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Inferred Views :: Wolf Edwards of Iskra and the University of Victoria

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:00:59 +0000

Interview with: Wolf Edwards
From: Iskra
(conducted by: Zachary Fairbrother)
Victoria, BC
::web/sounds::

Wolf Edwards is a composer and former stand-in instructor at the University of Victoria. His music is physical, violent, it disturbs, it instigates, and transcends. It is spectral and glistening – sheets or razor sharp sounds, clashing and colliding around your body, it is like being trapped in a birth of star. Perhaps Wolf’s aggressive approach is in-forced by his background and involvement in other forms of extreme music. Wolf started out playing hardcore punk and currently plays guitar for super heavy anarchist hardcore band Iskra. Wolf has been featured in Dusted Reviews as a part of their “Composers that Matter” series and this year he will be releasing a record of his string music. Wolf, being a very busy man, kindly took the time to answer some questions.

Zachary Fairbrother
Weird Canada
www.weirdcanada.com
Wolf Edwards – Irons

/////////////// WOLF EDWARD INFERRED VIEWS ///////////////

Zachary

How did you find yourself on two such divergent musical paths? How did one lead to the other and how are they related?

Wolf

I was a punk rocker at Ucluelet Secondary School in the 1980s. It was during that time that I taught myself electric guitar by listening to Black Flag and Crass. I was also toiling in the largest fish factory on the West Coast of Vancouver Island: Ucluelet Seafood Producers with the rest of my family. I don’t know if you’ve worked in factories, but I’ll tell you that the environment was intolerable. My bandmates and I hated the blatent racism, homophobia, and sexism that was constant in the workplace. Add to that a violent disregard for the environment or any kind of intellectual stimulation and, for us, the factory was an embodiment of everything we came to hate. Our band left Ucluelet for Victoria. I spent the next eight or so years playing in Anarchist bands. We lived in poverty, and played music.

I was on Social Assistance at the time and, around 1993, was forced to take one of their many forced job programs. Such programs, rather than assist, were generally designed to degrade and humilate. It was at this time that I lived near a Conservatory of Music. Having played electric guitar in various bands for a number of years, I, on a whim, entered and inquired about classic guitar lessons. When I heard the cost, I told the receptionist that there was no way I could afford such lessons. She promptly informed me that I could apply for student loans and take a few courses. Since the welfare program was giving me a hard time, I decided to enroll. My family being poor, I was able to aquistion the loans necessary for the courses. I took theory, classic guitar, music history, and sight singing.

While studying guitar, my teacher, Alexander Dunn, who was a student of Pepe Reomero, noticed my interest in certain twentieth century compositions that I had been playing. The music was not very good, but I was never-the-less more interested in modern music, as well as that of the 15th century and Baroque, much more than the Romantic and Classical. Alex informed me that the “modern” music I was playing on guitar, Leo Brouwer, and Toru Takemitsu, was not the most challenging and that I should, in fact, check out the leading composers of the era. He introduced me to his old composition teacher’s music with whom he’d studied with at UCSD. This composer was non other than the great Brian Ferneyhough. I was immediately attracted to the energy, and life, of the music. I went to the Conservatory library and there discovered Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Cage. After that, there was no going back, so to speak. I fell in love with the music of the 1940s on. After a few months of listening, I decided that I must write music. The guitar repertoire, with the exception of a few works, left me unimpressed. I left behind the idea of becoming a guitar performer. I told this to Mr. Dunn. He informed me that if I wanted to make any headway with music composition that I’d better think about enrolling in the University, which I did the following year.
Ever since then I’ve written, and performed, what one might call “extreme” music, while at the same time written what one might call “classical” music. For me, neither title fits. The music I play with my band ISKRA is, in many ways, more “classical” than that which I write for acoustic instruments.

Zachary

Do you think that in the end punk/hardcore and rigorous experimental music are different means to the same end?

Wolf

I can’t say because I don’t think about “the end.” I am extremely dedicated to both, and prefer to work through them, on my own terms, without any end goal in mind. I try, in both fields, to simply do my best. To write better. If I reached some kind of “end” then I think I would no longer need to write.

I never mix the two different genres. For me, this post-modern idea of pastiche is far to simple and contrived. Personally, I would much rather push the limits of both, but on their own terms. Different things need to be done within each musical sphere. They are not the same language.

Zachary

Are your approaches to composing for other instruments grounded in the sounds of punk and hardcore musics? It terms of the use of noise, dissonance, rhythms, extended techniques, or else?

No. I never think about punk when writing classical music. Ironically, the music I write for my band is more “classical” than my “classical!” That is, in ISKRA, I write tonal music, mostly in sonata form. There are of course elements that cross over, mostly because they both deal with sound. Distortion, for example. One could say that I use distortion in my classical music. In reality this so-called “distortion” is simply complex sounds. That is, there are many frequencies present.

Zachary

Being in an anarchist hardcore band on one hand and a composer on the other seem on the surface contradictory; one is thought of as being a communal democratic process while the other is associated with emperical tendencies. Can you talk about your approach?

Wolf

I don’t believe that one is “democratic” and one is “emperical.” I suppose one can think of it this way, but I do not. Obviously it depends on how one views the process of making music as well as how one approaches the process. First of all, I don’t see the composer ias being a tyrant, telling people what to do and so on. When a composer writes a chart, s/he needs a community to ensure the piece happens. When I walk into a room full of experienced, and talented, musicians, I am not there to be a dictator, I am there to make music with them. To bring music to life. We work together and great things happen. It is a communal effort. I am sure some composers have a different outlook, but, as I am an anarchist, that is how I view the musical process. The band is the same thing. The group gets together and brings the compositions to life. We work out alternate ideas, find the rhythms we want, and make the songs happen. So these two worlds are not contradictory, so far as process goes. They are seemingly contradictory, however, in terms of their historical root. Anarchist punk/metal is rooted in working class revolt to a status quo system that, in reality, doesn’t work. Classical music is rooted in an aristocratic tradition, or at least that’s what most people think. That is the apparent opposition. Times have changed, however, and now we can have someone like me who works in both worlds.

Zachary

I have read that your politics influence your music in terms of form and architecture. I am curious to your methods, could you speak about them?

Wolf

The music I make is mediated through a political, or anti-political, lens(depending on what one thinks when reviewing the word “politic”). I work with crumbling foundations, and open experimentation. Multiple possibilities are present at every stage of my work. I work without law. As well, the laws of our society have no place in my creative process. I work with sound only. My sounds are alive. They communicate with me. I work with them to create a labyrinth of communications. In my music, the sounds are interactive. In fact the sounds write the music. I am a type of medium that listens to what the sounds require. There is no clear method, but I am fully conscious at every moment. The real “performance” is happening for me in each moment of the creative act. I don’t work from sketches for fear of, as Feldman once said, “pushing the sounds around.” The piece is the sketch and vice-versa.

Zachary

I noticed that the Quasar Sax Quartet will be playing a piece of yours this year. Can you speak a bit about it and any other projects you have coming up.

Wolf

The Quasar have performed my piece ISKRA about 12 times all over the world. Now we are working together on an octet that will be performed by the Quasar and Arte(Switzerland). I will go with the group to Europe and work with both quartets. In addition, the Quasar just performed in a work I wrote for Walter Boudreau and the SMCQ entitled IRONS. This piece was for saxophone quartet, amplified strings, contrabassoon, and six percussionists. I’m also writing a piece for an instrument invented by Montreal composer Jean-Francoise Laporte, which will be premiered in May. Aside from that, I have a record coming out of all my string music to date.

Zachary

Lastly, any other Canadian Composers Weird Canadians should know about?

Wolf

Yes, you should know about Mark Molnar from Ottawa, and Charles-Antoine Frechette from Montreal. These are great composers who also work with sounds, not systems. They are original, intelligent, and uncompromising sound artists.

Inferred Views :: Al Bjornaa of Scotch Tapes

admin — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:00:57 +0000

Interview with: Al Bjornaa
From: Scotch Tapes
(conducted by: Zachary Fairbrother)
Batchawana Bay, ON
::web/sounds::

Scotch Tapes has quickly become Canada’s premier cassette label, pumping out thousands of tapes to brilliant minds all around the world. In addition to the plethora of magnetic strips crafted in the ghettos of rural Ontario, Scotch Tapes has been capturing Toronto’s burgeoning underground punk scene via plastic lathe-cut brilliance in a collaborative series with Young Guv‘s Ben Cook. In 2011, they embarked on yet-another lathe-series with Montreal’s No Vacation. As 2011 began with the redesign of Scotch Tapes’ rather hilarious website and their subsequent world domination, we decided to link Zacharay Fairbrother with Scotch Tapes founder and sole-proprietor Al Bjornaa for a featured chat about his rural adventuring.

Aaron Levin
Weird Canada
www.weirdcanada.com

/////////////// AL BJORNAA INFERRED VIEWS ///////////////

Zachary

I’m into how landscapes and environment influence people’s creativity. Why do you base your label where you do [Batchawana Bay]? How do the often cosmopolitan sounds play out in your environment?

I base Scotch out of Batchawana Bay because it’s close to my family. I have lived all over the country but this has always been home. There have been some health issues in the Bjornaa family the past few years and its been nice to be able to help out. We run a family fishing business and I have had to take a larger role in that. Plus it’s a beautiful area. I live on the beach! The north shore of Lake Superior is my favourite place on Earth.

I have always been a huge music fan. Both of my parents love music. Although their tastes may differ from mine, they passed on a passion for good music. Most of the people who live in my area think the music I release sounds like a “badger caught in a wood chipper” but most people from the area think its cool that I run a record label in such a small place. Whenever I go for coffee or breakfast at the local diner, everyone always asks how the label is doing.

Zachary

I have heard of your beach shows. I hope you will you be doing more of this. Who has played? What was your favorite?

I haven’t done an actual beach show in ages but I have had a lot of bands pass through here and hang out for a day or two. Its a tough area to get a decent show. I mean I could likely set up a show in Sault Ste. Marie (which is notorious for TERRIBLE shows) or they can hang out here for a night, have some drinks, go swimming and get a good meal. I am hoping that this year with a new space, I can host more bands and maybe do some recordings and send them back on the road with a new tape or lathe. Some of the best times I’ve had drinking/ hanging out/ recording have been with Play Guitar, The Famines, Dirty Beaches, Grown-Ups, Gobble Gobble, Nobunny… There are tons. I am hoping to make Batchawana Bay a “must-stop” for bands touring Canada. Not to play shows but to have a great day off mid-tour where they can do laundry, relax, jump in the lake, maybe practice some new stuff they have been working on. 2011 is already getting booked up at Casa de Al with Bucketseat stopping here in March.

Zachary

I see that your label is doing some collaborative splits how did this come about?

Yeah. I wanted to work with a few cool labels. I have a lathe series coming out with No Vacation Records (Brett Wagg from Pink Noise/ Campaign For Infinity) Brett basically just asked if I would be interested and since I love the music he puts out, I was totally in. I also put out a 7″ with No Clear Records from Florida. I imagine if any label contacted me and I liked the band, I would probably be interested. I know that Ben Cook (Fucked Up, Young Guv, etc) and I have a few co-releases lined up for his new label, Marvelous Music, as well. We will be co-releasing the Roommates LP this summer/ fall.

Zachary

I see you have a vast list of upcoming releases. Are all these going to happen??!

You bet your sweet buttocks! In the first two years of Scotch, I released almost 200 tapes. I take the label very seriously. Its become more than a hobby. It’s basically a second full-time job. I plan on putting out about 70 tapes, 30 lathes and 10 vinyl releases in 2011. There are times when I get tired and need a break… and those are the times where I just take like 2-3 weeks off, don’t check emails and basically disappear. But when I do that, I normally come back with 4-5 releases at once.

Zachary

What is up with the lathe series? Does the type of Lathe reflect the artist?

Well… I have two series going. There is the Scotch/ Young Guv series. Ben Cook [of Young Guv] records all the bands that share his jam space and then we release a song or two from them. So far, I have put flexis out for Huckleberry Friends, Tropics, Bruised Knees & Lonely Wholesome with Actual Water, Dentata, Wyrd Visions and I think 2 more to come. The other series is the aforementioned series with No Vacation. There are some pretty killer bands scheduled for that like FNU Ronnies and Factums (who I LOVE!) The type of lathe really doesn’t come into play. I mean the one I did for We All Inherit The Moon HAD to be a square plexiglass lathe because of the ideas they had for the art but most bands don’t really care that much. They just think lathes are fun.

Zachary

Do you think there is a Canadian Sound? And what from your perspective are the sounds of the different scenes within Canada?

I don’t think there is a specific Canadian sound. It’s such a vast area geographically that it’s tough to narrow down one sound. I think Vancouver has a great weirdo punk scene with bands like Shearing Pinx, Nu Sensae, Twin Crystals, etc. who really have their own genre that isn’t like anything else in the country. When you move into the prairies you have bands like Myelin Sheaths, Fist City, Grown-Ups, Moby Dicks… sort of that heavy garage punk stuff. They all totally feed off of each other. Ontario is sort of weird. Toronto is just starting to get a good scene again. I think the bands that Ben and I are releasing on the lathe series are going to get big really fast this year. That jam space is oooozing talent. Montreal always has a great scene. I think that city spawns some of the most creative and unique artists. And the whole Halifax scene… that city reminds me of Portland, Oregon. EVERYONE is in a band and creates visual art and silkscreens t-shirts and makes zines and drinks good beer if they can afford it but will drink shit if that’s all they have and dresses cool without thinking they dress cool. One of my absolute favourite cities on the planet!

Zachary

What has got you most excited about 2011?

SUMMER! I hate winter more than anything! That and doing this interview for Weird Canada! Thanks, Zach…

Interview :: Andy and Edwin White of Tonstartssbandht

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:05 +0000

Interview with: Andy and Edwin White
From: Tonstartssbandht
(conducted by: Jesse Locke)
Montreal, QC
::web/sounds::

Since transplanting themselves from the sunshine state of Florida to the frosty French Canadian north, pizza-lovin’ brothers Andy and Edwin White have been recording and releasing tunes at an almost nonsensical pace. On top of sparking up psych burners and daffy rappin’ trip-outs with their best-known band, Tonstartssbandht, the bros maintain a plethora of side projects/aliases (High Rise II, NASA, Superbud, Bladestoner, etc.) while also running the boutique labels Does Are and Black Cheeks. For this Weird Canada exclusive, they’ve remixed our interview with wonky vocal FX, answers read by Jason Harvey™ and what sounds like a chopped and screwed version of their posi-vibes anthem “Andy Summers.”

Weird Canada Exclusive :: Tonstartssbandht – Inferred Views

Jesse Locke
Texture Magazine / Weird Canada
texturemagazine.ca / weirdcanada.com

/////////////// TONSTARTSSBANDHT INFERRED VIEWS ///////////////

J.	=	Jesse Locke (Texture Magazine // Weird Canada)
T.	=	Andy and Edwin White (Tonstartssbandht)

J.	::	What was life like growing up for you guys as brothers? Did you have any made-up games you would play, sibling rivalries or weird family inside jokes?
T.	::	We were related, and then fed by older people. Andy knew all the secrets to life early because I let him drink from my brain after school everyday. I’m his ancient angel. We spent all of our time outside climbing ropes and making mud to prepare for the apocalypse. On a ranch, our grandpa makes great kielbasa and eggs.
J.	::	When did you start making music together? Were there any other bro projects prior to Tonstartssbandht?

L.	::	We recorded a song together one day in 2006 called “High Roller”, but the band didn’t form until august 2007 so we could play a show in Orlando. Other projects include the bands NASA, Buttsavage, Horus Hawk, Great Feelings, and Superbud, which recorded in Orlando, Totally Dad for freeing demons in NYC, and Black Dad / Andy Summers and Bladestoner in Montreal to fill the void.
J.	::	I understand you guys are Orlando natives originally. What made you want to transplant yourselves to Montreal?
T.	::	Andy is an undergrad at McGill. Edwin moved here in September to record with Andy and check out Montreal, but is moving back to New York in May. Montreal is a nice guy.
J.	::	What’s your favourite restaurant or place to eat in this city?
T.	::	When we aren’t cooking at home, we only eat at PIZZA DU PARC or PIZZA STEVE or PIZZA FAMILIA or PIZZA BELLA DONNA. We maintain lifestyles.
J.	::	Your music integrates a ton of different sounds and styles, but the biggest noticeable split seems to be between the sample and vocal-based stuff and the rock ‘n’ roll ragers with guitar and drums. Why have you decided to maintain a dual personality within the one band, as opposed to splitting into two?
T.	::	Tonstartssbandht is two people and represents the personalities and emotions of these two people. Traditionally, we’ve only created different monikers so as to differentiate between the personnel in our assorted projects. For instance, the project called Superbud is a veil for Andy White and Sean O’Loane. Similarly, Tonstartssbandht tells you it’s Andy White and Edwin White playing music together. Within the projects we do whatever we want. We can’t be concerned with maintaining some kind of sonic consistency for the sake of easy categorization, or just to please people with specific expectations of your sound. If it ends up being consistent, so be it. But it’s more important to create the sounds we want to hear as they reveal themselves to our consciousness. Ultimately, it will leave a clearly exposed record of our inner psyches for the public, ourselves and one day our children. Our music is a rendering of ourselves in transition. It will always change. Maybe our names will change and perhaps I’ll lose my vocal chords in a gardening accident. We don’t give a fuck about genres or movements. We’re just musicians – we are people who’ve found music to be the best fit for our need for self expression, and thus we are two among many. We can write one-liners, create fake words, chop .jpgs and screw pop songs, and do head stands, and jog backwards and it’s all connected to our energies and desire to create – to expose ourselves to ourselves, and ultimately, to others. We’re trying to communicate with Basic Channel. Are you hearing us guys? It’s easier to have one band.
J.	::	On top of Tonstartssbandht, you also play together in a High Rise cover band called High Rise II. What caused your addiction to the psychedelic speed freaks?
T.	::	We started taking psychedelic speed and now we’re addicts. We cannot escape the aura of it all – 1980s TOKYO, fastest growing economy in the world at that time, biggest city in the world by all accounts (urban, metro, etc.). Sober punks making the fastest, most blindingly, loud and energetic rock music ever created. Layered by choice with the thickest set of distortion, fuzz and white noise imaginable. Their records were released by a friend who decided – “this music is too good to be heard by only me and my friends,” and so began PSF records and the Modern Music record store in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, And decades later, it found its way into our impressionable music-obsessed Floridian heads and provided us with a jolt of creative overdrive. It’s just total TOTAL power. Count us among the many fans worldwide who can only bow in reverence at the altar of Nanjo. As far as heavy rock music goes, NOBODY does it better, nor will they. All you can do is move on and enjoy the recordings of the pinnacle achieved 25 years ago in Tokyo. Or, as we’ve done, start a tribute band, so you can experience the thrill of High Rise in their prime vis-à-vis a facsimile of equally determined young musicians a generation later.
J.	::	How would you describe a typical High Rise II show?
T.	::	Come to our shows! We let it all out. We don’t wear shirts, and we play songs by High Rise, Mainliner and sometimes songs by Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, and the MC5. It‘s Edwin on drums, and Andy White and Jesse Hicks switching between guitar and bass for different songs. Most importantly, be safe and bring your ear plugs, so you can live to hear another day. It’s like pulling the plug on a tub full of energy and you’re worried that the pipes will explode. We play until exhaustion sets in and blood has been spilt. It’s adrenaline, live and in full display.
J.	::	What can you tell me about your label, Black Cheeks? What have been some of your highlight releases so far, and what else have you got coming down the tubes?
T.	::	Black Cheeks started as a way to release material by our Orlando groups in 2005 when Andy was a high school sophomore. It has continued with his move to Montreal to release side projects and eventually the first Tonstartssbandht cassette, Water Buffalo. Coming up next is a new pressing of the Tonstartssbandht Parson Sounds tape from December and tapes by Homosexual Cops and Lil’ Baby. Edwin began his label Does Are in 2008 and has released a majority of the Tonstartssbandht catalogue to date: the full length An When and four months later, Dick Nights, the Maihama cassette EP, as well as a Superbud cassingle, an amazing lost NASA album Boogie Chillin / Too Heavy, and later this month, Cool World’s full length debut, Gaydream Nation, from our friends in Providence. Does Are will be making a limited run of tapes and CDrs to coincide with the release of the newest Tonstartssbandht full length 12” available later this spring on Arbutus Records.
J.	::	Tonstarttsbandht has a new 7-inch coming out in a couple months on Psychic Handshake. What can people look forward to with that one?
T.	::	The Midnite Cobras 7″ on Psychic Handshake Recording should be available in early March. Side A contains two new recordings of “Midnite Cobras” and “I’m a Welsh Souper”, originally heard on An When, while side B reveals the unreleased psych burner “Electric Dragon Sword” that you might have heard at various live shows in the past year. Look forward to the whole thing! It’s a psych rock 7” for sure…
J.	::	Do you feel like your music is continuing to change and evolve? Where do you see it – and yourselves – going in 2010?
T.	::	Look for the new full length sometime before summer. And soon after, more tapes and EPs. Our music changes as we do. We can’t predict where it will go this year, because even we aren’t certain of our future. We will be living in separate cities again by the start of summer, and Andy graduates in December, which opens up the question of what to do and where to live in 2011. We still dream of the sunshine state, and this summer we found comfort in L.A. as we saw it – Orlando plus New York… A giant Florida with mountains. Wherever we live, our sound will be influenced by our surroundings, our memories and our expectations, our highs and lows, our fears and dreams, the limits of technology and finances, theft and acquisition, but ultimately, no matter what it is channeled through, the source remains to be our souls: Brothers bonded by life.

High Rise II play Tuesday, March 6 at Friendship Cove in Montreal. For further show info, see http://www.myspace.com/tonstartssbandht.

Interview :: Velvet Chrome & Francesco de Gallo

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:14:06 +0000

Interview with: Francesco de Gallo & Jane L. Kasowicz
From: Velvet Chrome // Hobo Cult // et al.
(conducted by: Gabriel Jasmin)
Montreal, QC
::web/sounds::

It is my pleasure to offer Francophone content for the first time on Weird Canada. This is a huge step forward and one I’m very excited about. Below are two audio interviews conducted by Grabriel Jasmin (G) as part of CHOQ’s Les Artisans du Bruit program focused on capturing some of the fringe musics crafted within Quebec at the moment. We will hear from Jane L. Kasowicz (J) and Francesco de Gallo (F) of Velvet Chrome, a group who poignantly encapsulates Montreal’s bleak psych-dementia, followed by an interview with Francesco concerning his record label Hobo Cult (a Weird Canada favorite) and various solo projects. Gabriel has generously transcribed the interviews into English so those not-so-fluent in French can read along. Enjoy!!

Aaron Levin
Weird Canada / Cantor Records
www.weirdcanada.com / www.cantorrecords.com

/////////////// VELVET CHROME TRANSCRIPTION ///////////////

G.	=	Gabriel Jasmin (CHOQ)
F.	=	Francesdo de Gallo (Velvet Chrome)
J.	=	Jane L. Kasowicz (Velvet Chrome)

G.	::	How would you describe your music?
F.	::	We like improvising in different genres, somewhere in between cosmic-tribal and…
J.	::	Italo…
F.	::	Not italo-disco, we have an actual italian song that’s like a psychedelic horror soundtrack. We also play garage rock.
J.	::	Something like garage-psych-noise.
G.	::	You used the word improvisation in there. Does Velvet Chrome rely on improvisation a lot?
F.	::	Mmm yeah… Sometimes we try to write songs with a fixed idea and work around that, but our songs often come from jamming out.
J.	::	It’s mostly improvised jams that we record. When they’re good we’ll re-work them into songs. Though we don’t always play them that way in our live shows.
G.	::	I’ve noticed you guys exchange instruments during live shows. Is there a reason for that?
F.	::	We both like exploring with a wide variety of sounds
G.	::	Does the sound vary depending who plays the instrument?
J.	::	Yeah for sure. Everyone has a personal style. When Francesco plays guitar it’s always with a no-wave attitude while I’m more garage myself.
F.	::	I’ve started playing drums and when I’m behind the kit I play very square 4/4 beats, but Jane plays in a much more deconstructed, jazzy way. It gives a very different background.
G.	::	Your releases have always been very limited editions of 20 or 30 copies, and the packaging was unique for each of them. As a band, do you have a close relationship with visual arts?
F.	::	Yes. Well, at the start I was making small runs because I was a bit unsure if our material was worth releasing. But they sold out so I made a limited second run. For the new album called Readymades, which is an artistic concept, I wanted to make unique covers so that every one would get a personal relationship with the album.
G.	::	What are your projects for 2010?
J.	::	I’ll be starting my solo project JLK, which stands for Jane L. Kasowicz. As Velvet Chrome, we’ll be releasing a … split?
F.	::	Yeah possibly a split with Hamborghinni, who are two members of Aids Wolf. In february we’ll also be playing Aids Wolf and brooklyn-based Mouthus at Casa Del Popolo.
J.	::	We might be doing an album soon…
F.	::	Yeah, we really should. We have tons of unreleased jams, now we have to sort through them to find the best ones. We also have lots of unrecorded pieces that we’d like to finish.

/////////////// FRANCESCO DE GALLO // HOBO CULT TRANSCRIPTION ///////////////

G.	=	Gabriel Jasmin (CHOQ)
F.	=	Francesdo de Gallo (Hobo Cult // et al.)

G.	::	Francesco de Gallo, you have so many ongoing projects I had to make list to remember them. You play music in : Velvet Chrome, Wasted Widow, Pradada, Hobo Cubes, Cobra Kiss! and your most recent project Magic Beach. Furthermore, you manage your own label Hobo Cult Records and release DJ mixes under the name Hippies Before Priests. Am I forgetting any?
F.	::	I don’t know, there’s so much going on. Lots of untitled collaborations are to be released in 2010 on either cassette, CD-R or free download.
G.	::	First off, how many hours of sleep do you manage to get?
F.	::	Let’s say between 6 and 8. Eight hours is the best.
G.	::	Being involved in so many different projects, how do you keep them independent from one another, so they don’t sound all the same?
F.	::	I don’t know, there’s no clear borders. For my solo work, when i’m working on a loop or a song, the outcome will not be the same whether there are vocals, instruments I used and the way I used them. That usually defines the project. When collaborating with others the result will be different each time.
G.	::	When playing with others do you write the songs on the spot ? Or do you approach other musicians with definite song ideas?
F.	::	No, never. I don’t like… I stay away from fascism with Hobo Cult. It’s a big family with people I love. When they create things I enjoy, I like to put them out as an album, even if I had nothing to do with writing nor playing the music. It’s really friendly. I record my collaborations, even one-time jams with buddies, and even though we’ll never play a single live show, I might release it to cassette.
G.	::	Indeed, except for Velvet Chrome, you have a big recorded output but you play very few live shows. is it because you prefer recorded music to live music or is for practical reasons?
F.	::	Well actually, a lot of recorded material was taken from live shows. With Wasted Widow, we’ve only played two shows, the first one I have on DVD, but then the band has added a bassist for it’s second show and we recorded that to tape. With Magic Beach, we’ve taken lots of material from our last show in late December. A lot of these will be released in 2010.
G.	::	Your label Hobo Cult is the home to all your projects and those of your friends. How did it start out?
F.	::	It’s been a year and a half since i’ve started it. I first wanted to release a Pradada album, which was my main solo project at the time, but I had so much recordings that I couldn’t decide what to put on it. Rather, I made compilations that divided the songs by year and posted them for free on the blog. Then I put them on cassette and gave them out. When I was ready to release something new, I knew I wanted to do it myself. It was just a matter of getting my songs heard by the most people. Whenever I release music I like to try and make it accessible, which is why i’ll post free downloads once the tapes or the CDs have sold out.
G.	::	Are you planning to have releases on vinyl?
F.	::	Yeah, we are planning something with Magic Beach. It’s a recent project with Philippe Lambert, who also plays in Goa, Monstre and Monkey King. We will be releasing a split tape with Ass, from San Diego, then maybe another tape or CDr and hopefully a 7″ or 12″ in spring, followed by short week-long tour in the United States.

Video :: Aaron Levin & The Wicked Awesomes! on Breakfast Television

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:51:56 +0000

In preparation for Wyrd Fest I was lucky enough to snag a 90 second interview on Breakfast Television (City TV, Cable 7) about the festival followed by a performance by one of my favorite bands in Alberta, The Wicked Awesomes!.

It was a weird experience being on television. I was kind of disappointed they didn’t put makeup on me. I hope I looked sexy in HD.

Hearts,

Aaron Levin
Weird Canada / Cantor Records
www.weirdcanada.com / www.cantorrecords.com