Mike Huguenor is the former frontman of Shinobu, the now defunct San Jose indie rock band with a range self-described as “simplistic to annoying.” Within the scene however, they’re considered “unsung punk rock heroes.” But if you take a look at Huguenor’s output since the band’s dispersal, it’s obvious that he’s worked hard at distinguishing himself.
After Shinobu disbanded a few years ago, Huguenor formed Hard Girls with bassist Morgan Herrell and drummer Max Feshbach, once part of the Phat n’ Phunky trio Pterardon. Add ex-Operation Ivy vocalist Jesse Michaels and you get Classics of Love, who released their first full length album last month, and are set to embark on a three city tour of the East Coast tomorrow evening.
Huguenor, currently pursuing his master’s at the University of Chicago, returns to San Jose next Wednesday for a solo performance at The Blank Club. We spoke over email as he prepared to leave for New York about recording an album in three days, Mark E. Smith, and jowls.
How’s Chicago? Have you been playing music out there?
Chicago is mostly nice. Rent is cheaper, school is really good, I have a good enclave of Bay Area ex-pat friends. I had a bit of a scuffle with a shady landlord when we first moved out here, but that has finally settled.
Classics of Love just released their first album – what was the recording process like, seeing as how you were a couple thousand miles away from the rest of the group?
I actually just managed to squeeze it in before leaving for Chicago. My girlfriend and I flew out to a friend’s wedding in Utah, and when I flew back in I had a friend pick me up at the airport, and drop me off at the studio. We did all the music in about three days and then Jesse did the vocals over them. He had to do some scratch vocal tracks for me to do my backups over, since I would be gone once he started really doing the real ones, but that was the only thing that was a little bit goofy.
All of the bands that you’ve been in have maintained a heavy tour schedule. Do you still enjoy it as much as you did at 19 or 20?
I really like touring a lot. I’m leaving for NY tonight to do a few shows with Classics of Love on the East Coast before coming back for the shows at home. The one thing that I don’t really like about it is how disruptive it is to any attempts at maintaining what purists would call a “real life.”
Do you see yourself still playing music, at least in any professional capacity, twenty or thirty years from now? Does the idea of being a forty year old musician appeal to you at all?
I’ve kind of long since realized that I’ll never be able to support myself playing music. The goal is to try and find a job that will allow me to not hate myself when I’m not playing music, since I won’t be swimming in Doritos-commercial royalties any time soon. But to be frank, I don’t really think there’s anything wrong or unappealing about being a musician at 40, 50, 60, 70, what have you. That stigma of it being something for young people who are just avoiding adulthood, I think, is largely just an American thing. Which is too bad. Music doesn’t suddenly become uninteresting or unfulfilling once you have jowls. I also don’t think you have to be young to be in touch or have something to say. Look at Tom Waits, Michael Gira, Mark E. Smith, etc. Those guys are getting up there, and they’re all still doing cool, interesting things.
I think one of your biggest strengths is songwriting. With Jesse acting as the impromptu frontman of Classics of Love, have your duties shifted somewhat? Or do you still write as much? And if so, how does it feel to have Jesse Michaels sing your lyrics?
I don’t write any of the lyrics for Classics, that definitely is an area where Jesse just does his thing. For that band in particular my input is more reactive, suggestive, and playful. It’s fun, I like it a lot. I still write my own stuff for the other projects.
Humor and literature seem to inform your music to a large extent, whereas with Jesse, it’s a bit more politically-oriented – at least now. He’d explained this somewhat by saying that he wants his “art to be a service,” which to me, is of the utmost importance – for art to be functional. Do you feel any such obligation?
I really believe in art. Aesthetically, and epistemically. I tend to shy away from the social critique or political aspects of writing, mostly because I’m not very good at saying anything in that way. Politics has never been something that I can draw creative rage from. It just makes me feel impotent and awful. But I think that music and literature and film and art all have the ability to give an individual a feeling of the ecstatic. That’s what I’m in it for, at least.
You’re playing solo next week back in San Jose, and I realized that I’ve never heard you play alone. Will it be a significant sea change from the stuff with Classics, Hard Girls, or Shinobu?
It will likely be a selection of Shinobu and Hard Girls songs, possibly some new ideas I’m working on, and maybe one or two terrible proto-punk songs that I’ve been thinking about repurposing.
I know you’re a big fan of The Fall, and I see a lot of Mark E. Smith’s influence in your music. How does that influence bear out?
I absolutely love The Fall. I think they are the most interesting band of all time. There’s just no one like them. I think that a lot of the music I have made so far doesn’t sound all that much like The Fall, but that’s mostly because once you try to sound like them it just becomes completely obvious that that’s what you’re going for. They’re too distinctive. In an interview Mark E. Smith did one time, he said all the bands who claimed to be influenced by them just sounded like the Talking Heads to him. Then, he said, that the Talking Heads were “the enemy.” That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard a musician say. While neither Shinobu nor Hard Girls sound much like them, I think that their willingness to bring in an esoteric humor, and their willingness to just let a song devolve into absolute nonsense have really struck a chord with me. Plus, I think like all the bands I’ve been in, I’ve tried to use sort of elements of punk music as a starting point, without really trying to be a “punk band.” The Fall does that better than anyone.
Huguenor plays a solo set at The Blank Club on March 21 with Oddly Even and Orangutang. Free admission.
