Mecca Normal’s Jean Smith Talks to Herself About INC 2013, Threeways With Rat Bastard

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In 1984, poet Jean Smith teamed up with guitarist David Lester to form the feminist indie rock duo, Mecca Normal. A few years later, their blueprint of punk spunk and explicit politics (sexual and otherwise) played a big role in the cultivation of the ’90s Riot Grrrl movement.

Fast forward three decades: Smith and Lester are post-punk royalty and Riot Grrrl has long been eviscerated and repackaged as the Spice Girls, who themselves are old enough to exist only nostalgically.

Meanwhile, Mecca Normal is recording a new album in Miami Beach, and International Noise Conference impresario, Rat Bastard, is at the helm. His co-pilot is acclaimed producer, Shimmy Disc founder, and occasional member of Half Japanese, Kramer.

One thing led to another, and now the trio of Smith, Bastard, and Kramer will be performing as an unlikely supergroup at the tenth anniversary of INC. In honor of this momentous freak-out, the hyper-literate Smith sent us some questions she asked herself about the upcoming jam.

You don’t fit the stereotype of International Noise Conference participants. How did you become involved?
I’ve never been one for rhythm and counting. I find it weird that some sounds are called notes and therefore “OK” and other sounds are “bad.”

What about Noise appeals to you as a performer?
I like responding during, not after. Not even slightly after. Playing this way is like having a great conversation where both people can talk at the same time without the gumminess of words – or notes and time signatures.

Mutually agreed on patterns – song structures – can be very satisfying. Like a slice of your favorite pizza. Noise is more like climbing into a huge stainless steel mixing bowl and slithering around in cake batter while trying to avoid the whirling rotors of the mixer. It is hardly a matter of trying to appear to be cool or capable. Noise is like the sex that I always hoped I’d have, but have not been able to locate because mainstream men in their fifties seem to be more about manipulating, imitating and disappearing.

How should citizens of Miami approach the International Noise Conference?
In my approach, a litany of simultaneous ignitions expel orchestrated antics — resulting in acute listening amongst performers. This puts the audience at the helm of their own experience. Rather than being presented with something built with repetition, it’s more like being exposed to pure, unregulated energy. Listeners may fare better if they abandon anticipating predictable structures.

None of this is to say that the Jean Smith / Rat Bastard / KRAMER trio is sexual in nature or that we even like cake (or power).

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2013/02/mecca_normal_jean_smith_interview_international_noise_conference_2013.php

Unicorn Hard-On Talks INC 2013 and Learning “How to Squelch Without Getting Hurt”

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Valerie Martino epitomizes the present-day dichotomy of the eclectic and experimental subset of music known simply as noise.

Martino is a primary agitator in the scene’s gradual (and then exponential) embrace of electronic dance music spanning from cold wave and industrial to minimal techno and acid house. In fact, as Unicorn Hard-On, she was one of the first former sonic aggressors who came to appreciate some rhythm.

But at the same time, she is a high ranking official in International Noise Conference coordinator Rat Bastard’s signature Laundry Room Squelchers, a freeform ensemble whose “performances” essentially amount to a friendly riot as inspired by multiple radios blaring white-hot noise.

Crossfade shot Martino some questions to learn more about her equal appreciation for ass-shaking and ass-kicking.

How did you meet Rat and become a member of The Squelchers? Is there a formal audition process?
I first met Rat in the fall of 2003. At the time I was living with my friend Newton in Philadelphia. Newton would tell me all these crazy stories. I had no idea who he was but he sounded like the coolest dude in the world. I wound up driving down to Miami to meet up with a tour Newton was on. I got to Rat’s place, he invited me in and handed me a beer. Sick! I remember looking around his condo at all the posters and reading every single article up on the walls. At the time I felt like so insecure, I had just started UHO, had NO IDEA what I was doing, only that I wanted to do it. But Rat has always been super supportive and I’ve learned so much about music and performing from him over the years.

I was asked to do a LRS tour in 2006, I think. They had a girl or two back out. It wound up being Rat, Leslie Keffer, and I in a rental car for month. Full US tour. It was insane. I had done nothing like it before. My first night on tour we played in Nashville and I remember practically shattering my knee and waking up the next day with bruises and cuts all over my arms and legs. Sounds weird, but it was fucking awesome! And I got to do it all over again night after night.

Anyways, I’ve been on a few tours with Rat and have squelched every year since then at INC and a few other festivals here and there.

How do you guys prepare for a set? Do you?
It really does seem like total chaos and insanity, but on the inside its actually a pretty well-oiled machine. I can only talk about my time in LRS, but I always listen to Rat’s advice. He would tell us how to squelch without getting hurt, how to rile the crowd then get out of the way so you aren’t the one in the bottom of the dog pile.

There are photos of you on the Internet with a pretty gnarly black eye. Was that a Squelcher injury?
Of course, shit happens, like that black eye. In 2008, we played a tiny basement in Yspilanti with a bunch of huge noise guys crawling all over each other while we squelched. I kept backing away from the pile of dudes, but someone pushed me from behind right on top of the pile. At that moment someone’s foot came up and kicked me below my eye. It was an accident. Shit happens you can’t predict, but you learn from it and are much more careful and diligent next time.

How did last year’s “solo” Squelch come about?
Last year’s set was pretty wild. I was sitting at the bar waiting for the last band before LRS to finish. Rat comes up to me and says, “OK, I got the radios going straight into the board, you’re gonna squelch back here,” pointing to the area behind the mixer board. I remember being like, “WTF ok whatever Rat.”

Then the band ends, I run back there, and Rat is holding two radios. He fires them up and motions for me to go out into the room. I had no idea where anyone else was. I was cursing like crazy. Pretending I had a radio, I went out there, and tore it up the best I could. Everyone was pretty confused. They kept looking around for the cords or the amps. It felt like forever before people really started getting involved. There are a ton of pictures of Kevin from Lazer Slut and I during that set with like no one around us. It looks like we are in a fucking ballroom, with everyone backed up against the walls.

There was a moment for me where it went from totally embarrassing to absolutely exhilarating. I kept trying to pull people into it, messing with people, antagonizing until it finally broke loose. When the set finally ended, I was covered in beer, mascara smeared down my face, both knees and elbows throbbing. I felt like I succeeded.

Does the term “Technoise” signify anything else besides the historical moment in time in which these noise artists embraced e-music? Or are there characteristics and styles that are possibly identifiably Technoise? Have you heard a better name for this phenomenon?
Technoise is a term that Justin Farrar came up with in an attempt to describe the weirdo beat scene in a Resident Advisor article. I don’t know what to call it. I like that it’s difficult to describe. Is it dance music? Is it intended to be dance music? Yes sometimes I think, other times maybe not.

I think it’s like noise music, where the beauty is in the ear of the listener. It doesn’t have to follow the rules. I don’t think there is anything truly distinct about the transformation of styles other than the fact that it comes from people who have participated in the noise scene.

When people discuss the noise-to-techno axis, you’re often cited as an early proponent of the style. What made you want to play dance music at noise shows?
I kind of predicted that beats would take over. Well, I used to joke about it a lot back in the day just to dig at my friends. I never thought about my music as “dance music”. It wasn’t my intention to get people to dance at a noise show. I wanted to make interesting music. I used repetitive beats as a tool to draw people in. Now things are different, a lot of people want to dance, they come to a show to dance.

I started getting super into minimal techno stuff a few years back. I listened to everything I could get my hands on, and started exploring different types of electronic music.I think it’s nice of people to acknowledge my contribution to what we have all created together. If I’ve inspired people, that’s awesome.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2013/02/unicorn_hard_on_interview_international_noise_conference_2013.php

Haves & Thirds’ Todd Lynne Talks INC 2013 and Tampa Noise: “We Were Total Hermits”

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Todd Lynne is a man who speaks softly, and carries a big stick. Only instead of a two-by-four or tree branch, Lynne wields a huge bag of noisy tricks.

For more than a decade, he has been a devoted, prolific participant in and leader of Central and Gulf Coast Florida’s respective noise music scenes.

He can be found wrapping a t-shirt around his face like some ceremonial head garment. Or hosting shows at Noon under bridges and in the parking lots of strip clubs. Or pursuin his highly idiosyncratic, completely personalized approach to DIY art and music that’s become a touchstone of noise music in the increasingly-not-new Millenium.

Cephia’s Treat – Lynne’s record label, co-founded with his brother Ian, who passed away tragically in 2004 – was a quiet-but-integral, highly influential cornerstone of the 2000s noise music explosion. And as the genres and scenes associated with that activity continue to evolve and expand, Cephia’s is always on the frontline of Florida’s sonic battle with itself.

The aforementioned pedigree has landed Lynne the only curatorial position during INC that gets to pick main-stage bands, besides, of course, Conference organizer Rat Bastard. So as apart of our series of conversations with artists performing at the festival’s 10 year anniversary, we knew the guy behind the past 10 years of INC’s Friday Night probably had some interesting shit to say.

How did Cephia’s Treat connect with Rat and the Squelchers?
I stumbled upon The Laundry Room Squelchers website. And after seeing the photos of a bunch people on the floor, I contacted Rat about playing the first F.A.D. show in February of 2002. They came down, played, and Ian and I thought it was the most badass stuff ever. A few weeks later Rat invited Ian to join a Squelchers tour and that set a lot of things in motion.

Did Tampa’s Bloodfest and INC start in any kind of conjunction? My impression is that its completely coincidental – and that much more insane as a result – that these two fests started at the exact same time. First Bloodfest in Summer of 2003, first INC in February of 2004.
There was definitely already something going on in Tampa by that point. We had already done the YUKhONIC / j.f.k.s tour, had a ton of the F.A.D. shows, and had a bunch of releases out.

When we met the Kinky Noise and Cheapo_Records crews things just blew up. Lots of ideas, lots of activity. This was late 2001 and up until that point my brother and I were just doing our own thing. We were trudging along, putting out records, playing here and there but meeting those kids just completely changed everything. Then meeting Rat a little bit after that sealed the deal.

Rat’s website is a maze in the dark, so my info source may not be entirely correct, but according to the site (I think), Haves&Third’s played the first year and then didn’t make an appearance again until 2009, when you started (unintentionally or otherwise) the subtle tradition of opening the show. Of course, you played in other ensembles and played a role in curating the Friday night, but what accounted for that gap in solo appearances?
Haves&Thirds did not play the first INC. I don’t think Haves played the second one either. Too much stress trying to play, and keep things going, so it seemed better to just give the slot to someone who could utilize it better. Then it was decided to just play first, get it out of the way, and concentrate on the rest of the evening.

Of course the sound has taken some turns over the years and most recently in maybe a more pronouncedly structured way, but, as long as I’ve been seeing H&T (since about 2006), you’ve had a consistent sound/aesthetic that has always relied on ethereal / ambient / spooky sounds. Was the project ever anything else?
There are “rules.” always has been in order to keep output flowing. When you are too free with your ability, two things happen: Either too much, which means burn out for you and listeners. Or too little because you can’t ever decide when something is finished. Haves&Thirds has strict rules.

When you wrap a t-shirt around your head, is it a particular shirt or a particular reason you pick the shirt that you pick.
The shirts do have meaning. Maybe it’s color-coordinated or maybe the printing on the hood has some significance. Like when in Philadelphia a Dead Milkmen shirt will likely be “hooded.”

Did Pro Bro Gold invent Technoise?
There has been a bedroom dance scene in Tampa for a loooooong time. Jon as Turmoiled Functions and Uh-Oh Spades! were two of the first ones to really use beats and keys, but Brandon first as The Fas’ners and later as Pro Bro Gold definitely was the one who made into what it is. He was the one who brought the fog machines, the lasers, and the strobes. He brought the disco ball.

Are Merchandise killing hardcore?
Merchandise are killing…with kindness.

Tell me the one about Hepatitis Youth.
A long time ago there was a bunch of “youths” who had just had it up to here (motions to forehead).

The first wave of tapes that you guys pressed in high school…what does that stuff sound like? Chickadees and what else? And then S.L.D. was the first like long-running band that preceded Yukhonic? Lay the smackdown.
Ian, his best friend and me and mine in different combinations produced a handful of bands in Lake Wales during our high/middle school years.

The Chickadees was our first band where we put out more than one tape. A one-night band here and there and then there was The Stitches, which did three tapes and some shirts. Next was The Snots which was our first band to actually play a couple of shows. Then, days after I graduated high school, Ian and I moved to Tampa and just holed up at mom’s, wrote a bunch of songs, co-commiserated, watched movies, and made plans to make “different” music.

After maybe a year we got S.L.D. up and running which was our first real baby. We were totally into what we were doing but the hardcore kids hated the keyboards and the keyboard kids hated hardcore so we didn’t get many shows or love. So we just recoiled back into our own little world and did our own thing, only worrying about impressing each other.

What were live responses to S.L.D. like? I’ve heard the 7” ten million times and the first time the keyboards kick in over the hardcore, I always can’t believe how seamless it is. Did you guys tour? Did you ever run into another hardcore bands with keyboards?
No tour. We only played a dozen shows, but we practiced and recorded all the time. It was just an honest mix of our favorite music. Figured, “Why not?” We were really into Void and New Order, DC Hardcore and New Wave. We were completely ignorant of anybody else doing anything like it at the time, but we were total hermits. We would emerge, already accepting that nobody would like us but that was where we pulled our drive.

Don’t get me wrong we definitely weren’t depressed little wieners moping around. We were having a blast being the “outsiders.” We even had the local press convinced we had been signed to Touch and Go and when they sniffed around for interviews we would show up and make up these crazy, elaborate stories. As far as they know that record is still coming out.

Cephia’s has always maintained a boutique / DIY craft element. I remember the first time I ever ordered something from you, I bought a bunch of stuff because the names and descriptions sounded cool and it was so cheap. I ended up getting tapes shoved into gutted stuffed animals and hollowed-out books.
My brother and I were absolutely best friends, and spent all of our waking hours of youth together so over time all of our ideas would come to fruition. Many nights were spent sitting around, bouncing ideas, plotting, writing, arguing, playing music, arguing some more, improving ideas, and, ultimately, constantly improving. Packaging was one thought that would hit the drawing board. The idea was that getting people through the door to begin with is the toughest part.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2013/02/havesthirds_todd_lynne_interview_international_noise_conference_2013.php