* X f ‘¿> ÔETTI iJS TOÜ6 HC AfOO TOJGHßÄTHESe 0^Y5 To SC A UOCAL Z -^ c/T y inside This Issue Kid Power Fidget Creature Feature Marko Nert Herder The Ooodkind mit. edif Point Conception Henchmyn Superslick Joystick The Leftovers SeepM VINCENT LUCIDO/Daiiy Nexus 2A Thursday, January 23,1997 Daily Nexus msmsmam ÍSS5S ÍÍS®*® : ¥ I 1 ü faceInterview to by Bryce Baerface hen I was 5 or 6 years old, I had Spanky’s (a run-down Italian restaur­ a very distinct image of punk ant) different from the larger venues W rock: orange hair, leather you play now with this new type of jacket, a safety pin or two and voila — audience? punk. We’ve had, over the past few years, the Although this distorted idea was fos­ opportunity to play for audiences from 50 tered by such programs as The M uppet to 30,000 people at a show. One of our Show and villains on The Great Ameri­ strengths as a band is that we put on an can Hero, it gave me my first glimpse of energetic live show and truly enjoy the early ’80s “underground” music and time we’re spending on stage. Even peo­ culture. ple who may not be educated in what to Today, it appears that punk is no lon­ do at a live punk rock show—whether to ger the mysterious musical and social slam dance clockwise or counterclock­ phenomenon of days past, but rather the wise —you know, all the rules, even peo­ breeding ground of such “dreamy” teen ple who don’t really have that kind of pinups as Billy Joe Armstrong and Gwen background can really get into the energy Stefani. It seems that the world is ready to and excitement of the gigs. accept the bastard sons and daughters of [The punk scene was] a little bit older rock and welcome punk into the gracious when we started, it was older guys and I world of pop. think a lot of those guys have moved on. It But is MTV telling the truth? Doth my was people who got into punk rock in the Rolling Stone deceive me? Is the music 80s, and stayed in it, and they were reach­ and culture surrounding modern-day ing their last days when we started. ... punk rock genuine, or an egregious dis­ Now we’re playing for all these new kids, tortion of Sie world of punk? who think bands like Nirvana are punk I talked with Face to Face vocalist/ rock, or kids that’ll go to a Stone Temple guitarist Trevor Keith to find out. Pilots show and are moshing to the slow­ est song. ... Today people slam dance to ;; js ; Mi Arts week: What’s happened to the Top-40 songs. A lot of those kids don’t punk rock scene in the past several know where [punk] is coming from. years? So people aren ’t aware of where punk Trevor Keith: It’s kind of been taken rock is coming from and where you are over by a newer, younger wave of people. drawing influences? that comfort people who feel motivated of thing catches flack to some degree. We A lot of punk rock bands and just bands We just did this radio show up north to do these things because the music has caught flack back when we left Dr. in general that were playing music aren’t for a station I won't mention ... with driven them so intensely. You know, Strange and went to Fat Wreck Chords — doing underground stuff anymore. We’ve bands like Tracy Bonham and Failure ... they’re flying, they’re jumping off speak­ we went from an indie to an indie. I think seen our audience change drastically in and I guess we were the token punk rock ers and stuff in the crowd. “Angry people, particularly people who follow California. It’s not the same people that band for the day.... Oh, Poe played. She Johnny” is hardly a song that evokes that punk rock and the scene, are very posses­ come to see us when we play Pomona was playing — what’s one of her hit sin­ kind of intensity in my opinion. It’s al­ sive about what they think is their music now.... It’s a more commercially oriented gles, like “Hello” or something? It’s real most become one of the rules at a show, and their bands. They don’t want anyone type audience. slow, almost kinda’ dancey music ... instead of something that people ge­ else to like them. As soon as more than 10 I remember seeing you guys back in *Angry Johnny.” nuinely feel motivated to do. people catch on to a band they like, they 1992 at a place called Spanky’s. “Angiy Johnny,” yes. And she stage di­ Have you caught any flack about move on to a more obscure band, so they Yeah, Spanky’s was a staple, we played ves into the crowd during the song. And moving on from Dr. Strange to A&M can take the credit for being into the new­ there constantly. I’m thinking to myself, stage diving and Records? est thing, and that’s bound to happen. How’s playing somewhere like slam dancing -i- these are expressions Oh yeah, any band that does that type UCSB’s World Music A Lunch Time Bow Series If you happen to walk by the Music Dept, on a Wed­ tists from other countries, Hopper said. nesday afternoon you may suddenly find yourself prick­ “This is a very popular series. I would say that the bowl ing up your ears as infectious sounds overtake you — is always full.... Seeing cultures perform from around the sounds you are probably not used to hearing. world gives you a different perspective on what the cul­ These sounds will grab your attention and compel you tures are really like,” Hopper said. to follow them into the bowels of the music department, A performer and instructor of Indonesian music, Don the music bowl. Here, your eyes will be treated to quite a Howell has participated in these noontime perfor­ spectacle: a large audience enthralled by a group of mances at the bowl in the past with the UCSB Gamelan throat singers from southern Siberia or a rare perfor­ Ensemble, a group that plays orchestral music from mance on the hurdy gurdy instrument. Indonesia. You may ask yourself: “Self, what is this all about?” “As a performer... I’ve always enjoyed [the concerts] What you are witnessing is a program called the World because they’re always informal,” Howell said. “It’s ea­ Music Series. Open free to students and faculty every sier on the instructor and the players.” Wednesday at noon, the Ethnomusicology Program Jon Nathan, the director of the Jazz Ensemble, whose brings these lunchtime bowl concerts to UCSB to expose jazz combos will be playing this quarter at the bowl, students to music of foreign cultures. echoed Howell’s sentiments. “What it does is it reflects musical cultures from ar­ “You have a very attentive audience — they really lis­ ound the world, ranging' from Irish music to Indian ten to the music,” said Nathan. music, to music from the Balkans to music from Russia,” The concerts are presented by the UCSB Music Dept, said Patti Hopper, marketing director for the Music in cooperation with the Multicultural Center and the In­ Dept. terdisciplinary Humanities Center. Although a few of the performing groups are based at For more information call the Music Dept, at UCSB, including the Gospel Choir and the various 893-3261. UCSB jazz groups, most of the performers are guest ar- —Josh Rutkin (peat Classics & Today's le st New lock http://www.amfm.com Daily Nexus Thursday, January 23,1997 3 A 1 • Synthetic Pleasures Director Iara Lee’s first foil-length fea­ ture film, Synthetic Pleasures, is a do­ cumentary that explores humankind’s quest to transcend nature through the use of burgeoning technologies. This slick pro­ ON SALB FOR ONLY $ 9 (STUDENTS) IN THE AS T k k e t OFFICE duction is a tad wide-eyed and tends to gloss over significant moral questions, ef­ fectively suggesting that humanity vs. ¿mM THIS cutting-edge artificiality is a moot point of , dilemma. Regardless, the film is the first big-screen effort to clearly present striking elements of a new world in which we possess ultimate power over the physical and mental images we project. Using lightning-quick edits and an appe­ wmm aling ambient soundtrack, Lee and her col­ laborators offer a fast-paced look at four se­ parate facets of hyper-reality. Synthetic en­ vironments, such as the indoor beaches (complete with sun, sand and surf), ski slopes and golf courses of Japan and the might expect that an MTV-style chronicle manmade nature of Las Vegas are ex­ representing this new technology would plored, as are synthetic bodies (via plastic glorify and overshadow (and be nicer than) surgeiy, piercing, etc.), identities (via the its subject matter. But it doesn’t and it’s Internet) and perspectives (via drugs). not. Like Fred Barry watching a rerun of his One of the film’s contributors describes old show, it’s a pretty cool look at what’s virtual reproductions as being nicer than happenin’ now. what exists in the real world. Similarly, one —Erie Steuer The intrinsic human hope of escaping Lo Verso’s youthful portrayal of Gino to a bountiful land, where the dream of conveys a believable amount of anxiety living a happier life can be fulfilled, tran­ and hopelessness as a person completely scends political and cultural borders.