Sunday, January 27, 2013

Betty Machete & The Angry Cougars “Don’t Call The Cops” b/w “Book of Hate” (Review)


Whew…

I thought it would be cool and intriguing to look up the history of the machete and say a few words about it and tie it into my ultimate impression of what the band is. Well, it’s not really that interesting or rather not as interesting as I wanted nor expected it to be (you choose). I had my hopes up… I will agree. I endorse wikipedia, how anyone can write about anything and create their own history. Creative history is a beautiful thing (If you let it be.. But once again, the Wikipedia entry about the machete is not as cool as what a machete is and DEFINITELY not as cool as Betty Machete. Maybe I could take this review and insert it there for the next guy who is stupid as me and tries to go the same route.


Hailing from Columbus Ohio… This 7” is on yellow vinyl, which designates a 2nd pressing. Already… if not for Josh Rutledge’s FASTER & LOUDER covering this same 7” I proly would have taken much longer for them to find with my eyes and ears… Immediately I ‘connected’ with this band… Until the 7” arrived I got and ear Feast to hold me over, “Rock Bottom”. That song… It’s gruff, tuff and full of Midwestern; Ohio Midwestern broken dreams and delusions hit fucking hard. In the Midwest, all three of them, the best cities have a shore or two in them. From a dirty fucking river running by it, or thru it. Columbus Ohio has the latter as does Dayton, Youngstown and Cleveland (which also has a fucking lake-- just for reference).


Like many bands from anywhere, especially the first Midwest (real Midwest) the band had humble beginnings steeped from boredom and a need to scream. Pat Dull, Columbus punk stalwart from, yes, you guessed it PAT DULL and THE MEDIA WHORES (good work batman) reveals the skinny about the early formation of the band “The band formed about a year and a half ago pretty much around a mutual love of Dairy Queen ice cream.” The bands bill came to and eerily $6.66” as pat explains, Taking that as an omen it took another event to turn the paradigm of what a band is into a reality. More from Mr. Dull:

“One night Betty and I were hanging out with Fez (guitar) watching a band, and Betty just said I want to be in a band." Fez said, "Okay, you're in a band."

Sometimes, many times everywhere that is simply enough. You want a band then start a band. A verily honorable endeavor. From the start the band had captured and promulgated the torch of bleak lives with their very first song not on this release  "Life Is Sucking The Life Out Of Me"  but the madness didn’t end there. Once you open your eyes and mind real wide to your environment around you… You become that environments spokes person. Anyone reading the lyrics would have each member of this band locked up for a mandatory 72 hour Psychiatric hospital stay as a minimum… Of course that’s just what and outsider would do. Already reading this review down to this point. You know what side of the dirty river your on…

The first track, Side A, tarts of with one of those songs. “Don’t Call The Cops” is a commitment in one-way or another telling the story of a quick precise 140 characters or less twitter friendly suicide note*. “It ["Don't Call The Cops"] involved a suicide note with just two sentences scrawled on it: "Don't call the cops. Don't wanna live." Finding amazement in the bluntness, that message turned into a first person decree of intent.

Mr. Dull adds “So it is in first person, but it is not autobiographical.” Put the phone down noble Thwart reader. Call of the headshrinkers meat-wagon. Tell Mom and Dad to quit crying and get their shit together. I suggest a dose of a ‘good; rye whiskey…

The B-Side “Book of Hate” solidifies by feelings that BMAC are the rebirth of The (early) Plasmatics except with more of a LAMF edge. You can’t hear this song without wondering if you are the target, a victim or ally. Once again a document of the environment encasing the band turning to “Mr. Dull once again reveals a truth that even I’m not sure I’m ready to discover an amalgamation of emotive extremes

“One of our friends writes the name of any person who has wronged him on a brick - a Brick of Hate. The brick is for future window smashing.” But it doesn’t stop there. That’s not enough. Alone, that’s not a amalgamation. It takes more… The blade sinks deeper. Adding ‘another friend’ to the mix gets you there. More from Pat Dull: “Another friend has several volumes of small books filled with the venting of grievances.” I know what your thinking. I’m thinking it too. The use of ‘friends’ is suspecting and worrisome but still, this 7” is an instruction… By time you get to the B-side, the A-side already told you what to do, or rather what not to do.

So yeah, in closing this music s self-destructive, desperate, angry and dangerous. Each good things to display when looking for the brutal truth about life in the eastern most Midwest you can find.

Near future plans for BMAC consist of a full-length and shows here and there when possible in between the full-time commitment to jobs, family, good drunks, bad drunks and the unscheduleable ups and downs associated with life as we know it, The truth is refreshing… Ultimately I think talk of self-destruction is healthy, quite real and releasing. Oddly and ironically enough, I think self-destructive thoughts (my lawyer told me to clarify this statement with a disclaimer) are safe. This 7” hits squarely within the parameters of how I interpret life. It’s not pretty but beautiful nonetheless. Forget those other Midwest’s… As Josh Rutledge sez… ‘Ohio Wins’ and I believe that too. Fuck the other ones. I got a brick with their name on it.

Betty Machete & The Angry Cougars



* Please, do NOT look up Shotgun Suicide on google. Whew.






Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Dylan McCartney of MARDOU (Interview)



"Hi I'm Dylan. This is my bandmate Eric and this is my other bandmate Eric."
Image courtesy of DRUNK MUIC REVIEWS Kinda used with permission.

Being 'American™' I understand the importance of blame. The action and emotion behind the anatomy of blame is just as 'Merican™ as Apple Pie. It's an 'Mericans RIGHT and PRIVILEGE to blame someone or something.... So its only natural I blame DRUNK MUSIC REVIEWS.

They sent me a Twitter message of artwork featuring MARDOU that was downright amazing and before I knew it I was enthralled in an interview of Dylan McCartney vocals and guitar.

Questions by Shawn Abnoxious
Answers by Dylan McCartney.

Ok... Lets do this... What the fuck is a MARDOU? Noun, verb. Adjective?

It's a noun. It's the name of this beautiful, sexy, African-American girl from a Jack Kerouac book called The Subterraneans. She is more or less described in the book as the "perfect female."

Kerouac? You parents let you read that filth? Why don’t you call it THE Mardou then? Tell everyone how Mardou came together why don’t cha.

I read it subversively. And I don't know, at the time I just wanted an esoteric band name. A word nobody really understood. And we all came together this past summer. I wrote a bunch of songs and had performed a few of them, once at MOTR with me on drums and my friend Spinney on bass (it was a fucking disaster.) I almost gave up after that because I just didn't know anyone who wanted to be in a band. They were all too scared. But then I found that Cincinnati DIY forum and asked if anyone wanted to play drums in a band. Eric Lindsay responded, and it was almost like an online dating thing. We met up, got to know each other a little bit, he learned my songs. Then he snagged Eric Dietrich because he knew he was a musician and we needed a bass player.

I remember reluctantly turning you down on bass... RELUCTANTLY... I was immediately interested in what you were doing. I saw the 'bigger picture' very early on. How have you and the Eric's been getting along? Well? Jelling as a unit?

Yeah definitely. We have a strangely efficient dynamic. I'm the young blood with a shitload of crazy ideas and goals. Eric D. and Eric L. keep my head from inflating and sometimes have to remind me that the real world exists. But we're good to each other. If you're in a band you really have to be friends, otherwise it's going to putter out of control and become shitty really quickly. We all have sort of sedated personalities, which allows us to get along really well. And they always share their beer with me.

I agree totally. Today I intended to write a review of a record but been spending time listening to Mardou songs at a great price that I cant even afford... Good going... I think Eric Lindsay actually spoke to me a little bit once... Would it be 'criminal' for me to buy you a beer?

Well, I suppose in the legal sense it might, I'm a young mother fucker. But the only thing criminal about buying me a beer is that it's only one beer. How about 5 or 6?

Would you be mad if I was to buy you a six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon if you asked for something else and demanded to keep the change?

Beer is beer. I've been in a tricky economic situation recently, so I've been drinking a lot of Burger Classic. $6 for a 12 pack.

I’m proud of you. Did you know that?

Well, I do now. I appreciate it, buddy. I like to make people proud, I guess.

Photo: Get one. And come to this.

http://www.facebook.com/events/469677066422609/?ref=22What’s Mardous plans for the future? I seen you got shirts with a dead whale on it. You a whale killer man?

That whale is alive! It's smoking a joint and loving life. I support the whales. L And we've got a bunch of plans. About to record a bunch of music. And release some of it with Best Friend Records, and some of it with Torn Light Records. Alex York, who plays bass in White Walls, is going to do a limited lathe pressing of like two of our songs on Torn Light. Very excited about that. Also, this summer were planning a tour of the Midwest. Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, maybe some other places.

The whale is alive? *High*? I thought an upside down whale was indicative of it being 'dead'... I thought the 'smoke' rings were its last breath... Like Bubbles... Strange... I’m let down... but after your explanation, extremely amazed at such a concept.... A tour s pretty ambitious stuff! When will these releases be available? What songs will be featured? "Bounty Hunter" better be on one of them or I’m not being a fan anymore and this interview and friendship is OVER. I’m serious! I will de-friend you in a 'First Midwestern minute'

Yeah, Bounty Hunter is definitely going to be on there. My favorite song to play. And they'll be available sometime in the next few months. The other songs are going to be a surprise, Shawn. But I promise Bounty Hunter will be on there.

I’m gonna hold you to that! I know we have exchanged e-mails and such about song content. But lets do it again... Talk about your songs... Like write a set list out for me of all Mardou songs like you were doing a show and tell me what inspired them or whatever... So the next time someone see's you live they could kinds get a story about what they’re hearing.

Well, I'll tell you this. Almost every song I write is a result of me being really into one song or album or something. The song doesn't end up sounding at all like the music from which it was inspired, really, but certain bands just kind of spark me. So here's our setlist right now, with that in mind.

PhotoDirty Streets: Actually got the idea from this song after listening to "Roadrunner" by The Modern Lovers. Doesn't sound anything like that, but the way Richman dryly talks about his world really said something to me. This song is about urban decay, and how when you walk through our city you see the decay, almost comedically close to the opposite of decay, which is the upper middle class folks on Main St. It's about how I don't want this city to become as gentrified as it's becoming. The character needs to stay.

New Blossom: A short one which I wrote after listening to a shit load of Beat Happening. Lyrically it's about getting really excited about an idea and then subsequently having every aspect of that idea fail.
Snuff: This song is my opportunity to use my silly delay pedal which I now regret getting. I wrote it after listening to No Age, and really clicking with their oddball, effects-laden approach to punk music. The song is about being completely out of sorts with nature, and not really feeling at peace with your body.

Margaret: I wrote this song so long ago I don't even remember what drove me to it. But it's just a little vignette about a girl who's attractive as hell, but void of any admirable qualities aside from her looks. And she subconsciously is aware of that, which is why she puts on a figurative "mask" and allows no one to really get to know her. Her mystique covers up the fact that she's a shitty person.
PhotoRimbaud: This is a new song. It's me trying my best to emulate dark post-punk. As you know, I am a huge fan of bands like Joy Division and Bauhaus, they're really the reason I wanted to write music. So this is sort of a "found poem" about how I struggle to find hope in just about every situation.

Metamorphosis: People seem to respond to this one a lot, which is kind of funny because it is the song which reflects my direction in music the least. But anyways, this is a song I wrote immediately after reading "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. It's about waking up one day and realizing you are nothing like the person you envisioned yourself being.

Bounty Hunter: I sort of took the Wipers approach with this one. I wanted to write a chaotic guitar song, and this was my best attempt at doing so. It's lyrically sparse, but actually very personal. It's about how when given the opportunity, I really like to just be alone and have nobody bother me, because interacting with people sometimes just really pisses me off.

Wow. Joy Division, Beat Happening, Wipers(!), Modern Lovers... That’s a wide range of inspiration... What’s your main mode of listening to music? Stereo, in the car, iPod?

I have two main ways of listening to music. One is sitting in my room listening to records, which I do every night. I have a shit load of records, some rock (like the bands I just mentioned), others are completely non-rock. I listen to Delta blues artists a lot, like Skip James, Leadbelly, and R.L Burnside. Also weird miscellaneous stuff. I have a record of a Korean Orphan Choir, which I listen to sometimes.
Aside from that I like walking around with headphones on listening to music. It applies a weird soundtrack to your every day life and breathes a little life into some of the incredibly boring people which walk around the city. My favorite is listening to shit like Suicide or Swell Maps while walking around town. Today I walked outside into the fucking cold blaring "Let's Build a Bridge" over and over again.

Suicide? Swell Maps? Are you trying to impress me? You showing off to an old man like me? Cause I’m really gaining more and more respect for you... What has caused you to be such an avid music listener? In personal convos we have talked about your parents being 'hippies' and grooving on VELVET UNDERGROUND and NIRVANA. Was music their thing? I think I met your Mom and Dad at a party once with a bong made out of a coyote skull.

Yeah man, when I was little fucker my dad was jamming Smells Like Teen Spirit and I used to just spring around in circles listening to it, banging my head around and doing cartwheels. My dad really inspired me to garner an appreciation for "good" music, regardless of whether it was mainstream or obscure. He got me into The Clash, he showed me VU, the Violent Femmes, New Order. My mom too. I remember her showing me a Brian Jonestown Massacre song like 6 years ago and how much I fucking loved it. But my dad definitely. He sort of gave me my palate and I'll always appreciate him for that. But in terms of NOW, I think you may underestimate me. A good deal of my time is spent playing music and practicing, yes-- but the majority of my free time is spent studying music. Digging through archives finding new bands to listen to in order to gain a more full understanding of what the fuck "good music" even is, so that I can PLAY IT. I'm a huge music nerd, and to be honest I hardly give a shit about anything else. And as far as the bong thing, let's just say I can neither confirm nor deny that being a possibility.
Photo: Happy Sunday.
Well, the 'skull bong' thing will hold. It COULD HAVE happened...Perhaps I have underestimated you... There’s a chance I have underestimated many more of 'you' like Brian McCabe, Jon Stout, Rob Santel. Bobby Shanesy... It’s incredibly possible that I don’t recognize the sheer magnitude of what 'the scene' right now is. Thanks for pointing that out. I will try to be better. There was a certain kind of 
'struggle' for me in my day. Because I don’t see it now doesn’t mean a struggle doesn’t exist right now it’s just a DIFFERENT struggle that, thanks to you (and talk with longtime friends I must acknowledge Kenny Halbert III and Gunther 8544
, I’m noticing... NOW noticing... NOW for what it is originally beautiful... You wanna mention something about the current scene? Your take/view of the current state of everything?

I think there are some very, VERY good bands in the city right now.

Elaborate...

Homemade Drugs are amazing, I've been listening to that CD a ton and just being like, "Wow I'm friends with these guys, this is cool." The Harlequins are also really sick. And Dinosaurs and Thunder, Old City, 10cats, Vacation. So many good bands. I will say this though, there are quite a few bands around here that piss me off. I would never name names of course, even if held at gunpoint, but for every 10 amazing underground band doing really cool shit, there is one band that is hogging all the fame and being total shitheads and reminding me that we still have a ton of work too. I can't handle any of this molded, framed, pop shit that so many bands are doing. I like bands with artistic vision who aren't just spewing out what they know people will immediately respond to. I like bands to be a little bit confrontational with their music. And there are a ton of local bands doing that. So overall, I love the bands here.

How do you think you will view this particular time 10 years from now (one of my favorite things to ask interviews.)

Shit, that's a hard one. Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to make it that far. But I hope in ten years I'll still be able to have a good time making my fingers bleed on my guitar, like I do now.

You think bands perspectives are off... Or what? What do you think makes a band think they are important enough to feel bad if a room isn’t shoulder to shoulder? Does quality out weigh quantity with you personally?

Photo: Music will be here in the next 10 days. This horse guarantees it.I think it's much more human than that. To me, it's more about how the members of the band view themselves. I know some people in bands around here who look down on so many other groups just because they haven't become popular yet. They won't go see a band play unless there is a little bit of buzz surrounding them. We're in Cincinnati, for shit's sake. This city is small. Everyone knows just about everyone. I think bearing that in mind and treating every band who's brave enough to stand up in front of people they don't know and sing about how they feel deserves to be respected. And not to mention, some of these bands just regurgitate shit that THEY KNOW people will immediately love because it's very digestible. I'm not saying music shouldn't be accessible. But the best bands of all time made their audiences work a little bit. Look at the Pixies, for fuck's sake. On that note, that's also why I give so much kudos to a lot of the noise artists who are so tightly knit around here. Brain, and those guys. They support the hell out of each other and act as sort of a unit, even well knowing that the majority of the people in the city will never understand their music. That's fucking awesome.

Yes it is awesome. I suppose its harder for some people to just 'let it happen' and to be patient than anything else. Instant gratification is a real motherfucker... I really could go on and on till the break of dawn but let me just ask one more thing so I can work this interview up and get it out there. I have really enjoyed this interview and even though I came here with a high impression of you, it has grown within these words. I remain floored and humbled by Mardou... Finish up with something big... Tell everyone reading this what they should know about you, Mardou or anything else you want to say. Be outrageous at the count of four.
1......2.......3...............
4!

Fuck man. Just come see us play and say hi to me after, that means more to me than a Facebook "like" or anything. Don't be afraid to fuck up.

Fucking beautiful.

Verily Special Thanks to Drunk Music Reviews for letting me use that image. You know... that one.

MARDOU on Facebook

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

MARDOU (Video/Song)

Interview with Dylan M. of MARDOU in the works.

Monday, January 14, 2013

[Past-Blast] [Blank Generation-Jan. 2001]






Reviews from Blank Generation January 2001 


Note: Images added to certain reviews for cosmetic purposes in 2013


Raincoats "S/T" CD
I am Shawn Abnoxious. I am part of the Blank Generation. I’m going to get on the level with you all on this one. I’m still basically new around these parts. I’m a flake. NOT a fake, a FLAKE. I’m weird. I’m strange. I admit and forewarn. Here I sit, doing this review when The Blank Generation web site is "on vacation"... I mean what the fuck? Mr. Domino nearly breaks his fucking wrist bowling BUT he can still find time to venture abroad and drink martinis on the French Rivera? "Vacation" Yeah, right...

Anyway, like I said, I’m going to level with you all about this release. It’s a bootleg. Well, not even really a bootleg. It’s a pirated piece of music. A 'Pirate Disc' if you will. A friend of a friend told a friend that a friend had this CD they bought from a LEGITIMATE record store so this friend went to another friends house and burnt me a copy of this on his COMPACT DISC BURNER; and even went the extra mile and scanned the cover to put in a CD case AS IF I was getting a LEGITIMATE compact disc. Fuck yeah! Year 2K1 and I’m having some fun! FUCK THE NEW MILLENIUM. Fuck you Metallica. Fuck your lil' Napster battle. Fuck your band too. "Speed Metal!" Who gives a fuck anyway? "One" was your coolest attempt at making something worthwhile and that’s just because of the video... Target spotted [music industry] FIRE TORPEDOS! BLAM!!!! "Sir, we hit the vessel on the port side and did about $15 dollars worth of damage" "Excellent Ensign, bring the sub around to a heading of 45 degrees and dive! Dive!! DIVE!!!!"

I don’t know much about the Raincoats. I Guess will have to pick up my copy of Jon SavagesEngland’s Dreaming and see what he has to say about this band. Nah, knowledge is for winners and if a loser likes me gets a PIRATED Compact disc like this dropped into their lap, then I WANNA BE A LOSER! The Raincoats. Minimal. Savage. Art-punk. Damage. Slits-ish. Punk scenes ROUND THE GLOBE need more bands like this one. Out-there. Experimental. You like ESG? The Raincoats aren’t proto-disco-art-rock like that but just as worthwhile. They cover "Lola" by the Rolling Stones and kick some ass. I know Rolling Stones didn’t originally do "Lola" but who cares? I mean whose review is this YOURS or mine. If you had any balls you would be going to www.Sputnik.com reading the latest info on the First USSR Satellite in outer space. If you get a copy of this disc and aren’t punching plaster walls when you hear "Black and White" then dammit YOU FUCKING SUCK. What the fuck? Did THE BEAT HAPPENING get a hold of this and PAY ATTENTION? Is that some Eno-ish guitar I hear in there? Didn’t Polyrock rip Enos guitar sound off for their stuff? Yes to both. YES 2 BOTH! Electric Violin! Sounds like someone’s killing a refrigerator. Why cant Michelle Shock’s stuff be this fucking cool? You figure with a cool name like Michelle Shock she would be DARING. Nope. Anchored down in Anchorage? FUCKING WHAT??? I don’t get it. Patti Smith was in the Raincoats. Nope, she wasn’t. I know that last sentence got all you MUSIC BUFFS out there all amped up.

FUCK!!!! AGH! While writing this review the powers that be... indeed, terrorists once again discovered a new weakness and sent a Spider on the attack from within the desk drawer that sits in the desk, that sits on a run, that sits in the kitchen. Don’t ask yourself why? It’s a spider! Vegetables. Spiders. Two (2) on my ever growing list of Arch-nemesis’s! I couldn’t even find a rolled up magazine to smash it with before its retreat. It’s toying with me. Letting me know it’s here and stalking. Letting me know with its MANY legs, and fangs, and evil spider eyes... AGH! There it is again. Chills of fright run through my body. I break out in chills. I find a notebook and kept near the phone on the desk I mentioned before AND SMASHED THE FUCKER. "Your a Million" is playing this very same instant the spiders life ceases. One down, and an unknown amount more to go. The point of this review? Let me sum it up. Raincoats good. music industry good. PIRATING music, BETTER. Killing Spiders? THE BEST! (SAB)
(No Address, Obviously)


Testors (featuring: Sonny Vincent) "Original Punk Recordings New York City 1976-1977" 10"EP

This is yet ONE MORE of my missives. Get comfortable. Get that bottle of gin and sit down with me awhile.... There’s this thing called THE BIG MESS. It’s a lifestyle; it’s a mentality. It HUNTS you and CLAIMS you. You don’t claim it. It seems no matter what; the things you do, say and ATTEMPT to pull off go wildly astray. Things get broke. People get mad. You aren’t even trying!!!! Live in the dirt and appreciate the failure of what surrounds you. Losing is winning. Survival of the fittest? Nah. That’s bullshit. Its only when you learn to live with the chaos, when you learn to deal with THE BIG MESS when you finally grasp the MEANING, the definition of Life.... Jimmy Pervert, who has been called Jim the Amish lately because he has taken to sporting a beard (and its manicured too), Jim was told a while back when he first started growing his beard that he looked like Jim Morisson from The Doors. For about a month when he walked into a room people would bust out singing "LA Woman" or "The End". Well anyway, Jim shit in this bathtub the other night at a party. Why? The Big Mess. That’s why....
Kenny "Rock-Action", you know him, he’s a fellow Blank Generationer, just recently, during the Detox Police, blew the crotch of his white jeans out. He did this and didn’t care. Why? He knew it was all part of the big, messy picture. We (meaning him AND me) sang "Eyes of Satan" while Radar Secret Service belted out the music. Kenny said he would always remember it.... Kent, Ohio. Snowed the whole way up. You could call it bare knuckle driving except it’s being called red knuckle driving because Jerry skinned the fuck out of his hand while loading up. Tension....

Matt the Junglecat sits in a chair and it breaks. He goes spilling into the floor while a band called Ditchweed is playing. Everyone laughs and instead of getting embarrassed, he goes with it. He rolls around on the ground and acts out the whole bit. He doesn’t spill one drop of his Burger Beer either. Why did the chair break? The Big Mess....

The Dynamite On play in Dayton at some fucking country bar that has animal heads hanging on the wall. Its a pretty odd place that I never been in but I know all about it. Anyway, they end up getting banned from ever playing there again because the bar tender thought Sam "Miami Vice" (AKA "Human#8") was '; getting it on' with some girl when all they were doing was swapping spit. "You’re a cunt!" Sam told the tender. "What'd you say to me? What'd you call me?" she responded. "I called you a cunt!" Sam said. Then as a unit Dynamite On exited the place and was told never to come back, I didn’t see this all go down but Andy (the On's drummer) told me all about it today, Andy told me that they [Dynamite On] ended up winning out of the whole deal because they got $20 in cold/hard cash and their bar tab, which was supposed to come out of their pay at the end of the night) was overlooked in the chaos of the ousting. Apparently, and I have seen the Ons drink before so I believe this, Andy said they drank way more than $20 in beer and slow gin fizzes' Why? The Big Mess!!!

I sit in Kill the Hippies Mantua Ave keep. Matt (KTH Guitar) brings me a bottle of Gin. He had been taking the bottle on tour from person to person throughout the after-show party. I force him to sit down and drink it with me. He does so. I soon get up. Go to the bathroom. Puke in the sink. Clean it up and as everyone, including my adoptive sister, Melissa from KTH, ask me if I’m all right I tell her and them. "Yeah, there's just some Sci-fi shit in there." Then I passed out only to wake up in a dark room with members of the Socials, and Detox Police sprawled out on the ground everywhere. Kenny is listening to Jurassic 5 and other old rap bands like UTFO, Curtis Blow, Slick Rick and rappin' to his sweetheart as they hug and lay on hardwood floors with one pillow and one blanket between them. THE BIG MESS! Luke Skywalker has his FORCE. Even the Darth Vader has the FORCE. We, the humble minority sitting amongst the garbage and broken things, have THE BIG MESS!

Now, you sat through all of that because this BIG MESS thing isn’t anything new. The Testors had it. This 10" proves it; it’s the best taste from this band yet by far. The other Incognito 10" was great. The Rave Up LP was up to par with the first 1, but this tops them both. This 10" has five unreleased studio tracks and one live track of one of the best punk-rock songs EVER; "Awmaw"! You see, apparently, as the liner notes read, Sonny Vincent would play this song to clear the room of the non-believers. The song begins with about a minute and a half of guitar noise. I suppose rooms cleared. Some soundmen wouldn’t even work with the Testors because their sound was DANGEROUS. This 10" proves it! In my eyes, The Testors still make The Dead Boys sound like they never took their Youngstown bell-bottoms off. The Testors make the Dead Boys look like fucking butterflies! Lil' sweet, caring, peace loving, peaceful butterflies! The Testors are the dirty rats. They ARE the cracks on the sidewalk. They are the stale vomit smell you get when you go into an unfamiliar venue. Rooster Booster and Rich Lathers from Crimson Sweet hit the nail on the head: There's a certain level of filth you expect in any viable venue you’re about to play in. If the filth don’t exist, then stay uncomfortable! In some cases I know that the Testors were the type of band to welcome the filth when they walked into a suspecting venue. Other times I would say that the Testors were perhaps the element of Filth to a place they walked into. Either way I bet they were ready, willing, and able! This 10" is right up my alley. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have given it the time of day. The Testors. Pioneers! St. Vincent! (SAB)
(Incognito Records)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Remembering SEXUAL TENSION (Interview)

The Newest Greek Tragedy is Greece. Go fucking figure. 

An Interview with Elias “White Chocolate’ Velouchiotis on SEXUAL TENSION, Busking and Greek Politics.



My only plans for today involve a bucket of fried chicken and trying to drink off this hangover…”

I have only recently taken down an aged photocopy of a picture that was taped to the wall of my living room of Elias playing with Sexual Tension where he appears to be falling down but was really propelling himself upwards from the ground during a spastic fit during singing. 


All answers by Elias “White Chocolate’ Velouchiotis


Tell ...Thwart! Readers about you and Sexual Tension... and why I still think that band is one of the best I’ve ever witnessed?

Well, I got into punk rock because my older sister Olympia was a punker. She went away to college when I was 12, and I went into her room and discovered all her records; a bunch of Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, Ramones, Huggy Bear, and Kill Rock Stars stuff. She also had some 7 inches from local bands, and a 12" comp called "Board Games to Take Your Mind off the Punk Rock Struggle" that was almost all Kent and Akron bands. In eighth grade I started regularly sneaking out of the house at night to go see bands at house shows, the Mantis, and the 1-2-Fuck-You. There was a huge scene back then in Akron and Kent, tons of places that had shows, and some fucking incredible bands like Kill the Hippies, Radar Secret Service, Ligod, and The Go Go Bots. I used to go to the Mantis, find some crackhead to buy my beer and cigarettes for me, drink High Life and rock out until I threw up, and then walk 3 miles back to my parents' house, hiding in bushes or front lawns every time a car passed because I was paranoid about cops.

By the time I finished high school in 2001 I had gotten really into the old Cleveland and Detroit punk: The Stooges, The MC5, and The Pagans, and I really wanted to start a band that was a cross between that stuff, and all the old R&B, funk and Soul I really liked, like Little Richard, Screamin' Joe Neal, and The Radars. The only problem was that I couldn't play an instrument, or write a song. So I went around trying to find musicians, and hooked up with this guy Nate, a bass player who was a raging alcoholic and had just been kicked out of the Army. He lived in this claustrophobic efficiency apartment on the corner in Kent we called Crockton, a bunch of really shitty, really cheap apartments owned by the auto mechanic Tim Crock, that were always occupied by punks, druggies, and other dregs of humanity. (Now they've all been torn down and there's a Sheetz, the Walmart of gas stations, there.) We would sit in his apartment for hours and try to write songs, but neither of us really knew what we were doing. Finally, Matt from Kill the Hippies, who lived next door, came over to help us, and ended up writing "Cookin' with Gas" while we both sat slack-jawed the couch and stared at him in awe. After that, we basically guilted him in to joining the band.

We found our drummer, Scott Davidson, who was playing in a classic rock cover band with Nate at the time called Randy Magik, and were ready to actually start practicing, but one day I went to the efficiency apartment, and found it empty. Nate had just disappeared. (He didn't resurface until about 5 years later.) We replaced him with Sarah Roland, who was dating Kill the Hippies' drummer, put together a set, and played our first show at the Mantis on Valentine's Day, 2012, as White Chocolate (myself,) Erotic Thunder (Matt,) Sarah Tension, and Sexual Scott. We later replaced Sarah Tension with Pine Nuts (Robbie from Radar Secret Service.)

How did the CD-R come into being?

Well, we decided we needed a CD, so we recorded one ourselves at our practice space, which was Scott's apartment above the Mantis. We did it track-by-track, and I remember it being a total pain in the ass. Again, Matt did pretty much all the work, setting up mics, levels, mixing, etc. The only record of that band is that CD, a tape of a live show where the bar owner shuts down the whole show and kicks everyone out in the middle of our set, which one of our friends recorded on a hand held tape recorder, and our last show at a DEVO tribute thing, playing "Girl U Want" and "The Theme from Doctor Detroit."

How would you describe your live shows? The times I remember seeing Sexual Tension there was always a bit of chaos involved.

Yeah, they were generally pretty rowdy. We got in trouble at a few of the more uptight bars in the area, (the Avenue shut us down, the Europe Gyro kicked me out one night, and the Lime Spider refused to pay us after I broke a mic) but somehow, we never got banned. I was obsessed with Iggy Pop at the time, and tried to set into that groove of dancing, freaking out, and self abuse. Things were always pretty crazy, and a few times I fucked myself up pretty bad, but there was never a whole lot of macho punk shit or fighting at our shows, which I really dug. The scene we were in was really tight-nit, too, which helped. Instead of a crazy band going on last when everyone was wasted being an excuse to throw elbows or show off it was usually just everyone throwing beer on each other and wrestling with me.

What do you miss the most from your Sexual Tension days? Do you look at those times as special and unique?

Really, I just miss singing in punk band. Not having a shred of musical talent or ability and being able to travel and play shows where my only responsibility was to get drunk and beat the shit out of myself was an incredible experience to have as a 17 year-old kid. Plus it was a great time musically, not just in Akron/Kent, but for a lot of the cities we played in. We played with some great, weirdo bands, and made some really good friends, like The Jeffs in Columbus, The Socials and The Gazelles in Cincinnati, and Valient Thorr in Greenville, NC. There was something in really bad assed about being a bunch of dirty, loser kids and finding like-minded people to play and have a blast with.

Elias, its time to talk about the Cockpunch Records infamous "Lets Get Killed" comp... Tell everyone what that was...

Well, when I graduated high school I made close to $1,000 at my graduation party, and I wanted to start a label with it. My plan was to put out a comp with a bunch of the bands we used to play with at the Mantis: local bands mostly, and some out-of-towners like The Jeffs, The Socials, and Crimson Sweet. After that, I was gonna put out a Radar Secret Service/Sexual Tension split 7", and then a Jeffs full length CD, but I ran out of cash after Let's Get Killed.

I asked all the bands for tracks, and got everything together. Clint Bott, who ran Rubber City Records in Akron told me the cheapest place to get it pressed was this joint in Columbus. I used them to press 500, and about 200 of them came back seriously warped. I still have a couple boxes of warped ones in my Grandma's basement. My friend Sarah Rinear drew awesome covers for it, and Larry from Don Austin worked at Kinko's at the time, so he hooked me up with printing all the covers and inserts for free.

When I started sending it out for review, it got a pretty mediocre response from all the major punk rags. Heartattack, Razorcake, and some smaller zines were the only ones that gave it rave reviews. It sold pretty well around here, and when I put together my next band, The Wildcats, and we started playing in Detroit all the time, people would occasionally ask me if they could get a copy, since Robbie had given one to Tim Vulgar and he would play it sometimes at after hours at his house.

Even though it was a total loss, and pretty much the only legitimate release from Cock Punch Records, I'm really glad I did it, instead of spending the money slowly on Adderall and Miller High Life, which is probably what I would've done instead. Some of the bands, like Kill the Hippies and Crimson Sweet, already had plenty of releases and a pretty well established catalog, but some of the shit on there, like The Pirates who Carve Out Your Eyes and Piss in Your Eye Sockets and that song from the legendary Sweaty Weapons tape would never have been released anywhere else.

Is there ever a chance of re-establishing COCKPUNCH or even SEXUAL TENSION for another go round?

I don't think so, man. Those were great years for everybody, but we're all kind of doing our own things now. Scott's in Columbus, Matt is up in Cleveland, where he's (thank god) still doing Kill the Hippies. Robbie's in Akron still, but he's doing two different bands (Radar Secret Service and David Bay Leaf.) I'm back in Ohio now, but only until May, when I'm going back to Greece to pursue my life long dream of being a full time street musician and hobo.

As far as doing a label, for as much fun as it was to play businessman for awhile, both Kenny from On/On Switch and Jamie from Donut Friends told me that the secret to having a label that people actually pay attention to is either to have a lot of money or to be part of the whole punk rock ol' boy's club. Seeing as how I'm perpetually broke and unwilling to stay in one place long enough to be established as an ol' boy, I'm pretty content with leaving Cock Punch as a one-release label.

Greek Street Musician and hobo? Talk more about these plans Elias. Are you gonna be an ex-patriot?

I don't know about but permanently, but I'm gonna try and be there for at least a few years. I lived in Greece for a little over a year in 2007-2008, and then I spent this last summer traveling around (mostly) northern Greece as a street musician, busking every day and staying with friends, in squats, and on beaches. Greece is going through some horrible shit right now, their economy having basically been raped by investment banks, German corporations, and corrupt politicians, but the truth is I'd rather lived in an economically devastated Greece than a relatively economically healthy USA. There's a whole host of problems now, even on top of crippling unemployment and poverty (including a huge crisis with refugees pouring in from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and the rise of neo-Nazi party in parliament that carries out fascist pogroms against immigrants and counter-culture types on the streets) but there's this base sense of society, where most people seem to actually give a shit about one another, and that creates this kind of tangible social safety net that's very comforting. The other thing is that Greeks have been living happy, safe lives with very little money for a long time, so when something like this hits, there's no huge disaster in social terms. And the huge amount of broke young people has created a culture that operates with as little money as possible: things like hundreds of squats all over the country, hitch-hiking being really prevalent and easy, free shows, most socializing being drinking your own beer and wine in squares, instead of bars, etc. So anyway, my plan is to go back in May, spend the summer hitch-hiking and busking, and then use some of my savings to get an apartment in September and start looking for some kind of work there.

‘Busking' I’ve never heard of that term. You need to enlighten me a bit...

Busking just means playing on the streets for change.

You sound as if your politics lean toward socialism and/or anarchist. Would you like to explain it further and deeper? Is Greece perhaps ahead of its game with similar crashes in store for 'the west' and develop a new insightful path for others to follow? Will Greece once again develop a 'new' way of life for others to emulate and copy?

What's happening now in Greece is a really deep, complicated thing tied to thousands of years of history, I can't say I really understand it. I can say that there is a general misunderstanding that Greece is part of 'the west.' Aside from ancient Greece the country's history and culture really places it closer to the Middle East than Europe. While Europe was forming, Greece was Byzantine, and when catholic Europe sent the crusades to the east, they started out not as wars against Muslims, but against Byzantium and Orthodoxy (i.e. Greeks and Slavs.) Then Greece fell under 400 years of Ottoman Turkish occupation, and when it emerged in 1832, it was regarded as a "peasant state" and placed under a British-installed King. Even in the 20th century Greece was considered part of the "backward" world by the west. It was the only country behind the iron curtain to not become communist, and only because the US and UK funded a war of extermination against the Greek communist resistance who had liberated the country from the Nazis, and then installed fascist dictatorships that lasted well into the 1970's. The other big thing is that the credit economy didn't exist in Greece until the European Union. Until 2002, Greeks couldn't get credit cards, or get a car or a house with a payment plan or mortgage. If you wanted something, you saved up your money and then bought it. The result is that the western ideas about the sanctity of private property, education being tied to social class, and the cult of individuality never really took root in Greece.

Now the crisis really started in Greece in 2002 when the euro was launched, and employment and standard of living plummeted, especially for young people. The big social reaction then was the explosion of the Greek anarchist movement, the biggest and most volatile in the world, as was shown by December 2008 there, and the current demonstrations happening daily, all over the country. But during my last trip it seemed like the anarchists were really starting to crack under pressure from the cops and the fascists. A lot of the more political squats were being raided, more people being arrested at demonstrations, horrible in fighting between groups of anarchists, and even stories of kids being tortured by the police. I was with some friends at a free concert in Thessaloniki when a fight broke out between two different groups of anarchists got in a fight and started beating the shit out each other with clubs. Shit like that is really turning people off to the anarchists.

It seems like the big shift that's happening now is that people are realizing the west has screwed them, and they're looking back to their roots. Where 5 years ago all the kids were playing blues and rock and roll, now there's a ton of people playing Rebetika (a kind of underworld Greek music developed by Greeks in Turkey) and the regional folk musics. Most of the trendy, European stores have closed, and instead of going to the grocery stores, everybody has gardens, or buys their produce straight from the farmers and gypsies who come through the neighborhoods with trucks. A lot of young people are leaving the cities to go back to the villages and homestead, some even going to the "martyr villages" (villages burned by the Nazis in retaliation for resistance) and reclaiming abandoned and destroyed land.

This crash is definitely happening in the rest of the world (just look at Italy, Spain, and Portugal) but I think the Greeks are especially enabled to handle it, not because they're looking forward, but because they're looking back. The fact that the idea of being totally reliant on consumer capitalism by working your ass off to buy a bunch of worthless shit still be just as poor and miserable never really reached cultural ascendancy in Greece really helps.

Man, we've really gotten off the subject of Sexual Tension. Ha.

Well, yeah. We have but the story of Sexual Tension... if just to me even. Sexual Tension=Elias XXXXXX (‘Real’ last name withheld) to me. You represent 2000-2003 for me... You represent an era. The story is YOU. Elias, in general, would you say THOSE 'back then' times were really the shit and its all down hill from here OR are the best times to come?

I don't know, man. Everything was definitely different then, but I can't really say if it was better or worse. It seems like life consists of the same highs and lows all the time. I will say, for me, looking back at it, it seems like it was this period of fresh-faced enthusiasm and innocence. Not too long after we broke up a friend of ours was hit by a train and killed in Kent, and it seemed like that ushered in a new period of darkness. A lot of relationships went south, people started moving away, and some of us (including me) started getting into harder and more dangerous drugs.

Now I'm just thrilled with the prospect of getting out of the country again for a significant period of time. Life keeps marching on, and as long as you live it with out fear the best is ALWAYS yet to come.

Well said. Verily well put. Is there anything else you want anyone who has interest in you or your various projects to know?

Nothing too significant. I'm playing in a band for the next few months called The Koproskilos Rebetiko Orchestra, and when I head back to Greece I'll be setting up a soundcloud to post field recordings of street musicians and friends there. So if anybody's into Greek or Eastern music, keep your ears peeled.

Stay in touch with Elias on fb

"Follow Me Follow Me Follow me Babay..."









Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Brandon Broome of THE FLESH PETS (Interview)

Trance City Limits *Live @ Rakes End* cover artBrandon, tell everyone reading about THE FLESH PETS; where the band name came from, Who plays what... How the band came together...

Our name came a mixture of a philosophy I had, and some interest in science fiction movies. Offhand, the name "The Flesh Pets" kinda sounds like a fallack reference. In our minds it means that to an alien race we are all flesh pets. Despite monetary value, talents, etc. we are the same species. In the band I play lead guitar and vocals, and occasionally keys, Vaughn Broome plays bass, Shawn Kreger plays drums, Jacob Broome plays rhythm guitar. As you can tell by the last names, 3 out of the four of us are related. Jacob is my brother, Vaughn is my cousin, and Shawn Kreger is my long time friend since 4th grade. The band really started with me and Shawn, in 6th grade we decided to start a band, his dad was a drummer so he had access to a "beater" of a kit. I got a Epiphone guitar from a pawnshop, and our interest in music took off. Shawn and I had been through various bands spanning a variety of genres. My cousin who had recently moved back to Ohio, started playing with us when our previous band fell apart. We played a lot of shows that were kind of rough, with age being a target. We were playing clubs around Dayton when Shawn and I were 15 & 16, and Vaughn was 18. As time went by, we started gaining more ground in our area and weren't take as a "kid band" shtick. We were very serious and very pissed off kids, and we still are hahaha

So is your family a very musical one or is this an all new family trait you BROOMES are flexing?

Everyone in our family has a large appreciation for music, but we don't have a lot of musicians. We were raised on a lot of good music though, my mom and dad raised my brother and I on SONIC YOUTH, NIRVANA, THE PIXIES, PEARL JAM etc. So we had a good dose of the good nineties from them

What makes THE FLESH PETS special? There’s a million bands around. Do we really need another band?

I think what makes us special is the our attitude and diversity, we take influence from so many genres spanning from punk rock, shoegaze, swing jazz, rockabilly, lo-fi, surf rock, psych rock etc. Our attitude sets apart in ways too, (some not always good) In the Indie rock world, the way we operate is kind of looked down on. We're not gimmicky or full of shit or anything, we just get really rowdy and aggressive and it seems to scare a lot of people. It's kind of a similar effect that the doors or the sex pistols may have had, our lyrical content is really honest and sometimes taboo

What sort of topics do your songs lyrics cover? Have you had any violent reactions at shows due to yer attitudes or subject matter?

Our lyrics have a wide span of topics. Some of them are in "hate letter" format (generally aimed at jock types or rednecks), others deal with our political state or social inconsistent behavior. A lot of it deals with increasing alienation that is built up from the disconnect created between ourselves and the people who are into their appearance, suck off trends, and then say your the loser. And we have had violent reactions at shows, hahahaha I remember during one of our first shows I made a statement about ex prez GWB, and then some redneck proceeded to invite me to "suck his dick". Another instance I remember is being threatened by bubble gummy pop-punk band hahaha The worst part was they had their girlfriends lift in their gear. They were awful people hahahaha And I’m sure what I’m saying makes us sound like assholes, but I'd like to think were not. Music is a just a really good chance to deal with aggression in a productive way. As people we're more about just laughing about stupid shit and creating music

What pop-punk band was it? I’m on TEAM: FLESH PETS now. Gimmie the dirt... So do you think music is dangerous?

Well I’m not sure if I wanna drop names, but I will tell you they were from Columbus and they considered themselves "ghost-core". And I think some of the songs are dangerous, others are just fun. Some songs are particularly aggressive and people in the crowd will either run with the energy and mosh or jump around, and the people who were "that kid" in high school (the jock type) will get mad and leave, or flip us off or something.

Nice... Where do you mostly play shows at? You mentioned Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati in only a couple questions...Where’s your best show to date been and why?

We mostly play shows in Dayton and Cincinnati, we have played a lot of other places though, some like Cleveland, Chicago Indianapolis etc. I don't know if we've had a particular best show, but we also really enjoy South Park Tavern which is in Dayton, we played Ba Ba Budan’s in Cinci recently which was also really fun. The Brain House (Cinci) has always treated us well. A good show to us may be different than a good show to most bands. A good show could be in a basement or a warehouse. It really doesn't matter to much the venue, just the general energy of the crowd and walking away with a couple different connections or friends

How important is getting paid money for shows? Are you comfortable admitting your biggest pull from a show? What motivates you to do a show?

Getting paid is virtually meaningless to us, I mean someday I'd like to make a career out of it, not necessarily become a rock star just be able to tour and have a bit of notoriety. And if you mean pull by audience, then I'd say our biggest audience has reached in the hundreds, probably like 100-200 people. If your talking about money, the most we've made was 100$. Our motivation is just to play music to an audience. I like the idea of sharing a moment with people where you can completely be unfiltered. Were not the most social people so that’s the best shot we have at communication hahahaha

Sounds like your band is pretty established but yet you offer up no reviewable releases to blogs like ...Thwart! What’s the deal with that?

Well we've been a band almost two years and we're FINALLY recording an EP. We've just finished our first song and it's coming along. We've had a few DIY recordings but not a whole release. Mainly due to the fact we've had bad studio experiences and we gained most of our momentum on playing live. After long bouts of unemployment we've finally all started working and getting enough money to get out a record. It should be interesting, we plan to record different songs at different studios, we've got one done at purple monkey studios and we also plan to do a few songs with our pal Brian “Hoops” from MY LATEX BRAIN. So the album will be the studio sampler of Dayton

HOOPS! Yeah man... He is a great engineer, awesome guy and phenomenal musician. HOOPS gave me forgiveness for puking about 30 gallons of puke and pissing all over the bathroom in the late 90's despite the fact that he was not in charge of the Canal Street Tavern at that time... Would you mind elaborating on why your studio experiences were bad? What made them bad? What’s some helpful advice for someone desperate enough to actually read this interview?

Hahaha well our studio experiences were bad because our engineer was kind of manipulating the sound to his liking, and everything was too polished and it felt like we were playing money to have him trash our sound. Some helpful advice is do it yourself our have an experienced buddy help. Don't pay money for something you're gonna fucking hate

Verily well put and solid advice... What do you think of the current state of punk-rock? What’s good and bad in your opinion?

In a lot of ways it's thriving, in others it’s a continual decay. I think the DIY circuit is becoming a viable thing again. Bands don't look down on playing in a basement or a warehouse as much as a couple years ago. I also see a lot of bands really going wild, which isn't cool in Indie culture. If you're not wearing a sweater and staring at your shoes then you're wasting your time. Even as much as what I mentioned before sounds like progress, it really is the hair on the testicle of a mouse in a field, when comparing it to mainstream pop and rock. I think the people who could give this little underground movement momentum are still holding onto bands like social distortion and rancid. Both those bands are great, but really they are past their due. I think a band called DEERHOOF is real punk. I discovered them only a few days ago but they are quirky and obnoxious while still have infectious melodies like good punk should. The best part is they sound unlike anyone or anything else. Even in the hardcore movement it went through a stale point after 3 years or so. Every band tried to just be minor threat, but on the other hand you had flipper, who in my humble opinion has way more punk credentials than any punk band.
It's about innovation and revolution, not scene

RANCID... Oh man. People held onto that/them? We all gotta start somewhere don’t we? Where did you start?

Well we all started on the BEATLES. I know that's cliché an all, but they are still my favorite band to this day. From there I got into nirvana and PEARL JAM, then SONIC YOUTH and DINOSAUR JR, further into DEERHUNTER, FOALS and MODEST MOUSE etc. and LA punk was huge to me. Bands like the GERMS, X and FLIPPER changed my perspective on music entirely

Like the DANGERHOUSE comps? BLACK RANDY & THE METROSQUAD? That was majorly inspirational to me... Does The Flesh Pets rock any covers live?

Hell yeah dude. And sometimes we may do covers, we try not to very often. We have covered “The End” by THE DOORS and a song by a Canadian folk artist called HAYDEN DESSER

You and I sorta 'bonded' concerning FLIPPER. What is the personal attraction to FLIPPER? Did you drive around *high* and/or drunk when you were 18 and blast BLOWIN' CHUNKS on yer car stereo at a very loud volume or was that just me?

That's pretty much accurate hahahah I first heard of flipper from a friend and I started out on "Gone Fishin" when I heard "first the heart" I just lost my mind. Ever since then, flipper has been a godlike influence. They really were the most punk band. When everyone else was trying to be MINOR THREAT or BLACK FLAG they just wailed and introduced noise and sax which wasn't really being used in punk. They the best punk credentials

To me FLIPPER are almost a sonic-myth... Are you as passionate about any other bands the same way?

Yeah I’m VERY passionate about sonic youth. Some bands I’m super passionate about would be DEERHUNTER & MODEST MOUSE. All those bands were like awe striking to me in so many ways. I remember well when I first heard DEERHUNTER, my buddy and I had just smoked a joint in his garage and he said "this is gonna be your new favorite band" and from there he was absolutely right. I had always known MODEST MOUSE and not thought much of their hits, but then my girlfriend played me all of "Lonesome Crowded West” and I remember thinking, WOW this guy has described my life and surroundings. I could really relate to the album's underlying message about mall's springing up everywhere and just feeling yourself disappear as quick as the natural land

Smoking Joints? Brandon, your Mom may read this... Do you really want to expose your youthful indiscretions? I don’t know too much about DEERHUNTER or MODEST MOUSE but I’m a SONIC YOUTH fan... What’s your favorite era of Sonic Youth? Mines the album before, after and including Confusion Is Sex if I must choose a 3 album time frame.

Hahahaha and my favorite era of SONIC YOUTH is different years. I'd probably go more by album, I really love Goo of course, Daydream Nation is classic, Experimental Jetset is beautiful. And I really liked The Eternal, for how recent it is it sounds fucking incredible they are not one of those bands that sour and become formulated. They really kept it innovative and interesting.

I feel the same way as you with SONIC YOUTH about FUGAZI. Brandon, what’s the future hold for The Flesh Pets? Are you comfortable talking about what can be expected from you guys in 2013?

Oh yeah FUGAZI is great too, and for 2013 we can expect to an EP, we'll still be playing shows in the Ohio, Indiana area, we may branch out and do a couple cities elsewhere, then maybe by the summer 2013 a us tour. We're self funding it which we have some money saved up. With any luck we'll be operating smoothly… As for the EP We just finished the first song so it should be released by late January early February

That’s some big plans but solid hope. Are you guys recording it yourself or at a studio? Also, is your EP gonna be a DL (download) deal or will there be a tangible product like a record or tape? Are you a cassette enthusiast?

We've done some at a studio, some of it will be done by our friend “Hoops.” And we're actually recording in Canal Street, and we'll release CD's maybe some vinyl, like a 7 inch and we'll have DL's. And I do indeed enjoy cassettes I’m not sure if we will release any tapes

Oh yeah, we touched on Hoops a bit ago... I grew up spending A Lot of money weekly on cassettes which are now 'cool' and honestly, I just don’t get it. How old are you and what’s the big fucking deal with tapes? I don’t get it. Can you help an old man like myself understand this phenomenon? It will count as your 'good deed to the elderly/crippled' for the day. School me Brandon!

Really the reason I buy tapes from time is because I can't find a band I like on vinyl or CD, a lot of the stuff I like can be hard to find and somebody will have a tape of it that they bought a while back. I really don't think it sounds any better, and it is pretty inconvenient rewinding them and stuff. I honestly don't see why it's a trend either hahahha I just enjoy tapes strictly because I’ll find tapes of bands I like

How many tapes you have? In my tape heyday I had about 150… I’m not trying to brag either.

I have only a couple, I have more vinyl and CDs on tape I have some ADAM ANT, TAD, HELMET, VIOLENT FEMMES and maybe a few others I also have my friends demo tape and that band is called BLOOD NOIZE. I fill in on drums for them occasionally

Do you rock a [revolutionary] beard? While you mention BLOOD NOIZE (good name) what’s some other bands you appreciate (locally) that you feel compelled to mention? Explain what makes those bands noteworthy in your opinion

Yeah I usually keep a beard, sometimes I have to shave for work but generally I’ve got a grizzly food storage unit on my face hahha. A band I would like to mention is a Dayton band called the TURKISH DELIGHTS, they have great turn of phrase lyrics similar to BOB DYLAN. I would also like to mention ATLAS SOUND, soul coughing, FOALS, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, TY SEGALL, THE PIXIES, ARIEL PINK and THE HAUNTED GRAFFITI, ABERTOOTH LINCOLN (Dayton) A lot of those bands are pretty good lyrically, I really like ABERTOOTH'S political lyrics, its satirical but very poignant and serious in the same swipe. I've also really enjoyed dark poetic lyrics of JIM MORRISON. I heard the line "Dead presidents corpse in the drivers car, the engine runs on glue and tar, come along we're not going very far, to the east to meet the czar" and it really struck me. Another one I liked was the classic "The End" "Lost In A Roman Wilderness of Pain, and All of the Children are Insane" great fucking stuff

Can you actually sit and watch APOCALYPSE NOW from start to finish in one sitting? I did. Once.

I've tried, hahaha I’m not sure how far I made it

I'm a big fan of Col. Kurtz... How much is what your doing now gonna be viewed by you as idiocy in 15 years. Are you wasting your time now (you think) or is Flesh Pets a step in your process of success. What do you wanna be when you grow up?

I don't know honestly, we always progress dramatically in different ways. I think by the end of it we'll be playing psychedelic prog acid jazz noize no wave haha. Or maybe we'll just buy a keyboard sell our instruments for some illicit drug and make noise hahahahaha

Sounds like a plan. So now is your chance to tell ...Thwart! readers one last bit of info you want them to know about THE FLESH PETS. Go.

I'd like to any reader's know that we are available for children's parties. I'm kidding hahaha In all reality, I'd like people to know that there is change a'brewin. With any luck we'll be a part of it. A word to those who cling dearly to trends and subject themselves to comfortable lives. Clench tightly your Ikea furniture, cry deeply for your "fly" friends, pay your last respects to your imitation Indie, snapback hats, processed manufactured clear channel pop music. Times will be strange, and only the weird will survive

I suppose Imp safe under the 'only the weird will survive' clause. I have no idea what a 'snapback hat' nor do I wanna know. Thanks for your time and support Brendon.

The FLESH PETS on facebook

The FLESH PETS on bandcamp