Wednesday 13 (Murderdolls) interview (2010)

Joseph Poole (aka Wednesday 13) is lucky to be alive today. In 2007 the LA based singer, rolled his car several times resulting in broken bones and months of recovery. He was preparing at the time to launch his Skeletons CD onto the world and begin work on a country influenced side project called Bourbon Crow. His brush with death left him with a heightened sense of his mortality, as to be expected. "It's a big eye-opener to go through that and although it's a massive trauma, in the end when I got my head together I really did appreciate things a lot more." He explains. Wednesday 13 first came to Australia's attention with Murderdolls - a kind of antithesis of the serious to-the-point-of-absurd Marylin Manson. The project was based around the combined loves of Wednesday and Slipknot's Joey Jordison - 1950s schlock horror flicks, Alice Cooper and The Addam's Family. Now fully mended and back on the tour circuit, Wednesday's bringing his (sort of) solo show to Australia, and promising fans a sizable helping of the 'Dolls best loved tracks during his much anticipated return.

"I do a kind of greatest hits thing now because of all the different bands I've been involved with in the last few years." He divulges, "I won't be including anything from my latest band, Gunfire 76 because it isn't really known outside of the US yet, but I have a lot of stuff to draw from now." Pre-Murderdolls, Wednesday fronted the comic-horror groups Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 and Maniac Spider Trash. He remained the only original member of those groups as a revolving door of collaborators and guest musicians came and went. After many years of changing band members, I ask if life would be simpler with a set of full-time players to work with; "I know it gets a little confusing at times, with fans not knowing what to expect. They get used to me doing one thing and then suddenly I'm doing this entirely different thing, but I like working that way and hopefully every project can stand on its own. One day I'd like to be able to go on tour and just play a whole show of all the different music from band's I've worked in. That's the real goal here." 

One aspect of Wednesday 13 remains constant throughout his various bands - the man's striking, monstrous image. His look - something like a zombie drag queen - is a real tongue-in-cheek approach to the more typically grim made-up gothic acts. "It's kind of important for me to have a 'look' in the same way Kiss made it a big part of their act. I even have some outfits that I work on months in advance of a tour just because it's more fun than going up there in jeans and a shirt and just staring at my shoes."

His love of the deadpan Wednesday Addams in the classic Addams Family series was of course the inspiration for Poole's stage name, but why not Pugsly or even Gomez?; "Well in Frankenstein Drag Queens we dressed up in sort of horror drag and it was more fitting to pick the daughter's name for the character. Also I love that nobody is called Wednesday either, just this one psychotic chick and that really appealed to me!"

Much like his TV name-sake, Wednesday is a little misunderstood in the broader music community. He delights in my telling him how humourous I think his music is. After all, it is a word he rarely encounters when asked to discuss his songs. "That's a huge, huge part of what I do you know. I always try to explain that to people, but I kind of got dumped in this whole goth rock movement thing and I get that, we all have black clothes and black hair but I don't look the way I do because I'm into Sisters Of Mercy and vampires or all that. I always try and put some humourous tagline into my songs to separate me from the deadly serious goth rock bands who really buy into all that vampire shit. I really think music should be a fun and dumb, I mean it's alright to write about more personal stuff now and then, but I'd say 99% of what I do as Wednesday 13 is just stuff that makes me laugh." 

The current Wednesday 13 release in Australia is the Bloodwork EP - a very mixed bag of work ranging from the sublime (My Demise B.C.) to the nonsense (I Love To Say Fuck) in just six tracks. The former is an Alice Cooper-esqu haunted ballad while the latter revives goofball rockers Ugly Kid Joe. "That song was my attempt at writing the most non-radio friendly piece of music ever." He laughs, "I had that floating around in my head for some years and now it's become like our tune up song at the shows. Its great fun to play live and I think it kind of captures a real punk spirit, like it's just immediate and in your face but quite stupid as well." It's with that in mind; I wonder what level of importance does Wednesday place on being taken too seriously. "I don't know I guess I do want people to get what I'm doing but if they don't then they probably shouldn't. Some people go by face value and they're the ones who aren't gonna get what I'm doing, but who cares you know, my fans know what I’m about and that’s good enough for me."





lEIGh5

Check out the video of Muderdolls "Dead In Hollywood": 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7d44j9xXKo

And Wednesday 13 "I Walked With A Zombie":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw5LIr7tjPc



Some live pics from their Melbourne show at Hi-Fi Bar:

Charles "Chucky T" Thompson (Area-7) interview (2010)

LUCKY NUMBER

The 15 year anniversary of Melbourne’s premier Ska outfit, Area 7 has rolled around and the boys are planning on partying like teenagers to celebrate. In the mid ‘90s they spearheaded an unlikely revival of skanking tunes during a time of zero interest in the genre. Thankfully, Australia caught the Ska bug and Area 7 helped kick open the door for acts like The Living End and The Resignators. With the band’s live reunion imminent, guitarist Charles “Chucky T” Thompson on this sunny Australia day afternoon talks me through the heyday of Melbourne’s pub circuit as a young music fan and soon-to-be live draw card in his own right.



“When I was 16, 17 you’d go up Brunswick Street to The Royal Darby and Punters Club then you’d nip down to the Tote and it was only a couple of bucks to get in or sometimes it was even free and you’d get to see just heaps and heaps of bands in weekend.” He begins. “There’s much less of a scene now though, and I feel bad for young bands who are struggling to get their first gig because of the competition from more established acts. I think the kind of working class element is really gone from it which is a shame.” Much adored pubs like The Tote closing down has, according to Charles, created a big hole in the live scene; “I have so many great memories of going there and seeing bands like The Meanies and The Mavis’s on the same bill and you just don’t get that sort of thing happening anymore. The scene is kind of dying off.”

Discussing the thrill of going to a mixed bill of bands in one venue brings up what Charles feels is his bands legacy – one of inclusiveness among punters. “One of things we always wanted to do in Area 7, keep it accessible and be a kind of ‘everybody’ band. The thing that was great in the early days of the Ska and Punk scene was it was accepting. Whatever you were wearing could become your uniform and they weren’t ruled by money or elitism, so we all really loved that aspect of the Ska scene.” Area 7 as a ska band don’t fit the genre entirely as Charles points out, they’ve always incorporated a little rockabilly into their sound as well; “We’re basically a pub rock band who love the ska, punk and rockabilly sounds and further more agree with what those genres really stood for.”

The sense of fun in Area 7’s music is undeniable also. Beginning as a Madness tribute band, perhaps lent an easy up-beat optimism  for them to develop as an originals band, I suggest. "Well we were basically recruited in to the Madness tribute band (known as Mad Not Madness) through knowing the singer and various musicians around the scene, but it was never a conscious thing of ‘let’s be a Madness tribute band’ it was more that Area 7 evolved out of that because a couple of us wanted to do our own thing.” Charles was instrumental in kicking off Area 7 as an original band through his songwriting ability and an urge to get away from the tribute formula. “It’s funny because at the time we were doing the whole Madness thing it seemed like an eternity since they had split up, but in hindsight they’d only been away for a few short years, and then they got back together soon after Area 7 started and are now celebrating their 30th anniversary and we’re on our 15th, so we definitely made the right decision to go onto originals or otherwise we would have been made fairly redundant, I think.” He laughs.

With success a long way off still, sticking to Area 7’s musical roots according to Charles was not exactly setting them up for guaranteed popularity; “My recollection of it is, when we started Area 7, ska was still pretty much a dirty word. We were given support by a couple of venues like the Tote and Punters Club, but no sort of mainstream venue would book us, but now it’s gained such a massive following and there are many great ska acts finally getting some recognition.” Ska fans usually come complete with some indicator of their devotion to the lifestyle beyond just owning the music. So how deep does Area 7’s ska/rockabilly obsession run? “I’m quite into the style and the fashions but I’m not a collector of old Hotrods or anything like that” Thompson laughs, “Although our singer Steveo’s right into Chevy’s and Dave Jackson (Keyboardist) is into the whole 1950’s comic tattoo art associated with the rockabilly scene, so to varying degrees we are all into the broader Ska thing outside of simply playing the music.”

The Chevies and Hotrods (or at least Tarana’s and Commodores) of suburban Australia were, at the start of the last decade, incomplete without a certain Area 7 custom built anthem cranking out of their speakers. So how proud is Charles of Nobody Likes A Bogan? “We were a little surprised at how well that song did, but in short we’re as proud of that as any of our others. It was however a good way of reminding listeners that we don’t take ourselves too seriously but it was by no means an indicator of what that whole album was like.” 2002’s Bogan still stands as Area 7’s only cross-over hit, spending six weeks on the ARIA charts and even gaining radio play from Triple M. “When it started getting popular, I did worry a bit that people might get a bit offended or not really get what that song was about, but what actually happened was people I think saw the funny side and realised we weren’t just taking the piss or anything.” It was in fact an earlier single that caused Area 7 to cop a bit of flack - the irreverent Himbo. “I never really understood that at all, because there were a couple of lines in there describing metrosexuals and spending too much time in the mirror, but apparently that was crossing the line. It’s like you can take the piss out of some things but then you can’t do so with others, and when you’re in a band you really can’t over think that sort of thing.”

 

Although they’re celebrating 15 years together, Area 7 could be mistaken for a band-no-more with so little notable activity in recent years. Charles explains their absence and what brought about the group’s hiatus. “You know, I got married in 1998 and my poor dear wife had to have our honeymoon on tour with us and The Living End, who were actually our wedding band as well” He laughs, “So looking back I realise she had actually given up quite a bit to let the band do what we needed to do, and now I have three kids so unless the band could’ve worked out some kind of schedule such as work seven months then have a break for the rest of the year so we could be parents and husbands as well, I couldn’t see away around it and so we agreed to take a break.” Area 7’s label Zomba also made continuing on a difficulty by simply closing their Australian branch, leaving many bands out on their own. “Once we no longer had a label pushing our album and organising tours, we just went our own way and decided that we’d tour if we were asked and record any future music and release it independently – which we did in 2005 with the album Torn Apart.” Charles finishes by adding; “We’re only here to enjoy making music, and so when the label thing happened we just went, yeah okay fine, we’ll just do it our way then. Since that time we’ve played with Reel Big Fish and did the tour of East Timor for the UN and so it’s hardly like we’ve missed out on much not having that label support.”





lEIGh5

Muscles interview (2009)

FLEXY BOY

 

Many of dance music’s greatest forerunners are, let’s face it, more your skinny geeky-types. We think of lads happy to noodle away behind banks of sequences, hiding their fragile frames ala Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers. Yet in 2007, it was Muscles that was on everyone’s lips when the subject of hot new dance acts came up. The one-man producer/songwriter wiz Muscles, that is. Melbourne’s Chris Copolus (as they call him at home) and his debut album Guns Babes Lemonade – a meaty and moody set of filthy dance selections – rode the pig all through the summer of that year well into 2008, backed up by the hit single Ice Cream. Now after a low key year well spent mixing some new flavours, he’s getting ready to mount that hog again and show the weak how to win over a crowd at any worthwhile dance festival going this summer. 

“I like to go for a bike ride three times a week, but that’s all I really do to keep in any kind of shape.” Muscles tells me from his Melbourne home, when very briefly the subject of discipline and physical fitness comes up. “I’m pretty disciplined in terms of work, so when I’m not writing songs I’m looking up bands mySpace’s and stuff, because when I’m doing shows or festivals I like to know what the support acts are about.”

Working within such a fickle scene as what the dance one is, how willing would he be to alter his sound depending on what’s popular? “Not at all, really I mean, my first album wasn’t really that club/DJ friendly anyway, I see myself as more of a songwriter than a guy who just churns out tracks styled and ready for the clubs only to be forgotten in three months.” He continues, “I think the American Indie scene can be just as fickle, and maybe the UK, but I like Australia because I think we bank the best of everything from overseas.” Muscles has spent most of the year working towards the follow up to Guns Babes Lemonade. His approach has been to take his time after the rush of the debut, “In 2008 I stopped touring the last album and I’ve since built up a kind of work schedule for myself, writing and experimenting with new sounds and trying to get an album together where every song is completely different from the last. I’ve also been learning the guitar just to add a little background texture to the songs. I’m still at learning stage, but I wanna get really good, so I practice everyday.”

After such a massive debut and year of touring, I wonder how much has life changed for the country raised Victorian? “I have been doing some growing up in the last year and playing so many shows I think I’ve become a better singer as well.” He explains; “I’m doing more harmonising and getting better at writing melody now, which is something I didn’t really feel confident in doing on the first album.” He continues, “Although I feel like this new album is going to be a more mature one, at the same time I feel like I’m growing more immature as I get older, like I’m learning to be more playful and relaxed.” He laughs. “I’m 25 years old now, and I want to still be doing this for a long time yet. When the first album came out and I realised after how fast the time went, I decided to slow it down and enjoy the work and try to grow as an artist.”

Big success on a debut album can be a killer, so how does Muscles see his chance at living up to the rush of that first album? “Well I’m definitely a long term planner, so yeah I can see myself making music for a long time yet.” On the subject of totally moving away from the dance music field, he says; “I would only go that way if the songs were still memorable and I wasn’t alienating my audience. So at the moment I don’t want to stray too far from what I do as Muscles.”

Apart from preparing a new album due mid 2010, Muscles has embarked on DJing as new side project for the off-time between tours. As a career move though, he’s not convinced of the benefits; “The best thing about DJing is there’s no soundchecks or equipment you have to drag through the airport you just pack a bag and get on the plane, go to the venue have a few drinks and play a few tunes but singing live I compare to playing a game of soccer I guess. I’m exhorting lot more energy on stage and the buzz is so much greater. You can’t compare the two when it comes to the feeling you get.” A Muscles DJ setlist could incorporate anything from Daft Punk to ‘70s disco. He enjoys giving a nod to the his forgoers in dance, and when it comes to a little homage, he explains he pays his dues to the masters; “There are occasional references in my own work to old songs people might not pick up on, like Ice Cream for example, which went “Ice Cream’s gonna save the day again” and just by adding the word ‘again’ I was making a little reference to Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart. They’re obviously not anything alike musically, and I wasn’t making any comment about that song, but it was there in the back of my mind.” He adds, somewhat self-effacingly of his tear-away hit single; “Ice Cream felt like a bit of a fluke in that nobody could really figure out why everyone liked it so much, so with the second album I think it’ll be tricky picking a first single and working out what will be popular because I really didn’t know what people would make of me the first time around.”

Over the summer season, Muscles is on the bill for three major dance events in Melbourne including one on New Years Eve during which time he plans to test some new songs out live, but what in hindsight is his greatest live gig to date? “I’m banned from playing The Forum in Sydney.” He states triumphantly, “I went to do another tour and was going to play The Forum again but the promoter said no, it was too crazy last time. The fans went absolutely crazy and, I dunno maybe something got damaged or the noise was too much, but whatever it was they didn’t want a repeat of it.” He laughs.

lEIGh5

Les Claypool live in Melbourne 2009 (review)

Venue: The Forum

Note to self: Never try and write a concert review straight after the event. A series of superlatives and expletives does not make for good reading, it’s true but describing Les Claypool in concert presents many challenges. Claypool is to the bass what Don Burke is to gardening, David Lynch is to weird and Neil Armstrong is to moon landings. His unhinged music delivered with such stone-faced conviction, has the unerring ability to make me laugh  hysterically. Not that Les is trying hard to be funny; he is more or less just stringing together phrases and sounds that compliment each other so as to push the music forward. His first concern is the bass and making that sucker rumble, his second here at The Forum tonight is keeping this seemingly unplanned racket running like a cohesive show.

The San Franciscan ‘king of stoner rock’ is joined on stage by two drummers, a cellist and his collection of basses including an electric up-right. The band, all in Richard Nixon Halloween masks and tuxedos look as though they’re seconds away from pulling m16s out of violin cases and robbing the first few rows. Les is one well dressed man too, in his tailored shirt, vest and fedora. It’s his behavior on stage though that’s really worth noting. While his band continues an onslaught of rubbery drum and bass heavy music, Claypool takes his time in setting up the mood for each song. After an ear-splitting intro set, he walks off stage while the two percussionists battle it out for a few minutes playing off one another on dueling kits. This spectacle is then interrupted by a pig’s face peering out from the side of the stage; the crowd start yelling and leaping like frogs at this sight. Les sheepishly is stalking back out on to the stage posing every few steps with a violin bow in hand as though he’s on an imaginary catwalk. He finally comes to rest at the up-right electric bass recently set up by the roadie.



Those in the audience, who remember Les in the Primus video Mr Krinkle dressed in a pig suit playing the cello, began cheering for what felt like an inevitable set up for a much adored Primus number. I was pretty sure that Les would’ve dropped Primus songs from the set but now as he begins dragging the bow along those strings and Mr Krinkle creeks out, it’s momentarily thrilling. The song however isn’t to last, it’s only a teaser for those who bought and played near to death Primus’s Pork Soda album. Instead he is soon hammering the cello to the just as impressive Tooth. This diversion is too much for some fans though and cat calls (no pun intended) for Tommy the Cat grow louder and louder. Unseen dude behind me; “Play the song that made you famous, you douche!” Les responds; “If I had my way, I’d play Tommy The Cat, every night for all eternity, just for you.” It was the only possible retort, and coming from a very tall man in a pig mask with a voice that’s more nose than throat, is also piss funny.



The tour’s basically in support of Of Fungi & Foe Les’s new bag of weird which really doesn’t divert from his Primus roots at all, with the exception of no guitarist. Instead, Les’s band is working only with percussive instruments including vibraphone. The first four songs are from all over Claypool’s catalogue including the rarely exhibited Riddles Are Abound Tonight, a one-off release he did under the name Sausage. The many Primus fans here tonight are treated to a re-worked Southbound Pachyderm from 1995’s Tales From The Punchbowl, but it’s the distinct lack of noted Primus tracks that has caused some unrest tonight. Personally, I’m contented just to see one of music’s great oddities perform and hear the true sensei of the bass. The current Claypool album is probably still too new for fans to have embraced yet, but given time many of the songs will surely become favourites of anyone who dug Primus. Songs such as Red State Girl could easily find approval of long-term fans with its seedy plot of sexual fantasies regarding dopey US senator, Sarah Palin. Plus anyone who didn’t enjoy the hillbilly-rave of newie Boonville Stomp must have been dead. In a round-a-bout way, Les explains Boonville is a kind of redneck anthem that can be applied to anywhere populated by the dentally challenged; “Launceston!” someone in the audience helpfully suggests.

Towards the business end of the show, Les has decided it’s time for another change and leaves the stage once again as the duelling drummers take their cue for a second battle. This time Claypool is gone for what seems like ages, until finally he waddles on stage stooped over almost dragging his knuckles along the floor, his head contained in a monkey mask. There’s a roar of laughter and cheer, so Les makes a second lap of the stage in ape-fashion. The commotion caused is as though a real primate had gotten loose and entered the room unexpectedly. Claypool finally straps on his big black bass, steps up to the second mic which is running through a voice vocoda, and starts barking indecipherable sounds into it like a circus ring master. He seems to be running through a medley now of Primus and solo tracks, including the much demanded Tommy The Cat. The band and Les are now working hard at tacking bits of songs together in some improvised jam. It becomes utterly hypnotic watching Claypool’s fingers blurring up and down the fret on his bass, while the band attack their instruments for an unforgettable finish.



There’s really nobody quite like Les Claypool, and it’s kind of a shame his back catalogue is bigger than the man himself. For my money at least, he’s still making some excellent music and has one hell of a band, but it seems some fans can’t move on with him. Sure a Primus show would have been great, but a nostalgia trip would’ve taken a lot less skill than what was on offer at this outstanding concert.



lEIGh5



(Pics by myself and Fruitbat)









Click the link to see Les performing "Precipitation" from this show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmrxWDYOxpQ

The B-52'S Live in Melbourne 2009 (review)

Venue: The Forum

Date: 03/12/09

The B-52’s have remained largely unaffected by any changing music trends what-so-ever for over thirty years. They are probably the most reliable band in terms of what they do, and always have done - just be their perpetually 'unfashionable' selves. In the late ‘70s when they first arrived with THAT song about crustaceans, nobody, especially the band themselves, thought they would last for very long. Muscling in to New York’s atrociously snobby punk and avante garde scene with two singers dressed as 1950’s go-go girls, and a moustached MC in ill-fitting garish trousers was probably a big joke to the band, but against all odds audiences were soon begging for more. Another probable 'joke' was having the equally ‘unfashionable’ Proclaimers open for them on this long awaited Australian tour. The only other possible reason might be that both band's success peaked in the late '80s, via irritatingly catchy singles, yet despite remaining together since, neither of the two acts equalled that particular commercial high again.

The Proclaimers as a live band actually work quite well. I wasn’t expecting much from the lads, but their mix of exuberance and daftness was a winning formula throughout the short set. Obviously nobody cared much what they played until the closing hit, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), but they warmed the place up brilliantly all the same. The B-52’s on the other hand, have at least have a dozen familiar songs to work with, yet all except for Love Shack and Rock Lobster, are essentially fan-only favourites, and not would you’d call ‘proper hits’. I guess I’m a fan in the sense I had a dream set list involving half album tracks and B-sides - none of which got played – but I have to wonder how bored these guys get playing the same set again and again. Still, none of the band looked as though they were just going through the motions; they long-ago earned their ‘best party band in the world’ title and aren’t planning on giving it up any time soon.

I don’t know if there’s something to ‘get’ or ‘not get’ about the B-52’s, but I think it helps to remember they don’t bring any pretensions with them about being ‘legendary’ or ‘revered’. On the one occasion they tried to be a little modern or arty, (Good Stuff, 1992) it failed them. This one commercial low point nearly spelled the end of band until once again they regained the love of their fans by going back to just being “silly-old B-52’s”. Since that time, they have rarely stopped touring their ‘greatest hits’ show and tonight, that’s exactly what we’re getting. However, the one down fall of playing such well loved songs over and over again is the self-awareness on display. During Love Shack, Cindy even counts in the ‘Tin roof… Rusted’ part, cuing the audience to join her on those famous and often mis-quoted lyrics. It’s not necessary, we all would have sung it anyway.

Unsurprisingly, they stick to the early stuff with the occasional track from last years comeback album Funplex while totally avoiding Good Stuff – the only album to not feature Cindy Wilson. Also, they turn up the silly for us tonight, making sure Melbourne’s 19 year wait for their return is a memorable one. For example, guitarist Keith Strickland has turned up dressed as Slash from Guns N’ Roses, and in character uses his ‘disguise’ to strike mock-rock poses throughout the show. Kate and Cindy, looking like some disco/flower-power clash, are beautifully made-up working the shimmering glittery frocks, and of course, crowned with those famous beehive wigs. The love for these two singers is boundless as displayed by the amount of fans in their own variations of the two’s ample hair pieces. Special mentions also for the many gaudy suited and frocked fans brightening up the place and to the brave guy holding up a ‘Cindy: be my koala butt’ placade. What on earth must she have thought?

Sadly the one real downer was the girls had the unenviable task of covering for Fred Schneider, who looked either bored stiff or mad as hell at some unknown, earlier development. The usually cartoon-ish front man stood motionless for the majority of his time on stage not really looking at anybody or anything, just marking time in between his sporadic vocal duties. Schneider even exits the stage during the few songs he has no singing parts in such as Roam, presumably to cool off. In complete contrast to Fred, it’s Cindy Wilson who looks to be having the most fun. The blonde B-52 bops around the stage smiling and leading the audience in all the sing-a-long parts like some crazed primary school teacher on ecstasy. Kate Pierson’s no slacker either but holds a steadier pose at her mic, seemingly more intent on hitting the notes than working the room.

Kate’s voice still has that rare joyful but also rough’n’sexy quality, while Cindy operates at a slightly lower octave making for the ultimate complimentary duo. It’s those voices offset by Schneider’s camp ‘nonsense monologues’ that make the B-52’s so endearing. As much as I’m busting to see Fred get into the moment and go off, hearing Kate and Cindy duet makes up for his, or for that matter anyone’s rotten mood. Back to the set list though, and the remarkable clout of newer songs Pump and Love In The Year 3000 from 2008’s Funplex next to the bracket of post-punk classics 52 Girls, Quiche Lorraine and Party Out Of Bounds. No matter the band, after many years making music most eventually lose their edge or carry on trying hard to recreate their hits period; but The B-52’s can proudly stack anything from 2008 alongside their early ‘80s gems without a hint of desperation for old glories. But it’s with past success’s in mind that we come to the finale, the only way to go out; Rock Lobster. Just as the audience are going wild for it, the band themselves have taken this stand-alone classic to an increasingly unhinged level. The parade of sea creatures Fred shouts out to which the girls respond to with appropriate sounds, now incorporates submarines, banana lounges, coconut trees etc… leaving Kate and Cindy to improvise some hilarious noises in the process. The extra long version of Rock Lobster brings to a close over three decades of whacky tracks crammed into 1 and a half hours. Like all good things, it’s over way too soon and leaving the Forum tonight, feels just like going home from a party with 5000 close friends.



lEIGh5

Meeting Kate Pierson (aaahhh!!!)

THE FORUM SET LIST, 04/12/09:

Pump

Mesopotamia

Ultraviolet

Private Idaho

Give Me Back My Man

Party Out Of Bounds

Love Shack

Funplex

Strobelight

Quiche Lorraine

52 Girls

Roam

Love In The Year 3000

Planet Claire

Rock Lobster

Cindy going OFF on the bongos. What a live wire!









































Click the link to see B-52's playing "Rock Lobster" live in Melbourne:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyxdXYPuDII



photos by me & Daniela Rodriguez

Les Claypool (Primus) interview (2009)

FRIEND OF THE FREAKS



My first experience of Les Claypool was at the very least timely, or rather not a moment too soon. Hungry for anything weird, comical, noisy and not guitar grunge – A man in a huge pig costume playing the cello while a parade of circus freaks go by was enough to seal the deal for me. That was Claypool’s band Primus and their Mr Krinkle video, coming across as the living incarnation of a Gary Larson comic strip where the animals always took the lead and told stories through an often hilarious, skewed view of the world. The man behind the pig is after a ten year absence finally on route to Australia with his new band of beasts, collection of masks and further tales of Larson-esque oddballs. Talking to Claypool pre-tour, I find out first hand - as would be expected - nothing with the bassist is exactly as it seems. In keeping with the man/animal kinship throughout his work, I begin by asking what significance Les places on animals in their relation to humans.

"Not any necessarily, at least not consciously.” Les begins slowly and thoughtfully, “I think I'm just drawn the imagery really.” The sleeve of his new album Of Fungi & Foe features four sepia portraits of Claypool and his band mates caught between animal and human transformation. Les is half donkey. “Well that’s because I’m a bit of an ass.” He laughs nasally, “Travis Louis is the artist and he did some really interesting oil paintings of us with animal parts, so once again it’s not a conscious animal thing, he did that without input from me.” He adds, “I just liked what he did with our ugly mugs!”

Fans of Primus reciting a list of favourite songs could find themselves conducting a role-call of unlikely names; Mr Krinkle, Tommy The Cat, Wynona (and her beaver)… But do any of these vivid folks exist outside Les’s imagination, I wonder. "It depends on the song, but they're very rarely about anybody I know unless it's like composites of partially fictitious and partially real people. I usually embellish a lot when I'm writing, but there are usually elements of reality as well." The populating of his songs with bigger than life characters continues on Of Fungi & Foe. Only on a Les Claypool album would you find yourself in the company of Ol’ Rosco (“He likes a drink… when he drives”), or Errol (who can’t be told anything, “coz Errol knows everything”). Les explains; “It's always better to go with what you know, especially for me as I get older. As a kid I was exposed to a lot of old-skool country music and old musicals, so I've always been drawn to songs that tell some sort of tale and make me want to listen a little harder, you know.” Despite the unmistakable sound of Claypool’s vocal twang and the identifying freakshow personnel in his songs, the man himself is much happier taking the backseat to his creations. “For me as a performer, because I've never really considered myself a singer - I'm a bass player who kind of narrates the songs. It was always easier for me to go out on stage with these characters instead of just trying to sing like a typical lead singer in a rock band or anything. That's why I like to use the masks I wear, like the pig mask, because I'm fairly introverted so having these characters is a more comfortable way for me to tell my stories. Crazy things tend to happen when I put on the masks." He says giving a long, hearty laugh.

The music on Les’s latest release, Of Fungi & Foe was originally written for two separate projects - Mushroom Men, a Nintendo Wii computer game - and for a film called Pig Hunt – before he decided the songs could form an album all of their own. “I tend to just compile albums these days from whatever’s laying around in the home studio.” He says casually, “I’ve never really been one to sit down and write a whole album.” Ah, but has Les found himself parked in front of the computer game he’s scored?, “No I'm not a big gamer or anything but my son has been playing it, so I've had a look, you know. I just like the artwork, but I can’t actually play it very well.” He confesses. “With Pig Hunt, I decided to do the score for that because, well, how could I not want to be involved with a film about a 3000 pound wild boar that terrorises the pot fields of Northern California. You don't get those kinds of opportunities very often in life." He cackles, "I wasn't involved in the score at the start, I actually got to play a small role in the movie which was shot up near my house.” He continues, “My offices are in the old Industrial Light and Magic space so there's a lot of film sets that are still being used and one day I saw them building this huge prosthetic boar and I went up to the guys there they told me what was going on and I was really impressed with the idea so I said tell your producer if he wants a guy to deliver a pizza or anything in the film, I'm in!” The film, which is yet to get distribution, sees Les in a dramatic role for his on-screen debut; "I ended up playing an inbred redneck preacher whose hell bent on vengeance." He laughs. "I don't like working away from my home very much so the fact that film was being shot in my area was great for me. I do all my work at home, it's where I'm happiest."

The area where Les lives also happens to be the pinot noir mecca of Northern California, so it was no great stretch to branch out into the wine making field. His signature drop is the ‘strong and fruity’ Purple Pachyderm. "All my friends in the area are wine makers so it was just one of those things I decided to try to keep me off the streets. Since my marijuana usage has waned I've had to try and find something else to alter my perspective." He crows. "Also it's a great way to indulge in some good wine without having to pay a lot of money for it." Les confides his significant pot smoking habit began having some negative effects; "The worst thing was it started affecting my memory", he continues with a sharp cough, "I felt like it was starting to fragment my hard drive. People were saying to me 'oh hey remember that time we were in Italy and this thing happened...' and I was just like 'no I don't remember that at all', so that was getting worse and I've got some fairly interesting stories to tell and I would like to be able to remember them.”

The most high profile work in Les’s career is by far the South Park & Robot Chicken theme songs. The common thread in both of those cartoons is of course influences drawn from their creators' childhood fascinations being totally fucked about with. I wonder if  Les felt a connection with the twisted ideas behind those shows, and if he sees his own childhood as an inescapable reference in his own work? "If I sat and thought about it I could probably find a lot of stuff that came directly from childhood experiences but after being on the planet for a few decades, even my 20's seem like a long time ago. There were a lot of interesting things happen to me living in Berkley and running around San Francisco like a lunatic in my 20's that I draw from continuously and now that I'm into my 40's I've got a lot of fodder." He laughs. "My road manager recently came up to my house and hung out with me and a bunch of my friends and he was like 'oh my god, who are these people', because he saw us as being such a diverse group of unlikely companions, but I've always been attracted to people who are a little off centre. I guess we're just birds of a feather and the birds I happen to squawk with also happen to be a little obscure".

The upcoming tour has a lot of Les’s fans in a flutter about what exactly he is going to pull out this time around; a suitably impressionistic answer ensues…"Well people always want to know this because I'm always doing something different but I can only answer you by saying, it'll be something like you've never heard or seen before. The instrumentation is so unique and the players such mutants.” He cracks up again, “I've got Mike Dillon who's this insane vibraphonist and junkyard percussionist, Paulo Baldi on this bastardised drum kit that I make him play and Sam Bass who plays a sort of mutated cello and finally myself slapping away on my four string piece of furniture. It's all very unpredictable and quite, quite bizarre.” He says in closing. Now there's a reliable guarantee if ever there was one.

lEIGh5

Check out Les's official site here for everything Claypool... 

http://www.lesclaypool.com

Chester Bennington (Linkin Park/Dead By Sunrise) interview (unpublished)

A FIRE WITHIN 

 

'Nu Metal' linchpins Linkin Park could've easily outstayed their welcome in terms of fickle music tastes. Yet the Californian rock/rap group somehow by-passed their peers and remained a force stronger than a rapidly weakening trend. Their last album, 2007's Minutes To Midnight was their most successful by far, yet an immediate follow-up was marred by singer Chester Bennington's declining health due to addiction and personal problems. A stop-gap between Linkin Park albums was an important choice for Bennington who, close to a mental melt-down called for a halt to his band's activities to give himself time to heal. It was in this time he began work on his most personal set of songs yet. The resulting album, Out Of Ashes released under the name Dead By Sunrise, is the final piece in Bennington's recovery. The album's personal subject matter, however didn't necessarily mean all was clear and direct when it came to seeing the project through; “I never know what a record's gonna sound like when it's done.” He begins, “Sometimes I fantasise about how I want a record to be and I'll hear an amazing album by another band and think wouldn't it be great to just make a really kick ass heavy album where every song is a teeth gnasher, and then I go to write something and it turns into a ballad. You know what I mean? ” He laughs. Listening to Chester describe the creative process, it's clear he doesn't think of it as a task. “I don't tell the music what to do the music tells me what to do.” He explains, “I tune into the cosmic fuckin' radio - the one all musicians listen to - and start pulling shit out of the air. It's definitely fun not knowing what your ideas are going to turn into, that's for sure.”

With Dead By Sunrise, Chester worked to his aforementioned style, but the difference was he needed to have enough material to convince his soon-to-be new band mates to step away from their own projects and help him see his vision through. “I just wrote a whole bunch of stuff before I really knew what I was going to do with it.” Bennington says of Dead By Sunrise's conception. “All I knew was I didn't think it was Linkin Park material; it was a lot more personal than anything we'd done before.” Joining him in the studio when it came time to record were Ryan Shuck and Amir Davidson (both formerly of '90s electro-goth band Orgy), who are now recording as Julien-K. Chester discusses their natural progress from old friends to new band members; “I've been very good friends with those guys for a little over ten years, and so obviously if your friends with people who are also 'architects' it's only a matter of time before you just go, maybe we should try and build something together.” He reflects.



“The idea that we would make an album together was more a fantasy than a reality for a long time, because those guys had Orgy and Julien-K and I was doing Linkin Park, so it was never very clear when or even if we could do something. This year though the time was right - those guys had an opening, and the new Linkin Park album is a little way off still, so it all just fell into place”. Chester knew when he was writing the songs that became Out Of Ashes, it would never be a Linkin Park album. “I think these songs were outside the spectrum of Linkin Park lyrically and stylistically.” He discloses, “There's a more random element in these songs in that they're kind of all over the place… They are much less easily defined as Linkin Park is.” He continues. “If you listen to Condemned, Crawl Back In, In The Darkness and My Suffering you'll hear they're all pretty diverse.” If Linkin Park was a touch too impersonal for Chester, then Dead By Sunrise has allowed him to share his inner most thoughts. Is there a line though which he won't cross regarding subject matter? “I don't know if there's stuff I wouldn't talk about, (in the songs) but I think there's some stuff that just doesn't 'sing well' you know. My music is a gate to humanity and an expression of life, so in those terms I don't think about what I can or cannot sing about, but in terms of what fits in our songs lyrically I have to be aware of what works.” He explains thoughtfully; “You know, I've never gone oh I'm sad today I think I'm gonna write a song about it. I kind of just wait for a melody or a lyric to come to me… Like a spider in a web patiently waiting for the fly to land.” He laughs “I've spent so much of my life involved in music, it just happens naturally now. Most of the time, the ideas aren't necessarily worth chasing too much and putting into songs, but then once in a while one comes along that's really interesting to me and I grab hold of it.”

A stand-out track on Out Of Ashes, Let Down comes close to Stone Temple Pilots musical territory, I'm curious if Chester feels a kinship with (STP singer) Scott Weiland as somebody who has also publicly battled addictions? “Well number one, I'm a huge Stone Temple Pilots fan - I think our voices are complimentary to each other, and secondly, I feel more that if there's any kind of kinship it's that I really appreciate what he does vocally and musically, but that is where it ends, because I have to separate myself personally from what I love in his music as much as possible so as not to unconsciously mimic his style.” Bennington, much like Weiland has been close to breaking point at the hands of his drug and alcohol addiction. Chester was reputed to be house-bound, virtually broke and suffering panic attacks due to his destructive lifestyle. “Well yeah there was a period where I couldn't leave my house, but not because of agoraphobia or anything but because I was alcoholic and I tended to run into problems when I go out drinking.” He continues, “I was having shakes and really bad and panic attacks mainly from the withdrawal from alcohol which it made it very difficult to lead a normal life.” His ongoing recovery from this period largely informed the songs which became the Dead By Sunrise album; “You draw on things whether positive or negative, but I tend to run with a lot of the doom and gloom stuff.” He confesses, “Life is so diverse and tends to throws so many curve balls at you whether it's 'oh shit I just fell in love', or 'oh crap I just lost my sanity', and it's those extremes that make me want to write. For some reason a lot of artists feel as though there best stuff comes from their hardest times and there's truth to that because there's something intriguing about life's difficulties. There's a certain poetry about unhappiness just as there is about falling in love and I think people like to feel that they're connected to those things through music.” Chester explains further; “Look at the rise of punk music in the UK during the '70s and how it was all connected to the economic strains that people were under at the time. It was the bands that spoke out loudest and with the greatest accuracy of what the country was collectively feeling. It wasn't all depressing music, but it was angry and the message was clear.”



With much of the new album's content dealing with personal expression - does the singer feel like a more contented person? “Not contented in the 'I can take it easy now' sense, because the more I work, the more productive I feel like being. Now because I feel good about the album, I have a rejuvenated desire to go on to the next thing and keep pushing myself.” The 'next thing' to which Chester refers is a new Linkin Park set, due mid-next year. I ask how the new songs are shaping up; “It's hard to explain what they sound like, but from my point of view I really feel like we're making our best stuff. We went through a process of rediscovering who we were as a band after Minutes To Midnight, and I feel like we've tapped into that while making the new album. It's been really fun working again together after our break also.” The expectations for Linkin Park's next album will surely be pretty high considering who's producing the work - the slightly scary Rick Rubin. So what is the man really like to work with?; “It's Rick man, he's probably the most knowledgeable person I've ever met in terms of what he likes in music as well as what's already been done. If we try and just do stuff we've tried before, it ain't gonna wash with him. He'll tell us straight out he doesn't like it or that we're just repeating ourselves.” Chester mimics Rick Rubin; “Yeah guys that was great when you did it ten years ago, but let's not do that again, okay!” He laughs, “His honesty is really important to us because he knows our music. He says things like, oh that what have been a great track to put on Hybrid Theory (2000) but it's not gonna work now. We're ready to do something completely new.”



lEIGh5