J-LO BIAFRA
When I left Whitehorse I was determined to do something, anything, in a simillar vein to what we'd been doing up to that point. I left because I was more into the dymanic, loud then quiet then loud, being really creepy kind of schtick that's somewhat evident (particularly on the second song with that tremolo guitar part) on the first recording. They wanted to go in the direction of producing just a more brutal, full on aural assault that Emile described as 'like being kicked in the face' that would eventually lead them to the point they are/were at with their most recent stuff; music that's a lot like watching Corrupted, while being kicked in the face. They're fucking amazing, hopefully they play again sometime next year.
But I'd discovered the world of loop pedals and shit like that during this time, and been inspired by what Grover was doing with his noise effects stuff. At the same time my mind was being completely fucking blown by music Pete had introduced me to when we started Whitehorse (Earth, Boris, particularly 'flood'), and the instrumental stuff that I'd been getting into for the last four years, part of what is now dubiously described as 'post rock' music - Mogwai, Hotel2Tango bands, etc.
So I set out with a couple of loopers and some other effects and attempted to make my own instrumental jams. I played one show under the name 'leisure like work is dead time', stolen at the last minute from the insert of Wolves' 'simulation...' LP, then changed the name to J-Lo Biafra. That shit joke would come back to haunt me. For instance at a show in adelaide I had a 40 something woman dressed up for a gallery opening wanting to talk to me about the implications of the cross-cultural juxtaposition of the name. I just thought it was funny.
Anyway it continued on for four years and would change and develop as my tastes grew. Initially starting out trying to be a cross between a doom band and Silver Mt. Zion's more quiet moments. Then I got pretty heavily into Growing around the same time as I was trying to make my guitar much more processed and not like a guitar. Then came the drum machine and the idea of big epic 'songs', and so on. I did some shitty, recorded to a boombox tapes and gave them away or sold them, and I ended up playing brisbane a couple of times, sydney a couple of times, adelaide, and a bunch of shows friends put on in melbourne, where I'd be like 'hey, if like, you need someone to open...'. It wasn't a big deal, I'd just be out with another band or a friends' band and be like 'hey can I bring my pedals along and play?'.
Biafra was always about the gear too, and the music would change and develop as I bought and sold new guitars and new pedals, tried new tunings and the like. But by the start of this year I was sick of the dumb name, and sick of the music entirely. By now all this sort of stuff had well and truly become considered 'post rock', which was defined as boring, white guy post emo with delay pedals replacing the shit lyrics. I was increasingly aware that I wasn't the only arsehole with a guitar and a looper doing this music, was definitely not the first, and would not be the last. And most people were doing it way better than me.
And I think it was ruined by too much gear. There was always too much going on in the music, then I'd watch people with much simpler setups play really basic sets that just blew what I was doing away. Also I'm not a great improviser or solo musician by any stretch of the imagination. My ideas are hugely unoriginal and I always need someone to help me build them. And I'd never practice and so being 'improvised' never helped. There were some great moments in there but probably only ever played two shows that I thought were worth anything. It got to a point where I was like 'who the fuck am I to inflict this shit on people?'. Why the hell am I playing music I think is terrible to people? Also someone compared it to Explosions in the Sky and I fucking despise that band. Good time to bail.
So, after not having played for ages, Fjorn asked me to play a thing she was organising earlier this year. I made it my 'last show', played really loud, a few people watched and dug it, that's it. I still make music by myself with my pedals and have played a couple of shows under a different name, but I'm pretty embarassed and insecure and don't think it's anything I want to do other than recorded in my bedroom for now. And honestly I just find myself so fucking disgusted with this 'post rock' thing that yeah...I didn't wanna be associated with it anymore.
Last year I'd made a recording with Pete Sheppo onto his computery stuff. Just a couple of hours in a rehearsal room, improv, built off of pre-written ideas, all done in one take. It was originally going to get a tape release but that was on a label that unsuprisingly flaked. Anna Vo asked to do some more mixing and put it out on her label, An Out, which I was kinda stoked about, but then it just got completely bogged down in me never finishing the art, never coming up with anything I liked, etc. In retrospect volunteering to do art for a project you think is unoriginal, when you also think yr art is incredibly unoriginal and boring...not a good idea. She kept ringing me about it, I kept putting it off, she went on tour with Crux and away and stuff. I listened to it again a few months ago and was like 'this shouldn't see the light of day'.
It's...I dunno, there's bits I like and there's bits that I think are terrible. The overly compressed guitar sound for one (my fault, not Pete's). The complete lack of originality for another. Most of me is thinking I should take the same attitude I did with the 'band' itself; if I didn't think it was good enough for other people to hear it, then, you know, don't put it out where other people can hear it. I should also bear that in mind with my current thing I do, Sleeping Weather, but yeah...there's a fuck of a lot of fun to be had in making that kind of noise I guess, no matter how insecure I am about it. Ego and self-indulgence win out from time to time.
So here it is, the recording I did with Pete in '07. Four songs, no names or anything like that, no mixing at all, just the signal straight from the mics to his computer. For anyone that ever came and watched, and a couple of my friends were always really enthusiastic about it, yeah...here it is if you want a copy. Thanks.
