An exclusive interview with Mark Williams

NP: I AM NEON PHOSPHOR.

MW: hey phos

NP: LONG TIME NO CHAT. HOW'S IT GOING?

MW: it's going. dragging my heels through my last quarter as an undergrad

NP: CONGRATULATIONS. AND HOW ARE THINGS GOING WITH THE BAND?

MW: not as slow, but hard by it. having said that, we knocked out the basic tracks for "our house" and it sounds amazing so far

NP: YEAH? ARE YOU RECORDING A NEW ALBUM ALREADY?

MW: in some capacity. we're definitely back on the recording wagon. though you're reasonably surprised, what with the recent minting of 50 copies of "get things done," whose box arta's using as a laptop stand, i think

NP: IS THE NEW ALBUM GOING TO SOUND LIKE "GET THINGS DONE" OR WILL IT BE A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE BAND?

MW: well, all the current songs aren't well defined right now, so it's hard to say. but i have a feeling it's going to be a bit different. hopefully, that'll be due in part to our playing most of these new songs as a live band before recording them. and i sure as hell ain't going to write anymore "greenback" shit

NP: CAN YOU GIVE US TITLES OF THE SONGS BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE ALBUM?

MW: jeez.

NP: IT'S TO SATISFY OUR CURIOUS FANS.

MW: well, the first couple of tracks will be a straight-up cover of superfly. but played as one seguing piece, like the second side of abbey road. after that we'll probably just have five or ten different cuts of the song "get things done." we'll call this one "golden hits", probably. or "the album." you should ask arta, probably. steven and i just write the songs. he's the arbiter.

NP: A SNAPPY ANSWER TO A STUPID QUESTION, THANK YOU. NEXT QUESTION: WHICH BANDS/ARTISTS HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY?

MW: i just bought superfly and tom waits' first album. the former, of course, is amazing. the jury's still out on the latter. it's a little, ah, norah jones, if you know what i mean. i have talking book on heavy rotation. a bit of the byrds, too. they've got some really hot guitar work. i listened to a cd of elvis' no. 1 hits i picked up for 5 bucks for about three days straight. suspicious minds is a great song. and, you know, all sorts of other crap.

NP: LAST QUESTION: WHAT KIND OF PROGRAMMING WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE OF ON NEON PHOSPHOR?

MW: song appreciation stuff. whether that be "great moments in rock'n'roll" or analysis of production techniques. it always brightens up my day.

NP: THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK. THIS IS THE END OF THE INTERVIEW.

MW: this is my last response: thank you.