Continued from Page 1... Sometime around the release of your first album, you met The Wallflowers. How did that happen? Were you fans of their music at the time? All credit goes to Ben Peeler, Mad Musical Genius. He was playing with the 'Flowers at the time (touring 'Breach') and offered to pass on a cd, saying 'they're gonna love this, they're gonna want to take you guys out on tour with them.' We said 'yeah right'...but that's what happened! We didn't really hear about the Wallies till we came to the US; 'Horse' made such an impression that we sought out T-Bone [Burnett] to produce our record. That meeting has lead to a lot of collaboration between the bands— Rami Jaffee and Greg Richling of The Wallflowers appear on both the Unstoppable EP and Fly Below the Radar as producers and additional musicians. Was it an easy transition to go from meeting these musicians that you admire, to having them work with you on your own material? It isn't always great meeting your heroes, but in this case Greg and Rami completely bowled us over with their generosity and enthusiasm—not just for our music but Music for it's own sake - our 'English reserve' didn't stand a chance! You've also had some experience touring with The Wallflowers. Minibar opened some dates for them in June of 2001. Being the opening act isn't always an easy gig-how did you find this particular experience? It all depends on how the headliner treats the opener— in our case it was wonderful; the guys treated us like royalty. More recently, you joined the WFs for part of their Red Letter Days tour as their temporary drummer . Who approached you with the invitation? What was your most memorable experience from this tour? Do you prefer the WF tour bus over the Mini-van or is it all overrated? Greg called me, so I knew something was up! It was all fantastic - the surreal 'Pirate Fag' episode stands out particularly ('nuff said.) My bandmates would kill me if I admitted to preferring a luxury tourbus over a cramp Ford Econoline van that smells of old socks, so I won't. So what's next and/or in the works for Minibar? Fame and fortune please! Seriously? Well, a new record in due course (we've got some killer new tunes in the works...) Great news! Going back to your solo work then, 2003 also marked the return of Morello, with "Minimal" being released in November. Recently I talked to a transplanted New Yorker-now living in Los Angeles. His quote to me about his new home was "How can you be depressed on a Monday morning when the sun is streaming in and there are humming birds buzzing around your fucking windows?" His quote reminds me of the sunny and joyful tribute to Los Angeles that is "Minimal". No doubt you've had lots of ups and downs while you've been in SoCal, but your attitude about the place seems positively celebratory. What was it about your new home that inspired this kind of musical tribute? Well, the sunshine helps! —but beyond that, it's the people that make a place, right? The great thing about this project was getting to record all my new mates. Plus, the friends and family back home were an inspiration; I wanted to make a musical scrapbook of my new home and send it back to them. When did work first begin on "Minimal"? I got the recorder (a Korg D12 for the gearheads out there) in early 2001 and spent a few months getting familiar with it (digital recording is fun but time-consuming!) So it was the Summer that things really kicked off - my mate Jon Thomas (original Morello bassist on holiday from the UK) was in town so that motivated me too. You had an interesting coming together of the present and the past on this recording. Among the guest musicians on "Minimal" are listed some of the original members of Morello, in it's London incarnation, and also the members of your present band, Minibar. Over what kind of time period was the album recorded? The album has a large number of guest musicians-did you enjoy this kind of appoach? Basic tracking was done by the end of 2002; this year has been all about mixing, mastering and putting the package together. As I said, it was a total joy being able to feature so many different talented friends - putting together 'dream teams' for specific songs. The credits also list you as handling much of the recording and production duties on this album. Was that something you had been involved in before? Or was this a whole new area of expertise you developed in LA? I'd studied sound recording at college; this is the largest scale project I've worked on to date though. I got plenty of help and advice from the guys - particularly Sid and Darrin. You've played a couple of Morello shows since the album's release. Who's joining you on the stage? Do you plan on having a regular band or a changing cast of characters? The band currently features Darrin Tehrani on guitar, Pierre Martin on bass and Zak Schaffer on drums; everyone sings. Simon Petty has leapt up on stage too, the cheeky monkey! I would love this to be a regular band; these guys are some of my closest mates in LA outside the 'Bar so there's a natural chemistry there. It would be great in the future to have some additional musicians up for specific songs—that way keeping true to the arrangements on the record—we'll see. How easy is it for you to move from the role of drummer at the back of the stage in Minibar, to the frontman and leader of Morello? I used to front my band in the UK, so it's not completely alien - still, it's a total headtrip! I love doing both things and I think they inform each other. The really new thing for me this time is being frontman and singer AND keyboard player, arghhh! —but I had to try it. What are the future plans for Morello? More gigs, a new record and ultimately, world domination. Fantastic. I wanted to end off with a question about your artwork. You were involved with the design and artwork for the "Fly Below the Radar" cover as well as providing a painting for the Unstoppable EP. Did you attend art school in London? Was doing art full time ever a consideration for you? Have you become involved with the art community in Southern California at all? If so, do you find it as inclusive as the music community? I was lucky to have great art teachers all through school, which really helped. Since then I try to do what I can when I can - music always tends to take precedence. I haven't particularly attempted to seek out the So Cal art community—it's not such an obviously social persuit. It's always great meeting other creative people here though! That's it for the formal questions. Thanks so much for taking the time to work with us. We usually end off with a few fun questions (or at least, we think they're fun)   RANDOMS What do you secretly hoard? Star Wars figures. Name your favorite visual artist. Moebius (Jean Giraud) is pretty up there. What is your favorite album cover artwork of all time? The Pentateuch of the Cosmogeny' (crazy late 70's synth concept double album by Dave Greenslade.) You get a whole book of trippy artwork by Patrick Woodroffe! What's the last cd you purchased and give us your review in 3 single words: Ron Sexsmith, 'Whereabouts.' BUY THIS RECORD. Name your favorite holiday food. Mince pies! (English style - they're sweet.) For more info on Malcolm Cross visit: morellomusic.com minibarfans.com trampolinerecords.com