{the b-side}
Thursday, September 7, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3B
- LOCAL MUSIC Q & A
Mac Podz
"It's a Norman Rockwell world, with jet planes
and fiber optics." - Noam Chomsky
By Lloyd H. Cargo
Daily Music Editor
The Mac Podz are one of the
brightest new lights in a thriving
local music scene. The Podz have
made a name for themselves through
electrifying shows at the Blind Pig
and various other venues through-
out campus. The group, comprised
of Brennan Duncan (bass/vox) Jesse
Clayton (aka Donny Boogaloo, keys)
Griffith Ayres (percussion) Nicho-
las Ayres (percussion/vox) and Ross
Walker Huff (trumpet) plays their
own brand of space-funk-disco-be-
bop begging to be the soundtrack to
your next night of drunken dancing.
I sat down with Ross to talk about,
among other things, Shamu, Opti-
mus Prime and their music.
Lloyd H. Cargo: What do you
guys sound like?
Ross Walker Huff: Disco be-bop,
with a strong soul and R&B influ-
ence. We're also definitely influenced
by straight-up rock'n'roll bands that
put on real rock'n'roll shows ... like
the J. Geils band.
LC: How are you guys getting
your music out there?
RWH: Over the summer we
played two or three concerts. They
were called Freedom Fests. Basically
just putting on shows that are orga-
nized for the public for freejust par-
tying, drinking Pabst ... They were
all afternoon and evening things out-
doors. Playing some late night house
parties and barbecues help make
people aware of what we are or that
we're a band at all.
LC: And how important is it for
you to connect with the students at
the University?
RWH: I think students are always
looking for what we're packing,
which is a great time, great dance
music and a party with positive
vibes.
LC: How important is MySpace
in getting the word out there to those
kids?
RWH: It's hard to tell how impor-
tant it is.Perhaps it'spriceless. I mean
it's a free service. We don't have a
proper webpage. But I've heard from
artists that have both a MySpace and
a webpage that they'd get five or 10
times as many hits on MySpace than
on their URL. That's kind of a tes-
tament to how much of a popularity
contest it is - your music has got to
hold its own, but it's like, how many
MySpace friends do you have?
LC: What have been some of your
most memorable shows to date?
RWH: We did a show on Hash
Bash that lasted 'til 6 a.m.'That was
quite memorable. We also enjoyed
our WCBN set last July; that got a
really positive response. We've had
some success at the Blind Pig. We
opened for Smokestack at one of
their last local shows, maybe in May
or June. That show had a really excel-
lent energy.
LC: What sets apart a Mac Podz
show from your run-of-the-mill
Blind Pig concert?
RWH: We try to do whatever
it takes for the listener to get there.
Wherever "there" is. I mean it's a dif-
ferent "there" for me or for the other
guys in the band. But we all know
when we're there. And that's why
you go to a show. If you need to stand
on your head and breathe nitrous or
if you just need to do jumping jacks
or yoga or spin in circles ... What-
ever it takes for you to get to that
space where you look around and say
"Hey, if this isn't nice, I don't know
what is." If for a couple moments we
can set aside all the other crap and
remember that being alive is pretty
righteous. We can deal with all that
other shit tomorrow morning. But
right now I'm gonna get there.
LC: Speaking of, if you had a
dream gig, space-time constraints
notwithstanding ...
RWH: It'd be great to be on a
bill with The Arkistra and Sun Ra.
Somewhere on one of Saturn's rings.
I heard there's a couple of cool joints
out on the seventh ring. It'd be some
Douglas Adams-type shit. Playing a
gig at the restaurant at the end of the
universe. There's always the interest
in the kind of crazy energetic site
on Earth, like when (the Grateful
Dead) played at the Pyramids. That
would be something. It's like a three
ring circus on Neptune. It's pretty
rowdy, man.
You can check out the Mac
Podz online at www.myspace.
com/macpodz as well as live at The
Blind Pig on Sept. 29. Ross will
also perform in a Lego Spaceship
Cabaret Production with Monsieur
Galooshes and the Plasticine Bandits
featuring members of the Mac Podz,
Chris Bathgate and Yosef Dosik at
Canterbury House, 713 E. Huron St.,
tonight at 8 p.m.
---
Local band the Mac Podz has opened for Smokestack and played
Hash Bash - a gig with Sun Ra out in space still TBD.
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