!!!'s Offer Talks Myth Takes, Out Hud, Politics, Welfare
"I like to think of myself as somewhere in between the second coming and dog shit."

People don't dance no more-- particularly people of the scrawny, white variety-- but thanks to dance-punk acts like the Rapture and !!!, they're at least trying.

When !!! release their much-salivated-over, previously reported third full length-- Myth Takes, their first for Warp Records worldwide, due March 6-- those people will have ample reason to try the two-step once again. And, while they're at it, brush up on their chin-stroke: The disc's ambitious, often electrifying production and arrangements should have pundits' minds cranking and jaws flapping just as much as its infectious grooves and gnarled guitar lines keep those hips gyrating. Just check out the disc's scintillating centerpiece, "Heart of Hearts", and color us stoked.

Pitchfork caught up with Nic Offer by phone this week as the !!! (and former Out Hud) vocalist/ party-starter was about to catch a plane-- on a quest, no doubt, to stir up some ruckus in exotic far-off locales. Sort of.

Pitchfork: Where are you off to?

Nic Offer: London for the beginning of the year, for the European promo trip.

Pitchfork: How does that work?

Nic: I'm just doing press. It's going to be a long month of talking to myself. I just came back from Japan, doing a press fair, and then I was back for a couple of days. We just did a video yesterday-- I flew back for that, and now I'm going back overseas.

Pitchfork: Sweet-- Which song is the video for?

Nic: "Must Be the Moon".

Pitchfork: Who directed it?

Nic: The official disco-punk director, Ben [Dickinson], the one who does LCD, Juan Maclean, Supersystem, Rapture, and now he did us. His treatment looked great, and actually he was a great guy to work with. We couldn't really turn him down. You find it's good to work with people who are a bit hungry, you know? And he definitely is. And I guess he likes disco-punk.

Pitchfork: So what's the treatment?

Nic: It's kind of tongue-in-cheek; he wanted it to look like a Kenneth Anger film, or Performance, the Mick Jagger movie. So he's got us in all kinds of 60s garb...To me it seemed like such a New York story, but everybody came away with the haunting effects of the moon-- that seemed to be the image people got from the song. It's pretty tongue-in-cheek, and it's going to give a lot of people a reason to hate us.

Pitchfork: Do you think a lot of people hate you right now?

Nic: Anyone who gets any level of press has to deal with some level of hate, and I think we're especially hateable-- and when you see the video you'll know what I mean. There's going to be people who just don't get it. If you look at it and think we're taking ourselves seriously, you're going to fucking hate us. But we had a blast, it was ridiculous and really fun. So, whatever.

Pitchfork: So Myth Takes, is that the way someone with a lisp says 'mistakes?' Where does the title come from?

Nic: You know, I'm really into meanings-- to have exactly five meanings, and that's what that one does. So of course it means that.

Pitchfork: Fair enough. So how does Myth Takes depart from !!!'s previous work, if at all?

Nic: Lyrically we tried a less-direct approach. I feel like with the last record [2004's Louden Up Now] I tried to say everything very plainly. And it seemed like it was too in people's faces. So I tried to say what I felt was a similar message, but told more through stories. Sometimes it seems like you get your point across more by taking a more abstract view. Sometimes the point hits harder-- comes through more directly. It was definitely fun to take that approach, and I felt fresher writing that way. And it opened up a new side of me...and I've been exploring more since then.

Pitchfork: What inspired you to take that new route with your writing?

Nic: Uh, bad reviews.

Pitchfork: So you pay attention to your press?

Nic: No, I mean, you don't, but you catch a drift. I personally don't read anything on the internet-- I mean, aside from you guys [Pitchfork]. You kind of have to pay attention to you, because you're the barometer of all the internet stuff-- but I can't weed through the internet, because I can have my ego blown to gargantuan sizes and then shattered within seconds. It's all there. I always say, if you believe all that stuff, you either think you're the second coming-- or total dog shit. So I like to think of myself as somewhere in between the second coming and dog shit.

Pitchfork: Do you think this record will be better received?

Nic: Yeah, I hope so...but you want your records to be well-received. I'm talking about it with you, but we're all jokes, amongst each other, and it's fun to make jokes about stuff like that. The criticism is just jokes. That's the only way you can look at that kind of stuff.

Pitchfork: You guys are on Warp, worldwide now. How is that working out, being one of the few American acts on a label chiefly known for British IDM?

Nic: I remember the first day of doing interviews for Louden Up Now [released by Warp internationally and Touch and Go domestically] in Belgium or something like that. Every single person asked me, 'Why did Warp sign you?' And I talked to [Warp co-founder] Steve [Beckett] that night, and I was like, 'Everyone keeps asking why you signed us! Why did you sign us?! Because they pretty much either think they're going to make a fuckload of money off of us or they think we're the newest cutting edge in music?' And he was like, 'Well, a bit of both really.' So I hope now we're still the cutting edge, and we're going to make them a fuckload of money.

Pitchfork: You have an enormous European tour coming up (dates below). How does !!!'s reception overseas compare to here?

Nic: Everything's just different over there...whereas over here, we very much came out of the indie rock community and it was weird that we were playing dance music; over there in Europe, dance music is so much more a part of the mass culture, so we came to dance music as this weird freak show, at this point when dance music had gotten really stale over there. So they were like, 'Oh wow! A band's playing dance music!' Their culture is so built around going out at night, taking drugs, and dancing, that when it started to get boring, we gave them something fresh. It's such a different perspective.

When we started in America, we had to yell at people to dance, and over there they're already going crazy. It's different in that respect. But so much of the way people go see music over there [is different too]-- they go to festivals. So you go play Sweden and you're playing a festival with 10,000 people, and that's just how it goes. And all those people, the first time you play Sweden, haven't heard you-- you're just the buzz band and suddenly you're playing to 10,000 people. And the next thing you know, you're big in Sweden.

Pitchfork: Speaking of festivals, you're playing Coachella this year. Anything big in store? Any surprises? You have to show up Rage Against the Machine, you know. That's the standard to beat.

Nic: We have to show up Rage Against the Machine? That's who's playing? They're reuniting??

Pitchfork: Yeah, dude.

Nic: No fucking way!

Pitchfork: And the Jesus and Mary Chain.

Nic: Well, that should be all right. I'm actually a much bigger Jesus and Mary Chain fan, but somehow I think Rage will probably kick a lot more ass in a hot desert setting. That's so funny, because actually one of my all-time favorite Onion articles is the one, 'Where Are You Now, When We Need You Most, Rage Against the Machine?' Have you ever read that?

It's totally hysterical, and it makes a great point: it's like, they were around during the Clinton years, and the whole time we needed them the most they were totally absent. The whole thing is written like a joke, and making fun of them in a sense, but it's actually walking the line perfectly-- saying, actually, 'Yeah it would be awesome if Rage Against the Machine were around now.' So yeah, they're showing up a little late in the game now. But I'm glad that they will be there.

Pitchfork: Do you consider yourselves a political band?

Nic: No, I don't think we ever have. I think in a way, when I told the President to suck my dick [on "Pardon My Freedom"], it was kind of like, how can we even talk about this guy? Why do we even have to take this guy seriously? But I guess you can't even broach the subject without being caught up in that.

We take inspiration wherever it comes from. I felt "[Me and] Giuliani [Down by the School Yard (A True Story)]" was a song that needed to be written-- this was a direct attack on our culture. And the song "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" [from Myth Takes] is explicitly political. That, I felt, was a song that absolutely needed to be written.

With that song I tried to...connect to the reality of our situation by [invoking] the myth of Nero. We all know about Nero how many thousands of years later, and he's looked at as this ridiculous madman. [But] it's hard to think that we're living in the age of someone who will be remembered thousands of years from now as someone who totally fucked things up. So I tried to put it in legend form, saying this is a great big legend that's going down right now.

I think everyone's kind of puzzled by the way that musicians have responded to this whole war thing, because there haven't been very many valid protest songs put forward. Everyone compares it to the 60s, but so many better protest songs came out of that-- it's almost like night and day. I don't even know if there are any good protest songs in our generation.

Pitchfork: Have you been following the 2008 election prospects?

Nic: The thing is-- I think in a way, the song was expressly a critique of the Democratic Party. I really think the reason that we lost last time was that Kerry was an absolute non-personality. No one could vote for him, because he took no stand. And basically the song calls for someone to stand up who has ideas, and who can actually facilitate that sort of situation.

Pitchfork: So does anyone you see now fit that bill?

Nic: I don't know enough about it to say, 'Ooh, Barack Obama, or...' I'm not going to say somebody's name and say I stand behind them yet. [But] that's what I think needs to happen: someone who is actually a person and not just a marketing strategy, which is what Kerry was; the Democrats thought it was a good idea to play it safe, and that was fucking ridiculous. It's not a time for safety.

Pitchfork: So, Out Hud-- what happened?

Nic: I think we stand by our official statement.

Pitchfork: So you guys are broken up for good?

Nic: No, I mean I think we just said, 'there's clues on the record and let us never speak of it again.' I think that was our official statement to Pitchfork. I don't know how much I can elaborate on it more than that. We're still all friends; I live with Phyllis [Forbes] and Justin [Vandervolgen], and Phyllis and Molly [Schnick] were at the video shoot last night.

We're still friends, so anything can happen. You know, if it felt right, we would do it, I suppose.

Pitchfork: You guys certainly looked like you were having a ball every time I saw you play.

Nic: We were, and I absolutely loved that band, and I always felt so proud to be on stage with them, making that music. I felt like no one else-- I've never seen anyone else do what we did. I felt so intensely proud of it, and I was proud of us from day one, from our very first show.

I still remember pulling up at this campground in Arizona, playing-- you know how punk shows were set up at the time? This was our first tour, and we're at this campground with 15 kids and just playing our music and being so, so proud of it. It was the strangest music, and I'd never seen anyone make music like us at that point...I always thought we brought something special.

Seeing Justin do what he did was-- I've never seen anyone do that live, to watch someone mix like that live, I was really proud of him. I was really proud of that band, I really loved it. So I guess we just didn't want anything to ever tarnish it.

Pitchfork: How do you feel about downloading music illegally?

Nic: I will tell you this: I absolutely think all of it is totally exciting; I'm totally in support of it. Let's say I go to buy some CDs, I buy four at a time. You come home, two of them are okay, one's pretty good, and one's great. And I just blew 80 bucks. Now, I download four CDs in a night, I delete three, and I've got the one. The next night, I get four more. I have everything at my access-- and that's fucking fantastic.

Everyone is taking more chances, and listening to more music subsequently, and I think that's one thing that's really exciting about it. [But] I think there's a definite danger that people are listening to things faster and maybe wouldn't give things a chance as much as they should...They shouldn't look at it as so disposable, but they should take advantage of how much is at their fingertips.

I think it's a totally, totally exciting time. Within a week after we found out that our album was up, we heard it got 3,000 downloads from one site alone. I'm fucking pissed. I'm fucking broke as shit. But whatever, it's a totally exciting time for music, so who gives a fuck?

Pitchfork: Do you worry about losing money, then?

Nic: Yeah. My skills in total: I've been a babysitter and a sandwich-maker. And once this whole thing is done, I'm ass-out, and I don't know what I'll do. But whatever, it's been a gas, and I'm 34, I've gotten to play music on stages all over the world-- I feel intensely lucky. I'm definitely not going to retire on this, and I'm sure I'll be back at a job within five years after our last record. I'm really going to lose with the chicks, too-- I'll go from being a catch to being an absolute total loser at 38 years old or however old I am when this band ends. But when I was 24, I had no idea that I would ever-- I was on welfare and I was totally living for the moment, and I had a blast.

Pitchfork: You were on welfare at 24?

Nic: Yeah, I very much look at welfare as kind of an artists' grant...I think I lived a couple years off of welfare. So I wouldn't be where I am now if I had been working all those years. And I'll tell you what: this record wouldn't be as good if I hadn't been able to stop working after Louden Up Now. We really worked on focusing on the music.

Pitchfork: So you've got quite a VH1 story there already.

Nic: Yeah, right? But what I'm trying to say is, if I didn't care about it then, I'm not about to start caring about it now.

Pitchfork: So what's your preferred pronunciation of !!!?

Nic: My favorite is just a [clicks tongue] "cluk-cluk-cluk." That was the original idea. That's the very first inception of it, and I think that's what we should have kept it, because it's been confusing the whole time. I don't regret it in that I haven't heard of anyone with a better name, aside from Born Against. And even they stole that from somebody.

I'm proud of the name. We wanted something that stood apart, and I think it really did-- you know, the Knife is not going to be answering questions in ten years about their name.

Gigs Gigs Gigs:

02-20 Newcastle, England - Stage 2
02-21 London, England - Astoria
03-02 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya O-East
03-03 Osaka, Japan - Quattro
03-05 Nagoya, Japan - Quattro
03-08 Sydney, Australia - Forum/Metro
03-09 Brisbane, Australia - Globe
03-10 Sydney, Australia - Playground Weekender Festival
03-11 Melbourne, Australia - Meredith Festival
03-13 Melbourne, Australia - Prince of Whales
03-16 Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
03-17 Dublin, Ireland - Village
03-19 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
03-20 Manchester, England - High Voltage @ Ritz
03-21 Leeds, England - University
03-22 London, England - Empire
03-23 Nottingham, England - Marcus Garvey
03-24 Bristol, England - University
03-26 Tourcoing, France - Le Grand Mix
03-28 Torino, Italy - Spazio II
03-29 Rome, Italy - Ciculo Degli Artisti
03-30 Bologna, Italy - Estragon
03-31 Milan, Italy - Rainbow
04-02 Montpellier, France - Rockstore
04-04 Porto, Portugal - Sa Bandeira
04-05 Lisbon, Portugal - CCB
04-06 Madrid, Spain - Heineken
04-07 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 2
04-08 Marmande, France - Garorock Festival
04-10 Nantes, France - Olympic
04-11 Paris, France - Bataclan
04-12 Brussels, Belgium - AB Box Domino Festival
04-13 Rotterdam, Holland - Motel Mozaique
04-14 Hamburg, Germany - Molotov
04-16 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
04-17 Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
04-19 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
04-20 Oslo, Norway - Fabrikken
04-21 Malmo, Sweden - TBA
04-23 Berlin, Germany - Maria
04-25 Vienna, Austria - Flex
04-26 Graz, Austria - Orpheum
04-28 Indio, CA - Coachella
07-01 Belfort, France - Eurokeenes Festival
07-13 Madrid, Spain - Summercase
07-14 Barcelona, Spain - Summercase
08-31 Dublin, Ireland - Electric Picnic