May 2002

The Great Forgetting
Shut-IN
Arcade Fire
www.ocadaudio.ca
CCMC
Nobuo Kubota
Boygina
Atomic 7
The Paperbacks
The Tuffetts
The Returnables

THE GREAT FORGETTING
WAVELENGTH 112
SUNDAY MAY 5, 11:45PM
Purveyors of: Disrupting sonic lullabies for the dystopian generation
thegreatforgetting@hotmail.com

Having never met or even heard each other before, MontrŽal-based The Arcade Faire interviewed the Great Forgetting (Paul on guitar/vocals, Silvana on drums and a fill-in friend on bass for this show) via email. Here are the results:

If you guys all lived together in a mansion in London during Victorian times and your butler answered the door to find a baby girl wrapped up in a blanket on your doorstep, would you raise it together as a band? What would you name her?

We would raise her together, though I don't know if we could leave her alone with our bass player. I don't know if he could even look after a house plant. The child's name would be Destiny and we would raise her to be our tambourine and glockenspiel player and back-up singer. She would also be our tour manager, roadie, stage-coach driver, and our amp builder and inventor since these wouldn't have been made yet. We would take full advantage of the work ethic that the kiddies were used to in this Dickensian era. Cruel? Maybe, but it would beat shovelling coal.

Name a band or artist that you are embarrassed to like, but you just can't deny it anymore.

Jimmy Eat World. Silvana says they're like candy -- you have a taste and it's really good, and you eat more and more and more until you almost become sick and you don't want to see said candy ever again. I still smile when I hear them on the radio, though.

If each of you could trade yourself for another musician who played your instrument who would you choose?

Guitar: George Harrison, Doug Martsch or J. Robbins. Bass: Kim Coletta, Nate Mendel or Joe Lally. Drums: Susie Ibarra, Elvin Jones or Doug Scharin. Vocals: The Beach Boys or Ike and Tina.

Why do you play music as opposed to being an accountant or a nurse or something like that?

How do you know we don't do those things in the day? For better or worse, we don't do those things, though there are other day-job hats we wear (but we won't bore you with the details). We play music because it's a satisfying, life-affirming, invigorating and touching mode of expression. Playing music also offers the opportunity to build creative and intellectual friendships and communities all over the place. We also have juvenile rock'n'roll fantasies of all sorts that we hope to live out before we're gone.

When was the last time you were riding in a car and you heard a song on commercial radio that made you feel really happy? You may have to reach way back here.

You know, I kind of like listening to Q107 on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes it's pretty funny, but it's also kind of rad that they play Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck and The Beach Boys all in the same set. I can't stand "modern rock radio" that includes mall-punk-by-numbers and the nu-metal, faux-angst constipated-singer stuff. If CBC and college radio isn't available, I tend to just drive in silence.

SHUT-IN
WAVELENGTH 112
SUNDAY MAY 5, 10:45PM
Purveyors of: Tongue-stuck-on-frozen-pole rock
shutin1@hotmail.com

Having formed just over a year ago, Shut-IN are definitely one of the more promising new bands to emerge in our city. A couple of the players previously blew both minds and eardrums in the late, much-lamented Pecola, while another offers his six-string services in the brooding yet beautiful Picastro. Shut-IN's sound picks up where Pecola had left off. The intense vocals, dueling dissonant guitars, ballistic bass lines, and pounding polyrhythms are all there, though Shut-IN possess a more coherent, dare I suggest, catchy-yet-warped pop element to their songcraft. This lil' interview was conducted via email on the eve of their debut CD release party.

Who and what is Shut-IN? We know you've been asked this before; as there was no answer then, we thought we'd probe again Ôcause we want to know: Why the name Shut-IN? Can you offer any explanation as to the meaning behind this for you? What about the title of your new CD, Would Never Hope Happen?

For different folks, Shut-IN may suggest/mean different things -- a Christian will have a different interpretation than an urban hipster, who will think differently from a policeman in a small town, whose take on Shut-IN will not be the same as a vet. We like the porousness of the term. Take it for what it is for YOU! The EP title is a shortened version of a sentence. I like that Palace LP title, There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You, and thought I would play on that idea of fucking up the tenses and pronouns. The original sentence means a helluva lot, to me anyways, but here appears in its distorted version.

It's been about a year since you've played Wavelength... what are some significant things that have happened to the band within this time?

Discovered the satisfaction of the raffle. Inked HUGE management/publishing/Internet deal. Put up Christmas lights. Re-discovered the four-track and discovered the mini-disc recorder. Learned how to work really goddamn fast. Bought new bass machine. Heard the Fatal Flying Guilloteens and got minds blown. Put our trust in Daggy Lungsford. Solidified our lineup and made plans. Got things done, just like Johnny LaRue.

What makes you get up in the morning? In this frightening, dystopian age that has become the 21st century, many question the relevance of art and music. What's your take on this? What gives you the drive to be Shut-IN when being in an indie-rock/punk-rock band is becoming an increasingly difficult and underappreciated pursuit?

Having worked in the corporate market, I know who you mean when you say many question the relevance of art and music. In a total economy where everything down to our DNA will soon be for sale, of course art and music is viewed as irrelevant by people with no creative conceptions beyond where they will find the next market for their product and/or idea. How insane and fucked up that the concept of an "idea" has become a tradeable commodity! The gatekeepers of this society and culture keep creativity and critical thinking at bay -- BUT, this makes creation imperative. Choosing between the destruction of capitalism and the creations of the imaginative mind is a no-brainer. As far as money goes, well... we'll do our thing and see what happens. Underappreciated is not so much a concern if we're pleased as punch.

Name one film that you could envision a Shut-IN song being in.

One scene I wished we could have scored is the ice skating climax in Julien Donkey-Boy. We'd be into scoring our friends' films too. Friends, where are your films?

Can you run us through a typical Shut-IN rehearsal?

Any antics or anecdotes you care to reveal? There's sometimes an argument. It takes a while to get the lights on properly.

Where to you want to take Shut-IN? What's up next?

Record a full-length album, or a double-LP, that will scorch this earth.

-- interview by The Great Forgetting

-- Mr. Boon

ARCADE FIRE
WAVELENGTH 112
NOTE: ARCADE FIRE WILL NOT BE APPEARING MAY 5. THEIR 9:45 TIMESLOT WILL BE FILLED BY MODEL.
Purveyors of: That post-rock orchestra thing it seems like only Montrealers can get away with

Shut-IN discovered the Arcade Fire people on a brave expedition to the wilds of Montreal, and brought them back to the colonial stronghold of Toronto for our amusement and edification. Apparently this group's leader, Win (short for Edwin), has some impressive lineage. Shut-IN interviewed Arcade Fire to explain why they are such an exciting find.

Please tell us about the pedigree of Win -- full name, family history, history as part of the history of rock, etc. What about the pedigree and history of the rest of the band Ð other bands, interesting histories, etc.etc

Edwin Farnham Butler III: I'm from Texas. The grandpa I get my name from is a boat builder, and my grandpa on my mom's side is the "grandfather of the pedal steel guitar" (Alvino Rey). I guess that means I'm related to the pedal steel guitar.
Myles Evan Broscoe: My dad is in Rake, a free jazz band from Ottawa.
RŽgine Alexandra Chassagne: My Mom is dead. I like Debussy, Ravel, orchestras, 1940's dance bands, electric guitars and interesting beats. I studied a little jazz, a little classical, but mostly on my own. I'm in music school, but I hate it. I like outdoor sounds. I wish I was a dancer.
Dane Aaron Mills: I played in AntiAntenna Recordings group Static Is Silver, and also The Electric End.
Brendan David Reed: Born in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. I was in the one-note band called Daschund Phooey Great Dane.

How has the Arcade Fire sound and meaning advanced since the band's inception?

Dane: We used to be a more standard twang-rock thing but this year things got crazy with the dance beats, psychedelia and chamber orchestration. The performance aspect of the band has also become a lot more prominent.
RŽgine: I want to incorporate classical and folk instruments into our songs. I want to write arrangements so that small ensembles can play with us.
Win: The way the band sounds has changed dramatically as it has grown. The main trick has been to write hundreds of songs that are pretty bad, and about 30 that are pretty good, and maybe 4 that are great. The goal for me is to have a band that sounds like the music Bob Dylan would have written if he grew up listening to New Order and had Smokey Robinson's band as a back-up band and Debussy writing string and horn arrangements. The only problem I foresee is that none of us are actually those people, but fortunately I like the music we make also. I think anyone in this band could have a band all by themselves and they would have one of the better bands around.

The Arcade Fire are based out of Montreal. So are a lot of other wonderful things. To wit: The Shalabi Effect, Mont Royal, Schwartz's, Montreal Jazz Festival, BYOB restaurants, St. Viateur bagels, Leonard Cohen, quarts, Santropol. Please explain/interpret.

RŽgine: MontrŽal est pleine de touristes.
Win: The band being in Montreal is pretty strange. RŽgine is the only person who is really from here. I moved up here to play in the band with my two friends Josh and Tim, but Tim moved to New Mexico, and Josh quit the band this year, but I fell in love (with the city and with my friend RŽgine), so I stayed here. Brendan moved here from Virginia on a whim with his sister and decided to stay, and Dane and Myles were lured here from Ontario like flies to the piece of delicious raw meat that is Montreal. The city has a lot to do with the band, because there would be no band otherwise. Thank you Montreal! If you are looking for a way to learn more about Montreal I recommend the 1940s documentary Montreal: Rhapsody in Two Languages. We watched it in me and Myles' film history class.

Win sings lyrics you can actually hear. One stanza I wrote in my book after seeing you at a loft in Montreal goes like this: "You kiss/like there's a tourist in your heart." How do the words impact the music, the live show, the overall Arcade Fire jenesaisquoi? Especially in this age when so few people give lyrics any attention anyhow. The band seems really driven by the focus on the words, and I love it.

Win: I like people to hear the words I sing because I think hearing what someone is saying is a good way to tell whether or not they are full of crap. One trick is not to try to rhyme the words "party" and "body".

Do the Arcade Fire have plans for the future? Do the Arcade Fire care that the Montreal Canadiens made it to the hockey playoffs? Is hockey a non-topic? Is the future a non-topic?

Win: We are recording this whole summer in my barn in Maine. Also we are going to move to Brussels, Belgium, in a year and a half. I watched my first hockey game during this last Olympics, and I think one game every 22 years or so ought to tide me over.

www.ocadaudio.ca
WAVELENGTH 113
SUNDAY MAY 12

www.ocadaudio.ca is both an online "public archive of audio compositions created by artists connected to the Ontario College of Art & Design and a series of live shows celebrating OCAD's 125th anniversary, as well as the art school's contributions to Toronto's musical community over the years. May 12's Wavelength is the fourth and last in this series -- in keeping with this issue's theme, some of the participants interviewed each other for our humble zine.

_badpacket_ (with Rob Fines) -- 9:15pm

_badpacket_ (Mike Steventon and Michelle Kasprzak) use performance as a vehicle for the exploration of contemporary issues relating to the interfacing of humans and machines. In particular, they examine the changing role of human biology in the age of smart machines and genetic modification, and the evolution taking place within the architecture of human communication. _badpacket_ use computer generated imagery, performance, live video mixing and projection to create a unique layered environment that taps into our hopes and fears for the future of technology. Combining the use of digital, analogue, and live techniques allows _badpacket_ to plunder the immediacy of the internet, the fluidity of live video mixing, and the responsive interactivity of performance.

BENTLEY JARVIS & SON -- 10pm

Bentley Jarvis has been composing and performing electro-acoustic music since 1975, teaching electroacoustics at the Ontario College of Art and Design since 1983 and at the Glenn Gould Professional School of the Royal Conservatory of Music since 2001. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian League of Composers, the President of the Forest City Gallery in London, Ontario, and Vice-President of the Canadian Electro-Acoustic Community. His music has been heard in concert and on radio throughout Europe, North and South America. He lives in London with his wife Susan Davies and children Anna and Simon. -- bio from www.soundsymposium.com

OHVOV -- 11:20pm

As everyone knows, Jubal Brown is Toronto's #1 colour-puking bad boy of visual art. His audio project OHVOV (Oh Huge Vault Of Vaseline) is "a semi-improvisational, experimental noise project reminiscent of artists like Throbbing Gristle", according to stainedproductions.com. Tasman Richardson (a.k.a. The Blameshifter) interrogates him:

When is noise music?

I don't care. I don't draw distinctions. People spend their time judging whether something is or isn't... I've got better things to do.

Are you a musician?

I don't think of myself as a musician. It's the new folk for spare time. I could tell you more about my bodily functions, either because I'm not good at music or educated in it. I haven't got any ideas or messages, it's just a natural function. I pursue that which comes out of play. Interesting play is as valuable as anything else.

THE BLAMESHIFTER -- 11:40pm

Tagged as " latest player in the T-dot's intensifying IDM scene" (that's Intelligent Dance Music, folks) by eye's Andre Mayer, Tasman Richardson is The Blameshifter. Here. he is interviewed by Bentley Jarvis:

Who are your influences and how have they influenced you?

David Cronenberg's Videodrome, The Futurists, William S. Burroughs' "Towers Open Fire," George Bataille's "Story of the Eye"... for constucting a perfect world for torture/piracy/porn/espionage philosophies. "The sound track is the image track."

Who is your audience? Where is your work heard and seen?

Anyone with good taste. Anywhere with good taste.

How has your work changed since you left OCAD?

Suddenly, the cash vacuum meant no equipment, but then I baby-stepped my way to the tools. OCAD pulled the rug out from under me and shit on my head. Now I can honestly say I'll never depend on anyone but myself. Thank you, OCAD!?

Do you have any advice for OCAD students wanting to do work similar to yours?

Yes. Fuck off and get your own ideas.

Was OCAD a good choice for someone wanting to do the kind of work you do?

OCAD was the only choice at the time. It's not the teachers or the facilities, it was the competitive, cutthroat atmosphere at the time. This makes for good adversaries and loyal frendships. This was a temporary situation. If someone wants to make any kind of work they should surround themselves with hungry, jealous, talented peers.

What limitations do you find in the technology you are using?

The whole medium is riddled with glitches. I don't think I work with technology, I just assist glitches and the machines take advantage of me. Bastards.

How could the government help support work such as yours?

It could leave me in peace to make and display whatever I want. Just mind its own business and stop pretending to care.

What is your favorite colour?

Ultra-violet.

CCMC
WAVELENGTH 113
SUNDAY MAY 12, 10:20PM
Purveyors of: "Calamitous Club, Meet Crazies"?
Left to right: Snow, Oswald, Dutton

Hot on the heels of CCMC saxophonist/plunderphonicist/all-'round polymath recluse John Oswald's cover story in this month's issue of music-geek bible The Wire, he and the rest of the local improv institution (equally-revered renaissance guys in their own right, mainstay/founder Michael Snow on piano and/or CAT synthesizer and Paul Dutton on microphone, lungs, larynx and spiels) traded off emails with ex-CCMCer and OCAD alumnus Nobuo Kubota in anticipation of the trio's May 12th ocadaudio.ca Wavelength appearance. The results are in:

JOHN OSWALD

What were the influences and antecedents that led to the invention of "plunderphonics"?

Phonograph records.

How did you discover and develop your unique style and technical approach to the saxophone?

I began playing the saxophone in a noisy band in the early Ô70's. I couldn't hear myself. For a couple of years, I never practised or played by myself, so I didn't know what I sounded like.

MICHAEL SNOW

How does your free improvisational music-making inform your visual art practice and, in turn, how does your visual art practice inform your free improvisational music-making?

My free improvisational music-making has almost no relation to my visual art practice. One is a holiday from the other, and vice versa.

PAUL DUTTON

What is "soundsinging" and how does it differ from other forms of singing?

First of all, the term. I coined it after a conversation sometime around the mid-Ô90s with Toronto painter and turntablist Mike Hansen in which Mike, speaking of Jeanne Lee, said "Yeah, she sings sounds, too." I later discovered that jazz critic Michael Bourse wrote of Greetje Bijma in 1991, that "she wasn't singing the usual scat, she was singing sounds." I use the word soundsinging to refer to singing governed more by the utterance of sounds than of notes. Yeah, yeah, I know, notes are sounds, but sounds are not necessarily notes. Gargles, grunts, gasps, lip-farts and smacks, tongue-pops, forced air through pursed lips, cackles, wheezes, snorts, rasps, rumbles, cheek-flapping, and a whole panoply of other such sounds, are not certainly not notes in the generally accepted sense. (The uptown term for those effects is "extended vocal technique," which I find odious. I'm an artist, a poet-singer, not a technician.) Soundsinging, to me, also includes such effects as multiphonics (overtones, etc.), inhaled speech and song, chirps, tweets, whistle-singing and pure whistling -- anything and everything the human vocal apparatus is capable of. The term, by the way, hasn't caught on. Phil Minton, for one, still calls his work simply "singing", which I think very valid. And Jaap Blonk steadfastly continues to call himself a "sound poet", a term I'm not willing to apply to myself in all my modes of oral sound art.

Does your approach to free improvisation in performances with CCMC and other groups differ from your solo performances of improvisations and written works?

My approach to improv in any situation, solo or ensemble, remains pretty much the same, which is that I'm trying to get somewhere else, lost in whatever the creation is, yanked out of thought and tapped into some other zone of mental and emotional openness, a spiritual plane of being, which I don't mean in any sappy way, but tough spirituality: beauty, not prettification -- all this sprung from whatever's going on in me and the other players, and the audience, and the collective energy we're generating. My pre-set solo works (not always written, as such, often structured only loosely, and almost always including scope for improvisation, whether free or constrained) have a similar focus, but try to reach the goal through a different means, a more calculated, formally considered approach.

NOBUO KUBOTA
WAVELENGTH 113
SUNDAY MAY 12, 11PM
Purveyor of: The human larynx
nobuo@sympatico.ca

Nobuo Kubota has been extremely active in the fields of architecture, sculpture, video, installation and sound art -- specifically sound poetry -- since the 1970s. Here, Jubal Brown interviews him in Wavelength's record-breaking shortest interview ever:

What's up with the Zen pussy shit anyway?

"Four socks guarantee a matching pair."

What's sexier, Christina Aguilera or Zen rock gardens?

Ask your dentist.

When you fart, is it sound poetry?

The "fart" is an internal entity, purely spiritual and assuming externality only when it is revealed by its sound, which bursts forth into the sensate world. It is indivisible and partless, consciousness in essence, and, therefore, luminous.

BOYGINA
WAVELENGTH 114
SUNDAY MAY 19, 11PM
Purveyors of: Your first band, if you were as brilliant as you thought you were
hussiexxx@hotmail.com

It's a dark and stormy night... new punks on the block Boygina stumble into the Cadillac Lounge and challenge Parkdale's reigning sparkle kings Atomic 7 to a duel. Rather than shots, questionnaires are exchanged. What twist of fate brought these two opposing gangs into this fiendish battle of wits? The omniscient masters of Wavelength, of course, who saw that Boygina's messy, sweaty-like-teen-sex punk and Atomic 7's suave, boogie-inducing surf-exotica shared the same spirit. Read on, brave reader, as below, Boygina is interviewed by Atomic 7, and in the next segment, the tables are turned indeed...

I admit I know nothing about Boygina except you have been described to me as "loud and sweaty".

Is that loud and sweaty in a Paula Abdul kind of way or an X-Ray Spex kind of way?

Do you remember that Paula Abdul video where these square record execs are sitting in her New York lofty dance studio and she's auditioning her new number and there's all this body-popping and glistening bodies and writhing flesh and half-lidded eyes and syncopated heavy breathing and ripped leotards and some sort of jungle gym, scaffolding structure and there's probably some hair flipping in there and a lot of that serious, "I'ma gonna sex you up" look that you do when you're having sex and you want to be really intense? And the execs are getting all hot and bothered and squirming in their seats and flushed and speechless when Paula comes up to them and asks what they thought? Remember that? Whatever happened to Paula Abdul?

How did you come to be Boygina?

Prematurely.

Working with Shadow Morton (svengali to The Shangri-Las) must have been difficult. Are you making more records?

We have moved on and now work exclusively with Rockette Morton, Shadow's brother. They don't get along but we like Rockette as long as there is a cross-breeze through the studio and cabbage isn't in season.

Is there a song you wished you had written?

The closing theme to WKRP in Cincinnatti. (I don't know how to spell Cincinatti.) That's a good one.

Who would you like to hear cover one of your songs? Is that because you are fans or is it more a bizarro world attraction to see someone else hears your music?

Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music singing our ballad, "Do Anal." Or maybe Sonny & Cher doing it (singing the song, not actually doing anal) for Jimmy Carter at his inauguration.

Is there a Boygina motto or creed that could be marketed in the form of a bumper sticker or on the side of a blimp?

Mainly Because of the Meat.

Congratulations on your Grammy nomination. See you on the 19th.

Thanks, Atomic 7.

ATOMIC 7
WAVELENGTH 114
SUNDAY MAY 19, 10PM
Purveyors of: Style, miles and miles of style
Photo by: Nora Charles

Name all seven members of your band and their role in the band:

1. Myron Breckenridge, clapper boy. 2. Clinton Ryder, low man on the tonal pole. 3. Jerome Green, Moroccos. 4. Mike Andriosso, the Russian of percussion. 5. Shorty Petterstein, mental blocks. 6. Brian Connelly, hi-fi enthusiast. 7. Gene Pitney, vocals (but never shows up for practice).

Who writes the lyrics?

The Conky 2000 secret lyric generator.

With your pro-nuclear stance, how will you win over the many Greenpeace-affiliated Boygina fans?

Four of our members have volunteered to miss the show on the 19th to go throw rocks at France.

Will the rockabilly boys and girls who I assume flock to your shows make fun of Boygina's white-on-white fashion sense and our bad hair (except for Shannon, our drummer, who has good hair)?

I checked with both of them and they said they would shake it sassy-style to any band with a righteous, right-on name like Boygina.

How long will Boygina guitarist Terence Dick put up with the heaviness of his guitar amplifier (an amp that used to belong to Atomic 7's Brian Connelly) before he trades it for a smaller, lighter amp?

Terence will never get rid of his Super Reverb amp because it is a super amp... with reverb! Its heaviness will only make Terence stronger. Terence knows he should suffer for his art.

Should amplifiers be bought based on how heavy they are and how strong the guitarist is?

No. No. No. Amplifiers should be purchased strictly on their snazzy names. When they start to market amplifiers with names like "the Ray Liotta" or "the Nicholas Cage," the world will become a better place.

What's it like playing the Gem (that bar on Davenport that I believe Atomic 7 has played at)?

The Gem is the go-go dance capitol of the world! Its staff have been immortalised in such songs as "Artistry In Nachos," "She's Got Haggar Party Slacks," "Ovens Are Important" and "Muskrat Love." You can slowdance to the best jukebox on the planet under the loving, watchful eye of a frosty sno-cone machine which Eddie has left to me in his will.

Isn't Ben from the Gem nice?

Ben? Most people would turn him away... I don't listen to a word they say... they don't see him like I do... I wish they would try to... I'm sure they'd think again... if they had a friend like Ben.

List the qualities of a good rock'n'roll drummer:

1. The ones that can leap off their seats and can play standing up are real keepers. 2. The Dave Clark Five snare drum roll is a wicked must! 3. They must be able to carry heavy guitar amplifiers.

Explain the importance of:

a. reverb

Kind of like oxygen and coffee for your ears.

b. natural distortion

Nine out of 10 Greenpeace-affiliated Boygina fans prefer natural distortion over the gross unnatural kind.

c. Brylcream

Let's say Brylcream is the "Le Chateau" of hair goo. Many of my hardcore friends swear by such products as "Oily Pete's" or "Hey There Exxon Head." If you want some hillbilly flair, why not try some bacon fat or lard?

THE PAPERBACKS
WAVELENGTH 115
SUNDAY MAY 26, 11:45PM
SNEAKY DEE'S, 431 COLLEGE ST.
Purveyors of: Punk from the garage (pronounced "garridge" like Joe Strummer in "Garageland")

Homeland: Chicago.

Elements: Five.

Influences: Lots, many, they are legion.

Natural enemies: Boredom, stupidity, pointlessness.

Fave colour: Black.

First show: December 2000, with NYC's legendary Dictators.

Amongst our weaponry: Super Reverb Amp, Thunderbird, SVT, The Telecaster, Valvestate 4x12, and a Pearlescent drum kit festooned with nearly 30 years of kickass punk-rock stickers.

Fave drink: Beer. A great controversy rages within The Paperbacks camp, however, concerning preferences amongst band members. Laura (vox) and Jay (guitar) both favor lagers and Pilsners, usually domestic but certainly not limited to such. Drier, lighter-bodied beers work best for them, and they have been known to turn down the more fully robust ales favored by Reg and Rob (rhythm section), most specifically any strong India Pale Ale by smaller, independent makers. Chris (guitar) would never turn down any beer that is offered to him, and while he has lately found himself strongly in the "ale" camp, he can always be counted on to try something new or unusual, like a Belgian lambic or geuze, or even a high-gravity Finnish state brew. He's not called "The Sweeper" for nothing.

Ride: Aerostar XLT, baby.

* A special tip of the hat to the Canadian Paperbacks who, although we have not met, clearly have good taste in band names.

THE TUFFETTS
WAVELENGTH 115
SUNDAY MAY 26, 10:45PM
SNEAKY DEE'S, 431 COLLEGE ST.
Purveyors of: Bombastic power-trio rock
www.thetuffetts.com

Three inter-connected (through membership and beer drinking) Chicago bands hit Toronto for a special "rock caravan" Wavelength at Sneaky Dee's on Sunday, May 26, 2002. Rob (drummer for The Paperbacks) interviewed Melissa and Reg of The Tuffetts on Sunday, March 31, 2002.

Today is Easter Sunday, The Ten Commandments is on TV... What's the Tuffett take on holidays? Are there any particular band memories worth relating? Do you ever incorporate holiday elements into your shows?

Reg: Holidays are pretty inconsequential to me unless they involve getting a paid day off work. As a Sunday-only holiday, Easter really has no impact, except for the yearly showing of The Ten Commandments on network TV. Yul Brynner and Edward G. Robinson give career-defining performances. I've done holiday-related cover bands for Halloween before, full-on Misfits and Cramps productions with costumes and attitudes, but The Tuffetts work on more of a seasonal basis than through specific holidays.
Melissa: As an avid "Pope-junkie" I must say that Easter has no specific meaning to me other than seeing the Pope on TV giving his yearly Easter blessing.

You have described your sound as "Cher meets Killing Joke," amongst other comparisons. What would you say to the following descriptive combination: Tiffany meets Creed? Discuss.

Reg: "Tiffany meets Creed" means "marketing meets marketing" to me. I don't see how they really involve music to any extent, other than as an adjunct to the selling of their "images" via radio/TV. Any Tuffetts comparisons I would ever make are intended to convey some inkling of what we sound like, which isn't easy. I don't think we sound like any single thing that's out there, it's more a combination of our musical histories and likes/dislikes, so description is difficult. If you're in a band that is at all original, making people understand what you do musically through words alone can be very tough.
Melissa: "Tiffany meets Creed" says: "M.I.L.F. meets crap." I'm referring, of course to Tiffany's recent Playboy spread and Creed's consistent sucking. If you're seeking to compare The Tuffetts to Tiffany and Creed, I'll take Tiffany for 500, Rob.

Some members of the Tuffetts are definite gear-heads, if not outright then by default. What's more important: the music or the gear?

Melissa: I'll let Reg handle this. I think his gear-head tendencies have reached critical mass in the last few years.
Reg: One is essential in support of the other, I think. I've taught myself a lot about musical gear and electronics over the past few years in order to know more about how things work, and to make sure they continue to work live or in the practice space. Nothing's worse than seeing a band hit the first few notes of a set, then break a string or blow an amp, bringing things to a complete halt. Having gear that works for you -- whether it's "good" or "expensive" or "strangely quirky" stuff -- puts the odds of a better sound and a better show in your favor. Plus it's fun, and to some extent it's in my veins -- my grandfather was an electrician.

You are known to be gourmands to a certain extent. I want to know your feelings on "rock music" as it compares to the world of cuisine. What correlations between the two have you observed, or can you make? How would you compare your audience to a given restaurant's patrons?

Reg: I'd say we're like French cuisine from the "typical" American perspective: we're high quality and taste good, but a lot of people would never try it because of their presuppositions about it. Also we're saucy.
Melissa: Mmmmmmm, sauce. I'd have to agree with the "French" comparison. However I've got to add that with French cuisine the food and flavours are very basic, with sauce designed to complement the simple flavours of the food. We're a meat-and-potatoes band with a really great white truffle-infused beurre blanc sauce.

THE RETURNABLES

WAVELENGTH 115
SUNDAY MAY 26, 10:45PM
SNEAKY DEE'S, 431 COLLEGE ST.
Purveyors of: Your bad-ass older sister's record collection
www.geocities.com/thereturnables

The Returnables like Canada. They all could identify Dudley-Do-Right on first glance. They didn't skirt the issue when I asked who they thought was better, Triumph or Rush -- Reggie holds an emphatic torch for Triumph. Hell, they've even been turned away at the border and they're still trying to get in. Hoping for better luck with a border crossing this time around, they are preparing for a roadtrip at the end of May for a Wavelength showcase, as well as some extra-curricular activities. I sat down with the boys one fine March evening to shed some light on the anomaly that is The Returnables. What follows is not for the faint of heart, and really, in all seriousness, they do love Canada.

So give me some background information on The Returnables. Are all of you from around Chicago or did you get together elsewhere?

Reggie Lee Ray (bass): We've been together for the last three years, but we've known each other for a long time. Three of us went to college in Madison, and Art is from Chicago originally.

You have a record coming out May 14th on Jettison Music. How did you guys get hooked up with them?

Art Pop Lee Ray (drums): I know Jeff Lescher, who's in the band Green. I went to see a show of theirs and he introduced me to the folks at Jettison. I just happened to have a Returnables CD on me, and I gave it to the Jettison party. The rest is history.
Reggie: On a side note, I know Jeff [Lescher] from meeting him in the personals; I answered his "boy-seeking-other" ad.

So are you planning on hitting the road for this release?
Frankie Lee Ray (guitar): Uh, we're playing in Aurora.

Um, OK. Speaking of hitting the road, are The Returnables inundated with groupies? Has anyone ever gotten laid as a direct result of being a Returnable?

Reggie: No, but I have been turned down a lot.
Frankie: My girlfriend was a Returnable -- then I plotted to take her place in the band and then make her mine. (rubs his hands together maniacally)

I've been having a lot of discussions regarding bad band comparisons. People always describe a band's sound as a cross between band-A and band-B. This usually brings on really awful comparisons, for example, any band with women in it are compared to L7 regardless of the volume. What's the worst, or most inaccurate, band comparison you've ever heard for The Returnables?

Bobby James Lee Ray (guitar): Someone once said that we had "good, tight harmonies," which was pretty off.
Frankie: Ashley from Buffalo said she thought we sounded like a cross between Blink-182 and The Strokes. That was pretty offensive.

So what has been the most accurate comparison?

Bobby James: Well, someone once said Motorhead -- it's not exactly accurate, but it's good. We've heard everything from The Saints, to The Jam and The Undertones. Before The Returnables, two of us were in an Undertones cover-band called The Under-clones, so I guess you could say those comparisons are pretty accurate.
Art Pop: I think someone once described us as a cross between The Replacements and The Beach Boys looking for Clem Burke. That's pretty good.

I'm keeping in line with our compatriots, in that we're asking each band in our Chicago caravan one question that is the same. If The Returnables' music had to be compared to cuisine, what would your music taste like?

Reggie: A White Castle "Slider" at 4am, cooked by people who couldn't get on the day shift.

OK guys, last question. What are you most looking forward to doing when you're in Canada?

Art Pop: Changing money.
Frankie: Curling.
Reggie: Beating up some Maple Leafs fans.
Bobby James: Bagging Celine Dion.

-- interview by Miss Muffett, Tuffett extraordinaire