When Fjorn and I caught up with Love of Diagrams at the Rob Roy on September 6th we were a little anxious yet excited. Remembering how good they were when we saw them at RMIT a month before, we were kinda psyched that not only were we seeing them again, we were interviewing them, too.
Once arrived, we found Antonia, Monika and Luke, introduced ourselves and got them better acquainted with Supre Sucra. We then moved into a quieter room and started with the questions....

We asked what the response to The Target Is You, their first release that came out this year, had been like.
Monika seaid she wasn't expecting it to be as succesful as it had been, and Antonia was happy with how it was all going.
We'd recently noticed pink copies of The Target Is You around, as opposed to the usual blue one. "Was there any specific reason for the pink pressing of The Target Is You?"
Monika told us there was no reason, it was just "like a sister to the blue one."

We had our own theory as to how they came up with their band name, but we wanted to know from them. "How did you get the name Love of Diagrams?" Antonia explained "Diagrams are likeable, we don't really love them but, you know..." We stepped in explaining our theory, which is that they all shared the common bond of developoing a 'love of diagrams' during maths classes at high school. Fjorn and I often think up silly theories to explain band names and the like...anyhow, wrong as we were, they liked our theory, so it's okay...

"What are some bands you like even though you know they're kind of bad, but you still like them anyway?"
Monika asked "Would ...Trail of Dead or Interpol count?" and Antonia "Toto...I guess I kind of liked them because Toto was my nickname when I was younger." I'd never heard of Toto, and Antonia said we might know a song of theirs called Africa. Fjorn knew it, "It has that film clip with the library that's on fire, right?" Silence filled the room...library on fire...hmmm...

"What other bands have you been in prior to Love of Diagrams?" we asked. Monika is in Jihad Against America and Baseball, and has been in Sea Scouts, Library Punks and Bites. Luke was in Long Distance Runner and Breaking the Law. Antonia had been in The Vodka Party and... Invisible Ninja Oblivion, which I think is one of the coolest names I've ever heard. It was one of those bands you have to be in if you learn music at school. Heh, Fjorn and I know all about those. Anyone for playing Sleater-Kinney's A Quarter to Three...again?...

We asked if they were still touring Europe as we'd heard a while ago, and they said they were in November. So, far as we know, they're still there.
That was pretty much how it all went. After we thanked them for the interview and left, I told Fjorn the awful truth: the dictaphone had conked out within the first 2 minutes. Why I didn't just say so during the interview and go find a pen and paper, I do not know. Anyway, all that aside, I suggest you go and check out Love of Diagrams when they're back from Europe.

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Supra: What was one of the more memorable, special moments of Walt Mink's time together?

John: One of them has to be the first time we headlined the big venue of what was then our home town of Minneapolis, First Avenue. At the time it was just so awesome to see those tickets with our name printed on them. After the rockin', sold-out show we all looked at each other and said, "No matter what happens from here on in, remember this."

Supra: What's your favourite Walt Mink Song? Why?

John: I think my fave is 'Love in the Dakota' from our third record, El Producto. It's a great example of automatic writing; after watching 'Rosemary's Baby' on TV one day, I sat down and wrote a song, as a goof really, outlining the basic premise of the movie. Only later when I thought about what I wrote did I realise that the song actually detailed the story of my family in chilling detail - minus the satanic coven and the devil child of course. Somehow I had conjured it, I don't know. The brain is weird that way...

Supra: Who is one of your most important musical influences?

John: Many of the people who were the biggest influence on me weren't even musicians - they were the friends who when i was growing up turned me on to thousands of incredible records and infected me with the obsession with music that haunts me to this day.

Supra: When and how did music become specifically important to you?

John: Music was always important, from the time I was really little. My parents used to put 'Revolver' on for me to fall asleep to. Good choice. But I didn't develop the urge to rock until I was about fourteen; I had a friend who was an amazing guitar player, and I kinda sucked, and I would watch him play the opening riff from 'For Those About to Rock' and think "I have to do this."
I became totally obsessed with the guitar and spent evrey waking moment making up stuff and playing along to records. Everything took a back seat to music, and twenty years later, not much has changed!

Supra:What projects have you been working on since the demise of Walt Mink?

John: These days I mostly do scoring stuff for movies and TV, like everybody else who isn't making a fortune in rock! It's fun, but needless to say I have a powerful urge to shake my ass and scream in a rock n roll band. That's why me and my buddy are making a record.

Supra: Hey, if music is pretty much all you do, you're a groovy child in my eyes. What records have you been listening to and loving lately?

John:The following are currently residing in my CD travel case -
The Kinks 'Lola Vs. Powerman...',   Deep Purple 'In Rock',    The new Fountains of Wayne,   The Stooges 'Funhouse',    The new Pornographers 'Electric Version',   The Flaming Lips 'Yoshimi...',    The Raspberries,   The Cars,    The Free Association Black Sabbath 'Volume 4',   AC/DC 'Let There Be Rock',   The Cardigans 'First Band on the Moon',    Curtis Mayfield 'The Essential...',   Beach Boys 'Surf's Up,    Blondie 'Parallel Lines',   Skip Spence 'Oar',    Thin Lizzie 'Bad Reputation'...

Supra: The New Pornographers! Nice... I found out about Walt Mink when I stumbled upon 'Miss Happiness' one day and was intrigued by it. I knew nothing about Walt Mink, but I wanted to hear what they were like out of plain curiosity and so bought the 'Miss Happiness' album. Ever since that time, whenever I buy a record at random simply on the basis of "Hey, this could be interesting" I refer to it as 'doing a Walt Mink.' How do you feel about being at the centre of this small, but cherished phenomenon?

John:Well, I'm flattered that you liked what you heard, but I wish there had been something more than the luck of the draw involved! I hope that it inspired you to be fearless in taking a chance of new music - there's a lot more good stuff out there, and you never know - you may be pleasantly surprised.

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