September 2011 - Hookah Chums

ed:    Hookah Chums are about to release a new album of cinematic little gems entitled “Triple Toothpick” on magneticpitch.  Astrakan Farmaci attempts to get serious with one “Skinny” Kenny Dodge, self-avowed hookah chum cheerleader, semi-official spokesperson, and hack comic, to find out what makes the Hookah Chums tick.


? First things first:  Who are the Hookah Chums and how many are there?

We are a shadowy organization that, collectively, owns a lot of bongs.  I don’t remember how many.


? I’m almost afraid to ask, but what makes the Hookah Chums tick?

Very little.  You can’t hardly get these guys outta bed.


? So there really is more than one of you...

Yeah, we are legion.  (but in a good way)


? There are some guest musicians on "Triple Toothpick" though, right?

Yep, little Steven Morley plays trumpet and tuba [ ed: actually pitch-shifted french horn ], and Paul Winstanley plays bass on a couple of tracks.  One's an Aussie and the other's a Kiwi.  We only work with musicians with funny accents.


? But they’re not actually Hookah Chums?

Only in spirit--we keep all the profits.


? So why “Triple Toothpick” ?

I have no idea, you’ll have to ask Spicasso--he’s the brains.  I’m the dumb one--that’s why I gotta do the interviews.


? Can I ask you one serious question?

Everybody should brush their teeth!  Anything else?


? You let me hear a couple of tunes off the album and I was surprised to hear some familiar loops--like “free content with your DAW” type loops.

Are you kiddin' me?  I told that motherfucker not to do it!  Oh shit.  Oh wait--Spicasso told me about that:  He told me to tell you that he just wanted to try making something interesting out of that same basic shit that everybody gets.  Not very many fx, no quantizing, just make the little shits work together until your head starts bobbing.  I told him it was a dumb idea, but, I gotta admit there's some cool music on there.


? Yeah, it’s a really interesting mix of music, almost cinematic in scope.  It references rock n roll, reggae, jazz, trip hop and even techno and pop--but these references are more like touchstones or signposts suggesting a direction, rather than serving as anchors to the familiar.  And of course there’s a whole world of sound going on above and beyond and even below that. 

Yeah, yeah, it really only sucks on the parts where they took out my rappin’.


? Anything you can tell us about the other Chums?

Mm, well Spicasso’s the magic man, and Mo Shuffles does the beats and sampling, and I do all the rappin’ and handclaps. 


? But there’s no rappin’ on “Triple Toothpick” ?

Well there ain’t no “I” in team, either, but that don’t mean they can’t spell.


? ? ?


August 2011 - John Kennedy (excerpts)

NOTE:  the full 12-page interview is included when you download Polarity 01 "I'll Wreck Your Bones to Jelly" EP 

ed:    Astrakan Farmaci interviews this composer, performer, producer and multimedia artist, and they talk about Stonehenge, his musical development (from industrial to free jazz), Revolting Cocks, Ableton Live, a bit of gear, and why he’s finally releasing some music after a 15 year hiatus.

? First off, anything you want to say about your new release?  Give me some statistics.

“I’ll Wreck Your Bones to Jelly” is designed for ridiculous decibels--it’s a 122bpm train-wreck through your brain.  But “The Old Robot Kiss-Off” is a very different sort of beast, kinduva headtrip for groovy robots.  The tempo varies from 122 to 126bpm, there’s a couple of distinct sections (i think it’s technically in sonata form), and it is NOT oriented for the dance floor, at least not the same dance floor on which you might find some fresh jellies made from bone.  It’s also much more musical in the traditional sense--melodic figures, harmony, etc.

? And you can dance to it?

You really should.

? You’ve been playing drums for close to 20 years, can you tell us about your development as both a percussionist and a programmer?

You might want to get a cup of coffee!  I could say i started out programming an [Alesis] HR-16, but the truth is that i was pretty heavy into bongoes when i was in elementary school, and i was always bangin’ around on stuff, even if it was just my own anatomy.  Probably around 1983, the kid across the street got an HR-16 and a bass guitar and a Casio keyboard.  At the time, I was listening to more rock n roll than electronic stuff.  I must’ve listened to The Clash’s “Know Your Rights” a million times...

There was one other critical thing that happened at this time.  One night, i was spinning the radio dial and i heard the sound of breaking glass--so i kept on listening and the next song that came on was Laurie Anderson’s “Oh Superman.”  I had accidentally discovered an experimental music broadcast, and i saw the light, i realized ANY sound can be musical, and that our everyday sonic environment is saturated with incredible textures.

so that’s that: i liked electronic music, i suddenly had access to electronic instruments, AND my musical brain had just been blown wide open.  So i proceeded to build a makeshift drum set out of some plastic buckets, tin cans, and some wood scraps.  And i also recorded my first experimental “composition”-- a bit of drum programming, a superfast Casio-fueled arpeggio blasting from a Peavey amp, another neighbor tapdancing around the garage, and me and my friend doing noise and incidental percussion with all the tools hanging around the walls.  I would so love to hear that recording now!

? If you find it, release it!   But about the drums / programming thing?

As a kid, i’d totally wanted a drum set but my parents wouldn’t buy me one, so i think that’s part of the reason that i immediately embraced programming when i got the opportunity.  Why drums as opposed to guitar?  i have no idea.  i like to dance, i love a killer beat.  Also you don’t need anything to “play drums.”  Your hands are attached to your body, and if you’re lucky, you can flap ‘em around rhythmically, no instructions necessary.  I was (and am) pretty introverted so speaking out with my voice, singing, took a back seat to slapping my thighs i guess.

By the time i graduated from high school, i was pretty heavy into Front 242, Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, Revolting Cocks, Skinny Puppy, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Severed Heads especially, but that was really just luck.  I lived in a small town in Texas, and the only reason i knew these groups existed was because a good friend just happened to work at a photo shop with an older guy who liked to go clubbing and just happened to be into industrial dance music.

? ...you’ve also played so many different forms of music--rock, jazz, noise, electronic...

yeah, for sure.  i’m interested in MUSIC, i don’t think any type of music is inherently superior to another.  So it was perfectly natural that i embraced drum machines AND playing drums.  I’ll play anything--if i can get a sound out of it.  I’ve done a gig with just tire chains, some minidiscs, and a small table.

? But when did you first start playing DRUMS ?

ah... i got my first set when i was 23.

Up to that point, i had been using some Roland SPD drum pads.  This was the early 90’s in Houston, Texas, and I had played in the experimental / industrial band Jesus Penis for a couple of years and had begun releasing cassettes under the Cyclops Joint moniker.  At the same time, i was also getting interested in jazz (thanks to Ornette Coleman and Elvin Jones) and noise (very little difference from my point of view).

And then I went up to New York for the first time and I happened to see William Hooker play with Marc Ribot and Elliot Sharp at CBGB’s.   and William Hooker rocked my world!!  I was like, fuck this, i’m gonna play drums!

A couple of weeks after i got home, Mike Bly of Sacred Cows asked me to play drums with him on a big gig, and I decided “fuck these Roland pads, I’m gettin’ a drum set.”  So i bought an old beat up kit from a friend a couple of days before the show, and I was dumb enough to think I’d just be able to sit down and play it.  It was a sold out show, opening for the Pain Teens, and I was exhausted before we got through the first psychedelic surf jam!  I can’t tell you how grateful i was when a girl climbed up on stage and did a spontaneous, slinky, crowd-distracting dance in front of Mike’s home-made dangling-crystal light show.  I was also grateful that Mike didn’t want to kick my dumb ass after we were done!


? Were you still doing electronics at this time? [ 2 years later ]

Comparatively little.  I had a cut on an international noise scene compilation on Deadline Recordings, but I wasn’t playing with Jesus Penis anymore, and Don had moved to Portland so Cyclops Joint was no longer a performing group.  I seem to recall somebody did a very limited edition Cyclops cassette release called “Map of Addicts.”  The second Bureaucracy of Hope compilation CD came out in 1996 and that turned out to be the very last Cyclops Joint release.

? So you were playing drums in rock bands for the last 15 years?

Nope.  One of the best drummers in town happened to move in next door and she suggested i meet a bass player named Paul Winstanley, because she thought we were pretty much on the same musical wavelength.  And she turned out to be quite right.  Paul and I are still working together today as Double Dunce.

? You mentioned Live’s interface--how much of a part did it play in your adoption of the software?

Definitely that helped tip the balance for me--it was so refreshing to not have to look at an interface that was pretending to be outboard equipment.  It was a terrific contrast to most everything out there at the time. I use Live constantly still, so i’m not exactly a hater, but i think it’s been cruising on reputation for a while now.  Seriously, if i were a product reviewer I’d be raising hell about the midi editing window--it’s like they’re being intentionally cruel for absolutely no reason--it’s a totally anti-user stance, ya know...  “No.  we will not add some subtle shading in the editing window so it’s much easier to use.”  It’s version 8--what the fuck?  3 out of 5 stars at best.  I’d be more likely to give it a 2 and the 2 would be for the interface and the session view.

? But you still use it?

Of course!  It is  a great musical creation tool---it’s just a terrible DAW in the classic sense.  I actually wouldn’t bitch about it, but they market it as a complete DAW, and that’s a fuckin’ joke to anyone who’s ever used Pro Tools, or Logic or Sonar or Cubase or Nuendo, etc. etc.  That’s why serious product reviewers should slam it.  But if you don’t know what a great editing environment is like, then you don’t know what you’re missing.

? Truly your disgust is refreshing!

 ...

? [ after so many years playing drums ] when you're programming drums, you're not thinking “god, i’d rather be bangin’ this out on a kit?”

No.  it’s a matter of using the right approach for the task at hand.  In dance music, you want to achieve a sort of sonic uniformity where the pulse is concerned--that gives you trance-inducing powers!  So the process of grid editing itself is sort of an analog to the musical structure.  But the idea of playing electronic drums in an improvising group like Society Giants is painfully absurd.  I’d be begging for a real drum kit in a matter of seconds.  You can create an incredible variety of sounds with a drum kit.  A 2,000 sound sample set doesn’t even begin to compare.

? But you can still play electronic drums without vomiting?

In the right context, sure.  “The Old Robot Kiss-Off” was 100% MIDI, composed on a shitty little grid.  But then I overdubbed 5 live tracks of electronic percussion, and a recording of some home construction going on in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

? You recorded the additional percussion via MIDI as well?

No.  I ran a stereo pair from my DTX [ Yamaha DTX-Multi 12 ] to my [ MOTU ] Ultralite.  I’d loop a few bars of the core tracks, and audition some sounds, and then just improvise from start to finish.  I think most of the time, i listened to the tracks i’d just overdubbed (along with the full mix) while i performed the next track, but i may have recorded one of the overdubs “blind.”

? Is that [ improvisation ] typical of your compositional / recording process?

Very.  It IS my process. [ laughs heartily ]

? ...the element of chance?

Yeah, I think it’s probably a brain defect or somethin’.  Maybe why John Cage makes perfect sense to me.  When i’m working on a song, I feel it’s like solving a puzzle as I build all the pieces from scratch--there’s no finished picture that I’m trying to reach.  And I like surprises because they can shift your whole perspective on a piece of music quite easily.  I like not knowing what the end product is going to be.  And I work in a very similar way when i’m drawing or working on video, even when I’m writing.  Just brainstorming, really.

But that’s not the only approach--sometimes I develop sonic and structural strategies, and then just plug the elements in and accept it for what it is.  My new album on Eden Gully [ “from the air & inside it” ] has a couple of pieces that were composed that way.

? Have you done improv based performances with digital or electronic instruments?

Yes, but I don’t enjoy it near as much.  I feel much more limited in terms of the sounds I might produce, but the thing that really bothers me is that there’s a physical disconnect between me and the instrument, and for me, that also produces a disconnect between myself and the other performers and the sounds and textures they’re creating.  You wouldn’t want to play a saxophone encased in plastic, right?  You’re not actually touching it.  There’s not a physical relationship between your anatomy and your nervous system and the sound that’s being produced.  Maybe that’s why I don’t mind using MIDI grid editors--there’s absolutely no expectation of a relationship between my physicality and the sounds being produced.

When you strike a drum, there’s physical recoil--the drum is also generating vibrations in you.  And you can make use of that relationship--it informs the sounds you make.  You know there can be a secondary relationship that’s a reaction to the initial strike.  Sometimes that means letting go of the stick and letting it bounce or roll.  But pretty much all the time it’s influencing my physical relationship to the kit.  I hit the drum in a certain way, my arms and body shift in reaction.  Now my body has been deformed by the instrument and that’s going to affect the next move I make.  In addition, all the drums are resonating.  It’s a very rich micro-environment--there are sound waves flying every which way.  You can really create a dense sonic atmosphere, really fill up a room with vibrations, and it’s all immediate and physical.  It can be a very powerful experience.  I don’t get anything like that when i press a key on a keyboard.  Even a real piano comes up short because there are physical mechanisms that separate you completely from the strings you are playing.

? So after all these years of improvising, and playing drums and guitar, why techno?  And why start releasing material now?

About a year ago I heard about Beatport so I went there to check out what was going on, and one of the first things I listened to was Oliver Ho’s [Raudive] “Chamber Music” album--mainly because it was called “Chamber Music!”  But I was immediately impressed by the cerebral nature of it.  The space and textures take precedence over the beat and there’s a strong emotional content to it, and the aesthetic was so kind of second nature to me that I thought “shit, if this is a part of what’s popular in techno music now, then there’s definitely a place for me.”  So I decided it was about time I actually shared some of the music I’ve been making.

END


Listen loud!