Hidden Number Interview -- Exclusive!

Hidden Number was interviewed after their show at the Sunset on July 19th, 2009. Download the whole interview here: HiddenNumber.mp3 (6.93 mb) or, read the transcript below.

I: So have you guys been interviewed much?

Josh: Well, Walter Cronkite interviewed us, He's pretty quiet. 

Kai: And we were once interviewed by a Portland radio DJ.

Dean: He wanted us to play some standards.

Joe: The dude had a boner for us. He asked us to play standards and I was like shut up!

Dean: What are the standards anyway?

Joe: Anything by Coltrane.

Kai: We need to learn some standards.

Joe: Now Walter Kronkite, he can play standards. He can play Skynard. Damn. Okay, I'm making that up. I never met him. Got rest his soul.

I: So what is the official Hidden Number response to the Michael Jackson thing?  I haven't heard anything.

Joe: Well, we found out how he died. There's been a lot of cover ups in the media. It was food poisoning. He ate a nine year old weiner. And that's the final say. Hey put in there "parenthesis, Kai wipes brow, end parenthesis."

(KAI WIPES BROW.)

Kai: We used to tell a lot of Michael Jackson jokes.

Joe: But not anymore. We're going up for reelection and we don't want to bring these issues out, you know? 

Josh:Here's one: Michael Jackson took a kid out into the woods and left breadcrumbs so they could get back. And the kid says, "Well, the birds are eating the breadcrumbs, Michael. How are we going to get back?" Michael responds, "Nobody cares about you getting out of the woods."

I: Any more?

Joe: Oh, you are opening the floodgates.

[Listen to podcast for more.]

I: How do you feel about people calling you The Hidden Number instead of Hidden Number.

Joe: If we were a Spanish band, we'd be El Numero Obscuro. You have to have the "el" in there.

Josh: The Hidden Number is better than Hidden Number, The.

Joe: But don't fuckin call us The Hidden Number. That's not what we're going for. You haven't read the liner notes.

Josh: It is like we are each a number and then collectively we are hidden number, like a wave form.

Joe: Anyone that would call us The Hidden Number doesn't know how to play hidden number.

Dean: When the board game comes out, all will be clear.

Joe: We just need Milton Bradley to support us. We could get that board game out. We've got the music thing but the board game is more of our forte.

I: I never really got that. Tell me about the board game.

Joe: Ah...I'll explain. A number of players of indeterminate number sit around and there is a screen of obfuscation that blocks the view of the number they roll on their die. There is one player who sits above everyone -- you know those tennis referee chairs? --

Dean: Or like a throne.

Joe: That person is the overseer. He can see all the numbers. So, the first rule is that overseer always wins.  The second rule is that only the overseer knows all the rules. The third rule is that the overseer needs to let other people think they can win. The fourth rule is that the overseer always wins. The fifth rule is to always follow the first and fourth rules.

Kai: So, you've got the screen of obfuscation. You've got the eleven sided die. Everybody roles their die behind the screen and then you try to guess the number that they roled. And then whoever guesses it right loses to the overseer.

Dean: So there are levels of losing.

Joe: It is like the game of life simplified. You lose.

Kai: Another interesting thing is that the overseers are playing as well. That's the expansion pack.

Joe: And the overseer gets a magnum 45 loaded...wait take that out!  They aren't supposed to know!

Kai: The point is you never look at the overseer. If you look at the overseer, you lose automatically.

Joe: It is that simple.  Milton Bradley, dude.

Josh: At what point did you become aware of what a theremin is? And why did you feel like you had to get one?

Dean: Well, it was kind of an impulse buy.  I always loved Bob Moog and synthesiseers and electronic music and that led to the theremin, which is the first version of an electronic instrument.

Josh: Had you heard it before?

Dean: Well, everyone's heard it. You've probably heard it on sci-fi movies from the 50s. The Day The Earth Stood Still! An amazing soundtrack. I think my first encounter was with Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys, which was a Tannerin, not a theremin, [also known as an electrotheremin]. It is basically a different style of theremin. That one you do touch. You can put notes on there.

Joe: And how'd you learn to play the bass? Well, I'm the best bass player on earth.
Wow! I'm extremely modest.

[Person drops off a 5 dollar bill to Dean.]

Kai: So what was our take for the evening.

Dean: We have just received 5 dollars for our evening's performance.

Joe: We're going straight to the top!