From: Eugene Robinson
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 9:15 PM
To: Justin Foley
Cc: Aaron Turner, Mark Thompson, Justin Calabrese
Subject: Re: Initial Correspondence

>Eugene -
>
>We'll consider this the published correspondence. >

I consider anything that makes it way to my blackened hand publishable correspondence. Much to the chagrin of anyone with anything to hide.

>Anyone who reads this and
>wants to know what's been going on behind the scenes will have to wait
>for the DVD to come out.
>

I can't even fucking imagine what this horrible social misfit would look like/be like. I do, however, know what they would smell like: cheese.

>First off, hello from us to you all, or more specifically from me to
>you.>

Yes. Thank you. I'll say my Hellos as I'm exiting their houses, my pants bunched up under my arm.

>As you know, our bosses at Hydra Head have asked that you and I>

I don't know what kind of Servility Program they've got you pushing but the last time I had a boss, I had a brick. make of this what you would.

>keep in
>touch with each other to "monitor the situation". I'm not dumb.
>You're not dumb. >

speak for yourself. my guileless is my weapon. well that and my extreme paranoia.

>It's pretty obvious what they're up to. They want to drop us into a
>mason jar and shake us up to see if we'll fight. That's cool for them,
>but it's not going to happen.
>

really? fight? jesus shit. unbelievable. i take fighting way too seriously to do it for fun. I mean it's a masculine way station to fucking head whipping land and so it SHOULD be taken seriously. but that being said if there's not a fight at the end of the tunnel. and here I'm talking about a knuckle dusting brawl I can't even begin to imagine why, not presently being predisposed to being a sausage seeker, I'd spend any time talking to another man at all. but following the old dictum about behind every man there's a good woman I indulge the sausage to get at the donut. if you get my drift krispy kreme.

>To anyone else who's reading this, the picture below shows that Eugene
>and I met and we're good friends.
>

do not be mistaken. the look in my eye says it all: I'll be humming show
tunes while I strangle you off of this godforsaken planet.

>
>
>Hydra Head flew us to Rugby, ND, the Geographic Center of North America to
>take this picture! They spare no expense!
>

true enough.

>So, now that we¹ve gotten all of that out of the way, let¹s get down to
>business.
>
>I¹ve been keeping my eye on Oxbow for a while, >

in a gay way?

>and I¹ve got a couple of
>questions that I¹d like to throw your way.
>
>1. I heard a rumor that you sleep in a car out in front of your guitarist¹s
>house. Is this true?
>

our guitarist has a respledent Victorian manse in san francisco gayly
festooned with indonesian print throw rugs and german appliances. he'd no
more make me sleep in a car in front of his house. his house where he lives
with his girlfriend. his hot bitch girlfriend who studies antiquities at
home. during the days. for hour after longing hour. than he would have me
sleep IN his house.

>2. How old are you guys?>

too old to be as fucking handsome as we are.

> I mean, are you going to call it quits soon?>

would there be a reason for this? If you are a ska band, perhaps there is a
reason for this. but as things stand now we put out a record whenever we
want. no one gives a fuck whether we live or die. our own wrectchedness
still amuses us. and the reality of it is: Oxbow is the sound of fucking
surrender and is therefore impossible to quit FROM.

that being said when our porno company takes off we're gone like a raped
ape.


>Isn¹t there some point when you¹re playing to people half your age when you
>find yourself drifting, thinking about how your girlfriend is bugging you
>to
>settle down and that you¹ve got to renew your subscription to Consumer
>Reports? Shouldn¹t the dead be left to bury their own, or something like
>that?
>

well we've already crossed that divide. from full on dude living to old dude
living with all of its weighty accoutrements. so the bullshit roadshit that
year after year might wear on a lesser mortal does nothing for us either way
except insofar as it lets us fraternize with the goddamned natives. we tour
to touch your fucking lives. and it's just easier to do it this way then on
a tour bus with a bunch of fucks from Florida.

by the by: this notion that this shit is something one grows out of is a TV
notion as trenchant today as it was when that first visual cliche of the
woman's leg stepping out of the car door took roost.

it's this simple: i make music because I'm fucked up. Music makes me less
fucked up in the old ways, more fucked up in new ways, but in total
consideration...doesn't come close to ameliorating my true base level
fuckupedness at all. in other words people go to shrinks for their WHOLE
lives, if you know what I mean.

>3. Have you guys recorded your next album? >

not yet.

>I ask because HH is listing a
>title for the thing. Don¹t you think it¹s a little goofy to have a name
>for
>something that doesn¹t even exist yet? >

in fact, no. no more goofy than it'd be to choke you into unconsciousness.

>I have met dozens and dozens of
>unfunny jokers >

fellow travellers?

>who like to sadly muse about the great band that they¹re
>going to get together because they¹ve already got a great name in mind.>

and the difference here, as if you need to be told, is that we already ARE a
great band. and like Candide says, "if Dr. Paingloss says it is so, then it
must be so."


>³Dude, check this out, we¹re going to be a totally nuts thrash band with a
>lot of core thrown in and we¹re going to call ourselves Eunuch
>Reconstruction. All we need to do is find a drummer and a bassist and
>write some songs. That¹s going to rock. I¹ve got the names of our first
>eight songs written down here somewhere.²
>

I know no one like this.

>4. Wait. Let¹s go back to question 2, because that was a really good
>question. What¹s even more ironic is that you guys DID do a DVD and it¹s
>called ³Music for Adults². Do adults really listen to your music?>

the director named the film. my personal suggestion had FUCK somewhere in
the title I believe.

> I¹d bet
>most of them are less mature than they¹d like you to think. Can Oxbow be
>appreciated by someone who¹s not an adult? >

I've found that those under the age of 10 years old are distinctly not
impressed.

>Aren¹t you more of an adult now
>that you were when you started this band, in that you¹re older? Is your
>more recent stuff more of what you¹re trying to do only because of the fact
>that you¹ve put some miles under the tires?
>

this is a poorly framed question. I mean what it seems like you're searching
for is some sort of roadmap that explains clearly how music can be made in a
space, minus careerist notions, that stays as personally vital to you as
say, your impending sense of mortality. and i say only under ONE condition:
that the music you make exist in total as a direct one for one
representation of who it is that you believe you are at the time the music
is made.

music that is boring is boring precisely for the exact same reason: it's
ceased mattering WHO was singing it. if you're listening to OXBOW it matters
very, very, very much who is singing it/playing it....because we're not
singing about songs. we're singing about mortal fear. and dread. and cock
politics.


>5. Has any band ever asked you for advice about anything? >

all of the time. and we give it freely.

>If so, what did
>you tell them? >

everything from

should I break up with my girlfriend? (absolutely)

to

should I kick out my junkie singer? (noooo....)

>If not, who do you think needs some advice of yours?
>

Rollins. He very clearly needs to call me. 650-714-4891.

>This should keep you busy for a while.
>

if i lived anywhere else but behind the computer it would.

>= Justin, 1/2 of the Austerity Program, but not the good looking half.
>

but your wife? what does SHE look like?

>PS - I have a friend called Camacho who¹d like to get in on Skullgame.
>What does he need to do to, as he would say, ³get into that porno²?
>

what does he want to do?


cheers,
E

ps...if you want to publish these, you should keep them....as I delete
EVERYTHING....


>OX BOW
>
> > howdy.
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Eugene -
> >>
> >> Hello.
> >>
> >> = Justin
> >>
> >