Clover
Honey
Picastro
Mico
Randwiches
Radiogram
Mantler
The Draperies
Broken Social Scene
Detention
CLOVER
HONEY
WAVELENGTH #66: SUNDAY JUNE 3, 11pm
Purveyors of: Pooch-friendly pop'n'roll
Pictured: Dweezil, Anita L. Binder, Amy Brannen, Lauree Thomlinson
e-mail: cloverhunnie@hotmail.com
web: www.geocities.com/cloverhunnie
The fab gals of Clover Honey (back for their second Wavelength!) answer six questions about pets, posed by our resident Dr. Doolittle, Doc Pickles:
What's
the coolest animal you've ever made eye contact with?
Anita: Monkeys and any other type of primate. I just adore primates and
zoos mainly for that reason. I can hang out by the monkey cage forever
hoping for some personal sign of communication.
Lauree: I make eye contact with most dogs. They just know. They can tell
I love them.
Dogs
shake their head to say yes, we nod our heads. Dogs flash their teeth
when grumpy, we flash our teeth when happy. How do we get along in this
big ol' crazy world?
Anita: We watch where we step and don't stick our fingers in piranha tanks!
Would
you prefer to be a dog's owner or a dog's guardian?
Anita: I like to classify myself as dog mama! I'm mama to my shih tzu/bichon
doggy named Dweezil. He's such a trip! He just got a serious haircut and
now looks kinda like a cross between a rat and a chihuahua.
Have
you ever tried singing to a pet? If so, do they have a favorite song?
If not, what are you waiting for?
Anita: When I sing, Dweezil will stop whatever he's doing and come up
very close to my face and just stares at me. It's the weirdest thing.
It often happens in the car. And yes, I do often sing to him. He doesn't
seem fazed at all by loud music either. The music can be super loud and
there he is, sitting by the speaker contentedly chewing on his furry stuffed
broccoli toy.
Lauree: Whenever I sing, my cat thinks I'm calling him. Sometimes I'll
be taking a bubble bath, singing and he'll come running in and pounce
on the edge of the tub. Or other times if I'm singing he'll roll around
on the floor, like he's enjoying it. He likes music. He knows where it's
at.
Why
don't we get too upset when a goldfish dies?
Lauree: I guess goldfish just aren't as expressive as furry animals. They're
not as cuddly, they don't make any noise... who knows. But they're still
animals. I'd get upset if I saw a dead goldfish. Kids get upset when their
goldfish die! You cold interviewer you.
When
a cat looks at you, does it see "you" the individual or "you" the representative
of the species? How about a dog?
Lauree: Cats see the individual. They take an instant like or dislike
to different people. They're very particular. I think animals can really
sense what a person's like.
Amy's
story
I can't think of anything witty or intelligent to say about these questions
so instead you get a cat story:
Once upon a time there was a very fat cat named "Fat Boy". He snored and drooled and chewed on his guardian's hair. This guardian's name was Amy Honey. One day Amy was practicing "I Am A Vamp" by Ute Lemper in her room. She almost tripped on her stilettos when Fat Boy dryly remarked that she needed to flail her arms about more wildly.
"Whoa dude, you can talk", she exclaimed.
"No shit. Did you really think I was just some dumb pet, hanging around to satisfy your cuteness cravings? The time has come for you to know the truth. I have been sent here from Furballia to assign you your Mission in Life. First of all, take off those goddamn stilettos and grab your guitar. Now put on 'Rock'n'Roll Highschool' by the Ramones and practice your chops. I have come here to teach you rock'n'roll so that you can save the world from impending doom, and this pet facade is over."
Amy was stunned. Where the heck was Furballia? Was it in a galaxy far away? Was Fat Boy really an alien sent here to teach her the meaning of rock'n'roll? Could she actually save the world from impending doom? She opened her mouth to question him but before she could say a word, her guitar was in her hand and her body was moving uncontrollably to unimaginably groovy beats. Who cared why or how he got here, she felt fabulous!! The music continued for a long time, Fat Boy was DJing and the two of them partied 'til dawn.
Exhausted, ecstatic and liberated, Amy collapsed onto her bed. "So, now what do I do? How can I make the world understand that their lives will be saved by rock'n'roll?"
"You must use the Force, like in Star Wars. You must keep on rockin' in the free world. It's as simple as that. Now my work here is done. I will return to Furballia for my next assignment. Fat Boy the cat will remain with you, so treat him well. I may need him for further contact. And don't forget, your life was saved by rock'n'roll."
Suddenly, Amy woke up to a gnawing sound behind her ear. A large spot of drooly wetness pressed against her cheek on the pillow. "Oh gross", she thought as she dislodged her hair from Fat Boy's teeth. He looked lovingly into her eyes and started purring. She jumped out of bed and pressed play on the CD player. She knew what she had to do and the Fat Boy Force was with her.
The End.
*Based on a true story
PICASTRO
WAVELENGTH #66: SUNDAY JUNE 3, 10pm
Purveyors of: Acoustic gypsy drone-rock
e-mail: ehysen@hotmail.com
The
lines between Liz Hysen and Picastro seem to blur easily. What's your
perception of this thing you've created and do you see Picastro as an
entity unto itself (read: "band") or more of an extension of yourself?
I never want to be referred to as Liz Hysen in any
creative endeavor I do. Picastro is not really an extension of myself,
it's more like the more dominant side of my personality. Picastro as an
entity can be me by myself or ten people. I am a terrible band leader,
I just like playing with people who are as interested in music and ideas
as me. I write the songs and lyrics and the band works together to arrange
things. I also never wanted to be conceived as a singer/songwriter, I
want to be able to turn around and play gypsy music if I want or experimental
music or make films. If I feel like changing the name, I will.
You've
been involved in the Toronto scene now for a while, performing shows,
promoting shows and bringing bands to the city to play. What's the current
forecast for the scene in Toronto?
It's nice, there are some new people around who make
things exciting and the people I've known for a long time who do different
things and are sort of comforting to me. More American bands are making
Toronto a regular stop which is also great.
If
you could snap your fingers and impart one change onto The City Of Toronto
what would it be?
No cars in the downtown core!!! Also, more alternative
spaces to play, preferably places that are all-ages where beer sales aren't
an issue. This happened to me once with a touring act, I won't say who.
But good music shouldn't be stifled because fans aren't drinkers.
Do
you have a favourite Picastro show of all-time? Please describe.
A solo show years ago at a loft space where this
three-year-old girl sang and danced with me while I was playing. It was
wild. The first time Smog came to town and we played and the audience
in the Rivoli was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was full too.
I felt like I was in love with everyone, it's happened out of town since
then too.
Do
you have a favourite NON-Picastro show of all-time?
BOTH times I saw Diamanda Galas play. Anyone who
can SING distortion kicks any band's ass. I never saw her covered in blood
though and singing in tongues, that would be great!
What
would be the parameters for a perfect Picastro show (if different than
above)?
I'd like to have a show that's more like an event
where showing is more important than telling. Like a Diamanda Galas show
actually. Maybe in a church, where we'd be hidden in catacombs and you
could walk around and hear us play but then had to find us. Like Hide
and Seek, that would be cool! Some people would probably just think it
was dumb.
What's
your perception of male chauvinism in the indie rock world? In your experience
is this a prevalent issue or are things on an even keel?
Indie-rock guys are too shy to be chauvinists! I
would just like to see the concept of a girl in a band as a confessional
singer/songwriter to be abolished. People assume that right away and it's
such bullshit. I am not angry either, I am a very happy person. I don't
sing about myself and not all girls do.
What
would be something about Liz Hysen that people would be surprised to know?
I watch Dawson's Creek.
What's
in the immediate future for Picastro and/or Liz Hysen?
The full-length Picastro record will be coming out
in October on Pehr, it's a label in L.A. We have a song on the AntiAntenna
comp and one on the upcoming Eye of the Beholder comp. I am going to Maine
in August to record some gypsy music with Cerberus Shoal. We'll do some
shows with them in the fall. I am also making short films, mostly experimental.
One hopefully will follow the album as a sort of sequel. It's a long story.
Have
you ever been caught jumping around your bedroom playing air guitar?
Yes, and my parents had me committed.
- interview
by A New York Dawg Named Clifford
MICO
WAVELENGTH #67: SUNDAY JUNE 10, 11:30pm
Purveyors of: Soulful geetar rock in triplicate
Pictured: Double-exposed mayhem
e-mail: micoband@hotmail.com
web: www.cadvision.com/harknest
Mico is not only the name of Jonny Dovercourt and Nora Charles' lovely cat (albeit spelled Miko), but it is also the name of a Calgary band that owns up to the influences of Swervedriver, The Smiths and Hot Water Music. Here, Jonny chats with Mico's Todd Harkness.
As
I understand it, Mico has gone through a somewhat complex and sordid history
to get to its current incarnation. Can you give us the whole story in
50 words or less?
For two years Mico was John (guitar, vocals), Todd #1 (bass) and Troy
(drums). They played metal and occasionally wrote a rad shoegazer-meets-punk
song. Pat joined the band on second guitar just as Troy went out to see
the world for a year. Todd #2 took over on drums until Troy came back,
at which point Todd #2 took over on third guitar and keyboards. Each incarnation
had small run CD-EPs released until this May when Mico's first full-length
Standing Inside A Shadow was released on Does Everyone Stare? (that's
88 words, buddy -ed.)
You
guys sound very "convicted" when you unleash your rock'n'roll. What are
you convicted about? Or is it even necessary to HAVE convictions or is
it enough to just SOUND convicted?
It is impossible to sound convicted without actually being convicted about
something. We are obsessed with truth and honesty and the night.
Who
is this Emo guy and why won't people shut up about him?
If I see that guy walking down the streets of T.O. I will kung fu kick
his sorry ass all the way into Mississauga.
You
guys have three guitarists. How do you decide who does what? Or does it
all become one giant wall of noise?
John does all the solos and the effects because he is the best guitarist
and writes most of the songs. Todd does all the chugga chugga and whatnot
because he used to be sXe. Pat fills everything out with his nice melodies
and strumming. And yes, at some points it is a giant wall of noise.
There
is a whole lot of Canada between Toronto and Calgary. How do you guys
entertain yourselves in the van during those eight-hour drives between
cities? Any other notable gigs lined up during your visit to the East?
We all have serious mental issues which keep things entertaining. When
we play Toronto we will have just started an almost-month-long tour of
Canada, going to Quebec City and back.
RANDWICHES
WAVELENGTH #67: SUNDAY JUNE 10, 10:45pm
Purveyors of: Fun-lovin freak rock, baby!
Pictured: Randy Ray (3rd from right), with the extended Randwich crew
e-mail: randyray@sympatico.ca
web: www.randwiches.com
Randy
Ray, Randwiches is specifically your own project, yet you seem a reluctant
leader. There seems to be a sense of denial: a refusal to take it seriously,
but there also seems to be an opposing desire to take it as far as it
can go. Why the mixed feelings? What is your true feeling about this band?
I am a reluctant leader. I prefer playing in bands that collaborate rather
than my band/your band situations. I have to do Randwiches; it's a drive
like food or sex. Taking "it" seriously? I really ought not to. It's only
rock'n'roll but I like it. The mixed feelings are probably a form of schizophrenia.
The band is my art project; me trying to make sense of the human condition
in the third millenium in an ever-increasingly fascist province. If it
wasn't rock it could just as well have been photography, film, or pottery.
Randwiches,
Blackeyes, Deep Dark United, all these bands, all this spillover and crossover
of musicians and collaborators... just who are all you people?
Nick Taylor is Blackeyes. Alex Lukashevsky is Deep Dark United. I'm Randwiches.
Katia Taylor is a vital part of all three. Aside from Alex, we're a bunch
of ex-Montrealer's who like to get drunk, make art and play instruments.
Is
it true that the Randwiches album and the subsequent live shows have been
five years in the making?
I've made short runs of Randwiches tapes (mostly four-track) for six years.
Some of the songs on the CD have evolved from previous bands. Katia used
to play drums on "Auto Polite" in our old band The Luvulator. And then
the song was dormant for a while until I learned how to play sixth chords,
and then I dug it up and made it more interesting. So yes, I'll go with
"true" on that one.
I have
heard that there are a series of complicated charts for every Randwiches
song that has ever been written. There are different diagrams for different
sections of songs... people are expected to play an array of different instruments...
apparently it all gets quite complex. Explain your songwriting process.
If you translate all the words on my album to Mesopotamian, and then turn
that into binary, and subsequently calculate the total, then differentiating
the fractional vs. the decimal value of that total, you have an exact
map of my D.N.A.
What
kind of music would you say you make? How do you react to a term like
"freakout music"?
My main influences are Slayer, Mingus and Hank Williams Sr. Jonny Dovercourt's
description, "fun-lovin' freak-rock", is a good way to put it I think.
Now
that the Randwiches album, What Year, is out, do you feel a sense of satisfaction?
Is there more lurking in the outer reaches of your soul and brain? What
does the future hold - will you be famous or rich?
I'm really satisfied with my album... I think I've fucked up some people's
notions of what rock can or can't do. I was digging a hole with my friend
Ben last week, and this Nelly Furtado song came on the radio that blew
me away. She does more interesting, genre-breaking, mindbending shit in
one song than Edge 102 does in an entire day of programming. It's up to
us, Wavelength people, to keep rock from becoming boring and gentrified.
To keep it out of the condos and on the street. Future? I'm going on tour
as bassist for The Deadly Snakes this summer/fall. Then, I figure I might
go to law school because it will be easier to change the world as a lawyer
than as a rocker. I hope someday to be infamous and poor.
What
is a Randwich and how can you make one?
Please refer to question 4.
Thank
you for your time and music... leave all appropriate website addresses/email
addresses/solicitations and accreditations.
www.randwiches.com,
it's not just a promotional tool, it's its own thing. I'm available to
do web sites for bands, etc.
- interview by Paddy O'Donnell
RADIOGRAM
WAVELENGTH #67: SUNDAY JUNE 10, 9:30pm
Purveyor of: "Orgambient" country
e-mail: killbeat@intouch.bc.ca
web: www.bigfoot.com/~ranchprod
Radiogram.
Is your name a comment on convergence of media (radio + telegram)? What
do you do with people who mix you up with Radiohead?
Partially. A radiogram is also the name of a piece
of furniture from the 70's that incorporates a radio and a record player.
I grew up in front of one of those listening endlessly to 70's AM radio
when I was a kid. I'm talking Glen Campbell, Kris Kristofferson, Bobbie
Gentry, etc... As for Radiohead mix-up's I just have to explain to people
that we are the OTHER art rock band... the one from Canada...
"Ambient
country" is your tagline. Is this the next step beyond "alt-country"?
Or are both merely signifiers with which to catch the public's already
scattered attention?
I think "ambient country" is certainly a signifier
more than anything, just like pretty much all tags. I really don't think
there is all that much country in Radiogram... more folk than anything
but the "alt-country" crowd has really latched on to us so I'm not complaining...
the ambient in front of country is an attempt to go beyond that. We have
had such disparate comparisons ranging from godspeed you black emperor!
to Gram Parsons to Wilco to Mogwai. It's a fine line between tagging yourself
so that like-minded people can track you down and becoming pigeonholed.
I think to become successful on a larger level you need to transcend your
particular genre, so too much of a tag can become a hindrance. Other tags
we've come up with are Canadiana or CanAmericana, Folk Noir, or even Orgambient
(Organic + Ambient) Country...
As
a band, you guys seem to accumulate a lot of press. Do you ever feel there's
a danger in press becoming its own object - eg. so-and-so gets press about
how much press they get, rather than what they are doing as a band (not
to imply this is the case with you guys)?
Yes. I do have that fear. Recently there was an article/
feature on us in The Georgia Straight and the headline was "Radiogram
Waits for a Bad Review." Man did we take a lot of flak for that...
What
is up with the Vancouver scene? Is it really six degrees of New Pornographers?
How have places like the Sugar Refinery helped out of late?
I've actually been finding lately it's more like
six degrees of Radiogram. Since we have anywhere from four to eight members
plus guest musicians on the album, the bands/ artists we can be linked
to directly or indirectly include The Beans, Jonathan Inc., Zubot & Dawson,
Sean MacDonald, Mark Browning, Auburn, The Golden Wedding Band, Jack Harlan,
Dixie's Death Pool, ShoCore, Bottleneck, The Be Good Tanya's, Kevin House,
The Great Outdoors, etc., etc... Radiogram cut its teeth at The Sugar
Refinery. We went from three members to eight during our tenure there.
Every single person in the band or who recorded on our album saw us there
before coming on board. Ida even works there!
What
inspires you to write? Do you have to be in a certain of frame of mind?
Hmmmm... well I mostly write songs in my head while
walking around my east Van 'hood. I'm not really conscious of it... it
just happens. I write the words or phrases down on my notepad (which I
always have with me) and then I will look at it sometime later - anywhere
from two days to six months... and if those particular words bring the
melody back into my head, then I begin to work on it by sitting down with
my guitar and figuring out how the hell to play it. It's a weeding-out
process - if the words I've written down don't ring any bells then I figure
it was never meant to be... I currently have about six new songs floating
around my head that I don't even know how to play yet...
- interview by Jonny Dovercourt
MANTLER
WAVELENGTH #68: SUNDAY JUNE 17, 11pm
Purveyors of: Lump-in-your-throat jazz-pop
Here is Doc Pickles talking with Chris Cummings of Mantler and Hall of Famer. Doc got stuck in the Jive Server. The translations to his questions can be found below.
Wha's
down mah homie. When yo' ass sit waaay down t' puh'form some song, do
yo' ass start wit' some rhythm o' some melody?
The melody comes first, but the rhythm (and arrangement) is usually built-in.
I hear the whole thing completed, arranged, produced, with super-high
production value. The trouble is getting it to where it needs to be. Sometimes
I add on ideas over the course of several months/years. Some songs go
through many bad versions before arriving at a good version.
Whut
be da damn difference between Hall o' Fama' an' Mantla'? Do yo' ass have
some evil twin dat 'esists at da damn same time as Mantla'? Be Mantla'
da evil twin? True dat.
I don't think of them as evil twins, more like rival brands owned by the
same corporation. When Sam Allison and I met in '98, I had been working
on Mantler as a recording project for about two years. There's a debut
Mantler album called Doin' It All that James Duncan produced, on his label
Le Systeme Records. Sam is the
principal songwriter for Hall of Famer. We started performing at the Old
Yorke in Summer 2000. The Hall of Famer album is still in the future.
Complete
da damn followin' (down low, snatch as long as yo' ass want): Sometimes
yo' ass got'ta haid-scratch about da damn state o' beat today. Yo, plum
da otha' day I...
Now before we say anything bad about the current state of music, I want
to say I think we're in a bit of a Golden Period right now. I think it
started around 1994. After the Grunge Juggernaut went down and things
started to mellow out, suddenly there were bands like Ween and Stereolab
signed to Elektra, which would have been unthinkable before. I think we're
in the juiciest time since the punk era.
Some
recent U.S. report indicates dat manufacturin' shipments rose 1.7% in
March, afta' some decline o' 3.9% in February. Word. Puttin' aside 4 some
minute yo' opinions about supply-side economics, wouldn't yo' ass agree
dat since Nort' America be gradual-like switchin' t' some "plum in time"
warehousin' system based on da hub distribushun principle, whut would
dis do t' da damn manufacturin' shipments indicata' (down low, i.e. would
it become mo' volatile since merchandisa's would cut deir warehousin'
fo'casts, o' mo' stable due t' da damn consolidashun o' lines o' business)?
How will dis affect da damn U.S. consuma' price index? Fuck dat shit.
Uh... I dunno.
Be
dair some da damn Lord? If so's, duz he, o' she, o' it, 'esist between
musical notes o' within da notes themselves? Word to yo' mama. If not,
den be beat plum some mains o' searchin' 4 yo' own spiritual identity?
I see it as a way of redeeming yourself. It sure feels that way when I'm
writing. For my other spiritual needs, I listen to David Axelrod albums,
like Release Of An Oath by The Electric Prunes. It belongs to a world
I like to call God Rock.
I heard
da damn Mantla' C-D. Now I is unhappy. But it be some satisfyin' unhappiness.
Whut da damn fuck? Fuckin' A!
You wouldn't like being me, because that's how I feel all the time. Also,
the CD Sadisfaction was especially designed to sound better coming out
of a really shitty stereo system.
Doc's Mantler questions translated back into English:
1. Hello my friend. When you sit down to perform a song, do you start with a rhythm or a melody?
2. What is the difference between Hall of Famer and Mantler? Do you have an evil twin that exists at the same time as Mantler? Is Mantler the evil twin?
3. Complete the following (take as long as you want) Sometimes you have to wonder about the state of music today. Why, just the other day I...
4. A recent U.S. report indicates that manufacturing shipments rose 1.7% in March, after a decline of 3.9% in February. Putting aside for a minute your opinions about supply-side economics, wouldn't you agree that since North America is gradually switching to a "just in time" warehousing system based on the hub distribution principle, what would this do to the manufacturing shipments indicator (i.e. would it become more volatile since merchandisers would cut their warehousing forecasts, or more stable due to the consolidation of lines of business)? How will this affect the U.S. consumer price index?
5. Is there a God? If so, does he/she/it exist between musical notes or within the notes themselves? If not, then is music just a means of searching for your own spiritual identity?
6. I heard the Mantler CD. Now I'm unhappy. But it's a satisfying unhappiness. What the fuck?
DRAPERIES
WAVELENGTH #68: SUNDAY JUNE 17, 10pm
Purveyors of: Bent folk noise-core
Personnel: Eric Chenaux (electric guitar), Ryan Driver (synth, thumb-reeds),
Doug Tielli (trombone)
e-mail: echenaux@interlog.com
The
Trial
by franz afa
excerpt from Chapter 1
Someone must have been spreading lies about Josef. For without having anything wrong he was arrested one morning. His landlady's coo, who brought him his breafast every morning at about eight o'cloc, did not come on that particular day. This had never happened before... waited a little while, watching from his pillow the old woman who lived opposite and who was observing him with a quite uncharacteristic curiosity; but then, feeling both hungry and disturbed, he rang. At once there was a noc at the door and a man he had never seen in the flat before came in. He was slim and yet strongly built; he wore a well-fitting blac suit which was lie a travelling outfit in that it had various pleats, pocets, bucles, buttons and a belt, and as a result (although one could not quite see what it was for) it seemed eminently practical.
"Who are you," ased, immediately sitting up a little in bed. But the man ignored the question, as if the fact of his appearance simply had to be accepted, and merely said:
"You rang?"
"Anna is supposed to bring me my breafast,' said, endeavouring, silently at first and by careful scrutiny, to wor out who the man actually was. But he did not submit to 's gaze for long, turning instead to the door which he opened slightly and saying to someone else who was obviously just on the other side of the door:
"He wants Anna to bring him his breafast."
There was a brief burst of laughter from the next room, but it was not clear from the sound whether there might not be more than one person there. Although the unnown visitor could not have learnt anything from the laughter that he did not now before, he now said to, as if maing an announcement:
"It's not possible."
"This is news indeed," said, as he sprang out of bed and hastily pulled on his trousers. "I'm going to have a loo and see who's in the next room and find out what explanation Frau Grubach can give for this intrusion."
But he immediately realized that he ought not to have said this out loud and that, by doing so, he was to some degree acnowledging the stranger's right to supervise his actions. But it did not seem very important at that moment. Still, that was how the stranger interpreted his words, for he said:
"Hadn't you stay here?"
"I won't stay here, nor will I allow you to spea to me until you tell me who you are."
"I meant you no harm," said the stranger, and now opened the door of his own accord. The next room, which entered more slowly than he intended, looed at first sight almost exactly the same as it had the evening before.
BROKEN
SOCIAL SCENE
WAVELENGTH #69: SUNDAY JUNE 24, 11pm
Purveyors of: Jaw-crunching ambient break-up music
Photo by: Amit Dahan
web: www.noisefactory.com
Words to live by,
care of the Broken Social Scene:
1. Don't drink cold water.
2. Hug your wife.
3. Sleep without pillows.
4. Help out a ruined body.
5. Kiss your Mom more often.
6. Stop smoking.
7. Stop talking about it.
8. Learn more languages.
9. But the Manitoba record.
10. Fuck what you love.
11. Love what you fuck.
12. Support allergies.
13. Don't talk that much.
14. Live outside of the city.
15. Go swimming.
16. Get addicted to Neo-Citron.
17. Piss on your shoes.
18. Buy the Deep Dark United record.
19. Touch skin.
20. Stretch as much as possible.
21. Accept it all.
22. Be your own words.
23. Listen.
24. Eat well.
25. Love it all.
DETENTION
WAVELENGTH #69: SUNDAY JUNE 24, 10pm
Purveyors of: Blistering free improv toast-topping
Left and right: Sam Shalabi (guitar), Alex MacSween (drums)
web: www.arrivalrecords.com
According
to the Earshot chart, you're getting a great deal of college radio airplay.
Certain other Montreal based musical collectives have expressed a displeasure
with attention from the outside world, presumably due to a popular artistic
notion that artistic purity is best maintained without the expectations
of an audience. Is this where you start shunning media outlets who aren't
The Wire? How does the audience factor into free improv?
Alex: The audience's expectation is of no consequence in terms of any
time and energy we devote to promoting our music. All that is relevant
is that people know we are making music, and that they know where to get
our records and hear us play. All media outlets are potentially good or
bad in the same ways. The most highly respected publication is as likely
to misrepresent us as the lowliest is to represent us well. While music
listeners may not be completely impervious to the effects of media outlets,
our music is. That's not to say that we as musicians are unaffected, but
the only "artistic purity" of any consequence is in the music itself,
and that is as easily, perhaps more easily, affected by what we put on
our toast as it is by what The Wire says. The audience is very important
in improvised music, especially in improvised music which comes from a
physical and emotive point of origin. The music is made from the feeling
of the musicians at the moment they are making it, which cannot help but
be affected by who and what is around them. Improvisation is a conversation,
and like any verbal discussion, it is affected to some degree by the context
in which it takes place. We play music for the people who are listening
to it and for our own pleasure. There is no order of importance to these
considerations and they are inseparable. An indifferent or even hostile
audience may possibly foster a wonderful piece of improvisation; the fact
remains that they are a relevant factor. The kindest and most open audience
may also be favoured with a dull performance if we should happen to eat
some rancid quince jelly before the gig.
Non-idiomatic
music's primary trappings are also the form's strongest traits, those
being risky disregard for inherent logic, childish (or childlike, if that
suits you) treatment of instrumentation, and the creation of yet another
idiom. These aren't bad things, however, I find myself asking what we're
doing to move beyond the fuckers, and I'm not getting any satisfying answers.
Sam: Oh boy. This is a doozie... I think your question points to one of
the most irritating and elitist misconceptions about improvised music;
namely, that we have to "move beyond these fuckers"... it seems to have
its roots in this capitalist (yes, that's a funny word) abstract notion
of "progress", "the new" and ultimately, the disposable and the cynical.
Why this obsession with purity (because that's what the question boils
down to)? With "childishness"? This whole desire for some kind of pure
untainted space of improv is really just the result of the ugly collusion
between post-modernism (may it R.I.P.) and capitalism; post-modernism's
ideal vulnerable space of the "unsignified" plays itself out in the real
world of abstract commodification. With ethics, aesthetics and "the good
and bad" up for grabs (a good thing, if you ask me), everything gets put
in play and "designified" right into the endless juggernaut of abstract
commodification. Then the next step becomes your question: What's next?
Maybe this sounds like a rant, but I think it's a very important position
to clarify because improv itself probably doesn't care about what's next.
I think when we ask questions about improv that deal with things outside
of the nuts and bolts of it, questions about "non-idiomatic" versus "idiomatic",
it misses the very basic criteria of almost anything that's interesting:
Is this working? When it is working all these questions just seem kind
of useless because the music becomes a living instance of intangibility.
That seems to happen sometimes if someone is playing a blues lick or if
they're skreek-skronking it Euro-style. Within the "idiom", something
happens or "works" that has nothing to do with style or idiom. That "something"
is way, way more interesting and healthy than THE SEARCH FOR NEW MEAT
or "non-idiomatic" improv (which I've never heard even once in my life).
That's the "beyond" that goes backwards and forwards and many other perverse
directions all at once. It's that yummy yummy feeling.
Here
in Toronto, the free improv scene has a cycle:
Find a place to play
Play there
Enjoy heyday of gig regularity
Get kicked out of locale
Repeat.
What's the situation like in the east?
Alex: The east? That sounds exotic. Finding an appropriate venue to play
improvised music in Montreal has often been very difficult, as it must
be almost anywhere. Once found, however, most spots have remained accessible
to the musicians and listeners in question for reasonable lengths of time.
Right now the place is Casa del Popolo. In the 10 months or so that it
has existed, the club has brought in Peter Brūtzmann, William Parker,
Joe McPhee and others of their greatness. The owners of the club have
put together a summer festival, the line-up of which can easily stand
up to any other festival in the country (see www14.Brinkster.com/casadelpopolo).
What's more important though, is that they have done something enormous
in establishing a place where Montreal musicians can be heard in an environment
that doesn't just tolerate what they do, but encourages it. They also
have great food. With that line of questioning, one is inclined to make
a connection between the temporality of locale and potential temporality
of radio interest - how long is long enough? If you disappear from the
"hallowed halls" of Earshot next month, is that merely akin to disappearing
from a regular stage to play on? I'm starting to think that free music
sort of thrives on the irritation of temporality (you know what, I like
that...). Sam: If we don't chart next month, I'm gonna start a ska band...
to be honest, I don't really think about it in terms any different than
a lowly "working musician". I want people to hear, enjoy and maybe think
about our music, period. The seeds of whatever we think our music does
are hopefully there. So, if people like what we do, that's good - if not,
oh well... but WE ARE HERE TO STAY!!!! ARGRAHHHH!!! FREE IMPROV WILL RULE
THE WORLD!!! ARGHHHH!!!... Sorry. I need a bath.