I wrote this about a local hip hopper. Dig it.
Original Location at City Weekly. Or pick up the old school paper version in person at a CW drop location. Like a coffee shop or one them lil boxes they got.
Salt Lake City emcee/hip-hop producer Mike Booth is known for his signature symphonic hooks and lyrics in The Fantasmic Four and The Bad Apples, his project with Louis Wildamiss. Their latest release, How Ya Like Dem Apples Pt. I (Penalty Box Records), has snagged plenty of strong critical acclaim and delivers a sound somewhere between The Beastie Boys and Eminem. Booth also hosts a weekly radio show on GlobeRadio.slcc.edu, every Saturday, noon-2 p.m.
Mike Booth
31 years old
Utah resident for 6 years
Originally from Northtown, Las Vegas, NV
So, I hear you’re into nature. Any favorite spots?
The Salt Flats. You figure it out [Booth wryly implies something about deserts being good places to dispose of ‘things’]. I used to paint graffiti all the time. That was back when I’d really get out in nature.
How long did you actively paint graffiti?
12 years
Who are some of your favorite street artists?
Bike and Snipe. Those kids are ill. And they’re local cats. Snipes shit is awesome: some of the coolest stuff around.
Who are some of your most idolized national street artists?
Kier and Chew.
What crew did you associate with when you were actively bombing back in the day?
I can’t say what crew I was in because we were in the Salt Lake Sheriff’s radar for a while.
You seem to be very real with your take on the classic “Four Elements” of hip-hop.
That’s the epitome of what [I do]. It’s how I live, I rap, I write graffiti. I used to break dance. Now I DJ. Just ‘cause I’m married with kids doesn’t mean shit. This is my life. If you’re doing something past 25, it’s not a phase—it’s who you are.
What have you been reading lately?
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.
How do you give back to the community? Any charities have your support?
Renew the zoo. I did some props for that. And anytime autism is involved; we’re going out to San Jose to do a show for people who raise money for autism. We’d be willing to hook up with somebody locally to give proceeds of the whole album and just sell it for them.
Perfect afternoon?
Hanging out with my girls and recording music. Although the radio station is pretty fun, but what can you do in an afternoon?
Favorite watering hole?
Monk’s
Favorite venue to play?
Harry O’s was pretty damned good; it was pretty fresh as a venue. Club Sound, too.
Favorite lunch spot?
Moochies
Coffee fix?
Cafe Expresso (drive thru).
What does the future hold? Any plans to move?
I’ll stay for at least the next four or five years. Right now this is nice, besides it being cold, which sucks. I’m kind of a pussy. I grew up in Vegas. I’m like, “It’s 70 degrees in here—it’s cold!”
Any upcoming events scheduled?
The radio show and we’re gonna be hosting a $500 emcee battle Feb. 7. That’s gonna be at 859 E. 800 South. We’ve got tickets for $10.
12.19.2008
12.09.2008
It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia is pretty goshdarntootin good.
Not to oversell it, but this show is one of the best I've seen in a few years. More so than Curb Your Enthusiasm this show picks up the torch where the Seinfeld series left off. It is a bit more "random" than that series but it serves the ADD generation well.
I watch it with little commercial interruption, thank god, on hulu.com.
I've watched most of the last two seasons during "downtime" and I can't speak enough to how very awesome, in only the way a non-laughtracked American sitcom can be, this series is.
Check it out if you haven't yet. I should have payed attention to all the critics who were praising this in years past. Did I mention Danny Fucking DeVito is in this series! How awesome is that. I had to watch Cheers as a youth and this series does a better job of showing off that little man's comedic chops better than most of his work. Here's another blast from the 80's past. Fucking FRED SAVAGE is one of the producers. Unless he has a really bad sense of personal branding, this Fred Savage is THE Fred Savage from The Wonder Years. And if you don't know what Cheers or The Wonder Years are please go somewhere else and stop making me feel so old.
-jp
Not to oversell it, but this show is one of the best I've seen in a few years. More so than Curb Your Enthusiasm this show picks up the torch where the Seinfeld series left off. It is a bit more "random" than that series but it serves the ADD generation well.
I watch it with little commercial interruption, thank god, on hulu.com.
I've watched most of the last two seasons during "downtime" and I can't speak enough to how very awesome, in only the way a non-laughtracked American sitcom can be, this series is.
Check it out if you haven't yet. I should have payed attention to all the critics who were praising this in years past. Did I mention Danny Fucking DeVito is in this series! How awesome is that. I had to watch Cheers as a youth and this series does a better job of showing off that little man's comedic chops better than most of his work. Here's another blast from the 80's past. Fucking FRED SAVAGE is one of the producers. Unless he has a really bad sense of personal branding, this Fred Savage is THE Fred Savage from The Wonder Years. And if you don't know what Cheers or The Wonder Years are please go somewhere else and stop making me feel so old.
-jp
Fashion Renegade: The Fabulous Life of Jared Gold
by JP [jonathanpaxton@gmail.com]
December 2008 [View Issue]
Perhaps you've heard about his jeweled cockroaches and about the Black Chandelier boutique. Or maybe you've heard talk about that one runway show that floored the fashionistas in the old Grand Hall Train Station for his Caspian runway Collection. Regardless, you've definitely heard about him: fashion designer Jared Gold.
Too many words can be used to describe Gold. But he is all these things: fashion icon, tiny-toy rockstar, perfume aficionado, horror-movie fan and chocolatier. Salt Lake City has never seen a beast such as this and perhaps it was never quite ready for Gold's genius. Although he describes what he does modestly, "I just like to make cool stuff. That's what I want to do," he has hit the top of the fashion world and is pushing the ceiling (expect a TV show very soon, more on this in a bit). His accomplishments are all very impressive coming from a guy raised in the metropolitan burg of Idaho Falls. Gold trained at many prestigious schools in varied disciplines, polishing up the accomplished fashion impresario he has morphed into at The Otis School of Design in Los Angeles and at the Piano Conservatory of Hawaii.
Unfortunately for Salt Lake City, Gold recently relocated to Los Angeles where he says, "I love it. It is so easy to live there and do what I'm doing. There's a support system. I have this really fabulous penthouse in Hollywood. I don't have anything to complain about." He still has fond recollections of Salt Lake City though, "I really like Salt Lake. I love living here. I love the snow. I love how receptive everyone was of something kinda freaky in what I was trying to do. It is shocking when you explain elsewhere what you did here and how everyone responded to it. They can't comprehend. Just because it's a really conservative place in their minds."
Perhaps the unfortunate undoing of Gold's Black Chandelier experience in Utah was how quickly successful it was: it ballooned too big, too fast. "I was working with a financial partner and he was adamant about opening as many stores here as he could and there ended up being four, which was far, far too many. I think one would have been sufficient. It basically bombed-out the market: too much supply and not enough demand," Gold explains.
Although Gold may have helped launch the Black Chandelier name, he does not own it. He designs under his own moniker now, and the experience of separation from what he created is still painful. "It was business decisions that closed it down. The stores were quintessentially a success. I was not in power to make decisions like that. Believe me I did my best to state my case. It was sad for me," Gold sighs. "But I got lots better stuff cooking now," he adds. And he does. QVC called during the interview about an exclusive collection and a separate conversation interceded regarding a reality TV show that is more than in the works: it is one step away from being on-air.
Regarding QVC, Gold says, "If it's good enough for Marie Osmond, it's good enough for me," with a rogue's smile. Gold is a bit of a rogue, a renegade if you will. And that word may play heavily into the title of the new reality TV show, but all of that is not set in stone. Gold is very reluctant to give further details until papers have been signed, but he will be appearing on your cable box very soon. He reveals this about the whole experience and genesis for the show, "I want to make sure that what people experience, what happened here in Salt Lake where people were emboldened and then interested in trying things themselves, I want that and feel like that can be a big thing, can be universal."
Gold's reality TV show concept encompasses a similar experience that denizens of Salt Lake received earlier this year at Gold's spring 2008 Czarina runway show . Hitting the road with a fashion tour to ten U.S. cities, Gold will hand-select a new set of models in each town to walk the runway in his show that very evening. Armed with his designs and a traveling retail store, each fashion show will prove to be an exclusive Jared Gold experience. "We're doing the tour regardless of the network, so if you guys want to bolt on cameras and give me money, fine. If not, piss off 'cause we're going," Gold says. At press time no network deals have officially been sealed but the cities selected have been announced. Gold says "There's certain networks where the styling is too intense for them and may spook people because I'm not gonna back down. What, am I supposed to walk beige pants and a dress shirt down a runway? Because no one will come." On conceptualizing the whole show creation experience with media-giant and partner Hearst, Gold (the Executive Producer) says, "Lets just say it's going very well."
Gold has other TV work lined up as well. He will be filming Germany's Next Top Model with Heidi Klum (Europe's second-highest rated show) on December 16th. "They get to show the whole collection and I get to make sure the whole collection is there. Next Top Model did really well for me," Gold reflects, referring to his experience with America's version of the show featuring his spring collection in March of 2006. "But they [Germany's NTM] of course want the cockroaches on there," Gold says.
That bejeweled-bug Gold is sometimes best recognized for just popped out of the ether, apparently. "Everyone asks me 'Where does the bug come from?' and I've never come up with a smart, quippy answer. But that's what I do for a living:I come up with dumb stuff like that. The fact that people think of that [first] is fine because it's led a lot of people to my work. And it's like 'Oh it's so gimmicky!' But a gimmick is just a really good idea with a lot of firepower behind it," Gold says. "We were on CNN with that."
Inspiration does trickle down through Gold's subconscious and he is very in touch with his emotions and how that impacts his art: "How I design and how I see things is so delicate it can easily be upset by anger, and all sorts of things, so I have to keep that stuff out of my system," the artisan says. His inspiration comes from myriad sources, "I spend a lot of time cramming things into my head and it kind of mixes up and it comes out how it comes out — slasher movies, pefume. I am a bit of a perfume obsessor. I like historic stuff," Jared says. "I have my library with me which is tons and tons of books on artists and designs all through history. I just am constantly inputting things and when it comes time to draw it comes out somehow." His delicate artistic balance can be upset, if he lets it, as he saw recently in his new city.
Gold resides in the hotbed of political and social activism of the recent Proposition Eight debacle in Los Angeles. Having been raised a member of the dominant faith in this region, he had an interesting experience seeing the coin from both sides: as a gay man and an "ethnic Mormon." "I'm just a mutt––a weird mix of bloods. And everyone's like what nationality are you and I'm like 'I'm Mormon, that's my lineage.' And especially recently it's really hard," Gold says of his experience in Los Angeles during the support and protest of the controversial public ballot initiative to revoke the California Supreme Court ordained right to allow same-sex unions (Californians disappointedly voted against equality––again).
Speaking further on the matter Gold reveals, "I took it upon myself to drive down the street on my bike where everyone had "Yes on 8" and yell "bigot hater bigots" at these people. So I took it out on them a bit and felt better," he says. But he adds disappointedly, "Looking at these people: these mom and these kids with their church clothes on standing on the corner on Sunday –– they don't know me. They've been taught there's some predatory gay person trying to turn their children to the dark side of the force," he says sadly, then good-naturedly adds with a laugh, "Look, gay people are far too selfish for any of that nonsense. It's all about me. I don't want kids: I don't have time for that crap, all of a sudden your life is boring and stinky."
Gold seems at ease with himself and the person he is today, but not after his share of personal struggle. "I felt like an outcast second-class citizen my whole life. It gets to a point where you're enabling just being gay and being Mormon. You're enabling them to treat you like that. And I said 'I have to sort out what I'm doing here.'" So he clears the mess from his head, preventing it from bleeding through into his work, and enjoys what he loves about California — riding Vespas, making candies by hand (visit etsy.com and look for seller "Jared Gold" for his delicacies and even some one-offs) and occasionally he visits a Korean spa.
Putting the Prop. 8 matter to rest he says "I'm not planning on ever getting married. It's like gays wanting to be in the military. The joke is 'Why do they want to be in all the worst institutions straight people have?' The military and getting married, come on. The sanctity of marriage ... did you guys remember the time Michael Jackson got married? Oh that was very sanctimonious," he says.
In spite of it all Gold is empathetic and says with finality, "I just feel bad that the religion has clouded people and they do whatever they [The Church Elders] say. And they've been given bad information. I don't think these people [the anti-gay zealots] are bad people or that they would ever do anything that they knew was directly hurting people. But I feel like they really just didn't understand. As per the rest of my life, you have to end up forgiving these people otherwise, you just get furious."
And furious Gold is not. He seems at peace with his upbringing: "I feel spiritual still," he confides.
When Gold's not busy designing, which is most of the time, he is thinking up new ways to entertain and enlighten audiences. Gold's band, The Misfit Toys, a musical project with the motto "If it's fun we'll do it," is experiencing a new life in LA. "The Misfit Toys now are being culled from a bunch of old punk bands in LA: People from Jackoff Jill and The Germs––so its getting a little more freaky. I thought. 'While I'm here why don't I get people who can really play these instruments?'" In the spirit of the motto he says, "The joke carries on when someone from a punk band is in The Misfit Toys and they're covering a Carpenter's song on a little pink violin. I think in the summer we'll actually play a couple of dates."
Anticipate big things from Jared Gold this coming year: a TV show, a new collection, and perhaps, if Salt Lake City is lucky, a visit from punkers playing tiny pink instruments. Gold leaves us with more than that, though. Reflecting on his time spent in Salt Lake City, he says "I hope I was able to change something for the better. That some people walked away from it totally inspired to do stuff. That's all I would hope: that while I was here I was able to change something or leave behind some sort of legacy ... but you never know."
As a side note, I really had a great time with this article. Jared was gracious with his time and the layout by the SLUG staff looks great in the paper edition. Pick it up at your local coffee shop/SLUG drop location of your choice.
by JP [jonathanpaxton@gmail.com]
December 2008 [View Issue]
Perhaps you've heard about his jeweled cockroaches and about the Black Chandelier boutique. Or maybe you've heard talk about that one runway show that floored the fashionistas in the old Grand Hall Train Station for his Caspian runway Collection. Regardless, you've definitely heard about him: fashion designer Jared Gold.
Too many words can be used to describe Gold. But he is all these things: fashion icon, tiny-toy rockstar, perfume aficionado, horror-movie fan and chocolatier. Salt Lake City has never seen a beast such as this and perhaps it was never quite ready for Gold's genius. Although he describes what he does modestly, "I just like to make cool stuff. That's what I want to do," he has hit the top of the fashion world and is pushing the ceiling (expect a TV show very soon, more on this in a bit). His accomplishments are all very impressive coming from a guy raised in the metropolitan burg of Idaho Falls. Gold trained at many prestigious schools in varied disciplines, polishing up the accomplished fashion impresario he has morphed into at The Otis School of Design in Los Angeles and at the Piano Conservatory of Hawaii.
Unfortunately for Salt Lake City, Gold recently relocated to Los Angeles where he says, "I love it. It is so easy to live there and do what I'm doing. There's a support system. I have this really fabulous penthouse in Hollywood. I don't have anything to complain about." He still has fond recollections of Salt Lake City though, "I really like Salt Lake. I love living here. I love the snow. I love how receptive everyone was of something kinda freaky in what I was trying to do. It is shocking when you explain elsewhere what you did here and how everyone responded to it. They can't comprehend. Just because it's a really conservative place in their minds."
Perhaps the unfortunate undoing of Gold's Black Chandelier experience in Utah was how quickly successful it was: it ballooned too big, too fast. "I was working with a financial partner and he was adamant about opening as many stores here as he could and there ended up being four, which was far, far too many. I think one would have been sufficient. It basically bombed-out the market: too much supply and not enough demand," Gold explains.
Although Gold may have helped launch the Black Chandelier name, he does not own it. He designs under his own moniker now, and the experience of separation from what he created is still painful. "It was business decisions that closed it down. The stores were quintessentially a success. I was not in power to make decisions like that. Believe me I did my best to state my case. It was sad for me," Gold sighs. "But I got lots better stuff cooking now," he adds. And he does. QVC called during the interview about an exclusive collection and a separate conversation interceded regarding a reality TV show that is more than in the works: it is one step away from being on-air.
Regarding QVC, Gold says, "If it's good enough for Marie Osmond, it's good enough for me," with a rogue's smile. Gold is a bit of a rogue, a renegade if you will. And that word may play heavily into the title of the new reality TV show, but all of that is not set in stone. Gold is very reluctant to give further details until papers have been signed, but he will be appearing on your cable box very soon. He reveals this about the whole experience and genesis for the show, "I want to make sure that what people experience, what happened here in Salt Lake where people were emboldened and then interested in trying things themselves, I want that and feel like that can be a big thing, can be universal."
Gold's reality TV show concept encompasses a similar experience that denizens of Salt Lake received earlier this year at Gold's spring 2008 Czarina runway show . Hitting the road with a fashion tour to ten U.S. cities, Gold will hand-select a new set of models in each town to walk the runway in his show that very evening. Armed with his designs and a traveling retail store, each fashion show will prove to be an exclusive Jared Gold experience. "We're doing the tour regardless of the network, so if you guys want to bolt on cameras and give me money, fine. If not, piss off 'cause we're going," Gold says. At press time no network deals have officially been sealed but the cities selected have been announced. Gold says "There's certain networks where the styling is too intense for them and may spook people because I'm not gonna back down. What, am I supposed to walk beige pants and a dress shirt down a runway? Because no one will come." On conceptualizing the whole show creation experience with media-giant and partner Hearst, Gold (the Executive Producer) says, "Lets just say it's going very well."
Gold has other TV work lined up as well. He will be filming Germany's Next Top Model with Heidi Klum (Europe's second-highest rated show) on December 16th. "They get to show the whole collection and I get to make sure the whole collection is there. Next Top Model did really well for me," Gold reflects, referring to his experience with America's version of the show featuring his spring collection in March of 2006. "But they [Germany's NTM] of course want the cockroaches on there," Gold says.
That bejeweled-bug Gold is sometimes best recognized for just popped out of the ether, apparently. "Everyone asks me 'Where does the bug come from?' and I've never come up with a smart, quippy answer. But that's what I do for a living:I come up with dumb stuff like that. The fact that people think of that [first] is fine because it's led a lot of people to my work. And it's like 'Oh it's so gimmicky!' But a gimmick is just a really good idea with a lot of firepower behind it," Gold says. "We were on CNN with that."
Inspiration does trickle down through Gold's subconscious and he is very in touch with his emotions and how that impacts his art: "How I design and how I see things is so delicate it can easily be upset by anger, and all sorts of things, so I have to keep that stuff out of my system," the artisan says. His inspiration comes from myriad sources, "I spend a lot of time cramming things into my head and it kind of mixes up and it comes out how it comes out — slasher movies, pefume. I am a bit of a perfume obsessor. I like historic stuff," Jared says. "I have my library with me which is tons and tons of books on artists and designs all through history. I just am constantly inputting things and when it comes time to draw it comes out somehow." His delicate artistic balance can be upset, if he lets it, as he saw recently in his new city.
Gold resides in the hotbed of political and social activism of the recent Proposition Eight debacle in Los Angeles. Having been raised a member of the dominant faith in this region, he had an interesting experience seeing the coin from both sides: as a gay man and an "ethnic Mormon." "I'm just a mutt––a weird mix of bloods. And everyone's like what nationality are you and I'm like 'I'm Mormon, that's my lineage.' And especially recently it's really hard," Gold says of his experience in Los Angeles during the support and protest of the controversial public ballot initiative to revoke the California Supreme Court ordained right to allow same-sex unions (Californians disappointedly voted against equality––again).
Speaking further on the matter Gold reveals, "I took it upon myself to drive down the street on my bike where everyone had "Yes on 8" and yell "bigot hater bigots" at these people. So I took it out on them a bit and felt better," he says. But he adds disappointedly, "Looking at these people: these mom and these kids with their church clothes on standing on the corner on Sunday –– they don't know me. They've been taught there's some predatory gay person trying to turn their children to the dark side of the force," he says sadly, then good-naturedly adds with a laugh, "Look, gay people are far too selfish for any of that nonsense. It's all about me. I don't want kids: I don't have time for that crap, all of a sudden your life is boring and stinky."
Gold seems at ease with himself and the person he is today, but not after his share of personal struggle. "I felt like an outcast second-class citizen my whole life. It gets to a point where you're enabling just being gay and being Mormon. You're enabling them to treat you like that. And I said 'I have to sort out what I'm doing here.'" So he clears the mess from his head, preventing it from bleeding through into his work, and enjoys what he loves about California — riding Vespas, making candies by hand (visit etsy.com and look for seller "Jared Gold" for his delicacies and even some one-offs) and occasionally he visits a Korean spa.
Putting the Prop. 8 matter to rest he says "I'm not planning on ever getting married. It's like gays wanting to be in the military. The joke is 'Why do they want to be in all the worst institutions straight people have?' The military and getting married, come on. The sanctity of marriage ... did you guys remember the time Michael Jackson got married? Oh that was very sanctimonious," he says.
In spite of it all Gold is empathetic and says with finality, "I just feel bad that the religion has clouded people and they do whatever they [The Church Elders] say. And they've been given bad information. I don't think these people [the anti-gay zealots] are bad people or that they would ever do anything that they knew was directly hurting people. But I feel like they really just didn't understand. As per the rest of my life, you have to end up forgiving these people otherwise, you just get furious."
And furious Gold is not. He seems at peace with his upbringing: "I feel spiritual still," he confides.
When Gold's not busy designing, which is most of the time, he is thinking up new ways to entertain and enlighten audiences. Gold's band, The Misfit Toys, a musical project with the motto "If it's fun we'll do it," is experiencing a new life in LA. "The Misfit Toys now are being culled from a bunch of old punk bands in LA: People from Jackoff Jill and The Germs––so its getting a little more freaky. I thought. 'While I'm here why don't I get people who can really play these instruments?'" In the spirit of the motto he says, "The joke carries on when someone from a punk band is in The Misfit Toys and they're covering a Carpenter's song on a little pink violin. I think in the summer we'll actually play a couple of dates."
Anticipate big things from Jared Gold this coming year: a TV show, a new collection, and perhaps, if Salt Lake City is lucky, a visit from punkers playing tiny pink instruments. Gold leaves us with more than that, though. Reflecting on his time spent in Salt Lake City, he says "I hope I was able to change something for the better. That some people walked away from it totally inspired to do stuff. That's all I would hope: that while I was here I was able to change something or leave behind some sort of legacy ... but you never know."
As a side note, I really had a great time with this article. Jared was gracious with his time and the layout by the SLUG staff looks great in the paper edition. Pick it up at your local coffee shop/SLUG drop location of your choice.
11.22.2008
Original Location at SLweekly.com
Muscle Hawk is a steroid-infused electronic beast that strikes terror into the faint of heart. That said, their formal live debut at Urban Lounge on Nov. 20 went over like gangbusters. I hadn't seen this many people for an opener in recent memory.
And that is saying something for the fair-weather scenesters of the fair city of Salt Lake. Muscle Hawk, Josh Holyoak and Greg Bower, recently added scene-mainstay Lindsay Heath (aka Kid Madusa) as drummer to the project they've been collaborating on for the last few months. Their Urban Lounge performance bodes well for future gigs and the development of a solid fan base. Salt Lake City may not be ready for it though: they may be too good. It is very danceable music and everyone seemed too cool to get down. I have a good excuse—I'm not a good dancer. But there were some shakers not shaking, as Josh noted to me after the performance. That is too bad because it is very moving tune-smithing along the lines of Ratatat or Justice.
Muscle Hawk's men knew their way around a mass of electronic gadgets and brought up the energy levels, regardless, especially on the live version of "Cocaine," which paid homage to its namesake by making at least a few folks jump. We were all a little hyped and looking for menthol cigarettes by the end of it due to live vocals in combination with Greg's on-point synthesizer/computer execution. Josh's bass playing (note his fuzzy strap next time, I hope he wears it again) was very funky and a great addition to Lindsay in the rhythm section. Check out the music and take note of "Fever." Add them, too, while you're there and check out their next show. And remember people, the gods gave you feet for a reason: to dance to Muscle Hawk (it's in Psalms somewhere).
(Jon Paxton)
Muscle Hawk is a steroid-infused electronic beast that strikes terror into the faint of heart. That said, their formal live debut at Urban Lounge on Nov. 20 went over like gangbusters. I hadn't seen this many people for an opener in recent memory.
And that is saying something for the fair-weather scenesters of the fair city of Salt Lake. Muscle Hawk, Josh Holyoak and Greg Bower, recently added scene-mainstay Lindsay Heath (aka Kid Madusa) as drummer to the project they've been collaborating on for the last few months. Their Urban Lounge performance bodes well for future gigs and the development of a solid fan base. Salt Lake City may not be ready for it though: they may be too good. It is very danceable music and everyone seemed too cool to get down. I have a good excuse—I'm not a good dancer. But there were some shakers not shaking, as Josh noted to me after the performance. That is too bad because it is very moving tune-smithing along the lines of Ratatat or Justice.
Muscle Hawk's men knew their way around a mass of electronic gadgets and brought up the energy levels, regardless, especially on the live version of "Cocaine," which paid homage to its namesake by making at least a few folks jump. We were all a little hyped and looking for menthol cigarettes by the end of it due to live vocals in combination with Greg's on-point synthesizer/computer execution. Josh's bass playing (note his fuzzy strap next time, I hope he wears it again) was very funky and a great addition to Lindsay in the rhythm section. Check out the music and take note of "Fever." Add them, too, while you're there and check out their next show. And remember people, the gods gave you feet for a reason: to dance to Muscle Hawk (it's in Psalms somewhere).
(Jon Paxton)
11.13.2008
cavedoll
Music | Know Your Local...Electro-rocker: Vanessa Chamberlain of Cavedoll
By Jon Paxton
Posted 11/13/2008
Click to read the shorter piece at SLWeekly.com and to see a pic of Vanessa.
Cavedoll singer/producer Vanessa Chamberlain, wife and creative partner of frontman Camden, is a local scene mainstay known for her signature sound and style. Chamberlain’s been in the biz since she was just a wee thing singing Christmas carols to senior citizens: “Anywhere they could put a mic in front of me, I’d sing.” Cavedoll performs as part of the free, all-ages Fat Flake Festival at the Gallivan Center, Saturday, Nov. 15, 4:30-10 p.m.
Favorite songwriter?
Excluding my husband Camden? That is such a hard question. John Lennon. Default is always a Beatle. John Lennon is definitely an amazing songwriter. Especially after he left The Beatles. Some of the lyrics off of Imagine...
If you could do one thing for America what would it be?
The one thing I’m trying to do right now is raise global citizens [referencing her three children]. Children aware of problems that go on beyond their front door. I hope that all parents feel that is their duty to raise good Americans.
Vanessa Chamberlain
Age: 29
Utah Resident: 26 Years
Band: Cavedoll
What local causes do you support?
The Utah Pride Center and Shriner’s Hospital. People need to support Shriner’s and donate because they’re running out; that’s what they survive on.
Favorite coffee and tea place?
My favorite all time place in Salt Lake is The Beehive Tea Room. It’s a great place to take a date, a casual date. It’s a sit down and chat and have a tiny sandwich place.
Favorite snack?
I’m way into raw almonds, it’s my default snack.
Perfect afternoon?
It would probably involve yarn at some point creating something. And being with Camden.
What nature spot do you enjoy escaping everyone at?
I live by Millcreek in Salt Lake [City]. Whenever we can we go up there. It’s really, really pretty.
What was the first album that really resonated with you?
Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking. I remember dancing in my bedroom and losing my mind.
What would be an embarrassing band from youth you might not like to bring up?
When I was in the 5th grade I was so into Paula Abdul. And now she’s so crazy, that poor woman. It’s like when people get too rich they get weird.
Favorite instrument to play?
My voice, I guess. I’d actually much rather produce songs than sing them.
Any local visual artists turn you on?
I really really got into the 337 Project when it was here. Our music was listed on the DVD.
How would you like to be defined in the local music industry?
As a good musician in general. I think, because in the local scene women aren’t as prominent as a lot of dudes around here, it’s a little weird. It’s inevitable as a woman I’ll get a little more attention but I don’t think it defines me in the music scene.
What did you think when NPR did a piece on your band and featured your song “Decoder” as Song of the Day last summer?
I was extremely proud and ecstatic.
What question have you never been asked but really would like to be asked?
My question would be: “Why? Why do you make music?” People don’t ask that because they think they know the answer.
Why then?
It’s a legacy in a way, like a tattoo.
A tattoo on the heart of Salt Lake?
A tattoo on the heart of me. Because my lyrics are very cryptic but to me they remind me of a specific place, time, and instance and experience. Music is a tattoo. That’s what tattoos and what music are: a reminder.
Where did you enjoy playing lately?
D-Fest in Tulsa. It’s a huge music festival, a lot of local Tulsa bands, people from all over converged on Tulsa–it was really cool. It was also cool because I hooked up with a clothing company there that gave me a lot of performance clothes.
Great segue. Because we’re about to talk about style. What’s the name of the company?
It’s called Ra$pberry Grunt http://www.myspace.com/raspberrygrunt. They started in 2006 and what they do is take vintage clothing and do updated screen prints on them so they look more ‘today’.
They have guy’s stuff too?
Yep. They have ties. Vintage pants and shirts and jackets.
What else do they do?
They will print on anything. I sent them some stuff and they printed on a jacket and some dresses. I let them go and they printed some really cool stuff on them.
How would you describe your style?
My stage style is the shorter and tighter version of my regular style. And, of course, the crazy printings of Ra$pberry Grunt.
Where do you get the inspiration for your stage style?
It comes from the music itself. There’s a little bit of punk in there: that can incorporate a lot of the jewelry. And the makeup and hair that Janice and Allison [other members of Cavedoll] and I do is really glam influenced.
Where do you shop locally?
Anywhere. I like to go to Pib’s Exchange. You can find cool stuff if you always have your eye open. Since I’m crafty I make a lot of stuff. I make a lot of my jewelry and accessories and hats that I wear.
What is your most enjoyable instrument to play?
My voice, I guess. I’d actually much rather produce songs than sing them.
Who would be one of you most-loved local musicians?
Jameson Wilkinson. He played drums for us for a while. Now he’s a pilot. He’s one of the best drummers and musicians that I think Salt Lake has produced. I hope he can arrange it and balance it where he can play out because he’s definitely worth keeping around.
What’s a bar you enjoy?
ABG’s in Provo. They have killer Long Island Iced Teas.
What’s your beverage of choice?
Diet Coke with Vanilla vodka. You have to even out your calorie intake. There’s no shame in it. Diet Coke is good, it’s my favorite drink.
What kind of place do you like to go grub up at?
I like breakfast a lot. Right by my house is Millcreek Egg Works. That place is really good and way affordable and fun to go to in the morning. But they play too much U2 in there.
By Jon Paxton
Posted 11/13/2008
Click to read the shorter piece at SLWeekly.com and to see a pic of Vanessa.
Cavedoll singer/producer Vanessa Chamberlain, wife and creative partner of frontman Camden, is a local scene mainstay known for her signature sound and style. Chamberlain’s been in the biz since she was just a wee thing singing Christmas carols to senior citizens: “Anywhere they could put a mic in front of me, I’d sing.” Cavedoll performs as part of the free, all-ages Fat Flake Festival at the Gallivan Center, Saturday, Nov. 15, 4:30-10 p.m.
Favorite songwriter?
Excluding my husband Camden? That is such a hard question. John Lennon. Default is always a Beatle. John Lennon is definitely an amazing songwriter. Especially after he left The Beatles. Some of the lyrics off of Imagine...
If you could do one thing for America what would it be?
The one thing I’m trying to do right now is raise global citizens [referencing her three children]. Children aware of problems that go on beyond their front door. I hope that all parents feel that is their duty to raise good Americans.
Vanessa Chamberlain
Age: 29
Utah Resident: 26 Years
Band: Cavedoll
What local causes do you support?
The Utah Pride Center and Shriner’s Hospital. People need to support Shriner’s and donate because they’re running out; that’s what they survive on.
Favorite coffee and tea place?
My favorite all time place in Salt Lake is The Beehive Tea Room. It’s a great place to take a date, a casual date. It’s a sit down and chat and have a tiny sandwich place.
Favorite snack?
I’m way into raw almonds, it’s my default snack.
Perfect afternoon?
It would probably involve yarn at some point creating something. And being with Camden.
What nature spot do you enjoy escaping everyone at?
I live by Millcreek in Salt Lake [City]. Whenever we can we go up there. It’s really, really pretty.
What was the first album that really resonated with you?
Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking. I remember dancing in my bedroom and losing my mind.
What would be an embarrassing band from youth you might not like to bring up?
When I was in the 5th grade I was so into Paula Abdul. And now she’s so crazy, that poor woman. It’s like when people get too rich they get weird.
Favorite instrument to play?
My voice, I guess. I’d actually much rather produce songs than sing them.
Any local visual artists turn you on?
I really really got into the 337 Project when it was here. Our music was listed on the DVD.
How would you like to be defined in the local music industry?
As a good musician in general. I think, because in the local scene women aren’t as prominent as a lot of dudes around here, it’s a little weird. It’s inevitable as a woman I’ll get a little more attention but I don’t think it defines me in the music scene.
What did you think when NPR did a piece on your band and featured your song “Decoder” as Song of the Day last summer?
I was extremely proud and ecstatic.
What question have you never been asked but really would like to be asked?
My question would be: “Why? Why do you make music?” People don’t ask that because they think they know the answer.
Why then?
It’s a legacy in a way, like a tattoo.
A tattoo on the heart of Salt Lake?
A tattoo on the heart of me. Because my lyrics are very cryptic but to me they remind me of a specific place, time, and instance and experience. Music is a tattoo. That’s what tattoos and what music are: a reminder.
Where did you enjoy playing lately?
D-Fest in Tulsa. It’s a huge music festival, a lot of local Tulsa bands, people from all over converged on Tulsa–it was really cool. It was also cool because I hooked up with a clothing company there that gave me a lot of performance clothes.
Great segue. Because we’re about to talk about style. What’s the name of the company?
It’s called Ra$pberry Grunt http://www.myspace.com/raspberrygrunt. They started in 2006 and what they do is take vintage clothing and do updated screen prints on them so they look more ‘today’.
They have guy’s stuff too?
Yep. They have ties. Vintage pants and shirts and jackets.
What else do they do?
They will print on anything. I sent them some stuff and they printed on a jacket and some dresses. I let them go and they printed some really cool stuff on them.
How would you describe your style?
My stage style is the shorter and tighter version of my regular style. And, of course, the crazy printings of Ra$pberry Grunt.
Where do you get the inspiration for your stage style?
It comes from the music itself. There’s a little bit of punk in there: that can incorporate a lot of the jewelry. And the makeup and hair that Janice and Allison [other members of Cavedoll] and I do is really glam influenced.
Where do you shop locally?
Anywhere. I like to go to Pib’s Exchange. You can find cool stuff if you always have your eye open. Since I’m crafty I make a lot of stuff. I make a lot of my jewelry and accessories and hats that I wear.
What is your most enjoyable instrument to play?
My voice, I guess. I’d actually much rather produce songs than sing them.
Who would be one of you most-loved local musicians?
Jameson Wilkinson. He played drums for us for a while. Now he’s a pilot. He’s one of the best drummers and musicians that I think Salt Lake has produced. I hope he can arrange it and balance it where he can play out because he’s definitely worth keeping around.
What’s a bar you enjoy?
ABG’s in Provo. They have killer Long Island Iced Teas.
What’s your beverage of choice?
Diet Coke with Vanilla vodka. You have to even out your calorie intake. There’s no shame in it. Diet Coke is good, it’s my favorite drink.
What kind of place do you like to go grub up at?
I like breakfast a lot. Right by my house is Millcreek Egg Works. That place is really good and way affordable and fun to go to in the morning. But they play too much U2 in there.
11.11.2008
Click here for its original location
Gang Gang Dance
11.08.08
Kilby Court
by JP [jonathanpaxton@gmail.com]
Certain bands can take you places, metaphysical places. Gang Gang Dance is one of those bands. I noticed myself zoning in and out as three percussionists, at points, tweaked their sound to the limit of my sonic understanding and to “the beyond.” I really enjoy drums and Gang Gang Dance know how to use them.
I can’t possibly tell you how interesting and unique this group was to experience live but I will try. I can perhaps best illustrate this point by telling you how I usually react to music after a show from an artist or group. After seeing the musicians live I have to listen to an entirely different genre to cleanse my palate as an audio slice of pickled ginger. Usually I’m very tired of the band at that point and want to keep the live experience fresh in my head. Gang Gang Dance left me lusting for more and I’ve been listening to them for the last few hours since I saw them live. This is highly unusual for me and one of the greatest compliments that I might pay the Brooklyn based group (I’m sure they’re shitting themselves with glee right now at that). I’m even listening right now. Click here then on the Gang Gang Dance album and “See All Free Downloads” to hear what I mean.
I had no idea how the sound of their latest album, St. Dymphna, could be recreated live, it is that layered, but the group did it. They fucking did it. And only four people were required to mix an insane blend of electronic noise with the most basic of percussion––a metal pan of some sort made a brief appearance––being utilized at points. The music live reminded me of the Blade Runner score: haunting, ethereal and very futuristic. If you closed your eyes you could see Harrison Ford getting rained on and Sean Young’s brown eyes emoting all over the place. Perhaps I’ve been reading too much Philip K. Dick lately, and that has something to do with it, and, in combination with a boyhood crush I had on Ms. Young, it may be compounding that effect. The fact that the music did such a great job of resonating on so many levels of pop-culture in my head, ranging from rhythmically resounding drum performances I’ve enjoyed from traditional Japanese drummers to bits of puff like sci-fi classics means that Gang Gang did what music live is supposed to do.
The performance was on point and very taxing to the group. It definitely required effort. I believe every member of the band was sweating by the end of the set. That is a good rule of thumb for an electricity-filled show, and a sign of laziness in older rockers. Sweat motherfuckers! If you aren’t rocking hard enough to bust a few beads then you shouldn’t be charging 70-plus dollars to fill the Delta Center, or some other acoustically cursed shite venue.
Kilby Court is the perfect venue for Gang Gang Dance and I hope they never lose that perspiring edge that they have right now. That would be a crime against experimental music and a shitty experience if too much distance is placed between this collective and the crowd. Lead vocalist and part-time percussionist Liz Bougatsos felt that way too and commented in her heavy Brooklyn accent something along the lines of “Salt Lake has some amazin dancas. Some of the best dancas I’ve ever seen.” And she would know because she was only two feet from those kids shaking their brains out. It made me glad to see, once again, the little venue I first enjoyed almost a decade ago still around and still bringing quality acts to bear in front of all ages crowds––up close and very personal. Kudos to Sartain and Lance once again.
One of the standout songs performed from the latest album was “Vacuum” a piece with a trip-hop intro and haunting keyboard bends, an electronic trick I wanted to see live, and was not disappointed by. Some of the sounds this group emits make somebody like me, who thinks he is quite aware of how most sounds are made, scratch my head in confusion. The guitarist fully utilized his stack of three plus processors/amps (digital-screened and of a variety I have never seen before) to fully integrate into the sound. You’d be hard pressed to hear the guitar on this track if you didn’t actually see the man create it live. I still don’t know what the hell kind of effects that guy uses, and maybe want to leave that mystery partly unsolved, but they turn out great live.
I don’t want to give too many compliments because this small edition of critical praise adds up with all the other press and means they will eventually grow beyond the bounds of Kilby. And I do understand that is sometimes part of the creative process and growth cycle. So listen, if you must, but promise not to bring any douchebags to their next show, OK?
––JP
Gang Gang Dance
11.08.08
Kilby Court
by JP [jonathanpaxton@gmail.com]
Certain bands can take you places, metaphysical places. Gang Gang Dance is one of those bands. I noticed myself zoning in and out as three percussionists, at points, tweaked their sound to the limit of my sonic understanding and to “the beyond.” I really enjoy drums and Gang Gang Dance know how to use them.
I can’t possibly tell you how interesting and unique this group was to experience live but I will try. I can perhaps best illustrate this point by telling you how I usually react to music after a show from an artist or group. After seeing the musicians live I have to listen to an entirely different genre to cleanse my palate as an audio slice of pickled ginger. Usually I’m very tired of the band at that point and want to keep the live experience fresh in my head. Gang Gang Dance left me lusting for more and I’ve been listening to them for the last few hours since I saw them live. This is highly unusual for me and one of the greatest compliments that I might pay the Brooklyn based group (I’m sure they’re shitting themselves with glee right now at that). I’m even listening right now. Click here then on the Gang Gang Dance album and “See All Free Downloads” to hear what I mean.
I had no idea how the sound of their latest album, St. Dymphna, could be recreated live, it is that layered, but the group did it. They fucking did it. And only four people were required to mix an insane blend of electronic noise with the most basic of percussion––a metal pan of some sort made a brief appearance––being utilized at points. The music live reminded me of the Blade Runner score: haunting, ethereal and very futuristic. If you closed your eyes you could see Harrison Ford getting rained on and Sean Young’s brown eyes emoting all over the place. Perhaps I’ve been reading too much Philip K. Dick lately, and that has something to do with it, and, in combination with a boyhood crush I had on Ms. Young, it may be compounding that effect. The fact that the music did such a great job of resonating on so many levels of pop-culture in my head, ranging from rhythmically resounding drum performances I’ve enjoyed from traditional Japanese drummers to bits of puff like sci-fi classics means that Gang Gang did what music live is supposed to do.
The performance was on point and very taxing to the group. It definitely required effort. I believe every member of the band was sweating by the end of the set. That is a good rule of thumb for an electricity-filled show, and a sign of laziness in older rockers. Sweat motherfuckers! If you aren’t rocking hard enough to bust a few beads then you shouldn’t be charging 70-plus dollars to fill the Delta Center, or some other acoustically cursed shite venue.
Kilby Court is the perfect venue for Gang Gang Dance and I hope they never lose that perspiring edge that they have right now. That would be a crime against experimental music and a shitty experience if too much distance is placed between this collective and the crowd. Lead vocalist and part-time percussionist Liz Bougatsos felt that way too and commented in her heavy Brooklyn accent something along the lines of “Salt Lake has some amazin dancas. Some of the best dancas I’ve ever seen.” And she would know because she was only two feet from those kids shaking their brains out. It made me glad to see, once again, the little venue I first enjoyed almost a decade ago still around and still bringing quality acts to bear in front of all ages crowds––up close and very personal. Kudos to Sartain and Lance once again.
One of the standout songs performed from the latest album was “Vacuum” a piece with a trip-hop intro and haunting keyboard bends, an electronic trick I wanted to see live, and was not disappointed by. Some of the sounds this group emits make somebody like me, who thinks he is quite aware of how most sounds are made, scratch my head in confusion. The guitarist fully utilized his stack of three plus processors/amps (digital-screened and of a variety I have never seen before) to fully integrate into the sound. You’d be hard pressed to hear the guitar on this track if you didn’t actually see the man create it live. I still don’t know what the hell kind of effects that guy uses, and maybe want to leave that mystery partly unsolved, but they turn out great live.
I don’t want to give too many compliments because this small edition of critical praise adds up with all the other press and means they will eventually grow beyond the bounds of Kilby. And I do understand that is sometimes part of the creative process and growth cycle. So listen, if you must, but promise not to bring any douchebags to their next show, OK?
––JP
dukespirit
The Duke Spirit at The Urban Lounge
November 5th, 2008
Leila Moss is a rock goddess. If you learn one thing about the live experience of The Duke Spirit, that should be it. I haven’t been rocked this hard by a female vocalist at The Urban Lounge since Theo and The Skyscrapers knocked my boots the fuck off a few years ago. Theo was standing on a lightbox that hightened the hotness effect but Leila only needed her sexy British accent to get the guys in the audience going. I saw several, ahem, perk up at her first utterance. There was some music of some sort as well.
On that note, I wasn’t really enjoying the band as they started their set and was quite disappointed that the songs were preceding along at a slower clip than the album cuts from Neptune I’ve been used to, but the band steadily picked it up and Leila started shaking her black feather boa to better effect–and the audience reciprocated with appropriate shimmying and head nodding.
To say that we weren’t all won over by the end would be an understatement. The applause got more raucous as the set preceeded. The band started off with their song entitled, well, how about you look at the set list below, all you diehards, and see how it went yourself.
I snagged the above from the stage to make this whole review thing easier and took a picture to simplify it even more for all of us.
Thankfully there were only two bands playing that night because I am quite turned off by all the fucking smoke these venues emit, and as a former almost pack a day smoker who never thought he’d say it, I welcome when Utah will go smoke free January 1st, 2009.
I think it’s time we left archaic and factually-proven detrimental personal “choices” in the ignorant century they belong and not in people’s faces. *cough cough* Before anybody gets too chapped, I’m fine with ya’ll smoking yourself (and hated it just as much as you do when someone criticized me in the past) as long as whatever health care plan this country adopts takes that into account and doesn’t support the costs of the medical bills from it. Let the tobacco companies pay those individually in lawsuit awards, I say. They’ve made enough money off other people’s misery and should start ponying up.
Look, that may have pissed people off, but what I’m about to say may make even more hipfucks bitter but I don’t give a fuck. I didn’t really enjoy The Eagles of Death Metal. I haven’t really heard this band much before, admittedly, but a live show is what really sells me on a group, regardless. It is the ultimate decider, the kind George W. Bush wanted to be. And I was not sold by T.E.O.D.M.
Don’t get me wrong, I saw how cool everybody at the show was and how very gritty and rock ‘n roll T.E.O.D.M. are but I can go plunk around 3 chords with shitty backing vocals myself if I wanted to hear some uncreative, repetitive shit. And I know it is kind of a joke to have a band have the title “Death Metal” in their name but really, how ironic/po-mo must we be to see it’s just gussied up garage rock? I’ve decided, as well, that any percussionist who only has one tom and no more than four cymbals isn’t worth shit. Percussion really livens up a performance and not much can be improved on with three drums. But maybe I have yet to see a drummer that knows what the fuck they are doing with only a three piece kit.
I mean, he only had three drums for fuck’s sake (to beat a dead horse some more, pun intended)! I know that is en vogue lately but it also could be a sign of a shitty drummer people, and a sign of your stupidity at thinking it’s fucking edgy. It’s not. It’s a cop-out considering the breadth of percussion choices available to the modern drummer. I noticed the guy had an electric drum pad of some sort, which didn’t make a whole helluva lot of sense either. They aren’t an electronic group. Get some more toms for chrissake.
Long story short: The Duke Spirit are worth seeing again, and unless your scene cred depends on seeing The Eagles of Death Metal, stay home and save your lungs ‘til the ban is official.
November 5th, 2008
Leila Moss is a rock goddess. If you learn one thing about the live experience of The Duke Spirit, that should be it. I haven’t been rocked this hard by a female vocalist at The Urban Lounge since Theo and The Skyscrapers knocked my boots the fuck off a few years ago. Theo was standing on a lightbox that hightened the hotness effect but Leila only needed her sexy British accent to get the guys in the audience going. I saw several, ahem, perk up at her first utterance. There was some music of some sort as well.
On that note, I wasn’t really enjoying the band as they started their set and was quite disappointed that the songs were preceding along at a slower clip than the album cuts from Neptune I’ve been used to, but the band steadily picked it up and Leila started shaking her black feather boa to better effect–and the audience reciprocated with appropriate shimmying and head nodding.
To say that we weren’t all won over by the end would be an understatement. The applause got more raucous as the set preceeded. The band started off with their song entitled, well, how about you look at the set list below, all you diehards, and see how it went yourself.
I snagged the above from the stage to make this whole review thing easier and took a picture to simplify it even more for all of us.
Thankfully there were only two bands playing that night because I am quite turned off by all the fucking smoke these venues emit, and as a former almost pack a day smoker who never thought he’d say it, I welcome when Utah will go smoke free January 1st, 2009.
I think it’s time we left archaic and factually-proven detrimental personal “choices” in the ignorant century they belong and not in people’s faces. *cough cough* Before anybody gets too chapped, I’m fine with ya’ll smoking yourself (and hated it just as much as you do when someone criticized me in the past) as long as whatever health care plan this country adopts takes that into account and doesn’t support the costs of the medical bills from it. Let the tobacco companies pay those individually in lawsuit awards, I say. They’ve made enough money off other people’s misery and should start ponying up.
Look, that may have pissed people off, but what I’m about to say may make even more hipfucks bitter but I don’t give a fuck. I didn’t really enjoy The Eagles of Death Metal. I haven’t really heard this band much before, admittedly, but a live show is what really sells me on a group, regardless. It is the ultimate decider, the kind George W. Bush wanted to be. And I was not sold by T.E.O.D.M.
Don’t get me wrong, I saw how cool everybody at the show was and how very gritty and rock ‘n roll T.E.O.D.M. are but I can go plunk around 3 chords with shitty backing vocals myself if I wanted to hear some uncreative, repetitive shit. And I know it is kind of a joke to have a band have the title “Death Metal” in their name but really, how ironic/po-mo must we be to see it’s just gussied up garage rock? I’ve decided, as well, that any percussionist who only has one tom and no more than four cymbals isn’t worth shit. Percussion really livens up a performance and not much can be improved on with three drums. But maybe I have yet to see a drummer that knows what the fuck they are doing with only a three piece kit.
I mean, he only had three drums for fuck’s sake (to beat a dead horse some more, pun intended)! I know that is en vogue lately but it also could be a sign of a shitty drummer people, and a sign of your stupidity at thinking it’s fucking edgy. It’s not. It’s a cop-out considering the breadth of percussion choices available to the modern drummer. I noticed the guy had an electric drum pad of some sort, which didn’t make a whole helluva lot of sense either. They aren’t an electronic group. Get some more toms for chrissake.
Long story short: The Duke Spirit are worth seeing again, and unless your scene cred depends on seeing The Eagles of Death Metal, stay home and save your lungs ‘til the ban is official.
11.09.2008
pseudo
Click Here
to go to the original article's location at SLUG. While you're there you could comment for once, jeez a louis.
And check out the cover of SLUG this month. That's Mr. Workman himself.
Music Is Not A Commodity, It's an Art. Pseudo Recordings Gets Deep on Our Asses
by JP
November 2008
Owner/Founder: Ryan Workman
Year Established: 2002
Current artists: Wolfs, Red Bennies, Black Hole , ¡ANDALE! , Danger Hailstorm, Madraso , Vile Blue Shades
Number of releases to date: 15
National Distribution: CDBaby.com, interpunk. com, as well as directly through pseudo recordings (and 8ctopus records with certain releases)-most is direct mail order from Ryan's house.
Is Roster Available on itunes?: No, but you will find most (if not all) of the catalog online for download by the end of the year.
Number of albums sold: Just shy of a thousand locally and abroad.
Website: pseudorecordings.com
Maintaining anything in the local music scene can be tough for most people. Bands come and go with members in various states of faltering dedication to their music. Labels spring up for a release or two then pass on just as quickly as they arrived. Pseudo Recordings is a rare entity in such a scene—it's still around after six years. Pseudo has featured some of the most talented and diverse bands Salt Lake City has ever seen, including The Red Bennies, Cosm, ¡Andale!, Erosion and The Vile Blue Shades. Several more acts round out the roster of label affiliations, amounting to 15 total releases.
Some labels specialize in a niche or at least think they do, but Pseudo Recordings' owner and operator Ryan Workman has never been one to be constrained. "I don't want it to have a set sound. Some labels, that's what they build their roster around: a certain style of music. But the scene here is not a certain style of music and I want it to be representative of that."
Looking at the long list of artists affiliated with Pseudo Recordings, including Seattle-based Madraso and local groups Danger Hailstorm, Cavedoll, Blackhole, and The Wolfs, one can see that diversity is a factor. "I'd like to say it's deliberate," Workman jokingly adds. Still, he says "a lot of the bands have been on the louder side, whether it's rock and roll, punk rock, garage rock––whatever the current buzz term is. At the same time, I worked with Cosm, which is totally west of center."
Because Workman is a musician himself (he played in local act Mayberry), he knows more than most about what makes a good label work. "If you're just some schmuck who comes off the street with a few bucks and says, 'I want to produce your band,' but you've not played in a band you're not going to know the recording process, you're not going to know rehearsals versus shows. You'll be just another profiteer," Workman says.
He continues, "If anything you're just going to see it as a commodity. And from a musician's point of view, you're seeing it more for the art and the music involved. You realize that 'I helped get it into the hands of the people.' These guys [musicians] created it. These guys wrote the songs. And I helped get it to the public. And you feel good about that because you have to feel good about the music. You can't throw money at a pile of garbage and expect it to make money. You have to really want it to succeed." He concludes, "If it was a money making venture, though, I would have given it up a long time ago."
Though he has already found success with the label, Workman is still interested in expanding the Pseudo sound. "I would be willing to approach anything from avant-garde to acoustic. Throw in some altcountry or go the other direction with extreme noise or metal. There's no reason I shouldn't." From his track record there isn't a reason he shouldn't try, regardless of the style en vogue locally. "I've been doing it for five years and I'm not planning on giving up. I've been frustrated and I've also been really excited about stuff. As long as I feel that what I'm doing is considered a contribution to the local scene, I'll still do it."
Keeping artists happy is of great importance to Pseudo's continued existence as well, and the key to that is communication. "Because I'm a small operation, who else are they going to talk to? They're going to talk to me." Even though running the label solo can be difficult for Workman, he still says, "I try as hard as I can to be the one at the shows selling the merch. Not some guy with a box of CDs he doesn't worry about." He clearly embraces the DIY mentality.
Current releases to check out from Pseudo include the ¡Andale! Debut, made of eco-friendly packaging from recycled materials, down to the soda bottle plastic tray, a Vile Blue Shades 8ctopus Records split release entitled Triple Threat and Danger Hailstorm's first release, One.
Workman has done his part to keep the local scene alive, but ultimately, the future of the scene isn't in the hands of the labels or the bands, but the fans. "I think what the scene needs, if anything, is a little bit more support from the people. Not for the sake of spending money at a bar, but to give their moral support in-person for the band. Just being there. Listening to the local bands, it's vital."
Discography:
Pseudo Recordings
PR-001: Erosion – Coma – 3 Song E.P. 7 inch (colored vinyl only) (2003)
PR-002: Cosm – 6 Song E.P – CD (2003)
PR-003: Cosm – Fast Way To Go – 12 inch E.P. (vinyl only) (2004)
PR-004: Erosion – No One Can Hear You Scream – CD (2003)
PR-005: Wolfs – I Want More – 7inch (colored vinyl only) (2003)
PR-006: Cosm – Fast Way To Go – CD Single (2004) OUT OF PRINT
PR-007: Red Bennies – Walk Right In – (colored vinyl only) (2004)
PR-008: Wolfs – Lights Out +4 – CD E.P. (2004)
PR-009: Wolfs – The Wolfs – Full length CD (2005)
PR- 010: Blackhole – Blackhole – Full Length CD (2006) (Co-released with 8ctopus Records)
PR-011: Cosm – Microphone Boutique – CD EP (2006)
PR-012: Vile Blue Shades – Triple Threat– CD (2007) (Co-released with 8ctopus Records)
PR-013: ¡ANDALE! – S/T – Full Length CD (2008)
PR-014: Danger Hailstorm – One – Full Length CD (2008) (Released on Pseudo Recordings, even though Pop Sweatshop is listed)
PR-015 Blackhole/Madraso (from Seattle) Split 7 inch (vinyl only) (2008)
11.07.2008
BladeRunner
I've been thinking lately about a website I stumbled on once and it seems to be resonating more lately as I read one of Philip K. Dick's more popular novels "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". I really dug "Blade Runner" when I first saw it (and again in its most recently released to theaters director's cut), a movie based on Dick's novel. And the more I think about it as I read his book, I believe that we all may be robots.
Now hold on just a minute and let me explain...By the way, this thought has been bumping around my head since I was about 12, terrible stuff to think about, but it still haunts more people's darker recesses than we all might like to admit.
This website on The Simulation Argument
, portends, with multiple sources, that we all may indeed (or our perceptions, mainly mine) be entirely simulated. If this were to be true, however, I would be a rare instance of the self-aware android or simulation. This is definitely an uncomfortable assumption but not a strange one given my generation's exposure to The Matrix trilogy from the Wachowski brothers. However, the very realization that such may be true (being a self-aware simulation) is probably good evidence that I, and we, am/are not, which may be a logical fallacy or circular reasoning, but, to set my mind at ease it may be good enough for me.
Don't we all live in the circular reasoning world of constant justification, regardless? This is the paradox of existence in the face of our imminent, and almost always unknown time of, demise.
Here's to maybe all of us being robots and not knowing it––or not wanting to admit it, at least. Cheers!
-jp
ps Mad Respect to Bob Kubachek for letting us all know what kind of things we were to begin with. Safe journeys in Wyoming Bobb-o. You are missed.
Now hold on just a minute and let me explain...By the way, this thought has been bumping around my head since I was about 12, terrible stuff to think about, but it still haunts more people's darker recesses than we all might like to admit.
This website on The Simulation Argument
, portends, with multiple sources, that we all may indeed (or our perceptions, mainly mine) be entirely simulated. If this were to be true, however, I would be a rare instance of the self-aware android or simulation. This is definitely an uncomfortable assumption but not a strange one given my generation's exposure to The Matrix trilogy from the Wachowski brothers. However, the very realization that such may be true (being a self-aware simulation) is probably good evidence that I, and we, am/are not, which may be a logical fallacy or circular reasoning, but, to set my mind at ease it may be good enough for me.
Don't we all live in the circular reasoning world of constant justification, regardless? This is the paradox of existence in the face of our imminent, and almost always unknown time of, demise.
Here's to maybe all of us being robots and not knowing it––or not wanting to admit it, at least. Cheers!
-jp
ps Mad Respect to Bob Kubachek for letting us all know what kind of things we were to begin with. Safe journeys in Wyoming Bobb-o. You are missed.
11.04.2008
videomusics
Here's my most recent blog on local happenings in Salt Lake music.
Click on Salt Blog if you'd like to see what City Weekly turned this into. It's pretty much the same, just in their fancy format that may be easier on the eyes.
Two things happen when a bearded man starts hanging a sheet in front of a bar stage. You either hope for some naughty shadow play from a backlit woman, or you prepare for the disappointment of somebody showing some crap visuals to go with their crap music. Alexis Gideon did neither last Tuesday night so I was pleasantly surprised.
The guitarist for Portland's CarCrashLander performed solo along with his animated and claymation infused tribute to Hungarian myths he's named Video Musics. I actually bought a copy, it was that interesting, and I plan on absorbing it again in the future. I'm just waiting to do some mescaline* and watch it at some point in my mid-40's: I dream big people. The last tour stop of Gideon's, along with tour mate Shelley Short, featured local openers The Black Hens and was not a let down in the least. I wish more people were there to appreciate the performance, but judging by the size of the crowd and the group actually engaged in the act of watching the piece, I assume most Utah residents just wouldn't get it. And if I hadn't been exposed to cinema like the Buñuel/Dali piece Un Chien Andalou, I would have probably thought Gideon's work was ridiculous. The guys playing ping-pong while it was being performed obviously thought so.
But, it isn't ridiculous. Gideon performs his magnum opus with guitar, rap and "normal" vocalizations along with xylophone plinks during some really interesting projections: a bad ass lizard (Brimstone Blaine) on a motorized vehicle harasses trains, another lizard creature seduces a fox princess by catching an elusive apple, and a cat-headed woman ventures through constellations into another dimension where spacemen dislocate her head–that's just a small sample of the genius of the work that is loosely based on some sort of animal theme from Hungary. Click here for "Brimstone Blaine" if you'd like to see what I mean. It will require a second viewing for me to really get it, most definitely. A first visceral viewing still resonates though, enough to recommend that you find this piece if you like avant-garde cinema, or if you have some mescaline* on hand. And if you have the latter, email Jamie Gadette and have her get back to me. I could push my goals forward a few decades. For scientific purposes, of course. Thanks must go to Slowtrain records for helping put the show on and for The Woodshed for hosting it. And see Gideon the next time he comes by. You won't regret it.
*Jon Paxton does not endorse intake of mind-altering substances of any kind. Especially peyote.
-jon paxton
Click on Salt Blog if you'd like to see what City Weekly turned this into. It's pretty much the same, just in their fancy format that may be easier on the eyes.
Two things happen when a bearded man starts hanging a sheet in front of a bar stage. You either hope for some naughty shadow play from a backlit woman, or you prepare for the disappointment of somebody showing some crap visuals to go with their crap music. Alexis Gideon did neither last Tuesday night so I was pleasantly surprised.
The guitarist for Portland's CarCrashLander performed solo along with his animated and claymation infused tribute to Hungarian myths he's named Video Musics. I actually bought a copy, it was that interesting, and I plan on absorbing it again in the future. I'm just waiting to do some mescaline* and watch it at some point in my mid-40's: I dream big people. The last tour stop of Gideon's, along with tour mate Shelley Short, featured local openers The Black Hens and was not a let down in the least. I wish more people were there to appreciate the performance, but judging by the size of the crowd and the group actually engaged in the act of watching the piece, I assume most Utah residents just wouldn't get it. And if I hadn't been exposed to cinema like the Buñuel/Dali piece Un Chien Andalou, I would have probably thought Gideon's work was ridiculous. The guys playing ping-pong while it was being performed obviously thought so.
But, it isn't ridiculous. Gideon performs his magnum opus with guitar, rap and "normal" vocalizations along with xylophone plinks during some really interesting projections: a bad ass lizard (Brimstone Blaine) on a motorized vehicle harasses trains, another lizard creature seduces a fox princess by catching an elusive apple, and a cat-headed woman ventures through constellations into another dimension where spacemen dislocate her head–that's just a small sample of the genius of the work that is loosely based on some sort of animal theme from Hungary. Click here for "Brimstone Blaine" if you'd like to see what I mean. It will require a second viewing for me to really get it, most definitely. A first visceral viewing still resonates though, enough to recommend that you find this piece if you like avant-garde cinema, or if you have some mescaline* on hand. And if you have the latter, email Jamie Gadette and have her get back to me. I could push my goals forward a few decades. For scientific purposes, of course. Thanks must go to Slowtrain records for helping put the show on and for The Woodshed for hosting it. And see Gideon the next time he comes by. You won't regret it.
*Jon Paxton does not endorse intake of mind-altering substances of any kind. Especially peyote.
-jon paxton
11.03.2008
We are in the midst of the latest (6th) Extinction Period in history: And it’s man made
I keep hearing this, but not on mainstream news. At least not enough. The scientists don't want to scare people. This, above all else, makes me hate the human race and my role in it.
I've said for a bit now that we're in trouble and I heard it again on an NPR program featuring a population researcher, a PhD for the record, that our growth is out of control and it's the reason we're losing species from myriad causes. Here is an excerpt from the researcher's website about what scientists were saying in 1993:
"In 1993, fifty-six of the world's scientific academies (including the U.S. National Academy) came together in a "Scientific Summit" on world population. The conference was an out growth of two earlier meetings, one by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the other by the Royal Society of London and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. At both meetings, urgent concern was expressed for the expanding world population and a commitment was made to continue discourse on matters related to population growth. The resulting 1993 Science Summit—the first large-scale collaborative activity ever undertaken by the world's scientific academies—set as its primary goal the formulation of a statement to be presented at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. The statement, reprinted below, underscores the need for government policies and initiatives that will help achieve "zero population growth within the lifetime of our children."
http://www.dominantanimal.com/index.php?page_id=285
Cut and paste to go there for more info. It's a pretty interesting statement. His book sounds interesting, albeit depressing, too.
We, realistically, are fucked. And our future generations will live in a hell we cannot begin to understand. But vote McCain anyway. It's not like there is another candidate who has a better option for our future, say getting off fossil fuels and investing 150 billion dollars in greening our country. (hint: Obama pledged that).
-jp
I keep hearing this, but not on mainstream news. At least not enough. The scientists don't want to scare people. This, above all else, makes me hate the human race and my role in it.
I've said for a bit now that we're in trouble and I heard it again on an NPR program featuring a population researcher, a PhD for the record, that our growth is out of control and it's the reason we're losing species from myriad causes. Here is an excerpt from the researcher's website about what scientists were saying in 1993:
"In 1993, fifty-six of the world's scientific academies (including the U.S. National Academy) came together in a "Scientific Summit" on world population. The conference was an out growth of two earlier meetings, one by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the other by the Royal Society of London and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. At both meetings, urgent concern was expressed for the expanding world population and a commitment was made to continue discourse on matters related to population growth. The resulting 1993 Science Summit—the first large-scale collaborative activity ever undertaken by the world's scientific academies—set as its primary goal the formulation of a statement to be presented at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. The statement, reprinted below, underscores the need for government policies and initiatives that will help achieve "zero population growth within the lifetime of our children."
http://www.dominantanimal.com/index.php?page_id=285
Cut and paste to go there for more info. It's a pretty interesting statement. His book sounds interesting, albeit depressing, too.
We, realistically, are fucked. And our future generations will live in a hell we cannot begin to understand. But vote McCain anyway. It's not like there is another candidate who has a better option for our future, say getting off fossil fuels and investing 150 billion dollars in greening our country. (hint: Obama pledged that).
-jp
Let me precede this by saying I'm a big fan of David Allen Grier, aka DAG. One can only truly appreciate the man's genius if you've been following him since "In Living Color" days. And I must admit I really dig his new show.
I happened to catch it the other night during one of my much loved graveyards and it made me chuckle, out loud, several times. This is usually pretty hard to do. Most stuff just isn't that funny to me unless I've been partaking of left-handed cigarettes. Or eating pop rocks. Pop rocks make me giggle too. And people on acid. They're hilarious. I digress...
DAG's opener about the death of hip hop was spot on and something that I've felt for a while now: and he put it in words eloquently, with humor to boot. The rest of the episode was pretty intelligent, some might disagree but it did bring up social issues in an interesting way, and watching a true character actor in his prime is a boon.
I met Mr. Grier a few years ago at a house party in Colorado during the Aspen Comedy Festival. Now, admittedly, that is a bit of a weird coincidence, and it was given the sub prime real estate the party was at. I intoxicated-ly told DAG that I was a huge fan and was interested in his new work. The gentleman was three sheets to the wind, but he told me that he would "let me know" when his new show was coming out.
Fast forward four or five years...I never saw DAG again, but Comedy Central was the one to let me know he had a show, and by golly, it was worth the wait. I'm looking forward to more episodes, and fingers crossed they don't cancel the shit, cause that guy has talent with character acting. Most definitely.
-jp
I happened to catch it the other night during one of my much loved graveyards and it made me chuckle, out loud, several times. This is usually pretty hard to do. Most stuff just isn't that funny to me unless I've been partaking of left-handed cigarettes. Or eating pop rocks. Pop rocks make me giggle too. And people on acid. They're hilarious. I digress...
DAG's opener about the death of hip hop was spot on and something that I've felt for a while now: and he put it in words eloquently, with humor to boot. The rest of the episode was pretty intelligent, some might disagree but it did bring up social issues in an interesting way, and watching a true character actor in his prime is a boon.
I met Mr. Grier a few years ago at a house party in Colorado during the Aspen Comedy Festival. Now, admittedly, that is a bit of a weird coincidence, and it was given the sub prime real estate the party was at. I intoxicated-ly told DAG that I was a huge fan and was interested in his new work. The gentleman was three sheets to the wind, but he told me that he would "let me know" when his new show was coming out.
Fast forward four or five years...I never saw DAG again, but Comedy Central was the one to let me know he had a show, and by golly, it was worth the wait. I'm looking forward to more episodes, and fingers crossed they don't cancel the shit, cause that guy has talent with character acting. Most definitely.
-jp
10.26.2008
Some bullshit went down in Utah today. Believe it or not, rights to self-expression were threatened yet again. Hard to believe, eh?
Belly dancers are known for their interesting outfits and usually they accentuate the moves of the old dance form. The dancer, Meg Charlier, for The Vile Blue Shades was wearing something similar to what a belly dancer might wear when she was told to leave the stage at a concert I just got back from. The rest of the band played one more song and then left the stage in solidarity with their banished member Charlier. I thought it was extreme bullshit and I was shocked in general, as I was telling Meg this I accidentally knocked a guitar case to the floor. I thought she was reacting very dramatically to me commiserating with her, turns out it had hit her foot and she was in pain. I stand by my original assertion to pay for the damages to her toe.
I need to say a word about the northern Utah city of Ogden for a moment and the dive I witnessed the event at. The only serviceable venue for some alt-acts from the "big city" of Salt is called Brewskis. Sandwiched in between two bar areas is a small stage area that funnels traffic from both sides of the building. Unknown quantities of douche bags filtered in and out of the area and were obviously not interested in live music.
Let me describe what I imagine is the average character that frequents Ogden, an area still stuck in the early 2000's apparently. The guys are big fans of mixed martial arts wear and other douche bag Friday night "outfits" that are meant to impress the large-carriage women of this unfortunate backwater. Regarding that, all the beautiful women in Utah are all south of North Temple in Salt Lake I'm coming to realize. Reason enough to never travel north of that latitude ever again.
And the fact that a part of an act, that was vetted, in a shitty way obviously, by operators that later decided it was not to their taste should have been allowed to finish at least. Fuck Brewskis, fuck Ogden, and fuck close-minded dumbasses that could never comprehend what art is anyway.
You lose again Utah.
Belly dancers are known for their interesting outfits and usually they accentuate the moves of the old dance form. The dancer, Meg Charlier, for The Vile Blue Shades was wearing something similar to what a belly dancer might wear when she was told to leave the stage at a concert I just got back from. The rest of the band played one more song and then left the stage in solidarity with their banished member Charlier. I thought it was extreme bullshit and I was shocked in general, as I was telling Meg this I accidentally knocked a guitar case to the floor. I thought she was reacting very dramatically to me commiserating with her, turns out it had hit her foot and she was in pain. I stand by my original assertion to pay for the damages to her toe.
I need to say a word about the northern Utah city of Ogden for a moment and the dive I witnessed the event at. The only serviceable venue for some alt-acts from the "big city" of Salt is called Brewskis. Sandwiched in between two bar areas is a small stage area that funnels traffic from both sides of the building. Unknown quantities of douche bags filtered in and out of the area and were obviously not interested in live music.
Let me describe what I imagine is the average character that frequents Ogden, an area still stuck in the early 2000's apparently. The guys are big fans of mixed martial arts wear and other douche bag Friday night "outfits" that are meant to impress the large-carriage women of this unfortunate backwater. Regarding that, all the beautiful women in Utah are all south of North Temple in Salt Lake I'm coming to realize. Reason enough to never travel north of that latitude ever again.
And the fact that a part of an act, that was vetted, in a shitty way obviously, by operators that later decided it was not to their taste should have been allowed to finish at least. Fuck Brewskis, fuck Ogden, and fuck close-minded dumbasses that could never comprehend what art is anyway.
You lose again Utah.
10.25.2008
gokart
"Do not operate the unit while operating a vehicle (such as a bicycle, motorcycle or go-kart)."
This is one of the printed warnings for a new electronic recording device I received recently. Thank god they told me that shit about the go-kart because next week I was planning on going to a slick track and dictating the experience to myself--a very post-modern treatise on the experience of experiencing the classic American activity of go-karting.
Who the fuck are these people writing these manuals? Unfortunately, they probably had to include the warning because some jackass decided it would be a good idea to make verbal memos while driving a go kart, motorcycle or bicycle. Gods what is this world coming too? Go-karts, jeeeez.
-jp
This is one of the printed warnings for a new electronic recording device I received recently. Thank god they told me that shit about the go-kart because next week I was planning on going to a slick track and dictating the experience to myself--a very post-modern treatise on the experience of experiencing the classic American activity of go-karting.
Who the fuck are these people writing these manuals? Unfortunately, they probably had to include the warning because some jackass decided it would be a good idea to make verbal memos while driving a go kart, motorcycle or bicycle. Gods what is this world coming too? Go-karts, jeeeez.
-jp
10.13.2008
SigurRos
On Denver Street in Salt Lake City, Utah, there sits a fine cigar shop by the name of Knuckleheads. They sell a variety of tobacco leaves that one could use to roll custom-made cigars. If you are planning on going to a music show 30 minutes west of civilization on a road through an unlivable stretch of dry lake bed you may need to go to a tobacconist before hand to enjoy a lil something on the road. And if you so happen to enjoy a fruit flavored soda pop then you maybe will enjoy a fruit flavored cigar wrapper. And if you are doing all of those things before a Sigur Rós show I believe it is a solid guarantee that when they shoot their confetti cannon into the air you may have a concurrent joygasm in your underroos.
I admittedly may be a little late to the Sigur Rós scene (just come to really appreciate them in the last year or so) and this was the first set I caught from these gentle Icelandic gents. Watching their film Heima gave some insight into the performance a head of time, but it was no replacement for seeing them live but would make do if necessary.
Saltair may be a bitch to get to, no offense Jimmy the Tooth and your Kollective crew, but once one arrives the shows are mostly worth it. I haven’t seen the venue packed like this in a long while though, so I don’t anticipate that anyone thought this was a “secret” band or show. Sigur Rós is big in Utah. When large quantities of douchebags agree and are in close proximity to you you cannot deny it. I resolve not to let their douchebaginess block my party though, and I will definitely catch Sigur Rós next time around. And Saltair ultimately provided a nice warehouse atmosphere for this event, most definitely.
“Gobbledigook” was a standout song, as I am a big fan of the new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, though some diehards may not like the progression of the newer Sigur Rós, I quiet enjoyed it live. The addition of a cavalcade of drummers onstage banging about during the wicked drum and vox breakdown was a big plus. I’m a fool for a good stage setup and the double textile/scrim facade the band was playing visuals through coalesced into some pretty, dazzling imagery. In general it was a pleasure to watch Jónsi break the shit out of some bows he was using to create the interesting bowed effect on guitar. If you can imagine how well a bow might fair in a battle with steel strings you can comprehend the onstage destruction of a classical music tool versus modern machinery. Which may be a good way to sum up what Sigur Rós is: classical influences and modern rock combining into a fussion reaction with an amalgamation of nonsense words (”Vonlenska”) and ethereal swells. And whenever I do visit a fjord you can bet your ass I will be streaming some Sigur Rós album in my head. The band is that good at distilling the beauty of their natural environment into a nicely exportable and compact musical experience with expansive boundaries, at least to my landlocked Utah-American ears.
A welcome addition to the Sigur Rós experience of late comes through their “media sharing room” in their website. The band freely encourages sharing and exchange of files in a special area of their site. Check it out and share/download some media files here.
If you haven’t, for some reason, come across this group in your musical travels you should listen online, download some tracks, and watch them live. Cigar optional.
I admittedly may be a little late to the Sigur Rós scene (just come to really appreciate them in the last year or so) and this was the first set I caught from these gentle Icelandic gents. Watching their film Heima gave some insight into the performance a head of time, but it was no replacement for seeing them live but would make do if necessary.
Saltair may be a bitch to get to, no offense Jimmy the Tooth and your Kollective crew, but once one arrives the shows are mostly worth it. I haven’t seen the venue packed like this in a long while though, so I don’t anticipate that anyone thought this was a “secret” band or show. Sigur Rós is big in Utah. When large quantities of douchebags agree and are in close proximity to you you cannot deny it. I resolve not to let their douchebaginess block my party though, and I will definitely catch Sigur Rós next time around. And Saltair ultimately provided a nice warehouse atmosphere for this event, most definitely.
“Gobbledigook” was a standout song, as I am a big fan of the new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, though some diehards may not like the progression of the newer Sigur Rós, I quiet enjoyed it live. The addition of a cavalcade of drummers onstage banging about during the wicked drum and vox breakdown was a big plus. I’m a fool for a good stage setup and the double textile/scrim facade the band was playing visuals through coalesced into some pretty, dazzling imagery. In general it was a pleasure to watch Jónsi break the shit out of some bows he was using to create the interesting bowed effect on guitar. If you can imagine how well a bow might fair in a battle with steel strings you can comprehend the onstage destruction of a classical music tool versus modern machinery. Which may be a good way to sum up what Sigur Rós is: classical influences and modern rock combining into a fussion reaction with an amalgamation of nonsense words (”Vonlenska”) and ethereal swells. And whenever I do visit a fjord you can bet your ass I will be streaming some Sigur Rós album in my head. The band is that good at distilling the beauty of their natural environment into a nicely exportable and compact musical experience with expansive boundaries, at least to my landlocked Utah-American ears.
A welcome addition to the Sigur Rós experience of late comes through their “media sharing room” in their website. The band freely encourages sharing and exchange of files in a special area of their site. Check it out and share/download some media files here.
If you haven’t, for some reason, come across this group in your musical travels you should listen online, download some tracks, and watch them live. Cigar optional.
10.04.2008
Del
Del tha Funky Homosapien
by JP
[orig location: http://www.slugmag.com/article/1299/Del-tha-Funky-Homosapien.html]
Del Tha Funky Homosapien
05.23.08
The Paladium
Sinthesis, Bukue One (and some dude from New Jersey I didn’t catch)
Somewhere directly under a highway overpass next to a soup kitchen there sits a new venue you’d expect to find in a bit more metropolitan city. My first trip to The Paladium was not disappointing. It was a Latin disco last time I checked. Now it’s a live music venue with a great summer hip-hop line-up on the books. The occasion for my departure from my recent hermit-like existence was to catch my inaugural show from Del Tha Funky Homosapien (of Hieroglyphics, Gorillaz and Deltron renown.)
Fortunately, local openers Sinthesis and Berkeley’s Bukue One were not disappointments. Sinthesis MCs Phaust and Forest did a good job of melding some melodic/insightful flows with the backing of a live band. It’s always wicked to see people expanding hip hop beyond the limit of the traditional 1s and 2s with some strings and real skins getting banged on. If you’ve never seen such a combination, and you think you’re a hip hop fan, check these guys out when they’re at The Paladium with one of my favorite Quannum MCs, Pigeon John, on June 27th. Their song "Shoot Me," from Movement 4:6, was a standout with a catchy hook and some nice guitar that are still knocking around my head.
Nothing says its fucking time to strap on your skate than hearing a little Reggae infused rap. Luckily, Bukue One filled that little niche missing during these last cold-as-hell months. While the venue was filling some Knuckleheads looking cat was skating around throwing a few acrobatics down. I wondered if the guy might have some herbal supplementation infusing his antics. So I waited around to see what would happen to his ass, testosteroned-security wise. His ass happened to be Bukue One so nobody gave him one word for it. Bukue took to the stage with hyper energy and salivated on the crowd with some tight reggae-permeated lines about Bush/Cheney being murderers. I always like that shit so Bukue got a gold star; and his good humored stage presence earned him a few more.
I missed the third act, but Del did not disappoint. A-Plus from Souls of Mischief/Hieroglyphics was his hype man and both guys (backed by their DJ Zack, also Bukue’s DJ, for the record) blew it the fuck up. My right ear felt stuffed for two days after the show: they literally blew it out. Del did a doozy bringing his whole catalog to bear and linking his 17-year hip hop career with head nods and perfected flow. It was like watching what it was: a true professional at work. Finally, Del insisted that the crowd raise the peace sign, something he has always been a promoter of (unlike his cousin Ice Cube) and no one begrudged him our two fingers raised in solidarity. Del left the stage on that high note only to be brought back by rabid stage thumps and "D-E-L" chants rebounding off the corners of the venue. The crowd went bonkers as "Clint Eastwood," minus Damon Alba (a version that vastly improved on the original) brought Del back from the wings for his finale. I think there was a lot of hollering at the end but I was too busy wondering if I had permanently gone deaf in one ear to notice.
by JP
[orig location: http://www.slugmag.com/article/1299/Del-tha-Funky-Homosapien.html]
Del Tha Funky Homosapien
05.23.08
The Paladium
Sinthesis, Bukue One (and some dude from New Jersey I didn’t catch)
Somewhere directly under a highway overpass next to a soup kitchen there sits a new venue you’d expect to find in a bit more metropolitan city. My first trip to The Paladium was not disappointing. It was a Latin disco last time I checked. Now it’s a live music venue with a great summer hip-hop line-up on the books. The occasion for my departure from my recent hermit-like existence was to catch my inaugural show from Del Tha Funky Homosapien (of Hieroglyphics, Gorillaz and Deltron renown.)
Fortunately, local openers Sinthesis and Berkeley’s Bukue One were not disappointments. Sinthesis MCs Phaust and Forest did a good job of melding some melodic/insightful flows with the backing of a live band. It’s always wicked to see people expanding hip hop beyond the limit of the traditional 1s and 2s with some strings and real skins getting banged on. If you’ve never seen such a combination, and you think you’re a hip hop fan, check these guys out when they’re at The Paladium with one of my favorite Quannum MCs, Pigeon John, on June 27th. Their song "Shoot Me," from Movement 4:6, was a standout with a catchy hook and some nice guitar that are still knocking around my head.
Nothing says its fucking time to strap on your skate than hearing a little Reggae infused rap. Luckily, Bukue One filled that little niche missing during these last cold-as-hell months. While the venue was filling some Knuckleheads looking cat was skating around throwing a few acrobatics down. I wondered if the guy might have some herbal supplementation infusing his antics. So I waited around to see what would happen to his ass, testosteroned-security wise. His ass happened to be Bukue One so nobody gave him one word for it. Bukue took to the stage with hyper energy and salivated on the crowd with some tight reggae-permeated lines about Bush/Cheney being murderers. I always like that shit so Bukue got a gold star; and his good humored stage presence earned him a few more.
I missed the third act, but Del did not disappoint. A-Plus from Souls of Mischief/Hieroglyphics was his hype man and both guys (backed by their DJ Zack, also Bukue’s DJ, for the record) blew it the fuck up. My right ear felt stuffed for two days after the show: they literally blew it out. Del did a doozy bringing his whole catalog to bear and linking his 17-year hip hop career with head nods and perfected flow. It was like watching what it was: a true professional at work. Finally, Del insisted that the crowd raise the peace sign, something he has always been a promoter of (unlike his cousin Ice Cube) and no one begrudged him our two fingers raised in solidarity. Del left the stage on that high note only to be brought back by rabid stage thumps and "D-E-L" chants rebounding off the corners of the venue. The crowd went bonkers as "Clint Eastwood," minus Damon Alba (a version that vastly improved on the original) brought Del back from the wings for his finale. I think there was a lot of hollering at the end but I was too busy wondering if I had permanently gone deaf in one ear to notice.
Warped Tour '08: Binging and Purging at the Fairgrounds One Last Time
by JP [note: I took the photos attached to the piece and they're best view at the article's original site: http://www.slugmag.com/article/1395/Warped-Tour-08:-Binging-and-Purging-at-the-Fairgrounds-One-Last-Time.html]
Added August 14, 2008
The Van’s Warped Tour used to rank up there with epic summer events like the X96 Big Ass Show and mercury busting digits in my little brain. And surprisingly it still ranks that high with hordes of sunburnt teenagers.
The Van’s Warped Tour is like an Asian buffet with all sorts of food. So many kinds and different regions are represented that it can be nauseating, confusing and may give you a toxic dose of MSG. Your intrepid SLUG representative braved the great horde of the unwashed to figure out what the fuck was being served. I got full and had to leave the buffet a little early with a case of the Delhi belly. But not ‘til I had time to check in with a few bands and the man behind the magic, tour founder and producer, Kevin Lyman himself.
I wasn’t there to check out the merch, even though there was a shit-ton. I wasn’t there to be arrested for statutory, even though there were many opportunities. And I definitely wasn’t there to get the big C: SPF 45 motherfuckers! The goal was to gorge on every variety and style of music I could before the flux hit. I consumed a lot of varieties of grubbin: some British Clash impersonators (Beat Union), caught a little Colorado rap/electro in the form of 3OH!3, delved into the NY Hip-Hop/nerdcore of MC Chris and saw some Japanese ska girls (Oreskaband) do their best imitation of fellow tour members Reel Big Fish.
The kids these days are known for being out of shape, a little slow and not very bright. It may be because they consume musical shit––the majority of what was on display at the Utah State Fair Grounds. I went to the Warped Tour a lot until about 2001. And I can say that the industry and the style of music has changed a fair amount since then. It’s not just the fact that I grew up a little (very little). It’s the fact that overall the music has been so polished and packaged for ease of consumption that boundaries are getting grey. We probably couldn’t realistically see what the industry would become back in the 90s––before Clear Channel monopolies and the Bush-administration-run FCC. We thought it was bad in the 90s when we saw a deepening rift between the style of music that evolved from the 80s punk originators into the unfortunate pop-punk then emo/folk. Now the deepening of the genuine vs. the commercial is even wider.
Ten years ago you had to chew your McDonald’s, but now that shit slides down easy with a wash of Coke, same with what you hear on the radio (yes, I’m a hypocrite). I saw Vans on sale the other day at a Smith’s in the bargain bin. The brand used to only be available in skate shops. I promised myself I wouldn’t spend this whole piece ripping on the tour, and I won’t.
Ultimately, the distinction has to be made between what the kids want and what they are served. If tons of fun in her ill-advised tube top over there wants a fucking double cheezburger of Panic! at the Disco beef with a side of some sodium infested freedom (or disInformation act) fries let her fuckin eat it. And the peeps are doing it. Hell, I’d play the Warped Tour and eat out at MckyDees all the time if I could. It would be a hellofa ride. It’s not all wine and roses though. The bands were in a line an hour plus to get the same food all the other bands were eating and they were doing it in the plush digs of the old rodeo ground concession area with a thermostat at over 100. No couches. No AC. No free BJ area (I asked).
So was there music JP? Will you shut the fuck up already and get to it.
Early on I headed over to an area where a herd of rowdy fuckers were stroking out to some electro-pop/rap from some sketchy looking guys from Colorado. 3OH!3 were putting on a good enough show and reppin’ the Rockies hard enough that I decided to talk to the fuckers. I’ve heard them before and wasn’t too jazzed, but their live show changed my mind. Their style is a little Beastie Boys and a little M.I.A. These guys still confuse me. Are they faking it or just having a good fucking time? Pushups interspersed with what can only be described as white-boy dancing were some of the stage tricks these guys used to light up one of the smaller stages on the tour and they were feeling it. " The crowd in Salt Lake was intense. It was a really good show. One of our best shows," the cardio crazed MC Sean said. Unfortunately, he’s retired the perfect form pushup due to a possibly career ending injury: "I threw my shoulder out in New Orleans riding a mechanical bull so I can’t do pushups right now. I’m going to have to stick to jumping jacks for my cardio. But we’re fighting the obesity epidemic one show at a time." Thanks 3OH!3 for leading by example through your community service. I downloaded (legally) a grip of their songs and thankfully have had a good laugh ever since.
The response to 3OH!3 has been similar elsewhere according to MC Nathaniel. "It’s crazy. It’s our first national tour. Watching these kids in different cities go ape shit to our stuff is so surreal and really really fun." The group does have some good beats and most importantly for what they’re going for, an interesting sense of humor. Nate busted out one of his raps with a serious, "Get your hand off my cock," and then two seconds later, "Seriously. Get your hand off my cock." Poor front row groupies. She will never wash her hand again, but at least the crowd enjoyed it. But according to Nate, 3OH!3 does look good enough to eat. So you can’t blame the overzealous groupies. "We look good. We usually have a little glistening sweat making our skin look great in the sun. Seans has been doing perfect pushups. We make sure we look really professional and really good," Nate says. I’d have to leave that up to your discretion.
My partner in crime for the day, Ed of Tamerlane, (who was not amused the majority of the time and who I still "owe") and I caught some Every Time I Die as our "hardcore" category filler. Ed thought it was sub par. Being a hardcore aficionado, I think this was an almost passing grade. Fortunately Ed didn’t punch anybody, that I know of. I had some time to chat with the lead vocalist of the band before they went on and he was a surprisingly intelligent and genuine guy. It’s hard to hate a band just because they are the food equivalent of a ham fried rice with still frozen mixed veggies when their lead vocalist, Keith Buckley, is a pretty OK guy. He started changing my mind about whose fault the plethora of shit at the Warped Tour was. And made me realize that all the bands, barring the huge headliners, were really just short order cooks at the whim of their audience; deep frying egg rolls to go.
The guy admitted to having a rep for being a prickly interview, but Buckley claims, " I’ve never walked away from an interview. I have a pretty good sense of humor. But when someone asks: ‘So how’d you guys get started?’ eyes roll. That person hasn’t cared to look up something. You could look that up via Internet. It just seems a lot people say they’re interviewers because they want free passes to the Warped Tour," this shocked me or course, how could the careless freeloaders do this at the tour? ‘Not me’ I thought, ‘Not SLUG. Not this time.’ It’s a sick cycle, according to Buckley: "It’s a hassle then because everyone has to go through the burn of making the interview happen making sure everyone’s at the right place at the right time then they’re like ‘This is my first interview, it’s for my school paper.’ Really? So you got in free to the Warped Tour. It happens a lot. We are record holders of doing people’s first interviews ever. It’s a running joke." I had heard the band had a reputation of being dicks to these people, but Buckley opened up a little and got thoughtful. "I feel bad sometimes… if they’re really nervous. Sometimes I want to pour my heart out and start crying and make it the most in depth interview I’ve ever done and have it be in some really obscure middle school paper." I learned you can’t judge a faux hardcore singer on the Warped Tour by his cover (black v-neck, long hair, tight jeans and knuck tats).
If you like your Brit-rock light and refreshing then another group I caught, Beat Union, should satisfy. I think these guys are OK, in the sense that their hooks are damn catchy and their obvious roots from The Clash make anyone (not the diehards) but most fans of Joe Strummer and Co. able to understand their sound. But it tastes like the Coke machine sweetness nozzle is broken at the buffet when you sip on this group. And broken in the too much high fructose way, not the extra bubbles. The crowd wasn’t really into these guys, despite the band’s hyped performance, and a dismal constant of forty, or so, wandered in and out in a sort of overflow from the main-stages. I can’t resist a cattle metaphor here. The crowd looked like Hindu cows with more pretend angst. Beat Union’s bass player jumped off a stack so they got points for trying.
Taste points (or frivolity points) must go to the Oreskaband: comprised entirely of young girls from Oresaka, Japan with a penchant for… you guessed it––ska. These ladies are straight outta the countryside, no English language niceties here and were in it for the music, obviously. Or whoever put them up to it wanted it to appear so. The trombone player was very cute. Points for the ska band for being cute, ska and Japanese all at once, but they’re ska so subtract five. Sorry. If you like ska and are tired of the ol’ British and American varieties try some Japanese ska on for size. Same thing, but with more of a raw fish flavor.
In passing, I talked to some dude from Say Anything! as they were looking for one of their lost band members. I asked if he was in the groupie tent and random band member (I think the singer) said there wasn’t a groupie tent. Another tour myth busted. Say Anything! didn’t have a sense of humor and their music isn’t that good. JP: One. Say Anything!: Zero. I guess if there was a groupie tent the majority of bands on the tour would be sent to the pen for any interaction with 99% of their fans in attendance. Lesson learned.
Some young thing named Charlotte Summers, much hyped by the tour’s founder, was preparing to hit megastardom from the looks of the gaggle of photogs trying to get her pic. I thought the buzz was large enough she should have been on the main-stage. But she sucked in such a poppy way (even more poppy than Beat Union) that I only lasted one song. That’s saying something, especially for the Warped Tour. I have since seen her video on VH1 (I have a valid excuse, it plays straight music videos at 4 am when I’m at work and everything else on cable is busy promoting cutlery and breast toning exercise equipment) and her suckiness was verified upon seeing her extra-raccoon eyed "look" that they gussied her up with for prime-time video repeats. She was not a standout on the tour.
MC Chris was a bright spot, in a surreal way, for the day. A somewhat odd choice for the Warped Tour, this little fella is best known as the voice of MC PeePee Pants on Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This guy has some pretty silly rhymes over some pretty silly beats, and is best known as a founder of the nerdcore movement, which involves some geeky shit like comics and other semi-nerdy stuff like white boy hip hop. An example of an MC Chris rhyme goes something like this, "I’ll take a Carnival Cruise/ Kathy Lee lets me rub my dick on her boobs." There’s something so undeniably poetic about that sentiment that it must be mentioned. I was supposed to talk to MC, but he blew me off because his 30 minute set combined with a 30 minute meet ‘n greet with his fans winded him enough that he needed to take a nap at 4:30, according to his roadie. Did I mention MC was a founder of nerdcore? In his defense I think it was MC’s meddlesome roadie cock-blocking my ass. Or MC could have been banging some of his hotter fans (I saw them, they do exist), in which case, I can’t blame the guy. I’d say "fuck off" to SLUG for some of the finer pleasures this valley has to offer. At an effort at full disclosure he texted me for a phone interview weeks later, but I was like soooooo beyond MC Chris at that point I was all like "Whatevers." Plus I was lazy.
My final interview of the day was a chat with Kevin Lyman, the demon word-slinger of renown as founder of The Taste of Chaos Tour, the new Mayhem Festival and the shenaninganery of the Warped debacle. Before you completely tune out Lyman as a purveyor of dumbed down music in every genre… he does deserve some props for his greening of the tour since 2002, creatively named, The Warped Eco Initiative. And they’re getting better at it. "It’s great to see the 20 kids out there with the recycling bags and t-shirts. My solar powered stage the Kevin Says Kia stage is amazing. The quality of production is topnotch. Bands are fighting to get on that stage and not fighting to get off of it. There’s always a need to do better though. The bio-diesel is coming in everyday, but there’s always a need to do better," Lyman says at a very fast pace. This comes from a humble middle-aged dude in shorts and a rumpled T. He didn’t look much like "The Man," although he talked a bit like it.
But the guy claims: "If you’re driven by money you’ll never make it. I make a nice living, I won’t deny that, but it can’t be your first objective when you wake up." And he just may be real about it. I got the sense that he was. From the viewpoint of someone that has personally pondered the idea of music promotion before Lyman seems pretty grounded and offers this: "The best advice is that you have to be willing to walk out into the parking lot, take a bag of 25,000 dollars and light it on fire. Because you’re going to have your up days and your down days." Apparently Lyman has been losing money lately due to the economy and rising prices in every sector and he knows it. But he has so many hands in different pots he will probably be just fine. Ultimately the number of national artists on the tour may reduce in size, but that is a good thing because Lyman wants to bring more local bands to the Warped Tour next year. Good news for local bands and good news for the scene in general. Unfortunately it is motivated by a cost/benefit analysis. Such is the biz.
And the ultimate reason Lyman is in the game is for, get this: the sunshine. "Bottom line the thing that resonates with me is strange. It has to do with sunrises and sunsets. How many people get to say they get to see 46 different sunrises and sunsets a year? In a lifetime people see the same sunrise. It may be awesome, but you forget what they look like. But we’ll be rolling out of here and I’ll be looking at the sunset here and tomorrow I’ll be looking at the sunrise in Denver. It’s pretty awesome." Strange for a multi-millionaire in bed with every corporation seeking the young teen demo to admit to it, but he continues with, "Today we were driving up here from Moab watching the sunrise and people that were riding with me were amazed. Those are the kinds of people I like to have around me. And I remember a kid running up to me saying ‘I got to see the Used’ in New Jersey and the mom was like ‘Yeah,’ and she probably did the same thing when she met Bob Dylan. It’s a sense of discovery for the kids, a sense of discovery for me." Really Mr. Lyman? I discovered something too. And it smelled like fantastic ‘dash of the local flavor’ public relations. And he did it well.
There was some other hooliganery I saw but nothing worth writing about. But I learned quite a bit this year: People will eat what makes them feel good, and the smiling gentleman behind the buffet can’t always be blamed for filling up the kids with what the kids want to eat. He even probably has good intentions, or at least will claim he does. Also, I really can’t be expected to stick around to see Angels and Airwaves and Say Anything!. Even I have my limits on what I choose to binge on. I had to throw up in the bushes on my way out on sight of the Angels and Airwaves shit-storm. Puking never felt so damn good.
Warped Tour SLUG edition
by JP [note: I took the photos attached to the piece and they're best view at the article's original site: http://www.slugmag.com/article/1395/Warped-Tour-08:-Binging-and-Purging-at-the-Fairgrounds-One-Last-Time.html]
Added August 14, 2008
The Van’s Warped Tour used to rank up there with epic summer events like the X96 Big Ass Show and mercury busting digits in my little brain. And surprisingly it still ranks that high with hordes of sunburnt teenagers.
The Van’s Warped Tour is like an Asian buffet with all sorts of food. So many kinds and different regions are represented that it can be nauseating, confusing and may give you a toxic dose of MSG. Your intrepid SLUG representative braved the great horde of the unwashed to figure out what the fuck was being served. I got full and had to leave the buffet a little early with a case of the Delhi belly. But not ‘til I had time to check in with a few bands and the man behind the magic, tour founder and producer, Kevin Lyman himself.
I wasn’t there to check out the merch, even though there was a shit-ton. I wasn’t there to be arrested for statutory, even though there were many opportunities. And I definitely wasn’t there to get the big C: SPF 45 motherfuckers! The goal was to gorge on every variety and style of music I could before the flux hit. I consumed a lot of varieties of grubbin: some British Clash impersonators (Beat Union), caught a little Colorado rap/electro in the form of 3OH!3, delved into the NY Hip-Hop/nerdcore of MC Chris and saw some Japanese ska girls (Oreskaband) do their best imitation of fellow tour members Reel Big Fish.
The kids these days are known for being out of shape, a little slow and not very bright. It may be because they consume musical shit––the majority of what was on display at the Utah State Fair Grounds. I went to the Warped Tour a lot until about 2001. And I can say that the industry and the style of music has changed a fair amount since then. It’s not just the fact that I grew up a little (very little). It’s the fact that overall the music has been so polished and packaged for ease of consumption that boundaries are getting grey. We probably couldn’t realistically see what the industry would become back in the 90s––before Clear Channel monopolies and the Bush-administration-run FCC. We thought it was bad in the 90s when we saw a deepening rift between the style of music that evolved from the 80s punk originators into the unfortunate pop-punk then emo/folk. Now the deepening of the genuine vs. the commercial is even wider.
Ten years ago you had to chew your McDonald’s, but now that shit slides down easy with a wash of Coke, same with what you hear on the radio (yes, I’m a hypocrite). I saw Vans on sale the other day at a Smith’s in the bargain bin. The brand used to only be available in skate shops. I promised myself I wouldn’t spend this whole piece ripping on the tour, and I won’t.
Ultimately, the distinction has to be made between what the kids want and what they are served. If tons of fun in her ill-advised tube top over there wants a fucking double cheezburger of Panic! at the Disco beef with a side of some sodium infested freedom (or disInformation act) fries let her fuckin eat it. And the peeps are doing it. Hell, I’d play the Warped Tour and eat out at MckyDees all the time if I could. It would be a hellofa ride. It’s not all wine and roses though. The bands were in a line an hour plus to get the same food all the other bands were eating and they were doing it in the plush digs of the old rodeo ground concession area with a thermostat at over 100. No couches. No AC. No free BJ area (I asked).
So was there music JP? Will you shut the fuck up already and get to it.
Early on I headed over to an area where a herd of rowdy fuckers were stroking out to some electro-pop/rap from some sketchy looking guys from Colorado. 3OH!3 were putting on a good enough show and reppin’ the Rockies hard enough that I decided to talk to the fuckers. I’ve heard them before and wasn’t too jazzed, but their live show changed my mind. Their style is a little Beastie Boys and a little M.I.A. These guys still confuse me. Are they faking it or just having a good fucking time? Pushups interspersed with what can only be described as white-boy dancing were some of the stage tricks these guys used to light up one of the smaller stages on the tour and they were feeling it. " The crowd in Salt Lake was intense. It was a really good show. One of our best shows," the cardio crazed MC Sean said. Unfortunately, he’s retired the perfect form pushup due to a possibly career ending injury: "I threw my shoulder out in New Orleans riding a mechanical bull so I can’t do pushups right now. I’m going to have to stick to jumping jacks for my cardio. But we’re fighting the obesity epidemic one show at a time." Thanks 3OH!3 for leading by example through your community service. I downloaded (legally) a grip of their songs and thankfully have had a good laugh ever since.
The response to 3OH!3 has been similar elsewhere according to MC Nathaniel. "It’s crazy. It’s our first national tour. Watching these kids in different cities go ape shit to our stuff is so surreal and really really fun." The group does have some good beats and most importantly for what they’re going for, an interesting sense of humor. Nate busted out one of his raps with a serious, "Get your hand off my cock," and then two seconds later, "Seriously. Get your hand off my cock." Poor front row groupies. She will never wash her hand again, but at least the crowd enjoyed it. But according to Nate, 3OH!3 does look good enough to eat. So you can’t blame the overzealous groupies. "We look good. We usually have a little glistening sweat making our skin look great in the sun. Seans has been doing perfect pushups. We make sure we look really professional and really good," Nate says. I’d have to leave that up to your discretion.
My partner in crime for the day, Ed of Tamerlane, (who was not amused the majority of the time and who I still "owe") and I caught some Every Time I Die as our "hardcore" category filler. Ed thought it was sub par. Being a hardcore aficionado, I think this was an almost passing grade. Fortunately Ed didn’t punch anybody, that I know of. I had some time to chat with the lead vocalist of the band before they went on and he was a surprisingly intelligent and genuine guy. It’s hard to hate a band just because they are the food equivalent of a ham fried rice with still frozen mixed veggies when their lead vocalist, Keith Buckley, is a pretty OK guy. He started changing my mind about whose fault the plethora of shit at the Warped Tour was. And made me realize that all the bands, barring the huge headliners, were really just short order cooks at the whim of their audience; deep frying egg rolls to go.
The guy admitted to having a rep for being a prickly interview, but Buckley claims, " I’ve never walked away from an interview. I have a pretty good sense of humor. But when someone asks: ‘So how’d you guys get started?’ eyes roll. That person hasn’t cared to look up something. You could look that up via Internet. It just seems a lot people say they’re interviewers because they want free passes to the Warped Tour," this shocked me or course, how could the careless freeloaders do this at the tour? ‘Not me’ I thought, ‘Not SLUG. Not this time.’ It’s a sick cycle, according to Buckley: "It’s a hassle then because everyone has to go through the burn of making the interview happen making sure everyone’s at the right place at the right time then they’re like ‘This is my first interview, it’s for my school paper.’ Really? So you got in free to the Warped Tour. It happens a lot. We are record holders of doing people’s first interviews ever. It’s a running joke." I had heard the band had a reputation of being dicks to these people, but Buckley opened up a little and got thoughtful. "I feel bad sometimes… if they’re really nervous. Sometimes I want to pour my heart out and start crying and make it the most in depth interview I’ve ever done and have it be in some really obscure middle school paper." I learned you can’t judge a faux hardcore singer on the Warped Tour by his cover (black v-neck, long hair, tight jeans and knuck tats).
If you like your Brit-rock light and refreshing then another group I caught, Beat Union, should satisfy. I think these guys are OK, in the sense that their hooks are damn catchy and their obvious roots from The Clash make anyone (not the diehards) but most fans of Joe Strummer and Co. able to understand their sound. But it tastes like the Coke machine sweetness nozzle is broken at the buffet when you sip on this group. And broken in the too much high fructose way, not the extra bubbles. The crowd wasn’t really into these guys, despite the band’s hyped performance, and a dismal constant of forty, or so, wandered in and out in a sort of overflow from the main-stages. I can’t resist a cattle metaphor here. The crowd looked like Hindu cows with more pretend angst. Beat Union’s bass player jumped off a stack so they got points for trying.
Taste points (or frivolity points) must go to the Oreskaband: comprised entirely of young girls from Oresaka, Japan with a penchant for… you guessed it––ska. These ladies are straight outta the countryside, no English language niceties here and were in it for the music, obviously. Or whoever put them up to it wanted it to appear so. The trombone player was very cute. Points for the ska band for being cute, ska and Japanese all at once, but they’re ska so subtract five. Sorry. If you like ska and are tired of the ol’ British and American varieties try some Japanese ska on for size. Same thing, but with more of a raw fish flavor.
In passing, I talked to some dude from Say Anything! as they were looking for one of their lost band members. I asked if he was in the groupie tent and random band member (I think the singer) said there wasn’t a groupie tent. Another tour myth busted. Say Anything! didn’t have a sense of humor and their music isn’t that good. JP: One. Say Anything!: Zero. I guess if there was a groupie tent the majority of bands on the tour would be sent to the pen for any interaction with 99% of their fans in attendance. Lesson learned.
Some young thing named Charlotte Summers, much hyped by the tour’s founder, was preparing to hit megastardom from the looks of the gaggle of photogs trying to get her pic. I thought the buzz was large enough she should have been on the main-stage. But she sucked in such a poppy way (even more poppy than Beat Union) that I only lasted one song. That’s saying something, especially for the Warped Tour. I have since seen her video on VH1 (I have a valid excuse, it plays straight music videos at 4 am when I’m at work and everything else on cable is busy promoting cutlery and breast toning exercise equipment) and her suckiness was verified upon seeing her extra-raccoon eyed "look" that they gussied her up with for prime-time video repeats. She was not a standout on the tour.
MC Chris was a bright spot, in a surreal way, for the day. A somewhat odd choice for the Warped Tour, this little fella is best known as the voice of MC PeePee Pants on Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This guy has some pretty silly rhymes over some pretty silly beats, and is best known as a founder of the nerdcore movement, which involves some geeky shit like comics and other semi-nerdy stuff like white boy hip hop. An example of an MC Chris rhyme goes something like this, "I’ll take a Carnival Cruise/ Kathy Lee lets me rub my dick on her boobs." There’s something so undeniably poetic about that sentiment that it must be mentioned. I was supposed to talk to MC, but he blew me off because his 30 minute set combined with a 30 minute meet ‘n greet with his fans winded him enough that he needed to take a nap at 4:30, according to his roadie. Did I mention MC was a founder of nerdcore? In his defense I think it was MC’s meddlesome roadie cock-blocking my ass. Or MC could have been banging some of his hotter fans (I saw them, they do exist), in which case, I can’t blame the guy. I’d say "fuck off" to SLUG for some of the finer pleasures this valley has to offer. At an effort at full disclosure he texted me for a phone interview weeks later, but I was like soooooo beyond MC Chris at that point I was all like "Whatevers." Plus I was lazy.
My final interview of the day was a chat with Kevin Lyman, the demon word-slinger of renown as founder of The Taste of Chaos Tour, the new Mayhem Festival and the shenaninganery of the Warped debacle. Before you completely tune out Lyman as a purveyor of dumbed down music in every genre… he does deserve some props for his greening of the tour since 2002, creatively named, The Warped Eco Initiative. And they’re getting better at it. "It’s great to see the 20 kids out there with the recycling bags and t-shirts. My solar powered stage the Kevin Says Kia stage is amazing. The quality of production is topnotch. Bands are fighting to get on that stage and not fighting to get off of it. There’s always a need to do better though. The bio-diesel is coming in everyday, but there’s always a need to do better," Lyman says at a very fast pace. This comes from a humble middle-aged dude in shorts and a rumpled T. He didn’t look much like "The Man," although he talked a bit like it.
But the guy claims: "If you’re driven by money you’ll never make it. I make a nice living, I won’t deny that, but it can’t be your first objective when you wake up." And he just may be real about it. I got the sense that he was. From the viewpoint of someone that has personally pondered the idea of music promotion before Lyman seems pretty grounded and offers this: "The best advice is that you have to be willing to walk out into the parking lot, take a bag of 25,000 dollars and light it on fire. Because you’re going to have your up days and your down days." Apparently Lyman has been losing money lately due to the economy and rising prices in every sector and he knows it. But he has so many hands in different pots he will probably be just fine. Ultimately the number of national artists on the tour may reduce in size, but that is a good thing because Lyman wants to bring more local bands to the Warped Tour next year. Good news for local bands and good news for the scene in general. Unfortunately it is motivated by a cost/benefit analysis. Such is the biz.
And the ultimate reason Lyman is in the game is for, get this: the sunshine. "Bottom line the thing that resonates with me is strange. It has to do with sunrises and sunsets. How many people get to say they get to see 46 different sunrises and sunsets a year? In a lifetime people see the same sunrise. It may be awesome, but you forget what they look like. But we’ll be rolling out of here and I’ll be looking at the sunset here and tomorrow I’ll be looking at the sunrise in Denver. It’s pretty awesome." Strange for a multi-millionaire in bed with every corporation seeking the young teen demo to admit to it, but he continues with, "Today we were driving up here from Moab watching the sunrise and people that were riding with me were amazed. Those are the kinds of people I like to have around me. And I remember a kid running up to me saying ‘I got to see the Used’ in New Jersey and the mom was like ‘Yeah,’ and she probably did the same thing when she met Bob Dylan. It’s a sense of discovery for the kids, a sense of discovery for me." Really Mr. Lyman? I discovered something too. And it smelled like fantastic ‘dash of the local flavor’ public relations. And he did it well.
There was some other hooliganery I saw but nothing worth writing about. But I learned quite a bit this year: People will eat what makes them feel good, and the smiling gentleman behind the buffet can’t always be blamed for filling up the kids with what the kids want to eat. He even probably has good intentions, or at least will claim he does. Also, I really can’t be expected to stick around to see Angels and Airwaves and Say Anything!. Even I have my limits on what I choose to binge on. I had to throw up in the bushes on my way out on sight of the Angels and Airwaves shit-storm. Puking never felt so damn good.
Warped Tour SLUG edition
Localized
Localized
by JP
October 2008 [View Issue at http://www.slugmag.com/article/1444/Localized.html]
Salt Lake has seldom been brought to tears or violence by a Localized showcase, but it may very well happen this time around. October comes with a hardon for this month’s Localized at Urban Lounge with some hip hop acts, for once. Local acts Knoitalls, The Bad Apples and Kinnetik will be on display showcasing their vocal wares. As usual it will be on the second Friday of the month (Oct. 10) and its only $5. It’s a steal of a deal considering the sheer quality of band for your buck. Peep "the skinny" below.
Knoitalls:
Johnny Utah – MC
Facts – MC
SLC’s Knoitalls could be one of the rare acts who actually live up to their name. These cats aren’t slouches and back up whatever shit they need to talk with facts. They’re not "gangsta" MCs with "gats." They’re just some genuine talent from Salt Lake carving a niche. Johnny Utah and Facts "not Fax, assholes," make up this team that have been collaborating for about five years. Both of them have been concocting cyphers since their early teens, sometimes when it wasn’t all that popular. "I was only one of five people in Utah County that rapped," says Facts. The mid-90s were not too friendly toward white kids trying to shake the Vanilla Ice image he says.
The duo first appreciated each other’s stripes performing within various groups in the early doubleots: Facts was in The Agents and Johnny in Broken Silence, until reciprocal mix-tape spots were suggested to each other. "He has really smooth skin and dresses real nice," Johnny says when asked how he got interested in Facts. All joking aside, Johnny says that they wrote a tight 16-bar song in less than two hours during their first collaboration and "the chemistry was really good." Thus, The Knoitalls began their combined quest for more insight to earn their moniker.
The Knoitalls are balls deep in the process of mastering their latest LP Kiss The Ring: continually fighting the stereotypes of "where from" and "what" makes an MC, and have no qualms about representing Utah to the fullest. Their new lyrics are peppered with Salt Lake references and both think the concept that "the city by the salty lake has no talent" is outmoded in the extreme. "From the national standpoint there’s still a stigma. You have to win their respect. I did an MTV MC battle and the hip hop guy judging was shocked I was from Utah. When he heard me rap, he was like ‘Oh, wow.’ Because hip hop is more judgmental than other kinds of music, it can be tough," Facts says.
Both MCs are still involved in other projects and struggle to juggle families, multiple jobs and the constant hunt for beats. Both dudes rep the ideal of the "hardworking MC" well. I tracked down Facts on a Friday cutting a track with Dusk from Mindstate and Brisk (Johnny’s favorite producer in SLC) at the boards. Facts had his work and personal phones constantly buzzing as he meticulously laid down verses and a hook for two songs. With no notes and no preparation for the second track, Brisk dug up a work-in-project for some spontaneous polishing. It was impressive.
Heads up: The new release from Knoitalls could be out next week. "More or less, the project’s done," Facts says, and they’re waiting for a solid date that will be sooner than later. Check their MySpace, www.myspace.com/theknoitalls. The LP may very well be available at the Localized show. And these MCs want the audience to bring high expectations to Urban. "We have a tendency to get a little rowdy on stage," Facts says. Sometimes, bar management has had to intercede. "If nothing else, you’re going to see two guys using every inch of the stage," he finishes.
"You won’t leave a Knoitalls show saying you weren’t entertained. If anything, you’re going to see two assholes running around stage, spilling beers, kicking speakers and jumping into crowds," Johnny guarantees.
The Bad Apples:
Sir Louis Wildamiss – MC
MC Mike Booth – MC/Producer
In a small space (close to 9th and 9th) in Salt Lake City sits Bad Apples headquarters and home of Penalty Box Records. The group consists of MC Sir Louis Wildamiss and producer/MC Mike Booth. When I joined up with Booth at his studio, he was deep in deliberation regarding track listing and order for the latest Bad Apples release, How Ya Like Dem Apples, Part 1. It’s an album rooted in traditional rap/hip hop staples evoking a good time and showcasing some very decent local talent, like Pace Won, Ben Grim, Verse1 and many others.
The Bad Apples represent more of a collective, something akin to San Francisco’s Quannum Records collaborative where MCs and DJs guest and star in similar hip hop projects. Penalty Box Records has that same West Coast collaborative energy rushing through all of its artists and projects. Penalty Box is the brainchild of Mike Booth, Las Vegas native and former graff writer, who punishes in the box with headknockin’ beats and handles promotions for the outfit.
"We did the first album and we didn’t think it was going to do anything, but it created a buzz here and elsewhere," Booth said. "And the next album is about capturing our live show." Songs that have been Bad Apple’s fan favorites, here and elsewhere are being slated for the LP as of this writing and are set for the Oct. 10. Localized, at the latest, for a release date. Don’t doubt the reach of the steadily growing Apples fanbase, either. Booth broadcasts a global weekly radio program from SLCC to garner support, is active on social networking sites and has this philosophy on the group’s upcoming tour: "All you need to hit is Salt Lake, Idaho, Colorado, Portland then Seattle, then you have your region." From there, he plans to conquer the rest of the US one juicy bite at a time.
Such an effort would have been impossible years ago, in terms of making a huge impact in other markets, but technology friendly Penalty Box loves the new music distribution model. "It gives everyone a chance. We’re playing on a level field," Mike says. Unfortunately and fortunately, "It’s still all money based. You have to have huge dollars to play with the big boys," Mike says. "But I can hit as many people as Universal, it just may take five years to do it."
If you’re not schooled on the local hip hop, you’re not alone. Here’s your primer. Mike can list, quite easily, a number of local artists he respects: "You’ve got The Knoitalls, Mindstate, Adverse, Brisk, Hades, all these cats that we’re working with. When you stack it up versus other places like Boston, pound for pound we’ve got better MCs here."
Mike is interested in other artists in Salt Lake, more than just those on his label, and showcases them in the radio program. He sometimes feels like playing some old Ice-T or some Too Short among the local acts he plays. They’d love to get some more listener support as well. "Hopefully we’ll get enough listeners to get some calls and generate an audience," says Hades, another Penalty Box artist who happened to be kicking it, Support local artists and get insight into some more obscure hip hop at http://weekendrapup.mypodcast.com. I scoped a recent podcast of the program and found Knoitalls’ MC Facts kicking it with Booth in the studio, Small Lake City at it again.
"We need enough people to recognize everywhere else that their is a lot of great talent here that seems untapped," Booth said. That would be where the local fan base would come in [that’s you]. See if the Penalty Box hype is real this October at Localized.
On Friday, October 10th the Bad Apples, Knoitalls and Kinnetick will all be at the Urban Lounge and so should you. Don’t forget the date on this one (its happened to the best of us, but this is not one to miss). Cover is $5 and please don’t bring your kid sister, this is a private club. See you in October.
by JP
October 2008 [View Issue at http://www.slugmag.com/article/1444/Localized.html]
Salt Lake has seldom been brought to tears or violence by a Localized showcase, but it may very well happen this time around. October comes with a hardon for this month’s Localized at Urban Lounge with some hip hop acts, for once. Local acts Knoitalls, The Bad Apples and Kinnetik will be on display showcasing their vocal wares. As usual it will be on the second Friday of the month (Oct. 10) and its only $5. It’s a steal of a deal considering the sheer quality of band for your buck. Peep "the skinny" below.
Knoitalls:
Johnny Utah – MC
Facts – MC
SLC’s Knoitalls could be one of the rare acts who actually live up to their name. These cats aren’t slouches and back up whatever shit they need to talk with facts. They’re not "gangsta" MCs with "gats." They’re just some genuine talent from Salt Lake carving a niche. Johnny Utah and Facts "not Fax, assholes," make up this team that have been collaborating for about five years. Both of them have been concocting cyphers since their early teens, sometimes when it wasn’t all that popular. "I was only one of five people in Utah County that rapped," says Facts. The mid-90s were not too friendly toward white kids trying to shake the Vanilla Ice image he says.
The duo first appreciated each other’s stripes performing within various groups in the early doubleots: Facts was in The Agents and Johnny in Broken Silence, until reciprocal mix-tape spots were suggested to each other. "He has really smooth skin and dresses real nice," Johnny says when asked how he got interested in Facts. All joking aside, Johnny says that they wrote a tight 16-bar song in less than two hours during their first collaboration and "the chemistry was really good." Thus, The Knoitalls began their combined quest for more insight to earn their moniker.
The Knoitalls are balls deep in the process of mastering their latest LP Kiss The Ring: continually fighting the stereotypes of "where from" and "what" makes an MC, and have no qualms about representing Utah to the fullest. Their new lyrics are peppered with Salt Lake references and both think the concept that "the city by the salty lake has no talent" is outmoded in the extreme. "From the national standpoint there’s still a stigma. You have to win their respect. I did an MTV MC battle and the hip hop guy judging was shocked I was from Utah. When he heard me rap, he was like ‘Oh, wow.’ Because hip hop is more judgmental than other kinds of music, it can be tough," Facts says.
Both MCs are still involved in other projects and struggle to juggle families, multiple jobs and the constant hunt for beats. Both dudes rep the ideal of the "hardworking MC" well. I tracked down Facts on a Friday cutting a track with Dusk from Mindstate and Brisk (Johnny’s favorite producer in SLC) at the boards. Facts had his work and personal phones constantly buzzing as he meticulously laid down verses and a hook for two songs. With no notes and no preparation for the second track, Brisk dug up a work-in-project for some spontaneous polishing. It was impressive.
Heads up: The new release from Knoitalls could be out next week. "More or less, the project’s done," Facts says, and they’re waiting for a solid date that will be sooner than later. Check their MySpace, www.myspace.com/theknoitalls. The LP may very well be available at the Localized show. And these MCs want the audience to bring high expectations to Urban. "We have a tendency to get a little rowdy on stage," Facts says. Sometimes, bar management has had to intercede. "If nothing else, you’re going to see two guys using every inch of the stage," he finishes.
"You won’t leave a Knoitalls show saying you weren’t entertained. If anything, you’re going to see two assholes running around stage, spilling beers, kicking speakers and jumping into crowds," Johnny guarantees.
The Bad Apples:
Sir Louis Wildamiss – MC
MC Mike Booth – MC/Producer
In a small space (close to 9th and 9th) in Salt Lake City sits Bad Apples headquarters and home of Penalty Box Records. The group consists of MC Sir Louis Wildamiss and producer/MC Mike Booth. When I joined up with Booth at his studio, he was deep in deliberation regarding track listing and order for the latest Bad Apples release, How Ya Like Dem Apples, Part 1. It’s an album rooted in traditional rap/hip hop staples evoking a good time and showcasing some very decent local talent, like Pace Won, Ben Grim, Verse1 and many others.
The Bad Apples represent more of a collective, something akin to San Francisco’s Quannum Records collaborative where MCs and DJs guest and star in similar hip hop projects. Penalty Box Records has that same West Coast collaborative energy rushing through all of its artists and projects. Penalty Box is the brainchild of Mike Booth, Las Vegas native and former graff writer, who punishes in the box with headknockin’ beats and handles promotions for the outfit.
"We did the first album and we didn’t think it was going to do anything, but it created a buzz here and elsewhere," Booth said. "And the next album is about capturing our live show." Songs that have been Bad Apple’s fan favorites, here and elsewhere are being slated for the LP as of this writing and are set for the Oct. 10. Localized, at the latest, for a release date. Don’t doubt the reach of the steadily growing Apples fanbase, either. Booth broadcasts a global weekly radio program from SLCC to garner support, is active on social networking sites and has this philosophy on the group’s upcoming tour: "All you need to hit is Salt Lake, Idaho, Colorado, Portland then Seattle, then you have your region." From there, he plans to conquer the rest of the US one juicy bite at a time.
Such an effort would have been impossible years ago, in terms of making a huge impact in other markets, but technology friendly Penalty Box loves the new music distribution model. "It gives everyone a chance. We’re playing on a level field," Mike says. Unfortunately and fortunately, "It’s still all money based. You have to have huge dollars to play with the big boys," Mike says. "But I can hit as many people as Universal, it just may take five years to do it."
If you’re not schooled on the local hip hop, you’re not alone. Here’s your primer. Mike can list, quite easily, a number of local artists he respects: "You’ve got The Knoitalls, Mindstate, Adverse, Brisk, Hades, all these cats that we’re working with. When you stack it up versus other places like Boston, pound for pound we’ve got better MCs here."
Mike is interested in other artists in Salt Lake, more than just those on his label, and showcases them in the radio program. He sometimes feels like playing some old Ice-T or some Too Short among the local acts he plays. They’d love to get some more listener support as well. "Hopefully we’ll get enough listeners to get some calls and generate an audience," says Hades, another Penalty Box artist who happened to be kicking it, Support local artists and get insight into some more obscure hip hop at http://weekendrapup.mypodcast.com. I scoped a recent podcast of the program and found Knoitalls’ MC Facts kicking it with Booth in the studio, Small Lake City at it again.
"We need enough people to recognize everywhere else that their is a lot of great talent here that seems untapped," Booth said. That would be where the local fan base would come in [that’s you]. See if the Penalty Box hype is real this October at Localized.
On Friday, October 10th the Bad Apples, Knoitalls and Kinnetick will all be at the Urban Lounge and so should you. Don’t forget the date on this one (its happened to the best of us, but this is not one to miss). Cover is $5 and please don’t bring your kid sister, this is a private club. See you in October.
जोम्बी वाल्क article
What a Splendid Morning for Zombie Stroll
by Jonathan Paxton
August 2008 [View Issue at http://www.slugmag.com/article.php?id=1378]
What Sunday street spectacle would creep out a Salt Lake City resident—more than any other? If you said "a gay pride parade" then you probably think that a gun rack is an essential car accessory and you’re voting for McCain. Speaking of pasty-faced people who speak incoherently and walk stiffly, want to know what would really freak me out? Hordes of zombies stumbling down the street. The 1st Annual SLC Zombie Walk is coming August 10th and it will devour you.
A list of qualities for a good zombie walk orchestrator might include childhood dreams of the dead walking and a genuine belief that the Zombacolypse will happen. Enter Sarvas, a man who needs only one name, like Prince or Madonna––a man haunted by visions of zombies since youth. "Zombies were and still are the most frightening thing on earth," Sarvas says. When he’s not busy surface piercing a tramp stamp on your girlfriend’s back or poking your lip with a shiny stud at the new Blue Boutique in Sugarhouse, Sarvas is training for a zombie war...or planning a zombie walk. The virus-like idea was born after he attended his first walk in Portland one year ago. He looked up other walks and said, "Fuck, if Boise, Idaho has one we better have one."
Sarvas had to answer some of the mysteries in his dreams and eventually turned to the most reliable source: zombie movies. "My favorite zombie movies of all time are the Return of the Living Dead I and II. Return of the Living Dead is a spoof of a zombie movie spoof. The zombies talk, and that’s where the ‘brains’ phrase came from." Sarvas found that "in the original zombie movies, zombies really didn’t ever eat brains, but those spoofs are where it originated."
Sarvas hopes that the walk will freak out a few Salt Lake City residents. "If anyone can do anything in Salt Lake to make people go ‘WTF?’ that’s all I really care about," Sarvas says, "I definitely want people to be like ‘AAAARGHH! Zombies!’" But the devilish Sarvas has a smirk lurking behind his smile and eventually he gives up his real motive. "If a bystander falls down and cries. If I can catch that person with my camera as they’re crying." Sarvas gets misty-eyed for a second and looks into the distance with longing and says, "That would be AWESOME." This is a man you can trust to deliver a quality zombie experience.
Zombies also need to know how to be convincing and intimidating. The web is the best resource for a zombie trying to claw its way out of your mortal body. Sarvas suggests the D.I. as an awesome place to find gear to assist in its emergence. Just rip and splatter your second hand duds. I was wondering what makes for a nice splatter batter and Sarvas, as usual, had the answer: "Two bottles of chocolate syrup and one bottle of strawberry [will give] a sweet blood." Avoid the eyes though. Apparently fake blood burns like a mother.
The guest list for this event is huge and stands welcoming. Anyone is invited to participate in the festivities as long as they are "respectful to everyone else and dress like a zombie," Sarvas says. The on-walk transformation is key for a realistic zombie walk. Plan to meet up with friends mid-walk and "turn" them by adding fake blood and raw meat accessories.
Walk participants should meet at 10 a.m. at a specific spot TBA. By 10:30, the walk will commence. Sarvas is hesitant to release to many details out of fear that authorities might get involved. "Anywhere there’s fun… cops will be. Maps won’t come out until a week before," Sarvas says. For more information about the walk route and the meeting place email slczombiewalk@gmail.com or add them on myspace (www.myspace.com/zombiesinslc).
In preparation for the event Sarvas suggests watching zombie movies and drinking alcoholic or highly caffeinated beverages for 72 hours straight. "Me? Oh, I won’t drink water all weekend long and I’ll get cramps," he says. To demonstrate, Sarvas channels his inner zombie for 5 seconds and begins to growl.
He definitely knows his material. And he’s willing to sacrifice his body. Can you handle it? Do you think you have what it takes to be the walking dead? Know this: if you don’t have raw meat hanging out of your pants and you’re not smothered in fruity sauce, well, you just aren’t zombie material and you can go be lame somewhere else August 10th. BRAINSSSS!
by Jonathan Paxton
August 2008 [View Issue at http://www.slugmag.com/article.php?id=1378]
What Sunday street spectacle would creep out a Salt Lake City resident—more than any other? If you said "a gay pride parade" then you probably think that a gun rack is an essential car accessory and you’re voting for McCain. Speaking of pasty-faced people who speak incoherently and walk stiffly, want to know what would really freak me out? Hordes of zombies stumbling down the street. The 1st Annual SLC Zombie Walk is coming August 10th and it will devour you.
A list of qualities for a good zombie walk orchestrator might include childhood dreams of the dead walking and a genuine belief that the Zombacolypse will happen. Enter Sarvas, a man who needs only one name, like Prince or Madonna––a man haunted by visions of zombies since youth. "Zombies were and still are the most frightening thing on earth," Sarvas says. When he’s not busy surface piercing a tramp stamp on your girlfriend’s back or poking your lip with a shiny stud at the new Blue Boutique in Sugarhouse, Sarvas is training for a zombie war...or planning a zombie walk. The virus-like idea was born after he attended his first walk in Portland one year ago. He looked up other walks and said, "Fuck, if Boise, Idaho has one we better have one."
Sarvas had to answer some of the mysteries in his dreams and eventually turned to the most reliable source: zombie movies. "My favorite zombie movies of all time are the Return of the Living Dead I and II. Return of the Living Dead is a spoof of a zombie movie spoof. The zombies talk, and that’s where the ‘brains’ phrase came from." Sarvas found that "in the original zombie movies, zombies really didn’t ever eat brains, but those spoofs are where it originated."
Sarvas hopes that the walk will freak out a few Salt Lake City residents. "If anyone can do anything in Salt Lake to make people go ‘WTF?’ that’s all I really care about," Sarvas says, "I definitely want people to be like ‘AAAARGHH! Zombies!’" But the devilish Sarvas has a smirk lurking behind his smile and eventually he gives up his real motive. "If a bystander falls down and cries. If I can catch that person with my camera as they’re crying." Sarvas gets misty-eyed for a second and looks into the distance with longing and says, "That would be AWESOME." This is a man you can trust to deliver a quality zombie experience.
Zombies also need to know how to be convincing and intimidating. The web is the best resource for a zombie trying to claw its way out of your mortal body. Sarvas suggests the D.I. as an awesome place to find gear to assist in its emergence. Just rip and splatter your second hand duds. I was wondering what makes for a nice splatter batter and Sarvas, as usual, had the answer: "Two bottles of chocolate syrup and one bottle of strawberry [will give] a sweet blood." Avoid the eyes though. Apparently fake blood burns like a mother.
The guest list for this event is huge and stands welcoming. Anyone is invited to participate in the festivities as long as they are "respectful to everyone else and dress like a zombie," Sarvas says. The on-walk transformation is key for a realistic zombie walk. Plan to meet up with friends mid-walk and "turn" them by adding fake blood and raw meat accessories.
Walk participants should meet at 10 a.m. at a specific spot TBA. By 10:30, the walk will commence. Sarvas is hesitant to release to many details out of fear that authorities might get involved. "Anywhere there’s fun… cops will be. Maps won’t come out until a week before," Sarvas says. For more information about the walk route and the meeting place email slczombiewalk@gmail.com or add them on myspace (www.myspace.com/zombiesinslc).
In preparation for the event Sarvas suggests watching zombie movies and drinking alcoholic or highly caffeinated beverages for 72 hours straight. "Me? Oh, I won’t drink water all weekend long and I’ll get cramps," he says. To demonstrate, Sarvas channels his inner zombie for 5 seconds and begins to growl.
He definitely knows his material. And he’s willing to sacrifice his body. Can you handle it? Do you think you have what it takes to be the walking dead? Know this: if you don’t have raw meat hanging out of your pants and you’re not smothered in fruity sauce, well, you just aren’t zombie material and you can go be lame somewhere else August 10th. BRAINSSSS!
SLUG
I write for a local music/culture/snowskate magazine availalbe online and in print on the first of every month. I've decided to repost the articles from the site onto this blog bad formatting and all.
I will begin to post them in no particular order....now.
-jp
I will begin to post them in no particular order....now.
-jp
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