WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
Welcome to the WebChat Broadcasting System, the leading Internet broadcaster. Thank you for coming, we hope you enjoy the show with Soul Coughing today, our host is Amanda Jane.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
Hi, how you doing?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
I'm all right, how are you?

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
I'm very well. Can you tell us where you are talking to us from.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
I am in a full adobe hut behind the Second Stage in Brian, Texas at Lollapalooza.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
How has it been going?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
It's, all right. Hot, and sleepy and repetitive, as all good rock tours should be.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
How long have you been on the tour?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
This is like our 6th day, which means like a week and a half or something.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:58PM
Is it the mad rock and roll world you expected?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
It's a mad rock and roll world, strippers, blow, everybody driving Hum Vs around half naked, everything I've always dreamed about.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
When they asked Soul Coughing to do Lollapalooza how did you feel?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
How did I feel?

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
Yes.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
I felt like I should go out and buy some sun screen.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
Were you surprised at all given the rather heavy feel of this year's line up?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
No, I think they are looking for some kind of element to add levity, I understand that's what we are. The Second and Third Stage this year are particularly indicating alternativeness, and, you know, that's more or less a function that we serve here.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 3:59PM
And how do you feel the audience are taking to that?

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Your link to the Real Audio of this interview is button

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
Really well, actually. It's been quite surprising, you don't expect a bunch of people in bikini tops to be enjoying your once cutting edge sound, but as it it's happens that's what it is.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
So clothes and bad outfits are no hazard to enjoying your music.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
Sure.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
Could you tell me a little bit about how Soul Coughing got together?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
Yeah, well, there is no story about me pulling a sword from a stone or anything, we met at a jazz club in New York, I was working the door, everyone else was playing in various bands. You know, the aliens descended and gave us instruments, and a mission to rock, what else do you want to know?

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
You were on the door, you weren't in a band at that time?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
No, I was on the door, a ticket taker.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
You had dreams of being on the stage?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
Yes, big dreams. Really make-up.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:00PM
So you got together in New York, that was a couple of years ago now?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Four years ago.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Four years ago.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Yes, ma'am.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Do you think that you are a particularly New York band, would you have sounded different had you been in LA?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Well, now one of our members lives in San Francisco and I more or less live with my girlfriend in London, so I think no.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
So you live all over the place?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Uh-huh.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
Doesn't that make it difficult when it comes to writing or rehearsing?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
No, when we are not on the road we don't want to see each other's faces, it's quite handy, actually.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
That's good. I was going to ask if you hung out together when you are not doing --

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
No, we don't exactly go out for brunch every day.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:01PM
You have been on tour pretty pretty constantly, though, haven't you?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:02PM
Totally. There is no way else to do it, you know. If one wants to be a musician one should be out playing music. There is only so many small clubs in New York City.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:02PM
How do you find the constant touring?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:02PM
It's a relatively easy groove to get into. It's sort of like being a sailor living in this bus, sleeping in a bunk, rocking back and forth speeding down an interstate every night. You eventually get your sea legs and then it becomes difficult to come off the road. I had to give up my apartment because it became too difficult for me to make the adjustment to being back at home. So I'm more or less on tour for the rest of my life.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:02PM
I have no home, I must tour?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:02PM
Exactly.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:02PM
So do you write songs while you are on tour? I mean you have to do the other band work while you are touring.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:03PM
Well, yeah, I'm the lyricist, melody writer guy, I find it easy to work on the road. I know other bands complain about it, but the way we work is pretty expedient, so there is really no barrier coming from not being in the same city when we are not on the road.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:03PM
So how does the song writing process work within the band?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:03PM
Well, usually, we will just sort of work on fragments of grooves, sort of, you know, contain the DNA for the rest of the song rather than come up with a structure and then and try and build kind of melodic and chordal elements into that. Generally

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:03PM
over these groove fragments I will keep trying lyric ideas, melodic ideas, once that is set the various embellishments occur. We are a live band, there is a lot of orchestration, but it's all coming from four people, so it's not like, you know, there is a tremendous amount of, you know, horns and strings and, you know, such and so forth.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
But you are not relying on studio trickery.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
No, we are a live band. I don't think we have been able to match our live show on record, actually.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
Is that frustrating?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
No, it's just a different animal. It's not even a question of kind of an objective better or worse, it's just a preference. Preferential call.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
So your second album, is that out now?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
Yes, that came out a couple weeks ago, it's doing quite well, surprisingly, miraculously well.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:04PM
You seem a little taken back by that?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:05PM
Yeah, to be honest we are a weird band. It would be nice to think that one could wake up in America tomorrow and find everyone was listening to Tom Waits and the Delhis and blasting a tribe called Quest, whatever, but, it's definitely a conservative

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:05PM
time for music. And you know, just not being a big large chunky alterna-band it's surprising to hear the radio stations are actually getting into you.,

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:05PM
Do you think the Hootie backlash is beginning then? Do youthink people are looking for something a little different?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:05PM
First of all, I'm certainly as guilty of it as everyone else, but people characterize the rock audience as if it made decisions en masse, when in fact, you know, individuals are individuals and there is all kinds of small things happening, you know, regionally

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
and multiregionally, you know, it's not a question of, you know, everybody in the world wants to go buy Hootie and the Blowfish record.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
It just seems that way.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
I find it interesting there is some bands 2 million people buy their band on a single and mysteriously the band will just kind of die, meaning you know despite the fact that 2 million people buy the record, it doesn't necessarily mean 2 million people like the record.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
So you must be pleased, I imagine, with Irresistible Bliss doing so well. I guess the Lollapalooza is helping that in that it's bringing you to some new people.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
Yes, surely. That and we have gotten all these endorsements from Dave Matthews, which is bizarre. He has been really sweet to us.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
You are not doing the whole tour, then?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:06PM
No, we actually had just planned to do both hippie land and Alterna land but it didn't quite pan out..

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
That would have been quite a scam to pull if you could manage that one.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
Unfortunately you do have to choose. Both camps have too much dignity to allow double agents.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
You could change your name.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
We are Soul Couching.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
Where did the name Soul Coughing come from?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
It was the title of a poem that I wrote that wasn't particularly very good. I kind of jettisoned the poem and kept it as the band name. Interestingly enough I'm discovering that tt was a better poem title than a band name. It sort of made more sense, it was a much smaller context for the name to be in. I think it sound dissuasively big rock as a big name. Hopefully after a while the name just goes blank and turn into a blank signifier of what you are.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
It will be you rather than the name.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:07PM
Right. Exactly.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:08PM
Is there any questions that you want to ask, Andy?

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:08PM
Sure. First of all I want to ask you some questions. How do you feel about Dave Matthews's music and his rise to popularity? I'm a big fan of Dave.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:08PM
Well, he has been so cool to us. We are probably going to tour with him in the fall, we did a tour in December. We actually got a tape from a Soul Coughing fan of him covering a song of ours called This Chicago is Not Chicago, which is just mind blowing because he has one of these radio voices, everywhere you go, every shopping mall, every K-Mart you hear this voice and you hear it like singing something you wrote, it's a little bit of a mind fuck.

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:08PM
My other question is, all of my friends seem to really like your article in Might Magazine.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:08PM
Thank you.

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:08PM
Did you enjoy writing it?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM
God, yes. I hope it didn't come off as being too cranky, I have a problem with my sarcasm not translating into print. I'm a jovial good natured sort.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Have you spent much time on the Internet? Do you have an opinion on its popularity?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM
Could you speak up louder please?

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM
Do you have an opinion on the Internet?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM
Uhm, I don't know. It's a good thing. Capital I A G T. I don't know. It's sort of a broad subject to address, I don't believe it's the saviour of humanity.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Why did you choose to be a musician as opposed to say a lawyer?

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:09PM
Uhm, as opposed to say a lawyer? (Laughing.). If you could -- my answer is because my friend Dan does all the lawyering. (Laughing.)

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:10PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
What do you do in your spare time? Do you have hobbies? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:10PM
Smoke pot, watch movies, what else is there to do? We are in a rock band, man. It's all blow and strippers.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:10PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Who has been a big influence on you as far as music goes? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:10PM
There is so many people to list. Right now I'm listening to this kind of dichotomy of Hank Williams and Sam Cook, pretty exclusively, just veering from one Sam song to one Hank song and back again. I like the pop moment, the sense of pop release, so I tend to like things with some just divine simple melody that I can just listen to over and over and over again.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:11PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Are you guys going to play is the SF Bay area? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:11PM
Uhm, we are not sure. We are going to try and hit a gig between Seattle and Los Angeles, but it's unclear.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:11PM
We are going to be on the San Jose Lollapalooza show, which is I know not San Francisco, but.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:11PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Do you think doing Lollapalooza will drastically change your position in the music scene. Do you think this will have a drastic impact on your popularity? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:11PM
No. Honestly. I'd like to think that the reason one goes out on tour like this is because a lot of people will see you and say geez, I like that sound, I like that band. In fact it's the sort of thing that's more impressive to radio stations. And the term thrown around often is marquee value. Marquee value. It's weird because as undefinable as this band sound really is, the business culture is all rock business culture.
I just got the call for one minute.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:12PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Are any of you married?? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:12PM
Mark is married.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:12PM
There are girls throwing themselves out the window all over the country then.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:12PM
Happens all the damn time. It's just tragic.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:12PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Are you glad David Lee Roth is back with Van Halen (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:12PM
I am so glad David Lee Roth is back in Van Halen. I was so overjoyed it was just, I was ready to weep when I found that out. It's just so completely amazing. Although there is some chance

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:13PM
that he is just going to do the greatest hits thing and they will get yet a third vocalist, so really I would like to think my life right now is just biding time until I get that call from Eddie Van Halen.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:13PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
This is such a large venue - how does your show differ from one you would put on for, say an audience of 100? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:13PM
Well, for one thing there is all kinds of ambient noise, so, to include as of, you know, two days ago Rage Against the Machine blasting from the other stage you can't really do quiet material,

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:13PM
you have to be more aggressive but at the same time there is almost a diorama-esque thing to the Second Stage, you do feel you are up in a box and people just wander by looking at you. So at the same time it's very passive.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:13PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
Are you guys playing with the monks that played in the virginia show? (question from audience)

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM
With the Monks? The Monks that played -- oh. We'd love to get them on stage with us. The ShaoLin Monks, man. Awesome. Breaking iron bars with their heads and everything. Unfortunately Mr. Gus Brand is calling me to write my set list. I'm sorry this had to be so short.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM
Thank you very much.

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM
Thanks, have a good set.

Soul Coughing (M. Doughty): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM
You have a good set, too. (Laughing.). See you later.

Amanda Jane (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM
Bye.

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM
This has been another presentation of the WebChat Broadcasting system the leading Internet broadcasters. Thank you for coming to tonight's show.

moderator (): . . . . Thu, Jul 25, 4:14PM PDT (-0700 GMT)
This has been another presentation of the WebChat Broadcasting System, the leading Internet broadcaster. Thank you for coming to tonight's show, and thanks to Soul Coughing for joining us. We will see you again on Saturday, July 27 at 4:00 PM (Pacific Time) when we will be backstage with Sponge!! Until then, good evening....