HARVEY MILK’S CRESTON SPIERS: THE METALSUCKS INTERVIEW

Reunions are tricky to pull off. Fans have certain expectations and demand for them to be met if not exceeded. Reunited bands, in turn, face the serious danger of being turned into human jukeboxes to accommodate. Harvey Milk has managed to do the impossible with their return: become even more popular for their new work than their old! A Small Turn of Human Kindness, their latest album, may very well challenge both new fans and old with its grim, noirish story of a crumbling relationship and falling down life. Last month I got in touch with frontman Creston Spiers for an interview, in which we covered the new record, his outright disapproval of the release of their “lost” Bob Weston-produced album, and Green Day’s awful Broadway musical.

Creston Spiers: Excuse me if I seem a little distracted. I’m driving right now, but we can go ahead and do the interview.

Gary Suarez: Okay. Please stay safe.

I will. I’m buckled up.

Great, I appreciate knowing that. I have to say, as someone who’s listened to several Harvey Milk albums, I couldn’t believe how bleak and depressing the new album sounds, especially in contrast with Life . . . the Best Game in Town. Where is this darkness coming from?

Well you’re definitely right, it is a bleak record. It’s pretty much slow and low all the way through. The story that goes along with it is pretty depressing. I think it really comes the fact that I decided from the beginning that I was going to set this story to music. It just has that feel to it. I try, I guess, to make the music match to what’s happening emotionally. It’s a pretty bleak story. I think that all of us, after the last record, wanted to make something that we felt was kind of more like us. This is definitely that. This record is us all the way.

This is very different from records like The Pleaser. There is certainly no “Rock & Roll Party Tonight” on this one.

This record was unique for us in that it was conceived all at one time, and it was written through as a record as opposed to a collection of songs. The music is all one piece. I don’t know if I would say that it was the record that we wanted to make; we intentionally designed to make this really bleak, depressing record. It’s just that that’s what sort of what came out once I decided I was going to write this story. I sort of made the decision on what notes I was going to use, what the flow was going to be like, and what the tone of it was going to be like – it just sort of came out that way. I don’t think it was intentional that we were going to have a record without any rockers on it or any mid-tempo songs on it. It just sort of organically formed that way.

Have you already started thinking about how you’re going to approach this material in the live setting?

Actually we just finished a real short tour with Coalesce not long ago. When we were preparing to do that tour, we actually practiced A Small Turn… all the way through. We definitely designed it to be played, and we can play it all the way through. I guess if we ever play live again–which I’m assuming that we will–if we decide to play it . . . I don’t know. There was kind of a discussion in the band whether we’re going to play just parts of it or play the whole thing. It only makes sense when you play the whole thing. Taking excerpts out of it, it works, you can do it, but I think that if we play it, we’ll probably perform the whole thing like Tommy.

So this is your rock opera then?

Yeah, I’d say it’s more of a rock Broadway musical. [laughs]

Well we already have a few of those now. The Green Day one [American Idiot] is out here now.

Really?

I much prefer this to what I’ve heard from that soundtrack.

I didn’t know that Green Day had a Broadway musical.

Yeah, they just released it. It’s based on their last two records. I don’t know if you listened to the songs from their last two albums, just imagine it sung by the cast of Rent.

[laughs] Well okay, I take that back. It’s definitely not a rock Broadway musical. It’s a rock opera. I like that better.

And you can also apply the tragic nature of opera to it certainly. Speaking of contrasts, there is even a starker contrast when you compare this new album to the recently issued, never before available self-titled release. What motivated you guys to get that one out after all these years?

That’s a really good question. I have no idea why we released that. I think it’s pretty poor quality. I definitely think the record we ended up releasing back in 90-whatever, My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be, is better than this self-titled thing that we just put out. I guess we did it because the label wanted to do it, and there was a demand for it. I don’t know. I wasn’t really consulted. It was just sort of done… They called me up and said “we got a new record coming out.” “Hey great.”

They did two different editions of it too. They did the vinyl first then did the CD copy afterwards. I guess it probably has something to do with the rise in the popularity since your reunion. It seems that a sizable subset of your fans discovered Harvey Milk after the reunion. How has that felt for you having this increased popularity on the group’s second go around?

It makes me feel wonderful. I always feel great when anyone says that they like our band and are interested in what we’re doing. The real main difference is that when we play now, we always play to a lot of people–which is nice. When we go on the road, we actually come home with money in our pockets–which is even better. It hasn’t been a big difference to me in my life or anything. It’s not like I got people coming up to me saying that they “love your band” and blah, blah, blah. It’s a really nice feeling that after all that time, people still are interested in what the band does.

I think that it’s great because you guys have put out some really interesting records since the reunion, the last couple being with Hydra Head. How has that experience been on a label like Hydra Head, which has a pretty diverse roster of bands?

They’ve been really great for us. They never said no to any sort of artwork or anything that we wanted to do, which we’ve had lots of trouble with in the past with other labels not wanting to do the artwork we wanted or the packaging and that sort of thing. They like what we give them to release. They’ve just been great to work with.

When you talk about artwork, I’m also kind of reminded of some of the band t-shirts that have come around. You guys are kind of notorious for putting out some pretty whacky stuff. What’s the motivation behind that?

Oh you know, just trying to be funny. Stephen [Tanner] comes up with the concepts and does the t-shirts because he has the most fun doing it. We just want things that are funny, so that’s really the motivation.

Yeah, which seems quite different from say a dark album like this new one. It almost adds up to a morbid humor overall.

I would say that’s one of the things that’s kind of disappointing about this record. I really love the new record. I think it’s one of our best, but there’s not a lot of humor. [laughs] The tone is pretty heavy, and it’s pretty relentless. There’s no let up really. That’s unlike us, I think. If we do play again, we’ll come up with some extra funny t-shirts to make up for it.

That’s good to know. What else do you guys have planned for 2010? Are you guys prepping for anymore additional tour dates?

We had planned on touring this summer, but we put the kibosh on that because Stevie and I were kind of tired of doing it really. For the past four summers we’ve been playing every summer, all summer. This year we didn’t really feel like doing it. Kyle [Spence], our drummer, has an opportunity to play with some other people, and that’s going to be real lucrative for him. We just decided to take the summer off. I’m a teacher, so I get the summers off. It makes sense to play then, but I really just wanted to have this summer for my family and not have the obligation of going on the road or going to Europe or whatever.

That’s as good a reason as any.

Yeah.

Harvey Milk’s A Small Turn of Human Kindness is out now on Hydra Head Records.

-GS