20 DISARMing Questions for Ron Hawkins of Lowest of the Low

In this “pajamas and bunny slippers” time of unplanned hiatus from public life, we’ve been so happy to get a few minutes to chat with one of our truest Toronto troubadours, prolific musician, painter and activist Ron Hawkins of Lowest of the Low. As we all commit to self-isolation and social distancing for the greater good, it’s ever-important to maintain our community, connections, and turn to music, that precious jewel we carry in our hearts through tough times, and the very thing that will see us dance again, when this is past. The Low’s lastest album Agitpop has galvanized the fans with its urgent message of conscience-driven, driving anthems, which finds the Low still acutely in touch with activism for today and catchy lyrics we’ve come to expect (demand) from one of our most quotable bands. They also have a delectable, lovingly assembled box set: Shakespeare….My Box.

Now, the songwriter shares with us his thoughts on the hug-a-bility of album covers and what vinyl can teach us, the wisdom learned on the gravest of graveyard shifts, and what sets (us) East-Enders apart in this great city we call home. Be advised readers and future interview subjects, the gauntlet has been dropped. It’s unlikely anyone can top Hawkins’ selection for favourite hero of fiction! We heartily agree.

DISARM: What are you listening to right now?

Ron: I’ve been taking a deep dive into some old Rocksteady and Blue Beat stuff. And the Trojan Records catalogue. There’s been a lot of SKA going on. Also listening to Op Ivy and lots of current friends like Ace of Wands and Skye Wallace. Altered by Mom are doing a “song a week” project over the next 52 weeks. Even I’m not crazy enough to try that. Also, just surfing Spotify for Afro Cuban stuff or typing things like “women who kick ass!” into the search engine to see what pops up. Oh also the Blasters and Robert Gordon have had a spin on the ol’ vinyl this week. I got the Prince 1999 box set as well.

What was the first LP/tape/CD/MP3 you can remember owning, buying, or obsessing over?

First single I ever bought was Earth Wind & Fire doing a version of the Beatles tune “Got To Get You Into My Life”. I obsessed over almost everything I bought back then – Whodini, Prince- Dirty Mind, The Undertones, all of the Beatles, Blondie, Gang of Four… but it was The Clash that sealed the deal. The first Clash album and London Calling changed my life.

Are you loyal to vinyl or CD/Digital formats?

Vinyl all the fuckin’ way!! When I sold all my vinyl back in about 1990 because I was moving into a little punk rock shithole, I thought vinyl was never coming back. So I squinted at the small and underwhelming art work on the covers of CDs, I pressed shitty little earbuds into my ears and thought “Well, who needs a bass player I guess” and I found stuff on line with no artwork and no credits for producers and artists and designers. That became the new normal… so when vinyl came back I was thrilled. I embraced it wholeheartedly. I have been known to hug a vinyl album cover. I just love the full-sized art work, and probably most of all the relationship you have to maintain with it. You have to take care of it. It’s fragile. You have to engage with it… be attentive. Vinyl is surreptitiously teaching you how to be a good person, a good partner, a good son… a good human.

What bands are hardwired into your musical DNA?

The Clash, the Clash, the Clash… oh and I guess Billy Bragg, The Specials, Phil Ochs, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Prince, The Beach Boys, The Shirelles, Squeeze, Elvis Costello and Amy Winehouse.

Why do you live where you do? What is your favourite journey?

I was born in Toronto. I grew up an East-Ender (which like a lot of cities is/was one of the working class neighbourhoods of the town). I associate heavily with those working class roots. I feel like they taught me about community, about ambition – but not selfish ambition – the kind of ambition that makes you strong so you can fight for your comrades and you can have the wherewithal to take on tough challenges. And East-Enders have a very well-tuned bullshit meter. They see through it, they point it out and they don’t suffer it easily.

My favourite intellectual journey is to try to remain curious about everything – life, art, people… till the day they put me in a box. I love that quote “he who is not busy being born is busy dying” because it is 150% true. My favourite emotional journey is to see my friends and family flourish. To watch my daughter achieve things and learn things so much faster than I did at her age. To see what an amazing person she’s becoming. Physical journey would be almost anywhere – but specifically Barcelona, Mexico City, Rome, NYC, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Melbourne and on and on…

Have you traveled much? What is your dream trip if budget wasn’t a factor?

Oops, I jumped the gun on this one. Yeah I’ve travelled a bunch. When I had no money, when I had some money and when I had no money again. What I love about travelling is that you are getting the utmost of any experience no matter how much money you have. When I could barely afford to be in Spain, I travelled on the cheap, in shitty broken down hostels but met amazing people and had surreal, once in a lifetime experiences. It allows you to see the world as if you were the protagonist in the movie of your life (which of course you are, but we seldom get to feel that down in the very core of our being). I’ve been robbed, I’ve been saved, I’ve been loved, I’ve been chased, I’ve been sad, I’ve been elated, I’ve been hungry and I’ve been high. But it’s always an experience. Mexico City is a wild, inspirational, dizzying place. Everywhere you turn there is something so much bigger than life that it can barely be contained. There’s a vibrating sense of danger and violence and a sensuality from the food and the colossal works of art and history. The things I like to do when I travel don’t seem to cost a lot of money, so I get a kind of free pass.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Time IS a concept right? Isn’t that all it is really? I find as I get older that things that have happened in my life can seem simultaneously to be a long time ago and at the same time just like yesterday. So Sunday is a lot like any other day for me. Have a killer coffee in the morning, listen to some music. have a great chat with someone I love, try to write a song, fail, have a great lunch, try to write a song, fail, go see a friend, get a talking to by my daughter Ruby B, have another killer coffee, try to write a song… succeed! watch Transparent, try to make Jill laugh, go to bed.

What is essential for your go-bag (plane/train/automobile/tour bus)?

Gary Shteyngart novel, pork pie hat, Bowie knife.

What do you do with 4 hours of free time in a new city?

Barber, bakery, modern art gallery.

Who/what got you into playing music?

I would say probably the Pet Sounds record and the Beatles, musically. Those records mesmerized me. Then my close friend Ken and I started a band in high school and it was politics and The Clash that got me really psyched to try and do something meaningful with it all. Oh, and girls.

What was your most memorable (or scarring) day job?

I was a window cleaner for a while and had a couple close calls. That got my class analysis sharpened – to have a sometimes dangerous job be so poorly recompensed. I also killed rats on the graveyard shift for a while at a factory whose name I will spare out of common decency. Although doing that for a while made me want to become a better songwriter really quickly.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Don’t become a window cleaner. Don’t kill rats with a shovel on a factory floor at 5 AM.

What should everyone shut up about?

The death of music. Believe it or not I am old enough to have acquaintances who say “There’s no good music anymore. There hasn’t been since…” I usually try to cut them off there and interject “the 80s”, “the 90s” or whatever era I imagine they were 20 in. It’s such a boooooring sentence. I can spend all day on Spotify or YouTube and would never run out of astounding work that was released in the last 12 months. That’s almost the problem now – there is so much amazing stuff that it’s daunting and seems impossible to get to it all.

What is getting under your skin at the moment?

Capitalism, Coronavirus (in that order).

Who are your perfect dinner guests, living or dead? What’s on the menu?

Joe Strummer, Dorothy Parker, Alice Neel, Hannah Gadsby, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, John Lennon, Leon Trotsky, Frida Kahlo, Henry Miller, Robert Mitchum, Louise Brooks and Jesus. The menu is fishes and loaves. And water…

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Why can’t I answer this question? I wanna say Chewbacca but I doubt that’s very helpful.

Tell us about one of the best live gigs you’ve ever attended.

The Clash in Toronto, countless Billy Bragg shows at The Concert Hall – every summer from about 1983 to 1990 or so. Fishbone. So many it’s impossible to pick one. Any great concert is similar in that it sends you out into the street afterward ready to take on the world in whatever way you do.

What are your must-reads? (magazines, news, websites, blogs, Twitter feeds, podcasts…)

I’m really into a magazine called The Baffler right now. It’s an American socio-political journal. I like Tape Op magazine for stuff about music and production. It’s a real art driven audio magazine – the quirks and quarks of the really cool stuff. And I have a crush on Larry Crane, the guy who started it. He seems like an awesome character. The 1619 Project in the New York Times Magazine is a stunning and saddening and still inspiring project about slavery in America. I have a subscription to Women In Sound which is a magazine that shines a light on great women in audio production. And The New Yorker but who can keep up. I still prefer analogue to digital reading. I don’t know why particularly, but it just seems less fleeting to me.

What’s something that you consider a mind-altering/reality-reframing work of art?

The Diego Rivera murals at the Ministry of Education in Mexico City are astounding to stand in front of. Just the Herculean effort of creating that much work and the focus of the through line of the history in them is staggering to me. I consider myself a very prolific artist and even I felt shamed by the sheer output. When did he find time to do all that womanizing!

I would say however that the most mind altering work of art I’ve ever experienced was in Central Park by a Canadian sound installation artist named Janet Cardiff. It was a living breathing work. You were given a Walkman on entering the park and there was a narration. There was a kind of metronomic click, like footsteps that you were meant to match with your stride, as you were being guided through Central Park following the narration on the disc. The narration covered everything from flora and fauna (the oak trees that were planted after the civil war) to stories about the Dakota building and John and Yoko. When you reached the zoo there were a series of chants on the tape and the narrator says “Look at that polar bear. In the wild a polar bear’s range is (I can’t remember the kilometres)”. As she’s saying this you are staring at this poor bear in a closed environment walking small circles in a very neurotic and agitated way. As your attention is captured by the chants you suddenly realize they are old work songs from slaves in the field. And on and on it goes, with too many amazing analogies and wonders to explain. Funny, tragic, inspiring. I’ve never since seen such an ambitious and amazing work.

What does the next six months look like for you?

Some social isolation due to COVID-19. I’m finishing up an album for my band the Do Good Assassins that we recorded on a 1985 Tascam 246 4-track cassette recorder. I wanted to do it as a challenge. To keep the decision making to a minimum and just focus on four humans playing music together without any bells and whistles. Turns out it sounds fantastic. Who knew. After making and recording 17 or 18 records I’ve been looking for new ways to challenge my perception of how I make them. Any fun idea is on the table at this point. I’ve made records in my house, in a barn, in studios and live. The Lowest of the Low is working on a possible live record and we’re already rehearsing songs for a new studio album as well. Being a dad is always a blast and a challenge, though with a 14-year old daughter you start to become a bit irrelevant. There’ll be some touring, some painting and some just slacking off as well.

It’s been said about musical or film icons: “Never meet your heroes.” Agree or disagree?

Disagree. This is it. This is all we have.This time here on earth. What are you waiting for? And what’s the risk? You find out they’re horrible people and you never see their work through the same lenses again? Get over it! There is plenty of art in the sea.

Our deepest thanks to Ron Hawkins for this insightful and energizing interview at a time when we really need it.

21 DISARMing Questions for Dom and Vanee of HALLOWS

Looming in the Darkwave, Post-Punk and Goth Electro realms, HALLOWS formed in 2018 in Minneapolis / St. Paul and since made their way to the west coast. Consisting of Dom R. (vocals, guitar, synth, drum programming) and Vanee D. (vocals, synth, bass), their music presents layers of yearning sounds that bleed into uplifting, sanguine beats. Their compositions offer intimate messages about modern-day malaise conveyed through an exposed, vulnerable lens.

We caught up with the duo to ask them about music, art, and life outside of HALLOWS.  This is what they shared with us.

DISARM: What are you listening to right now?

Dom: I have been hooked on Dancing Plague, Years of Denial, and revisiting Oathbreaker’s catalogue lately. I just saw Blu Anxxiety live yesterday so I suspect I will revisit them too soon.

Vanee: My current playlist is varied and somewhat disjointed. In the wave-nowave/post-punk realms, I am listening to tons of HIDE, Odonis Odonis, SRSQ, Buzz Kull, ACTORS, Drab Majesty, and BOAN. Then throw in a mix of frequent returns to older-ish music from Light Bearer, Mogwai & Have A Nice Life, True Widow & Low. It’s a trip.

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

D: At around 6 years old, Smash by The Offspring came out. I was really intrigued by the album art and convinced my parents to buy it for me on cassette. I would listen to it weekly while doing chores on my Walkman. The Offspring became my first “favorite” band.

V: That would be an erratic mixed tape (when it was totally a thing) where I would non-stop listen to tracks from No Doubt, The Cranberries, and Radiohead back in 1995/1996.

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

D: All three. I like vinyl because it is cool and want to support artists who take the financial hit to get their releases pressed. However, some records just sound better on CD and digital is probably the highest quality out there.

V: Anything to support music that artists put out there. I do have a soft spot for vinyl because they feel like a delicate ornament. 

What are your favourite bands?

D: That’s tough… I will say that Neurosis and AmenRa have been the two bands that have influenced me the most in the past decade. However, at the moment I will say that Ritual Howls and Kaelan Mikla are my two favs. They have definitely shaped the way HALLOWS sounds.

Editors: Kaelan Mikla!  Yes!

V: Yes, tough one indeed. I would say Have a Nice Life really speaks to me and inspires the melancholy that I bring in writing music for HALLOWS. Ritual Howls and Drab Majesty are solid acts to experience live and have constantly put out incredible work. Light Asylum is a force!

Editors:  Drab Majesty!  Yes!  🙂

Why do you live where you do?

V: After more than a decade of schooling in Minnesota, most of which was in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dom and I decided to choose a path where we could do what we really love doing (playing music/arts, going to shows, hanging with our animals, etc.) in tandem with pursuing a career. Seattle offered that and we are so stoked to be in this community. Shout out to our friends in Seattle and the Twin Cities.

What is your favourite journey?

D: Driving around the desert near Joshua Tree in California is probably some of my favorite travels ever. V and I have done this a few times and it is surreal to just drive around that area while blasting some good music.

V: D and I once walked around the streets of Paris with no aim for hours. We talked, stopped by cafes to have coffee/drinks, people watched, and basically just chilled. It was a low-key, serene, cloudy day – perfect for the soul.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

D: Lounging with our three pets, HALLOWS practice, hanging at the cafe on top of our practice space (Cafe Petti Rosso rules).

V: We basically have the same routine on Sundays: long morning talks with coffee, late breakfast, pets, practice/music, food, walks, and TV shows.

Photo by Daniel Kastner

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

D: Headphones and music.

V: Bandaids, lotion, headphones, and D. 

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

D: V and I are from a tropical island (Mauritius) and we miss warm sunny places. I would say anywhere with beaches, sun, and warmth.

V: Sun and water – I am in. And throw in some nice goth/dark-wave/post-punk shows happening in that locale, we are truly golden.

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

D: Figure out where the locals hang and try to grasp the local culture.

V: If I am at an airport, I would stick around. I have this peculiar liking of hanging at airports, eating terrible airport food, having the not-so-tasty drinks, walking around, hauling luggage, watching people jet by – it’s calming and odd… don’t ask me more. If I am already in a city that I traveled to, probably a nap.   

What inspired you to take up music?

D: I started being obsessed with music at a very young age so playing music was a logical step. For HALLOWS, V had just picked up her instruments (she learned to sing, play bass, and synths over the course of a summer believe it or not) and I wanted to support her by jamming. We ended up liking what we were creating and we decided to start a band one night while having a drink in San Diego.

V: I’ve liked singing since childhood, I had a bad guitar when I was younger, and owned a bass when I was 18. However, I have always been anxious and under-confident, so I never really pursued any of these avenues seriously. I decided to start jamming on my keys and bass sometime in late 2018 and D would join in. We really liked where it was going, but had no intention of performing. Then one day (I did not remember it was in San Diego, but the timing is correct) we were like, let’s be a band.

What was your most memorable day job?

D: When I was doing my undergrad, I was somewhat of a glorified janitor for the university’s student union. It was not glamorous but I had fun doing it and met some good people. It also allowed me to branch out and do live sound for their music events at some point.

V: My past students may be unhappy I am not saying it is teaching, if they read this. But, I worked at a coffee shop in between my undergrad and graduate school. I had regulars that would come hang out and I got good at making delicious fancy coffee drinks. Made me somewhat of a coffee snob for a while there, although I drink black drip coffee almost always.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

D: Sleep more and drink more water.

V: Have boundaries.

 

What should everyone shut up about?

D: Everyone should just shut up about policing what is cool or not. Let people have things as long as they’re not hurting anyone else.

V: Many need to shut up about playing nice and hearing “others” (aka bigots) out. Bigoted thoughts, actions, and behaviors do hurt a large scale of people. Call people out, speak up, be difficult, radical, and resolute.

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

D: Steve von Till from Neurosis because he is a huge inspiration for me. I’d cook whatever he wants!

V: I would love to host Dolores O’Riordian (RIP) from The Cranberries. I would make country fried vegan seitan or even cook up some real steak in our sweet cast iron skillet, if Dolores would serenade me to “No need to Argue” after dinner.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

D: I don’t really have a favorite. I like anti-heroes better. They are more realistic.

V: Hannibal Lecter comes to mind. Although my most badass fictional hero would be Lee Geum-ja in Lady Vengeance by Chan Wook Park.

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

D: We attended Substance in LA last year (2019) and it was incredible. So many good performances and great artists. It was really inspiring to both of us and encouraged us to push HALLOWS as far as possible. Maybe one day we’ll play it…

V: Yes, Substance in LA was the recent memorable one. Just an incredible line up of the most talented artists in the genre – a real treat.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

D: post-punk.com because they cover almost everything that I like.

V: Ditto about post-punk.com. I also binge read The New York Times and The Hard Times (hah!).

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

D: Almost everything by Neurosis. They are a huge influence in how I write music. It may not be very apparent in the HALLOWS material but they are key to my contributions to that project.

V: The movie Dogville. I reluctantly appreciate the rawness, injustice, and unfairness englobed in the movie, and cherish the minimalism and legitimized violence. It is a beautiful piece of art. In HALLOWS, I often write about the cruelties of humanity, deception, and vulnerabilities, which, in my perspective, are the essence of this movie.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

D: We want to have a successful release of “Subtle” then try to plan a mini-tour in the Fall (work in progress). We are also neck deep in writing our first full length record. The goal is to have it composed by the end of the Summer, then record it soon after.

V: We are working on a video for “The Call//Ravenous” featuring some of our talented friends as characters. We are stoked for our EP “Subtle” release on April 3rd, 2020. The title track is already available for streaming. We are working on some exciting new songs where we are getting out of our comfort zone and experimenting. It makes for a more challenging, but gratifying process.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

D: I tent to not like rules very much so I am not sure which one I agree with. I think that meeting your heroes might be ok because people are complex beings. You should be ready to deal with disappointment though. Some of your heroes might be jerks but some might be kind. The one hero who is kind makes up for all the other jerks in my opinion. For example, I met Colin from AmenRa once and he was a very sweet person.

V: It has gone both ways in the past, so I would not hold myself back by decree. I usually go for meeting my heroes if the setting is right. Not making excuses, but it’s also key to empathize and understand that heroes (especially artists) are also often exhausted when touring and on the road. Though, heroes who turn out to be legit terrible humans, well, farewell. I cannot separate the art from the artist in those circumstances. Most have been absolute gems so far though.

Thanks Dom and Vanee!  Check out more from HALLOWS on their Bandcamp page HERE.

21 DISARMing Questions for Rein Fuks of Pia Fraus

Pia Fraus is an Estonian Shoegaze / Dream Pop band comprised of Eve Komp, Kärt Ojavee, Rein Fuks, Reijo Tagapere and Joosep Volk, six art school students, that formed the band in 1998. Described as mixture of “Dream Pop, subtle Shoegaze and beautiful Electronica, blissfully topped off with shimmering layered male-female vocals”, the band have released five studio albums and several EPs.

We caught up with Rein Fuks to ask him our 21 DISARMing questions about music, art, day jobs, holidays, and life outside of the band.  This is what he shared with us.

DISARM: What are you listening to right now?

Rein Fuks: Sasami, Angel Olsen, Omni, Yumi Zouma, and so on….

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

The very first tape was Guns n’ Roses Appetite for Destruction it was the year 1991. My first CD was Sex Pistols compilation Kiss This, the first vinyl was The Beatles Love Songs. I still own it, such an excellent collection!

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

I buy vinyl, CD and also digital files. I like music, and I like the idea that I can support the bands and small labels.

What are your favourite bands?

It’s tough to pick one. 

My first favourite band was Estonian punk group called J.M.K.E when I was six years old. I still like the band a lot. They sound like Dead Kennedys.

One of my all-time favourites has also been The Pastels. I really liked The Wedding Present and Stereolab when I was a teenager, these two where biggest influences when we started with Pia Fraus in the late nineties. And of course, I like Yo La Tengo, Hood…. But my newest favourite artist is Sasami.

Why do you live where you do?

Because it’s not that bad in here 🙂 I live in Tallinn, which is the capital of Estonia. A lovely little town on the North coast of Estonia. I think my second favourite city is Glasgow in Scotland. I think it would be cool to spend some years in there.

What is your favourite journey?

I kind of like them all. I travel a lot with my day job, but I also like to stay at home.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Spending some time at home with my daughter and wife, and a few hours in the studio!

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

In-ear headphones!

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

Somewhere at the country house, surrounded by beautiful nature and my instruments. Btw, It’s doable without billion dollars 🙂

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Vegetarian restaurants and record stores!

Photo by Lauri Liivak

What inspired you to take up music?

Punk music made me do it 🙂 I started when I was eleven.

What was your most memorable day job?

I used to work in a record shop. It was my dream job until I started to hate it. I still like the music and the records, but there was something that made me quit the job. Btw in the past 15 years I have best day job ever! Living in a dream 🙂

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Listen and learn!

What should everyone shut up about?

Freedom of expression!

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

My own friends, bandmates and family. Vegetarian Mexican or Indian food!

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Spiderman! (Pia Fraus “Thank You, Peter Parker”) 😉

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

As a fan, the Yo La Tengo gig in Malmö, Sweden in 2003 was life-changing. Best in the last year was Cass McCombs in Glasgow at The Great Western Festival.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

Good news only! Life is too short for bad ones.

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

Art is everywhere 🙂 I like record covers!

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

Day job, family, home, rehearsals, gigs, recordings.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

You don’t always need to meet your heroes, but it would be nice to meet some of them. I have met many of my idols, and it’s great 🙂 

I have also worked with some of them, which is even better than just meeting them.

Thanks Rein!

Check out more from Pia Fraus on their Bandcamp page HERE.

21 DISARMing Questions for Annette Zilinskas of Medicine

Medicine, the pioneering shoegaze band from Los Angeles formed in 1990 has returned with a brand new 11-track album entitled Scarred For Life.  Comprised entirely of cover songs including tracks from Neil Young, Judee Sill, Miles Davis, The Monkees, and even Bob Welch, it’s described as a record that is “killer no filler” and has been released by Drawing Room Records.

Medicine were the fist American band to sign with the legendary UK label Creation Records on the basis of their original demo. In their home country,they signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label in 1992.

We asked Medicine singer Annette Zilinskas, also known as the original bassist for The Bangles and vocalist with influential roots-punk outfit Blood on the Saddle, 21 of our DISARMing questions about music, art, and life in general.  This is what she told us.

DISARM: Hello Annette. Thanks for taking the time to answer our DIARMing questions. It’s great to see all your latest activity with The Bangles and Medicine lately. It feels like things have come full circle with both bands and we really love the Scarred For Life album. So here we go.

What are you listening to right now?

Annette: I’m listening to a lot of Coolies partly because I love their music and I’ll be performing with them playing bass on March 15th for Kim Shattuck’s ALS Benefit at the El Rey. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Fall, Modettes and Ty Segal lately.

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

It was a 45 that I got as a child from a garage sale…Chipmunks red vinyl. First LP was Carol King and Linda Ronstadt.

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

Vinyl (of course, and still!)

Who are your favourite artists?

Have a seat….there are just too many but I’ll take a whirl…Yardbirds, early Linda Ronstadt, Tammy Wynette, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Reverands, Mercury Rev, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Butthole Surfers, Buffalo Springfield, Warm Drag, Beatles, early Stones, The Fall, Gene Vincent, Ty Segal, Led Zeppelin, LA Witch, Leaving Trains, Opal, Black Flag, the Outsiders, Gun Club, M17, Public Enemy, Ethyl Meatplow, Johnny Cash and June Carter…I know I’m forgetting something really obvious but ah well…

Why do you live where you do?

It’s where I landed.

What is your favourite journey?

Road trips – I like the high desert at night such as Joshua Tree, Landers. I enjoy the Sci Fi’ness and expansive quality of it. My next stop hopefully will be Marfa Texas to check out the Marfa lights.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Just plopping down and watching something classic or a cool underground 60s movie…not having any deadlines or having to do anything is an ideal day for me.

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

Eye Drops, Brush, Dentine, Lip Gloss, Sunglasses.  

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

Any place that I have never been to before.

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Coffee number one. Walk around and see if there any good bookshops or old cathedrals to discover. Read the local paper.

Photo: Beatrix Zilinskas

What inspired you to take up music?

Linda Ronstadt. Major girl crush. Also, AM radio. And hearing The Carpenters the Yardbirds and Elvis.

What was your most memorable day job?

Working at the Chipmunks production company. My first job and one of the best I had.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Music should always come first…not boyfriends lol.

What should everyone shut up about?

I’m sure you know the answer 😉

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Robert Mapplethorpe, Dorothy Dandridge or Sharon Tate. Italian food or Mediterranean.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Sinuhe – from the novel The Egyptian.

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

As a fan, when my uncles, Ray and Vic, took my sister and I as kids to see the Rolling Stones at the Forum. As an artist, playing Arroyo Seco with the Bangles.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

You forgot podcasts…right now I’m delving into “You Must Remember This”.

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

A video project Kal Spelletich (from the band Semen) and I did. We filmed very tight close-ups of pigeons who had gathered around the video camera that we set down on the ground with breadcrumbs scattered around it. They got in close to the lens eating the crumbs. Playing it back, the pigeons were almost unrecognizable and looked like abstract white and grey spotted movement. One couldn’t make out that they were birds. When we slowed it down, it had an almost hypnotic drug like effect on the viewer. I also love Chiho Aoshima video installation piece called “City Glow”.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

Hopefully touring doing music or a spoken word adventure across the continents.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

Probably not.  I usually prefer one’s imagination better. But not always!

Thanks Annette!

You can buy Scarred For Life now from Medicine’s Bandcamp page HERE.

 

21 DISARMING Questions for John Treanor of Tombstones In Their Eyes

Easily one of the best albums released in 2019 was Maybe Someday by Los Angeles psych shoegazers Tombstones In Their Eyes released by Somewhere Cold Records.  We’ve been fans of the band since they first caught our attention back in early 2018 with their release of their Nothing Here EP, and the new record delivers more of the noisy droning melodies we loved from the start.  Fans of The Black Angels and Nothing will definitely dig this band.

We asked vocalist and guitar player John Treanor our 21 Disarming questions about music, art and life in general.  This is what he told us.

DISARM: What are you listening to right now?

John: Soundtrack of our Lives – Broken Imaginary Time

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

The Kinks (can’t remember which record, but it was from the mid-60’s with some of the great stuff on it).  Bought it at a garage sale and thought I was buying The Beatle’s Magical Mystery Tour because that’s the sleeve the record was in, haha.  The 7-year-old me was very confused.

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

The cool answer would be vinyl, but I am on board with digital.  I get to play my favorite music from my laptop (or the cloud, really) through a great pair of Sonos speakers via Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, Pandora and my own music collection online.  So I sit and listen in the living room all day while I work. And this brings up a point about me as a music listener.  I’m really a song person; there were days when I listened to whole albums but mostly I look for the song or songs that really do it for me and then put them in a playlist (remember mix tapes? – god I loved making mix tapes).

Editors: Mix tapes were everything!

What are your favourite bands?

A lot to list.  Old Rolling Stones, Spacemen 3, Pussy Galore, Butthole Surfers, The Cramps, Black Flag, GBH, Elton John (early stuff), Aerosmith (same – early), Germs, Devo, Beach Boys, Interpol, Turbonegro, Built to Spill, The Byrds, Ministry, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Rammstein, EyeHateGod, Dandy Warhols, Metallica (early) Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co. “Newer” bands that are faves: Jesus on Heroine, Guitaro, Frankie Teardrop Dead, Power Trip, Electric Wizard, The Black Angels, Magic Shoppe, Film School (only their first ep, though), Rev Rev Rev, Chatham Rise.   I could go on and on.

Editors: The latest from Rev Rev Rev is a favourite of 2019 too!

Why do you live where you do?

Good weather, although I complain about the heat sometimes. Friends. Good music scene. Work.  Nice little house with a nice wife and 4 dogs/4 cats.

What is your favourite journey?

New York. I go at least once a year by myself to visit my friend James (who founded the band with me) and just soak it in.  I get my own place and just dig the city.  No plans, no tourist junkets, just whatever I want to do each day. Oh yeah, and comedy shows.  New York is great for comedy. 

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

No work. Time to go down to the basement and try to write a song/riff or two. A nap in the afternoon with the 4 dogs all around me. Hanging out with my wife, Karin, in the evening and watching something good.

Photo by: Cathryn Farnsworth

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

Kindle. Music. Toothbrush/toothpaste, haha.

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

It was Hong Kong, but I don’t know about that now.  Maybe Japan.

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Good coffee. People watch. Read the local papers, if I can understand the language.  Walk around and do more people watching.  Find an interesting part of town or maybe a museum.

What inspired you to take up music

Music has been critically important to me since I was very young. My father took me to see the Rolling Stones in 1975 when I was 10 and was very into music himself. Punk rock changed my life musically and opened me up to so much new music (not just punk rock, whatever that means now). I had to be around music and started little bands, managed a friends band on some tours and finally got around to learning to write songs of my own. I came into it later because I had some “substance abuse issues” standing in the way, but once I got it together enough to keep a guitar out of the pawnshop I just kept doing bands.

What was your most memorable day job?

Working at my uncle’s auto wrecking yard when I was in my late teens.  It was a crazy, lawless scene down by the border of San Diego and Baja Mexico. Full of speed freaks and weirdness.  Crazy time.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Tell my mom I wanted guitar lessons instead of piano lessons.  I still can’t play guitar worth a shit, but enough to write songs.

What should everyone shut up about?

I’m a live and let live type, just keep it out of my face, haha.

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

James Ellroy, steak at the Pacific Dining Car in downtown Los Angeles.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

I like spies, but not the James Bond type, so I’ll say George Smiley from the LeCarre novels.

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

Rolling Stones 1975, Capitol Centre, Maryland – changed my life.  Last year, Power Trip at the Regent in downtown LA. Those guys are on fire.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

I read the NY Post and Daily News every day, haha, for my taste of NY city life, and the NY Times, LA Times, Guardian. Dangerousminds.net, Please Kill Me Online. Brooklyn Vegan. Slate, especially Dear Prudence. A little Daily Beast and Buzzfeed.  Digg is a good source of some excellent reads from around the web. And one of my most relaxing reads is Ask A Manager (askamanager.org) – I can’t explain that one. 

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

For me it’s all the music I listed earlier and the shows I saw as a kid.  Going to see the Cramps in a small hall in San Diego when I was 16, The Gun Club, Stranglers, Christian Death, Black Flag and many more shows that I can’t remember now. That stuff literally altered my mind.  And the most mind blowing day of all was when I went down to Licorice Pizza in Pacific Beach (San Diego) and picked out two records based on their covers – The Germs (GI) and Devo’s Duty Now For The Future.  My mind was blown when I played those records at home in my bedroom. The Germs were so dark and harsh and Devo just did what they do and it really opened me up to a whole new world.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

We are currently rehearsing for our first show in a while – a vinyl release show. The vinyl is coming in soon and it looks fantastic. Then, once we’re up to speed and I know the songs, haha, probably some more shows.  And at the same time, we want to record 4 more songs to put on Side 4 of our planned vinyl compilation – we’re going to take all the earlier EP’s and singles and put them together on a double record set.  Those songs deserve vinyl.  Then there is a possible rumor of a European tour but that’s more than 6 months away.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

I would say always meet your heroes.  It’s okay if they’re dicks sometimes.

Thanks John!  Go get Maybe Someday on CD or digital download from Bandcamp today, and coming soon to vinyl.

Dave MacIntyre

20 DISARMing Questions for Simon Berridge of Bromide

Bromide are a London-based Indie band comprised of Simon Berridge, Ed Lush, and Hugo Wilkinson with influences heavily rooted in Husker Du, Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements, Guided By Voices, and Dinosaur Jr.

The band’s sound has been described as “Grant Hart fronting Sebadoh” and “Elvis Costello fronting Dinosaur Jr.” Vive Le Rock noted that they mix “the best bits of The Lemonheads and Dinosaur Jr. replete with melancholic melodies and J Mascis-ish guitar lines”.

We sent vocalist and guitar player Simon Berridge our 20 DISARMing questions about music, art, travel, and existence in general.  This is what he shared with us.

Hi Simon. Congratulations on your new “Magic Coins” single, released through Scratchy Records and thank you for answering our questions.

What are you listening to right now?

Thank you and it’s “Back to the Middle” by Deerhunter. I love this track – and the video. I completely forgot about it then just found a link to it in an email I sent someone five years ago.

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

It was a 45 bought for me by my mum I think – either the Carpenter’s “Jambalaya (on the bayou)” or The Glitter Band’s “Angel Face” – I just checked and both were released in March of ’74.

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

Generally vinyl though I’m not a purist. I listen to a lot of stuff in the car on tape and my TDK SA90.  Recordings from stuff on both vinyl and cd sound pretty good!

What are your favourite bands?

Too many to list !! Probably Zep (Led Zeppelin), Hendrix, The Doors. That first wave of rock from ’65. First love is definitely The Beatles, then later all the 90s noisy pop stuff – Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Nirvana, Sugar, Guided By Voices. My fave singer is probably Mark Eitzel from American Music Club. More recently, there’s been Crystal Stilts, The Rocks…even got into The Fall.  At last!!

Why do you live where you do?

It was cheap (Woolwich, SE London) and because it’s near south-east London’s thriving music scene across Deptford/New Cross/Nunhead/Peckham/Brixton.

What is your favourite journey?

Probably a holiday road trip in the Capri – somewhere in Euroworld.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

No chores, no admin, no internet. Just a guitar…oh and Mark Eitzel’s Don’t Be A Stranger album around mid-morning. Obviously.

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

I try and avoid planes. Oh to be on a tour bus on tour!!

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

Bali. I went there a long time ago..will go back one day.

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Well this is geared to someone regularly on tour and we’ve already established that ain’t me so…’PASS’


What inspired you to take up music?

I had no choice. I knew  at age 23 when I left full-time employment that even if I didn’t commit my life to music I’d still be wondering each day what it would’ve been like if i had made that commitment so…might as well just do it!

What was your most memorable day job?

I worked on the stock exchange for a couple of years before thoughts detailed above got in the way.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Don’t fucking leave the stock exchange you’ll never make any money out of music you idiot!!!!

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

Charles Bukowski and I doubt there’d be any eating…I just want to see how long I’d survive.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Philip Marlowe

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

Another hard one…though seeing the Stone Roses with 10 other people in 1988 in Camden was a stroke of luck.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

The Quietus, Penny Black, NME, Artrocker – when it used to be emailed out around 2003…to be honest I really miss the 90s NME / Melody Maker era. Where is that now? Where’s Mr. Agreeable ?!? Where’s the abuse!!!!

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

Most food.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

More gigs…record a solo record (the other two Bromides don’t like my new songs)…more tedious sales work for money (if either of my bosses are reading, that is completely untrue. I love you both and I love telesales).

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

Yeah definitely meet them.  Why not?

Thank you for your time Simon.

Thank you!

You can find out more about Bromide and buy their music from their official website HERE.

21 DISARMing Questions for Beth Rettig of Where We Sleep

Beth Rettig was raised in Africa (Nigeria, Botswana and South Africa) and moved to the United Kingdom in 2000.  There she hooked up with Debbie Smith (Echobelly, Curve and SPC ECO) to form the band Blindness.  They had a solid run before playing their final live show in 2016.

Beth says “When Blindness ended – solely down to a change in my personal life – I didn’t know if I was going to write again. Where We Sleep is the result of discovering that you don’t know how not to make music”.

The 5-track debut EP, Experiments In The Dark, features a contribution from Debbie Smith on the track “Into The Light”.

We asked Beth 21 DISARMing questions about music, art, travel, and life as a musician.  This is what she shared with us.

Hi Beth. Congratulations on your new project Where We Sleep. It’s great to see you set to release your debut EP.

Hi Disarm. Thank you!

What are you listening to right now?

Pete International Airport – Safer With The Wolves

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

The first one I remember buying (with Christmas money, I think) was Bad by Michael Jackson on cassette. That doesn’t seem so appropriate now. I had others, but I can’t remember what they all were and I guess they would all have been bought for me. I remember having the Mini-Pops when I was really young. Anyone else remember them? No? Just me, then.

Editors:  We remember!  🙂

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

Vinyl

What are your favourite bands?

There are so many and it’s always changing. But a few are Curve, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Stooges, Night Beats, Talking Heads. This is just bands. Not solo artists. I could go on.

Why do you live where you do?

London’s great. It can seem like quite a tough place at times but there’s so much going on – loads of events, be it music, art, theatre or whatever – and I know great people here. Once you’ve settled into London, it can be what you want it to be. You can get involved and do loads of stuff, or you can keep yourself to yourself.

What is your favourite journey?

The drive from Cape Town airport to my Dad’s house. The long, cramped flight is over and there is a shower and a cold beer or glass of great wine ahead, followed by a couple of weeks in the sun with good food, good wine and good company in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Pancakes, tea and records in the morning. The garden with a couple of gin and tonics and my book in the afternoon and later some writing on one of those days when the ideas keep flowing and you end up with something you’re excited about by the time you go to bed.

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

The usuals – iPod (I still have one), book, paracetamol, lip salve, and a laptop, if I’m away for a while.

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

Costa Rica. It’s the top of my list of places I’d like to visit. I’d like to go to the reserves, hike up volcanoes and through the rain forests, stop over in the sloth sanctuary and then have some time on the Caribbean coast. And, if money isn’t an issue, then I’d like to see some more of Central and South America while I’m there. I’d particularly love to see the Nazca Lines.


What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Find out which area is the best for street art, head there and spend a few hours walking about with my headphones on looking for as much street art as I can find in the time I have.

What inspired you to take up music?

I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t interested in music. In my memory it just always seems to have been a main focus for me. I took piano lessons when I was really young and I guess I just took to it.

What was your most memorable day job?

I’ve tried to forget most of them.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

You’re a pale-skinned redhead growing up in a hot country. Wear sunscreen.

Editors: Baz Luhrmann would agree!

What should everyone shut up about?

How tired they are. Everyone’s tired. If it’s always that bad, see a doctor.

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

There are so many. This seems like a bit of a cliche but I’m going to choose Nelson Mandela. He’s a hero of mine. I bet he was funny and charming and has to have, not just stories but, life lessons. For the menu, I’m going to keep things South African and go for a braai, because it’s such a great way to spend an afternoon, followed by a delicious malva pudding.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Special Agent Dale Cooper (The good one).

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

I’ve been to so many great gigs but I have to say Before The Dawn, the Kate Bush gigs a few years ago. She’s one of my favourite artists and I never thought I’d get to see her play live so it was always going to be special to me but it was sensational. The live album on vinyl is really great.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

I actually use YouTube a lot and for a lot of things – news, funny stuff, some music. The Guardian & The BBC for news. I also love reading the We Rate Dogs and Thoughts Of A Dog Twitter pages. I’m a bit boring online, really.

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

This is a tough question. I don’t know about mind-altering but something that blew my mind a little was the Eiffel Tower (that counts as art, right?). You become so desensitized to it because you see it all the time so when I went to Paris, I obviously wanted to see it because it’s so iconic but I wasn’t that excited about it and it really stunned me when I saw it. Absolutely beautiful.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

I’m not sure really. Get this EP out and get working on new stuff, mostly. I’m hoping to treat myself to a few days in New York with a friend – I’ve never been and am very excited about the idea of going. And hopefully enjoying some decent summer weather in London so I can spend plenty of afternoons drinking gin and tonic and reading in the garden.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

Never meet your heroes. Not because I think they’d be assholes, but because I’m pretty sure I’d embarrass myself.

Thank you for your time Beth.

That was fun. Thank you!

Experiments In The Dark is available now on Bandcamp.  Go get it today!

21 DISARMing Questions for Andy Golding of The Wolfhounds / Dragon Welding

Andrew Golding, founding member of C86 pioneers The Wolfhounds, has debuted his
solo album under the moniker Dragon Welding, which is a clever anagram of his name.

The self-titled solo album features a rich blend of influences, the most obvious being The Wolfhounds and Moonshake, with nods to Neu! and Stereolab drone, and taps into various genres, including Alternative and Indie-folk.

Andy was kind enough to answer our DISARMing questions about music, art, and life in general.

Congratulations on your new project Dragon Welding and the release of your debut album through A Turntable Friend Records. We are looking forward to the next Wolfhounds album, which I hear is forthcoming in the next year or so.

What are you listening to right now?

Camera Obscura by Nico

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

It was a single by Jerry Lee Lewis “Chantilly Lace”. It was 5 pence from a box
outside a sweet shop.

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

CD/Digital

What are your favorite bands?

When I need to reset, I always go back to Beefheart, The Shaggs and The Jimi
Hendrix Experience.

Why do you live where you do?

People all over the world pay a fortune to visit London. I get to see it every
day.

What is your favorite journey?

I drove from Sydney to Brisbane a few years back. It would be hard to top
that.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Listening to BBC Radio 6 Music in the garden. Sunday is pretty much always spent
this way if I don’t have to go anywhere.

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

iPad and USB charger.

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

I’d drive around the world in a VW Camper Van.

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Want to leave, usually.

What inspired you to take up music?

Listening to records was more fun that playing with toys. I wanted to know how
it worked.

What was your most memorable day job?

Picking the silver foil tops of off used milk bottles.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Youth is wasted on the young.

What should everyone shut up about?

Nothing. Shout as loud as you want.

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

My wife, living, vegan.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

Arthur Dent

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or
artist)?

UK 2009 Nightmare Before Christmas – curated by My Bloody Valentine. This
event was held at Butlins holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset. It was the
weekend that made me decide that Wolfhounds should start to release new
material. The line-up was incredible: My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, De La
Soul, EPMD, Sun Ra Arkestra, The Horrors, Buzzcocks, Fucked Up, The
Pastels, A Place to Bury Strangers, J Mascis + The Fog, Bob Mould,
Swervedriver, Dirty Three, Primal Scream, Television Personalities, Yo La
Tengo, The Membranes, Josh T Pearson, That Petrol Emotion, Th’ Faith
Healers, Robin Guthrie and loads more.

Editors: What a lineup!  And Butlins, Minehead is home to one of our favourite festivals, Shiiine On Weekender.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

BBC News. I still trust that I can read between the lines easier than with any
other news outlets.

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

Trout Mask Replica.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

I will move to a new house, so it will either be exciting or disastrous.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or
never meet your heroes?

Always meet them, but then ignore them. At least you can say you were in
the same room as them. I sat next to John Peel once and never said a word.

Thank you for your time Andy!

Go get the debut album, Dragon Welding, from Bandcamp today!

21 DISARMing Questions for Dean Garcia of SPC ECO

Curve multi-instrumentalist Dean Garcia and his daughter Rose Berlin formed SPC ECO in 2008.  An electronic musical maverick, Dean’s style complements Rose’s vulnerable yet tender vocals. As a father and daughter, they explore their relationship and the world around them through music, creating heartfelt sounds to express the language of their souls and conversations that are often too difficult to be encapsulated by mere words.

With the recent release of Fifteen in February, Dean had this to say about the new album.

“This album means everything to us. A collection of songs that simply happened to us over a period of the 9 months or so it took to record, during which time there have been numerous uncomfortable, unsettling and challenging changes all around us, not just to our personal real life situations as to where we live, but also to the catastrophe of various unaccountable, blatantly corrupt governing bodies that perch menacingly over us all like death itself.  This record is about that, this and the other, a selection of recordings that mean more to us than we can ever possibly know.”

Recently, Dean was kind enough to answer Disarm’s standard volley of questions sharing his thoughts about music, art, and life in general.

Hi Dean. Congratulations on the release of your new SPC ECO Fifteen album with
Rose Berlin.

Thank you 🙂 X

What are you listening to right now?

The soundtrack to The Favourite.

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

Paranoid by Black Sabbath.

Vinyl or CD/Digital?

Any either.  Vinyl is romantic.

What are your favourite bands?

Pink Floyd, Beatles, Radiohead, Massive Attack

Why do you live where you do?

Because of the Faeries.

What is your favourite journey?

Anywhere on a train.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Very late start, big roast dinner followed by lots of various enhancements.

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

Plane: Paranoia. Tour Bus: Humour


What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

A tour of India with all the trimmings.

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Go back to the hotel room.

What inspired you to take up music?

Music.

What was your most memorable day job?

Chef at a Wimpy Bar in the 70s.

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

Stay on the path at Grizedale Forest.

What should everyone shut up about?

Nothing, keep on shouting.

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu be?

Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz (has to be all three). Gin and Tonic, Lemons, and a shit load of ice.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Postman Pat.

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

Prods at Alley Pally 2017.

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

No idea, whatever you want is fine by me.

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

A Thousand Years by Damien Hirst

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

Possible stroke, heart failure, and musical block but I try to look on the bright side.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

Meet them. Trouble is, you turn into a single celled jellyfish the moment you’re with them.

Thank you for your time Dean!

Most welcome.. (funny questions) X

Get Fifteen from SPC ECO’s Bandcamp page HERE!

20 DISARMing Questions for Ammo Bankoff of Brass Box

Los Angeles’ Brass Box “allures listeners into a velvet sea of atmospheric waves” and “invite their audience onto the spectral shores of a dream”.

Brass Box first caught our attention on the New Music Radar with their infectious song “Tragedy”.

With their debut album The Cathedral now available from Dune Altar, we caught up with singer and bass player, Ammo Bankoff, to ask her about music, art, travel, and life in general.

This is what she shared with us.

What artists are you listening to right now?

Dead Can Dance, Rowland S Howard, The Damned, The Soft Moon, Jozef Van Wissem, Boris, Anna Von Hausswolff, Vas, Zanias, INXS, Bryan Ferry…

What was the first LP/tape/CD you remember owning?

My first tape was Gloria Estefan and that was fabulous as a 7 year old, but the first tape I willingly got my hands on was a mix tape with Dead Kennedys Frankenchrist on one side and Subhumans EP/LP on the other.

Do you prefer Vinyl, CD, Cassettes, or streaming?

It depends on the experience. I prefer vinyl if I really love the album and want a real listening experience. Vinyl is interactive and forces you to pay attention. Streaming is portable and lovely when you want to check out new music.

What are your favourite bands?

We can’t play favourites here. Too many variables and moods that can determine those choices on an hourly basis. Although moody, heavy, dreamy, pretty are typical requisites.

Why do you live where you do?

I got sucked into a vortex.

What is your favourite journey?

One that never ends. It’s always about the journey.

What’s your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Perfection does not exist.

What essentials do you take on a plane or tour bus?

Rose water, sunnies, hooded coat and a camera.

What is your dream vacation if money was no object?

Blood Falls

What do you do with 4 hours to yourself in a new city?

Walk endlessly.


What inspired you to take up music?

I’d always been a fan of music, but I never thought of pursuing it. I didn’t think becoming a musician was something I was “allowed” to do as a career so it was never something I was consciously trying for.

I found my dad’s electric guitar in my youngest years and played around with that for a while even though we didn’t have an amp. In high school I stole a friend’s guitar and tinkered with that for a while. I still write most of music with that guitar. But really their wasn’t one moment where I planned to do anything with music. One thing after another kept happening and it was fun and challenging so I kept going.

What was your most memorable day job?

None of them!

What advice should you have taken but didn’t?

I always ask for advice and never take it.

Who’s your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would the menu
be?

Luis Buñel. Roasted Sheep.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

A toss up between Korben Dallas and Candide.

What was the best live gig or music festival you attended (as a fan or artist)?

Coachella where my bandmate and myself went to a strip club and casino to gamble instead of going to the festival.

Editors:  Love this!

What are your “must” read magazines, news, websites, blogs?

I’m a book and film person.

Name something you consider a mind-altering work of art.

The Bible and a hit of LSD.

What does the next 6 months look like for you?

Not close enough and not far enough away for any thoughts.

Which musician rule do you agree with? Always meet your heroes or never meet your heroes?

I have ‘accidentally’ met some of my hero’s and find that it depends on the person. People are just people meaning some are assholes and some are lesser assholes.

Thanks Ammo!

Now go get The Cathedral on Dune Altar HERE.

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