My favorite thing to see on Myspace is a band that's described as other. I love music that you can't define, that you have to hear to believe. Music that's like some crazy hybrid of styles, sounding foreign enough to peak one's interest, and at the same time is so raw and real, it feels like you've heard it before. Buke and Gass is definitely that.
Glubdub: What is it about what each of you bring into the music that makes it sound fresh and uniquely accessible?
Buke and Gass: We each have our own unique musical personalities, but our working style is very cohesive. Decision making is pretty fluid and efficient. We're only 2 people so things happen in a different way than in group setting. Our music is dictated by this form, the limitations of our instruments. I play a guitar/bass hybrid and kick drum. Arone plays 6-string ukelele and bells. We try to make the most sound with fewer elements. We don't really think too much about what kind of music we're making,it's mostly dictated by the working process and these limitations. We just go with whatever sounds good.
GD: Brooklyn seems to be steeped in interesting and powerful bands that transform convention, how has your sound been influenced by the cool 'counter arts and culture' scene thats exploded out there?
BnG: in the past other bands i've been in have been more influenced by the local scene for sure. I can honestly say this one is much less so. I feel as though we can't (and don't want to) attach ourselves to anything in particular, because the instrumentation doesn't allow it. People have said we're "folky" but that's just because it looks like we're holding acoustic instruments. If you pay attention, we're doing something very different. That being said, we live in Brooklyn, there's always 'counter arts and culture' all around, and the influences are inescapable.
GD: The guitar/bass hybrid is a single instrument? How do you achieve the entire spectrum of both instruments? Do you use any signal processing to thicken the sound at all?
BnG: My instrument is the Gass. It's been through many iterations and I've been playing it since my previous band Proton Proton. Currently it has an acoustic body with a bolt-on neck, bass strings and guitar strings with seperate outputs for each, going to respective bass and guitar amps. There's also 2 Piezo pickups for a total of 4 outputs coming from the Gass that are blended and sent through different distortion and pitch shifting pedals.
GD: Maybe its the lack of a full percussive kit that has your music sounding like an intricate rhythm machine. Even the vocals are very rhythmical. There just seems so much coming at you, from all different directions, its amazing that you can do that with your 'limitations'.
BnG: We're into rhythm.
GD: Are you able to achieve that full sound you have on disc, or is it even more so once the adrenaline gets pumping? What's the crowd reaction when you perform?
BnG: The recording is basically what it sounds like when we play, the only overdubs were backing vocals. The crowd is usually attentive, we don't go too nuts when we play because we're sitting down. We get a lot of comments from people that are surprised that all our sound is only coming from 2 people.
Incidentally, the buke is the instrument that Anon plays. It's basically a miniature guitar, but made from a baritone ukelele body. She stomps the bells, too. but it's not the same instrument. She also sings....and how!
Anyway the whole thing is not to be missed.
Railed - Strangers on A Train
Written by Administrator
Ryan Fox's "Railed" blurs the line between reality and fiction, taking place on a cross-country train trip from Los Angeles to New York. Passengers, unaware, become the stars and plot of the film.
GD: Railed is a film chronicling a trip cross country on a train, and the story revolves around the people you meet along the way. Did this movie start out that way, with the expressed idea of filming strangers on a train, to tell some story? Can you tell me how the story evolved as you captured more and more exchanges between the passengers?
Ryan Fox: The idea for Railed came about from my traveling back and forth from LA to NYC by plane. I don't know about you, but when i'm waiting to board a plane, there is always a beautiful girl that I spot waiting on the same flight, and I faintly hope that she is seated next to me on the plane. But alas, she never is. I'm always seated next to someone who wants to talk to me, or someone whose head keeps falling on my shoulder as they sleep. So one night the thought came to me, "what if you were trapped on a train with people for days at a time?" At the time I was very into Andy Warhol and John Cassevettes, and thought that if both were alive now during the digital age, they would have a field day making movies, since you can run as much tape as possible for a very cheap price. That's were "Railed" first came into my consciousness.
The film contains two actors (who I worked with for weeks before shooting, so there is improvisation, but it was highly structured) who board the train and break into an argument about infidelity. From that point forward the whole train takes two sides. The male actor, who is cheating on his wife, and the actress, who is the mistress. Half the train, gives him the advice to stay with his wife, the other half tells her to move on from him, and that he's going through a mid-life crisis. Railed takes on a 19th century story structer (1st act, 2nd act, 3rd act) but REAL PEOPLE play the architypial characters that some hollywood writer would be up late at night trying to write dialogue for. The whole film is shot with hidden cameras, and in my oppinion, is an amazing take on humanity itself. I personally don't like drama in my life, but like moths to flames, most people do. In RAILED, completely strangers step in from their trips, and offer their own advise and caring for our two characters.
GD: With the hidden cameras were you ever in danger of being found out?
RF: Yes, constantly. that was one of my main concerns because once we were exposed, the whole thing was over. There were moments that we were not able to capture because it would have compromised the production. Our main character was up late one night in the smoking lounge with two other people, having a great conversation, but I didnt want to risk having someone in there with a bag on their lap containing a hidden camera.
GD: Did you manipulate the actors surroundings at all to get responses from strangers that you were looking for or did you just let the natural reactions of the travelers on the train dictate which way the story evolved?
RF: I initially set up the back story with our actors and the initial fight in front of all the train passengers, but after that we went with the flow and let the story evolve on its own. One example is, we always knew that we would reveal that our main character was cheating on his wife, but never could predict that we would capture him revealing this to a minister! Or that the hidden cameras would capture everything. In the scene with the minister, we lucked out where you can actaully see him in the background contemplating whether he should butt in or not. It was magical moments like this that really make the movie what it is.
GD: You say that the hidden cameras gave you an eye opening perspective on humanity, what did you discover about the human condition during the making of this film?
RF: Well, there is a scene in Chicago with a homeless man that really affected me, so much so, that I ended up doing volunteer work back in LA with the homeless, and am in development with Kopelson Entertainment (Platoon, Se7en, The Fugitive) and L.A. Family Housing, developing a television show to help shed new understanding on this social issue. Most Americans are 2 paychecks away from living on the street, and the snowball effect of loosing your job can barrel over anyone. There are some amazing stories out there, and homelessness isn't just about drug addiction or alcohol abuse.
Bug Theater during the Festivus Fim Festival
GD: It must have been tough losing that late night conversation, or were you able to use anything that came from it? That must have been frustrating. It's really those golden moments that you try and capture because they usually make for great art.
RF: I kinda of look at "Railed" as filmmaking without a net. If I wasn't able to get a reverse angle or capture a conversation without blowing the whole thing, I had to make do with it and still make it work. It's the kind filmmaking I aspire to. There are those filmmakers who get the 120 box of crayons, with all the fancy names and shades of color, they even get the cool sharpener in the back and so forth. But on "Railed", I got the 8 box of crayons, and 3 were missing and two broken. We made do what with we had, and we came out with an entertaining, organic, creative film. We've played at a few film festivals so far, and have won a couple of awards, but everytime I sit in the theatre, I'm nervous for the first five minutes until we get that first laugh, and then I'm like "whew, they get it!", because its such a hybrid attempt at filmmaking.
check our "Railed" at the DC Independent Film Festival on March 13th at 9pm
Glubdub Cinema - Mega Movie Marathon!
Written by Max Stout
Welcome to the launch of Glubdub Cinema! Back in the summer, Jeff and I decided we would add to our site Glubdub Radio and Glubdub Cinema. We got as far as launching Glubdub Radio, which has become a popular destination, before we decided to redesign the site. We put off finishing Glubdub Cinema until the entire site was polished. Finally, we're proud to present our video page, which will help bring a nice balance of underground and independent film to the art and music we already offer.
You can select individual film and animation, searching by film name or filmmaker, or you can kick back and put the player into random mode by selecting the Mega Movie Marathon button. If you're a filmmaker and want to have your film or animation shown here, give us a holler.
Hope you enjoy it.
Toxic Lipstick - Be Careful What You Ask For
Written by Max Stout
A few weeks back when it was time to launch the New Look design of Glubdub, I started sending out Myspace messages to bands that looked interesting. I saw this one band, Toxic Lipstick , that looked interesting and asked them if they would tell me their story. Of course I usually encourage people to tell the more interesting, even bizarre moments of their story. I've even gone as far as to suggest that fiction would also work. Sometimes a combination of both is what I get. Be careful of what you ask for, you might get it, and be tickled pink by it.
Glubdub: I really like your music. Its like disturbing cartoon video game music. What inspires your sound?
Toxic Lipstick: pure techno, ponies and loosing the bass in your pants. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
GD: Your stuff is more than pure techno though, isn't it? There's some really great melodies dancing around the oddest feel. You guys should play inside a giant arcade and jam with the sounds of pinball machines and skee ball games. How did the band form?
TL: Our band is really hard-hitting with a strong message of best-friendship. Life without a bestie is like life without pants, a bit cold, quite awkward and in some countries, punishable by death. We first met each other at a high-school dance competition, promoting 100% control, no drugs no alcohol. We were in other bestie relationships but we ditched our loser posses and got to know each other via a few AAA batteries which we smoked under the stage. The next week god gave us a keyboard and told us to start a band and spread his word; or maybe that was my brother, he also has a beard (and he's 8!!). Nonetheless, that was the start of Toxic Lipstick.
GD: Really, beyond the ponies, what do you two draw inspiration from, what are you thinking about when you sit down and write a song?
TL: When we write a song we're often thinking about what is gonna perfectly compliment a triple dipped, brown acid shafted inside a flirty anus. We also think about important issues like how to gain more weight in the breast region, and cure wet-bottom disease, which is currently plaguing koalas everywhere. We often imagine we're in a techno circus with heaps of spiked punch, popcorn and fire-aerobics, and the clowns won't let anyone leave until they collect everyone's pants.
GD: I love when the bass gets lost in my pants. I've been to shows where the music literally lifted me off the ground, and punched me in the stomach, and when I finally landed, I could feel the music at first nibbling, and then eventually chomping down on me between my legs. Thats said, I hope to hell thats what you're talking about. How often do you lose the bass in your pants? Is this something that you are consciously setting out to achieve, or does the bass just disappear there with a mind of its own?
TL: We do seem to quite often lose the bass there, but you could say it is accidently on purpose. On a cold winter's night with nary a sailor to come by, the intriging warmth of some fresh sub-bass can sooth the soul and then some. It can get awkward though.
GD: What's with all the 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'?
TL: the abundance of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx..s is a reference to our massive racks.
Jennifer Clary's Christmas - Better Late Than Never
Written by Max Stout
During Glubdub’s two month hibernation, I had the good fortune of being asked to review Jennifer Clary’s new claymation film. Even though Christmas has long passed, I thought it would be fun to introduce you to her work while the weather is still frigid and frosty.
Jennifer Clary’s The Christmas Conspiracy is visually stunning from its opening credits that sprinkle down the screen like falling snow, to the vivid characters of clay, that come to life in this instant classic. It’s a Holiday story that gives hope to those who still want to believe that there’s something great and magical about Christmas, and that something is Santa Claus.
The sometimes sad and quietly funny story, weaves itself in and around Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and with Dick Van Patten’s comforting narration, it then curls up in your lap and snuggles up against you.
There is a roughness around the edges of Jennifer Clary’s films, but the roughness is so well crafted, her films feel strangely beautiful. The Christmas Conspiracy is no less beautifully strange, and by the end begs to be watched with a warm cup of coco, camped in front of an open fire.
