Interview with Galaxie 500 by James McNew and J. Wm Beers
from And Suddenly, #4 (1989)

There’s really no need for an explanation here. Galaxie 500’s “Today” LP was
easily one of 1988’s best, a collection of breathtaking three-chord beauties,
a simple gaping wonder. This chat took place in DC, right after Galaxie 500 had
finished their set in front of a sold-out Throwing Muses audience.
DEAN Wareham (guitar/voc). NAOMI Yang (bass). DAMON Krukowski (drums).
DAVE Rick (roadie/renaissance guy). JAY Spiegal (a special cameo appearance).
JM = James, JB = John. Interviewed 06 April 1989.

Jay: I gotta go find somebody. (leaves)
JM: So this is the first-ever major outing?
Dean: First foray out of NY and MASS.
JM: How many days?
Dean: Two weeks.
JM: And it’s been empty?
Naomi: It’s been very empty and a lot of the shows have been cancelled. But we’ve had fun.
JM: Did you actually work in a parking lot before you wrote the song?
Dean: Damon did.
Damon: What are you talking about?
Dean: That summer job you had at the parking lot.
Damon: . . . No, I was working on a tugboat, Dean had this job with a landscaping firm, you
know, flowers and what-not, and Naomi had this job in the parking lot.
JM: Uh-huh.
Damon: No, nobody did.
JM: Where did you find the cover photo?
Naomi: It’s by Eugene Atget, A-T-G-E-T, and I took the picture out of the Museum of Modern Art
book.
JM: Is it licensed? Are you going to get in trouble for using it?
Dean: You have to pay.
Damon: No, you don’t.
Dean: You don’t?
Damon: No. It’s public domain.
Naomi: You only have to pay if they send you a copy.
JM: How long did you play before you put out the single?
All: ummm . . .
Dean: Nine months?
JM: Had you known each other long before?
Dean: We’ve known each other since we were 14 years old.
Naomi: We went to high school together.
Dave: Yeah, that’s a good lie.
Dean: IT’S TRUE! It’s the truth. We’ve only been a band for about a year and a half . . . which
makes us how old?
Damon: Fifteen and a half!
Dave: Can I ask a question? If you guys have known each other for ten years and you’ve only
played for the last year and a half, how did that occur to you? Did you just, like, forget or
something? “Well, this is how life is, la la la, oops! We forgot to be in a rock band!”
Damon: Naomi was the catalyst.
Dean: But Damon and I had played together previously, in a band that really sucked.
Naomi: I was in architecture school and really sick of it. I was listening to Joy Division one day . . .
a Peter Hook bassline, and I said to myself, “that’s amazing.” So we were going back to NY for
the summer, Damon and I were in Boston in grad school . . .
Dean: And I was in NY . . .
Naomi: Dean was in NY kind of kicking around looking for a band . . .
Dean: I was in a band.
Naomi: He was in a band.
Dean: Right.
Naomi: No . . . you were auditioning people.
Dean: I had quit that band, after our second gig. That should tell you something.
Naomi: This is very boring.
JM: It could be a lot worse.
Naomi: Anyway . . .
Damon: Actually, we auditioned bass players together . . .
(they discuss this among themselves, trying to figure out every aspect of exactly what happened)
Dave: You know, this is great. They never talk to each other otherwise.
JM: It’s like therapy.
(all hear this and agree)
JM: So, Naomi, is there ever an occasion where you use the E-string?
(all explode into shouts and jeers, Naomi hides her face in her hands, more shouts and jeers)
Dave: (still laughing) Who tipped you off?
JM: I was just wondering.
Naomi: Well, what about the A-string?
JM: I saw you use the A.
Damon: The A-string doesn’t get used that much either . . .
Naomi: Well . . . That was before I knew how to play the bass, so you showed me how to play
like that.
Dean: Like “Oblivious”?
Damon: A few songs on the album. .
JM: Was all that stuff tonight new?
Dean: Yep.
JM: It was great. I was mad.
JB: We came for the hits.
JM: We drove two hours to this shitty club for the hits and we got stiffed. I don’t believe it.
Naomi: So, what did you think about me singling out just the D- and G-strings?
JM: I enjoyed it thoroughly.
JB: Me too. I was wondering why you even put the other strings on. Then you did the Richman
song and used the A-string . . .
Damon: No one was really aware of this until we were going down to record, and Naomi was
changing her strings and thought, “Why am I changing *these*?”
Naomi: Why bother?
JB: To keep the neck straight.
Damon: It’s a recent observation.
Dave: I did decide that I was going to speak to you about that tonight.
Naomi: Really?
Dave: Yes.
Naomi: Uh-oh.
Dean: A lecture from our soundman!
JM: How’d you get messed up in all this?
Dean: He’s more than just a soundman. He’s the essence . . .
Damon: He’s the driver, as well.
Naomi: He’s our muse.
Dave: Like Charlie X on Star Trek.
Damon: Very much like “Rude Boy”.
Dean: Yeah! “Oi, Dave, get the fuck off the stage!!”
Dave: Actually, while I was onstage changing that string tonight, I was literally obtaining “roadie
crack.? I could feel my shirt riding up in the back and a little breeze back there.
Damon: We’re gonna get Dave a little golden flashlight for Christmas.
JM: Do you still have day jobs?
Damon: I’m a teaching assistant in comparative literature.
Dave: Speak up! You’re Comp Lit! Admit it!
Dean: I’m a word processor, twenty-four hours a week.
Naomi: I’m on leave from architecture school.
JM: What’s your reaction to all this rave press?
Dean: Well, it’s hard not to be humble . . . You go to Pittsburgh, and there’s eleven people to
see you.
Damon: Enthusiastic, but . . .
Naomi: Eleven?
Dean: It looked like eleven.
Dave: Fifteen.
Naomi: Maybe nine.
Dean: I wish it was eleven.
Naomi: They were all lying on the floor.
JM: Does that happen often?
Dean: No . . . not really.
Naomi: They were *lying on the floor.*
Dean: Yeah, well, you know . . . K-types.
JM: Did you ever get to meet Jonathan Richman, since you played his song?
Damon: Yeah, we did! We took our record to him backstage in Boston, and he said, “Galaxie
500, all I can say is, ‘P.T. 109!’” He’s just like Zippy!
Naomi: It was so weird. And then he saluted us.
Damon: He’s great. He played an amazing show. He was doing “Affection,” I think, and there’s a
line like “sometimes a girl wants to hug a guy but she thinks he’ll take it the wrong way” or
something, and this girl ran up onstage and hugged him!
Dave: Jonathan Richman is Bon Jovi!
Damon: He was just stunned! He had to stop playing. And then he extended his show like
forty-five minutes, just completely ecstatic.
Dave: What, is Jonathan Richman like Leo Buscaglia or something?
Damon: He’s into love and affection. He gave the audience a speech on it, he was like
“Jonathan, what are you saying? Are you saying that we out here in the audience are the
uptight ones and you’re the only relaxed one?” “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all.”
Dave: “Don’t hug me! My strings’ll go out of tune!”
Damon: Anyway, we gave him our record. That was before Dave Rick, soundman extraordinaire,
told us that you have to ask permission before you record someone else’s song, which we didn’t
do.
Dave: We were just discussing the Das Damen thing, and how they got sued by Michael
Jackson.
Dean: (livid) Michael Jackson is a dick! . . . that’s what Dave Rick says . . .
Dave: Not true. I said, ?As far as I know, Michael Jackson *has* a dick.? And Lexington is
*what*?
Dean: Lexington is a city of faggots.
Dave: Right.
JM: What?
Naomi: I don’t know where this came from.
Damon: This is our tough backstage patter.
Dean: Yeah. We’re just trying to create a little controversy to rock the fanzine world.
JM: Will you continue to record on Aurora?
Dean: (calmly) No.
Damon & Naomi: (not so calmly) No.
(they all begin shouting “no”)
Dave: I think it’d be safe to say ?no? on this one . . .
JM: Is it just a clearinghouse? I noticed on their “catalogue” that you were the only band listed
as having a record on Aurora records.
Dean: Well, not just a clearinghouse . . .
JM: Run out of someone’s closet?
Damon: Actually, it is.
Dave: And the record company is *what*?
Dean: “Dave Rick says . . .”
JM: So what is Aurora, exactly?
Damon: Aurora is a guy, Marc Alghini, in Boston who used to work for Curtis at Taang, and now
he’s running this all by himself.
Dean: (mumbles something)
JM: So, do you keep your guitar tone and volume down on purpose, then crank them to get
those wailing feedback drone things?
Dean: I play with my volume at eight, and I adjust the tone when it feels right.
Dave: You adjust your tone?
Dean: I adjust my tone, yeah.
Damon: *Wow.*
JM: Tech-talk.
Damon: Dean had a tone teacher. He took tone lessons.
Dean: There are some songs where I have to turn the tone down, like on “It’s Getting Late,” or
else I won’t get that sustain.
Dave: There was something else I wanted to ask you.
Dean: But you forgot.
JM: I’m out of questions.
Damon: Okay, enough about us. How are you?
JM: I’m fine.
Damon: How far away from here is Charlottesville?
JM: About 120 miles. I drove all this way to hear the hits, and now I have to drive all the way
back.
Dean: WELL . . . If you would’ve come up to us before the show and asked us, we would have
played anything.
JB: I was gonna scream ?Tugboat? and throw a brick, but I didn’t have one.
JM: That’s true. He didn’t bring the brick tonight.
Dean: Really, we would’ve done the whole set like that, from start to finish.
Dave: At the Metro somebody threw a beer bottle at Dean.
Dean: (distressed at the mere mention of this) . . . I mean, people always seem so relaxed when
they come to see us play.
JM: You don’t really come off as a violent band.
Dave: This guy was standing right up front and kept trying to talk to Dean, but he was like yelling
and being a real jerk, really messing with him. Eventually he moved to the back, and just heaved
a beer bottle at Dean.
Dean: Here was this guy abusing me and I thought, should I throw beer on this guy or spit beer
or something? Then I thought, no, he’s bigger than me, and he could jump the stage and kill
me.
Dave: The guy was a total mess.
Naomi: Yeah, but Dean did the gracious thing; he said, “It really is lovely to be here in Chicago.”
Dean: I wasn’t gracious. I was scared to death.

POST-TOUR FUN FACTS!
JM: What exactly was/is the Galaxie 500 tour vehicle?
Damon: An awesomized custom-rented Hertz totally insured indestructible and Dave Rick-driven
Ford Aerostar. We loved it. But now it’s back to Dean’s Datsun and Naomi’s and my Fiat, both
without Dave Rick auto-drive.
JM: Who designed your bass drum head?
Damon: Sam Stone, “Man of Letters,” a sign painter in Boston. We gave him the name and he
did the rest. $75, but what’s that when you’re buying *image*?
JM: Favorite things?
Dean: “Zabriskie Point.” I also like rice pudding, bread pudding, tapioca pudding, etc. “Heart of
Darkness” by Pere Ubu. “Baby Blue” by the 13th Floor Elevators.
Naomi: Visiting the cats at Noise NY. Clothes by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Mexican writer Juan Rulfo.
American painter Arthur Dove.
JM: Any cool rumors about Dave Rick you can spill and we can spread around?
Dean: His family all work at White Castles, he has a cousin or a sister or something working there
and he gets a 5% discount on their “burgers.”
Naomi: This is all true.
Damon: When he’s in a city that doesn’t have White Castle, he eats at Bob Evans.
Naomi: He had a terrible experience with a “Shamrock Shake.”
Damon: Lots of food rumors. You can make up your own.
JM: What is it about trios, how it seems like 3-piece bands are making the best music these
days? Is it just that it’s easier to communicate ideas?
Dean: Maybe 3-pieces make the best but also a lot of the worst music these days. I guess it’s
immediately a challenge when you only have three pieces to make something interesting
happen.
Damon: I like watching trios because you can see and hear what everyone is playing. But there’s
no room to hide and sometimes everything can fall down.
JM: Is it still a constant strain dealing with people misspelling “Galaxie”? Will some people never
learn?
Naomi: Someone at Osterizer knows how to spell it, because I noticed the other day I have a
“GALAXIE” blender.
Damon: It’s French. Totally cool.
JM: The CMJ reported a new single was due out in April . . .
Dean: Address all correspondence to our lawyer. The announcement of another single may have
been premature.
JM: Highlights of the first tour, if any?
Damon: Tour headlights. We sat in a car mostly.
Naomi: That’s not true.
Dean: The party we played in NYC our first night out with Go Team and Some Velvet Sidewalk.
Eating poptarts in Washington. Playing a few songs with Dave Rick.
Naomi: Dean having a beer bottle thrown at him. It’s the closest we’ve ever come to inciting
violence.
Damon: Or audience reaction.
JM: How do you write songs?
Dean: Someone once said that philosophy is on cereal boxes (I’m paraphrasing here -- the
original is even more profound). We start with a guitar riff, play it over and over till a melody
comes out of it and then I write the lyrics at the last minute.
JM: Plans for the future?
Dean: The 2nd LP. The European tour. The American tour. Maybe.
Damon: MTV saturation. Residuals. White Castle ads.