[Photo: Natascha Rockwin] VISIT THE BAND BUY: Sludge Test

[by Scott Thill ]

Their name is apt. Because the brave literati of Gutbucket toss the signatures of punk, jazz, funk, rock, ambient and onward into a blender and then punch you in the gut with them as the explosions fly. The weird tapestries of sound found on their compelling effort Sludge Test illustrates what happens when instrumental and experimental urges collide. And though today's O.C. mallrats might not be able to hack the horns, Gutbucket's left-field stomp is just as rewarding as that of similar bands like Sweep the Leg Johnny, Dirty Three and more. But even more important to Morphizm, they know their Burroughs and Pynchon well. And they're not afraid to use them.

Morphizm: How big is the blender you use to mash all these genres and signatures up? Has it been given the thumbs-up by Homeland Security?
Gutbucket:  William Burroughs used to write a lot of material, then cut it up and re-arrange the sentences to see what came of it. That's the kind of fun we have with the jukeboxes in our heads. The fact that we can start and stop a song all together, regardless of what happens within, has landed us a sweet FEMA contract on disaster management theory. But it's not like they're expecting us to actually do anything, right?

Morphizm: How has the classical training helped you, if at all, skip across the vibe and style spectrum heard on Sludge Test? How has not knowing anything helped also?
Gutbucket:  Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but all those hours spent practicing etudes and mazurkas really helped Paul on the drums!  It's hard to say whether the precision that we've gained over the years is due to classical training or from fear of getting lost in the songs, but it becomes moot once on of us gets lost and the rest follow in that mistake, adding spontaneity that would make any respectable classical conductor cringe. Many skips on Sludge Test were born from road-testing the songs and finding the best ways to make those "mistakes."

Morphizm: The titles of the songs are as labyrinthine as their grooves. Who comes up with them and how? They're hilarious.
Gutbucket: After spending an amount equivalent to the GNP of New Zealand, gutbucket fired the room full of monkeys that moonlight as pharmaceutical namers and Ikea sloganeers. We've since been left to our own devices, mostly utilizing the Paranoiac-Critical Method of the late Salvador Dali, in which the dastardly images of our dreamscape intuit what our true intents are in songs. Then there's "Throsp%," -- silent "%," if you must ask -- which is inspired by Thomas Pynchon. If he's out there, we're looking for a new sloganeer.

Morphizm: How has the reception been? You guys take chances other wouldn't. Some songs like "Punkass Rumbledink" freak out while others like "Throsp%" inspire serious chillage. Are you finding audiences wondering whether to mosh or gaze?
Gutbucket: The mixture of joy and revulsion that ensues during a gutbucket show is rivalled only by the national response to Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. We've been danced to, moshed to, stared at with blank faces, only to be smothered in rich creamy applause. In truth, we're using the music to play subliminal messages to people around the world, and those messages should result in instantaneous global change once we speak the magic word.

Morphizm: This album is brave. What's the plan from here on out?
Gutbucket: Our album of exact replicas of the Partridge Family repertoire is near completion, so look out for that!  No, we joke. The future holds more elusive gems from the zany minds of gutbucket, and we're handing them out like candy wherever we are tomorrow, so check our site, cause we're out there a lot these days. Thank you for the compliments, you have been added to the Book of Gutbucket for that special day.

March 24, 2006

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