Enon.

I'S SPEAKING NOW in lieu of said brain trust called Enon, whom are a triad of music makers in Brooklyn not deferring to the "cool corner," and are speaking their minds in multiples of tongues and cheeks. Their live show is a schizophrenic jux--they throw mean curve balls. It might not be your cup of tea, and then again it just might. So hear a babble of things, and if you get the chance to ask John Schmersal what a Shakesphere 3000[TM] is, don't expect the assumed answer. It's real.

For the million-dollar question, how long has Enon been together?

John: We've been playing together for three years.

Where are you originally from?

John: I've lived here for about 10 years, but I'm from Dayton, Ohio.

Matt: Ohio.

Toko: I moved here 10 years ago from Japan.

Toko, did you play in any bands in Japan?

Toko: Yes, an all-girl band called Queen of the Ghost. I played guitar.

Can you each play every instrument?

Matt: I can barely play drums.

Toko: I can't play guitar anymore. I haven't touched it since high school.

John: Toko writes stuff with guitar but doesn't play, which I think is funny.

Matt: Everybody tries to do what they're best at in our band.

Do you guys all write songs or is there a ringleader?.

John: More now than anything all the songs were written by this program, a module my dad made.

What's it called?

John: The Shakesphere 3000[TM].

What does it do?

John: Basically, it takes our past compositions and based on the algorithms it writes new songs. It's kind of like we don't want to talk about it because it's becoming sought after.

Matt: it's getting dangerous. We can't talk about it.

Why did you move from the musically iconic town of Dayton, Ohio?

Matt: About 10 years ago you could really say that. It kind of fell apart. There are things happening there now. But there hasn't been a good all-ages place or a good record store, and you need both of those things for a good music scene. There are people doing things but it isn't like it was when Guided by Voices or Brainiac were around still.

How many months out of the year do you tour?

Matt: It doesn't seem like a lot.

John: If you put all the time together it would amount to about four months.

Toko, is it a big deal when you go home to Japan? Is Enon popular?.

Toko: I don't know. I haven't gone home since I joined three years ago.

Matt: We're going there for the first time in January.

How many records has Enon released?

Matt: Twelve or 13 things--singles, EP's, and two full-lengths.

John: Our third full-length is coming out in the fall. Touch and Go is releasing it. They just put out an EP for us in June.

Do you have other stuff released with Touch and Go?

Matt: The last full length. They're really cool to work with. Their whole thing is that they work as hard as the band is willing to, and we work really hard. They are cool about everything. They let us release seven inches and stuff with other labels.

John: We have a 10-inch piece of vinyl coming out that Neil Blender did the artwork for.

You mentioned he was your roommate for a while.

John: Yeah, he's cool, He was a great roommate. He paid on time.

Toko: He bought toilet paper.

John: He wasn't really skating much at the time. He moved to Dayton to do the Workshop and he was mainly doing artwork then. Always drawing on stuff around the house, bills and whatever was lying around.

Do you have any of his drawings?

John: I have some. One time he whittled this relief of a squirrel scene out of an ivory soap bar. He gave it to me and I got trashed that night. I woke up and it was crushed in my pocket.

My pal Randy knows him pretty well and was telling me about how he had all of these pumpkin seeds and was carving faces in them, and he has tons and tons of these things.

Matt: Yeah, full on. I forgot about those. He had them all over the place for a while. He just draws on everything and smokes cigarettes all day long. He would send me napkin scratches and Pac-Bell bills that he drew on.

John: These things would become designs.

Matt: The only thing that sucks is that since he's started skating again he doesn't play music, and he's an incredible musician. He had a band called Jetty for a while and played in a bunch of other stunt; too. He can do anything. Like he'll play the drums or he'll have a violin or something. Just whatever, he can pick up practically anything. He has piles of recordings that no one will ever hear. It's a travesty. I have some of them and they are great.