"I can't argue with statistics so I suppose I'm in the wrong here."
Creative Adult started in 2012. Since the inception they've released four seven inches, a cassette and a full length. There hasn't been a moment of rest. They are adults and they are creative. The name is tongue in cheek but the cheek is dripping wet. The floor is covered in inches of saliva and Creative Adult is sliding around in it. And they're just getting started.
Michael Bingham is the guitarist. As of late Anthony Anzaldo has also been playing guitar with them. But Michael Bingham is the first guitarist. He's been in a bunch of bands before. Who cares. I guess I do because I asked him about a couple. So what. Creative Adult should be in your crosshairs. Their full length released this year, Psychic Mess, is killer. They recorded it in Montreal with Efrim of Godspeed You Black Emperor. More on that later.
If you haven't listened to Creative Adult yet: change that. Either way, I interviewed Michael Bingham at Tacos Delta in Silver Lake. He said he hadn't seen "The Lost Boys." He said a lot of things. Read them all below. You're making a good choice. Trust me. Get anxious.
www.creative-adult.com
Michael Bingham:
Imagine if I just clammed up and got hella anxious when we started doing this and got hella weird because I started freaking out about this interview.
Painful Burning:
Does that happen to you?
Michael Bingham:
No.
Painful Burning:
What do you get anxious about?
Michael Bingham:
I get anxious about people not liking me. I get anxious about dying. I think I'm going to die. But I am going to die. So who cares? You know what I mean? Do you ever feel like you're going to die? Earlier than you'd anticipate?
Painful Burning:
Yeah but I don't get anxious about it.
Michael Bingham:
Maybe it's coming though, man. That's the only thing I get anxious about. I don't get anxious about playing shows or showing people art or anything like that. I just think I'm going to die. Because I enjoy life. Is that okay? Is that appropriate?
Painful Burning:
That's very appropriate, that's the entire interview. That's my only question.
Michael Bingham:
What do I get anxious about...
Painful Burning:
No, that's enough.
Michael Bingham:
That's crazy.
Painful Burning:
What taco did you get?
Michael Bingham:
A fish taco, two of them.
Painful Burning:
What, you don't like rice?
Michael Bingham:
I was going to get rice but then she said, "Do you want rice?" I got anxious about the whole thing. I didn't know how to make a decision.
Painful Burning:
Tell me, Michael, how could a billion Chinese people be wrong?
Michael Bingham:
Well, I can't argue with statistics so I suppose I'm in the wrong here. I suppose I fucked up.
Painful Burning:
Did you know that that's the question I was excited to ask you?
Michael Bingham:
How could a billion Chinese people be wrong about rice?
Painful Burning:
Yeah.
Michael Bingham:
Because they're probably not.
Painful Burning:
Do you know why that question is so important to ask?
Michael Bingham:
Why?
Painful Burning:
Do you know why?
Michael Bingham:
Why is it important to ask? You gotta get the facts I suppose.
Painful Burning:
You've never seen "The Lost Boys?"
Michael Bingham:
No.
Painful Burning:
What?
Michael Bingham:
Never.
Painful Burning:
That's one of the most iconic lines in the movie.
Michael Bingham:
I've never seen it.
Painful Burning:
That's really sad.
Michael Bingham:
I know.
Painful Burning:
Why have you never seen "The Lost Boys?"
Michael Bingham:
I never had time.
Painful Burning:
What?
Michael Bingham:
I was busy grinding.
Painful Burning:
That's so pathetic. Have you ever seen the movie "The Lost Boys?"
Older Woman Dropping Off Michael's Tacos:
Como?
Michael Bingham:
The movie.
Painful Burning:
La pelicula de "Lost Boys?"
Older Woman Dropping Off Michael's Tacos:
No.
Michael Bingham:
See, it's the same. She busy grinding. She hasn't seen it either.
Painful Burning:
Yeah, that's weird.
Michael Bingham:
It's weird she hasn't seen it either, huh?
Painful Burning:
Yeah.
Michael Bingham:
Two out of two. Two out of two, buddy.
Someone in Creative Adult forgot to wear sunglasses.
Painful Burning:
Why do you always want your friends to send you dick pics?
Michael Bingham:
I gotta see what I'm up against. I like it. I'm not supposed to see it. I like to see the good parts of a man's body. I enjoy the male anatomy. It's a good thing. I enjoy anatomy in general. So it's like, why not see what you going on? And you got a lot going on, my friend.
Painful Burning:
Alright, let's not do that.
Michael Bingham:
We don't have to go down that road but if you want to talk about it we can.
Painful Burning:
No. How much money do you think you've spent on Fred Perry in the past ten years?
Michael Bingham:
That's a good question. Um, let me estimate.
A beat.
Michael Bingham:
A thousand dollars.
Painful Burning:
That's it?
Michael Bingham:
Probably about a thousand.
Painful Burning:
In ten years?
Michael Bingham:
I'm much more of a Ben Sherman guy. I've spent a lot of money on Ben Sherman.
Painful Burning:
How much have you spent on Ben Sherman in the past ten years?
Michael Bingham:
Two thousand.
Painful Burning:
So two hundred dollars a year?
Michael Bingham:
Yeah. This year... Man, more than that. Probably three thousand. Or four thousand. To be honest.
Painful Burning:
Yes, please be honest.
Michael Bingham:
Let's be honest here. I like nice clothing.
Painful Burning:
Can I ask you a question about this interview up until this point?
Michael Bingham:
Absolutely.
Painful Burning:
Have you not been honest?
Michael Bingham:
I've been honest the whole time. I enjoy the male anatomy.
Painful Burning:
But it's weird to preface anything by saying you're going to be honest. There's an implication of everything up until that point as being dishonest.
Michael Bingham:
You know it's weird, talking about clothing is kind of crazy. It's a thing.
Painful Burning:
Why is it weird to talk about clothing?
Michael Bingham:
I don't know.
Painful Burning:
That's your answer, you don't know?
Michael Bingham:
I don't know.
Painful Burning:
You're disappointing me, Michael.
Michael Bingham:
It's a good question though.
Painful Burning:
Thank you. Speaking of clothing, why does your hair always look so good?
Michael Bingham:
Ah, because my girlfriend is a hair stylist. I haven't paid for a haircut in ten years so I take that money and I save it and buy clothing. That's how I get all these clothes. I have nice hair.
Painful Burning:
You have great hair.
Michael Bingham:
I have good hair.
Painful Burning:
I've never seen you in a photo where you didn't have great hair.
Michael Bingham:
One day it'll come. My dad's balding.
Painful Burning:
Yeah, but hair is on the mother's side.
Michael Bingham:
I think my grandfather was bald on my mother's side by the time he was seventy.
Painful Burning:
Maybe you're screwed then.
Michael Bingham:
Who cares.
Painful Burning:
Maybe that's another thing to anxiety about.
Michael Bingham:
We're going to die anyway.
Painful Burning:
Anxiety about balding.
Michael Bingham:
Anxiety about everything.
Michael Bingham gets more gay.
Painful Burning:
Because of the internet have you considered changing your name to Michael Googleham so you don't look like a fool?
Michael Bingham:
Mmhmm. Every day. Every day, man.
Painful Burning:
Because Bing is such a weak search engine.
Michael Bingham:
There's nothing I can do about it.
Painful Burning:
Do you ever have anxiety about that?
Michael Bingham:
My last name being different? I think about it sometimes.
Painful Burning:
Is me bringing up anxiety over and over is that starting to give you anxiety?
Michael Bingham:
A little. But I like it.
Painful Burning:
Speaking of your name, who's your favorite Michael?
Michael Bingham:
I'm number one.
Painful Burning:
Other than yourself.
Michael Bingham:
Michael Phelps is kinda dope. I gotta give it up to Mike Fenton. That's my favorite Mike.
Painful Burning:
Who is that?
Michael Bingham:
He's our bass player.
Painful Burning:
I've never heard of him.
Michael Bingham:
He's cool. He's right down the road. He's my favorite Mike of all time... I think. There's a lot of Mikes. It's like...
Painful Burning:
How do you pick your favorite?
Michael Bingham:
How do you pick a favorite? There's a lot of dudes with my name.
Painful Burning:
That leads to my next question. How do you pick a favorite?
Michael Bingham:
It's almost impossible. It's a matter of merit and accomplishment. Michael Phelps did some cool shit. It's all about what you put down for the team. Are you holding it down for the crew?
Painful Burning:
Michael Phelps isn't a team player.
Michael Bingham:
That's why he doesn't get the number one spot. He gets an honorable mention. Mike Fenton holds it down for the team 'til the end. Number one.
Painful Burning:
Speaking of which, who's your number one member of Creative Adult?
Michael Bingham:
I'm number one.
Painful Burning:
Other than yourself.
Michael Bingham:
Right now it's Anthony Anzaldo. Absolutely.
Painful Burning:
Because of what?
Michael Bingham:
He's brought a lot to the table.
Painful Burning:
Such as what?
Michael Bingham:
He's able to subtley punk people out. Which I have a hard time doing. But I'm learning, I'm learning how to punk people out now because he's around. Like last night, someone tried to talk me. I completely ignored them.
Painful Burning:
So he's just teaching you how to be a rude person?
Michael Bingham:
Yeah, it's incredible.
Michael Bingham hanging with a choice pal in Santa Rosa.
Painful Burning:
Ugh, that's not good. Before we get into some Creative Adult questions do you want to briefly tell me about Glory?
Michael Bingham:
Yes, yes I do. How do you even know about that band? Do you know about that band? Did you ever watch us? That's crazy.
Painful Burning:
You're not allowed to ask me questions.
Michael Bingham:
That's crazy that you know about that. That was my first hardcore band. I sang. Everyone in that band fell off. Everyone. No one still plays music. The guitar player is a sheriff now. He doesn't say hi to me in public. Because he lives in the same town that I live in still. But he's a cop now. But he hasn't pulled me over or anything. The other guy, his name is Casey. He's from Petaluma. I don't know where he went. I think he lives down here in LA and does Crossfit stuff. It was really bad. It was very bad. We played our first show the same day Ceremony played their first show and Steel Trap played.
Painful Burning:
At the Brown Eye?
Michael Bingham:
No, it was at the Phoenix.
Painful Burning:
In the little room?
Michael Bingham:
Yeah, in the small room. We played, Steel Trap played and Ceremony played in the lobby. Internal Affairs, Cold World and Lights Out played in the big room. That was our first show. We played maybe one or two shows after that.
Painful Burning:
Would you consider that portion of your life to be your glory days?
Michael Bingham:
Oh boy, would I ever.
Painful Burning:
While we're walking down that lane do you mind if we talk about Frequency Murder?
Michael Bingham:
Yeah, let's talk about that. That was way sicker. Those fools are still on hard.
Painful Burning:
What's up with that?
Michael Bingham:
That was that real truth, dog. That's what's up. We fucked with Eighteen Visions, Bleeding Through, you know about it? You gotta know about Frequency Murder. That's the band. That's the spot.
Painful Burning:
So that was after Glory?
Michael Bingham:
That was during. Frequency Murder was before and after Glory. Glory was two months. Frequency Murder you probably knew about. Did you ever see us?
Painful Burning:
Maybe. I don't know if I was living in the Bay Area then.
Michael Bingham:
I think you were. We were really big in the North Bay. We would play the Phoenix and four hundred, five hundred people would come to the Phoenix. I was seventeen so I thought shit was cracking for real. It was really fun.
Painful Burning:
This all leads to Creative Adult.
Michael Bingham:
No All Teeth?
Painful Burning:
It's too recent. Same with No Sir. You guys recorded Psychic Mess with Efrim.
Michael Bingham:
The homie.
Painful Burning:
It's weird you say "homie" because I heard you two didn't get along very well.
Michael Bingham:
It's not that we didn't get along, he just had a very strong, strange, stern personality. He's a lot older than us. I don't want to speak too strongly on his character because I don't know if I ever got the full piece of his character because he didn't let it show. But I think that's a part of what the problem was. When you're trying to create art with someone together... That's what you do when you record with someone you come together to try create something good. But I feel like in order to create really true honest art you have to show yourself and be vulnerable with the people that you're making it with. And he was not into that. He was just simply there recording. I think we're all used to being open and friendly and silly with people. But maybe that's just not his thing.
Painful Burning:
Specifically how did that affect you figuring out your guitar tone? I heard that was one of the specific problems.
Michael Bingham:
It was a little intimidating. We had just flown into Montreal, we didn't know anyone. I think he could tell we were really nervous. But he didn't put any padding up for that. It was, "Too bad kids." Everything was very quick and rushed. There was no time to figure out tones and experiment and feel comfortable and ask questions and have dialogue... Because that's what you want to do when you're doing something like that. You want to say, "What do you think?" And then you want someone to say, "Well, I think this, what do you think?" And you say, "Thank you for input, blah blah blah." And that wasn't happening at all. I would say, "What do you think of this?" And he would say, "I don't know, man, it's not my record. What do you think?" We were pressed for time and it was stressful. It was the kind of thing where it was like, "I don't know, it's fine, cool, whatever," and we ran through it. So I think we learned a lot about that kind of thing.
Painful Burning:
Are you not happy with how the record came out?
Michael Bingham:
We are actually. It was just not...
Painful Burning:
An enjoyable experience.
Michael Bingham:
It wasn't enjoyable. We were very far out of our comfort zone. We thought that would be exciting but it was more annoying than anything.
Michael Bingham knows how to play guitar.
Painful Burning:
What's on the horizon for Creative Adult? I know you have four seven inches coming out.
Michael Bingham:
We have four seven inches coming out. October, November, December, and January. A seven inch each month. In that time we're going to record a new LP that's gonna come out next summer probably.
Painful Burning:
With Efrim?
Michael Bingham:
No. We don't know who we're going to record it with. I want to record it with Andy Ernst of the Art of Ears in Fremont. He recorded all the Nerve Agents records and the old AFI records. I want to record it with him. At least the baseline tracks with him, just the drums, guitar and bass. We're just going to release a bunch of seven inches. We just got offered to go to over to the East Coast and do five shows.
Painful Burning:
With who?
Michael Bingham:
A band. I'm not sure. I'm not allowed to say. We might not be doing it. We're going back and forth right now. We're doing a tour in November. I start school in a week so we're just chilling until next summer. Next summer we're gonna try to do Europe and a US tour. All that stuff.
Painful Burning:
At what point in this schedule are you going to set an hour and a half aside to watch the movie, "The Lost Boys?"
Michael Bingham:
I don't know, man. I'll have to get back to you.
Painful Burning:
If you don't this friendship is over.
Michael Bingham:
Okay, I'll watch it. What if I read the book? I read the book.
Painful Burning:
I don't think there is a book.
Michael Bingham:
Well, I read the book.
Painful Burning:
Oh god.
Michael Bingham:
It's the stay gold movie, right?
Painful Burning:
No, that's "The Outsiders."
Michael Bingham:
Same thing.
Painful Burning:
No, it's not.
Michael Bingham:
Wait, are you talking about the movie, "The Lost Boys," that's about vampires?
Painful Burning:
Yeah.
Michael Bingham:
I've seen that movie. I thought you were talking about "The Outsiders."
Painful Burning:
No.
Michael Bingham:
I've never seen "The Outsiders." I've seen the "The Lost Boys."
Painful Burning:
Now this whole interview is null. Thanks, Michael.
Michael Bingham:
You're welcome.
-Z
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