The Green Pajamas are a unanimous favorite here at Parasol. They’re the kind of band you want to win the lottery for, to insure that if they don’t have a record deal, you can keep them well-stocked in blank tape, guitar strings and studio time. Most widely known as the band that penned Material Issue’s hit "Kim the Waitress" (available on the collection "Indian Winter"), Green Pajamas have been recording since the mid-‘80s, and in early 1999 released "All Clues Lead to Meagan’s Bed" on Australia’s Camera Obscura label. Click here to go to the Green Pajamas web page for a more comprehensive bio. Though I’ve seen them described as psych and folk and pop and rock (and various permutations thereof), GP combines all of these elements with literate lyrics, into a satisfying whole. Though unknown to the mainstream the band has pockets of hard core fans led by the British fanzine Ptolemaic Terrascope. In fact, in the interview following I have tried not to duplicate the questions Jud Cost asked Green Pajamas in an interview that ran in Ptolemaic Terrascope #25. If you have some follow up questions yourself, please feel free to e-mail the band care of bassist Joe Ross at: joeross@seanet.com. Members Joe Ross and principal songwriter Jeff Kelly were kind enough to conduct this e-mail interview with Parasol’s Michael Roux. Karl Wilhelm and Eric Lichter chipped in at the end on "The Quick Six."

I must confess to being a recent Green Pajamas devotee. It wasn't until I started working at Parasol and somewhat after "Strung Behind The Sun" was released that I heard your music. Have there been specific points in the past 18 months, besides maybe Terrastock, when you felt like you were reaching a new audience?

JOE: Our new CD has reached number 1 on several college radio charts and that is a first for us.

JEFF: Yes. With "Meagan's Bed" specifically. People are responding well to this one. It was number-one at WMBR for two or three weeks so there are certainly new people hearing us.

Has the Internet in any way changed the way you communicate with your audience?

JOE: Well I do get a lot of emails now (my address is the one on our website) that need to be responded to, but we have always received a fair amount of letters that needed to be responded to, but it is a lot easier now, I guess.

JEFF: It has changed very much the communication between people like Tony Dale at Camera Obscura in Australia which enables a new efficiency not matched in the past. This, in turn, effects our audience in a positive way.

I read in Ptolemaic Terrsacope #25 that Jeff has an album titled "The Rosary in the House of Jade" in the can. What is the status of that release?

JOE: I got a home run cassette of it for Christmas.

JEFF: It is being released as part of a 4 CD box set of some of my solo recordings. It will be out in the fall of this year, I imagine.

Jeff's "Ash Wednesday Rain" was recorded on an eight-track cassette recorder. I love the sonic quality of that album. It doesn't at all sound like it was recorded on cassette. Were "Strung Behind The Sun" and "All Clues…" recorded in a similar fashion? If not, what are the differences?

JOE: Yes, the very same deck. Jeff is a genius when it comes to recording. He utilizes the quality (or lack there-of) of whatever equipment is at hand to create an atmosphere of sound that draws you in.

JEFF: Yeah, they were recorded the same way. The only way to fly.

What is the most money the Green Pajamas have spent recording/mixing an album?

JOE: We spent $250 to record and mix our first single, "Kim The Waitress"/"Jennifer" at Tom Dyer's studio in 1985. That is the only time we have ever paid for a recording session. These days we always record ourselves for free. However, we pay the man when it comes to assembling our CDs. We spend about $720 to edit, sequence, equalize and master "All Clues..." and "Strung Behind The Sun" was even more.

If you had unlimited financial resources for the purposes of recording, would you change how you go about recording Green Pajamas albums?

JOE: Sure, who wouldn't? Not that we are unhappy with the way things are now but my mind boggles at what we could do with 24 tracks and a computer with pro-tools during recording. Not to mention a more spacious studio with men in white lab coats running around to perfect each sound as it goes to tape, and pretty girls to serve us tea and cigarettes on breaks.

JEFF: Yes, but I think in some ways I'd like it to remain very similar. I work best in quick bursts of inspiration and, as much as I'd love to have better equipment, I'd hate to get bogged down doing 64 tracks of the same guitar or something... You tend to react to what's in your immediate environment; I tend to take a given situation and run with it. If someone gives me a digital studio I'll take it. But I'm never going to have the patience to sit and enter notes into a computer.

It seems that the members of Green Pajamas individually write a lot of songs. Do you pass around unreleased versions of "albums" to friends and family as a temporary surrogate to having all of your material immediately released?

JOE: We used to do that. But our last couple of releases have been kept secret until they're out.

JEFF: I always have a working cassette of recent songs that I listen to in my car, but only occasionally do I take the time to compile unreleased songs to give to friends.

What happens to all of those unreleased songs?

JOE: As a band we don't have that many unreleased songs since we usually can ship them off as compilation tracks or odd singles. And all that stuff from the past decade was collected together for the "Indian Winter" CD. Jeff, on the other hand, as a solo artist/songwriter has hours and hours of unreleased songs all organized on cassettes from the late '70s to the present...After he's dead, I'll put all that out.

In the reviews that I read of "Indian Winter" "Kim the Waitress" was often mentioned front and center. Do you like this Material Issue association or am I aggravating the issue by bringing it up?

JOE: Not at all. I wish someone would cover one of my songs.

JEFF: As a songwriter, I loved having a song on the Billboard charts. Who wouldn't enjoy that? It was fun to hear their version. I don't feel at all aggravated by it. And then there was the check...

When it comes to listening to albums I'm usually a 10-12 song, 35-45 minute kind of listener. Your albums go beyond those lengths. When I listen to "Strung…" and "All Clues…" I feel like I'm entering a world where album length doesn't matter. How do you decide how many tracks will be recorded and included on an album?

JOE: Recording is an on going process for us (especially for Jeff, man, he never stops). When the time comes, we assemble the best album we can from the songs that are done. Sometimes we will record a few more songs at this stage specifically for the new album, just to solidify a cohesive feel of it.

Any sequencing battles?

JOE: You could say that's when the fur and feathers really fly between me and Jeff.

JEFF: Joe and I spend a lot of time coming up with a track running order. But I think that our efforts in this area have paid off for our records' sake.

The lathe-cut limited edition (250 copies) of the "These Are the Best Times/Vampire Crush" 7" single was recently released. What other Green Pajamas songs are going to appear in the near future and in what format?

JOE: We are putting the final touches on a new album scheduled to come out at the end of summer on Woronzow Records (UK) titled "Seven Fathoms Down And Falling". Also, we recorded two songs, "London Sunday" b/w "She's Had Enough" for a single at Vagrant Records (Seattle), but I think they are currently lacking the necessary funds to get it out. And last, but probably first to appear, is a song called "If Tomorrow Comes" that will be on Camera Obscura's next compilation CD.

Do you like fans to contact you? If so, what's the best way for them to reach you?

JOE: Sure, it always makes my day. I guess email is the cheapest, quickest way for most of the world to contact us. You can call me too 206-932-0615.

The quick six…

Mixing session you wish you could have attended.

JOE: "Sgt. Pepper" or "Electric Lady Land"

JEFF: "I Am The Walrus" (Although, if I was there I would never have experienced the wild thrill of being 9 years old and hearing it come across KJR AM radio for that first time. I might not trade that feeling for the mix session.)

KARL: Voodoo Chile Slight Return

ERIC: Green Pajamas - "Happy Again"

Most coveted CD/LP in your collection and why.

JOE: "Have A Marajuana" by David Peel and the Lower East Side. I paid 25 cents for it at a yard sale in 1984 and from it we got the song "Mother Where Is My Father" a long-time mainstay in the Pajamas live set.

JEFF: "Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely" But, this is an impossible question isn't it? My favorite will, no doubt, be different tomorrow.

KARL: The white album.

ERIC: Tori Amos - "Little Earthquakes"

First Concert.

JOE: first ever... The Irish Rovers. First rock show... The Kinks (Low Budget tour)

JEFF: Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Savoy Brown and KISS at the Paramount Theatre, sometime in the early 70's (Kiss' first LP was just out- they opened)

KARL: Chicago Transit Authority, right after their first album when they were still good and loud.

ERIC: Aerosmith/Heart/TKO

Favorite book read in the past year.

JOE: "Undaunted Courage" (Lewis and Clark's journey)

JEFF: "Emily Bronte: A Chainless Soul" by Katherine Frank

KARL: "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco

ERIC: "Secret History" - Donna Tartt

Favorite non-music magazine.

JOE: Mad magazine

JEFF: New York Times Book Review

KARL: "Heavy Metal"

ERIC: Swank w/Debbie Suss

Conspiracy theory most likely true.

JOE: That Courtney Love had Kurt killed.

JEFF: The Green Pajamas are trying to get on Capitol Records.

KARL: Reagan and Bush knew all about the Iran/Contra scheme

ERIC: Area 51 is UFO center of the universe.