An Interview with Mr. California by Alex Johnson
 
Terry Ryan (Mr. California and the State Police) is a one-man-band that has been making numerous records and CDs since the year 2000. His music is loud, lewd, noisy, and humorous. With distorted rockin’ guitars, drum machine, and distorted vocals, Mr. California is a rumbling volcano getting ready to explode. Amazingly enough, he is just getting started down the road of sonic terrorism, with more releases on the way. I caught up with him in early August (a month before his “Audio Hallucinations” 10”/CD is to be released on Load Records) and discussed a various assortment of issues and ideas. Read on.
 
Q:    You did the artwork for the cover of  “Audio Hallucinations”, It’s amazing!
 
A:     Thanks. I wanted to blow peoples minds. I love to entertain. I think that cover forces a reaction. You can’t just skip over it in the record store. You want to pick it up and look at it.
 
Q:     Right, how long did it take you to make the cover?
 
A:     I didn’t clock it. I don’t know for sure. I think the cutting and pasting took a couple of weeks, but looking through newspapers and magazines and finding the right images took a lot of time. Let’s call it 120 hours.
 
Q:    You cover a wide variety of subject matter. In just the first eight songs (Note: There are 51 songs on this record. The entire recording is under twenty minutes) you bring up topics such as running out of soda, profiling a sexual predator, tic-tac-toe chickens (that you see at fairs and amusement parks), sex and drugs, the attack of a horror movie monster, being negatively affected by certain personality traits, social rejection, and death. Where does all this come from?
 
A:     Well, I’m bi-polar or manic depressive. At times, it’s hard to get my brain to slow down or shut off. To say that these ideas magically spew out of my brain would be lying. Let’s just say that some wires get crossed in my head and I have to get rid of the waste that has become the result of a cerebral overload due to my environment and mental circuitry. That’s as best as I can describe it.
 
Q:   After the first eight songs there becomes this blur of 43 short songs that have been described as “post-grindcore”. Do you have A.D.D. also?
 
A:    Maybe, keep in mind that the last twenty songs or so I made with the Green Buddies. They are a couple of friends that I used to work and smoke out with. Usually, potheads like to jam and play solos that are way too long, we decided to change that perception here. Not to say it doesn’t have a hippy vibe to it, there is a didgeridoo on some of the tracks, but none of the songs come close to being a minute long and there is plenty of distortion to keep that vibe lost deep in the background. What was the question? (laughs) How can I have A.D.D.? I listened to those songs over and over again and went  into the studio and assembled them in the order of my preference. That takes a lot of time and patience . . .   and money. It actually cost twice as much to mix and master those last 43 songs as it did to mix and master the first eight. Editing can thin out your pocket book in a hurry. I think it’s important to note that the first eight songs are right around the same length as those last 43.
 
Q:     Might you have A.D.D., if you write songs that are under a minute long?
 
A:      Maybe, but aren’t standard pop songs boring pieces of junk. Don’t you hate having a conversation with a person that constantly gives you the same information repeatedly? I think that the “verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus” formula is a form of brain washing that is easily, and possibly unknowingly accepted in our society. Does a person with A.D.D. spend their time writing drum tracks, then programming bass, then playing guitar and then laying down vocals all for a ten second song?
 
Q:     Are you on Doctor prescribed medication?
 
A:     Yes. It works very well. Next question.
 
Q:     You did a noise project (12”) with G.X. Jupitter-Larsen of the Haters. Are you starting to do less one-man-band stuff in general?
 
A:     Well, I’ve been collaborating more. I’ve been working with Shotgun Jeb from Trash Heap Records on this insane 99 song CD. The name of the band is Honkie J and MC Smelly Smell. We basically worked on it on and off for the entire month of July. I’m doing this collaboration with Jason Hodges from Suppression. I sent he some tracks in the mail and then he has started to add on to them. I’m really excited about those recordings. I haven’t heard any final mixes yet but that’s going to be a strange and fun audio mindfuck when it finally gets mixed down. I’m hoping Load or Bulb might want to release that. But I want to tour the one-man act next summer and hopefully release a new solo LP/CD by then too. Oh yeah, there is a split 7” with the Weird Turned Pro that’s due out in October. My side was recorded with the Green Buddies as a full band. I just wrote lyrics and sang on that one. However, Proud To Be Idiot will be releasing a one-sided single of my solo stuff, late this fall.
 
Q:     Tell us about Proud To Be Idiot. Who runs that label? What are those guys like?
 
A:     P.T.B.I. is ran by Alessandro of the punk band The Grabbies. The label is also helped out by this crazy guy who booked our first tour, and my second tour, named Roy. These two guys are huge rock and punk fans. These are the kind of guys who would have blown their brains out if all you could obtain was rap music. They like their punk rock basic but with lots of balls. Lots of guts. They listen to shit they makes you want to throw your furniture out the window. That’s happened before, too. I’d also like to say that P.T.B.I. has a diverse selection of music to choose from. It’s not all hardcore, and it’s not all weird shit, and it’s not at all following a formula to make bundles of cash. As a matter of fact, he has had two opportunities to repress records that have been well received by the record buying public and have decided against it both times. Alessandro would rather move on to other projects than become a “stock-market-record-salesman”. I think that admirable.
 
Q:     I hear you are moving to Arizona. Are you going to change the name to Mr. Arizona?
 
A:     No name change. I’m a California native. Besides, it seems counter-productive to change my name and keep my sound relatively the same. I’ll be living in Sedona by September. Half of my brain says that I’m going there to take a break. The other half says that it will be in a great place to explore new ideas. I’m going to try to do both, but when it comes to playing in the studio I get lost in time and space. I’ll go in the studio with the intention of creating for an hour, and walk out six hours later with a 30 second song that makes me feel whole and satisfied. I actually plan to make a full-length solo LP when I’m in Arizona.
 
Q:    What are your goals with this diverse music that you make? Where do you want to end up in 3 years?
 
A:     The ultimate goal is to play 2 - three minute sets with something like ten songs each set on Saturday Night Live. I want to do music for television commercials and cartoons. All of that would be one big kick in the ass!  I want to keep having fun and explore new avenues in music. I don’t want to be known for one style or one medium. If given the chance I know I can change peoples lives with what I can and will do. That’s not arrogance talking, that’s what I feel inside. I can see it now, I walk into an all white room with nothing but speakers my drum machine and my 7- string Danelectro (guitar). I press the play button on my drum machine and sing “You know you want some, You know you want some, You know you want some” and then a big cheesy drum fill emulates from the drum machine and then I scream “NIKES!!!”, then the camera pans to my shoes and I say “Just Do It” (Laughs).  It could happen, right?
 
Q:     Sounds like you are ready to sell out?
 
A:     Let’s just put it this way. If I get an opportunity that I feel suits me well, why the fuck should I say no. Realize that I’ve seen articles and read many stories of how lots of people have gotten burned by the major labels. I know what I would be getting into. That’s assuming they would want anything to do with a crazy punk rocker and his drum machine. However, I believe I can be better tabloid fodder than Courtney Love, and that’s saying a lot. If I miss taking my medicine for a week or two, watch out. National Enquired here I come.
 
Q:     You pretty much produce yourself in the studio. Do you have any dream producers that you would like to work with?
 
A:     Uhhhhhhh . . . . .  Albini, Fowley, and Endino. To tell you the truth, I’d rather take them all out to lunch for three hours and listen to their advice. Then keep working with low-budget engineers (who basically get production credits) and produce my music by myself. When you’re a one-man-band you should have a good idea of what you want the end product to sound like anyway. Your not fighting with band members over how the solo should sound more metal or faster or slower, or if you should change some of the words because they aren’t “consumer friendly”, and what the video should look like. It’s amazing if you can get musicians to show up on time but then to get them to agree on musical concepts for a band. It’s hard. That’s why I’ll always be doing the one-man-band thing. I have ideas that I don’t want to fight with anybody over. I’m more than willing to listen to advice from a producer who has grand knowledge and experience, but what I do with that advice will be up to me.  I’m a control freak. What can I say?    
 
Q:     Any final thoughts or comments?
 
A:     Yeah, I don’t mean this in a nasty way but Atom and his Package is retiring, so it’s time for me to take over as our nation’s pre-post-modern one-man-kook-band.
 
Q:     Thanks for your time.

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