Punch Drunk - TV Spot

This TV spot was for a 1993 Punch Drunk gig on Penn State Main Campus in State College, PA. It has the distinction of being the first TV spot that we edited at FFS. Can you tell?

The band had been recording tracks at our studio for their Hardtech Robocore release when the Penn State gig came up. They were asked to provide a :30 spot which would run on local TV to promote the gig and they needed to get it done quickly. They asked us to help them so that's how we got involved.

At that time, we had a "very" primitive 1/2" VHS video editing system (this is before affordable non-linear editing) which included an Azden VE-100 Editor and a Panasonic WJ-AVE3 FX Generator. We sat in the studio with the band and reviewed all of their raw video footage. They chose what they wanted to use and then we did a cuts only edit of the footage. After we had the cuts only edit, we did a pass where MC2P4 added video effects and then I recorded the Steve O voice-over takes. It took him about 3 takes to get something we all liked and that was it. We duped it onto a VHS cassette and they sent it off.

I can't end this post without saying the following...

"I'm Fudge Wink and this is Punch Drunk!"

P.S. That's an inside joke from the session.

Mutate (Any Questions? Radiation Mix)

Shortly after the release of our Any Questions? - Mutation CD in 2000, we were contacted by Jason Bazinet from the Seattle, WA elektro-punk-cyber-rap band SMP. He was assembling a CD of remixes (later released as Hacked) for songs from his Terminal CD and he wanted us to contribute to it. Up until this point, we had never remixed another band's material so we thought that it would be challenging (and fun) to do.

We received a CD from Jason with all of the various parts (drum loops, bass lines, synth lines, vocals, etc) for the songs from Terminal. We checked out the CD and chose to do his song called Mutate. After all, our latest release was called Mutation so we thought that it was only fitting that we'd remix a song title that was so similar to our CD name.

We quickly got to work on it. We didn't want to take the easy way out and simply rearrange the parts that SMP had supplied to us so we started from scratch. I laid down a dance beat using our Roland MC-303 and then moved onto working on a funky synth bass line. While I was working on those parts, MC2P4 was busy transcribing the original lyrics for the song. Again, we didn't want to simply take the easy way out by using the original supplied vocal tracks from the song so I ended up singing (rapping?) the verses and only used a small detuned vocal sample for the song's chorus parts. I added other synth parts, a sampled arpeggio from the original song, and P4 recorded some Clavia Nord Lead 2 stabs and a synth solo. I mixed it and we were done.

The end result is a song unlike anything else that we have ever done. From Any Questions?, a Hypermedia Industrial Death band, you would not expect this "urban-influenced" rap-like remix. Sadly, this remix never made it onto the remix CD, Hacked. The writer of the song left SMP before the CD was released and did not allow Jason to use any of the remixes for songs that he had originally written. So, here it is... the long unreleased remix from Any Questions? for the SMP song, Mutate.

String Instruments

Even at FFS we have some string instruments. It's an eclectic mix which includes (from left to right) a Kay K-2 Electric Guitar (formerly owned by guitar maestro, Dirk Frey), Carlo Robelli SSBFL Fretless Bass, Ibanez SR400 Soundgear Electric Bass w/ Yamaha B1D Synth Pickup, Rickenbacker 4003 Electric Bass, Roland G-77 Bass Controller, Steinberger Spirit XT-2 Electric Bass, and a Roland G-707 Guitar Controller.

As you can see from the picture, the walls behind the instruments need to be finished. What about making them all glass? You know, go for that '70s roller disco look. Slap in a Leo Sayer 8-track and "dance the night away".

Imbued Vagary Live Performance Rumors

Rumors are abounding that Imbued Vagary may be performing a live electronic experiment this Halloween (10/31/09).  Details to follow...

Any Questions? - Body Bags

Body Bags was the first video off our Any Questions? 2000 release, Mutation. We took the song's title literally and slid ourselves into large garbage bags on a very hot summer day to shoot part of this video. The video also has all of the other "classic" Any Questions? elements - gas masks, blood, violence, fog, toxic liquids, strobe lights, dismembered baby dolls (taken from my sister years ago) and, of course, severed heads!

This was shot in The Griffith Compound at The Farmhouse in 1999. Steve Olsen manned the video camera while Kelly Hoffman and Beth Ballein were running lights and shooting off fog when they weren't assisting with video or suffocating in body bags.

It was a long but very fun day!

Obomatic Photoshoot (2003)

Here's a behind the scenes picture from an Obomatic photoshoot in 2003. Very fashionable...

Solar Wash

In a post last week, I was talking about the "comedic" lyric versions for some of our songs. I'd like to share another example of this. It's a song idea (well, really only a verse that's repeated) called Solar Wash.

Back in 1989, when I first moved to the Philadelphia area (Phoenixville, PA to be exact), I was taking a break from working in the studio to go and do some long overdue laundry. Why would I feel the need to tell anyone about this? Well, because it was the inspiration for the first Any Questions? song that I would ever sing. To some, I may be stretching it a bit to say that I'm "singing" but that's a debate for the comment log.

Up until this time, MC2P4 and I had been writing a lot of songs and he had handled most of the vocals duties for those early songs. We also had a few guest vocalists - Ken Chandler and Brian Black. However, my visit to the Solar Wash (now called the Phoenixville Laundry Center - pictured above) and the experience I had one day in the Fall of 1989 was to change all this.

On that fateful day, I trudged into the laundromat and looked for a washer to put my clothes in. As I walked down the first line of washers, I realized that they were all in use. This struck me as odd since I hadn't noticed anyone as I entered the laundromat. It was at this time, as I rounded the turn to check out the next row of washers, that I saw a couple who were sitting side by side at the end of the row of formed, plastic seating by the window. As I made eye contact with the "male", the "female" stood up and dropped the paper bag wrapped "40" that was in her hand. It shattered and spilled beer all over the floor. Unphased, she began muttering to herself and started to walk towards me. By this time, I had found an empty washer and started to load my clothes. As she staggered closer and closer, she began to gesture to me to move to another washer. I then looked over at the "male" who, before my eyes, fell off his seat and onto the floor.

As luck would have it, at that moment, another couple entered the laundromat and began laughing hysterically at the "male" who had fallen to the floor.  This laughter distracted the "female" from her zombie-like advance on me and she turned to go and aid her "male" companion.  She gathered him from the floor and they shambled outside into the night.

That would be the last I saw of them.  The whole first row of washers eventually finished running but no one ever came to claim their contents.  I endeavored to wash and then dry my clothes and then left the Solar Wash with the inspiration for this little idea (complete with laundry word play)...