Plastic Keys

Interview with Peaking Lights

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 23:39:15 -0700

Normally I craft ridiculously wordy introduction paragraphs for interviews but for Peaking Lights I decided against it. For this piece I recommend you read Pitchfork’s fantastic review.

Greetings Aaron and Indra,

I am so in love with this record. My listening has become akin to drug intake. There is nothing else I want to hear. 936 (Not Not Fun) has been played for friends at every hour and it receives universal praise. Please ignore the stupidity of these questions as they were fabricated under the influence of California weed and wine, which seemed appropriate regardless of our geographical separation.

How on earth did you create such a universally appealing album from within the depths of Americana?

I: Thanks dude…glad you find it appealing! I don’t think it matters too much where you live, as long as you pay attention to the rest of the world! Thanks to Aaron’s deep record digging out here, we listen to a lot of groovy old records - dub, afro beat, disco, techno, jazz, soul, etc.. which gives us infinite inspiration.

A: We stopped talking and started listening.

936 produces sounds so perfectly suited for each individual song - was this intentional or the by-product of happenstance?

A: The sounds are intentional, there’s some songs I built specific synths for, but we took our sweet time in not just throwing shit together really quickly. Like with the different timbers and tones from some of these hacked noise makers it becomes a great way to build dynamics, make depth, and lay down rhythms.

I: For me it just seemed to come together, but Aaron is the synth builder, so I know he pays a lot of attention to what sounds he’s creating. I just hear a sound and go - that’s cool! Let’s use that! But we have a lot of synths and keyboards laying around our studio to choose from, so I do like to pick different sounds for each song.

This one is for the nerds and gear-hounds: what the fuck did you record 936 on?

A: We have two 1/4 two tracks, one with s.o.s. (sound on sound). The rhythm & bass tracks come from different drum machines, homemade synths, guitar, keyboards, and live drums, etc… I could get really technical and go through mic placement, the shitty mics and amps we use to record with and all that but, ehh. We play the rhythm tracks live. We never have and never will use loop pedals in any facet of recording, it’s all got to be live in the initial phase. I think that for us to keep this live aspect makes it feel more organic. We can go off on tangents and then come back, change the tempo slightly whatever. Uh, Birds of Paradise, so that is Indra playing drums, we mic’d her snare and ran that through delay into an old film speaker (one that would hook up to a 16mm projector). I think we had 2 sm57s, a contact mic and 2 of those mic’s that plug into cassette machines that I wired to 1/4”, as well as a 12” single speaker cab we used as a mic. The contact mic went on the snare run through delay that Indra could control, two overhead sm57’s and the speaker cab in front of the kick drum to mic that. The other two mics on front and back of a little 10” combo practice amp and the bassline is from guitar through that all hi-end turned down…so all that stuff running into a 70’s teac 6 channel mixer panned accordingly for various reasons. We played the rhythm track for almost 15 minutes just locking into a groove and holding it down. The rhythm tracks were recorded on 1/4 tape and played back thru amps and played over, we recorded at Flat Black Studios in Iowa City to finish it off for the record.

Uh, hope that’s not too confusing.

I: HaHa, yeah what people don’t realize is that on most songs the recorded backing track - which is usually drums and bass and maybe a keys line - we play in a repeating pattern live for like 15 minutes straight!! It’s hard! But it makes a more organic sounding rhythm track, and gives it a more human feel. Of course, we like our drum machines too, but we still play live over them to record our back tracks…

Can you reproduce this live?

A: Yeah. Cakewalk.

I: Yeah, especially if we have stacks of amps, and a kickin sound system!

Fuck what writers have to say - do you consider this a dub record?

A: We’re heavily inspired by dub and Jamaican musicians, and the music from Jamaica in general (Mento, Calypso, Dancehall, Reggae, etc…). It’s got a lot to do with just using what you have, because we aren’t loaded with cash money our process has become such that all of our setup is running on the cheap and home made side, we just had to figure out how to make it work for us and I guess the way of Jamaican musicians really hits the sweet spot. We’ve slowly been focusing on rhythms as this project has developed, and trying different ways to record and reproduce different unique sounds in rhythmic ways. I have so many influences, and none of which are contemporary for the most part. The idea of dub is super inspiring, but there is a lot of other music that inspires me as well. I’m a crate digger so our house is filled with a shit load of records and different styles of music to reference, for instance I just bought a 10,000 piece record collection, it’s amazing, been sitting in a warehouse since the late eighties. for me the music we make is less about a “dub sound” but more about trying to get away from a xenophobic sense of music in the US, which is mainly propagated through corporate radio stations and popular culture. It seems like everything has to be from Rock and Roll, or from Rhythm and Blues, or from a Country background to be considered “good” in american popular culture, however as much of an influence as these have had on our own culture and other cultures inspired by these types of musics, like in Jamaica with Ska or Fela Kuti and Afro-Beat, it has been very closed in the US that these other cultures in turn have affected our popular culture. It always gets turned into an us/them thing or moved into a sub-genre/sub-culture, it can’t just be as it is, an influence, a give and take. Where as, in the UK , from my outsider’s perspective, there has been an incredible crossover of Jamaican culture and music, a give and take which stems probably from post WW2 borders being opened for people from British colonies to immigrate and help rebuild - long subject I won’t get into, but music, arts, cultural crossover and openness has really been amazing there, in many different facets! And we now have access at the tips of our fingertips via the interweb, to explore infinite ideas of music and sound from the past, so why not let these become everyday influences. It’s been said before you gotta look in the rearview mirror as you drive into the future.

I: I don’t think it’s really a dub record, I mean, it would be awesome if it was! We just have a deep respect for dub. We are for sure influenced by it, and like our delay! We did write some dub parts, but we also have elements of pop, psych, techno, latin, afro beat etc… Maybe you could call it pop - dub - psych or something, but you know, labels are weird. I like to leave things open.

Every sound on this record feels so orchestrated…how much time did you invest in sounds?

A: We invested a bit of time in creating the individual sounds for each of the rhythm tracks, we change around what is used to create harmony and melody as far as the instruments. Each song became it’s own entity but we still viewed them as a whole for the record. It’s intentionally written. and yes orchestrated or composed, however you want to frame it.

I: Even though the songs are composed, there’s some room for chance sounds because we often will improvise during certain parts of the songs. And Aaron’s hand made synths don’t always sound exactly the same every time we play a song. Some of the more atmospheric or dissonant sounds are slightly different every time we play. But then the poppy parts of the song - like keys and vocals - are very orchestrated.

How does working as a couple influence your creative process?

A: It’s great. I love working with Indra. Zero drama, we understand what each other are talking about and love each other so much that it’s really easy to work thru some harder aspects of creating. I think both of us are really into developing what we do, it’s always been a thing for us to just try uncharted territory- we’ll not uncharted but, to try and make something without fear, it’s a supportive environment between the two of us as much as we make music for anyone willing to listen we make it for each other.

I: I feel lucky to be able to create with Aaron, it’s great to connect as a couple and creatively. It’s exciting. Also, our everyday lives and shared experiences have a direct influence on our band, and what kind of mood is brought to our song writing. So there’s this unspoken communication and understanding that comes from spending a lot of time together. We’ve both been playing music for a long time, so I like how we’ve had our own experiences and influences that we bring to the table. I come from a more structured song writing background, and Aaron has encouraged me to loosen up and improvise, even live, which has really improved my song writing. It’s been really freeing working with him. Oh, and one of the best parts of being a band together is going on tour together - we take time to see sights and camp, and turn it into a vacation!

Do you take drugs?

I: I have taken drugs, yes.

A: I’m a fan of the green machine.

Is it true you are moving back to California?

A: Yessir

I: We are planning on moving to LA as early as August! We miss the coast.

What the fuck is happening with Scott Walker?

A: Lead the wicked towards evil and they will destroy themselves.

I: Yeah, what the fuck is right. That guy, along with the rest of the corporate infested politicians have got to go! It’s time to wake up and fight back - revolution style!!

Are you scared?

A: I’m ready for some serious conscious uprising.

I: 2012!! It’s coming! But no, I’m not really scared, just ready for change.

What is the next step for Peaking Lights?

I: We’re going to keep writing, and playing shows… But first, we’re making a baby! I’m due in about a month!

A: What Indra said :)

Did you realize you had recorded the album of the year?

A: No.

I: No!

And finally, can you comment on the death of Michael Jackson?

A: Dance and face to a lot of killer Quincy Jones productions, who knows about his personal life, I guess too much money makes people, uh???

I: He’s a modern tragic hero of pop, so weird but so talented. I was obsessed with Thriller when I was a kid! But lots of mystery and sadness around that guy’s life. Maybe it’s better that he died young, I can’t really imagine what he’d look like at 80 years old.

Peaking Lights - All The Sun That Shines from Not Not Fun on Vimeo.

Interview with Light Asylum

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:03:00 -0800

Synthesizer-based music has a storied past. Born from the fingers of composer Wendy Carlos, a sonic storm swept over England and eventually across the pond to Manhattan and beyond. In a world presently dominated by synthesized rhythms and sounds, an alternative may seem incomprehensible - but, once upon a time, the mechanic songs of Kraftwerk were alien as were the disabled melodies of Throbbing Gristle. OMD’s frenetic sequences coupled with decidedly fey vocals and Soft Cell’s seedy electro interpretations of Northern soul represented a tectonic shift in the ways popular culture understood sound removed from traditional rock instrumentation. In the Android-meets-iPhone world we inhabit, The Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again” sounds nothing like the Orwellian Room 101 love song it once did. Now it sounds like a Sprint commercial. Herein lies the problem with contemporary groups that emulate their predecessors. Let’s be fair - most electro revivalists did not sweat to New Order while they were still a group worth coveting. Perhaps that is why they fail to represent a true linear path like New York’s Light Aslyum. There is something about this duo; something akin to removing the dust from your record needle and witnessing the first electro pops of Upstairs At Eric’s. Something like an early morning post-LSD listen to Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration. It reminds us that, while our landscape has been turned cold by the machines, if we can express how deeply they move us then we reflect through them.

Let’s start at the beginning - how was Light Asylum conceived?

Shannon: It was a solo project of mine founded in 2008. I worked with a couple of
friends who were keen on being producers, but I was looking to create my own music and they couldn’t quite grasp the concepts or my direction. Then I met Bruno who was clued in already and with the same music I grew up loving as a pre-teen and still do to this day. Cocteau Twins, Clan of the Xymox, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Siouxie, New Order, Bauhaus, etc… and a love for cinematic sound tracks and all types of dance music.

Obviously your voice is capable of many styles, so how did you arrive at
your “voice” for this project?

Shannon: It just happened! I had no intention of singing lower than my register in the
beginning and I have no intentions of being boxed in with any particular range except
that which I can’t sing after years of screaming over loud, masturbatory guitarist riffs.

Lyrically you play with spiritual and religious themes - is this a cathartic venture of sorts?

Shannon: Good question! The answer is yes. It’s a way of working out the dogmatic way
I was raised in church and the Bush and Reagan eras. Smiles.

Descriptions of Light Asylum typically include comparisons to Grace Jones, Ian Curtis, and Yazoo. Obviously writers need to create points of reference but do you feel these are accurate?

Shannon: You’ve done your homework. I think the comparison is based on tonal and
primal qualities of the voice so, sure. I’m flattered! Those artists were what I danced to
in the club and my bedroom and friends’ bedrooms as a kid. When MTV was “cool” I’d
stay up late every Sunday night just to watch 120 Minutes in its entirety. I would be so
pumped up afterwards I couldn’t sleep. Sleeping through first period was not uncommon come Monday. Ha Ha. They definitely opened the doors for artists such as ourselves and we salute them…the key word being DANCE here. They kindled a fire inside of me and changed the industry, spearheading electronic music into the main stream. I also remember when keyboards were considered super lame and got a lot of flack for listening to it. I’m still up for the fight. We want to bring art, performance and integrity back to the music.

Bruno: We hear those descriptions a lot and it’s actually flattering since they are all legends to me. I get that writers need to make those connections, ‘cause how else can you describe music, but I hope that people might give our songs a listen and make up their minds themselves - sure there’s some Joy Division in there, we love that band, but there’s a lot of other stuff too.

Are you surprised by the overwhelming positive response to your music or was there that voice in the beginning telling you that this music was something special?

Shannon: We knew the music was special when we created it in our rehearsal space in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn where we write all the music, beats, etc… We played a ton of
shows to let people know we were out here. We appreciate all the buzz, but we aren’t
getting big heads about it. We are just getting started and are excited to keep the creative juices flowing and people interested and on their toes. I wish we had a budget so we could work with other artists with lighting and visual aspects on stage and in film to bring more to the audience’s experience. Hopefully, other artists in these fields will contact us and want to work with us - budget or no budget - after reading this interview. Hint, hint.

Bruno: I think we both felt from the first rehearsal that there was something special and
especially after our first show - but yes, it’s still kind of overwhelming how many people
have been responding so strongly to us!

You both have performed with a variety of bands in the past, and I assume you will continue to in the future. How does Light Asylum differ from the others, and I do not mean just the style of music, but also audience response and your own internal response?

Shannon: I’ve played with a lot of other bands in New York and have been in a quite
a few of my own bands back in Seattle in the ’90s as well as drumming and singing
in a couple two-pieces. I really like two-piece bands. It’s easier to move around and
coordinate when it comes time to practice and write. I didn’t write for the New York
bands I was involved with. The difference for me is that Light Asylum is exactly what
I’ve wanted to do all along. This is my main focus, my baby! Our audience is a bit more
diverse in comparison to other projects I’ve performed with. I believe we’d appeal to all
ages, social backgrounds, subcultures, and intellects given the opportunities to tour the
world. I think it has something to do with the rhythm and vibrations of the music? Not
to sound like a hippy but, hopefully they like it too! Can’t please everybody, we are just
vessels anyway.

Bruno: Before Light Asylum I’d done mostly studio production and some scoring - the
performance aspect was a newer challenge for me since I wasn’t satisfied in the past
trying to make live dance music. Our live show is definitely a big part of what we do,
even our recordings are our attempt to capture the rawness and minimalism of our live
show.

I think our connection is pretty unique. Our writing process together is always pretty
smooth and seamless - three songs that we still play today were written within the first
few hours we spent playing together and that’s pretty remarkable. We just seem to have
that magic together.

When I saw you perform at the Eagle in San Francisco it was immediately obvious that you command an audience’s attention in a sincere way. How do you feel your age and experience impacts your performance?

Shannon: Age is nothing but a number. Ha-ha! I’m singing from my heart, not age. We
want the music to be timeless, non-linear, and appeal to as many people as will listen,
feel it, whether they hate it or love it. I feel we have a responsibility and something
special to contribute to the world. The music I grew up with saved my life as a teen who

felt alienated, depressed, and bombarded by what the one-track consumer world told me and kids like me to do. To this day what a “normal” person should look, dress, live, and act like is mass consumption and conformity. It’s a disease but we don’t have to succumb to it. I want to make music for those people who are looking for something outside of the commercial box that still has popular appeal.

Obviously every band’s future is uncertain, but at this moment how would you like to see Light Asylum develop?

Shannon: Globally! Seriously though, ideally a great label will come along any day now
and let us do what we want with whom we want and that will be a perfect day.

Bruno: World domination or relatively close!

Lastly, at the end of the day in an ideal world what would you most like for people to take away from your music?

Shannon: Inspiration to do something great with every day they have to live on this crazy planet. DANCE this mess around.

Bruno: To open people’s minds and take them places they’ve never been before - feel
things they never even dreamed of -the world desperately needs its mind BLOWN!!!!

Dark Allies - Light Asylum from Grant Worth on Vimeo.

TV on the Radio interview at the SF Fillmore.

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:36:00 -0700

This feature was conducted for MP3.com in 2007.

I had a chance to talk with Kyp Malone who is an alumni of the San Francisco music scene, and someone I have respected and admired since our first meeting during a drunken evening at my house back in 1999. It was nice catching up with Kyp and meeting Gerard.

Oh, and the band warming up in the background is the Noisettes. Dan and Shingai are wonderful folks. Watch the Great Albums episode I did with them here.

Interview: Mark Gergis aka Porest

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:56:00 -0700

Written by Chris Rolls - Tuesday, 18 November 2008 - for Fecal Face Dot Com

Stationed in a West Oakland bunker one-man audio revisionist Mark Gergis aka Porest (Myspace) slices and dices sonic morsels into anthropological bitch slaps, and terror ready disco. His albums are a flag on the field for reptilian neo-cons, R.D. Lang disciples, religious fanatics, Straussians, Friedmanites, and anyone else foolish enough to believe that a free market global reality works. For those who ride their white horse of American luxury living into an apocalyptic sunset as remote viewers stab a depleted uranium sword into Islam’s gut, Gergis says, in the immortal words of known schizophrenic game theorist John Nash “Fuck you buddy!” But do not think that Gergis just tosses audio bombs from a comfortable distance, oh no, our man has traveled beyond the Muslim veil into Syria, and on several occasions brought back sounds that have been assembled, and released on Sublime Frequencies – the only label that bends over Real World ethno-rapists, and exposes them as the colonialist they are.

Fecal Face caught up with Gergis as he boarded a flight for Syria. This interview was completed in-flight, and sent from the heart of Fertile Crescent.

You have contributed many albums to Sublime Frequencies; please explain your relationship with the label.

In 2002 Alan Bishop and I began discussing ideas about international music we and others we knew had been collecting over the years. Thus far, we’d all mainly kept it to ourselves or shared it with the pals who were interested. Eventually he brought up the notion of starting a label with his partners that would release these documents representing the hybrid folk/pop from the Middle East and Southeast Asia we had both been focusing on. It didn’t seem like anyone else was releasing anything similar and so in late 2003, Sublime Frequencies was born. The field recordings, film documentation and regional radio collage recordings all fall in line with what has become the shape-shifting aesthetic of the label and I’m glad to be a heavy contributor. We all continue to travel to the areas in the world that interest us when we can and are constantly meeting more incredible musicians and music lovers in these places. Each trip fuels the inspiration and drive to dig deeper in. We’re in so deep now, we’re coming out the other side. We are all up inside that which is not World Music as it has been known.

You traveled to Syria specifically to acquire music from Omar Souleyman, an album that has received universal praise even from the overtly ironic Vice magazine. How did you track down Omar and convince him to release his music through Sublime Frequencies?

My first trip outside the Americas or Europe was a solo trip to Syria in late 1997. On that trip, I kept hearing this incredibly fast and gritty dabke music blaring from the street stalls in every city. Every time I’d inquire, I was shown an Omar Souleyman tape. I bought as many as I could on that first trip and loaded up again in 2000 on my second trip, after having a few years to process the genius of it all. Years later, Alan Bishop and I discussed trying to track Omar down for a possible SF release and I gave it a shot in 2006 when I returned to Syria with Oakland musician Liz Allbee with the hope of finding the man. And we did! After a couple weeks of asking around I finally found a guy at a Kurdish cassette shop in Aleppo who had a phone number of someone who would have a phone number. Omar was told that two Americans would like to meet with him. He agreed to meet us in Hassake and told us to wait there for him. Traveling as tourists to Hassake in 2006 was a real experience. It’s definitely off the beaten tourist path and very close to the Iraqi border, where a full-scale war was/is raging. As a result, we were trailed by Syrian secret police every step of the way in a rather obvious fashion. They basically shadowed us and watched everything we did without direct communication. At that point, we decided it would be best to declare our intentions to a municipal office. While at that office, we showed cassette tapes of Omar and said we were waiting to meet him. They found this amusing and confusing, but found us a translator who told us he could help negotiate with Omar. He also informed us we were being watched “for our protection”. Fair enough, but it was also for Syria’s protection. Who the hell were we and what were we doing there? It looked strange, I’m certain. It’s a sensitive region. A few days later, Omar showed up with a driver and met us in our hotel room. There he was, as regal and brooding a presence as we knew from the photos on every cassette cover. I was honored. I stated my case through the translator and when we had gone through the formalities, Omar decided we should take it to the next level and discuss business at a local restaurant. As we exited the hotel and stepped into his private vehicle, all the locals who had really been wondering why Liz and I were in town, stopped, gawked and whispered “Omar Souleyman…Omar Souleyman…” at the sight of him. Omar expressed that he couldn’t walk as a normal person in that region anymore. At the restaurant, I explained the ethos of Sublime Frequencies to Omar and explained how great it would be to get a release out in the West so people could hear the modern folk-pop sounds of Syria.

He really seemed to understand and agreed to sign a contract with us. It was his first ever contract signing. It was my first time presenting a contract, too. He appreciated that. He said he had a general distrust of most producers and people who had approached him for contracts in the past. The man has a lot of integrity. I gave him a demo disc I’d assembled of his music that featured truncated versions of hour-long songs and asked him to authorize it. He did. Days later, he was putting us up at his Damascus apartment and we were able to see him perform and film him. I can say that he is a friend and a very kind man and I’m looking forward to seeing him again this week as I write this.

The Sublime Frequencies CD did indeed make him a cult legend in the West and the results have been great so far. There are people who now think of Syria a bit differently than they may have before. Even hipsters. Even ironic Vice folk. And that’s fine!!! Let Omar be the gateway to your next level.

Your album “I Remember Syria” was an aural document of your travels. Currently you are traveling in Syria. Are you collecting music for another album?

Yes! We’re going to discuss future plans with Omar Souleyman, collect more music, see more music, conduct more research, film more footage, record more radio and generally have a great time. Each trip yields multiple projects!

What do you feel are the biggest misconceptions Americans harbor about Syria, and the Middle East in general?

That it’s dangerous and that it’s uncivilized. That Israel is a democracy and a power that should be supported without question. A lot of Americans (and Europeans) are completely ignorant about the region. This contributes to the fact that most people here don’t really know how to separate people from government when it comes down to it. That’s something that (surprisingly) most Arabs I meet on the street have going for them. They generally use their intellect and intuition and assume it’s not the American people they should have a problem with, but the government. But really, it’s becoming increasingly hard to prove that there’s any difference between America’s government and its people, so I go out into the field and try to help Middle Easterners understand that they also need to worry more about a lot of American people, because more and more Americans are as guilty as their government of ignorance and barbarism. I’m a great ambassador. People get scared for me when I travel to Syria, and one thing I always try to emphasize about Syria is that it is a relatively safe, extremely hospitable and civil place. The only thing I’m careful about over there is crossing the street. I have a good way of communicating with people wherever I am and I use my intuition and try to leave my ego at the border. As long as I don’t get caught in the crossfire somehow along the way, I’ll be fine. When people try pointing out Syria’s faults, I challenge them to come up with one criticism that can’t be paralleled in the U.S. It isn’t possible, actually. Over here, it’s easy to view the Middle East as a place where religious zealots and fundamentalists run wild. Again, it’s similar to the volume of “fanatics” you’d find in the U.S.

The last Porest album, Tourorists! could be perceived as anti-Christian; do the perspectives aired on that record directly reflect your personal feelings towards Christianity?

Yeah, I think there were a few good stabs on that album. Blasphemous morsels. But I don’t really have the time or passion to be anti-Christian or anti-religious. I spent some of my youth doing that as I broke out of a weird religious upbringing. But it takes a lot of effort to sustain that and it’s not really going to change anything in the end. World travel has helped me realize that I don’t need to push my opinions on people or tell them I think that their god or their belief system might be deluded, or whatever. I wouldn’t want them to do that to me, so why should I do that to them? I start having big problems when people proselytize and think I should adhere to their belief system. A lot of people who operate under Christianity feel that’s their exact duty. They suck. But I’ve seen what power religion holds for people worldwide. In some cultures, it’s just the way it is. It’s not really a question. Everyone loves their god and life continues under that premise, regardless of sectarian beliefs. When I look at some of the people in America who embrace radical forms of religion, I see how ravaged by life they are and how thirsty they are for concrete answers about life and mortality. Those life questions tend to really eat into human brains at rates most people aren’t equipped to deal with. I know a lot of deeply religious people and it seems to be what keeps them going and it’s what makes them feel content and accounted for. But everyone does that with something to some degree. We all have passions and ways of looking at the “big picture”, with or without gods.

We believe in whatever we believe in and dose on something at the end of the day to help diversify the cycle. The fundamentalist faction of Christianity in this country is a very powerful and belligerent force that actually makes things happen and stops other things from happening.

I tend to think it should evaporate. But aren’t fundamentalist atheists just as scary, self-righteous and as hopelessly dogmatic? We were talking about the music….. I had a fake Christian band in the 90s. It was called Lord Chord. It was an experimental lo-fi “indie” Christian group that was supposed to be marketed to real Christians. Our publicist, a Christian Zionist, made a run to Lubbock with the money and it never happened.

Tourrorists! provides a chilling interpretation of post 9/11 America. Do you personally believe that the attack on the World Trade Center was either in part orchestrated by the US government, or potentially completely designed from within the neo-conservative faction of the current administration?

I think the Neocon Straussians wrote every note of that song and made sure they had the right musicians in the band. Really, if I admit what I believe in an online interview that can be accessed forever, then I’ll just be a Google search away from instant dismissal…or something much worse. So let it go on record that I personally believe that this was a very un-American question of you to ask!

It all comes down to what people want to believe or disbelieve at this point. There are entities out there that are pleased we’ve come this far without serious questions being asked by large numbers of people. The fact that the official story, which was sold to us within hours of the event, has always been taken verbatim is surreal, isn’t it? Wars have relied on this story.

The only certain thing we should believe about 9/11 at this point is that it happened and that its repercussions were extremely beneficial for certain parties. But who needs to think about that? If word got out that it was Sammy Davis Jr. himself who flew both airliners into the towers, it might make good dinner conversation for a night and that’d be the end. People don’t really care who did it or what happened, as long as Seinfeld is on or they’ve got a date for the night.

America is populated with scores of adult children who want no accountability for their actions but are pretty certain they know what’s going on. You can read most folks like a high school psychology book – and it’s not even not even interesting or deviant psychology! It’s more like typical textbook Freudian bullshit. Just as scary as anyone else in middle-America to me are all the so-called liberals who think they’re part of some whimsical emerging global consciousness. All jive! We all just smell bad. We’re like selfish balls of flesh and fluid that don’t even want to begin to unravel ourselves, much less those who are controlling our lives. The Tourrorists! Album has fun with all of that and takes the whole world out for some birthday cake at a pizza parlor on a Friday night after a movie. I tried not to make it a pedantic or exclusively political record. That’s usually a big turn off to me and only speaks to a few people, really. The album is all over the place, meaning it tries to mop every corner of the floor.

What is your take on the current financial crisis in America?

It’s about time!! No really, as long as Best Buy still exists, I can cash my reward cards in and I’m good….otherwise, let the dream disintegrate!

One result I am truly frightened of is dealing with an American middle class under a martial law that they embrace due to circumstance that has absolutely no idea what to do with their lives in a post-material world. Most people whose lives rotate around weekends, sports and shopping malls will need serious reprogramming and a lot of sedatives when the shit hits the fan. They’d probably rather be tranquilized than ever ask themselves how it all happened. Don’t get me wrong, tranquilizers are nice, but…

Describe being of Iraqi descent in contemporary America - specifically in regard to your artistic work.

Well, growing up half Arab in America is different than not growing up half Arab. I’ll never really know what it would be like to peacefully eat bologna sandwiches in grade school without being called Khomeini-face or Gaddafi or something. I vowed artistic revenge on my classmates at an early age, knowing full well that I’d make an album like “Tourrorists!” that they’d never hear.

Growing up around a lot of Middle Eastern hospitality, food, music and values has definitely made me see things differently than a non-Arab American. The U.S. has waged war on my Dad’s country for over half my life, so I have always had a unique perspective on that as well. Especially when people in the trash suburb I grew up in would come into our market with “Fuck Iraq” T-shirts on and ask us “Where you from”?

It’s hard to say what my work or my life would be like without that heritage. But seeing Arabs scapegoated, demonized, tortured and interrogated for being Arabs shouldn’t just affect Arabs…

Last but certainly not least, what does the future hold for Porest? Are you working on a new album, and if so what is the thematic drive for the project?

There are a few Porest projects on the works. I try to keep it an open- ended project where anything can happen, which means it’s allowed to be whatever it wants. The current projects are more musical than ever and they’re all over the place. Nothing’s tending to be exclusively theme-related aside from the children’s record I’m always working on. There will be a Porest DVD released at some point and I’m hoping to get a Porest live-group assembled by next year as well. Concurrently, many cool Sublime Frequencies projects are also in the works, focusing more on South East Asia and the Middle East, so there’s a lot going on!

Porest - “Hoyda” - From the CD “Tourrorists” - Abduction Records 2006

Interview by Fecal Face’s music editor Chris Rolls

Photographs: Dave Franklin

Death Sentence: Panda!

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:51:00 -0700

Written by Chris Rolls - Tuesday, 04 November 2008 - for Fecal Face Dot Com

Humans love anthropomorphism. The idea of projecting a divine sense of collective self onto non-human beings seems as ancient as time. Our memories of childhoods spent entertained by animated creatures of every sort seem to cross national identity. I mean fuck, how much do the French love Mickey Mouse, or we Americans Hello Kitty? The question is how do the little creatures feel? Not the animated ones, but the pets we insist on costuming, or the circus bears dressed in tattered tutus; monkeys as organ grinders. Well, imagine for a moment those very animals upon whom we heap heaving loads of laughter were silently plotting a revolution - a coup d’état against human dictatorship. Imagine a Jumanji mixed with Full Metal Jacket scenario starring Peter Sellars.

Death Sentence: Panda! gives voice to such a vision. In fact the group’s early 30-second post-post-punk driveby could, if you closed your eyes, be the product of a motley cartoon band - a band animated in Korea, or perhaps China, giving it a distinctly oriental flair.

The group is comprised of Paul Costuros, Chris Dixon, and Kim West - a trio steeped in San Francisco experimentalism. Between them they have performed with the likes of Total Shutdown, Murder Murder, Crack: We Are Rock, T.I.T.S, and NAM. This impressive resume speaks volumes about a band that crafts absurdist pop with nothing more than drums, two effected sticks with holes, and ear-bleed inducing vocals.

Perhaps DS:P! and their unique sonic quest will act as a psychic call-to-arms for the furry beings of the planet, or perhaps DS:P! themselves are the manifestation of an already present collective energy. Whatever the case may be, they make some killer music - and hey, what red-blooded communist does not love pandas?

Does the name Death Sentence: Panda reflect an interest in capital punishment?

Chris: The name suggests the idea of the animal as the form of punishment. Perhaps a “let the punishment fit the crime” motif. Or, maybe more like playground style justice: “when that panda catches you, it’s going to kill you.” No one really feels like capital punishment is very effective at stopping a real crime though.

Many of your songs deal with animals and their relationships with human - do you believe in an animal revolt against human civilization?

Chris: Again, let the punishment fit the crime: organic or physical karma.

Kim: Who doesn’t love animals? I think when pushed to the limit, any living creature will revolt.

Paul: “For centuries they were hunted for bounty, fun and food… now it’s their turn!” from the telling film “Day of the Animals,” 1977, starring Leslie Nielsen.

Over the past year DS:P’s sound has begun to shift - songs are becoming longer, more complex, and darker in theme. How would you describe the direction your sound has taken?

Chris: Some bands get lighter as they mature, we chose the opposite.

Kim: I think this was a natural process for us. It wasn’t totally planned out. We weren’t saying “hey lets do this now” I think part of the reason why it was a natural progression is because of our instrumentation. I know for me, playing the flute, I didn’t want it to be “flutey” “jazzy” etc., so I was re-learning how to play the instrument and that lead to our initial sound. Now that we are more “familiar” to our new way of playing, we are progressing into our new phase.

Paul: I think in the beginning, our song writing process had a lot to do with the fact that we were all fairly new at playing the instruments we had. Chris had played drums in Nam and Murder Murder for a very short time, Kim played flute in high school and her vocals in Crack: We Are Rock were much different, and I had only just taught myself clarinet in my 20’s and never played outside of an improv/noise context. On top of that, we had very little to build on as far as what had been done previously with our instrumentation. So writing in a simple rock band format sounded really exciting to us at the time.

Soon after, I guess we just moved past that, writing songs that were more challenging and interesting to us musically regardless of instrumentation. In the beginning our songs were very pop-y in comparison to the previous bands we all played in. Not to mention, the first record was recorded after we were only a band for like 3 months so they were not played live or developed much. Within about 6 months they evolved much further.

The core instrumentation of DS:P is drums, clarinet, and flute - how did you decide upon these instruments?

Chris: These instruments are what were lying around.

Kim: Paul and Chris were originally playing with a bass propped up by its amp and feeding back to itself. I replaced that.

Paul: yes, there was no real blueprint, it just kind of happened this way. Chris and I played maybe twice together with the feeding back bass before Kim came in with her vocals and flute saving us from what would surely be a disaster.

As your sound evolves have you considered folding in new members?

Chris: It has been considered and discussed. No one fits the profile, so we’ve found ourselves multi-tasking quite a bit more.

Kim: We’ve played with a few people and although it sounds great. We are still open to this idea. Although it’s been so hectic, we really need some time to practice with a fourth or fifth member.

Paul: Yes, we desperately are all running out of hands! We have talked about finding someone with horn/reeds and percussion talents or a 6 string fret-less electric slap bassist.

You have developed a fantastic relationship with UK label Upset The Rhythm - how did this come about?

Chris: They sought us out after an encounter with Kim’s former band Crack: We Are Rock. Kim left them a copy of our first recordings and they wanted it for their first release. Up to that point, UTR was just collective focused on booking and promoting shows in London. They released the 10” Puppy, Kitty or Both and booked a UK tour for us. Most bands go there and play 5, maybe 6 shows. We played something like 14 shows in 13 days….

Will you be releasing more albums on Upset The Rhythm?

Chris: Hopefully.

Kim: Yes, I’m pretty sure we will.

You are currently touring Japan - have you done this before?

Chris: No.

Kim: I have in my old band but that was two shows on the same day. This time it’ll be a bit expanded. I can’t fucking wait! Its funny, we just found out we are going to play with Melt Banana which we are always compared to (although I’m a fan, it’s a little annoying, ‘cause I don’t think we sound that much like them) but at the same time I’m really excited to play with them.

What other tours do you have lined up this year?

Chris: We’re doing a short European tour in November through early December. After, we should probably tour our own country. At least, play in LA or something.

Kim: We are hitting Poland this time in Europe which I’m super psyched about.

How would you describe DS:P and the groups place in San Francisco’s current garage rock dominated music community?

Chris: We actually practice in our garage.

Paul: I’m not sure I see the SF scene dominated by garage rock. There definitely seems to be more bands incorporating psych influences in their music, whether it is folk, noise, rock ‘n roll, garage or whatever. I guess we do too to a degree with effect pedals and analog delays. It’s not like any of our favorite local bands or our own previous bands every really fit into a community of similar sounding bands, just similar sensibilities. All three of our previous bands sounded nothing alike but often played together.

All three members of DS:P relocated to San Francisco at roughly the same time, 1998 - how you describe the evolution of music in the city over the past decade?

Chris: 1997/98/99 post-rock was all the rage. I would go to shows and watch people fall asleep, seriously. Around late `99, people finally got tired of this. At least people that I knew and would come to know. Bands started popping up that were out of control, did more “performance” oriented type shows, and made each show a real unique event. 2000, 2001 saw all of these bands meeting, playing with each other and forming new bands and they all sounded rather different from each other but yet they fit together. As time went on people calmed down, music calmed down, shows calmed down. You can’t break mics forever. Now post-rock is coming back into fashion in the form of modernized psychedelic blues jams.

Kim: I want to emphasize the fact that back then bands were really different from each other, instrumentation, style, etc. But there was some kind of thread that held it together. It wasn’t pussy music. I think we realized that and built a strong bond with each other and really supported each other as well as partied a lot. Economically, it was the dot com boom and then bust right? I think (even if it didn’t really affect our lives immediately) it did somehow stir something up. We’ll see what happens with our current situation.

Paul: I moved here in 95 and played in a hardcore band called The Fisticuffs Bluff for 6 months. After that I went to art school and didn’t play any music that wasn’t related to performance art in some way for 4 years. All the while I was still very much into aggressive and challenging music. During those years (95-99) I was not exposed too much of anything local that I liked at all. I seemed to keep seeing indie rock band after indie rock band. Then I slowly started meeting people that had the same feelings. I formed Total Shutdown in late 99 and as soon as we started playing I met all these other like minded folks. Again, not bands that sounded the same, but had a similar process. This is when I first met Kim and Chris and like Chris said, 2000-2001 was a magical year for music here. It seems to have run its course in some ways with that core of people. Less bands, side projects turned into main projects. People moved, quit, went back to school whatever, but there is still a very vibrant underground scene here of all sorts of stuff. Plus the noise scene has never really died down.

As a group how would you like DS:P to be remembered in the pages of music history?

Chris: Uhh, that band that used clarinet and flute.

Kim: It’s not up to us. Maybe we won’t be remembered at all. It’s all up to who writes the books. If it’s you, Chris Rolls, we’re set!

Oh wait, one more question: would you ever consider eating panda meat?

Chris: No.

Kim: Yuk! No but I might try feeding the panda a piece of human flesh.

Paul: I am vegan but I’m sure if I was starving in the jungle and there was no bamboo or other alternatives and a beautiful panda had died of natural causes I’m sure I’d eat the shit out of some panda meat.

http://www.myspace.com/deathsentencepanda

Photography: Dave Franklin

The Dodos Interview

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:38:00 -0700

Written by Chris Rolls - Friday, 24 October 2008- for Fecal Face Dot Com

There is an instantly disarming quality to the gentlemen who make up The Dodos. Perhaps it is because we have met on a few other occasions, the last being a daze of drunkenness alongside fellow San Franciscans The OhSees and NRSZ in Austin for SXSW. Or maybe it is because The Dodos are genuinely nice young men. Singer/guitarist Meric Long arrives first at our meeting spot, the Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco. Soon we are joined by drummer, Logan Kroeber, and the latest addition to the group, multi-instrumentalist Joe Haener (formally of Gris Gris). The Dodos: Joe Haener, Meric Long, & Logan Kroeber

The terminal seemed an appropriate meeting place as it embodies a decrepit charm reminiscent of music created by The Dodos. As the photo shoot gets underway, I mention to Meric that this terminal will soon be demolished to make way for a 110-story super modern structure that will fold into the rapidly ascending San Francisco skyline. Suddenly the structure’s art deco charms surface amongst the homeless sitting on the rows of antiquated wooden sitting. We both seem to breathe it all in with a heightened awareness of impending change.

After an attempt at snapping photos in an old phone booth we are busted by security and asked to leave, which we obligingly do.

After dodging the office happy hour crowd at a few financial district watering holes, we decide upon the Gold Dust Lounge on Powell Street. With our destination in mind, Meric speeds off, cutting corners and jumping yellow lights to get there as quickly as possible. The rest of us trail behind. I comment on Meric’s pace. “He is always like this,” Logan assures me. “This is why I say he has the brain of a lobster,” Logan pauses then continues: “Lobsters are fucking stupid, but they have an amazing sense of direction.”

When we arrive at the Gold Dust, Meric has already scored us a window seat, and has made his way to the restroom.

Logan finishes discussing his quest to enter the pro rankings on Wii golf, a task he appears determined to complete before heading back on tour. Joe, on the other hand, says very little, but emanates an advanced aura of calmness once a beer is placed before him.

Once Meric returns and everyone has adjusted, the conversation takes a decidedly foul turn. Exactly how the topic of colonoscopy and colon cleansing arose is a mystery, but soon an enthusiastic debate about the merits of colon therapy erupts. “I know a couple that does it together” Logan says without a hint of humor. “If you are cleaning out your shit with your lover maybe your relationship should be over” adds an obviously bothered Meric.

From colonics the topic switches to pre-show rituals. “We like to sing ‘Temple of the Dog,’” states Meric, “it helps loosen up the voice.” Then, without skipping a beat, each person at the table begins singing “Hunger Strike,” but of course no one can recall the lyrics verbatim. Logan tries, but gives up after “but it’s on the table,” which becomes the song’s impenetrable point. In fact, the only line anyone can sing for certain is “I don’t mind stealing bread / from the mouths of decadence.”

After dedicating a solid five minutes to Eddie Vedder’s masculine growl, the boys appear ready to discuss The Dodos. The band has been touring almost non-stop for the past year. In 2007 they released Visitor, an album that has received universal praise. It is hard not to fall for the album. Long’s vocals are instantly endearing, the lyrics emotive, and the music a blend of bygone jangle backed by Tupperware-tight percussion.

But, rather than jump right into the band, the conversation detours into chairs and ritualistic behaviors developed on the road. All the while, newbie Joe just sits and watches, so it seemed only appropriate to lead in with who this dude is!

Well first off, it is apparent that once there were two and now there are three. When did you decide to add a third member, and why this motherfucker?

Meric: He is the face of the band.

Logan: He is the only one who stands, so people see him more than anyone else.

Oh right, you two are seated most of the time…

Logan: Yes, so in clubs with low stages people only see Joseph, sometimes.

Since you are seated most of the time, are there chairs in your rider - do you have a specific type you like to sit on?

Meric: No, I have sat on everything from amp cases and stools to like, umm…what was the building you were talking about earlier that looks like the thing you stick up your ass?

What…building in my ass?

Logan: (laughing hysterically)

Meric: (laughs) Why can I not think of the word…oh, a suppository! I was sitting on these little orange suppositories that I had to balance on. I like to sit on anything that is at least the length of my legs.

Logan: No, arms. I used to play on anything as well, but last time we went out I finally bought a drum stool, and that has been very good because before I ended up on shit that was all angled, and jumped around on me. I have sat on Meric’s guitar amp before, and fucked up all his settings…

Meric: Yeah, like in the middle of a set all the sudden the distortion just goes all fucking crazy. Actually it’s weird for me how important what I sit on has become. We were in Brighton and I spent like 15 minutes walking around looking for the perfect thing to sit on.

Why is it so important?

Meric: Because it can totally fuck up my mojo.

Fecal Face: Well you have been touring a lot, so have you noticed your individual neurosis developing?

Logan: For sure. Before I got my own seat it was routine to show up and scope out the chair situation. Now I am more focused on whether or not there are towels.

Meric: Seriously. I think you would welt and die without the towels.

Why?

Logan: I am sweaty. I sweat more than both of you combined.

Joe: I have seen that actually.

Logan: I sweat - C&C Music Factory over here. So yeah, I gotta towel up, that is my particular neurosis. I get paranoid and sticky if I cannot towel off my arms. My hands get really sweaty, so I have to grip my sticks tighter so I don’t drop them, which would be a big mistake. That is like my fear on stage is dropping a stick.

But it is common!

Logan: I have not dropped a stick in years.

Wow. That is impressive. Can you back this up?

Meric: That he hasn’t dropped a stick? Yeah. I can think of one instance, and when it has happened it is like, “whoa!”

What about you gentlemen - any neuroses? I mean we covered the chair.

Meric: Probably my strings. I have to change my strings a lot. Like when I go to sleep if I haven’t changed my strings then I have to. It sucks when I break a string because it always happens on this one song, “Fools.” I just hate that feeling when you break a string and there is all this attention on you…

When everyone is just watching you?ace:

Meric: Or they are just waiting.

Right, like you are not giving them their money’s worth.

Meric: (laughs) Yeah, that is my biggest concern. On the other hand Joe is like the king of dropping sticks. I don’t think there is one show where Joe has not dropped a stick.

Joe: No, I throw them.

Meric: I don’t know what happens, but all of the sudden out my peripheral vision I just always see fucking sticks flying off stage.

Joe: It’s because when I am playing the trash can I have to throw them down, but occasionally I do drop them. Usually I am just discarding them - tossing them to the side.

Because they no longer suit your needs?

Joe: No, because I am playing the trash can, then I have to rush back to the vibes.

Meric: Actually I just realized another thing is not to drink beer within a certain time period before playing because I will keep belching while I am singing.

Or large quantities of cocaine?

Meric: I have yet to do that, but I kind of want to.

The drug itself?

Meric: No, the combo. I have never played a show on drugs with this band.

Do you smoke weed or another drug routine, aside from drinking before playing?

Logan: I was with a friend at Treasure Island [Music Festival] who ran into Devendra Banhart. He said the policy is if one of them is going to smoke weed then the whole band has to, and I feel like that is kind our policy. I do not want to go on stage being the only stoned person, but if we all were then it would be totally cool. I will definitely play Wii at home stoned, like that is a-ok, but if I am going to play music I do not want to be the only one going for the cosmos.

Meric: We are about to go on tour with this band on the east coast, and they smoke a lot of weed, and I kind of want to do this whole tour totally stoned.

Logan: Let’s do it!

Meric: No, I am totally serious about it. Like I been smoking weed this whole week just to get ready. Smoking weed and playing used to be synonymous with me, but with this band I feel like the responsibilities are like, too great for my stoned mind.

Can you elaborate on the responsibilities?

Meric: There is a lot going on…singing and playing.

What about in the studio? Do you keep it clean?

Meric: We did both records pretty sober. I did like a few vocal tracks, like on whiskey (laughs).

Logan: (still laughing) I remember going out, getting the whiskey, and it was like bringing a foreign substance into the studio. It is usually just food and coffee.

We were talking about Treasure Island earlier, and the entire festival thing…now that the Dodos have been pushed into the festival circuit what is your general feeling about it?

Meric: One thing I have to say about festivals for us is that we played a bunch in Europe, and like half the people would leave while we were playing. At first it was like “aw fuck!” I feel like we are not made for the festival circuit - it works better in clubs. I feel like a lot of people at festivals are like checking shit out.

Like window shopping?

Meric: A little bit. It is harder to create a vibe at the show. At first it was like, we’re playing this big festival, you know, we have to get some fireworks, and fucking…I mean not really, but at first playing the festivals was exciting!

Right, like cages and girls dancing. But I guess the label did not want to kick down for that.

Logan: I think that we are definitely not a band that can throw down a bunch of hits and satisfy a raging public, but the whole atmosphere at festivals is pretty entertaining. It is like a little city that is dedicated to throwing a party, and there is another little city for the artists where they give you food and drink. It is a fun little thing, and it’s summertime in Europe, you know, why not? But I don’t know, compared to some other bands that we saw I don’t know if it is our thing in particular…but it was fun. I got to see a lot of music, which is an upside — since we play a lot of shows in clubs, we do not get to see a wide variety.

And at the festivals you get to meet a lot of people?

Logan: If you are lucky!

Meric: We got to see some crazy bands…like we played after Faust. Like the debris from the sheets that they chopped with a chain-saw was all over the stage when we got on…

Logan: Yeah, and a bucket full of grass that they tossed everywhere, and guys with brooms sweeping it all up before we could put our shit down.

Meric: I would never in a million years have guessed that would happen - that we would be playing the same stage, let alone right after Faust.

I am noticing some self-deprecation, which is odd because you are being invited to play these festivals. People obviously like your music. Visitor is popular, and certainly with critics.

Meric: (laughs) I don’t get it.

Really? You do not get it? Is there no internal awareness in regards to the popularity of your music?

Logan: Festivals create a false image. It’s like here is the stage, here are the people, and it seems like you are bigger than you are. There were people there to see us, people were enjoying it, and some people didn’t know us, but it’s false…like it is a fucking U2 concert or something. It looks like more than we are.

Meric: It doesn’t really say anything about where you are. We didn’t earn that.

What do you mean you didn’t earn it! You have been playing a ton of fucking shows and great music.

Logan: It is just a big fucking jump. It is like there is no way of working your way up, it’s like you are either in or you are out. It is not like you can go House of Shields, Edinburgh Castle, Cafe du Nord…it’s like there are festivals, and then there’s not. It’s like they need to keep making money, and we snuck in the door. It feels a little weird.

Would you play state fairs? I think they got it all wrong - you should have to play state fairs, then All Tomorrow’s Parties.

Logan: Right. State fairs first, get some shit thrown at you, and then you earn your stripes, and get to play somewhere cool.

Alright, more serious questions. What is happening with recording a new album?

Meric: We are going to record it starting in March.

Right, because you are on tour pretty much until then.

Meric: Right. We are on tour pretty much until next January.

Since you have been touring so much do you think you will continue living in San Francisco?

Logan: Perhaps. I have been struggling with that for a while, but I live with my girlfriend, so I can’t just like bail out and put all my shit into storage.

Meric: We have been talking about Montana.

Why Montana?

Logan: Place is dope man.

I guess if you are touring most of the time it doesn’t really matter where you hang your hat.

Meric: Well I grew up in the Bay Area, so I have a lot of friends, so this definitely feels like home to me.

Logan: There was a while after touring the states where I was looking at places we had been, and thought about moving to a place I never thought I would…like North Carolina. But after going pass that I miss the Bay Area. Like coming home after our last trip to Europe I could see the Bay Area from the airplane, like landing in South San Francisco…it felt really good to be home. I intend to stay here as long as possible.

So, one last question. I had never read any of your press until today, and it seems that everyone went over your one-sheet and mentioned West African drumming, which is hysterical, but when you read that does it make you think that press is lazy, and that it gives off this ethno-rapist Paul Simon impression of your music that is unnecessary?

Logan: I feel like there is a lot of defensive back-tracking on our part, like they are taking it too far, and then I’m thinking how to better write the next one so that the regurgitation factor is lessened.

So you wrote your one-sheet?

Logan: Well, it was a group effort.

Meric: Our label was like just write up some information, blah blah blah, and like I wrote it and sent it off. I was like no one is ever going to read this shit, it doesn’t matter, but then it was everywhere.

Regurgitated?

Logan: Exactly, regurgitated.

———-

Interview conducted by the Fecal Face Music Editor, Chris Rolls - chris(at)fecalface.com
Photography by Dave Franklin

Interview with Matt Wolf

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:26:00 -0700

Written by Chris Rolls - Thursday, 18 September 2008- for Fecal Face Dot Com

The story of Arthur Russell’s life is easy to mythologize. A Midwestern farm boy runs away from home to the hazy streets of San Francisco, befriends Allen Ginsberg, and is locked in a closet by a half-assed charlatan who at least has the wit to recognize Russell’s talent as a cellist. Then suddenly Russell relocates to Manhattan where he shares a street address with the likes of Ginsberg and Richard Hell. Without skipping a beat Russell befriends and collaborates with The Modern Lovers’ Ernie Brooks; Philip Glass; David Byrne; Robert Wilson; and other luminaries of the New York City avant-garde and, more importantly, of the burgeoning disco scene.

Almost overnight Russell is producing groundbreaking experimental disco tracks under a host of aliases, all while continuing to explore his primary interests: his cello and his voice. Despite his quest for popularity, Russell descends into self-doubting paranoia which leaves him at home endlessly recording and re-recording songs dedicated to this lover, Tom Lee, before eventually falling prey to AIDS in 1992.

Much like the rest of us, experimental film director Matt Wolf became familiar with Russell’s work through the compilations that have surfaced over the past few years, such as Soul Jazz Records’ The World of Arthur Russell and Calling Out of Context on Audika. Thankfully Russell left behind thousands of reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes, which Tom Lee has decided to share with the world. Wolf’s intention was to create a visual interpretation of Russell’s work, but after meeting some of the folks close to Russell Matt realized only a portrait of Arthur’s life through his music would do him service.

Arthur Russell’s music is extremely emotional: his vulnerable voice intertwining with processed cello and often with programmed beats results in a combination of ethereal sounds that enters the listener’s mind and opens a direct connection to forgotten childhood emotions. Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell manages the same task with recreations of Russell’s seemingly mundane routines, interviews with those closest to him, and ultimately with tear-inducing footage of his performances.

Matt Wolf took the time to discuss his film and Arthur Russell with Fecal Face just in time for the SF Film Society’s screening of Wild Combination at Mezzanine as part of SFFS’ ongoing SF360 Film Club.

How did you come to discover the music of Arthur Russell and then decide to produce this portrait of him?

Matt Wolf: Well, it was actually my friend who used to live in San Francisco that recommended Arthur’s music to me. He was a good friend of mine and an avid music collector, and he described this long-forgotten gay disco auteur that wore farmer-plaid shirts and would ride the Staten Island Ferry listening to various versions of songs on cassettes. That image really intrigued me, so I went and bought some of the reissue albums, Calling Out of Context and The World of Arthur Russell, and I just became obsessively involved in listening to that music—I knew it was the sort of thing I would fall in love with. I was listening really closely to that music. I come from an experimental film background and originally felt kind of inspired to produce a purely visual film that would be an interpretation of Arthur’s music, and I tracked down Arthur’s former boyfriend Tom Lee online. I contacted him seeking permission to use Arthur’s music and explained that I intended on doing a project that was experimental in nature. Months passed and then Tom contacted me, and he said I should come over and meet him. I went to the apartment that he had once shared with Arthur that was the same building where Allen Ginsberg, Richard Hell, and many other luminaries had lived. I just had a nice chat with Tom and immediately felt inspired by him and it was clear that he still had a very intense connection to Arthur that was very much alive. At that moment it was clear to me that there could be an intense biographical dimension to a possible film project about Arthur.

Tom started introducing me to others, and I had that same impression when I spoke to Arthur’s parents, Chuck and Emily, who live in Oskaloosa, Iowa in the house where Arthur was raised. All these impressions started influencing me to move in a more biographical and documentary direction and the film just started happening and unraveling.

How did you make a decision to create a portrait rather than an in-depth documentary? Was it because a lack of archival footage available of Arthur?

Well, I do not think that guided that decision conclusively although I definitely was working with a modest amount of actual footage of Arthur, so I knew that I would have create an unconventional visual language to bring his story in that setting and time to life. But I guess it never was my interest to make an encyclopedic or definitive biography of Arthur, and I wasn’t attracted to the musical lore, the minutia of the details of Arthur’s musical production, or the surrounding musical culture. I wanted to build those context in the larger film ultimately to make clear what Arthur was pursuing, but I guess some of the traps I was trying to avoid were, for instance, having an over abundance of talking heads that you were not familiar with, or to avoid having an abundance of experts analyzing or interpreting the cultural context or Arthur’s music. There is one figure like that in the film, but I wanted it to be a more intimate film with the scaled-down ensemble of people who were identifiable and who represented really discreet aspects of Arthur’s life. I think for all those reasons I was making a portrait; I wasn’t making the definitive story or biography of Arthur.

There is such a fictional quality to Arthur’s life that comes through in the film - farm boy stumbles upon Allen Ginsberg and then suddenly is involved with the New York City experimental music community. Did you find all of these connections astonishing and was it difficult to balance what happened in his life against the portrait you wanted to paint?

Arthur encountered and crossed paths with a tremendous range of people, all of whose stories are really interesting; like David Mancuso, who is just one figure that Arthur cross-pollinated and crossed paths with…a whole movie unto itself about the collaborations with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, and that moment in the history of the avant-garde and its crossing over into a larger consciousness. That story is its own film and I definitely had interest in going deeper into a lot of those things, but I had to maintain a certain level of focus on central goals, particularly to create a cathartic or emotional experience by hearing Arthur’s story, and then to balance the biographical with the cultural history and to balance the music with the dialogue. There was a natural push and pull between all these different kinds of narratives in the film…there are so many other narrative possibilities that go unexplored in service of the overall goal of giving an emotional encounter with Arthur’s life.

One thing the film brought out was the question of whether or not Arthur was truly a tormented individual in his obsession with creating music and his inability to complete it: balancing his obsessions with his perfectionist being. I am curious if, as almost through a process of osmosis, Arthur’s obsessions fell onto you, and whether you had difficulty knowing when you were done creating this portrait of Arthur and his emotive music?

Yes, I think this is true of other film makers that I have talked to that have made films about artists - it is impossible to not be self-reflective on your own process as compared to the artist that you’re representing. In many was I was inspired by the determination of Arthur in the face of constant rejection…the rejection that had stopped him from pursuing his musical passion and his musical ambition with the same kinds of determination that he always had. [He also] was really methodically involved in an artistic process and he was able to focus on that in a very unique way, and you know, he didn’t finish things but perhaps that was just an element of him just being engaged with his own process. On the flip side of that Arthur suffered from a level of paranoia that was self-defeating and he created obstacles for himself that proved to ruin certain opportunities, or that got in the way of him reaching a wider audience. I did not personally relate to the paranoia aspect of it but I felt I could empathize with the pressure to complete something and for there to be an element of finality with the film, which of course is never really truly possible. It was hard to finish the film, and it is always hard to finish something that you are creating out of nothing - in which the possibilities are really endless. And you know, I am really different from Arthur (laughs) in a lot of ways, but it helped me empathize with what he was going through. Certain people I would talk to still have a great deal of frustration they feel when remembering their relationship with Arthur.

You put together an ensemble of people that obviously have an affinity for Arthur, but did you encounter people that simply felt the polar opposite?

MW: Well yes, and I think Bob Blank really touches on that a lot in the film even though I think he still feels a lot of warmth for Arthur. They had a really frustrating and adversarial relationship, and he spoke a great deal about how much tension and animosity there was between him and Arthur. And Will Socolov, his relationship with Arthur ended poorly, but I think despite that all those people felt a lot of warmth for Arthur. There was something very childlike about him; he was almost like a little kid who would annoy the shit out of you but you couldn’t help but to love or admire in some way, and I would think that is true for both Will and Bob. I really focused on people that had a truly significant encounter with Arthur. I am sure plenty of people had less significant or profound working relationships or connections to him, and they might have just purely negative things to say, but I did not feel that would be a asset to the film particularly since I was already limiting the amount of people that would be talking.

Many people feel that Arthur’s music is timeless - that it almost is the very definition of the word timeless. Do you feel that in producing this film you came closer to understanding where he was coming from with his music by visiting Iowa, or being in his apartment, or talking with people - or does it still feel as though his music were almost handed down from on high in some way?

I don’t think it is ever possible or necessarily useful to identify all the sources of inspiration or all the roots of ideas that are within somebody’s art…

Probably impossible.

Yes, impossible and not even necessary in that there should always be a level of mystery that defies language or reckoning in great artistic projects, and like that it was clear that Arthur had these preoccupations with water or the space under water, the ocean, or also in contrast to that the wide open plains of Iowa. He imbued his song-writing with a Country twang that is an emblematic Midwestern sensibility, he was responsive to the rhythms and energy of New York City’s downtown, but I don’t think any of those contexts or reference points explain his artwork. There is something about him that defies explanation which I think touches upon what you are talking about, which is timelessness. You can’t just pin it down in a specific time or place where it doesn’t just touch us in one specific way or evoke one static response or reaction, and I think that is what is great about it.

Absolutely, and it seems in the film Tom Lee and Arthur’s parents are genuinely enthusiastic about people having an opportunity to hear his music. Is that the general sense you got?

Yeah, I think they are all ecstatic that Arthur is this cult celebrity now, which wasn’t the case when he was alive. He would have a concert and nobody would come, you know, it was really disorganized and Tom would be cringing hoping that if any of his friends came they would get it. As Arthur’s parents said in the movie, they didn’t quite understand his music when he was alive - but I think all the discourse surrounding it, and all the critical praise and acclaim, has really been exciting and exhilarating for them because they all share so much pride in Arthur, and so many happy memories of him.

Why did you choose the song title “Wild Combination” for the title of the film?

“Wild Combination” was the song that Arthur had hoped would become a hit, and I think that song is really universally acceptable. I also thought the metaphor of “Wild Combination” was potent in that it really helped explain Arthur’s music, particularly the desperate interest in disco and the avant-garde that people for some reason could never reconcile as a logical stepping stone from one to the other. And I think that Arthur had a great challenge at juxtaposing seemingly unrelated elements and synthesizing them into something whole, and that to me is representative of the title of this song “Wild Combination.”

Well that is pretty much all I have.
Well thanks so much.
I sincerely appreciate you time and I want to thank you for the film. I think it is funny that Arthur’s music could become popular because it is the type of thing that you want to hide in your pocket and cherish…

Yeah, totally….

It seems like the sort of music that each individual listener will have his or her own connection to, and will be able to do so in the context of a mass secret…but anyway, I want to thank you for making this documentary.

Oh, thank you. It is great to hear that kind of feedback. Thank you.

Thank you.
Interview by Fecal Face’s Music Editor, Chris Rolls. chris(at)fecalface.com

Interview: Child Abuse

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:03:00 -0700

Written by Chris Rolls Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Post-millennial mathemagicians Child Abuse simultaneously confuse and stimulate audiences with their unique fusion of progressive-rock, jazz, and metal. The group’s sound can be likened to listening to Eric Dolpy’s Out There while smoking speed and being sodomized by Captain Beefheart. And while the music is intricate when performed live, Child Abuse make it all seem like child’s play. Drummer Oran Canfield’s deadpan style anchors the spastic contortions of bassist Tim Dahl and keyboardist/vocalist Luke Calzonetti.

Canfield and Calzonetti migrated from San Francisco to Brooklyn, New York, taking the name Child Abuse with them. Once in Brooklyn the duo added Dahl, who has solidified the group’s reign of aural terror.

Unfortunately this interview had to happen by email, and it took the article’s holiday-depressed writer weeks to get it live, but here is the interview in all its glory and brevity.

Do you condone the abuse of children?

Tim: Only if there’s something in it for me.

Luke: Absolutely not. Boring answer, I know… but who does condone abusing children?

Oran: No

Would you consider your music an appropriate soundtrack during the abuse of children, whether you condone the act or not?

Tim: Not really. I think Radiohead would be better. Actually no… Vampire Weekend.

Luke: Hmm good question… .I think the most perverse soundtrack would have to be something from the bel canto tradition…something light and airy…maybe a piece from a Verdi opera.

Oran: I don’t think it’s appropriate to abuse children to any music.

Is Child Abuse the next level of fusion music?

Tim: I sure hope so. Otherwise all of those years studying Eric Marienthal, Frank Gambale, and Eberhard Weber would be out the door.

Luke: I don’t know if its ‘next level’ fusion, and it could be a step down honestly. I’m thinking something more like idiot-savant fusion, or severely impaired fusion, but I sure as shit can’t play as well as Chick Corea, or Mahavishnu-era Jan Hammer. I like to think of myself as the bastard child of both- someone who was locked in a dungeon and left to his own devices. That said, I still think I have more soul than Jordan Rudess.

Oran: Yes. I think if Weather Report were still together, they would sound like us.

What musical elements are funneled into your sound?

Tim: All that we know of, and some that we don’t. We’re maximalists.

Luke: Tons, everything. I really love the baroque period- the balance- the constant bass figures. And even some of the piano miniatures of Schumann, or Schubert. Messian’s organ works are exciting. Also dudes like Mort Garson, Raymond Scott, and most of the early electronic guys are influences. But I also enjoy the ‘classics’ such as Man is the Bastard, G.I.S.M., and Siege.

Oran: A bit of everything. So much so, that it’s probably hard to tell exactly what we are taking from. I personally think of it as mostly stemming from the lineage of Monk, Dolphy, and Beefheart, just a hell of a lot louder.

Are all lyrics improvised, and if so are there particular lines that seem to repeatedly seep in during performances?

Luke: Most of the lyrics are improvised, and sometimes when I am not thinking I come out with things in French, or some line off the top of my head. There is a “lyric” sheet floating around that you can order from us… if you want.

Child Abuse was once a bassless project - has adding this additional instrument changed the sound?

Tim: Sure, although Luke’s timbre, and my timbre are not radically different considering I play bas,s and he plays synth. We both play within a large range, we both love clusters, we both use ring modulators, and distortion etc. A lot of times people can’t tell who is doing what. Even at live shows when they are looking at us. Of course I am not speaking for everyone.

Luke: Oh definitely. Tim has brought a sense of composition, and depth that we didn’t have before. There’s tons of cross frequencies going on, and I think that contributes to the “what the fuck-ness” of the music.

Oran: It’s bassier.

Please give a run down of your current releases, and what we can expect in the near future.

Tim: Zum just released a split we did with Zs. For the most part we are writing our new album. Hope to be in the studio in a couple of months. I am very excited about this album. On our first album about half of the songs were written as a trio, and the other half were older material that I wrote bass parts for. I think the new material captures our trio sound and represents what the group has become over the last two years.

Luke: A new album is in the works, along with a collaboration with Australian artist Tony Garifalakis.

Would you recommend Child Abuses’ music for intimate moments such as love making?

Tim: I don’t think so. Child Abuse is definitely not background music. To enjoy it, you have to listen to it. If you are listening to it, you are not concentrating on the fucking.

Luke: I wouldn’t personally. Although we are all extremely sexy individuals, I would not call child abuse a sexy band.

Oran: No. I think it’s more appropriate for masturbation.

Have any of the bands members ever listened to Child Abuse while making love?

Tim: Classified info.

Luke: I wouldn’t subject my girlfriend to such a deranged soundtrack. I prefer SILENCE.

Oran: I have not. Nor would I want to.

Can you please explain the history behind the name Child Abuse?

Luke: there is a lot of history to the name actually. There was a band from LA in 1979 called Child Abuse that morphed into The Simpletons who were on Posh Boy Records. Then there was this NJ hardcore band called Child Abuse from 82. We are continuing on with the tradition. Personally, it describes the music pretty well, and I wanted something kind of generic sounding and vague. Eric Bauer actually came up with the name. It’s also very confrontational, much like our music.

President-elect Obama was voted into office on the promise of hope, and change to America. What promises can Child Abuse make to the American people?

Tim: You’ll never get a refund from us.

Luke: That we will keep on trucking through the good and bad.

Any closing thoughts?

Tim: Diphallic terata

Oran: No.

Luke: Thanks Chris!

Interview conducted by Fecal Face’s music editor: Chris Rolls chris(at)fecalface.com - Photos: Julia Soler

Special thank you to Vanessa Ceia

Feature originally posted to Fecal Face Dot Com

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http://www.myspace.com/childabuse