When you say our name, it sounds like you're going to say the name of a certain African-American leader but then the word ends like "racquet" (as in tennis). It's a word I made up and we've been paying for it ever since. We wanted a name that meant nothing except our music.

Devin (Ocampo) and Chad (Molter) began playing together after high school in Whittier, California where they grew up. They played in a few bands together but I can't remember all the names. One was called Boyd and that band self-released a 7in. back in the early 90s. After this they moved to NYC together and then found their way down to DC a year later. I met Devin through a mutual friend and he started playing drums in a band I played guitar in called Smart Went Crazy. Devin was SWC's second drummer and played on SWC's second (and last) album, Con Art. Faraquet was started around the same time Con Art was recorded because Devin wanted a guitar outlet and wanted to continue his musical relationship with Chad. I switched to bass which is Chad's main instrument and Chad took up the drums. Faraquet played a few shows around DC before opening SWC's last national tour in the spring of '98. Faraquet self-released a 7in. for the tour which we self-recorded up at Devin's sister's loft in NYC. J. Robbins helped us mix it at Inner Ear. SWC broke up after the tour and Faraquet became the sole band of our attention. In the fall of '98 we recorded at the Pirate House which is down the street from our house and practice space in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of DC. The split CD was released in March of '99 and DeSoto Records released a 7in. of songs taken from the same sessions in May of '99. These sessions were engineered by Juan Carrera who runs the Pirate House studio these days. Juan also does Slow Dime Records. He's got a heart of gold because he basically did it for free. Thanks again Juan. I'm hoping we can talk Juan into running sound for us during the fall/winter tours because he does it for lots of bands and is well versed in the rigors of touring.

Recording the new record was a great experience because it was our first trip into a real studio. We did it in the big room at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA with J. Robbins enineering. J. was the perfect choice because he is extremely familiar with Inner Ear and he was also familiar with our songs having done 2 tours with us this past year (w/Burning Airlines).

We did 9 songs in 4 days/nights with 4 additional nights - this includes all tracking, overdubs, and mixing. It was pushing it a bit but we were well rehearsed having done all the touring so things went smoothly. Dischord Records will release the album, An Introductory Guide to Faraquet, in September.

We knew we wanted to go with Dischord but Ian wanted to hear the record before he would agree to put it out. He hasn't done anything with a new band in a few years so it was a big decision for him. We had finished the Fugazi tour about a month before doing the recording so we figured he knew what he was getting in to - we banked on the fact he would end up putting it out. Ian also has a heart of gold and does more for the DC scene than everybody else combined.

The Fugazi tour was great and definitely something I'll never forget. Faraquet had never played to more than 600 people and all of a sudden there were crowds like 1500 people. I caught a lung infection half way through the tour but we didn't miss any shows. I barely remember a couple of those shows - we're lucky it was me instead of Devin. It was so bizarre - when I had the flu, there were drunk groupies backstage at a south Florida show who were trying to take care of me while I slept on a couch. I just wanted to be left alone. Definitely not how I had pictured my first experience with groupies.

You're exactly right that the lyrics come last in our songwriting agenda. Devin wrote some of the lyrics during the actual recording. We had toured some of those songs all year with no lyrics! I think the album actually has more vocals than the live versions - you'll see.

I'm not sure if DC has any more of a sense of community than other cities. There are lots of good bands from here, as you know. It seems there a few different cliques and within these cliques there is definitely a good sense of community. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of cross breeding across these cliques.

For Devin and me, being on Dischord is business as usual because Smart Went Crazy was on Dischord, even though initially SWC was a bit of an outsider within Dischord's traditional scene. We feel more settled this time around. DC also has many different venues to play and they all do a good job of supporting the local bands. This is so important if you want your city to spawn good bands. Ian gives the DC scene a much needed "assist" by financing much of what goes on - he a good example of someone who has found success and then puts a lot of energy back into the community. Every city would do well do have someone like Ian. The best thing about Ian is that he puts so much effort into art and then finds ways for art to support disadvantaged segments of the community. Fugazi is always playing benefits and now DC has a community of bands that do the same thing. Sometimes you just need a model to create something larger.

We plan on touring this fall in support of the record. We'll hopefully get out to the west coast for the first time in 2 years and also hopefully go to Europe. I'm not sure of the details or even who we'll tour with - we'll see. We're still focusing on finishing the record right now.

In the past we have definitely been a "live" band though we did more overdubs this time around in the studio. The songs were written as "live" songs and were honed while touring though we went to town in the studio and added some keyboards and extra percussion. Devin also does some banjo and trumpet on the album. We're still basically a live band though. I have a feeling our next record will be more "out there" and most likely more instrumental.

Devin is moving to Chicago this summer so we'll become one of those bands where the members live in different cities. This will limit our shows to tours and also make our songwriting more focused. Devin is now playing with a band called Him which contains 3 ex-June of 44 members and also a member each from Golden and the Boom. As a matter of fact, they're on tour right now. i Just saw them the other night and they're really good - very jazzy with much more improv than faraquet. I'm psyched for him - as long as he stays with us too........ I imagine he may get a 3rd band going in Chicago too. He is so talented and very ambitious right now. Chad and I will probably do additional bands as well so it's not the traditional "one band as a family" thing any more. It's definitely exciting.