Can I Stay?: An Interview with Kurt Elzner (Pretty Mary Sunshine/Mazzy Star)

Discography:

Bird Medicine (A&M, 1995)

Back in 2013, I published my second book, essentially a long essay entitled Majorlabelland and Assorted Oddities. It was about alternative rock bands who got the shaft from major labels and saw their music and ultimately their careers ended prematurely by the boardroom of a record label. One of the most interesting bands I came across was Pretty Mary Sunshine, out of Seattle. Led by Mazzy Star guitarist Kurt Elzner and vocalist Patrice Tullai, the band were an eclectic combination of shoegaze and indie rock while coming from the grunge capital of the world. Some people might be familiar with them if they love the 1994 indie satire S.F.W. starring Stephen Dorff and a baby Reese Witherspoon. They had one track “Can I Stay?” on the soundtrack alongside Paw, Marilyn Manson, Hole and others. The band’s career was stalled by the powers that be at A&M as you will see as Kurt delighted in telling the band’s story.

Pete Crigler: How did you become interested in music?

Kurt Elzner: I’ve always been obsessed with music since pre-kindergarten. In grade school my cousin’s girlfriend introduced me to Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground, which, along with The Mothers of Invention, DEVO and the Beatles informed my taste through high school. 

Pete: What was the impetus for putting PMS together and where did the name come from?

Kurt: I left Hollywood to come back home to Seattle and play my own songs which I’d accumulated during my 3 years in Hollywood playing with Mazzy Star. I figured I could make a decent band with musicians I’d met working at Electric Eel studio in Georgetown. 

Patrice answered an ad in the Rocket. She showed up and started playing an Opal song on guitar before I ever mentioned Mazzy to her. It was kismet and attraction. 

We started dating and writing - I was really drawn to her artwork. Patrice is a talented painter - pop art and landscape. She had just graduated from the U of W with 3 degrees in fine art, painting and sculpture.

It all happened really fast. Somehow, there was no doubt that we were going to get a record deal- we just knew it. 

Anyway, after we had about 9 or 10 songs written we called Jerry O’Neill - Guitar God, Joe Howard from Sky Cries Mary, Posies, Sunny Day Real Estate etc, and Pam Barger, who drummed in Two Nice Girls -a Rough Trade band from Austin. We rehearsed one day and recorded the next.

5 songs, I had a mic and was calling out the chord changes as we played. Good musicians and it all felt right. We duped off 33 cassettes and drove down to Hollywood to “get signed.” I had a friend who worked at Slash and dealt pot exclusively to A&R guys. We left the cassettes on his coffee table, so when A&R reps cane to buy weed they’d see these cool hand-painted cassette tapes and you know, it was stoner rock, so we had an immediate buzz before even playing a show. We had a few labels calling us and management- it all happened really fast. We hadn’t even played a show. 

Oh -the PMS name was from Scooby Doo. It was a Jerry Reed song that played 3/4 of the way through each episode right before the gang revealed the shenanigan perpetrator. The song was really called “Pretty Mary Sunlight”, but I hadn’t heard it in years, so I remembered “Sunshine”. Close enough.  

Pete: How did you come to play with Mazzy Star?

Kurt: I moved to LA to finish college as the schools in California were much cheaper than Washington back then. I moved in with a girl I knew from Seattle. One day our neighbor’s friend’s girlfriend asked, “hey you play bass, right? My “auntie” sings in this band called Opal, and they’re looking for a bass player.” I loved Opal. I loved all that Paisley Underground LA neo-psych 80s stuff. I said, “hell yah, I’d love to audition.” I totally sucked. But they liked me and I was familiar with the kind of music they’d been making - I was a fan. I had to learn how to play guitar for real and fast. I took a guitar lesson. We shot the video for “Halah” on my first day in the band. Two weeks later we were on tour and “She Hangs Brightly” was number 3 on the college charts. 

I never finished college. We were asked to open the Cocteau Twins “Heaven or Las Vegas” North America tour. Then came lots of recording, 18 months in different studios all over LA.  I hated Hollywood. My housemates were all doing meth and couldn’t keep a job. Hollywood can be brutal. I moved home over and over, but Mazzy would call me back and give me a few hundred bucks. I drove back and forth from Seattle maybe 20 times during that period. 

Pete: How would you describe PMS’ sound and what was your scene like?

Kurt: PMS was initially very different than any other band around in my opinion. Sort of like Crazy Horse and early Pink Floyd before Dark Side but after Syd Barrett. We didn’t really fit in to the grunge thing. I dunno. 

Pete: What led to the band getting signed to A&M and was there interest from any other labels?

Kurt: There was interest from a couple other labels, but A&M was always the most interested. We were the first signing by a new A&R guy, Jeff Suhy - there was already a few A&M bands in Seattle- Hammerbox and Soundgarden.

Pete: Tell me about recording with Keith Cleversley in Oklahoma.

Kurt: A&M asked me what production or bands I was into and I mentioned The Flaming Lips. Their records just sounded so cool and “out there” to me. Of course, Dave Fridmann was more responsible for the sound I liked than Keith, but I didn’t know that. Dave wasn’t available, but Keith was. The original idea was to get a house in West Seattle and build an ADAT 24 track studio, so we would have equity. Then Mazzy broke and A&M killed that idea, sending us off to Oklahoma City. That was our doom. Lite beer, all you can eat buffets, pawn shops and no weed. 

We didn’t know each other at all really. We had 2 shows under our belt and Keith put us each in our own room where we couldn’t see each other. It was alienating and dysfunctional. His production style brought out all the aspects of the band we wanted murky and polished them. 

Keith hated Pam’s drumming. Tempers flared. Ouzo was being drunk with abandon. Things got broken and everyone quit. 

Pete: What led to the demise of the original band? Was there a time when you and Patrice wanted to throw in the towel?

Kurt: We finished the album with a session drummer and delivered it. As soon as A&M accepted it, Jerry quit. We needed the cash. We were assholes. The thing about Jerry is that he was so good that it was seriously like having Jimmy Page in the band. He could play anything and had a bunch of cool exotic instruments.

Pete: How did the Bird Medicine lineup come to be and were you happy with any of it?

Kurt: After Jerry left I went into a dark depression and started self medicating with LSD. Those days are very foggy. I was not happy. Gold Mountain management hooked us up with Sean Wheatley on bass and this punk kid Bobby Tampkin on drums. Sean was great. Bobby couldn’t keep time to save his life. Jerry was replaced by this 19 year old from Issaquah named Andy Harderson. 

A&M had spent nearly 500K on us with nothing to show except the one song in SFW. They made us record at A&M to save money, and because they knew I’d want to oversee the vocals on the songs I wrote, which could possibly be expensive, I was not allowed to be at the studio when vocals were being cut. 

Pete: What led to recording at A&M studios; did you feel relieved once the record was finished?

Kurt: When they played me the final mixes, I felt like I’d been kicked in the chest or that it was some cruel joke. I didn’t even recognize the songs. I excused myself and went to the bathroom where I took every drug I could get my hands on and when I left the bathroom I told them I was quitting. They called me a limo and took me to the airport.

Pete: What held the record up from finally being released; it’s been said there were legalities over credits?

Kurt: Yes one of the producers got fired for smoking meth in his office, and sued to have his name on the disc or something like that.

Pete: Was there any real bit of promotion done in support or had band and label gone their separate ways?

Kurt: There wasn’t any real promotion. CMJ ripped us a new asshole - rightly so IMO, and that was the industry’s Pitchfork back then. 

Pete: When did the band call it quits and how soon thereafter did you rejoin Mazzy Star?

Kurt: I got a call from Jeff Suhy that A&M we’re dropping us at tax time in 1996. I was ecstatic. I thanked him repeatedly and only wished it would’ve happened sooner. 

Around May I got a call from Elliot Roberts saying that Mazzy wanted me back for the new disc “Among My Swan” and subsequent touring. 

Pete: Tell me about Frownland and Pet Knives.

Kurt: After we weren’t involved with A&M, Patrice, Sean and myself hooked back up with original drummer, Pam Barger and Paul Hutzler forming Frownland. Frownland is really what I’d always envisioned PMS being sound-wise. Pet Knives is glorified 4 tracking in my bedroom. 

Pete: When did you begin working in the corporate world and what was that like?

Kurt: During PMS and Mazzy Star days I worked doing video presentation “VJing” for touring acts like Sublime, Radiohead, Dandy Warhols, George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars -just to name a few. I make video wallpaper for tripping kids at electronica festivals. That led to a job in Silicon Valley at a social media start up as Video Consultant, and after that job went away, I worked at a few other start ups in video capacity. 

Pete: How do you feel about PMS’ ride through the music industry?

Kurt: I think we were stupid. We didn’t play the game very well- major labels are just banks for musicians. We thought they cared about art. They only care about moving units. 

We balked at a video idea that would’ve got us another $100K in debt-money they’d have to recoup by promoting us. So, it was a dumb video idea- and they didn’t have to promote us. 

Hell, our record release party came and there were no discs! Cool. 

Pete: Do you keep in touch with anyone from the band and what are they up to?

Kurt: I’m in touch with all the Frownland gang. Joe Howard (Skyward) and Jerry O’Neill both passed away a few years ago. 

Pete: What are you currently doing and how did Brain Wizard come to be?

Kurt: Brain Wizard is my ridiculous alter ego. It’s really fun creating music that doesn’t give a shit about genre or trying to fit into some preconceived idea formula. 

It’s kind of like, “what’s the dumbest thing I can sing here?” And then I do it. It’s probably my favorite musical endeavor because I don’t take it too seriously and I get to create all the whacky artwork and video retardedness. 

Pete: What was the process like in getting the album available on iTunes?

Kurt: There’s a number of different services that distribute your crap to the masses. Now that nobody actually buys music, having a major label isn’t important-especially when you’re an old fart. 

I should make a mumble rap disc, huh? 

Pete: Do you think PMS is worthy of having a legacy?

Kurt: I think Frownland is. That disc holds up sonically much better than PMS does IMO. I dunno- it was an entire lifetime ago. No regrets. At least none that I can remember to well. We’ve been talking about making new Frownland recently. Nobody’s in too much of a hurry though. It would be fun to record some new stuff with the band and maybe even play live. We’ll see…