Why Make a BOREDOMS Webpage?
Good question. Matt Kaufman did an article about Boredoms' eYe, Ear, Nose and Throat Page in issue #5 of his fine zine Exile Osaka, and wanted to know why himself, so he did an E-mail interview with me. Due to space constraints, he couldn't run the interview, so he sent it back to me to run here. The article is five pages long and includes an encapsulation of the basic facts of all the discographies, which should give you an idea about just how big this sucker is. Note that the interview was conducted before I finally got Watson's WorldWideWasteofTime Page up and running, and before I found out that Sound Factory in Hong Kong went belly up, thereby buggering up the release of the Zorn/Eye live box set. Without any further adoo-doo:
1. What made you decide to start the seemingly impossible task of compiling a Boredoms discography webpage?
When I heard plenty of the Boredoms' music and it drew me in, and then heard some of their side projects, like Eye's work with John Zorn/Naked City and the Hanatarash's 4 and heard about more when I dug around a bit, I had to catch all I could and tie it together. I guess organizing chaos is a bit of a hobby of mine, and it's based on a band whose sound I can best describe as organized chaos made audible. Of course I had no real idea what I was going to be in for as far as their side project output went, but it's all more information I can look at and go "wow," and then put up for anybody else who's interested to see and go "wow." You have to draw the line somewhere, though; I'll leave the Merzbow discography to the chaos-organizing otaku!
2. Did you start from scratch or did you have another discography to build on?
From scratch. I just tied together all the info I could (including song time length) on all the Boredoms CDs and the few side projects I owned, and then solicited more info from people on the internet [and lest I forget the cool Ottawa music stores Shake Records (R.I.P.) and Organized Sound]. It's only been tapering off because I haven't poked my head up and asked for more lately, because I've been putting my webpage in general together. It will also highlight the Irish band the Fatima Mansions, Ottawa boys Furnaceface, and Severed Heads (Australian electronic band), plus lots of links for music and anime sites. I predict that when I finally get it up there, I'm going to be deluged with info updates, but hey, that's the way it goes.
3. What's the most surprising information that you found out about the Boredoms since you had the web page up?
The most surprising thing has to be how insanely prolific Eye is. He's on more releases than probably all the rest of the band combined, who are no slouches themselves. And, of course, how much physical damage he did in early Hanatarashi performances. Kinda makes GG Allin look like a wimp, except that GG kept doing his thing; mind you, look where that got him.
4. What's your favorite Boredoms release and why?
It has to be the Shimmy-Disc release of the Soul Discharge 99' CD. It was the first Boredoms release I heard, and it just turned my head right out to hear songs totally defying standard song structure. In fact, a fellow fan who runs a record store was surprised that I could pick out a few song titles, because he'd just put the CD on and go for the ride. To this day, "Bubblebop Shot" is still my favourite song of theirs. Which is not to say that what they've been making since then has been worse. It's just a case of your first time leaving the biggest impression on you.
5. Do you have most of the releases listed on the webpage? What release would you want the most?
I wish I had all of the releases on the list, but money and location doesn't permit. A good lot of the recordings I have I buy used, but that's because new ones, especially Japanese imports, are beyond the reach of your average unemployed sod like yours truly. As for what releases I want: The rarest and most expensive releases, of course. If Sound Factory wants to send me a Zorn/Eye Live! 100 CD box set, I'll make damn sure [local music writer] Neil Ellard listens to it and reviews it, and he'll pass it back to me to catalog in the Sore Diamonds discography.
6. Have you ever seen the Boredoms play live?
I saw them at Lollapalooza in '95 in Montreal. The only thing I didn't like about their performance was that it was only about 30 minutes long. But I was able to get close to the stage and groove out and not have some little pinhead boot me in the face in the name of crowdsurfing. There were only about a few hundred gathered in front of the stage enjoying it (and even shouting out requests!), while the alternosheep were just walking around the field whining, "This stuff is too weird. Where's Billy Corgan? Where's Perry Farrell?" Proof that these idiots wouldn't know true alternative music if it bit 'em. And they played "Bubblebop Shot," and did it even tighter than the album version. Wonderful. To top it all off, I went to the club Les Foufounes Electriques (the Electric Buttocks) the night before that and saw Gumball, had a nice old time, and saw a woman who looked like Yoshimi dancing in front of the stage. She was wearing a Snoopy T-shirt so I was just going, "Hmmm, is that her?" Turns out it was, and I got to chat with her, Hira and Yamamoto, shake their hands and get their autographs. I tried not to kiss their asses too much, and they were probably pleased that someone in Canada recognized them for their music. They did play my area, actually, opening a surprise show for Nirvana in Hull, Quebec. By all accounts, they didn't go over with the masses of cementheads there very well. Much booing and apparently some throwing of things as well. Why they didn't realize that they were on that tour because Nirvana themselves wanted them on it, I'll never know.
Return to Boredoms' eYe, Ear, Nose and Throat Page.
Return to Watson's WorldWideWasteofTime Page: Music and Anime.