Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 22:23:10 -0500 CAMBODIA : A ZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO FIND MUSIC TOO SLOW VOL 1 #2 Welcome to Cambodia. Sign the s314 petition CONTENTS Art is not a Game TAR E-interview Dishwasher excerpt More Teen Scene fun Zine Shit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -Unsane's new bass player, dave, rules. -Craw's drummer neil got hit in his car by a drunk driver. he's fine but for a shoulder injury that cancelled a couple of shows. the show must go on. -2 jobs (dishing + builders square) and minimum 55 hours a week isn't the rock and roll life vince neil and rob halford said it was when i was 14. i know, i know ... suffer. -Special thanks to johnnyg, george vacek, jeff macleod and his friends for traveling over 5 hours from georgia, florida and alabama to see us play in nashville last month. thats what makes poverty for art completely worthwhile. -haven't heard much from the choke, inc. boys this month cause their server switched mailers on them and they haven't figured out how to use the new one yet. boy does that make me feel good knowing that these guys are in charge of our label;) -as for me and this rag, it looks like reality is going to overwhelm me by the 1st of april. due to touring and low paying jobs my phone will be cut off on march 29th and if i don't come up with $800 in 4 months back rent i'm on the street. so this may not get out again for a while. but we will be touring the south at the end of april and early may. fuck reality. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ART IS NOT A GAME Hopefully over the next few issues more of you lazy twerps will send me some more discussion material - whether you agree with where i'm coming from or if you think i'm completely full of shit. i want this to become a discussion, not just me spouting off. Rob Herndon writes this - Problems? (questions in statement form): Some people realize that they can make a lot of money in music field which has become a corporate industry, so they try to figure out what people are listening to and then replicate it as best they can so it will sell and they can make lots of money. This imitation of music creates a comfortable norm that people learn to expect, and as a result any new, creative styles are frowned upon. It also becomes a mindlock for other musicians so they are hindered in their ability to create something new and end up putting out something that sounds like a lot of other stuff which is in the mass medias. Even in underground music this might become a problem, since new, creative styles of music will probably inspire others to create music in the same genre, and the cycle begins to repeat itself. The underground movement in itself may become the same fashion bandwagon as the mainstream label music, and rather than playing what might come naturally musicians start trying to be different but end up sounding the same. Bands can't distribute their expression widely or have it exposed to many people without the power of a major label, and then business executives enter the scene to dictate what they think will sell best rather than just producing the music and seeing if people will enjoy the change of pace and not worrying about making excessive profit. Problems? (questions in question form) Do indie bands want mass exposure and distribution in the first place? Do they fear that the masses will only grow to enjoy their new style of expression and begin to imitate it and demand nothing new in the future? Is it wrong to sign to a major label even if the band has complete say over what is produced in terms of everything and plays their music for their own expression and enjoyment and not somebody else's? Is the problem the fact that record companies who have really only printed the record and payed for studio time and exposure will be making lots of money? Or does it also relate to the fact that this mass exposure will become part of the herd mentality and cease to be original as a result of all the music it inspires in other musicians and the demand it creates for itself from the general populous? Can a band play music for pure enjoyment without even thinking about living off of it, yet it still not be considered art or a form of expression? If a band plays music they enjoy and use it as a creative release but it happens to fall into a category of mainstream music, is it no longer art? Must music as art be completely different from anything heard before? If you enjoy the music you play, can it still be considered expressing yourself if it sounds like a popular genre? Have you become a victim of the mindlock produced by the mass media? Should all musicians quit listening to and enjoying the music of others to avoid being influenced by it and finding out that the styles of others may appeal to the way they want to express themselves? Should bands even play their music for others to enjoy since it is really only a creative outlet for them? Is it wrong to listen to music once it becomes popular and mainstream? Should people even listen to music and experience the expression of others, or just play it and worry about expressing themselves? ---------------- ... contininuing from last month ... Marketing -> Money -> Power -> Manipulation -> Marketing. To fully illustrate this demon-spawn paradigm it is necessary to break down the machinations of the franchise oriented capitalist system. Object: to capure as much of the market by any means necessary regardless of the local and global effect, not only economically but politically. This is clearly shown in its prime form by something like McDonalds. Just its presence in virtually every neighborhood in the country effects the local creative initiative to the point that most people just give into the fact that McDonalds is God in the food business, so why bother with anything else, like maybe my opening my own restaurant. McDonalds has successfully conquered Collinwood, OH. and as a result there are no more Aunt May's home cooking joints. There is no more use for imaginative local cuisine. There is McDonalds. Now, obviously it isn't always this bad everywhere, but one can't dismiss the real time effect that these franchises have upon local initiative - its degradation. Similarly, the record industry works the same exact way (surprise). Careful marketing will lead to larger monetary intakes which give labels more power which in turn leads to the labels' manipulation of an already dulled by technology public which in turn grows into bigger and better marketing ploys. Look at the "grunge" alternative wave. I for one still think Nirvana was a great band. But the sheer amount of carefully crafted industry shit like the Offspring and Stone Temple Pilots that followed nearly choked me (no pun intended) with brown runny grunge waste, while great imaginative bands with truly creative ideas are becoming few and far between. The market suddenly had on its hands a new set of rules, a new monster that could be bled for all its worth. Don't expect another paradigm change like the one Nirvana instilled for another 20 years. And one of the primary effects that is being experienced by independent bands and clubs around the country is the phenomenon of diminished audiences. For the most part only the die hard rock fans who have already been exposed to the gospel of indie music are appearing on the scene and not as many individuals just curious for something different, compared to three or four years ago. ... continued next ish ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TAR E-Interview Being the first E-Interview that i've done i didn't know what to expect. without actual conversation it turns out to be kind of an interesting experiment. TAR from chicago are in my opinion one of the best indie bands around. period. their distinct blend of sonic art make most other bands, indie or not, look like they're still playing in diapers. Mike Greenlees and John Mohr from TAR were kind enough to participate in this here little first experiment. my interviewing can only get better one would hope. 1) Why has Tar remained on the indie label Touch & Go instead of trying to hop to a major? M> Not that we've been inundated with offers, but I think I speak for the entire combo when I say that there is nothing a major can offer us that Touch & Go can't deliver on, except a pile of money up front that we'd just end up owing back. Our records get to the people who are interested in buying them, we get a *way* better royalty arrangement, Cory the owner is a friend we can talk to and expect results from, etc. etc. etc. I don't think we're really marketable to the masses on any level, we're not interested in marketing ourselves...shit, I'm actually not even that intereseted in trying to make a living at it any more. But it shore would be nice if we miraculously got on somebody's hot list and suddenly sold a ton of records. I have no idea how to do that with our songs and our reluctance to tour, however. 2) How do you benefit from remaining on an independent label other than integrity? M> We don't have to deal with former college radio jags with indie cred who handle the artists now, we don't have to deal with business men or marketing analysts or video stylists or anyone but ourselves. And we don't have to hire anyone to deal with any of them. We can basically just go to practice, write songs, go record them at our leisure, take care of the artwork and count on no resistance or interference along the way from our label. Integrity? Oh yeah, that too. 3) Your style of writing is very driving, very machine like. where does this stem from? M>I honestly couldn't tell you. Most people reckon we stole it from Helmet, but I am quick to point out that we predate Helmet. But uh, I don't know, we don't have *that* many machine like songs, do we? I guess if anything, it can be attribute to our style of play which up until recently hasn't had a lot of *space* in it. We kind of hammer home repetetive riffs and work more with shifting chords and accents within those constraints. But I like to think that we just write pop songs, and then deconstruct them. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ very cool - me 4) I believe that you have recorded almost every album with the same person. Other than the fact that he has a cute butt, why is this? M> That's sort of not true. We have recorded all our stuff with two people, mostly, Brad Wood (engineer on Roundhouse Lp, Flow Plow 7", Solution 8 7", "Antlers", uh, Teetering 7", "Static", uh, uh, Clincher EP, and Steve Albini (engineer on most of Handsome, Play to Win 7", "Compaction", Jackson LP, Toast LP, that Pere Ubu cover, and the upcoming stuff. Bob Weston engineered 3 tunes on the upcoming stuff, and Iain Burgess mixed/produced Roundhouse, Flow Plow 7" plus he engineered 2 songs on Handsome. We keep coming back to Steve because he knows what the fuck he's doing and he's a friend. Ditto Brad Wood, who we haven't used in a while because Steve's cheaper, and we can't afford to spend too much this time. Although I think John and Mark really prefer working with Steve accross the board. I like 'em both a lot. And Iain's a Frenchman now, so that's totally out of the question. (Boy did I blow that one out my ass:) - me) 5) After hearing much of the new material live, i feel like tar is once again evolving and reaching new heights. How do you see your band evolving? M> It's funny, but we've never set out to do anything except come up with songs that please all four members as much as possible. We only write together at practice, for the most part. You'd think we'd be more eclectic, especially given that our tastes in music vary pretty widely, and none of us listen to much music like our own these days. I think lately our songs have taken on a friendlier, or less menacing nature. Got some quiet ones coming up. Some poppier things. Some sparcer things. But you know, we're so strict with the instrumentation/sonic pallette, that it all winds up sounding exactly like Tar. 6) Speaking of live, why don't you guys tour much anymore? M> We basically gave up touring after a very fucked up trip to Europe in the fall/ winter of 1993. We lost a lot of money, got stranded a few times. It just drove the point home to the members of the band who didn't like touring to begin with. I liked it, but now that I can work full time, it's intersting to be able to pay rent, and pay off credit cards, and not worry about shit financially. We kind of went for the gold for a couple years by touring seven months out of the year. At first, we sold more records, but then it leveled off, and then we started to slide - less and less people were coming to see us. For the band members who didn't like touring to begin with, there were no reasons left to keep doing it. 7) The main focus of this zine to try to understand the effects of mass media and global corporate franchises on art and human imagination. Do you guys agree that general imagination in the world has been stunted because of these things? If not, why? M> That's a toughie. I'd generally disagree with that statement only inasmuch as I'm not having a hard time at all finding really interesting, creative music, etc. out there. Of course the word "generally" there is fairly meaningless - yer average Joe on the street who's not really into music or art to any intense degree, sure he's gonna be sorta blunted by the whole thing, but he doesn't give a shit anyway. The people who are really into it, (Mike the optimist talking here, as opposed to Mike as he usually is) are for the most part going to be uninfluenced creatively by such global corporate franchise media action. (Insert former indie rock band name here)'s new album on (insert major label here) is probably the album they wanted to make, whether it blows or not. I don't care if it's on a major label, only whether it's any good. Some people can not separate politics from music - I can not connect them. If the Ex were a shitty band, I wouldn't like 'em so damn much. If they were on Jeffen, I'd still dig 'em. Alright, some one rope me in, because, really, I didn't even get the question. Sorry about that. Kind of replied to an unasked question, I think. J> Look comrade, business people are not, by definiton, creative. Their skill, f t can be sad as such, is to allow someone else to make money. I don't think you need to me creative to make $. In fact, if you look at our sad culture of bloated, "Married With Children" watchin', B.Dole / N. Gengrinch voting, "I got a right to be totin' a 9mm" boneheads, I think you would agree. But has it been stunted? I don't know if that one can be accurately answered, but it is easy to say that this is not a culture that encourages creativity. Hey, maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISHWASHER EXCERPT This is from Dishwasher #8. current issue is #12, but i just got a bunch from angel (aa704@po.cwru.edu). the following i read at about 2am after washing about 11 hours of dishes. needless to say i almost wet my bed reading this. For those unfamiliar with the adventures of dishwashin' pete, he goes around the country on an endless quest to hold a dishwashing job in every one of the 50 states, and each issue is from a different one. I hold this man in very high esteem. If I'm ever in a coma kill me. When I wash dishes my bodily functions seem to explode. I'm Pavlov trained for some experiment except they don't use meat powder on this dog, they use a dishwasher. I walked up to the dishwasher the other day and I started to sneeze and fart at the same time. My sneeze blew out goo berries and I saw them fly all the way to the ice machine and I didn't expect to hear them land but they did, like my nose was a pellet gun or somethin. I pretended they were beautiful then wiped them off before anybody saw. During the sneezes, I farted real loud and powerful but the sneeze covered up the sound physics-wise. It is not smart to fart and sneeze at the same time cause its a biological fact that when you sneeze your body tenses up and that includes your butt muscles. So when I sneezed the fart had to pass through a clenched hole. And thats what happened. It hurt. It hurt so bad that I ran past the other dishwasher (greg) and said "I just sneezed and farted, I think my butt is bleeding!" This isn't a fluke cause today my boogers were crawling out my nose like ants and I picked my nose but I didn't think I had a booger but I did. So there I was with a booger on my finger and more coming out my nose. Soon after I picked my ears and had ear wax - so now I had earwax under my finger nail and a booger on my finger. I looked at the waste of my body and I thought if i'm ever in a coma kill me! -Luke ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TEEN SCENE #51 EXCERPT I MUST BE SLIPPING: Only one LP. Gone are the days... blah, blah, blah. Sticking with THE STATICS, then. My initial wig-out over this bunch came about a year and a half back when I heard their first two 45s within about a month of each other. (Actually, I think I heard the second one before the debut, but my guess is you don't much care.) As I may (or may not) have already said, I still think the EP with "Hey, Hey" is their best record, but their debut LP, Rat City is a damn fine effort. If you can't deal with the lo-fidelity aspect, that's your tough toenails, 'cuz you'll be missing out on some real fine punk-chuggin'. Both sides start with white hot instrumentals (Note: these kids don't surf -- ed.), and then crash head-on into the guard rail to come out grinning. "Burgers & Fries" shows this bunch believes in the very same food groups as yours truly. As they put it, oh-so-eloquently, "I'm gonna get me / some burgers & fries." "Do The Russell Quan", about that lovable Mummie-man, is just plain fun... it's time to jump up and down with Russell. "Don't Mess With Us" makes a repeat appearance on this LP, just in case any of you missed out on the 45 version. But the hit single on this is the "pop" number, "Take Me Out", as Diane has evidently sucker-punched Zack and stolen the mic. On this beautiful "love" song, she describes a wondrous date in which the guy takes her around town and buys her stuff. Isn't rock'n'roll fun? Seriously, though, yet another winner from the home of the hits... Rip Off Records in sunny San Bruno, CA. TEEN SCENE AD RATES: 1/4 page - $20 1/2 page - $35 Full page - $65 Please contact us for details, either by regular mail or e-mail (blairb@eden.rutgers.edu). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS, ETC, ETC.... JAKS - HOLLYWOOD BLOOD CAPSULES: If everything released had as much crazed, unholy musical goodness packed into it as this, the world would be a much more beautiful and deafening place. For starters, HOLLYWOOD BLOOD CAPSULES is less than thirty minutes long, which is a godsend. The length is no matter because, in the space of the eleven songs occupying Jaks' world, there is insane listening aplenty. These songs swing like some kind of hip alien jazz, slicing and hacking away with cut-up, spastic-manic schizoid guitar shavings and extremely retarded, stumbling and deft rhythms. And, good god, the vocals (female or demon? Listen and go figure.) come randomly out of speaker left, speaker right and full center, puking green, howling bile and the most bitter distortion out into your lap. The closest contemporaries Jaks have are Athens, GA's Jack-O-Nuts, who don't really come close to equalling the sort of riotous mayhem found on cuts like "Spit Mudd" and "Cock Of The Walk." HOLLYWOOD BLOOD CAPSULES is fantastic and overflowing with the sort of colorful and personality-filled (extra-mulitple and evil, though) stuff that you've got to really look and listen hard for these days. (Choke, Inc., 1376 W. Grand, Chicago, IL 60622) Jeff McLeod The Subversive Workshop 75321.2755@compuserve.com ---------------------------- I'm getting bored of writing about live bands myself, mainly cause i'm keep running out of good adjectives, so from here on in all of my reviews (if you want to contribute reviews you don't have to do this) will be done like any good computer engineer should do them - based on the Binary Scale - 0 for no, 1 for yes. dig it, daddy-o? Killdozer - 1 (stranglehold cover put them over) Primitive (local cleveo) - 1 Engincore (same) - 1 Unsane - 1 Throckmorton (same) - 1 DuValby Bros. (same) - 1 Laughing Hyenas - 1 Ted Bundy's Volkswagon - 1 the band that opened for TBV - 0 disengage - 1 Glazed Baby - 1 Soul Coughing - 1 (lets hope they still keep their cool after they get big) Smackdaddy - 1 Swank Motel - 1 Obviously 0s are for pure hatred. luckily there wasn't much of that this month. The only new recording i found i could afford this month was an Edgar Varese history. it completely blows rock music of any kind away. ---------------------------- Funkabilly- Live at the Venice Cafe has officially been released on BJAM records and is available in most record stores in the Midwest. If you can't get it at your local store try some in Russia, they got it thanks to some net connections I found! Streetside Records should have them in all their stores, but if they don't you might have them order it.... Dominic You can always order it from me at this email box! as815@freenet.buffalo.edu (Dominic Schaeffer) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thanks to everyone who sent me stuff. i think its alot more interesting with stuff other than my own rantings. keep it coming. Again, feel free to send the choke, inc guys demo tapes, etc. CHOKE, INC. 1376 W. GRAND AVE. CHICAGO, IL. 60622 choke@spagmumps.com Booking info for craw mail me or call 2169321968 and ask for dave. booking info for morsel and hairy patt band call 5139610357 ask for lucia. booking info on JAKS call 3132131457 or 3132131280 'Shee, you guys are so unhip its a wonder your bums don't fall off' --- rockie@neurosis.wariat.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Back Issues at FTP 141.214.4.135 under the directory /docs/choke. WWW stuff located at "http://kzsu.stanford.edu/uwi.html" under Shopping Maul ... Thanks Jon.