Interview Conducted by: Sara Sharf and Noel
Billig
(taken from Bloody
Wanker)
If you don't know Plow United, they're a great band from
Pennsylvania. They have a two full length albums on Creep Records
and a have put out a bunch of seven inches. The guys from Plow
United seemed like really nice guys and we've been trying to
interview them for a long time now, but, unfortunately, there was
no connection during the interview. Someone told us it's just
because they're kind of shy- I don't know. The interview took
place at Wetlands on Novemeber 17, 1996. Sorry if this interview
sucks ass, we wish it would have worked out better. ---Sara
Plow United is :
Bloody Wanker- Name, instrument you play, age, height and
weight.
Sean- I'm Sean, I'm the drummer, 5'11", 175 pounds
is
that everything? (right in picture)
Sara- And height.
Sean- 5'11", no I'm 23- that was the age.
Sara- Oh yeah, the age (my bad).
Brian- I'm Brian, I play guitar, I'm 21 and I'm 145 pounds and I
think I'm 5'9". (left in picture)
Joel- I'm Joel, I play the bass, I think I'm around 155 pounds,
I'm 6'5" and I'm 21. (middle in picture)
Bloody Wanker- What's the Pennsylvania music scene like?
Plow- Pretty much like anywhere else.
Bloody Wanker- Aren't you guys from Westchester?
Joel- We don't live there anymore, but we're from Pennsylvania.
We're not from any specific town because we all come from
different places.
Bloody Wanker- What are your favorite Pennsylvania bands or bands
in general?
Sean- Ick
Brian- Shortfuse, Super Hi-Fives, Dutchland Diesel, uh
Joel- FOD
Sara- The Crash (I love them so)?
Brian- They're a Delaware band though.
Bloody Wanker- How did you guys get onto Creep?
Joel- You don't really get on Creep. You kind of just
Sean- You stay at their house long enough
Joel- You stay at their house long enough time that they just
fucking throw you in the basement and tell you to record.
Bloody Wanker- How did Plow get together? Were you all friends
before?
Brian- We all went to the same high school. And Sean, naturally
is two years older than us, so
Well we all met in high
school and we were in jazz band together.
Sean- And marching band
Joel- We played in orchestra together.
Bloody Wanker- What's your favorite Saturday morning
cartoon?
Brian- I don't really watch it anymore but when I was a loyal
Saturday morning cartoon watcher, my favorite, I think, was the
Spider Man, Fire Woman, Ice Man
whatever that one was
called.
Noel- Spider Man and his Amazing Friends. (Noel's a big cartoon
fan)
Brian- Exactly!
Sean- My favorite was the Smurfs from 1985 when I used to watch
cartoons, channel 3.
Bloody Wanker- Why did you change your name from Plow to
Plow United?
Joel- We were legally obligated (For those of you who don't
already know- there's another band out there named Plow).
Sean- 'Cause we started a soccer league (he laughs alone). We had
to, they were going to sue us.
Noel- Were you kind of upset about that?
Sean- At first
Joel- It was kind of annoying
Brian- But its grown on us.
Bloody Wanker- What's your favorite Plow United song?
Joel- My favorite's "Plow II".
Mumbles all around- Sounds like they say Big Mike and Dean (but
those aren't any songs we know of).
Bloody Wanker- If you could marry anyone living, dead,
fictional or non-fictional, who would it be?
(Pause)
Sean- Can we come back to that?
Brian- I don't really ever plan on getting married, but I can
think of a person or two that I'd like to spend a lot of time
with.
Sara- Who would that be?
Brian- I'd rather not name any names (laughs all around). It
would be weird.
Bloody Wanker- What do you do when you're not playing with
the band? Do you work?
Brian- I work at a Lawnscape supplies place called Sweeny Seed
Company. I just do that from 8:00-5:00.
Noel- Is that a plug?
Brian- Yeah, this is a plug
Come get your fertilizer, we
have 80 compacts (I think that's what he said) of rock salt,
magnesium chloride, calcium chloride.
Joel- Magnesium chloride is great!
Brian- Magnesium and chloride will ruin your shoes. So come down,
we'll ruin shoes together.
Sean- I teach math. And uh, that pretty much keeps me busy.
Sara- Do you have to dress all nice?
Sean- I wear a tie. I comb my hair.
Brian- He also bartends too.
Sara- Teach by day, bartend by night.
Sean- It keeps me busy.
Brian- He's a little flashdancer .
Joel- I work in a CD store.
Bloody Wanker- And, uh where's the coolest place you've
toured.
Brian- El Paso, Texas.
Group- Yeah, El Paso, Texas.
Sara- How come?
Brian- Because the people were awesome and they treated us well.
Sean- And they've all been to jail (I think that's what he said).
Brian- And they're just great people.
Noel- Did they know you when you got out there?
Brian- I think a dozen did, but they're just such freaks and just
so fun to be around. They're such good people, they really are.
Joel- What's that other place? Biloxi, Mississippi. Pensacola.
Lake Charles is good.
Sara- Have you guys made it to Europe yet? Not yet.
Brian- Nope, next summer. That means it's exactly one year after
we were initially told we were going.
Sean- We're not angry or anything.
Joel- We'll all look a little different from our passports.
'Cause we all hurried up and got them.
Brian- So we each spent sixty or seventy bucks for our passports
this past summer to go to Europe. So we're just waiting.
Bloody Wanker- What's your most embarrassing, strangest, or
funniest tour or road story?
Brian- I'd say, we were driving through Louisiana and uh, Joel
was playing the End of the World soundtrack
Joel- Until the End of the World! (Until the End of the World was
a good movie, go out and rent it. It's about this dream recording
machine that these people get addicted to, it's about 3 hours
long though, so don't plan on doing anything else for a while).
Brian- Until the End of the World soundtrack, and I was driving
and everyone else was asleep.
Joel- And soon you were too!
Brian- It was at least 105 that day. And, I was kind of tired and
the heat was making me even more tired. So I started falling
asleep and everyone else was asleep and when I fall asleep I have
a tendency to press on the gas more. So I was speeding up.
Sean- Notice how he said when he falls asleep behind the wheel
because it happens quite frequently. (Everyone laughs)
Brian- Exactly. And uh, we almost rear ended a pick up truck full
of like, just, a lot of stuff. And we all woke up at the same
time, all five of us. And I swerved out of the way in time and
everything, but it was just really scary and embarrassing. It was
funny at the same time, ha ha.
Sara- Do you have a van, how do you get around?
(Weston's "Just Like Kurt" kicks in really loud in the
background
)
Joel- Mumbles
something about four vans and a go cart.
Bloody Wanker- If you could commit any crime and get away
with it, what would it be?
Sean- Speeding. Oh wait, no, vehicular assault, I've always
thought about this. The people that cut you off on the highway,
you should have the right to hit them. They shouldn't be driving
like that in the first place. If they cut you off or something
like that, you know how people pass you, they'll get behind you
on the highway, and then they'll pass you, but you want to get
over too
Sara- And then you're blocked.
Sean- Right, right. That's when you go and hit people, just hit
em' and knock em' right off the side of the road.
Sara- I have a tendency to tailgate when people piss me off.
Sean- Yeah, exactly, that's all you can do, you can't touch them.
Brian- I have the same kind of feeling, but mine's more geared
towards old people. Sean tells me I should respect them 'cause
they're older, but I think when they get to the age of 65 or so,
they should have to retake their driver's test.
Everyone- Yeah, yeah.
Sara- You want to go back to the marriage question? Or, if you
could have sex with any cartoon character, who would it be-
that's the back up to the marriage question.
Sean- Azriel.
Everybody laughs.
Noel- You're still caught up on the Smurfs there.
Joel- I have to go back to 1953 and find someone exactly like my
mother and marry her.
Sara- Incest
Bloody Wanker- Okay, do you have any last words?
(Silence) Sara- Buy your new CD.
Joel- Don't buy our new CD. Don't buy our stuff. If you see our
van, fuckin' slash the tires.
Sean- That would be awesome too.
Everyone- All right.
So that's it, the interview ends, we go out and watch Weston. Brian lets us get a free copy of the Creep Records sampler and we go home happy with free booty (that's booty as in pirate treasure, not that other booty).
You can write to Plow United at:
Plow United
Cultural Pirate Ship
PO Box 1120
Brookhaven, PA 19015
USA