Are You Seeking Truth

THIS POST HAS BEEN RE_UPLOADED - 8/3/21

Are You Seeking Truth ‽


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INTERROBANG


After being born in a factory called a hospital,
after passing through a factory called school,
after learning how to exist in a society primarily
filled with factory-line computer monitor-staring sheep...
fate found PaPa Hawk (record producer), Mug-Z (painter), & N-Boy (writer) all seeking solace at an art gallery in downtown San Jose. The name of the gallery...Kismet. & it was at Kismet that the three of them formed their initial bond. Each of them believed themselves to be irreplaceable in the factory-line society; each believed they had a purpose for being alive.

Surrounded by art from contemporary Russian masters, the three began to develop an idea which would soon become a quest. They talked of combining music, cinema, visual art, written & oral history from various cultures & performance art into one big blob. Hours of discussion led to the idea of live performance done in an inclusive manner. They would need a small community of musicians willing to take a chance on an abstract idea. PaPa Hawk said he knew exactly who the next member of the band would be.

A week later, Mug-Z found himself jamming with CAP n T. PaPa Hawk was right. CAP n T was the man. His unique attitude toward noise & sound & their place within music helped mold the initial sound & structure of this unnamed band. PaPa Hawk & Mug-Z found N-Boy at Kismet later that evening. They told him about CAP n T & the killer jam session they had just had. N-Boy knew CAP n T would help them take music into the void & agreed. Now they just needed a drummer...& a name.

PaPa Hawk & CAP n T went to Los Angeles to pick up a fellow Little Lucky band's cds. CAP n T was lead for this band, PaPa Hawk was their producer. Get the Picture? Anyway, after they picked up the cds., PaPa Hawk took CAP n T to see an old Beat sculptor, Ed Morrisey, in the heart of the city. & it was Ed Morrisey who handed them an old symbol absent from modern day language.
( Nate note: Actually, American Martin K. Speckter invented the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if copywriters conveyed surprised rhetorical questions using a single mark. He proposed the concept of a single punctuation mark in an article in the magazine TYPEtalks. Speckter solicited possible names for the new character from readers. Contenders included rhet, exclarotive, and exclamaquest, but he settled on interrobang. He chose the name to reference the punctuation marks that inspired it: interrogatio is Latin for "a rhetorical question" or "cross-examination"; bang is printers' slang for the exclamation point.)
This symbol was absent from all typewriters & computer keyboards
(Nate note: In 1968, an interrobang key was available on some Remington typewriters. During the 1970s, it was possible to buy replacement interrobang keycaps and strikers for some Smith-Corona typewriters. The interrobang was in vogue for much of the 1960s, with the word 'interrobang' appearing in some dictionaries and the mark itself being featured in magazine and newspaper articles.)
, yet possessed a vivid familiarity. CAP n T knew they needed to take this symbol back to San Jose & use it for a band name. Interrobang. ‽ I guess you get the picture‽...but they still needed a drummer.

As luck would have it, a young buck named Tommy Guns strolled into Little Lucky Studio looking for an internship. To the bands surprise, Tommy Guns was a composer for a local marching band. The fifth member of the band was now in place. Now they just needed a formula.

Despite living in a time of individualism, the notion of individualism...of thinking for one's self, of navigating one's own path throughout life...was not an option for the five. One doesn't choose to be an authority...the truth can always be questioned, if you're lying, you'll get no answer.

A product of the post-industrial-cyber-information age & sculpted by the movement of individualism, it was apparent this group of five would have to find a newness in music which lie past all concepts, without dismissing them. What is music? At what point does sound become music & not noise‽ Is noise music‽ Is music noise‽ Such postmodern concerns would be looked upon as a given by the band, as past masters had already addressed these questions in depth.

Change does not come about through conformity. Change requires risk. Art requires risk. Ideas of change don't happen when you're old & have hemorrhoids. Ideas of change happen when you're young & impatient. & the band, well they were in for a big change. The place that brought them together, the place where local artists of all mediums met & talked...Kismet...up & closed without notice. One night it's open, the next morning, it's completely empty with a hand written sign in the window.

This was a blessing in disguise, as the band would now have their meetings at a small office right above The Phoenix, & at Little Lucky Studios. The Phoenix was an old jazz club that closed down after losing their liquor license. By meeting in private, the five were able to focus their attention on form. One night, while smoking cigarettes in the moonlight, N-Boy noticed that Mug-Z & CAP n T were standing under a sign that read CARAVAN. It was the name of the bar that Little Lucky Studios was above.

That was it. Kismet brought them together. The Phoenix took them above the flames & led them to the Caravan to capture & record their journey. It was obvious to the five that they were exactly where they were supposed to be & doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing...letting nature take its course.

TRACKS:
! Question Expression
@ Bone Train
# Allusion of Seclusion
$ Where's It At? (downtown)
% Half A Soul
^ Build For Pleasure
& New Enlightenment
* Sabbath Shaft II
? Nobody

Just as their quest for truth led them to nature, it's only natural that they relied upon nature to set the course in developing their formula. Despite endless cycles & formulas, there is no definite form to nature. Nature is a process of discovery. In nature, unexplained change is not only excepted, it's expected. Art is not different. Thus, the five approached the creation of music in the same way. Little Lucky put it like this, "Nothing is dictated, preset, or structured. All is guided by instinct & positive channeled energy, with emphasis placed on process & outcome."

Coexisting with an entire generation of young people detached from the planet, detached from the past, the present, & the future, who live in a reality where sex means death, rain is acid, tap water is poison, nuclear destruction is ever-present, the rain forest is nearly gone, the polar ice caps are going to melt, human clones are being created in private, animal clones are being created in public, microchips are the size of a grain of sand & food is cured with toxins, it's no wonder there's a certain Nihilism present in their music.

While recording, the five found themselves surrounded by the inner-city underworld...a place filled with drug-addicted murderous misfits, liars, & whores. It was only natural that parts of their music became reactions to this horrid reality. Thus, the old blues concept...'Things are bad, but they're bound to get better'...was resurrected & applied to their music. Then T-Tone showed up & became a vital role in the band. This guy was always there for the five during all recording & practice sessions. He helped to keep them focused & smoked a lot of Mug-Z's cigarettes.

At this point, the band had everything they needed...except a song-bird & a man on point. Enter Brooklyn, the ultimate on point. Brooklyn immediately connected a beautiful woman named Star to the five. One practice is all it took for Star to become an instrumental part of the band's sound. & Brooklyn, well he wasn't done, as he brought The Glad Professor to the table...turntables & all. Like I said...Brooklyn is the ultimate on point. Of course PaPa Hawk brought an array of guest musicians to sit in on various songs, but it was Brooklyn who delivered their Star. Shortly after, the six finished recording.

PaPa Hawk observed this at the tail-end of the recording sessions, "If one listens to the tone of the cd. as a whole, it's inevitable that one will hear & feel the band's hope in humanity & belief in the triumph of the human spirit. Are you seeking truths (fill in interrobang)" & now, the band is ready to tackle a music scene that has yet to be labeled or defined.
N-Boy:
founding member of Interrobang & also The Pigeon Project

‽ are:
PaPa Hawk: vocals, spoken word, guitar, harmonica, percussion, finger snaps, human being
Star: vocals, cynic, daughter, skin-deep, lady, spoiled monthly bitch
CAP n T: musician, guitar(for hire), spoken word, keyboard, samples, sounds, licensed asshole
Mug-Z: painter, bass, spoken word, percussion, vocal accents
N-Boy: writer, guitar, spoken word, keyboard, percussion, finger snaps
Tommy Guns: listener, drums, percussion, overall machine
T-Tone: d.j., percussion, finger snaps, vocal accents, clutch
The Good Professor: d.j., cuts, samples, brakes (like the wind)

Guest Musicians:
Sequoia Tim: wooden flute (Nobody)
R-Factor: saxophone (Where's It At [downtown] - Allusion of Seclusion)
Jonathan: samples (Bone Train)