Le Rug

Nineteen years old, just released their second record, psych-ward admitence, eating raw onions...
that's Le Rug.

As impressed by their live show as we were, we couldn't help but invite composer, frontman Ray Weiss and drummer Matthew Gaffney over to the office for a chat and a joint.

Chief Magazine: When did you first start making music?

Ray: I first started making music when I was [pauses]. Well, when I was young I started playing in punk rock groups. Like up until I was twelve up till fifteen. Fifteen I started playing in bands. But my main, most serious band before this group was called The Medics. I was like, sixteen in tenth grade, about three years ago. Some of the youngest kids were fifteen and fourteen. But we stuck together for about a year or two. We had four members. Eventually we got some interest by Island [Records] and they were inviting us to dinner and bringing us into their office and shit. And stuffing us full of lies. Horrible corruption. First they wanted to get rid of the whole band and just sign me.

Oh, shit.

Ray: And at the time, I was like, “No! I love my band! I love my fucking band!” I mean, it was chivalrous of me, but those guys ended up being total douche bags. So I ended up closing that. Then they acted like they were going to sign the band for a little while, but eventually they decided not to sign us, apparently because I wasn’t cynical enough.

Really. They said that?

Ray: Yeah, that I wasn’t cynical enough and our band members looked too young.

Wow. Those were the notes they gave?

Ray: Those were the notes. They would make lots of steak and wine for me too. I ran their tab up a shitload.

Well, that’s nice.

Ray: I got a bunch of shit out of it.

Do you think you’re more cynical, particularly after dealing with that flagrant courtship?

Ray: I’ve been saying I’m a shitload more cynical now. Especially after a lot of the shit that happened when The Medics broke up. But I don’t have to get into that yet, I guess.

No, that’s fine. So then how did you guys [Le Rug] come to start playing together?

Ray: Well, I recorded a band of Matt’s in tenth grade. He was playing in this retarded smooth jazz outfit with my friend.

Sweet.

Ray: But he comes from LaGuardia, which is a musician’s school in the city. So he’s legit, and can play all that shit. And I can’t figure any of it out.

Matt: I started out playing classical at school.

Okay.

Ray: I met him at Purchase. And then I ended up getting forced out of Purchase. I had kicked out the first member of Le Rug, and I was like, “I need a new drummer.” And then he came by—

Matt: I came to his house in Tarrytown, as well, a couple of times.

Ray: Oh yeah, I used to live in Tarrytown when I was, uh, going to Purchase. And that’s sort of why a lot of things happened. Like I got kicked out of school, and The Medics broke up.

So you got kicked out of school and then The Medics broke up?  

Ray: What happened was that I was living with my guitarist for a while, the guitarist of The Medics. I ended up starting to completely lose my mind, because, simultaneously Purchase introduced me to a shitload of drugs, and I broke up with my girlfriend of a year, and that got really messy. And she started dating a fifteen-year-old that looked just like me.

Ah, that’s interesting.

Ray: So it got pretty messy. And I started doing a shitload of drugs. After that happened—long story short—my guitarist was totally straight-edge or whatever. He drank a bit, but he was really freaked out by everything that was happening. I don’t really remember what I said, but I was apparently extremely depressed and half-fucked up all the time. But eventually his mom tricked me into going into a psych ward at St. Vincent’s in Westchester. She told me I was just going to talk to a doctor, and I was like, “Awesome!” And then I was there telling this doctor all my problems, and she was like, “Oh, we’re going to admit you.” And I’m like, “Yes… what?” I was fucked up on speed, drunk. I had no fucking clue what was going on. But since I ended up in a psych ward for seventy-two hours, Purchase forced me out on medical leave. I was a danger to the community. Like I might shoot up the whole school.

Matt: A threat to the Purchase community.

They called you a threat to the Purchase community?

Ray: Yeah, that’s what they called it.

Wait, it was like a suicide watch, though. It wasn’t like you were there with…?

Ray: I know. I mean, they’re still just ridiculous because it’s an under-funded state school, and…

Wow. So any excuse they got to boot you?

Ray: Yeah. So that happened. I ended up getting kicked out of there. We’d just played CMJ with HelloGoodbye, so that shows you how much of a joke that band was. After we played that, then we just completely dissolved. I was on, like, a lot of drugs, and when I got back home, I couldn’t take any of them, so I was just pissed all the time.

Right.

Ray: And I would just flip out at them, so the group ended up breaking up. And it was okay ‘cause we weren’t writing any new songs anyway. And ideas I did have, the group was like, way too rough to perform them sometimes.

Oh, really? All right.

Ray: And then I re-recorded everything in my room, made a small CD out of it, and started another group.

And that was Le Rug.

Ray: Yeah. And eventually I just decided that it really shouldn’t be a group, that it should just be more of a collective of people that want to rock.

And that works for you, too? And for the rest of the guys in the band?

Matt: Yeah. The point is clear. The point’s across.

Ray: I pay everyone equally.

Matt: Of course, there’ve been issues.

Ray: Yeah, we definitely almost broke up a bunch of times. But we’ve already been through two—no, three drummers, three guitarists.

Oh. In how long?

Ray: Six months.

Well, how many members are in the band?

Ray: Right now, five. There are going to be six playing with us on Saturday, because a new guy’s coming in.

You’ve got two drummers all the time?

Ray: Yes.

Matt: Well, sometimes.

Ray: Well, sometimes, if one can’t make it, Matt usually fills in. Just fills some parts in.

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All right. So, you guys started in December.

Matt: Yeah.

And then, three months in, one album is out.

Ray: Yeah. Well, I mean, I’ve written almost all the songs. I just sort of redid them for the group.

Okay.

Ray: And my producer, this guy John [Venacolla], just was like, “Let’s record the album.” And we just did it. We did it in about a month’s time.

How often are you guys playing that you guys had it that tight, that soon?

Ray: Well, not everyone plays on the record. I just play everything on the record and then I teach everyone the stuff for live stuff.

No shit.

Ray: Matt plays drums, though, on the record for certain songs because he’s tighter than me.

Right.

Ray: But otherwise I just teach everything to everyone.

So you play all the instruments?

Ray: Correct.

Wow.

Ray: Same with the second one.

Really?

Ray: The third one I’m actually thinking of doing live, and more improvisational. But, that’s the third one.

In another three months?

Ray: That’s not for another four months.

That’s fucking awesome. So you guys are actually going to have three or four release parties a year.

Ray: Yeah, that’s the idea. I feel like a lot of the groups in the city, they just get comfortable with twelve, thirteen songs. And they stick on them for a while. A lot of bands just put out an album every other year, or every two years.

Matt: Some people don’t write new material for three years.

Ray: They’re just sitting on their ass. They’re not doing anything. They’re just fucking, “Oh, I’m a musician, so I’m going to go party.” It just sucks that people don’t have a work ethic, because if you’re really serious about it, then you’re going to dedicate most of your time to it. I mean, how else are you going to be legitimate as a group, at least one that’s going to sustain itself over more than like a couple months? ‘Cause that’s happened to so many groups already. Arctic Monkeys fell off the face of the planet.

I’m just so trained to expect an album once a year. I just don’t assume that it’s possible to make music that fast.

Ray: It’s always possible, especially if they have a solid producer. If they have a place to record, what’s stopping them?

Matt: Yeah.

I guess that makes sense. So are you working on new material now?

Ray: Constantly. I never try and take a break from it. Sometimes I just can’t. That’s when I just get three of the guys in together, and they just try and get stuff out on the spot. Then I can just write songs, sort of like moving puzzle pieces together. There wouldn’t be any sense to just stop writing.

So you have a classical music background, but you didn’t go to school for music?

Matt: Yeah. I still go to school for music.

Still. Oh, okay. You weren’t studying music?

Ray: No, I was.

Oh, you were?

Ray: But I couldn’t read any theory or anything. So it was almost pointless.

That’s right. Didn’t you lie to get into the [music school]? Or lie that you could read notation?

Ray: Oh yeah. Well, I mean, I basically learned how to read music for, like, two months, and I learned it right in time for the audition. And then I left the audition and I couldn’t do shit. And I was only going part-time, so I had all the hardcore theory classes, and not any of the rudimentary ones. One of them was a songwriting class that was just total bullshit, because my teacher would just play Radiohead over and over again and count out time signatures.

That’s right. You mentioned once that you hate Radiohead.

Ray: Yeah, that’s one of the reasons.

What bands were you in before you were in Le Rug?

Matt: I’m on the borderline between Long Island and Queens. So it was the multiple hardcore bands out there. That was the scene. No need to mention them. Well, one band—to be honest with you, I’m kind of—I’ve been over that.

Ray: Dillinger Escape Plan.

Matt: I’ve been over that. I’m getting over that. Well, one band that was notable was The Sue. We created a little buzz around Pyramid, those clubs, on Avenue A or whatever. All those places, people really dug us. There were house shows in the Bronx. It was awesome. I don’t know. The whole… if you’re in that scene for a while and you see the people, they try to be what they’re not, you know? It’s just a little too much, to be honest with you. This band has been the most solid. But I’ve been in about nine or ten, so I’m not used to being in something this stable. So that’s why I’m really enjoying this ride right now. But, I started playing when I was thirteen, on snare drum and timpani. And then I finally came to my senses and was like, “I want to play a drum set.”

“I want to play rock and roll.”

Matt: Yeah, I was like, “I like all this music,” you know? And it was like, “I want to play this stuff.” I was listening to like... Deftones and all that stuff, and then I learned that. And I had a great drum teacher. And the classical chops helped out my whole musicianship. So that’s where I really kind of flourished here.

Ray: I think at that point I was listening to Static X.

Matt: It’s kind of like the same realm, you know? He’s the conductor. That’s the way I think of it. And that’s why I don’t…

Ray: A lot of people feel like I’m…

Matt: Defensive.

Ray: They get offended and immediately get defensive when I try and tell them what to do.

Matt: But I think that was a major plus, you know? When you’ve got a teacher, you gotta be shat on to get better.

Ray: I think just being shat on is a normal rite of passage for being anything good in music.

Matt: You know, this is what it has came to.

Ray: You gotta eventually come to the point where people fucking really hate your stuff and think you’re horrible.

You’ve been in ten bands, give or take a few?

Matt: Yeah, same people. Give or take, just out of everywhere. Like, Astoria, Long Island.

Real fast, though, how old are you?

Matt: I am nineteen.

Ray: Yeah, we’re both nineteen.

But in the last six years... ten bands?

Matt: At least.

Fuck yeah. All right. At least that says that you’re also playing constantly.

Matt: Constantly, exactly, and…

Yeah, so you’re not taking breaks, you’re not taking, like, a summer off.

Matt: No. I work in a classical sheet music place. I have a marimba at home, which I practice. After we’re done rehearsing, I go home. Work this place, go home, practice. I’m on a regiment. That’s what you need to be.

No shit. That’s awesome.

Ray: I think people that want to be doing anything with music have to be doing it. Like writers have to constantly write. Painters have to constantly paint. You don’t see painters making, like, one painting a year.

That’s true. But I have to assume that you guys still want to be picked up by a label.

Ray: At this point, yeah. I mean, that would be great to be picked up by a label. But I think the difference in what I’m doing now is, when I was in my first band, I was trying to get picked up by a label. I was actively trying to. And I think that’s the wrong way to go about it, to be like, “I’m going to go and I’m going to get signed right now.” Because what labels do is ruin kids’ lives.

Oh, good.

Ray: ‘Cause they take out a shitload of bands, and they only pick, like, one or two of them that they’re actually going to work with. So half the job is making all these kids feel like they’re the shit, and then completely dismembering everything.

Fuck. So, was it immediately after the record label left The Medics that you guys broke up, or how long was that?

Ray: No. we still stayed together for probably six, seven months.

Okay, so you guys continued on.

Ray: But another thing I hated about that group was that we were playing the same songs that we did when we first formed the group like three years ago.

No shit. That must have been fucking torture.

Ray: I mean, I think you always gotta be relevant. How can you be relevant if you’re just playing a couple, like, songs that you think are the strongest.

Matt: Right, right. Like your favorites from past records or whatever.

Ray: But if you’re just playing your whole first record over and over again, it’s impossible to be relevant.

That makes a lot of sense, actually. So do you think that, if you did get signed, would they try to stop the amount of like, records you’re putting out and postpone them, so it’s, like, a once-a-year situation? Or would you guys try and fight that?

Ray: I’d totally fight that. Why the fuck would we let a label just tell us when we could put stuff out or not.

I mean, do you think that would be something that they’d want to do?

Ray: Unless if they were trying to put out singles. That’s why I don’t want to work with a major label, because I don’t want to worry about singles. I mean, it’d be cool to release a record, just like a single you could buy. I would never want to make a music video. I don’t know, I just think they’re all retarded. I mean, there are some good ones, but…

Matt: Well, it’s more cool when it’s actually like a short film.

Ray: Well, if you let a director do it, and you don’t let the musicians create the actual music video…

Matt: Yeah. Well, I mean, it could be really cool. Scorsese did “Bad.” You know, Jackson’s “Bad”.

It’s interesting when the band isn’t even in the video. It’s just the music and this short film that’s fucking awesome.

Matt: I’m talking about, like, a clip of the Linkin Park video. Shit like that.

Oh yeah, where they’re fucking, bouncing around on a stage or some shit, just singing the song.

Matt: Or they’re in the desert, making hand gestures too.  I don’t get that.

Sure, sure. It’s all very epic.

Matt: It’s just like everybody turns into Cream.

Ray: Oh, that’s even worse. I’d rather everyone turns into Pearl Jam. I hate Pearl Jeam.

Who are some of the people that you are digging, though, these days?

Ray: I only listen to a few groups. Recently, I’ve been liking XTC a lot. And I randomly rediscovered The Misfits. But normally, all I really listen to is The Fall, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Built to Spill, The Smiths, Pere Ubu, Can, and Todd Rundgren. That’s about it. I think there’s some more, but I don’t remember them right now.

So, in three years, four years, when you’re twenty-two, twenty-three where do you think you’ll be?

Ray: I’ll just be satisfied if I’m doing the exact same thing I’m doing now.

Are you that pleased with what you’re doing now?

Ray: Yeah. As long as I feel like I’m putting out stuff, then I’m doing something. I’m not very good at keeping a job. Or going to school. So at least I’m being productive. At least I’m not just sitting, smoking pot, and watching television.

Though, we are smoking pot.

Ray: We are. But at least I’m also making records. I feel like you can smoke pot as long as you work while you smoke pot.

That’s true.

Ray: When I was in high school, all I would do is just, like,  smoke pot and record. In my bedroom, I made, like, thirty songs. It all become the shells of other ones.

That’s awesome.

Ray: One day I’d like to hopefully release that too. But I gotta wait ‘til someone gives a shit enough.

Are you into politics at all?

Matt: Oh, no, I don’t care at all.

Ray: I’ve stopped reading newspapers. I only read science fiction.

You’re really heavy into sci-fi, aren’t you?

Ray: Hell yeah.

That was what fucked it up when it was, like, the psych ward situation. You kept talking about dragons?

Ray: Oh yeah. Well, I was talking about dragons, and I’d be convinced that there was an uber-conspiracy, like in most Philip K. Dick novels.

Well, that’s speed for you.

Ray: That’s what he was doing a bunch of the times. He even ended up dying from it. But I was doing, like, a hundred milligrams of it a day, so I was pretty wired.

And you’re thin already. I don’t know how the fuck you’re alive.

Matt: Totally wired.  

Ray: Vitamins.
    
Oh, that’s really smart.

Ray: Vitamins, and eating garlic and onions. Raw.
 
Yeah, you never really think about that. It’s so easy to pop the pills, but then there’s the idea of popping pills and vitamins at the same time. See, that’s crafty.

Ray: I was at least trying to save…

That’s long-term thinking.

Ray: Oh, man, yeah. And I have a slight heart murmur, too. And I had high cholesterol when I was five. So I do gotta watch out for it.

Yeah. Keep an eye on that shit. Wow. Last time we hung out you listed some of the bands you dug that were playing in New York. Which ones do you like now?

Ray: There’s The So-So Glows, Ollie Bird, and there’s this group that just came out called… Michael Jordan? They’re really good.

They’re just straight-up Michael Jordan?

Matt: They were at that [Micheline] show.

Yeah, I heard of them. I don’t think we saw them, though. They played recently.

Ray: They’re pretty good. Boy Crisis is pretty good.

Matt: Boy Crisis. Great band.

I’m going to see them in two hours.

Ray: Yeah? Where are they playing?

Uh, Mercury Lounge.

Ray: No shit. Yeah, they’re starting to do really well. Who else plays in the city? The Ones are pretty good. I like The Ones. There’s a shitload, I’m just…

You’re a lot more supportive this time than last time. Last time, you were pretty cold-blooded.

Ray: Well, the thing is, the majority of it is [cold]. And The Hysterics are also pretty good. I like them. But the majority of it is just total garbage. There are groups that are straight-up ripping off Nirvana, like straight-up doing horrible alt-country top forty. There’s just so much crap going on. And I feel like New York probably has been the center of crap for a long time, and only very few bands have ever came out of New York--like Television. I guess you have The Ramones, but that was Queens, so Queens is almost like a different animal.

Matt: Hell yes. No, we absolve all of them. New York? It’s everybody.

Ray: I just feel like there’s so much garbage that’s going on right now. And it’s not only in New York. I mean, it’s everywhere. But I think New York is a reflection of everywhere.

Well, you gotta figure that it’s typical that, like, ninety percent of anything you see is going to be shit.

Ray: It wasn’t always like that.

You think that there was a time where everything was fucking awesome? I don’t see it.

Ray: I think there was a time where, like, there was a lot more things that were awesome. Probably being in Minneapolis around the time Husker Du and, like, fucking, The Replacements were around.

You don’t think there were shit bands floating around those bands?

Ray: There’s always a little bit of shit bands, but the majority of people weren’t listening to shit music. And I think now the majority of people are listening to shit music. You at least…

You mean, popular music?

Ray: You had, like, The Smiths being in top 40 like, back in the day. And Captain Beefheart was in the top 20 in England.

Well,  I mean, check the other 19, and the other 39 of those lists, and it’s all utter garbage.

Ray: That’s true.

You’ve got one band that’s in the top three bands of my life, you know, they were popular then…

Ray: But I feel like the bands that people were really paying attention to, like, the bands that were actually doing really great stuff, there was a greater number of them, and the stuff they were doing was much better than the bands that are getting any recognition now.

Well, I think that’s just more typical of…

Ray: Well, there’s that band in the city, The Virgins? You’ve heard them?

Yeah.

Ray: They’re fucking horrible and everyone fucking goes apeshit over them.

I mean, it’s like…

Ray: But it’s because shit like The Killers right now is really big. I’m not really that in touch. But anything that resembles that is basically second-rate, like, the spam of Joy Division, and the foreskin of all that other great shit.

Right. But I think people have this idea that the past held all these perfect moments where everything was just all right. And there’s no fucking, like, “good old days”.

Ray: I mean, I can allow that there’s always a lot of shit.

I think everything’s always swimming in shit.

Ray: But if I was in Manchester in ’82, there would be a lot more bands I’d want to see than being in New York right now.

Fuck. I mean, you listed, like, seven bands.

Ray: I listed these bands as good, but I wouldn’t go and see their shows all the time. The So-So Glows and OllieBird are my main two exceptions for the rule. I think those two guys are the most unbelievable thing, and probably some of the best stuff that’s coming out of here right now.

Well, I think that’s always the situation. I don’t think it’s ever happened that there were, like, forty bands that were just fucking killing it.

Ray: I mean, my one example is always just Manchester. Like, in ’78, ’79, up to like ’82, ’83, you had a solid forty fucking groups that you would go see. I could sit and list to all forty groups all day.

Well, logic just tells me that there were six hundred groups that sucked. Or they were all freaks. Like, at some point, some shit got in the water, and everybody’s hooked on acid. And everything is actual pure art. And I just don’t buy it. But there’s always this fucking retard down the street who’s going to copy everything you’re doing in an inferior way, and he’s doing to flood the market.

Ray: That’s true.

Well, and it’s the test of time, too.  My only argument is that I don’t think today is any worse than yesterday.

Ray: I think it is. I think that today is definitely worse than yesterday.

Yeah? I think yesterday and the day before were all equally shit.

Ray: No, no. ‘Cause I mean, part of it is living in the time when you could have seen these bands live. It’s almost just like a slap in the face when you’re alive and you’re sort of getting the anal seepage left of, like, what The Smiths made, you know?

I guess that would fucking kill me. The fact that the bands that really matter, that have reached that level of genius, are dead.

Ray: Look at how many groups rip off The Fall.

Right, but are you upset that you can’t see, like, The Fall play live?

Ray: Well, I wish I could have seen them in ’82. But, at some point, there are songwriters and there are just imitators. Some people are actually writing songs, and having fun doing it. I think, at a certain point, it just becomes, “Oh, I can just…here’s a formula, Here’s an idea.” And I think that was totally what The Fall wasn’t about. The Fall was basically four guys, three or four guys, just fucking around. Mark E. Smith was writing a shitload, and then they’d all come together and make this unbelievable unit. But it was constantly changing because Mark E. Smith was a giant, crazy person. He fired people like, whoa... There’d been over a hundred people in that band.

Matt: Yeah. There are only really, like, twenty now? Last time I saw them was about three years ago, and they’re all, like, early twenties.

Ray: Yeah, it’s changed like twenty times since then.

Matt: Are you serious? Are you shitting me?

Ray: A bunch of times. They just had the guys from Darker My Love playing with them.

Really.

Ray: They’re not relevant anymore, because Mark E. Smith is just way too wasted. I think they stopped around ’90, ’91, and they had a couple great songs then. But there wasn’t any of the fucking relentless genius that was in the old stuff.

So how do you compare bands that are centered around one individual who is the driving force?

Ray: I feel like it depends on the people--if you have a person in the band that’s writing songs and just getting the whole things down.

Yeah, it’s like his vision.

Ray: And, I mean, that’s what OllieBird is like.

Do you feel that’s more pure?

Ray: Yeah. Well, I don’t want to say pure. It all depends on how it sounds. If you’re gonna have a band that’s constantly putting input when there doesn’t need to be input, it’s gonna sound confused. When you have a band that just has one thing in mind, and everyone is striving toward that and working toward getting that one thing together, then you’re going to have a stronger band.

I mean, there are always exceptions to that rule, where you have, like, The Beatles, and they were all just fucking geniuses.

Well, do you feel there’s potential for that in your life?

Ray: Oh, yeah. It’s now that I’ve been in another band for a while, I could probably go back to being in something like The Medics in a bit--but not soundwise. I’m talking about that group dynamic. But after that, I just wasn’t interested in it. The only way for me to keep continuing to write stuff at the same volume I was doing, was to just change what I was doing.

So what do you think about band likeThe Doors who are touring now?

Matt: The Doors? They’re touring?

Yeah, the surviving members of The Doors. And they’re still calling themselves The Doors. Or, like, Axl Rose touring with a whole other band?

Ray: I mean, those guys are poor and they’re just trying to make money. Well, not even that they’re poor, or they wasted their money. I can’t blame them. It’s still fun for the people that really like them. I mean, I saw Pere Ubu, and it wasn’t any of the same members, but for me, just seeing the singer was just unbelievable. So, if those guys can make any money off their previous genius…

Matt: At that age that they’re all at right now, let ‘em do it.

Or what if you got all new members to play with you, would you still call it Le Rug?

Ray: Yeah. I mean, I think Le Rug was the name of it when I originally started, as a group, and eventually after all the members left, I was just like, “Fuck it, I came up with it.” So I just figure it’s just whatever work I’m doing, the name it goes under, rather than say Ray Weiss, ‘cause that’s not really rock and roll.

Let’s ask the death question: Has there been a time where you thought, “Oh, fuck, I’m dead.”

Ray: Yeah, twice.

Hit us.

Ray: It’s a really murky memory from the time when I was taking a bunch of drugs. But at some point I took, like, Valium, speed, drank, and a lot of coke all at once. And I felt my heart skip for minutes at a time. That time I thought I was going to die, but I ended up pulling through.

Didn’t you have a murmur at the time?

Ray: Yeah, I had a heart murmur, too.

And you were aware of it?

Ray: Yeah.

So when you heard the skip…

Ray: I would eat an onion.

What?

Ray: It wouldn’t really work, but I would just eat an onion.  Mind over matter, you know?

You would immediately just…?

Ray: I would just eat, like, tons of raw onions and garlic.

Really.

Ray: Only sometimes. That would happen toward the end.

Like apples. You would eat it just an apple? Just bite into the fucker?

Ray: I don’t like fruit. I only ate…

Well, like an apple.

Ray: Oh. Well, I mean, you peel the onion first.

Well, I mean, you get the rest of the top out. And the rest of it is still that ball. You just bite into the fucker?

Ray: Right. Well, that’s how Keith Richards is staying alive.

Really.

Ray: I think they have to keep him on heroin, because he’s too old for them to take him off.

But you think he just chews the fucker up?

Ray: Yeah. A raw onion.

What the hell does that do for you?

Ray: Cleans out your system. It’s really good for it.

Yeah?

Ray: Yeah. Same with garlic, raw garlic.

Yeah, I’ve heard of garlic. I didn’t know onions were as good as garlic.

Ray: Yeah, onions do it, too. But the second time I felt like I was close to dying was…

Wait, so you couldn’t eat an onion the last time? When you felt a heart murmur that time?

Ray: When? Oh, no, I think I did eat an onion when I felt it.

Every time you felt a skip, you ate an onion; that’s a lot of goddamn onions.

Ray: Yeah. I would usually forget about it after I ate the onion. Which just goes to show you that I was totally paranoid.

It’s just something else for you to focus on.

Ray: Yeah.

Matt, how about you?

Matt: One time. Yeah. When I went to go see Rancid at the Warped Tour. And let me tell you…

Ray: Oh, that’s another show my old band played. You played Warped Tour, too, right?

Matt: Yeah. There were about eight thousand people at one stage. And imagine all the people that went to go see Rancid--this is when they came out of their shell on their new album.

Ray: Out Come the Wolves, or…?

Matt: No, Indestructible.  

Ray: Oh, I haven’t heard that.

Matt: It’s awful. But I was four rows away from the front of Randall’s Island, with eight thousand people pushing me. I was not standing on the ground. I was standing on people’s ankles.

Oh shit.

Matt: And it was a constant, side-to-side motion.

Ray: That happened when I saw Les Savy Fav here.

That’s like a sea of people.

Matt: You have that asshole pushing you, and I couldn’t breathe; I started hyperventilating. I went to my friend, and I was like, “I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go.” And he was just like, “What’s wrong?” So I tried to rush out.  That wasn’t working. I was, like, “Oh, my God!” So, finally I just had that little ounce of strength left in me, where I started clearing people out of my way. And I went and lay on the grass, and I still couldn’t breathe. It was really just killing my body. And it was the worst experience of my life. I thought I was going to die.

Wow.

Ray: His was worse than both of mine.

Matt: Well, I guess Rancid will do it for you.

Sure.

Ray: Fuck. Out Come The Wolves was okay. When I was, like, fifteen. I saw Blink-182 twice when I was younger.

Matt: So did I. So did I.

Ray: I think one time they just said, like, “Yeah, we’re horrible, and we hate our stuff.”

Matt: Oh yeah. No, when I went to go see them, he’s like, “Yeah, I really can’t play the guitar, this song is hard, and I suck…”

Ray: Oh, no, he was just joking then. [I think] that’s a load of bullshit.

Matt: No, he knows he’s bad.

Ray: No, I think he’s dissing on himself to be cool now.

He’s self-deprecating.

Ray: It’s like piercing your cock.

How is it like piercing your cock?

Ray: I don’t know. Wouldn't you do it if you got paid as much as them?

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Website

www.myspace.com/lerug

Photos

Ed Zipco

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