Interview
by Hell
First of all, hello
there. please introduce yourself.
Name is H. Figurine, from Ontario, Canada. I am a guitarist in
several ongoing projects, and I have recently moved into the
genre of found sound.
You have a project called
Jesus H. Christ, right? what can you tell us about it?
Jesus H. Christ is my found sound appropriation project. It
initially started as a single tape loop and just a way to kill
the boredom when I can't sleep. (I'm an insomniac).
What about your releases?
tell us about Residues and the other ones. how can interested
people get'em?
Residue is a 90 minute cassette only release from 1995. I began
recording it in November of '94 and it was finally completed in
December of '95. The project started as a 45 min. razor tape of
The Top 500 Hits Of 95. It was never my intention for others to
ever hear this, but after a few friends commented on how unique
they thought it was, I realized I had created something special.
Copies were given away at local concerts and offered for free
from a couple of independant record stores. To date I personally
have given away close to 250 copies.
The Transistorized Spectra Sonic Sound compilation was released
August of 97 by MOM. It features 20 underground/ found sound
artists. Jesus H. Christ has two tracks on the comp, "Too
Fast For The Devil", a razor tpae of all Motley Crue
material, and "MariLol Manson pt.1 (rough
edit)", a brand new track which is an edited clip from my
next release, "Don't Rain On My Parody".
The new release will concentrate on an ongoing theme and will
feature a commentary/ critism on a very well known shock-rocker.
A very similar idea I used on Residue with, "Whatever You
Wanna Make Out Of It", a piece about the death of Kurt
Cobain. All of these releases are available for trade or postage
from myself, (h@weirdness.com),
and MOM, (cometomom@aol.com).
MOM is a non-profit dubbing squad that I got involved with about
a year ago. They have been such a great help in promoting Jesus.
Without them I don't think I would've continued doing found
sound. There is alot of risk involved, considering I am sampling
right off of CD's without permission, altering the sample and
then compiling everything. There is alot of time involved also,
it is very labourius process.
You have also some other
great projects. how is going Coma Lodge?
Coma Lodge is my first baby. We started in 1989, playing live and
making cassette demos. We received some good reviews from
Canadian magazines and radio shows. Our debut CD, "What Kind
Of Mind Do You Have?" was released in July of '95. We have
been compared to Faith No More/ Tool/ and yes, Tom Jones. Coma
Lodge are currently working on new material for their second CD,
and playing about once a month thru-out Ontario.
And what about Machine Gun
Kelly?
MGK have just released their debut CD. We spent alot of time and
money on this project. It is by far my most professional and most
commercial project to date. We've been called a cross between
Mercury Rev and LIVE if you can imagine that. MGK have been doing
about 3 gigs a month and we are planning on going on a small tour
after Christmas. The CD is selling really well in Canada and we
are getting very well known and popular. You'll be hearing from
thes4e guys, (and one girl), in the future for sure!!! I'm not
just saying that cuz I'm in the band. The songwriting is really
good and I think this band will go far, with or without me.
You are from
canada. for me, your country was the most important source of
electromusic in the 80's, with Skinny Puppy and Frontline
Assembly. How was growing as an electrofan in a country with
these two bands?
Wow, This is a tough one for me. In the 80's I was listening to
Motley Crue and Venom. I didn't get into Skinny Puppy until
Rabies came out. And even then I didn't even really like it. It
was just something I'd put on when I wanted to annoy ppl or was
just not in a great mood. Too Dark Park won me over right away
though. Weird eh?
I used to think I hated Canada...everyone thinks their home-town
sucks I guess??? You see, Ottawa, where I'm originally from, is a
government, blue collar city. Teenagers are not allowed to have
fun or have their own ideas. The powers that be have closed down
almost every live club
there is. Sure you can go out to a sports bar and hang with jocks
and wanna-be ravers, but to see a live band, local too? Almost
impossible!
I have grown up a little now and LOVE Canada. I even warmed up to
Ottawa a bit, but things are actually worse now! There are like 3
clubs where bands can play...2 of them won't take local talent
anymore, and there are some great bands here, and the other one
you have to book like 3-4 months in advance, and you have to
guarantte at least 2oo ppl. It's rare that Ottawa would get big
name bands touring thru also. We get The Tragically Hip and
Aerosmith every year. But we miss out on all the biggies.
Do you like them?
I love Skinny Puppy now. Very sad when I heard about Dwane's
death. He will be missed. I actually don't get the chance to sit
back and just listen to music anymore...but some of my new faves
are Haujobb, every Puppy fan must check them out!!! Download took
me awhile to appreciate, I think I expected it to sound like
Puppy at first, but they've grown on me. I like NIN, FLA, E.
Neubauten. Actually I just picked up Empirion and Autechre's
Tri-Repeate CD's and they are both amazing!!!!!
And do you think it
is easier to be a electronic band there than in other
places?
Well, I honestly beleive there too many people who think they are
electronic artists. It's worse than new comedians, in Canada
anyways... there are heavy metal bands who have added a drum
mchine and sampler and go around saying their the next NIN. One
band from Ottawa was signed to label after they claimed they were
now industrial. A year later when all they had were metal songs
for the follow-up, they were dropped and they are back in their
basements jamming. That's where they belong in my opinion. So, in
answer to the question I think it's alot harder to be a
electro-band in Canada then say Germany or England.
What do you think
about the future?
The future...prolly more dance type music, instrumental rave
music. I dunno, that's a tough one too.
Do you play live?
are there good places for it there?
Yes. the two main clubs in Ottawa are Barrymore's Music Hall and
Zaphod Beeblebrox. More info on both clubs is available at http://www.eugenehaslam.com
Well, it's enough.
i hope you come play here in the future. luck!
Best of luck on the zine and for you and your band. I would like
to thank you for considering me for involvmenet in this. Here are
some addresses of a few names I mentioned in the interview.
H. FIGURINE - email - h@weirdness.com
- Homepage www.xoom.figurine
JESUS H. CHRIST - email - iamyourgod@hotmail.com
Homepage http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Towers/3556
MACHINE GUN KELLY - email littlebits@oocities.com
Homepage - http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Club/2088/index.htm
MOM (Larry) email cometomom@aol.com
TAPE DUBBING SQUAD - http://members.aol.com/cometomom
Incision Electro Bible - <Index>