L-R: Jarek (our lord and savior) Olivetti, Greg Joyce, Nick Westra

There were some rumors flying around a while back that Crush The Clown was breaking up, and that freaked me out a bit, because these guys are my favorite band in Lincoln. The very first show I played in Lincoln was on a bill with Crush The Clown, The Black Dahlias, and Sockeye Marigold.

I had CTC on the list of bands I wanted to interview, but I wasn’t planning on doing it anytime in the immediate future, and certainly not too close on the heels of the feature on Strawberry Burns (Crush The Clown drummer Greg Joyce’s other band). When the possibility arose that they might not be around any longer, however, I moved these guys to the top of the list, because I’d hate to be writing about them in the past-tense, or for them to disappear from the scene without getting the chance to let people know what a great band they are. There was a brief period of uncertainty about the bands future, but it’s been worked out, CTC isn’t breaking up, and I’m really glad about that. I’ve been trying to get an interview with them since about May, and this is the soonest I’ve been able to get it done with them.

I am forever blown away by Nick Westra’s talent as a songwriter, his intensity as a performer, and the fact that each release is stronger than the one before it. If Nick isn’t the best songwriter in Lincoln, he’s certainly in the top 2 or 3. Musically there’s no comparison between CTC and The Smiths, but they do share one similarity, in that they house dark, depressing lyrics in really uptempo, happy sounding, at times poppy music. Where Morrisey sang lines like: "Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know it’s serious" or "If a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side, the pleasure, the privilege is mine", Nick Westra sings lines like "Sunshine, flowing from an open vein, things will never be the same, you’ll be happy that you came", and "I want to crawl into a black hole and die!"

All too often bands rely on their lyrics to carry bad music, or focus on the music, but the lyrics blow. I think what I like so much about Crush is that nothing suffers. Lyrics and music are equally stellar. Their music always moves my body, and their lyrics always move my mind, and they always rock like hell.

SCS: The first time I saw Crush was with the current lineup. I know that prior to Greg on drums you’d had both Mark Anderson and Logan Pennington on drums, why don’t you give us a brief history of Crush The Clown. How and when did CTC form as a band?

Jarek: Back in high school, senior year, Nick and i were in other bands, and since we both had jesus addictions we figured the only way we could afford god was to pool our resources into one band so christina's potato funk and tulip jiggle merged into one happy-ass band, crush the clown, a super christian rock band.
Nick: Yes, back in the days when the sun would shine brightly and summon us up into the clouds, we wanted to rock, and we wanted to rock hard. Our favorite band at the time was Almost None, I personally had the delusion that Zhenia was a God, and we knew that we needed Greg to play drums with us. Almost None eventually went their separate ways, but we were afraid to ask Greg to play for us. Luckily, Greg had heard that we needed a drummer and to our delight, he offered to play with us, and so Greg put on his Britney Spears outfit and we rocked. and we rocked hard.

SCS: Nick, I remember Andy Fairbairn from Duffy’s once telling me he used to hang around with your older brother, and he used to come to you house and there would be little Nick walking around with his guitar. How long have you been playing, and how long have you been writing your own songs?

Nick: We've been writing the songs since the time of our births. Andy put a halt to the process when I came home one day to my eleven-year-old songwriting existence to find a string missing on my silvertone. Man was I furious.
Jarek: What? yo, listen up bitch, 'cause i'm only going to say this once...the shit I write is tight. You want it? I'll shove it right up yo ass!!!!

SCS: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never seen you? For example, if you had to compare your music to some other common reference points that people know, who would those be?

Nick: I don't know
Greg: I see a rainbow, and on one end is Black Sabbath and on the other end is The Kinks. It's like evil pop with a British twist.
Jarek: I would say we sound like The Beatles only much better. yeah, that's right! or possibly Tom Jones.

SCS: Who are some of your favorite bands? What bands influenced you?

Greg: Led Zepplin, Jane's Addiction, Beatles, Pavement, De La Soul.
Jarek: We like Bow Wow Wow and The Jesus Lizard.
Nick: And Evis Costello

SCS: The first release was the Potato Pop EP, and that came out in 2000, right?

Nick: Right
Greg: Wrong!
Jarek: No, Tery, no. You're way off. Just forget it. god... dick...

SCS: That’s a great EP, and I have to tell you that your lyric, from Sell Me A Dozen; "Well I always knew that I could be a dropout if I put my mind to it, baby" is one of my favorite lyrics of all time. What came after that?

Greg and Nick: maybe I could avoid everyone.
Jarek: And all the elves come out to play.

SCS: I didn't mean the next line in the song, I meant the next release. Moving right along...I understand now you’re finishing up an album called "Sick Love". Greg described it to me as a concept album loosely based on the subjects of on love, obsession, desire, and insanity, would that be an accurate assessment?

Greg: Yes
Nick: Yes, that would indeed.
Jarek: Yes, Tery, yes. You hit it right on the head there.

SCS: I didn't make that shit up, Greg said it.

Nick:...and let me overemphasize obsession and mental illness. As if we're right behind you, staring into your window right this second. It's that sick.

SCS: I always assume you are staring into my windows at any given second, that's why I only wear women's clothing at home, Nick, it's just for you. So when will that album be out?

Greg: 02-14-03
Jarek: Valentine's
Nick: Only we didn't get it done on time.

SCS: Well, Crush The Clown fans all know to build in a little extra time, so if you say it's gonna be Valentines Day, we know to expect it around the 4th of July. There was talk of a vinyl only release for this album, is that correct?

Nick: I don't know.
Jarek: Again Tery, yes. God, where do you get your information from? damn are you spying on us? dick...

SCS: Yes, I'm looking into your window as we speak. OK, I'm going to pretend for a minute that Jarek doesn't exist on this planet. What about your solo stuff, Nick, is Minister’s Son the only solo album out so far?

Nick: Yeah, I guess
Greg: No no no
Jarek: I got like ten others you ain't even heard, bitch!

SCS: I know you’re pretty much a "fly by the seat of the pants" guy, Nick, and the band as a whole is too, but are there any other specific musical goals that you would like to achieve with Crush The Clown?

Jarek: Gettin' my shit all over this mother fuckin' bitch... damn, we're so close it's sick... dick...
Greg: I don't know
Nick: I'd really just like to find out what it's all about and I think Art will tell us.

SCS: Art Linkletter? I'm pretty sure he's dead. So which of your songs are your favorites and why?

Nick: The ones Greg and Jarek write because they're wonderful.
Greg: Barrabbas, Sell Me A Dozen, Going Somewhere
Jarek: i like SanFran Fucking Cisco because of the word... cisco.

SCS: What’s the musical process as far as new songs go? Nick, do you record demos with parts that you write and give them to the other guys, or do you just run through them in practice?

Greg: Yes
Nick: Yeah, all of the said processes. No sense getting in a rut, is there?
Jarek: It's all me, bitch. Shit dog, don't you listen? damn... dick...

SCS: Nick, I don’t know if this was just my perception of it, but when I first used to come see you guys, it looked like it was excruciatingly uncomfortable for you to be on stage, and if you played guitar solos, you did it with your back to the audience. Did you used to have bad stage fright back then?

Jarek: Shit dawg. I was mad crazy shy 'n' shit. Damn... dick...
Nick: Man, you know what would be cool is if a band were to just play and whatever bands had shown up would play too. There'd be no need for a stage, but now, that'd be chaotic, wouldn't it?

SCS: Yeah, and where would the mosh pit go? OK, for this next question, please all stand up on your left leg, and hold your right leg up behind you with your hand. Good, now, what were some of your most memorable live performance and why?

Greg: I dug the first halloween show at Knickerbockers. It was my first with Crush The Clown. The Black Dahlias played. They're all fun.

SCS: Yeah? I'm pretty sure that was the first time I saw you guys, I didn't know that that had been your first show with the band. It was both our first shows, that's so special! That show kicked ass! Nick was dressed as The Devil, Jarek was an Angel, (quite inapproprately if you ask me), and you were Brittney Spears. Courtney Nore was just showing me some photos from that show at her halloween party last week.

Jarek: When I vomited all over the stage at the Madonna old people's show.
Nick: I remember this basement show where I'd had too much gin and I couldn't tune my guitar and this guy from the Fonzerellis was giving me shit about how I couldn't even tune my guitar, so I shoved it in his face and said, "you tune it!" and I wandered off, just me 'n' my gin and made my way to Kristen's (Bailey) apartment and she took me with her to Mister Baby practice, and I passed out on Mister Baby's couch and they left me there for dead. Serves me goddamn right too. The Fonzerellis, as I was later told, ended up playing the show with our instruments, so it all worked out in the end. it always does.

SCS: Do you prefer, writing/recording or live performance, and why?

Greg: All of them
Jarek: Live is better. I like people watching me. We have a cam whores site on the net.
Nick: Yeah, I like it all because it's all so great.

SCS: Did you think growing up in Lincoln influenced your music any, as far as other local bands you liked, other musicians you knew?

Jarek: Oh yeah, we loved Opium Taylor and Plastik Trumpet and stuff.
Greg: and Sideshow.
Nick: yeah and Mercy Rule with all the brilliant lights and Polecat and we just wanted to play shows with these people, and playing shows is really great and the people we play shows with, it's just like heaven, and the bands we play shows with are 'swonderful and 'smarvelous.

SCS: If you could choose any band from any point in history to tour with, who would it be?

Greg: That's impossible to answer
Nick: No it's not... Strawberry Burns
Jarek: Probably Flock of Seagulls too, because we love birds.

SCS: Oh yeah? Here's a bird for you...So, Nick and Greg, In the whole history of recorded music, what song do you wish you had written?

Greg: Hangin' Tough
Jarek: Send In The Clowns
Nick: the third movement of #40 in G minor by Wolfgang Amedeus, you know, when it kicks in.

SCS: What do you like and dislike about the music scene in Lincoln?

Greg: it's a... ?
Jarek: I don't like the back stabbin' bullshit and the fact that people don't go to shows and that people are so snooty about music in general, but otherwise, we like the chicks.
Nick: Man, Jarek gets all the chicks. That's what I hate about the Lincoln music scene: Jarek and his chicks. Not once have I gotten a chick and Jarek's constantly surrounded by them and he's not even fucking single and alone. I hate this fucking scene.

SCS: Who was the first person or band you saw that made you want to play music?

Nick: Nick Rivers in Top Secret. I took my tape recorder to the speaker on the t.v. and taped all the songs like Skeet Surfin' and How Silly Can You Get. I wanted to be a pop sensation running secret spy missions in Germany. And Shock The Monkey (by Peter Gabriel) scared the hell out of me. Yeah, for /me it was the television.
Greg: Sideshow. Pawl Tisdale is phenomenal.

SCS: I heard he's really an alien. What was the first album/CD you bought?

Greg: Motley Crue... Shout At The Devil... on cassette
Nick: Poison... Look What The Cat Dragged In... on cassette

SCS: Cassette? That's so cute. I have Alexander Graham Bell reciting "Mary Had A Little Lamb" on an Edison Wax Cylinder, so that makes me a better person than you, but that's neither here nor there. Whose music are you listening to right now?

Greg: Iron Maiden, J5, Built To Spill, Flaming Lips
Nick: #40 in G minor by Wolfgang Amedeus and The Bad Sects. And when I drive I listen to magic 590 on the AM dial.
Jarek: I'm really diggin' Harry Nilson

SCS: That makes you a dirty hippy, Jarek, so you're excluded from this next question. Nick and Greg, what are your five favorite albums of all time.

Greg: