Blown Out

    “I don’t think we’re gettin’ inside.”  Spark a joint outside the Polish Sea League.  Finally uncoverin’ the six year mystery of what the fuck this place is on Thursday night with Drew and Brendan.  Tried to see Checker and Girl Fight.  Ran into Sree.  Missed both of ‘em.  But ended up catchin’ Troy’s set at the Fowlin’ Warehouse at least.  Best not to make a plan for Music Fest.  Or Blowout.  Whatever name they’re usin’.  Same piss.  Different pants.  Anything to give an excuse to drinkin’ in an alley with the homies.  Relivin’ juvenile delinquency.  There goes Hentch as ya leave Detroit Threads.  Passin’ by as ya hit a joint under the sign readin’ “BAKING COMPANY.”  Kaleb laughs as you pass it.

    KQ drags at the joint outside Sea League.  First set of the night for him.  Tried to make it out earlier.  But long night last night.  We tried catchin’ Corevalues at Bumbo’s earlier.  Immediately pressed against the wall.  Jo and Jack jammin’ on the Home Depot riff.  Sree tryin’ to wheel a cab through the room.  Every square inch filled with a body.  Calm down.  Try hittin’ the weed pen.  Ya know how many rock n’ roll horror stories start this way?  Don’t talk like that Kaleb.  Drew’s gonna freak out.  Listen to a song or two from outside before shovin’ off over here to try and see Cam.

“I gotta at least try to get in and see ‘em.”  KQ tries breakin’ through the overflow of people in the doorway.  Sounds of Zastava fill the air outside.  Groups cluster on the street corners.  Cops drive by slow to look over the miscreants chainsmokin’.  Enjoyin’ the noise without bein’ smashed.  Not even worth tryin’ to slip through to the back to see if the room with the pool table is open.  Hit the spliff.  Check my phone for the time.  Gonna miss the Toeboys for 208.  KC wanted to check out the Painted Lady.  All the homies playin’ at the same time.  Gonna be a night of sacrifices.  Might not get to see Cam tonight.  But at least I can hear ‘em from out here.

A text from Mom.  “I need you to know that Joey isn’t doing well.”

Thirteen years ago.  Alienated teenager.  Lookin’ for a sense of connection.  Convinced my mom to let us get a dog.  This black lab, beagle mix.  Named after a Ramone.  What do ya expect from a middle schooler gettin’ into punk rock?  The only other friends at the time was the music on my iPod.  Isn’t that what attracts any of us to pets?  To have a companion through the isolation.  A friend without judgment.  Givin’ nothin’ but unconditional love when we feel so fuckin’ alone that it just makes sense.  Someone to show us how goddamn valuable it is just to sit and savor this time we have to be alive together.

Antonio hops up from the pool table at Painted Lady.  Arms wrap around me.  I can hear him last time I saw him at Outer.  “I didn’t get to give ya a proper hug when I first saw ya!”  How important it is to have friends that go outta their way to hug ya.  Remind ya how goddamn valuable it is we have this time together.  Finally startin’ to break through the years of emotional unavailability.  The internal alienation and self-induced isolation.  Wonder how many people are still doin’ blow outta vintage porno mag pages in the bathroom?  It’d be nice if they still let ya smoke in here.  Could use a cig inside with the incomin’ texts about my dog’s oncomin’ heart failure.

Drew is breakin’ all the rules tonight.  Smokin’ weed and cigs with us outside.  Since Em is in Vietnam.  They laugh when Kaleb says this.  As if Em would ever tell someone they couldn’t smoke grass.  Hangin’ up the phone after Mom calls sobbin’.  Gonna have to go over there tomorrow.  Pet the dog for what might be the last time before the vet comes.  “My dog is dyin’...”  Kaleb gets up from the parking block.  Hugs me as I hit my spliff.  208 should be startin’ soon.  A nice dose of rock n’ roll feedback from your friends will help ya.  “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive…”  Been startin’ the mornin’ off listenin’ to Darkness on the Edge of Town.  And the Boss is right.  Your pets will tell ya the same thing.  Nothin’ wrong with enjoyin’ life in spite of it all.

“Take ‘em off!”  I yell to Kyle kickin’ his shoes off.

“We’ll get there.”  He laughs.

“We got there way sooner than I thought…”  Drew’s words wash away under the roar of guitar after Kyle strips the socks.  Crouch down.  Body draped over the speaker on the floor in front of the stage.  Head bowed.  Forehead on the stage wedge.  Hits the riff.  And then a wallop of noise as Shelby beats the drums in.  Body seizin’ in time and rhythm.  Head flailin’ around on my neck.  Veins bulgin’ in Kyle’s throat.  His clean, barefeet quickly turnin’ black.  Jaw hangin’ open.  Fuckin’ mesmerized.  Guitar vibratin’ my whole jaw against the wedge.  My ribcage rattles like Antonio’s guest tambourine.  Shakin’ from the pulse of Shelby’s kick.  Feel how the beat vibrates with your heartbeat.  This is what sonically spiritual cleansing feels like.

“Cam!”  I fall into their arms as I turn around and get off the floor.  Post set.  If you’re not fuckin’ floored after 208.  Ya must’ve gone deaf.  But ya should be both after.  Just glad I got to see Cam tonight.  “I saw you draped over the sonic altar.”  Chucklin’ the words as they hold me.  Hearin’ still temporarily blown out.  Ribcage still vibratin’ from the altar.

“Sounds like Devo…”  Kaleb jokes as Fen Fen starts inside Ghost Light.  Had to shake him outside of Painted Lady to get rid of his hiccups.  Rollin’ spliffs on the stoop as the final set of this year’s Blowout begins.  Kaleb still wonderin’ how Shelby looks so sick and hypnotic when she plays drums.  A roll of toilet paper flies back and forth over the crowd.  Joey next to us gettin’ wrapped up like a mummy.  Askin’ Jake to buy him a beer.  Derek flailin’ around the pit startin’ in front of us.  I may not have heard the Toeboys.  But I got to see ‘em for a minute at least.  “This is the first of three songs in our set about dogs…”  Luke blurts into the mic.  Jake arguin’ from his flyin’ V they need some songs about cats.

Dogs.  Cats.  Fuckin’ rats.  Shit.  I got a possum livin’ under my bathtub I’m startin’ to think of as a pet.  It doesn’t matter.  The bond between human and critter is sacred.  The purest form of companionship.  Showin’ us the importance of just fuckin’ bein’ there for the people we love.  Where would ya be today without the love of a pet?  The vet will say on Wednesday when we lay Joey to rest.  Labs try to hide their pain to continue bein’ there for their people.  Showin’ their commitment not to abandon us even as they stare Death in the eyes.  Fluid in their lungs.

“Fuck!”  Drop a glob of butter on the floor.  Makin’ toaster waffles in the fryin’ pan for me and KC after Blowout.  Talkin’ about mental health and the human need for unconditional love.  And I realize I learned this method in 2017.  Goin’ to a friend’s place after my first Hamtramck Music Fest.  Shoutin’ “parkour” jumpin’ off the cinderblocks at the rumored Hamtramck McDonald’s.  She made us all toaster waffles in the fryin’ pan.  Try that shit out if ya haven’t.  It’ll change your life.  The same way seein’ Caveman and Bam Bam at Paycheck’s for Music Fest in 2017 changed mine.  Makin’ me wanna call this city home.  Where I’d meet some really far out people.  Not only decoratin’ space and time and the whole damn continuum with art and music.  But beautiful people that teach you the importance of companionship.  Just fuckin’ bein’ there to enjoy this goddamn beautiful time together.  Holdin’ each other when it feels like life is gettin’ blown out.  That’s what this whole festival is about.  Wanderin’ the Earth with your best homies and havin’ a beautiful fuckin’ weekend.  Death starin’ in our eyes.  Music in the air.  Smoke in our lungs.  Under the circle sky.

Interview With Teo Wise

TEO WISE

SPOTIFY BANDCAMP  INSTAGRAM

Can you start by telling us how you began playing music?

I started playing music by learning some covers on you tube when I was a teenager, then with the time I just started to play random chords that I learned in different order and I sang some random words on it and that’s it. I thought it sounded cooler then much of the music I listened in Italy, so I went on. 

What's your current live setup like, as far as instruments? Have you been playing a lot of shows recently?

The last couple of years I played a lot of shows with my band “Teo Wise and His Mother”. 

We are always four people on stage. Usually I’m singing and playing E-Guitar, and sometimes I play also keys and the melodic. 

Then we have drums, bass, and second guitar or keyboards for melodies. 

You released a great split tape with Busted Head Racket on Painters Tapes. Can you tell us how that release came about?

Actually I got my own label “Spya Sola Records”, and the guys from BHR asked me if I was interested in releasing their singles on tapes.

I Listened to it, and I directly felt home, so I proposed them to make a split. Which came out as a 7” via my own label.  

And then we asked Painter Tapes if they would have like to release it in US. 

 What's the music scene like where you're from?

Where Im from the music scene is weird. I don’t really follow a specific genre, for me art is everything, it doesn’t matter what you do but the way you do it, the principles you follow. 

There are some bands that know each other in EU, but I feel like it’s not so open. I live in Germany, but Im from Italy, and especially there I see a big wall between Italy and the rest of the world. 

In EU is a bit better it’s hard to find real people that want to share something for real.

I'm not saying they aren't there but it's difficult, and for sure there are cool people taking care of it without taking them self too serious. 

What do you do for fun besides music?

For fun I do a lot of things haha I like cooking, I paint a lot. I Like to write, last year I wrote and recorded a spaghetti western short movie, 2 friends of mine were the actors. 

I read and try to find people that think like me and get inspired. I watch movies, I like to drink some alcohol and talk a lot. 

And even if it’s not for fun, I work to pay my rent and to buy some food, but I do just enough.

What do you hope people take away from hearing your music?

I Hope they feel that this is free music and have some fun, I‘m not stuck in a genre, I just do what I like. I hope they see that Im trying to destroy some walls that we create even in the art. 

What are you working on next?

I’m always on the next project haha. I got a new Album, which is currently being mixed by one of the guys from BHR. 

But before releasing that Im gonna make a big Europe tour in October with my band and also with Beta Maximo. 

How do you feel about the future of art/music?

I don’t know about the future, but I think people should take themselves less serious and have more fun.

Art can be a job, but if you start making art thinking about the Job, you are gonna make only something ugly and uncomfortable. 

To make art you have to start watching yourself and transform yourself in something, which can also be music or anything else. Even if you build a house you should know who you are. 

And we should look at each other, there are no “Followers” or “fame” we are all trying to express ourselves. 

Interview with Buglvr3000

 

 Buglvr3000

SPOTIFY

Can you start by telling us how you got started in music?

Music has always been a natural interest to me. Since I was a very young child I was fiddling around with sounds and constantly looking for new music to listen to. I remember probably starting around the age of five I would sit at my grandmother's piano for hours just piecing the notes together by ear. So I guess that was my first instrument, but the guitar was the first instrument I really consciously tried to learn. I started teaching myself guitar when I was about 10. I was really into Underoath and Dillinger Escape Plan back then. As I got into highschool I made other friends who were interested in music and we recorded some improv albums where we’d play really loud and yell about inside jokes. That was really fun. We were all really into Ween. I got Ableton when I was about 16, and from there I got really obsessed with recording. I didn’t really have any equipment, but I got a bunch of free plugins and I’d just lock myself in the basement and go crazy with it. I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time, but I ended up making what turned out to be sort of an experimental ambient synthpop album. It took about 3 years to develop, but that’s what really started it for me. Since then I’ve just been collecting equipment, always seeking to learn, and just spending a lot of time recording. I released my first fully realized project last October called Earthmover, and that was a pretty big deal for me. It’s a conceptual piece accompanied by a short story. It’s also my first solo release with vocals and live instrumentation. Since then I’ve only been getting better and having more and more fun.

Where does the name Buglvr3000 come from?

Buglvr is because I really like bugs. I added 3000 because it’s a really big number. Recently though, I’ve discovered even bigger numbers. There may be a change sometime in the future…

How would you describe your sound?

Probably the biggest descriptors I could put to my music would be post-punk and shoegaze, with occasional electronic elements. I like to include synthesizers quite a bit. A few bands and artists that have sort of shaped the way I look at music are Have a Nice Life, Deftones, Weatherday, Guided by Voices, Melvins, Boris, Fishmans, and Aphex Twin.

What are your thoughts on Detroit?

A depressing portrayal of economic inequality, but also home to a lot of great communities dedicated to things like mutual aid and independent art.

Any favorite local bands or artists you'd want to shout out?

Keep an eye out for Belial, really sick grindcore with a debut on the way. My other band Texas in Heaven if you want to hear some droney sludge metal type stuff. My friends in Clipboards, super nice group of guys who always put on a great show. Stations has some great minimal synthpop/new wave music. Zastava is a great Detroit shoegaze band. They played a mesmerizing set opening for They Are Gutting a Body of Water. Lava also puts on a great show. There’s lots of great music out here. 

What are you working on next?

Currently I have a 5 track EP that will be releasing later this year called BUGLVR. I put a lot of work into both the music and the album inserts and I’m really happy with how it’s all turned out. Keep an eye out for that and grab a physical copy if you like album inserts as much as I do. Aside from that I’ve been making a lot of sludge metal, hardcore, some IDM, synthpop, a little bit of nu metal. I’ve just been making music. Some comics too. I’m not totally sure what the future holds. Definitely looking at locking myself away for a while and planning out my next project pretty soon though. Whatever I do I want it to be big and focused. Likely some combination of comics and music. Maybe even some animation involved.

How do you feel about the future of art/music?

I don’t really know. If you’re looking at it from a capitalistic point of view, we’re currently experiencing an artistic drought. The art industry has very little quality art to offer, because innovation no longer affects profit. Independent journalism has been convoluted and watered down by social media. The decline of physical media and the collective obsession of social media has largely removed the meaning behind the ways we consume art. There is a lot that could be said about these things. But, as always, the real quality art takes a little more effort to find. And one positive about the rise of social media, is that communication is a lot easier. There are millions of great artists to be found in every corner of the internet. People collaborating everywhere. Community has always been the best thing for art, and the internet does make that easier. So there are plenty of pros and cons when it comes to these things. One community project that I found really inspiring was A2B2 Radio. That was a really great showcase of talent that caught a good amount of traction. Artists would submit a song or a music video and every month they’d select about an hour and a half's worth and stream it on discord. Lots of great artists got their name spread from that. So I’m looking forward to community efforts like that. I have some ideas of my own. There’s always going to be people looking to express their perspective, and that’s what I live for.

Interview with Wolf Eyes

WOLF EYES

WEBSITE  BANDCAMP  INSTAGRAM

Can you start by telling us how you first got involved in music?




Nate: My interest in music started with skateboarding in the late 80's. My skate punk friends and I would pull anything out of the dumpsters and shred it. Old crates, boxes of canned goods, heating ducts, and one time an entire cow carcass. This was just what we did, it wasn't too much of a stretch to start dragging the louder pieces of trash back to our basements and start banging on them together. 

Johnny: Hearing one of those Motown K - Tel comps when I was kid like 9 years old. Had it set up next to my bed so it would be the first / last thing I heard during the day. My mother Sharon played harp and accordion and jammed “Chorus Line” soundtrack non stop so music was everything as a youth man. Started with punk drums, then alto saxophone and electronics after that. Now its a combo of em all really. 

What does your current setup look like, as far as instrumentation for your live shows?

Johnny: Lyra - 8, Octatrack MKII, small cannibalized mixer feedback machine, Jomox T Resonator MKII delay filter, C - Melody Silver saxophone with X ray reeds, and new bass string / spring / reed instrument morphed from a white bed frame. 

Nate: I've been making my own instruments for 25 years. I am currently playing a homemade drum synth that is based on paper circuits developed by Peter Blasser of Ciat Lonbarde. I call it the Crash Box. It's a collection of circuits that work together to form a system of sequencing based on sacred geometry. Basically even nodes oscillate and odd nodes create paradox's and when they interact you get an archaic electronic pattern. I am also using an Octatrack as a sampler, mixer, FX box, file player and VCA. The combo allows for constant motoring of the random patterns produced by the Crash Box and live sampling. 

What have you been listening to recently?

Johnny: Anything on Tribe Tapes

Worth / Prose Nagge label

Gates of Janus new cd 

Anything on Easy Listening Label

Slacking “Roundhouse A Bootlicker” 7”

Ethix “Bad Trip” 7”

RRR Pure Cd’s

AMK “Needle Hit the Groove” set 

Nate: Mainly the Fall but I've dusted off all my old Underground Resistance 12's and they have been looping in the background of my studio.

Wolf Eyes upcoming record Dreams In Splattered Lines was recorded in Pontiac and Lansing. Can you tell us what it was like recording this new record?

Johnny: Handed off a lot of ideas / tracks in classic Home Taper fashion. Some old tracks, many of them new. A slew of splattered audio. The “suite” at the start is truly beguiling. We did not have a deadline and that kept things very fresh and choices sharp. Feel like it is our best full length, a truly varied strange journey through all sorts of tangled moods. 

Nate: Dreams in Splattered Lines was recorded following Wolf Eyes’ residency at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. We started by continuing to explore the ideas of short dense sound collages that had similar behaviors to ‘hit singles.’ Using a lot of ideas that we established on the Difficult Messages series, we started to look at hit songs like terrariums: folding the idea of music and sound happening inside sound environments we created in the studio. The record starts with a Car Wash that includes a Short Hands track playing on the car radio while waves of white noise and contact microphones are plunging into water buckets. The track is then played in a car while going through an actual car wash and finally layered and mixed in the studio. We recorded a lot of the tracks remotely and found that some of the overdubs were best done blind. So many of the tracks were swapped with eachothers. This helped create surprising transitions and breathe new life into simple ideas. 

Do you have a favorite medium for releasing music?

Nate: Lathe Cuts are my favorite.

Johnny: All formats are amazing and hold their own specialties / problems. Like Nate lathes are favorable but CDRs are prob my fave. Anything with soul. 

What kind of car do you drive?

Nate: 2001 Subaru Forester 

Johnny: 2009 Black Honda Fit aka the “Blues Hawk.” Had it from the jump, just had a radiator flush and CV joint fixed. 212K miles going on 412K. Love it. Manual. Broken locks and CD player so the aux in is for the audio destruction. 




What are your thoughts on the local Michigan music scene?

Johnny: Amazing from a distance. Has everything and has HAD everything. Bottomless. Like no other. 

Nate: It's my home and fam so it's complicated. I love it. 

So, do you smoke weed?

Nate: Tons, I love RSO oil.

Johnny: Roll it up MF.

 

What is one thing that would surprise people to know about Wolf Eyes?

Nate: That we rehearse and record every Friday unless we are on tour. This adds up to roughly 3021 minutes of music a year. We've release about a quarter of it for the past 25 years. 

Johnny: We have never stopped nor will. 

How do you feel about the future of art/music?

Nate: We are all doomed! LOL 

Johnny: Always bright and all ways dark. Even with a bleak AI future something will emerge utterly unique. Has to. “Be Yourself Don’t Hesitate.”

--- Wolf Eyes new record Dreams In Splattered Lines out May 26th ---

Interview with Katie Lass

KATIE LASS

Bandcamp  Instagram  HHBTM

Remove Records: Tell us about yourself and how you got started making music.
Katie Lass: Music has been a constant companion to me. I’ve been playing around with different instruments since I was about 15. It started with guitar and occasionally piano, sometimes other people's drums. In Arizona my group of friends during high school were a bunch of skate punk kids and that was a really important time for me. We went to tons of shows and our world basically revolved around music. I’ve had a lot of fly-by-night collaborations with other musicians over the years but mostly just meandering jam sessions, and hadn’t really tried writing songs in any deliberate way until 2020. 

I was tired of waiting around for something to coalesce with other people, and I had all this energy buzzing through me and ideas bouncing around. So I just bought some basic equipment and started recording things. Usually beginning with a chord progression on guitar but not always, sometimes a bass line or keyboard part, often a vocal melody. Whatever catches on the wind. I’m not a trained musician, maybe more of a painter/illustrator so when I’m making music it’s all about the textures and layers and I’m just kinda sculpting the frequencies to create the movement I want in the song. I’ve been thinking more about structure and using metronomes and things like that lately, as a result of playing live more. It definitely helps to boil it down to the essentials when writing songs you intend on performing repeatedly, so my new songs are a lot different than the ones on the forthcoming album. That momentum is really exciting, but I like the stuff from the first album just as much as the newer stuff. 

I’ve always listened to so much music and been around musicians my whole life so I feel like I’ve absorbed a lot that way. I don’t really want to rehash the past in terms of emulating existing genres, but I just do whatever comes organically. My process is for the most part really intuitive and reactionary. It’s all very meditative. I wouldn’t say I’m trying to escape reality entirely with my music but I’m definitely trying to reshape reality and create new environments and surprises.

Who are some of your inspirations?

Elizabeth Fraser / PJ Harvey / Trish Keenan / Luigi Serafini / Gary Panter / My Bloody Valentine / Delia Derbyshire / Takako Minekawa / Iggy Pop / Portishead / Arthur Lee / The Kinks / David Bowie / Blonde Redhead / Leonora Carrington / Arik Brauer / Henry Darger / Francis Bacon / Patti Smith, to name a few. It’s hard to narrow it down. I love musicians and painters and writers, all sorts of artists, across all mediums and styles, who do their own thing in their own way and aren't afraid of being different. People with fierce, playful spirits are the ones I gravitate toward. Magic sees magic, if you feel it you know it’s there.

You're getting ready to release your new record "Hypnopomp"? What does that title mean?

The word refers to a certain mode of consciousness leading out of sleep, characterized by hallucinations and projections which the dreamer perceives as real. I’ve often willed myself into a kind of trance state when I’m making things, and to me good music is sort of hypnotic in nature, keeps you suspended somewhere between this world and another. Some people mistakenly think it’s “Hypno Pop,” but that’s cool too. Symbolically this album was a sort of awakening for me in a lot of ways. For a long time I was just really shy and never imagined I could play my own music for other people. Making this album changed all that. I was able to accept the version of myself I already was and the capabilities I already had, which really freed me up to try things and delve into my subconscious. As a result I covered a lot of ground really quickly. The converse of that is “psychopomp” which is actually etched into the dead wax on the B-side of the record, and refers to the spirit that guides souls into the next realm after death. Not necessarily to be taken literally, it’s kinda just about letting go of your hang-ups and accepting that uncertainty is to be embraced rather than resisted, and that really renders the present moment more important than anything in your past or future. If you can get your mind into a state where you’re always half dreaming I think that’s kind of ideal, creatively.

How did you record Hypnopomp and what do you hope people listening to it will take away from the record?

Most of the record was recorded at home in my Hamtramck apartment, using a 2-input interface, a condenser microphone and a couple borrowed microphones and borrowed drums. A couple of the tracks were a collaborative recording process but 99% of the songwriting and recording was a solo endeavor. Basically I just started recording songs knowing I would eventually compile the best ones, but I wasn’t trying to make things that sounded similar or stick to a theme. I wanted to let some different styles interact. Some of the songs started as loops. Many of the tracks didn’t have drums or percussion until later. A couple of the tracks started as garage band recordings on my phone, but most of them I recorded through my interface using Studio One on my laptop. A lot of multi tracking, sampling and overdubbing, but in a few cases I would do a live recording of guitar or bass with vocals along to a beat loop. Mixing was really meticulous. In the beginning I was working with a wild amount of track layers, which I definitely started to simplify as time went on, but the action/reaction factor really took off during the process and a lot of things just happened really quickly and spontaneously.

Besides just a heady dopamine trip, the takeaway for people with this record might be that you don’t have to wait for permission from others to create the world you want for yourself. You can start right now, and just continue to build on that. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to make something strange or inaccessible. That's where the discoveries happen, which I think is a James Joyce quote, and maybe a Broadcast lyric too… probably tons of people have said that. The willingness to be vulnerable and make a mess is really the only way to get anywhere worth getting to I think.

How do you feel about the Detroit music/art scene?

To be honest I never feel too comfortable in any 'scene’ really… I’ve always just been a pretty solitary person preoccupied with working on various projects in my free time… but since I moved here from Arizona about 6 years ago, I’ve established some connections with a good number of really talented and supportive people and their encouragement has been crucial for me in the past few years as I’ve devoted more and more of myself to these things I enjoy doing and I’ve become more confident about putting myself out there. I feel a lot more comfortable collaborating with people these days and I definitely intend on setting up more shows and working with more people as time goes on. The Detroit music/art scene is great and powerful and raw. I’m happy to be here.

Who are some of your favorite local artist/bands/venues?

Outer Limits is always doing fun stuff. We just played with this new band Zastava at Andy Art Center, they have a really great sound. I like Eck. Sun Astros are good friends of mine, they’re always great. DaddyMother is sick. Shadow Show is cool. Day Residue rules. Just heard about this band Clinic Stars that I like a lot. Kathy Liesen’s solo music and paintings are some of the best I’ve seen/heard as far as my taste is concerned around here. There are a lot of other ultra talented and driven people around too, it’s all really inspiring.

If you could collaborate with one person, who would it be and why?

I’ve never been able to really plan or anticipate collaborations… they always just kinda emerge naturally if they’re meant to be. I can’t say I sit around thinking about hypothetical collaborations, but… maybe Isabelle Antena. That electro-samba stuff from the 80s still really gets me. I don’t know though, hard question! Tastes are always fluctuating.

How do you feel about the future of art/music?

I find the most pleasure when I’m planted firmly in the present moment. But I do know art/music for me will continue to be my main source of joy, and probably some pain too. It’s not all about having fun, it’s a lot of work really. 

Hypnopomp by Katie Lass is out November 4th via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records and Remove Records!!

The Whole Damn Family Band

 “This is what Dead shows must’ve felt like man…”  I lean into Jake’s ear as I snap some shots of the An-drool Corn Starrch Jamboree.  Or whatever the fuck they’re callin’ it these days.  Everyone in the band posted it as a different name.  Too much gear shufflin’ around and exchangin’ hands to get an accurate count on the band members.  And the vapor trails aren’t helpin’ much.  I’m smokin’ a spliff.  Scarf tied around my head.  I’ve never been one to take pictures durin’ shows.  Gotta stay in the moment man…  Mostly though I use this camera my sister gave me in high school as a fancy point and shoot.  I just hate usin’ the flash durin’ shows.  Broke my mom’s point and shoot as a kid exposin’ the flash in my eye.  But this is gonna be one of those “ya had to be there” moments.  Need some solid evidence I didn’t just trip too hard after our set.

“It looks like they just grabbed a buncha people off the street to play.”  KC whispers as they start on some spacey noodlin’ the way the Dead used to open their sets.  Andress Starr Family Groove Thang.  Sree in a construction helmet and vest.  Feelin’ like a real road worker holdin’ up traffic as they wheel their amp down the streets of Hamtramck after their set.  Two drummers.  Diego in the banana suit while Mahadeva hides behind a Spider-Man mask.  Geoff.  With a fresh shave!  Kyle.  With a clean shaven fingertip!  The prosthetic he built fallin’ off durin’ the 208 set outside the scene of the crime.

It’s nights like these I’m left thinkin’ about memories.  I put on my copy of Tonight’s the Night by Neil Young.  Bought it at a record store in Grand Rapids after makin’ the drive with a pinhole in the head gasket to meet a Tinder match.  What can I say?  In her first DM she talked about the Butthole Surfers.  I found out about the Butthole Surfers in the backseat of my mom’s minivan when she put on the Dumb and Dumber cassette with their cover of “Hurdy Gurdy Man.”  Anyways.  I remember tellin’ her when I bought it about the time I overheard Jake talkin’ about his favorite Neil Young albums.  I told him I always dug Tonight’s the Night.  “I bet you really dig heroin too Nips…”  And we both had a good laugh without him needin’ to know the truth.

I thought about coverin’ “Albuquerque” for our set.  First song that came to mind to cover when we got asked to play the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival.  This year’s festival dedicated to a hundred years of Hamtramck.  Has it been a hundred years of gettin’ drunk in the streets?  Let the Yeji Boys toast to a hundred more.  Even though I’ll miss their set Sunday while I get ready to go have a panic attack watchin’ some house DJ I’ve never heard of.  Man.  The things drugs and alcohol protect ya from.  At least I can still disassociate sober as I flashback to dancing as the art of escapism.

“This is the greatest city in the world!  I never wanna leave!”  Cam yells standin’ on a chair as we watch the Labor Day yacht races.  Thankin’ Jeff for hookin’ ‘em up.  My first Labor Day Festival I met Jeff pukin’ in the street and he asked me to kiss his dinosaur.  Pullin’ the stuffed animal from his shirt.  Cam didn’t get the memo it was bring your own damn water balloons.  You can hear the smack of one pop against someone’s face.  The kids dart into the street to salvage the unpopped balloons between laps.  Only one of the poorest cities in the country can pull off shuttin’ down the streets for three days to commit a mass act of rest.  The most defiant thing you can do in this system.

“It’s the most punk rock thing you can do under capitalism…  Be vulnerable and share your feelings.”  Stacey tells me this a few weeks ago at the fifth annual Punk Rock BBQ after she congratulates me on gettin’ cleaned up.  Four months to the date I had been off blow.  She makes it a point to tell me this because she realizes we’ve known each other for four or five years now.  Which means I’ve known most of you motherfuckers for four or five years now.  And we’ve seen each other through some shit.  Well.  You’ve all seen me through some shit.  Even if ya don’t know.

Kev and Antonio put their arms around me at the Magic Stick a week later.  Playin’ the Rachel Cobra memorial.  The first time they played a show at my house they were still in high school.  And they ripped...  Tonight.  I’ll get to feel the vibes of Sugar-T through those monitors as Antonio gains +100 shred for rippin’ my weed pen while on stage.  They’ve never stopped thankin’ me for tapes or bookin’ ‘em.  Even though the pleasure has always been mine to watch their growth.  Not realizin’ they’ve been inspirin’ mine.  Does the scene realize how much life it continues to breathe into people?

So much of who we are comes from other people and our memories with them.  Durin’ our set I wear a shirt I bought from Nick.  The Miller Time cap Jake bought me in LA when we first met.  The guitar pick with mine and my brother’s favorite Vine reference engraved on it is around my neck.  I got a Jager bracelet from an old coworker I used to drink too much Jager with on the clock.  And even spend a minute talkin’ to Manchester about the teal die earring I bought from Sav at a pop up at Nice Place.  Fuckin’ remember that bullshit?!

“I don’t wanna know the answer to that…”  Sean’s briefcase goes off like the bomb everybody used to think it was.  Pullin’ up to the function with a briefcase full of fuckin’ wires.  To this day I’ll look at the thing with the same awe-struck confusion as when I’d see it at the Russell.  The same awe-struck confusion as I watch the Andrew Starr Warrs Jedi Mind Fuck.  I remember Cam workin’ on the song at the Russell when we first got the lease.  Wanted as many instruments on it as possible.  I didn’t know THIS was the fuckin’ the vision!  Do you even realize how many motherfuckers are on that stage right now?!  Decoratin’ space and time and the whole damn continuum with pure genius.  How could you meet people like this and not find the beauty of life and bein’ a goddamned fuckin’ human?  How could you see somethin’ like that and not be inspired by the infinite realities we can create?  Unpack the work from your briefcase for Labor Day.  Rewire it to somethin’ that makes you wanna fuckin’ move.  Creatin’ sounds that prove to you the only limitation of reality is our imagination.

Snap some shots of a lost Jake.  Searchin’ for Sav.  For his uncle.  Lights a cig as he gives up his hunt for family and watches Cam’s cult.  “He came all the way down here to see me play and I didn’t even get to talk to him.”  Seems to be a recurrin’ theme.  I didn’t even get time to talk to my mom before she left.  Since I first started playin’, all I wanted was to play this festival.  Deep down that’s all we crave still.  That approval from the people we love that they’re happy for us.  Lookin’ for someone to give us reassurance everything we do is right.  Like that early house show at Shireen’s.  We’ll always be those lost kids on the festival grounds hopin’ to win the prize that’ll make us feel good about life.

ESG on Monday night might be responsible for reteachin’ me how to dance.  And feel good doin’ it.  But that ain’t got shit on this moment.  This moment is that prize.  This beautiful fuckin’ moment feels fuckin’ good.  Antonio and Kyle bounce uncontrollably.  Sunglasses and hair maskin’ ‘em from bein’ perceived.  Movin’ with the dual beat of the synchronized drums.  The band morphin’ into somethin’ you’d hear on a cruise ship through a wormhole.  Diego’s sax cuts through the open air as Sree cries into the mic.

I lay in the bean bag chair and begin to cry.  The way you do when nobody is there to see it.  “I’ve been starvin’...  To be alone…”  Ash the spliff as the words pass through the wire and into my ringin’ ears.  The memories blur.  Seein’ ‘em through the haze of chainsmoked cigs.  Drippin’ sweat and drippin’ noses.  “The odds of all of us bein’ here right now is so unlikely.  That alone should make us wanna savor these moments with each other.”  I hear Jake sayin’ somethin’ along those lines at the end of Summerfest while we listened to Daniel Johnston and Bob Dylan.  Infinite variables in our lives have led to this exact moment.  Takin’ direction from the infinite people our lives overlap with.

I mean.  If I hadn’t taken guitar lessons from Troy I never would’ve found out about Daniel Johnston.  Which is probably the only reason I’m here in the first place.  “What a great teacher to have.”  Peter says as we watch Troy’s band the Witches near the end of the night.  Which is funny cause a few hours ago.  Just a few feet away.  The man who taught me life is just the constant bangin’ of your head against the wall was sayin’ “who would want a miserable recluse like me around children?”  But those lessons spent usin’ vomit porn as a metaphor for the Dave Matthews Band were just as consciousness expandin’ as when he showed me the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.  And you can see all these dots connectin’ from different people and experiences.  Like the aux chords slitherin’ like sonic snakes from Sean’s briefcase.  You call it coincidence as it all melts together like Kyle’s feet on the ninety degree concrete.  Or maybe it’s one of the obvious signs you’re where you’re supposed to be.  How many times has Daniel Johnston saved your life?  How many times has the scene been your only motivation to bang your head against the wall another day?  Keep on livin’.  Wake the fuck up!  Get outta fuckin’ bed in the mornin’!

Splashed awake as Cam douses the crowd with a water jug.  Baptized and rejuvenated in infinite possibility.  “WE CAN MAKE EACH OTHER HAPPY!!!”  Cam screams.  Shimmies and shakes as they kick pedals around in the puddles on stage.  Danglin’ over the monitor.  So glad they moved here from Grand Rapids.  I was talkin’ to this girl from Grand Rapids one time and she said there was no sense in makin’ memories with people that aren’t gonna stay in our lives.  But KC I’m glad you’re here for this beautiful fuckin’ moment regardless.  Time flies.  Things change.  People leave.  But people never leave us entirely.  Even if they are merely a brief memory of how the right vibration can send life pulsin’ through your fuckin’ body again.

“WE CAN MAKE EACH OTHER HAPPY!!!”  The crowd screams.  Everybody moves.  Everybody bangs their head futilely against the wall.  Sax screeches.  Bass drivin’ with the dual drums direction.  We can make each other happy.  Maybe not forever.  Or even most of the fuckin’ time.  But we can build memories that help make the sound of our heads against the wall sound like the beat from the Andrew Starr Whole Damn Family Band.  Cam has always had a way of makin’ you feel like family.  “WE CAN MAKE EACH OTHER HAPPY!!!”  Hands clap.  Feet stamp pedals.  Instruments drone and squeal.  This place brings you in like home.  Ben says it durin’ his set Monday night.  How could you ever leave this place?  You think as you smoke a joint with Byron, the guy whose house you parked in front of.  This is the place where you found a will to live.  The people that showed you this world is as beautiful as you choose to make it.  “WE CAN MAKE EACH OTHER HAPPY!!!”  It just takes one good memory.  One beautiful fuckin’ moment.  Like Cam’s smile as they sit between the drums they lunged through at the end of their set.  One of those prized “ya had to be there” moments no footage could ever do justice.  These beautiful fuckin’ memories that will keep our vibrations pulsin’ and dronin’ with life.