Ethan Miller
Comets On Fire

Top Ten Albums of 2005

(in no order)

1. Bob Dylan: No Direction Home Soundtrack
2. Growing: His Return
3. Bill Fay: Bill Fay, Time of the Last Persecution, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (reissues)
4. Sunn 0))): Black One
5. Residual Echoes: Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean
6. Gris Gris: For the Season
7. Boredoms: Sea Drum
8. Six Organs of Admittance: School of the Flower / August Born
9. Bonnie Prince Billy and Matt Sweeney: Super Wolf
10. Gary Higgins: Red Hash (reissue)

What was the highlight of 2005 for either you personally or for the band?

My marriage was number one. Also I bought this incredible Tuna in Italy for about 50 cents a can - that was a highlight, I bought about 20 cans of the stuff and managed to get it back into the country buried in my suitcase, a highlight. The “Freebird” sequence in The Devils Rejects was also a major highlight. Arthur Fest for the band and European tour with Sir Lord Gozwin at the wheel was a highlight. I finished the first album with my other group with Ian Gradek and John Moloney called Howlin' Rain – I’m very proud of that.

What was the low point of 2005 for you?

My life as an individual this year has been full of great things and for the most part pretty smooth. But as a U.S. citizen and a member of this country, this year has had a ton of low points and moments of shame and horror as an American and the messes that my country keep digging into. Too many to name. Every day at my work I usually have NPR going in the background and every day when they have their moment of silence for the fallen American soldiers in Iraq – that is a low point of every day.

What are your hopes and plans for 2006?

We will see Utrillo's Colossal Yes solo album be released in February, my Howlin’ Rain album released in May, new Six Organs in late spring, new Comets on Fire in mid to late summer and tours and good times to follow each.

If you could drop a copy of one album in the mailbox of every American citizen, what album would it be?

Uh....Mars Hotel?!

Will the iPod, and its ability to combine all genres and its emphasis on individual songs, render the album format irrelevant?

No. We have iPods with us in the Comets van on tour and we listen to whole albums on it more than we do song mixes. It’s just a great portable tiny container. And now that you can put porn on it, it is perfect.

With Kate Bush, Gang of Four, Ray Davies, Scott Walker, and others issuing new releases, what icon needs to return and make another album?

Bill Fay. Jimmy Page?! Uh, shit I don’t know. What if I say someone and their dead? That would be fucking embarrassing.

With the mainstream success of artists like Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, The White Stripes, and Franz Ferdinand, has the meaning of “indie rock” shifted? Has the term lost all meaning?

Well, you’re not really “indie” any more if you’re on a major label, are you? Nothing against bands on major labels, but once you take that step then you are in the mainstream arena and you are a commercial act. Not every indie label’s first concern is commercial sales, but as far as I know every major labels is, so that puts you in a different position as a band - with other weights hanging over your shoulder than just artistry. I always thought the term indie rock was really pussy anyhow. Even being Nu Metal with the two dots over the u is cooler than being “indie.” Or even “White Rap” is a way cooler term than “indie.” Look how fuckin’ puss those vowels look in the word even – “indie” – where as the vowels in Nu Metal are really sleek and the consonants are really tough looking. Same with “White Rap.” That term sits on the page like the fucking snow capped Rocky Mountain range.

If you couldn't be a musician, what other profession do you think that you'd enjoy and why?

Maybe work at the fish store. Because I love fish.

www.cometsonfire.com

1/2006