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Newsletter No. 28: THE YEAR OF THE FOX IN THE HEN HOUSE |
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WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? June 20: The Werepad, San Francisco, CA MUSIC FOR ADULTS, the OXBOW Documentary screens at 9:00. The fuck if we know. We went with Eugene to the LA Erotic Porno convention. What the hell happened THERE? Eugene says "Go to www.skullgame.com, ass." June 21: The Pound: San Francisco, CA, Jucifer/Oxbow Man, oh Manisciewitz. The POUND. Jesus. Shit. What can you say? Our third show here and I KNOW it from talking to people that know that these crowds we're drawing here are BETTER than the crowds that others are drawing on any given night but this is clearly not a useful measure as we can hear the slow and mournful sound of soul being sucked from our asses and in the gloaming street lights at the foot of the mail trucks, the trawling "Postal Police" (Watch OUT! He's got a stamp!) and the place, just the place itself, it's enough to want to kill yourself. Add to that every single person in the world giving you grief that night for a variety of interpersonal reasons too ridiculous to go into here and we'd all have been better off in bed. Under a nice warm blanket. With a nice warm hooker. So yeah. Replicator played. Babyland played. OXBOW played and Jucifer closed out the show but whether it was the sound broad barking over the PA system "ONE MORE SONG,: which is an instant inducement for Eugene to have a grand mal seizure of artistic snittery because "she's fucking with our show.." or what, it sucked. Suckety, suck suck suck. The best line of the evening as spoken by a 200-pound denizen of Stockton who had driven up for the show and had never seen OXBOW before: "I wasn't gay BEFORE I saw them play, but during the show, well Eugene just made me FEEL certain things." He spent the remainder of the evening ditching his girlfriend and chatting up Eugene. Brilliant. SHOW ME YOURS HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME fri 04. Jul paris la guingette pirate sat 05. Jul limoges festival sun 06. Jul Lyon mon 07. Jul tue 08. Jul Stuttgart wed 09. Jul Nurnberg k4 thu 10. Jul innsbruck fri 11. Jul off sat 12. Jul dour festival with CASPAR BROETZMANN + FM EINHEIT + THE EX sun 13. Jul cardiff Oz Bar mon 14. Jul nottingham the social tue 15. Jul cork fred zepelins wed 16. Jul limerick high stool thu 17. Jul dublin whelans fri 18. Jul birmingham Jug Of Ale sat 19. Jul bristol Ashton Court Festival sun 20. Jul london underworld C 1546 OCTOBER 9 Minneapolis, MINN w/Electric To Me, Sic Bay OCTOBER 10 Chicago, IL w/ US Maple, Oxbow, Electric To Me, Sic Bay OCTOBER 11: THE FUTILITY FESTIVAL, OHIO OCTOBER12: St. Louis, MO |
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THE SCROTUM
PICTURE PERFECT from the retellings of the tales in the newsletter, sounds like the eagle show was the one to catch, here's pix from the food poisoning endurance contest at the Bottom of the Hill a couple weeks ago.... http://www.triggerfinger.com/slides.php?d=shootingmusic/oxbow/ SNIGGER ALL YOU WANT Thanks again for another amusing and informative newsletter. Please play in leeds again, as i missed you last time and it would serve as an incentive not to go on a killing spree to avoid a long summer of horrific job syndrome. I know it's probably out of your hands, but whoever distributes your records over here needs a stern talking to/a beating because i can't get them ANYWHERE. Which is really annoying, as i am eager to sample your other musical adventures. I could of course send you a cheque, but then i'd have to wait for ages. I was watching my friend soundcheck the other day, and some of the other bands were sniggering because the other guitarist was jumping about. I was thinking, i reckon the faces of some of the bands you've played with must have been amazing during soundcheck. How do people react when they've never heard you before, and you launch into some super evil rock ballads? Does Eugene still go full whack in sound check?? Should i stop asking such inane questions? see you soon i hope�kenneth, UK A LETTER FROM THE ERIC MARTIN BAND Hello. Just a quick line to let you all know I appreciate what it is you are doing (even though I may not always understand it... which is a GOOD thing) and after immersing myself in your sounds and website for the past week I definitely want to be kept abreast of your activities. So, please send me update info concerning ANYthing band related (or not) that you all are doing. I'd like to write you a deeper letter of appreciation but, for the time being, time does not permit me to do so nor do I have the words... So for now, THANK YOU and please keep doing what you do. Sincerely, E.Martin A WISE GUY, EH? If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then it looks something like this from some Wag in Wagland. From: OXBLOW [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 3:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: OXBLOW Newsletter No. 666: WE WILL KILL YOU! WARNING: You are receiving the OXBLOW Newsletter because you 1) like Faith No More we care a lot 2) you dream of bunnies 3) you need DEATH, DESTRUCTION and MAYHEM and can't get it your local Home Depot(tm) If you desire to be relieved of the heavy shackles of this monthly Spam that has been meticulously architected for your reading pleasure, call us, at 666-FUC-KYOU with your name, address, phone number, and the reason you want to be removed. We'll send a tactical strike with one of our smart bombs, please be sure to include zipcode, we wouldn't want any collateral damage. Newsletter No. 666: WE WILL KILL YOU. "My expectorant so dry." - Ian Curtis Okay. So goddamn damn and damn you all. We have been shot Through Europe like a Howitzer on Baghdad. And let me tell you, 6 weeks in Europe left those fucking fucks destroyed. You say, "fuck." Damn straight. Now we're back in San Francisco caressing the Peaceniks. Shit. We'll fucking kill those fucks too, soon as we empty our colostomy bags. AND THEN: 1) We'll hunt you down and kill you too YOU FUCK! 2) THE CAPITALS MEAN I'M SPEAKING LIKE ROLLINS! 3) THE REITERATION MEANS I'M SPEAKING LIKE ROLLINS! SPEAKING LIKE ROLLINS! |
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IS HENRY ROLLINS A JEW?
Well we offered you $200 for our Henry Rollins Versus Eugene Orenstein contest (Newsletter No. 665) and to your everlasting credit we only got no responses, which means that none of you read every word I write in these lengthy diatribes...YOU ARE SO DEAD! YOU ARE SO DEAD! ROLLINS V. ORENSTEIN: A STUDY IN BANK ACCOUNTS AND NOSES WHO has the bigger bank account? They both have big noses...so fuck, there must be a connection there. IF STEVE ALBINI SAYS JUMP THEN FUCKING JUMP Steve Albini adds: "After the dissolution of Whipping Boy, I discovered 'Baby Got Back' and have diligently pursued women with, ahem, nice trays." WANTED: MONEY, SEX, and DRUGS Shower us in whatever is golden. JIM O'ROURKE'S BEEN ON HIS KNEES AGAIN Our ex-manager informs us that Jim O'Rourke would like to "produce" us, his concept is for us to record an album filled with 24 tracks of Eugene ranting for 40 minutes (sort of like a live show), then he will take the tape and cut it into 1" pieces, which will be thrown all over the studio floor. These pieces will then be randomly rearranged in the final work, by an assistant while Jim flies off to mix the next Wilco EP. OK! From Our Italian Cousins? Questions and our Erstwhile Answers: 1) An Evil Heat is a different album compared to Serenated in Red. Serenate sounds more bluesy and acoustic, where in A.E.H. there's the rediscovery of riffing. Why? EUGENE: Why is today sunny and yesterday it was raining? Change seems to be a constant and no where is this more true than here, in the mind of Oxbow, where decisions are made like Greek auguries are drawn: with the help or harm of any number of gods. what's actually happening with the guitars, the music, all the rest of it, is really out of our hands. Why? We have no idea. NIKO: The albums are different mainly because of two things. One reason is where we were emotionally at the time of the making of each was different. Each one records our different emotional states at the time of its making. The other reason is that intellectually we moved further in the direction of an "organic" structure, where musical themes, textures, and treatments appear, reappear, and weave in and out of the music. This is moving away from the more architectural forms we used in the early records. Either way, the goal is musical coherence. 2) The mood is different too. S.I.R. was a suffered record, where A.E.H. is also angry.... EUGENE: well I don't even think it's angry. I think An Evil Heat is a SEXY record. DAN: A.E.H. seems to be about transcendence. It is a meditative record. NIKO: See reply above regarding emotional states. Of course, the question above is YOUR opinion about the records, which is fine. 3) I was impressed by The snake &.... I thought Serenate.... was an apex of black humour, but with The snake... you go beyond, with that desperate scream on the background. Would you talk to us about how this song was born?> EUGENE: well I will speak lyrically because I write the lyrics but the song was born just where you might have imagined it was born from reading the lyrics: on the business end of a whore house, where as the aliens once said to us, resistance is futile. but it is a song of embrace and a song of freedom and it's one of the happier songs that I've ever written. NIKO: The "song" was put together very quickly, the music was borrowed from different takes of several other songs on the record, the lyrics (same as " ... the Stick") were performed and recorded while Eugene was listening to the song "Sorry." It is the only song arranged/assembled in the computer, but like all the band music was first recorded onto 24 track tape first, then transferred to computer. 4) Another outstanding track is Shine, a kind of 32 minutes long voyage in a state of trance. Quite an hard challenge, huh? EUGENE: I'll leave it to one of the musicians in the band to answer this one. DAN: This was as hard as daydreaming for 32 minutes. It takes focus, the ability to untether one's mind, and the ability to be unconcerned that others are thinking you are fucking off. NIKO: Trance, meditation, these are the places we were trying to go, yes. One take in the studio, nine musicians all playing together at once, the excitement made it very pleasurable, not necessarily "hard," you know? I hope we can do this for an audience for 12 hours sometime. 5) What's the general source of inspiration for Oxbow's songwriting? EUGENE: speaking lyrically? my life. DAN: Speaking bass-ically? My life. 6) Are the atmosphere and the mood of your records absolutely spontaneus, or is there the search for some kind of, say, theatralicalism? EUGENE: well your use of the word "search" seems to imply an earnest effort to create a CERTAIN effect, which is not what we're doing. I mean yes, certainly, there is an understanding that by moving our hands in certain ways we will create noise that sounds like music that may answer the dictates of our souls, but we feel comfortable enough with happenstance and kismet to just let this happen within the structures we've erected for it to happen: words and music. theatralicalism? well that would be YOUR interpretation of what it is that we've done. maybe not so much ours.... DAN: Like in all forms of artistic creation, atmosphere comes from a combination of preconceived notions, personal preferences and aesthetic sensitivities, and spontaneous responses to what has already been created. This is true in our process of creating music and it is true in the process by which humans do most things. If, by theatricalism, you question if we are trying to apply some flavor of dramatic value onto what we are making, I think my answer is no. However, we as artisans are aware of elements that can add power to a creative work, and we apply our trade with keen skill. |
| WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY YELLING?
MORE WORD ON THE LARGE SAC'D AND EIGHTH WONDER OF THE FUCKING MODERN WORLD: OXBOW!!! OXBOW: AN EVIL HEAT: AN EVIL HEAT sounds like a psychotic play, enacted by mental patients backed by an orchestra of narcotic Sabbath influenced stoner metal and dark Neurosis-esque dirge. The chaotic voices of the "actors" intertwine, one voice reading the narration at a yell while a variety of frantic characters scream their parts. Sludgy, theatrical hardcore provides the backdrop. Moving from a lead-footed sludge to a high-powered fever pitch to sparse, if not completely soundless voids. This is my record of the month. - Mark Kaiser NEXT ISSUE: YOU ARE FORMALLY INVITED TO AN OXBOW ORGY. [ Newsletter ] |