I had been loitering in front of Al's Bar for the last hour and a half when Intensive Care Unit's truck finally pulls up. It's the kind of dive where you would rather squat behind a dumpster than use the "restroom". The line up for the evening had all bands with female leads ready to rock out on the wrong side of town. Pee Wee, the nitty-gritty blond who looks like an angst ridden and amped up adolescent boy, is the one I'm after. As I'm introducing myself, she accosts me with an elaborate New York handshake that required more street knowledge than I possess. We manage to find our way into a short alley lined with old bricks and drippings of either air conditioning or raw sewage. For a moment, it reminds me of New York. With only bits of light coming in from the street lamp, Pee Wee was just a tough voice emanating from a faint silhouette. GR: Why do they call you Pee Wee? PW: My real name is Perry. Touring down South and other weird butt fuck places, they just look at you like you are even more of a freak if your name is Perry. But, if your name is Pee Wee, that immediately lightens the load and makes people like you automatically. GR: I was reading that you were fed up with New York. PW: I've lived in the East Village for the last 17 years. Lower East side is a haven for artists and bohemians, political dissidents and all kinds of groovy community shit, and there's been a cultural genocide happening, just like in every other major city, whether it's turning into a strip mall or it's being turned into the Upper East Side. It is the dot communization, the corporate takeover of neighborhoods.

GR: What does it feel like when you are on stage? PW: It feels right. It's the only time when I do feel right, mentally and physically. GR: What kind of relationship do you have with the audience? PW: I don't get all lovey-dovey with the audience, although it's obvious that I feel like we're all in this together. When it comes right down to it, because I have a guitar in my hand and a microphone in my face, I don't do too well relating to people, you know what I'm saying?

At this point I start to ask a question, while making dramatic hand gestures, while holding a beer. I managed to spill plenty of alcohol on myself, much to Pee Wee's entertainment. Which is good, because I sensed that she was becoming angry, rather than just intense. Trying to move the focus off my blunder, I ask about what she'll do when she returns home, and she confessesŠgetting married! I'm tempted to ask whether it's to a guy or a girl, then I retracted the thought, feeling that it shouldn't matter. Secretly though, I'm still curious. GR: How do you feel about marriage then, because it just seems like some people are just very much against it these days. PW: Well, it's not cool I guess not to be available. That's something that plagues all kinds of people in entertainment because so much of our societal slant is sexually oriented. People want to fuck their faves. But I've never had a sexual approach towards music, I'm not about tits, ass or anything superficial. I was against marriage for a long time, you know, that you are kind of just putting your head in the sand if you pretend that there aren't scores of people out there that you are compatible with, you know, why would you close the door on someone else. But I don't know, something clicked. I got really tired of the game and ended up being more alone than anything else.

GR: Are you in love? PW: Excruciatingly so. It's a really intellectual relationship also, we're both kind of leftist, kind of radical people. GR: Do you watch television? PW: No. I watch X-files, Batman the animated series, Star Trek, any version, anytime. I love Star Trek, I always have, always will. GR: Are you angry a lot of the time? How do you deal with it? PW: I get lots of sex from my fiancee. I get angrier than the average person. I punch the TV set on a regular basis, like if there's network news on or something. I get really mad at commercials, and I just can't control myself as far as yelling and screaming and throwing things. And so I guess you could say I'm angry and I don't like to admit that, because there's sort of a stigma now on you know, an "angry girl." GR: Are you a feminist? PW: Yeah, I'm more than that. I think I'm like half male. And that breaks stereotypes for girls. It's basically become my core issue. I mean, because I'm in hard rock, and girls can't get a fucking slot on a hard rock radio station if they fucking pulled their pants down and peed all over the program. ICU's latest, "Mad Truth" is available on Radical Records.