What do you do when you’ve played drums in the bands of two very important underground guitarists/band leaders? In the case of David Winogrond, you bravely strike it out on your own and begin an entirely new aspect of your career. Pictures at an Existentialism is the opening salvo in David’s next drumming phase, that phase being one of a distinct instrumental/Jazz approach. more »

Over the New Year’s break I was sick in bed for about 36 of the 48 hours I had off. When not tossing in a sweat-covered sleep, I watched a lot of cable TV. During the great Anthony Bourdain No Reservations marathon on the Travel Channel, I watched, several times, and with increasing wonder each time, an info-mercial for some miracle product that soaks up liquid with extreme efficiency. The fascination for me came from how much the pitch man looked like Tomata Du Plenty. I mean, the man is a dead ringer for the late Screamer. I like to think that the irony of it would not be lost on Tomata. That is all for today.

It’s clear now that cool music has always been produced somewhere, even if the prevailing wisdom runs contrary to that statement. Pre-internet, people just had to look a bit more diligently in order to find underground sounds to their liking. For me, Homestead records provided all kinds of cool sounds in the later half of the 1980’s. Live Skull, Naked Raygun, and most of all To Damascus were Homestead bands that I loved to listen to. They were all bands that expanded my listening post Metal, Punk, and Hardcore. The thing that I love most about To Damascus is their singularity. Their records are always challenging, and I admire the “take us at our own terms” vibe that Syliva Juncosa and her band mates produced. Of particular interest to me, aside from Sylvia’s mind-boggling guitar ripping, was David Winogrond’s drumming. Rock based, and Jazz inflected, David’s drumming stood apart from the standardized, stock room playing of so many of his counterparts in Rock at that time. Towards the end of the 1990’s I was pleasantly surprised to find that he’d become the drummer of choice for the great Davie Allan, who was at that time making a comeback. While David’s playing was much more straight ahead within the context of the Arrows’ music, it was still kick ass and exciting to me. At some point during 2008, I friended David on myspace. In keeping with the Disaster Amnesiac tendency of interviewing drummers, I asked Mr. Winogrond if he’d do and interview. He graciously consented, and then some. The man has some resume! Dig in and be astounded by a life making cool, underground sounds. more »

For years Peter Ivers has been a blurb in the RE/Search Incredibly Strange Music II mag for me, and a bit more to boot. The excellent Jello Biafra interview/rant therein includes a brief description of him, and I’ve always been intrigued, despite the description’s mere paragraph length. I found this unexpected gem of a book about Ivers at the always astounding Oakland Public Library (Main Branch), and blazed though it during a short trip to the island of Hawaii. more »

If there is one thing that I can say with certainty, it is that I love the San Francisco Bay Area. This place is my home, and I hope to stay here for as long as possible. To whit, I’ve lived in Newark, Fremont, San Francisco, Union City, and Oakland. I’ve driven trucks all over this area, and am familiar with many of the smaller towns and neighborhoods here.
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avant-garde- n. A group active in the invention and application of new techniques…esp. in the arts

Using the given definition, it would be really hard, almost impossible, to consider any music currently produced as avant-garde. I’m not trying to by cynical here, just trying to come to some sort of definition of the music played on David Hurley’s great CD, Outer Nebula Inner Nebula. Let’s go with Creative Improvised Music. more »