Finally answered by David Gate
So - why The Land of Yrx?
The Land of Yrx was a parellel universe in a story Rob wrote while at school. When we decided to release the first Aerie cassette we needed a name for our label, and decided that, since we felt (wrongly) that our music was 'other worldly', Land of Yrx Products would be a good name.
Later when we reformed after Aerie had split in order to play live we needed a name instantly for the booking form, so we just came up with the stupidest thing we could think of - The Land of Yrx Evironmental Studies Group Glee Club - as we weren't taking it entirely seriously, and it stuck. Later we shortened it to The Land of Yrx.
OK. So how is it pronounced?
ee-er-cks.
What's the meaning of the prefixes to your numbering system?
As you might have gathered we are not the most serious people in the world, and when we'd decided to make our first cassette album we wanted to call it 'Basil', after John Cleese's Fawlty Towers character. So as not to give the game away too much we contracted it to BASL. We then decided that if we ever made an album (vinyl in those days) we would have to call it SIBL. Of course we are just about to release our first SIBL (on CD) a mere 21 years later. Our first video was natuarally called MNWL, and usefully enough that left POLI for our 3 cassette retrospective set "The Rhetorical Answer"
Why do you keep splitting up?
In the early days it was simply because we saw too much of each other - we were jamming together at least four times a week for three years, and at least twice a week for another two years after that. Under these circumstances people are bound to fall out. Also as we had other people coming and going through the band there were occasionally tensions between different people, and factions forming.
More recently it's because we've had other things to work on, musically and non-musically, so The Land of Yrx has been something we come back to when we feel the need.
In your early days you seemed to play loads of gigs. Now you haven't played live for 9 years. Will you ever play live again?
Almost certainly, yes. Part of the problem is that people's expectations are much higher nowadays. When we first started you could get some people together and jam over very basic sequences, take risks and improvise because nobody expected that much of you. Now you have less freedom to experiment, unless you want to push the boat out and become totally freeform, which we like to do but not for a whole set.
The other problem is that Rob and I live 100 miles apart, and both have jobs with unsociable hours, so it's difficult to get togther. Having said that we are determined to work out a way of doing it sometime soon.
Why are Rob's 2 CDs not on either his own label or Land of Yrx Products?
Because he was lucky enough to be asked to make an album for the Cyclops label, who subsequently took up their option on a second. Since they're a professional company who do this sort of thing as a business they made a much better job than we could have with our slender resources.
If you have a question you'd like answered (on any subject) please feel free to send it to me and I'll make something up for you.