"Well, when we set out to work on a straight track, the result is something like "Carrot Rope" - so there you are. We did work with producers this time and they were very good at finding flaws and keeping them out, but there are still enough left."
Well: How is it decided, what a flaw is and what not? Sometimes those even sound like intentionally done so.
"No, it's never done intentionally. That's how we are, how we like to be. I think this record sounds better than the last one. Steve thinks so, too. But on the other hand: He always thinks the last record sounds bad after a while."
In Germany, Pavement have just signed with Virgin records - which is an issue over here, but obviously not for Pavement.
"Virgin is a major distributor over here, right?" Scott want's to know, "well, we don't really care. In the US we just went from a major distributor back to independent again. It doesn't really matter, it has to be what's best for the music."
"Our status hasn't really changed at all", adds Bob.
Since Steve's asleep while the interviews are conducted, we cannot really ask about the lyrics, but there's this song "Major League" on the record - any references there?
"Well I think it's about death", Bob speculates, "but I'm not really sure what Steve's talking about. It's definitely nothing to do with us going major or anything. It had been written on a different occasion."
What's a "Carrot Rope".
"It's a sex toy", Bob blurts out ("So I've heard", adds Steve), "I'm not really sure, but I think it's something an exhibitionist might want to show to people, like 'Wanna see my Carrot Rope?'"
And what about the Title of the record?
"Twilight Terror is the short span between Sunset and Dusk", explains Bob, "this is considered the most dangerous time in traffic, because half of the people switch on the headlights, and the other half doesn't. It's when most accidents happen."
"Also it stands for times, when strange things happen, like Equinox, during an eclipse or on a full moon", emphasizes Scott, "and we thought that this would be the best times to listen to this album."
Well it's not that bad, really. Though there's a different vibe on this record. Someone mentions that this sense of longing, which could almost be considered a Pavement trademark seems to miss on "Twilight". Bob agrees in a way but cannot explain why this seems to be the case. There's a track called "Folk Jam" on this record. What's the idea behind this?
Scott has the answer: "Well there always has been an influence of folk and country in our music. We always liked that. And that's our little reference to that kind of music. It's a country song done Pavement Style, if you will."
On the excellent new Pavement-Homepage www.pavementtherockband.com there's lots of goodies for fans. Some bonus tracks and a whole live album as MP3 files, for instance, or the promise of a Pavement TV. What's that?
"Well the homepage is quite new", answers Bob, "so we are still figuring out what to do with it. But since everyone seems to be working with that medium we needed to have one. We had this Live-Album that never came to happen, so we put that on there. And Pavement TV is something for the fans, too. We had those film crews following us around - in fact, if they were here they would be filming you right now. The stuff they did is right now edited and it will be put on Pavement TV. We are planning to have several channels."
"And probably a webcam, too," adds Scott, "and some loops of Bob opening the refrigerator or drinking beer or something. Also we would like to buy a digital camera and take it on tour with us, so probably we will use that, too. We are planning on doing a feature of our road crew and a tour diary, although we haven't figured out how to do it."
About that MP3 thing (a new file-format which enables downloads from the internet and storing with acceptable ressources): Will they get anything out of that?
"Probably we will not get anything out of that, except, probably pleased fans. But it is a great chance to use available material and to do something which the record company hasn't got any control over."
It will be interesting to see how this thing develops. At the time, record companies seem to freak out because of copyright reasons and losses in revenue, whereas musicians seem to embrace the new medium enthusiastically.
Pavement will be playing some Festivals during summer. And then - who knows? As already said: The intervals between records could become longer since there seems to be a life besides Pavement.
And then it probably will be another load of cleansed dirt for Pavement are not likely to behave properly and become squeaky clean pop-stars in the foreseeable future.