Chromatics have been through quite a few line-ups, from the early punkish days to the current Adam-Johnny-random girl singer. Obviously, there have been some "musical direction" issues. What makes you so fickle?

I started Chromatics alone in my bedroom when I lived in Seattle in 2001. At the time, I was 22 years old, going to community college a little bit and working nights at the reception desk of a hotel. I had been playing music in some bands, but started to get tired of how whenever they began to build momentum, things would come to a halt because of people’s personal differences.

I started writing songs and recording them by myself on a four track with a guitar and a drum machine; the process was smooth and produced more results when there weren’t so many strong personalities to clash over every detail. I was heavily into those two Cure records, Seventeen Seconds and Faith, along with Glass Candy and a tape Johnny had made for me of R.L. Crutchfield’s Dark Day. These three groups were all huge inspirations for me to start Chromatics. 

This label, run by an art student from Los Angeles, heard some of the songs I had done and released a single called “Beach of Infants.” The response to “Beach of Infants” was inspiring enough for me to try and put a band together to perform the songs I had written. My friend Michelle joined Chromatics, she had never been in a band before.  We practised a few months as a duo until our friend Devin joined us on the guitar, then played a few shows as a trio around Seattle spring of 2002. Hannah Blilie started playing drums for Chromatics that summer and things picked up for the group.

We toured the West Coast three times that year, the U.S. once, recorded some singles w/ Calvin Johnson and an album that Johnny produced called Chrome Rats Vs. Basement Rutz that generated a lot of interest in the music, before that version of the group dissipated in 2003. There was a lot of pressure on us and we were not well prepared to handle it. Devin, Michelle and Hannah began playing in another band called Shoplifting. I moved to Minneapolis for a couple of months to get my head on straight and then back to Seattle that fall.

The next few years Chromatics went thru more line-up changes. I was still writing the majority of the music. My friend Nat joined to play the bass, we used a drum machine, but for one summer Ron Avila sat in on the drums. We had a good time together, did some touring and even got to open up for The Fall, which to me at the time was like opening up for the Beatles. After we returned from a two month tour, Nat left Chromatics to go to school and the band was just back to me being the only member again.