Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Kristina Wong‘s Big Bad Chinese Mama was one of the raddest Asian/gender studies projects ever. The zine-flavored, post-Riot Grrrl website gave the Mad magazine treatment to LA Weekly‘s personal ads, and has proceeded to deflate the erections of countless Internet surfers around the world. Since then, Kristina has gone legit. Sort of. She receives grants, hogs stages, and wins awards as a one-woman show/wrecking crew. Wong Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is her best-known piece, covering the crowd-pleasing topics of depression and suicide (which are disproportionately popular with Asian women). The performance has been captured on film and will premiere at the Burbank International Film Festival on Thursday, September 15–the same day she returns from a solo backpacking trip though Southeast Asia. I intruded on her getaway with some quick questions about the event… MW: One of the best parts of doing a live show–especially a one-person one–is being able to fine-tune it to your audience. How did you set up an “ultimate” performance of Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to preserve in concert film format? KW: We filmed it in late 2008 during the middle of a three-week run I did in L.A. for a live audience. I had been touring it for about two years at that point. When I first started the show, it scared me and there were points when I wasn’t sure if I was going to get through it. Most of the jokes in the show were things that were refined over dozens of shows with a live audiences. By the time we got to shoot it, I really felt like a rodeo champ. As for “ultimate” performance, Mike Closson (the director) and I met over hundreds of hours trying to figure out if we should rewrite the show for camera, shoot on location, etc., but when it came down to it, the show was made for a theater and the content would change if we rewrote it as a screenplay. My patience was waning and we didn’t want to wait any longer for a perfect time. Perfect was now. And “now” was 2008! MW: Does having the movie bring any sense of closure? I know you still performances booked! KW: Into the fourth year of touring this show I realized all my friends were getting married, cranking out kids and buying houses while I was putting on the same costume and doing my depression show over and over again on the road, talking to strangers about the heavy topic of suicide, and then returning home to the same post- college apartment in West L.A. It wasn’t a great feeling; it was an existential crisis. I began to wonder if I’d still be touring this show 20 years from now because, perhaps, it was the only thing I was good at doing and the only thing people would pay to see. But now, it is great to have a DVD/film archive that can now go to places where my live show cannot. And...
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FYF Festis coming up on Saturday, and I can’t wait to bake in the sun, wait in line for whatever meatless food is available, and use stinky port-a-potties. Namely because the annual show has a killer lineup with a lot of GR favorites including Descendents (canned coffee drink reviews as ALL way back in GR12), Strange Boys (mag interview), OFF! (online interview), and Weakerthans (Robot Power). And then there’s Jason Chung a.k.a. Nosaj Thing, whom I met through the Free The Robots guys and interviewed at The Crosby prior to the release of his debut album. On the cusp of seeing Jason play in a huge festival setting, I felt like this was a good time to catch up with him. MW: You just played with LL Cool J and De La Soul. Now you’ve got the Descendents. Has playing with legends gotten old yet? JC: No way, it’s been an amazing experience. I never thought I would be sharing stages with artists like that. MW: You always adjust your sound for the audience or occasion but are there certain changes you makes for these sorts of punk or rock situations? Like Coachella… JC: I do like to change up my sets for different shows. Depending on the show, I’ll make some quick edits or remixes, but I tend like to keep most of the song songs true to the original sounds. MW: As everyone gets bigger and tours more, is it hard to keep in touch with local peers like the Glitch Mob, Free The Robots, Daedelus, etc.? Or maybe I’m just projecting that there’s this scene of friends/group of artists coming up together at this time… JC: Not at all. I usually stay in touch via chat and see them at Low End Theory when I’m in town. MW: It does feel like you’ve been on the road nonstop since the album came out. How do you carve out time for new music? JC: I toured non-stop last year and focusing more on recording this year. I hope to be done with the next album really soon. MW: Who are you excited about seeing or meeting at FYF? JC: I’m looking forward to checking out Four Tet, Girls, Simian Mobile Disco, Decendents, and Explosions In The Sky. Hear Jason’s music and find out the latest at nosajthing.com and then say hi to him (and me) at FYF. His set will freak you out!
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Disappears gets a lot of run for carrying the torch of Krautrock, but there’s more to the Chicago band than that. Behind the metronome-like rhythms and droning riffs is a garage rock energy that shares the rawness of The Fall as much as the calculation of Neu! Following the release of the group’s latest EP, Guider, its original drummer quit. Then Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley stepped in not only to play the new songs live but to start a new run of deceptively repetitive sounding, absolutely addictive, and just plain ripping music. I caught up with singer, guitarist, and co-founder Brian Case and the crew toward the end of Disappears’ West Coast run with Obits. MW: I love how the newest EP is droning but succinct, brainy but not boring. Are those sorts of struggles ongoing for the band or is it pretty effortless for you guys at this point? BC: It’s taken us a while to learn how to cut the fat from our songs, so to speak, but it’s certainly not effortless yet. That said, the more time we spend writing and working together it becomes easier to see the final song. We usually start with a song crammed with a lot more than it ends up with, just play it over and over and simplify, extract. MW: One song clocks in at more than 15 minutes, but I feel like any one of the others could have just as easily been expanded upon. Why “Revisiting”? BC: “Revisiting” was the one song that we hadn’t been playing before we recorded. I think we only played it once, and it was pretty conceptual from the beginning. We wanted to have one side of the album be this piece or whatever–just try and stretch it out and see what happens. It turned out great. We used the first take, and I think we really captured something. MW: There must be a greater appreciation for playing and touring after a band faces a possible demise. Is there a sense of mortality? A feeling of a second chance? BC: I’ve been in lots of bands. They could end at any moment for any reason, no matter how good or bad things are going. Actually, the last two bands I was in stopped playing when things were going as good as ever! So there’s no sense of mortality or second chance; you just play and hope that people can get along and appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that everyone is making to be a part of something together. MW: Now that Steve Shelley is in the band, would you say that there are more fans wearing Sonic Youth T-shirts at Disappears shows or ones wearing Crucifucks T-shirts at Sonic Youth shows? (You might have to ask Steve about this.) BC: Ha ha, I’d have to ask Steve if Crucifucks ever even made shirts! There are definitely people checking out the band based on Steve’s involvement, but most of them seem to be leaving...
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Working mostly at home has its benefits. I get to see my daughter way more than a lot of parents and the house is a lot cleaner than when I spent my days at the GR compound. But I do miss companionship–even if it’s just Eric’s cats! In the last week, I actually saw a lot of people, though. If you read your copies of Giant Robot magazine carefully, you’ll know who some of them are. (Some are more obscure than others.) Quiz time:
Drunken Master's cupcakes
Kiyoshi Nakazawa
a. Maker of Drunken Master comic and zine, prints, fine art, and more
b. MMA fighter/bouncer
c. Longtime Giant Robot ad guy who kicked my ass in the “Fight Back!” feature
d. Writer of the blind massage travel piece from Thailand
e. All of the above
Photographer of the stars
Eric Nakamura
a. Co-founder and publisher or GR mag/gold glove softball player and sometimes lead-off hitter
b. Janitor, busboy at GR shops and gr/eats
c. Indie filmmaker and punk rock photographer
d. Slave of two cats and an empire
e. All of the above
Since 1993, Flattbush has been cranking out super heavy, highly technical, and politically charged thrash sung in Tagalog. Held down by Enrico Maniago (vocals) and Arman Maniago (bass), the unit has unleashed three intense albums on Billy Gould’s Koolarrow label and played with heavyweights such as Brujeria, Asesino, Rahzel, and Napalm Death. Earlier this year, they brought their anti-imperialist brand of grindcore to the Philippines for the first time. I caught up with the brothers from Bellflower, CA afterward…
Art by Enrico Maniago