ville producera deras debutalbum som aldrig släpptes, men förhoppningsvis kommer att komma ut så småningom och då Kendra Smith hoppade av Opal mitt under pågående turné fick Hope hoppa in som ersättare. - Jag trivdes inte i Opal, säger Hope olyckligt. Det var inte mitt band, jag var bara tillfällig inhoppare och tog aldrig del i några beslut, något låtskrivande eller några inspelningar. Jag vill aldrig mer arbeta på det viset. Mazzy Star är egentligen en grupp med varierande antal medlemmar. Sylvia Gomez är ständigt närvarande i Hope Sandovals liv. Hon har skrivit en låt på det första albumet, och medverkar både på uppföljaren »So Tonight That I Might See« och nya »Among My Swan«. I övrigt står David Roback för komposition, produktion och arrangemang medan Hope skriver texterna. När Mazzy Star gjorde sin första skiva var de två fortfarande ett par. Han skriver fortfarande alla sina melodier direkt riktade till henne, för henne, och med hennes röst i åtanke. Hon skriver inte för någon särskild. Kanske komponerar David Roback till och med efter de färdiga texter Hope lämnar till honom. Hon har ingen aning om hur han arbetar. Mazzy Stars två huvudpersoner har båda valt att isolera sig, men inte tillsammans. De är inte längre par, bor inte i samma stad, delar inte på något vis liv. – När jag har någonting färdigt flyger jag till Berkeley och lämnar det till David. Det är min enda fasta vana, det enda jag gör regelbundet. Jag skriver låttexter när jag känner för det, går ut när jag måste, träffar mina vänner när jag tycker att det passar. Men när en låttext är färdig då vet jag vad jag har att göra; då sätter jag mig på ett flyg till Berkeley. - Det är på grund av mig skivan har tagit tre år. Kanske har David också behövt så mycket tid, det vet jag inte. Mina texter togialla fall tre år att skriva. Mazzy Star har alltså dragit sig allt närmare sina countryrötter. Samma morgon som jag pratar med Hope Sandoval har hon lyssnat på Kansas Minnie. I munspelsintrot på »Send Me a Flower«, den starkaste låten på »Among My Swan«, plankas Neil Youngs »Harvest Moon« rakt av. På »Happy« medverkar William Reid, gitarrist i Jesus And Mary Chain och Hope Sandovals pojkvän. På Jesus And Mary Chains »Sometimes Always« sjunger Hope duett med Williams bror, Jim Reid. - Den inspelningen var helvetet på jorden. Lâten är Williams och han hade en mycket bestämd uppfattning om hur han ville ha den. Jag hade svårt att få genomslag för mina idéer och min röst lat inte som den brukar. Det finns massor av vilja och kraft i texten, den är ju ett litet krig. Det är bara det att jag sjöng om Williams krig och inte mitt eget. »Sometimes Always« är en ordväxling mellan ett par. En modern variant på Nancy Sinatra och Lee Hazelwoods kärlekskrig. Han har lämnat henne, och nu vill han komma tillbaka. Till en början håller hon det för otänkbart, men han tigger på sina bara knän om en chans till. Mot slutet av låten mjuknar hon, och visar hur lycklig hon är för att han fortfarande vill ha henne. »I always knew you'd take me back«, avslutar William Reid. – Jag kan bli så irriterad när det väntas av mig att jag bara ska vara sångerska i någon annans band. Mazzy Star är lika mycket mitt som Davids band. Vi kom på halva gruppnamnet var, och det är så allting som har med Mazzy Star att göra fungerar. Det finns ingen anledning för någon att tro någonting annat. Men med Jesus And Mary Chain var jag ju faktiskt bara sângerska. Hope Sandoval skriver texter två saker. Om Honom, han som finns där men kanske en gång kommer att gå, eller kanske redan har Jämnat henne. Och så om Henne, dõden. - Det var ett tag sedan doden kröp in i mitt liv Jag tänker inte mycket på döden, och jag är inte sarskilt rädd för att dö. Men så händer det, Hon slår till igen, och jag blir lika rädd som jag varit förut. ikheten mellan Velvet Underground och Mazzy Stars långsamma, sparsmakade folk- blues har målats upp gång på gång. Egentligen ligger den helt och hållet hos David Roback. Det är han som stjäl Lou Reeds gitarr-riff, John Cales solglasögon och Velvets typiska sätt att kombinera gitarrer med fioler. Hope Sandoval ager inte en enda Velvet Underground-skiva. - Arligt talat hade jag länge svårt för Velvet Underground. Det var min vän Sylvia som skaffade varenda inspelning de gjort, och tving- ade mig att lyssna tills jag hõrde vilka bra låtar de skriver. Jag tycker inte om hysterisk idoldyrkan över huvud taget. Inte David heller. Det är därför vi inte gör så mycket intervjuer. Precis som tidiga Velvet Underground - Nico undantagen en gång i tiden vände ryggen mot publiken, ställde sig längs scenkanten och upptradde helt svartkladda på scen gömmer sig Mazzy Star för åskådarna. De spelar i dunkelt ljus och kryper längs väggarna utan att titta upp från sina skor. Ska sanningen fram så gjorde Velvet Underground så för att Andy Warhol projicerade filmer på väggen och föredrog att publiken tittade på dem i stället för på bandet. - Jag har hävdat att jag inte gillar livespel- ningar, men jag vill nog ändra mig på den punkten. Det är stunderna mellan låtarna, då folk väntar sig att jag ska säga någonting, som jag inte klarar av. Vi ska ut och spela igen och det känns okej, men så hinner man ju alltid glömma hur jävligt det är att turnera mellan gångerna. - Jag vill helst inte vara stjärna. Och jag gillar inte skivbranschen. Saker och ting har förändrats, och inte till det bättre. Det var aldrig meningen att vi skulle börja sälja massor av skivor. Jag brukar säga att mitt liv efter att jag började göra skivor med Mazzy Star kan sammanfattas i den där Morrissey-låten... Plötsligt sjunger en betydligt starkare röst genom telefonen: I've seen it happen in other people's lives / now it's happened in mine. I Smiths-låten »That Joke Isn't Funny Any- more« blickar Morrissey framåt, och det slår honom att han kanske kommer att dõ med ett leende på läpparna trots allt. Kanske, kanske kommer Hope Sandoval att göra detsamma.

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1996, (date unknown). FRONTERA MAG, ARTICLE w. INTERVIEW QUOTES FROM HOPE

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Mazzy Star Boulevard," here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110623181 ... icles.html
Frontera was a magazine for hispanic Americans. This article includes interview quotes from Hope.
The quote from Rolling Stone, although Frontera suggests it's from "Swan" (1996) era is
actually from the Oct. 20, 1994 Rolling Stone article]

Mazzy Star
Frontera Magazine, 1996

If you want to understand Hope or find out what inspires her to write music, you won't have any
luck with a direct approach. She's not an open or obvious person, and neither is her music.
She's shy. She's private. She's genuine. She's an enigma -- not by choice, but by nature.
And at the same time, her music is very personal. When you listen to her music, you get the
feeling she's reading from her diary, with all the names deleted, of course.

On Mazzy Star's third, and newest, album, Among My Swan, Sandoval's haunting lyrics speak
of lost love, love that never happened, love that could have been, but with just enough
disinterest it almost seems to be about someone else. Listening to songs like "Disappear,"
"Cry, Cry," "Take Everything,""Still Cold," "I've Been Let Down" and "Rose Blood" is as close
to knowing her as you're ever going to get. "Cry, cry for you/Just like you knew I wouldn't do,"
she croons.

You'll never get an answer one way or the other about what the songs mean to her. "I think
people sort of project their own feelings into the lyrics to coincide with what's going on
their lives," she says, not making any judgments about the fact. She goes on to say about
the level of personalization in her songs: "I think most people, probably everybody who writes
lyrics, they are talking about themselves, even if they attempt to sort of talk about their
friend, it is themselves, it's their feelings, it's their opinion of the situation. So I think
most people, if not everybody, is talking about themselves who write lyrics."

While some critics have expressed disappointment that Among My Swan explores no new territory
musically, Sandoval has said she isn't concerned with living up to expectations now that the
band has international fame. "Things are basically the same," she told Rolling Stone when the
album first came out. "We're just sticking to our ways. Writing the way we've always done it.
There's really no need to change."

The band's first two albums, 1990's She Hangs Brightly and 1993's So Tonight That I Might See,
placed Mazzy Star firmly in the alternative rock star firmament. With the heavy MTV rotation of
their video, "Fade Into You," Sandoval's angelic Chicana features became familiar to teens and
college kids nationwide. The hitch is, the fact that she's Mexican-American is little known
outside of East L.A., where everyone has a story about how they used to go to school with her,
or with one of her siblings or cousins. In that sense, though we'd like to claim her, just
knowing she's out there is enough.

So maybe it's when she seems to be saying the least that she's actually saying the most:

"You just keep playing and singing music, and it's just sort of whatever happens happens."
1996, (date unknown). FRONTERA MAG, ARTICLE w. INTERVIEW QUOTES FROM HOPE

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Mazzy Star Boulevard," here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110623181 ... icles.html
Frontera was a magazine for hispanic Americans. This article includes interview quotes from Hope.
The quote from Rolling Stone, although Frontera suggests it's from "Swan" (1996) era is
actually from the Oct. 20, 1994 Rolling Stone article]

Mazzy Star

by Frontera Magazine, 1996

If you want to understand Hope or find out what inspires her to write music, you won't have any
luck with a direct approach. She's not an open or obvious person, and neither is her music.
She's shy. She's private. She's genuine. She's an enigma -- not by choice, but by nature.
And at the same time, her music is very personal. When you listen to her music, you get the
feeling she's reading from her diary, with all the names deleted, of course.

On Mazzy Star's third, and newest, album, Among My Swan, Sandoval's haunting lyrics speak
of lost love, love that never happened, love that could have been, but with just enough
disinterest it almost seems to be about someone else. Listening to songs like "Disappear,"
"Cry, Cry," "Take Everything,""Still Cold," "I've Been Let Down" and "Rose Blood" is as close
to knowing her as you're ever going to get. "Cry, cry for you/Just like you knew I wouldn't do,"
she croons.

You'll never get an answer one way or the other about what the songs mean to her. "I think
people sort of project their own feelings into the lyrics to coincide with what's going on
their lives," she says, not making any judgments about the fact. She goes on to say about
the level of personalization in her songs: "I think most people, probably everybody who writes
lyrics, they are talking about themselves, even if they attempt to sort of talk about their
friend, it is themselves, it's their feelings, it's their opinion of the situation. So I think
most people, if not everybody, is talking about themselves who write lyrics."

While some critics have expressed disappointment that Among My Swan explores no new territory
musically, Sandoval has said she isn't concerned with living up to expectations now that the
band has international fame. "Things are basically the same," she told Rolling Stone when the
album first came out. "We're just sticking to our ways. Writing the way we've always done it.
There's really no need to change."

The band's first two albums, 1990's She Hangs Brightly and 1993's So Tonight That I Might See,
placed Mazzy Star firmly in the alternative rock star firmament. With the heavy MTV rotation of
their video, "Fade Into You," Sandoval's angelic Chicana features became familiar to teens and
college kids nationwide. The hitch is, the fact that she's Mexican-American is little known
outside of East L.A., where everyone has a story about how they used to go to school with her,
or with one of her siblings or cousins. In that sense, though we'd like to claim her, just
knowing she's out there is enough.

So maybe it's when she seems to be saying the least that she's actually saying the most:

"You just keep playing and singing music, and it's just sort of whatever happens happens."
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1997, JAN., STROBE MAG, MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan sites "Everything Mazzy Star," here:
http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... pintro.htm , & "Mazzy Star Boulevard," here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120702032 ... icles.html ]

[later edit: Facebook group member Mark Blair sent me photos of his own hard copy pages of this mag article. From them, I learned of the three photos that were included in te article. I found better image quality vesrions of the three photos online which I've added here. All three are by photographer Andrew Catlin, 1996].
.......................................
Image

Strobe - Jan 97
Star Light, Star Bright
Eric Broome sees what makes Mazzy Star shine

Mazzy Star is all about purity of vision.
The simple, rolling chords of David Roback's guitar. The detached, evenly ­phrased singing of Hope Sandoval, rising hazily behind draped layers of echo. The traditional, unadorned lyrical themes: the rise and fall of love, disillusion, spiritual yearnings. It's a sound that hangs timeless in the wind, free of contemporary references and technology. It's the moody, internal universe of Roback and Sandoval, which they consent to let us visit for a moment ­on strict condition that we're careful not to disrupt the furnishings of this pristine, private world.

Given the music's introverted nature, no one should've been more surprised than Roback and Sandoval that Mazzy Star's second album, So Tonight That I Might See, was a genuine commercial hit. Months after the disc's release in September, 1993, the vaporous "Fade Into You" became an overnight radio smash, and led to the album hitting the platinum sales mark well over a year after its release. Adding to the Mazzy onslaught, hungry station programmers then tapped 1990's She Hangs Brightly for "Halah," creating a second surge of sales for the group's debut.

Of course, Roback and Sandoval were never too concerned with chart positions. Speaking in separate phone conversations, the two shrugged off fame with customary nonchalance. Their responses came soft, slow and stumbling, as befits the group often cited as the most difficult interview in pop music.

"It doesn't feel any different, really," murmured Sandoval, calling from Los Angeles where she was completing a video shoot. "Um... I don't really...it just happened. I mean, I don't..."

"It's pretty abstract, really," said Roback, across the world in London, setting up an overseas tour. "It's kind of
strange, I suppose. But you know, we just go about living our lives. Fame can screw up people's heads. Some people think about it more. I never really think about it."

Thus, the two trudged through extra tour dates and an embarrassing photo shoot here or there, then retreated back into hiding. They continued what Roback calls their "nomadic lifestyle" for awhile, spending most of their time bouncing between London and San Francisco, but at last, they have graced us with a third Mazzy album: Among My Swan. A full three years have passed since So Tonight That I Might See.

"This is just basically how we work," said Sandoval, dismissing the gap between releases.

But what really accounts for such a delay? Writing? Recording? Mixing?

"Uh...it's about equal, I would say," she decided. "We wrote songs, recorded them and then sort of got bored. Then we wrote some more songs and recorded them. It's sort of what happens..."

"When we actually record, we record pretty fast," said Roback. "It's just that we do a lot of other things. We experiment around with a lot of different ideas. Like different songs, things we've never released. I wouldn't call it discarded material, but we definitely have always experimented a lot, both in writing and recording."

Image

The latest product of the Mazzy laboratory offers no huge surprises, Recorded in both London and San Francisco,
Among My Swan has the usual array of smoky balladry and dreamy atmospherics, adding a few new touches like the gurgling wah­ wah guitar on "Cry, Cry," the eerie bell-­like keyboards on "Disappear" and "Happy," plus Sandoval's tentative harmonica debut on "Flowers In December" and "I've Been Let Down." Thankfully, the album's not as oppressively bleak as its predecessor, and nostalgically spacey tracks like "Still Cold" (see Surrealistic Pillow) and "Rose Blood" (see A Saucerful of Secrets) add some nice variety. "Rhymes Of An Hour" is also included, a hypnotic piece already heard on this year's Stealing Beauty soundtrack. Again, Mazzy Star has created a uniquely haunting work.

"It's basically a similar approach," said Roback, comparing Swan to the
previous records. "You can make generalizations about things -- but every song is different, and each one is written in a different way. Each one has different contributions to the music and lyrics. That's always been our approach: song by song. The approach to each song is different, but not to the albums. We always end up with some sort of a mosaic."

The most enigmatic track is certainly "Umbilical," a rambling spoken piece similar to the last album's lengthy title cut. Trying to read between the lines of Sandoval's lyrics is difficult enough, but in this case, the words aren't even fully audible.

"I wouldn't say that we hid the lyrics," producer Roback explained, "but I've always thought that in music, there's a lot of room for participation. You interact with the music. There may be a song that you think you've known for 20 years, and then you might read the lyrics and go, 'Oh, that's what she's saying? I had no idea. I always thought it was this.' You bring your own interpretation to it. That's why you can listen to music in different languages ­ it can be very satisfying. But you'd have to ask Hope if you wanted her to interpret the lyrics to that song."

Of course, the ever ­mysterious Sandoval wasn't about to discuss its contents.

"I'd rather not," she said slowly. "I just don't feel...I just don't really like to do that. In general, I just don't like to talk about it."

So she won't discuss her lyrics at all? Long pause. "Um...I just don't like when I hear other people doing it. For some reason, it bothers me. I feel like they make too much out of it. They sort of become obsessed with their own lyrics."

Well, is any one track on the new disc more personal to her than the others? "No," she answered, adding with a palpable smile, "As if I would say." Strike three.

Asking Roback and Sandoval about their songwriting isn't easy from any angle. This much is apparent: While Roback wrote most of the lyrics for his past bands Opal and the Rain Parade, Sandoval holds a fairly tight leash on the words in Mazzy Star. Taking most of her poetic cues from old jazz/blues standards, she adds her own modern, slightly gothic twist. (Tellingly, she named Billie Holiday, the Rolling Stones and Spiritualized as her favorite artists.) The two have an unusual way of dividing the writing duties. ­ Roback gets credit for "music," Sandoval for "vocal melodies." This suggests that Roback arranges the backing tracks first, then submits them completed to Sandoval for decoration. Correct?

"Sort of like that," she replied. So she picks and chooses from his instrumental demos? "Well, if he comes up with something I like, I say, 'Can I work on that?' Or he'll say 'Do you want to work on this?' and I'll say yes or no."

Roback countered her slightly. "Well, it really depends on the song. Sometimes it'll work that way. It's not so black ­and ­white. Sometimes I'll write some words to a song [he did contribute some lines to 'Rhymes Of An Hour'], and sometimes she will have some musical ideas."

Simplicity ­ the clean, sparse lines of the melody and words ­ seems to be a cornerstone of the Mazzy style. Some might even say that Roback's whole career has been a reductive process, leading from the florid psychedelia of the Rain Parade to the grittier jams of Opal, and finally to the rootsy musings of Mazzy Star.

"I wouldn't say that," he contended. "I like working with Hope because I like what she writes, and I like what she sings. It really has nothing to do with paring anything down. I suppose that I've wanted to experiment with different things, and that's probably the main reason why I've gone from one thing to the next.

"When I started working with Hope, it was very exciting because she wrote a lot and was really into what we were doing. She was very respondent as a writer to a lot of my musical ideas, and that was an interesting thing to have happening. We started to write songs, and it was very natural for us.""We just write songs that we like," said Sandoval. "Whatever it takes for the song to appeal to us, that's what we do. We don't think about the simplicity of it, or anything else. We just do it."

The group's most controversial aspect continues to be its live shows. Augmented as on record with recurring guest musicians (most notably, string player Will Cooper and drummer Keith Mitchell), Mazzy plays in near ­total darkness and avoids all direct contact with the audience. The band's aloof stage presence has alienated more than a few unsuspecting fans, but for Sandoval, performing is still terribly awkward. Isn't she used to it yet?

"No," she moped. What's the worst part? "Um...just feeling uncomfortable in between songs, when there's nothing to do."

She continued, brightening a little. "The audience has pretty much accepted it, I think. It's not like it used to be. I think now people have probably been to our shows before, and know what to expect. I mean, I don't think it's a big deal. There's plenty of shows where the lead singers and band members don't get up and do a song ­and ­dance. It's good if you feel like doing that, but I don't think it should be held against you if you don't. I don't think it means that you're not as good as somebody else, or not as interesting live as somebody else who's sort of dancing around and having a conversation with the audience. But it gets frustrating for me, because even shooting videos, I just feel uncomfortable. I wish I could feel more relaxed."

Image

Ever the intellectual, Roback is more analytical about the experience. "It's interesting to play our songs loud, and project them into a big environment. You know, this is something that's interesting to me. I think that's why we do it: to actually project the music onto a big, three ­dimensional space."

Is he bothered by the fact that all eyes are fixed upon the more photogenic Sandoval?

"No. I just want to focus on what I do, which is playing guitar and keyboards and things like that. And writing songs . That's really where I'm at. I don't care too much about anything else. It's hard for me to know how other people perceive what we do. We've done what we wanted to do, and that's enough for me. We've made the music we wanted to make."
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1997, January issue of Rock De Lux mag (Spain) interview w. Hope & David.
A blogger who specializes in re-posting old interviews from this mag posted scans of the two original mag pages, May 24, 2010, here:
https://cuandoeramosalternativos.blogsp ... dYPrAM_ydk

In the interview, David makes note they were then currently in Barcelona, Spain being interviewed. Mazzy Star did a European tour in November, 1996, playing Barcelona, Nov. 16 (at a venue called Bikini). Presumably, the interview was conducted in Barcelona around Nov. 16, 1996. David appears fairly talkative here (more so than Hope) although the interviewer complains he and Hope sometimes don't respond to his questions, and they precede their replies with long silences other interviewers have also reported being unnerved by.

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Mazzy Star - Rock de lux mag NO. 137 (January 1997) Interview

Unanswered questions Text: Joan Pons
Photo: Regina Carnicer

Image

They are the sphinx of current American rock. Everything surrounding Mazzy Star - sound, statements, attitude - is an enigma. Neither the languid David Roback nor the fragile Hope Sandoval move a single finger to reveal any of their secrets. Hidden music, hidden characters. Hope Sandoval stops at the open door of the room. She dares not enter. She turns and waits for David Roback to arrive. When he appears, the two of them stand in the hotel corridor. Neither of them is able to step forward. They don't make a move until the manager arrives and encourages them to cross the threshold. They don't look at each other.

The couple finally enters and sits down in front of the recorder. Hope is eaten with embarrassment. And the nerves. She's constantly fiddling with the key - the credit card key - to her room. She responds -the few times she does- always embarrassed, with a thread of voice. It seems as if any question is putting her on the spot. As if she had to defend herself against something she thinks she's guilty of. She doesn't answer, she apologizes. David also belongs to the secret lodge of the silent. However, his motives are different. His main concern is that his answers don't sound pretentious. However, every time he opens his mouth, some phrase escapes him with a view to immortality. His statements sound like cheap philosophy, and he knows it. He sees only one solution to avoid sounding pedantic: shut up.

A silence of no less than ten seconds precedes each (brief) response. Sometimes, not even that. They just don't answer. Mazzy Star's mutism is bound to be disturbing. Even the most harmless questions require a waiting phase.

"Yes, it's true that the cover of 'She Hangs Brightly' could be from a photo taken in Barcelona," --David says-- "It's an entrance to a modernist building and here are some beautiful ones. Actually, it's from Belgium. Barcelona has wonderful architecture. There are many interesting buildings. It's not that I'm very interested in knowing the cities or the places where I go. What really attracts me is the fact of travelling in itself, not the place I'm going to. I like the kind of sensations you have when you go from one place to another. Seeing how the landscape changes, reality through a window, seeing the world in motion... I find it very interesting."

At least he remembers the cover of "She Hangs Brightly" (Rough Trade, 90). And the music? Do you remember how your first album sounded? Because regarding the stages of Clay Allison, Rain Parade and Opal, David Roback seems to suffer a voluntary amnesia.

"They're like the memory of a dream - phew! - It's like when you're dreaming something really strange and suddenly you wake up and realize it's over. It's part of the past. Rain Parade and Opal were like that strange dream. I never think about it anymore."

Hope also doesn't seem to have reflected much on her first post-Going Home album (her folk group shared with Sylvia Gomez that just one demo made Roback fall in love with). It doesn't matter that in 1990 they were one of the few groups capable of sounding personal by expressing such obvious influences -Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell... -; that only Galaxie 500 and Cowboy Junkies came close to the kind of sound hypersensitivity -almost religious- that they proposed; that Mazzy Star's introspective and nocturnal country folk can now be considered a clear precedent for the sound of bands like Mojave 3, Spain, Sparklehorse, Revolution 9, Tarnation, or Red House Painters. She solves the question with an elusive: "we don't care about sounding like anyone else or having anyone else sound like us. We are neither pioneers nor followers of anything."

Short answers are Mazzy Star's specialty. Neither sharp nor direct. Just short, leaving them hanging from the final suspensive ellipsis dots...In just under three quarters of an hour, the aphorisms follow each other:
"When you have a band that moves through the underground scene and you have enough fans to get by, it's easy to become a cult band." Or: "If we changed the chronological order of our records, nothing would happen. You wouldn't notice any changes, and the third one would be the first."
[The interviewer doesn't identify which of the two he's quoting from in the above paragraph, but my guess is both quotes are David's. -BB]

There's also room for witticisms (spontaneous or prepared?), like: "We're the same people doing different songs at different times. It's logical that all our songs are similar. They're like a person; you can cut your hair, get fat or get old, but you're still the same. You are recognizable." No waste: "Our songs often tell stories. Not only with the lyrics, but with the arrangements, the melodies, the sound, the atmosphere..."

In "She Hangs Brightly", "So Tonight That I Might See" (Capitol, 93) or the new "Among My Swan" Capitol, 96) there is no notable difference or evolution. All three albums sound, more than timeless or anachronistic, as if they came from somewhere else. Mazzy Star's spectral sound, between confidence and mystery, seems to come from the next room. After a tense half-minute wait, David Roback's peels off his lips.

"It's up to each person to judge whether or not Mazzy Star is a mysterious group. We can't control it. I don't know. I think the feelings we're trying to express are pretty clear. Actually, I do think we are a mysterious and strange group. I really believe it. I don't know why. I guess it's because our music is so personal. And every person hides some mystery. It's impossible to know everything. There's nothing more mysterious than trying to guess what's inside each person. What you think, how do you feel... There are many hidden elements. In reality, we're all strangers."

Personal music. And what personality can hide behind a sound as melancholy as Mazzy Star's?
"Not all our songs are sad. The ones that are are are because we felt that way at the time," explains Hope. But we like to look at both sides. 'Happy' and 'Ride It On' are happy. Another thing is that we make happy songs and people are sad. What do you think, David?" Hope is looking for a supportive foot in her partner, but he seems to be somewhere else.
"About what?"
"About our music. Whether it's laughing or not."
David wakes up, meditates and comes back to reality with a "I don't care". Then he stops to reflect and continues:

"We don't make music to be understood or misunderstood. Our songs are just to be felt. We like to trust the listener's imagination. For me, the most interesting thing about all music is that another person may participate in it. When I listen to records in my house, images never stop coming to my mind. It depends on each person what kind of sensations music wakes up for them."
The speech about the interactivity of the Mazzy Star sound ends with more everyday philosophy.
"I recognize that our songs are very serious. I know. In principle, our music speaks of the emptiness of existence. Of the monotony of our lives. It's a common feeling in many people. I guess people who think we're melancholy connect with that feeling."
The Californian duo hold themselves in low esteem. "We're very boring people." It's the only reason they find to explain why they record so little. "We get bored with our songs right away. Once they're finished, we get tired of them very quickly. We want change. That's why it's so difficult for us to record. We have one song, and after a week we don't like it anymore, we want something else. We change our minds easily. Not only in music. In everything. We're people who get bored with everything in general."

The existential malaise that Mazzy Star seem to be in extends to their live performances. "It's very hard," admits Hope, a self-confessed fan of the early Rolling Stones, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Nina Simone. "When we opened for The Jesus And Mary Chain in 1993, it was very distressing. Our music wasn't meant for that kind of audience. It's very strange to be singing something very personal from a very personal space inside, and have no one listen to you. If they yell at you, it's impossible. You think, 'OK, if you don't care what I do, I don't have to keep playing'. We prefer some involement with the audience. But it's also strange. If people are quiet, you never know if they really like what you're doing or not. You don't know what's going on. Silence is something that doesn't give you any clues."

Tell me about it.

..............................................................................
[Original Spanish Text]

Mazzy Star - Entrevista Rockdelux 137 (Enero 1997)

Preguntas sin respuesta Texto: Joan Pons, Foto: Regina Carnicer

Son la esfinge del rock americano actual. Todo lo que envuelve a Mazzy
Star —sonido, declaraciones, actitud— es un enigma. Ni el lánguido
David Roback ni la frágil Hope Sandoval mueven un solo dedo para
desvelar alguno de sus secretos. Música oculta, personajes ocultos.

Hope Sandoval se detiene ante la puerta abierta de la habitación. No se atreve a entrar. Se gira y espera a que Ilegue David Roback. Cuando aparece, los dos se quedan plantados en el pasillo del hotel. Ni una ni otro son capaces de dar un paso adelante. No hacen ningún tipo de movimiento, hasta que Ilega el manager y les anima a traspasar el umbral. No se miran.


La pareja eleste por fin entra y se sienta ante la grabadora. A Hope se le come la vergüenza. Y los nervios. Continuamente está jugueteando con la Ilave --de ésas en forma de tarjeta de crédito— de su habitación. Responde —las pocas veces que lo hace— siempre azorada, con un hilo de voz. Parece como si cualquier pregunta la estuviera poniendo en un aprieto. Como si tuviera que defenderse de algo de lo que se cree culpable. No contesta, se disculpa.
David también pertenece a la secreta logia de los silenciosos. Sin embargo, sus motivos son otros. Su principal preocupación es que sus respuestas no suenen pretenciosas. No obstante, cada vez que abre la boca se le escapa alguna frase con vistas a la inmortalidad. Sus declaraciones suenan a filosofia barata, y lo sabe. Sólo ve una solución para no sonar pedante: callarse.


Un silencio de no menos de diez segundos precede a cada (escueta) respuesta. A veces, ni eso. Simplemente no contestan. El mutismo de Mazzy Star Ilga a ser preocupante. Hasta las preguntas ms inofensivas requieren una fase de espera.
"Sí, es cierta que la portada de 'She Hangs Brightly' podria ser de una foto sacada de Barcelona —se anima David—. Es una entrada de un edificio modernista y aquí hay algunos preciosos. En realidad, es de Bélgica. Barcelona tiene una arquitectura maravillosa. Hay muchas construcciones interesantes. No es que esté muy interesado en conocer las ciudades o los sitios adonde voy. Lo que realmente me atrae es el hecho de viajar en si, no el lugar al que voy. Me gusta el tipo de sensaciones que se tienen al ir de un sitio a otro. Ver cómo cambia el paisaje, la realidad a través de una ventanilla, ver el mundo en movimiento...Me resulta muy interesante".


De la portada de "She Hangs Brightly" (Rough Trade, 90) al menos se acuerda. ¿Y de la müsica? ¿Os acordéis de
cómo sonaba vuestro primer disco? Porque respecto a las etapas en Clay Allison, Rain Parade y Opal, David Roback parece sufrir una voluntaria amnesia.
"Son como el recuerdo que se tiene de un sueño —¡uff!—. Es como cuando estás soñando algo realmente extrano y, de repente, te despiertas y te das cuenta de que ya terminó. Forma parte del pasado. Rain Parade y Opal eran como ese extraño sueño. Ya nunca pienso en ello".

Hope tampoco parece haber reflexionado mucho sobre su primer paso discográfico post-Going Home (el grupo de folk compartido con Sylvia Gomez que enamoró a Roback con sólo una maqueta). Poco importa que en 1990 fueran uno de los pocos grupos capaces de sonar personales exprimiendo unas influencias tan evidentes —Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell...—; que tan sólo Galaxie 500 y Cowboy Junkies se acercaran al tipo de hipersensibilidad sonora —casi religiosa— que ellos proponian; que el folk country introspectivo y nocturno de Mazzy Star se pueda considerar ahora como claro precedente del sonido de grupos como Mojave 3, Spain, Sparklehorse, Revolution 9, Tarnation o Red House Painters. Ella resuelve la pregunta con un esquivo
"no nos interesa sonar como nadie ni que nadie suene como nosotros. No somos ni pioneros ni continuadores de nada".

Las respuestas cortas son la especialidad de Mazzy Star. Ni tajantes ni directas. Sólo breves, dejandolas colgadas de los puntos suspensivos finales...En poco menos de tres cuartos de hora, los aforismos se suceden.
"Cuando tienes una banda que se lueve por la escena 'underground' y tienes suficientes 'fans' para subsistir, es fácil convertirse en un grupo de culto".
O también:
"Si cambiásimos el orden cronológico de nuestros discos, no pasaria nada. No se notariá ningún cambio
y el tercero el primero".

También hay lugar para ocurrencias (¿espontáneas o preparadas?), del tipo:
"Somos las mismas personas haciendo diferentes canciones en distintas épocas. Es lógico que todas
nuestras canciones se parezcan. Son como una persona; te puedes cortar el pelo, engordar 0 envejecer, pero
sigues siendo el mismo. Eres reconocible".
Sin desperdicilos:
"Nuestras canciones suelen contar historias. No sólo con la letra, sino con los arreglos, las melodías, el sonido, la atmósfera..."
En "She Hangs Brightly", "So Tonight That I Might See" (Capitol, 93) o el nuevo "Among My Swan"
Capitol, 96) no se diferencias notables o evolución alguna. Los tres discos suenan, más que atemporales o anacrénicos, como si Ilegaran de otra parte. El sonido espectral de Mazzy Star, entre la confidencia
y el misterio, parece venir de la habitación de al lado. Tras medio minuto de tensa espera, David Roback despega los labios.
"Depende de cada uno juzgar si Mazzy Star son un grupo misterioso o no. No podemos controlarlo. No sé. Creo que los sentimientos que intentamos expresar están muy claros. En realidad, sí creo que
somos un grupo misterioso y extraño. Lo creo en serio. No se por qué. Supongo que es porque nuestra música es muy personal. Y toda persona esconde algún misterio. Es imposible saberlo todo. No hay nada más
misterioso que intentar adivinar qué hay dentro de cada persona. Qué piensas, qué sientes... Hay muchos
elementos ocultos. En realidad, todos somos desconocidos".


Música personal. ¿Y qué personalidad puede esconderse tras un sonido tan melancólico como el de Mazzy
Star?
"No todas nuestras canciones son tristes. Las que lo son es porque en ese momento nos sentíamos asi
—se explica Hope—. Pero nos gusta mirar las dos caras. 'Happy' y 'Ride It On' son alegres. Otra cosa es que
nosotros hagamos temas felices y a la gente les suenen tristes. ¿Tú qué opinas, David?".
Hope busca un pie de apoyo en su compañero, pero éste parece estar en otra parte.
"¿Sobre qué?".
"Sobre nuestra música. Si es riste o no".
David despierta, medita y vuelve a la realidad con un "me da igual". Luego se para a reflexionar
v continúa.
"No hacemos müsica para que nos entiendan o nos malinterpreten. Nuestras canciones son sólo para
sentirlas. Nos gusta confiar en la imaginación del oyente. Para mi, lo más interesante de toda música es
que pueda participar otra persona en ella. Cuando escucho discos en mi casa, no dejan de venirme imágenes
a la cabeza. Depende de cada uno qué tipo de sensaciones le despierta la música". El discurso sobre la interactividad del sonido Mazzy Star termina con mús filosofia cotidiana.
"Reconozco que nuestras canciones son muy serias. Lo sé. En principio, nuestra música habla del vacío de la existencia. De la monotonía de nuestras vidas. Es un sentimiento común en mucha gente. Supongo que la gente que cree que sonamos melancólicos conecta con ese sentimiento".

El dúo californiano se tiene en muy baja estima.
"Somos unas personas muy aburridas".
Es la únicarazón que encuentran para explicar por qué graban
tan poco.
"Nos aburrimos enseguida de nuestras canciones. Una vez están acabadas, nos cansamos
muy rápido de ellas. Queremos cambios. Por eso nos cuesta tanto grabar. Tenemos una canción, y a
la semana ya no nos gusta, queremos otra cosa. Cambiamos de idea con facilidad. No sólo en la
música. En todo. Somos personas que nos aburrimos de todo en general".

El mal trago existencial en que parecen sumidos Mazzy Star se extiende hasta sus actuaciones en
directo.
"Es muy duro --reconoce Hope, fan confesa de los primeros Rolling Stones, The Flying Burrito Brothers y Nina Simone--. Cuando fuimos teloneros de The Jesus And Mary Chain en 1993, era
muy angustiante. Nuestra música no estaba hecha para ese tipo de audiencia. Es muy extraño estar
cantando algo muy personal desde muy adentro, y que nadie te haga caso. Si además te gritan, ya es
imposible. Piensas:
'O.K., si no os importa lo que hago, no tengo por qué seguir tocando'. Preferimos
cierta complicidad con el público. Pero también es extraño. Si la gente está callada, nunca sabes si
realmente gusta lo que haces o no. No sabes qué pasa. El silencio es algo que no da ninguna pista".
Dimelo a mi.

*************************************************************************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************************************************************************************

1997, MAY, FRONTERA MAG 2.1, ARTICLE WITH QUOTES FROM HOPE

[Text of this article was found at defunct but now archived fan site "Everything Mazzy Star," here:
http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/pal ... pintro.htm .
The Hope quotes appear to come from interviews from other mags & not from an original Frontera
interview]

Frontera Magazine 2.1 (May 97)
Looking for Hope Mazzy Star's inscrutable muse,
Hope Sandoval, fades into the limelight

by Mark Torres and E.V. Aniles

Esperanza?
She hangs brightly over our curious minds. Trying to get to the bottom of Hope Sandoval, singer and songwriter for the band Mazzy Star, is like listening to one of her songs: It's slow and painful.

We know she's from East L.A. We know she spends some of her days in her new home in Berkeley, with her guitarist (and ex-boyfriend) Dave Roback, and the rest of her days in London with her current boyfriend, the Jesus and Mary Chain's William Reid. We know that her songs are dreamy, mournful and dispassionate. We know she stands stiff as a statue on stage, only occasionally lifting her twig-thin arms to play a harmonica or execute a graceful turn on her way off stage. And little more.

As the other half of Mazzy Star, Roback can pull more soul out of his acoustic guitar and steel pedal than you'd
find on an entire Lollapalooza Tour. In a musical climate where beat and volume rule, Mazzy Star unapologetically blends traditional folk, blues, and psychedelic church. While it remains impossible to understand Mazzy Star without mentioning psychedelia-inspired groups like The Paisley Underground, The Dream Syndicate, The Rain Parade and Opal, it is Hope Sandoval alone who places Mazzy Star on its perch above other modern bands.

Sandoval's position as rock's melancholy muse came to her serendipitously in the late '80s. She was minding her own business, hanging out in L.A. and working with her friend Sylvia Gomez in a folksy band called Going Home. Dave Roback, guitarist and songwriter for Opal, saw Going Home and liked them enough to produce a record with them. Sandoval and Roback became friends. Then, while Roback and Opal singer Kendra Smith were touring, Smith decided to make a getaway. Hope joined Roback mid-tour and has been the voice of Mazzy Star since.

The transition from being a local artist to touring the world, selling out shows and performing live on national
television was not easy for Sandoval. "For me recording is better," she told Rolling Stone. "Live, I just get really
nervous. Once you're on-stage, you're expected to perform. I don't do that. I always feel awkward about just standing there and not speaking to the audience."

When you listen to her music and see her perform, you get a sense that she's too fragile for this world. She's like a person who grew up in a happy place with lots of family, warmth and love, but was ripped away from all that and thrown into a harsh world. A flower in a stainless-steel garden. Maybe that's why she offers so little of herself at every sold out concert. "I feel obligated to sing well, and that's it," Sandoval said during an interview with Ray Gun. She's philosophical about her unwillingness to give of herself publicly. "I sense (a desire for audience interaction) from them, yeah, and that's what makes it uncomfortable. I mean, it's not so bad now; most people who come to the shows realize it's not going to happen, and they accept it, but in the beginning ... people would demand it. Like, they demand a show."

If you want to understand Hope or find out what inspires her to write music, you won't have any luck with a direct approach. She's not an open or obvious person, and neither is her music. She's shy. She's private. She's genuine. She's an enigma -- not by choice, but by nature. And at the same time, her music is very personal. When you listen to her music, you get the feeling she's reading from her diary, with all the names deleted, of course.

On Mazzy Star's third, and newest, album, Among My Swan, Sandoval's haunting lyrics speak of lost love, love that never happened, love that could have been, but with just enough disinterest it almost seems to be about someone else. Listening to songs like "Disappear," "Cry, Cry," "Take Everything,""Still Cold," "I've Been Let Down" and "Rose Blood" is as close to knowing her as you're ever going to get. "Cry, cry for you/Just like you knew I wouldn't do," she croons.

You'll never get an answer one way or the other about what the songs mean to her. "I think people sort of project their own feelings into the lyrics to coincide with what's going on their lives," she says, not making any judgments about the fact. She goes on to say about the level of personalization in her songs: "I think most people, probably everybody who writes lyrics, they are talking about themselves, even if they attempt to sort of talk about their friend, it is themselves, it's their feelings, it's their opinion of the situation. So I think most people, if not everybody, is talking about themselves who write lyrics."

While some critics have expressed disappointment that Among My Swan explores no new territory musically, Sandoval has said she isn't concerned with living up to expectations now that the band has international fame. "Things are basically the same," she told Rolling Stone when the album first came out. "We're just sticking to our ways. Writing the way we've always done it. There's really no need to change."

The band's first two albums, 1990's She Hangs Brightly and 1993's So Tonight That I Might See, placed Mazzy Star firmly in the alternative rock star firmament. With the heavy MTV rotation of their video, "Fade Into You," Sandoval's angelic Chicana features became familiar to teens and college kids nationwide. The hitch is, the fact that she's Mexican-American is little known outside of East L.A., where everyone has a story about how they used to go to school with her, or with one of her siblings or cousins. In that sense, though we'd like to claim her, just knowing she's out there is enough.

So maybe it's when she seems to be saying the least that she's actually saying the most:

"You just keep playing and singing music, and it's just sort of whatever happens, happens."
*************************************************************************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************************************************************************************

THE BOOK OF ROCK (PHILIP DODD, 2001?) PAGE SCAN, SHORT MAZZY STAR ARTICLE W. QUOTE FROM DAVID

[I forget where the page scan originally came from but I think a Forum member at defunct fan site
Mazzy Star Boulevard posted a link to it. I made a text file (below) from the page scan photo. The scan has a nice photo of David & Hope:

Image

It's credited to "The Book of Rock." The only book I can find with that title is a rock
encyclopedia by Philip Dodd, published 2001, updated 2005. So, it seems likely the page comes from
Dodd's book].
.........................................
FROM THE BOOK OF ROCK:

Listening to Mazzy Star was the aural equivalent of a winter's afternoon getting stoned: long, dark,
and agreeably fuzzy. The doe-eyed waif called Hope Sandoval sang-spoke distincly indistinct lyrics
with the echo unit turned up to full. David Roback finger-picked away, with an occasional flourish of
ominous organ. this was 1960s psychedelia re-visited - one of its gloomier inglenooks, where the Doors
and the Velvets languished. Roback had emerged from his own Underground, the LA-based Paisley version,
in which his groups Rain Parade and later Opal had formed part of a loose confederation alongside acts
like the Bangles and Dream Syndicate; Sandoval meantime had been half of a folk duo. As Mazzy Star
they produced a trio of trance-like albums (1993's "So Tonight That I Might See" the most compelling)
but gave little away other than obfuscatory answers in rare interviews. After "Among My Swan" in 1996,
it was unclear if another album would ever emerge from the mists.

"You know, we spend a lot of time indoors. We appreciate a foggy morning
or a rainy day." - David Roback

Key members: David Roback, Hope Sandoval. Recording career: 1990 - present.
Sounds: She Hangs Brightly 1990, So Tonight That I Might See 1993. Among My Swan 1996
*************************************************************************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************************************************************************************
Last edited by Hermesacat on Wed Sep 29, 2021 7:43 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (26) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1990 to

Postby Hermesacat » Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:44 pm

Looks like all the pre-come-back Mazzy Star articles with interview content I'd collected so far have been posted to this thread by now. I'll keep my eye out for additions.

The article I posted here today, "1995, GALE MUSICIAN PROFILE (via ANSWERS.COM), w. MAZZY STAR INTERVIEW QUOTES," has a useful list of Mazzy Star magazine references at the end. Listed here below are ones shown there I've not yet encountered:

Billboard:
-August 25, 1990
-October 16, 1993, p. 16
-June 25, 1994
-August 13, 1994
-October 29, 1994

Guitar Player: January 1994

Musician:
-December 1993
-December 1994, p. 23

People: July 31, 1995

Rolling Stone:
-August 23, 1990, p. 36
-September 6, 1990
-December 13-27, 1990
-December 9, 1993
-October 6, 1994
-November 17, 1994

Spin: January 1995
................................................

So, if anyone has any of the above articles, or comes across them, or any other ones not yet posted,
do share, & we'll add them!
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (27) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1989 to

Postby Hermesacat » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:23 pm

Today, this thread got pushed off page 1 of the General Discussion section onto page 2 where it's not as easy to find 'cause there had been no new posts in the thread for a long time. So, I'm writing this post today so this thread will stay on page 1. All the interview threads ought to stay easy to find on page 1, imo. Rather than have nothing much to say in this post, I can say I today replaced all the embedded photos that were previously in the thread but went missing when my prior photo hosting service, Photobucket, abruptly ended free third party site embedding (such as my embedding on this fan site) for me. I've been slow to replace missing photos on various threads. I still have some threads to fix. But this one's done. I switched to imgur.com free photo hosting which is working fine, so far.
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (28) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1989 to

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:01 pm

Menghan Wang found and shared a "new" old vintage interview, 1994-03-30, with David Roback from Westword site
I've posted chronologically above with the other interviews. In it, the interviewer spends a lot of time complaining how little David says in answering questions. But he manages to squeeze a few good answers out of the reticent one, never the less! I can post the link here too (as well as above): https://www.westword.com/music/the-quiet-man-5053835
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (29) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1989 to

Postby Hermesacat » Sat May 25, 2019 3:52 am

There' a "new" old Mazzy Star interview (with Hope) added here today. It appears in this thread in chronological order. It's from Ray Gun mag, 1993, Dec. and includes one photo (of Hope), a pic new to me. Hope's responses to questions are, I think, more informative and thoughtful than usual for her for 1990s era interviews. Also,today I added two photos to the Melody Maker 1991, Jan. 4 interview, ones that were included with the original article. They are both pics of Hope and David on the street in NYC, August, 1990.
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (29) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1989 to

Postby Emma » Sun Dec 01, 2019 7:22 pm

I've just added a long interview of Hope and David from Musician Magazine, December 1994 (see above). It also includes rare photos and information about Mazzy Star's gear.
The article was originally posted to the Facebook discussion group by David Morgan.

(Edit: I deleted the screen captures I had posted since Hermesacat posted a text version of the article.)
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (30) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1989 to

Postby Hermesacat » Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:14 am

Thanks Emma, for posting the Musician mag article. That's one I'd been intending to post here, but didn't get around to it. I've started making a text version of it which I'll post here when it's done. Today I posted above another new addition to this articles thread, a partial interview w. Hope & David, exact year and date unknow, "Mazzy Star, by Bruce Warren, " containing some interesting quotes with new info. I've posted it as the last article in the thread after a 1997 one.
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Re: INTERVIEWS/Articles (30) (Vintage), Mazzy Star, 1989 to

Postby Hermesacat » Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:21 am

Today I posted above a text version I made of the 1994, Dec. Musician mag interview.
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