Interview with Graig Shock from Shredding Material Magazine #10. Interview by Chuck Pettry.

Somewhere in Seattle, beyond all the hype, MTV superstars and grunge rock computer wizards is this little band called New Sweet Breath.  The first time I heard their debut "Supersound Speedway" I was speechless.  Their record continued a dozen or so songs of the catchiest hook-laden distrorted pop-punk songs I'd ever heard.  Their new record, "Demolition Theater", is just as rad and should be immediately purchased.

Could you give us a band history? You know, the orgins, all the members?
Greg: Well, Nicholas (bass) was a porno star in LA about ten years ago and I was directing one of the movies he was in called "John Studd Rides Again". We were out one night having a beer after shooting one of the scenes and he told me he played bass and he heard I played guitar. We wrote a few tunes here and there and decided to get together with one Daze E. Hazel and rock'n roll history was made. We then decided to move up to Seattle from LA because the whole grunge thing was happening and we wanted to jump on that bandwagon.
How did you hook up with Jon Clark and Ringing Ear Records?
Umm ... well he saw one of the pornos as well and was impressed by the size. He's got quite a collection.
What does the average New Sweet Breath fan look like?
Well, they're usually guys that don't pick up many girls. They look like you I guess.
Did you have any traumatic childhood exeriences that forced you to become a rocker?
Nicholas used to beat me silly when I was a little baby. He used to line up books in the hallway and walk on them. If I didn't follow the path exactly he would start knocking on my head, ya know,.? On the soft spot of the head.
What's your fascination with nudity, Graig?
Well, we don't have one. A lot of people send us naked photos and stuff of themselves. Girls and stuff. We kind of feel like we should use them, and pay tribute to the New Sweet Breath fans.
Who's the naked girl on the Mag Wheel 7"?
Umm ... we take all of our pictures from things we find at Kinko's.
Cafe Latte or Cappucinno?
Cafe ... actually I really like iced Latte's. Do you like iced Latte's?
I like them hot, baby.
That's kind of a good drink if you're gonna go to work or something in the morning. The best coffee drink is to make 4 shots of espresso and put wee bits of milk in it and it's the best. It's like a huge strong cup of coffee.
Doesn't it send you to the bathroom?
Well, I'm kinda immune to it now. I haven't shit for months.
OK, you have a girlfriend, right?
Yea, well for the rock 'n roll thing, none of us have girlfriends. It doesn't appeal to the girl fans who send us naked pictures.
Well what do girls think of your breath?
They think ummm..."Wow, that's pretty rad."
Pretty now and sweet?
Yea, they think it's like ... I don't know. Did you get that poster I sent you? The screened one?
It's in my hallway.
That is my girlfriend, but you can't make her out too well.
Is she the one on the "Silka" 7"?
Nope. Yea, but that's Kinko's picture.
If you were on Conan O'Brien, what song would you play and why?
I think we'd play "Scratched," because it has a lot of dirty words.
Have you ever got so nervous on stage you shit your pants?
Nope, but I've drank so much espresso I've shit my pants. (laughs)
How do you approach the recording process? It's kinda lo-fi in a hi-fi kinda way...
We kinda go in with the drum machine and lay down the beats (laughs). Def beats, that is. Are you talking about New Sweet Breath or Dr. Dre?
Either.
Well, When I'm with Dr. Dre it's a whole different process than when I'm with New Sweet Breath. But usually when I'm with New Sweet Breath we go in and play everything together as a three piece band without any vocals. I actually like recording out at this place in Seattle called "Electric Eel". It's by far the coolest studio. They have really good mics. It's not really a very good room at all. You can actually hear traffic and airplanes. A lot of times you can hear people rehearsing downstairs and stuff. It's just completly trashed out and stuff. There's probably more dirt there than...
Recording equipment?
Yea. I usually add another guitar on top of that and then vocals and stuff. I usually like to record and mix it myself. We did the new full-length thing at Avast! with Stuart Hallerman and it sounds pretty slick.
I wanted to ask you about that. What is it called?
It's called "Demolition Theater". The songs are a lot faster and less poppy. We're showing off the fact that we got new tuners. The vocals are a lot cleaner. Everyone I've talked to about it says they like the new one better than the last one. I don't know, I kind of like the first better though.
Did you write all the songs for the records, or did everyone contribute?
I did most of the songs for the last one. And for this one I did maybe kinda most. Nicholas came up with a bunch more this time. He actually comes up with the best ones when he comes up with them. (laughs)
Who came up with "Silka"?
That was mine.
What does that mean?
Ya know those cacoon thing-a-jigs? It actually came from a painting called "Silka".
Had any grueling job experiences lately?
My current job at Muzac is pretty cool. It's just kinda funny. There's so many people that work out there. Or used to. Just a couple of weeks ago Ron from Love Battery started working there. It's crazy.
What do you do there?
We take hooks from songs and put them over the intemet. We license out these hooks to people like Tower and CD Now. Right now we're getting rid of all the vinyl and cd's and putting them on computer. We're doing an Offspring album.
What one song would you want to decode?
I'd say "Armchair President".
(laughs) Thanks. So, you have a new drummer. Is he going to tour with you and everything?
Yea. Have I ever recorded any Herder stuff for you? They're friends of ours, thay're cool. They broke up and Pat wasn't playing with them anymore and now he's playing with us. And I assure you and everyone in rockland that he's gonna rock.
Well, that's it...
Be sure to make me sound sexy Chuck, so when we're on tour I can pick up bitches.
Oh one more question. Have you ever eaten a bag of dicks before?
What? A bag of dicks? (laughs)
Yea.
There's this huge hamburgerjoint in Seattle called "Dick's". I thought you were talking about that, getting a sack of dicks.

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