Flipside

CAKE: Is there a chance of a live record coming out someday? There are quite a few live tapes of Rudimentary Peni that have been circulating around in the bootleg tape market. I know of at least seven shows that can be obtained through this market. Is there any chance of that coming out throught the band for the fan market?

GRANT: Well...it's an interesting concept! I've never actually heard a descent live tape of us.

CAKE: There are a few board tapes and audience recordings that are from 81, 82, and 83. I also personally have a bootleg live E.P. that says on the cover, "Proceeds go to animal abuse".

GRANT: I've never even heard of that one!

CAKE: The cover has a drawing that is similar to Nick's drawings but is obviously a fake. Is the next E.P. going to have elaborate artwork on the cover?

GRANT: Maybe you could give me some ideas on what you think about that. Last time, we had a booklet included with the album. This time, I'm going to lay out all of the lyrics and definitely come up with something. We have the cover planned out. It will be something that Nick has already done, but we will never put a picture of the band on the cover. That would blow the mythology.

CAKE: The most interresting thing about Rudimentary Peni is the mythology. What does the band look like? Is Nick Blinko in a wheelchair? Does he have throat cancer? From what I understand, you battled cancer years and years ago. Was it true that a U.S. tour was cancelled because of your battle with cancer?

GRANT: No. There was talk of us touring America in the late 80s after Cacophony came out, but that didn't happen. In the early 80s there was talk of us going to Europe with a band called The Mob, but that didn't happen. And there was also talk of us playing with the Dead Kennedys when they came over here. Jello Biafra was trying to make it happen. At the time they were here, I was in the hospital literally at the same time, and that was an impossibility.

CAKE: Are you fully recovered from the cancer?

GRANT: Oh, yeah. Many years ago. All these years later with an older head on my shoulders, I wonder what caused my recovery and what didn't. The bottom line is this: that illness was nearly half my lifetime ago, and I haven't had any problems since. You can't ask for anything more than that, really.

CAKE: I think that you're an amazing bass player, and quite an innovative one, at that.

GRANT: Thanks for saying that! I try to make an effort. The problem with punk things, or fast-sounding things, is that there can be a tendency because it's fast not to put in extra notes or extra slides because it's very intense, very difficult, and very exhausting to do that, but I've always tried to do that. Once again, that's why it would be very hard to play on stage for an hour. The level of concentration in order to do that is infinitely more than knocking out rude notes.