Here is an interview from the fanzine "Vibration From The Edge Of Sanity" issue 2. It is scanned in using an OCR - I have fixed some typos, but there may well be more.

Having read a piece about Drugstore in BLASTER #4, I was sufficently intrigued to send for their debut single Alive / Gravity a 7" on their own Honey label - good stuff, I was hooked. Their next release, another 7" Modern Pleasure / Ascending this time on the Rough Trade singles club, was even better. The next thing I hear they've signed to Go! Discs and are about to embark on a tour with Kitchens of Distinction, then the Starcrossed CD lands on my doormat - this is absolutely magical... Vibrations must feature this band, they're brilliant, so an interview is arranged for the Leicester date. After being totaly blown away by their live set, they're quite mellow on record by comparison, we give them a while to cool down and then invade the dressing room, only to find that they've drunk all their beer already, themselves: not an unopened can in sight... Anyway, Isabel (vocals/bass) and Mike (drums) welcome us in, guitarist Daron joins us later, and the Interview begins

SO MIKE'S FROM L.A. AND ISABEL FROM BRAZIL, WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO MOVE TO ENGLAND?
I/ Oh gosh, its long story, I remember asking my family, I wanted to just go away and start a different life and they kind of like gave me a one way ticket, a few dollars and said "go girl" y'know goodbye... So it was a combination of things, it was like interesting music for one, I thought maybe one day I might end up playing bass guitar in a band, also I just wanted to get away from things and just be independant and see what it would be like just starting a different life somewhere else.
SO WHEN DID DRUGSTORE FORM?
I/ About a year and a half ago.
HOW DID YOU MEET?
I/ Oh gosh, I played bass guitar in maybe 5 or 6 bands obscure stuff and they never got anywhere, the last band I meet Mike, who was playing drums, . . and then I needed a flatmate and I wasn't even writing songs at that time, that was about three years ago, but then he moved in and he had an acoustic guitar and we weren't happy with the band we were in at the time and we just started writing songs. It was like a slow process without thinking too much about it, y'know how do we want this band to sound, because I think most bands do that - which is much easier, if you think about it - We Wanna Sound like X band, you know.
M/ Also, at first you didn't know if you wanted to sing.
I/ No, we were looking for a guitarist and singer - which is an unusual way to start a band, usually it's like singer/songwriter's who start bands... and we were just like bass player and drummer and we want to start a band. ..and we had like a couple of songs together, so we were auditioning singers and guitarists and it was hard.
M/ Finally, Isabel just decided to sing.
I/ No not decided, got fed up with trying people out and it just wasn't working, and you get a bit impatient and I thought well maybe I should have a go at singing. ..Gosh, once I start talking I just...
NO, IT'S ALRIGHT CARRY ON, THERE'S PLENTY OF TAPE...
I/ But that Walkmans going "No stop her.." I have like a complex about my voice, because I think it's too big, too strong and too much, it's not like a nice girls voice.
M/ It's characterful though.
I/ Well, you could say that... So anyway, then I started singing, we spent a year and half looking for a guitarist, trying guitarists out and doing the odd gig and that's about it.
WHAT INFLUENCES YOU TO WRITE?
I/ Gosh, It's nothing specific really, I'm sure it's got to be all the experiences I've had, you know - books, T. V. people on the underground, it's things I experience myself. It's not like a thought out process it's like very spontaneous.
M/ I think in the end it's mostly down to you and your personality.... a little introspective, it's your thought process, just comes out every once in a while...
YOU SEEM SO HAPPY ON STAGE THOUGH, WHY DO YOU THINK YOU WRITE SO MANY SAD SONGS?
I/ (Laughs) Why do you think.. .you've got the answers, you know would you write so many sad songs unless you had lots and lots of bad thoughts and sad references in your head. I just think when you're on stags, being in a hand, it's an extremely exciting happy thing, you know, there's a lot of happy energy out there and I think that's one of the points about Drugstore. I'm sure there are terrible things in our heads, but every now and then we've just got to enjoy ourselves because we know we're not going to be back here. ..we're not going to die and come back so you try to enjoy yourself the best possible way you can, and we certainly do enjoy playing shows, gosh it's brilliant it's very exciting, even when you have a night like tonight, I thought the sound was shit, we were shit, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly...
IT SOUNDED GREAT.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT COMPARISONS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE WITH MAZZY STAR ?
D/ That's alright! they're great
I/ Yeah, we love em... I only kind of got to know their stuff a few months ago, I'd read a lot about them and people were always talking about them, and I heard the album 'So tonight that I might see' a couple of months ago and I was really impressed, I love the stuff. I think of the way we record songs, we have the sane kind of references, we like keeping things simple and not over produced and a bit moody... whatever.
MARIANNE FAITHFULL HAS ALSO COME UP ALOT.
I/ I'm not that faniliar with her stuff, I think I know one song and...
M/ and a film
I/ Yeah and the film, the girl and the motorbike, it's a great ....... I think she had like a funny voice and maybe I do as well. . .but we haven't both gone out with the same man that's for sure.
WHY DID YOU PUT THE FIRST SINGLE OUT YOURSELVES, HAD YOU BEEN THROUGH THE USUAL SENDING OUT DEMO'S ROUTINE?
I/ We didn't think sending out demo's was a good idea, that was one of the things that hit us right at the begining, there's another 3000 bands doing exactly the same thing and the chances are you re going to end up in a huge hag mixed up with loads of other hands and God knows how much time an A&R man has to sit down and carefully listen to your music, so we thought instead of doing demo's why don't we borrow money, why don't we save some money and do the real thing and put something on vinyl, 'cause I feel like if you die the following week at least you have something you canhold on your death bed and say I've done a single. ..It's better than holding a demo tape, so I feel like the 'Alive' single we only pressed 500 and it was like our demo, in a sense.
SO, HOW DID 'GO! DISCS' HEAR OF YOU?
I/ It's a bizarre story because since we released the single we've been having calls and a few offers, a few labels. . and there was always something wrong with those labels... Well with whatever they were offering us. It was like 'Hey you can sign with us, we'll give you this money but we'll choose the single and we'll get the producer for you, there was always something that wasn't right for us, Then Daron joined the band cause at the time he was booking bands at The Powerhaus and he saw us play a few times there, then one night he was a hit drunk and he walked backstage at the Mean Fiddler and said 'Hey if you want a guitarist I would like to join your band' ... he said that in front of our guitarist, which was brave and I thought that's a nice attitude, y'know this guy really wants to do it. So then when he joined the band he kind of knew people at GO! DISCS who were at the time interested in his publishing, cause Daron writes loads of songs. So anyway, one day Simon at GO! DISCS said 'Oh, what are you doing tonight?' and Daron said 'Oh, actually I've joined this band called Drugstore and we're doing a show' and he said ' I'll come down and see you' and they saw us play. It was just an acoustic set, it's a complicated story because at the time Mike wasn't being allowed back in the country because of work permit situations so we were doing like an accoustic set just me and Daron and these people from GO! DISCS were there and they said 'You've got to be in our office tomorrow morning and we've got to sign you.' They were just so nice they really respect us as artists and they don't interfere with our work, very supportive, all the freedum we could ask for, it's just there and that's the reason we signed with them.
SO DARON, DIDN'T YOU LIKE THIS OTHER GUITARIST THEN?
D/ He was alright actually, I thought he was good...
YOU JUST WANTED TO BE IN THE BAND THEN?
D/ Well yeah (laughter all round).
I/ Yeah, the other guitarist that was with us before Daron, do you know the C.M.J. the music marathon in New York it's like the In The City thing in Manchester, it's like a showcase for unsigned bands. so we were like offered to play C.M.J. which we were really excited about, so again we borrow money, we got to New York and the guitarist walks into this hotel which was like a cheap little hotel, but it was brilliant and said 'are we gonna have to be sharing the bedroom' and I thought "oh, he's gonna have to go" I mean if he's unhappy to be in New York just because he's got to share a bedroom with me and Mike, his heart wasn't there y'know. So he was a good guitarist but... then we got Daron and actually he's a bass player, he said 'I'm a guitarist, honestly!
BUT IS HE HAPPY TO SHARE BEDROOMS?
I/ He's happy to share rooms yeah, which we think is just as important as playing guitar and it turns out he's a bass player who became an interesting and creative guitarist and who's got his heart in the right place. y' know.
ARE YOU STILL RESTRICTED AT ALL ABOUT HOW LONG YOU CAN STAY IN THE U.K. FOR?
I/ No, we've got residency, I've got full residency, meaning I can just stay here for as long as I want to.
M/ Yeah, and I get work permits because we've like always got something lined up.
SO IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT IT IS EVEN IF IT'S JUST A FEW DATES OR SOMETHING?
M/ Yeah, it's usually O.K. it's just a tiny bit of hassle but it's fine.
I/ Ideally he'll find a nice English girl who's willing to sacrifice her life for Drugstore and marry him.

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