The phone rings. Against the noisy background, I hear a voice speak in an innocently boyish tone. "Hello, this is Michael of The Rooks. . . calling about the interview." "Of course," I say. (I had been waiting for his call for a week). "Umm. . . look. . . I am at a public telephone. Can you please ring me back at this number? I haven't been able to pay my telephone bill." "Sure, let me have the number."

The Rooks are Michael Mazzarella, Kristin Pinell, Anne Benkovitz and Patrick Yourell and they are gathering steam. Their self-titled debut was the recipient of many great reviews. Their two following releases on the pop-oriented Not Lame Recording Label (the shared "A Double Dose Of Pop" with L.A.'s Twenty Cent Crush and the "Chimes" EP) have not put the brakes on The Rooks' train by any stretch of the imagination. On the contrary, the train keeps-a rollin'. The band has just recorded a track ("Get Away") for the soon-to-be-released Badfinger tribute album on Copper Records out in September 1996. They will also be part of the exalted Rhino Records Power Pop series along with the likes of such Pop luminaries as The Raspberries, Big Star, Todd Rundgren (70's), Squeeze, Marshall Crenshaw and The Plimsouls (80's), to the latest keepers of the flame The Posies, Teenage Fanclub and Jellyfish. Quite some well-deserved company. There has also been some important press in Billboard, Goldmine and numerous Euro-magazines, not to mention an invitation to play this year's Poptopia Festival in Los Angeles (Jan. '96) along with The Muffs, 20/20 and The Posies, amongst a cast of numerous others. High praise and high profile. I guess accolades don't pay the phone bills.

T: Hi Michael. . . where are you?

M: Well, do you know New York City?

T: I've been there a bunch of times.

M: Oh, I'm on the corner of 68th and Central Park West on a public phone, obviously. It's hard to find a phone with the number posted.

T: You're near the famous Lennon/Dakota building aren't you?

M: Yes. Very near. It's in the neighborhood.

T: I'm trying to visualize it. Wow. . . let's start. Bring me up to speed on the band's actions.

M: We are now rehearsing material for the next album. The basic tracks of drums and rhythm guitars were recorded a while back. I am now working out arrangements with the band for the fleshing out of the songs. It gives Kristin, Anne and Patrick a chance to expand on their ideas.

T: I have read interviews with you and have a vague idea of how you work. How much of the production is thought out before a song is brought in to your bandmates?

M: I hear the finished song and most of the time I know what ensemble instruments I would like to hear in the piece. I try to leave guitar and bass details up to the girls. Sometimes I write the main guitar riff of a song, which is what the song was written around in the first place, so it would be unnecessary to remove it as it was the backbone to the genesis of the song. On this new batch of recordings, I worked extensively with Patrick on arrangements which paid off, as we laid all the drum tracks down in one afternoon. We may go back and re-record one or two though.

T: Do the powers that be at the Not Lame Recording Label ever try to dissuade you from producing the band?

M: Hardly. I think Bruce (Brodeen, leader of Not Lame) encourages it. I love him for it. He trusts me.

T: Do you think a major label would try and push you away from that end and have you concentrate on writing and singing? Many times they want "their people in the know" to handle the producing.

M: Who knows what they would do. I don't think about it. I don't care. I know my songs and live with them. They come from me and I can handle the production duty. Keep in mind, this music is made on a very tiny budget as budgets go in the industry. The "uppers" don't realize that we are limited in funds and recording equipment. I do my best with what I have. It's a non-issue really.

T: I know that you take great care in the music you create. Now that you have three releases in circulation, what is your biggest regret thus far?

M: How do you mean?

T: Well. . . on the recording of a certain song, a production judgement or a sequencing decision. . . anything?

M: I'm not one of these guys who always second guesses all the time because you can get to a point where it never ends. There are one or two songs that I don't think we captured in the studio the way I initially heard them while composing them. I think we missed the mark somewhat.

T: Which ones?

M: Well. . . (pause). . . "Look" (from debut "The Rooks"). Although, I think I missed that one in the mix, not the recording. Oh I don't know. It's OK. I don't lose a wink over anything. I do wish I could have been there for all the mastering sessions on our three records. It's hard to leave it up to other's ears without being able to opine.

T: What stops you?

M: All of our work has been mastered in Los Angeles without my attendance. I can't afford to get over there. That's the price we pay or I should say if we could pay the price in dollars and cents, the job could be done correctly. These things cost a small fortune. I never have money for a proper mastering job and we suffer for it. Mostly in the bass and drums tracks.

T: If you HAD to work with a producer, who would that be?

M: Well, a producer wears many hats. Many times I have to work with an artist or band on a psychological level to get them through. Other times it's nothing more than making sure that instruments are in tune. Which producer?. . . that depends on how much in the decision making I could be involved with.

T: OK, let's say this person would make most or all of the critical creative calls.

M: I have never thought of that, even hypothetically.

T: Indulge me. (car horns blare in the background)

M: I would have to think hard and long on that to answer you honestly. I mean, we're talking about our record. My central concern is always quality. How can I answer that so incautiously?

T: It's only for fun. I won't make you actually do it, I promise. (laughs)

M: Anyone?

T: Yeah, anyone.

M: (pause, pause, pause) How about Nick Lowe?

T: OK by me. Why?

M: He's been around town enough times and I bet he could see any of my requests through to fruition. He knows sound. If I wanted to make a heavy record he could get it. He knows the dictionary. Country, R & B, Pop and all of it. He's worked with everyone from Magic Michael and Wreckless Eric to Johnny Cash.

T: Fair enough.

M: You have to understand that part of my production process is an extension of my songwriting process. I am thinking about the production of a song AS I am composing it. It would be difficult for me to surrender that segment of it.

T: Are you influenced by the newer so-called Power Pop bands?

M: Not really. That's not a knock on anybody. I'm interested in what most everyone does but. . . they do their things, we do ours. If anything, it happens in the form of my own personal creative competition. Like my friend Dave Rave says, so and so just "upped the ante." If I hear a record that knocks me out, I want to better it somehow. Isn't that what everyone does?

T: Not everyone can do it.

M: I'm not sure that I can do it but one should make the attempt, don't you think?

T: Absolutely. I'm not a musician so I'm not qualified to really answer.

M: Well, it goes beyond music.

T: Sure. What's the last record that made you feel the urge to "up the ante"?

M: Ironically, a record by Agnelli and Rave. "Cowboy Flowers Sessions" out last year. It's not a "Power Pop" record. . . whatever that means, but it has all the elements of a great pop record in that it showcases fine harmony singing, first rate melodies and deeply sincere sentiments. I love everything on it.

T: In your mind, what did they do to "up the ante"?

M: Record a collection of songs from start to end all of which move me. That record gave me a great sense of memory of my youth growing up with LP's having no filler. It has beautiful pacing. It only has to go as far as move ME! I wish the masses had the opportunity to feel the same.

T: When arranging a song, do you ever worry about having to reproduce it live on stage? For example, "Friends Of Mine" or "War"?

M: I don't worry about it. The record is the important stamp for me. The recording is forever. Reproducing a song live is the band's problem. We'll concern ourselves with that later. I try to make sure we don't miss it in the studio. You can always make concessions live. "War" and "Friends Of Mine" probably wouldn't fit into our forty minute set anyway. Maybe in a concert setting but not on a club date. You have to ask yourself, what would "Friends Of Mine" be without the heavy accordion and Hammond accompaniment, as I heard it when I wrote it. We would have to have outside players come on to reproduce it faithfully. "War" has a whole string ensemble. It's a moot issue for now. I mean, we don't even do "Reasons" most times because I'm not sure I can hit that high melody line every night.

T: Do you ever feel self-conscious about having to perform some of your personal songs in front of a crowd of strangers?

M: Like which songs?

T: I don't know. . . I guess from your last response you don't do "War" live. What about "Apology" or "Always You And Me"?

M: The buying pubic is a crowd of strangers.

T: Good point.

M: Once people play our music, my words are no longer personal. Listeners are allowed into my world to a small extent. It's not like I have a set of lyrics for the record and write another set for live performances. I worry more about singing in pitch than the words that come out of my mouth on stage.

T: Are you a vinyl guy or a CD guy?

M: CD all the way. I grew up with vinyl. . . 5,000 records. It's an old configuration. I always hated the surface noise anyway. The pops and clicks. I like the idea of playing the first two sides of the "White Album" without getting off the sofa. Besides, without the CD medium, we probably wouldn't have all the archivists rooting around delivering to us all these great bonus tracks and lost recordings.

T: What is the feeling you get when you come up with a song like "Reasons" or one of my favorites, "Glitter Best'?

M: Elevated. It's very satisfying for me to be able to step back and listen to a piece that did not exist ten minutes before. . . ever!

T: "Chimes" has such a striking cover shot. Whose idea was that and can you give us some background?

M: As I have said in other interviews, I think of writing complete records, rather than pulling songs from a workbook and trying to make them fit. I also give a lot of thought to the entire packaging. The album covers were almost as important as the music they contained when I was a kid. I have purchased records on the strength of their covers. I try to get that feeling across. Unfortunately, we only have 5" x 5" to work with but such is technology. The cover idea for "Chimes" resulted from a dream I had. The Rooks were in a field. Kristin was playing with a small girl. The child was playing with wind chimes as she is in the photograph. I don't know who she belonged to in my dream and I never gave much thought about her significance. I had a lot of input to the packaging on our first album and had enough input on our second release ("A Double Dose Of Pop"), which we share with Twenty Cent Crush, in that I chose most of the photographs of us for the booklet and wrote our credits. I think the cover, which is the first thing a fan sees before hearing a note of music, should be striking and have an aura of its own. It should set a guiding light to the path you wish to take your listeners down. I already know what I want our next release "A Wishing Well" to look like. It's all in my head.

T: On the "Chimes" cover there is a photograph of a woman peeking out from a flower. Who is she?

M: My mother. I think the cover photograph was shot on the anniversary of her death. Her picture was just something I grabbed last minute as I was leaving for the shot. That wasn't planned. I just wanted the picture on me for luck. There is another surprise on one of the other flowers as well but I'll keep that a secret.

T: No clues?

M: Blue.

T: That's all?

M: Keep it at that for now.

T: How did the Badfinger track come about and what was behind the Rhino Records situation?

M: This fellow Darryl Clingman (of Copper Records) rang one day and said he would like to have us be a part of a Badfinger tribute album. I had vowed to myself over and over that we wouldn't be involved with tributes because they always come off as wank to me. Most of them turn out to be embarrassing with high-powered major label acts doing really schlocky jobs of some good material. Anyway, when I heard the line-up for this one, I wanted The Rooks to be a part of it.

T: Who else is on it?

M: From memory Al Kooper, Bill Lloyd, Adrian Belew, The Knack, The Plimsouls, Aimee Mann, Cock-eyed Ghost. . . lots more. I haven't heard any other tracks yet but it sounds like the acts are too solid to screw this one up.

T: Which song have your recorded?

M: We did "Get Away" from Badfinger's swan song album for Apple. Most of the prime songs had already been doled out but we were very happy with the song that was available to us. Because of time restraints, we only had four days to learn, record, rent equipment and mix everything. It was a quick job.

T: And the Rhino project?

M: Again, a phone call from them stating they wanted us to be a part of this "History Of Power Pop" collection. They had been reading a lot about us and knew the music. We were chosen from their staff in a board meeting. We were suprised and pleased. I think its availability will be in April 1997. Both projects just came to us. There was no campaigning on our part.

T: Well, after seeing your press package and hearing your music, the Pop world should be proud to have you represent them.

M: Thank you.

T: Will The Rooks tour soon?

M: In due time. We have to complete the latest record and let things unfold from there. We will do whatever Not Lame asks of us. We would welcome a tour.

T: Are you concerned that this Power Pop craze may just be a quickly passing phase?

M: No. I did this when it was not cool, now it is. If it's not cool tomorrow, what am I going to do, House Music? This is what we do. Pop kids don't go away. If they like melodic work they will grow with you and follow you. I can't worry about some fickle industry that's dictated by MTV programmers or 23 years old A & R people. I do this because I am moved to do it. I have done it for myself for a long time. Now we have a camp of people who are taking notice and that's nice.

T: Anything else you want to add before we wrap this up?

M: I'm sorry it had to be done at a public telephone.

T: Oh I don't mind. It's been a nice 45 minutes.

M: I do. I've been standing the whole time (laughs!).