Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 20:34:50 -0400 From: "cholera" <rockie@neurosis.wariat.org> CAMBODIA : A ZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO FIND MUSIC TOO SLOW VOL 1 #6 Welcome to Cambodia. CONTENTS Art is not a Game Interview w/ Glazed Baby Reviews ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -I am setting up the fall craw tour as we speak, tentatively sept 15 to oct 20. basically east of the mississippi from missouri to maine. if you can and want to help out drop me a line. if we're lucky we'll be seeing a craw/glazed baby tour -Cleveland Independent Hardware Systems is nearly together. This is the group I am putting together to allow cleveland area bands and artists (who are otherwise poor and can't afford shit like computers) a chance at getting their work out on the web and available worldwide (cause I have supreme access). By the time Cambodia 7 is out I should be ready. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ART IS NOT A GAME Thanks to everyone this month who wrote in. heres a few. keep it coming in - it allows me to fill up this zine while not pressuring myself to keep on coming up with clever little quips. My friend ethan sends us this - 3:my thoughts on cambodia discussion: jesus lizard on lollapalooza seems a horrible idea, there can t be anything good about seeing them with 20,000 other people, many of whom are far too concerned with meeting a member of the opposite sex or merely looking good to give jesus lizard any more attention then a dismissal. i m having a hard time thinking of major label successes. the closest thing i can think of is the independent label being owned by a major, which seems to work well for bands like the jon spencer blues explosion, who are essentially under the same contract they were before. i definitely agree that for a major label contract to work the band would have to have control over promotion and advertisement. i have more then once seen over-zealous promotion lead to decreased sales. for example, of the four of my friends who own the new season to risk cd, three of them purchased promotional copies that columbia sent out to record stores for free, which the stores generally sell for between $5-$8, as opposed to $15 for a new cd. these promotionals not only do not make a profit, they represent a loss. i.e. the money spent on a cd that is given away for free. now, because i do try to have ethics about what i buy, i am faced with a dilemma. do i buy a promotional copy, furthering the loss that this band will inevitably suffer, although saving myself a few dollars, or do i buy a new copy, thus supporting the band? truth be told, i m waiting to find a copy on vinyl. buying strictly independent: i think that it does make sense to limit one s self to buying only independent records, while still using products created by other corporations. first, a company like microsoft makes no claims to be separate from the dominant schools of thought, nor does it associate itself with a culture that shuns such dominancy. whereas a company like matador does, or at least used to. this situation also seems to be even more offensive in the case of bands like rage against the machine, who almost exclusively sing about destroying the system, defiance, and shutting down the corporations, which of course, is exactly what they re making money for. i can t think of a single thing thatUs revolutionary about their formulated slab of below average hardcore grooves, white boy rap, and ubiquitous cursing. but i suppose that s besides the point. the point is, however, that, as it says in the contents, ART IS NOT A GAME. supporting a entity that throws around the word revolution but actually is doing more for the system then fighting it, or a company that likens itself to a culture where the concept of a company is unwelcome in the first place is much more hypocritical then supporting an unabashedly capitalist businessperson who manufactures a simple product for consumption i.e. television or fruit loops. and although the policies of these companies ought to be examined as well, i d much rather lose my money to a land-of-the-free-home-of-the- brave asshole for producing ballpoint pens then someone who could very well destroy an important message merely by making it fashionable i.e. the only time i seem to use the word peace any- more seems to be with ironic intent. i am currently in a band where the majority of the members are very into the idea of a major label contract (not that there have been any offers) because all they want to do is hang out and play music and love the idea of having warner brothers or whoever support it. this does seem like an excellent idea, but i ve seem so much more good coming out of an ian mackaye/ steve albini figure then a kurt cobain/eddie vedder one. it s ridiculous that pearl jam gets so much credit for donating what, 5% of some $25 a head concert to somewhere when fugazi (who are still touring for $5 and still selling records for $7) recently managed to donate $5,000 to the beehive, an autonomous collective in d.c. thirty bands are traveling to cleveland to play a benefit show for a shelter. take the thirty most generous major label bands and i venture that they haven t done that much since atlantic signed them. the conclusion i can draw is that the type of attitude that accompanies the decision to go to a major requires a level of not caring anymore, and that s something i hope to never sign away. that s an awful bright glimmer of idealist youth for me. --------------------- another pal named caitlin sent me this - have you kept up on the goings-on in capitol hill lately? it's damn scary. republican congressmen (we'll eliminate the democrats as they don't count anymore) are throwing all the power in the camps of big business. relaxation of environmental protection regulations, toxin control regulations and product testing is sweeping through congress. and why not? we elected (not me personally- like a fool i didn't vote) to represent us people who make most of their livelihood placating industry to keep jobs in their districts, and lowering taxes to placate the people in power (i.e. big business owners and upperclass america) of our country's resources. in return, big business supports the politicians by doling out to us its idea of how culture should look and how government should work. it's no secret conspiracy, it's a fact of life. look at how little drive people have: people no longer have careers, they have jobs. people's goals don't soar any higher than comfort. people are less interested in challenge than contentment. thrills are cheap, too. and all this is very profitable. but you didn't need me to tell you that. the real point of the above spewage is that what you were complaining about is in full swing. they have the power and "popular culture" caters to the mindlessness that seems to have taken most of us over. you shouldn't let anyone tell what you do and do not like; if i liked pearl jam or stone temple pilots i would listen to their stuff whatever the protests. the fact that such groups (and "alternative", modern rock) cater to big business dictates wouldn't alter the fact that i enjoyed them. it is only incumbent on me to take a challenge and listen to an indie group to see whether i might like that, too, and to demonstrate that my mindset hasn't been chosen for me by 107.9 the end. the biggest obstacle to doing this is the fact that 1) most people don't even know indies are out there and 2) most people wouldn't know where to look for them even if they did know that indies existed. it would be unfair to assume that most people are as lifeless as popular culture suggests they are, and as unmotivated and directionless as "generation X" defines them to be. but if it isn't laziness then it must be ignorance, right? (listen to the republicans - c'ha) indie labels just don't promote - and the sad fact is that big business has got it right that if you want to get word out about something the best way to do that is to sell it, and sell it hard. and it seems like most of the point of indie labels is not to do just that, the result being that bands with indies tend to have a select, informed and to all outward appearances, exclusive audience. another kind of culture and a different kind of club. but you already knew that. EDITOR'S RETORT - Cait's pretty much right on in my opinion except for the part about most of the point of indie labels is not to sell hard. Why shouldn't a small company want to succeed? What we really are talking about here is monetary flow, or lack thereof for most indie labels. The punk rock asthetic about not wanting to become popular is ridiculous. If you can do it on your own what's so bad about that? I think the majority of indie label owners know this and would love it if one of their bands broke out without having to rely on the machine. ---------------------- continued from last ish ... Despite all that has spewed out of my mouth about the shitty music industry, mass media and corporate global franchises i'm still very much involved in it all. Especially music. Its the most perfect love/hate relationship ever to exist. I've clearly detailed many negative points. for the balance factor let me briefly list some positives. Creating challenging and intelligent music for the sake of creating music and exercising that creation on stage is not only functional therapy for me but also very spiritual and cleansing. Even though 98% of all the bands that we meet and play with on the road are less than mediocre (and keep in mind that in the past few years i've become such a music snob that i intrinsically hate almost everything - i'm not saying this is good, either) occasionally a band comes along that just makes all the other alice in chains cock rock bands almost bearable. King Sour, Dazzling Killmen, Today is the Day, Dead Guy and Bert have been shining examples. The indie die hards who aren't just talking a talk but have actually gone out and done their own thing - Albini, Mackaye, jesus lizard (i know, i know but they still get alot of respect from me) and many zines and publications who get out there and really support and discuss the important issues of not only music but culture. The Baffler reigns supreme here. Touring is great. If you can get over the loss of money factor, which has become fairly easy. And finally all the great people who really appreciate what you are doing and let you crash on their floors, etc. They rule. Unfortunately these positive at times can get overshadowed by everything else. Ethan just wrote in with the notion that the type of attitude that accompanies the decision to go to a major requires a level of not caring anymore. Well, he's right, but in my opinion probably not the way he realizes. An indie band records an album and figures out that in order to have anyone actually hear their music they must tour an awful lot so they get to it. This is what they encounter on the negative side - no promotion in most cities, promoters who don't even show up to the shows, being lied to about money and receiving little to none, people who think you have talent and could eventually make some money who then try to book the band but fail because either they are too irresponsible, greedy or both, non-existant shows cause someone didn't call to tell you the club went under last week, etc., etc. If the band has any staying power after their first failed tour and survives for a few more years, all of this becomes exponentially irritating and sometimes so dismaying you really have to question what the hell you're doing this for until finally you simply just go with it regardless and all the shit just doesn't matter anymore. Of course if you get to this point you also see that not much in general affects you anymore - this is becoming a therapy session for me, so to conclude quickly so much crap happens that you just don't care anymore. Why not let someone else who could do a better job deal with it? Booking, marketing, promotion, whatever, who cares as long as it gets done? This does, of course, suck but what do you want - I'm a perfect product of everything this zine is against. ... continued next ish ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GLAZED BABY INTERVIEW done by Vonda Skinner & Jeff McLeod Glazed Baby is such a crazed band. The sound is chaotic, even bluesyin a sick sort of way at times. It's mostly a pounding, primal thingwith an abrasive edge that will turn the meek into melting jelly. Atthe time of this interview, Josh, the original guitarist, had justrejoined after touring with Unsane for a spell. That gave them twoguitarists and an even louder, noisier sound. Even more of a violenttrain wreck of a show than before. They were down our way doing threeshows while waiting for a court date in Tennessee. We talked to themabout what makes them sound so damn scary and evil, both live and ontheir first release, Karmic Debt (on Red Decibel, Inc.). Since then,we've found out, Josh has again departed, leaving them a three)pieceagain. But, here they are in full, four)piece glory. Who are you and what do you do? Joel: Joel. I play guitar and I'm the new guy that's now the old guy. Josh: I'm Josh. I played guitar before Joel and I played guitar afterand with Joel. Andy: I'm Andy and I scream and play bass. Richie (the road)man): I'm Richie. I'm useless. I carry stuff. I don'tplay anything. Joel (doing his best retarded imitation of Dale, the drummer, who hadnot yet arrived): Ummm, I'm Dale . . . I plays da drums. How did the name come about? Joel (whom the other members made tell the story): When Glazed Babyfirst started, before it was Glazed Baby, in '83 (everybody laughed atthis), we decided that if were gonna tour by '93 we should have aname. And there was this cat picture that we used for the Karmic Debtthing we saw that, and named the band in '83 after the album thatcame out in '94. Glazed Baby. Is that a true story? Josh: As far as I know. How long have you been together? Josh: Four years. What was your goal when you first started and how has that changed, ifat all? Josh: To take over the world. Andy: Yeah. World domination through Rock. It's stayed the same.Definitely. Josh: Domination through amplification. What's the best thing about your music and what is the worst thing? Joel: The best thing for me is that I'm in ANOTHER BAND that's calledIron Rite Mangle. That's more technical, in a sense, because I'vekinda gotta play all these Steve Vai type leads. (Laughter all around)Nah, it's more technical as far as there's more subtleties . . . andwith Glazed Baby I get to completely just blaze and kill my instrumentand the crowd and pretty much just assault everyone))as opposed toenticing them. See, with my other band, it's like)) we'd sneak up on somebody and then throw them off the building with, like, a funnyshirt on and on fire, but Glazed Baby would just scream with a cluband smash them a thousand times. So it's a different approach. What's the worst thing? Josh: Uh . . . Jesus! Joel (to Josh): Being in the band with you. Josh: There is no worst thing. It's really not that bad. The worstthing is having to look Dale in the face every morning. Other thanthat, it's OK. (Dale wanders up, wondering what's going on) Andy: The best thing would be travel all the time. I like that a lot.The worst thing is not touring because you devote your life to playingmusic and when you're not playing music, then it's not fun. Joel: Me, Josh and Andy, we don't work, aside from playing music. What kind of jobs did you have before? Joel: I was a Freemason, but I got thrown out because I flunked one ofthe handshakes. Josh: He gave away too many secrets. Joel: I wrote a book. I started a sub)group of Masons called TheShankies. Anyway, I don't know where I worked))I printed T)shirts! Josh, did you say you forgot the best thing about being in GlazedBaby? Josh: The best thing is when you play with other bands and eventuallyother bands ask you to join them. Joel: It's good for me because Josh went to go play with the Unsanetwo weeks before a tour. Dale, Andy and I wrote all new songs and wenton tour. Then Josh came back . . . Dale: . . . groveling. Joel: . . . and so that's why he's the new guy now. Seriously, heonly joined the band yesterday. Dale, can you tell us about the dead cat on the cover of Karmic Debt? Dale: Not really. It's a cat. It's an old, dead cat. Andy: Dale killed it with his teeth. Josh: We really hate the record cover. No offense to the photographer,but it's lame. Why do you hate it? Josh: Because it's just really uncreative. The whole packaging schemewas really weak. Andy: Total shock value. Dale: But, we agreed on it. We were like "Yeah, we'll use that." Josh: We did! We did! But we flunked big time and waited so long todecide what to do with the record. We just screwed up, really. Dale: It's not like the cover is what really matters. Joel: Seriously, it's the music part. Why are you down for only three dates? Richie: Gettin' arrested, jail, bail. Joel: Goin' to court. Andy: Yeah, we're down here to go to court. For what? Dale: It was the stupidest thing ever recorded. A couple of seeds ofpot. Joel: A couple of seeds. And one person in the band, who will remainunnamed, smokes pot . . . Josh: One guy! Joel: . . . and I))I mean))and THEY left it and this ranger woke us up when we stopped to sleep in Jacksboro, TN. We were driving up toLexington, KY and we got tired and slept. We wound up spending thewhole next day in jail over a couple of seeds. So you're down here now)) Joel: For the court date. We got out on bail. Andy: We actually play three shows, go to court, then go home. Joel: We just drove twenty)two hours to get here. Is your music intentionally evil? Andy: It's not really. It just comes off strong. Some people thinkit's evil. Joel: We can't help it. Dale: We're the happiest people you'll ever meet. Joel: It's not intentional as far as like sitting down and going"Let's make this sound like the fuckin' most evil thing EVER!!!Aaaaargh!!!" It's not like I come down and go "Hey, fellas! I wrote apart and go (starts whistling a sweet melody) and then these guys growfangs and go "It's not evil enough!" Josh: We're nowhere as evil as Type O Negative, so why even try? Andy: You'll have to kill a cat and a baby to get into that. What are your opinions on "alternative" and "punk" culture as theystand today? Joel: It's like crap logs on fire with maggot paste smeared on top. Tome, and these guys are gonna beat this apart, Glazed Baby is punkrock, but that means that defines it as opposed to what people callpunk rock. And I don't mean punk rock like, oh, "fuckin' anarchy!"))Imean it's rock played by complete retards. We're just the flunkoids ofthe century and we play rock. What does that equal? The hurtin')estever, we know how to play instruments and scream and shit. And so nowwe're funding our way through Med school and playin' rock. Andalternative can kiss my butt . . . whatever. Joel: I think the quote would be "Rock is dead, pull the trigger."Kurt Cobain, or something like that. Andy: Alternative/punk culture? I'm surprised it got this far. I'msurprised that, when I see fashions across America))especially withfemale fashions))it's all punk)offspring. Well, guys, too. Joel: Chain wallets, sneakers (looking at Josh's attire). Andy: Yeah. Hats backwards, purple hair. (Which is what Josh waswearing) Josh: It's totally interchangeable. It's ridiculous. I do it too))hedoes it! (points at Joel) Dale: I don't the whole idea. It's like disco now. Pretty much. It'sthe disco of the '90s. What defines "punk?" Josh: I've never liked punk ever. Dale: I don't know. Punk's like somebody who works for themselves,right? Somebody who can support themselves and have a boss, I guess. Josh: It's kind of a shame that kids now are spoon)fed from MTV what they think is the "fringe" of music))and it's not. Whereas we had togo and find stuff. Go seek it out. Joel: It keeps kid from digging any deeper. Andy: Really it's just bands that speak the truth about theirsurroundings. If they're gonna slack and go "oh, everything's cool)) Ishoot up heroin all day and play Sega," then that's fine. Joel: Punk should be everything that's not on MTV that's heavy. Like anything that has a little bit of attitude. Does that mean that Glenn Danzig is punk? Josh: Not anymore. Not that he ever was. Joel: He never was! Dale: He was good. Joel: He was not! That shit was always crap. Andy: Anybody that earns more than twenty dollars a show is not punkrock in my book. How would you describe yourselves? Josh: I would say a waste of time and musical skill. Joel: Something so heavy, dissonant and ridiculously big that mostpeople won't even deal with it. I don't mean it in a way that wereally, truly scare them out of the room, but it's like so many peoplewouldn't get it. I don't mean to sound arrogant, because I don'tsometimes. It's really big and it doesn't have really pretty chordsthat are really accessible. It's not accessible to everyone but tothose who know "they down." Dale: It's naturally what we do and people usually don't like it. Andit doesn't matter if other people don't really like it because it'swhat comes naturally out of us. Andy: So, if people are gonna say we're evil are goin' crazy, we'regonna play this music anyway))whether or not we succeed in the musicbusiness or whatever. This is what we play. Even if we're on thestreet starving and shit))which it's come close to))we'll still playthis music no matter what. Note: Although Joel said that it didn't really happen this wayusually, they did manage to scare everyone out of the room at the showlater that night. Everyone except us and the few others who knew that"they down." J. McLeod Glazed Baby's Karmic Debt is out on Red Decibel, Inc., 2217 NicolletAve. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404 Reprinted from THE SUBVERSIVE WORKHSHOP NEWSLETTER, 219 So. CapitolPkwy., Montgomery, AL 36107 e)mail: 75321.2755@compuserve.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS FUGAZI - RED MEDICINE: It's been two years since Fugazi's IN ON THE KILL TAKER. Plenty of time taken to get together the fantastic songs collected on RED MEDICINE. Here, the band progresses into the quieter corners that tracks like IN ON THE KILL TAKER's "Last Chance For A Slow Dance" only hinted at. "Forensic Scene" is nearly a Beatles tune, only darkened by Guy's mood and delivery. "Fell, Destroyed" follows suit with calm, grey-skied precision--ebbing and flowing into the noise groove of "By You" (where I don't recognize the voice as being that of Guy or Ian). So many sounds on RED MEDICINE will take you by surprise: clean, jangling parts that suddenly erupt into sheets of burning distortion, what could be a clarinet or a sax or a Moog synth, loads of incidental sections recorded at practice splice in between songs and a newfound balance of noise, chaos and song structure. Again, Guy and Ian match the near unmatchable in their differing guitar styles, and again Brendan and Joe lock in and bail out at will through super rhythms. RED MEDICINE is Fugazi sort of reinvented, yet having an even better harness on what made them great at their inception. Their strengths amplified, their songs honed to a beautiful, and a sometimes sadness-filled, perfection, RED MEDICINE is Fugazi leaping beyond the stifling term "punk." It presents a forward-thinking Fugazi with a twists. (Dischord Records, 3819 Beecher St. NW, Washington, DC 20007) Jeff McLeod/SUBVERSIVE WORKSHOP NEWSLETTER, 219 So. Capitol Pkwy., Montgomery, AL 36107 e-mail: 75321.2755@compuserve.com ------------------------------ LiveReviews, BinaryScale 1=good, 0=bad Blacktop 1 click 1 philo beddow 1 bailter space 0 throckmorton 1 iceburn 1 engine kid 1 say uncle 0 primitive 1 avail 0 duvalby bros. 1 ed hall 1 hairy patt band 1 disengage 1 enginecore 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Booking info for craw mail me or call 2162312907 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 --- 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. -- Renewal. Americans are crazy about renewal. - R. M. Nixon