Is the new wave of garage rock a reaction to the lousy state of mainstream music?
Yes. The whole music business now is basically rap, metal, and pop. There’s no balance anymore. You listen to the radio, and it’s a sea of mediocrity surrounded by too many commercials. That’s why there are four or five garage bands popping up in every major city. With all the prefabricated pop acts nowadays, kids are literally getting the Monkees. The Monkees were the Beatles compared to what’s happening now. Do you think garage rock could be a major trend? I don’t want to sound too optimistic, but we’re seeing the evidence now. Kids are forming bands, looking at this late ’60s music, studying it, and playing it. It’s happening totally organically. Garage rock is music for older people with young souls and young people with old souls. It’s a certain sensibility, and you may have it when you’re 17 or when you’re 67. It’s never really gone away. Do you enjoy being the poster boy for this movement? You know how it works. Your celebrity capital rises and falls in any given year. And when
