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Hrvoje Bubić: JAIME – ROBERT JOHNSON INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Jaime-Robert Johnson je američki glazbenik, iz Seattlea. Za Solin Live govori o sebi, svom bendu, Crunchbird, kao i o sceni Seattlea
1. For the start, how the Crunchbird begun, since your first show was in August 87.’ How was like Seattle Scene during that time, and why didn’t Crunchbird appeared on Deep Six compilation?
Thanks for the interview. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share with you. that’s a big question. The name crunchbird started out as a joke around 1984 shortly after I moved to Seattle. That year, Erin Coffin, the guitar player from my old band “Urbanilla” once told me the crunchbird joke. It was really kind of a stupid joke, pretty much well known now because of the crunchbird cartoon. (https://youtu.be/hNbYiIPJktw) – we were tripping balls on acid at the time, it was around my 24th birthday and we had both “joined” the church of the SubGenius (you don’t really join the church, you just declare yourself as such) – anyway, we were coming up with church minister names for ourselves. Your church and ‘minister’ name are supposed to be strange and ridiculous by design. It’s all tied together with the absurdity of religion, and so Erin became “Reverend. Alfonzo” and I became “Dr. Dr. Reverend Reverend, PhD, LSD, MD, Psychic Surgeon, Idiot Bastard Son Inc, etc, LLC, Crunchbird and Sons Incorporated” – we were part of what is called a “clench” which in SubGenius speak is a loosely associated group of ministers. The main guy that we knew was a friend named Tom Prince. Tom was a founder at the time, Reverend Tom (soon to be) Prince (of pieces). As far as my name was concerned, nobody sober or drunk could remember it, to say it so my friends started with Dr. Dr. Rev.Rev. but that was still too long. I read an interview with Jimi Hendrix in which he commented that when he was onstage, he was powerful like a superhero or a cartoon character, it was part of his persona because cartoon characters can do anything. So, because I could build my identity and persona from that I started going with Reverend Crunchbird. After a while all my punk rock friends were calling me Crunch or Crunchbird. Another thing was, I could use it as a social test. If I told a new person, the name Crunchbird, I could instantly discern from their reaction whether or not they would be a friend or just another asshole. I’m glad to say that it worked most of the time – it was just a good punk rock way of screening jerks out of my life, also, at the time, I’d do poetry readings, jam with different people and I always had too many songs written, to be anything less than a leader even though A) I didn’t really believe in leaders at the time and B) I always saw my personal role as someone trying to bring the band together but not necessary being the front man. But I ended up being pushed up front most of the time anyway, so I kind of went with it. Over the years, my resistance to leadership actually became a bit of a problem and getting shoved into the role happened so often, I had to actually make peace with it, own the idea and try and become a good and effective leader of what is essentially a cooperative effort. I want to be very very clear, that even though, I am Crunchbird (hear me roar, ha ha) I am nothing without the amazing and highly talented and beautiful people that are willing to lend THEIR talents to this music.
Honorable mentions: Lonnie King, Scott Gear, producer and genius, Jack Endino, Producer and relentless supporter and friend, Erik 4-A, DJ Brian Foss, Art Jiron, Simon Grant, artist and musician Mary Gross, Drummer Walter Vogel, Guitarist and best friend Edward Bowley, (aka E Boli), bassist Kerry Groceries, drummer Vic Hart, friend and supporter James Birdyshaw of Cattbutt and Sinister Six, Gordy Griffiths. So, this just shows that DIY punk always has been and always will be a COMMUNITY and COLLABORATIVE effort.
About life in Seattle and Capitol Hill in general. I want to tell you about Red Sky Poetry nights for a moment: Red Sky back in the 80’s was hosted mostly at a Capitol Hill bar called the 5-0 tavern. It was a dive. Like a real dive. Not some fake dive that you see on some stupid hipster bullshit facebook. 15th ave is situated on the very top of the Capital Hill. So, walking north on 15th, and looking down the hill west, on every corner along the way was a view of downtown, Puget Sound, the space needle and Queen Anne Hill. In the 80’s, all over the city, the phone/utility poles were covered with posters promoting all sorts of events, from poetry readings, speaker and art events and yes, punk, metal and rock shows of all shapes and sizes. It was the poster I saw for the open mic poetry reading that drew me in. I had been writing poetry, short stories and songs since I was 16 and chances to read my work to real people were few and far between. So very excited, I tore the poster off the pole and since the reading was that night, I walked over to the tavern.
Walking into the Dive for the first time was a veritable whose who of real Seattle. semi homeless street trash writers, musicians and artists of various schools, union longshoremen, men who worked the Todd Shipyard and the Port Authority downtown, cab driving novelists, dishwashers and cooks, punk rock people like myself. The bar itself was about 20 feet wide and 100 feet back with a long row of barstools on the right going almost all the way back to the stage. A row of small 4 top tables ran to the back. That’s where the bathrooms were. I arrived in time to sign up to read. That first night, August of 1984 is where I met writers such as the amazing and flamboyant san Francisco beat poet Roberto Valenzuela, Jesse Bernstein was there too, who also gave a really amazing reading. Miriam Kines, who turned out to be on the board of directors of Red Sky, Phoebe, also a member gave a reading. A writer named Steven Thomas read from TS Elliot’s “The Wasteland”- writing poetry, reading poetry, reading books. Those are all inextricably connected to rebel music.
Punk. It’s the art.- but all these influences that surrounded me, even the jazz shows, the avant-garde improv, the gallery opening. I was told as a kid I would never be able to go anywhere, do anything or be anyone, that I’d better get a job, that nobody cared about art and music, that it didn’t matter. But I knew in my heart it did matter. IT STILL MATTERS and yet here I was, among these lifelong artists and writers, these legends. See, rock n roll, punk, grunge whatever you call it came from all these places, it came from all these people that wanted to make art without rules. It has that in common with blues, jazz, rap, hardcore metal. Art fueled by oppression, the desire to “break free of mundane bullshit” to quote Roberto Valenzuela. That’s how Crunchbird was born. These folks that mentored me.
Seattle was small, but big at the time and it’s so hard to describe with words: this time and this place because across town in the U district, I had already started to get to know Ron Rudzits (soon to become Ron 9) of the band Room 9. Room 9 was a loud, punky psychedelic rock band. He eventually formed Love Battery. Another band house across the street from the Room 9 house was where members of the Walkabouts lived. North of the U district was another little pocket of band houses at the corner of 65th and 15th Northeast- The bands, Skin Yard and Vexed had a jam house up there, Extreme Hate, a hardcore punk band had a house up there a few houses down, on capitol hill there was a squat known as “the black house” where a bunch of my punk friends lived. Furthermore, punk legends “The Refuzors” had a house off of Broadway. In the central district, my old band “Urbanilla” had a house as well. Other bands (not all punk) I can think of from the time were, Aerobic Death, The Accused, (industrial giants Angus and Grienke), Metal Church, The Fartz, The U- Men, the Limp Richerds, there was a cool very arty hard rock band called Feedback that made some great noise, I remember seeing Ten Minute Warning as well.
… there were so many kick ass bands at the time, trouble is, that anything not mainstream was greatly discouraged by the powers that be, this was due to the fact that punk rock back in 1983 was pretty much completely ignored in the bigger media sources, Believe it or not in the late 70s and early 80s if you were a punk, often times people would harass you , call you names , sometimes even try and fight you. I have personally been harassed, bullied and challenged to fights on several occasions back then, simply for my choices of music, hair and appearances.
With no Internet at the time, a circumstance was created that gave everybody an equal opportunity to circumvent major record labels. You want to make a record? THEN SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DO IT. Want it in the record store? THEN GO THERE AND ASK THEM TO TAKE A FEW COPIES ON CONSIGNMENT. Need a poster for your gig? Cut some graphics out of magazines and go to the copy shop. DO IT YOURSELF. It was BETTER. It was BETTER because you had to really HAD TO DO IT. THAT IS REAL. ITS ALL YOU. You had to do it ALL yourself and you had to FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO BE YOURSELF AND DO YOUR OWN THING. Don’t EVER let ANYBODY TELL YOU IT’S IMPOSSIBLE. IT’S NOT. F U C K T H E M
More Backstory
Between 1983 in 1986 or so I had been in and out of a lot of bands, I had also then actively writing poetry and doing poetry readings under the name crunchbird, the reason I started using the name was because it was just weird enough that I never thought anyone would ever try and steal it, after all it was based on a pretty dumb joke. In the summer of 87 , I was going through a really rough time , and I don’t want to get into gory details , but I had gotten married , and it was a typical alcoholic , drug addict kind of relationship , which ended tragically for both of us , so I spent most of that summer just trying to cope with the mental and emotional fallout of what I was dealing with , like I said I’m not going into detail but I will say it was rather traumatic at the time. Ended up working at the off ramp which at that time was a gay and lesbian disco with a lunch counter attached to it, and then a bar for the men in the back. The restaurant part mostly catered to local businesspeople coming in for lunch, gay men would drink at the bar in the back, and on the weekends the dance room was open as a disco which mostly catered to women, on weeknights the disco cater to more of a mixed crowd of LGBTQ people.
At the time Seattle was considered a large town, but not really a city like it is now, and there was a large variety of people from all sorts of different influences of rock and roll hanging out, together doing their own thing and starting bands, jamming together, going to each other’s shows even though the styles were completely different in many cases, it was one of the things that made Seattle really really great at that time, because you never knew what to expect next. add into that mix was the city attorney a real stupid yuppie douche canoe named Mark Sidran. I just remember hearing this guy speak on the news one night, all I could this was “god, what an asshole”, it was like he hated all forms of rock, loud music, and his only mission was to try and wipe out kids having live shows, and at one point so many bands had started putting posters all over town, on telephone poles for example and he made it a political issue. Then, this asshole comes up with the “teen dance ordinance” which meant if you have a club, you needed some insane insurance policy for about a million dollars, which definitely was a payoff to the local insurance lobby/hacks.
If you were open minded and loved DIY music, you could move in and out of different “sub scenes” such as psychedelic post punk. Pop, folky grunge, punk, metal, death metal, noise, country, swing music, americana, rock, gothic, electronic, hip hop, funk was all going at the same time. All of this activity occurred between 1983 and 1987, which is when many of the seeds were planted for what came next, it was all related and it was our generation, standing on the shoulders of the garage rock pioneers like the Sonics and the Wailers, and punk god fathers such as the MC 5, the Stooges, then the English wave of punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash
As far as the deep six was concerned: I was acquainted with Daniel House who founded CZ records, but my problem was financial. I did not have the money to record and contribute to the project. I was happy it did so well, yet disappointed that I didn’t have the money to put it together to join the effort. At the time, I sang for a band called “Urbanilla” we were active from 1984 until late 1986. In that time, we did gigs at the all-ages venue “Gorilla Gardens”, the “Five-O tavern” and a kinda lame ass mainstream place in the U-district called “the Hall of Fame”. We did a six song demo with Jack Endino under that name right when he was starting out with a four track reel to reel at place, he was set up at in Phinney Ridge, west of the university district.
As a generation, I guess you could say that we were coming from a multitude of diverse backgrounds ranging from garage and soul music to hard rock, punk and metal. There was an excitement in the air at the time, like if you just kept working at it, if you kinda kept your head down and went about your punk rock business that something was about to explode. Just walking down, the street, you could feel it. This was OUR town, with OUR rules and we played OUR music, by, for about us. Cos the mainstream didn’t give a shit at the time, unless you were Michael Jackson. Everybody involved from the most popular to the most obscure knew one thing. If you want to be an artist, then make art and stop complaining about things you have no control over. That’s what DIY, underground punk, metal and rap artists were doing. Little did many realize at the time, it was worldwide.
2. Your first release was an EP Shit Happens, with Dehumanizers’ guitar player Lonnie King, while on the album Tales of the Ultra – Renaissance was featured guests like Jack Endino and John Baker Saunders. Tell us more about your discography as well the guest musicians.
I need to straighten a few things out here come among them the idea that Lonnie played on Shit Happens, unfortunately he did not play on Shit Happens, he did join the band closely after I recorded that EP, along with Skillit on bass and Sean Anderson, who played drums. I played all my own guitar parts on shit happens. Also, Jack Endino played drums and bass on the songs “Rice and Beans” and “Voodoo Doll” Art Jiron (art was seeking an advanced music degree at Cornish College of the Arts, there on the Hill.) played drums on all the other tracks, and Lynn Paulson, played bass on the rest of the EP. Technically, although I was Crunchbird at that time, I had called the band Ghostflesh. I heard someone at Red Sky one night use the phrase in a poem and I just thought it sounded cool, otherworldly, kind of beatnik. That set list of music is what was to start evolving into Crunchbird , the band.
Lonnie King is one of THE BEST musicians I have ever met. Sure, he is idiosyncratic, but he was singularly disciplined on the art and craft of music. His sheer dedication as a player he in was an endless pursuit of musical excellence, in spite of and not because of the insane shit that had started to swirl around us at the time. He was always friendly, approachable, and easy to talk to and hang out with and funny as hell. I know that he jammed a little now and then with the Dehumanizers (Whom we ALL admired), but his main membership with then commenced after that version of Crunchbird began falling apart. Lonnie has a huge heart and to this day, all his friends love him like family. He has a great sense of humor and irony, is really intelligent, politically aware and has a hatred for the assholes the make shit hard for everybody else. Lonnie turned me on to things that were new for me the time. Rory Gallagher, The Wipers, Derreck Jensen, Noam Chomsky, John Coltrane, Flipper and Bad Brains. Lonnie, later on also played with the industrial band ASH (with Bob Howanic, the great industrial project with the vocalist and multimedia artist FERDOUS), and to my knowledge he was also involved with some jazz players and other improv projects. After our initial push, Crunchbird 1.0 as a group of friends a posse we started drifting apart trying to keep our shit together, I still wanted to play with Lonnie, we did a one off
Skillit, whose real name was Scott Gear was a KCMU DJ and he went by the name Kaptain Skillit Weasel was originally our bassist, he also played bass, vocals and guitar in a few other projects that I don’t have a lot of info about. Skillit had superlong light brown hippie hair, but loved metal, punk and any kind of music that most people would call “weird” (like the rest of us). He loved to improvise a jam or could pick up a song on the first try. He was a very good and loyal friend and, very intelligent and intuitive much like Lonnie. After Crunchbird 2.0, I began writing for Backlash zine, published by Dawn Anderson who wrote for the Rocket and started branching out on her own. I was still hanging out with Skillit after Crunchbird 1.0 quite a bit during that time. I ran into Skillit one day and he told me he wanted to find a this cat we knew from a band called “Action Buddy” which I thought was a kind of soul music/groove/rock groove band name Todd Goodson. Todd’s a cat, a solid player but it never lasted at time. Fast forward to around 1990 and Lonnie had gotten involved with this group of really heavy , hard hitting players, an all black band called IMIJ. I was bummed cos they were so on the groove, so tight that I probably wouldn’t be jamming with him for a long time. But they had caught on fire as a band. Raw, real and uncompromising and strong. I feel lucky to have been around it all.
Sean Anderson: Drums. Batcave Sean. Sean had intense blue eyes, and goth black hair. He had the clothes, the walk, the music and a really really creative outlook on playing music. Innovative, he was a goth’s goth for sure. So much fun to kick it with, Sean was always a little bit off the hook in his personal brand of craziness.
3. Crunchbird is mentioned in the book How I Found my Friends: An Oral History of Nirvana, since you shared the stage with them. Among the Nirvana, with whom you also shared the stage, is there any anecdote?
This was during the Crunchbird 1.0 days (Lonnie, me, Sean and Skillit). At the time, I’d been couch surfing quite a bit, but as a band we were a united front. I think we loved hanging out so much and that’s what really held us together. Early on, we had a lead guitar player. An amazing guy and another really good musician by the name of by the name of Jason Lee. Being around Jason taught me to work to discipline myself and not let myself get too hung up on whether or not a band was “punk” enough for me. He left , I suppose because he wanted to pursue a serious relationship with a woman and they ended up starting a family together.
In any event during that time I was barely making my rent and couldn’t really spare anything for a jam space. We had been practicing at a band house near the CD, but roommate situations were making things untenable from Crunchbird to keep playing there. Jason was the main guy on the lease, I believe. We had played one show for a newly minted local activist group called the Peace Heathens founded by Vivian Peak (Vivian went to form the: Antiwar. Pro pot and loud rock n roll. What isn’t there to love, right?
We went and played that gig and after our set, a KCMU colleague of Skillits had been in the audience and asked if we’d like to play another gig. A benefit for the radio station. Four bands for 5 bucks. That was the show with Nirvana, the Gits and TAD. Of course, we said yes.
The problem then was no more place to practice cos that was Jason’s last gig with us. We were allowed one more jam at his house and that’s when Sean came up with the idea. He said that he’d been in the parking garage at the UW, and he saw places to plug stuff in. It’s a very deep underground parking structure, on the edge of campus, near Husky Stadium so we all threw our PA and stuff into Lonnie’s beat to shit van and drove over there to check it out. Once Sean showed us how to get there, we looked around.
The first night, we met up at Broadway espresso and Lonnie pulls up in this rusted white van, Lonnie had two wires sticking out from the dashboard that connected the radio, there was one passenger seat, I called shotgun, Sean and Skillit jumped in, they made themselves at home in the gap in the middle where the engine hump was and we were off headed north on Broadway, Lonnie didn’t have insurance, but hey, wtf not? Right? First stop, Lonnie’s crib, he pulled up to the huge ugly ass orange house over at Pine and 18th and went in. Skillit lit up a joint, took a hit, passed it to Sean who didn’t smoke a lot, Sean took his hit and went into a coughing fit, which sent me and Skillit into a laughing fit because he had this huge plume of light blue pot smoke hovering around his head making him look like one of those angel halos in a Botticelli painting. Lonnie came down the porch stairs with his strat case and his fender Bassman “tv” amp in the other. Loaded it in the back, we drove to Skillet’s him and I went in and helped him with his bass amp (and to smoke a little more weed), we came out, went back to Broadway to Sean’s apartment and to load his drums, me and Skillit went in to help him, Nancy, his girlfriend was there, we said “hi” (Nancy has been a Crunchbird person ever since the beginning, part of the family) she was watching a Bauhaus concert video on their TV hard to find in those days, we couldn’t dawdle, so a bong was lit and passed around, while Lonnie stayed with the van out front. Then came the drum boxes out of the back room, Sean passed one to Skillit, I took two rack tom cases, Sean grabbed a bass drum, and we went out. Lonnie was getting a little nervous… “c’mon, you guys, hurry up” pretty soon the van was loaded with our gear and we were on our way. We came up to Northlake and turned left, Sean said “hey, you were supposed to go straight, not turn” Lonnie said famous last words. “I’ve got a short cut” Skillit said, even louder. “NO no no no… TURN RIGHT” “I asked Lonnie “where in the fuck are you going? GO RIGHT” Sean; “NO, TURN LEFT LONNIE”. Lonnie hit the brakes and yelled “everybody SHUT THE FUCK UP” We all looked at each other and were laughing our asses off, five blocks from the garage and totally lost. Lonnie: “I want some coffee, there’s that stand across the street” We stopped for coffee. Once caffeinated we finally got to the U-dub parking garage.
Must have been about 7 at night and we all started laughing. This is cool. We were about at the bottom level about 4 levels beneath the ground. Completely underground, completely isolated with electrical outlets. Holy shit.
This was about two weeks prior to the gig. We always rolled in about 11 at night, set up our shit and practiced as long as we felt we could get away with. We did this every night for that two weeks and got away with it until the night before the show, when a security guy showed up and kicked us out of the garage. It was like that. You had to hit and run practices but we did it as a posse.
4. Among the Crunchbird, you had a project called Angelspit, more oriented to noise/industrial sound. Please tell us more about the Angelspit, and did you have any projects among the Angelspit?
Angelspit was intended to be more improvisational and noisier than Crunchbird. I got the name from the Sonic Youth song “orange rolls, angel spits”. Crunchbird had kind of stalled about a year earlier and I had spent some of that time guesting in some other projects (cover bands, mostly, one reggae project, a punk band that didn’t go anywhere). I’ve always loved industrial music, especially the first wave of british bands and performance ensembles such as Throbbing Gristle, Nurse With Wound, Controlled Bleeding, American projects such as the Rezillos, Chrome, the Residents and I wanted to reflect that side. I lucked out and found Scott Graham, the bass player and Jason Phillips. Two really great musicians
5. Crunchbird was a part of Seattle Scene, what is your opinion on, so called “Seattle Sound”? Do you believe it was overblown term?
The fact that the term was applied so narrowly and only a certain group of bands (usually on one particular record label) that yeah, it got greatly overblown. Was began as a natural outgrowth of punk rock became another mainstream suspect device- but in all fairness, it wasn’t the bands fault as much it was the pathological need to cash in on a trend which always results in the music getting crappier and crappier as people jump on a bandwagon. The only cure is to stay true to yourself, to be an artist and cut your own pathway. Spotify and its diseased ilk continue the grand tradition of theft and stealing from artists by talentless hacks that really have nothing to say. The crimes against artist have remained the same throughout history. The clothing and the method of the theft is really the only thing that’s changed. These phenomena of finding new and innovative ways of fucking artists over has it’s roots in old century racism and capitalism run amok. I think it’s criminal that the Refuzors never got the love they deserved. Pure punk rock.
6. For the end, is there a new Crunchbird album coming out or perhaps new project?
Yes, there is a new project. (it’s been in storage for some years pending the resolution of a conflict) “Tales of the ultra-renaissance” is available on band camp these days from the link below.
https://crunchbird.bandcamp.com/album/tales-of-the-ultra-renaissance
The new album is to be called “A new noise Americana” and is in the planning stages and features 12 of the best compositions I have ever written- a new album, for a new century with a new outlook. In many ways, it’s a natural extension of what I was starting to do with “Tales”: I’ve been working towards songs that tell stories that are meaningful and compelling with a blending in of traditional American roots music with a noise/punk attitude. DIY: . As always, my goal is to speak from the beating rebel heart and soul at the intersection of punk rock and art.
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
1. Za početak, kako je Crunchbird počeo, pošto je vaš prvi nastup bio u kolovozu 87. ‘ Kakva je bila Seattle Scena u to vrijeme i zašto se Crunchbird nije pojavio na kompilaciji Deep Six?
Hvala na intervju. Zahvalan sam na prilici da podijelim s vama. to je veliko pitanje. Ime Crunchbird započelo je u šali oko 1984. nedugo nakon što sam se preselio u Seattle. Te godine, Erin Coffin, gitaristica iz mog starog benda “Urbanilla” jednom mi je ispričala vic o crunchbird (hrskava ptica, op.prev.). Bila je to stvarno glupa šala, koja je sada prilično dobro poznata zbog crtića s crunchbirdom (https://youtu.be/hNbYiIPJktw) – mi smo u to vrijeme bili odvaljeni od droga, bilo je to oko mog 24. rođendana i oboje smo se “pridružili” crkvi SubGeniusa (zapravo se ne pridružite crkvi, samo se izjašnjavate kao takvi) – u svakom slučaju, sami smo sebi smišljali imena crkvenih službenika. Vaša crkva i ime ‘ministra’ trebali bi biti čudno i smiješno po dizajnu. Sve je to povezano s apsurdom religije, i tako je Erin postala „velečasni Alfonzo“, a ja „dr. Dr. Reverend Reverend, PhD, LSD, MD, Psychic Surgeon, Idiot Bastard Son Inc, itd., LLC, Crunchbird and Sons Incorporated “- bili smo dio onoga što se naziva„ stiskom “za koji SubGenius govori da je slabo povezana skupina ministara. Glavni tip kojeg smo poznavali bio je prijatelj po imenu Tom Prince. Tom je u to vrijeme bio osnivač, velečasni Tom (koji će uskoro) Princ (od komada). Što se tiče mog imena, nitko se trijezan ili pijan nije mogao sjetiti, tako da su moji prijatelji započeli s dr. Dr. Vlč. ali to je i dalje bilo predugo. Pročitao sam intervju s Jimi Hendrixom u kojem je komentirao da je, dok je bio na pozornici, bio moćan poput superheroja ili lika iz crtića, to je bio dio njegove ličnosti jer likovi iz crtića mogu sve. Pa, zato što sam iz toga mogao izgraditi svoj identitet i ličnost, počeo sam ići s velečasnim Crunchbirdom. Nakon nekog vremena svi moji punk rock prijatelji zvali su me Crunch ili Crunchbird. Druga je stvar bila što bih to mogao koristiti kao društveni test. Kad bih rekao novoj osobi, koja se zove Crunchbird, mogao bih odmah razabrati iz njihove reakcije hoće li biti prijatelj ili samo još jedan seronja. Drago mi je reći da je to funkcioniralo većinu vremena – to je bio samo dobar punk rock način prikazivanja kretena koji su izašli iz mog života, također, u to sam vrijeme čitao poeziju, pevao s različitim ljudima i uvijek sam napisao previše pjesama, da bih bio išta manje od vođe iako A) U to vrijeme nisam baš vjerovao u vođe i B) Uvijek sam svoju osobnu ulogu doživljavao kao nekoga tko pokušava okupiti bend, ali nije nužno biti glavni čovjek. Ali ionako sam na kraju bio gurnut ispred, pa sam nekako i pristao. Tijekom godina moj otpor vodstvu zapravo je postao mali problem i guranje u ulogu događalo se tako često, da sam se zapravo morao pomiriti s tim, posjedovati ideju i pokušati postati dobar i učinkovit vođa onoga što je u biti zajednički napor. Želim biti vrlo jasan, iako sam Crunchbird (čujte kako ričem, ha ha) nisam ništa bez nevjerojatnih i vrlo nadarenih i lijepih ljudi koji su spremni ponuditi SVOJE talente ovoj glazbi. Počasni spomene: Lonnie King, Scott Gear, producent i genij, Jack Endino, producent i neumoljivi podržavatelj i prijatelj, Erik 4-A, DJ Brian Foss, Art Jiron, Simon Grant, umjetnik i glazbenik Mary Gross, bubnjar Walter Vogel, gitarist i najbolji prijatelj Edward Bowley (zvani E Boli), basist Kerry Groceries, bubnjar Vic Hart, prijatelj i podržavatelj James Birdyshaw iz Cattbutta i Sinister Six-a, Gordy Griffiths. Dakle, ovo samo pokazuje da je DIY punk uvijek bio i uvijek će biti ZAJEDNIČKI I SURADNIČKI napor.
O životu u Seattlu i Capitol Hillu općenito. Želim vam na trenutak reći o noćima poezije na Red Sky: Red Sky 80-ih godina uglavnom je bilo ugošćeno u baru Capitol Hill zvanom taverna 5-0. Bio je to dive (mali, neglamurozni, eklektični bar u starom stilu s jeftinim pićima i može sadržavati prigušenu rasvjetu, otrcan ili uređen dekor, neonske natpise piva, prodaju pakiranog piva, uslugu samo u gotovini i lokalnu klijentelu, op.prev.). Kao pravi dive. Ne neki lažni dive kakav vidite na nekom glupom hipsterskom sranju na facebooku. 15‘ nalazi se na samom vrhu Capital Hillu. Dakle, šetajući prema sjeveru 15‘, i gledajući niz brdo prema zapadu, na svakom je putu uz pogled bio pogled na centar grada, Puget Sound, svemirsku iglu i brdo Queen Anne.
Ulazak u dive po prvi puta bio je pravi tko je pravi Seattlečanin. Polu beskućnici, ulični otpadnici, glazbenici i umjetnici različitih škola, sindikalni dužnosnici, ljudi koji su radili u brodogradilištu Todd i lučkoj upravi u centru grada, vozeći taksije, romanopisci, perači posuđa i kuhari, ljudi punk rocka poput mene. Sam bar bio je širok oko 20 metara i natrag 100 metara s dugim nizom barskih stolica s desne strane koji se vraćao gotovo do pozornice. Niz malih 4 gornja stola bilo je straga. Tu su bile kupaonice. Stigao sam na vrijeme da se prijavim za čitanje. Te prve noći, u kolovozu 1984. godine, upoznao sam pisce poput nevjerojatnog i raskošnog San Francisca koji je beat pjesnik Roberta Valenzuelu, bio je tu i Jesse Bernstein, koji je također održao zaista nevjerojatno čitanje. Čitala je Miriam Kines, koja se ispostavila da je bila u upravnom odboru Red Skya, Phoebe. Književnik po imenu Steven Thomas čitao je iz “Pustošije” TS Elliota – pišući poeziju, čitajući poeziju, čitajući knjige. Svi su oni neraskidivo povezani s pobunjeničkom glazbom.
Punk. To je umjetnost.- ali svi ovi utjecaji koji su me okru枴li, čak i jazz predstave, avangardni improvizacija, otvaranje galerije. Kao klinci su mi govorili da nikada neću moći nikamo ići, raditi bilo 嗾o ili biti bilo tko, da je bolje da se zaposlim, da nikoga nije briga za umjetnost i glazbu, da to nije va柤o. Ali u srcu sam znao da je to va柤o. I DALJE JE VA晒O, a opet ovdje sam bio, među tim cjelo枴votnim umjetnicima i knji枡vnicima, ove legende. Vidite, rock n roll, punk, grunge kako god to nazvali dolazili su sa svih ovih mjesta, dolazili su od svih onih ljudi koji su se 枡ljeli baviti umjetnoću bez pravila. Ima toga zajedničkog s bluesom, jazzom, rapom, hardcore metalom. Umjetnost potaknuta ugnjetavanjem, 枡ljom da se “oslobodi svakodnevnih sranja” citirajući Roberta Valenzuelu. Tako je rođen Crunchbird. Ti ljudi koji su mi bili mentori.
Seattle je u to vrijeme bio malen, ali velik i to je tako teško opisati riječima: ovaj put i ovo mjesto jer sam preko grada u okrugu U već počeo upoznavati Rona Rudzitsa (koji će uskoro postati Ron 9) bend Room 9. Room 9 bila je glasan, otkačen psihodelični rock bend. Na kraju je osnovao Love Battery. Još jedna bendovska kuća preko puta kuće Room 9 bila je tamo gdje su živjeli članovi Walkabouta. Sjeverno od okruga U nalazio se još jedan mala hrpa bendovskih kuća na uglu 65. i 15. sjeveroistoka. Bendovi, Skin Yard i Vexed imali su tamo kuću za probe, Extreme Hate, hardcore punk bend imao je kuću tamo gore, nekoliko kuća dolje, na glavnom brdu, nalazio se skvot poznat kao “crna kuća” u kojem je živjela gomila mojih punk prijatelja. Nadalje, punk legende “The Refuzors” imale su kuću izvan Broadwaya.
… U to je vrijeme bilo toliko benda, problem je u tome što su moći koje su bile neuobičajene bile jako obeshrabrene, a to je bilo zbog činjenice da je punk rock davne 1983. bio u potpunosti ignoriran u većim medijskim izvorima , Vjerovali ili ne u kasnim 70-ima i ranim 80-ima ako ste bili propalica, često bi vas ljudi maltretirali, prozivali, ponekad čak i pokušavali boriti se s vama. Tada sam u nekoliko navrata osobno bio maltretiran, maltretiran i izazivan na tučnjave, jednostavno zbog odabira glazbe, frizure i nastupa.
Budući da u to vrijeme nije bilo interneta, stvorila se okolnost koja je svima pru杪la jednaku priliku da zaobiđu glavne izdavačke kuće. 仔lite napraviti snimku? ONDA U概EDITE NOVAC I UČINITE TO. 仔lite li to u trgovini ploča? ONDA IDITE TAMO I ZAMOLITE DA NAPRAVE NEKOLIKO PRESLIKA. Treba vam poster za va嗽 svirku? Izre枴te malo grafike iz časopisa i idite u kopirnicu. URADI SAM. BILO JE BOLJE. BILO JE BOLJE jer si to zaista MORAO UČINITI. TO JE STVARNO. SVE SI TO. Morali ste to SVE sami napraviti i morali ste SE BORITI ZA SVOJE PRAVO DA BUDETE SEBE I RADITI SVOJE. NEMOJTE IKADA DOZVOLITI DA TI NEKO KA殺 DA JE TO NEMOGUĆE. NIJE. J… NJIH.
Više prethodnih priča. Između 1983. 1986. godine ili otprilike bio sam u mnogim bendovima i izvan njih, tada sam također aktivno pisao poeziju i čitao poeziju pod imenom Crunchbird, razlog zbog kojeg sam počeo koristiti ime bio je taj što je bilo dovoljno čudno da sam nikad nisam pomislio da će je itko ikad pokušati ukrasti, uostalom to se temeljilo na prilično glupoj šali. U ljeto 87. prolazio sam kroz jako teško vrijeme i ne želim ulaziti u krvave detalje, ali bio sam se oženio i to je bila tipična veza alkoholičara, ovisnika, koja je završila tragično obojica, tako da sam veći dio ljeta proveo samo pokušavajući se nositi s mentalnim i emocionalnim posljedicama onoga s čime sam se suočio, kao što sam rekao da ne ulazim u detalje, ali reći ću da je to bilo prilično traumatično u to vrijeme.
Završio s radom na isključenju, koja je u to vrijeme bila homoseksualna i lezbijska diskoteka s pultom za ručak, a zatim šankom za muškarce straga. Dio restorana uglavnom je odgovarao lokalnim poslovnim ljudima koji su dolazili na ručak, homoseksualci bi pili za šankom pozadi, a vikendom je plesna soba bila otvorena kao diskoteka koja je uglavnom bila namijenjena ženama, a radnim danima diskoteka udovoljava većem broju mješovita gomila LGBTQ osoba.
U to vrijeme Seattle se smatrao velikim gradom, ali zapravo nije gradom kakav je sada, a družila se velika raznolikost ljudi iz raznih vrsta utjecaja rokenrola, koji su radili svoje i osnivali bendove, družili smo se, odlazili jedni drugima na predstave, iako su se stilovi u mnogim slučajevima potpuno razlikovali, to je bila jedna od stvari koja je u to vrijeme učinila Seattle zaista doista izvrsnim, jer nikad niste znali što dalje možete očekivati. u tu je smjesu uvrstio i gradskog odvjetnika pravog glupog yuppie douche kanua po imenu Mark Sidran.
Sjećam se samo kako sam jedne večeri čuo ovog tipa kako govori na vijestima, sve što sam mogao bilo je “bože, kakav šupak”, bilo je to kao da mrzi sve oblike rocka, glasne glazbe, a jedina mu je misija bila pokušati zbrisati djecu imajući emisije uživo, a u jednom trenutku toliko je bendova počelo postavljati plakate po cijelom gradu, na primjer na telefonske stupove, a on je to učinio političkim pitanjem. Zatim, ovaj seronja smisli “uredbu za tinejdžerske plesove”, što znači da ako imate klub, trebate neku ludu policu osiguranja za oko milijun dolara, što je definitivno bila isplata lokalnom osiguravajućem lobiju / hakovima.
Da ste otvorenog uma i volite DIY glazbu, mogli biste se kretati i odlaziti iz različitih “pod scena”, poput psihodeličnog post punka. Pop, folk folk, punk, metal, death metal, noise, country, swing glazba, americana, rock, gothic, elektronika, hip hop, funk svi su istodobno. Sve su se ove aktivnosti dogodile između 1983. i 1987., kada su mnoga sjemena posađena za ono što je slijedilo, sve je bilo povezano i to je bila naša generacija, koja je stajala na ramenima pionira garažnih stijena poput Sonics-a i Wailers-a, i očevi punk bogova poput MC 5, Stoogesa, zatim engleski val punk bendova poput Sex Pistols i Clash.
Što se tiče Deep Six: bio sam upoznat s Danielom Houseom koji je osnovao CZ records, ali moj je problem bio financijski. Nisam imao novca za snimanje i doprinos projektu. Bio sam sretan što je tako dobro prošlo, ali razočaran što nisam imao novaca da ga složim da bih se pridružila naporima. U to sam vrijeme pjevao za bend pod nazivom “Urbanilla”, bili smo aktivni od 1984. do kraja 1986. U to smo vrijeme svirali u all-age mjestu “Gorilla Gardens”, “taverni Five-O” i nekako šepavo glavno mjesto u U-okrugu zvano “Kuća slavnih”. Demonstrirali smo šest pjesama s Jackom Endinom pod tim imenom upravo kad je počinjao s kolutom s četiri trake, koji je bio smješten u mjestu Phinney Ridge, zapadno od sveučilišne četvrti.
Kao generacija, pretpostavljam da biste mogli reći da dolazimo iz mnoštva različitih pozadina, od garaže i soul glazbe do hard rocka, punka i metala. U to je vrijeme u zraku vladalo uzbuđenje, kao da ste samo nastavili raditi na tome, ako ste nekako spuštali glavu i bavili se svojim punk rock poslom da će nešto eksplodirati. Samo šetajući ulicom, to ste mogli osjetiti. Ovo je bio NAŠ grad, s NAŠIM pravilima i mi smo svirali NAŠU glazbu, otprilike za nas. Jer u to vrijeme mainstream nije imao brige, osim ako niste Michael Jackson. Svi koji su sudjelovali od najpopularnijih do najskrivenijih znali su jedno. Ako želite biti umjetnik, onda se bavite umjetnošću i prestanite se žaliti na stvari nad kojima nemate kontrolu. To su radili DIY, underground punk, metal i rap umjetnici. Mnogi u to vrijeme nisu puno shvatili, bilo je to širom svijeta.
2. Vaše prvo izdanje bilo je EP Shit Happens, s gitaristom Dehumanizersa Lonnieom Kingom, dok su na albumu Tales of the Ultra – Renaissance bili gosti poput Jacka Endina i Johna Bakera Saundersa. Recite nam više o svojoj diskografiji, kao i gostujućim glazbenicima.
Moram ispraviti nekoliko stvari ovdje. Među njima je i ideja da je Lonnie svirao na Shit Happensu, nažalost nije svirao na Shit Happensu, on se usko pridružio bendu nakon što sam snimio taj EP, zajedno sa Skillitom na basu i Seanom Andersonom , koji je svirao bubnjeve. Svirao sam sve svoje dijelove gitare kad se sranja događaju. Također, Jack Endino svirao je bubnjeve i bas na pjesmama “Rice and Beans” i “Voodoo Doll” Art Jiron (umjetnost je tražila diplomu glazbe na Cornish College of the Arts, tamo na brdu). Svirao je bubnjeve na svim ostalim pjesme i Lynn Paulson, svirali su bas na ostatku EP-a. Tehnički, iako sam u to vrijeme bio Crunchbird, nazvao sam bend Ghostflesh. Čuo sam kako je netko na Crvenom nebu jedne noći upotrijebio frazu u pjesmi i samo sam pomislio da zvuči cool, onostrano, nekako ritmički. Ta postavljena glazbena lista je ono što je trebalo početi evoluirati u Crunchbird, bend.
Lonnie King jedan je od NAJBOLJIH glazbenika koje sam ikad upoznao. Naravno, on je osebujan, ali bio je posebno discipliniran prema umjetnosti i zanatu glazbe. Njegova puna predanost kao igrača u kojem je bio bio je beskrajna potraga za glazbenom izvrsnošću, usprkos, a ne zbog ludih sranja koja su se tada počela vrtjeti oko nas. Uvijek je bio ljubazan, pristupačan i s njim je bilo lako razgovarati, družiti se i bio je smiješan kao vrag. Znam da je malo i malo zakrčio s Dehumanizatorima (kojima smo se SVI divili), ali njegovo je glavno članstvo tada započelo nakon što se ta verzija Crunchbirda počela raspadati. Lonnie ima ogromno srce i do danas ga svi prijatelji vole kao obitelj. Ima sjajan smisao za humor i ironiju, doista je inteligentan, politički svjestan i ima mržnju prema šupcima što svima sranje čini teškim. Lonnie me okrenuo prema stvarima koje su za mene tada bile nove. Rory Gallagher, The Wipers, Derreck Jensen, Noam Chomsky, John Coltrane, Flipper i Bad Brains. Lonnie je kasnije svirao i s industrijskim bendom ASH (s Bobom Howanicom, sjajnim industrijskim projektom s vokalistom i multimedijskim umjetnikom FERDOUS), a prema mojim saznanjima bio je uključen i u neke jazz svirače i druge improvizacijske projekte. Nakon našeg početnog naguravanja, Crunchbird 1.0, kao grupa prijatelja, posadu koju smo počeli razdvajati pokušavajući održati naša sranja, još uvijek sam se želio svirati s Lonniejem
Skillit, čije je pravo ime bilo Scott Gear, bio je DJ KCMU-a i zvao se Kaptain Skillit Weasel, izvorno je bio naš basist, svirao je bas, vokal i gitaru u nekoliko drugih projekata o kojima nemam puno informacija . Skillit je imao super dugu svijetlosmeđu hipi kosu, ali volio je metal, punk i bilo koju vrstu glazbe koju bi većina ljudi nazvala “čudnom” (kao i svi mi). Volio je improvizirati jam ili je mogao pokupiti pjesmu iz prvog pokušaja. Bio je vrlo dobar i odan prijatelj, vrlo inteligentan i intuitivan poput Lonnieja. Nakon Crunchbirda 2.0, počeo sam pisati za Backlash zine, u izdanju Dawn Anderson koja je napisala za Rocket i počela se samostalno granati. U to vrijeme još sam se prilično družio sa Skillitom nakon Crunchbirda 1.0. Jednog sam dana naletio na Skillita i rekao mi je da želi pronaći mačku koju smo poznavali iz benda pod nazivom „Action Buddy“ za koji sam smatrao da je neka vrsta soul glazbe / groove / rock groove imena Todd Goodson. Todd je mačak, solidan svirač, ali nikad nije trajala na vrijeme. Premotajte unaprijed do oko 1990. i Lonnie se uključio u ovu grupu doista teških, žestokih svirača, potpuno crni bend zvan IMIJ. Bio sam slomljen jer su bili toliko na utoru, toliko tijesni da vjerojatno ne bih dugo bio u zastoju s njim. Ali oni su se zapalili kao bend. Sirovo, stvarno i beskompromisno i snažno. Osjećam se sretno što sam oko svega toga bio.
Sean Anderson: Bubnjevi. Batcave Sean. Sean je imao intenzivne plave oči i goth crnu kosu. Imao je odjeću, pokret, glazbu i zaista stvarno kreativan pogled na sviranje glazbe. Inovativan, zasigurno je bio gothic. Toliko je zabavno, Sean je uvijek bio pomalo u kvaru u svojoj osobnoj ludosti.
3.Crunchbird se spominje u knjizi Kako sam prona啾o svoje prijatelje: usmena povijest Nirvane, budući da ste s njima podijelili pozornicu. Postoji li neka anegdota među Nirvanom, s kojom ste također dijelili pozornicu?
To je bilo tijekom Crunchbirda 1,0 dana (Lonnie, ja, Sean i Skillit). U to vrijeme prilično sam surfao na kauču, ali kao bend bili smo ujedinjeni front. Mislim da smo se toliko voljeli družiti i to je ono što nas je stvarno držalo na okupu. Rano smo imali glavnog gitarista. Nevjerojatan momak i još jedan jako dobar glazbenik po imenu Jason Lee. Biti u blizini Jasona naučio me da radim na discipliniranje i ne dopuštam si da se previše nadimam oko toga je li bend dovoljno pank za mene. Otišao je, pretpostavljam, jer je želio ostvariti ozbiljnu vezu sa ženom i na kraju su zajedno osnovali obitelj.
U svakom slučaju tijekom tog vremena jedva sam plaćao stanarinu i nisam mogao poštedjeti ništa za prostor za jam. Vježbali smo u bendu u blizini CD-a, ali sustanarski sustavi činili su Crunchbirda neodrživim da bi tamo i dalje svirao. Jason je bio glavni momak u najmu, vjerujem. Odsvirali smo jednu emisiju za novokovanu lokalnu aktivističku skupinu pod nazivom Peace Heathens koju je osnovala Vivian Peak. Vivian je krenula u osnivanje: Antiwar. Pro pot i glasni rock n roll. Što nema ljubavi, zar ne?
Otišli smo i odsvirali tu svirku, a nakon našeg seta, KCMU kolega iz Skillitsa bio je u publici i pitao bismo li željeli odsvirati još jednu svirku. Pogodnost za radio stanicu. Četiri trake za 5 dolara. To je bila emisija s Nirvanom, Gitsom i TAD-om. Naravno, rekli smo da.
Tada problem više nije bilo mjesto za vježbanje jer je to bio Jasonov posljednji nastup s nama. Dopustili smo još jedan jam u njegovoj kući i tada je Sean došao na tu ideju. Rekao je da je bio u garaži na UW-u i vidio je mjesta za priključivanje stvari. To je vrlo duboka podzemna parkirna konstrukcija, na rubu kampusa, blizu stadiona Husky, pa smo svi bacili PA i stvari u Lonniejev nakrcani, usrani kombi i odvezao se tamo provjeriti. Jednom kada nam je Sean pokazao kako doći, pogledali smo oko sebe.
Prve noći našli smo se kod Broadway espressa i Lonnie se zaustavio u ovom zahrđalom bijelom kombiju, Lonnieju su dvije žice virile s armaturne ploče koja je povezivala radio, bilo je jedno suvozačko mjesto, pozvao sam pušku, uskočili su Sean i Skillit, osjećali su se kao kod kuće u praznini u sredini gdje je bila grba motora, a mi smo krenuli prema sjeveru prema Broadwayu, Lonnie nije imao osiguranje, ali hej, zar ne? U pravu? Prva stanica, Lonniejev krevetić, zaustavio se do ogromne ružne narančaste kuće na Pineu i 18. i ušao.
Skillit je zapalio joint, povukao dim, dodao ga Seanu koji nije puno pušio, Sean je prihvatio dim i upao u napad kašlja, što je mene i Skillita poslalo u smijeh jer je imao taj ogromni pramen svjetlosti plavi lonac dima lebdio mu je oko glave čineći ga sličnim jednom od onih anđeoskih oreola na Botticellijevoj slici. Lonnie se spustio stubama na trijemu sa svojim strat futrolom i svojim blatnim pojačalom Bassman “tv” pojačalom u drugom. Stavili smo ga pozadi, odvezli smo se do Skilleta, a ja sam ušao i pomogao mu s njegovim bas pojačalom (i da popušimo malo više trave), izašli smo, vratili se na Broadway do Seanovog stana i natovarili njegove bubnjeve, ja i Skillit smo došli pomoći, Nancy, bila mu je djevojka, rekli smo “zdravo” (Nancy je od početka bila Crunchbird osoba, dio obitelji) gledala je videozapis koncerta Bauhausa na njihovom televizoru i teško ga je pronaći u to se vrijeme nismo mogli zezati, pa je zapaljen bong i prenošen uokolo, dok je Lonnie ostao s kombijem ispred. Zatim su bubnjevi izašli iz stražnje sobe, Sean je jedan dodao Skillitu, uzeo sam dva kovčega, Sean je zgrabio bas bubanj i izašli smo. Lonnie je postao pomalo nervozan … “Ma dajte, ljudi, požurite” prilično brzo kombi je bio napunjen našom opremom i krenuli smo. Došli smo do Northlakea i skrenuli lijevo, Sean je rekao “hej, trebao si ići ravno, a ne skretati” Lonnie je rekao poznate posljednje riječi. “Imam prečicu”, rekao je Skillit, još glasnije. “NE ne ne ne ne … SKRENI DESNO” “Pitala sam Lonnieja” kamo, jebote, ideš?
IDI DESNO ”Sean; “NE, SKRENI LIJEVO LONNIE”. Lonnie je pritisnuo kočnicu i zaurlao “svi zajebajte jebeno” Svi smo se pogledali i smijali se magarcima, pet blokova od garaže i potpuno izgubljeni. Lonnie: “Hoću kavu, tamo je preko puta ulica.” Zastali smo na kavi. Jednom u kofeinu napokon smo stigli do U-dub garaže.
Sigurno je bilo oko 7 navečer i svi smo se počeli smijati. Ovo je cool. Bili smo na donjoj razini, oko 4 m ispod zemlje. Potpuno pod zemljom, potpuno izoliran s električnim utičnicama. Sranje.
Bilo je to otprilike dva tjedna prije koncerta. Uvijek smo se valjali oko 11 sati noću, namještali sranja i vježbali sve dok smo osjećali da se možemo izvući. To smo radili svake večeri tijekom dva tjedna i izvlačili se iz toga sve do večeri prije predstave, kada se pojavio tip iz osiguranja i izbacio nas iz garaže. Bilo je tako. Morali ste udarati i izvoditi treninge, ali mi smo to radili kao posjed.
4. Među Crunchbirdom imali ste projekt nazvan Angelspit, orijentiran na noise / industrial zvuk. Molim vas, recite nam više o Angelspitu i jeste li imali projekata uz Angelspit?
Angelspit je trebao biti improvizacijski i bučniji od Crunchbirda. Ime sam dobio po pjesmi Sonic Youth “orange rolls, angel spits” (narančasti kolutići, anđeoski pljuvač, op. prev.) Crunchbird je nekako zastao otprilike godinu dana ranije, a dio tog vremena proveo sam gostujući u nekim drugim projektima (cover bendovi, uglavnom, jedan reggae projekt, punk bend koji nikamo nije išao). Oduvijek sam volio industrijsku glazbu, posebno prvi val britanskih bendova i izvedbenih ansambala poput Throbbing Gristle, Nurse With Wound, Controlled Bleeding, američkih projekata kao što su Rezillos, Chrome, Residents i želio sam odraziti tu stranu. Posretio sam se i pronašao Scotta Grahama, basista i Jasona Phillipsa. Dvoje zaista sjajnih glazbenika
5. Crunchbird je bio dio scene Seattla, koje je Vaše mišljenje o tkz. “Seattle Sound”?
Vjerujete li da je to bio prenapuhani termin? Činjenica da se taj izraz primjenjivao tako usko i samo određena skupina bendova (obično na određenoj izdavačkoj kući) da je, dakako, postala prenapuhana. Započeo je tako što je prirodni izdanak punk rocka postao još jedan mainstream sumnjivi aparat – ali u svemu, nisu bili krivi bendovi, koliko patološka potreba za unovčavanjem trenda koji uvijek rezultira time da glazba postaje sve jadnija i jadnija dok ljudi uskaču u trend.
Jedini je lijek ostati vjeran sebi, biti umjetnik i krojiti svoj put. Spotify i njegova bolesna sličnost nastavljaju veliku tradiciju krađe i krađe umjetnika bez talentovanih finti koje doista nemaju što reći. Zločini protiv umjetnika ostali su isti kroz povijest. Odjeća i način krađe stvarno je jedino što se promijenilo. Ovi fenomeni pronalaženja novih i inovativnih načina zajebavanja umjetnika vuku korijene iz rasizma i kapitalizma prošlog stoljeća. Mislim da je kriminalno što The Refuzors nikad nisu dobili zasluženu ljubav. Čisti punk rock.
6. Za kraj, izlazi li novi album Crunchbirda ili možda novi projekt?
Da, tu je novi projekt. (čuva se nekoliko godina dok se ne riješi sukob) “Tales of the ultra-renesans” dostupan je ovih dana u kampu bendova na donjoj poveznici.
https://crunchbird.bandcamp.com/album/tales-of-the-ultra-renaissance
Novi album trebao bi se zvati “New noise Americana”, a u fazi je planiranja i sadrži 12 najboljih skladbi koje sam ikad napisao – novi album, za novo stoljeće s novim izgledima. Na mnogo načina, to je prirodno proširenje onoga što sam počeo raditi s “Tales”: radio sam na pjesmama koje pričaju priče koje su značajne i uvjerljive miješane tradicionalne američke korijenske glazbe sa stavom noisea / punka. DIY (Uradi sam, op.prev.): Kao i uvijek, moj je cilj govoriti iz udaračeg srca pobunjenika i duše na sjecištu punk rocka i umjetnosti.
