Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music
After having spent 2 years traveling and touring, learning and loving, failing and succeeding, changing and staying the same, having way too many good times, and doing ten billion other life-well-lived things that brought them a little bit closer to death, Animal Nation is ready to present some of those experiences, in song form, to the public. "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music" will be Animal Nation's 3rd album, coming out just over two years since the release of their last studio effort, the "TimeZone [EP]". 'Understanding' is Animal Nation's most diverse record to date, completely raising the bar sonically, instrumentally, lyrically, and radically. It is somehow both the most personal and emotive record to date, while also being the 'funnest' album the group's ever made. The 13 song, 45 minute LP ranges in topics between condom safety (The Fez), the cute girl that works down the street (Her Dangerous Smile), mythical flying beasts (Sky Fish), and beyond, and flows seamlessly, with samples, skits, and interludes setting up the story for each upcoming track.
Order
Order a physical copy of the album in Compact Disc format, sporting album art by Taka Sudo, as well as a 12 page comic by Kent Osborn (writer for Sponge Bob Square Pants television show and movie) featuring the animated adventures of Animal Nation through song titles. All orders will also ship with all sorts of stickers, pins, and other fun Animal Nation goodies.
We dropped so much steaming hot science into this album that we absolutely guarantee that you're bound to pick up on something on there. The songs we have on myspace sound great by themselves, but the album needs to be heard as a whole to fully get experienced-out on it. ...I'm not sure if that made sense, and I'm not sure when this turned from 3rd person to 1st person, or why I was writing in 3rd person in the first place, or how the writing style is related to what I'm about to bring up, but here's a list of the tracks on the album, as well as the people that made the music for them.
Track Listing:
1. Soul Station with music by Milla 2. Party Animals with music by Linus Stubbs 3. Money with music by Millz 4. Caribbean Nights and the Electrifying Technicolor Dreamscapes with music by Hunchback Esquire 5. The Fez with music by Nic & Jaq 6. Her Dangerous Smile with music by Samix 7. Wooden Roller Coaster ft. Ali Milner with music by Sebastian "Jaq" Hochstein 8. The Me in Me (Watching From Above and Behind) with music by Sebastian "Jaq" Hochstein 9. The Caper ft. Mat the Alien with music by Hunchback Esquire 10. Feels Real with music by Millz 11. Sky Fish with music by Animal Nation 12. Street Shadows with music by Linus Stubbs 13. Paradise's Paradigm with music by Animal Nation
Pre-Order "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music" now!
If that's true, that alcohol kills crickets, then it's a good thing that Jiminy, the 6 piece rock/pop/hip-hop/soul group hailing from Canada's Midwest, aren't a bunch of crickets. Last year when Animal Nation traveled out to Saskatoon to go on tour with Jiminy we spent more money on booze than we did on gas and food combined. Luckily we took a lot of photos and filmed most of it (video at bottom) because my recollection of the trip is pretty hazy, and goes something like: booze, booze, girls, shows, booze, new friends, house parties, girls, sleeping on floors, booze, wiffle-golf, general stores, and lots more booze... and Enver scaling a 30 foot wall in his socks. This May we're making another trip back out to Saskatoon to visit our favorite 'Tooners, and embark on another 2 week long half-month-of-mayhem! Make sure to come check out a show if you're in the neighbourhood! We'll drink drinks! We'll dance dances! We'll all do things that we won't be able to remember to regret in the morning! Make sure to hit up the Jiminy myspace page to listen to some of the tracks they'll be playing out on tour. (Check out the live videos too! Awwwwwesome!) In the following interview I caught up with lead singer/guitarist/song writer Chad Reynolds, as well as lead rapper/drummer/song writer/babe magnet Mark Ejack to find out their thoughts on all sorts of things that are completely and absolutely unimportant. Rad-nice.
Steige: Does it ever anger you that the coyote never caught the road runner?
Mark: The coyote and the road runner eh?? Both of them just love the chase too much to ever catch or get caught! Perhaps they are subliminally in love, or infatuated with each other. What would happen if he ever did catch the road runner? Their purpose in life would be completely destroyed. I'm not mad that he never catches her, cause it keeps them fit and in excellent shape! It'll also continuously influence the millions of watchers to use dynamite, and weapons of mass destruction to catch what they feel is meant to be caught, even though the traps and bombs, and shenanigans don't ever successfully catch the road runner, it keeps the world violent. Which is just what the world needs right now, more violence...wait. Kids grow up captivated by this constant violent chase, it's kinda fucked up, as well as entertaining. I think they should kill the chase, talk about their distant relationship , and either kick the Casanova romance and get dirty, or blaze a fatty mc fatster doobie and listen to Bob Marley in a hot bubble bath while drinking an ice cold Gin and Gingerale.
S: K, so you've gone down into your basement for a refreshing glass of warm milk, and when you come up everyone in the entire world is gone. First, what happened to everybody? And second, what's the first thing you do after you realize that the world is yours for the taking?
Chad: Dude!! I’ve thought about this!! First thing hey? After finishing my warm milk? I’d probably head over to J-palm’s studio mess around with his equipment… Sit in his chair… you know? See what being a local God feels like… Then I’d start getting lonely, and go on the craziest road trip around the world, in search of people, hopping from car to car and dressing up in crazy clothes… I’d learn to sail… man I’d probably go nuts after a week.
S: Some artists I've talked to turn making music into a job, and spend 6 hours a day writing music, whether they have something to write about or not, while other simply wait for inspiration to come naturally. Which approach do you take?
C: I like this one. Me, I land somewhere in the middle. I would love to spend 6 hours a day immersed in music, in a studio, writing. But I also believe that good songs write themselves; they come out when they are good and ready to, when you need them. If you aren’t out living, doing other things, then you don’t have much to write about, do you? I read somewhere that Ray Lamontagne, before recording his latest album (Gossip in the Grain) went out into the country and built a house, being careful not to listen to any music the whole time. When it came time for him to pick up a guitar again, music was fresh for him. He could go wherever he wanted with it. I liked that idea, but damn it would be hard to go without music for that long.
S: Jet-car, jet-plane, or jet-pack? OR!!! Jet-whipped-ice-cream served in a jet-oven-cooked waffle-cone?
M: Definitely a jet whipped ice cream cone cooked in a jet oven, in a jet plane that turns into a lime green jet boat which shoots Twizzlers (every flavor), then turns into Carmen Electra which does what she does best.. goes down.. under the water, and swims to Never Never Land where she takes the v out of peter pans vulnerability, consequently impregnating her and she has little jet car babies who drive her insane and she jumps off a bridge and misses the water, making her blow.. that's right, blow up into a million and a half jet candy pieces and feed the children of today, yesterday and next Thursday... twice.
S: Who writes the majority of the songs? Are they brought to the band fairly completed, or does everyone have a part in the creation of a track? C: Jiminy is the baby of Mark and I. We’ve been playing music together forever in other bands but this project has been our outlet to bring our own ideas to life. Some songs are created drunk on a couch in the middle of a party; Mark and I throwing melodies and lyrics off each other, and some songs are born in our own heads individually, then transformed when introduced to the other person... So glad I started with a baby metaphor, check this out: But babies need to be raised and nurtured, see, so that’s where the parental skills of the rest of the band come in. If it was left to Mark and I, all of our songs would be 14 minutes long, contain 30 different hooks, and connect finger-picked folk intro’s to post-hardcore mid-song breakdowns. Papa bear Enver lays down some discipline on our A.D.D. babies with his incredible ability to structure songs perfectly; he’s incredibly important to making the songs actually sound good. Put the song in the oven with Andrew at 325 degrees of jazz, and after it’s cooled slather it with the sweetness of Patrick and Ben. Serve with side of Turntable Terror-Wrist and we’ve turned our baby into a cake.
S: Have you guys been baking anything new lately?
C:Yeah actually. We’ve been going polar opposites lately. I’ve been doing production with Mark on a lot of brilliant in-your-face Hip-Hop tunes he’s working on for his own thang, while writing some quiet folk and soul tunes on my own, really trying to develop my knowledge and honesty as a lyricist and getting comfortable with my vocals. When we get together to meet in the middle, it should be something special. Or bizarre. I’m excited either way.
S: This question comes straight from the mouth of international superstar rapper extraordinaire Mase... If you had twenty-four hours to live just think Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you screw? And who would you wanna notify? Or would yo [sic] ass deny that yo [sic] ass about to die? M: I would let my fam jam know, my sexy girlfriend know, and Animal Nation show. I would then bone my girlfriend so hard she wouldn't be able to walk properly for a week, then I would slap each and every member of Theory of a Nickel Creed right in the face,,, twice, then listen to Bob Marley and smoke a jzzoint.. yup yup yup.
S: If you had to be chased by a ferocious "will eat you if it catches you" animal of your choosing, what animal would you want chasing you and why?
C: I would choose a crocodile. That scene from Peter Pan where Captain Hook is essentially running on water into the horizon with the croc’ at his toes just crept into my mind. That song, by the way, is brilliant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNwhwwuRnB0 …You guys should sample it.
S: That video is amazing! I remember that movie being terrifying as a youngster, but that makes the croc seem like a pretty stable dude. I understand that your bass player/song arranger/spiderman-in-his-spare-time-impersonator, Enver, is in another band, Volcanoless in Canada. Does this lead to any conflictions at all? Are there any benefits to this situation?
C: Enver is a gem. When you find a dude that genuine and creative in a little city like Saskatoon you can be assured you will have to share him. It has been understood all along that Enver is committed to Volcanoless in Canada but has jumped on board the Jiminy project because he loves the music and is great friends with everyone in the band. It just stings a bit when Enver slides his focus over to Volcanoless now because he has become such a prevalent component to our writing and structuring of songs. For example, this epic tour we are about to embark on with you louts is going to be Enverless in Canada because of commitment to his other band. It’s been tough, knowing that, but the Jiminy train is still rolling: we’ve got our friend Soren Nissen, a Jazz bassist from Toronto, placing his golden fingertips on our music for the tour. The plus-side to sharing Enver is that sometimes we get to sneak our poor-asses into the Volcanoless Jam-space and use REAL equipment for practicing; it’s the only way we can hear what we really sound like every so often.
S: Who's your celebrity crush?
M: Animal Nation. Mmm mmm good.and J-palm.
S: What is your favourite smell?
C: 2 way tie: I collect hot-sauces and I’ve got this favourite bottle of Jerk hot sauce. Opening that bottle every so often is heaven... I’ll be right back... Okay, the other smell that gets me every time is the perfume of this girl I used to see a couple years ago. I run into her every so often, and, unless I happen to be sporting a gas mask that particular day, I am at her beck and call; it’s crazy.
S: Haha! I love it. We toured with you cats last summer (best time of my life! - check out the video at the end of this interview), and your on-stage musicalities absolutely blew me away! You've got trumpets, you've got drummers rapping through bullhorns, you've got a bass player that scales walls, you guys have got it all. How are you planning on blowing our minds next time we catch you live?
C: You are about to find out this May! We've added our awesome friend Ben playing keys. He’s been involved in all of the other music projects that Mark and I have been involved in but somehow it has taken this long for him to be a part of Jiminy. He’s even taller than you, Steige, watch out.
S: No way!?! Am I gonna have to give up my title of "Tall Man" while we're on tour!? What's his super hero name? I met another guy that was right around my height, and everyone called him "Tree".... Alright, imagine you find out that everything you've ever known, your entire life as you know it, has all been but a dream. Would you want to wake up if you didn't know what was on the other side, and if you knew you couldn't come back here?
M: If my life was a dream, which it probably is, I would keep sleeping because everyone in my life is sexy, and super duper. Life is perfect... I'm lovin' it.
S: What song would you like played at your funeral?
C: Let’s Go Away for a While by The Beach Boys
Check out last year's tour video, featuring "The Fez" from Animal Nation's soon-to-be-released album "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music", which will be available on May 24, 2009!
Also, if you liked this interview, make sure to check out the interview we did with Josh Martinez, or Mat the Alien!
Tour Schedule!
If you're around at all for any of these shows, they are going to be amazing, and you should definitely come check it out! After this series of shows Animal Nation will be heading south into the States, so stay tuned for US shows and show times!
8 May 2009 -TBA- Regina, Saskatchewan 9 May 2009 LOUIS’ PUB w/ Jiminy Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 15 May 2009 The Canmore Hotel w/ Jiminy Canmore, Alberta 16 May 2009 The Lyric Pub w/ Jiminy Golden, BC 17 May 2009 The Rose and Crown w/ Jiminy Banff, Alberta 19 May 2009 Lucky Bar w/ Jiminy Victoria, BC 20 May 2009 The Queens Pub w/ Jiminy Nanaimo, BC 21 May 2009 Railway Club w/ Jiminy Vancouver, BC 22 May 2009 Garibaldi Lift Co w/ Jiminy Whistler, BC 23 May 2009 The Royal w/ Jiminy Nelson, British Columbia
The long awaited, hopefully anticipated, 3rd album from Animal Nation will hit digital shelves on May 24th, 2009... My birthday! Queen Victoria's birthday! Bob Dylan's birthday! "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible"'s birthday!!! We're also going to have physical copies available for sale. Make sure to pre-order yours next week! The physical copies will feature art by Taka Sudo, a comic of our adventures through song titles (huh?) written by the amazing Kent Osbourne, a few bad stories written by me, and all sorts of stickers, pictures, and other fun trinkets. The physical copies will go on pre-sale one week from today. Friday the 13. Two Friday the 13's two months in a row! Ohmy!
We'll be releasing more information on the album as the release date grows closer, so stay tuned!
I would also like to give a huge thanks to everyone who helped us put this project together in any way at all. We spent so much time making this album (not by Guns 'n Roses standards...), and logged so many hours, that it's nice to actually have it finished, but at the same time I'm sad to see it go - to have it change into something unchangeable. The album is done, it sounds amazing, I'm 300% satisfied with it, but in pressing it we'll be cementing everything we've created. Mike and I have been working on some of these songs for nearly 2 years now, shaping and re-shaping them, so to call them 'complete' feels kind of strange. I feel like I'm helping my kids off to college! ('Cause I totally know what that feels like...) We hope that you will enjoy listening to what we put so much of ourselves into. Never gonna do it without my fez on.
As we were pulling into into the Hamburg train station we still weren't sure how many people were going to be there to meet us, if any. We thought we told Nic that we were to arrive at quarter after 4 in the afternoon, but then we also told Matthias, Nic's friend, that our train was going to be late. Jaq and his buddy Maze both said they could meet us, but we never confirmed a time or place with them. And then there was another guy, Basti, who was the driver of the bunch, that had stopped returning our calls when we told him that we'd confirmed our plane tickets. As we lugged our luggage (which word came first?) off the train we were greeted by two smiling faces, and we quickly learned that Nic=Maze=Matthias Reiling=tall, skinny, coffee-loving red-head. While Jaq=Basti=Sebastian Hochstein=spitting image off the fat chocolate eating Bavarian kid from the Simpsons. Besides making beats for big timers such as Buck 65, Pigeon John, and Souls of Mischief, Nic and Jaq also spend a fair amount of time in the studio making music for less-known cats like ourselves and our contemporaries (Weez1, The Red Fox, Tweezy). Since coming into contact with these guys we've plastered our annoying voices over multiple beats of theirs, including 3 tracks off our new album, (Wooden Roller Coaster ft. Ali Milner, The Me in Me, and The Fez) as well as many old and unreleased tracks, including the infamous Lasagna Song (Golden Brown) from our last album, TimeZone.
Make sure to hit up the Nic & Jaq myspace page to hear music from, and get the latest info on our favorite Hamburgers. (That's what you call people from Hamburg, right?)
Steige: Off the top of my head, the history of Germany goes something like this: The Second World War, The Berlin Wall, then Ramstein's "Du Hast". First off, how ignorant am I?? And second if you had to have one of these things singularly and permanently represent you as a people, which would it be?
Maze: Well, on a scale from one to ten your ignorance level reaches the healthy value of 8. So let's all be represented by Ramstein until eternity, at least they know how to do an impressive pyro show.
Basti: It might also be Rammstein´s "Mein Teil", which is about a German cannibal, who ate his friend some years ago in Middle Germany (I LIVE IN THE NORTH!!!). Freaks! Did I answer the second question? Guess not, huh?
S: I dunno... I'd say Hitler put on a pretty impressive pyro show too! Zing! When we first arrived in Germany we didn't really know what to expect. To be honest, we were pretty prepared to spend two days being bossed around, forced to choke down mile after mile of Frankfurter, but it turns out all of the Germans we met there and since then have all been very nice people. What are you all hiding?
B: See above
M: I don't know about other Germans, but I have this werewolf thing going on.
S: Do you guys have German celebrities? Do they acquire fame in the same way as our celebrities, by being trust fund babies and whores?
B: Sure we have celebrities! Gina Lisa just dropped her first self made home porn (Germany's next supermodel finalist). Didn't see it yet, but if it's as exciting as Paris' breakthrough, I guess I stay with desperate housewives...
M: For sure - they are like discount versions of Britney & Co, even more pitiful. Can you say pitiful in English?
S: Do you ever do it without your fez on?
M: I don't understand that allegory. It's an allegory, right?
B: Maze I'd tell you, but now I am afraid my parents might read this and ask uncomfortable questions....
S: You don't know what a fez is, I don't know what an allegory is... Your English-as-a-second-language is on par with my English-I've-spoken-since-birth. Shizer. Maze=Nic, if you were a Simpsons character, who would you be? Which one would Basti=Jaq be?
M: Of course I want to be like Disco Stu, but I think I'd go with Otto. We're both the same career type of guy. Jaq is slick like Quimby.
S: Jaq=Basti - same question, named reversed.
B: I would be that kid with his chocolate and Bavarian leather pants, and Maze would be Rainier Wolfcastle acting Macbain!!
S: Hahaha, before we met you, out of sheer ignorance, we definitely pictured you both to be the little fat chocolate eating kid. Or Ramstein. You guys produced the beat for the 'Lasagna Song - Golden Brown'. What did you think when you first heard the completed song and discovered that we had turned an amazing piece of music into a rap battle between a sous-chef and a lasagna? I think most producers would have thrown a shoe at us.
M: Honestly, this is exactly what I expect from a skilled rapper. Being able to view and describe things from a different angle. I think there never had been anybody besides you so far who tried to explore the feelings of a... lasagna.
B: I liked the idea a lot. It makes me hungry every time I listen to the song, and I am vegetarian!!
S: Food. Alright, listen: The four of us (Animal Nation and Nic & Jaq) are all on an aeroplane headed for a headlining gig in a girls only topless resort in Bali, when out of the blue our left engine stops working. Then the right one goes. Next thing you know we've crash landed on a tropical island surrounded by exactly enough plane wreckage to build one fast-food restaurant. As we all know, fast food joints are re-stocked by magic, and run by foreigners. Since we crashed closer to Canada than Germany it will be up to you to play the 'foreigners', and to build and work the restaurant. What are the four of us all eating for the rest of our lives, factoring in that you have to make the food every day as well? What about if island natives volunteered to make the food?
B: You cannot tell me such plane crash things BEFORE I come visiting you on an 9 hours plane flight over the ocean and whatever!!! You need to ask Nic about the the other stuff. He is the cook in our duo. He already made me some nice meals!
M: You stayed at my place... you know my pasta sauce. Girls eat it and immediately start thinking about trading their boyfriends.
S: So you're going to build a Subway. Right on. Tell us a joke.
B: I can tell you a true story my drums teacher Ian from London told me once. You need to imagine everything. One of Ian´s friends was background singer for John Denver back in the days. They were playing at a nursing home and all those old people wanted him to play "Country Roads" (of course!). So John Denver was starting to count in: 1, 2, 3,... but then he realized one of his band mates wasn't ready, so he had to stop the song in the last moment. Only person who didn't get this was Ian´s friend (the background singer), who was singing as beautiful and lonely as he could : COUNTry... (sounding like CUUUUNT) and turning red as ALL the old people staring at him in disbelieve afterwards. haaaaahahaha!
M: Kommt ein Zyklop zum Augearzt.
S: Hah! ...A cyclops.. Anything else you'd like to say?
M: Yeah, I'm in need of a Memorymoog and a Buchla. And an Elektron Machinedrum. Problem is I'm really broke, so can anyone please sell those things to me real cheap? I mean real cheap?
B: Get Ableton Live on your computer, so we can work properly and take advantage of the world power. You are Pinky, I am Brain. Rad.
S: Troz!
Here is a quick video we put together for "Golden Brown - The Lasagna Song" featuring production by Maze. Make sure to check out our latest work together by stealing a copy of our new album, Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music, due out May 24th!! (My birthday!!)
The People's Champ. The creator of the "World Famous Sex Buffet". The reason I stopped listening to 50 Cent. Josh Martinez was the dood that taught me that it's cool to be myself, or rather, it's 'cool' to be uncool, or more so, cool or uncool, tall or short, good looking or red-head-ugly, step up on a 5' high stage and you will get laid. If it weren't for Josh Martinez, Animal Nation would most likely be fitting in with the popular crowd, writing songs about cool cars, hoes, and guns, selling out to anyone and everyone, and actually making some cash. Thanks Josh.
Steige: Do you have any cats? How many cats does someone have to have before they're considered "a crazy cat person"?
Josh Martinez: No cats. No animals that could die when I'm gone for three weeks at a time. I have a series of close friends that I call on to keep my 15 plants alive while I'm gone. That's enough of a struggle.
S: Listen: It's the apocalypse. There's a huge meteor the size of Texas headed straight for Texas. The Four Horsemen have arrived and they're hungover as heck and totally not looking to party. Satan shows up in your backyard, ready to destroy our planet and everything we've ever known, but he's willing to turn it all around if you can impress him with one of your songs. He's only interested in your music, and he's only got 3 minutes and 34 seconds of free time. Which Josh Martinez track are you going to use to blow Satan's mind? If that's too much pressure you can also tell him a joke, I guess. But it has to be a joke of your own invention, and it has to involve bunny rabbits.
JM: I guess, for both myself and fans of the Josh Martinez, I'd probably play "Just a Dood", because that has been the song that people most seem to relate to. It also is the song that kind of became a bigger hit for me as time went on, with more action happening as a result. But if it's the devil, maybe it makes more sense to play him "Bobby Loveable", a song about boobs and my love for them. It's an apocalyptic toss up I suppose.
S: We invited you up to Whistler to rock a show with us a couple years ago. After the show we were hanging out back at our place and I remember you commenting on the fact that almost all the guitars we had were out of tune. If we were able to travel back in time and properly tune those same guitars would you have been able to shred a sweet lullaby on one of them? I guess a much more simple version of the same question would be: do you play any instruments other than your voice?
JM: I can fuck around with synths here and there, and I do a fair amount of recording layering tricks, but I'm not instrumentally inclined per say. I used to mess around with guitars in my college days, mostly to get girls, but I played so poorly, I got no love from ladies. Stray cats were down for a tumble though.
S: What is your favorite non-pizza pizza topping? I mean, what might we find on your favorite fantasy pizza that we might not normally discover on a Dominoes Deep Dish? (ie-perogies, Kraft Dinner, a skyfish...)
JM: Donair meat. It's a Nova Scotian thing. Though in Nova Scotia, the donair comes in bite sized breakfast bites, and shows up on a fair amount of pizza slices, mostly cuz people ask for a slice with meat and sauce, which pretty much paralyzes your system into a grease induced coma, only to wake up throughout the night, gasping for breath, dry to your very core.
S: Yeah! Those things are rad! I ate them all the time when I was living in Hali! When I was 17-18 your song "Hobo's Lullaby" really made me want to hop the box car of a train and ride the rails to Anywhere But Here. Let's pretend I'd been less lazy and I'd taken that first step... After pieces of my body had been found in what would appear to have been a "Henry Lee Lucas" type of serial murder, and your cassette had been discovered in my Walkman, what would you have told a grieving father, and a mildly upset girlfriend?
JM: Without risk, there is no reward. Without trains, there is no hobo's chili. Without you, your girlfriend has a chance to find someone who can actually be somebody. I mean, what chance do you have with a good girl as a career rapper. Might as well become a D&D expert, competing at regional tournaments for who gets whose Staff of Poking +2.
S: Ohno! The main reason I wanted to become a rapper was to find a good girl! Because, you know, good girls and rap are so synonymous.... So besides the whole "destroying my dream of finding a wife through hip hop" thing, what keeps you awake at night?
JM: Insomnia. And gas. I get pretty gassy. But I'm also lactose intolerant so eating ice cream before bed is baaaad. And the economic crisis in America. Actually that doesn't affect me at all 'cause I don't have any assets. Its hard to lose when you got nothing.
S: What was the weirdest recording experience/tour experience you've ever had?
JM: There are so many. I almost made out with Jamie-Lynn Sigler. I could have been turtle. She was at my show (Atmosphere's show I was opening up for) in Los Angeles, with some really slutty and angry girlfriends, and since I was on the bill, I thought I'd let her know that she could check the show from the sidestage. She spilled her drink on some dude, he punched the sluttiest of the girlfriends, and shit tore the fuck off. She was whisked away as the fight grew to 40 people swinging at randoms, then shots licked off, and then the show was done. I hadn't even performed yet, but I think Meadow Soprano caught feelings for me.
S: I heard through the grapevine that God was looking to replace Rainbow Spokesman 'Roy G. Biv'. What colors would a rainbow hold in store for us if the acronym was changed to Josh Martinez?
JM: Take back the rainbow. That's my motto. I love the gays, but why do they get the rainbow? Now I can't have all the colors of the visible spectrum, and some of the invisible ones, without being into bum sex with men? This shit stinks, and i'll get to the bottoms of it.
S: Is it common knowledge that 'Roy G. Biv' stands for 'red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet', which make up the colors of a rainbow?
JM: Not as common as the knowledge that 'DR. and Mrs. Vandertramp,' is the acronym for all the irregular french verbs that use Etre as their conjugation instead of Avoir. Descender, revenir, monter, sortir, etc...I am killing this interview.
S: Ah wow, you just brought me right back to grade 10 French class. I think I gotta go repress these memories... any last words?
JM: Check out the "World Famous Sex Buffet", my new album that has been the most successful Canadian rap record in history. I also have a new album with my side group: The Chicharones, called "Swine Country". It's out now on Camobear Records, the record label I own and run. http://camobear.ca
Right on, right on.... Well, besides destroying all my dreams and giving me flashbacks of high school I'd say this interview went pretty good! Make sure to check out Josh Martinez's latest video featuring Classified & Skratch Bastid - "Goin' Back to Hali" at the bottom of this page!
And in a rare moment of seriousness, this interview actually was a huge honor. Josh Martinez was, and is, one of my bigger influences when it comes to making music, and was also my gateway drug into underground hip hop.
Thanks,
-Steige.
If you liked this make sure to check out our interview with Mat the Alien, or Jiminy, or watch everyday normal things come to life with The Magic of Googly Eyes, right after you watch this...
I got stood up. Left out to dry. Shot through the heart, and you're to blame. And on Valentines Day no less! I was meant to meet up with the group we went on tour with last summer, Jiminy, to talk about our upcoming shows together in May, the new tracks they've been working on, and a bunch of other fun Jiminy related questions, but was instead met with unanswered calls and sideshow emails. So, panicked for time, I threw a couple questions at a 4.25 Gallon Pail with Wire Handle & Lid, and it just sat there staring at me as if I were an idiot.
Steige: How do you handle being carried around everywhere you go? You pale in comparison to a shovel. Does this ever make you feel empty? If it got bad enough, would you ever consider kicking the bucket?
Pail: -------
S: Picture this: You're human. You've taken half a tab of LSD, and you've gotten it stuck in your head that trying to interview an inanimate plastic bucket is a great idea. First off, from a pail's point of view, as a human, what would you want to know about yourself, the pail? And secondly, how would you go about getting an answer out of something that's got no way of communicating?
P: --------
S: I hate to be rude, but you're a freakin' bucket. I mean, how is a bucket even supposed to come up with any sort of decent answer to any question at all that isn't "can you carry moderatly weighted objects?" You're the 2nd worst interviewee I've ever had! So here's what we're going to do, bucket. I'm going to ask you something, and then I'm going to kick you really really hard within the confines of my house. Then I'll translate the sound you make into something that makes more sense than "clomp, bang, smash", okay?
P: (Kick!) That sounds decent.
S: Cute. Now, without involving Alanis Morrisette, don't you think it's ironic that a square can't be a rectangle, but a rectangle can be a square? I mean, I don't. Find it ironic that is. But, what I guess I'm trying to ask is, what's your maximum load bearing capability?
P: (Kick!) Tim Allen, you're one crazy guy.
S: I... I agree.... Bucket, try this on for one-size-fits-all: Why do I seem to fall for every girl that pays me any sort of attention at all? Have I spent too much time secluded in my basement playing the piano, talking to buckets? Am I simply a sucker for a love story? Is it beyond my biological urge to spill and run in order to strengthen my own personal gene-pool? Do all guys fall this easily? Do all people fall this easily? Is everyone always nearly ready to fall in love with anyone at any time, provided they don't have to make the first move and put their heart on the line?
P: (Kick!) Broken glass.
S: Okay, wow! This game sucks! Bucket, introduce next week's interviewee if you wouldn't mind.
P: --------
S: Right. Next week we'll be talking with Josh Martinez about pizza, rainbows, and his personal plan to blow Satan's mind and stop the apocalypse. We'll also make sure to catch up with those crazy Jiminy cats sooner rather than later and find out what sort of crazy Jiminy shenanigans they've been hurling themselves into these days.
Mike and I had always planned to make a music video for the 'Lasagna Song', the story of an epic battle between a gourmet sous-chef and a ready-made meat lasagna, but never managed to scrape together enough spare cash. With 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", we figured we'd better put something together before our last album, "TimeZone", became 'dated'... (What's it matter if it's new? It's all old eventually....) So, to cut my rambling short, here is the Golden Brown video that we put together with 8 hours of spare time, a bunch of help from a bunch of friends, and $0.
Make sure to download our last album, "The TimeZone [EP]" here for free, before our manager loses it and tells us that the reason we can't afford to make good music videos is because we keep giving our music away for free. :D
Sky Fish
We've been slowly leaking our upcoming album "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible" through myspace a few tracks at a time in an effort to bring attention to 'National Banana Safety Awareness Half-Day', as well as the fact that our new album is dropping fairly soon. The latest play list addition is my personal favorite from our new album "Sky Fish". The story behind this track flies somewhat as follows: I knew that I wanted an old-school sounding track for our new album, so when Mike came back from a camping trip talking about a 'Sky Fish' I was so intrigued and inspired that I spent the next 2 weeks putting together the music and samples for what quickly became my favorite piece of music I've ever made. Mike wrote a wonderful little ditty about his 'Sky Fish Experience' after Ali Milner and I recorded the intro, and the whole thing came out ridiculous and awesome. I've been listening to De La Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising" on repeat for the last 6 months, so that definitely made its way onto the track. I like to think that this is our De La track. That sounds fun.
By his own account Uncle Traveling Mat is determined to make hip-hop fun again. 'Fun!' I thought after hearing this. Then I listened to his self produced De-La-Quest like debut album "Postcards From the Edge" and again thought 'fun!' We decided that we needed to get on a track together, and I decided that I needed to ask Matt a couple questions. Shortly after conducting the following interview I got back in touch with him to ask him if he was sure he wanted to insult both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac in the same article. I suggested that he might offend some of their fans. He replied by saying that he was glad, and that he hoped fans of Biggie and/or Tupac would throw his CD away... that being said I promptly threw the CD he'd mailed me in the garbage. Luckily I'd already ripped it into iTunes.
Steige: Do you eat turkey when it's not Thanksgiving? Do you put gravy on your vegitables? Describe to us an average thanksgiving dinner for yourself.
Uncle Traveling Matt: Of course. Always. I get drunk and try to cut the turkey with a plastic lightsaber and nobody laughs except for me.
S: What do you do with your anger?
UTM: I turn green and smash things.
S: You sound like a cartoon character. UTM: That might be true, only if that cartoon character is Parappa the Rapper.
S: I heard rumours that Uncle Traveling Matt packs mad ladies at his shows... why do you think you attract such an angry crowd? UTM: I’m learning Portuguese. Tenho um penise grande.
S: What is your favorite smell?
UTM: Elmer’s glue.
S: Fill in the blanks. Uncle Traveling Mat is to ______________, as a _____________ is to Cherynoble.
UTM: Hip-hop, flipper baby.
S: A B.I.G. Mac, or a 6 Pac?
UTM: Since you spelled Big Mac, B.I.G. Mac, I can only assume you’re talking about Notorious B.I.G. and he sucks so I’ll go with 6 Pac, unless you’re talking about 2 Pac who also sucks, but they’re both dead which proves the existence of God, even though I’m an atheist and don’t believe in God. Wow, deep question.
S: If you could be any character out of any movie ever, except a super hero or a talking dog, pig, or horse, whom would you be, and why?
UTM: Damn it, no talking dogs? Um, Odie from Garfield. He doesn’t actually talk so I’ve got you on a technicality.
S: I'm stoked about the fact that we're doing a track together. Do you think the word 'stoked' is uncool? How about 'uncool'? Do you ever find it a little trife? How about 'trife'? I find it often comes across rather cheeseburger.
UTM: Cheeseburger? Is this just another way to get me to talk about Notorious B.I.G.? You guys are really sick.
S: Anything else you'd care to mention?
UTM: Buy my album or I’ll kick you in your balls, hard.
S: You heard the man. Buy his album or he's going to kick you in the balls, hard. And even though he didn't say it himself I think it's safe to say that if you're a girl he's going to kick you straight in the uteri. (That's funny 'cause I'm not Chris Brown, and I know the difference between a joke and reality!)
" Well, ok. Let me break it down. Art to me is just another form of communication. One that not everybody has learned. If you think about it.. I don't know how to speak French, right? But I know how to draw and so it's another language. Whether it be music or film.. It's another form of communication. Communication is all about being able to work and deal with like minded individuals. But then what's the point of that? So you can build things right? But what's the point of that? So you can have a family. It's healing. It's eat, sleep, fuck. It's the survival. It's what we're here for. So, art doesn't enable some of us to sleep well at night, yes this is true. And art doesn't enable some of us to eat, yes this is true. But it enables everybody to fuck cause if you put that painting out there and if one person likes it so much that you make friends with them.. who knows. By this time next week you might get their roommate pregnant. It's just another way of bringing people together and personally bringing people together is all about procreation as far as I'm concerned. " -Slug of Atmosphere.
After having spent 2 years traveling and touring, learning and loving, failing and succeeding, changing and staying the same, having way too many good times, and doing ten billion other life-well-lived things that brought them a little bit closer to death, Animal Nation is ready to present some of those experiences, in song form, to the public.
