Newsletter No. 37: LET'S GO DO SOME CRIME "CAN'T THIS GENTLEMAN BE MADE TO TELL OF HIS DIRTY DEEDS? WHERE IS HE-IN A PRISON OR A HOTEL?"-STALIN "After my near death experience all I can say is that I'm redoubling my efforts from here on out. Where before I might have gone for half measures and partial steps I've realized how short life can be and so from now on where before I might have been in total, measured in my responses to a wide array of stimuli, heading into the future I expect nothing but the most extreme forms of expression to even the mildest of inputs."-ROBINSON The man in the next bed had used the word "blasphemy" three times in almost as many minutes. This is a word we never use. "This is a word we never use. What does it mean?" "Well I'd suggest that you go to the Oxford dictionary for an answer to that." "We know what it means but we want to know what YOU mean when you use it. You see we never use it." "So a better question for you is: why don't you use it more often?" "We're too busy using other words. Words like "hold." Words like "him." Words like "down." "I use it because I talk to God. Everyday." "So does Charles Manson." "So did Martin Luther King." "And one of those is dead and the other is in jail. That tell you anything?" "That you should rediscover how to use 'blasphemy' in a sentence." Hospitals are dangerous places. Because while we end the excerpt here it went on for uncomfortable minute after uncomfortable 30 minutes. Heedless of the hot bitch nurses pumping their medicines carts hither and yon. Heedless of the ease of the late afternoon narcoticized nod. Like unto two peas in a fucking pod. But he still limps. And he can't run. And he can't fight. So now's your chance. TEARS FOR FEARS "Mr Sleep, It's called 'karma.' You were due. You are now part of the cycle of life. Relish it. Breathe out the hate, but watch your back because now you are a target. Be at Peace. Bhagwan Sri Jefferson" SHOW ME YOURS The OXBOW show schedule WAS totally contingent on the miracle of the miracle healing cure that EUGENE had been induced to take-mostly vicodin, vicodin, valium and rage. So all the following shows that were asterisked, have been canceled. New shows and possible shows are marked as such. MARCH 17, 2004, SXSW, AUSTIN, TEXAS. This show seems to have been CANCELED. We hope to be able to return in 2005 when we actually have our new record out. MARCH 25, KNITTING FACTORY, LOS ANGELES. With PELICAN and some band called GROWING. Man, we'd really like to do this. BUT we couldn't and had to cancel. Re-rupturing a quadriceps tendon for the sordid amusements of 20 show attendees seemed to be an unseemly risk. MAY 14TH, BRISTOL, ENGLAND There's a festival. We might do the acoustic duo thing for eight days. Might. Maybe. We'll see. MAY 15TH -- MAY 21st, BELGIUM, PORTUGAL, GLASGOW We're just making shit up now. MAY 22nd, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND Another festival. Another Simon-Garfunkel gig. But this one with LYDIA LUNCH. Maybe. THE DIALOGUE GLAUCON: The first issue of the magazine is loosely based on the d.i.y ethic in music, not in a mesh-capped vegan anarchist way but more about people not relying on getting signed to put music out.....so hence the questions about CFY So here is the first round of questioning, we'll start at the beginning..... How and why did oxbow begin? PLATO: Well one man spoke to another man and those two men sat in a garage where one of the men lived and constructed FUCKFEST out of the savaged remnants of ego-obsession. It was designed as a last will and testament and if nothing else at this point it's become terribly obvious that at this too, we have failed miserably. GLAUCON: How long after you started did you record your first album? PLATO: There was no start without the first album. Which is to say, IMMEDIATELY. GLAUCON: What was the reason for setting up CFY? PLATO: Oh. Um. Well probably to release music and make huge bundles of cash. Barring that the reasons must have been, if history is any indicator, to release music and SPEND huge bundles of cash. GLAUCON: What inspires you to make music? PLATO: My inability to cut the cord that connects me to you in a way that underscores that what is said, what we are saying is somehow, foolishly perhaps, significant. GLAUCON: Or to write? PLATO: Ego. Pure unadulterated, wild, naked with a knife ego. GLAUCON: There seem to be longer than average gaps in between your records. PLATO: What's average mean? Abe Lincoln once said in answer to the question regarding how tall a man should beŠ That is, how long his legs should be..."as long as they need to be to reach the floor." If there is an average agenda that we have somehow bypassed please let us know but we make records when we need to make records. And I mean NEED in the same way you might consider that you need to breathe. GLAUCON: Is the songwriting process something you like to take a lot of time over? PLATO: I don't know. We do. Outside of that I don't know that LIKE has anything to do with it. GLAUCON: Whilst each of your albums sounds very different, the OXBOW sound is still immediately obvious. Is this an intentional gesture or one that grows from playing together for so long? PLATO: Neither. It's like that guy Ibn Arabi said in his searing monograph The Bezels of Wisdom: you shine the mirror until its powers of reflection are so great that you can't even tell it's a mirror anymore. GLAUCON: Is recording an OXBOW album similar in mood to when you play live without the audience of course)? PLATO: Worse. Or better, depending on your point of view. GLAUCON: Are the tracks recorded live and bits added later? PLATO: Yes. I think. I mean I'm an idiot savant and what I'm savant about has very little to do with the knobs in the studio. GLAUCON: What does playing live mean to you? PLATO: It means that I am dying for reasons that have not been fully explained to me yet. Outside of that it probably means that I am trying to steal your woman. Or your money. Or your peace of mind. Again for reasons largely hidden from you and possibly me too. THE SCROTUM BETTER YEARS TOO LATE THEN A MOMENT TOO SOON "So back in 1987 or so I went from listening to metal to loving punk and hardcore; a friend introduced me to the DKs and that was that, you know? So sometime in my senior year of high school (89-90)I bought an issue of Maximum RockNRoll, and in that issue was an ad. Big naked man-ape motherfucker, cock swinging, looking pissed, logo says "FUCK THAT WEAK SHIT-OXBOW". This was about the time I first heard Big Black and noisier shit like that, and I remember thinking, "Oxbow. Huh. Gotta get me some of that". But, you know, the little indie-carrying stores I went to never had this particular record around. Fast forward it to about a year ago. Somehow I stumbled onto some thing yer boy Eugene wrote about Rollins, and how if you talk about all the fucking and killing you do, you probably really aren't doing too much of either. And I thought, "Oxbow. Shit, I remember them. I never checked them out, they're still around? Cool." So now it's today. I'm 31, a lot fucking calmer than I once was. My favorite CD of the last year is Interpol, and I can only think of 1 "punk" band from the last few years that doesn't bore the shit out of me. I'm all mellowed out and old, basically; I'm thinking about law school. I stumbled across the Vice Guide to Sex, Drugs, and Rock&Roll, and Eugene had a section in there about how fighting is more like an audit than a heartbreak. And I thought "Oxbow. You know, Newbury Comics is right across the street". So I walked over, found "An Evil Heat", and brought the fucker home. This is some good shit. I shoulda grabbed some of your stuff when I first saw the ad. Now just tell me if "'Ol Nick" is supposed to be Cave, because I don't hear him- or Jarboe- too clearly on here yet."-Michael COME BACK, LITTLE RAVEN "Oxbow! Please come to SXSW this year...we need our asses kicked HARD (again). Love--Chadly con Queso PS: Remember how great last year was (for me)? You said '30 hours of awake time. Jesus Christ. We are Jesus Christ. But enough from us, motivated as we are by THE LOVE OF THE PEOPLE Here's what they had to say about whatever happened when it happened when we played SXSW. http://www.crazewire.com/features/20030320185.php And a personal note from Mr. Chad, Hairdresser to the STARS! 'Awwwwww shit!!!!! I saw the Oxbow's SXSW showcase last Wednesday and nearly lost my mind! Thanks sooooo much for traveling here for that show. Y'all were one of the best things I saw at South By Southwest....certainly you were the most intense.-chad beck'" AUSTIN CITY LIMITS CHAD:"Eugene, just thought I would send you this goofy-ass pic my friend photoshopped of you and I. He's tired of me always talking about Oxbow, so apparently this was his form of retaliationŠ EUGENE: He's what?!?! What the hell!?!? Gimme his number....I'll show him what being tired of OXBOW really feels like, hahah.... CHAD: I'm still bummed your not on the list for SXSW. Can you please come back to Austin soon????????? EUGENE: Well it's less the lack of money and punishing drive as it is the fact that my leg is totally fucked up....but this period of convalescence has given me a much needed pause for reflection and introspection...and in the few weeks that I've been down and out I've looked inward a lot and have found this whole quiet inner pool of....well, of rage. Rage and generalized ill will....oh, and studied chaos. And so yeah, we'll come back to Austin....Like that beast slouching toward Jerusalem (the record, not the place). And Austin, well Austin will ignore us as usual but somehow that will be okay. WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY YELLING? MORE WORD ON THE LARGE SAC'D AND EIGHTH WONDER OF THE FUCKING MODERN WORLD: OXBOW!!! Serenade in Red ~ Oxbow No Pity September 9, 2003 When people review bands like Oxbow who have 0 commercial appeal they often use phrases like "Not for the faint of heart" or "If you like ___ look elsewhere". I recommend that everyone experience Oxbow at least once in their life. It only takes one time to know whether you like them or not. There is no grey area when it comes to Oxbow; either you can handle it or you can't. And that's the way the band likes it. They scorch a line in the earth and dare you to cross it. Listening to Oxbow changes what you expect to get from music. Their music isn't for pure entertainment and it's not something you listen to for a good laugh. Their music is direct and pushes all the ugliness of the human condition into your face; and they revel in it. No band is as merciless as Oxbow. (Read their newsletter at www.theoxbow.com for verification.) They continue the spirit of late 70s No Wave like no other band, creating music that you either love or hate. That's all there is to it. My first Oxbow album was "Balls in the Great Meat Grinder Collection". The third song on it is a duet/meeting of souls between lead singer (if you want to call him that) Eugene Robinson and Lydia Lunch. For five to eight minutes (I can't recall off-hand) they shred each other's dignity, portraying a couple who are poison to each other but refuse to let go. Quote: Eugene: "Baby, Baby" Lydia: "Call my name, call my name like its a reason to live." Take the opportunity to experience Oxbow; its better to know for certain than to question yourself in the back of your mind. So Much To Say October 20, 2003 My previous review didn't acknowledge this album in itself. That's because at the time I didn't own it but other Oxbow CDs. Now I do. The last track, a cover/molestation of Willie Dixon's blues standard "Insane Asylum", alone makes my spine tingle. The presence of Marianne Faithful makes me wonder how she reacted to the beast-child that is Eugene Robinson. The greatest thing about all of Oxbow's music is that it excites the imagination. In my mind's eye I see Ms. Faithful posed behind the micstand dedicated to her performance while a few feet away Robinson is choking the micstand and spitting and slobbering all over the its head. This album better than their older work also showcases the strength/talent of the band as a whole. Songs 1 and 2 belong to them as Eugene comes in every once in a while to blow chunks into the stew. God I love these bastards! SEVEN WINDS OVER THE GOBI DESERT "Here are the links pertaining to the documentary review and the interview with Christian Anthony and Niko: DVD REVIEW: "Oxbow is a band from San Francisco, CA. Their biography is a beautiful story of belligerence and random violence, like Chuck Palahniuk re-writing Dickens' Hard Times . Live, on a good night, they remind you that not all art is artifice. But are they really worthy of the ultimate immortalization in rock: the tour documentary? I'll save you the suspense: the answer is yes, yes, and hell yeah. But let's pretend we're getting all rhetorical on yo' ass for a moment. In the spring of 2002, indie filmmaker Christian Anthony set out to document Oxbow's European tour. Christ knows why. Maybe someone dared him? Maybe he lost a bet to Big Paulie, the Pimp of Polk St? Whatever, this hapless film maker became privy to the deepest, darkest secrets of Oxbowland; and, I'm happy to add, managed to make a kick-ass documentary to boot. Yet, due to ongoing psychological trauma of the most expensive kind, I find it difficult to talk about Music for Adults in any concrete fashion. Here, for you, are my "fragments of a review." Use them wisely: It all begins with four minutes of viscera-shredding rock, just to make sure no one's tempted to fast forward. Then a talking head: Mr. Random European, post-Oxbow, "Where does it stop ­ does it stop?" No." http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/review_iss19_1572.php?sid=626583d61b6830f3af85ab6598d16aee&page_rs=5&osCsid=626583d61b6830f3af85ab6598d16aee INTERVIEW: "The band known as Oxbow has become one of Maelstrom's favorite subjects to write about. Personally, I can say without a doubt that the best interview I've ever done is with Oxbow's singer, Eugene Robinson. There's a depth to this band that you can delve into, and still not really have a grasp of what all is going on. There's an equal mix of maturity, preposterous immaturity, wisdom and carnality. It makes for great music, conversation, theater, spectacle... and now it makes for a great movie, too. Christian Anthony is a web designer. His main gig is running the massive database of porn re-seller Gamelink.com. Yet despite these two activities Anthony is involved in, things that the norm would consider wild or fringe, he seems as solidly regular as any man you'd meet. So in his own way, Anthony was the perfect choice to film a movie documenting Oxbow's six week, 2002 tour through Europe. I met up with Anthony, and Oxbow guitarist Niko Wenner, to talk about this document on the best art rock band no one will ever hear about. http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/interview_iss19_139.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160&page_rs=1&osCsid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160 And here are all the links for previous articles about Oxbow: An Evil Heat reviews: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/review_iss9_419.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160§ion=3 Oxbow interview: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/interview_iss14_11.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160§ion=5 Oxbow/Subarachnoid Space: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/livereview_iss13_55.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160§ion=5 Oxbow/ Porch Caesura: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/livereview_iss14_3.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160§ion=5 Oxbow/ Extra Action Marching Band: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/livereview_iss14_8.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160§ion=5 Oxbow acoustic set: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/livereview_iss14_9.php?sid=6772bb38b87a77dc63729c90f0122160§ion=5 NEXT MONTH: APRIL SHOWERS WILL BRING MAY FLOWERS. 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