Why the name Meatjack?

Brian: Why not?

Jason: It was 1993, Clinton was in office and everyone seemed to love meat…

Where do you play in your hometown? What else do you guys do for kicks in Baltimore?

Brian: For kicks sex, drugs and rock n roll, you know the basic food groups.

Jason: We play The Ottobar. For kicks I mow the lawn, feed the dog, hang out with friends and BBQ, drink, throw up and shit my pants at the same time…you know, the usual.

Filmmaker John Waters came out of Baltimore, and one can see the influence of that environment on his movies. How has the environment of your home city influenced your creative direction?

Brian: Baltimore is an old run down blue collar city with lotsa crime. They're trying to fix it up here and there, but I guess that original working class, heavy, ugly vibe is what came through initially when we started. There's always been a fondness for heavy music here.

Jason: I’m inspired by crackwhores. I think that’s where the prettiness in our music comes from. Most of my influences come from bands that I like, not so much scenery. There’s an ugly/pretty vibe in Baltimore. That kind of sums up our music.

What's your opinion on the state of the nation right now? Do you believe there is still a "land of the free" on this continent, or anywhere in the world?

Brian: I love America. I don't trust the government, big corporations, commercial media, and especially the current batch of people in the White House and direction they're steering the country. But this is a pretty cool country. However, except for very brief visits to Canada and Mexico (some while I was very young), I've never been anywhere else. So I don't know how valid my opinion is.

Jason: Yeah, this is the "land of the free." I might not agree with the government all the time or who’s in the White House at the time but for the most part we do have inalienable rights and there are people out there who fight for those rights. I’ll keep thinking it’s the land of the free unless they take away reproductive freedom.

How long have you been touring? Do your tours pay for themselves? What are your best cities and clubs? What do you think of Austin?

Brian: We've been touring for over 10 years. Some tours have paid for themselves, some have made money, some have lost money. It's been a real roller coaster ride. Some clubs and towns that we really love would be The Jinx (ex-Velvet Elvis) in Savannah, Gabe's in Iowa City, Downtown Music in Little Rock, Portland OR, Milwaukee, Memphis & Cleveland in general, so many more. Too many to always remember. We love Austin. We've always had a good time and been treated really well there.

Brian, I was blown away by your freaky guitar sounds. Tell us about your guitar gear. What combinations of effects do you use to come up with such a unique sound?

Brian: I've always had a ridiculous array of effects and stomp boxes to cover up my lack of technique (haha). The gear starts with my Gibson Les Paul Custom. I recently had to get a new one because I had an older guitar break. No mods...yet. My amp and cabs are all Mesa/Boogie (2 4"x12" cabs and a Stereo Simul-class 2:Ninety power amp). The current effects combo is Pedals: Digitech Echo Plus Delay/Sampler, Boss Loop Station, Digitech Whammy II, Boss Noise Suppressor; Rack mount gear: Rocktron Chameleon (for my preamp and various effects), Rocktron Intellifex (for even more effects), both of which I control with an A.R.T. Ultrafoot midi controller. Okay, where's my free shit now?

In the past I would conceive of these effects noises or sounds and go from there. Now, usually, I write on an acoustic guitar or un-effected electric, and work on a decent song and melody first, and effects second as an "icing on the cake" type thing if I use them at all.

Jason, tell us about your gear, and what you do to stand apart from a million other bands.

Jason: I use 2 Ampeg 8x10's powered by an SVT 4-Pro. It’s the loudest amp you can buy without a prescription. I use an ODB-3 bass overdrive pedal and I play a 1978 Gibson Thunderbird. Put these all together and you will realize why I stand apart from the others out there. I started out playing guitar for MEATJACK and coupled that approach with an understanding of where a bass belongs in the music that we play.

What are your favorite MEATJACK songs and what are they about?

Brian: I like em all for different reasons. We try to bring a different feel to each piece we write. If you put a gun to my head (don't get any ideas), some of my current faves would be Sleep, Crawl, Days of Fire, Blue.

Jason: I like Sleep, which is lyrically almost a nonsense song, but has real meaning. It’s just about complete exhaustion, both physical and mental. It’s about the things that keep you awake and forcing them away. Days of Fire is another favorite. I was going for powerful rock imagery. I’m using the metaphor of a day, from sunrise to sunset, to compare life’s trials and beauty. It’s about overcoming and not making excuses.

You guys were on Stinking Lizaveta's list of rad bands. What's your opinion, who are the groundbreaking bands right now, around the world? How about on tour - who are some of the raddest bands you've played with?

Brian: That's an incredible honor to be thought of that way by my favorite band. Bands I currently dig (besides them) are Trephine, Swarm of the Lotus, Yob, Rwake, The Hidden Hand, Fistula...so many more.

Jason: In addition to Brian’s list I’d like to add Weedeater, Mastodon, Sweet Cobra and Buzzard.

Has MEATJACK had any "success"? What kind of recognition have you got within the underground rock scene? Have you ever pursued big label interest?

Brian: Wow, that's a highly subjective term. I feel that the fact that I'm still doing this over 10 years later, no matter on what kind of scale, qualifies as some kind of success. We've built up a following that we're grateful for. We've had a lot of fun. We've had bigger labels take interest in us before, but we've yet to be happy with the terms of their contracts. They always want way too much in exchange for jack shit.

Jason: We’ve gotten to the point now where we have a little bit of family in almost every town we go to and that’s success for me.

Tell about the records you have out.

Jason: Our first album "Trust" (released in 1999) is basically a live studio recording. It's almost like a snapshot of the band live. Lots of noisy raw aggression. Great songs without a lot of studio work.

Our next release was a split with Damad (released in 2000). With those three songs we ventured a little more into the realm of studio work. Learning a little more about what works and what doesn't. Spending a little more time on details.

On our latest release "Days of Fire" the songs are a lot more riff oriented and memorable. It still has an element of noise but the monster riff always takes precedence. Some of it is even pretty in places. The vocals are a lot more thought out than the typical scream one note the whole time bullshit. With DoF we decided to go all out and take full advantage of the studio. Using all of the tracks to add layering, more atmosphere and dimension. Mixing in the eight guitar and three bass tracks songs with the stripped down rocker no overdub songs as well. We paid a lot of attention to the overall record as a whole, especially with regard to the mix downs, in order to have a well thought out, cohesive record.

Brian: Besides that it's just been a slew of 7"s & compilation cuts since our inception in 1993, including a song on John Waters soundtrack for "Cecil B. Demented".

When is your next record coming out?

Brian: No idea. We haven't even begun writing it yet.

What are your plans for the future?

Brian: The same old thang. Put out records and tour. Hopefully it'll just continue to grow.

Jason: Writing a new record, playing more shows and drinking more whiskey. Maybe cleaning the basement.

When are you coming back to Austin?

Brian: Hopefully sometime in 2005.

The Prez says we're going to Mars. How do you feel about that?

Jason: I really don't feel anything about that statement. Presidents want to leave legacies. Presidents want to distract. This is probably a little of both. I don't see it as a priority as far as spending is concerned. Who knows, maybe they are thinking that they need to look around for another planet to inhabit. Maybe its just more pork for the companies that work on these types of projects. Maybe I'm just full of shit and have no answers.

Brian: More like we're going to hell!