6. Volcano Suns

They were contemporaries of Throwing Muses in Boston. Well, they probably started before us but we played with them a few times. It’s an ex-Mission Of Burma guy, Peter Prescott, and he did that great thing where – in my opinion it’s pop but I don’t know if anyone else thinks that – he never strayed from the three minute song. It was like what Hüsker Dü didn’t yet do before they stopped. Boston for us back then was perfect. Our understanding of it back then was that it was ego-less. We didn’t think that anyone was trying to be a rock star. We found out later that Pixies and J [Mascis, Dinosaur Jr] were actually trying to be rock stars but we didn’t know then… We would play shows with five or six bands and no one seemed to be headlining and the bands would get off the stage and become the audience for the other bands. Everyone sounded like themselves. It was a beautiful musical education and it disappeared instantly as soon as we were signed. You didn’t get written about the second you went on tour round the world. We felt really left out. We could still play Boston but we weren’t part of the scene any more.