*What was it like having your song “Have Love Will Travel” in Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown series? *

I didn’t expect that but it was really cool and I’m glad they did that. That seems to be the most popular song that we ever did that’s associated with television ads. It started off, I think, when Land Rover used that song. That really got us to a point where people heard the song and would ask the question “Who’s the band?” And I think that really led to us reforming again. That same song was used by BMW and a toothpaste commercial in Sweden and a beer commercial in Germany and a beer commercial in Mexico. And just on and on. That one particular song seems to capture people.

You recently were part of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl’s Sonic Highways documentary. What was that experience like?

Yeah, that was neat. Dave Grohl found eight identifiable regions in the country that had a lot to do with rock and roll music, Seattle being one of them. It was actually a big honor to be the representative for Seattle.

How do you think Seattle and that area in general compares now with how it was in the ’60s?

I think there’s a lot more bands now than there were in the ’60s. So there’s a lot more competition. And in the ’60s, Seattle and probably other places too, we played big dance halls that held 800 to 1000 people and you could make a living doing it. Now Seattle and other areas of the country, it’s tough to find big rooms like that to play in. It’s much more difficult today competitively and in terms of just supporting yourself with just music without having to play in three or four bands at the same time. But there’s still a lot of creativity up here. It’s always been just a little different.

Do you think the band will try to release more music in the future?

Yeah. That’s one thing we’ll have to start thinking about, other songs to record. Hopefully we’ll do it faster than…hopefully we won’t wait as long before we do it again. But some of it has to do with how people respond to this album. If people like it, it would encourage us to do it again. If nobody wants to hear it then there’s no point in recording, I suppose.

What do you ultimately hope the Sonics are remembered for?

I guess just bringing a different perspective to rock and roll. Back in the ’60s, everyone played the standard 1-4-5 chord progression. Chuck Berry and Little Richard. And I don’t know if anybody tried to play songs with screaming all the time and loud drums and the guitar is distorted. Or even taking a song like “Louie Louie” which is a 1-4-5 major chord progression and changing it to a minor progression of 1-3-4. Nobody was doing that. Nobody was screaming and singing about taking strychnine. Whether that’s good or bad, apparently that’s had an influence on where rock and roll is today. And I feel good about that.

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