It seems that the singular vision, unmarred by anyone else’s input or ego is the way to get shit done these days, seeing as all these one (wo)man bands that are popping up all over place are totally great. We’re talking Wavves, Blank Dogs, Dum Dum Girls, U.S Girls and Flight.

I wonder if they get lonely at practice, or maybe they all got chucked out of their old bands for being horrible, egomaniacal weirdos?

No doubt you’ll be hearing a lot more of Flight and his lo-fi glam-garage-junk in 2009, with a seven-inch coming on Hozac soon and plenty more jams to follow. But who is this masked mystery man? What floats his boat? I got him on MySpace chat and asked him.

Vice: I’ve never really conducted an interview before. What shall I ask you?
Flight: You can ask me about all the rednecks around where I live. Or you can ask me about the wild hogs in East Mississippi. Or about the weed fields at the university here. Anything other than talking about recording or song meanings.

Sure, we can leave people to listen to the music and make up their own minds. By weed fields do you mean pot or just the stuff my mum spends her weekends pulling out of the patio?
I mean pot. Lots of delicious pot. You’ll be sitting on campus and all of a sudden get a huge whiff of great weed. It’s used for research but there’s always somebody sneaking it out in their jeans zipper or shoelaces. Pretty funny how conservative people are here but there’s always some oasis like that lurking around the corner.

I was a bit of a pot-head myself years back, but now I can’t even look at the stuff.
I don’t really smoke much anymore. I get super paranoid and self conscious so I just lash out at everybody if I’m partying.

Okay, no green for you then. Tell me about these wild hogs. Are they good to eat?
They’re delicious. But I hear they’ll corner you if you’re not careful. There’s a bunch on my girl’s family’s land so they’ve got quite a few great stories about them. Her little brother can drive into the land and walk out with one in just a couple of hours. Very impressive. I don’t hunt so much anymore – not since I was a kid – but we still like to drink and shoot guns every once in a while. My friend Dent May’s girl had a nice funeral for her cat a month or two ago. We did a 21 gun salute for him.

You are kind of making it sound like you are a total redneck here.
I’ve got some red in me for sure. My mom’s family was reeeeaaally red. Me and my friends are ironic about it now but we live in the country so we can do all sorts of things that city-folk can’t. We actually live in the county as opposed to the town or city limits so we can get away with a lot more. Killing my own meat is my goal. I hate grocery stores. I’m starting a garden next year and I can’t wait.

So are we going to hear some more pastoral elements coming into the music?
If ambient drone psychedelic distorto music counts as pastoral … YES.

There is almost a glam element to some of the tracks you sent. Was it intentional? Are you a big T-Rex fan? Hang on, we’re talking about the music.
I was more than obsessed with Bowie and T-rex in college. Makes me really happy that the influence is coming out finally. I actually re-did a few vocals because I felt it was a little too theatrical and glam so that’s funny.

So has Mississippi got some good stuff going on in terms of shows and a scene in general?
We’re getting there but it’s generally pretty bad. The Black & Whites are from here and we have some Fat Possum but nothing great, nothing special. Black & Whites are pretty great if you dig retro punk. Their live show is pretty fucking fun. The best was a house show I set up with them and Lover! – it was nuts. It’s just a cool, laid back place to be a nobody.

What else are you excited about right now?
Anti-fashion & southern gothic clothes, Bowie and Jesus and Mary Chain stuff. Grunge and tape music from Idle Times, Old Blood and Wavves and kitty snacks.blogspot.com. I’m almost definitely sure we are going to get a grunge and indie-pop revival this year.

I guess I’m gonna have to do some kind of rounding up of the interview. What do you want to do in the next year?
Put out some vinyl, go to law school, take advantage of all the poor and then die of stomach cancer. That or start a garden next year and live off the land. Range life and shit.

Flight - “Unpredictable”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

JAMES IS DISGUSTING