Terston Moore: "On the Aeroflota plane it was very scary"

On the eve of his arrival in Moscow, Terston Moore, the guitarist and songwriter of the American group of Sonic Youth, who influenced his experiments with guitar sound on the generation of rock musicians of the nineties and zero, continues the new album “Rock-N-Roll Constaciasness” and shares stories about the New York rope The 70s, William Burrose, the first tour in the USSR, the fear of Aeroflot and Kanye West in the Sonic Youth T-shirt.

-What influence did you have two parallel universes-the New York and British punk of the 1970s?

- Huge! At the end of 1976, immediately after graduation, I moved to New York. In 1977, I was 19 years old, and I wanted to play in the group. I was inspired by the live performances of Patti Smith and Talking Heads , Television and Richard Hall ... Blondie (laughs) . There was no such music on TV, they didn’t play this either, all that you could count on is a couple of magazines that came out once a month: Cream and Rock Scene . Well, maybe the American magazine Circus . The editors of these magazines always kept their nose in the wind, that is, they focused on what was happening in the New York underground. They wrote mainly about groups inspired by rock radicals from the 60s-early 70s, that is, The Stoogenes , The Velvet Underground and MS5 . Three very important groups. Gradually, those who were interested in this music began to find each other and unite-this was how the 70s began, when the hippie culture was already cracking at the seams. The same thing happened in the UK.

In the UK, however, weekly newspapers came out - NME , Sounds and Melody Maker , and there was more information. NME seriously took up the music of the new generation, for what was happening in London with Sex Pistols and The Clash , Slits and X- Ray SPEX . At the same time, they did not forget to look at America because of Richard Hell and Patti Smith. Patti Smith appeared early on the horizon, Ramones declared themselves in 1976, which completely changed the course of events. Punk was something extreme compared to the “ordinary” rock of that time: The Allman Brothers Band , Emerson, Lake & Palmer . That is, music, which strove for rock and roll sound, but the people who played it studied the theory of music at the university or were high-tech geniuses who sought to play the guitar as Eric Clapton.

Kanye West glowed in the Sonic Youth T -shirt, but he does not know who we are.

For me, a real revelation was the idea that the primary element for writing songs and creating a group can be its own energy. I caught fire and instantly found myself using a punk environment. In 1976-1977, I went to concerts of all these groups in New York and found a community that seemed a cheerful opposite of the pompous long-haired dinosaurs like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd . I was lucky to be a teenager near New York-I lived an hour from him, in a small town of Connecticut. My plan was to find the Max ' S Kansas City night club, which we did with a friend. The first concert that we got to was Suicide . You can go crazy! Then there were Dead Boys and The Cramps . And better famous groups like Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and Contortions . I adored these groups. It seemed that everyone could do the same. The idea was to get rid of ambition to make money. There was a splendor in poverty, which still seems to me an interesting idea for the artist.

“You also got to Burrose's performances?”

- Burrose was interesting in that, as a literary figure, he in many ways influenced the writers like Patti Smith, Pere Ubu , Tom Verlen and Richard Hell. His reasoning on the fact that the world is in the grip of the control system, the desire to consider paranoia from an unusual point of view, an understanding of the language as a virus, which still needs to be sorted out ... He had ideas that were not similar to the utopian ideas of hippies, from them believed in nihilism in which the punk-rob believed. They kept aside from Hippie’s desire to escape from reality. Therefore, Burrose became a sign figure, being a gentleman of the advanced age that returned to New York from London in 1974-1975 and triumphed on the New York stage after such a long absence and traveling Mexico. He finally returned home-just at the time when the punk rock started-and everything came together. He could be met on the streets of New York, in the Baueri area, I saw him a couple of times in CBGB ' S -he came there to Patti Smith's performances, and then he began to arrange readings. But he had never read his works in front of the audience before - neither in London or in Tanger. So the 70s in New York affected him. And it became a new chip. In 1977, the new Mudd Club club opened, which was seasoned with artists, a legendary place. Already at the opening of Burrose, he read his texts on a small stage. There I saw his performances two or three times.

- According to the US Congress, which has made the album of your Daydream Nation group in its library, Sonic Youuth became a national treasure. What do you feel about this?

- I am grateful for the honor. I do not write and play music for the sake of awards, but when I found out that our record is going to the Congress library, I was pleased with this recognition. Because Sonic Youuth has always been a non-traditional group, despite the fact that we had a traditional rock and roll composition-two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer. We are carried away by experiments with cheap guitars. If the first mini-album, “ Sonic Youth” , we recorded for the most part with standard tool settings-maybe only drum sticks between the strings and threshed through them in a couple of songs-then we decided to make the amplifiers louder and increase the number of experiments. Then I realized that the songs can be written as it would embroider in the head.

When we only gathered a group and called Sonic Youth , I did not even think that we would someday become famous. I just wanted to coexist with the musical scene that I was fascinated. None of its inhabitants was popular or famous outside the 14th Street of New York (laughs) . Of course, we liked traveling and giving concerts in different cities, and above all, Lee contributed to this (Ranaldo), because he had already managed to see a little peace with Gllennaya Branca. Immediately after the appearance in the group, he said: “We could play in Washington, or in Atlanta, Georgia, or there in Chicago or Detroit. I know someone who has club phone numbers. ” I remember how we sat with Lee and called the clubs: "Hello, we are a group from New York, can we play with you?" And they heard in response: "Well, you can play Monday evening." Then we found a friend with a minibus. At the same time, we rehearsed at the same point with a group that just born and was called Swans , and they decided to go with us. With a navigator, we climbed into the minivan without windows and rushed to play a concert for anyone. Literally - for anyone. We did this several times.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to visit Red Square in the 80s.

It was then that we really learned what it means to be in the group. Coexist with each other at such a young age and sing, as if we are going to devote life to this. Although I knew from the very beginning that I would devote my whole life to this-because it was the only thing that interested me in my life and what I really wanted to do. I wanted to be in the group, write music, texts and poems and to be part of what happened in the world in which poetry wrote and gave out literary collections, played in the group and recorded albums Richard Hall, Tom Verlaine and Patti Smith. Their works were equivalent. At that time, we did not think about what we could get, we thought about what we could give.

- By the way, about “concerts for nobody” ... What do you remember about Sonic Youuth's performances in the USSR in 1989?

- We had a promoter in London, who came up with this tour. We met with him in the office of Rouchh Trade . By that time, he had already organized the tour of The Sugarcubes and, despite the difficulties, managed to organize a tour in the USSR for us. We agreed to everything - we just wanted to work and play.

Somewhere in Germany, we sat on a large nosy Aeroflot aircraft and flew to Moscow (laughs) . I remember the plane was very different from all those on which I had ever flown. It was very scary. The staff did not even ask to fasten the belts, but each time the turbulence began, an emergency system was triggered, which screamed at the entire interior. This alone was scary, and when we flew and it was time to land, the pilot did not go around the bush, but immediately ducked his nose down (laughs) . Pure madness.

I remember that several people came to the concert who heard about us as an underground group. They presented a minimalist fanzin - three sheets of paper connected by a paper clip. I remember I wanted to buy T -shirts, notes and books from us. These concerts were very strange because they took place in beautiful theaters, but no one knew who we were. Three people were in the know, but everyone else came to the concert with the whole family. Yes, and the sound, let's say, was not configured for rock and roll. I think many expected to see a rock band from America, but we did not play Chuck Berry (laughs) . It was just strange. In addition, on the warm-up of the groups we were played by old rock and roll. I suspect that after the Sonic Youth concert, visitors had the impression that these are some kind of eccentrics from America who do not know how to play instruments. As if we played incorrectly (laughs) . It seems that after Moscow we went to Leningrad and Vilnius. And, if I am not mistaken, then we went to Georgia. It all looked completely different there. At least the food was edible there. Because in Moscow and Leningrad we could not even eat normally. We came to restaurants, but no one served us, because they worked mainly for people who came to dance on weekends. There were a menu in the restaurants, but none of this could be ordered. So strange! And very difficult. We found ourselves in an incomprehensible place where everything was covered with dust or completely closed, where people are in line for shopping. And the number of purchases per person is strictly limited.

We returned after the collapse of the Soviet Union ( Sonic Youuth performed in Moscow in 2007- Ed. ). By that time, everything has changed radically. It was not that these were changes for the better, but it was new. The sudden influx of Western culture greatly changed the climate. For the second time, the young people who came to our concerts knew exactly what they were going to. And everyone asked: “How was it in 1989? We were still children then! " I am glad that I had the opportunity to visit Red Square in the 80s.

Sonic Youth in Vilnius, 1989

- Recently, the Rage Against the Machine bassist apologized for the Limp Bizkit group. He said that he was sorry that they inspired such shit for existence. You have influenced a myriad of rock groups-are you not ashamed for anyone?

- (Laughs.) No at all! (He continues to laugh.) I don’t even know who I could inspire. It seems to me that I rather inspired people outside the music. The very idea of ​​free creativity, which is preached by Sonic Youuth , extends more to people involved in visual arts or literature. Most often, feedback comes from them than from musicians. That is, the musicians are suitable and say that our music inspired them, often, but when I hear that they play, it does not seem to me that Sonic Youut has influenced them. But I appreciate their reviews (smiles) . It seems that the guy from the Limp Bizkit somehow appeared in public in the Sonic Youth T-shirt. Kanye West shone in her, but he does not know who we are. The fact is that some fashion house in Paris bought rights to a small circulation of a T-shirt with our image. Very expensive. We signed them. Why not? I hope this will help us pay for the apartment this year. Such capabilities are touched from time to time. Then suddenly you see Kanye West and Miley Cyrus in a T-shirt with the logo of your group and think: “Well, well, and what are their favorite Sonic Youth album?!” (Laughs.) What are they listening at all? I do not think that they guess that this is the name of the group.

“When it comes to solo albums, you already have several, and now, probably, there will be even more,” even the most violent musicians come out of something gentle. Kit Richards writes a blues, and Iggi Pop reels Frank Sinatra and French chanson. Do you have any weaknesses?

- I do not think that my solo work is very different from what I wrote in Sonic Youuth . But I work with other musicians, so the result is different. In addition, in Sonic Youuth, I could never particularly dictate whether Kim or Steve, what to play, because our idea was to write his part of the material for every new song. I often made the structure of the composition, after which I gave it for revision to colleagues. When I play solo, under my own name, then I myself make decisions on how the material will sound. Although I am very attentive to the opinion of my colleagues and do not ignore their feelings. Everyone with whom I play brings his sound. I like it. But when I am sitting on the couch and playing the guitar, I don’t think: “Hmm, it will be a good song for Sonic Youth , and this is for a solo” - no, they are all the same.

- By the way, when to wait for your new entry?

- With the same group with which I recorded “ The Best Day” , I recorded a new album called “ Rock- N- Roll Consciousness” - it will come out the next spring. Now I am engaged in information. This record is much more expensive than usual, heavier - I gave the musicians the opportunity to breathe more. I also prepared a book, which included a complete collection of songs and some poems to which Roun Trade received exclusive rights. Therefore, my time is spent on her promotion, public readings and meetings with readers in Rough Trade stores. And I continue to give concerts, but I try to reduce their number in order to concentrate more on compounds.

- They say that in your youth you dreamed of going to London to hang out with the Public Image Limited . So you recently moved there?

- I always had an affair with London. Especially when I was younger-when I just started to come here with Sonic Youth in the 80s and 90s. Then the charm faded. Honestly, when I just moved to London two years ago, I didn’t really like it - an aggressive, rainy city. But since then I have only a pleasant experience-I am constantly discovering something new. In terms of culture, London is beyond science fiction. Every day, all kinds of events in the world of arts, literature and music take place here. Although mostly I stick out at home, because it is too expensive to go out (laughs) . But I am in a local pub, sometimes I look at the club of experimental music nearby, which is called Café Oto . In the cinema, it happens, I go.

Thurston Moore Band will perform Izvestia Hall on November 3