THE MOUNTAINSIDE BAND
WAVELENGTH #15
SUNDAY MAY 21
10 P.M.
HEART AND SOUL BROTHER NO.1:
an interview with the ubiquitous Dave Clark
(serving on this occasion as proud representative of The Mountainside Band;
form letter formed by Craig Fraid Dunsmuir).
Who all is in the Mountainside Band with you? How does it differ from your other projects (The Dinner Is Ruined Band, The Woodchoppers Association, Living Organism)?
The Mountain side band is Richard Gregory (guitar, vox) of the Lawn, Possum, Woodchoppers and West Hillbillies, Alfons Fear (bass guitar, vox) of Zebradonk, Woodchoppers and KlavÈ Y Kongo, Blake Howard (drums, vox) of GUH, Woodchopper's and The Blake Howard Tribute Band, and myself (guitar, vox). The difference between Mountainside and all the other bands I play in is I'm not beating the love tubs. This means that I had to figure out what to do with my feet whilst Iwas endeavouring to wrangle with the six-string electrical twanger. The most obvious thing was dancing. It came as a natural byproduct of having the leg bones connected to the hip bones which are closely rooted in the penile bone! The other difference is that we are playing songs which for the most part were written by me and Richard in our respective homes. We brought 'em to old Fonzie and Blake where upon they applied their brand of magic to them. We sing a lot. The general approach is always the same: playing with love in our hearts.
One of the things about your musical personality seems to be your penchant for constant spontaneous collaboration. What do you look for when it comes to finding somebody to jam with?
When it comes to jamming I look for people who give me a good feeling in me belly. I'm confident that anyone who has the guts to be honest and play from their hearts is a person who can positively contribute to the betterment of this old world. As a result, I'm able to be in many different bathtubs with lots of different toys, soaps and scrub brushes with exciting people who don't mind my grey water. It's all good.
Do you think recent arguably increasingly conservative times in popular culture have/will serve(d) to strengthen grassroots art and music culture?
Artist will always act in accordance to their own will. (Conservative times signify a successful dumbing down of the populace based on the notion that Mommy and Daddy will take care of you as they will abuse you along the way. At which point your rewards will be a vacuous, unfulfilling and ultimately destructive material existance. It often breeds the "Fuck you Jack. I've got mine." attitude. Not at all for the common good. By defaultart makes a mockery of the absurdity of the conservative, the hate-filled, anti-intellectual, isolationist ignoramasses who seat and soil the seats ofpower and impotence in our country.) I've noticed that people are springing up everywhere with great artistic ideas. Improvised music is an all encompassing garden which is being tended, rendered, deconstructed and admired by people from disparate realms. Check out campus radio, local free music series and the cross-pollination going on in all music. Multi-media events are happening in this town all the time. You've just got to keep yourself posted. Better than that. Start one yourself! Any attempt to getsome honest artwork out into the public eye or into your life at home with the family or friends is for better. It beats apathy any time. Your art could be cooking, sex, gardening - whatever you have a passion for.