"Issue No.4
on stands now"

fielding phone calls, and looking out over his metal dominion, with a furrowed brow, staring deep off into the glow of his computer monitor). Well, here at Wide-Eyed we got ahold of the Lord right around the time that Boris was to go off on a European tour in support of their latest offering, “Smile.” Our questions had to go through a translator (they’re Japanese, remember?) who emailed them back to us. Eventually, it all came together splendidly, and I got a nice long email from Atsuo, their drummer.

Atsuo, Takeshi (bass guitar/rhythm guitar/vocals) and Wata (guitar) broke big in the US market with their last full length Pink, loved by fans and critics — it blurred the lines of their previous releases, incorporating some full throttle get-a-leg-up rawk, with shoegazer drone and dynamic metal chops. It is an excellent place to start from if you’re unfamiliar with the band, but Boris is by no means a band that has just one particular sound. Smile finds the band with even more tendrils flailing about — pulling in a myriad of influences, with really surprisingly cohesive results.

Each song has its own kind of “world view” and, taken as a whole, an album has its own similar ‘world view’, and as a band releases material, the sum of its work becomes the band’s overall ‘world view.’ Once we’ve written a particular type of song it gets boring to write the same type of song, so we’re pulled in a new direction by a new “world view” and end up writing different types of songs. It’s a little hard to explain, but when we fill in the details of a particular song, we add to the general feeling of the whole album, and in return the general mood of the album influences how we detail each song. On Smile, we were especially influenced by our previous releases. We had already released an instrumental version of “KA RE HA TE TA SA KI,” and “Smile” partly appeared on an album called Vein. In that sense, I think we did things that, when most people make an album, are considered taboo. I don’t think of Boris as a band anymore, or even as music, and along those same lines, incorporating these sorts of normally frowned upon methods feels new, and kind of thrilling. ‘OK’ sounds are surely already out there somewhere - they’ve already been turned into music - so we felt it was necessary to abandon music for the sake of a new experience.

Part of what led the band to have this ‘new experience’ were some unusual sources of inspiration — cheesy Japanese pop music, 80s metal, and animae tunes.

When I was a kid I listened to that kind of music in a very non-judgmental, pure way, and its still in my bones. And after lots of recording and touring, when we got tired of trying to make “cool” music, cheesy music suddenly sounded very fresh. Right off the bat, it’s a kind of “anti-music.” It’s not there as music, but instead as recorded sound for a television program, or a highly “designed” commodity, and at no point does it pretend to be real “music.” I thought that was really fresh and new. In the context of most other music, it’s almost like an “accident.” So its been ignored by mainstream rock and other musical histories, and no matter which country you go to, the heavy metal genre is a minor, subcultural thing. I think stuff that grates on the ears especially, as pure “sound,” has a real power. I think that’s maybe why we needed to stop making “music.” But the ridiculous sound of the 80s has become very symbolic of that era of music, and superficially at least, I guess Smile will sound like music to most listeners.

With the amount of success Pink brought them, they “managed to get out of tepid Japan a bit and see lots of the world.” I was curious to find out what he thought of the US and our seemingly endless war.

Where’s “culture” these days? Is there no “cultural” phenomenon that can overcome the trauma of terrorism? We’ve had lots of opportunities to reflect on ‘terrorism and expression’ since 9-11. I think the world has really changed since then, hasn’t it? But does the world need an act of terrorism to change it? Is expression incapable of changing the world? As an artist, I think it’s important to always be conscious of these sorts of questions when creating. Atsuo also added I think America is one of the most dynamic countries in that there’s such a wide spectrum of stuff from the ridiculous to the truly great.

Boris have been touring pretty heavily and to the uninitiated, they have a seriously deep catalogue — there’s the proper albums, then their collaborations (with Sunn O))) and Merzbow and others), then they pile on all these limited edition runs of completely different recordings. It’s a pretty intimidating pace. I wondered how they kept so prolific.

Daily life is what inspires us to keep creating. Touring, recording…all of our experiences, really. And leaving Japan for a while, then coming back to it, feeling out of sorts at times on tour, picking up on attitudes abroad that differ from your average Japanese way of thinking, all of these are experiences we’ve frequently had. I always resent coming back to Japan from tour and feeling how kind of lukewarm Japan is. But being bored influences us as well. We try to let all of the things that influence us resonate or “feedback” in a positive way. We’re positive machines. Automatically positive.

Atsuo had a very refreshing take on the multiplicity of their output. “Boris’ works are like documents of our daily lives. They are like the blogs or diaries that flood the world.” But he also added that “It’s very expensive to produce expressions of our ideas with limited releases.”

Boris packaging is always an exceptional delight — their first run of their CD Amplifier Worship had a gummy worm in the spine, they released a version of the soundtrack to “Mabuta No Ura” in a box with dried flower petals and pictures, the insert to Pink was perforated to look like acid tabs, and on and on and on. I found out Atsuo’s philosophy towards “music” extended to “art” as well.

I hate the word “art.” In the same way Boris no longer makes ‘music’, the word ‘art’ has lost all meaning for me. I wonder if this is a typically cynical Japanese sensibility? In Japan, people always question whether art has any social or education purpose. So I have a very suspicious attitude towards “art.”

Unless you speak Japanese, you’re not going to understand the lyrics to their songs. That doesn’t matter at all. With their limited editions, various versions of releases, and hectic schedule their cult following is ferocious. The recent vinyl release of Smile was limited to 500 copies and has been seen on eBay for upwards of $200. It’s easy to hear why they have a universal appeal. Something about their music has an ancient thundering quality and a sense of raw nerve exhaustion.

I think music is fundamentally “tribal” on a certain level. I think the exhausted element comes a lot from Wata. As a woman, she has less physical strength than a man, and you can hear this exhaustion in the way she strums a chord. And since she tunes her guitar way down, she uses really thick strings. But I think in the way she bends strings, and in some of the other elements of her playing, she does things that men can’t do.

I asked Atsuo if they still got the release from doing this now that they got when they named themselves after a Melvins’ song years back or if its changed.

We are constantly grappling with new, chaotic situations. We did find a good tour manager, though, so things have become a bit less stressful. Right now we’re in Belgium, and this tour has been the longest yet - six weeks. It’s six AM, and even though I’m exhausted, I can’t sleep. My whole body hurts. We’ve got nine more shows to play. But we all press on, because you never experience the same thing twice. Even though the set list is the nearly the same every night and we can get sick of it, we keep going. Right now I’m wondering what kind of scenery the Ramones saw.

Atsuo’s email was inspiring. I really wish I could have talked to him further. He has a very refreshing philosophy of what Boris is all about, which makes me want to listen to them even more. Their sound is enormous and glacial, roaring and magnetic. Listen for yourself.

and erotic enough to make even the harshest prude happy (in the pants). RJB has been known to create the sense of a unique alternate reality with his art, a reality of mesmerizing sexploitation and dark, hypnotically alluring undertones that pull the viewer into a world of Russ Meyer-esque surrealism and impossibly sexy women with Pam Greir-proportioned measurements.

Many of his illustrations have been recruited as fashion graphics for several notable clothing companies, such as Erosty Pop, which consider the RJB line of apparel to be “cool packaging for cool people.” His work has even shown up on notables like Tomoaki “Nigo” Nagao, fashion mogul and founder of the Japanese clothing company, A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and hip-hop icon Pharrell Williams, producer extraordinaire and vocalist for N.E.R.D.

Rockin’ JellyBean refuses to limit himself to one form of art, also delving into the music scene. Self-taught on the bass guitar, he utilizes his creativity to perform in two bands: a Japanese surf band called Jackie and the Cedrics, and another called The Chopsticks.

As for the artist himself, Rockin’ JellyBean maintains an almost frightening air of mystery. Shrouding himself in a variety of custom-made Mexican wrestling masks (which he has never been photographed without). RJB has created himself an artistic persona which transcends man to mythical proportions, swathing him with a level of intrigue that only heightens the depth of his expression.

Wide-Eyed’s David Dodde was able to touch base with this ellusive artist to discuss his inspiration and his technique, hoping to illuminate the man, the concepts, and the direction behind the visual orgasms of his intensely evocative work.

Wide-Eyed: Your work reflects a variety of American and Japanese influences, what do you point to as the most influential?

RJB: I think my childhood period is reflected. Experiences of childhood memories and time spent in Hawaii with my Grandma. As well as experiences growing up in the old Japanese town of Kyoto. These connect me to an admiration of both American and Japanese old culture. I think that’s my great influence and early formation of my style.

WE: How have these inspirations changed or progressed throughout your career?

RJB: I’m inspired by all I see, feel, and experience… solar sunlight to pour, cool cars, a blond-haired girl running on the beach with a small triangle shaped bikini. I longed to experience American culture very much, so I lived in the U.S.A. for a while. Even though I left Japan, I could see Japanese culture very well here. I think it goes both ways and that’s cool to recognize it happening.

WE: What artist or movement is currently getting your attention?

RJB: I’m affected by many artists. But if I have to mention some, I would say the Japanese comic, “GO NAGAI” who’s a popular artist of the comic “DEVIL-MAN.” And, of course, R. CRUMB! He opened the door of my “related freedom of expression of sex.” And, I was excited about that and of the culture appearance of 60’s POP ART.

WE: The Japanese educational system is notorious for creating over-achievers, did you receive an education in art or did it develop outside of the system?

RJB: You know, it is hard to enter a Japanese school, but to graduate, it’s easy. I studied drawing art hard till I entered. But I was busy with my music and my scooter in school. But when I had this position as assistant of senior artist, or something like that, I really learned a lot about the work and of the art. I also learned by a sense of the street. I learned from band fliers and custom signboards…those were my textbooks.

WE: Your sensitivity to the human form, combined with the craftsmanship of your illustration sets you apart, where do you give credit for this sensitivity?

RJB: I’ve always loved beautiful girls and I draw them as I see them in my mind’s eye. You know my hand is merely a filter for the art to flow from. The art comes from my soul and it somehow translates well into an image on paper or computer screen.

WE: How does the American Lowbrow art movement influence Japanese art culture and vice versa?

RJB: Lowbrow art meshes well to the Japanese as we basically all have a craftsman spirit. It has increased the popularity of good technical custom shops and paint shops throughout Japan. I also feel the American movement is interested in Japanese culture from a little different angle. For example, interest in Kaiju Toy, Anime cartoons, Manga, and other “Otaku culture.” The interest is shared equally I think. Anyhow, even Japanese high school girls know about RAT FINK now!

WE: Why have you created a character for yourself, is there greater intent or is it more simple than that?

RJB: Perhaps it’s because I just wanted to attract attention. Perhaps it’s got to do with the way I noticed how some band members would wear costumes at their shows. You know, like the Mummies and Invisible Men, they look so cool! I guess I would say both of these things helped my image to grow naturally and into how I look today. But maybe I’m just shy…

WE: What are your feelings on creating work with pen and paper versus relying on the computer?

RJB: Well, back in my late 20’s, I thought of the computer as my rival. I fought against BitMap with airbrush and pen every day and night. Then one day, I just started to use the computer, and realized I gained one more good tool for my art. I’m using both, but I really feel drawing by hand is more pure. Recently, I’ve been drawing on canvas and it’s like playing in the mud for me. It is a “sense” to draw a picture. To use my hands is so natural and fun to create that I thought an artist should use their “sense” and tools more like hands.

WE: Your typography is superb, why when creating pieces for the Japanese market do you use latin letter forms or English?

RJB: Well, I think that the reason is because the motif of the picture which I draw is western-style. I use Japanese letter depending on a style!

WE: Where does your work go from here… what excites you?

RJB: It’s my greatest aim to continue the same thing for a long time with friends who work at my brand and shop, and the eighth generation, aka the JELLYBEAN GIRLS!!! Continuation of these things and my band and my friends, and my art, and my experiences, and… just being able to do this. Thank you to all the fans and art lovers who supported us all these years… Oh yeah… most exciting things is about my first art book to be published by end of this year or beginning of next year. I know I keep saying the same thing every year... but it’s coming you crazy kids!

Thank you. Keep on Rockin’!!!

To see more of Jelly’s work go to:

www.rockinjellybean.com &

www.erostika.com

After a barrage of transcontinental phone calls, Damien finally got ahold of Seun, who was sitting down to dinner with his girlfriend. As hard as he tried to understand Seun over a busted satellite phone with a shitty connection, Damien couldn’t make out a word. Fortunately Seun agreed to answer some questions via email, and Damien fired them off before rushing his wife to the hospital. Seun’s responses and Damien’s daughter were both delivered the next morning.

Wide-Eyed: You’ve been performing in Egypt 80 since you were 9 years old. Did you ever imagine that you would grow up to be it’s front man?

Seun Kuti: I used to always think of the name I will give to my band when I grow up because I never thought I’d be the front man. Nobody thought my dad would die when he did.

WE: It’s amazing to think that the band has endured so much and is still together.

SK: We are still together because we believe in the music and my father’s ideology, because sometimes when I think about all we went through its incredible really how we kept going.

WE: Those were some pretty big shoes to fill. What was it like to take the reins of your father’s band?

SK: It was easy for me because I didn’t take the job wanting to fill my fathers shoes. I took it to keep the music going because my dad used to say his band was the most important thing to him.

WE: You even chose to wear the original costumes.

SK: That’s how I was taught to dress when you perform afro-beat {laughs}. I have my own. They are not my dads {laughing}.

WE: Your half-brother Femi chose what I would interpret as a more progressive path musically, whereas your style seems more traditional. Did you feel that it was your mission to continue Fela’s legacy?

SK: What do you mean more progressive? I feel we both interpret the music the way we feel. I don’t think my style is traditional. It’s original. I believe other genres should try to sound like afro-beat, not the other way around. Fela’s legacy is not my mission alone. It’s the mission of the whole world, peace, justice, and equality. I am just lucky to be his son.

WE: For a long time you only played Fela’s songs, but now you’re stepping out with your own material. How does it feel to be doing your own thing?

SK: Although the album is new we’ve been doing our own material for a while now. I still play my dad’s tracks at my shows as a sign of respect.

WE: You once said “I want to make Afro-beat for my generation. Instead of ‘get up and fight,’ it’s going to be ‘get up and think’.” Do you think that this generation is getting the message?

SK: I just released the message, and it’s just the beginning. I don’t expect instant change, but that is my primary mission. I can’t let my generation look up to only our selfish rulers for inspiration.

WE: In the song African Problems you say that there’s “too much to think about, too much to shout about.” With so much corruption, fighting, and disease in Africa do you have any hope for the continent?

SK: Not with the way its going. This is a dead end, but now that we are at the dead end we need to go back to the beginning and plot a new path because clearly this one has lead us to hell.

WE: What will it take to turn things around?

SK: New leadership with the right ideology and justice… a lot of injustice has been perpetuated in Africa, and until the people get justice there can be no peace of mind.

WE: Last summer you had some help from Barack Obama in getting your visas, allowing you to tour the US. Is there any question as to who would get your vote if you were an American citizen?

SK: That question is a joke, right? Some sort of trick question? Hmmmm let me see (one second of thought later); BARACK OBAMA! Are you gonna vote for McCain?

WE: Your father started his own political party and even tried to run for president of Nigeria. Do you have any political aspirations?

SK: After music my next job is definitely politics. We need power to make change.

WE: You say you are highly influenced by early hip hop artists such as Dr. Dre and Notorious BIG. I don’t hear a lot of their style in your music. So is it more about attitude?

SK: My only musical inspiration for afro-beat is Fela, but I also have a hip hop group back home.

WE: Anything else you’re listening to currently?

SK: A lot of jazz at the moment. It’s a phase I guess…

I FIND MYSELF LONGING FOR THE DAYS OF DIVERSITY IN HIP HOP, when a dude could rap “damn I wish I wasn’t a wimp.” and not be laughed at. A time when a label could release black power jams, like Def Jef’s Black to the Future, street jams like Masta Ace Incorporated’s Jeep Ass Niguh , while at the same time blasting party funk or cheeky sex jams ala Young MC and Tone Loc. This diversity is well displayed in going over the 20th anniversary collection from Delicious Vinyl.

1987 was a different time in hip hop when lines were not as defined as they are now and before Major labels found out how much a gangsta image sells. It was also a time when two west coast DJ’s Matt Dike and Michael Ross united through a love of the funk sounds of The Ohio Players. They got together to produce and release some records with former Crip, Anthony Smith (Tone-Loc), and college student Marvin Young (Young MC). These first albums were aided by the legendary production team The Dust Brothers who went on to produce such classic albums as The Beastie Boy’s Paul’s Boutique and Beck’s Odelay. In fact it was Matt Dike who introduced The Dust Brothers to the Beasties.

Delicious Vinyl started on a very solid foundation, after Tone-Loc’s initial single “Cheeba Cheeba” met moderate success in LA and scored Delicious Vinyl a major distribution deal with Island Records. In 1988 “Wild Thing” would go on to top the charts and bring hip hop to commercial radio in a way that had never been seen before. In 1989 it was followed up by “Funky Cold Medina,” which reached the number three spot on the charts. Young MC penned both of these singles and after Tone-Loc’s full length Loc-ed After Dark went on to go Platinum, it was Young MC’s turn at a platinum record. Stone Cold Rhymin’ fueled by the hit single “Bust a Move,” displayed Young MC’s lyricism and fast delivery. “Know How” made use of a sample from Isaac Hays’ Theme From Shaft. Young MC’s lyrics tended to be fun, positive, and uplifting.

By 1989 the label had already seen the heights of its commercial and pop chart success, yet the labels’ contribution to hip hop artistry and culture was thriving. Def Jef’s Just a Poet With Soul contained Afro centric lyrics and intelligent social criticism. Tracks like “Black To The Future” are laced with Malcolm X samples and stress the importance of learning history and looking to positive black role models like W.E.B. Du Bois to form a new vision for the future.

At a time when creativity in hip hop was thriving Delicious Vinyl added their most mad capped act to their line up. In 1991 after seeing The Pharcyde do a live performance of “Ya Mama,” it was on. Delicious Vinyl released “Ya Mama” as a single which was followed in 1992 by the full length Bizarre Ride II the Phardcyde, introducing a west coast hip hop act that added elements of humor and lyrical whit to their rhyme styles. Bizzarre Ride is a timeless classic which rendered a gold record for the label. The album contained the single “Passin’ Me By,” a school boys lament for his unrequited love that hit #1 on the Rap singles chart.

1992 also saw the release of The Brand New Heavies, Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol.1. The Brand New Heavies are a London based acid jazz and funk band who’s grooves blended serendipitously with the sounds of early 90’s hip hop. This album was a bold experiment that combined a live band with some of New York’s most legendary MCs; Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, Guru from Gang Starr. The track “It’s Gettin’ Hectic,” elevated Guru to the top of his game.

By 1993 gangsta rap was becoming more and more prevalent in the industry. Not to rag on gangsta rap, but come on, that shit went overboard. Gangsta rap was supposed to be hard and informative, not a pop format to sell millions of records to white kids in the suburbs, with no context for the message. Delicious Vinyl has always been very far from gangsta. During that era Delicious Vinyl tapped Masta Ace of the legendary Queens based Juice Crew. Masta Ace’s record “SlaughtaHouse” was a loosely based concept track where wack gangsta emcees would be slaughtered in a place where “freestying skills are sharp like axes.” The single SlaughtaHouse parodies two MC’s “MC Nigro” and “Ignant MC.” In it they spout ridiculous violent lyrics and breaks halfway through with Masta Ace bringing them to the SlaughtaHouse. These records are street records with out being gangsta and they also exposed the crackdown on black culture, the track “Jeep Ass Niguh” contains the brilliant line challenging noise violation tickets:

“I wonder if I blasted a little Elvis Presley would they pull me over and attempt to arrest me? I doubt, doubt it they’ll probably start dancin, Jumpin on my dick and pissin’ in they pants and wiggle and then jiggle and grab on they pelvis but you know my name, so you never hear no Elvis”

The mid-nineties saw releases from Reggae act Born Jamaicans, which reached moderate chart success and gives props to Jamaican influence on hip hop. 1995 saw a second Pharcyde album Labcabincalifornia, Pharcyde worked with legendary Detroit producer J-Dilla. The singles “Runnin’” and “Drop” met moderate success and gave Pharcyde more cred with the backpacker crowd.

When one looks back at the history of the label, you see a label that is run by music lovers. You see diversity with a steadfast will to embrace music from different cities and from beyond the border. Rarely is so much talent pooled together for an end result that is greater than the multiple strengths of the individuals which comprise the whole. Delicious Vinyl is about the flava not the dolla bill y’all.

“The Earth is rotating, and the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center of the universe.” Psychologist Allen Wheelis tells us that the Copernican discovery was two-fold: it lessened humanity’s sense of cosmic significance by diminishing the centrality of Earth but it simultaneously congratulated human ingenuity for having been able to make that discovery. All said, it forcefully advanced the prerogative for continued debunking and unmasking of received traditions.

But make no mistake; no one has adequate resources and context to remove all the mysteries that comprise our lives. The world is mysterious and so are we, and both profoundly so, and yet, we so often act as if all the mystery is gone. Not only have the greatest magic tricks been revealed, but the grand cosmic mysteries of our being and origins seem increasingly passé and misguided. For example, if we were to ask your average atheists on the street if they could forgive “God,” most would likely tell you that this is misguided. “There is no God to forgive; You’re obviously confused; ‘God is Dead,’” would be the likely response. Point well taken, but I’m often left with the thought: How many people decide to call themselves “atheists” basically because they first were seduced into overdrawn expectations? Or, how many of those who call themselves “atheist” simply are fed up with fundamentalist religious-types? Admittedly, many Neo-Conservative Evangelical types do seem to be pretty deluded and worth distancing oneself from.

Consider this too: if we were to ask your average Christians on the street if they could forgive God, many would likely say, “Forgive God? You don’t forgive God! God is all good and all loving and all perfect. If anything, God forgives you!” But, for the sake of argument, what if there is no afterlife? Perhaps God could not give people an afterlife any more than He could create a rock that is so heavy that even He cannot lift it. How many people could forgive (or would still believe in) God if it were the case that there is neither an afterlife nor ultimate justice? How many people would rather be atheists than believe in a Divinity who is so impotent that He’d be unable to issue cosmic justice and grant eternal life? How many people’s religious beliefs basically hinge upon the afterlife question? Is this world really not enough?

And just what if the Divine Mystery that resides in the depths of our being does need deep and profound forgiveness for all the eternally unresolved injustice and terror of existence? The trouble with being born is that no one asks for it. Seriously, I never asked to be born. Were you consulted? Forgiveness in this light would not be given to some guy in the sky (here atheism may be spot on) but to our deepest sense of life’s mysteries. All animals on this planet die, but only humans seem to build theories about immortal souls. Might we, on the contrary, see that evolution evolved beings who came to know of their own death, and we, those very beings, need to forgive the mysterious origins for such possibilities. If we do, we learn to accept death and thereby to open to other people in new ways.

If it is not yet obvious, my own guess is that there is no afterlife; our only persistence post-mortem is in the memories, words, and deeds of the still living. But none of that means that life itself is bereft of Divine Mystery; none of it implies that life, Nature in its grandest sense, is without spiritual import. Perhaps people have confused mystery, which is the very condition of our lives, with momentary acts of dispelling uncertainty. Perhaps there is something else too. The world admittedly has countless injustices, cruelties and senseless suffering, but it also has babbling babies, wide varieties of tasty fruits, countless genres of music, soap bubbles, butterflies, orgasms, and rainbows. Can’t we say: “Despite all that is painful, tragic and limiting, I am still thankful.”

In open forgiveness and a growing sense of gratitude, without any sense of resentment regarding the fact of knowing about our ultimate demise, we accept death and hardship as the price of admission. We feel thrilled, genuinely grateful, that we received an invitation to the mysterious feast. And, just for the sake of argument, if there is no life after this one, I hope that we can learn to forgive the mystery of evolution for evolving beings who may be able to imagine more than they ever will experience. Such imaginations, fantasies about eternity, might well be one of the most mysterious fruits on this planet. And, who knows? Just maybe there is an afterlife, a wonderful one too, but for the time being I’m pretty confident that no one can know for sure. It is probably best to just celebrate the mystery of life and to be suspicious of anyone who thinks that all the world’s mysteries have been revealed.

A sure sign of spiritual maturity is the ability to forgive the mystery as well as give thanks to it. Our sense of gratitude grows, in fact, only where we are able to forgive. If more people could understand this, they might be able to properly address the vast and ancient mystery all around them, the very mystery that they are.

Why is it that almost nobody commented when, in one of the last democratic primary debates, Clinton kept referring to Obama as “Barack” while Obama consistently called Clinton “Senator Clinton” throughout the exchange? Was that sexist of her? Was that overly officious of him? And if the reverse had been the case—if Clinton had called Obama “Senator Obama” and Obama had called Clinton “Hillary”—would people have been more inclined to notice and be critical? This is just one example of an instance where sexism may have been identified but wasn’t. It suggests that the question “Is that sexist treatment?” is less important than “When do accusations of sexism arise and why?”

Here is another thing to consider: why have so few people commented on Hillary Clinton’s tolerance of her husband’s infidelities (which did not, by the way, start with the Monica Lewinsky dalliance)? Why didn’t she get rid of him the first time he cheated? And for that matter, why do so many political wives put up with their husbands’ infidelities? Unlike so many wives, these women have the financial and legal wherewithal to break off their relationships and still retain a decent standard of living for themselves and their children. Don’t those press conferences with the cheating politician husbands and their lame apologies and their stoical wives with the tight lips and blank stares bother anyone else besides me? Are these couples simply patching things over “for the sake of the children”? I doubt it. In conventional relationships, parents may be able to shield children from some of the fallout from extramarital affairs, but the activities of public couples quickly become the hot joke on multiple playgrounds for weeks and years to come. Let’s examine further why this is relevant to the voting public.

Americans have an awkward relationship to “libido.” Many love or admire the “bad boy” and the virile “stud,” but have a harder time reconciling the female “madonna” (who is worth marrying) with her counterpart the “whore.” Many people are not as forgiving of the “loose woman” as they are of her male equivalent (take Marion Barry, the prostitute-visiting coke-using re-elected major of Washington, DC, as just one example). In certain selfish circumstances, it may be ok for a woman to be a slut: as when a man will benefit from it after a Friday night drinking binge. But then it’s often not so ok the day after. Or, it’s not ok for a woman to be a “whore” before marriage, but then the pure princess is expected to easily shift into the part of sexy uninhibited bedroom vixen (when appropriate) once she’s been secured.

And what of the libido issue as it relates to women in politics? Can voters in the U.S., like some in European countries, find libidinous women leaders appealing? Can we forgive and even celebrate the libidinous woman the way we often forgive and celebrate the libidinous man? That is, could we support a female politician with a history of sexual “infractions” or a sexual wanderlust? Could our strict gender norms handle such a thing — or are women politicians in the U.S. only left with the sexless portion of virility and competitive masculinity as we have defined it — the “scrappy” “I’m a fighter” persona? Or, are we barking up the wrong tree here completely? That is, could we as a culture envision a form of strength that is not based on libido, virility and machismo, but on something else entirely?

Our love-hate relationship with libido inclines the public to look for ways to “wipe the slate clean” when considering political candidates. It helps explain the appeal of politicians who are also born-again Christians — people like George Bush who have renounced their former sinful selves and who have pledged to reform their behavior. And we might ask, while we’re on the subject of forgiveness, why it is that sometimes the need to forgive arises, even for fairly small transgressions, and that at other times there seems to be no need to forgive, even when serious transgressions are at issue. Again the issue isn’t “is that a transgression?” but “when do accusations of transgression arise, when don’t they, and how do they compare? Ask yourself honestly, which is worse, having a racist friend or having a serious cocaine and/or prostitute-using habit? Which is worse: getting sexual favors in the oval office or promising the giver of those favors a cushy taxpayer-supported government job so that she’ll keep quiet? Which is worse, deciding to forgive/tolerate a philandering husband or acting like there is nothing wrong with having a philandering husband (in front of your own daughter and publicly in front of all daughters)? Which is worse: signing away the American worker for the sake of corporate profits in NAFTA or setting out on a war with little concern for human fallout resulting from profound ignorance of culture, region, and history?

In the case of Hillary Clinton, putting up with a cheating husband may have acted both as a demerit for her as a female politician, and as an invisible sympathy card. I don’t think it would be sexist to suggest that supporters of Hillary Clinton in this primary were largely members of the “Gloria Steinem” generation of feminists — feminists who were more than likely middle-class, white, liberal, and dissatisfied with women’s lot, but who often failed to consider how class, ethnic, racial, and global matters complicated their concerns. I don’t think it would be sexist to suggest that some women may have wanted to see Hillary Clinton in charge so that finally a woman would be in control and have the ultimate say-so in the governmental “family.” And so, I don’t think it would be sexist to suggest that a smidge of the politics of “hurt feelings” (an expression Vivian Gornick uses in her introduction to Erving Goffman’s book, Gender Advertisements) may have been at work here. It is as if some people saw the presidency as potentially “making up for” the lack of power experienced by many women in their own households and relational contexts.

Some of the feminists just mentioned, and many other people, might like to think that electing a woman president would give the country a more “feminine” style of leadership and better address “women’s” issues. Unfortunately, the tight association of “feminine” qualities and concerns with female bodies (and the denigration of these qualities) is a big mistake—one of the biggest that our culture has made. Having breasts does make it possible to feed a baby (thankfully!), but it does not ensure a more broadly nurturing or humane spirit. And “being a man” should not require killing the “feminine” qualities in male children, though many parents seem to think it does. Nurturing the sick and weak is not a “female quality” any more than wit and reason are “owned” by the male sex. If it were the case that so called “feminine” qualities were exclusive to women, many of the good ideas our country has embraced and enjoyed would not exist.

When you peek under the covers of what we know of as gender stereotyped behavior (e.g., the care giving and gentleness of women, the rationality and initiative of men) you often find a difference of social situation or social expectation, and not a difference in innate capacity or essence. But even when you do find material differences, as in the case of hormone types and amounts, or body parts or average height or strength, you still find the fear of death. In the face of inevitable mortality, both men and women try to find ways to deal — through having and raising children, through meaningful work, through art, through service to a cause or idea or a nation or an ideology, etc. These ways of dealing can be both constructive and destructive. No one sex has a monopoly on better reactions to the fact of death, though women may seem to. The reality is, women have held fewer positions of public, political power throughout history and so their means of coping with the inevitability of death, when negative, have had less widespread of an impact (a woman who “tortures” her children by forcing them to fulfill her own unfulfilled desires has less scope of impact than a man who sanctions the military of his country to torture an entire class of political prisoners).

As much as we’d like to think so, no one sex is innately better able to resist the attractions of power than the other, no one sex is innately better designed to get past the fear of death (menstrual blood or no menstrual blood), and no one sex is innately better able to transcend their own interpersonal or cultural preferences. Any statistical differences we measure now in the way the sexes deal with problems have much less to do with chromosomes and genes, and much more to do with how we parcel out our social duties. These statistics and the stereotypes they support would tell us little about the potential behavior of one woman who might rise to a position of high leadership. In these instances, we need to examine a person’s individual character — and it may just be that Hillary Clinton’s character was found lacking.

These are just a few things to consider in the post-primary analysis of Hillary Clinton’s loss in the primaries, when accusations of “sexism” and discussions of sex and gender inevitably arise.

Realize the virtual digital persona and then blur the lines that define reality. Escape time and space to a place where alter egos become fact and the one truth is ever present.

Wide-Eyed: Bobby, you’ve been in hiding for awhile. We haven’t seen a whole lot from you in the past few years, but now you’re coming back with Digi Snacks. Why the layoff? Did you catch a virus? Or were you reincarnating your system, expanding your network?

Bobby Digital: The Raven had me trapped, so I couldn’t enter into our world. But now The Raven has been located, identified, and I’m out to get him.

WE: How does that plan come about? Where are you going to confront The Raven? How can you attack?

BD: First of all, I have good people working with me. I’ve got Kinetic, I’ve got Barbara Peppers, and so I sent them out to scout first. What happened was The Raven thought he could slip back into the ‘70s era, into the pimp and exploitation era. He went there so that he could suck off the souls of women and regenerate his own self. But I sent Barbara Peppers in first. The Raven captured her and he thought she was a regular hooker bitch, but she wasn’t, she was a spy. When The Raven captured her, he took her to his lair and she signaled Kinetic. Kinetic signaled me and we came through to get rid of The Raven.

WE: Is this part of your master plan, Bobby, or is this just you reacting to the situation? Is it a matter of you recognizing the opportunity and seizing it?

BD: I have to perform certain feats to get myself out of this place I’m trapped in. They got me trapped here. I’m struggling to get out, to go over to the good side. I want to be totally pure. I want to be a clean signal. They keep sending static and I keep getting stuck in this world. But time after time, I keep working to prove my worthiness, proving that I can be a pure signal. Just because I’m digital 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1… you don’t recognize that the space between the 0 and the 1 is also infinite. Recognize the space within the 0 itself is infinite. So I just want to make a clear signal so they know that I want to be solid.

WE: Absolute, and pure…

BD: Clean, a pure signal.

WE: Do you think that we as a collective are moving in a direction where we can communicate and understand at this level of purity? Or is this a pipe dream?

BD: Well, first of all I try and divide the Digital Bullet. Even if the average person gets stuck with the Digital Bullet, he’ll be able to see clear, and then travel through a clear signal. I don’t think it’s a dream. I think it’s possible for me to rise up and have a pure signal. I think it is possible for all of us to have a pure signal, we just have to look out for those that are trying to jam us up, especially, The Raven and his four birds of prowl: The Falcon and The Hawk, The Eagle and The Crane.

WE: How do you see the current state of the world as it is and the opportunity for change on that level? Can this movement, this paradigm shift, be reflected in the systems that operate and govern economic, social systems? Can this goal for purity be realized in those capacities? Or will it only be found in the digital?

BD: I’ll quote from Ason Unique. He said, “When you look on a piece of paper, people always put one dot, and then they write the rest.” He wants to know, “What’s that black dot? What’s in that black dot?” Similar to the yin and yang with the black dot in the white, and the white dot in the black… What is in those two dots? If we are able to figure that out, or inject that dot. Instead of 0, 1, 0, 1… it’s 0, dot, 1… That dot, that one dot, that one change can make everything for the better. But are we willing to make that one change? Are we willing to accept that change? Are we willing to put that black dot there?

WE: So is this new album, Digi Snacks, you establishing yourself in that purity and growing out of what existed before?

BD: Unfortunately, no. That’s why it’s Digi Snacks. It’s just another attempt. I will probably have to bring it visually along with the audio. But I still think it can open a lot of minds. The first song that comes on is “Long Time Coming.” And that particular song, it’s really like I’m at the end and I’m about to lose it all. And sometimes when you’re at the end about to lose it all, it can burst into a whole new world. And the way to do that is to seek mental clarity, change your polarity. Can you change your own polarity? I think you can. I think everybody can.

WE: Yes… It’s an opportunity to change interpretation…

BD: You can change your interpretation, but will you still be able to visualize the one truth?

WE: If you open yourself to it…

BD: Visualize the all. Everything else was a forced interpretation.

WE: Escape interpretation…

BD: Exactly, and then you become the real. The problem with the 0 and the 1 is that the 1 loses itself inside the 0.

WE: Huh?

BD: I’ll give you a binary thing. Look at the 0 itself. We use the number system 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… when we get to 10, then what do we have to do? Put the 1 back behind the 0! And we’re back now, all the way back where we started, because all numbers are just a fraction of that 0. The 0 is the only 1, everything else is just a fraction of it. Do you understand that?

WE: In expanding your performance and actualizing your digital persona, how are you going to develop your expression? How are you going to develop that beyond the audio and video? Is there ultimately some sort of self-actualization that comes out of being Bobby Digital?

BD: Of course. The audio and video are just expressions of the self. The audio and the video is actually the reflection of the self. If you enjoy the audio and video, you’re going to love the self.

WE: Right.

BD: One thing we can agree with, no matter what world we exist - digital, analog… It all springs out from a source. Become the source, man.

WE: Wow…

BD: If we were talking in terms of the layman, we would say spirit, right?

WE: Spirit, soul…Be the one, be the whole…Be the universe, be the entirety…

BD: Be it all.

WE: Be the all. Be the element…

BD: Drown yourself in the ocean. When you see a body drown in the ocean and you see the body floating, he’s not moving, the ocean is moving. When he’s alive and not drowning and you see him splashing and moving around, he hasn’t let himself go, he’s trying to do everything. And once he drowns himself into it, then he moves. He becomes a part of the ocean. He becomes the ocean itself.

WE: Do you think this world of amplified digital technologies and increased opportunities for communication, and all of these lines and platforms for this expression… Does this allow us to access the whole more readily, or is it the jam in the frequency? Or is it just something that we are adapting with?

BD: Nah. My personal opinion, my personal knowledge of it… It is allowing us access. It’s opening it for us. If you take your cell phone, I could be in Europe, you could be in America, and then in one second we’re talking to each other on a very small battery charge. Why not just take the phone off our ears and go ahead call me, baby? What’s the frequency, really? What’s really the frequency? You mean to tell me that microchip is what’s really doing all that? What’s really doing it?

WE: Do you think these opportunities for this digital connection, are at the same time platforms to put forward any sort of image of ourselves that we might want? We can formulate or create a facade, or create a MySpace page that represents what… our ideals of our self, or our actual self?… Or a new self that we aspire to?

BD: In reality, whether it’s digital or analog, any self you emit from your self, is your self. So you look on somebody’s MySpace page and it could be a skinny girl, but she has a fat picture. Inwardly, she is fat. Her heart is fat. If scientists could take a picture and photograph her aura, they would probably notice her aura is bigger than her physical. She probably has a fat aura. If she’s a fat woman that puts up a skinny picture of her self designed to be skinny, inwardly she is skinny. If you want me to get technical with you, I’ll get technical with you, because you’re being technical with me…

WE: {laughs}

BD: From when the simple sperm cell that starts off as almost inanimate matter traveling into this little egg cell. This one little cell from the moment they connect. From moment of the spark in the father when he caught the electrical charge in his brain, that set off his spine, and went down and forced his penis to ejaculate the semen with the sperm, caused by the rapid breathing of air and thoughts, put this cell into this woman. And from that one second right there, for all time, on and on, forever into eternity, that same one second is constantly growing and changing. But it’s still that same one second. Think on that.

WE: The moment of creation… The moment of poetics... that bang, the big bang…

BD: That Big Bang, yeah. Think on that.

WE: How can we access that eternity? Every moment is on that, every moment is that…?

BD: Well, the RZA said, “Every second is the present, every second is the past, every second is the future, how long will it last?”

WE: Wow… Is RZA around today?

BD: Yeah, you want to speak with him?

WE: Can I talk to him? {pause}

RZA: Bong Bong!

WE: Hey, RZA. How are you? I’ve been talking with Bobby Digital trying to break down this moment in time, this moment of creation that allows us to be, and allows us to grow. You guys have an uncanny resemblance. How did you two meet?

RZA: Bobby is my student.

WE: Ah… How did that come about?

RZA: Actually, what happened with Bobby... {pause} He doesn’t want me to tell you that.

WE: What’s going on with the Wu Empire? One of the great hip hop empires to land on this planet.

RZA: I think the Wu Empire has become the true meaning of itself. And what I mean by that, if you look at the word Wu, like Wu-Chi means ‘no extremities’. I think that the Wu Empire is one of the only empires of the people, honestly. It started long ago, I think ’95 or ‘96 it really started when people from different parts of the world became part of the Wu Empire and took it upon themselves to represent Wu, with or without the Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang Clan is the family that brought it to us, but Wu became one of the first true world empires. You watch a movie like Ironman, which is definitely a comic created by Marvel and Stan Lee, but never sold a million comic books. Somebody like Ghost Rider, didn’t even make it past two hundred issues, now makes 100s of millions of dollars because of a guy named Johnny Blaze from the Wu-Tang Empire. We sparked that, when you can go to a Blockbuster and find a copy of Five Deadly Venoms on the shelf.

WE: It’s true. The way that Wu supported and invigorated so many other brands, the way that it was connected to so many awesome icons, themes, and metaphors, and the way it interlaced not only music, but film and art and other media with wealth…

RZA: I’m proud and blessed and humbled, you know, as The Abbott of the Wu-Tang Clan, to see that our thoughts and our words and our love have inspired a generation, and flushed an economy, actually. It’s immeasurable. I’ll say as the RZA, before Wu-Tang Clan passes away physically, or whatever, whatever… I think the World Government should bless us with a big building. Like, hook us up with something like a Justice League operation.

WE: A monument that stands...

RZA: We helped a lot of people, a lot of families, influenced ideas, and caused the growth of a lot of things in this world. Bong Bong!

WE: We at Wide-Eyed model a lot of what we do in terms of what we stand for and how we operate based upon what we learned growing up with Wu. We believe whole-heartedly in that spirit of collectivism and the opportunity to grow something bigger beyond the self, and then to grow the self through that, and to ultimately enjoy that exchange, and the opportunity to collaborate to build something from nothing. We thank you.

RZA: I thank you all for supporting us. And not only supporting, but accepting it. People can yell ‘fire’ in a burning building, but people will stand around getting burned. I think it says in the bible that, “He who has an ear, listens.” I’m just glad that people… I’m just glad, I’m not even gonna front… I’m just glad that I can go down the street to Blockbuster and pick up Five Fingers of Death. {laughs} Before I had to go travel train rides through different hoods, it was impossible. There’s a movie called Shaolin Invisible Sticks - it took me about six months to find a copy of it back in the day. Six fucking months! I had to go to so many different stores, and one fucking guy had one scuffed up copy that had the beginning chopped off, and I was happy to get it - one shitty-ass copy. But now I just go right down to Amoeba. My life has been made easier because of my work. I love it.

WE: I asked Bobby Digital about this briefly, the world as it is, the changing political climate, the Presidential election coming up. What are your feelings?

RZA: If we here in America, actually take this opportunity to activate the principles that our forefathers have written. The word is the word, and the word becomes flesh. In the book of John it says, “In the beginning there was the word and the word was with god and the word became flesh.” Can we take the principles that they put into those writings and live them? This is a chance for us to do that, yo! Out of all the chances we’ve had, this is the chance for us to do that. If we do it, it’s going to resonate around the world. And what would really make it resonate more… and I’m not I’m not really a political dude, because I do too many things - party, drink, smoke, and whatever, whatever - so they keep me out of that shit, you know. But, if you look at Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama together, and you show this to the world with what is written in the Constitution and in the Declaration, we would change the face of this world and this whole world will resonate. I’ll be very surprised to see that happen in my lifetime. I would be blessed and honored to see that in my lifetime if we can make that change. If not, baby, get ready for President McCain. {laughs}

WE: Oh, fuck…

RZA: And get ready for another war.

WE: Nah. We at Wide-Eyed are ready to scrap for hope now with Obama on our back cover.

RZA: I’m not getting real political, but this is the funny shit for me. I do watch the news. We’re going to be out there for 100 years. How long was the crusade war? {laughs}

WE: Frightening.

RZA: We’ll see. We’ll see if we’re ready. This is a test. We might not be ready, yo. If we’re ready, then the whole world will resonate in a whole different way. We’re in a very serious situation.

WE: Change is coming one way or another. It’s a pivot point.

RZA: But here’s a slogan for you, and I got this from Bobby Digital: If you’re not having a good time, you’re wasting your time, so have a good time. Peace.

write entirely new songs all in a matter of weeks. Joining forces with friend and fellow songwriter Dan Boeckner, the former vocalist/guitarist of Atlas Strategic, the duo shared lead vocal and songwriting duties. They also shared a background in the Victoria, British Columbia music scene where they both began. Demoing to a drum machine before drafting drummer Arlon Thompson, who they both knew from their Victoria days, they rehearsed as Wolf Parade for only one day before their now fabled first show.

The reality of the band’s rock ‘n’ roll formation isn’t quite as fanciful, despite what their subsequent ‘zine acclaim and blogosphere buzz might imply, but it was just as frantic as their keyboard-dizzied ditties would make one believe. Oh, and that first show with The Arcade Fire wasn’t quite the starlit, life-changing moment those same fans might fantasize about either.

“We were both actually opening for a band from Belgium called Melon Galia, that’s like Stereolab-lite,” Boeckner said, recalling that night back in 2003 with a laugh. “So just our friends showed up, and it was just like any other show; we played, maybe poorly, I don’t know {laughs}. There was no sense of a fucking happening there.”

Boeckner hadn’t even met The Arcade Fire until that night. The two bands didn’t start hanging out until weeks later after Wolf Parade officially relocated to Montreal and moved their then mostly borrowed equipment into The Arcade Fire’s practice space.

They’ve since continued to follow that band’s jaunt around greater Montreal, recording their latest, At Mount Zoomer, at Petite Église, the church owned by The Arcade Fire located in nearby Farnham, Quebec, and famously used for the recording last year’s Neon Bible.

“In Canada, you either live in Vancouver, you live in Toronto or you live in Montreal, pretty much,” Boeckner said when asked by Wide-Eyed if he moved to Montreal to immerse himself in the inclusive music and art scene there. “Those are like the three cities that really appeal to me and everybody else, really, in terms of culture. Not to shit on Winnipeg or Halifax or Calgary, but if you want to live in a major metropolitan area it’s either fake-France, yuppie paradise in Vancouver, or Toronto, which is basically downtown Canada with all the elements of L.A. and New York, but washed out Canadian style.”

Touring those Canadian cities and more, the trio also self-recorded and self-released their first self-titled EP, aka 2003’s “4-Song” EP. By 2004 they added laptop sound manipulator/keyboardist Hadji Bakara to their lineup and independently recorded and released another eponymous disc, aka the “6-Song” EP.

Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock then signed Wolf Parade through his sideline job as an A&R rep for Seattle’s legendary indie label, Sub Pop, where they released their first officially self-titled EP in 2005. Later that year Brock produced the band’s debut full-length, Apologies To The Queen Mary. The album completely captured the dynamic collaboration of Krug and Boeckner within its songs.

“Originally he was going to support me on a solo thing and I was going to support him on a solo thing and it was going to be like two bands, but we just mooshed it into one thing,” Boeckner said about Wolf Parade’s beginnings. “And now we both have solo projects that neither of us are involved in because we spend too much time together during the year and we want to stay friends.”

While touring extensively in support of Apologies for nearly two years, and adding touring guitarist Dante DeCaro, formerly of fellow Canadian breakout Hot Hot Heat, Wolf Parade’s members made sure to maintain their own individualities. Krug started Sunset Rubdown as a solo project that he has developed into a full band over three LPs and one EP in the past three years. In 2006 he also rejoined his former frontman from Frog Eyes, Carey Mercer, for Swan Lake, something of an indie supergroup also featuring Dan Bejar of Destroyer and The New Pornographers. The trio released its first full-length, Beast Moans, later that year, and earlier this year reassembled to record another.

Boeckner meanwhile has worked with his wife, short story writer Alexei Perry in his own side project Handsome Furs. The band’s debut, Plague Park, came out on Sub Pop last year, with their next set to follow later this year.

Boeckner mentioned how he and Krug have talked about how now, in the digital recording age, musicians can really write songs anywhere.

“If you have a laptop and a guitar and a midi-keyboard or anything, it’s a portable job, right?” he explained. “With the technology now, you don’t need a big studio and a fucking enormous amp and stuff, at least not with the stuff we write, so it’s completely portable. I’d love to move to Helsinki and write and live there on an arts grant, but I can’t because Wolf Parade exists.”

While returning to Montreal to work together once again, Wolf Parade’s recording sessions inside Petite Église captured that spirit of unconventionally modern recording. Their renewed need for mutual collaboration came out in long improv sessions inside the church, which Thompson recorded and later engineered without hardly any additional studio effects.

“It’s really the other people, Arlen and Hadji, who blend everything seamlessly,” Boeckner said about Wolf Parade’s songs. “And because we’ve worked together for years, my songwriting’s gotten more complex and Spencer’s has gotten a little less obtuse.

There’s a natural coming together. But it’s really Arlen and Hadji giving a certain continuity to the songs. There was a certain point a couple of years ago, if it had been up to me, we would have written three- or four-chord fucking freedom rock songs and Spencer would have wrote 18-chord songs in seven-eighths that were like six and a half minutes long, so now we’ve kind of balanced that.”

Nowhere does that balance become clearer than on At Mount Zoomer’s epic, eleven-minute closing track, “Kissing The Beehive,” co-written by both Boeckner and Krug and tentatively leaked online as the album’s intended title track before a caution of copyright-infringement crossed the band’s path due to an existing book by the same name. In a year’s worth of anticipation, they also toyed with titling the disc Pardon My Blues, before deciding to name it At Mount Zoomer after Thompson’s studio.

Boeckner has publicly announced that during the early stages of their recording they had informed Sub Pop that the disc would have “no singles,” but the significantly shorter, bluesy piano-pounder “Call It A Ritual” has emerged a lead-off track worthy of Wolf Parade’s legend. “California Dreamer’” meanwhile, marvelously marks the album’s midway point, as Krug sings with strong statement: “I think I might have heard you on the radio / But the radio waves were like snow.”

“We’re not going to sign to a major label,” Boeckner said about the band’s continuing success outside of the commercial mainstream. “That’s not something that’s in the cards for Wolf Parade. Ever. Not even for political reasons, just for sheer practical ones.”

Wolf Parade will live out something of their own California dream when they play a two-night stand at the Henry Ford Theater in Los Angles July 18-19.

Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman had a plan to bring America a sound of angst and nihilism, from the land of lumberjacks, clouds, and the Space Needle. The face of rock would never be the same.

I CAN’T SEEM TO FIGURE OUT WHY THE 80’s WERE so pathetic. Interest rates rose to 18%, the stock market crashed, Reagan was always on TV trying to keep the coke out of people’s noses, while defending his death squads that were keeping the Commies at bay. It was the glory days for the religious right. Jim and Tammy Bakker with the help of Jerry Falwell opened Heritage USA Theme Park, solidifying their warped morality driven base, while at the same time exposing their contradictoraay message. During that period Reagan opened the flood gates of media consolidation making huge record labels and radio enterprises much more powerful—it was the beginning of the end for pluralism in popular culture. Meanwhile in LA, hair bands were over staying their welcome. Our collective popular culture was in need of an enema. How could one’s intestines hold so many plastic chunks of mediocrity?

In 1988 Pavitt and Poneman quit their day jobs to take on Sub Pop full time. Pavitt came from the Alt Press. Back in ‘79 he started a fanzine called Subterranean Pop while studying at Evergreen College in Olympia, WA. The fanzine focused on independent American rock records. The name stuck and it followed Pavitt to his gig at the Seattle music magazine The Rocket, where he wrote the column “Sub Pop U.S.A.” In ‘86 Pavitt released his first vinyl compilation Sup Pop 100 (SP10), featuring Steve Albini’s Scratch Acid, Sonic Youth, Japan’s Shonen Knife, and Northwest punk bands the Wipers and U-Men. Designer Dale Yarder created the logo which would come to be known across the universe.

Meanwhile, Poneman at the time was airing his radio show Audioasis on KCMU-FM in Seattle which continues to this day on KEXP. The local promoter made an alliance with Pavitt by offering to finance Soundegarden’s Screaming Life EP. Sub Pop was born. On April 1, 1988 Pavitt and Poneman moved into a soapbox office in Seattle’s Terminal Sales Building. Later that year they would give birth to the record that would launch the grunge revolution.

Taking over the world would prove to be a serious challenge for Bruce and Jonathan. In the late 1980s Seattle was a town that was barely being held up by Boeing and the lumberjacks. Starbucks had yet to be firebombed for its behemoth corporate stranglehold of coffee, and Microsoft was in its infancy. Nintendo had yet to buy the Mariners, but it was evident that the team needed some overseas help. It was just another American city living in a shadow of Reagan’s trickle-down economic policies. So Pavitt and Poneman put their hope in dreams in an identity. A brand — the trademark; Sub Pop. The early records were easily distinguishable with continuity in the look of each release. A black bar across the top which held the bands name in all caps, followed by the name of the release in a stark sans-serif font. A good majority of those early records featured the provocative live rock photography of Charles Peterson.

In the fall of 1988 Sub Pop would release two milestone records. In October they released Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff EP. This record birthed the grunge sound; loud, dirty and fuckin’ rock and roll glory. Mark Arm arm coined the term in an open letter to the Desperate Times fanzine back in 1981. His description for Mudhoney— “pure grunge, pure shit…” In November Sup Pop launched it’s subscription 7-inch record series with Nirvana’s “Love Buzz” b/w “Big Cheese.” That fall they also began selling the anti-fashion T-shirt with “Loser” on the front and the Sub Pop logo on the back. “We learned early on that the best way we could spend promotional money was to make a profit having other people wear our logo” said Pavitt.

The 7-inch records generated a lot of buzz for the label. They were hand numbered in red ink in sets of 1000. At first they were available in limited supply in independent record stores, but the demand grew and a new distribution system was developed. The subscription service worked two angles, Sub Pop got paid in advance, and more kids got to rock the records. It was ingenious.

In December of 1988 and January 1989, Nirvana tracked the Bleach sessions. They were recorded at Reciprocal Recording Studios in Seattle, WA with Jack Endino manning the desk. The record cost $600. Nine of the tracks on the album were recorded during these sessions. The remaining songs on the album; “Floyd the Barber,” “Paper Cuts,” and “Downer” were recorded in an earlier session on January 23rd, 1988 with Jack Endino producing. In this earlier session, ten songs were cut in six hours (although Jack only charged them for five) for a total of $152. On Jack Endino’s blog you’ll find that some of these songs were mixed with only six minutes of studio time per track, and they made the cut for both Bleach and the latter b-side record Incesticide. Bleach originally sold upwards of 30,000 copies, a nominal amount considering its revisited boom following the release of Nevermind. When all the smoke had cleared some sources claim that Bleach had sold 4 million-plus copies. Sub Pop keeps it humble, at an even 1.6 million, Sub Pop’s best-selling release.

In a pre-Internet world, marketing a record label was extremely costly. The volume of hard copy promotional material paired with shipping cost made it difficult for indie labels to keep their heads above water. In order to generate some buzz overseas the label decided in the spring of 1989 to pay for the UK music mag Melody Maker’s Everett True to fly to Seattle to get the skinny on the scene. He reported back with the story “Seattle: Rock City.” The trans-Atlantic buzz was on and soon NME and others were talking about the happening in the newly ordained punk/metal capital of the world.

By summer the shit hit the fan. Bleach was released on June 9th, the same day as “Lamefest” which featured Mudhoney, Tad, and Nirvana. The scene had gone from 100 person hipster HJ parties, to a full-blown sold out Moore Theatre. Between June of 1989 and August of 1992, Sub Pop would grow to be the most recognized independent record label of Generation X. Mudhoney, L7, and Nirvana would go on to play the UK’s most revered Reading Festival. Back in the states, Seattle would never be the same.

TO BE CONTINUED…

so I was looking to explore some new booms. I checked out Led Zepplin II, Electric Ladyland, The White Album — I was attempting to culture myself. My dad was playing in a cover band at the time and it was my way of relating to his experience, him being a child of the ‘60s. Prior to exploring what at the time I thought was ancient rock, I was jockin’ tapes for a penny from BMG. The records from the library were a whole other world than my collection of Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Descendents, and Dead Milkmen. I was an eclectic ten year old, but I didn’t know shit about the ground that was laid in my pappy’s generation. That year around Christmas time we visited my grandparents in the old brick house he grew up in back in Detroit. We found his old Forever Changes record. Life would never be the same.

For the average lover of glorious expressions of American rock ‘n’ roll, you either: had to be a teenager in the ‘60s with a keen knowledge of under-the-radar; had a parent that lived then; or you need be a rock and roll history nerd to be exposed to Los Angeles’ most beloved band ever. Love was the band in L.A. from 1966-1969. Love’s architects, Arthur Lee (frontman/vocals) and Johnny Echols (lead guitar), grew up on the west side and had been playing music together since childhood. Through various configurations with other musicians and band names, their sound was born in their debut self-titled release Love in 1966 with core members Bryan MacLean (guitar/vocals) and Ken Forssi (bass).

Love was the first interracial rock band of Los Angeles. They were the first rock band to sign to folk label Elektra. They were lady killers — it “just made sense,” according to label founder Jac Holzman. Love made Bert Bacharach’s “Little Red Book” RAWK. Although disputed by Arthur Lee, their classic cut “7 & 7” is hailed by many to be the first punk song ever recorded. The dichotomy of their arrangements is summed up in their third record, 1967’s Forever Changes. “When I did that album,” commented Arthur Lee, “I thought I was going to die at that particular time, so those were my last words.” Forever Changes’ style was contradictory for the era. They embraced the baroque pop genre, giving birth to psychedelic nuances with acoustic guitars, trumpets and string arrangements, while at the same time riddled with darkness and cynicism.

“Sitting on a hillside

Watching all the people die

I’ll feel much better on the other side.” —From the track “Red Telephone”

Love lived in the context of the “Flower Generation” but weren’t afraid to call its bluff. Lyrically, Lee and MacLean unknowingly positioned themselves as the poetic voices of a generation gone schizophrenic. The duality of hope versus a world gone mad painted the canvas of their lyrical canon.

Bands from the Doors to Buffalo Springfield to Janis Joplin opened for Love, yet their glory is just now being mediated to the masses thanks to the makers of Love Story the documentary.

Love Story the documentary is a thorough narrative of L.A.’s most revered band. It was self-financed by first-time British filmmakers Chris Hall and Mike Kerry. The film cleverly dissects the cursory, ambivalent nature of their creative genius. Hall and Kerry came to the decision in 2002 after a pub conversation about music documentaries they thought should be made. To their fortune they were able to interview Arthur Lee before he passed away from cancer in 2006.

Love Story features exclusive interviews with Arthur Lee as well as surviving original band members John Echols, John Fleckenstein, Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer, Michael Stuart, Elektra boss Jac Holzman, producer Bruce Botnick, The Doors’ John Densmore, as well as archive interview footage of the late Bryan MacLean. It’s a story of glorious rock, and the notion of what could have been. Rock critiques from Rolling Stone, to the UK’s NME rank Forever Changes as one of the top albums of all time.

Arthur Lee would be the man to introduce The Doors to Electra Records. In May of 1966 Jac Holzman went to the Whiskey-A-Go-Go to watch The Doors open for Love. He had to be persuaded more than once by Lee after not being impressed by Jim Morrison and company. After several shows and convincing, Holzman decided to sign The Doors. Unbeknownst to Lee, this would seal Love’s fate.

Decades later Arthur Lee and Love have been embraced as a cult phenomenon. Syd Barrett cites Love as being a major influence on Pink Floyd and one of the main reasons the group formed in the first place. In 1987 punk rock aodfathers The Damned covered the opening cut from Forever Changes on their first CD single release. The cover of “Alone Again Or” peaked at #27 on the UK, charts making it their final Top Forty hit to date. Ben Harper claims to have used the Forever Changes album as one of his main inspirations for his 2003 release, Diamonds On the Inside.

While their friends The Doors were touring all over the country, gaining national attention, Lee refused to leave L.A. Self-obsessed in the debauchery of life in their mansion in the hills, drug abuse and delusion set in. Heroin would lead to the demise of the group and Lee would go on to continue under the name Love with multiple configurations of members well into the mid-70s. Forever Changes was embraced by the UK, hitting #24 on the charts, but back in the States, it was a much different story; it hit a meager #154. To their own detriment, they never were able to enjoy the praise that their ghost has enjoyed. The film takes the viewer on a bittersweet ride, examining a story that must be told. This archive will forever stand as a living blueprint to a band that deserves its place in the halls of rock history.