All of us at Allston Pudding ask a lot of questions. It’s time to turn the tables. That’s why we’re starting this new feature series “Bands Ask, Bands Answer.” BUFU Fest is coming up at the end of the month and with such a stacked bill, we set out to talk to as many artists as possible in the past few weeks.
If you're behind, catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 of this seies. We are letting bands ask whatever the hell they want and crossing our fingers for the best. Part 3 of this series features Boston bands Nice Guys, Krill, Chrome Over Brass, Gangbang Gordon, and Dylan Ewen as well as the Jackson Heights-based Juan Wauters and Providence-based GYMSHORTS. Bringing things full circle at the end is BUFU's own Ben Katzman. Warning: things may get a little weird.
BUFU Fest 2014
April 25 & 26
at Cambridge Elks Lodge
$10-15 Sliding Scale For Each Day
CLICK HERE for Full lineup and Schedule
Krill (Boston, MA)
Ian Medford posed questions for Aaron Ratoff of Krill
Ian Medford: If you could be any 50 Cent song, which would it be?
Aaron Ratoff: I think I would be “Magic Stick.” I think that song is supposed to be explicitly sexual, and yeah, I guess it is. But if you were going to be something it would be cool to be magical. I would like to gain magical powers from becoming a 50 Cent song.
IM: Tell me about your worst hair day.
AR: There was one time in high school when I had really long hair. If I grow my hair it grows up and out rather than down, like a Jew-fro. I straightened it after it had been growing out for a very long time and I looked exactly like the Geico caveman. It’s not a good look. I don’t think there was anything I could do about it at the time. I couldn’t un-do it!
IM: What’s your favorite texture?
AR: That’s a good question. Rice pudding. It’s an interesting texture and it tastes good. It’s like you’re being welcomed into it. There’s a lot happening in it, I’m going with rice pudding.
Chrome Over Brass (Boston, MA)
Aaron Ratoff of Krill posed questions for Alex Garcia-Rivera of Chrome Over Brass
Aaron Ratoff: What are you looking forward to most this week?
Alex Garcia-Rivera: I’ve got a recording session this weekend. My friend Pat from lovechild has a pop punk band called Fall Risk and I’ll be recording them in my studio. I own a small all-analog recording studio.
AR: Out of all the items you see in front of you currently, which is your favorite?
AGR: Oh wow…okay, I’m looking around…oh! My new drill prep. I just bought an enormous drill prep. I’ve got this little workshop in my house because as a person who records bands I often repair a lot of my own gear. I’ve got all of these power tools and soughtering irons, half-finished projects and shit so this is my favorite thing right now.
AR: Would you eat a horse (if vegetarian/vegan, would you eat a soy/seitan horse)?
AGR: I’ve been vegan for about twenty years, this wouldn’t be much of a challenge, of course I would do it. I’ve had vegetarian haggis before. I don’t know what you know about haggis but it’s probably the most disgusting meat product. I was in Scotland and I saw vegetarian haggis on the menu and just thought, “what…what the fuck is this shit? I guess I’ll try it!” It was pretty disgusting. So if I can eat that, I can do this.
Nice Guys (Boston, MA)
Alex Garcia-Rivera of Chrome Over Brass posed questions for Nice Guys
Alex Garcia-Rivera: What inspired you to start playing music? What inspired you to be great at it?
Jake Gilbertson: For me, watching the movie School of Rock. I thought that was really awesome. It looked like a lot of fun, more fun than school. And then what made me want to be great was seeing really sick bands play when I moved [to Boston]. I started getting into different music and it really was just hearing how you can use creativity to be good instead of being technically crazy.
Cam Smith: I’m going to go with School of Rock. As for the second part, I don’t think I am very good…I just try and keep up with my band.
AGR: If you could live anywhere in any time period, where would it be?
JG: I think I would live in pre-potato famine Ireland because I love potatoes and potato-based foods.
CS: I would definitely live in a Native American tribe. I’d collect berries and feed my family. Pre-Christopher Columbus America, by the way.
AGR: What is your spirit animal?
JG: I think mine would be a road-kill possum. Some kind of animal that’s been hit by an 18-wheeler.
CS: My spirit animal is a wolf because it’s on my chest.
Juan Wauters (Jackson Heights, NY)
Cam Smith of Nice Guys posed questions for Juan Wauters
Cam Smith: If you had a journal called "Poop Thoughts" where you would write your thoughts when you pooped, what would you write in it?
Juan Wauters: I guess I would just write down every time that I go to the bathroom or have sex with someone in there. *laughs* Yeah.
CS: What is the most awkward show experience you've ever had?
JW: One time I was attacked by someone with a baseball bat at a show in Philly. The people in the crowd wanted us to keep playing and the guys who were running the place wanted us to stop. So we kept going and someone came through the back with a baseball bat. A whole brawl broke out. Yeah, it was kinda fun actually. A friend of mine went into the audience and nailed the guy with the bat in the head.
CS: If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, would you smoke a spliff?
JW: Would I smoke a spliff? Of course I would smoke a spliff.
Gangbang Gordon (Boston, MA)
Juan Wauters posed questions for Gangbang Gordon
Juan Wauters: When are you recording your next record?
Gangbang Gordon: Right now I have a new tape coming out on BUFU Records called Culturally Irreverent. It’ll be available during BUFU Fest and I’m pretty pumped about that. Mad props to Ben Katzman! I haven’t really had much time to make new recordings. I went through a crazy spurt where I was made 50 recordings in 6 months or something like that. I dialed that down and now I’m trying to figure out how to release them all. These ones that are coming out are the first I had ever recorded in a studio.
JW: When are you touring next?
GG: That’s the thing - I don’t know how it works. I’m just an outsider. I don’t know if people would go or be interested in that. But I’m totally down to do the craziest shit ever! I just don’t know if it’s feasible. It’s tough because I say that I’m not a musician, but I’m playing music. I don’t know, but I believe.
JW: Would you leave everything behind for your music?
GG: That’s tricky. Yes? No, no! I should be saying yes but I’m a practical person. I’ll do whatever is right, day-by-day. I’m just a student of rock-and-roll and life, I can’t just say yes. It shouldn’t be this way, dammit.
Dylan Ewen (Boston, MA)
Gangbang Gordon posed questions for Dylan Ewen
Gangbang Gordon: Is there any particular time of day or place where you get sudden creative urges to jam out or write a new song?
Dylan Ewen: Damn, that’s a hard one. I’d say when you’re sitting around bored at 4:20 p.m., you’re not hanging out with anybody, just sitting around by yourself. That’s a good time to write a song about being really bored, you’re just in your vibe. So,Sunday afternoon at 4:20 p.m. By the time it’s 4:21 p.m. the inspiration is gone.
GG: Up on stage you see a buddy making out with a total babe. What do you think of this practice, does your music lend itself to it, and if yes, what is the best song for it?
DE: Yeah, definitely that’s the designed response to a lot of the songs. They’re trying to get you to make out with somebody or hold hands with somebody. Or dance. Out of those three, making out is the most important one. You can’t dance and make out at the same time. So yeah, if you’re making out, we have succeeded as a band.
“Handcuffs” is a good song to make out to because it’s about light bondage. We also do a cover of “Lust for Life” and that’s a good one to make out to because it’s got a slow intro and it’s a song you already know. People usually have emotional responses to songs they already know. For that one you can make out, hold hands for a little bit, and then dance when it gets a little faster so you’ve got all three. That’s the holy trinity of our band.
GG: What's the best chicken parm in the area? Give me a recommendation.
DE: I don’t know…Subway? Do they make chicken parm there?
GYMSHORTS (Providence, RI)
Dylan Ewen posed questions for GYMSHORTS
Dylan Ewen: How do you know that any of this is real and that you're not dead right now?
Devin Demers: That’t the biggest question of them all. I have no idea if I’m dead. Nobody does. It’s a definite possibility. It doesn’t freak me out because nothing is real. It’s true. I agree with that 100%, there is a definite possibility that I’m dead.
DE:Do you believe in aliens?
DD: I do believe in another species out in the vast universe. The universe is so big that you can’t rule it out. So I do believe that there is something else out there. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is because I don’t know but I’ve seen my weird things.
DE: What's your favorite flavor of Arizona drinks? Why? Do you have any comment on the artwork?
DD: I really like the soda lime rickey. It’s one of the few sodas they make. Cherry-lime soda? That’s about as old school as it gets. My brother is named Ricky, and I like him too so it works. The artwork is very lame, it’s not appealing at all. It’s like red and green goo…I don’t eve know what it is. I don’t know if it’s trying to reach out to do but it’s dollar soda. I bought it out of desperation that ended up liking it.
Ben Katzman (BUFU Records) & Chris Collins (Boston Hassle)
Sarah Greenwell of GYMSHORTS posed questions for Ben Katzman & Chris Collins to bring everything back full circle
Sarah Greenwell: Who's your daddy and what does he do?
Ben Katzman & Chris Collins: Geez, that’s hard. We were birthed by Diamond Dave and Peter Criss.
SG: Truth or dare?
BK & CC: [Ben is] gonna accept the dare.
Allston Pudding: Gym Shorts has officially dared Ben Katzman to wear FUBU at BUFU Fest.
SG: Do you own any inflatable furniture?
BK & CC: Um, duh. How are we gonna have sik taco party sleepovers? I wish I had one of those inflatable couches from the 90’s though. One with Peter Criss on it.
SEE Y'ALL OUT THERE.