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-What are your current projects??

I am going through many years worth of video tapes. i have been putting quite a few videos on... youtube.com .
(search ... BONUSMOUSE .) after i finish this, i plan to start going through many years of audio tapes.
in the last year, i am very proud of the music i have recorded under the name, Michael Yonkers with The Blind Shake.
this band has just released a CD called CARBOHYDRATES HYDROCARBONS, in the ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags' />..UK.. and the ....USA..... (on youtube search MICHAEL YONKERS WITH THE BLIND SHAKE for some live video). MYwTBS have a split 7' vinyl recording with Kulfi (France) that will be released soon.
a solo noise guitar album will be released in ....Portugal...., named NO KIDDING. i am also super pleased with the results of a joint effort with GR in ....France..... GR and i just released a split CD-R, named THE HIGH SPEED RECORDING COMPLEX. (there is a HIGH SPEED RECORDING COMPLEX myspace site)

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-I got the split ..7'.. with Little Claw on X records,, you songs is fuckin good and abrasive,, I love it,, It..s a new one of one from your old tapes?

oh thanks, i really like that song. i wrote it specifically for that split. it was about a year and a half ago when Little Claw asked me to do the split. i was really excited to do this. i wrote, and recorded it within two weeks of deciding to do the split.
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How did it work to do the split with Little Claw? It's a band from your area?

i am from Minneapolis/Saint Paul...Little Claw are from ..Detroit.. (they have recently moved to ....Portland.., ..Oregon....).
they had me down to ....Detroit.... a couple of years ago to play at a festival. it went real well, so they asked me to do the split.
last month i went to ....Detroit.... again, to do a gig with them. this time i had The Blind Shake with me (Michael Yonkers with The Blind Shake). and again, it went real well. a week before that, Little Claw played in ....Saint Paul...., for my CD release gig. it was for the CD reissue of my album Grimwood, that was recorded in 1969.
Little Claw and i wanted to do some additional gigs, but my health is not allowing it (serious spine problems).
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-I also got the Lp 'It..s only Yonkers' , I like a lot the designs of this label, also the fanzine they do or did,, It..s great the bluesy style of all the songs,,, I mean, your style is very blues but here there is less psychedelic sound and more classic blues influence a la mississipi john hurt, leadbelly, skip james but more noise …

i get happy everytime i look at that album. Plastic (Steve) Crimewave is soooooo amazing as an artist, and a musician.
to me, blues and psychedelic go hand in hand. i have always had both in my guitar-mind.
i cannot separate them. my first band was a surf band. but, i soon became very interested in the old school blues musicians. to me, the same inner feeling of 'blues' is the same inner feeling of 'psychedelic', and is the same inner feeling of 'noise'. i do not think of guitar in the sense of 'riffs'. to me it is a feeling ... combined with a freedom.
i think that ...feeling, plus freedom, plus electronics, can equal 'psychedelic'.

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-Do you have upcoming shows? You have played with bands suchs as Wolf Eyes, Low, Six organs of admittance… are you into these new bands?

no shows are planned for quite some time. i will be spending 6 months to a year (or more) in heavy-duty therapy for my spine conditions. much of the time will be spent in a body cast, and traction. that is mostly what i will be doing. i am trying to avoid very major surgery.
as far as the bands you mentioned are concerned...it's kind of funny. in these 'speedy' times. i don't think of the bands you mentioned as new. i think of them as veterans.
it has been a pleasure, and an honor, to play on the same bill as them. yes, i have tremendous interest and respect for so many new bands that i hear. these are very good times for 'underground' music.
the internet, and digital technology have made it possible for alternative sounds to have a viable cyber-venue
to work with. it is truly a wonderful thing. back when i started (early 60's), it was very expensive to put out even a basic vinyl recording...which was the only way to get the music duplicated. and, it was almost impossible to get anything non-mainstream on the radio.
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-What musicians do you admire?

my biggest influences were from back in the day...the musicians that inspired me to get my first guitar.
they are...Buddy Holly, Link Wray, The Trashmen, Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker
are some of them.
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-About 'Microminiature Love', the repressing of Sub Pop has probably give you some popularity…and the possibility of doing tours, have you think on it?

touring at this point is absolutely impossible. i have had to turn down some mighty cool offers, including one to ....Russia.....
yes, thanks to Destijl, and Sub Pop, i am having the pleasure of having my 'teen rock dream' come true, in my late 50's.
i cannot explain what it feels like to get rock respect at this point in my life. (i just turned 60.)
because of the Destijl/Sub Pop release of Microminiature Love, i have played in Europe, ..Australia.., ..Canada..,
..New York City.., ..Chicago.., ..Detroit.., ....Seattle...., and the coolest venues in my own area.
this would have never happened without Destijl and Sub Pop. to have it happen at age 60 is mighty fine!
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- During your years of hiatus you have recorded more than 100 cassettes,, I can imagine there will be upcoming records of compilations… Would you considerer listen to them all to get your favourite songs?.

I do have an amazing number of recordings, most of them are CD-Rs (not cassettes). and yes, i am in the process of putting together some 'best of...' discs.
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-Are you still releasing things with your record label, there..s any web where I could check you available releases?

unfortunately, over the last 6 years, i have spent most of my time writing and recording...and, not much time finding 'homes' for the recordings. i am in the process of getting them into a 'presentable' package, that will be eventually available. all the CD-Rs are on my label. starting in january of 2008...all the music i record will be on my label. the website with quite a few of my discs on it is... www.gojohnnygo.com
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- I readed you did recorded with Link wray, that's true?

no, that is not correct. Link Wray was a huge influence on me. i had once told some people that, i used to play along with Link Wray recordings. somehow this got changed into, i had recorded with Link Wray.
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Well I read that in the only article I read from you in Spanish. Ays…

- Are you still doing modification to your guitar and doing distortion pedals, delays, echoes…?

just a little here and there.
when i started, all there was for effects was reverb, echo, and tremelo...that was it. so, i started experimenting with electronics to get more interesting sounds. i did that for years, but now i am more interested in using what i have.
it seems as though there must be thousands of easily available effects. to really invent something new, one would have to know a lot more about electronics than i do. i feel that my strong point is in the use of sound, rather than inventing sounds. the only thing that i really take credit for is, 'inventing' an electronic hard-core fuzz box...which truly was one of the first stomp-style, hard-core psych-fuzz boxes. (mid-60's)

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- I enjoy a phrase I read from you 'I'm already a success. Not financially, not in status, not anything like that. But I can't imagine living a more interesting life.'

li have never had any financial success at all. but i have had a varied, and fascinating life. to me...the 'varied and fascinating' part is success. i know people who have plenty of money, but i would rather have the life that i have led.
what i have now (music respect) is far more important than money. like i said earlier in this interview...being 60 years old, and having music still be, not only part of my life, but a huge part of my life... is amazing.
it has been 45 years since i said to myself, 'i am going to get a guitar, and i am going to make a mark in the music scene.' i did...and, i have. how cool is that?
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