Moustache of the apocalyse. (Photo: Def Jux)

[by Scott Thill]

[Previous Page: "If you listen to some of the more obscure Curtis Mayfield stuff where he's calling out the actual mayor or comptroller, you'll understand why I didn't make it a direct political statement. Then it's a case of, 'Wow, this music is incredible, but who is that guy he just mentioned?' He's been dead for fucking 40 years!"]

Morphizm: That's not good news.
ELP: Well, maybe or maybe not. But the reality is that the process takes me so long that I have to look at it like that. If this is the last fucking record I was ever going to make, what is my statement? What am I doing here, what am I saying? I think that is why my records sound the way they do.

Morphizm: So what is your statement?
ELP: Ultimately, I think it is a fight record. The statement is that I am trying to keep my head above water just like everyone else. And the shit is hard, but fuck it: I refuse to be taken out. And if I am taken out, that's one thing, but I think it's about fighting. It's about really making sure that you're trying as hard as you can to hold onto your sanity and life.

Morphizm: So that when everything is added up, no one can say you didn't put your heart into it.
ELP: No doubt. And that's why I only release records that do that. And I'm trying to approach the rest of my life the same way. The messages vary within the concept of the record here and there, but ultimately that is my statement.

Morphizm: I guess you can say you put your full moustache into this record as well.
ELP: (Laughs) I did. I pull the full brunt of my moustache into this bitch.

Morphizm: (Laughs) What's it feel like to have a squirrel squatting on your lips for weeks on end, dude?
ELP: It feels horrible, fucking horrible. Although by week three, you kind of get this powerful porn aura, know what I mean? You kind of feel like a grimy bastard.  I came so close to cutting that shit off, man.

Morphizm: I can't believe you didn't.
ELP: Hey man, I think it's the duty of every young man to see if they can grow a real moustache every once in a while, you know?Try it once. See if you can go a month.

Morphizm: Hilarious. It wasn't your look so much as it was what you were saying about it. I laughed my ass off.
ELP: There's nothing one can really do but laugh in the face of such fucking disaster that is a moustache of that size. There's really nothing you can do but make fun of it.

Morphizm: OK, on to the songs. I love all of them, but "The Overly Dramatic Truth" is a harrowing piece of confessional music. Where did that song come from?
ELP: (Fumbling) That came from...that whole idea came from...it's kinda specific. It came out of me being involved with a girl who was super young for me. I just kind of felt dark about it, because I was going through some shit at the time. I felt like I knew myself much more than she knew herself, because I'm 30 and she was 18. And I don't know why I did that. (Laughs) But ultimately it's about that reality, where I could take advantage of the situation but you deserve better. You deserve someone who's not where I'm at right now. And since I know this through experience, if I summon the strength to tell you that you really should go, listen to me.

Morphizm: Well, the most memorable art is made by people who aren't afraid of their own truths and lies.
ELP: The way the music industry and society are going right now, who the fuck knows how expendable we really are? In a lot of ways, the business of art, and its fringe, is the first thing to go out the window once society starts screaming downhill. Because people can't afford friviolous shit. I mean, it's our fucking honor to do music and art for a living, so what the fuck? Are we supposed to churn shit out like it's some sort of constantly replaceable moment over and over again. It's like, "Hey, how about that moment again, this time using this beat?" Yeah, it sounded good the first fifty times I heard it, but again? Come on! I think that is the core of the problem.

Morphizm: How about "Drive," which rips on Hummers and talks about the "thunder that no one expected?" Is there an enviro message there?
ELP: With "The Overly Dramatic Truth," you actually caught something I assumed no one would catch, you know? (Laughs) But the "thunder no one expected?" I'm talking about a lot of shit there.

Morphizm: I'm hearing global warming, dude.
ELP: Could be that. Could be global peak oil. There's a lot of shit.. To get into my personal specifics on the song, I think, would be beside the point.

Morphizm: No, it's not about that. It's more about whether or not you know about these things and want to share them. I don't hear many rappers, or musicians of any kind really, who sing about peak oil.
ELP: Yeah, definitely. I'm one hundred percent hardcore up on the fringe alarmists. I think that's clear. That's the side I err on, know what I mean? I just don't need to be the dude screaming about it.

April 1, 2007

Guilin
"The smell of damp earth that hangs over Guilin will surrender, and join the cosmopolis cropping up along the Li:" MORE