Friday, December 4, 2009

"The Plant"

It's been awhile since I've posted any house-related entries so I thought that I would take this opportunity to introduce you to "The Plant".  "The Plant" is a 15+ year old African Violet (Saintpaulia ionantha) which originally belonged to my grandmother.  It was passed onto me and I've cared for it ever since.  

As you can see, it "appears" to be healthy and is currently blooming with purple flowers.  It likes to be watered and loves sunlight.  I've found that my kitchen table seems to be an ideal location for it and I rotate "The Plant" every couple of days to keep it from becoming lopsided.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting "The Plant", another valuable member of the Floating Fish Studios family.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Nuclear Winter

While being trapped in the studio during a blinding snow blizzard, I slowly churned out this dirgelike hymn of isolated despair. In the days leading up to this recording, I had become increasingly more disconnected than usual from those around me and began to retreat further inward. The manifestation of that exploration is what I now reluctantly share with you.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Studio Line from L'Oréal

Vizator members Matt Norcross (C) and Dave Irish (R) perform at PPG Plaza in downtown Pittsburgh, PA (Summer 1989).  This was during my Studio Line from L'Oréal period.  In contrast, Dave was in full on mullet mode.

P.S. Thanks to Mitzi Moyer and her sister for taking this picture.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Any Questions? - Strange Days


Strange Days was the second video off our Any Questions? 2000 release, Mutation. While preparing for the Alive I Am tour in 2004, we needed to quickly shoot and edit videos for the new songs that we were adding to our set list. These songs were Evolution and Strange Days.

To tackle the video for Strange Days, we set up a location shoot in MC2P4's shed on one VERY hot Summer day in June 2004. The shed was about 10' x 10' in size and, of course, we closed the door, blocked off all the windows with black scrim, turned on the par cans and strobe lights, and blew fog all over the set. The end result was a sweat lodge of radioactivity, terror, and disgust.

We first shot the calm footage of me (Ttam Troll) wearing a clean room suit, respirator, and goggles while fake typing very poorly at a computer terminal. I, obviously, needed to work on my acting. Next, we captured the video feedback footage and then it was time for MC2P4 to don his infamous "wire costume" and put on another tour de force performance of blood, disgust, and sweat.

It is also worth noting that this video features the "$5 champy". A non-functional, custom built home stereo receiver system which I bought for, you guessed it, $5 at a used musical instrument store. When we opened up the unit to find out why it wasn't working, we discovered the previous owner's stash of crack cocaine. Unprepared and unwilling to "experiment", we contacted an appropriate disposal service.

On the final edit, we also cut in scenes from the movie Strange Days, which was the original inspiration for the song.

This was done quick and dirty, guerrilla style but it is still a favorite among us and our fans. I hope you enjoy it.