1)     There seem to be a number of bands with dinosaur in their names, and particularly Dinosaur Jr. had to add the Jr. for legal reasons.  Do you ever think you’ll end up having to change your name?

James: Well, as the band's sound evolves, we may need to adjust the name to showcase this. Eventually we might become Bird Bird, but that could take millions of years.

2)     Despite Roland not being able to do this interview, will he at least get credit in the linear notes of an album?

Helen: Not only is it unimaginable that we would ignore Roland's enormous contribution to our sound, he would probably trash James' place if we left him out. He's done it before.
James: Roland, unfortunately, has an ego much bigger than his plastic casing. In his transistor brain, the band should be Roland and the Dinosaur Dinosaurs. He can't make the interview because he's on a cruise on the Riviera. Roland did want us to tell you he says "bip bap" and to send along a signed photo.

3)     Do you have plans for an upcoming album?  Will it be released on cassette or vinyl?

James: We've got a release planned for late summer. There is talk about vinyl, but jeez that is expensive.
Helen: Yes it is, but I don't have a cassette player. Or a CD player. Good grief - I am insufferable, aren't I?
4)     Someone on Twitter recently said that she hopes to see a day when “female music” becomes just “music music”.   Do you think that is fair to say or do you feel that distinguishing between female and male vocals in bands is important and more of a characteristic of the music as opposed to being sexist?

Helen: Hm. That's a very complicated question, and I don't think it's an easy one to answer. I could get into an enormous discussion over gender politics, and feminism, all by myself, with just myself to respond. The act of writing music is so informed by our personal experiences, and so I think you could easily argue that my being a woman plays a part in how our music is created. On the other hand, I would like to hope that my being woman doesn't marginalize us, or categorize us in a way that's limiting to our accessibility as a band. Often, when music is being described as 'female music', I feel it's meant in a dismissive tone, and I would hope that people would avoid our music because they think we're difficult, or weird - not because I'm going to sing about my myriad woman feelings, and that would only appeal to other women.

What I think is contributing to this perceived divide (in addition to a number of external factors in media and throughout our culture as a whole) is actually rooted not in the experience of the music itself, but in how women in music are treated and reported on as opposed to our male counterparts. There's a fetishization of female musicians, a hysteria often projected upon them, and an insistence on treating them as the exception, not part of the norm. This, mind you, is not a problem exclusive to the music industry - it's just difficult for people to stop categorizing and marginalizing projects fronted by women when it becomes less about their songwriting abilities and overall talent, and more about how good they look in a pair of pants, or how many people want to fuck them. 

Perhaps I'm being idealistic, or naive, but I choose to think that 'female music' doesn't exist - we just need to stop thinking of the male bandleader as the default, and accept it as music, created from the musician's perspective. Gender identification notwithstanding.

5)     If you could play a show with Dinosaur on Fire, Dinosaur Jr., Dinosaur Feathers or some other band with dinosaur in their name who would you choose to play with and why?

Helen: There's Dinosauruxia, from Finland. Or there's also this metal band called Mammoth Mammoth that I'd like to be on a bill with because hello, the gig poster.
James: Dinosaur L, because Arthur Russell.

6)     Do you feel that the show “Dinosaurs” was canceled due to a high budget but could survive in this modern age of technology that seems to have a fair amount of puppets?

James: I'm pretty sure it was the heavy-handed drug episode where Robbie takes dino-steroids that killed it.  

7)     Final thoughts, plugs, questions, concerns, birds are dinosaurs, etc.??

Helen: We once got into an enormous argument over the 'Rites of Spring' sequence in 'Fantasia', which focused generally around dinosaur extinction theories, and extinction-level events in general. I don't think we've fought since.