e-mail interview by Larry Dolman

DR: Don Rettman (gtr/keys/perc)
FRITZ: Fritz (gtr)
N/A: Dave Bryson (drums)

Describe your musical ‘coming of age’ and how you got from there into the we’ll say ‘out-rock’ that you play today.

DR: Well that IS goin back quite aways...Pretty much started out the same as most kids (maybe a bit earlier around 9 or 10)..the usual Zep/Stones/Beatles stuff, but even then had wild curioisity about the most 'out' moments of these common-place items (such as the music- concrete breakdown of Zep's 'Whole Lotta Love', 'Revolution #9', the avant-scrape strings of 'She's Like a Rainbow', etc..etc..). Also a friend of my Mom's once lent me some King Crimson & Moody Blues LPs.The Crimso LPs were pretty fascinating to a yungsta like me..The arrangements were probably the strangest I'd heard at that point in my youth..I obviously had no knowledge that some of the supporting players on these LPz were big-wigs in the UK/Europe avant-underground (Tippett, Charig, etc...)..a lot of those sounds stuck with me..I don't remember a goddamn thing 'bout those Moody Blues LPz, though...no biggie there..Also should mention FM radio was much more 'liberal' back then with their playlists..many of the FM stations that are now hawking Top 40 & hardrock-kiddie-shite would play things back then (this is early-to-mid 70s here) such as Steeleye Span & Bonzo Dog Band! Very key gettin to hear that stuff early on.. Obviously punk came along & I instantly took interest & checked out college radio to hear the latest sounds fro UK & wherever..suddenly this other DJ was on & played more (here's that word ya want) 'out' stuff like Pere Ubu, Residents, Art Bears & also started to play a lot of the No Wave stuff when that started trickling outta NYC...these sounds delivered what the 'straight-up' punk stuff hadn't..it sounded more alienated & thus more 'pissed'...sometime later got intersted in Hardcore stuff...loved the guitar sounds on lotta that earlier stuff, as well as the SST label, who I never thought were hardcore, but dealt in rock music with great attitude & style...Gregg Ginn's guitar work on the Black Flag LPs were as important today to me as Page or Sharrock..great sound, great attack..a lot of the 80s were lost on DJn in some dismal dump for ungrateful punkers, nu-wavers & cokeheads...let's just skip all that.. Jump ahead to the end of my 3rd decade..after being xposed to every possible genre & its bastard hybrids (working in a used/new record store & DJn at college radio stations for the past 20 yrs or so accelerated this hunger for sound to a near-unhealthy level) decided it was about time for me to take some sort of 'action' for myself..started a trio a few yrs back that operated under the name Absinthe-bsically free-form soundflow not unlike a lotta 'drone' grups floatin around today but hopefully w/some tasteful rock-guitar twitters & sound-collage/barrage thrown in..that pretty much fell apart in a brief (and tumultuous) period of time. At this point was already pretty fed up w/whole 'drummerless drone' approach of Absinthe stuff. Enter Dave, who had just departed from a local thrash-punk group that he had played guitar in, but ended up buyin the drummer's skins w/an intention to switch..me and Dave have always had similar tastes in music..from avant-jazz, musique concrete, psyche, prog, & glorious underground metal jams! Thus Big Whiskey was born in this confusing muck of two NJ suburban record-heads...the 'out' form is probably born out of our own confused listening habits..Fritz came in later for trio sessions a lot of you are familiar with..he also has some fabulously jumbled listening habits..he will hopefully be returning from his hiatus in the desert ghetto soon..though we've been doin OK playin without him, I really prefer the BW sound when he's around..whether he believes it or not, he really fills in spaces well..whew...enough of all this..on to next question!

FRITZ: 'musical coming of age'-when my brother was at school and work i would pilfer through his record collection. i remember the first piece of music that totally mesmerized me was rod stewart's 'every picture tells a story'. that part where everything dies down and you can hear rod almost come in too soon on that 'look how wrong you can be?' line and then the total uphill chug of the 'every picture tells a story' repetition. it totally blew my tiny little mind. From there on in it has been a wild ride all over the place as far as sound goes. 'out rock'- out rock i like- pansy division, erasure, tribe 8, gay-rilla biskits, husker du, etc.

Are there any overdubs on The Bloated Museum of Treachery? If not, how do you get that ‘two guitarists-plus-a-keyboardist all playing at once’ sound?

DR: Digtal delays, sampler loops,..is it cheatin'? I think as long as the track comes out OK & the listener is happy, the artist has done his job..All the stuff we've released is pretty much improv'ed & recorded live to 2 track..the one 'spacy' track on 'Bloated Museum' does have a backwards track at the beginning that is basically one of the two tracks on the other side of the cassette played backwards...that's about it..

FRITZ: doesn't pertain to me 'cause i did not play on 'bloated...'

Brian Farmer said you guys can remind him of Savage Republic. I think we were talking about Track Four on The Bloated Museum of Treachery when he said this. Care to comment?

DR: Oddly 'nuff have never bought & am only vaguely aware of Savage Rep's stuff..knowlotsa friends who've dug them in the past..which one is track 4?? Think you'n Brian may know that CD better than I do at this point..my time is usually consumed w/sifitng thru hours(&hours) of jams we've recorded recently...so have little/no time to analyze BW tracks that are almost ancient to me now.. (Track Four is the minimalist drumkit-centered trance-piece...I once bought a Savage Republic album for a dollar and then sold it back a week later...couldn't get into it, and this was 8 years ago when I thought I got into anything from the 'underground'...
haven't heard 'em before or since...--ed.)

FRITZ: I don't know anything about Savage Republic. I don't listen to commie music.

The Slippytown disc seems to be recorded at some sort of live venue. Do you guys play many shows? What are they like? Any notable stories? How did you end up playing with Monotract in Las Vegas or New Mexico or wherever that was?

DR: The 1st track of 'Chuck Stallion' is the aftermath (such as is) of a show we played in New Hope, Pa. a coupla years back...Fritz's idea that track..think it works fine..rest of that disc, once again recorded direct to 2-track in the Sabrina basement..We don't play live mostly because we don't have the time/energy to track down every possible option..we have full-time jobs that probably takes more of our time than we like..as it stands we've made a small circle of friends that seems to wanna throw us the occasional show every great while, which pretty much suits us fine..the current B.W. live show is pretty much taking the 'basement jam' from the basement to the people..surprisingly its been mostly well-received..I always expect some sort of riot or attack, but always confused by the sound of aaplause.. fancy that.. The Albuquerque show was with Monotract, Born in East L.A. (Joel of Humectant Interruption/Spite, Russ of White Tapes/Animals/SB/etc..)..we made friends with Russ about a year back..he's a real good guy & decent human being...not exactly the type of person ya deal with for getting a show booked...(sure you do, maybe one time every couple hundred shows...--ed.) through him we also got friendly with the Monotract crew & Joel...when the Monotract/BIELA tour was being booked Fritz got them a show in Albuquerque. Was going to Fritzy & friends in Albq soon so thought we should do show w/them as Big Whiskey MD (Big Whiskey Minus Dave) with minimal equipment (wouldnt be able to lug gtr gear onto plane w/me). Was just effects/
tapes/ samplers/etc..considering we had no time to prepare (due to my late arrival thanx to TWA-FUCK THEM!) think it came off OK..

FRITZ: The beginning of the Slippy Town CD comes from the ending of our first live set as a trio. Trust me, it was the most interesting part of the set. Check the dorkus rapping to Don about his feedback 'rig'. At that show we followed a christian Tortoise-style rock band (I'm dead serious) and proceeded a band with said dorkus in it that hadda a chick singer who sang about how coffee made her pee. As you can imagine, it was a stellar evening. [Actually, music by Tortoise and christian-rock seem perfectly compatible to me...--ed.] The rest of 'Chuck Stallion' was recorded in the basement. 'live shows'-What live shows I've played with B.W. have been weird as far as my own personal short comings go. On one hand, I don't like it because I feel the pressure to 'perform' when all I want to do is do what I do in Dave's basement. But on the other hand, a part of me doesn't care about the approval or acceptance baggage that usually comes with playing 'live' music and I think that's where my problem lies. Double edged sword I suppose. I think the reason I liked doing the WPRB broadcast that became the 'Pictures...' CDR so much was because I knew people were listening (I hope they were listening) but weren't watching. Maybe I can become the B.Wilson or what-Pink Floyd-wanted-Syd-to-be of B.W. Just stay behind the scenes and make sure everything is aesthetically correct. I'm just a big baby I suppose. 'monotract gig'-the dirty dirty southwest is a strange place and thats why we played with monotract there. a member of B.W. is currently residing there, so it seemed like a good idea. i actually enjoyed that live show. although i like to steer clear of shit like this, i would like to mention The Lovelife from Maryland played and were the biggest buncha cry baby whiners I ever encountered next to my nieces and nephews.

Any beefs/peeves/problems with the ‘underground scene’? For that matter, any raves/joys? Or any comments in between?

DR: Mainly folks who take themselves WAY too seriously. I always try to have a good time with what we do, even in the most dismal circumstance. There's too many folks who are just sucking the joy/fun out of everything..
Also young folks who are so wrapped up in using the fuckin Wire as a tip sheet as to 'what's cool' (I discovered THAT mistake early on) that they have no sense of WHAT ROCKS! In the back room of the record store I work the youngsters will moan and/or snicker whenever we put on any grindcore/death metal shit, but they'll gladly accept Zorn's joyless parodies of the same styles... (It's a sad fuckin' world. -- ed.) A lotta youngsters on the scene are so obsessed with non-rock influences, that they completely pass over some key rock influences (Blue Cheer, Stooges, Black Flag..cripes FUCKIN' VENOM!)..I mean,what the hell is post-rock anyway? Call it what it is-NOT ROCK!!! The real joys are finding a the handful of bands that matter--actually in past coupla years have found a surprising coupla handfuls--Lightning Bolt, Wolf Eyes, Sightings, Monotract, Nautical Almanac, Suntanama, Black Dice, anoxygenauction, Animals, BIELA, Laundry Room Squelchers, Pengo...folks who rock & wanna have a good time..that's what it should be about...probably quite a few more who can make the list but little time..

FRITZ: No comment at the present time.

The infamous “What were the last 5 records you bought and/or listened to?” question:

DR: Cripes,..new Wolf Eyes LP 'Dread'..that's a ripper.. The Giants 'Thanks For the Night' LP on Casablanca from late 70s..was a band w/Ron Elliot (Beau Brummels)..Dr. John's on a coupla cuts..more like good swampy porch-rock (a Good Sat afternnon weed-n-wine LP!)..
Exodus's 1st LP 'Bonded By Blood'-good metal LPs always perk me up! (Think most their other stuff's pretty weak) the latest Dimmu Borgir CD-got as a promo..little too 'gothy' for my thrash tastes but still rips a bit..Todd Rundgren's 2nd LP..more mellow..can't thrash all the time..Mr Rundgren appears to be a right bastard for his interviews, but I still think his 70's stuff is brilliant (esp.'Wizard A True Star' & 'Something/ Anything')..yeh,you can see how 'scattershot' my tastes can be...

FRITZ: Haven't had much scratch to spend on records lately. the last five discs I spun was- 1) Jackson Browne-'The Pretender' lp 2) Spontanious Combustion-'Spontanious Combustion/Triad' CD 3) Shuggie Otis-'Inspiration Information' CD 4) Charles Mingus-'Cumbia and Jazz Fusion' lp 5) Me-'Out For The First Time' lp

Have you always lived in New Jersey? Is it a good place for you/the band/etc?

DR: Oh yeah,always been here..nah, can't say its the best place for a band of our 'ilk',but I think it does inspire us to go against the grain of our neighbors and be evn more strange..I think if we lived in the city we wouldn't be as inspired to play as we do..

FRITZ: I am currently not living in New Jersey. I used to think it sucked raw ass but, like my lady Joni sings 'You don't know what you got 'til it's gone'. The location of B.W. works in it's favor (central N.J.) 'cause you're just as close to NY as you are to Penns. and B.W. have played both places a few times. I'm trying to get back to Jersey to jam and everything else ASAP. I'm sure once I'm there for a few more months I'll hate it again, but at least I'll be able to get a slice of pizza and not worry about someone grabbing my crotch everytime I leave my house.

How about a discography, including stuff in the works?

DR: 'Bloated Museum of Trachery' (WFOT CD) 'Get Me a Ladder' (WFOT cass- gone) 'Plays the Music of Chuck Stallion & the Mustangs' (Slippytown- may be a few left-have to ask Mr. Flowers..email..
slippytown @eartlink.net) 'Pictures of An Exhibitionist' (GoldTeeth CDr) (contact Brian at- awesoma_powa@hotmail.com) Coming soon (I hope)- 'Kids Plate USA' Cdr (OuterOrbit)

FRITZ: 'Bloated Museum Of Treachery' CD (WFOT 3) 500 made...please buy one! (Someone said this was a cross between Alice Cooper and The Dead C. I like that!) 'Someone Get Me A Ladder' cassette (WFOT 4) sold out (By the by, this tape has my fave B.W. piece on it 'Hot Sand'. the best thing we've ever done I think) 'Big Whiskey Plays The Music of Chuck Stallion and the Mustangs' CDR (SLIPTO2) 70 made (B.W.'s tribute to Glenn Cormick. Check Don's self injury on 'No D.Q.') 'Pictures of an Exhibitionist' CDR (Front #1) 50 made? (B.W. play live on WPRB in the summer of '00. Everyone was stone cold sober and that's why its beauty confounds me. My personal (I never cleared it with the rest of B.W.) tribute to Keith Emerson and Frosty Crunch) UPCOMING SHITTE- 'Kids Plate USA' CDR on Outer Orbit. This thing has been up in the air for a year or so. Gotta get artwork to Robbie @ O.O. Makes E.L.P. sound like The Dead C. and vice versa. 'Their Hands Were Everywhere' cassette on Spite. Supposedly this tape will consist of B.W.s' more 'tinkering' moments. Whatever...just don't call me late for dinner... 'Our Golden Pride Will Never Die' 7" on White Tapes. Our tribute to Chemotherapy, Jerryz Kids (ABQ), State, NYC Mayhem, Sluggo, Simple Assault, Demented Youth, Maniax, Bone of Contention, etc. Fully approved by The Moshing Hoods of C.T. 'Applesauce McGhee in Less than Pants' lp on WFOT. Coming out in...aw...um...yeah...well...did you take out the trash??? We did some HC covers for some comp on Blackbean and Placenta but I aint seenit. I think we're supposed to do another CDR for Eddie. I think we'll call that one 'Big Whiskey Plays The Music of Jeremy Bender'. Whatever... If there's anything else, I dunno about it. I think we'll also be doing something on The Amazing Kornyfone Record Label...Pre-B.W. discography- Absenthe-'Barn Axtion '97' cassette (WFOT 0) The Crisp/Fritz Duo-'A Darker Shade of Star' cassette (WFOT 5) Jersey Fresh-'J.F.I.J.T.C' 21 song demo (These Records Suck) (Deleted) Fugew Youth-'Now Dats Italian!' cassette (These Records Suck) (Deleted) The Hans Solo Solo Project-'The Ballad of Jason Jammer' 2 song demo (Aryan Legwound) Specific Colon-'Plays Odessey and Oracle' cassette (Getting Rock From A Blundstone)

In closing: any not-yet-mentioned future plans/shows/tours/moves /stays/assays? Final comments?? Recommendations? Philosophies of the World?

DR: Playing some art-opening in Baltimore Aug 25th. I don't think there's pay involved-just free beer,smoke.. maybe girlies?? Should be fun..Mebbe a show in Brooklyn in October..I may/may not do a solo performance on WPRB radio..I've been wanting to do something that's 'just me' for awhile now...have been recording all sorts of sounds solo now, but haven't arrived at a final/definitive 'concept' or even moniker..Would like to get some of that out someday soon...Dunno what philosophies I could offer anyone...am usually VERY annoyed by anyone who tries to cram their unwarranted philosophies down my throat..why should I? All I really wanna offer is the music (god, that's corny)...My wish is that the humourless/emotionless factor that's been plaguing the scene of late would crawl away..but that's just my reality....try'n find & honest way to create your own..

FRITZ: We plan to go on tour with a reunited Sacred Denial. I recommend T.M. and Jackson Browne. My philosophy on the world is to not read philosophy. It'll just fuck you up.