TODAY 17/07/09

ROB K FALA DE THE CHUMPS, PUNK ROCK, WOODSTOCK, HEROINA, BILL GATES, AMOR E MUITO MAIS em entrevista exclusiva via msn para Mamma Vendetta

Sexta feira de noite fria em São Paulo, nada como ficar em casa embaixo de uma pilha de cobertores, pipoca, animais alimentados, lap top na mão e bons amigos no MSN!!! Ainda mais quando um desses amigos é nada mais do que o lendário Rob K.

Em poucas palavras Rob foi um dos criadores do hard core em 1976 quando formou a banda The Chumps de Washington. Depois formou os Workdogs já nos anos 80 em NY que contou em suas gravações com Jon Spencer, Popa Chubby, Ivan Julian, Kid Congo Powers ( The Cramps e Bad Seeds), Marce Hall, Lydia Lunch, Moe Tucker (Velvet Underground).

Hoje, aos 56 anos de idade, casado há 34 anos com Caki sua namorada desde a adolescência em Washington D.C., Rob mora no Hawaii trabalhando na construção civil para sua sobrevivência e mantendo o duo The Jam Messengers com Marco Butcher compondo pela internet e realizando tours pelo mundo, sua verdadeira alma.

Rob é de longe um dos caras mais agradáveis que eu já conheci, extremamente educado, inteligente, bem humorado, corpo perfeito esculpido pela prática da yoga por mais de vinte anos, dando inveja a muitos meninos, um cara que depois de 30 anos de estrada não tem medo de pegar um ônibus mais uma vez e ir levar a sua música para qualquer lugar onde o chamarem!

Rob é o rei das palavras, suas letras são a expressão de tudo o que vê e sente, desde a pizza que recebeu como pagamento na noite anterior, até a indignação com o mundo em que vivemos.

Da nossa longa conversa, um trecho foi excepcionalmente engraçado e elucidativo sobre o início da sua carreira como músico com a formação dos The Chumps!

Confira aqui, o que uma noite fria em São Paulo e uma tarde chuvosa em Volcano no Hawaii pode trazer de informação sobre a história da cultura punk.

Com vocês Mr. Rob K:

[07/11/09 01:48:01 ] robk : hey did I tell you Rolling Stone interviewed me about Woodstock?
[07/11/09 01:48:10 ] ale maestro : no!!!
[07/11/09 01:48:12 ] ale maestro : when?
[07/11/09 01:48:14 ] robk : not sure when the article comes out
[07/11/09 01:48:18 ] robk : soon I guess
[07/11/09 01:48:21 ] ale maestro : great!!!!
[07/11/09 01:48:37 ] ale maestro : please! bring one for me!!!!
[07/11/09 01:48:43 ] robk : the guy seemed to like my stories
[07/11/09 01:49:01 ] ale maestro : and how was Woodstock for you?
[07/11/09 01:49:04 ] robk : but he did have an angle he was working on in the story
[07/11/09 01:49:22 ] robk : people whose lives were REALLY changed by Woodstock
[07/11/09 01:49:33 ] robk : mine wasn't really that changed
[07/11/09 01:49:50 ] robk : more changed by punk rock if any fuckin thing
[07/11/09 01:50:04 ] ale maestro : because you were already changed when got there
[07/11/09 01:50:14 ] robk : so don't know if he'll use what I said
[07/11/09 01:50:26 ] robk : yea sure
[07/11/09 01:50:40 ] robk : I was already into drugs and rock
[07/11/09 01:51:00 ] robk : what changed was when I realized I could do it myself
[07/11/09 01:51:05 ] robk : that took punk
[07/11/09 01:51:26 ] robk : I used to think musicians were GODS
[07/11/09 01:51:28 ] robk : hahahahah
[07/11/09 01:51:32 ] ale maestro : heheehhehe
[07/11/09 01:51:35 ] robk : what a chump I was
[07/11/09 01:51:40 ] ale maestro : rararaarrara
[07/11/09 01:52:09 ] ale maestro : that's why you became the chump?
[07/11/09 01:52:19 ] robk : one of the reasons
[07/11/09 01:52:35 ] robk : hate to say it but the name fit us like a GLOVE
[07/11/09 01:52:46 ] ale maestro : RAARARARARARRARARA
[07/11/09 01:52:54 ] robk : not kidding
[07/11/09 01:53:00 ] ale maestro : RARARAARRAARRA
[07/11/09 01:53:11 ] robk : jeez one of the most DIFFICULT bands ever
[07/11/09 01:53:16 ] robk : and my FIRST
[07/11/09 01:53:17 ] ale maestro : how old were you?
[07/11/09 01:53:21 ] robk : so I had no idea
[07/11/09 01:53:28 ] ale maestro : why difficult?
[07/11/09 01:53:42 ] robk : well kinda old by band standards
[07/11/09 01:53:45 ] robk : lets see
[07/11/09 01:53:50 ] robk : I was married
[07/11/09 01:53:58 ] robk : guess it was 76
[07/11/09 01:54:02 ] robk : so 23
[07/11/09 01:54:30 ] robk : difficult because they guys were STRANGE
[07/11/09 01:54:40 ] robk : NOT musician types AT ALL
[07/11/09 01:54:46 ] robk : I was the closest
[07/11/09 01:54:59 ] robk : they were kinda more like sculptors
[07/11/09 01:55:10 ] robk : wayyyy introverted
[07/11/09 01:55:16 ] ale maestro : rararara
[07/11/09 01:55:19 ] ale maestro : I see
[07/11/09 01:55:39 ] ale maestro : and didn't know how to play?
[07/11/09 01:55:43 ] robk : I don't have a CLUE why we even did the shit
[07/11/09 01:56:01 ] robk : I GUESS because there was one guy with rock ambitions
[07/11/09 01:56:07 ] ale maestro : rarararararararraar
[07/11/09 01:56:13 ] robk : and he and I started the chumps
[07/11/09 01:56:34 ] robk : but he had VERY WEIRD theories about music
[07/11/09 01:56:51 ] ale maestro : weird theories?
[07/11/09 01:56:56 ] robk : completely WRONG as far as traditional theory goes
[07/11/09 01:57:04 ] robk : but I didn't know that
[07/11/09 01:57:30 ] ale maestro : what kind of music did he listened to that time?
[07/11/09 01:57:36 ] robk : eventually another guy who knew a LITLLE about how music works joined the band
[07/11/09 01:57:48 ] robk : he LOVED Jimi Hendrix
[07/11/09 01:58:00 ] robk : but there only 1 Jimi
[07/11/09 01:58:02 ] robk : sorry
[07/11/09 01:58:11 ] ale maestro : rarararara
[07/11/09 01:58:33 ] robk : anyway the Jimi guy got TOTALLY threatened by the guy who knew how to tune
[07/11/09 01:58:46 ] robk : that was almost ALL he knew
[07/11/09 01:59:10 ] robk : but Jimi guy calls this BIG SERIOUS BAND MEETING
[07/11/09 01:59:34 ] robk : and the purpose was to GET RID of the guy who knew how to tune
[07/11/09 01:59:39 ] ale maestro : arararra
[07/11/09 01:59:42 ] robk : !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[07/11/09 01:59:43 ] robk : hahahah
[07/11/09 01:59:45 ] ale maestro : great!
[07/11/09 01:59:49 ] robk : SOOOOOOOOO
[07/11/09 01:59:55 ] ale maestro : arararrarararra
[07/11/09 02:00:12 ] robk : even CHUMPS could see that it was a self destructive idea!
[07/11/09 02:00:19 ] ale maestro : RARARRARARAARRA
[07/11/09 02:00:38 ] robk : so in the end the Jimi guy walked
[07/11/09 02:00:44 ] robk : BUT
[07/11/09 02:01:31 ] robk : now I had a band of TOTAL introverts that truly could not give a fuck about any of the usual things like gigging or recording
[07/11/09 02:01:49 ] robk : they liked to watch TV while we practiced
[07/11/09 02:01:58 ] ale maestro : raarararrarararara
[07/11/09 02:02:04 ] robk : seriously watch TV
[07/11/09 02:02:16 ] robk : we used to play with TVs on stage
[07/11/09 02:02:31 ] ale maestro : to play???
[07/11/09 02:02:46 ] ale maestro : the shows were wit the tv on the stage?
[07/11/09 02:02:51 ] robk : so I was the head guy without having a single clue about any of it
[07/11/09 02:03:01 ] robk : didn't know how to play
[07/11/09 02:03:05 ] robk : how to sing
[07/11/09 02:03:11 ] robk : how to manage
[07/11/09 02:03:24 ] robk : only thing I knew was about heroin
[07/11/09 02:03:45 ] robk : which was a thing I shared with a couple of the other guys
[07/11/09 02:03:56 ] robk : and down the tubes we went!!!
[07/11/09 02:03:57 ] robk : hahahha
[07/11/09 02:04:11 ] ale maestro : ararrarararara
[07/11/09 02:04:26 ] robk : more TV watching than playing after a while
[07/11/09 02:04:31 ] ale maestro : i'm listening to it now on myspace!
[07/11/09 02:04:36 ] robk : hahaha
[07/11/09 02:04:49 ] robk : there’s some cool stuff about Chumps
[07/11/09 02:04:49 ] ale maestro : the sax is greattt!!!! rararararar
[07/11/09 02:04:59 ] robk : I didn't give you the CD?
[07/11/09 02:05:04 ] robk : I will in Aug
[07/11/09 02:05:05 ] ale maestro : no!!!
[07/11/09 02:05:13 ] ale maestro : cooolll!!!!
[07/11/09 02:05:36 ] robk : guy in australia finally put out the CD 2 years ago
[07/11/09 02:05:46 ] robk : it was recorded mostly in 79
[07/11/09 02:06:02 ] robk : never came out then
[07/11/09 02:06:25 ] ale maestro : so it took 3 years to put out the album!
[07/11/09 02:06:34 ] robk : 30
[07/11/09 02:06:42 ] robk : hahaha
[07/11/09 02:06:43 ] ale maestro : rararra
[07/11/09 02:06:44 ] robk : yes
[07/11/09 02:07:25 ] ale maestro : but how did you recorded the songs, wasn't there a vinyl?
[07/11/09 02:07:49 ] robk : we did a 7" in 77-78 I guess
[07/11/09 02:08:12 ] robk : and we THOUGHT it would be an album - vinyl
[07/11/09 02:08:32 ] robk : but I would have had to be the one to sell it
[07/11/09 02:08:37 ] robk : and I DID try
[07/11/09 02:08:52 ] robk : but I really didn't know what I was doing then
[07/11/09 02:08:58 ] robk : we HAD a manager
[07/11/09 02:09:00 ] robk : hahahah
[07/11/09 02:09:10 ] robk : he worked in THE WHITE HOUSE
[07/11/09 02:09:12 ] ale maestro : raarar don't laugh on that!!!
[07/11/09 02:09:16 ] robk : for NIXON!!!
[07/11/09 02:09:17 ] robk : hahaah
[07/11/09 02:09:21 ] ale maestro : raraarrarararararaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[07/11/09 02:09:33 ] robk : he didn't know too much about the business sadly
[07/11/09 02:09:35 ] robk : hahaah
[07/11/09 02:09:45 ] ale maestro : and whyyyy was him your manager?!?!
[07/11/09 02:10:09 ] robk :because he put up the money for the record!!!
[07/11/09 02:10:10 ] robk : hahahah
[07/11/09 02:10:17 ] ale maestro : raararararraarararararaaaaaaaaa
[07/11/09 02:10:22 ] robk : also was my employer at the time
[07/11/09 02:10:27 ] robk : great guy
[07/11/09 02:10:36 ] robk : but NOT a manager
[07/11/09 02:11:07 ] ale maestro : but he did a great job giving you the money for the record!
[07/11/09 02:11:18 ] robk : no fucking doubt
[07/11/09 02:11:36 ] robk : it was really cheap to record as a matter of fact
[07/11/09 02:11:48 ] robk : might have been less than 700US
[07/11/09 02:11:53 ] robk : peanuts
[07/11/09 02:11:56 ] ale maestro : raarrarara
[07/11/09 02:12:07 ] robk : but our priorities were DRUGS first
[07/11/09 02:12:08 ] robk : hahah
[07/11/09 02:13:03 ] robk : so 700 was BIG to us
[07/11/09 02:13:04 ] ale maestro : I see, if he hadn't had the idea to record you would spend it with candies!
[07/11/09 02:13:16 ] robk : sure
[07/11/09 02:13:29 ] robk : it was GREAT he put up the $$
[07/11/09 02:13:37 ] robk : I was leaving town
[07/11/09 02:13:53 ] robk : he thought there should be a record of this band
[07/11/09 02:14:01 ] robk : bless him he was right
[07/11/09 02:14:47 ] ale maestro : yes! but by that time did you realize that the band was great stuff?
[07/11/09 02:15:34 ] robk : C
[07/11/09 02:15:36 ] robk : T
[07/11/09 02:15:58 ] robk : s
[07/11/09 02:16:04 ] ale maestro : ?
[07/11/09 02:16:09 ] robk : t
[07/11/09 02:16:28 ] robk : !
[07/11/09 02:16:29 ] robk : h
[07/11/09 02:16:40 ] robk : N
[07/11/09 02:16:48 ] ale maestro : [02:15:34] robk diz:
C
[02:15:36] robk : diz:
T
[02:15:58] robk : diz:
s
[02:16:04] ale maestro diz:
?
[02:16:09] robk : diz:
t
[02:16:28] robk : diz:
!
[02:16:29] robk : diz:
h
[02:16:40] robk : diz:
N
[07/11/09 02:17:18 ] robk : fucking MSN
[07/11/09 02:17:26 ] robk : I HATE BILL GATES
[07/11/09 02:17:32 ] ale maestro : raraarrarara
[07/11/09 02:17:56 ] ale maestro : [02:14:47] ale maestro diz:
yes! but by that time did you realize that the band was great stuff?
[07/11/09 02:18:08 ] robk : anyway I THINK what I was saying was I was ALWAYS happy to fuck up minds in Washington DC
[07/11/09 02:18:09 ] ale maestro : that's was the last thing...
[07/11/09 02:18:40 ] robk : so even tho I was sick of the chumps, sick of DC and sick of myself
[07/11/09 02:18:51 ] robk : I DID know we were doing good shit
[07/11/09 02:19:16 ] robk : because we FUCKED up minds in DC!!!!
[07/11/09 02:19:16 ] ale maestro : ow, that's right!!! that's why the guy was working for Nixon! Washington D.C.!
[07/11/09 02:19:18 ] robk : hahhaha
[07/11/09 02:19:27 ] ale maestro : rarararaarraa
[07/11/09 02:19:38 ] robk : its a VERY square place
[07/11/09 02:19:50 ] ale maestro : I can imagine
[07/11/09 02:19:58 ] robk : probably like Brasilia from what Marco's said
[07/11/09 02:20:38 ] ale maestro : maybe, but in squared places you always have those crazy kids
[07/11/09 02:20:56 ] robk : I think our flyers used to toast even MORE minds than our shows
[07/11/09 02:21:04 ] robk : we had great flyers
[07/11/09 02:21:18 ] ale maestro : do you still have them?
07/11/09 02:22:12 robk quer enviar-lhe o arquivo "'contortions .jpg020.jpg'" (2,05M bytes). Ele será gravado na pasta /Users/alemaestro/Desktop. Quer receber este arquivo?



07/11/09 02:22:24 Transferência de arquivo aceita
[07/11/09 02:22:37 ] robk : caki did this one when the Pope was coming thru town
[07/11/09 02:22:43 ] robk : we plastered the parade route
[07/11/09 02:23:22 ] robk : this is me back then
07/11/09 02:23:23 robk quer enviar-lhe o arquivo "'chumps rk closejpg059.jpg'" (141K bytes). Ele será gravado na pasta /Users/alemaestro/Desktop. Quer receber este arquivo?

[07/11/09 02:23:23 ] ale maestro : plastered?
07/11/09 02:23:29 Transferência de arquivo aceita
[07/11/09 02:23:42 ] robk : literally
[07/11/09 02:23:48 ] robk : we used gesso
[07/11/09 02:24:01 ] robk : some of those fuckers were around YEARS later
[07/11/09 02:24:11 ] ale maestro : raarrarar
[07/11/09 02:24:20 ] ale maestro : but why?
[07/11/09 02:24:53 ] robk : because we didn't use flour paste
[07/11/09 02:25:13 ] robk : we used like SERIOUS chemicals to put the shit up
[07/11/09 02:25:26 ] robk : it was to promote the show
[07/11/09 02:25:32 ] robk : just hanging flyers
[07/11/09 02:25:52 ] robk : but we looked at it as a chance to screw with minds
[07/11/09 02:25:54 ] ale maestro : it's almost done here
[07/11/09 02:27:04 ] ale maestro : it's really slow here!
[07/11/09 02:27:16 ] robk : yes
[07/11/09 02:27:27 ] ale maestro : so it wasn't just about music!
[07/11/09 02:27:36 ] robk : the first one is the flyer Caki did
[07/11/09 02:27:53 ] ale maestro : your pic is here!




[07/11/09 02:27:55 ] robk : well we were NOT anything like bands usually are
[07/11/09 02:28:08 ] robk : thats me in I think 78
[07/11/09 02:28:21 ] robk : maybe 79

4a. MAMMA VENDETTA's HOUSE PARTY e CB BAR GARAGERA com THE ROYAL ASS SHAKERS!!!

Orfãos dos Thee Butchers Orchestra, amantes do rockabilly ao punk rock, boogie e soul music, podem esperar um show absurdo nessa semana.
Com base em Florianopolis, os The Royal Ass Shakers preparam a sua primeira passagem por São Paulo! Marco Butcher, Raphael Miranda ex B – Driver ( guitarras) e Calvin 13 ex Monstro Da Garagem ( drum kit) trazem um show rápido, sujo, primitivo e ao velho estilo 50’s dando passagem para as ecoflex e coisas que fazem o ouvinte pensar em Sun Records.
Dessa vez você pode conferir toda a força desse trio na festa Garagera no CB, quinta feira dia 16 e na quarta edição da Mamma Vendetta's House Party, sexta feira dia 17.



CB Bar - São Paulo - dia 16/07 - quinta feira

R. Brigadeiro Galvão, 871
Barra Funda
Tel.: (11) 36668971

Mamma Vendetta - São Paulo - dia 17/07 - sexta feira

R$10,00 na porta e R$5,00 com nome na lista no mammavendetta@gmail.com - ateh às 18:00 do dia 17.
R. Cônego Vicente Miguel Marino, 286 - terceiro andar
Barra Funda
Tel.: (11) 33921419

THE JAM MESSENGERS EM AGOSTO NO BRAZIL - lançamento do CD THE DICTIONARY OF COOL

Em Agosto acontece a tour Brasil dos Jam Messengers, o duo formado por Rob K e Marco Butcher.
Se você acompanha o nosso blog deve saber muito bem do que estamos falando! Em poucas palavra, o Rob K foi um dos criadores do hard core em 76, com a banda The Chumps de Washington. Depois formou os Workdogs já nos anos 80 em NY que contou em suas gravações com Jon Spencer, Popa Chubby, Ivan Julian, Kid Congo Powers ( The Cramps e Bad Seeds), Marce Hall, Lydia Lunch, Moe Tucker (Velvet Underground).
Hoje Rob mora no Hawaii e formou o duo The Jam Messengers com Marco compondo pela internet e que se encontraram pela primeira vez para uma tour em 2006 no Brasil. Depois disso foram para a Europa em 2006, 2007 e 2008 e tocaram em lugares como Barrero Fest em Portugal com Black Lips, Hare and Hounds com Heavy Trash em Birmingham, The Cave, Ryans Club com Gin Palace e Jooks of Kent, Buffalo Bar e Black Gardenia em Londres, Sonic Ballroom na Alemanha, Cabaret Maxine em Portugal, Stubnits Amsterdan Cargo Ship, La Zone na Belgica, Tikki Club em Zurik.
Marco Butcher dispensa apresentações, é o nosso velho conhecido, baterista dos Pin Ups, guitarra e vocal dos Thee Butchers Orchestra, que tem agora o seu projeto The Uncle Butcher and His Oneman Band e um dos músicos mais resistentes do underground brasileiro, estando na cena há nada menos que 30 anos!!! Isso mesmo, o açougueiro começou com 11 anos na estrada, e agora quase completando 41 tem em seu curriculum passagens por inúmeras bandas como The Wedding Swingers, Red Meat, The Boogie Snakes, Royal Ass Shakers, The Jam Messengers, The Vendetta Brothers, Crowking and the Hardfingers, shows em todo canto que você possa imaginar do planeta e gravações em selos como Estrus Records (USA), No Fun Records (USA), Voodoo Rhythm Records (Suíça), Squoodge ( Áustria), Ordinary Recordings (BR), Short Records (BR), Monstro Discos (BR), 13 Records (BR) , Laja Records (BR) , Grovie Records (PT) e Rastrillo Records (BA).

Esses dois malucos se encontram para o lançamento do terceiro disco da carreira juntos, que fazem de suas viagens oportunidades para se encontrar e gravar com artistas incríveis por onde passam. No caso de The Dictionary of Cool, o disco foi feito inteiramente pela internet em uma troca insana de músicas, gravações de bases, solos, backing vocals num vai e vem louco de informações entre São Paulo e Volcano no Hawaii. Participaram dessa troca The Go-Go Boy from Alabama, Renato Gimenez, Clayton Martin e Caki Kaikea do Hawaii.
E o poder criativo desses dois não para por ai, da tour européia de 2008 foram feitas gravações com artistas como The Gin Palace, Jooks of Kent, Lot Lizards, Nick Rose, que resultará num QUARTO álbum que será lançado em breve!!!

Em agosto você vai poder conferir o poder dessa dupla e o que o espírito da JAM pode fazer com os seus sentidos! The Jam Messengers é muito mais do que um show de rock, é música madura, explosiva, sexy, que resulta em uma expansão dos sentidos!

Mais infos sobre a tour que deve começar na terceira semana de agosto em breve aqui!

Ai vai um video feito na primeira tour Brasil em 2007 na Funhouse, dirigido pelo Coletivo Idéia Forte.

ENTREVISTA SLOWBOAT

A Slowboat Films é uma companhia de cinema independente sediada em Frankfurt na Alemanha e foi idealizada por Marc Littler, o diretor de filmes que trazem o universo musical na veia de suas realizações, retratado tanto em documentários sobre bandas do circuito underground europeu, como em filmes ficcionais que contam alguns desses músicos como atores, fazendo com que exista uma simbiose absoluta entre a música e o cinema.

Seus filmes mostram na maior parte das vezes o universo musical, tratando a musica de forma realista e mostrando um pouco da rotina dos artistas independentes, sendo músicos, gravadoras, programas de radio, revistas e tudo aquilo que faz parte do universo da musica rock. Tendo em seu catálogo trabalhos lançados que vão desde vídeos para artistas como King Automatic ou Mojomatics, passando por documentários que incluem The gospel of Primitive Rock’n Roll (Voodoo Rhythm), Dead is Not the End (The Dead Brothers), os longas The Road to Nod e o lançamento Folk Singer que traz Possessed by Paul James, Scott H. Biran e Reverend Dead Eye num filme que conta a historia destes três trovadores da música folk e blues.


A Mamma Vendetta prepara para os próximo meses uma mostra desses filmes e workshops com Marc Litter aqui no Brasil, assim como shows que ilustrarão esse universo.

Segue aqui a entrevista que Marco Butcher fez com Marc e que decifra algumas de nossas dúvidas com relação à essa mente criativa, que leva ao extremo a noção da integração entre as artes que tanto queremos.

Com vocês:

Marc Litter:


MB - Could you tell us how all this Slowboat films concept starts in your mind?

ML - When I went to film school it was clear that my concept of filmmaking and the industries’ were at odds.
I was interested in a personal vision, like Cassavettes and they were concernd with TV and Cinema formulas.
It was business and art was arbitrary.
I never connected and it was probably the best thing that could have happened.
There was no support so I was forced to do it myself – and that was the basis of my idea of Maverick Cinema – raw and personal.

MB – Slowboat films its always connected with music somehow, how it works for you and why you decided to be using musicians as actors?

ML - That was never intentional.
I simply worked with my peers and they usually happened to be underground artists, writers and musicians.


MB – Do you have a way of working or all depends what kind of thing you’re doing, like video or film?

ML - At the chore of everything I do stands sincerity.
All of my writing and filmmaking deals with issues that concern me, my world and the world of my peers.
It’s personal and nothing is fabricated or corforms to current trends.
My way of working begins with solid preparation.
I take a lot of time preparing my projects and it is essential to know exactly what I want to accomplish before I begin.
The film has to already be completed in my head before I enter production.
With my songwriting and poetry it’s different, that’s more instinctive, more sensual and I allow myself more contradictions.
Films originate in the head and songs and poems originate in the belly of the beast.

MB – To work on an independent level requires some attitude since we can´t count on sponsors and ways of making some advanced money for the work, how do you manage this?

ML - There is no masterplan to financing.
I’ve made films from 5 thousand to 150.000 dollars.
Some I financed myself through driving an ambulance or a cab or barkeeping.
Others were financed through independent investors who wanted to participate in this admitteldly peculiar lifestyle of rock ‘n’ roll, bars, skid row and partisan filmmaking.
The key is to make sure that whoever invests understands that he or she have no creative input.
The money people are responsible for the money and the artists are responsible for the art.

MB – What makes music so important in your way of working cinema?

ML - Music is my mistress.
Tom Waits, John Coltrane, Blind Gary Davis, Gun Club…that’s where I come from.
They’re like dead relatives I never met.
They were there when I was 14 and they’ll be there when I kick the bucket.
I learned a lot about writing from great songwriters like Waits, Dylan and Cohen.

MB – The Folk Singer is your most recent Movie, right? Could you tell us a little bit about it?

ML - Well, the idea was to make an anti rock ‘n’ roll film:
No poses, no hipness, only real human emotions, real pain, real joy and real struggle.
I think Scott Biram put it best when he said:
“We can rejoice in one another’s sharing of pain”.
The film is really a trinity:
It’s about men, music and America.
It’s about the human condition, politics and music.

MB – What kind of information does Slowboat have about Brazil and South America?

ML - My mother used to work for an airline and I remember listening to exotic stories whenever she came back from S. America.
My old man smuggled Mahagoni from Brazil to Europe in the early 80’s and my god father lived in Sao Paulo from 61 to 74.
In my work the duality of beauty and violence plays a big role and I spent a lot of time in Africa researching those issues and I’d like to do the same in S. America.

MB – How do you get to the perfect sound track for your movies?

ML - In a dream world it would look something like this:
Arvo Pärt meets Howling Wolf.
The Einstürzende Neubauten meet Leadbelly.
And Tom Waits meets Caruso!
In the real world I work closely with my musician friends.
Those who I feel understand my cinematic world and most importantly the atmosphere I try to create.
I’m more concerned with atmosphere than story.


MB – Could you let us know who´s making good cinema nowadays in your opinion and why?

ML - Most of my heroes are dead…guys like Sam Fuller, John Cassavettes, John Houston…
Today I like Werner Herzog, Emir Kusturica and Aki Kaurismäki…I like guys who show up with an eyepatch and a pistol to make a movie.

MB – It Could be realistic to say that the independent film market made big changes in the last few years in terms of having more options and lots of good artists putting soul on top of it and at the same time the fact that we have to handle digital times where everybody can download everything and all. What kind of politics have slowboat about it?

I think cinema changed for the worse!
And I think the term “independent” has been bastardized in cinema and music…they call Pearl Jam independent nowadays.
Independent to me means independently financed and complete creative controll for the filmmaker as well as controll over what happens to a film when it’s finished…and the filmmaker has to own the rights to his films – that’s his pension!
As far as the digital revolution goes:
More people can make films today than in the past but I don’t think that has resulted in more good films.
I think you have to fight and struggle to make good art…it’s your rite of passage.
A lot of people think cinema’s future lies in the internet…I personally prefer old cinemas….I like the curtains to part and the show to begin.
Also, when I started it was easier to make a living because people had to pay to see my films…now it’s all illegaly accessible in the interent…I fear that my kind of culture will die out because it has all become “freeware”.

MB – Do you have a future project, or are you working in a new film right now?

ML - In the past 10 months I have written four new films and one documentary about militias and survivalists in the U.S.
The fictional films are about the end of the world, addiction and corruption.
Most of 2009 was spent writing songs for my music project “The Redemption Family”
It’s all murder chansons, deranged Pirate shanties, Death Tangos, Toxic Rhumbas….it’s dangerous music!

Downloads em www.slowboatfilms.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/rawcinema

THE BIGGS - NOVO VIDEO

Novo video do The Biggs, girigido por Itaoã Lara para a música 'I Need More'.