Mauro Pawlowski used to be a member of Belgium's mini-legendary Evil Superstars (check your copy of Guy Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" soundtrack). Apart from performing solo, he's also (been) involved in Shadowgraphic City, Monguito, Somnabula and the Golden Ass Rangers... Yet these days, he's most of all the frontman of the Grooms, a kick-ass rock act with strong Beefheart influences and tinges of Wire, prog and even Prince (they do an unheimlichly impressive cover of "The cross"). They've released a "GhostRock" ep on Mauro's own Future Archive Networks label (via PIAS), have a new album in the making and are touring regularly, and yet our favourite kingkong motherfucker did actually find some time for a lengthy e-interview. Questions by (pv), answers received 2003-08-22.

- U: What's the story behind the Grooms, please? E.g. five guys wanting to make music together, or a specific concept or project...?
+ MP: The Grooms are the brainchild of M. Pawlowski, for specific heartfelt reasons: a mystic venture in rock music to make contact with hungry souls and secret godesses. A party of five Belgians, ready to provide your local Luciferian beat-mass with the proper soundtrack.
- U: The Grooms have just released an e-p? How satisfied are you with it?
+ MP: I'm rarely satisfied, but the e-p sounds fine to me. Its dubious soundquality, because of restricted means, is one of the good things. I like it indistinctable. But never mind its actual presence, it's the attitude that counts (call me oldfashioned).
- U: What next for the Grooms?
+ MP: Trying hard to pick the right path to evolve. Not easy when you're a serious man. And playing more. Also, the full album ("Black Europa") will be released in the Fall of 2003.
- U: How about the Golden Ass Rangers, what's the story there please? And who's in the band, to begin with?
+ MP: About 70 songs in a traditional fashion, and the occasional oddity, recorded by mainly the same Grooms plus beautiful and talented guests - you know who you are. A lot of work I'm looking forward to do.
- U: Apart from that, there's an 'experimental guitar' solo record on Roborecords, viz. the "Secret Guitar" lp by Mauro Antonio Pawlowski... How much in love are you with that baby of yours, and how did it get conceived?
+ MP: This cute freak is a one of my favourite flirts; it contains a collection of pieces from a musical diary I irregulary keep. Because of its intimate and very personal character I use my complete ID name for the first time. It's always me improvising in front of a microphone, at home. And there is more where that came from.
- U: Apart from being a creative person, you're also a guitar player... or is there no apartheid in that matter? Do you try or even consider yourself to be 'guitar' at certain points in time?
+ MP: I am definitely 'guitar'. When I was beginning in my teens, my only concern was to become a guitar hero. Songs came later. I recently very much rediscovered the guitar, after having had too much of it.
- U: How important are your guitars for you? How far do you go or want to go in acquiring knowledge about the guitar and skill on it? For instance, do you read magazines, do you often go to shops to try out a new model, etc.?
+ MP: I earn a living with my guitar, so guitars àre important. Since my early influences are Hendrix and Van Halen, I know how to impress the freshly practicing newcomer, but I'm not a fan of specialised magazines or music stores. Only when absolutely necessary.
- U: Can you still avoid listening to the level of musicianship when you listen to music?
+ MP: No problem.
- U: Can you still avoid hearing a guitar and knowing what's happening, knowing what kind of guitar it is, and so on?
+ MP: Yes, but my personal taste recognises things I consider to be crap very quickly.
- U: Grab one guitar and run: Fender or Gibson? Fender and Gibson? Or is it wrong to think in dualities...?
+ MP: They're both magical tools. I play a Fender because of its forcing tone, but look at the other side: Angus Young! Slash! Neil Young!
- U: Meanwhile, there's digital guitars being produced, which will allow players to program a fuzz effect on one string, wahwah on another and a certain kind of delay on yet another string, and so on... How do you look upon those, please? Can't wait to toy around with one of those, or much rather a bit suspicious?
+ MP: I have a guitar synth and I like it very much. You'd be suprised what sounds you can get from it. And Adrian Belew is just a massive influence of mine, which helps.
- U: Digital or not, would you like to build a guitar of your own? Why would that be, because you find there's something missing in the current range?
+ MP: I would never do that, because I'm not handy. At all. And I don't think we're missing something. Too much choice indeed!
- U: And how about amplification? And speakers?
+ MP: Give me a smelly valve amplifier and you will hear a lot from me, on a disrespectable volume, a lot but complaints.
- U: Thurston Moore or Gary Moore?
+ MP: Thurston Moore.
- U: Robert Johnson or John Cage?
+ MP: John Cage.
- U: Might we ask you for your comments on any number of these famous and important guitar players, please? And more interestingly: which guitar players that are important to you might we have forgotten? [Duane Allman, Jan Akkerman, Bruce Anderson, Ron Asheton, Jeff Beck, Adrian Belew, George Benson, Chuck Berry, Elko Blijweert, Leroy "Sugar" Bonner, Glen Branca, Charles Bullen, Kenny Burrell, JJ Cale, Randy California, Rhys Chatham, John Cipollina, Eric Clapton, Dennis Coffey, Ry Cooder, Helios Creed, Steve Cropper, Al DiMeola, the Edge, John Fahey, Robert Fripp, Fred Frith, Jerry Garcia, Lowell George, Bruce Gilbert, David Gilmour, Grant Green, Robert Hampson, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Hillage, Steve Howe, Tony Iommi, Elmore James, Bert Jansch, Henry Kaiser, BB King, Paul Kossoff, Leo Kottke, Ralf und Florian von Kraftwerk, Alvin Lee, Keith Levene, David Lindley, Gary Lucas, Phil Manzanera, Johnny Marr, Hank B Marvin, 'Mississippi' Fred McDowell, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, Gary Moore, Thurston Moore, Bob Mould, Leo Nocentelli, Jimmy Nolen, Michael O'Shea, Jimmy Page, Les Paul, Richard Pinhas, Prince, Lee Ranaldo, Ernest Ranglin, Lou Reed, Jim Reeves, Vernon Reid, Django Reinhardt, John Renbourn, Keith Richards, Nile Rodgers, Greg Sage, Carlos Santana, Elliott Sharp, Gary Shider, Kevin Shields, Fred 'Sonic' Smith, Snakefinger, Hubert Sumlin, Mayo Thompson, Richard Thompson, David Torn, Pete Townshend, James Blood Ulmer, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Bukka White, Davey Williams, Link Wray, Angus Young, Neil Young, Frank Zappa, Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad)...]
+ MP: These are all really talented people. They have at least done one thing that impressed me. But I'd add Prince, Jean-Marie Aerts [of TC Matic], Billy Gibbons [of ZZ Top - ed.], Loren MazzaCane Connors and Richard Bishop. Richard Bishop is one of the Bishop brothers in Sun City Girls, while Loren MazzaCane Connors is quite a unique standalone case, someone who's never belonged to one set of players or another (not loud or chaotic, rather the contrary).
- U: Which producers are or have been important producers as far as guitar sounds are concerned?
+ MP: Dave Sardy, and Ted Templeman (Little Feat, Van Halen, Captain Beefheart...)
U: Which are your favourite guitar records?
+ MP: Phew. Amongst others: "Couldn't Stand The Weather" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and "Discipline" by King Crimson.
- U: Electric guitar gets run over by a car on a highway - what would you do?
+ MP: If it's not mine and nobody is injured: laugh.
- U: Back to your various projects... How about rumours of another solo record on Kometa records, please? Will that be the Somnabula record "Swamps Of Simulation"?
+ MP: When Kometa Records is up and running, maybe "16 Rubis Anti Choc" by Monguito will be released. We keep our fingers crossed. And the Somnabula record "Swamps Of Simulation - A Rock Fantasy" will be out within a couple of weeks (early September), on my very own Future Archive Networks label.
- U: Allegedly, the concept behind the Somnabula gigs is said to be that you try to evoke a thirteen-year-old working out his rock 'n' roll fascinations in his bedroom? Or is that mere offensive slander?
+ MP: No, don't worry, in the realm of rock it's always like that! But Somnabula is more about the aggressive elf in a dream accident.
- U: How do you appreciate people following your every move, for instance like they do on the fansite Mauroworld.com?
+ MP: They are very good people. Of course I'm not always a fan of myself, so some things (read: most) I wish I'd never done. I used to destroy my bridges, but they're there now, forever! My music gives me mostly panic, so I guess that's what I like then.
- U: Another rumour still has it that Tim Vanhaemel and yourself would like to record a Prince-ish eighties funk record some day soon? [Vanhaemel is Mauro's old bandmate in the Evil Superstars, and now the main man behind Millionaire - ed.]
+ MP: Yes, we would like to do that, but first we'll finish the new Evil Superproject X Tunes. Don't ask when, we don't know ourselves.
- U: What with all that going on, have you got time left for Monguito, at all?
+ MP: Sure, but Dago, the forcefield player, has recently moved and he deserved a nice vacation. But we'll be back. In the meantime Miguel, the Latin Lover of Free Synths, and I formed a duo called The Pparrallellss. A cd-r is almost finished. [See also our interviews with Dago and with Miguel in earlier uzines U0210 and U0225 - ed.]
- U: Indeed, you're said to have a broad interest aka a very diverse taste, ranging from the quite European literature of Dutch author Simon Vestdijk to the music of Little Feat, or from the history of the 19th Century to the Sun City Girls. How important is it to develop one's taste or to have a broad horizon, do you think?
+ MP: Very important. But so is a pretty girl. And if I had to make a choice...
- U: Are you very systematic at developing your taste, or do you allow things to happen more haphazardly? For instance, do you regularly go to libraries or search the internet?
+ MP: I like libraries, even more than bars. They're sacred places. The internet is also wonderful, but I prefer the ancient virtual reality, the one with all the dangerous mistakes.
- U: Among a lot of people today, there seems to be this incredible hunger to widen one's horizons and discover all kinds of artists in all kinds of genres and disciplines. Why might that be, do you reckon?
+ MP: Because it's all there. You have to glue two horses to the sides of your head not to notice it.
- U: How important is literature for you? Is it important input for you musical fire, or just for your general well-being?
+ MP: Good literature makes you a better person. Or a mass murderer. Depends on what you read. But for me it's from a restaurant of the gods, with depressed looking humans as the waiter.
- U: What is it in the 19th Century that intrigues you, please?
+ MP: The best Romanticism ever. And the fact that inventions were basically ten times the size they are now.
- U: Apart from that, you've also stated in interviews that you're quite fond of a number of 'progressive' acts from the seventies, e.g. King Crimson or Todd Rundgren. Progressive rock is a genre that's both psychedelic and fantastic - how huge a part of your being or your life is fantasy, please?
+ MP: I don't mind a fine portion of fantasy, but please involve some girls. Heavy Metal Thunder needs a shy princess to attract MY attention.
- U: For a lot of people, progressive rock is very uncool. What is it that appeals to you, please? The technicity of the playing, the complexity of the compositions, the classical influence in the music, the mythological aspects of some of its compostions' lyrics, the way it breathes a Zeitgeist, the way it can be preposterously bombastic, and hence very funny, or...?
+ MP: When it's bad, it's bad like bad music from a genius. When it's good I like it for its shamelessness. And it can get truly crazy. I mean, a typical Belgian boy like me would never come up with 20-minute 'songs'. I tried once, but failed. Some were glad.
- U: Which progressive artists would you gladly try to sell to today's unknowing hipster, and why?
+ MP: King Crimson is always fantastic. Some Yes I'd recommend, like that song "Then" [on "Time And A Word", 1970 - ed.], or "Close To The Edge" (not less pretentious than some Beach Boys), or "Machine messiah". On the Somnabula record I paid tribute to that song. [It's on "Drama" from 1980, ed.]
- U: Whatever happened to all the fun in the world?
+ MP: It's at the bar, starting a brawl with a unicorn.
- U: What's the most important to you, music or laughter?
+ MP: Laughter in the key of E by a vocal quartet of dead fishermen.
- U: Which funny people have influenced your walk of life the most?
+ MP: Urbanus, Kama[gurka] and Herr Seele, Peter Sellers, Benny Hill, André Van Duin, Louis de Funès: people who made me laugh when I was a child. Nowadays I need less to start laughing, it seems.
- U: Who is / are the musicians you admire the most, who may even have inspired you?
+ MP: From the funky and the sentimental to the satanic and the awful.
- U: Which record or band has influenced you the most?
+ MP: "Crazy horse" by the Osmonds. The first sounds of distorted guitars I ever heard. That and Elvis Presley.
- U: Which is your favourite record to fall asleep with?
+ MP: Anything by Morton Feldman.
- U: Which is a brilliant record to wake up to on an active, sunny morning?
+ MP: "Parade" by Prince.
- U: Which is a brilliant record to wake up to on a hazy Sunday afternoon?
+ MP: "Zuma" by Neil Young.
- U: Suppose you've got 800 km of road ahead and you're going to be stuck with only one cd or tape in the car... which one had it better be?
+ MP: "20 Brass Bands Pay Tribute To Golden Earring's Radar Love".
- U: What are other instances of superior driving music?
+ MP: Anything recorded by rednecks. Or drum solos...
- U: Suppose the same thing happens to you on a desert island: which album would you want to study forever?
+ MP: One with an undressed lady on the sleeve. Vinyl please.
- U: Which one comes as a close second?
+ MP: Soundtrack of Barbarella. With lots of scratches.
- U: And which movie (dvd or video - never mind) please?
+ MP: "Le Rabbi Jacob" with Louis de Funès. In nature I like it warm and naïve.
- U: The horror, the horror: what if it'd be the other way around... which album would be unbearable to be stuck with?
+ MP: Some mediocre indie rock release from the mid-nineties.
- U: Which other bands would be sheer terror to be forced to listen to?
+ MP: Staind, myself.
- U: What's the biggest laugh (i.e. the funniest thing) you've heard on record?
+ MP: The Jerky Boys.
- U: Which record (or track) gave you the biggest kick ever? (Is it a "play loud" track?)
+ MP: "Let there be rock" by AC/DC.
- U: Thank you ever so much, oh lighthearted one!