Trux = Jennifer Herrema, Neil Hagerty
Drag City (Records ) = Dan Koretzy
SF! = Chris Palmatier
SF!: Where is home for Royal Trux at this point? California? New York?
J: Right now we don't have an apartment. We were in Europe before we started these Lollapalooza (second stage) shows. . . When we're done with these shows at the end of November, we'll try to find place to stay.
SF!: Where was everyone originally from, then? How did RT get together?
J: I met Neil in DC. He was playing in a band there, the Jet Boys of Northwest, when I was in high school. We started playing together and he joined Pussy Galore in DC, and we all moved to NYC.
SF!: So was the first RT record in the planning stages while Neil was still in Pussy Galore?
J: Yeah, but it wasn't being recorded yet, not until after he quit. The songs were being rehearsed for a long time while he was in Pussy Galore.
SF!: How did you get hooked up with Drag City Records after your first album?
J: After Dan was doing stuff for some distributor, he got our first record and was looking to start a record label, and he wanted us to be the first band he did. So he gave us a call and we were like, "Yeah, sure," and we recorded Hero Zero and Love Is. .. for the first 7". Then we did a short tour where we recorded a movie (Twin Infinitives) and first met Dan. We liked him and liked doing the 7" and Twin Infinitives with him, so we've been working together ever since.
SF!: Have you gotten any interest from other labels?
J: Yeah, when Twin Infinitives came out, we signed a contract with Matador, which didn't mean we couldn't continue to work with Drag City. It was a contract for a couple albums. They gave us an advance and we never recorded an album for them, so contractually we still own them an album. In the past year, we got it together to record a live album for them, so that should be cool and that would take care of our contractual obligation.
SF!: I know RT started as a duo, and the last time you were in Chapel Hill, there were three of you. Where did the second guitarist and the keyboardist come from?
N: Well, we went down to Gainesville, Florida and met the other guitar player down there. He's just this weird guy who lives in Florida, which is really, really, harsh, you know? He's a very individualistic type of guy, who listens to all that . . . well, Forced Exposure really formed his musical outlook. He's really young - like 22. Well, not that young, I guess, but I'm 27 so . . . He came up to us really wasted and told us he had a place we could stay. He had a lot of really cool records and this huge stereo and we were listening to records and we just asked him to join our band. He met up with us a week later. We never played with him, it was just based on his whole desire to do something. But now it's getting kind of pat, predictable . . .He doesn't live with us, you know. We all live up in DC. The keyboard player does. The drummer lives in Kansas, so they all live in their home states. There's a lot of scheduling involved.
SF!: So did the drummer and keyboardist do their own bands at all?
N: The drummer we found on the same tour, playing in his own bands. He was in in both bands that opened up for us. One was like a free, Sonic Youth-influenced band. The other was a static, sort of Spiritualized type of hypnotic thing. We got his number and just called him on a whim and he did the whole record. But I don't know what he does. I think he sells pot or something . . . The "contract" is that we provide them with the opportunity, and it's up to them whether to do it.
SF!: How many of them are on the new record?
N: The drummer and the guitar player and the engineer. I did the keyboards.
SF!: I guess this question gets old, but what do you see as your major influences? Blues, obviously...
N: Yeah, kinda second hand - via Rolling Stones. Other guys, like Robert Johnson, the pure stuff. Not so much the Chicago big band blues, but small bands, like old Buddy Guy. Records are my main influence, really, more than live music.
SF!: Was there one record that made you want to play?
N: Probably Loaded, the Velvet Underground record. It came out of something different. That and Marquee Moon (by Television). It was like, "I really understand this." I grew up in the suburbs, y'know around DC. I had a few friends who were into the Dead, Tangerine Dream, old Pink Floyd, the Ventures, who are another big influence on me, too. And Duane Eddy. I took (guitar) lessons a long time, so it was like I was a "shiftless youth". My mom made me go and do shit, because there wasn't anything to do.
SF!: Since you were in the area, did you know any of the people involved in the growing hardcore scene up there?
N: Nah, I knew and saw Void a lot, but I always thought it was kinda stupid. Mike, our keyboard player was in Rites of Spring. He was their bass player. He and Jennifer knew each other for a long time; she used to see all those bands because she lived in the city. That was an in-town thing, mostly people from Georgetown, rich kids basically, and I thought that sucked. It was an elitist thing.
SF!: Well, you notice here it seems like a lot of the kids who are into that are rich kids, so . . .
N: Well, yeah, that always made me think like "hmm", but the Velvet Underground had all that support of those wealthy people.
SF!: I guess Dan Koretzky (Drag City) isn't that wealthy.
N: No. He doesn't make much money but he spends a lot of time working, like without expenses, but keeping it at a comfortable level. That's what inspired me more than any scene. We avoided it actively; even in New York it seemed as though we became too known so we had to tour.
SF! Did anything like that have to do with why Pussy Galore broke up?
N: I don't know. When I joined the band, I just wanted the experience. I was never in pursuit of a certain standard of living. These guys came along, doing the band and so I just did some riffs or whatever, and it didn't matter to me at all. I left and moved to San Francisco to do this thing, a real band, or what I thought would be real. Because Pussy Galore was a dead end. They kept going and there was a chance to do another record and make some money, so I did that . . . It was just a big mind game the whole time and I just kinda leeched off them.
SF!: So it was a tool?
N: Yeah, but it really didn't go anywhere. It seems really stupid to me to be like "we are going to be big rock stars" and then we didn't make it, so it seems pathetic. But it's cool when it happens, like these Lollapalooza shows, like "Hey - I saw this band on TV!"
SF! Speaking of TV, there was a rumor that RT is in a Snapple commercial.
N: Yeah, these guys in leather jackets. Royal Bust of something. It's funny how rumors get started.
SF! So what's the worst rumor you guys ever started?
N: Well, the worst we didn't even start. It was like "Neil has AIDS", because we were in San Francisco away from NYC and people started saying I had AIDS. We didn't try to stop it, though. There was one where me and my roommate, he had a gun and we were trying to score and we got busted; he had the dope so I took the gun cause they wouldn't search me cause he was copping. We said that they ended up searching both of us, so I got sentenced to some some months in prison. Meanwhile, Jennifer was sick and was being a prostitute the whole time I was in prison.
SF!: People believed that?
N: Yeah. I was calling somebody to get some royalty money and they wouldn't pay. I was like, "Look, I really need it so I can bail myself out of jail." One thing led to another and there was this whole story. But we stopped doing that. Now people start doing it about us, like the same questions every time. "Aren't you supposed to do a record for Matador?" So we have this story we tell. People do it all the time.
SF!: The price of fame. What's the story with these Lollapalooza shows. How did you get hooked up?
N: We were on a list. We weren't even thinking about it. We sent them some records and they were like, "We really, really want you," and then it was . . . we were going to do ten shows. We had no clout. It's all this committee out in L.A. It centers on Perry Farrell. From what I get, it's like he's some mystic. The Bodhisattva sitting under a tree. He was out of it for two weeks so they couldn't...(to Dan) Wasn't he sleeping in a closet?
D: He was in a closet for two weeks.
N: Yeah, they work around his insanity and they respect him. (Tape runs out)