In the last year, Menomena, or rather, The Menomena has gone from obscurity to Portland’s rock darlings. Brent Knopf, Danny Seim, and Justin Harris make up the 3-piece band, which uses about 10 instruments per song. Their songs are layered and interesting, almost like several loops playing over each other, then falling away, but all done with live instruments.

Having been MIA since last November, MLP decided to try digging up the group and find out where they had disappeared to. Resting their laurels? Here is the surprising interview, conducted at Berbati’s, the night of the band’s first show in months.

MLP:  So, a lot has happened for you guys recently.

BK:  Totally.

DS:  It’s been crazy.

MLP:  What would you say has been the biggest change?

JH:  Getting a record contract, certainly.

MLP:  Now, you guys signed to Muuuhahaha! Records, right? How’s that going?

DS:  We love it. It was a huge step for us.

MLP:  I bet. You were completely independent for a long time. Was signing with a label a hard decision?

BK:  Well, at first we were kind of skeptical.

JH:  Yeah, some people we negotiated with thought we were “untrusting.” When, in reality, we were just really cautious.

DS:  I mean, there’s a lot of horror stories out there.

MLP:  So, what convinced you to take the plunge?

DS:  People we respect took the time to show us why we should trust the major-label system.

JH:  Yeah, like Dave Allen [of Gang of Four fame] repeatedly insisting that we surrender the rights to our masters.

BK:  Because that, you know, gives the label more financial incentive to promote the record.

JH:  And also, we’ve been really impressed by the RIAA lately.

MLP:  So, was there much competition from other labels? Were you able to use that to your advantage?

BK:  Haven’t you heard the news? There *are* no labels other than Muuuhahaha!

MLP:  Huh?

DS:  I can’t believe you haven’t heard. Yeah, as it turns out, Muuuhahaha! is the only real major record-label. I know we’re all used to thinking that there are 5 or so corporations that own all of the major labels, but it turns out those were all just Muuuhahaha! wearing different hats. It was all just a pretense to evade anti-monopoly laws.

BK:  Which have just been repealed, thanks to a free-market FCC.

JH:  So, we’re honored to be the first out-of-the-closet Muuuhahaha! release, if you know what I’m sayin’.

MLP:  You’ve got to be kidding me! That’s amazing!

DS:  Yeah, it’s night and day from what we were used to, which was doing everything ourselves.

MLP:  Do you feel that signing to Muuuhahaha! lessens your “indie credibility”?

JH:  Yes.

MLP:  So, uh, you guys haven’t played a show in Portland for a few months. What gives?

BK:  Well, Muuuhahaha’s booking agents feel we over-saturated the Portland market in 2003.

DS:  And also, they want to give Portland some time to forget about us, so that our new image and PR campaign seems fresh and original.

MLP:  What’s the new approach?

JH:  Well, for one, we’re changing our name. We’re now “The Menomena.”

BK:  Also, we’re doing product endorsements with certain songs. We’re optioning The Late Great Libido for a female Viagra commercial.

DS:  And then, we have a new fashion consultant.

MLP:  Yeah, I noticed you’re all wearing capes.

BK:  We’re actually not allowed to take them off.

JH:  Muuuhahaha! wants us to build “brand loyalty” through consistent PR images.

MLP:  But, you guys were never really consistent before. I mean, your website, the flipbook CD packaging, the appearances on the Sista Social show...

DS:  We’re kind of embarrassed about all that. We were naive.

BK:  I mean, how could we expect to increase our market share, if there’s no homogenous imagery?

JH:  Which is why the packaging for "I am the Fun Blame Monster!" on vinyl will be user-friendly and predictable.

BK:  That whole interactivity/hand-made approach just ate away at our profit margin and confused people.

MLP:  It sounds like you’re taking a more financial perspective to this band...

BK:  Let’s face it, we’re in a business where it’s all about moving product.

JH:  And how can we expect to sell units to a consumer-base who not only doesn’t know what we look like, but also can’t pronounce “The Menomena”? [Phonetically, it’s: “Men!—oh!—Men!—ahhhh!” ]

DS:  Our goal is to convince the American people that they know us personally.

MLP:  How do you intend to achieve this?

BK:  For one, we’re in talks with a network [they wouldn’t specify which network, but assured us it’s a subsidiary of Muuuhahaha!] to shoot a reality-show based on the band.

JH:  And we’re working with image-consultants to bring out our personality archetypes, so that viewers can tell us apart easier.

BK:  Justin’s the “Playah” in the red cape. Danny’s the “Brooding Poet” in the blue cape. I’m the “Control Freak” in the white cape.

DS:  Case in point. Thanks for spelling it out, Brent. [laughs]

MLP:  A reality-show? Are you serious! What’s the gist of the show?

JH:  We can’t say exactly, but it’s kind of like “Playing it Straight” meets “American Idol.”

MLP:  Oh my god. When will this air?

BK:  Well, nothing’s set in stone, yet.

MLP:  Will we get to see you guys doing Deeler Sessions at band practice? [Deeler is a piece of music-software that Knopf invented that has received some online press]

JH:  There was a bit of a mix-up with that whole “Deeler” thing.

DS:  We feel really bad about it.

BK:  It’s my fault, honestly. I don’t know much about computers. I thought I had created a program that inspired us to make music, but I guess it was really just Microsoft Word’s little animated help-assistant. Once talk of “Deeler” was in print, it just kept getting re-quoted and re-quoted.

MLP:  Bummer. So, what are your plans for the future?

BK:  We’re trying to get the RIAA onboard with a lawsuit to recover royalties from songs that get stuck in people’s heads. Those are unlicensed performances, and are therefore a huge source of unpaid royalties.

JH:  We’re going to continue working with our choreographer.

DS:  Then there’s the music videos... the reality show, hopefully ...

BK:  ... our investment portfolios ... negotiating corporate endorsements ...

JH:  ... a collaboration with DJ Tokin’ ...

DS:  Eventually, one of our dreams is to be able to quit our music-day-job.

MLP:  What do you mean?

BK:  We want to be famous for being famous.

JH:  I mean, isn’t that what everyone truly wants?

DS:  Yeah, that, and a cold PBR. We love you Portland!

www.menomena.com