Interview with Anomaly

Anomaly is an avant-garde sunyata rock band from Detroit. Their most recent album Average odd man out is a wild mix of shoegaze, grunge, jazz, punk, and experimental rock n roll. We spoke with frontman Dorian Turner about music, philosophy, the music scene, art, and more. Enjoy!!

ANOMALY

INSTAGRAM     YOUTUBE    BANDCAMP

Remove Records: Can you please start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you got started in music?

Dorian: well first off, this is an interview so we gotta clear the air surrounding me.....

im in this world, and not of it

im an interdimensional being, dropped down on this shithole of a planet for the simple fact of doing nothing other than accelerating our planet's progress towards higher levels of consciousness

i dont give a fuck about rules, because whenever i follow them it turns me into absolute misery

rules were made by dead people for the simple pleasures of controlling and enslaving the human race

you cant look me in the eyes and tell me that you are happy following your daddy's little rule book...

i am a black man that's never really belonged anywhere, so i can, and have, fit in everywhere

i am a mirror, reflecting whatever people want to see in themselves, back to them

i am a humble servant of god..... 

i am a pusher, whatever that means to you

a fire starter

the toughest musician in all of detroit, bar a select few who I REALLY RESPECT.....

i am hated for living my truth

i am loved for living my truth

i simply am

i got started in music off of a pure whim, a hunch, i just wanted to be in the 5th grade orchestra at Bates academy on west outer drive in Detroit, Michigan.....nothing more, nothing less

i didn't know it'd turn into this.....

i was an orchestra geek from 5th grade, all the way to when i graduated at cass technical high school, number one second to none.....playing cello and nothing else

then, in tenth grade year, at the height of my suicidal thoughts, i found Nirvana

not that cheap hindu stuff they peddle in front of people like a rotten carrot on a shit covered stick

..... but that small glimpse of pure consciousness kicked out of the skull of a particular Kurt Donald Cobain.....

nobody touched me more as a muscian

as a human being

nobody made me want to live more....

just for the simple fact that i want ro do what he did......

take the guys and gals who are at the bottom of their abyssal dreads, and show them, that even in their own pain filled existences, there is a light that shines like no other....

anomaly is really about all of the broken hearted nimrod freakazoids coming together to find each other's light..... to heal, to help, and to make sure that it doesn't take people as long as it did for me to absolutely go batshit crazy in this world and actually enjoy themselves

ACTUALLY FUKKIN ENJOY THEMSELVES

I’ve seen some wild Anomaly shows, you always put on a good live show. I was wondering if any shows in mind specifically stick out to you?

mmmmm...... idk man I'd have to think on this one

there was that one show at the tplex when it was me, sean Monaghan, and nick s....sorry nick your name is really hard for me to remember...... and we were performing Honeymoon, as the last song of the set, like we usually do, due to the fact that the end of the song honeymoon is where you take anything you have left in the tank as a musician and give it to the crowd by going absolutely batshit crazy.....

and you know sean isn't the type of guy you'd expect to do these type of things....

sean would walk around people at his own inconvenience before he says excuse me

sean has been nice to every single waiter that has came across his path

sean is a pacifistic warrior, a godsend of a human being, and i know the impact of this statement has been dulled and nullified due to grossly negligent overuse of the phrase, a clichè if you will, but this dude would let a fly crawl on him before he thought of doing it harm.....this man wouldn't hurt a FLY!

but ever since that night..... I've never looked at sean the same ever again

I've been a little nicer to sean

a little kinder to sean

a little less pushy to the man

just out of pure FEAR!

this guy Sean took the fender p-bass that he was playing, the one that he borrowed from nick himself, tapped the drumkit's crash, unassumingly of course, for straight theatrical effect, and, to our most resolute astonishment, cleanly shorn the bass headstock into two almost identical pieces

im talking bout the most surgically precise, professional pool player accurate, painless and effortless, zenlike flow state of mind tear of the headstock.... 

of course.... the universe is a fucking joke..... of course the most tactful, caring, and empathetic person in all of metro detroit had to be the one to get laid that night simply off of pulling a stunt that he had no intentions of doing..... i mean fucking pete fucking Townshend WISH HE COULD FUCKING RIP AXES INTO TWO AS PURELY AS MY MAN'S SEAN DID THAT NIGHT....all touch, all finesse, no more force than necessary, just a simple kachink!, and the big red was ded.....

What’s your recording process like for the band?

man

i am embarrassed to admit it but there's only been two songs recorded with a live band at this point......

je ferai-

recorded at RR HQ on the same day LAMENTATIONS 2.O dropped 06/07/2020.....

oddly enough, sean was the recording engineer for that session

the lineup was chris wilkinson on bass

henry potter.....HENRY MUTHAFUKIN POTTER ON THE MUTHAFUCKIN DRUMS YALL MAKE SOME MUTHAFUKIN NOISE RIGHT NOW!!!

IF U AINT ON THE DANCEFLORRR RIGHT FUCKIN NOW U GETTIN THROATPUNCHED INTO THE NEXT DIMENSION....

............................

sorry

im truly sorry about that folx

i deeply apologize to the infinitude of my soul......

henry just..... he just draws that type of energy out of me whenever the concept of him pops into my head, ya know?

after unprofessionally practicing for 30 minutes, we finally got our shit together and recorded the damn thing....

we did 3 takes, but cam decided, that masochistic bastard decided, that the first take was the best one

i don't agree, or disagree, im just glad to be on the same vinyl, let alone the same plane of existence, as BIG UP MENACE X....

honeymoon-

lineup:

me craig garwood (drums) and dylan marcie(bass)

oh man that was a sick lineup

too bad my egotistical nature made it unravel to shreds......

ahhh to be young again.......

that one took a while to get together

we took like 8 live takes

sean was also recording engineer on that track

maybe there's a pattern here....

everything else has been a simple setup consisting of:

a pair of headphones (sometimes just apple earbuds as in the case of both lamentations)

a 12 inch practice amp

a fender strat

and garageband

i need serious help folx

im so fucked up

i shouldn't even attempt to put out music with my set-up

like its literally so laughable and ridiculous and utterly disgusting

but its really an internal itch that can only be scratched by the things that i produce

anybody who has created anything understands what i mean.....

What are your thoughts on Detroit and the music scene?

bro imma be straight up honest

the Detroit music scene has some really good qualities to it

everybody is super talented, for the most part

everybody is on their own grind

everybody has some type of ambition

everybody has at least one person in the multiple niches of the scene that is trying to build a strong sense of community

and

that's fine and dandy and all.....

BUT WHEN THE FUCK ARE WE GONNA TURN OUR HEADS AROUND AND GET SOME REAL COLLAB GOING

EVERYBODY IS CLOSED OFF FOR NO REASON

THERE IS NO REASON WHY SWOOZY DOLPHIN DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT DIRT ROOM

THERE IS NO REASON WHY BIG UP MENACE X ISNT AN INTERNATIONAL POP STAR

THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE HAVE 3 SHOWS COMPETING WITH EACH OTHER ON THE SAME DAYS, IN THE SAME NICHES....

LIKE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DETROIT

WHY AREN'T WE ATLANTA YET?

WHY AREN'T WE BALTIMORE YET?

WHY AREN'T WE A GLOBAL CITY YET?

there needs to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy more collaborating going on man

like a shitton more

people are so stuck in their comfort zones

this scene is cliquey as hell

too many fragmented pockets, no true sense of comraderie or community BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL NICHES THAT ARE VERY FUCKING SIMILAR... 

but 

I can't even blame anyone or anything forreal forreal

because am i describing Detroit, OR AM I DESCRIBING OUR SOCIETY AS A WHOLE?

i guess im going to have to be the man with the cape,

the oddball who is zany enough to ATTEMPT to reconciliate all of the beefs between the major houses of the Detroit scene. i guess i gotta set up the modern day League of Nations up in this piece.....

im not saying we have to like each other

im not saying we have to eliminate what makes our niches special

our individualities

 none of that.....

ALL IM SAYING IS THAT WE SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE GREATNESS IN EACH OTHER, AND TAP INTO THAT AND THAT ALONE....

you might say "well that's using people"

duhhhhh. that's what everybody is doing, but people call it "help"

idgaf about any objective other than this..... PUTTING DETROIT'S DICK IN THE MOUF OF EVERY MAJOR MEDIA OUTLET IN THE COUNTRY SO THAT ANYBODY AND EVERBODY WHO HAS A DREAM OF DOING WHAT THEY LOVE CAN DO SO WITH RELATIVE EASE.....

and please, for the love of god, let's learn from the mistakes of New York..... but the gentries are makin it hard.....

its all about the energy

all about the art... really

and we are just talking about music here

there's so many great artists, dancers, filmmakers, models, photographers, finessers, and swagmeisters in this city man

like dvd city and remove records should be besties at this point, or something along those lines at least......

too much talent here to not be organized into THE ZENITH OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

THE PINNACLE OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

NO WAY DETROIT SHOULDN'T BE A GLOBAL CITY BY NOW.....

and everybody has settled for this filth..... im like bro i can see the future, where nobody is scared to interact with positive people who are just like them

as a natural born outsider..... im able to hop from pocket to pocket, and i cna honestly tell you that WE ARE ALL DOING THE EXACT SAME SHIT IN SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT MANNERS

WE GOTTA GET THE GROWTH SERUM PUMPING INTO THIS CITY'S VEINS MAN

WE GOTTA JUST PUT OUR HEADS TOGETHER, OUR DIFFERENCES ASIDE, AND MAKE HIGH QUALITY PILLS OF EXPANDED CONSCIOUSNESS KNOWN AS ART!

I DON'T GIVE A FUCK.....

IT IS POSSIBLE, AND IT WILL HAPPEN 😤😤😤😤

What's one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

i don't think people are surprised by me anymore

there's nothing you can really put past me at this point

but one thing that people should be surprised to know about me is that...

hmmm this is a very hard question for some reason.....

i feel like one thing people should already know about me, but i never really get a chance to make clear, is that, throughout the majority everything that i do, i really do have the best of intentions....

all i want to do is make it to where everyone has a space to committ to their most highest good

i might be vulgar as fuck, wild, uncouthe, crazy. i say things with 0 tact or consideration involved. i do things impulsively from time to time....

but i do not regret anything really, or i at least try not to

because i know that everything i do is for the betterment of the whole, really......

so that's why im able to allow myself to be so dark....

because i know i could never go there, ever....

its like im parodying everything serious in this world at all times

i am a joker

a jester

a fool

someone who makes fun of the rules

someone who can and cannot be taken seriously at the same time

i don't know whats a facade that i put up, or the real me, sometimes..... all i know is that laughter truly is the best medicine, and i gotta pop these jokes off for all of the heavy-hearted sad saps like me of the past

i am becoming the person that i needed in my life, i guess

Who’s one musician/artist you’d like to collaborate with?

i know u said one but come on cuhhhh, im way too complex for that...

BIG UP MENACE X

nobody can touch him man

nobody

anybody that claims to

doesn't need to lie to themselves so harshly

I don't even think I'd want to collaborate with that man

i don't want to tamper or taint his light, ya know?

big ups to menace x...  

everybody else can kick fukkin rocks

SLOPPY JOAL

idk man everything my mother's taught me is telling me to stay clear from that man

making music with him in the right setting would be legendary

we always are talking big ideas, and that dude actually has a fucking imagination on him.....

coyote jungle, that's all ive got to say

craig garwood

idk if craig loves or hates me at this point

but either way

chainsaw is the best melody I've heard in a while

craig has got a real knack for music

I'd think we'd push each other to the next level

but that's neither here nor there.....

caz aglets ppl 00 away

me and caz could be the next kanye and dean

i love his musicality, its a sight to behold

he makes unique music in a overtly oversaturated market, its a sight to behold.....

he's just a sight to behold

beholdeth Cazeth Aglets

jodye

man,

darshae is darshae

i love him dearly

we could make some renegade bangers

i really value his darkness, its beautiful

idk man i get horny for the dark and mysterious types

but i know

through it all

that that man darshae has a good heart

a noble heart

he's a good kid man

fucked up, but aren't we all?

bugbrains

i just want to be around them more and more and more and more ya know?

its as simple as that

we could make some noweeze ya know?

xanderlong

soul mate

he's not at the top if the list because he's at the bottom of my heart

whatever we make is so unprecedented that mere mortals cannot begin to fathom it

pure god essence encapsulated into hu-man form....

Andrew star

idk if he still exists

but it'd be cool to tune up some tunes with them every now and again, ya know?

What are you working on next?

idek man

just getting the resources in order to make something that doesn't sound like it belongs in the rat-infested, needle laced back alley dumpsters of chinatown

not chinatown San Fran, 

not chinatown LA, 

but......

chinatown new york.....

other than that, im trying to build strong relationships to the point where we can actualize a music scene in Detroit, the way that i, and a couple of close friends of mine, envision it.

the way that it will be.....

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

music is finally getting released from the shackles of old white men and capital greed and is finally able to see its truest forms and expressions

music is getting back to its roots....

of course popular music will always be a joke, for the most part, because our society eats anything packaged properly enough.....even if its dogshitt...... why do you think tv was so relevant for so long.....

but music is and always will be an escape for most people, as it should.....

but we are now at the turning point where music will be used to actually help solve our problems, and not run away from them.....

i feel like thats the common theme with people my age.... the buck stops here

our parents had it so lucky, they never had reached the point of critical mass where solving society's problems meant whether or not we'd survive as a species

but us young people understand and recognize that

that's why we're so fucked up

we have nothing to hold on to really

all of our illusions are slowly but surely being ripped away

no more chairs to sit on

the world is moving too fast for us to handle

but, music is always there

the best part about life is that music is always here for us to beholdeth

the most universal of all human experiences

its always there

and it'll be there way after we blow ourselves up to smithereens

or natural disasters occur

or the apocalypse smoothes itself over

if you really want to see the future of music, the pulse of humanity, the interlocal nonlocality manifolding into itself, then spend a day on soundcloud

i sleep on soundcloud

but that's where our generation is at, really.....,

The Florida of the Midwest, Devocore Blues

 I know why they tell ya to wear a mask when you’re walkin’ around this place.  Not just to protect yourself and others from COVID.  But you don’t even need all the booze to make ya hurl when ya walk into the bathroom.  Converse splash in the puddles around the toilet with painter’s tape ripped from it.  Watch the liquid run from your heel to return home to the puddle on the floor.  When you kick the toilet flushed.  Or at least attempt to flush.  At least the sink’s got runnin’ water.  Probably where the 25$ fine for leavin’ trash in the hallway goes.  Maybe we shouldn’t be cleanin’ up after ourselves.  Billy Bee asked a buncha people to go in on the studio when everyone else bailed.  You can find YouTube channels dedicated to people squattin’ in this building.  There’s no soap in the bathroom.  And accordin’ to everyone else.  The rats are big enough and smart enough to be guard dogs.

Nobody knows whose foot went through Bubba’s face.  And the skateboard is missin’.  But we found a full script of gabapentin in an empty room.  The walls vibrate in the halls from bass and reverb.  And it smells like the dispensary that just opened up has a lotta potential suppliers in the building.  We find trees growin’ through brick walls in people’s basements.  “Whip-its make the tinnitus sound sick!”  Billy Bee drones.  They say poppers are just your brain askin’ yourself what you’re doin’.  The things we do for tone.

Ian Mackaye’s face is split in half by the fire extinguisher we don’t know how to use.  And I didn’t even know was fuckin’ there till we projected this movie on the wall.  Heathcliff the Big Cheese mocks the straight edge asshole while he says the scene wasn’t where the show was.  The scene happened on the curbs.  Brannon talks about spendin’ the day collectin’ beer cans to buy a Burger Thang.  Three burgers and a pop for a buck fifty.  How else would twenty year old kids survive?  I mean.  Mangosteens scare the shit outta me.

The Guilty Undertaker plays the honky tonk.  Sings about sittin’ on their couch.  Trippin’ balls and watchin’ their cat.  Got the house shoes on.  Walk down the block and pick up some Boostan.  Old timers and moonshiners drunk on their porch start conversations.  The self-aware horse microdosin’ ketamine is passin’ a joint to the wild turkey terrorizin’ the street cats.  Trees are spray painted for doomers.  And the baby boomers turn away in despair.  “Suspension is a luxury.”  They tell me tossin’ a backpack in the trunk before we drive eight hours to the March on Washington.  You’ll only blow a tire in the Florida of the Midwest.  But the telemarketers for Jesus don’t get the joke.

“You’re livin’ the twenty somethin’ year old’s dream.”  Baby Audobhan the Mad Organ Grinder laughs to me.  Learnin’ how to do protest audio.  Takin’ a Kerouac inspired deadend to find the America they told us about in high school.  Curtis Mayfield moans the elevator music in my head.  Eatin’ Adderall like Flintstones gummies.  But still the only pill I choke on are vitamins.  Shit.  Half the time I don’t even remember to brush my teeth in the morning.  As I’m typin’ this I’m thinkin’ I forgot to.  But I’m livin’ off unemployment.  And sellin’ plasma to fund Santa’s Workshop.

“Ya know.”  Drag the cig.  Baby Audobhan the last pure one of the scene that hasn’t visited Joe Camel’s tar filled oasis.  “God and Santa aren’t much different.”

Joe Camel is probably hooked up to a ventilator in a death ward in El Paso right about now.  Won’t see an exorcist to declare the time his energy leaves his body cause he doesn’t have insurance.  He probably hasn’t exercised in ages anyways.  Mitch McConnell will tell ya he had it comin’ when you run into him in a deadend in Pan’s Labyrinth.

We spend so much of our lives runnin’ in circles.  Tryin’ to weed whack and smoke enough grass to get through this hedge maze.  But when ya eat three hits of acid the Verve’s “the Drugs Don’t Work” loops in your head.  We spend so much time tryin’ to connect.  Tryin’ to feel part of somethin’ bigger than we are.  But at the end of the day we all go it alone.  Even the doctors won’t be there for us when our consciousness implodes in the familiar feelin’ of DMT.  Yes.  It seems more apparent than ever that we’re all dyin’.  I can see the energy slowly escape mine and all my friend’s bodies.  And each day it seems closer than ever.  The day my friends assume my naked body replacin’ my shower curtain is just another case of sensual self-loathing.  Not realizin’ it wasn’t an accident I forgot to put a lemon in my mouth.  In case of emergency.  Do not revive.  Shove the twenty three year old fetus down a K-hole in your brain.

“We have narcan?”  The Doomkeeper asks frightened.  He sees all us tightrope walkin’ between the Twin Towers.  But this is the first time we’ve ever had a safety net.  They say don’t do anything the person in front of you understands.  And only the Guilty Undertaker understands the dreadful joy of findin’ a half gram horse in your camera bag.

Drop the blocks.  Crunch the numbers.  Play the apps funded by the ADA.  The toaster is cookin’ on the open flame of the stove.  Razorblades spark in the microwave on David Bowie’s star of fame.  And a bowl of Count Chocula spoils on top of the snare drum.  Look outside the window while I hit electric nicotine.  In any flavor your childish tastebuds can imagine.  Watch the donkeys and bluebirds dance in the alley to “Girl U Want.”  Oh mama.  Don’t tell me this is the end.  Stuck with the Florida of the Midwest, Devocore blues.  Shit.  Sounds like somethin’ that would even scare off Bo Diddley and John the Kangaroo.

There’s somethin’ calmin’ about Adventure Time though.  I don’t know anyone’s name.  But do we ever learn who anybody is?  There’s somethin’ calmin’ about the way the end credit song can trigger a dissociative episode.  “Come along with me…”  My eyes shrivel inside my skull.  The donkeys and bluebirds and twenty three year old fetuses fall through the K-holes of my skull.  And I can watch myself.  From my vantage point spinnin’ in the rust orange piss of the toilet.  Not understandin’ what my own body is doin’ in front of me.  Maybe those straight edge, third wave ska kids were onto somethin’ more than checkered fedoras.  Because the scene isn’t what happens in all the Instagram stories.  The scene isn’t an homage to Bob Dylan.  Jack Kerouac.  Joe Camel.  Or John Fuckin’ Brannon.  Check it out!  The scene happens on the curbs.  The scene happens in the K-holes of our skulls.  It happens in all these moments we see the energy drainin’ from each other’s bodies.  Bone marrow turns to lines of baby lax and amphetamines.  The twenty dollar bills unravel into ratty old ones.  They say the scene survives on the same fifty bucks exchangin’ hands.

The scene happens when we realize our friends are doin’ things we don’t understand.  So we don’t know how to save each other.  But we can see the reflections in the ways we destroy ourselves for tone.  It’s a sad reality.  And maybe that’s why it’s so hard for us socially awkward and mentally unwell people to make friends.  Connect.  We know we’ll never get outta the hedge maze in the Shining.  Even if we buy an automated typewriter.  We know the reason we love free jazz is because that chaos is the elevator music runnin’ in our heads when we turn our brains off.  We all know no matter how much we start to understand each other.  We still gotta drunk piss alone in a taped off toilet.  Nobody even there to hold our hair back when we puke from the meltin’ pot of our consciousness.  The unflushed toilets.  And all the alcohol we can find to sanitize our insides.

Happy Little Accident

If I had to ask one question

I’d ask Michael Stipe

How he feels about

“Shiny Happy People”

Being used in that

Bob Ross ad

I’m not sayin’

R.E.M.

Is highbrow art rock

Although

They’ll always have a place in

My heart

Mom used to play ‘em

All the time before

The divorce

But that must be an honor

To be asked by probably

The greatest artist

To walk the Earth

I never got into landscapes

Much

I mean

How can the literal be

Considered art

But then again

I don’t even know how to write

A single fuckin’ metaphor

Or simile

Only realism for me

Thanks

I just happen to live

A very strange kinda life

Took me a while though

To really understand what they meant

When they said

Art imitates life

Cause god and Santa Claus

Aren’t much different

They both got a sick sense of humor

Watchin’ people live in fear

And I know that’s why

Michael Stipe considered

“Shiny Happy People”

A throwaway track

A silly song

But Larry the Cucumber

Wasn’t available

To guest vocal
Michael Stipe

The original indie kid

Tryin’ to act all mysterious

And dark

Can’t even say

“Shiny Happy People”

Is a fun track

So what did he think

When Bob Ross used it

In that ad

Was he able to smile

Or cry in joy

Cause it’s a perfect fit

This goofy track

About just fuckin’ havin’ a good ass time

Livin’ life

Laughin’ about the happy little accidents

And then Bob Ross comes on your screen

While you’re comin’ down from acid

In an RV

And the song on in the background

While he reassures everyone fucks up

But everyone can fix ‘em

It’s all part of the joy

In the art of life

Skid your knee

To Jackson Pollock

The sidewalk

End up unable to own

A house

Cause your pops

Didn’t know how to pull out

In time

Scream like Yoko Ono

In the middle of rush hour

Doesn’t fuckin’ matter

Let the bullshit

Smear across your canvas

And fuckin’ smile

For once

Maybe you’ll find it better to laugh

When you fall down the manhole

To rock bottom

With nothin’ to eat

But a spoonful of dog food

Up the nose

Into the bloodstream

Cause that’s what makes life

Fuckin’ artistic

The fuck ups

And our ability to continuously

Piss in the fan

And hope at least one

Single

Droplet

Makes it between the blades

Even if we end up soaked

Interview with Pom Poko

POM POKO

BANDCAMP  INSTAGRAM

Pom Poko is a post-punk band hailing from Oslo, Norway. What makes them stand out from the rest is their ability to make sugary pop-inspired melodies with a twinge of noise and jazz influences. The band released their second album, Cheater, in February 2021. They recently released a string of tour dates in Norway and the UK. We talked to the lead singer, Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit  about the new record and their first and last show in the US before the pandemic. 

Congratulations on the album Cheater. That's really exciting.  How has everything been during the pandemic?

It's been weird of course, because we can't tour, so we don't really get to see that we released an album. It's just now it's out there and we don't get to play and we don't get to like see people reacting thing to it. So in that way,  it's different, but it's nice as well. Yeah. It's been finished for a while and it's nice to get it out.

Did you get to  tour outside of Europe for the last album?

We were in the US for one day because we left from Norway on the 12th of March or something. And we played one concert in New York and then we went backstage after we played the show and we saw the press conference with Trump saying they were closing the borders.

Oh gosh so were you able to make it back? 

Yeah, we were just able to make it back with very expensive flight tickets. And we got back to the day after.

That's crazy. The one night that you did perform in New York, would you say the audience was any different than your usual in Norway? 

I think the whole experience was very strange, because everyone was very scared of the virus. I think also the audience was like, should we really be here?

With your songwriting and production, would you say that a lot of it stems out of improvisation or is it more planned?

It's mostly improvising. I would say we improvise a lot and then we like to structure it afterwards.It’s a combination of improvisation and structure. 

With you all trained in jazz too, that must be kind of natural to you all. 

Yeah, it is. It is. That's where we met at jazz school and that's how we started making music as Pom Poko.

An article on your Bandcamp says that with Cheater, all of you kind of strove to make it a more or less frantic part of yourself. Obviously  there's more control on the songs in songs like “Andrew” versus maybe ``Theme Number One”. How did you balance the loud moments with more subtle?

I don't know. It wasn't a choice we made. We just made songs that were more, either quiet or noisy. I think it just happened. That sounds very boring, but I think we never like sat down and said, we have to do more songs like that or this or that. Mainly, the songs came out of our improvisation. But we are strict with the ideas. We all have to like them to let them pass. If one person is like, no, I don't want that, then we can't do it.  

How long did it take for you to make this album?

We started writing maybe two years ago in February we started making the first song. But then in 2019 we toured a lot and didn’t have the time to write as much. So we wrote most of a year ago in the spring of 2020, and then we recorded it in two weeks maybe.

Was there anything that you were listening to a lot at that time that inspired what you guys made? Or was it more just internal?

I think when we are on tour, we always listen to music that we hate and like at the same time. I think this album is a bit inspired by Nintendo games really because the guys in the band play a lot of Nintendo when we're touring. They get these Nintendo references that I really don't know, but they start saying that the album title Cheater is from a game called Mario Tennis, Mario tennis. It's a character called Waluigi, who says, you're a cheater! You're a cheater. I'm a cheater.

Do you think that there's a lot of uniformity within the Norwegian rock scene or does everyone kind of do their own thing?

Hmm, I don't know. I don't think everyone does their own thing, but we're very few people and there's a lot of music. So if you look at the number of people who are here, the music scene is quite big and what they call it diverse.

Interview with Terminal Vertigo

Terminal Vertigo is a garage punk band from Washington D.C. Their latest release is 2019's Always On! an inzane mix of punk, surf, noise, and more. We talked to TV about their music, the D.C. scene, what they're working on next, and more. Enjoy!

TERMINAL VERTIGO

BANDCAMP  INSTAGRAM

Thanks for doing this interview! Can you tell us a bit about the instruments you play?  
Matt: I sing and play guitar in Terminal Vertigo and grew up playing drums in a thrash metal band. 

Susan: I sing and play bass in Terminal Vertigo and grew up playing flute in a flute quartet.

How did Terminal Vertigo form?

Matt: Terminal Vertigo was the creation of mine and my girlfriend Susan about 3 and a half years ago, we both grew up in Washington DC for the most part, but have both lived somewhat nomadic lives. We had just moved back to DC from Philadelphia at the time and wanted to put our all into starting over and going into this new phase of our lives strongly. The concept and first few songs all kind of just came to us as we worked on it those first few months and it felt like an epiphany.  The perfect outlet to deal with some of our issues past and present while beginning to define our future. We’ve had a couple different drummers over the years.

What have you been listening to lately?
Matt: Lately I have been listening to a lot of hardcore punk but I love rock ‘n’ roll in any form really, it’s what I live my life by.  I will go back and forth through different phases of things I guess depending on my mood and what’s going on in my life.  I appreciate anything though as long as it’s loud and rebellious in spirit.

Susan: We have the same core taste in music, although mine may stretch along broader spectrum. Rock n’ roll is my go-to, and lately I can’t stop thinking about Mongolian throat singing. It was banned by Christian colonizers who viewed it as “the devil’s voice”, and the ban wasn’t lifted until the 1980s! It has such a powerful sound, of course colonizers were intimidated by it.  Disempowerment is the name of their game.

What is the DC music scene like? Any favorite local bands/venues?

Matt: The DC scene is interesting and differs from other larger cities like Philadelphia or New York.  It is relatively small and somewhat disconnected.  Growing up I remember a pretty strong all ages punk community that put a lot of focus on doing positive things and using music as a platform to say what they wanted to say; less touched by some of the demons that come with the nihilism of the rock ‘n’ roll spirit.  It also seems like a lot of the people I knew growing up have moved to other places, but we’re relieved there are still people dedicated to keeping it going.  Pretty much all of the local venues we grew up going to have closed, including our old favorites like The Pinch, The Black Cat, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel. Besides The Electric Maid which doesn’t do many shows anymore but that place will always be awesome.  The best DC venue today is definitely Slash Run! We started going there because they were putting on amazing shows and then Matt started working in the kitchen. Some notable bands from or around DC nowadays are The Hips, Teen Cobra, Thee Deluxe, Teen Mortgage, Apollo 66 off the top of my head.   

Susan: Comet Ping Pong had some great shows too, I got to see H.R. from Bad Brains play there. The manager was also one of the coolest dudes who would never turn away someone in need of a free meal.

Have you ever been to Detroit? 
Matt: Unfortunately, I have not yet been to Detroit. The furthest in the Midwest I have gone to hang out is Chicago. Once I was flown out there to be on an episode of Judge Mathis and once drove to see Screeching Weasel and The Queers.  I’ve always wanted to go, I like the tough, resilient attitude and obviously have always been huge fans of The Stooges and MC5.  Once we can start playing shows again we are itching to get out of here and start touring so hopefully we will come through soon!

Susan: Fortunately, I got to spend a day in Detroit a few years ago. I ended up spending most of the day at the Motown Museum which was incredible! I’d love to go back and experience more of the city, and now because of Remove Records I’m sure we’ll have a list of local bands and stuff to check out!

 

What are you working on next?
Matt: We are in the process of recording our next EP now, hopefully it will be out within the next year. 

Susan: I’m also excited to re-record our demo sometime. I had a bad case of pneumonia at the time of recording vocal tracks, but moreover, I like the slight transformations in how we play the songs since then.

How do you feel about the future of music/art?
M: Well...I do think a lot of popular culture is pretty lame nowadays but as long as there are still people going against the grain and making straight up rock ‘n’ roll I’m happy.  It is not quite as popular as it used to be but maybe it is better that way, weeds out the people that are only doing it for the money.  Art I am confident will always exist because without it, people would go mad.  Imagine a world without T.V…

S: I’m really hopeful that we’re headed in a less corporate direction, as a whole, but especially with the arts. I got to study the evolution of art through time, cultures, and movements while majoring in art history. It’s like one giant conversation spanning space and time. Sometimes the conversation can get boring or irritating or corrupted. But what excites me about the future of art is that people appear increasingly interested in expressing their unique perspective and unafraid to make a genuine statement about what matters. In my opinion, commercialization is one of the worst things to happen to the arts. Hopefully we’ll see a shift in the sacrilegious trend of dulling and dumbing down media into a digestible formula to increase profitability. A less elitist future where people don’t feel they need permission to create and perform.