Here's an interview with Ron Mael who alongside his brother Russell in Sparks have given us 50 years of wonderfully diverse and original music. recorded for my radio program Retrospectives of Casey Radio in Melbourne, Australia.
Genius. Thank you so much for posting this, John and greetings from Scotland. Ron Mael has pretty much written the soundtrack of my adult life, as I've listened to Sparks virtually every day since 1972. That is a privilege I am so grateful for.
I discovered Sparks in the 70s. Still have their first 8 albums. Of course I had s crush on Russell. Lost track of them after I got married and had a family. I was thrilled to see they are still out and about making music and now movies. I have a lot of catching up to do. And after 50 years I realize I now have a crush on Ron
Wow this is so weird. I never imagined Sparks of all things be interviewed by a local indie radio station from my part of Melbourne! Very surreal hearing Ron say "Casey Radio"! Great interview. Thanks for uploading it! Also I'm sitting here absolutely giddy with excitement after buying tickets to see Sparks for the first time ever. Cannot believe they are finally coming back to Australia! I was in primary school the first and only time they were here. Didn't discover them until 2014 thanks to a random encounter with one of their videos whilst watching Rage on ABC. Turns out Tobias Forge from Ghost was Guest Programmer that night so thanks to him I found Sparks! So it's insane knowing I'll be seeing both Sparks and Ghost for the first time this October in Melbourne! Absolute dream come true.
What a great interview. Thanks for posting this. Sparks have been my idols since I was 14 back in '74. When Ron talks you can hear in his voice that he's a really happy gentle man. You should try to get another interview with him now that the documentary and film have been released, as well as an extensive tour after. It would be interesting to hear him talk about the major success's they've had in the past year. They so deserve it.
I like the guy doing the interview. He's asking great questions and getting great answers. I've always loved sparks since the 70s and their live shows are awesome.
8:03 .."pretty esoteric.." to describe the Maels' demo album (Arts and Crafts Spectacular, Saccharine and the War, Landlady, the Factory, etc. )is frankly, an understatement. Rons' modesty!
I remember when i found out about sparks it was on an old snl rerun, my nbc affiliate would broadcast old snl episodes in place of infomercials in the mid 2000's and i would sleep with my tv on, i woke up one night at like 2 am and sparks was on snl performing mickey mouse and the only thing I could think was "What the fuck is this?" but in a good way, the next day I woke up and immediately told one of my friends about what happened and he got into them as well, total fluke thing that I even found out about them.
