Noise Noise Noise #13

L u c k y I s s u e

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck‌

NNN#13 Well hello there… my it’s been a long, long time…

Welcome to Noise Noise Noise, the “Lucky 13” issue. The last paper issue of NNN came out last summer, and was more-or-less a glorified flier (one pager). I wanted this issue to be special. I had wanted to put out this issue on Halloween 1996, but instead put out Issue #11 and folded up shop for… 15 years. Hahahaha! I resurrected NNN last spring (2010), and it’s been great. I don’t have the same “piss and vinegar” attitude I did at 23, but you know… it would be sad if I did. Wearing my leather jacket and Docs at 38 would just be pathetic. Unless I was in The Exploited. :D To paraphrase John Lydon, during the first Pistols reunion in the 90s… Like a fine wine, I have improved with age.

That doesn’t mean that I am a fat, complacent suburbanite… Au contraire, mon friere… I am not fat.

I hope you enjoy this issue of NNN. We have a web presence at nnnzine.blogspot.com—be the cool kid and follow us on NetworkedBlogs.com Here’s mud in your eye hole!

The Artist Formerly Known as J. Kaos Jr.

Contents

Interviews

Interviews!

Scott H. Biram is an Austin-based punkmetalcountry bad-ass, who has been rocking out, one-man-band style for more than a decade now. In the hallowed tradition of Joe Hill Louis, and Hasil Adkins, he plays all of the instruments himself, at the same time. Please enjoy.

Scott H. Biram Phil Elverum Dan Halligan X Ray Spex (NNN Rewind!)

WisCon

Reviews!

Echo Beds/Sense From Nonsense

Interview by Josh Medsker What challenges do you face, being a oneman band? Do you ever get major calf cramps? Heh.

Just Plain Fun!

Well, over the years, especially when I was first starting out, it was really hard for me to get across to promoters and booking people that I wasn't just your average solo artist. They always assumed that I was just another lame ass singer Contributors songwriter guy who sat on a stool and strummed his guitar along with some cliche lyics about sitting down by the river picking flowers. Even after I signed Eazy E Johnston with Bloodshot Records and obtained a high profile booking agent, the problem Diddy Medsker still existed. This made it hard to book me in any places other than coffee shops and dive bars that would often find a way to rip me off. It was hard to make them THANKS TO: No One! (‘Cept’n my understand that I've got more balls and grit than most 3,4,5 piece rock bands.

These days it's gotten quite a bit easier. I've been touring endlessly for the last darling wife, Leigh) 12 years, and really pushed through to another level. Now I mostly play in 200NNN 39 W. 30th St. #G Bayonne, NJ 500 capacity rock clubs and festivals all over the world. The other thing about 07002 (joshmedsker@gmail.com) being the only guy in the band is I have to write all the songs, move all the nnnzine.blogspot.com equipment, make all the plans, take the blame...But like I always say being on Rock Tours We’d Like to See

I

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

the road as a successful one man band is like having your own birthday party every night!..and yeah leg cramps.. all the time. My achilles tendons are starting to freeze up from driving the van and holding my feet in weird positions on stage for months at a time.

I saw that you once toured with Bob Log III. Was it a friendly rivalry on tour? It must be tough, with you guys being pretty much the only game in town, with this one-man-band thing.

Bob and I have been friends for a long time. I was just in France playing a festival with him a few weeks ago. We have a great time around each other. It's a humorous relationship for sure with plenty of mutual respect. As much as people like to compare us, we are really nothing alike musically. We might have a little of the same tastes as far as dirty vocals go, and we might both play from a blues based background but we are really nothing alike. People who think we sound alike need to study music a little closer. WE ARE MOST DEFINITELY NOT THE ONLY ONE MAN BANDS IN TOWN. There are hundreds if not thousands of OMBs out there!

We just happen to be the ones that tour the most and get heard more often. I take this shit seriously and work my ass off trying to get the word out and make something of myself. I don't plan on dying off and fading into the shadows with no legacy. I know Seasick Steve is huge over in UK. My friend Legendary Tiger Man in Portugal is huge in Europe, and Rev. Beat Man that runs Voodoo Rhythm records over in Switzerland is a force to be reckoned with. OMBs have been around for years...I am, however, pretty damn proud to be one of the pioneers of my generation doing this One Man Band thing. Long live the One Man Band!!

Have you ever considered taking on a full band?

I've been in plenty of full bands since I was 13 years old. When The Black Diamond Heavies and I were touring alot a couple of years ago, we always jammed at the end of the show. People loved it, and I really enjoyed it too. So much that we recorded some songs together on my last record. My friend Matt Puryear, the drummer of Chili Cold Blood, and I have been jamming out in my studio for the last 10 months or so. He and a few friends of mine and I are planning to work up a metal band called Dawn in the next few months.

I've been asked by people if I started to do really well on a big label and they needed me to put together a band, would I? I said of course. My biggest problem is I'm picky when it comes to working with other musicians. And for now...shit's working out just fine as a One Man Band and the money ain't bad either when you don't have to split it. That's not to say I'm not already splitting it with booking agents, managers, labels, publishers and press agents...We'll see what happens with that full band thing eventually.

I like what you said about current bands not wanting to give it all on the vocals. Do you have any major vocal heroes?

Off the top of my head....Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Leadbelly, Elvis, Danzig, Emmylou Harris, Bill Monroe, Paul Di Anno, Billy Gibbons...you name it..if they can sing without sounding like a big pussy...I like 'em.

You have said you grew up on the blues. How does the blues figure into your music? Thematically, musically, sonically‌ My music is the blues.....with a couple country songs and metal songs thrown in.

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck‌

Really even those are the blues to me. The blues to me is the most heartfelt music there is. Especially when you get down to those old chain gang recordings. Those guys had nothing to lose anymore. They were at the deepest bottom there is. Real human emotion drips off of those recordings. And Lightnin' Hopkins...the coolest man who ever lived.

What bands are you digging at the moment? What gets the Biram stamp of approval?

Nothing. I've been sick of contemporary music for years now. I'm also sick of all the old records I used to listen to. Not because I don't like them, but because I've heard them so many times. When I'm in the van driving on tour.. I usually am listening to talk radio or 80s shit. You can hate on Steely Dan and Huey Lewis all you want but I love that shit. I know that'll probably make some people cringe but fuck them. I couldn't play what I play if I just skipped over the 80s. If you listen close enough you can hear some of that shit in there. As far as contemporary, the ones I listen to are usually friends of mine or just plain heavy duty metal.

What gets my stamp of approval.. well first I don't think my say is really that important, but mostly bands and musicians who don't put up a fake image, bands who don't dress up in costumes, bands who don't suck.

As long as they can sing without sounding like a big pussy, I like em.

What do we have to look forward to on your next record? You touring? You swinging through NYC? I'll be in NYC this month!! I'm playing on CBS radio while I'm there which is pretty cool. Doing two shows in the area..The Mercury in Manhattan and The Rock Shop in Brooklyn. Also down in Asbury Park with my friends down at Asbury Lanes. I'll be touring nearly non stop (just as I have been doing for the last 12 years) to promote the new record. It's called Bad Ingredients and it will be released on October 11. We've been putting together some great things to make this one special including limited edition 7" singles with b-sides that won't be on the album, also I've already shot one video for my song "I Want My Mojo Back." and I'll be shooting one for "Born In Jail" next week. I'm pretty damn proud of what I've produced this time. I worked on it pretty hard. Even though it will be similar to my other records, showcasing all the different styles that I play, the songwriting and production have reached another level. Just like my late friend Steev The Sleeve Smith, I'm always looking up at the next mountain I gotta climb....when I get to the peak, I'll probably need to take a big piss too, so look out!! Ha Ha!! www.scottbiram.com

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck‌

P h i l

E l v e r u m

Since the mid-90s, Phil Elverum has been performing under the name The Microphones, and since 2003, Mt. Eerie. His work employs a variety of media.

He is currently taking Mt. Eerie songs on the road, and has an art show hanging at a gallery in Anacortes, Wa., where he lives. I, like many others, found his work via The Microphones’ 2001 record, The Glow Pt. 2. He recently put out a multi-media journal/memoir/record called Dawn. Props to Phil for doing his own thing for so long.

Interview by Josh Medsker So, what was the impetus for discarding The Microphones’ tag and starting Mt. Eerie? Is there a philosophical, artistic difference between the two?

That happened so long ago. The songs had gradually stopped being about recording and microphones and stuff and were more about locally oriented dark nature ideas. There's a mountain here called Mt. Erie. I wanted a more relevant umbrella. There is no firm distinction. It was a gradual morph from one thing into the next, as I continue to morph.

About your book, Dawn… Tell me about how it came about. You use mixed media in it… stories, photos, songs, etc… Was that the only way you could get the story told? How do you decide when to use which medium?

It is actually primarily just my journal from a winter I spent in Norway. The songs are the songs I wrote while I was there. The pictures are pictures of the place. The drawings are also from my notebooks. It's just a document of a specific time and place and I wanted to include as much material as possible. It's a pretty weird object. Super personal. Like, maybe too personal.

What is it about Norway that fascinated you? (And by the way, have you ever been to Alaska?) How do your Scandinavian roots manifest themselves in your current work?

I've been to Alaska a few times. I want to go so much more. I had never been to Norway when I went there with the idea that I was moving there forever. I had this idea built up about the place that was pretty romantic. I was not disappointed really. It's an amazing place. I am fascinated by a landscape like that where the features are so dramatic and charismatic that the old cultures there were compelled to create elaborate mythologies (so many troll stories, pagan gods, waterfall spirits, talking mountains, etc.). It is similar to the over the top beauty here in Anacortes, but maybe even more intense. I didn't grow up with a bunch of Norwegian stuff around or anything. I don't know if there is any legitimate claim I can make on cultural roots beyond my last name. I think my ancestors were flatland farmers there anyway, not fjord warriors.

You have “parts”, rather than albums, yes? (Mt. Eerie Pts. 6 and 7).

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

His “favorite Mt. Eerie album”, from ‘09. Black Metal fans love it.

No, I have albums. But some ideas span multiple albums, hence the parts.

You have been doing this for a long time now. Are there any projects you just can’t seem to finish?

I kind of think it's all just one continuous project. "Mount Eerie" is this ambiguous big thing that will maybe never be done. All these songs. This unarticulated invisible mountain looming, slowly being sketched out via all these songs and pictures.

I see you are coming to Brooklyn in Sept. Do you have a plan of what you’ll do, or will you figure it out when you get here?

I have a plan. I'm playing with a small band. We are playing many new songs and some old ones. It is washy and round sounding.

Round sounding?

Sadly, Phil failed his audition for ZZ Top

Yes, exactly. No edges I was also curious, what are you currently working on?

I'm in the middle of recording a new record. I haven't worked on it much for the summer though. I've been busy with a little touring and putting on a music festival and preparing the firewood supply for the winter and other projects.

What is the music festival you are putting together? :D It was called What The Heck? festival. But this summer was the 10th and final one. We're starting a new thing called the Anacortes Unknown Music Series. People can find out about it at www.anacortesunknown.com www.pwelverumandsun.com/

Reviews Echo Beds- An Agonist Revision of a Futilist Lament (Bandcamp Recs.)

These guys are pretty great. Minimalist noise from Denver, with one track featuring whispered vocoder-ized vocals and barely anything else. This is a 3-song album (ep?), available at Bandcamp.com... and it's name your price! Woot! (Josh Medsker) Sense From Nonsense- The Dikeou Collection (Bandcamp Recs.)

A side project of the group Echo Beds. This made me giggle when I heard it.

Very reminiscent of early industrial acts. This won't mean anything to nonAlaskans, but it sounded a lot like FSUN. There's a cello, drums, and a lot of sound effects and ambient noise. The first track is live. This was great. It's music to put on in the background while doing chores around the house. My cats and dog didn't know what the hell was going on. Hahaha! (Josh Medsker)

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

I first met Dan in the mid-90s, asking about doing a scene report for the Anchorage punk scene in Ten Things, his legendary NW zine. I ended up distributing boxes of Ten Things for a good while, in Anchorage, Alaska, and he distributed this zine in Seattle. Since stopping Ten Things in the early 2000s, he published a weekly newspaper in the Seattle area, Tablet, which ceased publication in’05. He recently restarted Ten Things, and is the head coordinator at ZineWiki.com, the online hub for zinesters.

Interview by Josh Medsker How did you come to work with Zinewiki.com? Why was it important to you?

ZineWiki is important to me because the zine scene has never been comprehensively documented. There have been some really great books about zines and zine culture, but each has really captured just a snapshot of what was being published at a certain time or was a broad overview to serve as an introduction to zines. ZineWiki's ultimate goal is to be much more like an encyclopedia of zines with an article on every zine and zine related subject. Especially with pre-Web zines, I think it's great to document their print runs, scan in a few covers, and have a historical record of them that's free and easily accessible. So when you have a moment like in a conversation with a friend about a zine that had a big influence on you when you were 18, you can do a search on ZineWiki or Google and find it and reminisce, as well as maybe find out the person that published it went on to publish some other zines and may still be putting out zines to this day. There just wasn't a good historical archive of all the zines that have been published, so that's what ZineWiki is becoming. As to how I got involved, I have a huge historical zine collection, even after giving away 1000-1500 issues to various archives. So when I heard about the ZineWiki project, I got involved in it's early stages scanning in covers and writing articles on zines in my collection. I stepped up and became an administrator at some point, then when the people that started it 2006 wanted to move on to other projects, Jerianne Thompson and I took over, with much help from Denny Crawford on moving the files and setting up hosting it. But really, the way wikis work, is they are owned by a community of people that support them. I can go for a week or two without logging in, yet in that time a hundred new zines can be added by various zinesters and a couple of big contributors.

Why did you shut down Ten Things (and when was that again?

2000?) How was the Tablet experience?

I loved publishing 10 Things, but because of my drive to always make it big and print more issues, it became really time consuming to put out an issue. It was so much work, the last couple issues I was doing print runs of 3,000-4,000 and over 80 full-sized pages. I had a Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck‌

couple dozen writers and photographers, had to spend a lot of time finding advertisers since I gave away the bulk of the issues, and editing it all was a nightmare. Punk rock writers and punk rock labels who were advertising all put off turning their shit in until the last possible moment. So when a few local people approached me about starting a new bi-weekly Seattle newspaper, I kinda jumped at the chance to stop the zine and do something do and different before I got burned out on self-publishing altogether. Tablet brought it's own kind of stress, moving from running a big zine by myself to running a paper with a bunch of people, most are decisions were done by consensus of the collective, which was hard. But it was a wonderful opportunity and I gained valuable experience and dear friends out of it. Partway through publishing Tablet we switched gears from being a alt-bi-weekly paper and became a glossy covered monthly magazine incorporating in more arts and fashion, which was more high end than this punk zine ever planned for, but turned out very cool. We did 103 issues of Tablet between 20002005, but eventually decided to pull the plug when we realized we were losing money most issues. It actually took 3 more years to pay off the printer debt, which was pretty brutal.

Why did you decide to re-boot 10 Things, so to speak?

I re-booted 10 Things initially on the web as a blog. I'd started going through my thousands of old band photos and was scanning them in and I realized a lot of local Northwest bands from the '80s and '90s never really made it to the Web and were likely to be forgotten by the next generations of music fans. The archivist in me thought that couldn't happen, so I had a similar motivation as I did with ZineWiki in re-booting 10 Things. I wrote articles on the old bands, put up photos, did their discography when I could put it together. I also included old Seattle music venues, labels, TV shows and other things I thought shouldn't be forgotten. Then at some point Jerianne from Zine World challenged me to do an issue in print at part of the 2011 Revenge of Print campaign to get people that at least once in their life have published a zine, to do one again. I'm a sucker for a dare, so this Fall and Winter I plan to put together another print issue of 10 Things... #23. I plan to revamp the format though and have a lot less contributors, there's no way I can raise the amount of money I used to be able to, to print an issue.

Things have changed a lot (a lot!) since you were doing Ten Things in the 90s. No more scene reports, with the onslaught of social networking sites? Lots of bands getting stuff out solely online‌ I guess the heart of this question is‌ in your eyes, what is the state of underground music and publishing?

The web I think has made it a lot easier for underground bands to get the word out about their band, as well as their music. You can have no money and no promotion experience and still set up a band page on Bandcamp or Myspace and put up your songs, band info and photos. Bands don't have to rely on zines or the coveted good review in MRR or Razorcake to get people to pay attention to who they are. That's fantastic for bands, but probably not fantastic for music zines, who's role just isn't as essential as it once Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck‌

I've always thought of zinesters as the last cowboys on the print publishing frontier, each following their own path. was. And I think this is as true for zines and underground publishing in general now with blogs, social networking, music forums, etc. Zines were the medium for a lot of networking, finding penpals, finding new music, or for discussions on obsessions or hobbies, where now that's all via the Web. It seems many of the younger publishers do more like vanity press, they do a personal zine (perzine) and don't really try to get it out in the world like we did, they are happy printing 25 issues to trade with other zinesters and give to a few friends. So it's a much smaller scene with a much smaller reach, but it's still thriving in it's own way, it's just different than the hey day of zining in the mid-90s. And there are still a few big music zines, although they just aren't near as important as they once were. Does this matter to me? No, not at all. I don't really care where a new issue of 10 Things fits into the current landscape, fitting in has never been part of why I self-publish. I've always thought of zinesters as the last cowboys on the print publishing frontier, each following their own path, doing what the fuck they want and how the fuck they want to do it. And that part really hasn't changed. The first rule of zine publishing is there are no rules.

Zinewiki.com/dan_halligan 10thingszine.blogspot.com Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex (from NNN #11, Oct. 1996)

I was extremely saddened to hear about Poly Styrene's death a few months ago. She was always one of my favorites... didn't stick to the punk formula. And she certainly was unique in the late 70s London punk scene, being one of the few black women around ('cept maybe the chick from The Selecter).

I got to speak with her via email in the summer of '96, after the new Spex put out their record, Concious Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck‌

Consumer. We talked about eastern religion, the Pistols reunion, and more. Shame I never got to meet her.

Interview by Josh Medsker (note: after their appearance at the Holidays in the Sun britpunk reunion-fest this summer, the Conscious Consumer lineup has split.)

What have you been doing, since the breakup of the original band? I heard that you put out some solo records in ’80 and ’86? Have you done anything other than music?

I’ve been writing songs, and a diary and a book on Bhakti Yoga. I did put out a solo album in 1980, called Translucence, which was a therapeutic retreat from electric music, and was mainly for my personal development as an artist and a human being. I also put out an EP, called Gods and Goddesses, that was a fusion of styles.

How would you say going to India changed your personal life, and your musical outlook and ideas?

I’ve been very much influenced by Indian culture and philosophy, which has had a profound spiritual significance in both my personal life and music and has helped me introduce mantra therapy in my work and private life.

How do you think the new album Conscious Consumer fits in with the other X Ray Spex material?

It’s a progression but still carries quite contemporary concepts of social issues, which aims to se the listener free from consumer bondage. I’m no exception to this rule. I like to hear the messages transmitted as much as I like to sing them. I think Conscious Consumer was more an exercise in communication.

What happened to the original band? Who’s in the new band?

The original band tried to do X Ray Spex without me, unsuccessfully. So I went solo for a while, and then reformed Spex with new people. The new band is me and some friends.

What do you think of the Sex Pistols reunion tour?

I haven’t seen them. Paul Cook said he gave all his tickets away for Finsbury Park. Everybody who sees them says they sound great. Shame they haven’t any new songs.

You keep up with music these days? Which bands interest you nowadays?

The band Shelter have a good message, but musically, I like instrumental, chill-out music. I hope to put on a one-day event once a month, in London and LA, of all my undiscovered bands.

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

Just Plain Fun! So, when Eric and I were roommates, we would sit around and get trashed on bad Japanese whiskey and try to outdo each other joke-wise. We would laugh until LITERALLY, tears were rolling down our faces. Maybe it was because we were drunk. So... maybe you should hoist a brew (or two) THEN read about...

Rock Tours We'd Like To See

By Josh “Diddy” Medsker + Eric “Eazy-E” Johnston

Iggy Pop + Public Image Ltd= The Pil Pop Tour Johnny Cash + Tom Petty= The Petty Cash Tour Rage Against the Machine + Florence & the Machine= Rage Against Florence & the Machine Tour Barry Manilow + Eminem= The Barry Eminem Tour Van Morrison + Nirvana = The Nirvana Morrison Tour Grateful Dead + Frank Zappa + Led Zeppelin = The Dead Zappalin Tour Meatloaf + Talking Heads = Talking MeatHeads Tour (These Don’t Really Need Explaining) Peaches and Cream Tour Kings and Queen of Leon Tour Marilyn Hanson Tour Sound Garden Tool Tour Extreme Tool Tour Dead or Alive Milkmen Tour Lil Wayne Newton Tour Public Eminem Tour Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

PixieStyx Tour The Styx and Stones Tour The WhamHole Tour The CreamHole Tour The KornHole Tour The CreamKorn Tour The Skinny Puppy and Snoop Dogg Tour Sting (with special guests, The Scorpions) (rim shot!)

Faith Hill No More Tour Celine Dion and Offspring Tour Bono Jovi (actually, we would rather eat glass than watch that one) U2 Live Crew Alice Cooper in Chains Tour (that could actually be a good show) Twisted Sisters of Mercy Tour (and also…)

The Buzzcocks + Hole= The CockHole Tour The Jam + The Buzzcocks= The JamCocks Tour (and don’t forget about…)

Lady Gaga + Hole= The Lady Hole Tour ABBA + Elvis Costello= The Abba and Costello Tour The Butthole Surfers + Nine Inch Nails= Nine Inch Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

Buttholes Tour Great White + White Lion= The Great White Lion Tour (not funny, more sad, really) Goo Goo Dolls + Lady Gaga= The Goo Goo Gaga Tour Goo Goo Dolls + The Foo Fighters + Lady Gaga= The Foo Goo Gaga Tour The Police + The Cars + The Doors= The Police Car Doors Tour Jimmy Durante + Duran Duran= The Jimmy Duran Durante Tour The Damned Yankees + The Damned= The Damned Damned Yankees Tour The Posies + Insane Clown Posse= The Insane Clown Posies Tour Mr Mister + Mr Bungle= The Mr. Mr. Bungle Tour

Mr Mister + Mr Bungle + Hole= The Mr Mr Bungle Hole Tour Michael Jackson + Jackyl= The Michael Jackyl Tour Men Without Hats + Foghat= The Men without FogHats tour Fleetwood Mac + Shane McGowan= The Fleetwood MacGowan Tour (and finally…)

BB King + Dee Ramone + GG Allin + Alan Parsons Project= The BB Dee Dee GG Alan Parsons Project Tour (with special guests, AC/DC) Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

I was friends with Aaron back when we were young pups at Univ. of Alaska Anchorage in the 90s. Yeah, that long ago. I was also friendly with his brother Paul, and Alex Upton. Very glad to see that everyone made it out alive and unscathed.

Interview by Josh “Cap’n Kaos” Medsker So this is like a Beefadelphia/NNN reunion! Is it 1995 again? How did WisCon form? Give me the background. What was the timeline after 1997— the El Santos 3 and Fred Savages?

Aaron: It's hard to believe that it was that long ago!

I still remember those Java Joint gigs like it was yesterday. On a side Beef note; a little known fact is that Paul was actually slated to play guitar for a Beef reunion show Summer of 1998 I think ( a little fuzzy on the dates..). Leonard was in town for a visit. The rest of us where still living up there at the time. Paul and I were in full El' Santos swing at that point. Alex was down to pick up the drums again. We even had the show booked at Gigs but it fell through. It was going to be the Beef show to end all shows. An homage to Judas Priest! Leonard was going to ride a mini bike threw the place up on stage. I was going to destroy my bass and set it on fire ala' FSUN. It would have been great but it never worked out, sadly. Here's a brief if slightly incomplete timeline of what went down post 1997. After the zombie horse that was Beef finally died (badly) Alex, Leonard, and myself did a short lived project with Jake carpenter (swing set) called Clan of the Monkey.

That lasted one show and about 4 months. While Paul and I (with Jake from Subjugated youth) did Santos (from 1997-1999) I did a few small sit ins/side projects with a few friends/Bands: Horshack and the Sweet Hogs (with Mike from Green Eggs and Spam/Fats Tuna melt & Marina from Cucumber Lang), Ishmael (with Charlie, Jacob from subjugated Youth), I did some live bass work for Sam Trout's band HoJew (which featured the immaculate drumming of Dan Mohr from Tuesday weld), And the last but, very far least I played one show with the Tail Cool Ones (TC Ottingers (from Hopscotch fame and Clint).I moved to Seattle in late 1999.

I had plans of continuing Santos but it never really materialized. I made a very poor attempt to focus on art but end up not doing very much either musically or artistically for about 5 or so years.

Paul and Shaun moved down here in late 2000. They tried a couple of times to get the Savages going, but drummer problems finally killed that band. Paul, myself and Duncan Forbes (from Blanket and other Anchorage acts) tried to get a band going but that didn’t work out either. During that period (early 2002ish) Paul took a session gig with the geriatric punk band Agent 86. He played a bunch of shows and recorded some stuff with them. After that stint he form his present band Hot Handed God of Cops. Both Alex and me were kinda getting the itch to do something musical again. I got in touch with Paul and we started working on material.

This was late 2008. Paul was playing guitar and vocals while Alex and me rounded out the rhythm section.

That band was tentatively called Informational Services. We had a few songs but it never materialized as a real band. We recorded some material but never played any shows. In classic fashion we folded that project, then got word that we could open up for a established band if we wanted to on short notice-2 weeks we put together Wis-Con. Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

What is the signifigance of the name? Is it a Dahmer reference? An Ed Gein reference? Neither? You a cheese fan? A Green Bay fan?

Aaron: I don’t know if you have them on the east coast but there is a rock bottom priced grocery store (I use this term lightly here) chain call The Grocery Outlet. Affectingly known as the Gross Out by the locals. It’s the type of place you can get discount food service packages of stuff and frozen shit that is almost past its expiration date. It's a step down from red Apples or the cash and carries. Anyway, at this place there is a brand of food service cheese and pudding products sold as WisCon- Wisconsin's best. I have only seen it in size ten cans (those are the huuuuggggggeeeee gallon + cans). Kinda follows the theme of horrible foods we have named bands after. I think the funniest thing is if you just Google Wiscon the results are pretty awesome-check it out!

What you been listening to lately? And how’s the scene around Seattle? You play any double bills with former Anchorage-ites (or all they all in Portland now?)

Aaron: We haven’t played all that much. We are in the process of recording stuff so we have stopped playing for a while. We haven’t played with any of the old anchorage folks and yes, right now the coin toss is definitely favoring Oregon in general for Alaskan expats. I do have to say that a fair amount of folks I use to know live in or around NY. The Seattle since is really diverse, dense with talent, and heavily competitive. By competitive I don't mean bands attacking each other (quite the opposite actually) but having to really patience and put work in to get shows. Almost every person I know is either in a band, wants to be in a band or doing art of some type. So, just from a saturation level means that there are way too many bands for too few venues.

As for music; I've been listen to all sorts of stuff; kinda all over the place as all ways!. Lots of local- Brent Amaker and The rodeo, Das Lamas,Hot Handed God of Cops. So many really great bands- far too many to list.

They been reissuing all the Miles Davis stuff as Box Sets with lots of unreleased takes. I’ve been digging the the early 60S stuff lately as well as the complete on the corner sessions. I was able to obtain the soundtrack album from the French film Miles did called Axcenseur Pour L'Echafaud. It’s amazing! I really Like Theives Like Us. Their sound is like the Pet Shop Boys if they were retarded and from a farm. The new Massive Attack album is good, as well as the Last Mos Def Album. I really like Pig Destroyer. I'm constantly bumping the last 3 albums of theirs (Prowler in the Yard, Terrifer, Phantom Limb). Anaal Nathrak is great. I been listenin to some DIO for obvious reasons. Pere Ubu, The Units (SF), Vampire Weekend, The new Squirrel Nut Zippers album, Just lots of stuff. I’m waiting with gleeful anticipation for the New DEVO album. I’ve seen them live every time they float through. I just can’t wait!

What’s your artistic mission statement for WisCon? Aaron: I think we really are shooting for a retro synth punk/ new wavy sound. We don’t have a guitar player.

Paul plays keys, mostly vintage stuff. Old Roland mono sythns and crappy Casio's knockoffs. Almost all of the equipment we use is circa 1982. We do some interesting interplay between bass and keys; switching the leads and rhythm part between instruments. Feels like we have gone back to our roots of basic pop-punk songwriting with this heavy synth influence. Paul's other projects are very mathy, complex metal acts. He was really enjoying the writing process of getting back to catchy, chorus driven pop stuff.

Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…

What The Reviewers Said about NNN Mk 1 (1994-1996)

A well produced piece of clipart magic– THE NORTHERN LIGHT

(AK)

What’s In a Name? Noise Noise Noise pretty much sums it up for a new punk rag– ANCHORAGE

DAILY NEWS

Plenty of ripped-off copy– AK

VERVE

A classic punk rock zine. Some interesting interviews. Brought me back to the days of Frank Harlan’s Warning– QUIP (AK) Steal work time at: Nnnzine.blogspot.com Got the number 13, tattooed on my neck…