Newsletter No. 39: PLAN B: GET HIGH AND STAY HIGH; PLAN C: LOTS & LOTS OF BAD THINGS "How can I make concessions when I have no power? Why would I make concessions when I have all the power?" - AMIN GAMEYAL "ALL THIS THE WORLD WELL KNOWS, YET NONE KNOWS WELL: TO SHUN THE HEAVEN THAT LEADS MEN TO THIS HELL." - SHAKESPEARE Everybody's apologizing to us. A Greek chorus of requestors of forbearance. But this smells like something else to us. Smells like...smells like schadenfreunde. Smells like misery loving company. Smells like the pig not realizing that that smell is bacon cooking. Don't you think we KNOW you're there? Waiting. Watching. Wanting us to start caring. About you. About us. About everything. Keep waiting. The world will burn down before you see us crawl because, and this is the main point here: we're already crawling. We are debased. We don't need to be apologized to because the damage that you'd be apologizing for is by no means done. And if you don't know now that we are choking on the dirt, you'll never know. So stop hoping. Stop apologizing. We don't care. In fact we don't care even less than you don't care. Which is precisely why we just spent 141 words saying so. FIRST THING FIRST: ANOTHER FUCKING FIGHT A'BREWING We discovered these fucks, THE OXBOW BOYS. We sent them a cease and desist letter (below). They have not the dignity to offer us a response. A basic politeness that might be the difference between an ass beating and a severe ass beating. We welcome your suggestions, legal and otherwise. To: [email protected] Subject: Oxbow Sirs, nice to make your acquaintance. I represent the California Band OXBOW (www.theoxbow.com), and have since 1989 when they registered their trademark through me. It has come to our attention that your musical group The Oxbow Boys (www.oxbowboys.com) are involved in recording and publishing music for commercial release, an effort we applaud. Your band name, however, is close enough to my client's band name that we believe there exists the possibility of reasonable market confusion, hence this letter. Since we vigorously defend our copyright from all manner of infringement we're asking you to alter said name of band in the spirit of cooperation. VICE MASSACRES ANOTHER ARTICLE BY OXBOW'S EUGENE http://www.viceland.com/issues_uk/v2n4/htdocs/high.php WELCOME TO PLANET OXBOW OXBOW HALF BAND ACOUSTIC, Eugene Robinson and Niko Wenner's stripped down cash grab, was booked for eight shows in England this May, starting with a festival in Bristol and ending with one in Birmingham with LYDIA LUNCH until this "hello all... disaster as three promoters pull out of their shows before contracts are signed. 2 venues were 'presumed' to be available when they were not, i had been told they were booked - and one venue was double booked and an alternative cannot be found. i have lost faith in basic humanity and its pissing miserable weather..." So you will be able to catch NIKO WENNER and EUGENE ROBINSON perhaps at Cala Foods, Chevron, or on line at Radio Shack. THE SCROTUM: SACTUS MAILUS "Re: Music for Adults DVD RE:RE: The part I laughed at most When that crusty aging english broad fumes at Eugene's egoism! To quote Bruce Willis from the first Die Hard: "No fuckin' shit lady does he sound like he's ordering a pizza!" Cheers on successfully tearing me an new A....again IAN from Toronto" "Re: Music for Adults DVD "hi, i just finished to see the oxbow dvd. for me, it's simply one of the best documentary with "instrument fugazi " about an independent band. you show them as human as they are and as monster as they can be. this the way i love that scene. bravo." WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY YELLING? MORE WORD ON THE LARGE SAC'D AND EIGHTH WONDER OF THE FUCKING MODERN WORLD: OXBOW!!! WHY OXBOW IS SO CLEVER http://ilx.wh3rd.net/searchresults.php?board=2&q;=oxbow&mode;=messages ON THE OXBOW MOVIE: MUSIC FOR ADULTS On sale at www.theoxbow.com/musicforadults Oxbow Music For Adults: A Film About A Band Called Oxbow Dir: Christian Anthony Remember the Vice Guide To Getting Beaten Up? (Vice Launch Issue Two). Oxbow's singer Eugene Robinson wrote that. He also got Charles Manson to write a "letter of joy" for our Happiness issue (V1/N1) and interviewed the undercover spy guy for the story on page 42. See also www.skullgame.com. There was a bit of trouble over Eugene getting paid for his work because our last accountant was a self-obsessed body builder with a Napolean complex and so the last time Oxbow played in London, Eugene made a big deal out of calling our editor's name out at the gig and threatening to rape and kill him. Thing was, Eugene had actually met the editor before the gig and they'd agreed he'd be paid on the night so either he's really paranoid or he thought that by threatening to kill him from the stage everybody would think his band were scarier than they actually are. Anyway, the point is that behind all the drooling, cock grabbing, strangulation and power blues violence, the guys in Oxbow are all really nice, gentlemanly types and that's pretty much the slightly gay message the director of this DVD is trying to get across. The live footage is all good though. JACK STEEL http://www.viceland.com/issues_uk/v2n4/htdocs/dvd.php NOTE: "JACK STEEL" aka ANDY CAPPER was knocked unconscious with a glass outside of a London pub mere days after this hit the newsstands. Seriously. OXBOW would like it known that EUGENE had nothing to do with it. Seriously. WOULD WHOEVER DID THE FOLLOWING REVIEW DROP US A LINE SO WE CAN GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, WHICH OUR WAY OF SAYING THAT IN A DRUG-ADDLED HAZE WE'VE LOST YOUR NAME "Music For Adults: A Film About a Band Called Oxbow " opens with Eugene Robinson, the band's vocalist, standing on a small stage somewhere in Europe wearing nothing but an unbuttoned white shirt and a pair of black briefs, his microphone shoved straight down their front. What unfolds after that is nearly an hour of band and audience interviews along with well shot concert footage in small venues with less than capacity crowds standing both in awe and absolute confusion of what their witnessing. It's during these performances one can understand that in spite of his bulk and energy why someone might try to pick a fight with Robinson, a man that will without question be able to beat them senseless. Oxbow's music is reactionary to the jeers of its audience, it's obnoxious but never guilty of being boring. Throughout the film fans wander up to the stage, poking and prodding Robinson. There's little doubt most are drunk with some form of chemical courage but the underlying mission of each seems to see if the band's vocalist can back up the sort of muscle his on-stage persona exudes. At one show a heckler is drug on stage, stripped, strangled and humiliated. At another a heckler ends up stroking Robinson's cock from the front of the stage. "We decided early on that anybody that's wants to be a part of the show, we should gladly accommodate them instead of trying to make believe they don't exist," the vocalist explains. "Our standing policy is, if anyone wants to be a part of the show, we'll make you a part of it." It hasn't been that long ago that Oxbow vocalist Eugene Robinson wrote a two thousand plus word essay for Vice on starting, winning and losing a fight. Want to survive one with your ego intact? According to Robinson it's all about breathing, and feeling passionate about the asskicking you think you can deliver. After watching the film "Music For Adults: A Film About a Band Called Oxbow", there's little doubt that Robinson knows what he's talking about. And if you've experienced any of the band's albums, particularly their last full length, "An Evil Heat" on Neurot Recordings, you also already know you're not going to be dealing with a particularly sane and rational individual. My only question after reading the Vice article, hearing "An Evil Heat", reading his advice, listening to his music, and watching a live performance of Robinson, who could be described as a horse of a man with arms and legs the size of tree trunks, is who would be dumb enough to think they could win a fight with him either on the stage or on the street? Fighting though is as much a part of an Oxbow show as the musicians themselves are and fortunately director Christian Anthony documented a recent European tour with the band that allows us into their confrontational world of the band. It was the late 80s when the group first came together as a recording project. "We wanted to bring together elements of three things," guitarist Niko Wenner explains in the film. "Noise, blues and something else I can't even remember now. It might have been rock and roll." With over ten releases now under the band's belt they have a lengthy discography of music. Sometimes they resonate with the spirit of the Jesus Lizard and their bastard noise rock contemporaries with their otherworld textural anarchy. Throughout the band's career they've paved some musical paths that are at times both refreshing and exciting. We're allowed access to the band daydreaming of a time when Oxbow might actually be palatable to the world at large. The likelihood of that ever happening is undoubtedly small but the band's chemistry and off stage friendships make up for what fame has eluded them. It's like guitarist Wenner says toward the end of the film, "All we do with money is shove it in a big hole, light it on fire and call it Oxbow." INDIE WORKSHOP Oxbow: Music For Adults Directed by Christian Anthony I could write a whole review trying to explain what Oxbow sounds like. If you haven't heard of the band, or haven't had a chance to hear them, it's almost impossible to draw comparisons. It's a psychotic blend of the avant-garde and heavy, but somehow the band has labeled themselves experimental blues (go figure). Their live show is the stuff of punk rock myth. The stories of The Stooges first shows, Iggy Pop freaking audiences out in every city they played. But all of that has seemed to die out lately. You don't hear about a "must see" live act in the sense of it being shocking or envelope pushing. Everything is pretty cookie-cutter and safe. Even the bands that have their calculated "freak-outs" on stage. The guitarists that fling their bodies around with seeming reckless abandon. It's all planned; it's all an act. But Eugene Robinson has a brand of intensity that hasn't been seen in a long while. While the rest of the band plays their complex jams, Robinson thoroughly frightens most crowds. He has eyes that make most peoples' blood run cold. His seemingly uncontrollable twitch, his tendency to end up in his underwear... or less. Yes, Eugene is unpredictable and sometimes unsafe. But now, thanks to filmmaker Christian Anthony, you can watch the spectacle from the (relative) safety of your home. Chronicling their 2002 European tour, Music For Adults follows the band through shows, traveling, and times of unguarded conversation. This very well put together documentary shows the band as normal as any band you've ever meet. But then they show the band on stage. I've seen most of this movie twice, and I still can't wrap my mind about what I've witnessed. It's intense, upsetting, awful, and inspiring all at the same time. In a world where "punk" bands are some of the safest acts around, Oxbow seem to have a grasp on what it used to be about; brutal honesty coupled with a shocking show. This movie is a must watch on a few different levels. The filmmaking and production are perfect for this band. As a documentary, it's one of the more entertaining ones I've seen. Most movies about bands tend to lag and be boring after the first 15 minutes. But I was genuinely sucked into the band's life on the road. They are beyond intriguing. The seemingly normal four guys that make up Oxbow become something entirely different when they take the stage. It's a fascinating transformation. And then of course, you have the music. While it might be hard to swallow when you first hear it, most fans of heavier/brash music will start to find its driving force getting under their skin. Just get it and watch it. But take the title literally. This is music for adults. http://indieworkshop.com/films/18 NEXT MONTH: WE CAN'T HELP YOU! [ Newsletter ]