Continued from Parts One and Two.
Originally, for the 3rd and final part of this interview, my intentions were to gather questions for Rubber (() Cement from various interested parties, to include the audience in on the fun, consequently scribing a 3-D dialogue between the artist, interviewer, and readers. Problem was, no one seemed interested enough to send me a query, and so, I had to come up with some follow-up questions of my own.
Part Three.
Aloha once again Rubber ((), alas, no one seemed that interested in getting this three-dimensional dialog we'd talked about going, other than my girlfriend who wanted to know "if Rubber (() Cement was a good cook, because you look like you'd make a really interesting meal." Read into that what you will...
She sounds like a meat eating machine. The blown out tiblalis glands around the goof boots are dropping chunks of heavy yellow and red meat at every show. Probably she's fixating on that. The world needs sturdier goof boots for the working class Nasa-D javelin carrying grunt.
Hah! Actually, she's a vegetarian! On an unrelated note: how was the mini-tour with Blue Sabbath Black Cheer?
Not much of a tour unfortunately. There were three shows up there and only one with Basket Case Geoff glommed Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. You can listen to the mp3 files online here through the Redglaer site possibly.
We really expected them to be humiliatingly horrible mud dipped swamp blobs, but they are just some really smiley smoker types. The show we did with them at The Silo was two separate assaults mixed with the old Basket Case whip tube guest flail which seemed to survive the move from Detroit.
I read most of your posts you made on the Brutal SFX board during the tour and you mentioned that something broke and cut your set short at The Rebar in Seattle. "Dropping the javelin meant no encore, something broke onstage admidst the clamor, will have to do some damage control. 15 min set." Did things go more smoothly for you afterwards in Portland?
It's a mystery about the Seattle set. Things were running really late anyways with the opening acts indulging the audience. The cords in the bar are so messed up who knows if it was us, or their possibly the stage snake biting itself. Everything after the Rebar was smooth as the head of a skinned one year old. We didn't use the Ratar set up because we thought the name Rebar was close enough to a major brand of Ratar dish. Sounds like a big bar shaped radar dish right? It's not.
What are your thoughts on the growing noise scene in the Pacific Northwest, (Seattle, Eugene, PDX, et al)?
A lot of potential. Portland has always been hot or gold so none of us were surprised what a blowout that was. Honed Bastion and Redglaer have massive piles of sound equipment to make people go into the cigarette area. There are not so many places to play in Eugene, we played at a gallery that had mom hobby art on the wall. A rock club supposedly has an Asian duck running the space somewhere downtown past the Nova dealership.
One good point about the Pacific Northwest that few people realize: when you go through a smaller town anywhere up there a scenario plays out in your head about the chemical smells, the pawn shops, and the people in t-shirts walking like erratic air pummelled chickens here and there. We actually worked up a Pacific Northwest kids tv show called "Mother's Muff Meth Madness". Running it past the Eugene crowd (10 people) seemed like it might appeal to people up there.
Basically you have a group of kids gathering around a matronly lapis lazuli kangaroo pouch with green fuzz around it. Having only a few threaded together eyes it blinks out Morse codes to bring it amphetamines. The kids reach inside it's wabbly wobbly stoma hole to receive fortune cookie clues that will take them to the next palace of kitchen sink solvents. An enemy mescaline soaked galleon with clusters of walrus teeth scrabbles to bring it's "glum o moids" pantry taking over the products under the sink to make more creatures from inside it's own giant marsupial cleft. Being a master of disguise it can play the part of a kitchen pretty well.
Beyond the Brutal SFX community, who do you consider among your contemporaries?
People we've played a million shows with like Wolf Eyes and Nautical Almanac come to mind first. Speculum Fight has been there from the beginning. It's stripped down to less equipment as DamnOnion Romero these days, but the tone remains in the asthenosphere. All of them are brutal sound effects types like most of the acts with electronic sinking dino rectus bubble machines. Would like to consider Fat Worm of Error something of a contemporary if they dropped all traditional instruments. Thats conditional, I know, but it's also a really great vague threat too. Would like to put our pin ups next to SPK's lp "Information Overload Unit", the Esplendor Geometrico first lp, Sebastian Speaks lp, BBC sound effects collections, Culturcide (good advice types), Geer Road tire store (forgot the city), Varèse's "Déserts" lp, P16.D4's "Kühe In 1/2 Trauer", Runzelstirn and Gurglestock, Igor Wakhevitch, 80-88 Non, and a few Pierre Henry lps thrown in. The best ones. Will have to mention at this point about Balloonia, Astro and Violent Onsen Geisha keeping Rubber (() in the cushioned dumpsters when we went to Japan setting up some swell shows and karaoke appointments. Often VOG would hand us delays and distortion boxes that weren't up to par with collector's item pedals he collected. Most of our cords came from him too. He's since cleared out his studio and passed it on to other sound vagabonds since he's won his Yukio Mishima award in 2001.
What are your thoughts on the current generation of noise artists?
Some really blow dog turd popsicles which is not a total crime of laziness. Here's the most honest thought of all: only the wispy legged of the vocal touch me with feathers types and whisper to dream catchers have brought out the total contempt. If someone is making an honest stab at doing the opposite of the cranked out dreck that's on the radio with with their dogshit ice machine bazooka, it's an honorary thing in our cardboard powerbook. Seeing the blooming of Tarantismo from a cord buzz (early shows) into a multifaced torque chop with a cooking show thrown in on top makes any vague idea someone is pushing that dark ice simmer with potential. Seriously, some of these people don't know what they are doing it for, they just feel better after they have a cassette release.
From the standpoint of an elder-alien-statesman, is there any criticism, or advice you have to give them?
Bypass convention. If you've seen it before don't try to play the same domino game along in the same lead-octane filled swimming pool. If you imitate another's set up cuz it will make you look cool then you show your age or ignorance. The elders wait patiently for you to blow us off the map.... It's pretty lame expecting us at Nasa-D to have input and answers though. Probably not a good idea to let this feral half tellurium liquified cat out of the butyl bag but... We are always looking over our shoulder asking questions to other people in the Brutal Sound Effects realm, or better yet the jazzbeaux of the bay area things like "Who is that guy, ya know England...Jonty who? Jonty Harrison, you're right! That guy!" Or "Italian fella, glasses? He used knobs on thing..s.....and.....stuff.., um, Bruno who? Maderna!! Ya, thats the man!" Don't look at us for answers, often have to walk around without shoelaces now days for health reasons. The running with sharp objects ban happened a decade ago.
Earlier, in Part Two of our interview, you mentioned that there might be a new Rubber (() Cement dvd in the works, any idea when this disc might boil to the surface?
The first attempt at this dvd was on a cd rom in '99 which was only sold to RRR and Japanese. The next attempt at motivational marketing was after the Solid City State ONE back in 2001 in a vhs form. It's 2007 now, if you subtract that from 1999 then you might imagine that in another 8 years there will be another one on some other format. Not bluetooth.
Are there any plans to release any of the Famous Room of Battle Monsters performances on dvd?
We aren't, you can write to the curators or brutalsoundeffects.com to get some response of what you need. The more excited you are about something on the web, the more our video chromatapher Brutallo gets. I'm talking about you Har Har, get your wish list ready for Rwanda Day. There are neuron mummy tubes being stuffed with fireworks for that day.
Haha, yes...I do have a lot of Brutallo's videos bookmarked on my Youtube account. Are there any plans in the future for a rematch against Ecomorti?
Anytime anywhere. She is up in Portland now. This portion of California was getting a little too small for our goof boots and her dried up swamp back hill. R.O.C breaks fecund moss scissors in the giant scheme of mud-based things.
In the past you've released collaborations with Speculum Fight, Truck Van Rental, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Tender Morsels, and most recently on The Haunted Loci lp, with Karla LaVey. Are there currently any future collaborations in the works?
You forgot our strongest ally: James Twig Harper who contributed to most of "Shameful, Effectual, Masterbattalion!!".
Holy shit, you're right! How did I forget about that one?? Arghhhh!
We have an hour of new James Twig Harper sounds to put out. It's just a matter of editing. Sigtryggur was going to be in the U.S. about every month this year, not sure exactly what happened, but if you send him 600 dollars we could do another release we would probably send out your way. Something to think about...
We did a lot of recording with Violent Onsen Geisha when we stayed with him in '98. Live shows also. If someone comes up with the money that lp might see the light of day sometime. Our initial agreement was that it could only be released on vinyl to commemorate the occasion, we signed one of his 3 page agreements written in kanji....and here it sits.
The Karla LaVey Xmass lp should be out within the next 5 years. Might be the Haunted Loci II lp. The first Haunted Loci has to pay for itself before that happens.
The former Cryptic Weevil of Screwgene Oregon sent a source cd a while back we are supposed to dump "60.7 tones of biono-assisted relaxation in type 2 diabetes butyl polyps" on top of his poignant spar coated pettimoat he built. It has the face of a dirt cologned cubist, the body of a Korean War courier pigeon, and the snout of a busted hafnium farm lamb-mover. Our job is to assist with delicate instruments to make it more tone acceptable in the world of modern housing. Should be interesting since we are not architects or even subtle.
$600 to record with Sigtryggur? Much as I'd like to finance that audio adventure, I gotta save up for a new mixer and a PA system, never mind finding a place to live in the coming weeks... Speaking of high cost collaborations...Given the opportunity, who would you most like to collaborate with (living or dead)?
A 1982 P16.D4 would be wonderful to collaborate with. We approached NON a few times out here when he was on Jones street meeting on his way to work. Our contract and ideas were mostly written on the boxes of video tapes (we traded and borrowed a lot) and the back of bus transfers. Not sure if those are out here or in Colorado. I think mostly it was an arrangement to not ever record. There was a Non guitar pick that he ended up with which was a table knife ground down to a sharp obtuse triangle. Wish it would get used on that folky stuff he's doing. Edgard Varèse has a brain that resembles a chewed up leather belt with some raisins snake bodies wringing forked grub tongues on the inside. I think it's about time he get out of his high chrome ionized power-coffin, and contact us through the the cardboardkestra we set up for him. If he did Poème Electronique, should be a drop in the gravity well to make our Nasa-D ensemble work to the tap of his car radio antennae baton sitting in the foreground here at R.O.C. hq.
Wolf Eyes has shown interest in collaborating, but when on tour, or after, they can't even lift up the phone, possibly an impossible ideal. Might be that our direct route of setting up and recording is opposo-daunting to the "order pizza, jam out" style they are in orderly form with.
There is a "Rubber (() Cement Speculum Fight" double 3" cdr out there. I'm sure another one will come out eventually.
It's exhausting pursuing some of these people, we've done what we could without procuring wads of cash or colorful threats. P16.D4 should just quit aging and go backwards as soon as possible before we get too serious with them. It's easier to give up and just talk to Twig, who is basically retired on his commitments to anything, but us, and constant humor experimentation.
Are there are any Rubber (() Cement recordings currently in-production?
Another split Slicing Grandpa 7", split lp with Blue Sabbath Black Cheer and friends, Aryan Asshole release. At least 6 cds (various stages of de/composition) including the long awaited "Face Shuttle Malfalcone". The not so long awaited "Triumph Over Matter: A Ratar Solo". When "Triumph Over Matter:" comes out we might have to put a guitar on the cover to get people to look at it.
When can mega-fans and sound fx addicts expect these to be released?
Take the biggest coin out of your pocket. Pick a number you like in months or years from today like "3-17-2044" now flip that coin. The answer should be right in the middle of your hand. You know now and we don't. So....why don't you tell everyone your dirty secret?
Hey now, my secrets are clean as December snow in Saskatchewan wheat fields! To the curious friendly outsider: what records would you most recommend to gain an appreciation for Rubber (() Cement?
Buy everything available, go to the show, think about it, then repeat the process until you're at the same point in time as the beginning of the process as a dimensional atom tire monitor system, or our state of being becomes an extension of your work-towards-us stature. You're a failure like us now!!
As we bring this Polynucleotide Plasma-Press Communication to a close, is there anything else you'd like to add?
We've wandered in a lot of deserted junkyard territories of our future here except our other movie ideas. You can pick the scientific subject and ask us what our movie will be about (we have 90% of ALL science subjects covered). Also a query over a favorite tactile tire artist- philosopher would be great. There have been so many mop swords in the chaos of mediocrity on the roads of North America for so long no one knows (except us) where to start. We've been following the bloodlines of these high rollers for a while so if you need information just inquire.
I would like to explicitly thank Rubber (() Cement for humoring my curiosity in granting me this rare and unique interview. Sir, your answers have been as entertaining to read as your music is to hear: eyes and ears both peeled back and reeling/radiating from the experience. I can't wait to to hear what you've got in store for my tinnitus-proof lobes in the future!
The photo at the top of this page was posted courtesy of Greedmink. If you actually read all three parts of this micro-epic, you owe it to yourself to go to Brutal Sound FX now and spend some money!
