Got Passion?
Catching up with the noisy art-makers: An exclusive interview with Eight Track Mind

By Toby Lyman

Driving through all the beautiful people around the Dupont Circle area of Washington, DC, on the way to Deep Rooted Studios, it doesn't seem like a place where great rock CD's come from. I'm heading to the 3rd floor apartment that doubles as the headquarters for Eight Track Mind, the new "it" boys of guitar rock, to learn more about the best band you've never heard.

In this profession, I've been lucky enough to experience some real rock moments. I've had the privilege of sitting in Electric Ladyland Studios and listening to engineer Eddie Kramer talk about recording Jimi Hendrix. I've sat with a brooding Kurt Cobain as he painfully tried to describe his personal demons. I've interviewed Wilco at Abbey Road as they put the finishing touches on a new record.

Talking to Steven T. Rubin and Todd L. Frank of Eight Track Mind was not one of those moments. Considering the critical praise and advanced hype for their debut CD, The Art of Making Noise, these guys exude this strange mix of humble respect for music and humility that's occasionally sprinkled with rock star arrogance. It's weird. One minute they're just "regular guys" and the next they're bizarre genius-types talking about world domination.

They're musicians' musicians. Real music fans first. Rubin seems like the mastermind songwriter type, while Frank comes off as a class-clown visionary.

Rolling Spin: So your debut CD is already generating quite a buzz in the industry and the media is starting to hail you as the latest saviors of rock.

Steven T. Rubin: What's an industry buzz?

Todd L. Frank: How many times has rock been saved?

RS: I'm the one who's supposed to ask the questions... Okay, so... first things first, how did you come up with the name Eight Track Mind and what does it mean?

TLF: Have you ever tried to name a band? It's harder than you think.

RS: "What about the Masculatones? Or the Happy Endings?"

TLF: Those names suck.

RS: Good point, I guess it is harder then I thought.

STR: Yea, playing in a band is a piece of cake compared to naming a band. I wanted to name this band Headstrong, but, ironically, I didn't get my way.

RS: Okay, let's talk about the CD. The songs are very interesting, what are they about?

TLF: What are they about? They're about 6 or 7 minutes long, most of them.

RS: No, I mean, lyrically, what's the message?

STR: They're just songs. It's not a political platform.

[Awkward silence...]

RS: Well. So, umm... you guys have been around and worked on other projects. Is making records different in this day and age? I mean, the Beatles once caused quite a stir by saying they were more popular than Jesus.... That would seem pretty tame these days. How do you guys deal with our accelerated media-driven culture?

TLF: I'm not sure what the question is... but if you're trying to get us to say we're more popular than Mel Gibson, I'm not gonna say that.

STR: It's about time you compared us to the Beatles.

RS: Speaking of comparisons... as a guitar-drums duo, you guys must get the White Stripes comparison quite a bit.

TLF: Are you calling me a chick?

RS: No. Do you have a problem with chick drummers?

TLF: Not at all. Is that really what you came here to ask me?

STR: Well, as for the guitar-drums thing... it's not really accurate, because there's bass, some keys, and extra guitars on all the tracks. And we don't perform live as a duo we have other musicians who play live with us, and guests who recorded with us... I know you're the one who's supposed to ask the questions, but have you actually heard our CD?

RS: Uh...oh, yea! Love the new CD.... You guys had relative success with The Circle Six and then sort of walked away from the music industry for a few years. How did this new project come about?

STR: Relative success? Where do you guys get these phrases?

TLF: Okay, first of all, no one walks away from the music industry; it's usually the other way around. As for the inception of this project... I guess about a year ago Steve sent me a copy of Sonic Youth's Murray Street. [Rolling Spin has confirmed that this was a legally purchased copy, not a pirated copy.] We were both just blown away by the simplicity of guitar-based rock songs and it just really sounded fresh after all the beats and rhymes and stuff we were used to doing with The Circle Six. I guess shortly after that, he started sending me demos of songs he wrote and we just gradually found ourselves making a CD and starting a new band.

STR: Yea, there was never really a specific moment like in the Blues Brothers movie where they drove around picking guys up and saying "We're puttin' the BAND back together!

TLF: But we are on a mission from God.

RS: Steve, you mentioned other guests who contributed to the CD. How did you like working that way, as opposed to being in more of democracy when working as part of a band?

STR: It was great working with others as guests 'cause it gave me total power over EVERYTHING.

TLF: Yea, Steve can be a real control freak. Of course, he's always telling me that I joke around too much, but he's usually right.

STR: Todd's just another drummer who wishes he was a guitarist. [Both laugh.]

TLF: I happen to be a great air guitarist. And you wish you were a drummer! He does! He told me that the other day! [More laughter.]

RS: Okay... if you guys are done, I have some more questions. So how do you guys write songs?

STR: Very well.

RS: Uh... yea, I love the CD. But I was asking about the process.

TLF: Well, like I said, Steve would send me demos of tunes. Mostly just one guitar and maybe a verse or two of vocals. Then, I'd pretend to listen to them... [Both laugh.] No, I'd really listen to them, and then we'd get together at The Igloo [ETM's rehearsal space at Cold Basement Studios] and just jam and develop the tunes. Those were White Stripes-style sessions with just the two of us... We'd jam all day and then have these lavish salmon dinners with red wine and just laugh all night. It was very decadent.

STR: Actually, 'Passion' stemmed from some open jams during those sessions... the others were premeditated.

RS: I notice that you guys share the lyric credits on most of the tracks... Is that a challenge to collaborate lyrically?

TLF: It can be a challenge. It was a challenge in the past. But with this project it made a lot of sense and was relatively easy. We'd make scratch tapes of our rehearsals, then I'd try to decipher what Steve was singing and then I'd transcribe it and add my own verse or two.

STR: Usually what he thought he heard was better than what I was actually singing.

RS: In the song 'Eyes See All,' you sing:

      This is just a stroke of genius
      It's not that big of a deal
      Years from now this will be mentioned
      And we'll all question it's appeal

Is that song autobiographical?

STR: Hopefully! [Laughs.] Or hopefully not in the case of that last line.

TLF: Yea, I guess that's up to you and the rest of the media to decide.

RS: Okay, let me ask you about another tune, 'King & Queen.' By the way, I love the CD. On 'King & Queen' you sing:

      Every one is singing the exact same song
      And all the good ones are bad,
      And the bad ones are worse.
      Get your ticket to our... Pre-recorded show
      We'll fake this town. We'll fool them all...

Is this supposed to be a cheap-shot at the music industry?

TLF: Look, first of all, we're not gonna go through the whole disc line-for-line and explain every lyric of every song. This is rock'n'roll, it's not fuckin' Cliff Notes. Second, there's no such thing as 'music industry.' There's 'music' and then there's 'industry.' And where industry starts is usually where music ends. The reason most major label music today sucks is because the labels don't give a shit about developing artists. And the ironic thing is that I can sit here and give you smart-ass answers without worrying about pissing you off, because I know that our label already cut a deal with your magazine to spend X-amount of dollars in advertising in return for you guys putting Eight Track Mind on the cover. So whether it's that verse you just read, or rampant downloading, slumping sales or a crappy product or whatever, the 'music industry' deserves everything they get.

STR: [Forced nervous laughter] Did I mention that Todd jokes around too much?

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Toby Lyman is a former Nazi Hunter for the Wiesenthal Center and author of "We Went to Sleep as The Circle Six and Woke Up as Led Zeppelin: The Rise and Fall of The Circle Six." He currently resides in New York City and was immediately placed in rehab after this interview.