It's You! It's You! Going Through It's the Ish Marquez Interview! by Jeff Lightning Lewis as printed in AntiMatters, July 2000
	Jeff Lewis – It’s an early spring day, we’re hanging out in Central Park, over by the fountain. I’m here with Ish Marquez, it’s exactly 4 o’clock and he was just telling me a bit about this weekend. You said you had a crazy weekend? Ish Marquez – Yeah, as usual. But, uh, live and learn, right? I’ll prevail. And you have some new recordings? Yeah. Coming up. Good old Spencer (Chakedis) will record for me again. I have a couple of new ones, like "Black Clouds Hover Like Leeches," "My Name’s Not Johnny," I got another one coming out. I have some other songs, pieces – I’m composing, putting together, and at the same time trying to make sense out of life. And being strong. Remaining strong. Cohesive. Do you have a songwriting process? Do you say "I’m gonna sit down and write a song," or does stuff just come to you? My life, man. I consider myself kind of like a Caravaggio, where I have experiences so intense and deep that I have to come out of it with something, and it usually ends up being a product. It ends up being a song. You know? It’s an accumulation of the life span of the artist. I’ve done things people wouldn’t even think of doing, and so it definitely adds to the intensity of what I really want out of life, and that’s music, and my name, under one sentence, under one meaning. By the time I finish my works, you’ll get to see, to audibly see, the music. I create the words, and lyrics usually always have a hidden meaning behind my own lifestyle. My own life, it has a hidden meaning behind it. Like the term "Lonesome Crew." Everyone goes through alone, you know. You can’t rely on finding a soulmate, or whatever, you’ve got to go through it alone. That’s the beauty that I find in music, that you can experience that alone, and it’s no other race or aliens or creatures can imitate. So yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve seen a lot of people. I’ve made some amazing friends. I don’t have too many complaints. I’ve got this website thing happening I’m super-excited about; just keep making CDs, make CDs, continue rehearsing the music and performing ... I love to perform. I love it. It’s the greatest feeling on Earth, you know? Especially when you got something good to say, you know? And it’s fun. You know immediately, you’re about to be entertained. Like back in the old days, they used to throw quarters or something at people, or they would start singing at the bar, and everyone would clap, and all the cigar smoke... I love that stuff! Spencer calls me a "genre collider," and I would definitely like my music to become that, colliding with all the different things that make someone an artist. Like you can hear Sinatra, to Billie Holliday, and I’m there right in the middle of it. Maybe I was born too late, but I was better to be here now than not be here back then. Am I making sense? Yeah, absolutely. I was gonna bring up the fact that Spencer calls you a genre collider. It just comes so naturally out of you, because it’s just out of your experiences... Yeah, New York City, Man. What do you think are some of your experiences, or some of you musical experiences and influences or things in your life that stand out as being the most important? Oh, definitely, having a very intense Spanish background. Very intense. The father listening to the boleros in a little tiny apartment in the South Bronx. Listening to the Beach Boys with my father in the late ‘70s. Listening to Philip Rodriguez, all these awesome artists, always being around that, even as a child. Meeting someone who is so intense with music, like Little Richie [of Ish’s old band Hallucination Station, and collaborator on Gin Is Not My Friend]. Very intense friend ... We have similar lives, in that we both admire music. I met him in high school. He had a Guitar magazine. I thought it was some blond kid that was in the class, and I was excited, and I asked "Is that your magazine?" and it turned out to be Little Richie’s and I looked at him. Since then we’ve been friends. Richie and I have been friends and musical partners for ten years. He helps me out. I got all these friends that help me out! I’m now involved in Deep Sound Diver... It’s been a great trip! If my life could be anything close to what Charlie Parker’s was, that’s fine with me. Minus the drugs. As long as it’s as intense as that, you know? I’m big into Parker now, really, really big into Charlie Parker. Wow, man, his stuff really just sends me, man. Him and early Miles. Amazing, it’s amazing stuff. But yeah, it’s different. I was thinking about that the other day. They’re blueprints, all of these little things are blueprints to creating more, and composing more, and being taken as a serious composer. Finally, that one day shall occur. Soon. Just to be taken as a serious composer. It’ll happen, and I’m doing it slowly but surely. Hanging out, playing where people admire the songs. That’s with everyone there involved. You know. Going through. (laughs) "Going Through" [on Gin Is Not My Friend], that’s one of my favorites. You talked about Parker’s problem with drugs. Right now you’re trying to get out of drinking as much. Oh, man. Yeah. Do you feel okay talking about that? No, no, I’m fine with it. I’m really fine with it. I’m just, you know... It’s so fucking cheap, it’s so inexpensive and it’s always there... you know, the lonesome part of it, the going off on tangents... It all accumulates to, you know, just being frustrated. I just am learning to keep myself occupied with music instead of, uh, you know... being occupied being alone. I’d rather have a guitar than a beer bottle any day. Give me a guitar. Give me an audience to sing for. That makes me the happiest. When did you start getting together with the two band members that comprise the Lonesome Crew? How did this musical union happen? Oh, I was real dirty and dusty, and I’d just finished coming out of work, and I was all dusty, and I was at ABC No Rio; I just told the audience calmly that I’d had a hard day and I would like nothing better than to sing. And Anders, the drummer, Anders Griffin, was in the audience. I must have touched a heartstring with him, ‘cause he immediately sought me afterwards. We tried different bass players, but of course my favorite... you know, you’ve got to become the personality behind the songs, behind the instrument, and Scott Frugala is my man. He does that, he does music brilliantly, brilliantly. We’re having fun doing it. We just need to be out there more. Those are my definite compatriots, those are by far my favorites, and playing music with them, it has to be fun, ‘cause I think we’re doing something right. I think I’m becoming respected, slowly but surely, in songwriting circles, and amongst my friends, you know. I’m big on that. But we’re doing alright. It’s like Moldy’s – Adam Green’s song: "We’re not those kids sitting on the couch," you know? That’s an anthem. That’s one of my anthems, that song. I’m big into the different things that I’m hearing, you know. It’s been fun. And I’ve got your tape on me, too. Oh yeah? Yeah. Where’s my bag? There it is. I carry your stuff. What’s that pin on your bag? This? The Rolling Stones. [It shows the cover of the London Years box set.] Man, I have that. The Rolling Stones singles collection. You have that? Oh, man! I lost most of the tapes, though. I lent one to a friend of mine in LaGuardia [high school] and he put it in his locker & someone broke into his locker and took it; I don’t know, I can only find a couple of them. But that’s such great music, the early Stones singles. Yeah, man, that’s another part, that’s part of my blueprints as well. I’m in the middle there somewhere, I like thinking. I think that high about my art. Drinking’s just the frustration. The drinking aspect comes with the frustration of being an artist and not being heard. But it happens. If I can get to the point where Charlie Parker was then I’m fine. In being respected for the music. It’s been fun. And Hallucination Station [Ish’s amazing band circa ’93], we might try that again. Really?!? We might try that again. We have to record some of those lovely songs, man! Oh, my goodness! We’re talking about "How Would We Go About," "This Cat I Know," "Schoolyard Sociologist" ... these were the great songs of my youth. Those were amazing songs. We’re gonna do it again. Yeah, you said you hung out with Richie and Manny [the other H.S. members] the other day. Yeah, so that was a lot of fun. So how did your ... I’m sorry, were you going to say something else? How did this solo career, and the Lonesome Crew, how did that evolve out of the Hallucination Station days, and how did the music change from then to now, do you think? Oh, the baritone, of course it’s missing the baritone of Manny’s voice. Very distinct, very original voice. I think I added more, definitely, lyrically... These days, you mean. Yeah, lyrically, and lifestyle-wise. Like, the reflection of life. I think it changed, man. I learned how to sing. Through Hallucination Station and through the coaxing of Richard Pintojas, I learned how to sing. I will always say that, that Hallucination Station was definitely my schooling. I was my schooling in creating what I’ve created. I want to come out with a poetry book too, "Sin City Caving In." It’s more reflections, you know. It’s so beautiful, a song is so beautiful and a poem is so beautiful, especially if it’s completely original. It’s like you buy things, you buy products, or whatever, so that you can really get off on it, so that you can really get something out of it. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be about. And I think it happens, man. It has been happening. I can look back and really observe it, and say "this is all right, I’m doing something right." Just like how we all feel, in the scene. You’re talking about the originality of something, and when something really goes above and beyond. There’s music you see and it’s okay, and then there’s music you see and you just say "Holy Shit!" Because it just knocks you, and it’s undeniable. And I think you’re at that level where anybody could see you, performing on a good night, when things are tight, and you’ve got it together, and the soul flows through, like it does on the tapes... All the recordings are excellent. Brian Piltin and Jason (Whip) Merritt and I blasted the Gin Is Not My Friend tape, driving down from the Bronx last night. It was spooky. The Gin Is Not My Friend sessions, it was definitely meant to have a spooky, ethereal, cloudlike, in your head... I wanted you to experience something how I really felt, and I think I captured that with the Gin Is Not My Friend sessions. I captured youth, and the spooky, clouded feeling, mind-clouded feeling... That one was a lot of fun. That one needed to come out. Sometimes ... I couldn’t wait. My first recordings, the I Perceive Things sessions, I produced that myself, out of my own unemployment checks, and I’m gonna have all of them on one CD now. Excellent. Yeah, the I Perceive Things sessions were very ... oh man, for me, very tough times. Tough times, man. The years 1996 through now. Very, very tough. But I met a lot of great, groovy people out of it. I met so many wonderful people out of it. Wow. I have life-long friends now. I just can’t wait to get out of here and play out of New York City. I think I’m ready now to do it myself. Head to Philadelphia for a day... find things out. Little by little I have to find things out. Arent there one of those big newspaper stores where they have newspapers from different cities? A listing of venues, to gig around? I’m sure something like that exists. I want to do that now. I’m looking forward to that. Having my entourage around me, you know? I can’t wait for that. Touring with Lonesome Crew? Touring with the Lonesome Crew, man. I want to find gigs for them. One of the things I was noticing about the Gin is Not My Friend tape is the fact that that it’s very acoustic-oriented, the soloing is haunting, it’s got this beautiful, ethereal sound, from the acoustic. I always associated that sound with you. Oh, thank you, man. But you’ve been playing electric. I’ve been playing electric because I have to, to have a sound, I needed to create a sound for Lonesome Crew, and I think I found it. Man, my amp and my guitar are just beautiful godsends. I love these things. I’d be lost if I didn’t have my Princeton Chorus, my Fender Princeton Chorus amp. Or my Fernandez. I’m really having a great time playing electric. I love the trios, you know? With a trio you have to come out hard hitting. I think you hit really hard on the acoustic. In fact, I sort of prefer the acoustic sound because people don’t expect it to hit that hard. The first time I saw Lonesome Crew play, when we split the bill at the Knitting Factory last April, almost a year ago, I was absolutely blown away. I was shocked at the sound you were getting. I had never seen you play that kind of music, with that intensity. I had known your songs for years, and I’d been seeing you perform, but all of a sudden there you were, with the same nylon string guitar, but it had this amazing fuzzed-out sound, and you were playing with this band, with Anders and with Scott, and it just sounded like the sun rising. It had this immensely powerful sound. Yeah, man. People shouldn’t sleep on our music. It’s going to be a fun ride. It’s going to be a very fun ride for the Lonesome Crew. They’re great, outstanding musicians. I’m very, very lucky to have them, and I’m very lucky that they find my stuff interesting. I have a lot of other songs too, that they’re playing as well. They do a great job for me. They really do a great job. Both of them are jazz-oriented. Holy Moly, man, it’s just so much fun. They’re always on the pocket, they always catch on. It’s gonna be a lot of fun and we’re gonna have a lot of good times together. I like it acoustic, but there’s the power behind it... The power behind each personality intertwining together to create an entity, and they’ve done it, man. They really have created this entity. It is what it is. It’s been a blast, and I think it’s gonna be a long, great time together, performing music. For a while, you weren’t playing among the so-called Antifolk scene; you had been kicked out of Sidewalk or something. I don’t really know the story, but in the past year or so you’ve made a return... I’m alright. ... and you’re making big waves around that scene; what do you feel about that whole Antifolk scene and the downtown scene in general? It’s a place to play. My friends are there. I have many friends there, and people that care about me. That means more to me than anything else. My friends are there, man. I get to sing for people and I get to hear some groovy music too. I get to sing. I’m in the prime of my existence, I’m in the prime of my life. I enjoy other people’s music, as well as mine, and it’s fun. It’s fun to hear you sing there, and you don’t hear anyone. While you’re singing, man, you don’t hear a pin drop. ‘Cause it demands that attention. ‘Cause you’re very low key, whereas I’m a screamer. It’s a lot of fun. I like those people, they treat me good. I don’t got nothing bad to say ‘cause everyone there’s so nice. They’re just nice folks. I don’t know, I don’t know what the word Antifolk means. It’s not what my music means to me. It’s been just a great ride. Is there anything else you want to say? Anything of utmost importance or anything you feel you want to talk about before I conclude this? Are there topics you want to get into? No. I’ve just been keeping a piece of mind. I’ve been feeling better. I’ve been really going through the city. Whether I fall off the wagon or I stay on, it’s my business, it’s my right. I’m just looking forward to having a beautiful existence, where I don’t have to take myself so seriously anymore. And I’m not taking myself seriously; I find I don’t give myself a lot of headaches when I remain that way.		To the July 2000 Anti/Matters index page In a scene of people who have been to the various parts of the edge of human consciousness, no one still around that I know of has come closer to going completely over than Ish Marquez. His new CD is called Gin Is Not My Friend. Jeff Lightning Lewis interviews someone who knows the Abyss better than you do, and somehow is still around to talk about it.