Roundtable 3

ilentertainer | July 30, 2008

RD: Then they had the music room at Medusa’s where they would pack a bunch of fucking dance-party kids and then junkies and shit upstairs, and then they had the punk room and you’d be so fucked up on nitrous or whatever by the time you got there you wouldn’t even know who you were watching.

MA: I grew up in the Bay Area so I kinda missed Metallica and the first wave, but I was right there for the second wave – that was pretty amazing to see like Death Angel and Exodus. That was early for me and really cool. But coming up on that stuff was huge, you know? Seeing them and seeing some of their record-release shows, but as far as Chicago, I always envisioned like, Jesus Lizard playing every night, and Big Black, who never really played. I was really into the punk stuff like Naked Raygun, so I was really excited to come to Chicago.
SP: We should probably mention Unsurper and Cianide . . .
BL: Oh man! The South Side death metal thing, that came a little bit later, but around the same time. Macabre and all those bands . . . c’mon! And Cianide is fucking incredible; they always have been.

IE: Sanford, your role in this scene can’t be denied; where do you see yourself fitting in?

RD: Top of the throne! [laughs]
BL: He’s the only one making money out of all of us! [laughs]
SP: I don’t know, man. I just do what I love. I didn’t get lucky, I fucking worked my ass off. I think what helped get the spotlight to me was probably the early Pelican stuff. It definitely brought a lot of attention my way, so I have to give them credit.

IE: When you started, was there an intention to fill this niche in heavy music?

SP: I moved to Chicago and started working at this place called StudioChicago. From there I started working in this studio in Uptown called Rainwalker, and that’s where I did the first Pelican thing, and then some local stuff. After getting my own studio [Volume Studios] and doing the second Pelican record and some other local bands, things just kinda started taking off.

IE: So, guys, what makes him the go-to guy?

MA: I’d say the fact that he plays the kind of music that he plays and how long he’s been doing it and who he’s recorded. You look at the list of the bands he’s done and you’re kind of like, it’s not like a status thing, like “Oh, I want his name on the record,” but you want to . . . he knows how to record heavy bands. That’s pretty much the bottom line for me, and plus I’ve known him for years and he’s friendly and personable and easy-to-get-along-with and . . .
SP: Handsome.
MA: Handsome.
SP: Got a big cock.
MA: Had a weird beard before the term was even invented. [laughs]
BL: It’s nice to have him too, because we’re a four-piece and we deadlock on a lot of stuff. Particularly with, not arrangements within a song, but arranging a record and whatever, and we’d have him as the tiebreaker. Plus, I paid him extra money under the table to side with me more than the rest of the band, so it turned out nice.
RD: Lot of sexual favors. [laughs]
MA: Oh god, we’re doing that now. I knew it was just a matter of time.