Quote:
Originally posted by pierce
rb1
why not call yourselves "the chicksie dix".
tell me more about this band (either hear or via my email). i am intrigued by this thought of dub bass/acid jazz rave band. do you have a web site, and possibly mp3's. later |
Pierce - First, your questions: We leave the name as it stands even though we could get into a little legal snarl if we had posters put on utility poles and some citizen joe got their panties in a knot over it. One reason is that the name has "brand value" in the rave community in this area, particularly in some midwest college towns. Secondly, the name has an "outlaw" or "subversive" appeal to the target audience. Raves in this area are usually spread by word of mouth. We haven't done handbills for a while. Otherwise, the odds are too high that cops will show up at the rave party. When the heat gets a whiff of one going on, they frisk people as they come in and eyeball them as they leave to see if they're wanged-out or amped on Ecstasy or what-have-you. Booze isn't a problem at all, (unlike the dance clubs where I play with another band), since most of the audience is drinking hyper-caffeine stuff like Kranko or vitamin cocktails. So the underground vibe of the name is a plus.
We don't have any mp3's available and I don't have a website, (I've seen too many personal websites and thought, "You ain't exactly fascinating. Who gives an excretement ?!?!"). However, if you go to
http://www.e-sound.at music automatically starts playing which is identical to some of the goa ambient and drum n' bass stuff we play, except I use heavy reverb on that particular line. Or, look up Bill Laswell at
http://www.music.lycos.com. We do some of his stuff and they have mp3 downloads available for a lot of his music. Laswell is the bassist who got me interested in this stuff in the first place. Bass Player has written him up, too.
As for the band and the types of music we do, such as goa ambient, psy-trance, drum n' bass, acid jazz (which is really a dirty word among the true believers since it's actually the name of a record label), and trip hop (which is the latest term they hate), from a bassist point of view it's sort of funk+disco+space music. If you crossed Parliament Funkadelic with early Pink Floyd, which is how I think of it, you've pretty well got it, or James Brown on PCP. The guitar is mainly jazz and funk chords, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, NO power chords, played in upper registers over a melodic bassline played fingerstyle, often with heavy effects, especially fuzz bass and echo or reverb. Slapping/popping/picking are turnoffs; "The sound is awesome, no crackling, no popping, no static, I love it," - "Electronic Control System" by EBN. The keyboards and synthesizers go about anywhere they want but need to restrain themselves from overplaying. Some of the bass registers they can reach are pretty awesome. As for stage presence, appearing "heavy," sullen, or studly is very thermal, uncool. Mainly, just have a good time and show it, shake your roogalator a little. I mainly like playing it for three reasons;
1. The money is decent, base pay + draw against the door, which is often 600-1,500 people @ $7-$10 a head. (2000-4000 is common in KC, St. Louis, and Manhattan, KS, which are day trips from this area).
2. The focus of the listeners is on the music, (besides how they look), not the lyrics or how close your covers are to the original versions. Since dancing is the norm as opposed to watching the band play, the bass and percussion are really the stars.
3. The freedom is immense. Very clean, very high volume is a requirement though. Being experimental is cherished as long as it's done with a musical design/intent instead of merely trying to see how weird you can sound. Ya can't groove to Kraftwerk.
You're in/near Dallas. You should check one out. They're usually way out in the sticks where there aren't any curfews or neighbors. Just ask the guy at the music store checkout with the Wookie, RAM Raiders, and Dub Assassin CD's in his hand.
[Edited by rickbass1 on 11-28-2000 at 03:17 PM]
