CIV: The Interview

The band CIV is named after the lead vocalist, former Gorilla Biscuits’ Anthony Civorelli. CIV’s first album, Set Your Goals, did okay sales and for a while the single “Can’t Wait One Minute More” was an MTV Buzz Bin clip in ’95. In ‘98 MTV has changed and so has CIV. All the roots are in hardcore, but CIV has moved on. The new album, Thirteen Day Getaway, continues and expands on the previ­ous pop tendencies while looking to a past before hardcore.

As usual, it’s a phone interview. I had no idea who Atlantic would hook me up with before the call and when the call came I was hardly disappointed by an opportunity to talk with the drummer Sammy. He’s about 25 or 26 today and he’s played drums in punk rock bands since he was 12. It wasn’t like I was talking to just any drummer.

Atlantic prepped me for the interview by sending a sheaf of press clippings three years old. Back when CIV was promoting Set Your Goals the band did some photo shoots for Rolling Stone and Details. At the time they favored suits on stage. The first questions con­cerned the clothes. Did they get to keep the clothes? Sammy said no. Before going any further with this, how about CIV’s new bassist?

Cache is from Salt Lake City and he was for­merly a member of Iceburn. Cheers all around for the Salt Lake City musician. Arthur plays bass on the album and Cache made his Salt Lake City debut as a member of CIV on the Vans Warped Tour stage. Also making his Salt Lake City CIV debut was organist Guyora. What the hell is an organist doing touring with CIV? Well, there is an organ on the record. According to Sammy, “We just got a friend of the producer to play some organ on the record and then we wanted to capture that live so we got Guyora.” Obviously the organ is intriguing to such as I so the next question had to be, “what kind of organ?” Sammy answers with an explanation. “On the record there’s Farfisa and B-3, but live it’s too much to really deal with. We have an old Korg organ and we have a Wurlitzer.” Woo hoo!

But back to the clothes. Sammy says the suit thing has been done to death. At present CIV works the thrift stores and while they love “vintage” there isn’t a conscious effort to look “vintage.” Enough on clothes. I was curious about how CIV kept their major label contract when so many other “punk” bands have lost theirs lately. Admittedly, Atlantic stuck with Sugar Ray long enough for the multi­-platinum sophomore release, but oth­ers haven’t been so lucky. Sammy’s answer is perfect and it actually explains the group’s direction somewhat. The only reason I’m writing about direction is because some hard­core folks have expressed disappoint­ment over the new album and here’s Sammy to explain:

“I think that one of the misconceptions of CIV is that really…we come from that whole hardcore scene, kind of like a real spe­cific scene, like the New York scene. I think we got thrown into the whole punk, Green Day, Offspring thing. That’s really not what we’re all about. We’ve evolved into some other fields. I think that was one of the misconcep­tions. ‘Oh CIV, here’s their buzz clip, ‘Can’t Wait One Minute More,’ here they are, here they are, here they are.’ Just kind of like a one hit wonder thing. I don’t think that’s what the band’s about and I think the label believes in us.” Well said.

How about the Warped Tour? What’s it like for the bands? “It’s pret­ty cool. For the bands who are on the whole tour from beginning to end…you definitely develop this bond with the other bands. Some of the bands who join for a week or two are kind of like outsiders in a way. But the bands who like roughing it and doing it…especially…we did the first and second Warped tours which were really like, sketch compared to the way it is now. They’ve gotten their shit together a lot more. The first one there were shows being canceled, shows being added, food wasn’t available here and there. You’d go to sleep on your bus and you’d wake up and there’d be a whole other band on your bus because during the night their bus broke down. It’s a real camaraderie kind of thing. It is like a big traveling barbecue. You’re playing music with your friends, hanging out in the sunshine and chilling. Everyone’s kind of coming from the same place. Even the skaters and the BMX bikers are all just out there trying to do their thing and it’s pretty cool.”

Remember back to the first Warped Tour. CIV was there and the “event” was held at Saltair. What are Sammy’s memories of Saltair? “It was hot and it smelled like some kind of crazy sul­fur.” Angelica Cob, CIV’s publicist, still says that it “smelled like a dirty diaper.”

As for the record. I’ve already mentioned that the record sounds to me as if CIV went back to some dusty record bins and pulled out a few obscurities to reference. That’s almost true. Sammy told me that the record took an entire summer to record. The studio was Bearsville, and the band had never had the opportunity to experiment with a variety of microphones and equip­ment. That’s why the record came out like it did. They were doing a few experiments and my reference points aren’t as far off as they seem. “I think in general a lot of our influences are like The Buzzcocks, The Jam and some of The Clash stuff, that kind of comes through. And actually a lot more. Elvis Costello on this record.” 

What? Elvis Costello? I was hearing Bo Diddley and Shadows of Knight, but who influenced The Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Clash and Mr. Costello? Sammy continues, “Unfortunately we’re not that controlled. A lot of it just came up. ‘Something Special,’ I think was the first song we wrote and it went through so many different facelifts and changes that the finished product was like a whole new song. The last record, our friend Walter from Quicksand produced it and he helped write a lot of the stuff. This record we wrote entirely on our own and just really got into it. To us it was much more like a real thing.” 

As for singles and videos. “Secondhand Superstar” is the single. The band col­lectively decided not to make a video. Given the state of music television these days that is probably a wise choice. Sammy said, “We’re actually not going to make a video because I think the consensus was for us to spend all this money on a video that MTV might play. There’s a very slim chance, but they might do it, it’s just kind of a waste of money. We’d rather play and see how it does on radio and maybe take the money and use it for radio promotion and create more of a real picture. And then if MTV wants a video they’ll ask for it. I think that’s what’s screwing up a lot of bands and a lot of record companies — making two, three, four videos at $60,000 a piece and none of them are getting played or they’re getting played two or three times on 120 min­utes and the next thing you know the band is totally in debt or bummed out because they’re spending all this money on the band, you know?” 

The music business pretty much sucks these days, doesn’t it? The music doesn’t suck; the business sucks, the business has always sucked but it’s worse, far worse today. CIV is on the road for the next year. They are in a bus, not a van because Sammy and the rest are going to take their time as musicians and enjoy it. If it works they’re set. If it doesn’t, they at least had fun.

How about the record? Ms. Cob promised a full copy with cover art. So far I haven’t seen one so I’m still working from the advance. Here’s the analysis. “Secondhand Superstar” has the snot of garage in the vocals, the B-3 in the background and enough pop for the radio. Thirteen Day Getaway is a major label album with a heavy­weight (Steve Thompson) producer. Listen to it with a quality receiver and headphones at least once. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. Background vocals and guitar dubs are layered and layered. The bass and drum break of “Everyday” when combined with CIV’s garage band vocals and Charlie‘s metal derivative guitar create commercial rock with more edge than the Edge or his band have created since about ’85. “Shout It” is deafening, a stadium rocker? “Owner’s Manual” is 34 sec­onds of hardcore. They can still play it when they want to. 

The best song, in my opinion, is “Something Special.” Sammy told me that he came up with the drum pattern and the band built the song around his Bo Diddley beat. Interestingly enough there wasn’t a Bo Diddley influence. He called it “Charleston” influenced. “Charleston” means Squirrel Nut Zippers to me. These guys are too young for Bo Diddley and the beat was developed independently. The little ditty includes Farfisa and rockabilly influenced guitar. “Using Someone” else is pure hardcore and so is “It’s Not Your Fault.” “It’s Not Your Fault” features some interesting vocal effects and more heavy metal inspired guitar from Charlie. Lest anyone forget that this band came from hardcore, they kick out “Living Life” complete with an “oh, oh, oh” background chorus. “Ordinary” is more of the same and “Little Men” closes with acoustic guitar backing CIV — no drums, no bass and no elec­tricity until the climax. Billy Bragg revolution all the way. Shame on you hardcore freaks. I love hardcore, noise and underproduction as much as any­thing and I find the overproduction, experiments and growth of CIV quite attractive. —Cyncola

Read more interviews from the archives:
The Reverend Horton Heat
Henry Rollins — The Interview: Part One

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