6- The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, October 20, 1994


'Pigface' a different look with every turn

By ANDY DOLAN
Five years after it's humble begin-
nings as a side project for Ministry's
two drummers, not even co-founder
and sole surviving member Martin
Atkins can get a handle on just what
Pigface really is. "It's still what we said
it was, because we said it could be
anything!" he claimed.
Of course, Pigface has never really
been defined by the style of music they
create, which often ranges from per-
cussion-driven chants to funk-rock to
gibberish noise. What's always been
more important is the way that the
people involved have worked towards
creating a unique sound that goes be-
yond their sum.
While Atkins tends to be the one
who brings some sortofreference point
to Pigface's music through his power-
ful, ear-splitting percussive assaults,
he has always been content to allow
whomever he works with to take the
music in whatever direction they

choose, which is evidenced by the di-
versity in Pigface's latesteffort, "Notes
From Thee Underground."
"The band has always been chang-
ing. This time around, the quantity of
people is just insane, and it causes our
older material to change as well (when
we play live). We're not Led Zeppelin.
The songs do not remain the same," he
emphasized.
However, Pigface's strength has
always been in their explosive live
show, with their studio albums serving
more as the raw material that the tour-
ing members of Pigface can twist into
whatever shape they see fit. As Atkins
sees it, there's no better way to do it.
"If the members of Pigface enjoy
what goes on on-stage, and there's
probably 85 of us at this point, then you
really have to question what a lot of
other bands are doing," Atkins ex-
plained. "I'm not slagging them, but
it's just a fact that five people who do
the same songs every night are bored,

and I think there's an element of dis-
honesty in regurgitating that same music
night after night and passing it off as
entertainment. It's not. It's ajob."
This year's incarnation will feature
at least 24 people popping in at differ-
ent times during the tour, including
Pigface veterans Mary Byker, Ogre,
Andrew Weiss and Genesis P. Orridge.
However, the core of the band includes
some newer faces, such as Taime
Downe of Faster Pussycat, James
Teitelbaum of Evil Clowns and Joe
Trump of Carbon.
However, this "revolving door" idea
has caused Atkins more than few head-
aches in the past.
"I just about lost everything the last
time we toured. I lost about 60 grand,"
Atkins admitted. "There's 15 or 16
people, every day, and that all costs
money, and it's very difficultforme to
tell someone they can't come out if
they want to."
However, Atkins doesn't hide his
amazement at what Pigface has grown

into.
"I'm happy that it still exists. I'm
happy to still be excited by it. You
know, I've been around for a while,
and to still be on the edge of what's
happening, and hopefully to define 'the
edge' is really wild! Ididn't think when
we started that I'd still be excited by
doing this for so long," he said.
"In this day of formula and mass
marketing and demographics, maybe
we are a very twisted idea of a band," he
continued, "but really, to me, it's what
music is supposed to be about."
"My attention span is quite short. I
like things to excite me. Pigfaceexcites
me. The danger of it, the fact that it
could all just collapse at any moment,
musically or physically or financially.
That excites me."
PtGFA CE will bring their entourage
to St. Andrews Hall on Thursday,
along with the Evil Mothers. Tickets
are $10.50 in advance, doors open at
8p.m., 18 and over only. Call 961-
MELT if you don't believe it.

K." '
V. ..

Mary Byker and Martin Atkins with a bunch of their mates.

_

i

*I

'Fresh 'est 'Cheese
CHEESE the actor
the indi~
awful m
Continued from page 5 this to sa
Best Brains. that go4
Writer Frank Conniff (who is also mare" in

'this side of Wisconsin and it's not muenster

aw

who plays TV's Frank and is
vidual who has to see every
ovie th show considers) had
y about some of the segments
along with "Zombie Night-
a phone interview last week:


"We did a lot of stuff about Adam
West, because he's in it. I think we
painted him as kind of a washed up
alcoholic ... It may not be true, but it's
ourjob topointthesethings out. We did
a lot of stuff about how big a batch (of
.hair) the monster had and just about
how bad it was overall."
"And it had that whole '80s flair,
too, so we did alotof reminiscing about
post-disco era'80s crap," added writer
Mary Jo Pehl, who has also been seen
on screen asDr. Forrester'smotherand
as theeverlovable severed head known
as Jan in the Pan.
Pehl had this to say about the writ-
ing of the show in general: "(It's) ex-
tremely spontaneous. When we're writ-
ing the movie, we just say whatever
pops into our heads when we see a
certain frame of themovie on the screen.
Then someone records it in the com-
puter and it often evolves into side
conversations (for the characters) which
evolve into sketches, occaisionally."
Can you possibly wait to see if Mike
gets inaRobin suit and gets sodomized?
One needs to wonder if there are
actually any movies that are too
vomitous to be seen on a show that
lampoons such stinky films."'Benny
and Joon' was too bad for us," quipped
Conniff."We see screeners all the time
that are even more incomprehensible
than many of the ones we do," adds
Pehl. "Ones that are so poor in terms

of sound or video, or some that ar
graphic in terms of violence. So yes
there are worse movies that we tur
down."
Of course, the man elected th<
worst director of all time has ha
several projects show up on MS
"We've done three Ed Wood mov ,
but I don't think he deserves to be
called the worst director of all time,"
said Conniff. "I think he's really aw-
ful, but he meant well, which I can'I
say about all filmmakers. We've done
'Bride of the Monster,' 'The Violent
Years', which he wrote but didn'i
direct but still I consider it a true Ed
Wood film, and the best one, wh
hasn't been on the air yet,'The Si
ter Urge,' which is really a greay
movie. It's really funny and I love it.'
Conniff expressed happiness in re-
sponse to Tim Burton's biopic.
Yep, MST3K is a skilled purveyor
of such cult schlock, and Best Brains
produces 24 episodes of this fine, fin
program every year. A fresher sourc
of cheese can hardly be found outside
of Wisconsin. Unless it goes on to
wEMYSTERYSCTENCETP15
ATER 3000 FRESH CHEESE
TOUR will be at MLB Auditorium 3
at 8 and 10 Friday night. It's free,
so go. And if you've got cable, you
can watch old episodes at midnight
on weeknights and new episodes on
Saturdays at 7.

T 0F%4G0PF

Crow T. Robot, Mike Nelson and Tom Servo practice shaving on MST3K.

Prower Center
October 20-22
at 8PM
October 23
at 2PM

By Tennessee Williams

Tickets are $16 and $12
Charge by phone:
313.764.0450'

Student seating is $6
with ID at the
League Ticket Office

.._._r

UM SCHOOL OF MUSIC, Department of Theatre and Drama


Fall Lessons
Every Sunday Night
Main Dance Room, CCRB
7:00pm Beginning Lessons
8:00pm General Dancing
Everybody is welcome!
No partner necessary!
It's Free!
There is no pre-registration.
Just show up at the beginning o
the lessons whenever you like.
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om

For More Information Call: 663-9213
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Meet Henry Rollins

author of
Get in the Van:
f e vdar a,*uih R a rIlna

Al

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