20 Questions with… The Mae Shi

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The Mae Shi are one of the best live acts around. Their collosal angular thrash of noise amazed me during their recent tour of these fair shores. So, I thought, why not get them to answer our 20 Questions? We caught up with Brad Breeck, who gave us one of the most considered answers for our “Stoat or Goat” question yet…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Colors, angles, parties.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
Firehose, Flyin’ the Flannel. I bought it because all the cool skaters in town were into Firehose. Then I returned it because I thought the music was evil (seriously). Then I bought it again later because I realized there’s no such thing as evil music. Duh!

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
I’ve never had a hangover, but my wife tells me that Sul Lung Tang (korean beef soup) is the best hangover cure. So when and if I ever have a hangover, i’m gonna eat that.

4. What’s on your rider?
Saltines, mountain dew, 4 bottle rockets, and 2 newborn puppies and 1 kitten per band member. Unless there’s an In n Out or Chipotle near buy.

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
Yoga (poses: eager eagle, laughing lion, jumping jackrabit, grateful gopher), pushups (5), jumping jacks (3), pullups (1/2). Then I let Jacob punch me in the face twice, and I eat a dozen baby salamanders.

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
“The Lamb & The Lion”

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
I don’t believe in guilty pleasure. All aesthetic experiences exist on the same plane of relevance (Bill will disagree with this). However, eating Gelato makes me slightly embarassed.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
Clearly the Stoat would win. The Goats main defense apparatus are it’s horn (or horns if it’s a polycerate goat) and it’s hooves. The Stoat is fast and wiley and can easily avoid the goat’s horns and hooves. The Stoat will leap at the goat’s neck and bite. The stoat has a firm jaw that it will not easily release. The stoat is a fierce and relentless fighter, and it is cute. The goat is lazy, dumb and ugly. Of course if you’re talking about the hornless goat, that’s something all together different… but the outcome would probably be the same.

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
Abe Vigoda. They are from Los Angeles. If a bunch kids from the Smell started a calypso band they would sound like this… wait, that’s kinda exactly what Abd Vigoda is.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Kate Blanchette

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
Melt Banana, the Sparks, Best Fwends, This Heat, Faust (performing Faust Tapes).

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
A Rainbow in Curved Air by Terry Riley, cause you can trip to it really easily without drugs.

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
Last summer, on Cape Cod, a drunk 15 year old kid slapped me in the face with all of his might. That was awesome.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Running in the park with my wife and my dogs. Doing frontside airs on a skateboard. Eating at In N Out and Chipotle.

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
Don’t try to finish every idea you have, because most of your ideas aren’t good. Just finish the good ones. Yes, I took notice.

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
They can have it all. I won’t need it when i’m dead.

17. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
I’m reading a biography of David Geffen, it’s a really fun one. He is an asshole. Son of Rambow was AMAZING!!

18. What three things could you not live without?
My brain, my cardivascular system, In N Out.

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I little league I only made contact with the ball once, and it was a foul ball. Baseball is hard.

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
Natasha Beddingfield “Love Like This”, Mandy Moore “Cry”, Hilary Duff “shine”, Cowboy Troy “I play chicken with the train”, Shania Twain “You’re Still The one”.
Theme: Songs to annoy the other guys in the band while traveling.

Links
The Mae Shi [official site] [myspace]