We're Chasing the Rats Out! An Interview with Indian Jewelry by Keith Boyd

Indian Jewelry makes the kind of "Wild Rumpus"and Monsanto. Forget about the nexus between
sounds that the castaway kids do around theirthe arms trade, petroleum concerns, the Christian
bonfire in "The Lord of the Flies". It's equal partsright, and the apartheid state of Israel . Get over
liberating and dangerous. Their new CD, "Invasivegenetically modified food, the IMF/WTO, latterday
Exotics" (Monitor Records) is a strange andred-baiters, homophobes, racists, armchair
hypnotic ride through the subconscious thatrazorbacks, and theo-nationalists worldwide. Let's
doesn't only aim at the head, but shakes yourjust say that evil is emanating from stupid people
body as well. This mutant hybrid of ethno-voodoo,and smart people alike.9. What's the wildest thing
industrial death disco is just the right tonic foryou've ever had go down at a gig? We are calm
these gray times. It's a multi-headed and colorfulpeople, and our music is calmative to the point of
mix that after repeated listens reveals a literatebeing serene. However, we once played a set in a
and political undertone. Indian jewelry is lettinggallery in Houston while it was on fire and also in
their freak flag fly and believe me folks, we're allthe smoke while the same fire was being
the better for it! I recently shot a few questionsextinguished. People have regularly come to us
their way via email and this is what they had toafter shows with bloody hands, blackened eyes,
say.1. Is Indian Jewelry's music more solar orbruised faces, and general damage. People have
lunar? How so?Erika says solar. I say lunar, buttried to decapitate us by throwing cymbals at our
we try in our way to get along. 2. Are younecks during shows in New York City and Athens
casting spells with this music? If so, what areOhio (we don't exist, ergo we don't die.) A
they directed at? If not, why? While at variousDominican street gang forced us to play a show
times various sorts of people have accused us ofin Brooklyn by holding our friends in the band
spellcasting and mesmerism in a lame andInoculist at knifepoint. A race riot broke out
transparent attempt to absolve themselves ofbetween warring fraternities outside a Halloween
responsibility for their own bad behavior the factshow in Kent Ohio. San Diego is nuts. Houston is
is that this is not so. We once tried casting a spellnuts. Knoxville people can party. Ohio is out of
with subliminal messages and calculatedhand.10. What are the greatest books of all
frequencies but it backfired.3. What are yourtime?We have something of a bias toward
favorite sounds? We are partial to panting dogs,occidental Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
low frequencies, heartbeats, and fast-movingliterature. Nonetheless, here is a very loose start:
trains. We're also amenable to the music made byThe brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky,
friends of ours such as jana hunter, the wiggins,the recognitions by william gaddis, war and peace
rua minx, leslie keffer, a pink cloud, the creepingby leo tolstoy, the delicate prey by paul bowles,
nobodies, genders, the electric set, psychic ills,journey to the end of the night by louis ferdinand
wicked poseur, ariel pink, eystek, tusco terror,celine, mother courage and her children by bertolt
clipd beaks, as well as a number of others.4. Whatbrecht, 60 stories by donald barthelme, satires by
is the sexiest sound? The human voice,juvenal, cronopios and famas by julio cortazar,
whispering to ear-- not asthmatic.5. What is thelabyrinths by jorge luis borges, catch 22 by
one instrument you couldn't do Indian Jewelryjoseph heller, birds of america by lorrie moore,
without? An atlas.6. Give me three reasons to beunited states by gore vidal, moby dick by herman
cheerful. Longmont Potion Castle, Sacha Baronmelville, the collected stories of flannery o'connor,
Cohen, Holy Mountain7. Any thoughts on Plutoantipoems by nicanor parra, twilight of the idols by
recently being "de-planeted"? See, science don'tfriedrich nietzsche, collected poetry of ts eliot,
know.8. Where is evil emanating from thesejabberwocky by lewis carroll, collected poetry of
days?Its hard to be glib about this one, but let'spablo neruda, cathedral by raymond carver,
try anyway. Let's ignore US foreign policymedea by euripedes, white goddess by robert
advisors and decision makers. Let's turn a blindgraves, 100 years of solitude by gabriel garcia
eye to big business and crony capitalists like themarquez, invisible cities by italo calvino, and the
Halliburton Corporation, Diebold, Disney, Dow, GE,canterbury tales by geoffrey chaucer.