The Worldwide Culture Gonzo Squad, Inc.

But I’m not particularly interested in trying to save humanity from its own march towards entropy.  I am only interested in being responsible for myself.  In the context of art, that means being a terror to all the principles that I believe are holding responsible and productive people back from gifting society with their contributions and calling out all the useless people for what they are.  And believe me, they are everywhere…from the highest social echelons to the lowest dregs.  America is disordered in ways that often blows my mind.  But like I said, I don’t consider my guiding principles some sort of noble mission that I have to bestow on the masses.  Fuck the masses.  Most of them ordain their servitude and wouldn’t even know what to do with freedom if it ran up and smacked them in the face.  Such self-loathing is contemptible, and if no one is willing to say it then I will, if not for anything but to let fellow free-thinking individualists on the margins know that they are not alone.  And if it’s funny, well then har har har motherfuckers.

I specifically speak of those who take a note from mall goths, in that they never allow themselves to smile unless they’re doing something “dark”. Hehe. It’s so rare that I encounter Satanists concretely on their feet, I forget the rest of your are out there. Apologies. Hail. You answered my next five questions with your one answer. And rather well, so moving on…

No apologies necessary.  I know the type, and often the presumed Satanists are much different than those who actually study Satanism.  They should spend less time on their makeup and more time on their brains.  Anyway…

I’ve gone over your work repeatedly and the one artist who keeps coming around in the brainpan, is Screamin’ J. Hawkins. I, by no means, imply rip-off status or even homage, but you two seem to share the same fire, and well, fucking boogie. There’s a fair amount of his influence in Psychobilly, but not oft in punk/blues. Or maybe it’s just punk is rarely infused with humor, anymore. Is there a connection for you?

I love Screamin’ J Hawkins, but he’s sort of an anomaly that transcends any easy box.  Maybe that’s the connection between him and me.  Really though that’s just rock n roll at work.  Rock n roll, more than anything else, has become more like an artistic philosophy than a sound.  The only commonality one could find throughout rock n roll is that there is always a relationship between rhythm and blues and an urge to push the boundaries of propriety.  Aside from that, one generation’s rock n roll may not have much of anything in common with another generation’s.  I think that’s why rock n roll always seems to evolve.

And punk has lost its sense of humor.  I blame activists and pop-punkers.  They’ve hijacked a great deal of punk.  The activist lot lost their sense of humor a long time ago when the politically correct took over.  If you’re not willing to offend anyone, you’ve resigned yourself to a sort of bland impotence that is the mark of the hopelessly irrelevant.  On the other hand, the pop-punkers found a way to sterilize and package the image.  Safe punk is an oxymoron and should be cast into obsolescence along with “soft rock”, “christian metal”, and other laughable art forms.

Speaking of fighting back, you’ve been at Ever-Reviled Records since 98. Any sign of winning/losing? I mean in a general sense. From the perspective of a musician in trenches, what’s the battle field looking like at the moment/since 98?

I generally don’t pay much attention to mainstream trends of music anymore.  I got bored with that a long time ago.  Perhaps when I was younger and more idealistic I’d pay close attention to it.  At the time, I thought I was sort of studying an enemy to try and find vulnerable openings, but as time goes on, it’s become clear to me that some precepts are immovable.  Mainstream music will mostly be a lame attempt to pander to the pacified, and the industry will always be defined by who you know.  That’s become even more so with the advent of digital production.

Now that is certainly an observable difference.  Nowadays, you don’t have to be a virtuosic musician to play music.  Hell, you don’t even have to be a musician!  We now have programs for that.  So one way that music has clearly changed is that, in general, the human herd is even more disconnected from the values that once made music a magical experience.  The innovative geniuses have been buried in a sea of plastic.  The average person is easier to please than ever.  Give them a simple hook that they could sing along to and some beat programmed by a computer, and they’re happy.  Lace it with some meaningless and horribly superficial lyrics, and you definitely have yourself a hit.  It also helps to tie it to some public soap opera that mass media can latch on to.  That gives something for the pathetic to vicariously live through.

It’s hard to say whether this phenomenon is a win or a loss for music.  I suppose someone may come along and use the digital palette in such a way that an undeniable level of achievement will be acknowledged, but the burden of proof is higher given the easily attainable possibilities of the medium, and I wonder, considering the values of the mainstream, would anybody even care?  My sense is that most music of value is far too sophisticated or unpretentious for the average person and would have the effect of a tree falling in the woods.  In order for there to be some massive change in this department, there would have to be a shift in social conditions that would make people fed up with this contrived nonsense.  You would think the current state of the world, from global warming to religious warfare, would be fuel enough to drive people away from trite pop music.  Such is not the case.  It will have to get worse.

No doubt, apathy is truly *the* ultimate modern pop song. No need for notes, really, as the masses who consume said “music” don’t even care for music. Or art of any sort, so far as I can tell. The bad guys are winning. But, I can’t help but foster a shred of hope, given that the same digital age that’s bastardized music, is also a breeding ground for folks like yourself. Our meeting was pure chance, but chances are someone would’ve sent me a link to your stuff after your performance. That ever-useful MySpace profile, eh? Love it or hate it, it’s a bloody handy tool, if utilized properly. The bleeting throngs aside, there are those of us out there, fighting against the stampede, who adore music that moves us…instead of the variety that just barks at us about buying space-age toothpaste, personal winnebago-tanks and edible underwear. I just went off to nowhere, didn’t I..? I guess that was about hope. I am new at this interviewy biz.

Oh yes, that is certainly true.  The digital age has brought the internet, and the internet has allowed many outlets for niches to find each other.  That is great news for music aficianados.  Never before has music been more readily accessible as it is now.  Of course, with that leveled playing field comes a wellspring of nonsense, so even that has its positive and negative.
 
If you could use your music as a collaborative tool in another medium, which would it be? Anything else tickling your fancy. Film, theatre, street performance, etc?

I approach collaboration very organically and don’t have any specific aspirations.  One area of expression that I really enjoy is writing.  I was a columnist for The Aquarian Weekly but was cut from the fray when they downsized.  In general, print mediums are collapsing under the weight of the internet.  But I’d like to compile those articles into a publication, and that’s an idea that I have on the burner.  I also made a cameo in the movie “Clown Dad”, which will be released on Troma Entertainment and even has Lloyd Kaufman in it.  There’s nothing like a sanctioned and recorded pie fight.  That was fun, and I always enjoy acting.  I’ve been in theatre and other things like it.  When possible, I like to dabble in that realm.

As far as what is tickling my fancy goes, I’m really enthralled by the surge of neo-blues that is coming out of labels like Alive Records, Fat Possum Records, and our own label, Ever Reviled Records.  Jersey City has an excellent crop of people exploring this terrain.  My own tastes are quite fringe and diverse.  I draw quite a bit of creative expression from these sources.  There are so many that it would be absurd to list them all here, but generally speaking, I tend to find value in art that has been lost in the memory hole.  I really enjoy finding those gems in the cultural dustbin, blowing them off, and giving them a spin.  I’m being literal about that too.  Vinyl is definitely a medium that has my attention, and I’m often sifting through records at shops and swaps.

Final query: If no one reads this article, do I get immunity?