"I suggested the name COME as a joke, but everyone liked it more than the other names so it stuck."

AN INTERVIEW WITH THALIA ZEDEK
April 2001. Originally appeared in Sense #20

Q: You began being in White Women and Dangerous Birds. What is your strongest memory from those days? What music were you playing back then?

Thalia: I remember the leader of White Women, Dolores Paradise, taking the whole band to Salvation Army thrift stores to look for rhinestones, writing my first song which I think was called "Island in the City", and learning the 4 part harmonies for "Optic Jungle" by Lou Christie, a song White Women covered.

Q: For the biggest part of the 80s you were in Uzi and Live Skull. Do you feel nostalgic for those years? Do you still listen to the records you were making then?

Thalia: I don't listen to records that I personally made then, but I do still think it was an incredible decade for music. In the early 80's discovering Gang of Four, The Fall, Joy Division, Swell Maps, and all these great British groups. In the mid-eighties; Gun Club, Dream Syndicate, Big Black, Birthday Party, Sonic Youth, the Wipers. And the late 80's; Mudhoney, Dinosaur, Bad Seeds, and Royal Trux. A lot happened between 1980-90.

Q: How did Come form and what inspired their name?

Thalia: Me and Chris met through a mutual friend in Boston around 1986 shortly before I moved to N.Y. to joined Live Skull. He stopped by a rehearsal for a short-lived band I was in with his friend called VIA. We played together that day and we both could tell something was special and we stayed in touch while I was in N.Y. and continue to occasionally. When Live Skull broke up I called Chris and suggested that we play together. It didn't happen right away, but a few years later I moved back to Boston. Chris, Arthur, and Sean had just started playing and were looking for a singer. After a few months practicing we had our first show but no name. I suggested the name COME as a joke, but everyone liked it more than the other names so it stuck...

Q: Come left behind really spectacular records, what's your favourite one?

Thalia: Too hard to pick one.

Q: Did Come split up definitely? What is Chris into now? What about Sean and Arthur?

Thalia: Come has definitely split up though me, Chris, and Daniel (drummer), still play together in different projects. Chris and Daniel both play on my solo record, and me and Chris play together in a group called Empty House Cooperative, where I play clarinet. Though we may collaborate again in the future, it will not be under the name Come. Chris has been staying very busy. In addition to completing a solo/instrumental record which he is currently shopping to labels, he plays drums in the New Year who just released an album for Touch and Go, plays guitar in Pullman who have two CD's on Thrill Jockey, and plays with me in Empty House Cooperative who just recorded a record with the guys in Molasses. David Michael Curry who is the leader of Empty House Cooperative plays viola on my new record. Arthur Johnson still lives in Boston with his wife Donna and works and plays drums on the side with various local bands. Sean O'Brien does lighting for movies. He's currently in N.Y. working on the new Woody Allen film.

Q: "Been Here And Gone" has got that energy that always made Come so special but at the same time, it has this fragile character. What was the inspiration behind it?

Thalia: After the tours for Gently Down the Stream, Come decided to take some time off to figure things out. During that time I did solo shows in Boston and N.Y. Usually it was just me and Beth Heinberg playing piano. Sometimes Dave would play viola. We played mostly cover songs, anything from Louis Armstrong - The Ramones, but people really liked it and always asked if there were any recordings. Encouraged by this, I started writing material for this quieter lineup. he covers on the record were from this time. I picked the ones I enjoyed singing the most. "Manha de Carnaval" is by Luiz Bonfa and was composed for a 1958 Brazilian movie called Black Orpheus, which is a very beautiful and haunting movie.

Q: What bands and artists do you admire?

Thalia: Will Oldham, Dirty Three, Nick Cave, Neutral Milk Hotel, Smog, Leonard Cohen, Chet Baker, Pharaoh Sanders, Johnny Cash, Low, Two Dollar Guitar , to name a few.

Q: All the bands you were previously in, never became commercial and failed to reach the masses, and this is something that has happened with several great bands like Throwing Muses or The Rain Parade, to name just two. How do you feel about that?

Thalia: I guess that was what was meant to be. At least those bands were able to record and tour. To me that is no small accomplishment and something not every musician has the opportunity to do.

Q: How does your parellel universe look like?

Thalia: Like a maze.

Q: You have come in Greece when you were touring with Steve Wynn; what memories do you keep?

Thalia: Going to a taverna with my friends Elektra and Tatiana in Thessaloniki and getting drunk and listening to the people there taking turns playing guitar and singing rebetica songs. Sitting at a long table in a restaurant by the sea near Athens with about 15 of Steve Wynn's Greek friends, drinking retsina and eating platefuls of wonderful fresh, fried fish.