This online chat took place on Firefly (http://www.ffly.com) on October 2, 1996 at 5:00 EDT. It was a brief conference that lasted roughly a half hour. Graham Parker was on the phone giving answers to questions from the participants in the online chat. What follows has been edited and rearranged so that the answers make more sense in the proper context. Some questions went unanswered and some answers don't seem to have questions attached to them, but that's the confusing nature of this sort of thing. Although edited for clarity, none of the typing errors have been changed. The questions and answers are presented exactly as they were during the chat.
In all, there were about 20 people in the room during the brief session. Most of the non-relevant contributions have been omitted. Two soundbites were contributed, although I only managed to snag one, and one picture was also posted. That appears below, as well as the one soundbite I picked up.
The person known as "cellarist" is the host of the chat, and all responses from Parker are relayed through that person.
(3 minutes ago) cellarist:
If you're here for GP chat, welcome...He'll be joining us shortly. Any
questions, anyone?
(1 minute ago) cellarist:
ANd if you haven't heard his stuff, let me remind you you're on
Firefly where such things are available..
Hello Graham Parker
RING
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
RIght! Ready to begin, let me introduce you to Graham Parker!
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
Hey, this is Graham Parker in cynberspace, how are you all??
(1 minute ago) Autechre:
graham yer in a good mood.. grin
(3 minutes ago) Big Man On Paper:
Question: Any chance of ever working with Brinsley Schwarz again?
(24 seconds ago) cellarist:
Answer from GP re. Brinsley question: Anything's possible, bnut I like
to move forward. I'm abouyt to go on tour with the Figgs and they have
two excellent guitarists. If you bought Acid Bubblegumn, you might have
noticed that my lead guitarring is improving. But down the road
sometime I'll work with Brinsley again.
(2 minutes ago) Autechre:
What music does Graham like?
(2 minutes ago) tdevil:
With Arista releasing "Live Sparks" any chance of Razor and
Tie getting the rights to and releasing "Live at Marble
Arch"?
(3 minutes ago) cellarist:
Answer re Marble Arch: A few record companies have been interested.
For some reason nobody seems able to get it together. Its very short,
would have to be combined with something. I'm sure eventually somebody
will get the rights to it. A question of dealing with Phonogram to get
the rights.
(1 minute ago) Stevorama:
Question: Graham supposedly hated Mercury Records' promotion skills,
to the point of writing the song "Mercury Poisoning"...does
he think Arista did a better job with his output there?
(5 minutes ago) cellarist:
Answer from GP to Stevorama: Marginally! I think Clive Davis thought
he'd done his job once he acquired me. The main thrust of his job was
to give me a large amount of money and basically stop. I dont think
tyhey did a great deal more, but seeing as Mercury did pretty much
zero, even small crumbs are better than nothing!
(1 minute ago) counting da beat:
question: what was the first album Graham ever bought?
(53 seconds ago) panchodog:
Howdy, Graham. Do you not like the South? We haven't seen you down
this way since you were in Asheville five years ago.
(NOW) Big Man On Paper:
Question: What are Graham's opinions of the internet, and is
"Sharpening Axes" partly a jab at the net?
(41 seconds ago) cellarist:
Response to Big Man: Like most of my songs its just free associatyion
imagery. My opinion of the INternet is that it isn't as interesting as
Neuromancer bny William Giobson.When you can actually jack in your
brain then I'll get into it ina big way. At the moment I'm avoiding it.
(39 seconds ago) Stevorama:
Question: Where does Graham live now?
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
Answer from GP to Stevorama: I live both in upstate New York and
London. I'm a transatlantic dude. But I have been spending more time in
upstate NY, near Woodstoick.
(17 seconds ago) Autechre:
Welcome to FFly, Graham.
(11 seconds ago) donjm:
Acid Bubblegum is Great. Now; how about writing a song aimed at the
obnoxious state of FM radio today? "Passive Resistance" was
right on from the Real McCaw. I slos like the reference in "Love
is a Burning Question...."I've seen the future of Rock and it
SUCKS! ! It still does! ! Regards, donjm
(1 minute ago) cellarist:
Answer from GP to donjm: Fop me, writing songs that take jabs at radio
are like falling off a log. I have references to those two songs, so I
should give it a rest for about 100 years, else people might start
booing.
(5 minutes ago) run rabbit run:
Question: What music are you listening to these days?
(5 minutes ago) Stevorama:
Question: what by other artists is Graham listening to and liking?
(1 minute ago) cellarist:
Answer from GP to Stevorama: Nothing particularly strikes me that much
these days. Because I'm doing a record Im concentrating on my own
stuff. I've had to listen to "Live Sparks" packaged with
"Squeezing Out Sparks," involved in these projects, having to
listen to my own stuff. ALso been listening to stuff like the tribute
album to me, "Piss & Vinegar". As far as liking any of
this, I cant say I like it much, because it's me! The new Figgs album
is good, I've heard that...Amy Rigby is good, I like a good pop spong
with a good hook. There's a few on the radio, some annoy me and some
don't. Also listening to other repackages that I get free from Razor
& Tie, like Scott Walker.
(3 minutes ago) tdevil:
Graham- Any chance of the Acid Bubblegum Tour coming to the Atlanta
area.
(36 seconds ago) jerrydem:
Graham: I don't want to get in other people's way, as things move
along here. But I'm a reporter, and I wanted you to know I'm trying to
contact Marc Fenton for a quick phoner. I go back to ``Howlin'
Wind" days and would get a kick out of hearing ``Not If It Please
Me" live again. Will save my questions. Take care....Jerry DeMarco
(7 minutes ago) cellarist:
Answer from GP: That song won't happen on the tour I'm about to do
because it's too bluesy and old fashioned sounding...But also it's in
open E tuning which means you always have to have a guitar tuned to
Open E...I only have three songs in that. It would have to be the right
kind of band, more an R&B than a hard modern rock thing like I'm
doing now.
(4 minutes ago) counting da beat:
question to GP: if you died now, would you be happy with the body of
music you've created?
(NOW) cellarist:
...I dont think I'd ever be happy, but Im proud of the body of work.
Some eras of my work are better than others.
(51 seconds ago) cellarist:
Answer to counting: One reason to make an album is to wipe out the
memory of the last one!
(1 minute ago) cellarist:
Hey Graham, how about the louder punk sound of the new album?
(43 seconds ago) cellarist:
GP responds: The last one, !2 Haunted Episodes was more my version of
Astral Weeks or Blood on the Tracks...I thought it was a good idea to
become diametrically oposed.
(1 minute ago) panchodog:
Any plans to come down South?
(1 minute ago) counting da beat:
question to GP: put another way, would you live your life again if you
ended up exactly where you are now?
(7 minutes ago) donjm:
GP: Who are the musicians in on your Acid B Tour? Donjm
(5 minutes ago) cellarist:
Domjm (response): I met them at a gig in Atlanta, they came to my
soundcheck, I found that one of the guitarists was very into my stuff,
asking me chord sequences to songs Id forgotten about. Then I heard
their version of "Passion is No Ordinary Word" on tyhe
tribute album. And I got a hairbrained scheme, thought they'd be
perfect for Acid Bubblegum.
(6 minutes ago) dmayer:
Graham, will you be doing an acoustic set on the new tour?
(4 minutes ago) cellarist:
dmayer response: I might do a number or two as solo acoustic, to break
up the mayhem of me and the Figgs thrashing away. But this is going to
be a rock'n'roll show.
(6 minutes ago) Autechre:
How does the digital format affect your "Style"???
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
Answer to Autrecher: Everything turns out digital now because it's a
CD...The new album was done two track analogue., Acoustic guitar and
voice is how I work. The most affected I've been by digital technology
was the REal Macaw, where we programmed a drum machine and the drummer
played to it.
(1 minute ago) cellarist:
Graham, can you tell us about a spoken word record you're doing?
(45 seconds ago) cellarist:
Answer: I've just done a three-hour cassette of Jack Kerouac's Visions
of Cody...That will be on sale in bookstrore this month. Also, an album
that may be coming out on Ryko with various artists reading Kerouac, I
did one there as well.
(4 minutes ago) cellarist:
For those who've asked about tour dates: SO far I've got October the
11th in Providence, Northampton Mass, Boston Mass, the 15th in New
York, the 17th in Pittsburgh, and that's the opening...
(3 minutes ago) cellarist:
...And on the 25th we're down to Chicago, then Madison, then
Milwaukee, then Minneapolis, and Seattle on the 1st of November,
Portland, then San Francisco, LA on November 6th, San Juan Capistrano,
and San Diego on the 8th.
(4 minutes ago) panchodog:
graham, are you still a smoker?
(4 minutes ago) tdevil:
Graham-Any plans to tour down south for Acid Bubblegum, say the
Atlanta area?
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
....tdevil: Atlanta's not there yet, but we're going to try to tack it
on after the West Coast.
(2 minutes ago) Stevorama:
Graham: Did being tagged as a "father of British New Wave and
Punk" strike you as flattery or pressure?
(54 seconds ago) cellarist:
Stevorama: Theres always been disagreement about this. Some people
thought we were an R&B band, but we were more than that because of
the lyrical ontent. We werent a typical new wave band, because a lot of
that was too gimmicky...Its always better to have your name associated
with a craze than not to have it, because people think in terms of
movements and styles and crazes before they think in terms of music. If
it helped sell records, then so be it. But there was no pressure either
way.
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
LAST CALL FOR QUESTIONS!!
(1 minute ago) dmayer:
Any single to be released from Acid Bubblegum?
(8 minutes ago) cellarist:
dmayer: The single is "Get Over It and Move On"-- single
meaning single to radio, not on sale.
(1 minute ago) Big Man On Paper:
Any albums you regret doing?
(7 minutes ago) cellarist:
Big Man-- No albums I regret doing. Certyain Things on albums I
regret-- producers, bits of arrangements, terrible vocals. But no
albums as a whole.
(1 minute ago) Stevorama:
Graham: Are there certain cities you particularly enjoy playing in for
one reason or another?
(6 minutes ago) cellarist:
Stevorama_ I enjoy any city where a good crowd comes out who's into my
music. The quality of the crowd, the intelligence and the amount.
(1 minute ago) FirePlug:
Graham, what do you think about the online medium? Have you ever done
one of these interviews before? Do you have an email address where we
can reach you? Are you a Luddite?
(12 seconds ago) moxie:
Hey, another one you gotta hear Click
here for some sound clips from Graham Parker's cover of Nirvana's
"In Bloom":
(6 minutes ago) FirePlug:
Thanks for the clip, Mox.
(6 minutes ago) panchodog:
hey graham, if you can swing by chapel hill (NC) we'll broadcast your
show on the internet for you!
(6 minutes ago) sammy35:
Just got here. Have the Figgs learned the whole new album? Any chance
the tour will be extended or more dates added?
(3 minutes ago) cellarist:
We'rr rehearsing DOnt Get Excited, Saturday Night ius Dead, Soul on
Ice, DOnt Let It Break You DOwn, Passion is No Ordinary Word from
Sparks, and a lot of other stuff I cant remember right now! A good mix
of Sparks and Acid Bubblegum, which complem,ent each other well.
(5 minutes ago) moxie:
Goodbye to Our pal Graham!
(5 minutes ago) cellarist:
GP SAYS: THANK YOU ALL FOR TAKING PART OF THIS...LOOKING
FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ON THE ROAD...IT'S GONNA BE A
ROCKER, LET ME TELL YOU....
(4 minutes ago) Beevis:
Who did you write "Protection" to?
(4 minutes ago) sammy35:
Graham, last tour a guy named Jim Joyce was the tour manager. Do you
know him? Did he invite you to Penn State in 1983 (with the Romantics)?
(4 minutes ago) Stevorama:
Bye, Graham...thanks for coming, and THANKS, FIREFLY>>>
(4 minutes ago) FirePlug:
Thanks Graham for coming, Graham.
(3 minutes ago) Beevis:
I mean, "Your love letters are confetti, I rip them up my hands
are sweaty.." Wow!
(3 minutes ago) CasperD:
Graham, any producers you would like to work with whom you have not?
I'd like to see you work with Todd Rundgren.
(2 minutes ago) sammy35:
I about killed 30 people on the highway to get here and nothing. Sorry
I missed it. 5 p.m. Bad time for sammy
(2 minutes ago) CasperD:
Figures, by the time I figure out how to get here and where
"here" is, he's gone...
(3 minutes ago) heidi corgan:
hi hi hi.... can anyone tell me who graham parker is? *curious*
(2 minutes ago) cellarist:
HEY FOLKS...GP HAS GOEN BACK TO REHEARSAL...THANKS FOR COMING
THOUGH! SORRY TO THOSE JUST GETTING HERE...
(1 minute ago) Big Man On Paper:
I'm going to put up the transcript of this session on the Squeezing
Out Sparks web site soon. Look for it. The URL is http://www.grahamparker.net
(5 seconds ago) Big Man On Paper:
Buy ACID BUBBLEGUM!