7. Cigarettes After Sex 5Q On-off El-Paso band, Cigarettes After Sex (CAS), continue the Neon Desert El Paso Week domination of this countdown. With Number 6, this is now two back-to-back entries from this special content in addition to the other four previous entries. CAS now becomes the sixth and highest Neon Desert entry. It joins the summary post for all the Neon Desert content at Number 17, BB Gun Johnny’s pop quiz tied at Number 28 with Feedback’s LOTTO Interview, the the Royalty’s 5Q at Number 14, GOBI’s 5Q at Number 10, and Zach Paul’s 5Q at Number 8.
Cigarettes After Sex is Greg Gonzalez, Adrian Esparza, Steve Herrada, Phillip Tubbs, and Mundo Terrazas.Greg Gonzalez is repping CAS (not censorship, simply abbreviating; see Interesting Fact) for the purposes of this interview. They are one of the 29+ bands playing one of four stages at the inaugural Neon Desert Music Festival in El Paso on Saturday, April 30, 2011.
CAS is the second band of our El Paso Week of Neon Desert interviews that is actually based in EP. They’re a band that seems to be cloaked in some mystery. When I was researching them for the purposes of this interview I couldn’t find much of an online presence for them. That’s because they were on a bit of a musical hiatus and are coming back just for Neon Desert (more in Question 3). I think that’s pretty exciting stuff.
Listen to “I Can See You” from CAS available at BandCamp.
Click the first pic to go to Cigarettes After Sex’s official site.
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Interesting Fact: The Cigarettes After Sex name has been censored around El Paso, in certain instances being abbreviated to the acronym CAS.
1. I’m asking most of the Neon Desert Artists about their names. Explain why you chose the band name, Cigarettes After Sex. The name was literally brought about from a situation involving the content of the name…thought it might be a good name for a group when it sprang to mind in the moments afterwards.
2. Your press materials indicate your dance group is based around material written by you that was inspired by Madonna’s ‘80s singles, groups like New Order, and the poetry of Richard Brautigan and Bill Knott. That seems pretty specific. Did you come up with the list and write around those parameters or did you realize those were your influences after you had written for the group for awhile? It was definitely something I noticed in retrospect. I had been rediscovering a love for Madonna’s ‘80s to early ‘90s material, “Borderline,” “Angel,” “Who’s That Girl”; as well listening to and thinking about things like “Temptation” by New Order, “Money Changes Everything” by Cyndi Lauper, “A Little Respect” by Erasure, and sort of trying to get farther with some of the stuff I had started lyrically before the group began, which was influenced by books like Auto-Necrophilia by Bill Knott and Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork by Richard Brautigan. Those influences seemed to begin the writing period that the group was created out of.
3. Cigarettes After Sex was on hiatus and is coming out of it specifically to play the Neon Desert Music Festival. How does it feel that your reputation preceded you enough to be invited to perform even when you weren’t active? It feels great to be asked to play Neon Desert, to be a part of something special like this and something people seem very enthusiastic about, and it’s very nice that we were noticed when we weren’t really playing for keeps anymore. We were sort of just doing a few shows strictly for fun towards the end. We’re very lucky and grateful to have been asked.
4. Does this mean that your fans can look forward to more music and more shows in the not too distant future? What’s next for the individual members of the band? I’m extraordinarily happy with the lineup of the group right now and the mix of material we’re doing from the last while, so if we can keep it together and keep everybody having fun and happy, I don’t see why we won’t come out every so often to play or release a record.
In the meantime, we all have things we’re working on individually that we’re each pushing for. I’ve begun performing solo with a backing group including Steve Herrada and should be releasing an EP by the end of summer. Phillip Tubbs is a local songwriter working on a full length record and playing shows around town at the moment. Adrian Esparza has two original groups he’s performing with, Aztec Zodiac and Midnite Duel. Mundo Terrazas is trying to organize a festival-type show that features all of the groups him and I have played in together through the years just for a good time and a laugh.
5. What do you think this music festival means for El Paso as a city and as a music scene and for El Paso bands like yourselves? It’s an excellent thing to be happening in El Paso. The enthusiasm being created by it is nothing short of remarkable and it will only continue to create interest for all the local groups and out-of-towners. And, of course, for the city itself by hosting such a unique and colorful music festival.
