Over internet wires and whatzits, Jeff Wright interviewed Kevin Hainey and Jon Shapiro from Disguises. The interview would be longer but Jeff ran out of e-mail minutes.

Who's all in the band, and what are some of the instruments that you play?

Kevin Hainey: Kevin Crump (guitar), Jon Shapiro (noise, table), Calvin Brown (drums, percussion, oil drum, etc.), Kevin Hainey (bass, percussion, etc.).

I've seen you live once (at the Brickworks show), and that was pretty different from the recordings you sent me. The recordings are way better than that show was, for my taste. Has there been a noticeable change for you guys, from when you first started playing together to the stuff you play now?

KH: Disguises has been in this wildly constant flux since it got going. That Brickworks gig was like no other; our spirits all soared out in different directions. Definitely our least together moment as a band, but exhilarating nonetheless. That was also our first "official" gig, after playing in Crump's basement with Anagram a week or so before, before Jon joined the group. But, yeah, we've only gotten more together and out there since. We moved further away from being a "rock" act, then kind of came back to it in a new way, revitalized somehow. The ether has been stirred some, I suppose.
Jon Shapiro: I joined the band about a week before the Brickworks show. Very chaotic. Right after the show I switched from 'regular' stand-up guitar to the set-up that I use solo and for my other band, Blue Sunshine. That seemed to nail my end of our sound.

Is noise songwriting much different from pop songwriting? What's the songwriting process in the band? Is it a sort of jam together, record, and then replicate the songs that you like the most? Or do you guys come in with song ideas to practice?

KH: There are common arcs, in ways, sometimes. We throw everything at the wall and some stuff sticks. That's what we bake with. My memory is the worst in the band.
JS: I don't even consider us a noise band! It's all the same shit really: get together, taste out, play music that feels nice to us. My memory is the best in the band.

What do you expect from noise music when you listen to it? What are some of the different kinds of noise being made right now?

KH: I expect it to do something new and interesting. Everything is noise, it's about finding a moment, creating a moment, going with it. All kinds of noise music are different. I wouldn't classify us as a noise band, though, far from one. There's a lot of mediocrity selling itself as noise these days, but it's also opening up people to just blow creation freely, and that's positive force gaining momentum.
JS: I expect nothing. There are so many different approaches, it's all open. I like to be surprised though.

Disguises versus Wolf Eyes. You get to use their amps. Who wins?

KH: We'd put up a fight, and never lie down. Wolf Eyes are major O.G.'s, we formed last August or something. They told me they're into Corpusse and Degrassi Junior High. So are us Disguises. But yeah, we'd get slaughtered. It's Wolf Eyes.
JS: Drum machine versus drummer? Our drummer restrings our guitars for us, which we appreciate.

By Jeff Wright