ARE THE STARS OUT TONIGHT?

Steve Michener, the bassist for Big Dipper, wanted to know what kind of �angle� I was going to take for my CREEM interview. It makes me nervous when my interviewees ask me questions—questions about who else I�ve interviewed or who else I write for. Pretty soon they�re asking me when my deadline is and I�m forced to shoot them.

What saved Steve Michener�s life is that I really don�t know what kind of �angle� to take for Big Dipper. They�ve already got too many angles—the rock angle, the pop angle, the noise angle. The way they jumble their genres into a rocking, rumbling mass, there�s angles galore. But forget the angles, you need a compass to locate Big Dipper.

Big Dipper entered the zodiac of weird indie pop bands in 1986, when Bill Goffrier, guitarist for Kansas legends the Embarrassment, joined forces with founding members of Volcano Suns, Steve Michener and Gary Waleik. With the addition of drummer Jeff Oliphant (Gary�s cousin, from speedmetal band XS), Big Dipper was born. And Big Dipper immediately headed into the studio to record their critically hailed Boo-Boo EP for Homestead Records.