Q. Are those stupid Short Run Compact Discs still available? I need a couple...
A. No. All gone. Sorry about that. Good luck with eBay. They aren't stupid, it's just that the hipsters hated the format and gave them a bad name. Fuck them.
Q. Are you accepting demo tapes?
A. No. I'm full up, sorry. Send me stuff if you want me to hear it, but I'm not looking for more projects, I'm up to my neck already...
Q. Will you buy some of my new 7" (or CD) for distribution?
A. Maybe. If it's good poppy punk rock, I might. But your chances are much better if you can TRADE for Mutant Pop label items. You sell my stuff, I sell your stuff, everyone's happy... Otherwise, send me a promo with a note indicating your best price and we'll see how it goes.
Q. Why don't you pay more attention to MySpace? I see you have a page there, but you don't put any effort into it and have no friends...
A. I've got a shitty little page. "Mutant Pop Rex" is my name on there and it's not even in the music section. Go figure.
Q. Are you going to restart the Incredible Mutant Pop Catalog?
A. No. I'm concentrating on doing wholesale. It seems that this site is as close as you're gonna get, sad to say.
Q. Do you take credit cards or PayPal?
A. Not really. Use the mail for mailorder. There are exceptions for special cases, such as international orders to people I know, but generally, cash or check or money order in the mail is the way I want to do things. I will try to make sure that my ENTIRE back catalog is set up with somebody who does take PayPal though, so people will be able to use that form of payment if they absolutely have to. But I want to get back to the ROMANCE of mailorder -- but modernized and improved. There is something really sterile and unseemly about pointing and clicking and electronically transferring funds. It is somehow dehumanizing. I don't see PayPal as contributing in any way to the experience I want people to have although I KNOW I could EASILY sell more records by upgrading my site and taking PayPal. I may have to bit the bullet eventually -- but like I say, that's not how I WANT to go and I'm going to fight like hell for my vision, even if you don't share it.
Q. Can I buy digital downloads of your singles?
A. No. I make records for record collectors and want to keep them special. If anyone has the 7"ers up on the web for download, it is not with my permission. Please let me know the URL so that I can chase them down and kick their ass...
Q. Why are you such an asshole?
A. I'm not. I just act like one so that people pay attention, in much the same was as it's hard to ignore a naked 300 pounder with a face painted like a clown who is banging a pickle bucket and playing a kazoo...
Q. How is Snorkel Bob doing?
A. Snorkel Bob died of cancer in 2004, at the age of 11-1/2. He was a good old boy... My new Golden Retriever buddy (above) is named Bingo Bill ("Bing"), age 4. He's a couch potato who is twice as smart and half as loyal as Bob was...
Q. Do you still sell records out of the shoe store basement?
A. Sure, I do. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood! Come on down, Portlanders!!! (email me first!)
Q. Do you still hate Ben Weasel/Lookout Records/<fill in the blank>?
A. Who, me? No. Ben's okay... Lookout's okay... I've learned to chill a little...
Q. How long are you gonna run with the label?
A. I'm trying to bump up the vinyl to MP-50 (a nice round number, dontcha think?), to get the stuff in print that needs to be in print, to get the bands taken care of that need to be taken care of, to get some good music in the world, -- then it's going back into sleep mode... This is slated for the end of 2009. Then I'll write my book for a few years and maybe see about gearing up again when that's completed. But you've got that long, at least...
