Precious
Little
Central City May Rise Again
The Feud
The Beethoven Frieze
Thomas and the Evil Computer
Paperjack
Rebecca Simpson & Robot Drama
Goa
Gajah
The Magnetars
hangedup
DJs
PRECIOUS
LITTLE
WAVELENGTH 108
SUNDAY APRIL 7, 11PM
Purveyors of:
Pet rock
www.preciouslittle.ca
Precious
Little haved proved their name to be somewhat
misleading. In the short time they've been together they've modified their
line-up a few times, recorded a pile of songs, gigged around town and
even opened up to a packed Horseshoe Tavern for country-punk legend Jon
Langford. Here's the skinny.
Precious Little Index
1. Average age of Precious Little members going into the studio in October 2001: 38.5
2. Average age of Precious Little members coming out of the studio in December 2001: 37
3. Number of songs recorded: 17
4. Number of songs used on the (soon-to-be-released) album: 12
5. Number of guest musicians who grace the record: 6
6. Number of these guests joining us for the Wavelength show: 3? 2? 1?
7. Months before the outbreak of the "goner" computer virus that the song "Goner" was recorded: 2
8. Number of Precious Little members who have computers: 2
9. Number who are former symphony musicians: 1
10. Number who are former Ann-Margret hand doubles: 1
11. Number of Kiss Army memberships: 1
12. Number of subscriptions to Crappie World fishing magazine: 0
13. Current favourite beer of Precious Little bass player Jean Brophey: 50
14. Percentage of beer drinkers in the band: 50
15. Nickname of Precious Little drummer Joey Bechta: 2
16. Number of P. Little songs containing the phrase "I swear": 2
17. Number of P. Little songs with swearwords in them: 1.5
18. Total number of strings on P. Little instruments: 10
19. Total number of strings actually played: 7
20.
Rank of rock and roll and country in importance to P. Little: 3, 1, 2
CENTRAL
CITY MAY RISE AGAIN
WAVELENGTH 108
SUNDAY APRIL 7, 10PM
Purveyors of: Gently tarnished acoustic introspection
neropontry@hotmail.com
FoOut in the foothills of the prairies lies a giant doughnut of suburban sprawl, ballooning endlessly into the grasslands like a peach-coloured tire tube left out in the sun. I speak of Calgary, Alberta and my former home. But nestled in the eye of the swelling doughnut lies a small, sleepy, urban neighbourhood where the city's arts community lives, works, plays, drinks and gives the finger to Ralph together. Welcome to Calgary's Central City. Timbits, anyone?
Central City May Rise Again is the latest solo incarnation of Clinton St. John, the leader of Calgary's well-respected but now defunct art-rock outfit Trickl Act. As the lead vocalist/guitarist of that band, Clinton was known for delivering intensely intimate and sobering performances. Watching the band was like looking straight into the eyes of a friend and waiting to see who would be the first to look away. But no matter how heavy that direct eye contact became, Clinton's captivating presence always managed to keep you looking. Central City, having just released its debut CD on Calgary's Medicine Records, continues with Trickl Act's style of subdued lyrical and melodic dissonance, but performed solo on acoustic guitar. The music is less commanding and more inviting.
Clinton St. John is now leaving Calgary and taking Central City with him. For many folks in the West, the expanse of the wide-open prairies keeps its residents with their eyes on the horizon. Clinton has decided to head deep into that horizon and not stop until he's reached the Atlantic Ocean. The opportunity of unlimited access to a studio awaiting him on the Rock proved too irresistible to pass up. En route to the greener pastures of Newfoundland, Central City May Rise Again will be stopping over in Toronto for a Wavelength performance. Best of luck to you, Clint!
-- Mr. Boon
THE
FEUD
WAVELENGTH 109
SUNDAY APRIL 7, 11:45PM
Purveyors of: Instrumental chaos at all times and speeds
thefeud@yahoo.com
EquI have personally always found it more rewarding as a listener when a band is unafraid to blend more than one approach and style, and I think The Feud is quite successful at this. Post-rock, dub, noise, electronic experimentation, DIY-'77-style trebly guitar hooks, motorik drumming at one moment to be changed up completely the next, etc. etc. How do you describe your sound? What is the pervading logic of The Feud?
One of the hardest problems we have as a band is trying to describe our sound. I don't think we have ever consciously set out to make music that pulls together certain styles or elements. Basically, we've to come to think of it as the sum of our record collections thrown into a big pile and smashed repeatedly. When writing, it is also very dependent on what have listened to that day and what we've dreamt the night before. How much we like each other at the time also plays a part! Genre-jumping can either fail or sound great, although we never make a conscious decision to cut and paste multiple styles together. In terms of any pervading logic to the band, being a part of The Feud means being involved in a truly a shared effort -- what we present to the public is the result of close friends growing up together, feeding of each-other, challenging each other and maintaining a collective drive to make music that we feel a connection to.
Do you think you make difficult music? What do you hope for from your audience? What do you think your audience should want from you?
I think we make rock music. As for difficult, in what sense? Difficult for the band to play and write, or difficult to listen to and grasp? I think writing becomes more challenging as the band keeps it together longer and longer, but that also makes the ongoing relationship stronger. As time goes on, we become more satisfied with our music and have more opportunities to do the things that we saw bands we grew up listening to doing, like putting out records, playing shows and gigging with other bands we admire. On the other hand, the commitment level grows. In a lot of ways, being in a band that keeps playing together is a lot like being married. I'm not married, but Larry from The Feud is, and I think he'd agree to this in a lot of respects... except he'd say the sex is better in a real marriage. I'm not sure what any of this has to do with difficult music, but that's what you get... sorry. As for the listener, I certainly feel our music is difficult sometimes. This means an unprepared audience might be left scratching their heads, or maybe they might even be blown away. I guess if we hope for anything from our audience it would be to have one and that they be drunk. Also, that they should be kind to small animals. They should hope for the same from us, unless we happen to hit a chipmunk or something like that while driving to play in their town. I mean, if animals must be sacrificed for the rock-show, then so be it. What would your ideal bill be for a show?
If The Feud could play in between any two bands, which two would you choose and why?
Black Sabbath of the early Ô70s and Sonic Youth. All Ages, $10. These bands are just too amazing to put into words. If Sonic couldn't make the gig, we'd have Sabbath circa 2002 fill in because Ozzy is just out of his gourd these days. I mean, have you seen Meet The Osbournes?
What has been your latest inspiration?
Since we're always listening to old and new stuff, we all have our private inspirations. But lately some bands that have made us very happy are The New Pornographers, The 90 Day Men, and Do Make Say think.
What is it like to be making music in NYC these days?
It is rough. The general consensus in NYC as of late is you either have to sound like The Strokes or like you are back in 1983. On a larger scale, being in New York means that there is something amazing to check out any night of the week. From a professional standpoint, you could say New York suffers from an oversaturated market. It's like "why am I going to check you out just cuz I heard good things from Jimmy in the art dept if I can go see Sonic Youth?" The longer we are around and the more we play, the easier this gets... you start seeing some people at your shows and you build relationships with the clubs and with other bands. I'm not sure at what point in history people stopped being enthusiastic about being involved in a growing culture, but it happened somewhere along the line. In some ways, a lot of this is slowly changing and there are some very exciting things going on. Bands like the Ex-Models, Stereobate and Heston Rifle are really helping to make the community of music in New York City stronger than I think it has been in a long time.
The music I have heard from The Feud is instrumental... is it always? If you had to put words to the music, what words would you be inclined to use, or is the very thought of such an act unfathomable?
Actually, most of our music contains elaborate four part harmonies. We just keep it so low in the mix that you don't even know it is there. Seriously, we've all considered and found it virtually impossible to attribute words to songs that have a multitude of meanings. We'd rather the listener close their eyes and envision their own chase scene or anthem to a parade. That always works for us.
Please use this opportunity to tell us what your future plans are, or what's worth mentioning of your past, or what's newsworthy about life in The Feud, or whatever you think merits mention which was not covered in the above questions.
In the future we will rock your ass, the ass that you have so long been needing to rock. Our second album, Language is Technology, will be coming out in September on Insidious Plot Audio, a label that a few of us have started up. Insidious Plot also has plans for a re-release of our first record, The Feud Versus Yr Universe, which was originally out on the Rosewood Union, with a small vinyl run on Silent Q. I guess you can expect some touring around all that as well. As for information that will be pertinent to the local Canadian crowd, we're hoping to be back up here this summer for NXNE, with our friends, the mighty Heston Rifle, who we'll be putting out a split CD EP with on Inner Flight Records sometime or another. One or more of us might quit or take up smoking, only to take up or quit smoking sometime after that. I think that's about all I can foresee at this time, all that and perhaps some collective hearing loss.
-- interview by Paddy O'Donnell
THE
BEETHOVEN FRIEZE
WAVELENGTH 109
SUNDAY APRIL 14, 10:45PM
Purveyors of: Eccentric "skimble skamble" six-string pop
thefrieze@hotmail.com
Hot off last month's hi-larious Home Invasion, Wavelength regulars Jim
Bravo and Mandy Mintz of The Beethoven Frieze correspond with Jonny Dovercourt
in advance of their third appearance at our series.
So you guys have a new drummer. I hear you're plenty pleased with him. Tell us all about him, who he is, where you found him, why he's so great, and what you'd do to him if he ever quit.
Jim & Mandy: We have
songs-a-plenty with him.
Mandy: When
we returned Rocco to his nomad gnome land, we chanced upon a more compact
candidate whose name escapes me...
Jim: Kevin Anderson, late of Lion Club loudlies Eleventeen, fell out of
his Queen West apartment window one night. And as it would tumbleweed,
the wind blew him into the Done Right Inn, where we all did ourselves
in with the Satanic Syrup -- the demon John Barley. The next morrow, Kevin
did so awake to find himself in our "friezer" -- a drumming captive captured
and caught further still. He knows damn well what his unauthorized exit
would mean. Oh yes, death by "feathering".
I associate The Beethoven Frieze's music with that of a certain lineage of "wonky", mostly British pop songwriters, namely Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock, David Kilgour from The Clean (New Zealand, yes, I know), etc. Who am I missing from this lineage, and can you come up with a better adjective than the aforementioned W-word?
Jim: For me there
aren't many more. Frankly I find most English vocalists unbearable (see
Pulp, Morrissey, etc.) By way of it being a British Colony, I'll cite
Jamaica's influence for being the reggae source. My "three catalogue coffin"
consists of all blues 1924-1959, all John Lennon, and the entire 1970's
reggae output.
Mandy: I've just stopped liking music altogether, really. My eyes make
some good noises sometimes when it's quiet and I shut them tight. We prefer
"skimble skamble" to "wonky".
What other band would you most want to tour the frozen wastelands of the Trans Canada Highway alongside?
Mandy & Jim: Ween and Wesley Willis please.
It seems like Toronto is waiting for someone to open the "perfect" rock club. If you could be in charge of this hypothetical dream venue, what would it look like and how would you run things?
Jim: The club would be called The Bulb and Flash and it would consist mainly of monitors. Not the vocal kind though, these monitors would be the silent ex-Raphaelite types who wished they'd never been born under the Marrowbones and Cleavers act of 1982 during which Queen Elizabeth signed Quebec over to Home Hardware. We would run things toothly sharp and thorough indeedly.
Do you want to do anything to dispell the impression that you guys are a bunch of Luddites? Please elaborate.
Mandy: Who's got that
idea? I am Electric Ladyland! We Have The Technology!
Jim: All we know is that radioactivity is in the air for you and me.
Is there a follow-up planned to the Dutch Concert EP? Give us some details, dammit!
Jim: History Will
Show You Couldn't Dance To It. Ravens At The Writing Desk.
Mandy: Um, those are possibilities for new titles of a full length album
that we are ready to record. We are thinking of recording at The Gas Station
but are still looking for the heavens to open up and sponsor us.
Will art save us?
Jim: No, but we have begun to save art. I have been embraced by the publishing giant that is Random House and by way of Jim Painter and Mandy Subject, our revolution can be seen on the jacket for Priscilla Uppal's novel The Divine Economy of Salvation. That's no joke.
THOMAS
AND THE EVIL COMPUTER
WAVELENGTH 109
SUNDAY APRIL 14, 9:45PM
Purveyors of: Buzzards and dreadful Rob Crows
www.geocities.com/evil_computer
A mysterious CD-R submission that Wavelength received was this collaboration
between a six-year-old boy called Thomas, and, um, an evil computer. After
doing the only we could do, which was book them, Wavelength dispatched
Karen Von Baron to interview Jan Rudy, the musical intermediary between
Thomas and the malevolent machine.
Have you seen the movie Demon Seed? It's if I remember correctly, about a woman who becomes impregnated by an evil computer. But long before Pentium processors.
No, no I haven't.
Nietzsche said, "there is no right or wrong, only good and evil." Do you believe in evil?
Well of course I believe in evil. Of course I believe in evil, because if not then I guess I should quit playing music.
Do you have any classical training or am I pointing out the obvious?
Uh, no, I don't. I'm self taught. I took a few lessons when I was maybe eight years old. Then I quit the guitar for three yearsÉ
So you wrote that classical sounding piece --
No! The evil computer wrote it!
So what then, is the evil computer?
Well, the evil computer is the Cosmic Ray trapped inside a Pentium II processor and it gave the boy's computer a soul, but unfortunately it is an evil soul. And yeah, it's taking over the world.
This is why the concept is frightening, because it seems real!
Oh, it's real.
You mean it's true or it's real...?
Oh it's real.
So there is a Thomas.
Well of course, it's real... it's daunting.
I was wondering, what's the point of reference: Punk-rock or prog-rock?
Hmm.
'Cuz I detected a real proggy thing there...
It's more math-popÉ like Heavy Vegetable.
That's cool. It's more like punk-rock in its roots. I was listening to it and I'm like, I'm hearing Zappa!
I love Zappa.
Oh you do? Project/Object are cool. They rock.
Do you come from a musical family?
Uh, no I don't. Not my immediate family. I don't think Thomas does either.
I like his journal entry.
Actually they're all his journal entries, because the computer doesn't know how to write lyrics so it has to steal them.
How do you write songs -- lyrics first or melody or conceptÉ?
I don't write them. The computer writes them. The thing is, I find them, and I have to decode them, because they're encrypted, obviously. So I have to sequence them in these vast approximations of what the evil computer actually does. I don't want to unleash the full power of the computer's music on everyone, because they'd just be brainwashed, and I'd be doing the computer's work.
So you're the catalyst but you're still trying to stop the evil?
Well, I'm trying to get people to recognize it before it infiltrates the mass media.
It already has, hasn't it?
No, not in its purest form.
I'm scared. What is the inspiration for the computer?
Well the evil computer gained most of its inspiration from Thomas's video games, because that is mostly what Thomas used his computer for. That's the only musical experience the computer has had with music.
Do you have recurring dreams?
I have dreams about the evil computer.
I bet!
Like what the world would be like if the computer took over, and if it was in control. And that's why I have to stop it. That's what drives me.
That's an awful lot of weight to carry.
That's why I need everyone's help.
Y'know, I can't do it on my own. There are things everyone can do, like giving me money! Because I need custom-made equipment to study this evil computer and it's very expensive.
Are there any signs to look for if you suspect you may own an evil computer?
There's only one evil computer.
It's not going to infect other computers? Cuz they don't have souls?
No, they don't. It's just the one. It was just a freak accident. Hopefully it was just the one. But you have to study the music. Or you can go to www.mp3.com/evilcomputer and download the free samples and listen to them, study them, memorize them, so that when the evil computer's actual work becomes part of the mass media, you'll be able to recognize it for what it is -- pure unvarnished evil.
In the news the other day there was an article that said "thousands and thousands of emails were lost and went into nothingness" And I'm thinking nooo, they didn't, there's no nothingness when it comes to computers, it's maybe just something our minds can't comprehend, even though we created them.
The evil computer may have had a hand in that. It may have been searching for more lyrical material.
I've also heard that they're making computers with DNA now.
That's interesting because the evil computer could use that to its advantage.
What was the last piece of music you bought?
Um, I think it was the Danielson Famile. But I can't remember the name of the CD.
What kind of technology did you employ to create this album?
Well, the computer created the music, and I had to sequence it, or like re-sequence it to make the approximations of the music, and I used, since I don't know how to read music,a program called Guitar Pro, so I can sequence the music all in guitar time, then I render it down to WAV files and its all MIDI. All the background stuff is MIDI. I record it full-edit and it mix it in portals.
I'm thinking of other one-man projects -- Fatboy Slim, Moby, are you by yourself out of neccesity or is this a natural thing?
Well, in terms of the evil computer's music, um, I'm just a computerologist, I'm not a musician, by any stretch, and just an amateur computerologist at that. So I don't hang in musical circles. I don't really have any musical friends. But also I couldn't be bothered to teach other people the computer's music. I don't want it to infiltrate their beings and have them become slaves to the computer.
So what are you going to do once you've defeated the evil computer? Join a band?
I guess I'll have a party. I don't think the evil computer can be defeated.
Can't you keep it at bay?
Right now I don't have the means to defeat it. All I can do is keep people informed. Hopefully that's enough. Maybe someday there'll be enough money and I can go down to Salt Lake City to find Thomas. I just stumbled upon the evil computer's music, and somehow it didn't affect me like it should have. As in, it didn't brainwash me. So I took that as I guess, a sign from ABOVE that I had to do something about it.
From the BIG computer (modulated voice).
Yes from the big computer in the sky. But yeah, so I just began sequencing its music, making the changes where I had to, because I knew the evil computer's mind-bending musical waves. And I had to get rid of most of those. I kept some of them. So from there I had to put together the performance.
So this is a totally independent production with no outside help? Do you do this in your house?
In my room, with my computer, all alone.
But what about Thomas though? Have you contacted Thomas?
I'm really concerned about Thomas actually. Because he could keep on the straight and narrow, or stray toward the evil computer.
Does his mother know?
No. She just thinks her Internet connection is slow, but the evil computer is using up all the bandwidths. But I am fearful that the evil computer may try to corrupt Thomas. I don't know what the computer is planning to do but hopefully I can intervene -- for Thomas's sake and for the sake of humanity.
Well what if the computer decides it wants to seek a mate? You're not suggesting that this mate would be Thomas, are you?
Uh, no I'm not. I'm afraid the evil computer may be experimenting with machines used in biology. If that's the case, there's not really much we can do, to stop its spread. Because as soon as it infiltrates biology, it can pretty much do whatever it wants! I think that's its next step in its plan to take over the world.
PAPERJACK
WAVELENGTH 110
SUNDAY APRIL 21, 11PM
Purveyors of: The spirit of Ô94
www.kelprecords.com
"Hippie commune"? Proud purveyors of not-so-long-lost "courageous amateurism"? Or just a strong dose of straight-up Ottawan power-pop? Craig Fraid gets to the heart of the matter with Paperjack's Ben Wilson.
Popping up fairly frequently on The Effort I'll Never Get Back, not only most notably on the first song, "You Guys Are Awesome", but also a few other times, are affectionately sarcastic in-joke jabs at the clichŽs of indie-rock performance rituals -- parking the van, talking to suspiciously overzealous yet ever-diplomatic concertgoers and fellow bands after the show, etc. When you guys are on the road, are there any things you find yourselves doing to try and break up the monotony of the routine?
We're glad people are picking up on the cynicism and sarcasm on this record. "You Guys Are Awesome" and "Let's Be Super-Nice to Each Other" are pretty obvious jabs at networking and the music industry. I should point out, though, that the sarcasm is directed primarily at evil moneygrabbers and schmoozers, definitely not at brave concertgoers (however overzealous). Being on the road never seems routine or monotonous to us. The focus of our road trips is usually the Paperjack Ubermathon, our Olympic Games (2002 events include: Hacky Sack, Foosball, Drinking, Smoking, and Freestyle Drinking). We find ourselves playing hacky sack more often than we practise music. The music suffers, but our hand-eye co-ordination improves.
Listening to your CD, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of nostalgia. Not to say that you guys are that "retro", but a lot of your songs remind me of the type of stuff I used to go see when I was but a flannel-flyin' high-school kid in the early-to-mid-'90s. If Ottawa's anything like here in Toronto, the all-ages show scene is pretty much a thing of the past, unless you're more into hardcore punk and ska. Any all-ages shows stories to tell -- have you guys ever got to, er, "do it for the kids"?
If we had a subtitle for our name, it would be "Paperjack: like 1994 all over again". That year seemed like the pinnacle of the indie-rock Ô90s. The New York Times recently described it as the year of "courageous amateurism": indie record labels popping up everywhere, hamburger-flipping kids putting out as many records as the seasoned veterans, and brave all-ages crowds, weary of Ô80s egoism, supporting it all in droves. Paperjack formed in 1994. It was difficult to keep up with so many other all-ages bands. I remember being jealous because we didn't have stickers and we weren't able to jump up and down and play guitar at the same time. Ottawa had a pretty fertile all-ages indie-rock scene then. On Rideau Street, there were two all-ages clubs, one above the other. Aside from high school gigs and Band Warz competitions, that's where most of our first shows happened. One night we were playing at the one upstairs, and Blink 182 were playing at the one downstairs. Of course, no kids were coming to our show, and we were about to play to the sound guy, so we made a poster saying "free show upstairs" and put it up outside. We managed to pull in one drunk guy from the street, and my parents. All three left the club, half way through the show. We couldn't compete with the noise of moshing kids and Blink 182, presumably jumping and playing guitar simultaneously, downstairs.
Come to think of it, one of the subconscious triggers of memories of the "when Ôcollege rock' became Ôalternative' " years on my part is probably yours and Brennan's harmony singing and dual songwriting, conjuring up reminiscences of all those punchy pop bands like The Posies, Teenage Fanclub, and heck, even Thrush Hermit, The Inbreds, or, god forbid, treble charger. Is there a certain informal protocol that you two have developed over time when coming up with back-up lines for songs that other guy's brought forth, or does the situation kind of change from song to song?
Ideas
and "protocol" for vocal lines change from song to song. If I've brought
a new song to the band, I'm usually pretty adamant about how the vocals
and double vocals should be. That's just me, the band Nazi. For songs
we create together, though, it's a give-and-take thing. Brennan and I
know each other too well. We both respect each other's songwriting, like
the same bands (Inbreds -- right on), and know what to expect from each
other guitar/drums/vocal-wise. Generally, as long as the vocals don't
sound like The Beach Boys on quaaludes, we'll go with it.
REBECCA
SIMPSON & ROBOT DRAMA
WAVELENGTH 110
SUNDAY APRIL 21, 10PM
Purveyors of: Telepathically transmitted art-rock
www.dievenom.com
IIn 1998 Rebecca Simpson [then of Guelph-based art-rock
project The Mudpuddles, who performed at the Wavelength series in June
2000] shocked the international scientific community by having a silicon
chip transponder surgically implanted in her left arm. A series of further
implant experiments is now planned in which Rebecca's nervous system will
be linked to a live band. Rebecca is now planning a new implant experiment
called Robot Drama for April of 2002.
What is this implant everyone is talking about?
We are building special chip implants, however the actual chips involved are fairly standard technology. My band and I are having the chips implanted for an experiment. This is not the first time I've had a chip implanted.
What did your first chip implant do? When did it take place?
For the first experimental chip implant, back in August 1998, the implant merely sent a signal to the computer in the department here in Guelph, which identified me. So the computer was programmed to open doors, play keyboards ,etc., depending where I was. For the next experiment we will be sending signals from the nervous system -- which is a lot more complex.
When do you intend to start the new experiment?
We intend to start the experiment towards the end of this year. Around December time, as long as we are ready to go for it then.
Was it easy to convince your band to take part in the experiment? Why did you choose your band to do this experiment with you?
At first they had to think about it because they were a little worried about the dangers, but like me, they are excited about the implications. I chose them because there is no one else I would like to reveal my feelings to!
What kind of communication do you think will happen between you and your band?
We plan to experiment exchanging emotional signals. Eg., is the pain my band feels the same pain as when I feel it?
Why are you interested in using a computer to communicate with your band?
Communication is the main driving force. In the immediate experiment it will be movements and hopefully some feelings such as pain. In the long term I would like to witness thought communication.
Do you think telepathy will destroy the arts: poetry, literature, music and painting? Or even humanity itself?
No. It will dramatically change it, but not destroy it. Unless we think it is humanity itself that changes by becoming a cyborg.
Will this technology change the way we communicate?
I feel so. At present our method of communication, speech, is very slow, serial and error-prone. The potential to communicate by means of thought signals alone is a very exciting one. We will probably have to learn how to communicate well in this way, though -- in particular how to send ideas to one another. It is not clear: if I think about an ice cream, are my thoughts roughly the same as yours? We will have to learn about each other's thoughts. Maybe it will be easier than we think, maybe not. Certainly speech is an old-fashioned, outdated means of communication -- it's on its way out!
Aren't you playing the Sorcerer's Apprentice?
No.
-- interview by K. Warwick
GOA
GAJAH
WAVELENGTH 111
SUNDAY APRIL 28, 11:45PM
Purveyors of: They say "Can meets The Boredoms"!!
www.jrobot.multimania.com
Jon Asencio is a Montreal indie music stalwart, having served time with The Doughboys and Pest 5000 among others. His "Can meets The Boredoms"-style project Goa Gajah brings him to Toronto for Wavelength. Nora Charles digs in.
Give our readers a little history on the band.
OK... Goa Gajah started two years ago. Philippe Lambert (a.k.a. Monstre) and I were working together quite a bit and doing outdoor experimental electronic events called OUT! -- these were open calls to our friends to come play and freak out in various outdoor locations, mainly on Mount Royal. OUT! of that came the idea to start a band, which was to be a loud rock band version of what we were doing with OUT!... at this point the line up tends to be myself on keyboards, Philippe Lambert on voice and electronics, Alex Moskos (The Unireverse) on electronics, and Will Glass (Crackpot etc.), Alex MacSween (Detention etc.) and Chris Olsen (Millipede) on drums. We are basically trying to synthesise our love of experimental and improvised music with a loud pop band thing... something that is cutting-edge and over-the-top but also fun for the audience. We like it when people dance at our shows.
You just released a CD?
The CD in question (The Electronic Humans Guild) is on my new label Robosapien Recordings... the Goa Gajah CD is out end of April on Robosapien as well...
Just how many bands are you in, and why?
I'm in a handful of "projects" at the moment... the main ones being the EHG, Goa Gajah, and The Ark of Infinity (live dub band). Why? I think these projects are trying to create some positive energy, I feel that it is important to be generating some good energy in the face of all the negativity that we are faced with right now.
Is Montreal good to its musicians?
Yes and no. I think it's getting harder to be an artist in Montreal. The rent is way higher, life in general costs more. Montreal has always been a cheesy club town, so it's great if you are making cheesy club music. There is indeed a strong experimental music scene which is supportive, but I'm not aware of too many folks making a living at it. So the answer to that would be: don't quit your day job.
Any favourite Bill Murray moments?
That is too difficult a question.
What was behind the transition from bass player to electronics wizard?
I think it's more about people's perception really -- I was doing electronic stuff in 1985, hardly in a wizardly fashion... but nonetheless. I still play bass in Ark of Infinity. In fact I would say that my grasp of electronics is quite poor, I just like messing around with that stuff. I am very curious and like being surprised, so I don't set out to master anything. These days, there is a mystification around old electronics, people think it's impressive that I have all this gear, but it's just junk that accumulates over the years. And besides, most of it is broken.
Does everyone in Montreal still hate Toronto?
Pretty much. I think Montrealers are afraid of Toronto and its sprawling endlessness.
What are you reading/listening to right now that you find earth-shattering?
Sun Ra is my god. Scott Walker is my hero. Fela Kuti is my idol. I'm reading a Fela biography right now and it's truly inspiring. Also lots of dub... dub is the future of music!
THE
MAGNETARS
WAVELENGTH 11
SUNDAY APRIL 28, 10:45PM
Purveyors of: Space-country instrumentals (and now some vocals too)
jonnydovercourt@sympatico.ca
Doc Pickles enjoyed a show by the Magnetars one night in March at the Victory Cafe opening for Drummer. The Magnetars are a shimmering, spacey, and mostly instrumental four piece, featuring Wavelengthers Nora Charles and Jonny Dovercourt. Band links are too numerous to mention here, but notably include Venus Cures All and Kid Sniper. After their set, the band was interviewed using question fragments based on attributes of the major bodies of the solar system (more accurately, these are metaphorical representations of the questions actually posed):
Sun: At the centre of this capade, bright ideas burn our fingertips.
Jonny: I've probably
had a lot of bad ideas that ended up burning my fingers.
Alex: On the advice of my attorney, I respectfully decline to answer the
question.
Sara: Music.
Sally: Better to have had your fingertips burned than never to have grasped
the flaming ball of fire at all.
Sara: Could I change my answer to music, poetry, and love?
Mercury: Speed best reigned in by constant rhythm.
Alex: Generally a band has a bandleader; for instance, in a jazz band the drummer leads. It's funny that in our band, that role tends to shift. We change our style from song to song.
Venus: All cures beneath overcast skies leading to greenhouse effects.
Sara: My initial answer
was to say everybody's forgotten about Venus (Cures All) except for me
but ...
Jonny: But hasn't it been the case that five years later people say "I
remember Venus, they were awesome!"?
Bruce Gordon (passerby from I Mother Earth): I remember Venus. They rocked.
Sara: But Toronto eats its own and then forgets them.
Sally: I love it when people ask us about Venus Cures All. Those are our
salad days.
Sara: I was the crouton.
Sally: You were the radish dressing. Sara was the rosebud radish.
Moon: Footprints of the eagle in the Sea of Tranquility.
Jonny: Well of course
you could ask, "Did we even go there in the first place?" There's a thought
that it was all Hollywood-studio, cold-war propaganda to show what gleaming
future lay ahead of them.
Alex: I thought that's what football was for.
Earth: Waterbound jewel of voices straining to be heard over one another. Some voices publish stories about their musical endeavours in their own magazines.
Jonny: Not to offend
the whole music scene, but that's the whole reason we started this. (Wavelength).
Sara: And my answer is, who else would write about us?
Jonny: It's kind of like a biosphere. Living things depend on a breathable
oxygen atmosphere, but a breathable oxygen atmosphere is only created
by other living things. You can't remove yourself from the process. If
you're involved with something passionately, then you're both observer
and participant.
Mars: A ghost voice stares heavenward, egging us on.
Jonny: I think we're
not alone and I think we're interlopers. The natural progression of the
universe is towards entropy, but life creates order out of disorder.
Alex: You're so post-modern, Jonny.
Sara: No, we're not alone in the universe. Yes, we're welcome here.
Jupiter: Unmistakable goliath, soft spot for swallowing the shoemaker's comets.
Alex: One major label
band I'm not ashamed of is Radiohead, even though I'm lame and still like
their older records better.
Jonny: First of all, you have to look at it like the old Ô60s era of bands
like The MC5 or The Stooges being on major labels -- that's over. I really
respect the new Trail of Dead album. I don't just respect them, I love
them. But I recognize that they're the exception to the rule.
Saturn: Rings in a band best seen from below.
Alex: There are so few (little-bands-made-good that I followed personally); there are so, so, so few. Somebody really obvious I'm forgetting about is Sarah Harmer; I like Weeping Tile a lot, and when she made it big with her most Muzak-ey stuff I felt as though something was wrong. The idea that someone I thought was good could be played on MIX radio was disturbing somehow.
Uranus: Sideways axis, sun shines forever overhead.
Sara: Q107 doing an all Who weekend (is perfect mid-afternoon music-on-the-dock-at-the-lake music). That's what we do -- we take a truck up there, park it, blast the radio all day and drink beer.
Neptune: Words echo soundlessly, it's dark in the shadows.
Sally: The lyrics, if we had any, would be about the disjunction between words and meaning. It's like a house of mirrors, you know, where the mirrors face each other.
Pluto: An outpost, a frozen sentry, twinned and oblique.
Sara: Ear Falls is not desperate and it's not bleak. It's awesome. It's about going in the lake because the ?? is gone. It's about a bear being in your best friend's basement because she just picked blueberries.
Nibiru: A mystery that exists only due to our own forgetfulness, the question you wish to know the answer to.
Jonny: You just asked
it.
Alex: I'm waiting for an answer.
Sara: How Ernest Shackleton didn't lose any men on his Antarctic expedition.
He put an ad in the paper that said "Men wanted for expedition, most likely
will not return," and four thousand people answered his ad. He was lost
on an ice flow, one thousand kilometers over the ocean. He crossed a mountain
range and got to a whaling station, and not one person died.
hangedup
WAVELENGTH 11
SUNDAY APRIL 28, 9:45PM
Purveyor of: "Scritchy-scratchy clatter with heart" (in their own writ)
www.cstrecords.com
Gravel-textured new-wave-classical-folk-noise duo and Constellation recording artists hangedup make the drive down the 401 from Montreal to T.O. for their second Wavelength engagement. Paddy O'Donnell corresponded with viola player Gen Heistek and drummer Eric Craven via email.
What is hangedup up to presently? Plans to record? Plans to tour?
Gen: We just finished
recording what might be a new album. It'll probably come out in the fall.
My friend describes it as the "saddest disco album in the world". We've
been living a pretty low-key existence of late, but we're planning to
get back in gear in April with a couple shows.
Eric: I would say that we did record a new record.
What is it like writing and performing as a duo? I imagine the two of you have a complementary working dynamic, and what you don't agree on falls by the wayside, or is this true?
Gen: The duo thing
can be tough sometimes, but limits can make you do/think things you might
never have considered otherwise. What we don't agree on goes to live on
in other projects. Both Eric and I play in other groupings that have little
to do with hangedup type kineticism. We have an increasingly clear idea
of what kind of thing we want to do together... and there's still things
we want to explore. You can think of it as something like a solo project:
the music is very exposed, and very much subject to individual personality,
but it's not so lonely.
Eric: Performing and writing as a duo is tough, but it has always pushed
us to think about things in differently than we would as larger band.
I think we are just starting to figure out how to make the duo thing work,
which probably means we are due for a third member or something.
Is there anything you've heard or seen recently that's made you feel rejuvenated, challenged or excited? What are you watching, listening to and reading these days?
Gen: I just read a
Miles Davis autobiography, which was excellent. It gave me think a lot
about perspective, and how most of us think we're sane, reasonable people,
which isn't necessarily the case.
Eric: I found Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain an inspired read.
The Douglas Campbell show at the VAG had a cool take on time and repetition
using film and photographs.
Is there anything new in the Montreal scene that people should know about? Is there anything old that should be reinvestigated?
Gen & Eric: The whole Casa "complex" has been booming, with lots of good shows. Their annual Jazz Festival is coming up in June, with a rumoured visit from the Brotzman Tentet and other great stuff. New records that rock our world: Fly Pan Am, Hrsta, J-robot.
Can you hint at what we might be likely to see at Wavelength for this hangedup performance? Anything we should watch out for?
Gen: It will be very
much like the last Wavelength show. Scritchy scratchy clatter with heart.
Bring your dancing shoes.
Eric: Hopefully it will be less wishy-washy than last year.
April 7
DJ Alex Lukashevsky
To peer into the mind of the Deep Dark United maestro, read Home Invasion on page 22.
April 14
DJ Papa Deer
Sponsor of the fifteen-minute epic song, facilitated by DJ Bathroom Break.
April 21
DJ Automata
Robot freestyles, circuit-board breaks, warm melodies, 100 pattern beat-bank, predicate logic, complete induction, laws of equivalence.
April 28
DJ Polmo Polpo (pictured)
Gehr toys emotionale, wirr basso xtra soce!! (and gritty too!)