"Mystery and Imagination"
by Steve Thompson
Saccharine Trust's lyricist and vocalist Jack Brewer spoke with me on the phone recently, and graciously consented to printing that conversation here. As the discussion moved from cable movies to war heroes to lovers, inevitably we returned to his passionate preoccupation, Saccharine Trust...
Q:
What's the band doing now?
A: We played a couple of times since we've been back, but we got to rest
over the Christmas holiday.
Now we're just kind of pulling everything back together.
Q: Ray (Farell
of SST) had been telling me that the tour hadn't gone quite as well as you'd
hoped it
would have. The last tour that
is.
A: Yeah, I guess that's true. I was happy with the tour though. I guess
I'm just more realistic than the others. It
could have been worse.
Q: Sure. Your '86 release "We
Became Snakes" has gotten a lot of attention and airplay, especially
here at the station, so I
thought maybe we could talk about that a little bit.
A: Okay. Hang on a second though... Guys, could you lower that Neil Young
tape? We're trying to do an
interview.
Q: Neil Young? Anyway Jack, there
are a lot of scriptural metaphors in your lyrics, lots of biblical
imagery. There's even a
scripture quotation on the back cover.
A: Well, I don't think there are any actual quotes from them. I just like
to use the metaphor. I mean, I don't really
see it as preaching; I just see it as inspiration.
Q: Do you see it more like poetry?
A: Yeah, I guess it's more like poetry, but it's also spiritual. Poetry
is spiritual revelation. I think most of the
metaphors I used are basics in any religion, most of them anyway.
There are no real quotes, just pictures
and ideas. Except for "Lot's Seed." But "Snakes" was used as sort of
a romantic love story, and ideal
romance breaking out of the surrounding circumstances that would
prohibit the romance. then both parties
can be free. It just puts the romance and love before any idealisms
or rules and ethics. Even if it means
that it's seen from the outside world as wicked or whatever.
Q: Would that be the kind of thing
you were thinking of in "The Need?" You say "You killed my
brother but you didn't kill me
but you're still my friend." Something like that?
A: Yes. that song was actually an acoustic song that I played when I was
18 or 19 with a friend of mine. You
can get even get the acoustic live version on a single called "Feeble
Efforts." I guess that's the different
aspect of "Snakes." It talks about an overwhelming need or addiction
for a person or whatever it might be.
That's when you're not as free as you can be.
Q: The one song "Drugstore Logic,"
what were you thinking about for that song? What kind of
feelings do you have about
that?
A: Well, in some ways it was meant to be cute. You must be referring to
the "girls parading in their
bondages." It's even pretty much the same ideal as in the other
song, in the sense where you are free
when you have the courage to accept the truth and the realities.
Like that line "in back of the drugstore."
Q: The album itself has a lot of
dark overtones to it. I listen to it a lot, and it seems to point to some-
thing deep and dark, maybe even
sinister. How do you react to it, Jack?
A: I don't know. I guess it seems not dark so much, but mysterious and
imaginative. Yeah, it really seems
mysterious, kind of like when you're dreaming and not having to wake
up until you're ready. That's what
the images do for me.
Q: Another song that stands out
pretty strongly is "Effort to Waste." A lot of emotion seems to
come out whenever I hear that
one.
A: It's written for this friend of mine. There's this poem on
Worldbroken called "Estuary." It's about this
friend of mine named Fred. He's what you might call a professional
student; he studies English. He's
a really thin and scrawny guy, but he'd get really drunk and go on
these wild philosophical rages and carry
on, falling on the floor and all. That's pretty much what this song
is about, someone who rants their
philosophy, which is probably right and truthful, but also suffers
for a vision. I mean, when you're at that
point, you realize everyone is hypnotized anyway.
Q: Anything else you want to say
Jack?
A: I'd just like to say that if you plan on becoming rich and successful,
playing music that's ahead of it's time,
then you've got to play in the future.
