Summer is here, and it has already been in the triple digits. Looking at the show schedules for this summer, it seems that there aren't many hardcore shows booked so far, but I'm sure some shows and dates will be added last minute. In the past few weeks, W. Mass. HC band Hoax played Omaha, and was one of the better shows I've attended so far this year. They are one of my favorite band in hardcore right now, so I've got a good fill of the core for a while until shows can pick up. That doesn't mean that things are dead around here locally, quite the opposite... Emo rockers Places We Slept have released a new one-sided 12" Sad, Stoned, and Horny via long running local label Unread Records and is available now limited to only 150. Staying in Omaha, a new melodic hardcore band Thirteenth Year have just put up a new recording online that would appeal to fans of the early 2000s Level Plane records sound. My current fav. local HC band Bad Vibes have recently stated online that a 10" (make it a 45 12" please... please) record is lined up for this year. I can't wait to hear it. In Lincoln news, Nebraska's hardest; Bent Life will head out on the road again this summer playing in support of Richmond VA's Naysayer summer tour w/ Focused Minds from Milwaukee. Here are the dates:
7.13.12 The Beat Minneapolis, MN # No Naysayer
7.14.12 TBA Rock Island, IL # No Naysayer
7.15.12 Shimmers Ballroom Cincinnati, OH #
7.16.12 Pizza Works Peoria, IL #
7.17.12 Knickerbockers Lincoln, NE #
7.18.12 Fourth Store Grand Junction, CO #
7.19.12 SLC Four Square Salt Lake City, UT #
7.21.12 Earl Warren Showgrounds Santa Barbara, CA SOUND and FURY
7.23.12 East Side Joes Las Vegas, NV w/ Dead End Path, Soul Search, Daylight
"It's hard for me to understand that anybody finds things truly "shocking" anymore, but there will always be people hating on something or being offended about anything. I don't really care about people who cannot "tolerate" gays and I don't feel that I need to even consider those people as actual human beings."
-raws of Plack Blague
You know the routine... introduce yourself.
-raws./accidental therapy/plack blague/vickers/ezra/wasteoid/okyo-ton/dj:tanner/lincoln, nebraska/corona/cosmo waterfalls....
What exactly is Plack Blague?
PLACK BLAGUE IS DEATH. PLACK BLAGUE IS WRONG. PLACK BLAGUE IS GOD. PLACK BLAGUE IS SEX. PLACK BLAGUE IS HOT. PLACK BLAGUE IS MAN. PLACK BLAGUE IS AGRESSOR. PLACK BLAGUE IS FILTH. PLACK BLAGUE IS INDUSTRY. PLACK BLAGUE IS CHOICE. PLACK BLAGUE IS PROBLEM. PLACK BLAGUE IS LIFE. PLACK BLAGUE IS ANTI-DANSE. PLACK BLAGUE IS RAUNCH. PLACK BLAGUE IS LEATHER. PLACK BLAGUE IS BOY. PLACK BLAGUE IS PLEASURE. PLACK BLAGUE IS FAGGOT. PLACK BLAGUE IS THE FUTURE. PLACK BLAGUE PLAY SATANIC DISCO, EXCLUSIVELY.
You recently released a new cd... what can be expected on the new release compared to past material? When was the last time you bought a new cd and what was it?
Heavy Leather! is the name of the latest album. It was originally released in February 2012 as a digital album on the French freakout noise/power violence label, BTK RECORDZ, ran by my buddy Yann Geoffriaud (George Bitch Jr., Sikhara, Yann Is The Bastard, etc.). A compact disc version of Heavy Leather! was released on my little label, ACCIDENTAL THERAPY. This album is much more structured, stylized, conceptual, and basically just better than any previous Plack Blague release. I wanted to take on a more industrial/noise approach to this project and focus on making actual songs and utilizing concepts and themes. The album before this was Pubonic Blague, which really focused on the original idea of the group's concept of "anti-dance". The beats were cut up, non-flowing, and hard to dance to. This was an important idea to me at the time and through that recording, I really wanted to capture a live sound, because it seemed that every live performance was different from the last. Chaotic, noisy, and just plain confusing. All previous releases before that were VERY focused on being noisy, disjointed techno songs. There was even a Plack Blague cassette that was a remake of the soundtrack to the movie, Cocktail. That tape is for the noise...and so long out of print.
I really don't purchase cads that often because I prefer vinyl or even cassettes. Though, the last time I bought a cd was off of a friend in Iowa maybe in March, and it was the Warsore 'Violent Swing Discography' double cd. That's a real harsh, raw grindcore band out of Australia that I've loved for a long time now!! Good stuff! I was also given a Catheter 3" cd of unreleased tracks with Nate Fetus on the vocals, GHOUL 'Transmission Zero' and Lincoln's latest TRASHPILE MANOR 'Leftover Left Out'. Does that count?...people give me stuff.
The new cd is titled Heavy Leather and has a strong expression of sexuality... do you feel that LGBT lifestyle is being more open and accepted in Lincoln and/ or Nebraska compared to years past?
Yeah, I think that America in general is more accepting to gays as each year passes. Each generation brings on new groups of kids that just don't care anymore or accepts people as what they are. Though, why should I care that somebody "accepts" me or any gay person? I don't feel that sexuality is something that people have to tolerate or accept. Plack Blague has always been overly sexual and in your face with queer fetishism and leather bondage and really it's all about expressionism. I think people like to be amused when they come to Plack Blague shows and are able find the entertainment out of it and have a good time. It's hard for me to understand that anybody finds things truly "shocking" anymore, but there will always be people hating on something or being offended about anything. I don't really care about people who cannot "tolerate" gays and I don't feel that I need to even consider those people as actual human beings. I'm also not doing Plack Blague to entirely promote the LGBT community, because honestly that's not my thing. Even gays can find Plack Blague offensive to an extent and that's totally ok.
I've noticed quite a few remixes being posted online recently... will there be a compilation of the Plack Blague remixes?
I have had such an amazing amount of feedback and people wanting to do remixes for Heavy Leather! that I have a perfect amount of mixes to release another album of only that. Yes, I will definitely be doing a remix album this summer. I may do a digital only release (since that is the wave of the future....), but I'm also into this idea of releasing nicely packaged cads for people like me that are into the art of albums. It's a possibility of doing a remix album with a couple brand new tracks included just to keep the writing process going and getting new material out there. I have had remixes by COCK E.S.P., OVRTHRSTR, BAD SPELER, SPEEDCREEP, DJ DRUNK and lots more. They are already up for download right now on the Plack Blague Soundcloud page and I've been putting them all up on YouTube as well. I figured, why wait?
What does the future hold for Plack Blague? Upcoming shows? Any plans for touring in support of the cd?
Plack Blague just recorded two new tracks for upcoming compilations for the E.F. TAPES 20th Anniversary Releases. E.F. TAPES is a noise label out of Minneapolis ran by COCK E.S.P. himself, Emil Hagstrom. 'Awakenings' is my latest song that will be on the "Nothing Good Ever Comes From Milwaukee" compilation and is a very harsh industrial sound much like Haus Arafna meets Bastard Noise. The other track is my rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and that will be released on the "God Bless America" Fourth of July noise compilation. It is also in talks that I'll be doing a three-way split consisting of PLACK BLAGUE, THE BRAND OF HUNTED MEN (members of Agoraphobic Nosebleed), and WINTERS IN OSAKA. That will mostly likely be released on the killer digital label, GRINDCORE KARAOKE! Also, like I said earlier, I plan on releasing a remix album the summer of 2012. I will be writing new material and doing more recordings this summer and would really like to have another album released this Fall.
I recently performed in Chicago this past April for the strange kids dance television show, CHIC-A-GO-GO. That episode recently aired in Chicago and I also put the Plack Blague interview/performance online. I have received an overwhelming amount of feedback since this went online and it has definitely led to a lot of show requests. Plack Blague will be performing at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln with New York's ROSENKOPF (featuring Saira Huff on bass..ex-Faggot/Detestation), and also with Omaha's SHAHMAN EXILES. I'm crossing my fingers for Ssion to perform in Nebraska again in July! These will be great shows and I can't wait!! There has been some talk of doing some Midwest dates with VIOLATOR X and I will be doing a couple dates in San Francisco this coming September. My goal is to play a couple shows in New York by the end of the year as well.
I'm also very interested in making some more videos. 'It's Not Lube, It's Love In A Tube' was such an amazing video that I am going to have to really top that one with even more bizarre and sexual videos. The year of 2012 is MY year to create as much as possible and really spread the filth that is PLACK BLAGUE!!
What is CHIC-A-GO-GO and how were you able to get on it? How was the experience?
CHIC-A-GO-GO is a kids dance/variety show that has actually been going on since 1996. It airs on public access in Chicago but also airs archived episodes in the Oakland/Bay Area, California. The show is like a goofy version of Soul Train or American Bandstand, but with kids of all ages dressed up in costumes and dancing to weird music. Groups like Sonic Youth, Anvil, Butthole Surfers, Beck, AntiSeen, Andrew WK, and Snoop Dogg (just to name a few) have either performed or been interviewed on the show. I actually just submitted a bio and email to the show and after a couple years it seemed, they wrote back asking to perform. I had to turn it down the first time due to conflicting schedules, but eventually was able to get a date with them this year. I performed last for the day after they shot two episodes of bands performing and people dancing. (I danced to the Ramones and Grand Funk and also did the El Train line to some Jesse J. song.) The whole experience was a total blast because it was something I had never done before. I did have a couple restrictions, like not wearing a studded jock and requiring a shirt under my leather...and "don't be scary". I wasn't there to be too outrageous or anything, but I'm sure I was definitely weird in the situation. My episode aired along with interviews with Young Jeezy and this pop singer, Grimes.
There seems to be an uprising of electronic/noise around here. What is your opinion on this?
My opinion is YES AND GREAT! I think that noise and electronic music has always had a presence in Nebraska, but I think the influence of Violator X in the past couple of years has really made people want to pursue an interest in noise. I think that this past noise show at the West Wing house in Omaha really showed that there's an interest in noise and electronic music because people came to the show, didn't leave in disgust and were actually quite surprised with some of the acts. Most people don't know that I randomly did improvisational noise performances under the title, Experiment Gone Bad, in the late 90's/early 2000's and I only did a handful of shows. Lincoln has always had a strange electronic underground presence that kind of dwindled down in the past few years. I remember going to noise shows in the 90's at the Wagon Train Project in Lincoln, watching people stomp on sheet metal, create sound loops, and harsh noise with weird movie projections. There wouldn't be that many people at these shows, but it was always interesting to see what would happen next. I would love to see more noise shows happen in Nebraska and more people involved, creating a scene of weirdos.
Though, does The Faint count for electronic music around here? I mean, they did get pretty famous.
If you were to make a mixtape of the groups/bands that have influenced Plack Blague the most, what would you put on it?
I'm sure I have already made these said mixtapes, because I still love making mixtapes. Also, I like to think that I'm interested in a wide and diverse selection of music. Not only have lots of groups influenced me, especially ones I have shared the stage with, but there's also millions of little fragments of all sorts of different groups that influence what I do. Whether it's the music, the attitude, the performance of it, the fashion, or the strangeness of it all, I can be influenced by more than just a sound or song. Though, just to name a few: Throbbing Gristle, Men's Recovery Project, Laibach, Ministry, Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft, Whitehouse, Miss Kittin & The Hacker, Adult., Ssion, The Vanishing, Armatron, Madonna, The Germs, Donna Summer, Daft Punk, Telex, Cock E.S.P., Brainbombs, Kylie Minogue, Skinny Puppy, Huey Lewis and the News, Agents of Satan, Atari Teenage Riot, Realicide, Haus Arafna, Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack, Bathory, Bastard Noise, Cheryl Lynn, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Bethlehem.....I guess I could name a million.
Is it true that leather pants shrink more the longer you wear them?
Ha! Where did you hear that? I swear the more I sweat in my leather pants, the baggier and more stretched out they get. The definitely smell worse the more you wear them.
OK thats it, thanks for taking time to answer. Any parting words?
KEITH MCGRATH KEEPS HARDCORE ALIVE IN NEBRASKA!
