Artist Interview w. Arne Gutmann

Arne is the man. The Gutmann. I don't really know what the heck a Gutmann is, but I assume it's Dutch or something, and probably means "Good Man", or, like, "Totally Rad Dude That Takes Killer Photos of Fat Dumps".
Probably.


Steige: Why do you take photos of your poop?

Arne: Cuz almost 20 years ago I saw one of my poops and said "I gotta photograph that! It looks like the letter ....." Since that time I have paid a little more attention to that unusual thing called "poo."

S: Do you have to practice to make your poop into shapes and letters, or is it all just left up to chance?

A: Nope, it's just like freakin' magic. I never know. It's always a fresh bowl and what happens is up to chance. I am sure diet helps a little. Steak and pizza. Yum.

S: What are the best and worst things anyone has ever said about one of your poop pictures? Has anyone ever told you that your photo looks like crap, and then ran off giggling, only to come back later and buy two? Cause I would like to think that’s what I would do. And I would definitely get a B and an X, because those seem like they would be the trickiest to make.

A: Most people chuckle, some think it is just wrong. I only remember one dude at a show and he was really ticked off, I was like sorry you don't like it, then just don't look at it. He wasn't having anything to do with it and was almost confrontational. He was also very drunk. That's what happens at art shows some times and I am prepared for that.

S: Which letters were the trickiest to make?

A: So far they have to be: r, a, h, y.

S: Can you make a ‘poop me’?

A: Hey man, I havn't even got passed the alphabet! Maybe with a special diet and a lot of practice, though I highly doubt it. Sorry. Besides, that would be the weirdest portrait ever. Period.

S: How the heck do you take a photo of your poop without getting any tiolet paper in the shot?

A: That's a very interesting question......

S: Anything else you’d like to mention? Poop or non poop related...

A: Yeah, one time I had set up 12, 4x6 black and white prints that spelled out the name of the art group I am in. It was right over the cheese and munchie platters. Some people didn't even notice, of course some people did and laughed or... Some people thought it was so funny that they themselves would step back to watch other people's reactions.
In closing, always have your camera with you, because you never know when you might need it in the most unusual way. Literally! Digital is nice for this application, though not to forget analog, ohhh sweet analog. Not burton analog but non-digital. cheers and happy shooting.

S: Awesome. Make sure to check out more of Arne Gutmann at his site boardstars.com.
Nice.

If you enjoyed this make sure to check out another photo-nerd Interview With Paige Harley, or our Interview with a Couple German Guys, Nic & Jaq!

Calling all DJ's, Beat Makers, Producers! (Free acapellas!)

Hi!
Hope everyone is doing awesomely.
Errrmmm...

New Music Video
We just got back from Vancouver where we spent our yesterdays shooting a Bob Dyan-esque music video for the first single from our new album, "Party Animals"!
The video was shot by our good friend/videographer extraordinaire Blair Richmond, and should ready for viewing pleasure in 2 to 3 weeks!
And Mike just woke up and told me that he ate mushrooms on the drive to the city, and was tripping balls the entire time.
Spectacular.

Calling all DJ's, Beat Makers, Producers! (Download our acapellas!)
With last week's release of our new album "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible" we've been getting a few people asking for the acapellas so they can remix them, or throw them down at the end of their Top40 set to clear out the dance floor, or chop them up so that we say funny things, and use them as their answering machine greetings... so we've gone about gathering up all of the acapellas for all of the new tracks, and made them easily downloadable here at animalnation.bandcamp.com
Make sure to tell your favorite DJ-that-lives-down-the-street about our free acapellas, and don't forget to download the new album while you're there!

Rad.
-Steige!

Mike interviews a passed out guy named Dave in Elliot and Lee's house at 4am after the last show on our 2nd tour with Jiminy.

There's really nothing more I can say about the following clip that the title doesn't already cover.



This is amazing.


If you enjoyed this make sure to check out our Animal Nation Video Interview on Saskatoon Radio, as well as last week's Interview we Conducted with Dre Morel, which you may have missed because you were busy not doing it right.

New Album - "Understanding..." - Pay What You Want!

Today is the day!
The day is today!

DOWNLOAD: Animal Nation's "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music"



So here's the deal...
We're broke. We know that you're broke too. All our friends are broke, and if I had a car I'm sure it would be broken as well. Basically, everyone ever, except some people, are all really poor right now. That's why Mike and I have decided to let you choose how much you want to pay for this album. If it's worth $2 to you, pay two bucks. If it's worth $15, that freakin' rules, and our huge piles of debt love you for it... if you're not really sure if you're going to make rent next month, and your dog is starving, and you can barely afford to pay attention to how good your ladyfriend looks in that new sundress she spent her last $10 on, download it for free, give it to a couple of your broke ass friends too, and give your girlfriend a hug for us.

Click on the "download" button on the bandcamp player at the top of this blog. You'll be magically transported to our bandcamp page, and given the option to download our album in lots of fun formats.

Physical Copy
If you want to pick up a physical copy - with amazing cover/back art by Taka Sudo, and a 12 page color comic of Animal Nation's adventure through song titles by Kent Osborne (SOOO AWESOME!) - You can purchase it for $12 by clicking here.



Thank you so much to everyone that came out to the shows throughout our tour (we're making a tour video as we speak!), and thank you in advance to anybody that comes out to any of our shows in the future.
Super huge extra thanks to anyone that bought merch, which helped fill our cars with gas, and our stomachs with A&W.

Thank you.
-Steige Turner, and Mike Armitage.

Andreas Morel Aka Dre Morel Interview

I haven't eaten a proper meal in weeks. I don't actually think I've eaten real food in the last 48 hours. This tour we're on right now is definitely the most fun thing I've done since we did the same tour last year with the Jiminy boys, but it's turning me into a skeleton. I'm trying to write an introduction for one of the best House DJs I've ever seen (not that I'm any sort of House DJ expert), and the only thing going through my head is "food, food, food, food, food", and yet, it totally won't surprise me in the least when all I manage to eat today is a Teen Burger and Fries.
That being said, I'm glad I wrote this interview 2 weeks ago, before we left for tour, before I spent all my money on cheap booze and A&W, and before you could count my ribs through my skin, and use my hip bones and drums.
I asked Dre about ice-cream, what he would do if he was God, and what it's like to be featured in MTV's upcoming reality TV series "Peak Season", airing this fall, and he told me about tampons, mushroom trips, and something called "strawcavilla".
Awesome.

Steige: What's the grossest thing ever. Ever.

Dre: There aren't a lot of things in the world that gross me out, but there are three that stood out the most, and couldn't figure which was the worst. 1. There's this traditional meal in the Philippines called Balut. What it is: Half-hatched chicken egg. A fifteen or sixteen day old fertilized chicken egg, complete with partially formed feathers, feet, eyeballs, and blood vessels showing through the translucent skin of the chick. they eat this raw. 2. Brazilian fart porn......hilarious but gross 3. Not being sexist or discriminating at all but I'm gonna have to say tampons. WTF! It's the twentieth century. You'd think that tampon technology would move forward to something so stealth that guys would never even know about it. Yet there are commercials on every channel for every commercial break. I dunno. Just something I'm grossed out by.

S: I bet if you combined all three of those things into one bright shiny package, you could sell it for a pretty hefty price in a vending machine in Tokyo.
If I were to give you a small tub, say 1.5 L, of Neapolitan iced-cream how would you go about eating it? Would you mix the flavours? Go for a particular flavour first? ...And you have no spoon.

D: Well if you have no spoon I guess you cant really just go for one flavor 'cause it's all gonna mix eventually in your face. Unless of course you can use your hands. Then yeah, I would mix the flaves togetha. What flavor would that be called? Strawcavilla?

S: If you controlled all of everything, everywhere, all the time, what would DJ stand for, and what would you be eating right now?

D: If I controlled everything everywhere I wouldn't allow any haters or judgers in my world so DJ would be the abbreviation, and would stand for Don't Judge. Think that's cheesy? Prolly a hater! And I would be eating an ice cream i invented called "strawcavilla".

S: If God was a DJ what sort of music do you think he'd be spinning right now?

D: God would be spinning some crazy genre of music not known to anyone. This genre of music would be vitamins for your ears mixed with all the essential legends of music and sounds of planet earth.....I think.

S: Does it ever anger you that the coyote never caught the road runner?

D: Well I've seen a video of an edited version of the Coyote & Road Runner cartoon, on youtube with an obvious edited ending where the Coyote actually catches the Road Runner. The video has become viral and the Latin American press and TV media made a huge deal of it. Most of the press reports say that this is a cartoon made by an animator by request of a Japanese millionaire that was sick of never seeing the Coyote succeed. To be honest if this is true I would have to agree with the Japanese millionaire request because it would always make me insanely frustrated when I was a kid seeing this. To this day I still don't know what kids were supposed to get out of this? Violence is good? But then again, if the ongoing chase ended there would be no show.

S: If you were stuck with the Sun being permanently on, or permanently off, what would it be, and why?

D: I recently had a shroom trip and this is one question that my friends and I mingled upon. MY answer would be ON. Sun light brings light which then puts colour into perspective so then, eventually, you get a clearer perspective on EVERYTHING rather than darkness. I know it's deep but shroomers are a perceptional drug, so yeah...

S: Speaking of perception, what's the biggest difference between reality and Reality Television?

D: Simply there are no edits and delete buttons in reality.

S: Anything else you want to mention?

D: NATION OF THE ANIMALS!!!!!

S: Awesome. Make sure to catch Dre spinning anytime you're in the mood to PARTY, because partying is what he will make you do. Also make sure to watch Dre, Animal Nation, and other Whistler locals, in the upcoming MTV reality television series, "Peak Season", airing in September... I think.


If you enjoyed this interview, make sure to check out our Interview With Radio DJ Extraordinaire DJ Laura C-Chord! Or read about other Whistler localites in our interviews with Ali Milner, Paige Harley, Taka Sudo, and Myself!

Interview w. Animal Nation - Weekly Artist Interview

We spent the majority of our yesterday doing a series of radio interviews in Saskatoon to promote the upcoming release of our new album, "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music", which officially releases in 10 days!
We're doing a series of pre-release parties on our way back to BC to help promote the album as well, with Saskatoonian band Jiminy! Make sure to come party with us if you're going to be where we're going to be.... Did that make sense? I was up pretty late last night putting these videos together...

Here's clips from our radio interview at CFCR 90.5 with Jiminy's DJ - Scotty Martin (The Turntable Terror-wrist), as well as a couple on-air songs we did with a pencil/CD Case drum kit.
Rock!

Interview


Aw Man, Aw Well


Party Animals


I Never Cared (About the Troubles)


Awesome.
Make sure to check back next week as Andreas Morel (super house DJ super-star / MTV reality TV star) talks to us about ice cream, road runners and coyotes, and what he would do if he was God.

Thanks,
-Steige.


If you enjoyed this make sure to check out our Interview With an Empty Bucket, as well as our Interview with our favorite Saskonites - Jiminy!!

Interview of the Week w/ KENT OSBORNE!!!!

Ohhh man! This is definitely the longest interview we've ever pulled. Hopefully you didn't take too many bong rips before reading this... orrr, maybe, hopefully you did...
This week we spoke to Hollywood Super (cool guy/) Star (in our eyes) Kent Osborne! Kent Osborne has a ridiculous resume, including writing for the Sponge Bob Square Pants television show and movie, voicing for the Kung-Fu Panda movie, dating Armadillo Slim's sister, and as of recently, drawing the cartoon adventures of Mike and myself for the insert of our new CD, "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music"!


Steige: Listen: You're bored. You smoke a little weed, and you start to get paranoid. Based on the fact that she never looks at you when you cross paths, you get it into your head that the cute brunette that lives down the street is actually a Russian Spy, so you do the only logical thing and break into her house while she's out. You know she's got nukes hidden in there somewhere, and you're determined to find them, diffuse them, and become a National Hero to the point where they change the name of the city you live in, LA, to something a little more appropriate, like Kentville.
So you find yourself in your cute Russian neighbour's house, trying to find nukes in her underwear drawer, (where else would she possible keep them hidden?!) when you come upon an old bronze bottle-lamp. You instinctively give it a rub, hoping Christina Aguilaria pops out and grants you three wishes, but instead the Cops show up with guns drawn.
How the heck do you talk yourself out of this one?

KENT OSBORNE: I slowly put the old bronze bottle-lamp down on the floor and then I slowly put my hands on my head. Then I slowly put them on my hips and say, "Do you know who I am?" the cops all look at each other. One of them, (their leader) says, "No, and we don't care." Then one of the other cops sort of coughs (not a real cough, but like a fake one, to get the leader cop's attention) the leader cop sighs and says, "What? What is it? I'm trying to bust this guy." the other cop shrugs and says that he's sort of curious who I am. The other cops halfheartedly mumble the same thing and leader cop says, "Fine, fine, so who are you-- ....HEY!" (I have escaped) Running down the street, I know I can't go home so I make a quick left turn on Glendale (which leads straight to downtown Kentville) and I pop into my favorite Thai massage parlour (Pho Siam - 40 bucks U.S for one hour. No happy endings) The people behind the counter all say something in Thai, (probably "welcome loyal customer" or something...) I explain that I am not there for a massage but would it be ok to hide out for a while? They all discuss this in their own language for about 20 minutes. Finally one of them says, "no." so i say, "Well ok, is Sonja here?" they tell me it is her day off and I ask if I can wait so they tell me to have a seat. I sit in a chair and read US weekly (Christina Aguilaria is on the cover! weird!) two cop cars go by and I duck behind the magazine. A young Hollywood couple enter the establishment and do a double-take because the way I'm holding the magazine, I look like I'M Cristina Aguilara. "Wow, her face is pretty, but her body looks like shit!" the guy whispers to his ladyfriend. "Her boobs are bigger though" says the woman. "I can hear you!" I say. I lower the magazine and we all have a good laugh!



Steige: Then you get arrested.
After your incarceration you meet an inmate named Tiny, who is anything but Tiny. You think this is kind of funny and ironic until Tiny tells you that he thinks you've got a 'purdy mouth'. Tiny thinks you're cute, and Tiny let's you know this constantly. Tiny keeps whispering to you that he's going to make you a very happy man as soon as night falls, as soon as the guards have all gone to sleep. You disagree. You tell Tiny that you're perfectly content, and that you don't want his happiness forced on you. You tell this to Tiny, but Tiny simply winks and tells you to "just go with it".
Night falls. You're literally sleeping with your ass to the wall. Tiny comes over, real slow like, and puts his hand on your shoulder. You start to cry tears of fear and abandonment, and Tiny tells you that "everything will be all right soon, Kent. Don't you worry about a thing."
Tiny proceeds to tell you that he's actually a magic genie, once trapped in an old bronze bottle-lamp that made its way here from Russia, in the suitcase of a cute brunette Russian Spy who proceeded to have him arrested for trespassing after he had granted her her 3 wishes.
Tiny then tells you that since you're his new BFF he's going to grant you 3 wishes as well. Provided that none of your wishes are to have infinite wishes, what 3 things do you want more than anything else in the world?

KENT OSBORNE: Wait? I was incarcerated? Fuck! I thought I talked my way out of it. Oh well, at least I got fucked by a genie. Let's see, three things.... 1. Health care for the rest of my life. 2. The power to make any woman fall in love with me 3. A house with a pool. (and a hot tub) (is that two things?)

Steige: Something clicks in your head as you realize that Tiny came from the same lamp you were rubbing earlier when you got arrested, and everything suddenly fits together. YOU'RE actually Tiny, the Russian genie, and Kent is just another character you've invented. "That's cool" you think. "I like being able to be different characters in my comic-strip-called-life while actually being a Russian genie!"
...I guess my question is, when you're not busy being Kent Osborne, super cartoonist extraordinaire, who do you spend your time being?

KENT OSBORNE: I spend my time being...the Russian genie? Wait, i don't understand, who am I? Who do I spend my time being when I'm not Kent Osborne? I'm the Russian genie. right? wait, is this one of those "there are no wrong answers" deal? (Fuck a duck I'm high) Ok, well, when I'm not making comics.... I like.... to go bowling. I like walking around my neighborhood. I like going to the movie theaters that don't show ads, I like wine tastings. I like smoking pot, and listening to music. I like reading Kelsey Grammer's autobiography, 'SO FAR...'. I like watching free porn on the internet, (no boxes to hide!) I like going to places I've never been.

Steige: Okay, you're out of jail.
You're walking down the street to your local liquor store to grab yourself a bottle of their finest Malt Liquor as a little celebration of your freedom, and as all these new thoughts and realizations are fluttering around in your head, you realize that The Simpsons is actually a creation of yours, and that you've actually written every episode for it, ever. Since you invented it, what character would you say you modeled after yourself?

KENT OSBORNE: Moe.

5. In your autobiographical comic book "The Day is Today!" you took all your Simpsons action figures out of their original packaging. Did you actually do this in real life? If not, does (Riley?)(your nephew) get pissed that he's not allowed to play with your 'toys'? How often do you dust the packages? Do girls think it's cool? I bet that s--t makes panties drop like nobody's business...

KENT OSBORNE: I don't think there's ever been any woman who has looked at my collection and dropped her panties, but my friend Lynn was so impressed that she invited HER friend GEORGE MEYER (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Meyer) to come and look at them. I got very nervous having George Meyer in my apartment. He noticed my HARDLY WORKING poster (http://www.cinemasterpieces.com/hardlyworking1sh.jpg) and we talked about bad movies for a bit. He mentioned that he'd never seen TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET and I freaked out and foisted a copy on him. He politely tried to refuse, saying he's bad at returning things and I said, "No no George, that's for you! That's a gift!" Then we talked some more, and finally Lynn said "We should go." and George said, "Yes, we're laughing our lives away." I walked them to the car and told George that meeting him was the highlight of my life, but I don't think he heard me because the windows were rolled up and he was driving away. As for taking the figures out of their packaging, I did actually do this in real life. The conversation with my friend Jenny (where she uses the collection as an example of my obsessive personality) happened as well, but I didn't open them spontaneously like I do in the comic. Before I broke up with my girlfriend, she told me she felt like she lived in a toy store. I stewed over that for a while, and after we broke up, I decided to change my apartment and make it look more grown up. I was working for this guy at Disney at the time and he had all HIS toys in glass cases and I thought that looked really cool so I bought a case, removed all the figures from their packaging and ordered custom resin step risers. The part about me getting upset at my nephew for moving a figure on the wall happened too. I was like "Riley! No!" (he was two) the most ironic/hilarious thing is now that they're all in the big glass case, I still don't want people playing with them and a couple years ago Riley was over and he was looking at my collection and he said, "Uncle Kent does this door open?" and I said, "No buddy, it's locked." (It wasn't)

Steige: I need some advice as to what to eat for dinner tonight. What is Kent Osborne's favorite "takes less than 5 minutes in a microwave" thing to chow down on? What about if someone else is cooking, and they have an unlimited time limit? Is it possible to have an unlimited limit?

KENT OSBORNE: Kent Osborne doesn't actually own a microwave. Kent Osborne don't mind using the oven. 12 minutes for a frozen pizza isn't that long. Kent Osborne suggests that you should make a frozen pizza. They're always good. I like to eat everything but the crusts, then let my stomach settle a little, and then eat all the crusts. They're like tasty crackers. If someone else is cooking and they have an unlimited time limit, i would like Saltimbocca. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltimbocca) I think "unlimited time limit" is a little redundant.

Steige: Anything else you want to tell us? What would you tell somebody aspiring to be the next Kent Osborne?

KENT OSBORNE: I'd say....."Good luck, clone!"





If you enjoyed this make sure to check out our Interview With The Artist That Drew The Cover of Our New Album, Taka Sudo! Also make sure to check out the Interview With the Band We're on Tour With RIGHT NOW!!! Jiminy!

Rad.

Weekly Interview - Shad K. - April 30, 2009

Shad.
Shad rhymes with 'rad'.
'Rad' is short for 'radical', which originally meant 'an extreme shift in thinking, or change from accepted traditional forms.'
Forms are something you have to fill out when you're doing your taxes, or preparing a trip to somewhere like Indonesia.
Indonesia sounds like amnesia, which is a disease that makes you...
...makes you...
...uh...
Sorry. I don't really know where I was going with that. I think I was trying to say that, unlike this intro, Shad totally doesn't suck.

Make sure to cruise on over to the Shad K Myspace Page to check out his tunes while you read his words.

Steige Turner: Would you rather have a million dollars, a million fans, or a million hepatitis C's?
Ps. If you choose the hep you also get a Flying Pony farm, and a Pirate Chest full of gold shillings!
Pps. The gold shillings can't be spent on a hepatitis cure, but! they can be spent on Pony-Rocket fuel, so while you're stuck living with the Pam-Anderson disease you can at least fly around on your ponies at ultra fast speeds...

Shadrach Kabango: As Kweli said "Gimme the fortune, keep the fame"... and he could have added hepatitis to that as well... I'll take the milly.

ST: Pirates or Ninjas? Why?

SK: Ninjas are the illest! I 'even know pirates were real until like 4 years ago... I thought they were made up in peter pan or something... plus I'm not a great swimmer.

ST: Which breakfast-cereal-spokesperson/mascot/animal/monster can you relate to most? Are there any breakfast cereals you eat strictly based on whoever's on the front of the box?

SK: No. I'm down with Cinnamon Toast Crunch since way back.

ST: CTC is the bomb! They don't even need a mascot to sell their amazingly-tasty-yet-incredibly-unhealthy breakfast cereal! Have you ever used the internet to trick babes into making out with you?

SK: No internet babes.

ST: I'm gonna pretend you said 'yes', and that it was all because of hip-hop. So besides being able to trick mega hot babes into making out with you, what's your favorite thing about hip hop? What's your least favorite thing about hip hop?

SK: Favourite thing: the vibe of communicating with people and having fun together through music... the vibe.
Least favourite thing: when a show or a song isn't about those things...

ST: If you add an E to the end of your name, you become kinda 'Shade'y... Is your name secretly a hidden message for kids to stay away from "the drug"?

SK: You'll have to ask my folks about that one since they named me.

ST: Fair enough. Do you think Prince Charles vibes out to your latest album 'The Old Prince'?

SK: Someone should put him up on it for sure. He'd be down.

ST: Yeah man. That guy's like, 75 years old, and still lives at home! Anything else you want to mention??

SK: 'What a Fool Believes' by the Doobie Brothers is the jam.

ST: I'm sorry, but I must disagree Mr. Kabango. I believe that this is the jam.



If you enjoyed this interview make sure to check out the Interview With Underground Hip Hop Veteran Josh Martinez, or our Interview With Beat Make Extraordinaire Linus Stubbs! Like cute girls that are also ridiculously talented? Check out our interviews with Ali, Paige, and Laura! Shwing!

Weekly Interview w/ GRAND ANALOG - April 23

I just had $900 stolen from my bank account. Luckily, for the sake of your entertainment, and the sake of my sanity, this interview has absolutely nothing to do with the $900 taken from me, and has everything to do with Odario Williams, front man for the Canadian Electro-Funk-Hop group Grand Analog. We had the pleasure of playing two shows with these cats back in March, and it was easy to see why, with their "analog meets digital in a fight to the death to create something completely new, ultimate, and entertainingly dancable" style, they've been quickly and steadily rising to Canadian Stardom (aka - an occasional second glance while in one of our five major cities).
Listen to "Electric City ft. Shad" the first single from their new album, "Metropolis is Burning", which drops on May 26th! Two days after the new Animal Nation album!



Steige: What's the best thing anyone's thrown at you while you're playing on stage? What would be the ideal thing to have thrown on stage while you're playing? What's the worst thing someone could throw?

Odario: I remember someone threw a bag of weed the size of my lucky pillow on stage. It was huge! I remember it was somewhere in rural B.C. I left my lucky pillow at home that tour so I used the bag of green to sleep on 'til it was all gone. The worst thing we had thrown at us was a beer bottle, that's the worst especially if it connects. I remember that dude was a drunk biker looking character. He wasn't a big fan of rap and wanted us to know that. I'm waiting to get some girlie briefs thrown my way though. That's when you know you're a rock star, when a girl decides to part with her panties.

S: Okay. Here's the scenario: The Moon has fallen out of its orbit and is headed straight for our planet at an alarming rate. The worlds greatest scientitions have figured out that it is definitely going to come into contact with the Earth, but they've also figured out that the Moon is actually made of cheese as previously predicted, and that this enormous cheese ball will most likely melt upon entry into the Earth's atmosphere, which will, in turn, slightly reduce our chances of dying as a species, but greatly increase our chances of being covered in warm goey cheese. As a result of their findings these same scientitions have taken it upon themselves to hire caterers to build
the world's largest buffet of foods-that-become-awesome-when-covered-in-cheese (ie-nacho chips, hot dogs, sandwiches with everything in them except cheese). Provided that the cheese has time to cool down and doesn't melt us all, if it were up to Grand Analog, what kind of cheese would the Moon be made out of?
That is to say, what sort of cheese would cover our streets and
buildings, what would we all be eating and smelling for the rest of
our lives?

O: Not Gouda, that stuff stinks doesn't it? Maybe Parmesan because it wouldn't stink up the earth and people are happy when Parmesan gets sprinkled on things. It can rain Parmesan and we'd be happy. It's usually soft and fluffy when grated - therefore we can probably snowboard down a Parm Mountain. When it's not grated it can be quite solid, so we can make cheesy furniture and toys with it. It a win win situation!

S: Everybody in the group seems really down to Earth. Nice normal good people. How many more festivals do you figure you have to play before you're allowed to start acting like dicks?

O: Well it's the festivals that keep people down to earth I think. Good weather, good people, good vibes - even when it rains. It's when bands headline sold out indoor venues and make their fans wait for hours for no reason. I've seen that with my own eyes; this particular band had screaming fans waiting over an hour while the band members were in the greenroom drinking beer and playing video games. True story.

S: Your name reminds me of a train. If the Grand Analog was a train and you were the conductor, what would you be carrying to where, and why?

O: The funk. I'd carry the funk anywhere and every where we go. A train car load of funk! Along the Grand Funk Railroad. Because funk is universal. I have not met one person that doesn't feel the funk... and if they don't, they probably aren't very happy in their lives. Or they are incapable of finding funky happiness. That would be a shame.

S: Odario and Ofield, besides the fact that you've both got rad names, you're also brothers. Like, real brothers. Did you guys start playing music together growing up? How did you decide who got to play DJ and who got to play MC?

O: Our dad is a DJ. So there were plenty of records and equipment around the house. My brother was naturally more of a technical kind of dude. Ofield liked complicated things, a friend always called him Inspector Gadget. I naturally was the dude sneaking my dad's records into my bedroom to listen to them. We would inherit dad's hand-me-down turntables into our bedroom. There is where I'd check out the lyrics. Ofield on the other hand was all about the turntable itself. It was a one piece set with built in speakers and a dome cover.

S: Why do you make music? What's your motivation?

O: Beats and rhymes are like mathematics to me... an equation I enjoy solving on a day to day basis. I'm fascinated by the production and recording processes. I have to hear the music first before writing anything down. I can't write a single lyric without a particular sound motivating me. I need to feel the emotion of the track and let the beat instruct my ideas. That's proof that sound itself, or music itself can inspire ideas or emotion without any words. All you need after that is the right lyrics to accompany the music.

S: Give me one sentence that best describes each band member while including the words: electronic, flower(s), shoe polish, and detective.

O: If Warren, the bassist, wasn't so heavily involved in music he'd be a detective no doubt; he's got eyes like a hawk. Catalist has a great record collection including some of the first electronic albums ever made; recorded by various Universities in the late 1960s. I supported my younger brother Ofield many years ago when he de-flowered a girl named Carol. And lastly, I personally like the smell of banana bread, ginger, gasoline, wet dirt only in the springtime and shoe polish - in no particular order.

S: Anything else you want to mention? When are we gonna see you back on the West Coast?

O: There will be a new Grand Analog album available May 26! It's called Metropolis Is Burning. So hopefully we'll be back out west soon! Thanks and much much love.

S: Can't wait! Until next time, keep fit, and have fun.


If you enjoyed this interview make sure to check out our Interview With Underground Hip-Hop Veteran Josh Martinez, or our Hilariously Radicool Interview With Jiminy!
Don't feel like reading any more? Check out 5 Hideously Awesome Album Covers now!

April 16 - Weekly Artist Interview - DJ Laura C-Chord

DJ Laura C-Chord has a show at Breakthruradio.com called The Scenic Route.
Breakthruradio.com rules because The Scenic Route rules, because DJ Laura C-Chord rules.
Rulers work by measuring the space between distances, giving you an accurate readout of exactly how far apart the 2 distances in question are. Rulers are completely accurate nearly every time, because nearly every ruler ever made is equal, all around the world. "Ruling", on the other hand, is completely subjective, and is put into play whenever and wherever the heck I feel like it. And since I say that DJ Laura C-Chord rules, then I guess it must be true.
All around the world.

Steige: If it were up to you, if Laura was Queen of the World for a day, what would DJ stand for?

Laura C-Chord: Hmm, I don't know if the acronym for DJ would be my biggest concern if I were Queen of the World, but if I had to choose, I would say...Fucking Awesome. So what if it doesn't start with D or J, I'm the Queen of the World. That's how I roll.

S: What about if the acronym was changed to L.A.U.R.A.?

L: Lively And Unbridled Ravenous Audiophile.

S: If God was a L.A.U.R.A. what type of music do you think he'd spin?

L: Without getting into an existence of God argument, I'll say that he or she wouldn't have to spin anything. They'd tune into The Scenic Route. Why mess with perfection? Hahaha...

S: I guess if you were Queen of the World you would essentially be God of all music... so it would only make sense to play your show! Then you could play whatever music you wanted!
Next!
Who's your favorite character from your favorite TV show, book, or movie, and why?

L: That’s a toughy, but I think that Tina Fey’s character from the TV show 30 Rock is my favourite, mostly because I think she’s really relatable, at least for me. She's awkward, loves food, has a good sense of humour, always has a ridiculous story to tell, and oh so much more. Really any character that exhibits extreme awkwardness has a place in my heart, as I too can be unbelievably awkward sometimes.

S: Haha! Yay for random awkwardness!
Cadbury Creme Eggs: Special Easter treat, or Money-Hungry Marketing Ploy?

L: Money Schmoney... What's my special Easter treat? A new Animal Nation album??

S: As long as your Easter falls on May 24th! ...That being said, we just got our new albums back from the printing place YESTERDAY, and there's definitely something being processed through the Canadian mail system for you as we speak.
Without checking Google, how did chocolate eggs get tangled up in the whole 'deathing and re-birthing of Jesus' thing?

L: According to my friend Ashley, who is like Google, but hotter: Eggs and rabbits are symbols of the Pagan goddess Oestera, who is the focus of the Spring Equinox celebration which happens around Easter. Also, I will take any excuse to eat chocolate.

S: Everyone always shies out of this question... How many cats does it take before someone becomes a crazy cat person?

L: I don’t necessarily think that a “crazy cat person” needs to have more than one cat to be considered crazy…it all lies in the obsession that some people have with their cats. Those who get portraits done of their cats, revolve their lives around them, and talk about them like they are newborn babies to anyone who will listen…that makes you a crazy cat person.

S: Someone once told me that everyone's a little bit crazy. What kind of crazy do you have hiding inside of you?

L: I don't think I really hide my craziness. I'm fairly high strung, and crazy enthusiastic about pretty much everything. I usually add sound effects to my daily life, various grunts and groans and dramatic sighs…is that crazy?

S: If that's crazy then I sure hope to heck I'm not normal! Anything else you want to talk aboot?

L: The fact that you used "aboot". I love it. I could do some shameless self promotion, but I already did that in question two.

S: Too modest to even shamelessly promote herself twice! Bless her heart!
Buuut since she didn't I'm gonna have to.
Make sure to check out both Breakthruradio.com as well as Laura C-Chord's amazing show on said site, The Scenic Route today!
They have tons of downloadable podcasts full of amazing new music, and her friend/work-mate DJ Emily totally has a super sexy voice.
Fun fun fun!

-Steige.


If you enjoyed this interview make sure to check out our amazing Interview With Photog-Uber-Nerd Paige Harley! Or for something really random check out our Interview With an Empty Bucket! Or for something really random that doesn't consist of reading words check out The Googly Eye Project now!