Power-pop embodies a youthful brio: a latch-lifting, door-kicking vitality that bulls its way into the late nights, heart on its sleeve, hungry for adventures, stepping on toes, falling hard, winning big and crystallizing a swirl of nostalgia and loyalty for places and friends...
Guitarist/singer Nick Piunti joined his first band (The Dwarfs,) when he was just 12-years-old and kept at it for another 13 years before it broke up. What better time, really, to cut one's teeth on an inherently angsty and energetic form of rock music than when you're right there in thick of the tumultuous and defiant throes of teenagerdom?
Piunti, who fronted another fine pop outfit called The Respectables through the mid-late 2000's, would finally make his mark as a solo singer/songwriter in 2013, releasing 13 In My Headunder his own name.
Through it all, he's honed his sensibility for riffy resplendence and major-key bursting janglers affecting all that propulsive elation I've eluded to, already, but on Beyond The Static, the vocals are sharpened with a sagely offering of caustic cautions to the now-younger indie-punks and aspiring pop-crooners against the "traps" of "just-because" mentalities guiding your decisions and dissuading anyone from getting caught up in the make-believe rivalries of scenes.
"In the present tense / hard to make much sense..." Piunti sings on the vigorous opener "It's A Trap."
On the slower-tempo "Head In The Clouds," Piunti belts a shuffling ballad against the senseless and the self-centered, a bittersweet swaying number knocking down the know-it-alls and the braggadocio that comes with rock n' roll. It's one of the more interesting pop songs I've heard in a while, in fact, lyrically reading it out almost makes it sound like a archetypal hip-hop track, deflating all the windbags with his hard-earned wisdom.
Throughout Beyond The Static, Piunti also emits a lot of heart with that heaving, high-ish voice that wheezes this charismatic bit of rust at the most emotive crescendos, while the guitars go from soft breezy strums to strutting jangles, surfy spills to more ferocious growls. A wide range for sure; go from "Head In The Clouds" to "Something's Wrong" and it sounds like two different groups...
Beyond The Static was produced by Geoff Michael and Piunti at Big Sky Recordings in Ann Arbor. Fellow Michigan-scene power-poppers like Chris Richards and Ryan Allen show up for back-up vocals while pedal-steel wizard Dave Feeney contributes some Americana-soul to a track. Richards, with Donny Brown (who also contributed to the album's tracks) will join Piunti live on stage this week with Todd Holmes on drums.
Just in time for the warming rays of springtime, Piunti's blend of throwback rock n' roll swagger, heartfelt indie ballads and cinematic power-pop kickers for the opening credits sequence of any of your forthcoming sunny days.
Nick Piunti released Beyond The Static online last month. See Piunti perform on April 2nd at PJs Lager House for The International Pop Overthrow Music Festival. INFO The four-day music festival also features Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms, Chris Richards & The Subtractions, The Static Dial, Le Voyage, The Rose Cult and many more. Full line up here...
Matt Jones: I was mixing some of these recordings. And, I've
done a really bad thing…I mean, in terms of recording these things. Jeff Milo: What’s that? Did you erase them? Matt Jones: I haven’t backed anything up yet! And, I
have all these things on the machine, and if something happens to the machine,
if it gets jostled, if it comes unplugged unexpectedly, I lose everything.
Matt Jones: ….everything! Forty
people have recorded here in my basement
Casual Sweetheart recording in Matt Jones' basement
Matt Jones is an Ypsilanti-based singer/songwriter who has
distinguished himself with his august folk songs, steeped in history and dissecting darkness. His music blends into a baroque elegance that's haunted with bittersweet poetry of plainspoke chivalries soaring in this
fragile falsetto like a frayed silk scarf billowing through a chilled autumn
breeze, emoting words wrung with inspiration as much as frustration,
self-deprecation (particularly for himself) and a reverence, (…particularly for
the Civil War.)
But Jones is a particularly reverent guy, overall; at least
he’s grown into one over the last ten years spent on the scene, with three
albums under his belt and collaborations with fellow songwriters like Misty Lyn & The Big Beautiful.
Back in 2006, Fred
Thomas organized a compilation to celebrate the local scene called Ypsilanti Folk Singers, inviting several
regional songwriters down into his basement to record on a modest cassette
4-Track. Scene stalwarts such as Chris Bathgate, Actual Birds, Annie Palmer and
Grey Ghosts came down to contribute to Thomas’ project, as did Jones.
Matt Jones: It was very lo-fi and really seat-of-the
pants. But, it was something to be totally proud of, and it made people around
it listen to one another. These days, the music scene is there, but it
struggles… We don’t have the kind of venue in Ypsi that we’d had in the past, like
with Woodruffs shutting down. And, that vital connection between venue and
artist has been lost. So, it doesn’t feel as inclusive, though there are people
and groups trying to make something happen. I’ve never been one to go sit on a
panel at a meeting and talk about how things can get better. Jeff Milo: I’ve been
on one of those panels, once… Matt Jones:I
know you have, I was there! You moderated…at Woodruffs, right? I’ve just
always had an idea, maybe a good one…maybe a total shit one…and I try for it,
whether it fails or not.
Prawnces Albatross recording in Matt Jones' basement
Jeff Milo: So this is the idea for your
compilation…with forty musicians coming into your basement just as they’d had
before with Fred… Matt Jones: This was my attempt at making people listen
to each other. If it never gets heard outside of Michigan…fine. This
compilation is for the people making the music. Jeff Milo: That idea didn’t come up at my panel,
sadly. I think it needed to come up.
I think… and, I wanna know what you think here, but… I think a scene needs something like this, something tangible. They
need to see what they’re building together, otherwise they only say it out
loud, there’s talk of a scene “forming” or “coalescing” into something bigger… Matt Jones: Or they say “…the scene sucks.” I got tired
of hearing that, or that the scene was dead. It drives me fucking bonkers. So…I
do this, and everyone goes home and rehearses. People think it’s a big deal as
they get ready for it and IT IS! And they want to shine at it!
Matt Jones is currently finishing up an ambitious project
where he hopes to record up to 70 musicians and groups (if not, more) and
release it in the late summer (or early autumn at the latest). What began as a
desire to record his neighbors bands as a “register” of the soundtrack of a
place and a time and of a community, has expanded into capturing the entire
state, as far west as Grand Rapids and back over to SW Detroit. There’s no
title for said-compilation yet, but you can anticipate something harkening to
the Civil War, or something comparably noble and nostalgic… The Civil War, to
be fair, continues to be on Jones mind as he recently returned to school,
studying history, to attain his masters. When he isn’t working on his History major at EMU or
preparing for a speech the EMU Research Symposium, he's regularly welcoming musicians from around the state down into his "...shitty basement" for an invigorating one-take session to capture a song on this forthcoming compilation...
Matt Jones calls this compilation “Music Scene Therapy…”
Jeff Milo: So, this comp of yours can be the boulder
that you present, at the top of a hill, to roll down towards all the naysayers
and topple them… Matt Jones: I would love the comp to be proof that
people, even the naysayers-themselves, are still doing stuff. A lot of the
naysayers are people who could make the biggest difference. I’ve been a naysayer. Jeff Milo: Reformed naysayer.
Matt Jones: But here’s the thing. I got started and…a
few people into it, I was like, “Wow, I’m having a blast, and I don’t know
why!” And then I figured it out: You can’t have people sit two-feet away from
you and have them do what they love most, and not come away from it loving it
as well. It’s impossible. Jeff Milo: You’re right. Unless you’re heart’s empty or
you’re cold and have no compassion. That’s an intense exchange, there, having
their energies emanating, through a song, just two feet from you, in that
intimate space. Matt Jones: So I’ve had all kinds of that. So many good
people in here. I think every musician-dickhead should have to do this….
“Music Scene Therapy”
Matt Jones: ….should have to spend an extraordinary
amount of time sitting with other people,
with no spotlight, and try to make the other person feel like what they have to
say is the only important thing being said. Because down in my basement, it’s
totally true. When they pour their song out, two feet away from me, there isn’t
anything else that matters, anywhere. Jeff Milo: You’re kind of becoming a documentarian,
here, not just a producer. Almost a journalist, something like, I dunno…an
Ypsi-Alan-Lomax. Matt Jones: You must love it. Oh, man, though…you’ve
been listening to me for years saying that I was sick of telling my own story.
I think I was sick of it waaay before
I started telling it, publicly. Jeff Milo: In your basement, you have to create a
certain vibe for them to open up, to ask the right questions or no questions at
all; to create the right ambiance and present this project in a tactful way. Matt Jones: There’s always 10 minutes or so where I just
want people to talk. No playing. Let’s not worry about the mic or about the
fact that I haven’t seen you play before. Just shoot the shit. I’ve had guys down
here visibly shaking…But, I’ve always known people want to talk, they want to
be comfortable, no matter how much people want to get their art out there, to
get some fucking validation for their artistic efforts. They also want to talk
and just feel comfortable. Some people sacrifice that and their art reflects
that and it sucks.
“For the songs to be good…in the basement…people that come down have to be
comfy…”
Matt Jones: How much are you going to move anyone with
your song if you can’t stop shaking and you’re worried about this chord or that
chord or which song you play. Fuck that. You’re doing exactly what you’re
supposed to be doing. Misty (Lyn Bergeron) always says that and it makes total
sense. Jeff Milo: Well, you approached this fully sensitive
of the one thing that could have been its biggest downfall. Nerves. You
musicians can be neurotic sometimes, eh? Matt Jones:Oh,
god, I know! But, more than that, I was scared of just making another Cool Kids compilation. I wanted a whole
slice of the scene. Everyone. All styles.
Jim Roll recording in Matt Jones' basement
Jeff Milo: Even if you can’t quell the naysayers…you
can at least re-spark something inside all of the musicians who are coming in
to play for you, right? Check up on Matt Jones facebook page for
steady updates of each contributing musician/group’s session w/photos and info... Matt Jones: Yes. I’ve seen it happen! To see the pics
online after coming in and playing and rocking out and having that positive
reinforcement from people online.
Jeff Milo: What have you got down there? Pro-tools?
Couple of o’ mics? Matt Jones: No dude. The rules are very strict. Tascam
digital 8-Track. No computers. Fuck computers. One $100 condenser mic. One
take. One song. Even if it’s an electric band. They have to adjust their volume
in order to get the sound they want and the sound that’s possible, out of this
limited set up. And so far, everyone’s been impossibly cooperative and the
sounds I’ve gotten have been absolutely stellar. Jeff Milo: It’s one thing to see a band on stage and
the sort of pageantry involved with a great live show. Matt Jones: Right, but a band inside a studio, that’s
where the real skill comes out. Not like I’m a real studio, but…still. I love
seeing how bands adjust. I’ve been floored. I get to see how bands work, adapt,
how they play when they’re not under the lights. I’ve always thought practice
was a lot more fun than shows. I don’t care if it’s a new song, an old song,
whatever. It’s going to be heard in a very different way than usual. Jim Roll
wrote his song right there in my basement. Jeff Milo: Were you nervous, early on, or as the idea
was gestating? Did you ever feel the urge to just say: “Aw, hell, it’d be
easier and more fulfilling just to do another record of mine…” Matt Jones: I figured, I don’t have the money right now
to start a new record, so maybe I can make one for everyone else…with EVERYONE
ELSE on it…I’ve wanted to do it for years. That’s how things are for me,
always. Everything is the end of the high dive board for me…
Jim Cherewick recording in Matt Jones' basement
Jeff Milo: So, what’s your big takeaway, now? Having
this intimate experience and composing a grand portrait or sonic collage of
your neighbors… Matt Jones: Waking the artists up. Just letting them know
that people want to hear. That they can do whatever the fuck they want to do. Jeff Milo: You’re also getting a profound observation
of what makes the Ypsi scene or the Michigan music scene special… Matt Jones: Yeah,
but I think if I did this in any community, I could get the same re-wiring. I
think every community is special. All I’m saying is everyone has potential.
Everyone, everywhere. Jeff Milo: This is each musicians opportunity to really
contribute something to posterity… I mean, if it all pans out, right? This is
their chapter, their monologue, their Oscar clip. Matt Jones: Right, and the experience of them coming
down into this rather shitty basement, it’s not even close to being finished,
it’s cold as hell and the lighting is terrible. But, you’re down here with just one other dude that you kind of
know, and he is rocking out on his headphones to your song. I try to make it
magic. It’s not easy. There is limited magic down there.
Jeff Milo: I think, often, singers, musicians, working
every week, trying to tour, putting out their own records, they just need a
deeper or a different kind of acknowledgement, something beyond applause, of
their song, of their efforts. Are you giving them something like that? Matt Jones: We all need acknowldgement. It’ll be hard
nailing it down for the release show, though. Like, who plays and who headlines…
Meanwhile I’ll be cackling in the back somewhere, like a fucking Skeksi… Jeff Milo: Wait, what? Matt Jones: You know…like from the Dark Crystal. The bad
guys. Jeff Milo: Those things. Matt Jones: Yes, those things. The most evil fuckers.
"...history & memory..."
Jeff
Milo: What do you envision, going forward? 40
songs? 60? Matt Jones: More. It’s up to 75. The vision got way out
ahead of me. At first it was something fun, to include Ypsi people in- to get
this music scene looking at itself, listening to itself. then, as more people
expressed interest, it extended to Michigan as a whole, to people who DO listen
to themselves and each other...(Kalamazoo has a really strong scene right
now...) I go back to my obsession with history- I've always wanted a register
of things- I make lists, I draw maps on napkins, and white boards at school
when no one is listening. I HAVE to have everyone recorded. It won't feel right
unless I have a complete register of the current musical landscape. It has to
be "put on the books," as the boys in The High Strung would say…
I also want this thing put into the
library of congress. Immortalized
In me, something is always missing until
the history is complete
I always want a complete story
Because real stories to me are better than
any fiction
And everything is a story
Jeff Milo: You once told me that there was only one
thing you wanted out of "THIS" (be it music, the scene, touring,
writing, performing, yadda yadda yadda) ...do you remember? It's stayed in my
brain ever since…
Matt Jones: Yes! That’s like these
recordings. A register, rather. If I can make my mark by helping other people
make theirs- that’s SO MUCH BETTER THAN MY OWN…
Jeff
Milo: Memorable sessions, so far? Matt Jones:Red
Tail Ring blew me out of the fucking basement. Cash Harrison came in and played a song that was so raw and real
that I played it around my house for days.
Jenny Jones, someone I’ve never heard before. She works for other bands and
asked if I could get one of her bands in, but I was like: Jenny, YOU have to
come do this! Stunningly good. Ben
Collins was phenomenal. Fiona
Dickinson and Sam Cooper blew my
fucking mind. Casual Sweetheart was
so good. JT Garfield, Greater Alexander,
Stef Chura, Jim Cherewick, Fangs and Twang. Pat Elkins was brilliant. Let's see, Chris Dupont and Betsy King are so pumped about this whole thing, they came and killed it! Michael Anne Erlewine was just in, last night, and was so goddamned good!
Soon…(Josh) Malerman will be here, Plus, Ryan Allen, Ryan Spencer, Jo Serrapere…35
more to go in two weeks.
Jeff Milo: This is the history buff in you… Recording
current events for posterity. Matt Jones: But,
I should point out, much of the Civil War history is from memory and history
and memory are two real different things. Generals wrote formal reports of
every battle based on what they could see, and they admitted that what they “could
see” was often not very much… I’m getting as many people from around Michigan
as I can but…some of them I can’t see…The
singers who have come in where I have no idea who they are, they’re still
making an impact with listeners all their own, on their own front, so to speak.
And if memory becomes history, so be it. This thing in my basement, it’s a
document. Someday you’ll find it in the archives. But it’s also a story. I
think you are responsible for that, really. Jeff Milo: Me? Matt Jones: Yeah. You always write the story.
Jeff Milo: And, as a History Major, now, you're getting into a certain aspect of storytelling... By the way, how'd did your speech go, at the EMU symposium?
Matt Jones: The presentation was good. I tend to go overboard on things. But, I was insanely nervous, couldn't sleep... Sarah Campbell, my squeeze, said: "Dude, talk about this stuff the way you talk about it with your friends, with all that enthusiasm!" She was absolutely right. It worked. I was standing there, staring down really, really smart people and I was having a blast. And thanks goes out to (Campbell,) too, especially for this comp, as she's had to work with me through all 40 contributors, so far!
Jeff
Milo: Okay... LAST QUESTION: Think back to your most jaded days. When you
were pessimistic about the scene or just a naysayer yourself… And, now, after
this great, rejuvenating experience, what would you tell your prior self? Matt Jones: Just like Misty always tells him: You’re doing exactly what you’re supposed
to be doing. I just want everyone to listen to each other…
Hysterical,
surreal, irreverent… These words get thrown around too willy nilly. You have to experience this film... And man... It's a weird one. And a fun one... Well... there are a lot of adjectives you could throw at it...
But
the first feature film from a local production company, A Casket Full Of RoughDrafts, is a tripped-out, horrorshow of a screwball comedy. It’s a fever-dream
frolic into absurdity that almost dares you to laugh, with zaney lines delivers sa serious-as-a-heart-attack with our three wide-eyed heroes, in the middle, trying to fathom the terror(s)
that they've unleashed
Now, if I tell you that this film is
titled Jizzly Bear, then your imagination is going to run more
rampant than a greased-up, jet-pack-fired Tasmanian devil down an icy luge
track. Is there a bear in this film? Yes. Are there certain bodily
emissions? Considerable amounts, yes. But what’s it about?
“I
think it’s about friendship…, but there is A LOT of other stuff happening,”
said Eric Kozlowski, who plays Burt. “I think you’d have to see it to
understand it.”
Jizzly Bear
is a vaudevillian fumble-dance through a beautifully nightmare-ish vision of
the rural woods of Michigan where a lovable loser winds up unintentionally
warping the laws of both biology and zoology, to one day let loose a murderous
supernatural new species onto his unsuspecting neighbors (who all thought he
was kind of a weirdo, anyway…)
“It is a
truly original comedy-adventure-abstract-real life-animation,” said Allison
Laakko, who plays the lead role, Sam. The multifaceted actress, singer and
artist donned a collared shirt, slacks and a mustache to transform into the
socially-anxious Sam.
Imagine if the Marx Brothers were raised inside the Overlook Hotel from The Shining and met up with a script that was equal parts David Lynch - John Waters with the confetti giggle of Rip Taylor... or if David Cronenberg made a more saccharine Saturday Morning Cartoon...
That's Jizzly Bear
The film was
written and directed by Norman DePlume and produced by Lee Drexel and also
stars Jason Glasgow. Jizzly Bear began filming in early summer of last year, in
various locations around the state, as far north as the Upper Peninsula and as
close by as the end of the street where Laakko lives in metro Detroit.
“I would describe this film as an endearing, comedic, artistic masterpiece…”
said Glasgow, who plays Allan, the third friend and fellow hunter of the trio
at the center of the film’s escapades. “It’s very easy to fall in love with Sam
and Allan and Burt. It’s like the movie Easy
Money but with extra inappropriate hilarious content.”
The trio embodies your everymen-type, blue-collar-ish, beer-drinking,
heavy-rock music digging dudes who recreationally camp and hunt and fish and
experiment with strange new fashion trends from time to time. Sam is the black
sheep of the group, geeky yet endearing, just trying not to step on anyone’s
toes, let alone an angry grizzly bear’s claws. Allan’s kinda the action-man of
the group, the one who might just shoot first, keeping his ear to the ground
with a ready-for-anything-intensity. Burt’s a bit more laid back, a little more
swagger yet sagely at the same time. I bet he’s into meditation when he’s not
hunting bears, but that’s for another movie…
The center
of the film is Sam and his predicament with this “Jizzly Bear…”
To be blunt, it's a bit of a trip....
There are a lot of breathtakingly beguiling sequences in this film, strange
non-sequiturs and seemingly anarchic bits exuberantly take over a scene from
time to time, with explosive, bawdy and just downright trippy results… But
DePlume’s script and direction always brings it back to the focal points, that
being the bond between our three main characters and, particularly, the
rubber-faced, theatrics of Laako’s impressionistic performance.
As Laakko
describes it, back in the spring of 2014, DePlume and fellow filmmaker James
Hall were discussing “that age old question…” of what was one’s weirdest
masturbation location they could recall? The pair of them started snickering
and shouting “Jizz Bear” to everyone within earshot (…since, the film wound up
centering around a character pleasuring oneself inside a deerblind out in the
woods, with a precocious grizzly bear near the proverbial splash zone). “I was
immediately thrilled at the notion of making a bear suit,” Laakko recalls.
Tell us more
about the initial reactions you had to this script…
Laakko: Well, once Norm has his hooks in a ripe idea there's no
turning back-the very next night there came all at once a whirlwind of poo and
jizz where he sat at his dining room table, and no more than three hours later-
when the chaos finally settled down and the crazed laughter and shouts subsided
- I knew then that he had really done it this time! A truly original potty
humor masterpiece. We read it over and over- we laugh- we cried- we danced
tribal dances around his house..it was a glorious sight to behold.
I hadn't
originally planned on playing the main character- just peripherals, the bear,
the role of prop-maker-art-department-extraordinaire, but after more than a
month had gone by and they still hadn't found the main character, I was asked
and happily took on the challenge to play Sam.
Glasgow: I’ve never read a book or story
the first time and thought it was as funny as Jizzly Bear. Early on, I had no idea I’d be playing Allan and when
Norm asked me if I would play him he said to me, “You’ll be playing Allan, the
guy who wears the…….” You’ll have to
see the movie because I can’t give out the secret. After that day, I read the script countless
time trying to be the best Allan I could be.
Kozlowski: The script only took (DePlume) a
few days to write. It started as a joke. I read it in one night and couldn’t
stop laughing. I was blown away that (DePlume) took one drunken joke and turned
it into an entire movie.
Tell us about the experience of making your own movie, your first movie? How
DIY was it, actually?
Kozlowski: Shooting was insane! None of us
had ever shot a movie before but that didn’t stop us; we were going to make a
feature one way or another. Our good friend Scott West, who films events for a
living, helped us a lot. He shot the first scene, which was the biggest help
because we got to see him work. It was very DIY and (Laakko) was fantastic in
that department. Nobody working on this movie only had one job.
Laakko: I
was very excited at the challenge of making a bear suit, and a half-man
half-bear-suit right from the start, but had absolutely no experience in the
field of elaborate animal costume making.
[After some Googling, Laako was able to learn integral aspects from the
works of “Furies,” passionate folk who create elaborate homemade animal
costumes for quirky, communal conventions].
I was able
to find a couple of tutorials that I loosely followed to make my suit, along
with trial and error and a continuous viewing of the documentary,
"Bears". I first figured out how to make a plaster cast of my head,
to ensure the costume fit perfectly, (which took a whole month and a room
covered with plaster to get right) and loosely formed the body around a
mannequin we conveniently picked up on a whim many months back. All in all it
took the duration of the summer to make the suit; using fake fur, upholstery
foam, miles of hot glue, and various types of paint. After that I made another
man-bear head with a latex cast of my face surrounded by fur…
I don't think there's a single work of art that I've put
more time into and I fully intend to make more suits soon - strictly for movie
making, not Furry conventions.
I also happily took on the roll of mad scientist in the
kitchen until I had the perfect formulas for all of the prop bodily excretions
(all vegan of course: mostly cocoa powder, flour and some other fun grains and
such for texture). I made Allan's hairpiece with this chocolately dough- and
painted Burt's portrait with brownie mix.
I had a lot
of help making the cave in our basement. It's amazing how many unorthodox art
supplies you can find at the hardware store
Glasgow: As far as the sets and the
costumes and all of the accessories, we have to give a big thank you to Allison
Lakko. She made the bear, by hand! The last scene of the movie, the cave- yea Allison
did that too. We helped obviously, but
she did 90% of it- which when you see the movie, you would have no idea where
it was shot. A truly amazing experience,
not only to do this, but it was all made by hand. Check out the Psychic scene, all done by
Allison as well.
Allison, can you talk about playing a boy?
Laakko: It's extremely liberating playing a boy- to only think
about being funny, not worrying at all about looking "Good" in front
of a camera the way someone might when the character is more of a
representation of their true self. I'm very comfortable in my own skin and
virtually unaffected by the idea of "making a fool of myself" in
daily life, but putting on the man-suit made it even easier to be utterly
ridiculous in any scenario.
I've always been a character, I suppose you could say- head in clouds- recorded
my own language on a cassette recorder when I was 7 and ran around singing pretend
opera all day long, dress-up was a regular routine and the Lawrence Welk Show
and Nick at Night were big influences on my childhood. (DePlume) likes to
compare my antics to Lucile Ball, which is only fitting considering that she
was an idol of mine growing up.
What was the
strangest or funniest experience from making this film? Kozlowski:
Everything! …I have heard these jokes a thousand times
and still laugh. One scene sticks out: we were in the forest. Our friends
Theresa and Kristi came out to help. I never thought I would see my friends
throwing fake poo at me while someone filmed it.
Glasgow: In the woods, we were approached by a park ranger asking
what we were actually doing and luckily he happened to pop up on us before we
were all covered in a …messy situation. The most fun scenes to film were the
deerblind and then in the cave…
Laakko: Have you been out in the woods with a group of your closest
friends and all of a sudden, in broad daylight, decided to completely soak
three of them in buckets and buckets of brown stuff? How about getting a huge
bowl of white stuff dumped all over your body while donning balloons for boobs
in a black, fog-filled room streaked with rainbow strobe-lights, while a
life-sized penguin looked on from one corner of the room and an old man with a
long white beard gazed from the other corner? Some would call that their worst
nightmare, some the best dream they ever had and others, still, would compare
it to their worst acid trip. For us, it was just another day on the set of
Jizzly Bear!
This being everyone’s first film, what, then was the most fulfilling or
rewarding moment for you? When did you realize that this was actually going to
come together?
Kozlowski: I think some of our friends that knew we were doing this
just thought it wasn’t going to happen. Just, something we were going to joke
around with and not complete. (DePlume), Allison, Jay and myself knew from the
beginning this was going to be made.
Laakko: I never had any doubt that we would finish the thing, but
Norm’s decision to do the editing himself was a wonderful surprise to us all
that really quickened the pace and made it all the more exciting, surprising,
and fulfilling to see what we had done, an actual movie we made together.
Finishing an actual full length real, great, hilarious movie together. There
has been nothing more rewarding and nothing more motivating for me than that.
Finishing a real work of art as a team and having the time of our lives doing it.
Glasgow: I
routinely examined and practiced every scene and every line at home in order to
be ready for shooting. I was super
concerned with just not screwing up my lines, but I took this very seriously.
The circumstances of the plot, the action, the dialogue, are crazy funny, yet
everyone delivers their lines with such sincerity…
Laakko: First of all, when
you take something like this at face value- I mean really believe and
understand where Norm was going with the script - it becomes less of a
challenge and more of an attempt to make the pages come to life- it was all right there in this masterfully
written script. It's really what fueled the whole project in my opinion.
Secondly, I don't have years of theater experience under my belt, but the
acting classes that I took at OCC were perhaps the most valuable, enlightening,
and useful classes that I've ever taken. I would recommend that EVERYBODY take acting
classes at some point in there lives whether or not they ever have a desire to
act; not because you'll learned some technique on how to project your voice to
a crowd, but because you will learn techniques that may help you to FEARLESSLY
EMBRACE your voice, to be ok with it being heard in the first place.
Theater,
acting, this type of make-believe, this type of "playing" - it's such
a release: it is the most incredible therapy for anyone involved because it
forces you to confront vulnerability, to express yourself in deeply emotional
ways, big and small, to be the center of attention- all in front of a group of
peers doing to same thing right after you.
The number
one fear of all people is presenting in front of a group, and I overcame that
in a huge way because of acting classes.
Also! Laughter is maybe the best reward of it all-I'll never forget a
specific moment when I was acting out a made up scene in front of class. I was
a (male) art teacher doing some exaggerated character work and my teacher laughed
out loud at some faces I made. I'll never forget the feeling that gave me.
Being the cause of laughter, creating that sound because you meant to-it's such
a joyful feeling! I don't know if I ever said it, but (thank you Diane Hill!
Your gift teaching theater has been invaluable to my life.)I hope she can make
it to the movie!
Glasgow: I never once thought during the entire process of the
movie that I was an actor or acted like an actor. I wanted to portray the
vision in my head as I saw it from reading the script. Looking back on it now I
equate it to a form of tunnel vision, such as your favorite guitarist taking
you on a journey or a pitcher throwing a no hitter- autopilot to say. That's
how ALLAN felt to me, a person with lines to deliver- put them all together and
it tells a story. That story was written by Norm. I'm excited for what's next,
and even if I only have 4 lines in the next one- guaranteed it will deliver an awesome story.
For the love of art.
Kozlowski: I
think us being good friends in real life really helped the sincerity of these
characters come across on screen. I am
very happy with the way the casting happened.
Laakko: I feel that
if a person is passionate, committed, and serious about what they're creating,
there's no way to fail at it short of giving up. BUT! the outcome may not
always be what you expected. It's a natural progression for the artist- you
have the idea: what you picture it looking like in the end, the execution of
said Idea: actually making the damn thing, and the final outcome: the finished
product.
The more time, effort, and attempts made towards that
idea, A: the closer the finished product may mirror the initial idea, and B:
the more that initial idea will morph into something greater than you ever
expected it could become. I feel that that is exactly what happened with this
movie for everyone involved- the final outcome could have never been predicted
and was greater than any of us could have imagined. We had no idea what to
expect, yet we pushed forward with progress fueled momentum until the last
scene was filmed.
Norm taught us all about the importance of self
propulsion through setting phantom deadlines. I don't think we would have ever
finished without him making sure we stuck to timeline we originally planned on
for the most part.
Then after we celebrated filming the final scene, Norm
surprised us and saved the day once again by making the decision to blindly
tackle editing the movie himself with nothing to go on but a natural knack for
creating an amazing rhythm with sound
and vision; and a detail oriented precision that only years of creating in
other fields could have taught him.
Laakko: None of us could have imagined the end result - funnier
than we had even realized, yet also carrying with it an austerity and an
earnestness that couldn't have been written in, even though the script was very
precisely followed.
Damn… Ya know, I could’ve caught Ypsi-duo JUNGLEFOWL two
weeks ago during the Hamtramck
Music Festival. Granted, there were more than a hundred bands to see in
less than 48 hours… But still…
Check out this frenetic, fired up single they released
earlier this month. Scintillating psyche-blues with pummeling garage-rocked
drum slams, shifting tempos from a strutting pop-hook in its opening verses to
a Sleater-Kinney-esque yowled-out, wall-punching chorus, only to slow it down
for a bluesy, slithering solo.
As the lyrics suggest, the duo of Melissa Coppola on drums
and Stefan Carr on guitar/bass, are certainly showing their teeth on this
track, with the electrified-urgency implied when “…the show’s about to go,
now!”
JUNGLEFOWL’s debut EP Strut,
(produced by the essential Mr. Jim Roll,)comes out this Saturday (March 28th), with a release party at the Crossroads bar in Ypsilanti. (8 PM / $5)
Tanager,
The Eres and White Bee are
opening the show. All proceeds will benefit a new non profit calledGirls Rock Detroit, a community organization fostering girls’
creative expression, positive self-esteem and awareness through rock music
education and performance: http://on.fb.me/1H5CN6I
I think it's form of a form of folk music, anthems for a people put upon by an exasperating, corrupted and idle system, transmitted to us from a not-so-far-off Future that we're just not ready to love, yet...or from a parallel dimension we're certainly not ready to understand...
That doesn't mean you can't vibe with this:
The melodies are playful and wobbily, the choruses (once you decipher through the vocoders and reverb) are anthemic and easy to singalong-with, the guitars sound cool and have some hooky riffs and then there's those dazzling saxophones purring and synthesizers oscillating over hand-clappable drum beats.
Crappy Future's a Detroit-based quartet (Ben Audette, Scotty Iulianelli, Jeff Spatafora, Justin Walsh) that are hear to wake you up to how crappy this supposedly advanced civilization we've couched ourselves into really is...and warn us, melodically with furious synth/guitar intonations, of how crappy the future could yet become if we don't start opening our eyes...
That warbling synth slaloming over the beats and through the wheezy flutes, it clasps together in an aural evocation of all the busy background noises and half-deciphered/over-your-shoulder shushes, gasps and outbursts one traffics through when they wend their way through a smoky, loud, crowded house, creaky floors and chipped paint, records spinning under luminescence of a lava lamp and....hey, what's that smell?
With fine production from Dr. B, one of Detroit's premier hip-hop projects, the Passalacqua, come back to the stage with this single, a smooth, subtle and sinuous provocation that follows up the roof-raising soul-eruption of last summer's Church.
MC's Blaksmith and Mister have mastered the art of introspective/observational raps, 1 part self-deprecating/charismatic humor and 3 parts soul-staring self-contemplation; the weary-eyed attendant whose in the mix and moving to the beats but stewing through the knottier worries on his mind as he finds a quiet second to cut to the chase of: what are we doing here... The poetry that picks apart another wasted night and implores the thinkers and the writers and the doers and those who can still give a care to not just willfully lose yourself to the empty pageantry of "...the party..." Where we wear a mask, sometimes or where we don't even know majority of the attendees. Social stress, man... Modern day anxie-ty at the party.... "Go dumb...at the party..." To live your life for the party?
Passalacqua's Banglatown EP comes out on April 14th. https://www.facebook.com/passalacquamusic
The multifaceted, genre-defiant collective from Kalamazoo, Maraj, are traveling to Detroit next weekend. Call it soul, funk and/or hip-hop, call it all of that all at once... Throw in some electronica and R&B...
Live bass, looped beats, sampler, synth, dual hook singers and dual MCs; a seven-piece out of Kzoo brandishing "Pine Desert Soul." Everything I've heard has had a freshness, a frenetic riff, a propulsive, intricately arranged beat and an enticing overall energy, a mini hip-hop orchestra with its own graceful, grooving flux.
Maraj joins Red Pill at The Majestic Cafe on Friday, March 27th. Nortroniks and MC Friendly, both from Grand Rapids, will also be performing. (Doors 8 PM / Music 9 PM / $5 - http://on.fb.me/1xeezUH)
Red Pill, meanwhile, has had quite a 2015, so far, having signed onto Mello Music Group for the forthcoming release of Look What This World Did To Us (April 7). Red Pill (aka Chris Orrick) has spent the last five years distinguishing himself with his memoir-esque rap poetry pouring out confessional bars heavy with contemplative relays and gut-punched imagery. The lead single for his album is streaming below.
Joining Red Pill for this event is the exceptional DJ/producer Hir-O, with whom he released "The Kick" back in 2013. Check it out
Detroit-based trip-hop/ambient house producer Chris Jarvis, a.k.a. Ancient Language started streaming his latest single, "Totem," this week via Soundcloud. Listeners can pick up a new record by Ancient Language (on 7" vinyl from New Fortune Records), later on in May.
https://soundcloud.com/ancientlanguage/totem
Celestial synths sigh their way into the track, like a meditative exercise before the danceable beat kicks in... Not that this is any raging rave of a track; it feels more like a montage, or a poem that shifts into several stanzas (only, as an instrumental composition, its Jarvis wending and weaving of wintry-tones and and a cascade of spaced-out warbles and chimes from seraphic synths that sing for him).
The mid-tempo beat, bolstered by an arched-shouldered, fuzzed-out bass, keeps something more akin to a pulse rather than an overt instigation to dance, its more a cerebral stride, a walk to nowhere or to anywhere under an uncannily luminescent night-sky... But the track continues to build, introducing three more looping synth arrangements onto the soundscape somehow finding a way to suture each added element into a new and balanced harmony every eighth measure, or so...
The swell of tones and graceful dance of dueling melodies evokes that certain transcendence inherent to techno - that moment where it nearly overwhelms the ears and the beat takes you over and your only recourse is to close your eyes and let the music take your mind where it will... No, I'm not on drugs as I write this - I'm only listening to "Totem..."
More info: https://soundcloud.com/ancientlanguage/totem
Whether through previous collaborations like Nightbeast or
Double Weirdo, Ypsi-based song maker Mac Starr has continually demonstrated a
proclivity towards the nice and naïve-sounding melodies of bubblegum pop. But
he’s not so much reviving or throwing-back to the early 60’s sound with that
fx-shrouded shimmy-bop affectation to his excitable half-doo-wopped croon, so
much as he’s applying his own signature mutation to a classic rock n’ roll
sound, dousing a bit of distortion over the whole thing and keeping his riffs
raw.
It makes sense, then, that Mac would dub these keyed-up blemish-baring
lo-fi boogies to be “Teenage Dreams,” since rock n’ roll itself was the voice
of/for/and by the youth. It also makes sense that this album would be picked up
by Wiener Records, since it’s a subsidiary of California-based Burger Records;
this kind of caustic charisma is their bed & butter.
There’s passion, awkwardness, standoffishness, there’s
enthusiasm, there’s angst and there’s heartbreak – all of the myriad emotions,
notions and commotions we all experienced as a teenager slumping towards
adulthood. These songs span steam-blowing throttlers like “Please Stop,” gritty,
atonal-yowls and smoldering psychedelia like “Why Can’t It Be? (Are We?)” and
surfy/soaring synth-enhanced grooves like “Specific Locations” (this writer’s
particular favorite).
Once you get through this EP, (his first as a solo artist,)
you realize that Mac Starr’s take on pop/rock is similar to True Romance’s take on the
boy-meets-girl genre… It’s a boy baring his heart and exorcising a few demons
from his teenage days, days that aren’t so far away from him that he can’t tap
back into their fun, fantastic fretfulness…
“Bin Diggers” might be the integral track; erratic time signatures,
driving beats, howling chorus, expressing individuality through nostalgia for a
certain kind of beautiful noise… And a xylophone. Why not?
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