RUNTIME ERROR REUINITATION

Runtime Error's '09 line-up, consisting of vocalist Jake Adjutant, drummer Brandon Lehman, bassist Cactus and guitarist Jessica Schleiden (and not Ernie Isley, as much as he wants to be in the band), have released eleven albums today. We interviewed Jake Adjutant for commentary on these eleven albums.

1: the joys of living with squid, volume II:


Jake: "There are two versions of this album. One released on Sub Pop and one on Geffen. We were going for a Nirvana y In Bloom-type deal, and I think it worked. Some songs, like "You're Shaking (When I Start to Grope You)", work best on the Sub Pop record, while others, like "Power Adapter (An Adapter... with Power!)", work best on Geffen. All in all, though, I don't think you can go wrong with either record. My personal favourite track is the bonus track, "Lateral Ascention", a nice ballad about getting high, ending with Jessica ripping out a *censor* up solo that'll make you feel violated, in more ways than one."

2: No Cacti Were Harmed in the Making of

Jake: "The cover shoot for this album was interesting. Brandon let Cactus wear his hat, something Cactus has wanted to do since the '80s, and we bought Brandon a little Cactus hat. Of course, this was funny as hell, so Jessica and I were in hysterics for literally hours. Finally, Brandon called the fire department, and they shot us with the hose. Fun day, that one. Oh, the album? It's okay, I suppose. The track "Alarm Surgery (Surgery... for Alarms!)" was a huge cascading series of riffs and cowbell. I think I was eating a breadstick while we were recording it, so you hear some crunching every once in a while."

3: Having a Wonderful Life.

Jake: "This one was interesting. Cactus didn't actually die on the cover, it's just a trick of the lighting. The giant bee was actually our friend, James Earl Jones, in costume. The giant flower was made out of many different colours and forms of crap. After the photo was finished, Jessica, Brandon and I started smearing it all over eachother, while James and Cactus went for tea. James actually guests on the track "Popgun Blues", which is a much more lively tune than the Stevo Fisher songs."

4: Flashbacks: The '70s

Jake: "I had this idea once for The Brandon Lehman Project. I drew the concept of Brandon and Jessica in five different decades, the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and the twenty-first century. I *censor* up on the twenty-first century one and immediately gave up on the concept. I brought it back for the RE reunion, though, and here we are. Cactus shows off his amazing breakdancing skills, while Jessica and I are doing... something. I was kind of wasted. The songs are nice little ditties, in the style of prominent '70s artists, like Sabbath, Styx, Boston, KISS, Kansas, and, of course, ourseleves. We actually re-recorded "Mr. Lamp Post", again, with Mr. Jones, and gave it a more poppy twist."

5: Flashbacks: The '80s

Jake: "Ah, yes, the '80s. I wanted to get Kellogg's to release the album, but they actively refused. So, we, minus Jessica, raped them all, and got the green-light to have them release the album. On the cover, Cactus is smoking lard, not anything else, you sicko. Jessica and I spent hours getting out hair to look all poofy like that, while all Brandon had to do was go in his closet and find his poofy hat. Lucky man, he is. We, again, covered several prominent '80s artists, including Guns N' Roses, Great White, Skid Row, Whitesnake, Green River and ourselves, again. This time we covered the tune "Wingman in Rouge". We were tempted to cover "Sea Men Rock", but then we realised that it was just a big "Highway Star" rip-off, and we already covered that for the last album."

6: Flashbacks: The '90s

Jake: "The final of the Flashbacks series (unless we can go back in time and play a gig in the '60s), the cover sums up the '90s. Jessica's smoking chocolate, Brandon's PC blue-screened, Cactus is crying, and I was murdered. That wasn't actually me, it was a random hobo from our first Hobo Alley gig, who probably would've died anyway. We shot him in the face, and dropped the shotgun just so that he couldn't reach it with his hand, and we made sure he was wearing shoes. Anyway, this time we covered Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Backstreet Boys, Megadeth and, again, ourselves. We re-recorded "Too Much Runtime on My Hands", because, frankly, it was our best album/song in the '90s. We got Mr. Jones to pull out one last performance for this run of albums, and I think it worked really well. I had to do the higher bits, of course, but the verses were all him. Great guy, him."

7: Daily Tornado Blues

Jake: "I hated this album cover shoot. We went to a trailer park, and it took five whole minutes for a tornado to hit. We don't have that kind of time, man! The songs themselves were cool, like "Big Twig", where I basically list works that rhyme with "ig", while Jessica plays a cool blues-y riff, and "Magazine Shavings", where I start sobbing uncontrolably, and no one can understand what I'm saying, while Jessica plays a cool solo with a violin bow. We also re-recorded "Hold the Line", just so everyone can see how we would've done it (with loads of swearing and innuendo, of course). But the stand-out here is the song "Stickman Fever". We got the dead hobo tied to one of the marionette things, and we made him dance around while we played random riffs and solos everywhere, with me yelling something along the lines of "YEAH, IT'S A STICK MAN WITH A FEVER, HELL YEAH, IT'S SO COOL; IF YOU DON'T THINK IT'S COOL, YOU HAVE NO SOUL, LIKE ONIONS, WHICH I OWN; etc." Good times."

8: Burning Bridges (Abridged)

Jake: "Ah, the first "hey, we're done! might as well make another album" album. This one was basically a declaration of independence from Eifion, who half of my fanbase literally begged me to put in the band. I don't care, folks. My favourite song on here is one Eifion wrote in '86, called "Fuck You, *censor* Sheep", where I get out my best falcetto, and sing about onions. Great times, those ones. If you'll notice, there is a small child next to Eifion on the cover. Eifion raped him after the cover shoot. I watched."

9: Plus Shipping and Handling

Jake: "This album cover was concieved off of a prank. We sealed ourselves inside a giant box, as a prank, and an UPS guy opened it, and nearly had a heart-attack! We sing about this on the song "The Ultimate Prank", and UPS guy guests on the track "UPS Man Blues", singing about the struggles of being an UPS guy. We also cover "Way Back Home", but all Glam Metal-like. My favourite song on the album is "It's the End of Your Mom as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)". I think I had laryngitis while recording it, so my voice is weird. Too weird, but hey. I smothered it in effects, so it's all good. All in all, a great record with some great fan service. UPS fans should not miss out."

10: The Anorexorcist

Jake: "We pulled in an anorexic cactus for this shoot, then we put him down. No one deserves to live like that. Seeing him made us all, Cactus included, cry. We covered Nirvana's "Anorexorcist", obviously, but we wrote some new material, like "Oh God, My Chliortis is Bleeding, Please Help, it Hurts so *censor* Bad", and "My Anal was Never My Proud". My personal favourite is "Farmboy Blues". It's pretty heavy, and it has some cool lyrics, like "TRACTOR, TRACTOR/WHERE'S THE DREAMS THAT I'VE BEEN AFTER/TRACTOR TRACTOR/ALL I SEE AND HEAR IS TRACTOR". I personally think it's the epitome of songwriting."

11: +Timothy Lee

Jake: "I called up Timothy Lee to ask him if he wanted to play on an album, and he said "yeah"! It was the happiest day of my life! I actually fainted during the cover shoot, but, luckily, Jessica caught me before I hi9t the ground and made an embarassing "thud" noise. This was my favourite album to record, ever. Timothy Lee got me into making music, so doing a whole album with him was like heaven. He got along with everyone great, and added the epic Timothy Lee Band feel to the songs, even our cover of Foo Fighters's "Generator"! I generally let him have his space when doing vocals, so I just went in for the harmonies. Jessica, Timothy and I were all playing guitar on this cassette-only release, so you have loads of big solos, "One More Night"-style (even though Timothy recorded all three parts of "One More Night" himself). When I die, I want Timothy to replace me. I can't believe he's not still in a band."

Having a Wonderful Life. is fantastic