LA Record's Chris Ziegler did a piece on James Pants talkin bout goats, spiders, poisons and hobos. Dig it…
James Pants is the missing link between Gary Wilson and Prince—well, maybe Giorgio Moroder and Kim Fowley? He’s a producer (in the most expansive sense) who overcame a horrific prom night to sign with Stones Throw and explore the various unexpected intersections between the psychedelic occult and the analog synth. His self-titled 2XLP is out now on Stones Throw and he speaks here of the last place in a wired world to discover real weirdos.
This might be a little personal but I think the world wants to know: Did you ever get the goat that you wanted to get when you were living in Washington?
Oh, you heard about that? I wish I could have gotten that. We never had the space, of course, and it was a zoning issue. I don’t know that I have what it takes to raise a goat but I’m a big fan and one of these days. It’s kind of my life goal to get one.
Is that just because they eat trash, or because you want to look into those goaty eyes and find a soulmate?
A bit of both, but I really like the cheese too.
If you’ve got a soulmate that can make cheese, you’re living the life. What is the largest animal you’ve ever had?
I had a pretty large tarantula when I was a kid. I was kind of one of those bug nerds. I had a big centipede too.
Did you let them crawl over your naked arms?
I did, strangely, but then I had a bad incident about a year later where there was this spider—not a pet spider, but just a normal spider—that somehow … I was living in a basement in Washington and there are just tons of spiders in the fall. It was a huge one, obviously a very pregnant spider and it was kind of in the center of my room. When I woke up in the morning, I stomped on it and it looked totally dead and then it ran under my bed. So I refused to sleep there for a couple days. It might have been a week. Because it was in my bed and, you know, I was young. When I came back, I pulled my bedsheets open and there were tons of spiders in my bed. Like it had raised all these babies.
This is like a David Cronenberg movie.
From that point on I had it with spiders. Although ten minutes ago, I freed one. We had one in our bathroom and I just let it outside, but usually I hate them. I got bit by, like—I guess we call them ‘hobo spiders.’
Are they carried by hobos or they act like hobos or …?
I think it’s because they just hang out in your house. It’s like a basement spider. It’s brown, big and hairy. They’re slightly poisonous and I got bit by one in my sleep like five years ago.
Can you speak to how slightly poisonous they are?
It starts off like a tiny little mark on your arm that itches and it just grows every day. Five days later, my arm was covered in blisters and it was gross. Just super gross. So I went in and it was a relatively easy fix but it was pretty nasty.
How do you think your robust ability to metabolize poison has helped you as a music producer?
Good question. I guess alcohol consumption, coffee … I like both ends of the spectrum: the depressants and the stimulants. I used to drink a bunch of wine and record but lately in the last year or so it’s just been quite a lot of coffee—almost to the point where you’re getting really panicky.
AND DIG THE REST
http://larecord.com/interviews/2011/08/19/james-pants-fun-music-gone-wrong
JAMES PANTS ON TOUR
Sep 02: James Pants, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sep 16: James Pants, Poitiers, France
Sep 17: James Pants, Tours, France