--from Reflex magazine, Nov. 1988
-- by Jim McDaniels

"When I'm out walking I strut my stuff and I'm so strung out.
I'm high as a kite I just might stop to check you out.
Let me go on, like I blister in the sun
Let me go on, big hands I know you're the one."
-- Gordon Gano, "Blister In The Sun"

Gordon Gano is a tiny little guy.  Holding a book and looking through small eyeglasses, he seems a quiet, introspective, and despite what he says, relatively private person -- not at all what I expected from listening to his music.  Sure, I've told myself a million times not to walk into an interview with any preconceived ideas.  But how could I help it?  This guy, as a member of Violent Femmes, has written some of the best songs of the eighties (in my humble opinion) many of which have been far from quiet.  We're talkin' real anguish here, folks.  Unrequited love, bitterness, angst, and plenty of pain -- not to mention death,  murder and suicide.

Don't get me wrong, there's positive stuff in there, too, but the point is that Gordon Gano isn't bashful about his music.  He bears [sic] his soul when he writes, yet he's not an open book when  it comes to interviews.  Who can blame him?  A person has to keep something to himself when he's successful and very much in the public eye.

When the band released their self-titled debut album on Slash Records in 1982, they unquestionably turned some heads.  They made a huge impact on the college radio circuit and since it's [sic] release, Violent Femmes has gone gold.  Their subsequent albums, Hallowed Ground, The Blind Leading The Naked, and 3, have substantially increased their audience and been received in near unanimous popular and critical acclaim.  In fact, some theorize that the only thing that stands between the Femmes and the greater success they deserve is their name.  Many a pinhead -- including record stores, radio , press and the public as well -- have refused to give the band a fair shake because they key on the "violent" or the "femmes" in the name -- or both, and assume they're dealing with a bunch of punks of questionable virility.

The name, Gano insists, has nothing to do with that.  In fact, he claims it came from bassist Brian Richie [sic] while trying to get out of some hip-deep bullshit.  "There're two or three different stories," says Gordon, "each of which are basically true, about how he came up with it.  Basically, he was lying, and he had to cover up his lie.  He had to come up with the name of a band immediately to be able to keep going with this story, and he just came up with that out of the blue.  He liked it, I liked it, so we just kept it.  The main thing is that it has nothing to do with the songs or the people in the band."

The trio came together in much the same way -- unexpected.  "I started playing solo in Milwaukee at the end of high school," Gordon explains.  Brian and Victor were active in the "new music scene" in Milwaukee, and somewhere along the line I met Brian.  I was playing in a little coffeehouse and I invited he and Victor to stop in if they felt so inclined, and they did.  So the first time Violent Femmes ever played was Brian and Victor playing a lot of my songs the first time they'd ever heard them.  That spontaneity was a lot of what we went after on our last record.  I wanted a "live" approach, so we just had them learn the songs, roll the tape and do it.  I think that's what Brian and Victor do so well with my basic songs.  Together that comes out as Violent Femmes."

3, the band's most recent platter, follows a "back-to-basics" philosophy.  It moves away from the heavy production and numerous session players that Talking Head Jerry Harrison brought to their prior album, The Blind Leading The Naked.  Instead, it offers a stripped-down, vulnerable Femmes reminiscent of their self-titled Slash Records debut, and the darker follow-up, Hallowed Ground.  Gone are session musicians, so the listener can focus in on the trio and their occasional accomplices, Peter Balestrieri and Sigmund Snopek III -- a.k.a. The Horns of Dilemma.

Improvisation makes up a significant part of your songs.

Sections of our songs, are total improv -- even the beat is gone.  In "Confessions" or "Never Tell" there are times when Victor isn't even playing a beat anymore.  Everybody's going outside -- which is more of a jazz way of thinking.  Or as my father would probably describe it, everybody sounds like they're playing in a room where they can't hear anybody else.

The same is true with the Horns of Dilemma -- another Brian name which I like a lot.  Peter and Sigmund take the approach not of a basic R&B horn, but of a free-form sound -- not one person soloing, then the next -- but everybody soloing at the same time.

I think that's where some of the chemistry -- how the players in the group connect -- comes from.  Depending on what time period we're looking at, we could hardly stand each other, but we could still connect on some level other than personal -- with the music.

After The Blind Leading The Naked was released in 1986, the Femmes stopped working as a band.  Was that a hiatus?

Maybe, but there were times when that seemed unrealistic.  The public position was "extended vacation," but that wasn't how it felt, or our intention.  If we said, "we're taking a break -- for two weeks or two years -- but then we're definitely getting back together," I don't think we'd have gone through the process we went through.  The group feels stronger than it ever was.  3 wouldn't have been possible if we hadn't had that clearing-out space.  I was telling myself to forget them so that I could rediscover them.  That's what happened and it's very exciting.  I find my songs have a life of their own, and they keep meaning something different to me."

During that period, the members of the Femmes were not inactive.  Brian released a couple of solo LPs on SST, Victor produced other artists and collaborated with Brian on various projects, and Gordon enjoyed a stint as a member of The Mercy Seat.

As the principle songwriter of the Femmes, Gordon finds himself under the looking glass more often than his bandmates.  His songs are affected musically by rock, pop, gospel and country with a childhood emphasis on the latter.  "Growing up," he says, "my father would play guitar and sing old country songs and play us Hank Williams records, Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, lots of the really good old country stuff."

Lyrically, his songs are an interesting -- and sometimes disturbing -- blend of satire, tenderness and everyday life experiences, with an occasional healthy dose of religion, morbidity and fear -- in no particular combination.  Why?  That's not always easy to say...

What influences you as a writer?

Well, things that...I don't know, everything, anything.  Well, no, that's not fair.  Anytime I get asked that, I draw a total blank.

What are you interested in?  Comics?  Books?  Movies, maybe?

Okay let me think.  Yeah, I'm thinking now that I should be careful to say what I like, rather than what I don't like.  Certainly I enjoy reading, and I feel like I don't do as much of it as I'd like.

What did you bring with you?

Oh, yeah...uh-oh, this is scary.  [Sarcastically] I thought I'd bring this and hope you noticed.  [Laughs] Seven Famous Greek Plays.  This is in the original Greek.  I prefer to do my own spontaneous translations, because I find -- after having read all the other translations -- that it's so much better when you can read the original.

You read that while you were driving to New York?

Yeah, while I was driving.  Actually, just when I hit the city.  It's good for relaxing while I try to get around in city traffic.  Aaaugh!  No, there's a reason why I picked this up.  I don't have to make an excuse for Seven Famous Greek Plays.

I wasn't asking for one.

We'll just let that one go at that then.  Where was I?...songwriting, yeah.  I guess there are two different approaches.  One is to refer to the muse of the moment, and the other is when you're going to work at it -- getting up and sitting down at your desk to write a song every day.  I just know that's not my way.

That wasn't very interesting, was it.  Maybe I should write up my own little bio of these sorts of things and bring em along so I'll know what to say.

Oh!  Let me tell you something.  I just thought of it!  It's even here in my wallet.  Oh, this is nice!  This was in Portland, Oregon when I was visiting my sister.  A gospel movie, Say Amen, Somebody, was playing at the Art Center there.

I went to see it and the filmmaker was there.  He gave a brief introduction and afterwards took questions.  It was fascinating hearing more about it.  His name is George T. Neurenberg.  Actually...put it in your story if you see fit, he said one thing he likes when he shoots his documentaries -- which are actually just his experiences of a subject -- is to know nothing about what he intends to film.  That way, as he experiences it, he's discovering it.  He knew nothing about gospel music, and yet I think Say Amen, Somebody is an incredible film.

I thought, "I'd like to know this guy in case..." I spoke to him afterwards just briefly and said, "in case we ever could work together in the future, I won't tell you who I am or what I do, but could I have your card?" [Laughs]

He ended up asking me my name, and I said "Gordon," and then he asked for the last name, so we'll see how shrewd a character he is -- or if he even cares.  He sounded like he's got a little girl, and there's a lot of five-year-olds and six-year-olds that dig the Femmes, so who knows?

Gospel is such a big influence for you.

Sure.  That's one thing that excited me about The Mercy Seat -- the idea of doing all gospel material whether it was a traditional song or a song that had been written by, say, James Cleveland from the gospel world.  Or even a Mercy Seat original.

Gospel is one of these words where one part of it is this whole style of music, a significant cultural kind of thing.  The other part is gospel when it comes from the Good News, meaning the New Testament.  And they don't necessarily have to even have anything to do with each other, even though they're supposed to.

How much of a role does religion play in your life?

I'm finding more and more, that there's no point in making any separation -- between religion and life.  It's as natural as breathing.  Depending on who you talk to, they may emphasize the fact that the Holy Spirit is the Holy Breath.  As God breathed the breath of life into Adam he became a living spirit.  There're a lot of people focusing more on that way of thinking.

Why is death or morbidity a recurring theme?  Where do those lyrics originate?

It would be ironic for me to say "life" but it's true.  There's more to life than just happy endings.  I write about anything that moves me.  Somebody once made some comment about wondering if my songs are more of an emotional diary than a specific literal diary, and I kind of like that definition.

Will you write music for films?

I've written the theme songs for a few films that have never been made.  And almost for a film which was made.  It was called River's Edge.  It was about a boy in high school who murdered somebody and then bragged about it.  They wanted me to write a song for the end of the film -- when the kids are at the funeral seeing the coffin.

They wanted something like "Good Friend" from The Blind Leading The Naked.  They even thought of using that but thought it would be a bit much.  I tried and tried but couldn't come up with anything.  I blew it.  It could have been there for my grandkids to find in the video store.  It was a bad time, as far as where the group was headed.  I still feel bad about it because the film people were so nice.  It just wasn't there.  Well, there's something I can feel good about -- I'm not going to write something for the sake of a good opportunity.  That's probably, in the long run, a real good sign.

There's another theme I've written...is it..."36-24-36"?...can that be it?  Or would it be "24-36...[Laughs]...no way!  "34-26...it's probably "36-24-36."  No, wait...[Laughs] Do you know what I'm talking about?  It has something to do with a female shape.

Yeah, her measurements.

Yeah, something like that.  I had to do some research on that.  I didn't know what the director was talking about at first.  [Laughs] "36-24-36."  That's it.  The movie is yet to be made.  I wrote the theme and cleverly titled it "36-24-36."  Every once in a while, there would be this guy who must have been a friend of the director and heard this tape, who would yell out for it at concerts.

You get a lot of audience participation at shows.  Your fans know every word of your songs.  I think "Blister In The Sun," is a big fave.  What does the lyric "big hands I know your the one" mean?

I'm not going to tell you.

Uh...okay.

That's one of the few questions I always turn down total.

Do you get asked that a lot?

No, but whenever I am, I just turn it down.  There's no point in trying to get into it, and I don't want to.

Okay, fair enough.  I was just curious because I...

No, no, I won't do it.  I feel fine about doing interviews and talking about some things, but there is a point where I just instinctively draw the line.  A lot of stuff I won't bring up or talk about.  I don't want to give away too much.

Do you consider yourself a really private person?

No.  Why would you think that?  Oh, that's right.  What I just said was misleading a bit.  I don't know, it varies.  It depends on when, where, and what's going on.  I do probably orient myself more towards privacy than some other people.  If I were talking to a brother or sister of mine, then I would say a lot of stuff about what was going on in my life.  But here, there are things we wouldn't even touch on.  The funny thing is, though, it's all in my songs.  I put it out in public anyway through my songs.

Go back and give those albums another listen.  Gordon writes such great songs -- and the band play 'em with so much enthusiasm -- it's easy to get swept up in the energy and miss the content.  Some of your favorite Femmes cuts are heavy.  Whether you realize it or not, Gordon Gano has opened up to you and has said some pretty meaningful things.  Rediscover these gems like he did.  It won't be a waste of time.