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Bar Fights and Beach Days
Once upon a time, President George Bush Sr. visited a small,
liberal city on the West Coast and was met by violent protests. In response,
Bush Sr. nicknamed the city “Little Beirut” in reference to the capital of Lebanon.
Now, four musicians from Little Beirut—better known as Portland, Or...
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We Are Scientists: Keith Murray in Overdrive |
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Interviews -
Band/Musician
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Written by Jenna Bensoussan
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Sunday, 31 December 2006 |
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Singing in the car, road rage, running over bicyclists and reeking physical havoc.
 You may not see Keith Murray, lead vocalist of We Are Scientists, driving around town in his ‘96 Pathfinder anymore, but that doesn't mean he won't sing while someone else is driving!
Murray is a very bouncy, light-hearted fellow who likes to have a good time and joke around - a lot. And boy does he like his PlayStation! "These days... these days, if I’m in a bus and it has one of those old PlayStation 2’s, which aren’t whisper-thin, I’m furious. I’ll actually... I’ll scream at the bus driver and I will grab... I’ll wrench the wheel from his hands while we’re driving down the highway," he laughs. Of course, now if there ever is a bus accident... yep, we ALL know why!!!
Murray may talk about grabbing that bus wheel, but he wouldn't dream of driving one of their monstrous tour buses. That, to him, would be "terrifying". He wouldn't even drive the band's van back in the day before "the tour bus" if it had a trailer on the end of it. Murray would; however, drive his Pathfinder for 20 hours with the three of them crammed into it, along with a drum kit, a bass amp and a guitar amp, etc. He describes this form of transportation during their early road trips as "inappropriate, at best."
Another thing Keith liked to do when driving on a road trip was sing. "I was definitely notorious for that. People would get mad at me all the time because I would sing and I was always doing sweet harmonies that didn’t actually exist in the song. People would be utterly furious. I was not well loved when I drove and sang."
If you are a bicyclist you might want to take care when Murray is driving on the road. You've heard of the point games right? For him it is much more serious. "We never... we never, uh - it was never about points with us. It was just about honor... you know, and if you knock that bicyclist off the road... there was just great honor in that. No points, it wasn’t a game to us. It was deadly serious."
What makes Keith go bananas when he is behind the wheel? "You really would ignite road rage in me looking for parking spaces. I live in Brooklyn and they do opposite side-of-the-street parking every night because they street clean every morning. So, after about 8 p.m., there are no parking spaces anywhere in Brooklyn. You end up driving around for hours and hours and hours looking for a spot.
"That, to me was the most infuriating thing in the world. I would always just choose to drive to a different part of town that I knew would have parking spaces and then walk about 20 minutes, rather than drive around my apartment, looking for spots. Other people don’t seem to understand the theory behind that."
Not only does parking and walking help in maintaining a healthy mental state, it also aides in toning up physical attributes. Murray says, "Well, I mean, you know... it’s given me the body that I have today." To this statement I found myself saying, "Absolutely." He even gave me the final top-off adjective to describe his physical state of being as a direct result of his avoidance to road rage, "It's magnificent."
Even though Murray doesn't classify himself as one "eager to use a horn", he is also quite certain he is NOT a mellow driver. "I’m definitely pretty bad about passing on either side and cutting people off, and sort of relishing it while I do it. The horn has no appeal to me. I guess making noise isn’t exciting to me... it’s actually, you know, reeking physical havoc that really gets my blood pumping."
What is the fastest speed he has ever dared to go? Ok... this is where Murray and I got into a debate. He says "400 mph". Of course, I argued that wasn't possible, but he insisted, "The speedometer... the speedometer broke, so I couldn’t tell anymore. I was probably, it seemed like it was about 400. I don’t know." Maybe 105 mph Keith... maybe.
Has Murray ever been in a car accident, considering his love for speed, need for musical bellowing, and total relishing of road havoc? He says, "No, I haven’t, but my car did many times." No... really... Murray goes on to say, "Yeah, I’m pretty sure I was never actually—oh. When I was fifteen, I was backing my dad’s car out of a parking space and I backed it into another parked car, but that was the most extreme accident I’ve ever been in," he insists earnestly. "Many... many other people that I’ve leant my car to have smashed... pretty much every time I’ve leant my car to someone, they’ve crashed it."
With all the chaos on the road when Keith is driving, I am sure there are some pretty funny tales of naughty things he's done whilst driving. He tells about the worst thing imaginable. "I was driving to my friend’s house after a show and I had directions on the seat next to me. At one point, without stopping the car, I unbuckled my seatbelt and I leaned over to get the directions. And then I... you know... went right back into my seat and buckled my seatbelt. But, yeah... For about four or five seconds there I was without a seatbelt.
"I went home and I started crying. I didn’t go out that night. I felt like I didn’t know myself anymore. I said, 'What kind of person am I? I thought I was one person and now I realize I’m something very different. I’m the monster'."
Murray has always appreciated certain types of automobile accessories. "The tiger tail coming out of the tank is pretty funny, but only because it’s totally nonsensical. I would never have it, but I appreciate it when people do it because it’s like a little signal showing that they’re insane." Just make sure you don't have one of those CD cases that go in the visor of your car when Keith rides with you though - he finds those MOST offensive.
And what about the tour bus? Is there some sort of accessory that invokes a feeling of awe or joy in Murray and his bandmates? Of course there is! "It would have to be the 16 CD changer, which we are not allowed to use because nobody ever wants to listen to the same music at the same time. So, it’s sort of got this weird, forbidden mythical status to it. Actually quite a spiritual experience, gazing upon it," he reveals.
"It’s wonderful. It’s the essence of a religion I think. Something that is beyond human usage that exists in our world, quite incredible."
Gidgets and gadgets aside, there is one final ingredient to a good road trip, "Getting sneered at all across the country is the most remarkable part of a road trip, but I also like stopping at gas stations and loading up on junk food. Oh my God. Oh, what an experience."
Junk food, religious enlightenment, and tiger tails aside, Mr. Murray and his band of merry men are quite the talented lot. You'd be amiss if you didn't jump in your car, van, or bus and speed over to one of their gigs. I wouldn't recommend going over 400 mph, but you might want to get a head start by pre-ordering your tickets as these guys sell out fast!
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