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Interviews  VALIS
by Kevin
McHugh
 VALIS
comes flying straight out of the northwest, a suicidal spacecraft piloted
by a stoned crew with their eyes on the heart of the sun. Formed from
the remnants of the likes of Screaming Trees, Kitty Kitty, Mudhoney and
TAD, VALIS is one of the most promising bands to emerge from the state
of Washington in years. Their sound on their new album, Vast Active
Living Intelligence System, is a heavy psychedelic mix of the 'Trees,
Hawkwind, and Black Sabbath, with plenty of killer guitar and monster
riffage. VALIS guitarist and former Screaming Trees bass man Van Conner
recently took time out to talk with us...
Hellride Music: First, thanks for taking time
out to do the interview. Let's get the basics out of the way: Can you
fill us in on the history of VALIS; who's in the band, musical
backgrounds, pet peeves, etc?
Van Conner: Dan, Kurt and I were what
one would call, drinking buddies. We had often talked over the years about
starting our own band, away from the daily insanity of our other bands,
(Mudhoney, Tad and Screaming Trees). We finally gave it a shot and brought
my younger brother Patrick in to play guitar along with me. We got off
to a good start and hooked up with Frank Kozic (Man's Ruin) through Josh
Homme and put out the first CD (Valis Kitty 2). I had just played
on the Gamma Ray project with Josh and he was starting the Desert Sessions
stuff so Man's Ruin was putting out all sorts of stuff.
Dan Peters left the band in 1999 or so to do more work with Mudhoney and
we acquired Sean Hollister. Sean played with the Screaming Trees during
the Uncle Anesthesia sessions, touring the States and Europe. We
asked him to join full time but he was playing with his other band, King
Krab at the time.
Kurt
Danielson, of course, from Tad, had always been a friend, a great bass
player and I am married to his sister, so it is a family matter I guess.
Patrick Conner, my younger brother has played in a lot of bands, since
he was a kid. He drummed for several bands, Gardener; The Putters; Her
Fault; then sang and played guitar in Kitty Kitty and Kittitas.
Wes and I met working on a Solomon Grundy single for Up Records at his
studio in Tacoma Washington. We went on to produce a few CD's together,
including the Gardener CD for Sub-Pop
Hellride Music: What was it like working with
Josh on Gamma Ray? Do you still keep in touch with Josh?)
Van
Conner: It was cool, I didn’t know josh personally at
the time, I had met some of his friends in the past but never hooked up
with him. Goss was in town doing the production on the Gamma Ray stuff
and he gave me a call. I brought some gear down and ended up playing bass
and eating a bunch of good BBQ. It was a one night thing for me. Josh
gave me 20 bucks or so... gas money I think.
Then later,
when the Screaming Trees needed another Guitar player, I called him up,
he was going to college in Seattle. We got to be good friends when he
was playing with the Trees. I don’t talk to him much these days,
we are both very busy but when we do hook up, we have a good time.
Hellride Music: How about an incomplete Band
Member Band History
Van Conner: Sean Hollister: King Krab
Solomon Grundy; Screaming Trees; Varnum's Amusement; Kitty Kitty; Viking
War; Log Hog; Seamus Shape; VALIS
Patrick Conner Greensuit: Her Fault; Fuzz Head; Orange Whip; The Grind;
The Purple Outside; Marvel Mystery; Varnum's Amusement; The Putters; the
76'ers; Kittitas; Log Hog; Kitty Kitty; Gardener; VALIS
Van Conner: Screaming Trees; Solomon Grundy; Dinosaur JR.; Gardener; VALIS
Wes Ring: Ultra; Western Trio; VALIS
Kurt Danielson: Bundle of Hiss; TAD; VALIS; Occupant
Hellride Music: Can you fill us on what's
been happening with you since the dissolution of Screaming Trees?
Van Conner: Well, we didn't really break
up until 2000, our last show being at the opening of Paul Allen's EMP.
Even before that though I started working with VALIS and since have taken
a job in software test engineering in interactive television. I moved
up north of Seattle, a little town, about 2,000 people. I am currently
building a studio on my property and plan to have it fully functional
by next fall.
Hellride Music: Who does the songwriting in
VALIS? How did the recording process go on the new album?
Van Conner: I bring most of the songs
to the band, sometimes in a very incomplete state, we work from there
and develop the songs together. Lot's of songs get lost in the shuffle
but we have not had any problems coming up with material. The new album
was recorded twice, the first sessions we were just not ready and we engaged
in too many mind altering substances. This can lead to a good recording
at times but this was not the case. About 2/3rds of the record was then
re-recorded. We spent a lot of time overdubbing and experimenting with
different sounds over the course of about 1 year. When it was all said
and done we were pretty happy with it.
Hellride Music: I take it you've read Philip
K Dick's book, 'Valis?' What did you think of it?
Van Conner: A great book, like all of
his. When we first stated the band I was reading a lot of his stuff for
the first time, so when Kurt suggested we call the band VALIS, I was in
total agreement.
Hellride Music: Where do you see VALIS three
years from now? Are there any tour plans in the works?
Van Conner: Well, we have started recording
the 2nd Lunasound full length CD, I hope to have it out FALL 2003. We
do plan to tour, starting with one in the States this Winter, maybe West
Coast. We hope to make it to Europe sometime in 2003.
Three years from now, all band members still alive I hope. Our overall
game plan is to put out one full length CD per year, I hope we can achieve
that goal.
Hellride Music: What are you listening to
these days? How much are your listening habits directly reflected in VALIS'
music? Do you have any recommendations for new music?
Van Conner: I have been scanning the Internet
for cool bands for several years now, and yes, I think it does show up
in some of the Valis stuff, maybe more of a feel thing. There are a lot
of great bands on MP3.com, most can be found going though the various
categories, start with doom/stoner rock. Bands I am into right now include
Canyon
Creep, Abramis Brahma, Unida, Sheavy,
Roadsaw,
Blacknight, Goatsnake and Masters of Reality
I think the Masters of Reality are one of my biggest influences.
Hellride Music: Who has VALIS played with
in the past? Any good gig or tour stories?
Van Conner: Valis has played with Queens
of the Stone Age a few times, Fu Manchu (if you have a 2XL leather coat,
please return it), Altamont and some other great bands. However, I have
no memory of any of these shows so therefore, no stories to entertain........
Hellride Music: Tell us about your side projects,
like Solomon Grundy. What projects are the other VALIS members involved
in?
Van Conner: Kurt has been working
on his new band, Occupant, Patrick and Sean are in a great band called
Kittitas, you can listen to them at MP3.com. I pretty much just stick
to VALIS these days. Solomon Grundy is pretty much over with, you can
hear our last 2 songs at mp3.com as well.
Hellride
Music: Can
you go into what Solomon Grundy is about? How come it's over with?
Van
Conner: Solomon
Grundy was a band that I started way back in 1988 when I left the Screaming
Trees for awhile. Sean was our drummer. We put out one full length CD
on New Alliance Records back in 1990, then one single on the same label.
The other two band members have moved on to other musical adventures so
we are no longer up and running. We did get back together in 1999 and
record a few songs but we never put them out.
Hellride Music: 'Space Ritual' Hawkwind's
best album? Discuss.
Van Conner: Sure, Hawkwind, can't go wrong.
Hellride Music: Great answer, but you forgot
the "discuss" part of the question. Can you elaborate a little
on this? What do you like about 'em, what other albums are worth mentioning,
etc.
Van
Conner: Well, I didn’t discover Hawkwind until I was about
19. I was on tour with the Screaming Trees and sitting up in the bed area
of our van. I found this tape laying there and popped it in. I was blown
away by it. I asked my brother Lee, what the fuck is this, he said “Hawkwind,
you don’t know who Hawkwind is?” I didn’t but I listened
to that tape the entire tour. One funny thing about Hawkwind is the fact
that there are 8 million different comps, live CDs, new and old bootlegs.
Music connoisseurs maybe sad to hear that I like some of the best of CDs
better then some of their actual CDs. The latest real album I have is
from the late 80’s, still doing pretty cool stuff.
Hellride Music: Van, thanks for the interview.
Is there anything you'd like to add? Shout outs or Whassups?
Van Conner: I am not sure what a shout
out or whassup is.
 Read
the Hellride Music review
of Vast Active Living Intelligence System
Visit
the VALIS website at www.filmwave.com/valis
Copyright 2002 HellrideMusic.com
Interview by Kevin
McHugh 12/01/02
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