Lisa Doop interviews Peter Conheim, May 18th 2021

Peter Conheim, interviewed May 18th 2021 by Lisa Doop of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies

On May 18th 2021, English Residents fan, Mysterious Spanish Lady and administrator of this wiki Lisa Doop conducted a video interview with film archivist and Negativland member Peter Conheim for her YouTube channel Dooper Views.

The interview was posted to the channel eight days later, on May 26th. It is the second in an ongoing series of interviews of Residents-related figures, fans and collectors, conducted as original research by members of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies.

Transcript

The below text has been transcribed as accurately as possible from the YouTube video by a Mysterious Spanish Lady. Headings are included to match chapter separations featured in the original video.

Introduction and Niceties

Peter Conheim:

[reading] "You are consenting to being recorded." Yes, I'm saying "continue".

Miss Doop:

You're gonna--

Peter Conheim:

Okay.

Miss Doop:

[inaudible] ...everything... So... yeah. How's... have you ever done a... um, you know, interview like this before?

Peter Conheim:

Uh... yeah. Uh... yeah. I mean, not, not... I mean, uh... yeah. [laughs] Yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I um... I've only done... I've only really done this once before. Um, around about two years ago I did an interview for class with, um... uh, a soundtrack composer, Ego Plum. I don't know if you're aware of him, but, yeah, uh...

Peter Conheim:

No.

Miss Doop:

...he was very nice.

Peter Conheim:

Great.

Miss Doop:

And he... he... [inaudible]

Peter Conheim:

Well, I'll try to be... I'll try to be nice to you. Uh, I tend to live under... I tend to live under a rock, so I don't know enough about what's going on in the outside world.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. [laughs] That makes sense. Yeah, that's fair. Um...

Peter Conheim:

I... I tend to just, uh... I've been... I've been, uh... uh... I mean, I don't really consume a lot of, uh... media at this point.

Miss Doop:

[laughs] That's... yeah.

Peter Conheim:

So, uh... I don't really buy... I don't really buy records anymore much, except for my favorite bands, you know. And so, well... I've become one of these people that just works, and so I... I miss out on a lot of stuff.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, that makes sense. That's fair. I'm... yeah. I... I'm studying at university, but I don't work, so I've got a... bit of spare... spare time, actually. This is the only week I'm free for a long time when I don't have assessments.

Peter Conheim:

I see.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Where are you located? Are you in London?

Miss Doop:

I... No, I... I'm in, I'm in, uh... I'm in this place called Poole, which is like an hour away from London.

Peter Conheim:

I see.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Well, great. So... so what would you like to know?

Miss Doop:

Great, I'll ask... um, I have a handful of questions.

Peter Conheim:

Great.

Discovering The Residents

Miss Doop:

First is, how did you discover The Residents? How did you find out...

Peter Conheim:

Oh, wow. Um... well, let's see. Well, um... I'm gonna be 53 this year, and The Residents... I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area, which is where you're finding me. This is actually, this is my vault, by the way, Which is where I... uh, my film and video vault. And um, uh... you know, The Residents are from here. And... actually, it's funny, now... now that I think about this, because um... when I was in junior high school, so, in America that would be... seventh grade, so I would have been 12, 13, something like that. There was a very hip kid, um... who had a Meet The Residents t-shirt. And I was... being a big Beatles fan I was ex... I was very intrigued as to, you know, who that was, and, uh... so... that was my first introduction to who The Residents were... were as a kid. And I thought, "who the fuck is this... weird... you know, who would... who would mess with The Beatles? Who would mess with The Beatles?"

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Right?

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Uh... and, and, and, and... I didn't hear them for a while. And then I think, I think I first heard them on, uh, this program, I don't know if you have any knowledge of this show over there, but it was very influential to my generation, it was called Dr. Demento.

Miss Doop:

[inaudible] I know him, yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Okay, yeah. So Dr. Demento, around 1979, 1980, started playing... um, punk and underground music pretty regularly on his show. And I'm pretty sure that's when he played a clip from the Mini... Miniatures album, which was the first time I heard The Residents, doing a one minute piece that they contributed. And, uh... yeah, so I think that was the beginning. And, um... but then an interesting thing happened. Um... one of my first jobs was, uh, working in a video store, um, in Berkeley, California, where I grew up. And, uh, I guess I was 13 or 14, I would... I would... I would cut class, I would cut high school, I would skip school to go and work this job, and, um... there was this guy who would come in, that I actually recognized as the... actually, I'm sort of leaving part of this story out. I knew this guy when I was 10 years old, um, from the movie theater that I used to go to. Um, he worked... he was the manager of a movie theater in town I used to go to. Then he showed up again at this video store I started working at. His name is Dale. And, um... so, we started talking, and I found out he was a musician, and that he was in this band. And that the band was called MX-80 Sound.

Miss Doop:

Oh!

Peter Conheim:

And... he goes... he goes... "oh yeah, we had... we had a couple records on The Residents' record label." And I said, "wait, what?"

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

"What? You did? You? Dale? You had... I don't understand, you mean the anonymous band?" And this just started this whole discussion, and... "you mean you know The Residents?" He's like, "oh, sure I do!" And then, like, so my head as a... as a teenager is completely blown, this is like 1983 or so, but I've known Dale since 1978, since I was a little kid. And that led to a whole 'nother... like, now I'm really... I really have to find out who these Residents are. Um, because my friend Dale had records on their label, and it's... it just started piling up. And that's when I think I got really into them, and started... started getting the records. And back then they were plentiful on vinyl, um, used, and pretty cheap. Um, also, uh... there was a great things that used to happen, which is that The Residents used to have a... Ralph Records used to have a garage sale, um... in their warehouse, their second or third warehouse in San Francisco. And they would advertise it, and you would go there, and they would just sell sort of like... collectors' items, and also sort of detritus and sort of stuff that they wanted to get rid of. And sometimes it would be something like... a prop from The Mole Show. Or it would be... an autographed - quote unquote - rec... "autographed" record... Residents record. Or it would be a box of weird Ralph Records detritus, like, uh, backstage passes and stickers, and weird shit. And I bought a bunch of that stuff. And so, you know, that's the kind of ludicrous Residents fandom that I have.

What was the first Residents record you bought, and have you ever seen them live?

Miss Doop:

That's so great. What was the first record you bought, of those? If you can remember?

Peter Conheim:

I think it was probably... probably the white vinyl Eskimo.

Miss Doop:

Oh.

Peter Conheim:

I think. I think. It was either that or it was, uh... the Commercial Album. Uh... uh... I... I think. Um... can't say for sure anymore, it's too far in the rear view mirror.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Yeah. And then I bought them all again when they got reissued on CD... um, because I was a sucker for the CD craze like everybody else. So I bought them a second time, and now I... yeah. So I... so I probably have them all twice.

Miss Doop:

I... I have a few twice, because of the pREServed, uh, CDs, and the vinyls.

Peter Conheim:

Right.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Right.

Miss Doop:

Um... have you ever seen them live? In concert?

Peter Conheim:

Oh yes.

Miss Doop:

Yes? [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Oh yes. Yes. I thought... my... the first time I saw them was the 13th Anniversary tour, with Snakefinger. Uh, it was... it was in San Francisco, and I was in, like, the second or third row. Very important show for me as a teenager. That was the show where, um... Penn and Teller... are... are you familiar with Penn and Teller?

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I am, yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Right. The... Penn and Teller were the MCs of that show, and they would come on, and I guess they... they started it, I forget, they did, uh, you know, a routine. And then at one point, when The Residents were... I don't know what the tune was, but they were doing something really big and dramatic. Um... I think Teller walked out...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

I think... in the middle of the music, and then... while The Residents were playing, I think it was Teller, just strolled out on stage and took a giant needle, and just - it was not real, of course.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And just stuck it into his arm, and fake blood poured, just poured down his arm. And he just stood there, like... [blank facial expression]

Miss Doop:

That's so funny. [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

And then he walked... strolled offstage, while the band was just going and going and going. Yeah, that was a great show.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I think... um... there... I think there's, uh... a bootleg of, um... the show with Penn and Teller that's going... that goes around, that's on YouTube. And...

Peter Conheim:

Well...

Miss Doop:

There's a lot of... there's a lot of talking about magic acts, but as it's a bootleg, you're like, "oh, I wonder what that looked like!" [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

That's interesting, because... actually, I have always wanted to see video of that show, and I...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I... I... I know they were shooting the 13th Anniversary tour... um...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

But The Cryptic Corporation does not have a lot of video left. Like, they... they gave a lot of it to the Museum of Modern Art, and when I've worked with them, um, through Homer Flynn, and asked him, like, well... like, I've been to his... to his storage. And... "well, what do you have... you know, do you have anything on this?" "No, I don't... you know, I don't have that." So... and I know he's thrown stuff away. Um, like, they... they threw away the master for the Mole Show, uh... video, because it was just taking up too much space. [cringes]

Miss Doop:

Ugh, that's awful! [inaudible]

Peter Conheim:

Yeah. I mean they have... they have backups, but...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

They, uh, they had the two inch master reel, and he was like "yeah, I was using it as a door stop for a long time..." And I just...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

He threw it away! [cringes, laughing]

Miss Doop:

That's so... yeah, that's so Residential. Um... yeah, I... I actually heard a, I've heard a rumor a few times that, um... maybe it's just... that MTV filmed a rehearsal of The 13th Anniversary Show, and that it might be in their archives, but I've... you know, never seen any footage from it...

Peter Conheim:

Cool.

Miss Doop:

And no-one's ever... said anything. I've never heard anything.

Peter Conheim:

I don't... yeah, don't know about that.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I just transferred for them, um... a Freak Show video that I don't think anybody had ever seen. But I think... that was supposed to come out, and it may have already, I don't know.

Miss Doop:

Is that the, um... uh, Ty... Ty's Freak Show? Is that the... uh... a 1991 performance? Something like that?

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, I believe that's it.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah.

Miss Doop:

I don't think that's... the video for that's been released, I think that, um... but the audio is on the...

Peter Conheim:

Okay. Yeah.

Miss Doop:

...Freak Show edition.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, because there's... yeah, there is def...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

There is definitely video, um... that was quite good, with two cameras, and, um... and I transferred that for them, and that was... uh, that was... that was pretty awesome. So, I saw that show too. Um... yeah, I saw a couple.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um... The 13th Anniversary Show was really the... I've seen a bunch, actually. I mean, I saw them do a... a one-off show only, I don't know, seven or eight years ago, where I used to work, at the Berkeley Art Museum, that they never did again. I mean, when you live here, you get to see... oh, oh, and I saw them last year! [laughing]

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Do the, do the, uh... the, or, was it?

Miss Doop:

God In 3 Persons?

Peter Conheim:

That'd be right before COVID.

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, God In 3 Persons, yes, a preview of that, yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Have you seen... have you seen them play?

Miss Doop:

I... I saw their In Between Dreams tour, um...

Peter Conheim:

Uh huh.

Miss Doop:

...in 2019, which was very good. Uh...

Peter Conheim:

Yeah.

Miss Doop:

It was really a magical experience, but I've never been able to see them again. I only... because they've not come to England before... again.

Peter Conheim:

Right.

Miss Doop:

Well, luckily... uh, it seems like they... they take all of their major tours to England, but a lot of the little ones like God In 3 Persons are just... you know, San Francisco only, and... well, America, and...

Peter Conheim:

Right, they did New York...

Miss Doop:

Yeah. Um, but... yeah. In Between Dreams was a really special experience, and actually... um... when they released the DVD of In Between Dreams, I was like, "oh, the camera's not looking at this, but he's doing an amazing thing that I saw him do live!" [laughs] And that was a little... yeah, I really liked that show. I'm actually... for the, the UK tour of In Between Dreams, they played entirely in churches, which was really amazing.

Peter Conheim:

Oh, wow.

Miss Doop:

So I got to see them in, like, a refurbished church, with...

Peter Conheim:

Oh, that's fabulous.

Miss Doop:

[inaudible] ...crucified behind them. [laughing] It was very great. Yeah, it's...

Peter Conheim:

Wow. That's great.

Miss Doop:

The seats were uncomfortable as well, so... that added to it. [laughing]

Peter Conheim:

[laughs] That's great.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. Um, okay.

Peter Conheim:

What... what else would you like to know?

How did you start working with The Residents?

Miss Doop:

Okay. Um, how did you start working with The Residents?

Peter Conheim:

I, uh, pretty much just insinuated myself with them.

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

Um... you know. In some cases I've been... uh... I've... I've been asked to do something, but in most cases, I've... my enthusiasm has just... I, I just... insinuated myself. Uh, I offered my services. And, this was one of those examples.

Miss Doop:

So, were you--

Peter Conheim:

I stopped--

Miss Doop:

Oh.

Peter Conheim:

Go ahead.

Miss Doop:

Uh, what was your first project with The Residents? Where did you first... [inaudible]

Peter Conheim:

Well, it's only been... it's been pretty recent.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Basically, what happened... what happened specifically with The Residents was, I watched the documentary, um... uh... the... the... the name of it, um...

Miss Doop:

Theory of Obscurity?

Peter Conheim:

Yes. And, I was so horrified by the quality of the short... of the transfers of their films, of their legendary films, in it. I was so appalled by the color fading, um, in particular. Just... I knew what they were supposed to look like, because I had known those films for years, and I just thought, like, "what the hell happened? These... I know what these are, why do these transfers not represent what these movies are? And furthermore, this is the way they're always going to be seen by people, this cannot stand!" And I already had... um, Homer's email address from something, I forget why, and I reached out to him, and I said "what happened?" You know, and he said... "well, I don't know,"... actually I don't even remember exactly why they wound up that way... in the world of film... project... well, in the world of film making, documentary filmmaking... I mean, forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know, but when... when you're compiling sources to make a documentary, you know, obviously you try to go for the best source you have. In the case of The Residents... their films, which were made, you know, in the 70s and 80s, were shot on film, transferred to old video formats, right, and then this documentary was made in an HD video format. And so it was decided to re-transfer the films to HD. Well, there were no non-faded prints, okay? It's like, they... the prints, film prints themselves, like you see here, all the color film prints had deteriorated over time.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

The only thing that still had color were either the old videotapes, which are low resolution, and... just, like... what you would see if you bought the VHS back in the day.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um, or the DVD that was out, which was sort of mid-resolution, or something like that. Um... you... the only way to get the actual color is to go back to the original negative of the thing, and basically put it back together again, the film element. And those filmmakers either didn't want to, or didn't know where the material was, or it was just too big of a project, I mean, I can't really blame them. But in any case, they didn't, and I said, "I will do that." And furthermore, I know where the material is, because I used to work at the archive where they were stored. And I just basically said, "Homer, I'll do this," and I have a source for funding to do this from a person that I was working with, and he said "Great!" And so I just, uh... basically got his permission and went ahead and did it. And that's why there's the new versions of them now, which are now in the permanent collection at MoMA. And I just... methodically went through and did all the ones that I could. Um, as it happens, I have... in the... in the world of show and tell.

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

There's a few I haven't done yet. And, um... this right here is the original, um, camera negative for "Jinx", the...

Miss Doop:

Oh!

Peter Conheim:

...um... beautiful Tuxedomoon film. And, like... you can see it says "A-roll"... I don't know if you can see...

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I can... I can... I can make that out, I think.

Peter Conheim:

Right? And "B-roll". And that's basically like...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

One shot, next shot. One shot, next shot. It just cuts back and forth.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And this is the camera negative original, and you have to scan these in, and then re-edit it digitally in the computer, and match it to how the original looked. This is what I did with each one of The Residents', um... films. Um... and I haven't gotten to... to "Jinx" yet, it's... it's... it's one of two I haven't done. And the other... the other one is... um... this "Man In The Dark Sedan".

Peter Conheim holding the video reel for Snakefinger's "The Man In The Dark Sedan"

Miss Doop:

Oh! That was actually, um... one of my next questions.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Well, there's a problem with this one.

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

This one's really weird.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

And I'll tell. I'll show you. Um... this one, the negative is lost.

Miss Doop:

Oh!

Peter Conheim:

And, what we have here is a very weird thing, that I have never encountered before. And, it is... this was filmed on 16mm film, like all of their shorts were, which is actually the format you see here.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Right? This is a 35mm film, and it is... you'll notice it says "double A-wind". It is... a duplicate negative, and what they've done is take... it's really bizarre. They've taken the A-roll and the B-roll and they've put them... they've printed them top-to-bottom like this. Um, it has to be scanned in... [flips reel backward and forward] ...like that. And... um...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

I... I... I have never encountered this, I've only been doing professional restoration on this level for about five years, so in a sense I'm a novice, but when I've asked people about this format, they've kind of like, shrugged their shoulders. And Graeme Whifler, who directed it, shrugged his shoulders and said, [gruff] "I don't remember fuckin' doin' that, I don't know anything about it".

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Um, so, um... it's unclear whether we'll ever be able to do that. Um...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And, you know... but that's a long way of saying, that's... I had to do it, I felt... because... and I'm... and I'm still sitting on these precious elements which belong to the Pacific Film Archive. They were donated by The Residents to the PFA, and I have them, uh, at the moment on loan in my vault getting ready to be transferred... I'm just waiting for the funding to materialize to do them, because they're pretty expensive to do.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

The only reason why they weren't done was because we were concentrating on The Residents and MX-80 Sound for the project in 2019. Because we had articles on both those bands. We didn't have the funding to do the Snakefinger and Tuxedomoon clips. So... that's why they're... they're still sitting there. But... long way of answering your original question, I just felt like I had to do them, because if people are only going to see these films through Theory of Obscurity, that documentary, indefinitely, it's not a true representation of how the... the work is. Um, I mean, the color was so wrong. They were brown, and... they were just, I mean, they're awful. They're awful. And I just knew they didn't look like that. So, I couldn't take it, I couldn't stand it, I had to do something.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Uh, so... [laughs] Same thing with DEVO. That's...

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

That's... I approached DEVO. I had been actually, um... working with DEVO, um... off and on for some years, um... on an informal basis, but they had me transfer some really amazing rare stuff-- [leans into camera] --which I hope some of you will get to see some day-- [leans back] --um, but, they... they also were in a situation where, like, they're... they're... they're... they're very much like The Residents, where the existing copies of their films were so rotten. And I was like, "guys, you've got the originals, let's do this right, I have the funding to do so," same exact deal. And I made, um, new restorations of two of their films and, and gonna move forward and do the rest of them this year. So... you just, it's just like, somebody has to do it, is the way I look at it, you know.

Are there any rare Ralph or DEVO videos you have that no one has seen before?

Miss Doop:

Uh huh. Yeah. Are there any, um, rare Ralph or DEVO videos you have that probably no-one has seen before, or that you are aware of?

Peter Conheim:

Aha...

Miss Doop:

You know...?

Peter Conheim:

Funny you should ask me that, Lisa French!

Miss Doop:

Oh! Hah, yes, it's pretty... hmm...

Peter Conheim:

Um, I just happen to have sitting right next to me...

Miss Doop:

Oh...?

Peter Conheim holding "The Residents Home Movie" film reel

[Peter holds up a film reel labelled "The Residents Home Movie"]

Miss Doop:

"The Residents Home Movie".

Peter Conheim:

Yeah.

Miss Doop:

That's... [inaudible]

Peter Conheim:

[laughs] So...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

This, um... is exactly what you think it is. And... and inside this can... [opens canister] ...um, is a reel... which I will, in extremely un-archival fashion, touch with my bare hands... [removes reel]

Miss Doop:

Oh!

Peter Conheim:

I do not recommend you do this at home... but it's not a negative, it is a print, nonetheless, um... and it is labelled, if I read this correctly... yeah... it says "1969 to 8/73".

Miss Doop:

Whoa. That's insane.

Peter Conheim:

And by looking at this I can tell that these are individual, like, fifty or one hundred foot spools spliced together. So, this is a compilation, effectively...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

...of home movies. And this came from The Cryptic Corporation. [returning reel to canister] Um... oh, and there's another sticker on the back that's clear. Yes. "1969 to 8/73".

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

So, this is apparently exactly what you think it is.

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

And, I have not--

Miss Doop:

Have you... have you... watched it? [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

I have not scanned it yet, no.

Miss Doop:

No?

Peter Conheim:

And, it... it... I would never project it...

Miss Doop:

No.

Peter Conheim:

...because it is way too precious for that. So, it needs to be scanned... um, again, it's a funding issue, um, it's a precious materials issue. You don't want to just... you know, "oh, let's just throw this on the projector and see what it looks like." Of course, that's what they did for years.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

But I'm not gonna do that now. Um, but, yeah. It's just one of these funny things that turned up in a box. Um, you know.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Who knows. And even once... once I've looked at it, The Cryptic Corporation might say, like, "no, we don't want that out there." Um...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Obviously it... it shows, I'm sure, faces and things.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I don't think their anonymity is really that important to them anymore, I mean...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm. Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Let's face it, Hardy Fox outed himself, basically...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And then in his obituary, it, like, completely made it clear. Um... but... you know. So...

Miss Doop:

Yeah. It's still a... it's still a nicety, I think.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah. Yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And then I also recently completed, just about two weeks ago... I... I think I am now probably the only person outside of The Residents who has now seen all nineteen hours of Vileness Fats.

Miss Doop:

That's...

Peter Conheim:

God help me.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. Oh, no! [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Um... yeah, yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I transferred... transferred... all of it. And... and... it... Vileness Fats... [picks up videotape reel] this is not a reel from it, this is just by way of example...

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

This is a junk reel, but... Vileness Fats existed on a format basically like this. Which is... um... this very low-quality video format. Um, half inch video tape, black and white... [a black cat jumps up onto the back of Peter's chair] Um... and yes... if there's anybody watching this video, that is a cat...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

And I am... I am holding a piece of... this is junk. So...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

No, this is not an archival moment that I am letting a cat get anywhere near this. However, this is a vault, and there is a cat in here, and it's very bad behavior, and, uh... we will just forget that... you know, that just happened. And... this is basically low-resolution, black and white, and if you've seen Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? you know what it looks like.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And, you know... you can see why they abandoned the movie, is because it was made on this... and, um... yeah, it's... it's... it's a drag. It's the most difficult format I've ever had to work with... it's... it's... the quality... actually, the tape's held up pretty well, but the image quality is just so bad... it's very frustrating to work with. You can tell there was so much love put into all those sets and everything, and you just want to see it with detail and color, and... you don't.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. That's... that's the real universal Residents experience... Residents fan experience, just wanting to see Vileness Fats, but it's just... [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

[shakes head] You don't.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

[laughs]

Miss Doop:

Well, I mean, wanting to see it in its true... its or... you know.

Peter Conheim:

Look, uh... you...

Miss Doop:

As it was.

Peter Conheim:

You don't. Look... I mean, this is the thing... there is no "there" there.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um... I... you know, there is so much brilliant... uh, imagery that could have been.

Miss Doop:

Mm?

Peter Conheim:

I mean, there is so much that could have been. And actually, there is enough... that... that... there is enough, that... okay, there is enough that they didn't use, that they could do a whole other, like, "Whatever Happened To...?"

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Out of context, has no meaning, has no logic... has no... you know, and it would be... pretty astonishing to watch. But the trick about Vileness Fats is... you know, that it was shot with the intention of none of the audio being used. It was supposed to be shot silent, and all of the sound that gets used in it was supposed to be overdubbed, and, you know.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

So all of the audio, all nineteen hours of the audio, is raw, on set, never supposed to be heard by the audience, right? So if you show it to somebody, you're getting a very improper picture of, uh... of what the creators intended, right?

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

So it just doesn't belong in the public sphere... even, even for... even... even, even like... it's just not... artistically valid to show people clips from it, really, at least not at length, because... unless you, unless you ran it silent, and then even then, it's like, "well, doesn't it need some music or something?" I mean, it would require them to put it into the world, not somebody like me, who has seen it in this unfinished state... it just doesn't make any... it just, it's not, it would not honor the work at all, you know?

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

But I can tell you that, I mean, as somebody who's actually seen it all, there are some beautiful images and totally fucked up ideas in it, and very offensive things, um... you know...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

...that would never pass muster today, that you cannot...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

...um, you know... very, very... uh... incorrect. [laughs]

Miss Doop:

Yeah. I... I think that's probably what the intention was with, um... the... the film they're currently working on, which I don't think has a name at the moment.

Peter Conheim:

Yes.

Miss Doop:

Uh, but it was called Double Trouble, Triple Trouble, and then, now I've heard it referred to as LIE. But that, I feel like that's to re-contextualize those images without the limitations. Or... you know... [indistinct]

Peter Conheim:

It sounds like that's what they're doing, exactly.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because I gave them, um... they asked me to, um... give them the transfer to... use for that project. So we are going to... uh, I am really excited to see whatever they do, but...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

They apparently... what my understanding was they literally only wanted seconds of Alpha... uh, Arf and Omega fighting. So... I mean, I really hope they go a lot deeper, because... that's all they wanted from the footage...

Miss Doop:

Really?

Peter Conheim:

...was literally a second. And I'm like, "there's so much more"... [laughing] Um, I mean, I will reveal one thing. There is... I don't know if this has come out. Uh, well, I don't know, you can remind me, but...

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

In... in Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?, does... uh... there... they... there is a version of, uh, is it "Eloise"?

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Is that right?

Miss Doop:

Uh, no, no, no, in Vileness Fats... yeah, there is... there is "El... Eloise". I get it. Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Okay. Well, he also does, um, "Kamakazi Lady".

Miss Doop:

Mm. I think that... that was a Free! Weird! one week. Like, a little snippet of him doing "Kamakazi Lady".

Peter Conheim:

Oh!

Miss Doop:

Yeah. [laughs] Um, so, I think that's out there. But maybe not...

Peter Conheim:

Was it...?

Miss Doop:

Maybe... well, it's like, test footage, it looks like. He's just, he's... standing in between two peoples' legs, and he's... [swaying]

Peter Conheim:

Is it... w... is it... does it look like it's filmed from a monitor?

Miss Doop:

I think so. Maybe. I'm not too sure.

Peter Conheim:

I think I've... I... I think I sent that to him.

Miss Doop:

Oh!

Peter Conheim:

Did it... did it... did it... did it... did it, um... did... was this within the last, like, year and a half?

Miss Doop:

Um... I think so. Maybe. I don't remember exactly when it was. I think so...

Peter Conheim:

Was that...?

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, I wonder if that... if that... 'cause... 'cause while I was transferring it, I was laughing so hard that I... I took my iPhone and I filmed off the screen...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

...several... several clips of that sequence, and I sent them to Homer Flynn.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, uh, a few... um... a few Night Club scenes, uh, were put out as Free! Weird!s, I think. Maybe I'm... [indistinct]

Peter Conheim:

Is it...?

Miss Doop:

Like, I think there's one of "Fever"... with Peggy Honeydew doing "Fever", and that was a Free! Weird! around that same time.

Peter Conheim:

Well, that... yeah. Yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, I... I also think I sent that to him.

Miss Doop:

[laughs] Yeah. It's really great.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, that is really great. And then, you know, there... so... so, I can see why that stuff would come out, but...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I mean, there are these dialogue scenes that are so tedious!

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

They... they're just... they're... they're... they're agonizing. Agonizing to... to watch. And then there's some that are, like, kind of brilliant, but... they... yeah, you... yeah. It's... no.

Miss Doop:

[laughs] No.

Peter Conheim:

[laughs]

Miss Doop:

Yeah, so, there... they, um... there's a synopsis that, uh, I think came out with a art book they did recently, and each scene had listed next to it whether it was shot or not... and... I was wondering...

Peter Conheim:

Ah.

Miss Doop:

...if you'd seen that synopsis... and whether...

Peter Conheim:

No.

Miss Doop:

No. Well, okay. Well, I was going to ask whether you could confirm which scenes were shot and which were not, but... [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Well, you could... well, you could mention things to me, and I could tell you...

Miss Doop:

[rummaging] Uh, I don't have the book with me at the moment... but, um... I could... we have a transcript of it over at the Meet The Residents Wiki...

Peter Conheim:

Okay.

Miss Doop:

Um... I could send over and... [leans in to type] ...you can look at it.

Peter Conheim:

I can tell you. I mean, yeah.

Miss Doop:

I mean... it might be a bit tedious to go through now...

Peter Conheim:

Okay.

Miss Doop:

But... uh, maybe...

Peter Conheim:

[opens link, reading] Yeah, that's probably gonna be too clunky for...

Miss Doop:

Yeah, it's a lot... it's a long... it's a long synopsis. Anyway... anyhow.

Peter Conheim:

Oh, I see. Right. Okay.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I'll skim it. I'll skim through it... um... uh, and, uh... and I, uh... I'll... try to tell you...

Miss Doop:

Okay.

Peter Conheim:

...what was shot and not shot, uh, after we're done with this.

Miss Doop:

Yeah 'cause there's a... there's a few things that say "not shot", but um... haven't... have, uh... have appeared on stuff like the Theory of Obscurity DVD and the Free! Weird! that have come... um...

Peter Conheim:

Right.

Miss Doop:

...out. Yeah, anyway... um...

How were the films used in Eyes, Ears and Throats selected?

Miss Doop:

How were the films for, um, Eyes, Ears and Throats selected?

Peter Conheim:

Um... just my taste, mainly.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm. Okay.

Peter Conheim:

Uh, taste and availability.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um... you know, some of those things were... I was pretty obsessed by for some time. Um, Deaf... Deaf/Punk, the, uh, the film, uh, on the San Francisco Deaf Club... uh, is, uh... one of my favorite things. I think it's just an amazing document, and I had wanted that to have a larger audience for years. The filmmaker is dead... the negative is lost...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Uh... very hard to secure permission to show that. It took me... oh, shit... it took years, actually, years to get that restoration done. Um, way before the... the... [unclear] NWR project, actually, I was working on that. Um... yeah, it just... it was just, uh, a series of things I had been thinking about for a long time. And then when the opportunity to do, um... an all-punk-slash-underground series came along, I just sort of went with my gut instinct. And...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Because I was already sort of formulating The Residents' restorations, um... that dovetailed nicely with programming that compilation. And so when I pro... uh... when I created that, uh... that ninety minute... piece, that ha... that kind of happened at the same time that I was approaching The Cryptic Corporation, and it all sort of worked logistically. And then we wound up writing articles about - for the site - about The Residents, and I interviewed Graeme Whifler, and, you know, like, all those things kind of worked holistically, and it all... you know, it just... it sort of built itself. Um... yeah. And then... and the... the DEVO was actually I think a late addition. I think, um... doing... doing... uh... the first DEVO film was just a... was a... was a... lucky break that we were able to do that. Um, same kind of deal, like... "I think we can do this, do we have their permission?" "Yes", you know...

Miss Doop:

Alright. That's... that's sweet. Um... let me see, what else have I got there...

When did you start working with DEVO?

Miss Doop:

Um... what's been your, um... working relationship... with DEVO... been? When did you start working with DEVO? [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

Um... I, well, I used to be... for twenty-odd years I was in this group called Negativland. And we have mutual friends with, um... them, through... it's... various groups of people that both groups know... and so I've known... peripherally known them through Negativland...

Miss Doop:

Uh huh.

Peter Conheim:

And then... and that was was sort of on a social level. And going to shows, seeing them play, um... and then I got the idea that I wanted to preserve their films, and started talking to them about that, maybe ten years ago, but nothing ever came of it. Then I shot the Hardcore... um... Live Hardcore show, um... which came out on Blu-ray, um... I... I actually originated that project, but then it wound up... which is fine, I... I'm actually glad it went this way...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm?

Peter Conheim:

I originated it as a super lo-fi... like, just two of us sh...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

...shooting that show in Oakland, and Jerry ran with that and turned it into a much bigger production, and... you know... hired a crew, sold it to a company, and they made this actual documentary film, and then felt bad, and... hired me on as one of the camera people. So it all worked out in the end. Um... in any case, the result is so great, what they did with it, the Hardcore DEVO Live, that... I mean... it's so much better than it ever would have been if I'd have just been standing there like a dumbass with my camera.

Miss Doop:

[laughs] Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um... so there was that, and then, um... yeah, I just kept... I just... I just kind of kept being in touch. And then, and then, actually, it was this format... [points behind him to videotape reel on shelf] ...that, um... that... that... got me really working intensively with them, because they remembered that I had offered to transfer stuff for them, and a couple years ago, they said "you know, we have these... uh... live shows from the seventies that we've never seen, and... we... we... they're on this weird format, can you transfer that?" And, I'm like... [gasps]

Peter points out the videotape format that got him working intensively with DEVO

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

"Uh... yeah?" And, uh... [laughs]

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

And they sent... they sent me up a box of... of these... [points again to videotape reel] ...and, uh, I... let me tell you, it is the greatest shit.

Miss Doop:

Right, yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I mean, some of... some of... some of it has leaked already, in the past, uh... there...

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

They're shows in, um... they're all shows in Akron and Cleveland, like, at the... at the Crypt, there's... there's a couple shows...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

...and there's little bits of it that have come out, but I transferred all of it, and it is... just... precious...

Miss Doop:

Uh huh. Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

...precious, precious shit, and, um... yeah. So once I did that, um... I... I started thinking, like, "wow", you know... "do you have more?"

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

And it was kind of like the same thing with The Cryptic Corporation. And, um... I went down to Mutato... um... to their studio...

Miss Doop:

Right.

Peter Conheim:

...and I met with Mark, and I started looking around their tape archive, and was just flabbergasted how much audio tape there was. Not a lot of video. Not a lot of film, not a lot of vid... no film, really.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Not a lot of video, but thousands and thousands of reels of audio tape. And I said, "Mark, who... have you guys digitized much of this stuff? Who's kind of kept track of this over the years?" And he said, "oh, you know, nobody". And then he's like "oh, this... this might be a... kind of a fun tape", and he pulled out one thing, and we're looking at it together and kind of laughing, and I'm like "Mark, can I just start transferring this stuff?" And he's like "yeah, I... I... I guess so, you know... you'll be careful with it, right?" I said, "yeah". And, one thing led to another, and now I've transferred about... I don't know... three hundred, four hundred hours of DEVO audio.

Miss Doop:

That's...

Peter Conheim:

Um... a lot of which the world has never heard. Or seen. Um... [looking behind him] I do have a couple of cool things here, actually, in the show and tell... that there was...

Miss Doop:

Yeah, um... I really love DEVO, and, um... [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

[looking through boxes] Do you? Well... listen.

Miss Doop:

...so...

Peter Conheim:

You're gonna...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

[searching for box] Let me tell you, my friend... once... once we get... let me see if I have any here, um... oh, yeah. [laughs, picks up tape box, turns back to camera] Once we... once we get it sorted out, there is so much great material.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

For instance... here is a... [holds tape box labelled "Warners DEVO Reel 5 10-10-78 24 TRK 15 IPS NAB + JDB Starwood" up to camera] ...24 track live recording...

Peter showing the spine of the DEVO Live at the Starwood 24 track tape box

Miss Doop:

Wow.

Peter Conheim:

...of DEVO at the Starwood in LA. Um, this is an amazing concert. They have three nights of them playing, 24 track... never released.

Miss Doop:

Whoa...

Peter Conheim:

[searching through boxes again] Um... and then we have--

Miss Doop:

Ohh! Is that the, um... was that used in the Men Who Make The Music video?

Peter Conheim:

Yes it was!

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

But... not only do we... yes, so not only do we have all the 24 track audio... [reaches up to shelf, takes down two Betamax tapes] ...but I found all of the master video for it...

Peter holding the two master Betamax tapes of the DEVO Starwood shows

Miss Doop:

Ohh...

Peter Conheim:

And the video - hilariously enough, because the budget was so low - is shot on Betamax. Not...

Miss Doop:

Ohh... [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Not Betacam... Betamax. Consumer grade. Here are two of the masters. So, um... I'm gonna be eventually... [returning tapes to shelf]...transferring all of it. There's... it was a two camera shoot at the Starwood. So, yes, you're absolutely right, and that is what it is.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And... so... but that's... that's just... man, that is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much beautiful, beautiful stuff... um... uh, you know...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Not... again, not so much video, that's one of the few video things. But, but... because they're... they're really... pretty un... in terms of their own archive, it's pretty underrepresented on the visual level. Um...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

But most of their video stuff is sitting in the Warner vault and we've all seen it before. Um, but the... but the audio... they.. Mark kept everything. And... Mothersbaugh. He kept everything. And... and... and he catalogued it pretty well. So... I have transferred some wonderful shit. And I... I... I... I hope that some day... you know... I mean, I talk to those guys a couple times a week. Um, it's actually Mark's birthday today...

Miss Doop:

Oh! Yeah, I didn't... I... I forgot that. Happy birthday, Mark! [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Yeah. Yeah. I was... I was texting with him this morning...

Miss Doop:

Uh huh.

Peter Conheim:

And... we... you know, we will... something is... something's gonna happen.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Something's gonna happen. Uh, I... I... I...

Miss Doop:

I actually... I actually, um... I own... they recently put out the Unmasked and Brand book, which is a...

Peter Conheim:

Right.

Miss Doop:

...art book by DEVO. And there's a thing in it, I think Jerry says where... they stored a lot of their stuff, like props and everything, and tapes... at the Enigma headquarters, or storage space. And when Enigma shut down, uh, he saw people just, like, take, uh... just, like, running off with pieces of the New Traditionalists set. And I was, like...

Peter Conheim:

Oh, yeah.

Miss Doop:

...that's awful! [laughs] Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I remember reading that.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, it's quite possible.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah. Uh, uh... they didn't... I mean, there's... there's no tapes missing, but... but... yeah.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

There's only... the only tape that... the, uh... that DEVO does not have in their possession is the multi-track of, um... Freedom of Choice. Which... which...

Miss Doop:

Ohh.

Peter Conheim:

...unfortunately, due to some backroom sneakiness, wound up going back to Warner Bros., um... even though I don't think it actually was physically owned by them... but it... but they actually have a... we have a really good... um... amazingly good relationship with the vault people, the archive people at Warner.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

And we have full access to the Warner vault. So... it... it... it's... they're... they're totally open to letting us go and...

Miss Doop:

Yeah, right.

Peter Conheim:

...uh, make... archival copies of anything we want from there. But... DEVO has everything that they've done, basically, in Mark's vault, which is great.

Miss Doop:

That's good. Mm.

Peter Conheim:

Uh, uh... so, yeah, I actually have... eh... I can't really show you too many... [unclear] ...but... I actually do have here one of DEVO's original 4-track machines, um... which was used to record some of the Hardcore DEVO stuff. Um... and I had to bring it up here from LA because it has a particular speed peculiarity, which I needed to transfer some of the Hardcore DEVO stuff, which is kind of cool.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Um... whenever possible, I try to get things as close to how they're supposed to be as possible. And in this case, I had no choice, 'cause the speed was a certain way, and I just... I had to do it the way it is.

Miss Doop:

Mm.

Peter Conheim:

Um... but I did find... like, for instance, I found the master tape for the session from 1975 that... that is on the Hardcore CD, and the reissue... uh, we all know the songs, I mean, it... ts... ts... ts... ts... "Jocko Homo", and, um... um...

Miss Doop:

[unclear]

Peter Conheim:

"Space Girl Blues".

Miss Doop:

...yeah, oh, yeah. "Auto Modown"?

Peter Conheim:

It's si... six or seven... right. Right.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

All that stuff.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

But I found the actual master, as opposed to the second generation or third generation dub, which is what they had been using for all those years. I don't know why they didn't use the master.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Who knows? But when I put that sucker on, and listened to that? Oh, my God, the fidelity is like... my head just exploded. I mean, you can... the detail you can hear on the drums? On the electronic drums? Is... [laughs]

Miss Doop:

Wow.

Peter Conheim:

It was like a revelation. So, I... like... one of the things I would love to do is release that as an EP... um...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

You know. Again, it's like... you know, it's... dealing with anything like this is sort of like swimming through molasses, you know?

Miss Doop:

[laughs] Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um... but... but... but... this... the... these are... this is... this is what an archivist does, you know, in a sense, is like... you're just rescuing... you're just making sure the shit is there. You know, and that it's preserved. And... and... and... and a very important thing I really want to just get across, because I know I've just talked non-stop for however long...

Miss Doop:

[laughs] No, that's fine.

Peter Conheim:

Okay.

Miss Doop:

That's what you're here for.

Peter Conheim:

Okay.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Is this... you know, I don't want to give the impression that... that transferring stuff to digital is, like, somehow... uh... that's like somehow... you're automatically rescuing something, or that that's...

Miss Doop:

Mm.

Peter Conheim:

...that's... uh, you know, that's of the answer. Because, it isn't. Um, you know, if you... I... I... I... I love to remind people that these... you know, what I... and, look, you know... I'm surrounded by all this analog stuff, you know, even that... that Beta tape that's forty years old, more than that... that stuff will outlast digital...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

...insofar as... the digital, sure, you can make a perfect clone of it. There is not a single digital format that exists, that's ever been invented, that you can just put on a shelf and leave.

Miss Doop:

Right.

Peter Conheim:

It doesn't exist. Um, they all die. So, the only way to maintain digital is to constantly migrate it. Constantly migrate it, constantly back it up. And... people will never get this completely clear... through their heads, until they lose... like, all of their precious... you know, creations. I think.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

I think that when you're... that we as a culture have given ourselves - this is gonna be a rant, but... we've given ourselves - you know, myself included to a degree, with my... you know, one of these... [holds up smartphone] You know.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

We've given... we've given ourselves over to... to digital so extensively that we are at the risk of losing stuff, right? So, I always tell people, when you transfer your analog materials to digital, keep your analog material. Even if you bake the tape. People think, like, "oh, now I... I guess I destroyed it, I can throw it away." Like, no! You can re-bake the tape, and re-bake it, and re-bake it, and re-bake it, you know, it's like... so... yeah. I... all this DEVO stuff, when it... or The Residents' things, any of these things, it's like, once they're transferred, it's great to, like... preserve it in amber... at the moment, with digital amber. It's not even amber, to preserve it digitally at that moment for use, but that original is still the thing, for as long as it survives, which could be a really long time... [laughs]

Miss Doop:

[laughs] Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Right? And, so, you know. The DEVO stuff, you know, Mark has been taking great care of those analog materials, and as long as there's no flood, or fire, they're gonna outlast any hard drive, any file... you know. So...

Miss Doop:

Yeah. Um... this is... uh... I... I didn't realize until now that you were involved with Negativland. Stupidly.

Peter Conheim:

I was.

Miss Doop:

I, um... I really love, um... I really love Dispepsi and all that. But I've not, I've not, like...

Peter Conheim:

That's when I started, yeah.

Miss Doop:

I've not, you know, been aware. I wish I... I wish I'd thought of questions about Negativland now. [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Well, I'm really glad you didn't. I... I've put...

Miss Doop:

Oh! [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

I'm really trying to put that whole...

Miss Doop:

Oh, okay.

Peter Conheim:

...that whole period of my life behind me now.

Miss Doop:

Okay. [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

So that's good! [laughs]

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

That's good.

Miss Doop:

Okay. Well, great. Um... good thing I didn't ask about Negativland.

Peter Conheim:

Nah, eh... eh...

Miss Doop:

Nah, okay... okay!

Peter Conheim:

[unclear] ...a little... [unclear] I'm just joking.

Miss Doop:

Nah, I can tell, I can tell. Um... I... I... I'll just ask... um... hmm... I'm gonna... I'm trying to think of a Negativland question off my head now!

When did you join Negativland, and how?

Miss Doop:

So, when did you... when did you join Negativland, and how?

Peter Conheim:

Uh, in the, uh... in ninety... in ninety... f... six, roughly.

Miss Doop:

Uh huh.

Peter Conheim:

'95, '96, I started working with them. And then... it was... I, uh.. cler... kind of clerically, like, helping them with their books. And then... and then I... I started getting involved creatively after that. And then started playing live in ninety... eight. So...

Miss Doop:

That's [unclear]... That's sweet.

Peter Conheim:

I worked... I worked on Dispepsi a little bit, just a little, little bit...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

...and then became creatively full time involved in '98.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I was just, um... I was, uh, scurrying to... um, through your Discogs page, to be like, "aw, shit, which Negativlands is he on?" [laughs] "What should I ask?" 'Cause, um, there's actually... no, he, uh... um... I think that the album Escape From Noise actually has The Residents on it, and I was, like, oh, I wonder if I could... I've always been curious about that.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah.

Miss Doop:

And, uh, I wanted to ask, but I... you're not... kind of you weren't involved in... [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

No, and I... I, I... I used to know, and I don't remember anymore...

Miss Doop:

Oh.

Peter Conheim:

...what... what their contribution was. Um... you know, and... DEVO's on... well, Mark Motherbaugh's on that...

Miss Doop:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Um... I mean... I think actually that Mark Hosler went to the DEVO studio, the old DEVO studio, and actually sat with Mothersbaugh as he played something for that, um... I remember the story, but yeah, I... I don't know, because it was before my time.

Miss Doop:

Okay. Yeah. Well, okay. Um... next question...

What are your current projects?

Miss Doop:

Uh... what's your... what are your current projects?

Peter Conheim:

Ooh. Um... well, there's something very big that I can't talk about that involves DEVO.

Miss Doop:

Uh huh. Oh, really?

Peter Conheim:

Um... and hopefully we will all know about it soon.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Um... other than that, um... and that's just getting sort of... kicked around. Um, that's actually been in the works for a couple years. Um, so that's... that's one thing. Um... but basically, I do film preservation full time, or at least try to. Since the pandemic... uh, I haven't had a paying gig until about a month ago, I didn't have... uh, a paying job, since... December 2019. Uh, lean times. So, um... yeah, I pretty much have just been working on, uh, uh... sort of... um... self-motivated transfer projects. And helping, you know... helping friends and fans out, doing little... little things. Also, the... the... the DEVO thing, um... the... the tape, the... the... the transfer end of the DEVO project has been sort of self-motivated, so, like, what I have done, in that sense, is that sometimes I would just go to Mutato... um, I haven't been down there, actually, since the pandemic, so...

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

...it's been since January. But I would just grab a big stack of tape, and just take it back with me on the airplane. It's an hour flight. And... because I prefer not to ship things... um, that is too precious... sometimes I would FedEx them, but generally I would carry them. And I just take the tape up here and then gradually go through it. So, I still have... like, in the case of the Starwood tape, that's actually been transferred, I just haven't returned it yet. Um... you know, there's just tape here, so sometimes I will just put a tape on and run it. Um... you know, some tapes are in such bad shape that they need further restoration, I just haven't gotten to it yet. Um... so, those are the kind of things I'm working on, there's some sort of, like, slow, slow tedious things. Vileness Fats actually sat here for months, and then Homer... uh, and the Cryptics needed it back, because they were shooting... Double Trouble, Triple Trouble, whatever the fuck it's called now.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Um...

Miss Doop:

[unclear]

Peter Conheim:

They needed it back, because they needed to actually physically have the tapes to show as props in the film.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And so I gave it back, and then months later, they're like, "oh, actually, we would like some more of this transferred." So then I got it back... [laughs] ...and wound up transferring the whole rest of the... like, nine hours or ten hours or whatever I hadn't done, and completed that a couple weeks ago. Um... so... I did that. Um... oh, um, MX-80 Sound.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Um... tons of MX-80 Sound stuff. Um, the band is still active after almost fifty years, and...

Miss Doop:

Are there... I've not... I know... I've not been able to just... get into MX-80 Sound lately. I...

Peter Conheim:

Oh, they are so good.

Miss Doop:

I... I should, yeah. Right.

Peter Conheim:

They are so great. We actually recorded an album, which I co-produced, uh, in the studio... during the pandemic, that was pretty exciting. We actually all quarantined for two weeks, separately...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Everybody quarantined, and then got together in the studio to record this record. And it's a big band, too. It's a six person band.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

So, it was... it's a double trio, so it was pretty intense. And the producer. Every... the engineer. Everybody quarantined to do this. Um... we recorded the record, uh, we're mixing that... and we're reissuing their first EP from 1976, which is called Big Hits... uh... uh... a label, a Canadian label, uh, is putting that out, uh... called, um... Supreme Echo. Uh, is putting that out, it's an expanded version, it's been turned into an album with all this unreleased music. It's called Big Hits and Other Bits.

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

Um... yeah, I mean, it's just... there's all kinds of MX-80 music coming out. They were just... they were very prolific, well... especially during their heyday. They were... they rehearsed six nights a week for thirty years.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

That's a lot of music. Uh, and they just kept... just grinding out songs. Uh, if you look... if you look on... I don't know if you've read the article, but, um... Steve Albini... [unclear] ...wrote articles on the, um... uh... YNWR website about MX-80, which...

Miss Doop:

Oh... I have... [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, it tells the whole story.

Miss Doop:

[laughs] Right.

Peter Conheim:

Um, and... and... and I really recommend reading those, 'cause it... I think they are so wonderful, and their story is so great.

Miss Doop:

Okay.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah.

Miss Doop:

That's great. I should give them a... I should really give them a shot now.

Peter Conheim:

Yep. They're great.

Were you involved in the recent remaster of the "Constantinople" music video?

Miss Doop:

Recently, they... have you... um, recently, on The Residents' YouTube channel, they uploaded, um... the Icky Flix "Constantinople" music video. Were you at all involved in restoring that?

Peter Conheim:

The what? I didn't hear you, the what video?

Miss Doop:

Uh, the... the "Constantinople" music video from Icky Flix.

Peter Conheim:

Uh, no.

Miss Doop:

No? Okay.

Peter Conheim:

No.

Miss Doop:

That's fair. Okay.

Peter Conheim:

Mm.

Devo Starwood 7" single and Q: Are We Not Men? master tape

Miss Doop:

Um... Oh, and here's... referring back to our emails... uh, from a year ago, you talked about a, um, 7" single release of two songs from the Starwood set. But, uh...

Peter Conheim:

Oh, yeah!

Miss Doop:

But... that... that never happened, I don't think. So...

Peter Conheim:

I don't know. I don't know.

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

That was an Australian label.

Miss Doop:

Yeah?

Peter Conheim:

That was coming out as part of a book, um, on the Starwood. And, uh, to be perfectly honest, I don't know what happened to that project.

Miss Doop:

Ohh. It... just... did... did...

Peter Conheim:

I've never heard. It might have come out. I don't know.

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I tried to do a bit of research, I haven't done anything, so... maybe it's just... [indistinct] or maybe it's in development hell or whatever.

Peter Conheim:

Yeah. In fact, you know what... [reaches for mobile phone] You have to hold one second and let me just see... [reads something on phone] Oh.

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

[unclear] Oh shit, okay. Huh. Funny! One of the guys from MX-80 Sound needed to be picked up at the doctor, after his...

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

...after his, uh... his, uh... prostate, uh... appointment, uh, and, uh... uh... he was waiting for me to... but... that was an... that was an hour ago. I told him I didn't... I thought we were going to be interviewing for quite a while, and it's, uh... he apparently has taken a lift...

Miss Doop:

Oh, well.

Peter Conheim:

So, uh... so I guess we're... I guess he's fine.

Miss Doop:

Well... whoopsy! Well, we're... I, this... I'm basically out of questions, so we might as well leave... [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

That's... well. [unclear]

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

If you... [unclear]

Miss Doop:

If there's no more info about, um... that... that Starwood 7", then... [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

Yeah, you mean... I mention... I'm glad you mentioned it, because, um, I... I actually was going to look into it a while ago, and, uh...

Miss Doop:

Mmhmm.

Peter Conheim:

You know... uh, that... yeah, there's... we picked... well, I... the band picked great songs for that. I think it's "Shrivel Up" and, um...

Miss Doop:

Ohh!

Peter Conheim:

...oh man, I mean, there... there's... they were just absolutely on fire at that... at that period. Um...

Miss Doop:

Well, I love "Shrivel Up" by them, yeah. That's one of my favourites by them.

Peter Conheim:

Oh, yeah. Well, I'll... I'll let you in on another little fun secret...

Miss Doop:

Mm?

Peter Conheim:

...is that we recently transferred the original 24-track of the first album.

Miss Doop:

Ah! [unclear]

Peter Conheim:

And we got to hear, you know, all the stuff that Eno did...

Miss Doop:

Mm?

Peter Conheim:

...which they didn't really use quite so much...

Miss Doop:

[unclear]

Peter Conheim:

...and there's a lot of just great shit in there.

Miss Doop:

Oh, uh... yeah.

Peter Conheim:

And... you know, again, maybe... well, Mark's talked about this in interviews before, but...

Miss Doop:

Yeah, I've... I've... I've read about it.

Peter Conheim:

Right, but maybe... maybe a remix of some sort could happen. At least, a partial remix of a few songs would be so much fun, because listening to it is a blast. Um... I think it was "Space Junk"... uh, yes, in "Space Junk", in particular. There is some shortwave shit in there, which is, like, to die for. I mean, such incredibly great extreme noises in there. Like, whole channels, if you bring them up in the mixer, of just like... [abrasive noise]

Miss Doop:

[laughs]

Peter Conheim:

You know. And, I... I would... I would love to hear, like, an extreme noise mix of "Space Junk", you know. Maybe I'll just make one.

Miss Doop:

Yeah. [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

I have the... [unclear] [laughs]

End of interview

Miss Doop:

Yeah. Okay, well, that seems to be everything. Um...

Peter Conheim:

Great! This has been fun.

Miss Doop:

Have a good day. Yeah, this has been really great. And, I hope... I... it was fun for you, yeah.

Peter Conheim:

It was! I, I know you're going to... you're going to post this on your little, uh... channel.

Miss Doop:

My YouTube channel, yeah. Um...

Peter Conheim:

Great.

Miss Doop:

Not... I'm not going to put it on the channel that, um... I put bootlegs and shit up on... it just... [laughs]

Peter Conheim:

Right. [laughs]

Miss Doop:

I'm going to create a new channel, and maybe see if I can do more interviews...

Peter Conheim:

Great!

Miss Doop:

...and maybe this can be a thing. Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

Well, let me know when it goes up, and I'll... and I'll...

Miss Doop:

Yeah.

Peter Conheim:

...and I'll tell... I'll tell people.

Miss Doop:

Great, thanks.

Peter Conheim:

Well, it's been fun. Thanks!

Miss Doop:

Yeah! See you.

Peter Conheim:

Alright, see you again.

See also

• Peter Conheim
• The Mysterious Spanish Ladies (Miss Doop)
• "The Residents Home Movie"
• Vileness Fats

External links and references

• "Interview with Peter Conheim, 2021" by Lisa Doop on YouTube