No Age guitarist Randy Randall was great enough to speak with MOC's own TheRyan about recording, Nouns, LA, and more...

• Most people are aware that No Age came about from the dissolution of the band Wives. How did Wives begin?
Wives started, um, just through some mutual friends. I knew the drummer (Jeremy Villalobos) and the drummer knew Dean (Allen Spunt). So we became friends just from going to shows and hanging around LA. And yeah the idea was ‘Hey, we should all play music together’. That’s how I met Dean under the guise of ‘hey you should meet my other friend and we should all play’ so that’s how that all started.

• No Age’s initial releases came in the form of 5 different EPs on 5 different labels. How did that decision come about?
It was kind of a crapshoot for us. It was a funny idea. We had just started this band, we didn’t really want to make a record, we felt like we had ideas that were going in a lot of different directions. It just felt too soon to record a whole record cause it felt like we were a good band writing kind of small songs. It just sort of seemed… we wanted to do it in a big way. Make small records in a big way. So the idea was to come up with (and we easily thought this was never gonna happen, no one was gonna agree to do it), we kind of came up with the idea to release 5 EPs at the same time, on 5 different labels in 5 different countries. The kind of stuff you just happen to come across in, you know, a 7” bin. And you know ‘oh, what’s this? never heard of these guys’ in a way that’s more small community based. You weren’t gonna see it at a store, or something. It was gonna be something you’d come across, you know, flipping through vinyl.

• How was the process been changed with Sub Pop, in terms of recording and putting an album out?
Right um, it kind of felt like we really want to make a record where we sit down and kind of shape everything and listen to the songs and kind of take a step back and kind of see how it fits together as a whole unit you know? All the songs, do they compliment each other? Compliment meaning any number of things, in our minds you know, do they fit? Was it a balanced record? So we went about writing songs that way and if we felt there was a sound that wasn’t on the record that we wanted to hear, we would write a song that would express that.

• Did you have the same freedom with the Sub Pop record (Nouns) that you had with the previous EPs?
Oh yeah, totally. We actually started recording Nouns, the Sub Pop record, before we were even on Sub Pop. A good number of the songs were already written. And we had an opportunity to record stuff. So we started recording before we knew even what label we were gonna be on. So it was definitely the same way, we turned it in and you know, there was no notes or anything you know, after the record, that’s it. We paid for it, here it is.

• Have you noticed the reception on the road has changed? Are you getting a different crowd now?
Ah you know, not really. I feel like it’s pretty cool and pretty consistent. I feel like it’s a lot of people that we either know or a friend of a friend or at least that’s how it feels from the people that come and talk to us. Seems fairly organic and pretty normal.

• What are some of the cities and venues you really like to go to?
Um, where do I like to go? I really like um, good question, the Triple Rock in Minneapolis is a great club you know. Liars and us played there to nobody but everybody there was cool and real nice to us. They still gave us a meal and some drink tickets even though we didn’t bring, you know, we probably brought like 10 people in there. So places like that that are totally supportive and cool. They’re still cool when nobody gave a shit who we are. Ah, that place is really cool and also we really love the Todd P shows in New York. He doesn’t have a single venue or solitary venue, he kind of does it in different places but he’s an old friend.


• A lot of mention was made a few months ago when Colin Greenwood (Radiohead) had a No Age shirt on…
(RR laughs)
Was that a surprise to you guys?
Ah, no not really, well, the idea of Colin Greenwood at all, first, was a surprise but we were notified. His people got in touch with our people, I think his record label got in touch with our record label and said he was gonna come to the show. We played a show just outside of London and he came with his wife and a friend who’s a photographer. He was so cool. It was just surprising you know we were like ‘oh wow, that’s the guy from Radiohead’ but his wife came up and said that she was a fan and that she grew up kind of listening to the DC hardcore music and so she was a fan of our music and also she had said that they had played Weirdo Rippers, the album before Nouns, in the car and the kids would like play along, like air drums, play along with it. So I feel like maybe Colin got dragged in by his wife, and I don’t know if, she may have put him up to wearing the shirt. But they were also really nice and bought a whole bunch of merch. We would’ve given it to them but they insisted on paying for it.

•Have any you had any other attention or support from other bands like that since?
Um, I don’t know. No, definitely not from anybody we don’t know. Like the guys from Liars. We had known, just from living in LA, so that was really awesome they asked us. So it’s cool with those guys but yeah, you know nothing really that crazy.

•Growing up in LA, were there any memorable shows that you went to that let you know that this is what I want to do?
Wow, um yeah. I think probably one of the first shows I went to where I really felt like I could do this was, I saw Mike Watt play solo at the Smell in North Hollywood, its first location. And it was definitely, I walked away from the best show with a firm belief in my head that I could do that. There’s no way that I’m not gonna do that and that totally made sense that that was what I wanted to do.

• What is next for No Age?
We’re gonna do this tour with Abe Vigoda all around the US; Abe Vigoda and Mika Miko and then we keep touring. We go back to Europe and bounce around for awhile and then I think we’re gonna sit down and start working on new ideas you know we’ve kind of been writing small parts and pieces of things but after these tours we’ll start to fit them together for the next record.

•Would that planned to be a full length or another EP?
Um, I don’t know. We’re really excited about doing another EP but yeah, I don’t know. I think in a sort of way…we’ll just wait and see how the pieces all fit together. The other thing we’re gonna work on is the music video for the song “Teen Creeps”.

No Age's Nouns Is Available Now on Sub Pop