DB Magazine - SC3


Adelaide, Australia, 1998


How do you define yourselves as a Rock band as opposed to an Experimental band when on the surface you would seem to be closer kin to The Residents than Van Halen ?
We're just sick of both terms, and would like to see a music evolve that has none of the fake post-modern lingo-coated ballyhoo typical of "experimental" music, yet is also less prone to becoming tied down to the tired, asenine idiomatic restrictions of "rock" music. Both forms of music at this point should be graduating from these infantile High-and-Low-Brow-"isms". I think it's already starting to happen (Flaming Lips Boom Box Orchestra, Olivia Tremor Control, AIR etc...). We'd like to see MUCH more of it, and see it taken FURTHER!

Are you modern Jazz ?
Yipes! I hope not!!

What strange drives first spawned this marvellous musical mulatto ?
An unrelenting interest in Esoteric Shi'ism collided with our ever-evolving musical/conceptual outlook, and Forms simply began to appear. Following our Hearts, we have simply documented those Forms with painstaking precision. This is why when we play the "music of another world" it is Organized and Powerful, rather than Rambling and Incoherant (like our interviews).

With your easily digested populist brand of Rock you appear destined for massive success, how do you think you'll cope ?
We are already Massively Succesful in our own eyes. What is our method of "coping" with new developments? Being nice to the people who Are, Have Been, or Would Be nice to us if given the chance, and instructing Assassins as to the way of dealing with Everyone Else!

'Book T' with it's lugubrious carnival of fear organ is the only track of yours (that I've heard) which reflects the dark circus sounds of Mister Bungle, how do you consciously segregate your musical concerns.
I assume you're referring to "Book T: Orbital Ballroom in the Hall of Ressurection"? (There are 3 "Book T"'s). To answer your question: first of all, Mr. Bungle recieves a sizable Warner Brothers recording budget, whilst the Secret Chiefs 3 operate on a $0 budget and the "Barter system" with musicians. We are not made of money, so all this affects how things are done (probably for the better, really). Furthermore, the music I write for Mr. Bungle is composed BEFORE I show it to anyone. SC3 compositions are more like an overall production/composition Evolution. I usually start from WAY out in left field as far as conception/composition is concerned, and then use a process where I work my way BACK toward coherance through sound and instruments. Sometimes this results in a song like White As They Come, which is far "straighter" than any Mr. Bungle song. Other times I end up closer to the original hallucinatory visions of inspiration. This is the case with say, "Beyond the Mountain Qaf" - which is More Completely Fucked than can be described, yet is still rendered with what I hope comes across as heartfelt precision.

Since in SC3 there is no money, I have to be very resourceful in the studio to get things to sound "right". Great human effort and care goes into the tracking/mixing part of the process, and this is partly why the SC3 stuff does'nt sound "cheap" when compared to anything else. Lack of dollars forces it to be driven by "ingenuity".

So, to answer your question, the ideas between the two bands are not "segregated", but have an altogether different Point Of Origin.

If Mister Bungle are alternative rock the Secret Chiefs Three must be alternative alternative rock. Is this So ?
No, that's what The Spin Doctors said about themselves. I don't want to be associated with them! Would you?!

Do you feel that this underground masonic jam format offers less pre-determined territory to explore ?
Certainly. It's about plugging yourself into a Dynamic and Infinite Source. Once you have dedicated fully to endless contemplation of That Overarching Subject which governs your Life (and therefore your music), you quickly discover Meaning and Purpose in everything. This to us is preferrable to "just feeling OK about ourselves because we play 'cutting edge' music in a cool band, even though the world can only be seen as a VOID of Irreality and Sham by our semi-witty hipster rationalism". How temporary... ...how GLARINGLY mortal.

And how insanely BORING.

In allowing yourselves to go ever further does it feel to you as if you are swimming so far out that you are too tired to go back and must surely drown ?
Good question!! Not in this band - we're not THAT far out! I have a whole musical outlet for exploring that dilemma. It's called NT Fan. It's very painful, absurd and horrible, yet essential and surprisingly entertaining sometimes (for other people besides myself, of course!).

The material from 'Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws seems more perkily berserk than the confidantly trancey material on 'First Grand Constitution and Bylaws', how would you characterise this development ?
Hmmm, well actually the First one is the more berzerk of the two. The Second concentrates more on an overall vibe. The production is much more elaborate, but the songs are more direct and, dare I say, consistant.(?) That is, if you can call switching from a 70's sounding Hindi Film Music song to a Ring Modulated Surf Song to an Islamo-pop/Drum & Bass dancefloor rumble "consistant". Essentially, the sound has grown in depth and scope. Lo! An Improvement!

How does one discover that one has a passion for seventies Hindi film music let alone determine that it is a shared affinity with other musicians ? Were you stuck in a Delhi cinema on a bender having escaped the clutches of a crazed sect or merely working the concession stand ?
Actually, you can get great Hindi Film Music in the SF Bay Area for around $1.75 per tape. Not all of it is good, but for $17.50, out of 10 tapes 3 will be good and one will be INCREDIBLE. That's better odds than with most music. And much cheaper! There seems to be an endless supply of GREAT music from India, and not even beginning to MENTION the other forms, the Film Music had an exceptionally good period in the late 60's and early 70's. Obviously, the Film Music is the only stuff that is Western-Influenced enough to be approached by the Secret Chiefs 3 - a bunch of White-Assed, Jewish and Korean/Icelandic paeons from America - without looking like COMPLETE JERKS. Sadly, after MIDI came along in the 80's, things got pretty bad for Hindi Film music. But that's a problem we've had in Western Society too, right? Things are getting better in most places, now that MIDI is being displaced by computers!

A track such as 'Jabalqa' segues from the Islamic thing into drum and bass with a mesmeric subtlety. How have you worked these extreme collisions of influence to such a seamless degree ?
With lots of REAL INSTRUMENTS being played by REAL PEOPLE, nearly 1000 edits, and no sleep for over a week!

Are you engaging, jokey, do you address the audience, Are you entertaining or just good musicians ?
You mean, are we aloof and do we ignore the crowd because we are arrogant, self-righteous music snobs? NO! We are coming to Australia as Entertainers! Our show is an invitation for people to share in the enchanted realism of our "delusional" fixations for one evening. We want people to ENJOY themselves, so we will do our best to extend our invitation clearly.

What does frightfully talented violinist Eyvind Kang bring to the musical proceedings ?
He brings an extra element that is ALL HIS OWN: terrifying spontanaiety mixed with confidant virtuosity - breathtaking to behold. A journeyman of the soul who has done time in the prison of endless woodshedding, Kang now articulates with sickening precision the whimsies of Higher Life Forms (some call them "Angels"). All the same, he is just as happy to stare off into space and ruminate on Barbara Streisand melodies for five hours straight.

And you think I'm KIDDING.

Will the extra members on tour make you Secret Chiefs 5 ?
No, because the "3" in our name has never referred to the number of members in the "band". Clever and evasive of us, huh? It could also easily refer to the number of sets we play per night! (but that would also be wrong!). In truth I'm not kidding at all! The "3" has a different set of meanings than are intentionally apparent.

What does the future promise for Secret chiefs 3 ?
Aside from the new CD, we have a couple of new 7"'s coming out. One is called "The Theatrum of Suprasensory Universes, Vol 1", and features the most blatantly twisted stuff we have ever done. This is for those who prefer the collective delusions of our uncontrollable side to the more "refined" aspect showcased on the CD. The other 7" features two new versions of our old song Zulfikar - one with Orchestral and Drum & Bass stylings, the other with a Goa Trance Will Eat Itself vibe. It's probably one of our more impressive efforts. Both will be available at shows.

After that? At least two more albums are going to happen before... (!)

Can the Live show possibly live up to the frantic esoteric mystique of the studio product ?
And then some. We will pace the evening between 3 sets of contrasting music. You will hear Atonal Surf, Imaginal Hindi/Islamic Pop & Film Music with Suprasensory Improvisation, Mechanical Band Organ Music (played by meta-humans), and Plain Old Secret Chiefs 3 songs.

What's wrong with the rest of American Rock ?
What, don't you like Third Eye Blind? In case you had'nt heard, they represent the "San Francisco Noise Pop Sound". Hundreds, maybe thousands of bands around here are doing it. I'm told that it's "Great Stuff", and that Third Eye Blind in particular are "a great bunch of guys". What a great year for music in this town!! It's like '69 all over again, but without Timothy Leary and Charlie Manson, no "dropping out", and (here's the bad part) nowhere to play music! Just lots of great "don't-quit-your-day-job" American Rock 'n Roll on the radio, swimming through the apartments of lonely hi-tech Loft-Dwellers. It's a fitting serenade for this town's slow ride in to Pure, Full-Blown Yuppie Gentrification. Get with it, Australia!! The 90's fuckin' ROCK on weekends in practice rooms all across America!


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