Garbage Interview

The Alternative Rock band that owned the 90s, Garbage, are back with a bang. After taking just a bit too long a break , we were keen to find out a bit of old stuff about them, and what their plans are for the future. Lead guitarist, Steve Marker tells us how it all started, and why Garbage are still together almost 20 years later.

Hello there Mr Marker, whereabouts are you right now?
Yeah hello, we’ve established you’re in Melbourne- I’m in Colorado.

And have you been up to much today? What time is it in Colorado right now?
6.30 in the evening. Today… I mowed my lawn.

Oh exciting, busy day in the life of a rock-star!
Absolutely- and then I’ve been riding my bike a lot…

Awesome- bike riding is the one. So I’ve realised your group don’t seem to fit a stereotypical genre – I feel ignorant calling it Rock or Electronic… how would you describe the category, of music into which you slot?
You mean what genre are we?

Yes! I don’t know how to classify it!
Err, well for me, and I think for the rest of the band, that’s a good thing – because I don’t think we ever wanted to be something you could sum up in just a few words?

Does that mean that you find it hard to know who you’re aiming towards, or do you just write and see what happens?
We always write and see what happens – and err…

Fingers crossed?
Well when we’re working on records we have no idea what it’s gonna sound like so…

Okay! Tell me about the five-year gap in the group?
Yes, we all went off and did our own thing for a while- we’d all been on the road for so long and… we just figured we’d take a little break!

What brought you back together then?
Ah, just a sort of mutual love for the music that we’d done in the past and… friendship.

Aw, friendship, isn’t that sweet?
Well it wasn’t ever just a thing where it was a business proposition.

I suppose that’s clarified by the way that you don’t play towards a particular audience- and instead play and see what happens?
Hmm, well that’s the goal anyway, we realise that certain people like certain things, but we also try to please ourselves.

Yeah that’s good, that’s good. Can you tell me a joke?
A joke?

I have totally put you on the spot here, so feel free to bail…
Um, okay- I’ll think of a joke for you. Hmm, I’m gonna Google it- I’m going to jokes.com, hold on.

Oh no! That’s so cheating!
Okay here we go! How do you find Ronald McDonald in a nudist colony?

You’re cheating so it doesn’t count! Hmm.. I don’t know, you… I want to think of something funny, so I’m not sure.
It counts – you didn’t get the joke?

Should I get it? I don’t get it, I’m really slow with these things…
Here let’s see, umm-

Doesn’t count if you’re looking it up online…
Alright, what’s brown and sticky?

A stick.
A stick.

Yes!
The best joke in the UK.

I know, it’s pretty bad hey, it’s pretty bad. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, alive or dead – from Tom Jones to Michael Jackson- who would it be and why?
Joe Strummer.

Who?
The best rock star ever, I think.

Did you just say Bill Strummer? Oh one second! JOE Strummer! I do know who this is!
Well you should…

Background musician?
Joe Strummer- the singer of The Clash?

The Clash- just not my genre of music…
That’s just not right!

This is the problem- ’cause I feel guilty as though I should like all types of music, but everyone has an opinion?
Well that’s true.

In that respect, you’re in the car on a Sunday drive- what music are you listening to?
On a Sunday? That’s what happens on a Saturday here

Haha, sorry, you mow the lawn don’t you?
Yeah! And for something as mild as that, it might be The Clash or it might be The Ramones or… I might feel like heading onto Spotify and looking for the Clash’s latest releases and I might find something good…

I’m not sure if you ever get this, because you seem a very calm, friendly character, but sometimes I’m driving along, something comes on the radio and I furiously stab at the buttons because something agonising comes on, ahem [certain artist].
I don’t have anything for [certain artist].

Sorry, did you say you don’t have any respect for Justin Beiber?
Umm… I don’t really have an opinion on Justin Beiber

How can you not?! You have no opinion?
Justin Beiber is not something that really infects my world very heavily…

If you did have an opinion, what would it be?
I think he’s probably uh… I have no idea, I’ve never met him – I don’t know.

Y’know, I was gonna overlook this, and now I’m really curious- what is your outlook on his music at least?
Um, I’ve heard very little of it, because I don’t listen to that type of radio – but I think he seems err.. very pleasant and unoffensive.

Ha! Very pleasant?
Pleasant and unoffensive.

Amazing. In the future, do you see the group together forever? Is there anything big in the pipe-line?
Mainly our next new record.

Ten years down the line, do you see yourselves together and carrying on making music, or do you see yourselves going separate ways again?
I actually do see us working together forever, but not necessarily as a touring rock festival band but certainly as carrying on with music in our lives- I mean it could turn into something different, it could turn into um I don’t know. Our music could turn into runway musicals or… I don’t know, you knew know. The best part is you never know what’s going to happen.

Fair enough, I suppose as long as you’re not mowing the lawn for the rest of your life, you’re good!
No, I do that just for fun.

Ha! So you’re in prison right now and calling one person to bail you out, who is it?
Probably someone in my band- because they’re my best friends, and they would be the first ones to show up with a bag of cash to get me out.

With regards to that, Garbage is one of those groups, it feels, that is pretty unique – how did you get this mix of musicians together?
Well, we had been friends with guys from other bands for a few years and I worked as a roadie for the bands they were in, and we played all over the mid-Western area of the states, and we also started a recording studio. We heard Shirley’s voice on MTV- we decided to make a record!

How does that work? You hear a voice and decide you want to work with that person.
Well you don’t know for sure if it’s gonna work out – but- it’s worth a try. It’s like when you wanna meet a person- you don’t know if it’s gonna work but you may as well try and meet them.

I had that once! I wanted to meet Franz Ferdinand, still haven’t.
Well we met them last summer at a festival.

Cool! What were they like?
Super-quiet and super-pleasant. But pleasant in a good way, not in the Justin Beiber way.

AMAZING! Haha, thanks for that Steve, looking forward to hearing the new work, do send along some pictures of that pristine mowed lawn.

By Lillie Almond

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