September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

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FEATURE REVIEWMUSIC and how he hated David Bowie because he played new stuff, and I just wanted to strangle this guy. I mean, what if you did the same interview with Bobby Hebert for twenty years and don’t get to change? It’s ridiculous. It just gets to a level where you need to learn new songs. AG: There seems to be a lot of bands now that combine heritage music and traditional music with rock. Where do you think the Zydepunks fit in with them? CK: It’s weird how music progresses back and forth. I think ska is one of the most interesting progressions because it starts in Jamaica, goes to England and then it goes to the East Coast, and then to the West Coast, and now I’m hearing bands from England that sound like west coast American ska bands. It’s hard to trace how these things evolve. With this kind of stuff, there are a lot of older bands that do folk-punk stuff and I’m influenced by that. And I find a lot of newer bands are influenced by Flogging Molly, which to me is a new band. I like them, but it’s a different wave of people. Their influences are different. I don’t know why it’s sort of taken off. AG: Would you consider the Zydepunks pioneers? CK: No. I don’t like to talk about myself that way. You know, you can always go further back with stuff. I think it would be the Popes more than anything. There were other bands doing the same kind of thing at the time but they were the ones that got really, really popular. I think that broke it open for a lot of people to take traditional music in another way. It’s not just that. I was talking to a friend of mine from Ville Platt the other night and he said, “As much as I would love for y’all to play in Ville Platt, people would hate it.” Same thing would happen with the Lost Bayou Ramblers. They’d be too untraditional. It’s just crazy to think that. There’s all the other stuff, very cheesy New Age. Especially with Irish music. It’s really bad. But even that kind of stuff is a break form highbrow traditional ideas of how a ballad should be played. AG: Do you think there could be a backlash where people want straight heritage and cultural music and not this hybrid version? CK: There is already. We get yelled at by serious Cajun zydeco dancers at different festivals—they’re the worst. Even someone like Terrance Simien, who won a Grammy, gets yelled at by people. I haven’t really talked to any Cajun zydeco band that hasn’t very nice to each other about it. I’ve busked in other cities where there’s a city government that has its act together and actually regulates it. Like Canada, in Quebec, Sydney, and Halifax they have specific rules about what you can and can’t do, you have a license or you don’t. Up there it’s just a rule. And there are cops there who aren’t corrupt and just do their work. Here, sometimes police stop you, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you’re supposed to stop at 8pm, but sometimes you play on. It’s just how usually the city runs here. There’s no real law and order. People “We get yelled at by serious Cajun zydeco dancers at different festivals.” been told, you know, “This just isn’t your certain way.” But I don’t think it’s really going to matter. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, people just keep messing with music. I don’t think there’s anyway to go back. AG: With a lot of traditional and heritage punk music, there seems to be an element of busking involved in the shows. Do the Zydepunks have an element of that? CK: I used to busk, yeah. There’s a tradition of just using that kind of music for busking, like bluegrass or Irish music is used for busking. I don’t know why, it’s not what it’s traditionally used for—it’s used for gatherings and dances. AG: Are the Zydepunks into that too? CK: Oh yeah, we are. Not in New Orleans so much. A lot of New Orleans street performers are assholes. AG: Are they? CK: Oh, yeah. Ter-ri-torial shitheads. You’d show up with your amp and start playing, and they’d just give you bullshit. AG: What would they do? Did a living statue chase you off or something? CK: Not me, per say. I don’t do it enough to be territorial about it, like I would be if I did it every day, but I know people who do and it just makes you want to stop. It’s not self-regulating. People here just aren’t that actually do live here and busk aren’t really selfregulating. A lot of them are great buskers who will share spaces and work things out. But others are ruthless, capitalist buskers. AG: Could you could form this band in Philly now? CK: I wouldn’t want to do it in Philly, I think. I was really mad last time we played there. We didn’t make any money. There were people at the show but the money was terrible. East Coast clubs aren’t really as friendly. AG: What other cities could you form the band in? CK: You mean if I had to live somewhere else? We’re one of the few bands in the south that do this, especially. There are some bands in Austin, I think. I don’t even know who they are. I know they’re really into folk music in Ashville but they’re not so into punk though. And I know in Knoxville there’s an Irish punk band. But there is really just not many in the south. There’s a lot more in the Northwest: Portland, Oregon. There’s Chicago. New York. L.A., the usual places. San Francisco. The usual hubs. The Irish is the one that happens more. It’s probably everywhere. The Zydepunks release Finisterre on Friday, <strong>September</strong> 5th at One Eyed Jacks. For more info, go to zydepunks.com. 26_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
REVIEWSBOOKS CHUCK PALAHNIUK SNUFF (DOUBLEDAY) Chuck Palahniuk once again delves into the underbelly of modern America with Snuff. A tale about a record-breaking gang bang gone slightly awry, Snuff is grimy, sticky and full of the style and wit that has made Palahniuk both popular and the subject of criticism. Like his previous novel, Rant, Snuff is told from multiple, subjective perspectives: the talent wrangler Sheila and Misters 600, 137 and 72, all waiting for their turn with the porn starlet Cassie Wright and each harboring a secret motivation. Palahniuk loves to cut open society and expose some of the damper sides of life. Here, he takes us into the world of factory porno, a seedy sex mill powered by diminished expectations and Astroglide. Though the novel never plants a morality flag, each character’s life outside of the porn film is so heavy with defilement and quiet perversions that the film shoot substitutes for everyday society. Like all of Palahniuk’s previous work, each character is more than a little disgusting, hides secret shames, engages in peculiar and most times offensive behaviors, etc... The joy in reading his novels is wallowing in the cesspool his vivid and uncensored prose provides—no other current author can so horrendously pinpoint the feel of a porno set so the tacky surfaces and stale smells are almost tangible. And if finely rendered detail is Chuck Palahniuk’s ace in the hole, then his repetitive style is his biggest detriment. Once again, each character has hordes of obscure knowledge that is doled out to the reader in small bites—a device that once felt fresh but now is little more than a parlor trick. We’re again taken on a narrative journey that gives us a twist, only in Snuff the twists are evident from a mile away and the ultimate resolution is both muddled by the unclear narrative structure of the book and in turn is completely unsatisfactory. With Rant, the storylines converged and then split again into unresolved endings—a fresh idea, but here the ending is simply blasé, offering no satisfaction. Ultimately, for fans of Palahniuk’s work Snuff is a minor entry in the catalogue—certainly not his best work, but laden with enough skin crawling and gut churning imagery to make up for its bleak and rushed climax. —Mike Rodgers antigravitymagazine.com_27
Page 2 and 3: PHOTO BY MANTARAY PHOTOGRAPHY
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Page 6 and 7: COLUMNLOCAL MUSIC LIVE NEW ORLEANS
Page 8 and 9: COLUMNMEDICINE DR. FEELGOOD CAN YOU
Page 10 and 11: COLUMNLEGALESE SOUND ADVICE HOW TO
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Page 14 and 15: FEATUREMUSIC WHAT STYLE? OUR STYLE:
Page 16 and 17: COVER FEATURELOCAL BUSINESS THE IRO
Page 19 and 20: BEST SAINT EVER? PLUS: SEASON PREDI
Page 21: HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGEGAME PREVIEWS SU
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Page 33 and 34: EVENT LISTINGS Black Primer, Black
Page 35 and 36: EVENT LISTINGS of just over a year
Page 37 and 38: EVENTS/CONTINUED... Live New Orlean

September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

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