Kieran: Next question: PC or Mac?
Ean: Oh, PC.
Really? Well I'm going to cut this interview short now (laughter).
Well, I should add that most of the work that I do is NT based.
Well, at my job I do all my work on Windows NT, but then I come home and cleanse myself on my Power Mac (laughter).
What do you do?
Web development.
Really?
Yeah.
We do a lot of corporate stuff like build sites for Microsoft.
That was my next question: what do you do for work?
Well, mostly I spend a lot of time working with SQL databases and Microsoft client-side and server-side scripting. My kind of specialty is publishing systems, so if people want to have news displayed and want to have a way to track it and update it and maintain it. I did a publishing system for the PGA Tour, which is one of our clients, and right now I'm doing one for the Microsoft Back Office site.
Have you ever had a non computer-related job?
Oh yeah. Before I got into this I was a counselor. I studied psychology in college and I worked at a mental health agency, working with mentally ill adults for about two and a half years, and I got really tired of that. So I decided to go on and do this.
Do you have an anti-glare screen on your monitor, or are you hardcore and stare at the naked screen?
You know, I stare at the naked screen. I think I should get a glare screen, though.
Do you have a punk rock mousepad and Black Flag bars on your hard drive?
(laughing) That's funny; I don't use a mousepad but I do have one -- it's a Hello Kitty one (laughter).
That's just the opposite.
But I do have punk rock band stickers all over my computer...that and Hello Kitty stickers.
That's a weird mix.
Yeah, that's been my big collection thing that I'm kinda getting out of. I've got a new thing: I'm collecting bugs.
"I think that if you're doing something yourself you don't have to worry about what a bunch of pissy 16 year olds in Berkeley think of you."
Can you be a DIY punker and still work behind a computer for a living?
Absolutely, absolutely. First of all, conceptually I think that if you're doing something yourself you don't have to worry about what a bunch of pissy 16 year olds in Berkeley think of you, and/or how their definition of DIY -- be that dumpster diving or whatever -- applies to you.
But on top of that I think that's kind of where you end up being when you take a career seriously and hope to do music on the side, because you're not trying to make a living at it. You're not working for a large company, you're just you and your pals and you're having fun, and you can say "I don't feel like practicing this month -- fuck you guys" (laughter). So it's very, very much do-it-yourself. Before going on the tours we sit down with the people with the record label and send off posters to all the stores and radio stations, and call people, and we send out our little newsletter and run our Web site and all that stuff. So it's very much do-it-yourself.
I think I know the answer to this question now that I've heard what you've been doing: Bill Gates -- hero or bad guy?
Oh, what a dick!
Really? I'm surprised.
Yeah. Those guys are jerks. That whole scene is so...it's kind of shitty to knock it to a certain extent, because in a lot of ways they were our bread and butter for a long time at this company. Obviously they've put out a lot of great things and really have changed the world. At the same time, if you've ever been to Microsoft and had to work with Microsoft people, they're assholes. And this whole concept of the ultra-importance of Microsoft products and PR and all that kind of shit is bloody annoying. On top of that, I think the devotion to wealth is really kind of gross.
