What MOLOCH means to me:
* Sounds for the solitary soul
* Featuring a forgotten fervor of new wave/art punk
* Kind of kooky, strung out feel
* vocal delivery = Laid-back lounge lizard style that is full of monotone, and is incoherent
* Perfect punk parlor music
E mail interview conducted early January 2002
brado creamed corn interviewing MOLOCH main man C. Underwood
WHERE'S THE NAME MOLOCH COME FROM?
Moloch is the title of an unpopular Henry Miller novel I had heard about for years and finally found in a used bookshop in Miami's South Beach area. (Not a place you'd expect to find books). Anyway, "Moloch" the book was HM's first work, made under a lot of pressure and lack of workspace. It has inconsistencies in the story line, which I really appreciate, (I'd like more books to be that way, -like getting a bad German to English translation of something) and an unfinished quality about it similar to this music I am doing.
WHAT/WHO ARE YOU MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
I have been listening to the new Stereolab, and The Strokes (among other things) but if I name influences they'd be old bands like: The Cramps, Sex Pistols, early P Floyd, Zeppelin, Ac/Dc, Heaven 17, The Jam, Modern Lovers, The Clash, The Talking Heads, David Byrne / Brian Eno Collaborations, Elvis Costello and The Attractions, The Fall, Beatles, Abba, Alfred Hitchcock ghost stories record, Cat Stevens, John Lee Hooker, David Bowie, Wire… I think Moloch has a lot in common Lyric wise with Stereolab, The Fall, J.Lennon, Captain Beefheart, Syd Barrett…
IF YOU COULD OPEN FOR ANY BAND, WHO WOULD IT BE?, AND WHY?
I want to open for Radiohead, (or U2) so that I can sell millions of records to those people, or just be ignored on a larger scale.
MAY I INCLUDE YOUR HOT DOG DREAM IN THE INTERVIEW FOR THE READER'S PLEASURE?
Yeah go ahead. Note: I do have a cat and other than the flea problem she's having, she's got a wonderful life with me.
THE DREAM
I had a dream that someone had given me a dog to own, and because I had not arrived to pick it up from them they had sent it to a hot dog factory or something. My feelings were that I didn't even want a dog, but I was really insane that they had got rid of the thing and I spent the majority of the dream shouting and beating people up in muddy dog yards. I think I felt guilty/responsible for the dogs fate? So I had to exact revenge on the owners/gift givers. Really I am too busy a person to take care of a dog. Maybe a cat or mouse?
WHO IS MOLOCH (SOLO OR A BAND)?
C.Underwood is alone on the majority of the stuff, unless I am with Zach Evans drums, and Dan Sartain on guitar for shows. I don't like to be thought of as a solo artist because I like bands, but I am fully responsible for every idea on tape. We tried to get it together to do shows a few months ago but I lost interest and put that on hold. So. I guess I would say in your article that Moloch is: C.Underwood singer/bassist Dan Sartain guitar Zach Evans Drums and that C.Underwood appears solo on "Dreadful Apparatus" (This is what I have been telling people).
EXTRA POSSIBLY POINTLESS POINTS PROVIDED BY C. UNDERWOOD:
*Would it be of interest how I pay my bills? If so, I am in contruction work part time. Been in it off/on for many years. * Springfield, TN by the way is 30 minutes out of Nashville (yuk)
Past Releases (these are mostly 3 song cassettes I distributed)
05-01 In Hardware
01-01 Ladykiller EP
12-00 Down On It
04-00 Blotted Heart
11-99 Fortune Lawns
10-99 Not Hardly A Sinker
09-99 Fatalist Burlesque
08-99 Demo Onions
06-99 Down The Throat EP
03-99 What Will This Deter EP
02-99 Marginal EP
03-99 No Motels
02-99 Funambulesque
01-99 Sub-Car Gang
12-98 Colossus Soup
11-98 Modern Involved
07-98 Thin Genius
06-98 Go Cup Century
04-98 Starter
03-98 B-Movie Killers
Full length Cd is "Singular Economics" Released by Duckweed Records in 1999.
MOLOCH websites
a MOLOCH-related fan website
MOLOCH's website
