I. The Band

1. Who is Pinback?

Pinback is (in alphabetical order):

Rob Crow (aka Robertdale Rulon Crow, Jr.)
-vocals, guitars, baritone guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion, timpani, programming, scratching, cello
Zach Smith (aka Armistead Burwell Smith IV, or absiv)
-vocals, bass, piano, keyboards, guitars, drums, programming, cello, accordion

These two write all the songs, sing, and play all instruments (except on a few songs where Tom Zinser plays drums, on Autumn of the Seraphs: Chris H. Prescott and Mario Rubalcaba) on their albums and non-tour EP's. They also, for the most part, do all the recording, producing, and mixing. However, since it's really hard to try to play all the instruments at the same time live, they employ the help of various people on tour. These folks include:

Fall 2007 line-up:
Terrin Durfey (R.I.P. 2008) - keyboards, bass, guitar, vox
Chris H. Prescott - drums
Eric Hoversten - keyboards, bass, guitar, vox, percussion

On the 2008 Euro-summer tour Terrin Durfey was too sick from cancer to travel. He got replaced by Chris Fulford-Brown who played his parts.

On the 2008 US fall tour Terrin was replaced by Braden Diotte. He is from a great band called Tarantula Hawk.

Band in the past:
Ryan Bromley - keyboards, bass, guitar
Cameron Jones - drums
Kenseth Thibideau - keyboards, bass, guitar, percussion
Gabriel Voiles - bass
Dmitri Dziensuwski - keyboards, bass
Donny Van Zandt - keyboards, bass, guitar, percussion
Tom Zinser - drums
Thatcher Orbitachi - keyboards

2. How did the band get its name?

"Pinback" was the name of a character from John Carpenter's 1974 masterpiece Darkstar. The band also make many references to Darkstar in their music, using several samples from the movie (see Question II.5 ), naming one of their songs after another character ("Talby" from Blue Screen Life), and using images (2001 Tour EP front & back cover, "Bomb" t-shirt).

3. How did the band form?

Both Rob and Zach were/are very active musicians in the San Diego music scene. Sometime in the mid-1990's, when Zach's band Three Mile Pilot went on a hiatus, he called up former roommate Rob (whose bands and projects are far too numerous to list here. Check www.functionbad.com/robcrow/ for a complete(?) list. Some bands are Heavy Vegetable, Physics, and Fantasy Mission Force) to come and play some music. No pressure, just for fun. The rest is history...

For a bio about Pinback and a free mp3 called "Chaos Engine", check out www.acefu.com or www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/band.php?id=17
More links to free mp3s here: www.pinbackfreaks.com/PB_mp3.html

4. What equipment do they use?

A small collection of 2004 can be found HERE

II. The Music

1. What recordings have the band released?

Albums:
1999 Pinback (aka This is a Pinback) - Ace Fu
2001 Blue Screen Life - Ace Fu 2001, in Europe - Cutty Shark
2004 Summer in Abaddon - Touch and Go
2007 Autumn of the Seraphs - Touch and Go

EP's:
2002 Some Voices - Tree 2000, Absolutely Kosher
2003 Offcell - Absolutely Kosher

Tour EP's:
2000 ("Live in Donny's Garage")
2001 ("This Is a Pinback Tour EP 2001")
2002 ("More or Less Live in a Few Different Places")
2003 ("Arrive Having Eaten")
2004 ("Too Many Shadows")
2008 ("The Rob and Zach show - ascii tour EP 2008")

Collection:
Nautical Antiques - Ace Fu, 2006

Albums are available easily enough from the usual online places. EP's are available from Absolutely Kosher at www.absolutelykosher.com. Tour EP's are available at shows, or from the band at www.pinback.com.

For a full discography, with track listings, etc., check out www.pinbackfreaks.com/discography/PB_discography.html.

2. Where can I get the lyrics?

Generally, lyrics are available in the inserts that come with all the releases, except for mp3-only releases like "Messenger" and "Scent". In fact, this question was how we could tell who didn't buy the official release (OOoohhh), at least, until iTunes came along.
Also you can find all lyrics here: www.pinbackfreaks.com/PB_lyrics_index.html

3. How do they get their unique guitar sound? Do they use baritone guitar? Etc., etc.

Careful listeners can pick out a low, but crisp, tone in Pinback's guitar sound and often attribute that to baritone guitar (FAQ author included) or some kind of tuning. However, even though Pinback does use baritone guitar on a handful of songs, what you are hearing is most likely Zach's unique way of playing bass. He plays Alembic Stanley Clarke piccolo basses, which are tuned an octave higher than normal basses, which allow him to have a crisper sound and play chords more easily. This does NOT account for Zach's massive amount of talent, however. Even with this knowledge, it is still a mind-boggling experience every time to see Zach play what "MUST be 2 guitars" all by himself, on four strings. (My favorite example is the intro to "Victorius D" from the Offcell EP. Yeah, people. That's bass.)

4. Has anyone noticed that the band plays A LOT faster live than on their recordings? Why do the live shows sound so different from the 'studio' recordings? Why does the band play so fast? Etc.

From Zach to the yahoo mailing group in one of its first posts in 2001: "i want to state as well that rob and i feel that a live show should not be identical to the sound of the album, it should have more energy, and songs tend to be played faster then on the album as well, we find two different approaches to songs (live, and recorded) show more sides of us, it would be boring if it sounded exactly like the album."

5. Is it ok to record Pinback at a show?

Yes, it is ok with the band. Venues will have different policies, however, so check with them first.

6. What's with all the water references?

Rob had this to say to the list in 2002:

"zach and i have always lived by water and it has always been a part of our music from aqua-kitty to aqua-magnetic to boo and it probably always will. while we were making the first pinback record, we would often quit for awhile and take our raft out to beach and wade in the ocean, talking about what we were trying to accomplish, until a good wave would come along and we'd ride it back to shore."

7. Where does the sample from ____ song come from?

As mentioned in I.2 above, several of the samples in Pinback's music come from the movie Darkstar. Here is a list of songs that contain samples from Darkstar:
Rousseau - intro and in the middle
Some Voices - intro
Concrete Seconds - intro
My Star - end

III. (This Is A) Pinback (CD)

1. Where did the title for "Hurley" come from?

It is a reference to George Hurley of The Minutemen. The drum lick for the song was taken from him (anyone know which song?).

2. What is "Charborg" about?

From Rob to the Pinback yahoo mailing list in Sept 2002:

"its mostly about soundcheck, but to me its also about one person in particular whom i cant name. nothing bad tho, just funny to me. i love it when we play this song with a sound guy thats never heard us before. when i do the "checky checky check" part they always freak out and either turn everything way up or completely off. or most likely they are smoking pot outside and cant be bothered"

3. What is "Shag" about?

From Rob in the same post:

"shag has nothing to do with killing babies. the chorus is actually a nod to russian filmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. for some reason i thought this would be obvious when i wrote it. what was i thinking? among the many other references in the song is one about the power team which is this hilarious group of wrestlers, bouncers, and weightlifters that do things like rip phone books in half and smash burning cinderblocks with thier heads for jesus. i even went to see them at a local church when they came to town a couple years ago. i got a power team bandanna. last time ill be in a church for awhile."

4. Is "Shag" a reference to The Shaggs?

Yes, the drums for "Shag" are taken from "The Shaggs' Own Thing" by The Shaggs. Rob again:

"yea. that was built on a shags sample of course. same as hurley owes quite a nod to the minutemen. these are both awesome bands you should all make yourself aware of. especially the shags, who are unlike any band to have ever or probably will ever exist. buy their records and play them as loud as possible. now THATS songwriting."

5. What do the lyrics to "Loro" mean?

Keep wondering.

IV. Blue Screen Life

1. What does "Offline PK" mean?

It stands for "Offline Player-Kill," meaning when online gamers take things too much to heart and get violent in the physical universe. According to Atomjack on the yahoo mailing list: "If I remember correctly, Offline PK refers to a story Rob read or heard about about some kids who took their d&d (or maybe it was computer gaming) playing too seriously and went off to a creek with swords or something and fought each other, one or more of them ending up dead. So, offline meaning in the real world, and PK meaning, yes, 'player killer'. The pinback boys used to play diablo 2 quite a bit (in fact Rob used to post about it on here inviting people to join if they were in the middle of a game.)"

2. Where do the samples on "Boo" come from?

They come from a recording of Orson Welles' infamous 1938 radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

3. What are the last words to "BBtone," after "Hands from the sky rip rip rip me open?"

"Suffer Naked."

BBtone, by the way, stands for "bass and baritone," the two guitars used in the song.

4. What is "Penelope" about?

From Rob to the yahoo mailing list in Sept. 2002:

"penelope is a real fish that zach has that constantly hovers around the top of the goldfish bowl and could never make all the way to the bottom without a major struggle. zach has always had a problem keeping fish alive, so i called the pet store and they said that either she had swallowed to much air and would expel it within day and be fine, or she had dropsy which is a disease that fish get where their lungs swell up and she would die in a couple weeks. but, even though she STILL hovers up there and constantly floats back up to the top, shes doing fine. you go girl."

Unfortunately, Penelope died in December 2002.

5. What do the lyrics in "Tres" mean?

"Oh solo mio" is Italian for "only me". "Sah fasa gan" is a phrase that Zach made up.

8. How do you pronounce "Tres"?

Rhymes with "dress."

V. Summer in Abaddon

1. What is the album title all about?

The Pitchfork review of the album states this:

"The title of Pinback's third album, Summer in Abaddon, sounds like a morbid joke: It implies a hiatus or a vacation, a productive retreat to perhaps an artists' commune or an off-season spent at a remote hideaway. But Abaddon is not the name of a small coastal town or a resort near the Poconos: Deriving from Hebrew, it refers to the pits of hell, a place of annihilation and destruction where its dwellers become unimaginably small and brutally insignificant. The word is also the name of the angel/demon who reigns over this kingdom of pitch; he is death incarnate."

According to screenager from the yahoo list:

"Rob said (in a belgian interview) that they used to have a perfectly logical explanation but he forgot... But he mentionned the German metalband called "Abaddon", it's also the name of a demon appearing in The Bible and the drummer of the band Venom is called Abaddon... but like a lot of Pinback-titles it's just a title to have a title, i guess."

2. What does "AFK" stand for?

"Away From Keyboard." It is an online gaming term to signify that the gamer is, well, away from the computer. To other gamers, this can also mean "A Free Kill," if they feel malicious.

3. The last lines of "AFK" are, "I miss you. Not in a Slint way, but I miss you." Who is Slint? What is Slint?

Slint was/is a rock band from Louisville, KY that influenced and inspired many, including (obviously), Pinback. They had formed in the late '80s, disbanded in the early '90s (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slint for a bio), and reunited for a tour in 2004-2005. Pinback were thrilled to open a show for them in March 2005.

The last lines of "AFK" are a reference to "Good Morning, Captain" from Slint's Spiderland album. From the yahoo list:

"one of the most amazing songs ever written, and it finishes with a terrifying refrain of what sounds like a desperate and broken man screaming 'i miss you' over and over again." - Dudley

"It's just a cool funny reference to another really good song (good morning captain), and lets not kill the joke by over-analyzing it. whoops, too late. sorry." - Josh Adams

Indeed.

VI. Autumn of the Seraphs

When there are frequently asked questions and answers for them for this album, this section will have more words...

VII. Other Releases

1. Where does "________" song come from?

A complete Pinback discography can be found at www.pinbackfreaks.com/discography/PB_discography.html.

2. But I still can't find "Scent!"

Scent is only available from iTunes, listed in the Summer In Abaddon tracklist.

3. Where does the intro come from on the live version of "Penelope?"

That would be Bob McGrath and the Sesame Street kids. The hand-claps for "Penelope" are actually sampled from this bit, I believe.

VIII. Miscellaneous (not actual FAQs, but some extra info)

1. What's a FAQ?

FAQ stands for "Frequently Asked Questions." A FAQ sheet attempts to answer said questions. How about that.

2. Why write a FAQ?

A Pinback FAQ was written because questions such as "What is 'Penelope' about?" and "What is Slint?" and "What does AFK stand for?" came to the Pinback yahoo group many, many times. And Pinback yahoo group members became sick of answering them. And thus the Pinback FAQ sheet came about, after much procrastination by the author...

3. Who is the author?

The author is Linette Lina, a wildlife biologist from Orange, California who happens to like Pinback. The author compiled many questions and answers straight from the Pinback yahoo group mailing list/message board: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/pinback_list/ and also pulled many answers from various sources and gained help from various people (whether they knew it or not). These unwitting heroes are:

Ryan Bromley, Scott Hand, Pinbackfreak, Cameron Jones, Josh Adams, Brian MacDonald, AceFu Records, Dudley of the Dudley Corporation, Atomjack, Cory Brown & Absolutely Kosher Records, runaroundonfire, Gabriel Olsen and No Cover magazine, Touch & Go Records, Tree Records, Pitchfork, screenager, Rob Crow, and Zach Smith.

If I missed you, calm down, just drop me a line at lint68 AT yahoo DOT com. If you are weirded out by being on this list, see the previous sentence.

4. Where can I find the latest version of this FAQ?

Pinbackfreak Antoine has kindly given this FAQ its home. His Pinback fansite, http://www.pinbackfreaks.com/PB_FAQ.html, has much info on the band and it's fitting to have this FAQ there. The version # and date are at the top.

5. What is the copyright information?

This Pinback FAQ is (c) 2005-2008 Linette Lina. It may not be reproduced in any form (in whole or in part) without permission. International copyright laws require that you obtain an author's permission to use any copywritten material.

For permission, just ask. If you're going to quote any part, post this on your website, put it in an article, whatever, just let me know. Thanks.

6. (For Rob) Does Pinback listen to Modest Mouse?

No.