SETH FAERGOLZIAinterview |
Brad- How have you been? Seth faergolzia- feeling amazing, everything aligned really well Brad- SO you have been feeling better since you got back from your trip? Seth faergolzia- yes, it was unfortunate that i had to leave the tour, but sometimes you have to put yourself first, especially if you think your body might die if you don't. i've been staying up north, going for hikes in the snow every day and eating awesome healthy food. Brad- So you were a real mess on the tour huh. Seth faergolzia- sleeping every chance i had, laying down on the floors of the clubs in fetal position before and after my sets a lot of the nights. was having a great time considering all that, and was trying to check out jeff and kimya and toby and prewar and major matt when they played but as the tour went on i got worse, more depressed and generally ill. Seems like the only time i had any energy was during performance and some of those weren't so good either. Brad- Was it just that you weren't really ready to go back health-wise or was it something new? Cause you haven't felt so good recently right? Seth faergolzia- yeah, this is a problem that has persisted for about six months, my very first chronic disease, ahh, so nice. it has taught me much. i have learned empathy. i know giving now. i understand discipline and self control. also, have decided to move away from new york. Brad- What has prompted that decision? and where are you headed to? seth faergolzia- for all my life i have imposed handicaps upon myself because i felt too strong. i have hampered my progress by weighing myself down with things. i believe this made me more strong willed, but now that i have discovered this new existence which has its own handicap built in, i wish only to do things which empower me, things which bring me joy and make me stronger. new york was and is a difficult place for me to be because i feel my energies being spread thin over a larger group of people, and many of those people leaching off those energies. i plan to move to burlington vermont with a few dufus members and begin rehearsing the band on a very regular basis. new york is so hard. everyone is really busy there and has not enough time to create the deep musical bonds i believe are necessary for the truest of sounds. also want to go hiking in the mountains every day. Brad- So we have not seen the truest of music that Dufus can offer? seth faergolzia- not even fucking close Brad- What direction are you looking to take the music? seth faergolzia- i've been yelling all these years, trying to convince people of my own validity, i think, but yelling turns the ears away often (i'm not speaking of literally yelling); i aim to make a whisper happen which perks the ears and brings people in for real personal open hearted sharing of emotion which encourages and inspires. i wish dufus to become the eye of a storm. Brad- That is Odd- Cause I would think that 1:3:1 was a lot more of the storm than previous efforts that I have heard, as the hail pounds, and the wind soared for that record in my mind. It blows you off your feet and then when you finally stood up you were looking at the world in a different direction. What is the closest we have heard to where you are headed? seth faergolzia- 1:3:1 is the beginning of something which will become deeply ingrained in dufus. it is a five album set which i am presently working on completing. the middle 3 is comprised of live material collected over the past 6 years of dufus' existence, along with sound experiments and some recordings of other projects such as fun wearing underwear and the bristolhills experimental orchestra. seth faergolzia- once these three are compiled, we will go back into the studio and finish mixing the album. when we recorded the 1 disc (which you mentioned), we also recorded another album's worth of material which will be the final disc in the set. i cannot say what will happen after we complete the full set though i do have some vague dreams and have been writing like a madman recently. Brad- What was the last lyric that you wrote? seth faergolzia- hold on a minute, i'll find it Brad- ok seth faergolzia- dont come out the way you came in, watch your footsteps careflee seth faergolzia- wrote that in the woods yesterday, got lost too Brad- I was gunna ask what kinda things have been inspiring you to write like a madman- but it sounds like being around nature and taking hikes and such is what is causing that. Is that correct? seth faergolzia- i've got so much stuff bouncing around in this head of mine from the past bunch of years of non stop stimuli, it just pukes out of me whenever i get a break, all the confusing chaos sorta starts to ease up and becomes solid thought, clarifying... seth faergolzia- when i'm in nature alone, i feel spoken to. the universe directs me to each spot, and each spot holds an incredible revelation about the nature of existence. seth faergolzia- songs come from this place. Brad- Growing up what did you listen to? seth faergolzia- fukken metallica, old metallica not the new bullshit that everyone knows. you know, i went through all the phases that kids go through, punk, classic, hippie, pop, indie, bla blah blaahh. i'm still growing up and what i have listened to more recently which has grown me even upper is this stuff called nyabingy (not sure if that's spelled correct) drumming. seth faergolzia- this one group in particular called ras ivy and the family of rastafari. i believe he is a rastafari priest but i may be wrong. i listen to much reggae when i can. also listening often to antique recordings of african music. seth faergolzia- i also studied classical music all through high school, i play the string bass, dont know if you knew that or not, but i'm sure the classical upbringing has had its effects on how i create, both of my parents are musicians, my brother too. also wanna say that mostly what i've been influenced by has been the people i've played music with in dufus and the friends in new york who we play shows with. those are the people i have most grown up knowing the music of. Brad- How did you get to New York and involved in the antifolk scene? I first heard of you in early 2000 I think. Soon after that I got the Pip CD from Lach. seth faergolzia- jeff lewis and i went to college together at SUNY Purchase, which is not too far from new york city. i left there in '98 and moved to this amazing house in brooklyn. in that house i had a little tiny room that i built out of wooden crates. i was and always have been a hermit. during that time i recorded the pip album in that little tiny room with a rack of metal pieces as percussion... seth faergolzia- which i had collected in my meanderings through the streets of new york, my first days of discovery there. during that time, jeff told me about the open mic, which he had actually been pretty active in for some time. i started going. seth faergolzia- when in college, jeff and i had been going to this thing called the cave, which was an open mic like no other i have ever experienced, my favorite format by far. it was this small room. it had a mic or two in it, a shitty drumset, coupla amps and lights. we would all go there and take big chances without any fear. dave miko (guitar situations) was the guy who "ran" it. it was totally free form seth faergolzia- no sign up, no order of performers, you just got up when you felt it, sometimes you wouldnt ever get up there cuz other people were more agressive about taking the stage. sometimes you would go in and there would be no lights on and everyone would just be acting super weird. some people would leave cuz they were scared, sometimes they'd stay and scream. i do believe lach also went to Purchase. seth faergolzia- but i would say it was jeff that got me into the scene, old time friend respects out to him. Brad- The site has received hits from Suny Purchase - I didn't know what it was. seth faergolzia- cool Brad- What is antifolk to you? seth faergolzia- a word seth faergolzia- i'll write more seth faergolzia- i think it's a realistic dream. i've always had dreams of bringing people together under something we all agreed upon. before i came to new york, a bunch of the artists i was working with all decided to form a collective, we called it PROANTI. you probably have seen that word around on an album or two. Brad- sure have seth faergolzia- stipplicon, jeff lewis, kimya dawson, adam green, laura hoch, anders griffen, and i'm sure i'm forgetting a few who have used it. seth faergolzia- this was an ideal. proanti was. we aimed to work together collaberatively and make some sort of artistic movement begin. seth faergolzia- new york is a very difficult place for such an idea and i think antifolk is as close as i've seen it come and last. i've seen people form collectives for short stints and they will have some fucking amazing art/music/film/life shows which become a TAZ for a moment and then sizzle out, but antifolk seems to have some stamina. i believe it needs more collaboration. seth faergolzia- i believe for it to be a really true movement it would need some of the other arts included, but it is well on its way and i am hopeful when i think of antifolk now as opposed to two years ago. Brad- How so seth faergolzia- honestly, i dont believe people were creating their music as well, there have been people coming in and adding new energies and the energies have been stewing, people are being influenced by eachother and there is a taste of a better level of craftsmanship. the honesty has always been on the scene, but the craft lacked a bit. now that people are seeing they can take influence from each other../ seth faergolzia- they are growing deeper in their understanding of self expression and they have the skills to make it come out right. going on that european tour showed me that in a condensed form sorta. seth faergolzia- we all dealt with our own self consciousness being around all songwriters we respected for various reasons every night, seeing each other perform, becoming jealous, then seeing that respect was more growth inspiring than jealousy we all grew. i saw it happen blatantly. seth faergolzia- this happens on the scene as well, though it's not as apparent or obvious. it happens a little more slowly and subtley. Brad- DO you like touring? Brad- More people look at the dufus page on my site from Europe than America- that is very rare- does it surprise you? seth faergolzia- i love touring. i think it makes sense that people in europe would be checking out the dufus page on your site simply because we haven't yet toured the u.s. we have a lot more interest in europe than we do in our own country. seth faergolzia- we will begin touring more and playing less single shows now that i'm moving up into the mountains. i believe this will be a better way to do things, that way, i can hole up for a while, work on new stuff and then travel around and see what effect that has on people, then hole up again and see what new stuff comes, you know? Brad- Remember the south when you tour guy. Charotte needs a taste. seth faergolzia- we have played a couple north carolina shows, one at the WE Fest in Wilmington, and one in i think Raliegh Brad- With lines like "I'm only on this earth for a short time, God knows that I shouldn't last long at all" & "I want my death today" Do you feel like you are close to death? Brad- Seth- you still there? seth faergolzia- i dont believe in death. existence does not cease. i have felt strongly about my life on this earth having purpose. the first line you mentioned in context speaks of basically doing what you can while you are on the planet, making a difference in people's lives. yeah, i'm here just got a phone call, just a minute. Brad- ok seth faergolzia- sorry, it's important, just another minute Brad- ok seth faergolzia- sorry bout that. the second line you mentioned in context is "if all that lives must die, i want my death today" basically saying that if existence is temporary i dont want it at all because i feel such an incredible importance throughout every moment. does this make sense to you? Brad- Sure- How would you describe yourself to someone who has never seen you maybe reading this? seth faergolzia- idiot guru Brad- Tell me about the visual art that you create. seth faergolzia- hmm, well i do a lot of drawings in notebooks. used to do a lot of sculpture, big heavy things, got tired of lugging them everywhere i moved, plus my head was really crazy whenever i did that stuff, was kinda killing me and the people i loved, dont know why it brought out such mental illness, so i have pretty much moved into doing strictly fashion. seth faergolzia- the clothing i create is made from other clothing usually. i find something that i dont mind wearing and then slowly, day in day out, cut pieces off of it and add new pieces to it. i will wear on pair of pants for about 6-10 months. they will eventually grow into being something they never were. seth faergolzia- this goes on with all the clothes i wear. cant help but start to get annoyed with them and want them to match the way i feel more strongly. sometimes the clothing becomes a heavy burden, not only as weight on my physical body but their history weighs to heavily on my mind and i must stop wearing them. this is often the case with my neckpieces which were the beginning of my clothing experiments seth faergolzia- about 8 or 9 years ago i was moving out of the place i was living and found a couple of strings and an old necklace on the floor. didnt know where to put them so i put them around my neck. over the next bunch of weeks in this new place i had moved i found a number of other strings, it was really odd actually, there were a lot of them around. it just began gathering. seth faergolzia- i started to think it was a plant of sorts, or an auxiliary beard. eventually they started weighing really heavily on me and i wanted to cut them off, but i couldnt unless i changed my life drastically enough, so i decided to move. when i moved i cut them off and began a tradition in order to continue my life's progress. i always cut them off when they get too heavy but this dictates to me seth faergolzia- that a big change needs to happen, and so i make something extreme happen. it's been a while since i've been able to even build them up because of this illness which has plagued me for so long. now i have started gathering new pieces and will make a move soon. seth faergolzia- that's it for now. Brad- How many different pants/ shirts have you made? Do you keep them? seth faergolzia- yeah i keep them. i have a lot of stuff. just recently put on my first fashion show right before the euro tour with the antifolkers. it turned out real nice. i think i showed about 10 pairs of pants and a bunch of shirts, couple of dresses and some pretty insane pairs of shoes. i'm thinking about making dolls next, i want to make a whole bunch of dolls. Brad- What kind of dolls? How are you gunna make em? seth faergolzia- no plans yet, just using cloth and stuff, i dont plan stuff out usually ever, always deal with what's directly available. Brad- You like being on stage don't you? How does it make you feel? seth faergolzia- i dont know if i like being on stage. it totally depends on the audience. sometimes i feel like i'm being dug into or leached off of. sometimes it gives me a huge amount of energy and inspires me to no end, but sometimes it wrecks me with selfconciousness. lately i cant really deal to well with the anxiety. seth faergolzia- a large part. i want to be in an environment which inspires me to feel joy, not anxiety. new york has become too much of a stress, just like the clothing i told you about, it has become too heavily laden with memories for me to exist there in peace any longer. though i do love it and will be touring through there once a month for sure. Brad- What brings you the most tranquillity? seth faergolzia- solitude in nature i suppose. it's hard to tell, all kinds of things. tranquility is not my biggest desire. inspiration, excitement, those are things. Brad- WHat excites you then? seth faergolzia- living moments, excited people, intelligence \,\\inteligently created art, inspired art, creating with people in any way., sex used to excite me, dont feel too strongly about it lately. hmm what else. i'm excited by the idea of people working together toward common goals be it in any sort of situation. seth faergolzia- dancing's fun too. seth faergolzia- running through the woods on no trail at top speed, leaping over things, risking nex. seth faergolzia- funny people. seth faergolzia- funny looking people Brad- got me seth faergolzia- what do you mean? Brad- Well I thought you had me pegged at Funny people, but then i know you hit me when you added "funny looking people" seth faergolzia- hehe Brad- Do you have any fears? seth faergolzia- there's a book i wrote called the beesa man and his amazing maps, it's a story set in a realm of the subconscious where rooms are created in this vast tunnelwerk by the collective thoughts of conscious beings. for example, if there were a war happening on earth, hehe, there would be a room that would pop up in this subconscious world where all those fears from that war would collect, making an alternate reality. there would be rooms for all sorts of emotions, only they would have to be strong enough of emotions spread across a large enough group of people to make it happen. seth faergolzia- at one point in the story, two of the characters are going through these tunnels and they are quite lost and wish not to enter into any of the rooms at all because everytime they do so they're confronted with a whole new set of parameters to deal with, so they just drift through the tunnel, making no turns. seth faergolzia- at one point in the story, two of the characters are going through these tunnels and they are quite lost and wish not to enter into any of the rooms at all because everytime they do so they're confronted with a whole new set of parameters to deal with, so they just drift through the tunnel, making no turns. seth faergolzia- this is my fear. i do never wish to invisiblize. i never wish to allow myself to drift into the monotony that so many, SO MANY, people are allowing themselves. i fear 9 to 5. i fear television eyes. i fear people who say "same shit different day." i avoid them at all costs. if they try to impose their plainness on me i walk away. seth faergolzia- this is what people often call growing old but i call it giving up. age has nothing to do with vitality. Brad- Tell me about fun wearing underwear seth faergolzia- it's been a while since we did that show, i'm hoping to put it on again in the fall perhaps for a month of new york shows. wow, what to tell. it was never the same show twice. there is a script but very seldom does it get followed to the t. it jumps around and gets all scrambled up and added to and reedited. it turned really cult like for a while, this is when we took a break from it.. seth faergolzia- some really weird things started happening on the stage between us all, it was like we were keeping a ball up in the air and there would be these huge gaps of space where we would all have to leap together or the show would fall apart. it did tend to fall apart a couple of times but we always managed to bring it back up in the end. seth faergolzia- probably a whole bunch of people you might know of were participants in the show. jack from stipplicon was my shining star in many of the shows, he's a killer improviser/actor believe it or not. laura hoch was kickass. a bunch of dufus members were in on it including grahm dion, rick snell, phil timbakis, jason (jjj) conklin... let's see, kimya from moldy peaches was there, along with... seth faergolzia- my good friend dina kelberman, who is my partner in UGL brand clothing, the fashion company we are starting. all kinds of people, ish marquez was even part of the show for a little while. i wish i could name them all but the list is huge. it was a huge party that we would try and repeat. or it was a religious service for the complete dissassemblement of reality, or it was a play. seth faergolzia- i never felt normal during it. Brad- sounds way cool- I missed out Brad- Do you have any questions for me? seth faergolzia- does your girlfriend think i'm sexy? Brad- My wife thought that you could be a model seth faergolzia- oh she's your wife. i just remembered you saying something, i thought i'd make a funny, now for a real question. seth faergolzia- why do you care about antifolk? Brad- I got into Roger Manning like 8-9 years ago and started to listen to his stuff heavily. Then from there I got interested in Kirk Kelly, and Cindy Lee Berryhill, then Lach and Paleface, and so on. I knew that I had a hrad time finding info about the artists in Antifolk so I started the site. As far as caring about it... After I started the site.. Brad- I got the opportunity to meet and chat with some of the people whose music I enjoyed a lot, and began to care about it. I always try and check out new music and the fansite has helped me do this a lot. I get emails from all over from people telling me they are antifolk. seth faergolzia- well, i think it's totally cool that you support it so deeply. makes everyone feel good. Brad- Thank you- I think that everyone has been just great to me. And I thank them for that. seth faergolzia- so is that all? Brad- We should do Fast five. I will ask you 5 quick questions and then that will be all seth faergolzia- ok Brad- When and where was your first kiss? seth faergolzia- on an amusement park ride in 7th grade with a girl from music camp. seth faergolzia- she was in 9th grade. Brad- You stud.... What is your favorite meal? seth faergolzia- right now i'm really into these veggie burgers with tons of greens and mustard and really healthy bread toasted and slathered with butter with a bit of sprouts double stacked. Brad- What is the worst crime you have ever committed? seth faergolzia- i dont believe in the government and their laws, but i do believe i have been cruel to some people i cared very deeply for and regret that to no end. Brad- What is your favorite place to play? seth faergolzia- i love to play in really reflective rooms, my old place in brooklyn was made of cement and was a long long corridor sort of thing with high ceilings, it sounds so nice in there and the sun sets in that room and you can see a really nice part of manhattan from it, what an inspiration. Brad- Last one- Was Dufus always the name of your band? If not what other names have you used? seth faergolzia- i started making dufus music under the name rufus, put out two four track albums under that name, a couple of the weirder trax on the quankmeyer faergolzia: pip album are from those earlier recordings, i changed the name to dufus when i found out there was already a band under rufus. dufus suits me better anyway. seth faergolzia- but before that was the cleveland funk tribe which was a band with me and brent cole (strictly beats, one of the present drummers for dufus and moldy peaches). we would play just acoustic guitar and drums. the music was really insane. we put out an album with the two of us and a clarinet player, timmy hayes (who is the timmy i'm singing for in fun wearing underwear), a trombone player... seth faergolzia- wayne meyers, who is in a band in austin texas now, and a cello player, maurine price who now has a different name and a kid or two. the album is really good. seth faergolzia- before all that was high school. i was in a band called goat and another band called nocturnal fear (we were doing this weird metal stuff) and before that a punk band called dark circle. Brad- Thanks a bunch- I had fun- (And I am wearing underwear)Hope that you did too!!! Thanks for the music!! seth faergolzia- cool, thanks for wanting to know stuff brad. c- be well. Brad- You to- be in touch! |
the Seth Faergolzia interview |
