>>>

I'm working on the Willie Nelson thing,
done a U.S. tour, said some little prayers...
and a recording of this project is on the horizon.
The Nels Cline Singers are backing me up.
I'm turning it on it's head arrangement-wise.
Ultimately I want to bring it full circle from
traditional, feeling-driven music around to a more
amorphous unpredictability without losing the
emotional connection and back and forth with ease.
Or it'll just be a fucked up version of a record that's
great to waltz to when you first fall in love.

Click to view exclusive photos from the
recording sessions...



or view a "behind-the-scenes" video...

>>>The movie By Hook Or By Crook which I
mentioned so long ago and at that time
seemed like a difficult dream, is finished
and screened at Sundance Jan. 17, 18, 19.
I did the score and compiled the soundtrack,
with Biff Sanders (genius producer/engineer/
programmer) from Ethyl Meatplow at my side.
I love working with Biff. The soundtrack is hot,
hot, hot -- though I don't know if anyone has it
together to try to make a CD.

I'll let you know how to see the movie as soon
as I can. Honestly, the project was a bitch and
sometimes awful, but the movie itself, independent
of me, kicks ass and I'm thrilled I did it.

Here are most of the artists/bands on the soundtrack:
The Make-Up, Jessamine, Blonde Redhead, Low,
The Monomen, The Geraldine Fibbers, Whiskey Biscuit,
Travis John Alford, The Knoxville Girls, Joan Jett,
Cornertour, Emma Peel, Shotwell.

The score features Nels Cline's guitar all over it.

You should check out this website for some
backround on the filmmakers.

>>> Scarnella. Wow, what a lifesaver! A
project from the heart, spontaneously
generated. Pulled me out of the filthy ooze
that was hardening in every cavity. Mental and
otherwise. Got me improvising again, but
more-so (duh, Nels Cline!). Improvising!
It's fucking hard! Constant risk of fuck up.
Constant fuck ups that people think
were intentional. Your brain and hands
and voice are fluid, or you’re screwed, etc.

Scarnella’s first activity was recording a cover
version of James Brown’s "Hot Pants"
(Zero Hour). It is one of the fav things I’ve ever
done. Then we recorded a self titled album and
did a couple of west coast tours and shows
in the mid-West and on the East coast we did
shows with the Boredoms who continue to
blow my mind. There will be a new Scarnella
album in 2001. I also had a chance to record
a version of Tom Wait's "On The Nickel"
(Manifesto). I got to work with an arranger and
create a score for strings, including harp! The
players were great. The attempt to bring a subtle
dissonance to the original melody worked out.
The song itself was sympatico to the 10th power.

>>> As an exercise in trying to force myself
into sticking to a specific theme with set
boundaries, I've been working on a book of horses
—all on the same size and type of paper and with
oil pastel and colored pencils. (Devin is using
them to deck out this site.) I have a style with
these horses which developed ever since I painted
the first one in 1989 after not painting or drawing
for like 10 years. I did it because I had this
great picture frame that I wanted to hang up.
That one ended up on an Ethyl Meatplow 7"
cover. After that I did a couple more perverse
horsey drawings over the years. When I
got home, the horses were all there waiting for
me so I began drawing them. I hope to finish
a book using these horses and maybe a few
more, with writings in between. I want to make
a small enough number so the printing can be
very special.

>>> Recording and playing in the outfit
Destroy All Nels Cline has been a weird/great
experience. I love the music and everyone that
plays, but it might be the hardest contribution
I've ever tried to make in a group. It's also in
many ways the best music I've been a part of.
I have to wake up and sharpen corroded parts
of my brain. The approach is very different,
and the music is more complex than things i've
done. We play about once every several months.
I use my sampeling/loops alot, which I love.
Our debut CD is OUT NOW on Atavistic.

>>> I did this thing called the Fake Party!
(@ the Schindler House in Los Angeles, CA
on August 27, 2000.) It was in celebration of
my love of the contrived and my obsession with
thinking that a hemp toilet is no more real than
having cyber-sex with a plastic Tammy Faye
doll dripping melted velum out of her mouth.

I hope to do more of these shows again.
"Made-to-order" to suit the given environment.
Check out the official Fake Party! page
complete w/ photos from the show & more.

>>>I was asked to do the music for a play by
Jean Genet called, The Maids. One of the
people that made all the difference at the
Fake Party! was also directing this play.
I love Genet lots. Not The butchered
"Querrelle"of the Fassbinder film, but the
writing. I had a blast doing this. I worked
in a way that I only get to work when I’m
alone. Samples and loops carried the music.
Everything was chopped and taped and
never left to it’s natural intentions.
The title piece is my favorite.

>>> Lydia Lunch has been a gift from the
heavens below during the last couple of
years. She is a friend like you can’t buy for
nothin’. Nels and I worked with her on some
of her demos for her new project "Torcher".
Nels wrote music, made complex arrangements
and recorded them live with a whole horn
section. He also produced and played on the
stuff. I produced the singing and we did a
couple of duets. Not sure when this stuff
will surface. I'm gonna write more about
her later...in the meantime,
visit the Lydia Lunch website!

>>>Amongst the collaborations is a project
that I hope to see more of—Dot. Nels Cline,
Brandon LaBelle, myself and Devin Sarno,
our web-master. It is an improv outfit with a
specific goal/effect intended. My understanding
is that we intend to create sound that doesn't
work if any one person's playing stands out
from the rest, but rather by combining the four
of us (or however many are playing at that
moment) we create something like a single
instument larger than the sum of us.

>>>There is also Bonnie Barnett. She's an
old school, avant-garde vocalist who Nels
has played with for years. I had met and liked
her alot. One day she invited me to sit in on
a session with a large group (including Nels)
recording one improvised track for a Chech
label. It was during the period in the last few
years where I had given up singing, pretty much.
I had just gotten sick of my own voice with all
that touring. I was avoiding the weird icon
thing for awhile. I had agreed to do a show
that night at Spaceland, a club which to me
represented alot that I was avoiding. I had
been on edge about it all week. It was a nite
of all female-led projects. I felt this huge
pressure. I hadn't done any stuctured song
type stuff in LA for almost two years, and to
most people, that meant I hadn't done anything
at all. I thought there would be alot of skeezy,
shmoosy Hollywood types sitting at the bar
whispering rumours of what had happened to
me. Analyzing the music to see if it had potential
for success. Was I still pretty? Did I look
young? I knew at this time that the last
thing my soul could handle was music with
"potential for success."

The show was put together by a favorite
person (Natalie Woodlawn) who was worried
about me and thought I should force myself
to do the show. I really wasn't right for it,
not that the others ones on the bill weren't
good, they were great. It's just that I would
have rather watched. Anyway, the recording
session with Bonnie was so fun and everything
that I loved about improvising that you don't
get from structured rock and roll, I asked
Bonnie to join me that nite at Spaceland.
Bonnie is a singer so extreme that either
your hands are clasped tightly over your ears
or you're in love. It doesn't matter which...
the show was amazing. Before the audience
had a chance to compute the details they were
already inside the sounds. Even with no
drums or bass, me primarily playing samples
and loops (once in a while singing through a
walkie-talkie) Nels with his guitar, and Bonnie
doing her thing (you could imagine she might
have taught Yoko Ono to sing), even with all
of this, the hipsters at Spaceland were silent
at the bar. They hung on her every howl and
grunt. It was the ultimate Get Out Of Jail Free
card. They freaked out cheering when it was
over. Now we play together as much as we can.