Assignments like this don't happen too often. I'd been asked to interview Michael Mazzarella for a couple of reasons. The primary concern is to promote the band's new compilation "From The Shelves of Soundscape Studio", a collection of rare and hard to find recordings handpicked from the tapes recorded at the now defunct New York City studio. It also allows us to catch up with the man who's led The Rooks (along with co-founder Kristin Pinell) through various line-up changes as they have managed to veer away from the wrecking ball that so often stomps out bands prematurely. Somehow they've survived the ever-changing tide of an industry that seems to have forgotten where all the great songs came from in the first place.

What made this interview so different for me? It took place on an absolutely beautiful April morning at the top of New York's Central Park. In fact, we sat at the exact location where the band's cover shot for their highly acclaimed "A Wishing Well" was taken. A truly magical area surrounded by flowers and manicured gardens. The long freeze is over and The Rooks spring eternal.

T.L.: It has been quite a while since we've heard new music from The Rooks. Been hibernating?

M.M.: Hibernating? No. Rehearsing weekly, writing songs, producing numerous artists, overseeing a new release and performing pretty regularly hardly sounds like someone who's gone into retirement. Certainly, you would have no reason to know any of this but please don't write it so it appears that we've put up the white flag.

T.L.: "A Wishing Well" came out in 1999 and "Encore Echoes" (a compilation spanning the band's out-of-print recordings from 1994-95) hit the streets in 2000. You are now gearing up for the release of a CD of rare or previously unreleased recordings. Is the band working on new material.?

M.M.: We are always working on new songs. Rehearsing and performing them are two things...recording them is an entirely different (wincing) issue. We are evaluating our budget and the numbers show that we have to be a bit more patient before we take to the studio. I hope our fans will be patient as well.

T.L.: The last I knew, Anne Benkovitz and Patrick Yourell were in the band. You now have a brand new rhythm section (Lauren Agnelli and Ken Anderson). What happened?

M.M.: We (pausing)...let Anne go. It became clear to me that we were in a very unhealthy relationship. Unless you've played in a band, you simply cannot know how fragile the flooring can get to the foundation on which it is built. It's probably very close to being in a marriage. I never felt that I ever connected with Anne and I'm not really convinced that she was all that in love with our music anyhow. I mean, she played it. She showed up for rehearsals every week and was never late for a sound check. I don't know...she's a fine bass player, a GREAT bass player. I always had the feeling that she had her own agenda, apart from the band. I never felt like Anne was my friend. Of course, she'll read this and have her own version. Mine's the one that counts because I still have to feel that I can struggle along in a band with people I really love. She wasn't one of them.

T.L.: Tell us about Lauren and Ken.

M.M.: We now can boast that the famous Lauren Agnelli is our bass player. Fans will know her from her past accomplishments with Nervus Rex, The Washington Squares and Agnelli and Rave. Lauren has been a great friend to us for years. It so happened that at a time when we were looking for a new bassist, Lauren was available. Along with everything else, she has delivered to us a great sense of spirit and energy. I've been her fan for years.

Patrick simply got tired of working meaningless, low-income jobs around playing with the band. An opportunity arose where he had the chance to go off to school to study...something... and he went for it. We supported his choice but at the same time Kristin and I had a band to run. I knew Ken from a long time ago and was introduced to him by our mutual friend, Dawn Eden. He had been playing with various New York City bands through the years. He's a beautiful guy. His dedication, work ethic and input are perfect additions. These are people I enjoy being with outside of band projects.

T.L.: According to the family tree on The Rooks' website (www.therooks.com) , you and Kristin have been with the band since 1990. How has the climate changed since then for a band thriving in the indie world.

M.M.: For a start, there wasn't much of an "indie world" for us in 1990. We recorded songs with our aim to release them ourselves. There were not a lot of options outside of the major labels, which thought we sounded like The Dave Clark 5 anyway (laughs). Slowly, the racetrack got slightly wider with labels like Razor & Tie springing up. Even they didn't want us because they claimed they did not sign "pop" acts. A month later they were putting out a new Graham Parker album. We forged along and then Bruce (Brodeen) walked into our lives with his new label Not Lame. Suddenly it seemed that there were as many "pop" labels as there are bands. The whole "power pop" wave, which only got to be about three feet tall in the eyes of the media and industry, lasted for about six months. The whiney girl singers and the fourteen years old looking boys with all the flashy dancing fell out of the sky. It's the same as it was in 1990 in that we never REALLY had a chance to go beyond looking through a hole in the fence to the other side.

T.L.: The other side being the Music Industry?

M.M.: Right. We've never been considered, respected or taken seriously by the industry as a hard working group of people whom, under the right circumstances, could deliver some good music...AND possibly make money for them at the same time. They've never once in this so-called current wave of "power pop" offered the kind of support and promotion that's been afforded to Britney and Back Street Boys. I understand that that is how it works...has always worked that way, and it should. I've nothing against any of these artists personally, except that most times you have to be twelve to really dig them. Remember DiFranco Family, Bobby Sherman and Osmond Brothers? Same thing. We all survived and will continue to do so. I just feel that it's a shame that kids may be getting short-changed.

T.L.: How so?

M.M.: By closing the door to bands like ours. I think that (Richard X.) Heyman, Frank Bango...The Grip Weeds...have a lot to offer. There's a lot of great music out here that is being kept down by an industry that only really wants to sell potato chips to kids and move on. No one's come out to hear Dave Rave. I don't see "industry people" at a George Usher show. Why not? Maybe it's not LOUD enough. Maybe the lyrics make sense for a change. Maybe the word got out somewhere that this genre of music isn't cool...doesn't sit well with the hip young talent scouts. That's not coming from the kids out there though. Good music is good music. We all have just as much, if not more to offer as Creed, Kid Rock and Smash Mouth.

The idiots minding the asylum now think that age matters. It doesn't when it comes down to creativity. It doesn't when age and experience account for maturity in attitudes and vision. Only in music does it seem to be an issue. Nobody blinks about a sixty years old painter, novelist or poet. Did I suddenly lose my songwriting skills when I turned 30? I fully understand the marketing strategies that are stapled to the music business. I understand that kids will frivolously spend, spend and spend for a Pink poster and an 'NSYNC t-shirt. That's good. Maybe those same kids would be running around with The Mockers or Cockeyed Ghost on the fronts of their grimy little shirts if they had the chances to make the choices. We will probably never find out. That racetrack that I spoke of a minute ago...it DID allow us to run a little faster for a while, but a lot of people failed to realize that it's STILL the same track, after all.

T.L.: Will it or CAN it change?

M.M.: Why are you asking me? Ask the billion dollar companies who've bought into the labels. They have rearranged the furniture in the music room to make it look more like a den for hookers. Sony didn't buy out Columbia because they liked Robert Johnson. They bought it to sell more CD players.

T.L.: Where does this leave bands like The Rooks?

M.M.: It leaves us where we have pretty much been all along. There have been bands that have been given half-hearted chances. Fountains Of Wayne got signed but were never given the full backing...the big push. The Churchills...could they have been Matchbox 20 in regards to revenue? I don't know. Possibly. Why not? Labels can break any, I mean ANY band they want to...in most cases. Exposure and MTV translate into sales. If you have any questions as to whether the quality of the music comes into play, all you have to do is watch MTV for an hour.

Out there (sweeping his arm along the vast city skyline), everybody likes something. Getting signed is just the come on. The real trick is to have them sink millions of dollars into you. If Christina (Aguilara) had just gotten a soft sell, she would have soon enough dried up and blown away, but she received the big media push. Many of my friends play with bands who are at least as good as The Goo Goo Dolls. Big band, right? Those guys earned their position by paying their dues. Good for them. A lot of these (making quotes gestures with hands) "power pop"...I hate that tag...bands have worked just as hard without the chances to be heard on an international level and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon. So where does that leave all of our little pals and us? In the trenches fighting every day to keep playing the game. The game of making music... and the hopes that go along with that.

T.L.: The hopes of stardom?

M.M.: Well, not for me. What am I going to do with stardom? Buy a car, get drunk? What do you do when the bar closes, find another bar? Very soon they all close, you know what I'm saying? The whole point is to leave something here, something of substance. Something that makes a difference. Something that can be enjoyed a hundred years from now. It's not about how many girls you've been with or how many records you've sold. It's about, for ME anyway, leaving my mark, our mark, and that mark is through music. I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't be speaking for other bands. Maybe for them it is all about keeping the bars open...what do I know?

T.L.: Ok, but what happens if you make that mark with 100, 200 people. Have you failed?

M.M.: Well...no. If you've left something that has brought happiness to ONE person, that's enough...I suppose. Wouldn't it be great if you were able to move millions through your work? Then again, in the end does it really matter...ten people or half a million? Sometimes I like the sound of my own voice (laughing). Let's put it this way, it would be more fun to play to a filled concert hall then it would a yard party...reaching more people.

T.L.: Let's talk about "From The Shelves of Soundscape Studio." What is this?

M.M.: As it reads on the cover,"a collection of oddities and rarities." Some of these recordings were available on very limited releases and others have never been heard outside of Soundscape.

T.L.: Tell us about Soundscape.

M.M.: It was where The Rooks recorded everything, including a good portion of "A Wishing Well." We called it home for many years and I met one of my best friends, Gary Wade there. A lot of laughs and a lot of good music happened up on that fifth floor. It was at 52nd street in mid-town. Richard X. Heyman cut in that studio. We recorded The Mockers' album ("Somewhere Between Mocksville And Harmony") there. Peter Noone and John Sebastian cut there...Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent. There was a real spirit in those rooms. Jimi Hendrix used that very space as a rehearsal room in the late Sixties. I dug it. It felt like home. It's nice to see that the name will continue on with the release of this disc. I'm very proud of the work that The Rooks recorded at Soundscape.

T.L.: There's a great session outtake involving Elliot Easton. How did that come to pass?

M.M.: Elliot's a friend of mine. We were close to finishing up the recording for "Music Sound Sensation" and Elliot was in town from Los Angeles. He rang me up to say hello and I told him we were going to be in the studio. He's always kindly offered to play with us if the opportunity arose and it did. He showed up at my apartment with his 12-string guitar, listened to the song once and it was off to the studio. The rest you can hear on the disc.

T.L. - What happened to the "Waiting" EP?

M.M.: We put it to bed. It was nothing more than poorly executed demos now that I've heard the tracks again. Of course, at the time we thought we were recording a follow-up to the first album. I should have heard alarms go off as soon as the band went into fifty-something takes of "Glitter Best." I was in denial. Nothing was worth saving..."In A Pinwheel Spin" was, I take that back. That was a good take and I wish that we finished it.

T.L.: Why didn't you?

M.M.: Well, we went off to Europe for a tour. Before we left we let our drummer Jim Riley go (Riley played drums on the early version of "In A Pinwheel Spin"). Patrick (Yourell) rejoined the band at that point and remained with us until after "A Wishing Well." It all gets boring and complicated when you trace it like this. Anyway, after the tour (bassist) Annmarie Gatti couldn't fit her full-time day job in with a full-time spot in the band so she was out. After we re-grouped so to speak, the idea was to just start fresh and away we went off to re-record the songs over again with Patrick on drums and Richard X. Heyman's wife Nancy playing bass. The reworked songs showed up on "A Double Dose Of Pop." In the back of my mind, I always knew that the Jim Riley version of "Pinwheel" was good but I must have figured who cares, we can make it better. I'm not so sure that we did.

T.L.: What about that sparse version of "Reasons"?

M.M.: That was just an idea, which lasted for about twenty minutes. It's cool to hear in retrospect but it certainly wouldn't have done the song justice in that state.

T.L.: It's nice to hear Kristin singing lead on "Waiting."

M.M.: It is, isn't it?

T.L.: On this alternate version of "Night Writer," there are great background vocals that aren't found on the commercial release. Why did you choose not to stay with those really "hooky" vocals?

M.M.: To be very honest...I don't know. I was quite surprised when I stumbled upon this version. In fact, I was a bit angry and disappointed with myself that I let it get away. I somewhat remember recording them alone at the end of a session late one night. I think I intended to re-record them at a later time with Richard X. Heyman. I guess, as time passed, we continued working on other songs and either I forgot about the idea or simply decided to leave it alone. When I found this version on a cassette tape in my search for outtakes, a loud bell rang inside my head, which strongly suggests to me that this was more than just a fleeting idea. It would have made the song better and it annoys me to no end that I let it down.

T.L.: Well, we have it now to enjoy.

M.M.: I suppose...but it would have been much better had they been cut for real. The colors would have burst out! The vocals you hear now were just one off scratch vocals recorded quickly at the end of a session.

T.L.: What was it like for you to revisit the old tapes?

M.M.: Sometimes it was fun...(long pause) sometimes...sad.

T.L.: What made it sad?

M.M.: I don't know. Just hearing Gary's voice (engineer Gary Wade died in 1997 at the age of 36 from leukemia) was strange...and sometimes funny when he made a joke. I'd hear something coming back from the speakers and suddenly remember where I was standing when I sang a particular vocal. I remembered where I sat when I cut "Music Sound Sensation" for the first time, recalled the microphone placements and the lighting in the room. I mean, it wasn't all too long ago when these recordings were made, but sometimes it seems like 50 years ago. Gary's gone...the studio...(looking down).

T.L.: Are you happy with the selections that were chosen?

M.M.: I guess, there are a lot of tapes. Bruce Brodeen made the final decision. I stopped searching as soon as I felt there were enough songs for an album. They were sent along to Bruce and he vetoed a few tracks and asked that I look for replacements.

T.L.: Why do the outtakes only go up through 1996?

M.M.: I seem to recall that this was intended to be sort of a companion piece to "Encore Echoes." Bruce made a conscious decision to stay away from any outtakes from "A Wishing Well." Most likely he'll want those to come out for another release in years to come.

T.L.: Did you ever think, when you walked into Soundscape Studio for the first time in 1990, that one day you'd have a big enough fan base to warrant an album of rarities?

M.M.: In 1990 we thought we could be as big as ANY band. We probably would have scoffed at any mention of a simple "fan base" back then. We were looking to the moon in those days...we were going to be bigger than (Tom) Petty and all the rest. (Laughing) We were going to snub the Grammy awards by not showing up and watching it from our favorite bar...we had some plans, let me tell you. We were going to be on The David Letterman show...play in that same room as The Beatles did. We were going to do a lot of things...

T.L.: You and Kristin have endured numerous line-up changes throughout the years. Is it hard to go through these transitional phases with new members?

M.M.: Well...it has been difficult at times throughout the years. I know there had been days when you're in a rehearsal and you're thinking to yourself 'is this EVER going to come together?' The Jim Riley era was strange and taxing. We had to fight to make the band sound like something when he was with us because he wasn't really a drummer.

T.L.: But did he not play the drums in the band?

M.M.: He sat behind the kit. If that made him a drummer then it makes me a Major League ballplayer when I sit in the seats in Yankee Stadium. He auditioned and fooled us pretty easily. We realized there was a problem before too long as his limitations as a drummer were exposed. He finally admitted to us that he'd only been playing for three months but I will tell you, we really hung in there with Jim for a long time. We asked that he study with a great drummer, Chuck Bergi and he did. Listen, we TRIED. I mean, we even attempted to record with him! Jim was a nice guy but in the end it wasted a year or so of our time. It's ironic to me now that I prefer the version of "In A Pinwheel Spin" that he played drums on. What a life (shaking head and smiling).

T.L.: How is it playing with an entirely new rhythm section?

M.M.: They're not new any longer. We've been with each other for a long time now...lots of rehearsals together. I'm having more fun now than I've ever had. At the start, the music was everywhere at once and if you must know, Ken came into the band very out of practice. He was not playing drums on a regular basis and had to get his hands and feet back. Lauren had to come in and learn songs from a band with a ten-year history...they both did! I love them and the band is playing together quite nicely. You cannot have a great band if you don't have chemistry between the players in it. The four of us have it, without a doubt. I can feel it EVERY time we are in a room together and it's the first time for me...in The Rooks...that I've felt this between all four members.

T.L.: You must be looking forward to recording new songs with them.

M.M.: (Beaming smile) Oh YEAH!

T.L.: What are you listening to these days?

M.M.: I listen to everything. I don't shut ANYTHING down. The last few days...Macy Gray, The Beastie Boys...Buddy Holly, The Chemical Brothers, Tori Amos...Kirsty Maccoll...and...WAR. I have a series of compilations that I've strung together from my music collection. I play those very often, every day.

T.L.: Some pretty current artists there. Do you make it a point to keep up with everything that's out there?

M.M.: Sure. I'm always in the search for a good song. You know, there are a lot of mediocre bands out there but I will say this...EVERY band or artist has at LEAST ONE song that deserves to be heard. Many have a lot of good songs. I mean, I hear Radiohead. I know what Incubus sounds like. I bought "Hymns" by Godflesh because I heard the song "Vampires" and dug it. It's aggressive. I dig music. It's as simple as that.

T.L.: I'm surprised and a little impressed.

M.M.: Why? I am a musician. Why would I want to shut them out, because the guitars don't sound pretty? I'm too old to understand it...to feel it? I do have friends who don't listen to anything recorded after 1970. Not literally but (winking) you know what I mean? That's their problems, not mine. I don't mean for this to turn into a public address announcement for...I don't know...Ja Rule (laughing). I love music too much to put restrictions on it.

T.L.: Do you find inspiration from any of these current artists?

M.M.: Probably not. Perhaps in the long run. So what? IT'S MUSIC!!! You're a writer. Do you get inspired by every book or article you read?

T.L.: Point taken, but...

M.M. It's entertainment, Tammi. At it's very purest it may pull something out of us emotionally. When that happens, then it's special. I don't listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers to be moved. I like their sound (throwing up hands), that's all...that's enough.

T.L.: Have you resigned yourself to thinking that The Rooks will forever be under the umbrella of cult band status, that you will always have fans that love your music but for the most part the prospect of selling a million albums is an improbability?

M.M.: I'm an optimist by nature but I am also a realist. I really don't see how this band could ever sell a million albums the way the system is structured today. They've taken out of the equation many great songwriters and are replacing them with puppets. It seems that the artistic side of the business is sinking faster than a sandcastle that misjudged the tide. On the bright side, we always have something to wish for. After all (smiling), we are sitting by the wishing well.