TheOXBOW.com: OXBOW - Trouble That Will Trouble The World

Newsletter No. 45: REGRET, RELIEF, DEBASEMENT. REPEAT.

"THE AGE OF THE APE UPON US, IS UPON US... Ape Politic will reign. I am absolved of all. And so are you. There is no need too TRY every again. I will offer no reasons for why this is so. That's all part of the new way. I will do whatever I CAN. Realizing this now versus when I'm murdering you for a parking space is much better in the scheme of things." - E. Robinson

"Rage cannot be hidden, it can only be dissembled. This dissembling deludes the thoughtless, and strengthens rage and adds, to rage, contempt." - James Baldwin

"MURDER IS TERRIBLY EXHAUSTING." - ALBERT CAMUS

Have you been injured in an OXBOW?
Posted By: InfernalKeith
Posted On: 10/18/2004 11:54:22 AM

Call Gruhin and Gruhin today. We speak "stoner rock"!

You may be entitled to compensation for lost drinking and smoking time, pain and suffering, stress-related scene beard hair loss, and Internet mouth-typing-stick retraining, should the loss of limb use occur. In addition, your mother-slash-landlord may be eligible for mobile meals assistance, should you be unable to reach Taco Bell or dial for a pizza on your own.

Call Gruhin and Gruhin today. When OXBOW hurts... we can help.

* Gruhin and Gruhin is not licensed to represent clients with PGGASD (Post-GG Allin-Stress-Disorder).

WAITING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

This is a time like no other time. No other. But every moment pimps out its own significance thus like: No me. No ME. But like any good negligent father, the competing moments find themselves ignored in the face of The Lasting Impression. And it's this that's such a jumble in this here time. Because the impressions have accreted and all we're left with is the addict's rush and stumble of addled event after addled event and like that shit that needs to get done (work, rest, play, Milky Way) it just doesn't and it feels worse and worse to not get it done and you start to get high offa that until the emails start to come and they all ask the same thing "where is it? Where is it?" And because it's nowhere and you know it's nowhere you retreat to the garage, put on rubber gloves and wipe down all the bullets, wipe them free of your name, rank and serial status as an asshole of the first order.

And so this is the Everything Deal: Newsletter. And Tour Diary. And as close as possible, a total explanation of the events of the last 5 weeks, rumors of which have already filtered back to you by now, no doubt.

To those who have been slighted, irked or actually injured by the description of the following events described herein OR by the actual events themselves, we sort of apologize. To those of you who haven't been able to let it go: we will see you again and next time it'll be even worse.

A SURE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE NOW: A CONVERSATION WITH DUANE DENISON

DUANE DENISON: "Hey--it's me, your old pal Duane Denison."

EUGENE ROBINSON: "Can we pronounce that D-Wayne? For no other reason than that we just enjoy negrotizing names insofar as possible.

DD: "Thanks for your reply, Eugene and for not killing me. People have called me 'DeWayne' all my life (I grew up in a Detroit suburb where I was informed that I had a 'nigger name') and they still do sometimes. But I just thought I'd drop a line to tell you that I bought 'an evil heat' the other day, and I've listened to it probably 3 times since then, like it, etc.

ER: "This can't be good. For you. Or anybody else for that matter. Listening to too much OXBOW seems to go hand in hand with a marked decline in personal fortunes. Do not say that you were not warned.

DD: "Look, I honestly don't remember exactly what it was I said that started this whole thing between us, but I think it was spurred by jealousy on my part at having seen an Oxbow feature in 'The Wire' a while back. You guys got a full page, photos, etc while the most Tomahawk ever got from them was a tepid one paragraph review from some dork who probably doesn't like rock. Like I said, thanks for not killing me at that festival in France or wherever it was. I was too hungover to fully comprehend things. And Fozzie was hyperventilating, presumably from stress.

But 'evil heat' sounds so good. It has serious depth, esp. the gits and drums.

ok then, evil empires rule, dpd"

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY YELLING?!?!?

Oxbow

An Evil Heat
(Neurot Recordings)

Simply put, San Francisco's Oxbow is the sounds of the Jesus Lizard committed to an insane asylum. Mind you, one might have thought that the Jesus Lizard's David Yow was already committed, so let's imagine Oxbow as the resulting lobotomy. Their newest slab of chaotic vitriol, An Evil Heat is the first album from these noisemeisters since 1997's Steve Albini-produced Serenade In Red on SST. Frontman Eugene Robinson's vocal range runs the gamut from Geddy Lee highs to everything in between, though he mostly prefers simple wailing to actual singing. Scavenging the ŒS' section of the dictionary for song titles, ³The Snake &...² serves as an unsettling introduction to the slam-crazy, Melvins-esque heaviness of ³...The Stick,² heaving and lurching in intensity with Niko Wenner's dive-bombing, Jimmy Page-like guitars. ³S Bar X² more closely resembles the unpredictability of Harvey Milk with its bluesy chords threatening to swerve out of control at any minute; ³Stallkicker² is the most controlled cut as its laidback grooves and shimmering notes emanate forth with the rise and fall of Robinson's manic vox. The deceivingly titled ³Sweetheart² broods under the floorboards like Physical Graffiti-era Led Zeppelin while breaking through every so often, sending showers of wood splinters and broken nails in all directions. ³Sorry² oozes painfully slow like Melvins molasses then explodes with histrionic bashfests amid more soothing passages. ³Skin² barrels forth like the Jesus Lizard possessed then slows down in random screams like anguished outtakes from The Wall. The massive, 32-minute closer ³Shine (Glimmer)² could be SubArachnoid Space covering Ted Nugent's ³Stranglehold,² or a Welcome To Sky Valley-era Kyuss jam session with the rhythm section high on Pink Floyd's Meddle. Like Cream on intravenous Quaaludes, Oxbow remain both wildly inventive and deceptively dangerous. [Dan Woolley] -- www.digitalmetal.com

"Neurot Recordings I: Various artists

Neurot Recordings is the outlet that Neurosis uses to redefine music through its own releases and that of like-minded bands and artists. Appropriately, this two-disc label sampler begins with Neurosis washing over the listener a heavy wave of power and quiescence in "Burn," a track that also appears on the Neurosis album "The Eye of Every Storm." Just as appropriately, this roster tour than takes us to one of the very cool projects not born of the Neurosis clan. That is Oxbow and the dark and dangerous improvisation "Time's Up, Sailor Man." Already we have got the basic facts of Neurot Recordings stated: (1) all things Neurosis, and (2) all things fans of Neurosis want to know about. --http://www.turbula.net/2004-fall/music-outsight-september.html

EUROPE CALLING

"What can I say about San Franciscan art-rockers (I don't really know what that term means but everyone uses it) Oxbow?

For those who don't know anything about them here's the basics: Frontman Eugene earns a living outside of Oxbow on the Extreme Fighting Championship circuit. He strangled some guy that got onstage acting a twat in Leicester, apparently the guy looked in 'a lot of pain' afterwards.

Emma Rat asked Eugene if he would wrestle me, the response being "Guys I wrestle Onstage. Offstage I only wrestle GIRLS."

I reckon he shat himself, I mean...look at my pecs!"

THE MALE SAC

NOTE: CMJ WILL STILL NOT BOOK US

"From: Kory Grow/ CMJ
To: Neurot
Date: October 20, 2004 2:43:32 PM PDT
Subject: oxbow

"I saw Niko and Eugene perform last night and was totally blown away. It was a great show. I even bought some merch I didn't yet have. I only wish the opening bands would have appreciated it more. My girlfriend really liked the show as well. She compared them to 20th Cent. composer Charles Ives's operas. Great stuff. Had a ball. Thanks for the postcard telling me about the show. Can't wait to see you and Neurosis in November."

ANOTHER LETTER FROM A GUY WE THOUGHT WE'D HAVE TO FIGHT

"Eugene,
I've given An Evil Heat a half-dozen or so listens in the past couple weeks. It's got the power akin to the early swans releases...but listening to this makes me even feel even more feral and somewhat predatory...i guess it talks to the inner sadist in me...heh.

One question that's been gnawing at me...where DO you go when you're onstage?‹D. Ennis, Minnesota"

EUGENE Answers: well either this is like really heavy, heavy, heavy sarcasm or you're insane...in either case we appreciate the sentiment. But where?...well into the heart of indignity, maybe. And not the kind that presumes the existence of DIGNITY...i remember reading about carl panzram. now I know it's awfully trendy for everyone to have their own favorite serial killer these days but Carl was different perhaps. his introduction to crime was as a victim of a gang rape at the hands of a bunch of homo hobos. he begged them to stop. and they didn't. and panzram spent the rest of his life in one long, low act of revenge, showing as much mercy as he had gotten to the many whose paths he crossed. now his story in no way parallels mine, however, there is a reservoir of rage in my family line, rage and mania that when embraced puts me most perfectly in place to DO THAT WHICH MUST BE DONE....whether that's play a show or something else....on this tour there were many fights...even more than the england tour....and you'll probably read about them in the next tour diary, however, the point should be well taken: the world is the place I go to when I'm onstage."

MY DINNER WITH PIOTR AND EWAN

"FROM: ROBERT "THE POLISH PRINCE" IWANIK FROM ROPE
TO: JAMES MCARDLE - SOUTHERN RECORDS

yo jim,
eugene asked me, if you're coming for sure, so don't let him down. he was also wondering, if you're mad at him for calling you a drug addict and if you wanna fight him. so don't let him down on that front either, his leg is still fucked up from his last fight, so your chances are higher.

cheers,
Robert"

"From: James McArdle - Southern Records
To: Robert "The Polish Prince" Iwanik from ROPE
Subject: tonight
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004

I should have seen Oxbow before. I fucked up, what can I say? The songs are sharp; full, complete pieces. Eugene's delivery is something else. As intense, maybe even more so, than I expected. It's a wonder he doesn't get the bends going down into 'performance persona' and then coming back up/out. His vox on the Beatles covers was tweaked, and Niko's playing, well, you could tell by the look on his face that he took what he was doing VERY seriously. Right on.

It's inspiring to watch men like that work; and it's also good to know when to stand back and stay the hell outta their way. - cheers --- JPMc"

EUGENE INTERJECTS:

"in regards to the bends....well you know something interesting? the first Oxbow show maybe occurred in 1977 in my bathroom in brooklyn...and when it ended I was on the floor wrapped around the toilet and the thought had intruded, simple and unadorned and a variant on the "you keep making that face and it'll stay that way": i might never come back from this. and I don't think I have...the only difference pre- and post-horror seems to be that after AN EVIL HEAT, well, i have become an optimist. which is just another way of saying maybe that horror is not so bad....

cheers,
Eugene"

"FROM: ROBERT "THE POLISH PRINCE" IWANIK FROM ROPE
TO: JAMES MCARDLE - SOUTHERN RECORDS

hola james,

thanks again for coming out last night. it was very nice to see you. i'm also glad that you finally met the guys from oxbow, or its half to be more specific. were they great last night, or what? just imagine that as a quartet, they're 20 times louder and eugene is in total fury and insanity. fighting his fight. eh, it's just undescribable. i'm sure sooner or later they'll drive up here again for 2.5 days to play for 45 minutes and you'll get to see them."

"From: James McArdle - Southern Records
To: Robert "The Polish Prince" Iwanik from ROPE
Subject: tonight
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004

I wish I had the $$ to get him some whiskey and powders and watch him go MAD in front of us and then laugh like a stooge when he's curled up in a fetal position alternately swearing it all off and offering to suck cock for "just one more bump".

Hmmm.....actually, I don't wish that. I've heard he's really a good guy. Lemme save that wish for a truly deserving clown (no names named).

RADIO RADIO IS A SAD SENSATION

"Hey. Just wanted to say THANK YOU. Was a severe pleasure today hosting that. I'm gonna boost the level a little bit for the radio airing -- the quiet parts register a little too quiet but the loud should be all equalized by the time it goes thru our transmitter/limiter/etc. to go on air so it will sound fine. But it was an awesome performance, thanks to you both.

If you want to post on your site, the session will be archived at

www.wfmu.org/playlists/BT

for anyone to check it out...

Thanks again Eugene, it was a really great experience seeing you guys live and in our studio - hope we see you out here again sometime.

Brian Turner
WFMU Music/Program Director"

PICTURE ME, PICTURING YOU

"I added photos from the Buffalo show to my site: musicpeoplebuffalo

http://www.geocities.com/concertsbuffalo

it was fucked up
Mike Mulley"

THE DAVID TED FAN CLUB

"This David Ted guy is the reason why it sucks being in a band. Instead of having hot bitches with big tits make these requests. As we were all so forcefully led to believe to be the natural order of things in a band from all those 80s music videos, you get some weird DUDE who wants you to shove every foreign object up their asshole until it bleeds.

And what is it with weirdo homo's and their infatuations with Oxbow? It doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Most homos I know tend to stay away if not totally avoid naked negros with a with preferences of a violent nature.

Masochists they all are, masochists!-b.stevens/condition"

AN INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE

Excerpts from some online mag called CAA. We can't remember the writer's name. But here for your amusement and eventual degradation his chat with Eugene:

CAA: On your website, it reads, "CONFRONTATION is Oxbow's thing.

it should be noted that WE never said that. that was excerpted from a review by Dean Kuipers, I believe. Though it may be assumed that we tacitly endorse it by having it placed there (though it should also be noted that we didn't design the site either), we find that much less interesting than, say, just making our music.

CAA: After watching the DVD and seeing your "duo" set in DC, recently, I'd have to agree.

well music is our thing. so I respectfully disagree. but given HOW our music is played and how we feel about what we do, well it's to be expected perhaps that people would feel differently. In actual fact confrontation, that is: deliberate grief seeking is NOT our thing. grief seems to find one easily enough without invoking it. however you just happened to catch us at an unusual juncture. Perhaps.

CAA: When I saw you guys play as the "Acoustic Duo" in DC, I brought a friend of mine who has never heard of Oxbow just to see how he would react to the music and performance. He didn't care much for it and went outside right before the "confrontation," so to speak. When he came back inside and saw you with the singer of another band on the bill in a headlock on the floor, he said, "What the hell happened?" I just said, "Oxbow happened." Cliche maybe, but it's all I could think to say. When we made our two hour drive back home, he asked me to put on An Evil Heat. He was curious after the show. Do you find that when you talk to people about Oxbow that they are more drawn to you by the music, in the beginning, or the "spectacle?" At least at first.

i think I'd be hard-pressed to find ANYONE who came for the spectacle. simply because we don't play enough, don't play regularly enough and certainly only do what we do in the swirl of changing events and emotions that dictate wildly disparate outcomes from show to show. in other words it's not the same show every night and so which spectacle would they be coming for? the Negro on stage spectacle? or the complicated music spectacle? or the 4 guys in a band spectacle?

these are issues that are largely occult to us, in any case.

CAA: When I hear people talk about Oxbow, they seem to focus, in conversation, on Eugene's penchant for undressing, fondling, and...um..chokeholds!haha.

are these men? are women? are they gay? or straight? are they excited? titillated? or just appalled?

hmmm....I can tell you one thing they're probably not: musicians. we're like johnny hartman. one of the greatest singers ever but he was widely not so much reviled but just ignored. but on any given night when he played there'd be like 20 people in the audience and with great regularity, 5 of them would be like Sinatra, nat king cole, tony bennett and so on and so forth.

this is no boast. just a simple observation.

CAA: But has this always been a part of Oxbow's performance?

what? undressing? fondling? and chokeholds? no. it hasn't been and it's not now. and this cuts to the base root of what we're doing. not so much a show or a performance but a semi-public rendering of the men we really are vis a vis some variant of musical art. and the emotional coloration has changed over time because we've changed over time so while someone in 1996 might have seen me grabbed my cock, and then seen me grab it again in 2004, it wouldn't necessarily follow that we're at the same point in the river. again. no.....different man. different river. different cock even.

but very few will get that. because they might only be understanding what we do through the lens of performance and show and that's still totally wrong.

I mean we KNOW you all are there when we play. but we don't play FOR you. we play despite you. or to spite you.

CAA: Why do you do what you do live? One of my friends hates Oxbow because they feel Eugene is just being perverse for no reason.

and this would problematical, why?

in any case.....I mean a friend of mine once said "i think people who use big words just do so to make themselves hard to understand." yeah yeah, and a bad dancer blames his shoes. the reasons don't even need to guessed at. they're right there in black and white. but we exist in a non-causal universe. at least I do. so maybe they are more right than not. reason has very little to with it, in total.

But, if we're deigning to dip into spectacle there's a method to even this madness. and usually that method is: don't fuck with Mr. Zero.

I mean nobody HAS to get hurt at an Oxbow show. nobody has to, but somebody occasionally wants to. and so....

CAA: What are some the short terms plans for Oxbow >

to finish the two multi-part projects for hydrahead....

the spring time project is a collection of our 20 second symphonies, parisian volleys and unreleased singles shit bundled with a double in length extended rendering of the DVD, MUSIC FOR ADULTS.

the fall time project is a new record AND a sound track for a movie that has to find funding. that being a movie we want to make called THE NARCOTIC STORY.

NAKED NEGROES AMUSE GERMANS

"Hi,
your life gigs are very hot, that you perform naked. I am working on a feature called "Sex & Music." Here in Germany a lot of live shows are really sexy at the moment. At my feature I will do interviews with those bands and ask them why they do strip on stage or play with sex or erotica. Often it seems to be a poltical statement or it's like an art concept, the art of "sex, drugs and rock n roll". I will also show some old videos like "Cramps," "Stooges", "New York Dolls"... So if you have some footage for me I love to put it in my piece. It's also interesting to know why do you perform naked? Thank you very much,

greetings from Berlin,
Britta Mischer>

Kobalt Productions
Film und Fernseh GmbH"

EUGENE responds: "well it's also a cheap way of getting attention. both by the bands and the people doing stories on the bands because people will always stop for car wrecks and fucking. however i think the show is made or broken in terms of how far you stay away from the sensational aspects of what's inherently sensational and focus on not WHY they do it, since this will invariably be nothing but lies anyway, but HOW they do it. and this might be cool. because certainly OXBOW doesn't USE sex at all. OXBOW in and of itself is SEXUAL. there is a difference. I think.

I also don't always perform naked. and when I do I don't know that there's any single reason for it. much like there's no single reason for suicide. maybe there's a pretty woman in the audience. maybe it's about the song. maybe it's about the wine. maybe it's just that there are some days when you wake up and think that what would make the day complete would be to have hundreds of people see your cock.

It could really be any of those reasons.

Heil Hitler!

A PERSONAL TESTICLEMONY RE: NIKO WENNER

"Hello Niko.

I have spoken of you most affectionately over the years as the "best guitarist I ever jammed with..."

We performed together in the Interlake High School Jazz band, when you were a senior. We were living in the blandness of suburbia. You were an artist. You were amazing. You played as though you were born with a guitar-- like it was your first language, and that english was "in the way..."

I was a mediocre drummer who got to be a bit better, later on, still all in all, mediocre---We were in the bus together the night that Randy Rhodes died--- why do I remember this?

Your genius stayed with me. Instinctively, I knew you had found your way to the biz-- that it was not what you would do some day, but who in fact you are, and how you would be in this world.

I have not seen your band. After reading a bit online, it appears as if you are a part of something very big, very raw, very moving, if not still largely inaccesable... or at least, inaccesable to me?

I learned my place in the world, and gave up the drums--- today I run an event planning (cryptic for "concert promoter") business based out of Bend, Oregon.

I am inspired daily by the vast greatness that resides in humans to make amazing music--- all types of music. I feel blessed to facilitate this experience (except when I lose my ass, which is all the time, and yet even then, it is still a blessing).

Congratulations to you for the life you have forged. Perhaps I will take in one of your shows some day?

-Cam Clark
Interlake High School, Class of 84"
www.c3events.com

RADIO KILLED THE RADIO STAR

((-o Final Transmission Radio Show o-)) playlist IX + X 2004

date: 10/23/04 21:00 - 22:00 MEZ

LUNAR "tgemolo" from "turbo" (moonlee records)
THE DENISON/ KIMBALL TRIO "whirlpool" from "landshark/ whirpool" (sub pop)
GONE BALD "ona" from "fat butt twin series #1" (fbwl records)
JESUS LIZARD "puss" from "jesus lizard/ nirvana" (touch&go)
WHITE TORNADO "contrived" from "white tornado/ colossamite" (free land records)
SHELLAC "wingwalker" from "uranus" (touch&go)
COLOSSAMITE "guts of lead" from "white tornado/ colossamite" (free land records)
OXBOW "brujita" from "double of love, volume uno" (crippled dick hot wax)
ZENI GEVA "autofuck" from "autofuck/ when i was a horseback" (skin graft)
JANMICHAELVINCENTCARCRASH "love, the frog" from ".humanbodyflawed./ .janmichaelvincentcarcrash." (obtuse mule)
27 "angel´s share" from "angel´s share" (kimchee records)
NEUTRINO "dropped" frm "bfep 010" (box factory records)
KILLDOZER "let me put my love into you" from "acdc side 7-10" (skin graft, gasoline boost)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

date: 09/25/04 21:00 - 22:00 MEZ

TODAY IS THE DAY "why they hate us" from "kiss the pig" (relapse)
LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR "carnage fucking carnage" from "demo"
HARVEY MILK "dating pressures" from "the kelley sessions" (escape artist, crowd control activities)
NATSAT "2" from "angle" (space patrol)
THEORY OF RUIN "hiju de un guapo" from "front line poster child" (escape artist)
OXBOW "shine (glimmer)" from "an evil heat" (neurot recordings)

final transmission http://www.interstellarrecords.at/finaltransmission

w.c.h. band http://www.firtsfloor.rog/wch

big kult http://www.bigkult.com

NEW ADRESS!!!!!!
Richard Herbst
Lustenauerstr. 18/7
A-4020 Linz
Austria
+43-650-6443715

THE CLOSING MISSIVE BEFORE THE TOUR DIARY COCK GETS PULLED An Urgent Exchange Between A Young Man & Eugene Concerning Coming of Age

Jesse: playing shows...you guys (well, you, since i havent talked to any of the other guys) seem like you're trying to make something. maybe make something is the wrong word, but definitely achieve something. maybe.

no. definitely. create something. something that writes on the pages of history exactly who it is that we were and that is: things that die.

Jesse: the only problem (well that ive found with this kind of thing from personal experience) is that #1) trying to kill the pain by showing it to everyone just brings it back worse when the shows over and you find out its still yours, and #2) maybe youd be happier if you just swallowed it like everybody else and got a life.

"get over it"? well this I've largely done. three years ago I had a moment. and the shows changed.and I changed. and the change is documented on An Evil Heat. but the struggle has ceased. when i see Oxbow shows now I see celebrations. even though I guess in all fairness a funeral is kind of a celebration too.

Jesse: but then that brings you to the question of, MAYBE everybody else out there doesnt feel things like you feel.

the whole UNIQUENESS argument? nah....we're about as unique as trees. which is to say YES, BUT, SO WHAT? Everybody else might feel the way we feel but we only have to vouch for ONE of those people....

Jesse: (by the way, im not specifically meaning YOU with this, just so this doesnt sound so creepy eh lol). So how have you dealt with this? assuming that you can relate to what im talking about of course.

well i had this road to damascus moment. a moment where the battles ceased and I won the war. it's hard to say how exactly it was that I got here and I've been thinking about it a lot, but all of a sudden all of my philosophizing stopped being just talk and i realized that I am this animal that I am. my personal pain and wretchedness is insignificant to almost everyone but me and therefore my joys will only be significant to me, as well. and so it is necessary that I pursue that which seems to best suit my existence. like a bird flies. like a fish swims. I realized who I am and am that man. all oxbow after that is telling that story...."so sorry? not hardly...."

NEXT MONTH: THE HUNT FOR HEROIN CONTINUES!!!!

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