Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer

Hacked By MMA Defacer



            
Ashiyane Digital Security Team

I recently talked with Strify, vocalist and Kiro, bassist of Cinema Bizarre before their opening show for the Fame Tour with Lady Gaga. They were in Seattle for the first time and don't hate these guys because they're beautiful - instead love them for their dramatic music and striking stage presence. I haven't seen a band quite like them and I really enjoyed how they bring so many elements along with their great songs - they've got a cool vibe and they are really gripping to watch. Their first US album, BANG!, is set for an August 25th release.
--
Dagmar: You met in Berlin?

Strify: Not in Berlin, in Koblenz. It was a convention on manga/anime and Japanese culture.

D: So you’re really interested in Japanese art?

Kiro: The style, the music was why we were there. We were all people who came there from Europe to this convention and share interests.

Strify: Basically I was always interested in androgyny, people like David Bowie, Adam Ant and Grace Jones, for example. I found out about Visual Kei, a Japanese youth culture – an underground youth culture – which found its origin in the 80s, and because there wasn’t any hard rock in Japan at the time, there was one band called X Japan and they really started to dress up. Their look was very Mötley Crüe inspired. I found out about it and really loved the look. It broadened my style, my development of style. It’s pretty androgynous.


Kiro & Strify @ the Showbox, 2009
photo by Dagmar

D: Are you interested in horror movies?

Strify: I am not but Kiro really is.

Kiro: I love horror movies. I’m a fan of Twilight – I really loved the movie.

Strify: When it comes to movies I’m a fan of Tim Burton. I love the worlds he creates. I like the fact that he’s always working together with the same team – never change a winning team. I am looking forward to his Alice in Wonderland. I’m also a big fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show – that’s one of my favorite movies. I also love A Clockwork Orange. Movies that show a completely different world – and that’s what we want also in the band. That’s why we called ourselves Cinema Bizarre – we want to create a world, a universe.

D: I think you’ve done a great job of that.

Strify: We’re like the complete opposite of the garage band. A lot of bands are like, we don’t want to have an image, which is their image – not to have an image. We want to have a whole package of music, look and everything.

D: What’s it like living in Berlin? Did any of you grow up there?

Strify: We moved to Berlin two years ago. We come from different cities. I come from the south of Germany and we’ve got people coming from the north of Germany. We decided to get together in Berlin. Berlin really has got a cool vibe. There’s a lot of musicians and the area we live in has a lot of actors. In Berlin, when there are people doing something which they are famous for, people aren’t really interested. It’s not like when you come to LA and there are paparazzi everywhere. I really love Berlin. You could describe it as glamorous and trashy. And that’s what I like because I would also describe our band as glamorous and trashy.


Strify onstage @ the Showbox, 2009
photo by Dagmar

D: Do you like making your videos?

Strify: Yes, for sure. I would love to shoot even more videos.

D: I saw a video on YouTube of you doing a video shoot and you had a giant bird. Was it heavy?

Strify: It was. But it was such a beautiful animal. I’ve never seen a hawk so close. It had beautiful feathers and those eyes were so impressive. It’s such a proud animal. I wasn’t afraid of the animal but I had a lot of respect [for the animal]. It was called Friday.

D: How did you two get involved in music?

Strify: Music has always been a passion. When you have a passion for something so strong you want to get involved in it. I tried choirs but it never worked for me. I really got started when I met the other guys [in Cinema Bizarre].

D: You, did you start learning bass as a teenager?

Kiro: It was, I think five years ago. A good friend [taught me] – she plays bass in a band. I come from a small village in Germany and there were not many musicians I could identify with. She showed me a bit and then I went to a professional teacher.


Kiro onstage @ the Showbox, 2009
photo by Dagmar

D: You mentioned David Bowie, what other bands do you like, for example from the 80s?

Strify: Dead or alive. I love Kim Wilde. I really like the voice of Kim Wilde. Grace Jones. I am also a big Madonna fan. I’m also a big fan of Adam Ant and David Bowie, but that’s before the 80s.

D: I noticed Depeche Mode let you sample them (Everything Counts in
Escape to the Stars).

Strify: Musically they were a big influence. My father was always listening to Depeche Mode when I was little. When you’re small you usually hate your parents’ music. Then there’s the day you find out that it’s good stuff your father listens to. It was Depeche Mode, David Bowie and Queen . . . electronic/Depeche Mode vibe was a big influence on our music.

D: Who came up with the name Cinema Bizarre?

Strify: I found the word Bizarre. People look at us and say, "You’re so bizarre, why are you so strange, what is up with you guys?" We wanted to give bizarre a positive background. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is also bizarre – positively bizarre. It’s the same for us. But just Bizarre wasn’t a good band name. We found out about a new movie category called Bizarre Cinema, which features really strange movies from the 70s. It was quite fitting.

Kiro: It was perfect.

D: How did you get on the tour with Lady Gaga?

Strify: We met in Berlin. She was the opening act for Pussycat Dolls. We wanted to meet her. I have followed her career from the very beginning. She really liked us. We went backstage after her show and I think the first thing she said to us was, "You look like all my ex boyfriends, you’re so cute." It was so great. It was such a nice compliment. We met her crew and her dancers. Two days later she called and asked if we wanted to open the show.

Kiro: We couldn’t believe it at first.

D: You’ve traveled all over Europe now?

Strify: France, Russia, Scandinavia, Italy . . . I’m always happy to come back to Paris because it’s one of my favorite cities.

Kiro: I like Moscow. I like Russia so much. Moscow is like Berlin only bigger. Saint Petersburg also is a very beautiful city.

Strify: [Saint Petersburg] is impressive. They have so many big buildings. It’s the same kind of architecture you can find in Berlin and Moscow. Stalin-inspired architecture.
--
See more photos of Cinema Bizarre's show here.

I interviewed Jeremy Haines and Sammy Rubin of Project Jenny, Project Jan before their Seattle show in March. I am ashamed to admit that I actually misplaced the interview but the coincidence of losing the interview and the fact that one of my favorite songs of theirs, Negative, concerns lost negatives is not lost on me. The loss of the interview really upset me and discovering it on my computer a couple weeks ago was such a relief. Anyway, enough about me. PJPJ comes from Brooklyn, New York and their songs combine all sorts of sounds - they are fearless in incorporating whatever they want in their music. I love that. Their new EP, the Colors, is out now and you should get it. Really.

--
Q: I love the video for Negative – where did you find the footage of the girl dancing & the negatives?

Sammy Rubin: The girl dancing was just easy – I just found some footage. The negatives are the interesting part because that was how the whole song started. We had to write a whole bunch of songs in a really short time because somebody asked us to play a party and we didn’t even have any songs. We were writing, working and drinking. I’m working on the music for it and Jeremy can’t figure out what this song is going to be about. He goes, I’m gonna take a walk and get some beer. On the way back [he has] plastic negatives in a sleeve. I was working on my computer and he just stuck it on the screen. He was just like, that’s what I’m writing a song about. We ended up scanning them and putting them into the video. Those are the actual negatives we found. Somebody lost those negatives.

[The original of the video is no longer on the site but you can see it in the background of the live version above.]

Q: Do you like directing and producing videos?

S.R.: I don’t really consider myself doing video at all. I want to stop. I want somebody else to do the videos for us. I want to just work on the music.

Q: The video for Zoobar is cool too.

S.R.: Which one?

Q: The one with the toys.

S.R.: I didn’t make that one, that’s Chris Herbeck.

Q: You have a different video for it?

S.R.: We use the one live that we made originally for it, which is actually worse. Do you remember Meet the Feebles? It was Peter Jackson’s first thing – they looked like Muppets but they were really warped. I used that. It’s also distasteful and quirky in its own way.


Sammy Rubin - photo by Dagmar

Q: Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?

S.R.: I don’t feel guilty [about music]. I like Billy Joel. There was one the other day I was thinking of and I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. I’m trying to think of it so I can tell you right now. It was something really, really bad.

Q: Aqua?

S.R.: No.

Q: I like Aqua. The whole album (Aquarium) is great.

S.R.: Oh yeah. We came into today and there was a station just playing techno. Did Aqua play Barbie Girl?

Q: Yeah.

S.R.: We drove into today and they were playing [this techno music] and Jeremy was like, are we in Russia? It was fun to listen to, I mean, we didn’t change the station.

Q: Is this your first band, or have you always played music?

S.R.: I’ve always played music. When I was in music school I had a band there. Jeremy was in a band in college. He was the lead singer. We became friends and didn’t form a band - it didn’t even occur to us for a while. All the sudden we were like, let’s start making music.

Q: What instruments did you learn as a child?

S.R.: I started with piano and learned saxophone and then moved to bass guitar. I was a bass player for a long time before I did this. I’m into bass a lot. It’s both rhythmic and melodic. I think that ends up coming out in our music. Most of our stuff is bass driven.

Q: You studied music theory?

S.R.: Theory, composition . . . it was at University of Rochester.

Q: Do you like classical music?

S.R.: I got into Chopin for a while and Beethoven.

[Jeremy Haines joins us]

S.R.: We were talking about classical music.

Jeremy Haines: You know, the girl before asked me that too. She was like, it sounds like you guys have classical references in your music. I said that Sammy used to play jazz, and that’s why.

Q: I haven’t seen the movie yet, but you two did a cameo in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist?

J.H.: I play this character named Randy, who has a band called Are You Randy? - which is us. We’re integral to the plot development. They’re trying to go see their favorite band, Where’s Fluffy? They think that’s it going to happen at this one place, and everyone goes, and then we show up. Everyone gets sad and leaves.

S.R.: Yeah, they all walk out. I liked that.

J.H.: It’s fun to be the villains. My character comes and goes throughout the course of the movie. He’s the guy that keeps coming back. It made our fan base a lot younger – a ton of teenagers saw it. A small percentage of them were interested enough in our characters and music to look us up. Now we’ve got a lot of fifteen-year-old friends on Myspace.


Jeremy Haines - photo by Dagmar

Q: What were your initial impressions of each other?

S.R.: I thought he was an idiot.

J.H.: I thought he was a jerk. The first time I remember meeting him he’d just crashed his car after a long drive from Long Island. I thought he was crazy. He was like, I just crashed my car, I need a drink.

S.R.: I had to get it towed. I was so frazzled by it I needed whiskey.

J.H.: He was friends with my best friends from high school so they put in a good word for him.

S.R.: Otherwise he would have thought I was a big jerk.

Q: Jeremy, you studied art, do you do all the posters and artwork for the band?

J.H.: I do all the drawings. In the videos Sammy puts them altogether – he’s the editor/director. That’s what I went to college for. I moved to New York to pursue it.


One of Jeremy Haines' posters - brilliant.

Q: Do you ever read reviews of your live shows?

J.H.: Sometimes.

Q: Does it make you self-conscious?

J.H.: You think you’re above it all, you’re like, whatever . . . but then you read something sometimes and you’re like, that hurts.

S.R.: Even if it’s filled with misspellings and a readership of two, it still stings.

J.H.: It’s like a critique when you’re in school, sometimes you get bombed.

Q: I’d want to comment back.

J.H.: That’s the other thing. With critiquing you can defend yourself.

Q: I read some interview, I think in Orlando, where you wanted some Disney characters to show up. Who’d you like to turn up?

S.R.: Depends where. The Disney characters kind of suck.

J.H.: No they don’t, what about all those princesses? Tinker Bell is kind of lame, but if she was really here, sprinkling fairy dust on everyone so that everyone could fly – this night would be crazy. Everyone boozing and flying around.

S.R.: That would be awesome.

J.H.: I like the effect Tinker Bell that would have on everyone.


Tinker Bell by Disney

Q: Do you remember your first show as Project Jenny, Project Jan?

J.H.: Totally. We have it on video.

S.R.: We never put it up.

J.H.: Because it sucks.

S.R.: It’s not horrible.

J.H.: But it’s not that good.

S.R.: If I remember right, it looks like a high school talent show.

J.H.: I’ve got long hair.

S.R.: And I’m sitting down. I think we only had three songs. It was a variety show.

J.H.: It was a fun show – we had a great time. Our friends were all there and we got a show directly from it.

Q: What kind of clothing style or fashion would you like to see come back?

J.H.: Hats.

S.R.: Maybe hats. How about the earring that connects to your nose?

J.H.: That was sweet.
--
You can see more photos I took of their show here.

The Prodigy will be in Seattle this weekend - Saturday, May 30th at the WaMu Theater. I have loved this band ever since I saw the video for Firestarter. Enjoy.

The Crystal Method returned this year with their fourth studio album, Divided by Night, a smashing collection of songs featuring such diverse artists from Matisyahu to Peter Cook. I got the wonderful chance to talk with the Crystal Method’s Ken Jordan, who along with Scott Kirkland, has created significant electronic music that’s maintained its cool factor. The band is scheduled to appear at the WaMu Theater in Seattle on May 30th and I cannot wait for the experience.

Q: What are some of the changes for the new tour?

Ken Jordan: There are a lot of different technical things. On our tour we’re running two synced up MacBook Pros. We’ve got our brand new Axiom controllers and all the lights are new stuff. This company High End Systems out of Austin is letting us use brand new lights that are not even available to anyone else yet. Light and sound is all pretty new.

Q: Emily Haines is on the new album - how did you meet up with her?

K.J.: We knew of Metric but it wasn’t until we saw this video on youtube, where she was singing with someone playing acoustic guitar. Her voice was very prominent and we just really fell in love with her voice and wanted to try to get her on the record.

Q: You also have Justin Warfield and his wife, Stefanie King Warfield on the album?

K.J.: He delivered a great vocal on Kling to the Wreckage. We also had this background vocal part and we asked who it was. He said it was his wife so we got her to do another song, which was Black Rainbows.

Q: They both have cool voices. Are there other people you’d like to collaborate with?

K.J.: Yeah, we’re going to keep finding new people. I don’t want to spoil it by not having it come true.

Q: What about somebody’s voice that you really loved, like when you were growing up?

K.J.: Stevie Wonder stuff from the 70s. Bill Withers. We actually did try to reach out to him [Withers] because I heard he’s still singing really well . . .

Q: Are there any music genres or styles that you’re interested in trying that you haven’t tried yet?

K.J.: We find out what works best for us is trying something that’s totally different. We’re willing to try anything. The things that don’t work out don’t show up on the record but we’re always trying different things.


Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan of the Crystal Method - photo courtesy of thecrystalmethod.com.

Q: You’ve contributed a lot to movies and soundtracks. Are there directors that interest you?

K.J.: We’ve done some scoring. We scored a film called London and I scored a TV movie once – Columbo Likes the Nightlife. We really do like scoring to picture. There’s a lot of directors we do like so hopefully we will get to work with them.

Q: Are you still working on the Doors’ music?

K.J.: We did the one remix a while back for Roadhouse Blues. This year we’re going to do another remix for Break on Through.

Q: When were a little kid did you learn to play piano or did you pick it up later?

K.J.: Much later. I didn’t even take piano lessons until I started going to college. I never wanted to be in a band or anything. I actually started making music because I was running the college radio station and bands that liked my taste in music asked me to come into the studio with them. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a producer/engineer. The little piano that I had learned helped me quite a bit. When I started working with Scott it became more of a band – not so much being a producer or an engineer.

Q: Did you two meet initially in college?

K.J.: We met in Las Vegas – we both grew up in Las Vegas. We had both already started working on some music with other people, Scott more by himself. I was working with a singer. We had the same part-time job and he came in with a drum machine one day and we started talking. We put all of our gear together and eventually the Crystal Method was born.

Q: Was Las Vegas an interesting place to grow up?

K.J.: It’s an interesting because when you’re a kid you don’t realize that other places don’t have slot machines and 7-Elevens. Neither one of our parents worked in the casino industry so it was a little more normal for us.

Q: Are there some types of music you disagree on?

K.J.: Scott likes a lot of the 80s hair metal bands and I don’t like any of them.

Q: Where did you get the title of the new CD from?

K.J.: Divided by Night is kind of a metaphor for our lives. We lead pretty hardworking normal lives during the day but then when we’re going out in the clubs and djing or playing concerts it’s just radically different. The phrase Divided by Night represents that division.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

K.J.: I play a lot of ice hockey.

Q: That’s brutal.

K.J.: No, it’s not.

Q: How did you start doing that?

K.J.: I didn’t learn until really late in life. I didn’t play until I moved to L.A., back when Wayne Gretzky was on the teams. I got really interested. A lot of friends of mine from Vegas had a team and were in L.A., so I joined the team.

Q: You need to have strong ankles for that.

K.J.: Well the boots keep your ankle together pretty good.

Q: How have you and Scott managed to stay friends, for like 10 years?

K.J.: It’s more like 20 years. Besides our immediate family members it’s the longest relationships we’ve been in. You learn to get along. You have to like each other first or it’s probably not going to work anyway.

Q: What’s the songs of yours you’re most proud of?

K.J.: The last song [on Divided by Night], it’s called Falling Hard and I think it’s the most beautiful song we’ve ever done.

Q: If you could have the power of a robot what would it be?

K.J.: That’s a good one because we don’t really know what robots do right now.

Q: There are limitations.

K.J.: I would like the power not to be so emotional sometimes.

Chester French is at the Crocodile tonight. I am still waiting for this band to headline - why, you ask? Because they are purely awesome.


I don't know who took this photo and no they don't always go around as clowns. I just love this photo - it's on their blog. If anyone can find a version where there is no text on it I would be much obliged.

Hah! And see how resourceful Amelia is from backbeatseattle:

I looked everywhere for this.

Here's the video for She Loves Everybody.

I've also got to apologize because it probably looks like I have dropped off the face of the internet lately. Not true! I am still here and I have been working hard on my website I have with other Seattle writers and photographers. It's been some work getting it off the ground and we're still setting it up. They're all creative people who write well, are interesting and take massively great pictures. I am lucky. Here's the site: backbeatseattle.com.

I am so obsessed with this song, with every song I hear from Future of the Left. I think they're phenomenal. Really phenomenal. They're from Wales and they'll be in Seattle for the Capitol Hill Block Party. Excellent.
Here's the video for the Hope That House Built.

It's not everyday a girl marries a bear:

Brent Amaker and the Rodeo hit the High Dive this Saturday, April 25th. I saw them last when they played Ear Candy's Birthday party, which included whiskey baptisms and panty-tossing. Tix are only $10 and the show also features the Redwood Plan, whom I have not seen yet but have heard wonderful things about.






You know you want to see more:

Page 1, the Rodeo
Page 2, the Rodeo

Plus here's their new video for When Love Gets to a Man
When Love Gets To A Man from Black Daisy on Vimeo.

Long live Travis!


Fran Healy


Andy Dunlop


Dougie Payne

More photos very soon - with some posted already here.