Speakeasy with Andy Fry of Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos

Former NUVO employee Fry is a very tall musician/graphic designer/recording studio partner with the best hair in Indy.

Q: Please describe Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos.

A:In The Royal Tenenbaums commentary, Wes Anderson said he set out to create a New York that never really existed, or only existed in his memory. M&NSS, to me, is sort of our uninformed take on what Greenwich Village may have been like in the early to mid-’60s. Personally, I think of old photos of people in scarves and tweed jackets, smoking. If I think they would like our arrangements, then it came out OK. Sometimes we sound more modern, though, which adds nourishing potatoes to the stew. The name comes from a Richard Edwards basement vision quest, I suppose. I like its length.

Q: Considering the other projects you’ve done, why is this the band?

A:I love this band because I love the songs. They really make me wanna cry sometimes. And arranging them around cello and Rhodes parts has been a revelation for me as a guitar player. I feel like we are inventing a genre almost, making up rules as we go.

Q: Any interesting interactions with the Zutons when you played with them recently?

A:The Zutons got to see us in the raw. They saw us laugh, cry and throw up. That is international.

Q: What’s next?

A:We are finishing our album as we speak, it should be out in mid-April. We are going to tour all over for as long as possible after that.

Q: Will the highly-anticipated-only-to-be-shelved Academy record ever see the light of day?

A:Yes, in fact, the entire album is available for free on musicalfamilytree.com. We are going to get it mastered soon, hopefully, and we’ll have copies when you see us out and about.

Q: What is the story with Queensize Studios?

A:I am a partner at Queensize, which is like a vast wonderland of vintage recording gear and instruments. Over the past year we have been remodeling and rewiring some of the rooms, and it will be finished by late spring or early summer. It’s going to be quite breathtaking, believe me.

Q: Are music projects in Indy as incestuous as they are because this city is too small or is there just a lot of musical like-mindedness here?

A:The only like-mindedness I see is that we are all united against a general public that is lazy in thought and annoyingly simple to please. Trying to create original sounds in that sort of climate bonds a lot of us together, and luckily makes our bands even weirder. Musicians here can carve out niches, and then get called to do their thing on other people’s projects. I think a lot of people forget just how weird some of the classic rock they listen to can be, and how important that is.

Q: Has music been worth all the sacrifices you’ve made for it?

A:Making music is the only thing that ever mattered to me and it’s the only time I ever feel right. So the only sacrifice comes from doing non-music too much.

Q: How does one go about having and maintaining the coolest hair in rock and roll?

A:Self-loathing. Plus, I go to master stylist Ricky Woolwine in the Wheeler Arts Building.