I Love Lice

Measles-Mumps-Rubella are from Washington DC -- they recently moved up to New York (you know? Like all the bands move to New York) and are in the process of finishing off their debut album, Fantasic Success (to be released on Doubling Cube Records). For those of us who've been listening to their Fountain Of Youth EP for the last year, this is good news.

They share some similarities with bands like Tussle, !!! and Jonathan Vance, but have their own unique sound. Ha ha. Yeah, don't you love it when someone says that? "They are like x and y and z, but with a sound all of their own." Whatever. They're good - very good - and they let me ask stupid interview questions. These guys deserve some serious props.

AYF?: Fleas, ticks and lice are one way in which disease travels. Do you de-louse yourselves?

Mark: Ah that question really takes me back. World War 1, the War To End All Wars, the Triple Alliance, the Triple Entente, the Double Entendre, the trench warfare, good times, land mines, something else that rhymes. I bet Franz Ferdinand gets this question all the time. If I didn't know better I'd suspect you might be a Prussian, no?

Chuck: I try to but there are too many blogs out there to rid myself of all of them. Diseases can travel through words as well. I heard of these things called viruses passed through email. Burroughs was right all along.

AYF?: What is the best way to search for you guys on the internet, because, you know, I don't really wanna know about the many ways in which I can die every time I'm looking to find out what's up with M-M-R-the-band.

Chuck: www.measlesmumpsrubella.com or www.boohbah.com/zone.html

[ You have to forgive Chuck for the whole "check out this cool link even though IT'S REALLY OLD, especially to those of us with blogs" faux pas. Yeah yeah, go look at Boohbah if you've been LIVING UNDER A ROCK and haven't seen it yet. It's funny/weird. ]

AYF?: Do you like emo? How many of you were in DC emo bands? Are you all friends with Fugazi?

Chuck: Emotions are temporary, they will pass. Everyone is friends with Fugazi, they are nice people.

Someone in M-M-R: About 16 of us were in emo bands, but then they all quit to join the Polyphonic Spree, but that's common knowledge. Shame on you! You should know that by now!

AYF?: Don't lie, everyone in DC was in an emo band...

Mark: There's no time to answer that question! I just found out that Tomcat's having a baby!

AYF?: Do you know who Jonathan Vance is? He's from Baltimore.

Robert: I’ve only heard of Jonathan Vance from you, I Googled him and read the interview you did with him. It mentioned Chris Coady, I know him, he’s from Baltimore, does that count? Would I win something if I knew Jonathan Vance?

Chuck: Baltimore is awesome! Sure, I will dance with you.

[ Who is this Chris Coady guy? ]

AYF?: How about Run-Roc? Are you familiar with them?

[ I am clearly name-dropping here. I want snarky answers. ]

Mark: Is that the name of Tomcats baby, because if it is then you already know my answer.

Robert: Again, perhaps I’m not on the edge of things these days, but I’ve only heard of Run-Roc from you… and yes, I then Googled it. Next time I might ask Jeeves.

Chuck: Is Run-Roc part of the Cex scene? Unfortunately, I am not that familar with baltimore's hip-hop scene. Baltimore breaks on the other hand are amazing. Check out DJ Nikey's "Ass Bag" and tell me you did not dance.

AYF?: You guys are in Brooklyn now... is it cooler than DC? Do you walk down Bedford Ave and say to each other, "aw shit... this place is cool."

Mark: No, I leave that up the to media.

Chuck: Actually the breeze from the water does make things cooler here. Plus we are closer to the artic circle now. None of us live in williamsburg, so I never find myself uttering that sentence there. DC is a swamp and felt that way sometimes.

[ What? But Brooklyn IS Bedford! ]

AYF?: What kind of stuff are you involved in down there? Do you put on mascara and go to Misshapes parties?

Chuck: i do not know of these parties you speak of. I do wear mascara and attend my daily Atheist Monk meetings.

Robert: I don’t know about these parties, are they like the cuddle parties? That shit’s weird man.

Mark: I'm not sure I understand the question. You're busting out some of that Prussian again aren't you?

[ OK, so I guess I won't find these guys on Lastnightsparty or Cobrasnake. Speaking of which, I get at least two or three hits every few days from people doing Google searches for Lastnightsparty. ]

AYF?: Do you think you could kick the shit out of Tussle in a fight? They're from the west coast -- hippies, right? They'd probably just go fetal position or something.

Robert: If we did kick their asses they probably wouldn’t smoke us out afterwards, so really what’s the point?

Chuck: Ever hear of the Yippies, people like the Weather Underground grew out of the hippie movement. It is easy to make fun of hippies because Anton Levy loathed them and it was such a phenomenon, but so is blogging, Myspace, Friendster etc. Why are people continuing to try to separate instead of bring together. Most of the time I am a lover not a fighter. Tussle would definitely be easier to spoon in fetal position. Did they ask for me to spoon them?

[ This sounds like a good concept for a photo editorial. ]

AYF?: Oh, and why so much time between the first EP and your album?

Chuck: I heard it was an extreme game of D&D where Robert lost all his wizard points and Beldasmat... oops I mean Mark was living on Skittles and Doritos for sustenance. Ryan got his doctoral degree in animal science and I still had another week left of space camp.

Mark: We were being de-loused.

[ Thanks. ]

Here are two exclusive new tracks from the un-released album, along with a repost of Fountain Of Youth from the EP of the same name:

Measles-Mumps-Rubella - Algorithm Of Desire
Measles-Mumps-Rubella - Fantastic Success
Measles-Mumps-Rubella - Fountain Of Youth *repost