Interview With James Lowe
May 2004
Website

MuzikMan: How has the Internet helped the band with creating awareness of your music over the past year since the release of the DVD Rewired-Live In Concert? What are the pros and cons of today's technologies and media outlets in comparison to when you started?

James Lowe: When we started there was one way to be heard, sign with a label in order to possibly get played on the limited number of stations playing rock. Upside: The internet allows for direct and immediate contact between music fans and bands. It affords an outlet for worthy material that would otherwise go completely unnoticed. In addition, like the old record listening booths, it often allows you to sample material before buying it. Downside: There is so much crap floating around in cyberspace that unless you want your penis enlarged, mortgage refinanced, or Cindy's webcam, it is difficult to know where to go to find what you want. And, of course, there is the problem of those who want to do more than sample your material....
The internet has not been wildly successful in creating awareness of the Electric Prunes. For the most part those who know of us and are interested, find us. Those who don't know of us don't find us. Imagine that. The REWIRED DVD probably got to a few unsuspecting souls; but for the most part it was people who knew what they were looking for.

MuzikMan: What is going on right now with the upcoming album California? Is it a continuation of Artifact or are your fans in for something new this time?

James Lowe: There exists (on our website, of course, www.electricprunes.net) a 1965 CD of the band before becoming The Electric Prunes (Sanctions/Jim and The Lords). Compare that to "Too Much To Dream", which was only about a year later and the leap in what we were doing musically is pretty amazing. California is that sort of leap up from Artifact. Artifact was a recording we made for ourselves that, in response to requests from friends/fans, ended up a limited release. Artifact was about the process, not about listening. California is, I believe, the most complete package of songs and sounds we have ever produced. It is more like the first or second album in some ways. Little picture songs. Thirteen cuts swimming in "pruenthropic vibrotwang", including my favorite, "49 Songs" (the title comes from a young musician in San Francisco asking Peter Lewis how many songs a band needs to know to tour......hmmmmm.....49. Not 50 or 48 but 49.....note: the asker nodded and walked away like he was going home to learn them). God, I love California!

We recorded at Hole In Sky studios, a facility I set up in a guest house on my property. We record using analog equipment and "acoustic" musical instruments. The only synthesizer used at all, if you call it that, is the harmonium on "Transient Absolution." Our process remains much the same as it was years ago, Mark and I write the songs and record a demo. We then get the band together and loosely run through the material. Once we get in the studio we start playing and, in essence see what happens. Any "effects" happen at the time of recording through the amps. We don't do a lot of direct guitar or bass recording and we do not use pro tools to mix. We do have to load our 2 track mixes into that system to master a CD; but on the way we try to keep the recording as pure as we can. The studio has always been a place for us to experiment and see what happens. Some bands like to take new material on the road, since we are not on the road that much, we prefer the studio.