Formed in 1999, Comets On Fire is a radically dangerous mix of psychedelica and straight-up Rock that blisters your ears and fries your bones. Their latest album, Avatar, showcases their best work to date - adrenaline, sheer loudness, but mixed with comtemplation and slow songs. Ethan Miller, Comets’ vocalist and lead guitarist, was kind enough to answer some of our questions about the band.

Kulturblog: You’re a straight-up Rock’N'Roll band - you have a bit of a whimsical side like the Grateful Dead, but at the same time you rock harder than straight-up psychedelica. You don’t quite fit into the pigeonhole of “Acid Rock.” A friend listening to the new album said, “I didn’t know Cream ever jammed live with the Dead.” Is that a fair descriptor of what you’re trying to accomplish sonically? Where is your chief musical inspiration?

Ethan Miller: We try to take musical inspiration from anywhere we can get it—from John Cale to Mozart to Ghostface Killah to Keiji Haino to Fela Kuti to Stephen Stills and on and on forever. The Dead jamming with Cream thing is an extremely nice compliment but in respect to my own artistic ego I wouldn’t say it sums up our musical aspirations. There are so many taste factors, social factors, relationship factors, intellectual factors and straight up inertia factors that play the “God” part of any band, especially Comets that I dare not say that we have ever accomplished that which we thought we were setting out to do. The philosophy of a group always becomes complicated and spirals somewhat out of control in a democracy (which is basically how we work) —you just hope it doesnt fall into chaos.

KB: I’ve read that the band’s semi-private experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs are over — say it ain’t so!

E: I think our semi-private or public experimentation with Hallucinogenic drugs was over by the time we got out of highschool–at least for me. Yeah, sorry, the sad truth is that music made by people on acid sound like fucking hen shit on a metal roof falling from a turd plane at a million miles an hour. Our accomplishments and creations are born from the strength of the natural faculties of our minds and hearts and frankly I would feel robbed if people thought it came from any other place. There are many ways to get to the other side—many ways to find the other and outer and inner consciousness like you do with drugs—-many ways to make your adrenaline run like it does with speed, many ways to make your body and mind wander and relax like it does with pot—-all those ingestive methods are simply the easiest way to make it happen instantaneously—-its like fast food as opposed to farmers market home cooked meal—-we all do it once and a while but its not quite as divine as it is with the natural road—theres always a thrashing that comes after the easy way—and once in a while some deaths. No deaths as a result of farmers market.

KB: Avatar has more contemplative and pure instrumental swings in it than your previous offerings — are you guys mellowing out in your old age?

E: Of course! Don’t we all mellow as we get older? You start to dig the Eagles and can’t get a hard-on quite so much. Next thing you know you’re clipping nose hairs more than you’re seducing chicks and you’re worried about your taxes and your insurance bullshit and your retirement. Comets have actually bought a group plot out in Colma because we feel we’ve mellowed so much—-and we’re really old now so you have to think about these things. Sucks. Coke and parties rule—-old age, viagra and death is lame—and the worst part of getting old is it’s really hard to take a crap—where as when your young that’s only a problem when you’re on tour.

KB: People describe you as distinctly a West Coast band, and it’s clear that your music has its roots in the California sound, whether the S.F. Bay psychedelics or the L.A. pure rock scene. What additions and evolution to this tradition do you see in your music?

E: I don’t know —I think its a broad question for me to answer when I’m so close to the center of the thing (comets on fire) ya know? I hope that we have contributed to musical history as a whole—that is what everyone who makes records or plays music for an audience is or should be trying to do —to leave a little something behind for the future and try and leave a little fire burning for those that come upon your camp in the forest right now—–a little fresh food, something written and a rifle. thats what we’re trying to leave behind and hope it serves those who can use them—whenever they come upon it–now or then.

KB: Touring in Europe earlier this year sounds like it was a lot of fun, and you wrapped up some shows a few months ago with Dinosaur Jr. Where are you guys now? With the new album and the tour, do you feel that you’re making headway in the industry, that people are giving your music the attention it deserves? There’s a feeling that C.O.F. are becoming a big, big band. What’s the goal for the band in terms of success, recognition, fame, etc.?

E: I have no idea where we are in the industry. I think [our recording label] SubPop has a special pride that we’ve done so well, and they are half responsible for that—as far as fame and fortune and our ambitions to accomplish those things and all that—Comets are the opposite of that. We’ve tried to reach as many people as we can and enjoyed our press and album sales but we’ve never been one of those bands that sat down and said “Alright, we’re heading out and by god it’s make it to the top or back to flipping burgers—” I think we really have been a band that’s been dedicated to those who have appreciated us in trying to make music and walk a path that we can feel dignity while doing and try to thrill people with our music but at the same time never turn down an honest dignified opportunity to try to reach as many people as possible—without behaving in a way that were ashamed of, i.e. putting our ambitions before our creations—that said if we didn’t have ambition and drive to run with the rest of the wild dogs in this game you nor anyone else would have ever heard us–without ambition to make accomplishments things simply fizzle out and die.

KB: In ‘05 you described one show as “a screaming, scathing, rage cave.” What’s been your best live show?

E: That’s another Eye of the beholder question. I’ve enjoyed about 85% to 95% of all Comets shows and even the ones I didn’t dig so much there were some people that swore to me that they were their favorite show—so there’s no telling. Our first show in Chicago was one of my favorites—-Our first show in Belgium, our Arthur fest. show. Our first time playing with Sonic Youth at Stubbs BBQ–opening the south by southwest ‘04 week(end). —we played for some huge crowed–multi thousands (maybe 4? seemed like it anyhow) and I got to meet Roky Erikson that night as well as the Sonic Youth gang for the first time—that was all a huge and fairly overwhelming experience for a bunch of dudes used to playing for about 30 people at local bars.

KB: Ben said in the SF Weekly review, “The most intensely spiritual moments live are the most chaotic ones, the noisiest ones, the times when I have no idea who I am.” Is that where your music is the most holy — in the middle of the crazy chaos? Are you guys finding out who you are when you get up there in a gig and hammer out something loud and dark?

E: No I don’t think it’s that you find out who you are—it’s that you find out who you don’t have to be–you lose yourself. To have moments in life in front of people when you are being completely absent of social graces of putting on your face or your pride or your intelligence, simply trying to tap into a raw human energy almost like trying to tap into an instinct or an animal emotion—-most of us don’t get that opportunity and to be applauded or respected for presenting that side is a wild thing. My Father recently watched the Arthur footage and told me it was interesting to him because, though we are as close as can be as Father and Son, he said he hardly recognized me–that it was like watching a different person. That is that trance and absence of social thing that Chasny is calling spiritual. I suppose if my father were religious and I saw him in Church every Sunday as a social thing and he’s doing like most do in Church —there’s the person you know— but if he starts having a seizure and speaking in tongues and ripping open his robe—all of a sudden he’s something I can’t comprehend—yet he’s reached the pinnacle of that committment. That’s what we go for —that’s what everyone who makes music is going for— it’s the difference between Tony Bennett’s best album (who I love) and John Coltrane’s best album (who I love) —-becoming raw and estatic and speaking in tongues –naked, ugly, beautfiul, crazy by our every day standards. Opening yourself to the reception of greater energies that are far more powerful than the rules and regulations and fears and bullshit that you deal with everyday and try to live by normally.

KB: Avatar is much more structured and precise an arrangement than your previous offerings — you get a greater sense of the collaboration between all of you, because we hear the piano, we hear the lyrics and the guitar and they’re each given their due. The result is a much more accessible album, I think, and one that shows some real deliberation and decision-making about what goes on the album and where. Is that true at all? What was the production of Avatar like, and what was the mindset going into the new album as opposed to, say, where you were with Blue Cathedral or the L.P.?

E: if you don’t mind I’d rather not talk about the actual production of Avatar. Some of it was very beautfiul—like the setting—and some very painful and I’ve repressed certain memories and I’d rather not trudge around in there. But I will say that we worked very hard on the details and the production. The 2 and 1/2 years between Blue Cathedral and Avatar was spent touring, working and then about a year or so out from the recording of Avatar we stopped playing live and began working like fiends on the record and did 7 days living at the chicken farm for tracking and about another 18 to 20 for overdubs, vox and mixing, etc.

KB: Follow-up to #6 — what’s been your worst gig? Ever performed in a protective cage like Jeff Healey in Road House?

E: No , but we have had people throw bottles. Just no cage. Even worse. Worst Gigs— Bellingham, Wa. the second time we played there— we got stuck in a part and repeated it helplessly for like 20 minutes until we just failed and crawled through a few more songs before dripping off the stage. and the last gig of the south by southwest fest. –the alternative tentacles showcase after Nardwar — same fest as one of the best gigs just at the end of the weekend.

KB: Destruction and rebirth is a recurring theme in your music — you’ve basically taken your music apart and rebuilt it for Avatar. What’s the next stage in the band’s development? What music are you listening to now that you like, or who would you consider collaborating with?

E: This record was a big rock for us to push up the mountain and I think were a little lucky that it didnt roll back down on us. We aren’t beginning plans for the next album or anything quite yet. There are tons of bands we’d love to collaborate with—anyone anytime out in front of a motel or whereever. It’s fun to play with other musicians and see the way they work and create. That’s an inspiring thing to see outside your own bubble. Always a thing that teaches you.

KB: Thanks for your time — I’m a big fan, and love Avatar. “Hatched Upon the Age” is on perpetual repeat.

E: thanks to you. I appreciate you asking the questions. take care.

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Two great tracks from Avatar, “Dogwood Rust” and “Hatched Upon The Age,” can be heard in the radio.blog.