I have a long history with the Violent Femmes. Their debut album, released in 1983 when I was 15, was in fact the first album of theirs I purchased, making them (like Nomeansno) one of the rare bands I have followed more or less from the start, at least recording-wise (I never saw them busking in their housecoats in Milwaukee, or however that story goes, but my first Femmes album was their first Femmes album, and I owned them all in sequence up to Why Do Birds Sing?, which was about when I jumped ship from rock altogether -- I didn't stop following the Femmes so much as plunge headlong into free jazz and ignore most rock music entirely, shortly after that album came out). As I recall, I had read about that first LP in Rolling Stone, found it in some record store or other, and immediately fell in love; no one ever gave voice to teen angst like Gordon Gano, and goddamn, Brian Ritchie's basslines were right up there with Rob Wright's.
Friends who I played that album for looked at me like I was crazy: "Why are you listening to this whiny crap?" But even people who thought that first LP annoying, as I recall, started to see the light with the "Ugly/ Gimme the Car" single, also released in 1983; I had it on 7", I think bought at Zulu Records (CDs had only just started to be made, at this point, so this was no bonus cut).
I did manage to see the Femmes once, at Lollapalooza, on August 28, 1991 -- where I was disappointed by Rollins, impressed by Fishbone, terrified by Body Count, and passed out under the merch tent for the Butthole Surfers (I had slept poorly the night before and had tried to counter my exhaustion with something I'd been told was acid, but I think was mostly strychnine, so it didn't wake me up so much as cramp me up; I remember thinking that in my twisted state of mind, I was in no shape for the Butts, though I dimly remember hearing "Human Cannonball" in the background as I snoozed). But I was standing in a sea of people when the Femmes performed. I remember that they did "American Music," and remember that they amusingly acknowledged the weather -- standing there at the front of the stage, deLorenzo, Gano, and Richie, lined up in a row, none behind the other -- with a performance of "I Hear the Rain." It looked a bit like this, though this isn't the Seattle show. I don't remember much else from that day.
My favourite Femmes album remains their second, Hallowed Ground, which is a stranger, darker, deeper record than their first (check out a recent live performance of "Country Death Song," which I knew years before I first heard "The Ballad of Hollis Brown," its most obvious predecessor, at least in terms of relatively recent American popular music; there may be earlier murder ballads out there that the Femmes were aware of, but I wasn't. They basically introduced me to the concept of the murder ballad, with this song). It's also the first time I, and maybe you too, heard John Zorn.
I also interviewed Brian Ritchie once, whose solo album The Blend is also a favourite of mine; check out "Alphabet," for starters. The Femmes were on hiatus at that point, with Ritchie suing Gano over his having licensed "Blister in the Sun" to Wendy's. I reached out to him on Myspace (remember them?) and sent him some questions, mostly focused around his support for Eugene Chadbourne, in fact (Eugene was coming to town at that time; the Femmes' rhythm section had backed him on the album Corpses of Foreign War and I thought having an interview with Ritchie would help get people out to Doc Chad's show; I did the same thing with Victor Krummenacher). Hard to believe this was 15 years ago... I have not read it since it was published. If I remember, the issue of The Skinny it appeared it had a kind of unusual, unimpressive format compared to what they usually did, so it may not have caught all that much attention when it came out.
From the Violent Femmes to John Cage, by way of Sun Ra: Catchin’ Up With Brian Ritchie
By Allan MacInnis
In August 2007, Violent Femmes bassist/ musical director
Brian Ritchie filed suit against Femmes songwriter/ vocalist/ guitarist Gordon
Gano, who had sold the rights to use “Blister in the Sun” in a Wendy’s
commercial. Ritchie’s angry statement about Gano/ Warner Brothers’ “dubious or in this case disgusting uses of
our music,” made before he filed suit, can be read on the Femmes’ Wikipedia
page. Wondering about the suit has been a two year niggling itch that I finally
decided to scratch by way of an interview. Unfortunately, when asked about this
ongoing situation, Ritchie can only say that he is “not really at
liberty to discuss” it; he tells me the band is on “hiatus,” which beats
hearing they’ve broken up.
Sadly, there are also no plans to follow up the terrific Femmes Live In Iceland archival release of a couple of years ago. “I am not really focussed on exploiting the Femmes legacy at this point,” Ritchie explains via email from his home in Tasmania, Australia. “CD releases are also kind of pointless now that the record industry has collapsed. The main reason for making new CDs would be creative.” At the moment, Ritchie’s creativity finds expression in instrumental music. “To me there is more freedom for interpretation there. Lyrics tie you down.”
One of Ritchie’s most recent CDs is his 2006 recording of one of John Cage’s most beautiful pieces, Ryoanji - named for a Zen temple in Kyoto. Ritchie describes it as “a composition for many instruments which can be done solo or overlapping in any combination. [Cage] originally conceived it for shakuhachi” - a Japanese bamboo flute - “but couldn't find someone to perform it, so it was premiered on normal western silver flute. My recording is the first shakuhachi rendition of it,” Ritchie reports. “I'm proud of that. Of course it has been completely ignored by the academic classical scene, but that's to be expected...”
Ritchie has been playing the shakuhachi for about 13 years now, and is now a licensed teacher, given a Japanese professional name, “Tairaku.” “Japanese traditional music is vast,” he writes. “It's a deep well and I enjoy exploring it.”
Ritchie has long been a sonic adventurer, his tastes ranging far beyond the folk-punk pop of the Femmes. “I got into improvised music fairly young,” he explains. “I suppose there were a few rock bands I was into that laid the groundwork, for example Syd Barrett, Velvet Underground and Soft Machine. But almost immediately after getting into those bands I discovered Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler and it went on from there. There was a good jazz DJ in Milwaukee at the time, Ron Cuzner, who played some of this stuff.” Ritchie says he has had “nice interactions” with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, recent jazzfest attendee Sonny Rollins and others, and of course, the Violent Femmes output includes guest appearances by Fred Frith (on The Blind Leading the Naked) and John Zorn (on Hallowed Ground).
Ritchie also covered Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War,” on his first solo album, 1987’s The Blend - and wrote a song about him, “Sun Ra - Man From Outer Space,” on 1989’s Sonic Temple and Court of Babylon. He saw the bandleader several times and also got to know him. “We did a gig together and he liked my music and said he could hear the Sun Ra influence in it.” As for "Sun Ra - Man From Outer Space," “that is a song Peter Balestrieri and I wrote about him. Sun Ra did an interview on the radio and the DJ played it. Ra said, ‘Oh that's David Ritchie, I love it when the teenagers write about me.’ I was in my late twenties but that was nice. Some of the Arkestra members I bumped into on the elevator said ‘Oh Sunny loves that song, he listens to it repeatedly on the bus.’ Even if it entertained him for a few minutes I'm happy about it.”
This brings us to Eugene Chadbourne, a former Calgary-livin’ draft dodger, early Zorn collaborator, delightfully bugfuck guitar and banjo player, and the only musician I’ve interviewed who cites both Bugs Bunny and Boris Karloff as influences. Brian Ritchie, Femmes’ drummer Victor DeLorenzo, and Femmes collaborator Belestrieri all played on Dr. Chadbourne’s Corpses of Foreign War - the best known Femmes/Chad tie-in, and probably the most fun. “I really like Corpses,” Ritchie tells me. “It's amazing that 20 plus years later it's still musically and politically valid. I would not have predicted that when we made it. But some of the other records we made in New York like Insect and Western Party are also groove thangs” - which you can order direct from Eugene through the House of Chadula, by the way.
Collaborations between Brian and Eugene began when Dr. Chad’s rock band, Shockabilly, “opened up for the Femmes’ at a place called Tut's in Chicago. I was blown away by the weirdness and individuality of Eugene,” Ritchie says. “So I called him up and asked him if he'd like to make a record together.” As of 2009, Ritchie, DeLorenzo, and Chadbourne have played “many shows in the States, Europe and Australia.” “I brought him down as an artist in residence to Tasmania for MONA FOMA” - a “fun” and “radical” festival of which Ritchie is artistic director. “That really got people going. As a result Hobart, Tasmania is probably the city with the highest per capita Dr. Chad fans in the world.”
These days, Ritchie occasionally plays “feral blues rock” with the Tasmanian band Green Mist, and collaborates with Zen Circus, “an excellent Italian rock band with a flair for the absurd. I produced and toured with them in Italy and Australia several times. They are idealists, they helped restore my faith in rock and roll.”
Why relocate to Australia? “My wife and I have always loved Australia and we just decided to move down here and see what it would be like. So far it's been fantastic. It's a great lifestyle here and I doubt I'd move back to the States.” Ritchie reports that he is “having all kinds of wonderful musical experiences. I don't want to reveal some of them just yet due to losing the element of surprise, but I am collaborating with some of the best musicians in the southern hemisphere on projects.”
Those unaware of Brian Ritchie’s solo output should rush to
eBay, where his OOP 1980’s SST CDs are available on the cheap. His recent
recordings are also available online. Meanwhile, keep an eye on future Skinnies
for a chat with Eugene Chadbourne; while there is no telling when Brian Ritchie
will next make Vancouver, Dr. Chad will play the Cobalt on Fake Jazz Wednesday
on August 19th.
***********************
End vintage interview! Doc Chad is NOT coming to town, but this time, Brian Ritchie is, with the band he is most famous for, the Violent Femmes. Tickets for night one here; tickets for night two, here. Don't wait -- these shows will sell out (though take heart, if you can't get tickets for the show that showcases the first album, the second is equally amazing, if less well-known!).
Post-script: a happy discovery on vinyl at Neptoon (I've only had it on CD for years and didn't much figure I would get it on wax again, but there it was, for a mere $12!).
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