July 2003 - JUMBO'S KILLCRANE
Based in Lawrence, Kansas, math-sludge berserkers JUMBO'S KILLCRANE are back with a new release, the amazing "Carnaval De Carne" MCD. But they got more in store, than just being a simple sludge band. They create effective blues-laden noise, with a special kind of dark sarcastic humour. This isn't the sound for people, who wants to be entertained in a mellow and easy way. So it was time for the Cosmic Lava to find out more about this brutal three-piece. The questions were answered by Ervis (guitar/vocals) and P-Rock (drums). My thanks goes out to Adam Wright of Crucial Blast for passing the questions over to the JKC dudes.
Hello to everybody of JKC! Congratulations to your newest mini-album "Carnaval De Carne". What kind of responses do you have received for it in the States until now? I ask only for the US, because the new CD will be released in Europe on May 21st.
P-Rock: People seem to really get the vibe of carnaval in the heavy rock circles. We're trying to do something that pushes the edge a little, and, for the most part, people have been very appriciative over here. I'm new to the internet, so i've been filling my head with all the ego-boosting crap i can get.
Ervis: Yeah....the vibe. that's what we're all about, man. like, if we can't groove on the line together, then we don't groove at all, man. seriously though, there was only one bad review so far...but that guy was just afraid to feel the impending doom that consumes this earth. which proves my point that i kept stressing earlier...some people would just rather eat pixie sticks than think about what's really going on.
How much time have you spend in the studio to record the six tracks for "Carnaval De Carne"?
P-Rock: We spent two days, basically, recording the tracks, and four or five grueling sessions mixing it down.
Ervis: Yeah it was all pretty gay and we recordeed in tacoma, which is a city i've lived in and smelled before......but there were some lost melvins reels we got to listen to...that was cool. unfortunatley, we have better weed in kansas....apparantly people in the northwest US would rather be pleasantly high rather than twitching siezure-style on the ground.....i guess it's their choice. Hell, i still like scotch guard.
Who's responsible for the tasteful cover-artwork of the new release? It seems to me, as if the person behind it, is working as an comic artist, too.
Ervis: I beat the shit outa that guy and broke his jaw, so he can't really talk to me anymore....maybe someone else knows?
Your records have a very natural sound, almost like a live-show. I guess, you don't use overdubs and stuff like this? Do you improve a lot while recording the songs?
P-Rock: I think that the live sound is a result of the time constraints we operated under. I would like to try and spend much more time on our tracking sessions to highlite what a particular song is intended to be in it's most perfected state. It's like we went in the studio and recorded a show, and now that's the show that everyone is going to hear as our record. I suppose there is positive and negative aspects to it.
Ervis: Yeah it doesn't get much more live than that....one day to track and one day to mix...fucking perfect.....though it would be nice to be rich, though for completley unrelated circumstances.
With the new release "Carnaval De Carne" you've created again a very intense and edgy-sounding album. What kind of emotions are important for the special JKC sound? Do you feel dominated by anger and desperation?
Ervis: Nah b...it's all in the vein of meger vengence....crush your enemys, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the women. there is no better drug than the rush of playing before an audience, even if it's for 15 people, and those times are getting fewer and farther between...can't wait to play to a couple hundred crazed Germans! fuck, i have family there and have loved every visit thus far, even though i was there for funerals every time.
P-Rock: When i' m playing at my most intense, i try and pull up as much emotion as i can, from where ever i can get it. It can seem angry to people watching, but i'm actually feeling very blissful and satisfied. Maybe that's the booze i'm feeling.
On the new CD, you've got interesting song-titles as "Fellatio" or "Tres Futbol del Mono I", but there are no lyrics printed in the booklet. What's the story behind this interesting titles?
Ervis: They are written in spanish or french or english or italian.....and we are, after all, just three simple monkeys trying to fuck a football. Too bad we're all sterile.
Your first two albums "Scratch" and "Il Cadavers Eccellente" were released on Tarlick Records? Is it your own label and why have you signed with Maryland-based label Crucial Blast? Have you only signed for only one album?
P-Rock: It was our own label. I forget exactly why, but ervis insisted that we needed a label on our records. So we put tarlick on them to give us whatever edge he thought that might give us. Crucial blast is a fine label that is very good at doing the things a band in our position needs done. Namely, promotion and distribution contacts.
Ervis: Actually it was a good idea....that lie woven into countless others got us signed to crucial blast....but we had to sign a 10 year contract for only 3 mill.....i think that's kinda gay, as we are worth at least 10.
When you compare "Scratch" with the new one, where do you think are the biggest differences, apart of the changes in the line-up?
P-Rock: Scratch was recorded as a two piece over the course of about three months, off and on. We over-dubbed alot more and used studio trickery to make a record that wasn' t even possible, at that time, for us to play. Cadavers and carnaval were both recorded in the middle of tours in about two or three days. These are much truer representations of what we sounded like at those moments in time.
Ervis: Yep.....i used to have a pet squirrel that my mom "accidentally" killed....my ex-girlfriend also killed my last dog....that led to a real change in my guitar tone, and it's just getting worse.
Is there a special philosophie behind JKC?
P-Rock: The basic idea is to try as hard as you can to make as much noise as you possibly can.
Ervis: I still haven't figured out what the fuck i'm doing yet in this band....in fact, there's three different types of pussy-juice on my shirt right now....so there you go.
Do you got a big fondess for the Spanish language? Can you agree and what's the reason for it?
P-Rock: I think english is a very plain sounding language. Spanish just has a more regal tone to it.
Ervis: Whatever dude...you wanna fuck your cousin just as bad as i do, and that's why english sucks and the southern US rules....in education that is!
Are you interested in politics?
P-Rock: Politics are what i read about in the newspaper. Along with sports, classifieds, obituaries, human interest stories, and weather. No, i leave the politicking to students and hippies.
Ervis: Nah B...what the fuck am i gonna do about anything? Kill people for $100 a pop? Well i would if it would help anything....or if i needed $100.
What I like about your sound is, that it's free from any label. Ok, in my reviews I always mention the term Noise-Rock, but there's more, of course. Other writers are describing your sound with terms as prog-sludge. Do you feel part of any musical community?
Ervis: We are outcasts in a land of exilers....i mean elixers.
P-Rock: Now our shows are nearly all heavy-music oriented. In the past we've tried to fit on bills with more emo and indie-rock bands, but those kids start crying if you throw your beer at them or fall on their girlfriend. I always wanted to be the heaviest band playing that night. Now it's more fun to be the eclectic band on a bill with a bunch of stoner rock or doom-sludge type bands. These people appriciate our unique-ness more, and we're still heavy enough not to look like wussies.
The band has done a lot of touring in the beginning of 2003. How important is it for you do play shows?
P-Rock: It's the only reason for me to play in a band at all.
Ervis: Agreed...as i said before, it's the best fucking drug in the world...i would die without it.
You've shared the stage this year with exciting bands as Rwake, Beaten Back To Pure or Stinking Lizaveta. Which were some of the best shows, you've played this year?
Ervis: All three of those bands are great to listen to and play with....i gotta give a shout out to oxbow as well....talk about some deranged fucks....those are your guys. we opened for them one time in NYC...jesus fuck, i've never been so scared and aroused at the same time before....simply amazing. Weedeater is always a blast too....they always get us fucking wired/drunk/stoned/trippin'/sober or laid every time we see those bastards.
P-Rock: Most bands suck. so when you play with bands like these, as well as several others, it makes you appriciate when someone puts the time in to make bad-assed music.
What kind of people are coming to a JKC show?
P-Rock: People with tattoos mainly. And spikey hair.
Ervis: I don't have a single tattoo. i thought they were only for bitches that just got out of prison, so i'm eagerly awaiting my first one.
Last question for today? What are your other interests, apart of making music and drinking alcohol?
P-Rock: Knitting and firing bass players.
Ervis: In America, we have a statute of limitations, so ask me that question some other time before bush's secret police throw me in jail.
Thanks for you time and interest in answering my questions? Anything you like to say?
Ervis: It wasn't my fault....i stopped doing that shit, man.....totally clean.
(KK)