Revolt of the Apes

VOICEsVOICEs

“A Thousand Voices, Talking Perfectly Loud”

by Ryan Muldoon

VOICEsVOICEs – If there’s a more perfect example of the inherent elasticity in using the word “psychedelic” to define a type of music, I don’t know what it is. In the strictest sense, the music made by the Los Angeles duo (comprised of Nico Turner & Jenean Farris) certainly fits the psychedelic definition (“Of, characterized by, or generating … altered states of awareness”).

Still, there’s almost nothing that can be strictly defined about the music of VOICEsVOICEs – not riff-based, but catchy; electronic, but not pre-ordained; based on familiar emotions, but clearly not down to earth. VOICEsVOICEs simply is VOICEsVOICEs.

Nico and Jenean were kind enough to walk is through the rest of the story.

I suspect there was a conscious decision made when it came to choosing the name VOICEsVOICEs for this project. What does that name represent to you? How has your perception of the name changed from the original concept to where you stand today?

VOICEsVOICEs ... double live gonzo

Originally, the name was in regard to the great artistic conversation every artist is having with each other, the “voices” of time communicating a distinctive change. Over time, it became apparent and appropriate in that … we’re women, and even still, in our day to day experience our voices as women are deemed not as important as our male counterparts. It’s disturbing that it’s that way still, and in some countries, a woman dare not speak ever. It holds a lot of significance with us. The name definitely wasn’t just something that sounded cool at the time. Ever.

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GULL

“This Bird Has Flown”

by Ryan Muldoon

“Civic pride” would be perhaps the most unlikely emotion I expected to feel at Austin Psych Fest, but leave it to Richmond, VA’s own Gull to take you on a trek towards the unlikely. One man plus one guitar plus one drumstick plus one homemade mask wired with a microphone equals one captivated crowd in Austin. What a joy to see a crowd transfixed by the immediate and otherworldly sounds of Gull – and to be able to crow, “Yeah, he’s from my hometown! Richmond in a weird place, I’m tellin’ ya’!” to anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot.

Listen: I’ve seen Cannibal Corpse live and I’ve seen Peaches live, but I’ve never been so unnerved as the first time I saw Gull live, playing on the street in Richmond, all tribal space rhythms and voodoo chants and trilling, thrilling guitar manipulation. I was scared. My younger son danced. A moment later, Gull had my son wearing the mask, and they squawked and rocked in unison.

We should all be so lucky.

The combined history of the one-man-band for even the most discerning listeners may begin with Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins” and end with Captured By Robots. How did the evolution to the single-heart sound play out for Gull?

I was born one, I will leave one … to become no one.

Gull in the day time ...

What is your own personal musical history? What albums or events had the most impact on you growing up? What can you tell us about other projects, past or present, you’ve played in aside from Gull?

My brother was a huge influence … he fed me Bad Brains and Faith No More. I have a strong memory of being 9 years old and skating in a parking lot with my brother while “Woodpecker from Mars” blasted out of his car. Mike Oldfield probably caught my ear before anything though – the “Piltdown Man” in “Tubular Bells” scared the hell out of me as a kid … but I always wanted more (thanks, Dad!). Also, Yogi Yorgesson’s “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas,” a Swedish-American staple (thanks, Mom!).

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If there’s one thing I love as much as music, it’s comedy. And my family. And cookies, too. So that’s three things …

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to interview some of my favorite comedians, and since I started a blog … I figure I can stick the ancient transcripts on here for the sake of posterity.

Here’s an edited version of a 2000 phone chat I had with the sadly departed Mitch Hedberg.

Is Mitch there?

This is Mitch.

Mitch, this is Ryan from “Punchline” in Richmond, VA. Are you set to do an interview?

Could you maybe call me back in like ten minutes, so I can make some coffee?

Right on.

… ten minutes later …

The title of your CD is “Strategic Grill Locations.” What the dilly-yo?

It’s a line from one of my jokes. I was a short order cook before I did comedy, and I would put a hot dog on a grill, and the manager would come over and say, “Put the hot dog in the right hand corner of the grill, so if you get a lot of orders, you’ll have all this space available.” That’s how I knew he wasn’t a dreamer, because the day you give up your dreams is the day you have strategic grill locations.

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If there’s one thing I love as much as music, it’s comedy. And my family. And cookies, too. So that’s three things …

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to interview some of my favorite comedians, and since I started a blog … I figure I can stick the ancient transcripts on here for the sake of posterity.

Here’s a 2001 chat I had with Janeane Garofalo.

What were the major hurdles you had to clear when starting to do comedy?

Well, I started in 1985, which was actually a great time to start. There was a big comedy boom starting at the time in the mid-eighties and lasted until the mid-nineties. The hurdles I had to clear were the same hurdles that any comic has to face, which is for the first couple of years, you’re just kind of sucky. You know, it takes a number of years before you really find your voice on stage, and your comfort level, and hecklers and terrible conditions. It’s like any person starting any new job, and that complete novice, neophyte status you have to get past. I also looked incredibly young. I was nineteen or twenty at the time, but I looked a lot younger. I was just like a real chubby college girl with a big sweater. And that was a huge problem for people who paid full ticket price and a two drink minimum, and were like, “What? I paid to see a guy with his blazer sleeves pushed up to the elbow, and not this kid.”

You didn’t have a Chess King sports coat?

No. I did not have a Just For Men sports coat on.

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Further investigation is definitely needed with Iowa’s Mondo Drag, who wowed the Psych Fest crowd by looking like they just rolled up in Spicoli’s van, before casually striding on to the stage and attempting to draw down the moon (in the late afternoon sun, no less) via the overwhelming power of metaphysical riffing. As exemplified on the title of their debut album, “New Rituals,” aren’t afraid to take some cues from the past, while slipping (slipping, slipping) into the future.

Singer/drummer Johnnie Cluney was kind enough to partake in the interview ritual with us.

The history of killer, heavy psych rock coming out of Iowa is … well, you tell us. Is there a too-ignored sect of bands from Iowa that inspired Mondo Drag at the earliest stages? Or was it the aim of Mondo Drag to do its part to put Iowa on the map?

It's the sign of the wolf! The Mondo Drag wolf!!!

Yeah, not a real strong history for Iowa psych rock. There are a hand full of bands from our area that we like, but I can’t say that we were influenced by any of them. We have always just done our own thing. I think when we found out about Radio Moscow we were stoked. We played what I think was our third show with them – it was right after they recorded their first LP, so prob about four years ago now. Radio Moscow lives in California now so Iowa is all ours!

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“Carrying Pictures of Chairman Mao: The Worst Austin Psych Fest 3 Pics”

by Ryan Muldoon

Full report coming someday, I swear.

Ringo Deathstarr

Warpaint

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THE VANDELLES

“You Say Goodbye, and I Say Vandelle”

by Ryan Muldoon

It feels somewhat appropriate to close out our string of band interviews previewing this weekend’s Austin Psych Fest 3 by hearing from ¾’s of Brooklyn’s The Vandelles. With a seeming inability to be corny or nostalgic, The Vandelles manage to span whatever gaps – real or imagined – that exist between the past and the future. Modern yet classic, indebted to the past but never weakly nostalgic, these veterans of Psych Fest wars have a little something to offer those interested in just about everything (psych-surf-punk-shoegaze-rock? Sure!), and they’re not afraid to wear fake moustaches while they do. We should all be so lucky as to have friends like The Vandelles.

Goodbye, Austin Psych Fest 3! Hello, Vandelles! Guitarist Christo, drummer Sue and bassist Lisha testify below.

How often has someone actually gone to one of your shows, actually persisted through your entire set, and actually approached you afterwards just to prove their own insanity, by declaring, “I totally thought you guys would be The Vandals!”?

Christo: Most of the time, it’s more like you are trying to tell someone the name of the band in a loud environment and they think we say the Vandals. Ironically, Sue actually also does play drums for Devo and Nine Inch Nails.

Sue: A bunch of times people have come to shows thinking they were going to see an all-girl Vandals cover band, so I guess that’s disappointment on two counts…

Your set at last year’s Austin Psych Fest was notably loud – even among three days of notably loud bands. What does volume add to the live experience that you just cannot get from records? Are you used to the volume by this point? Do you think much about how your hearing may be affected in the long run?

The Vandelles pay lip service ...

Christo: I don’t think the Psych Fest set was all that loud compared to other shows we have played but yeah, it can be taxing on your eardrums, for sure.  Wearing earplugs or scrambling for TP right before the set is a must.

Sue: I think it’s made me hypersensitive to sound. The only time I don’t wear earplugs is when we play.

Lisha: Personally, I look forward to having one of those fashionable ear trumpets in my old age.

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STRANGERS FAMILY BAND

“In the Pouring Rain (Very Strange)”

by Ryan Muldoon

The strangest thing about the Strangers Family Band? Take your pick. The band’s very foundation seems built atop the quizzical, the curious, the “wtf?” – from their home base of Orlando, Florida, to their history of changing band members like most people change socks. But perhaps strangest of all is that it just works – very nearly perfectly. To listen to the band’s self-titled, seven-song E.P. (available for free download at the band’s website) is to be stunned by both the quality and quantity of ideas on display. It’s as if the band put a stack of “Nuggets” box-sets through a meat grinder, and devoured every corner, every nuance of the psychedelic genre.

Bassist Scott Seltzer sprays us with the details of their strange transmissions, leading up to the band’s Sunday night appearance at Austin Psych Fest 3.

Your MySpace page features visual references to Syd Barrett, Aliester Crowley and … Loni Anderson? What do each of these people mean to you? To the music of Strangers Family Band? Apologies is that’s not actually Loni Anderson … but seriously, what does Loni Anderson mean to you?

We are family ... Strangers Family Band

I think Syd Barrett is sort of the obvious one. He is the embodiment of psychedelia and psychedelic music. Not to mention one of the greatest musicians, and artists in history. Crowley is a spiritual/mental influence and an iconic figure in the religious realm of psychedelic counter-culture. Lyrically and the dark undertones in our songs are heavily influenced by Crowley. “Enochian” and “Strange Transmission” on our EP both feature Crowley recordings. The woman is actually Marilyn Monroe and she represents the sexuality in psychedelia. Basically, the three make up the three sides of the “psychedelic pyramid.” Art, Spirituality, and Sexuality. Loni Anderson combined with Burt Reynolds is the “third eye” atop the pyramid.

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THE NIGHT BEATS

“For the Benefit of Mr. Night (Beats)”

by Ryan Muldoon

Vincent Van Gogh once said, “I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” And if he hadn’t have died about 120 years before the formation of the Seattle-via-Texas trio known as The Night Beats, we’d think for sure he was referring specifically to their brand of psychedelic stomp. (Of course, there’s also the whole missing ear thing, which may or may not have kept the painter from falling head-over-heels for ugly garage rock.)

The band’s growing collection of razor-edged, soulful psych-slices brings to mind the night, both the darkness and “richly colored” parts, in a way that recalls the perfection of short, stabbing songs like “Cry in the Night” by (like Van Gogh) another bit of Dutch weirdness, Q’65.

We caught up with all three band members – Lee Blackwell, James Traeger, Tarek Wegner – as they continued working on their night moves, in advance of Austin Psych Fest 3.

I understand that you moved to Seattle from Austin. What differences (aside from climate) have you noticed from the perspective of making music in the two different cities?

Here comes the Night Beats ... photo by Austin Ella

James Traeger: Seattle’s bands work together more here. Austin does to an extent, but yeah, Seattle wants to push other bands as much as their own, it feels.

Lee Blackwell: I came from Dallas for the most part, where there’s no underground or desire to break the mold. Deep Ellum will live again!

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SMOKE AND FEATHERS

“Expert, TX-pert, Choking Smokers”

by Ryan Muldoon

Legend has it that for some poor souls in the 1960’s, there existed the belief that smoking dried banana peels would result in a pleasant, hallucinatory experience (“They call it mellow yellow,” sang Donovan). Let this misguided belief be caution to any Austin Psych Fest enthusiasts who threaten to fall victim to pure nostalgia (“Be here now!” said Ram Dass).

But were it not for the well-placed “and” in the middle of the name of the Austin band Smoke and Feathers, we’d be tempted to start a rumor that the band is all about smoking feathers, resulting in a pleasant, hallucinatory experience. No need for the rumors – the band creates the aforementioned experience by more conventional methods, making easy converts for fans looking for the authentic “southern psychedelic rock” experience.

Smoke and Feathers guitarist/vocalist Hunter Cahalan was kind enough spell it out for us in greater detail.

What can you tell us about the way Smoke and Feathers began? What were your own histories of playing with other bands (if any)? Was there a particular point that you can recall thinking, “This is different – this is going to work.”

Smoke (and Feathers) on the water ...

Josh Terry moved to Austin, TX, from Los Angeles in 2007. Shortly after, they met a really cool group of friends/musicians, which included Hunter Cahalan and Joe Correneti from the local band Cartright. Hunter had stopped playing with Cartright by then and they were on hiatus. By 2008, Hunter and Josh had written a handful of good tunes. We started playing them with Joe on keys and two other friends on bass and drums. Before long we were looking for a new rhythm section, and Joe was back to playing with Cartright. Someone introduced us to Alan Houston, who had played in numerous local bands and he was an automatic fit. Once we had a solid bass player we got our friend Geoff Guillard to come over and spice it up. We had never heard him play, but he told us he had graduated Berkley School of Music. So we thought, ahh … we guess we’ll try him out even though he likes to dress up like a little girl sometimes. It’s real weird. We always knew that we had a different sound and good tunes, but it was when Geoff and Alan brought the goods that we knew we had something to take to the stage.

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