skullflower rfi

Thanks for pulling that out Ned - enjoyed that, apart from a few errors that should be edited out from the text.

sure, the lack of photographic evidence of this lot spurs images of black-draped easter island goliaths, but seeing them as average late 80s stoner college students makes perfect sense, the guys in that picture were hanging out in every college radio breakroom in 1988

I'll have to post the skullflower interview I did w/ jaworzyn back in '90, it's been interesting to compare and contrast against the quietus piece

haha yeah i wouldn't guess that was a band from England

Great interview.

skullflower interview from ugly american #6, 1990, sorry for all this long

Ugly American: Ed or Greg
Stefan Jaworzyn: last of the rare breed

UA: When and under what circumstances did the band first form?

SJ: Can't recall exact details -- it was either late '85 or early
'86. At first we were called Total (after a non-group of
myself and a photographer named Hugh; the two of us took
smack and groveled around on the floor making droning noises
with various electronic bits... I suspect this did not sound
very dramatic). We sort of appropriated the name. The first
rehearsal was Matthew, Stuart, and myself. Strangely enough,
this is also the current line-up.

UA: Was the absence of any info about the band on the record
covers a deliberate attempt to shroud Skullflower in mystery?
Or was it just cheaper to leave the names off?

SJ: The former, totally and utterly against any perspective I
would consider sensible. Let's not dwell on that...

UA: What's up with your fluctuating line-up? Does it cause
difficulties?

SJ: With the first line-up Matthew was too inept to play guitar
or bass properly and sing at the same time, so in came a
person named Binnie (now a tattooist and also on the new LP),
long-time associate of Matthew and who'd been in a band
called Pure (Matthew and Binnie, no music, lots of screaming
and background noise). Binnie played one-note bass for quite
a while. Gary Mundy from Ramleh (weedy contemporaries of
Whitehouse) somehow entered on guitar, so for some time it
was thus: Matthew, vocals and occasional bass or guitar bits;
Binnie, bass; Gary, guitar: Stuart, drums; me, guitar. This
was the line-up for a 12" we recorded but never released. One
of the tracks on the unreleased session has mutated into
"Wave", the 27-minute number on the new LP.

The fluctuating line-up has only caused difficulties if it's
been Stuart the drummer who failed to materialize - Matthew
has had to fill in on drums a couple of times (which actually
ended up pretty good -- results are on the CD, "Black Ass
Bone" and "Elephant's Graveyard"). We've had Steve Thrower
from Coil in on drums a couple of times. We've also had a
mutant called JFK on bass on the two above tracks. The stuff
he played was real good but he's not the kind of person you
really want to have to look at or converse with, so what the
fuh... I don't think there was ever any idea of a concrete
line-up as such and most of the time things have worked out
more than satisfactorily.

UA: Where, how, and on what do you record?

SJ: We record whenever, at a small studio in south London on
8-track. It was once a month for a while, but things as they
are it isn't anymore.

UA: Do you have a legion of fans?

SJ: Don't know about fans. If there are any they're thankfully
reasonably silent. There are a couple of worthless losers who
mouthed off that they were "friends" -- one of 'em is the UK
equivalent of McGonigal (actually even worse if truth be
told) and ought to be shot on sight. But fate always deals
these dickweeds a losing hand and will strike 'em down with
cancer pronto.

UA: Is appearing on the cover the New Music Express one of your
goals in life? Have you been ignored by the English press?

SJ: Don't be silly. What exactly constitutes the English music
press? If you mean the weeklies, then what difference does it
make if they ignore you anyway? We're not in this to hype
ourselves up so we can sign to a major label and consequently
spend all the time complaining about how shitty they are...

UA: Are you, Stefan, the main curley-q about which the
Skullflower members nebulate? Are you the main man? The
Svengali? Or is this a troop effort?

SJ: No. No. No. Sort of.

UA: What equipment is used during the average Skullflower
session?

SJ: Various shitty guitars and decaying amps. Borrowed drum kit.
Effects: Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Memory Man, Graphic Fuzz,
and a creation called the Frequency Analyzer, which has been
distorted beyond belief by some freak who wired it up for
main supply and overloaded it so much it sounds like pure
hell. The guitar on "Slaves" on the new LP is going through
it. Other shit: Yamaha digital echo and sampler (v. cheap)
and Super Tone-Bender by (I think) Colour sound or something.
Gary uses the Ibanez distortion, one of the best. C/R what
else.

UA: Do you play live often? What are your shows like? Hypnotic or
cheesy?

SJ: Have only played live 2 1/2 times. Once with Gary, Matthew,
Stuart, and myself. We were called Total then still. Very
noisy. Once with only me and Matthew (the 1/2 time) and once
supporting losers AC Temple, with Matthew, Stuart, and myself
on "Slaves", then joined by Binnie for "Wave". Both were
long. The tape didn't come out. Typical.

UA: Do you suck blood? Are you in fact a vampire?

SJ: Haven't sucked on anything for simply ages, sweety pie.

UA: From what influences and chemicals does Skullflower derive
its go-power?

SJ: Musical influences are whatever you want them to be. Surely
you don't want me to drone on about what I/we listen to? We
all have totally different musical tastes anyway.

Used to take plenty of L at recording sessions. Much of the
first 12" and Form Destroyer was produced at all-nighters
under the influence of extremely bad acid we named White
Lightning. Much teeth-grinding and unhappiness generated by
it. Steve Thrower once freaked out completely on it while
listening to us produce a 10 minute noise track (as yet
unreleased). Recent sessions have been (for me at least)
drugless to a large extent and have taken place in daytime.

The acid is okay for recording but it fucks you up for mixing
properly. Haven't been able to take speed for fuckin' years
now and getting hold of smack A) involves dealing with the
world's worst subhumans and B) turns you into one when you
take it, which don't leave a lot of options.

UA: What are the band member's histories?

SJ: Matthew: Sulphur of Lions (supported the Biting Tongues a
couple of times, I believe), Pure. Former included Stuart,
latter included Binnie. Maybe something else but you don't
care. Me: couple of live gigs in Whitehouse and also
currently involved in the regenerated Whitehouse, probable US
tour in September. Gary: Ramleh, as I mentioned before. Also
in Breathless, who you might have heard of. Very big in
Italy. Oh. Binnie played on a Zos-kia single. Both Binnie and
myself played a live gig in Zos-kia (something I'm sure many
people would rather forget). We've all played in various
horrible groups that sort of formed our approaches. Generally
quite fun but nothing of "significance".

UA: Is Skullflower the next evolutionary step in music?

SJ: Yes. No.

UA: Are you a member of the Temple of Psychick Youth?

SJ: Are you serious? I wouldn't let my dork anywhere near that
lot.

UA: How much control do you have over what you are doing? Could
the band reproduce "Elephant's Graveyard" note-for-note? Or
do you concentrate more on tone and mood?

SJ: There's only a couple of numbers we've tried to reproduce.
Obviously it wouldn't be possible to reproduce anything
note-for-note. Everything we do is improvised to various
degrees. Usually a quick one-time run-through, then record
it. Only "Slaves" and "Wave" have been with us for a long
time. "Slaves" was actually performed by Pure many times. I'd
say it's almost entirely concentrating on mood and tone. It
is, however, an approach I find increasingly dissatisfying.

There comes a certain point when "notes" are called for and
if that's the case I want them in tune with the bass. The
wall of sound still works (you'll hear evidence of both these
paths on the new LP), but I think there's a danger of getting
stuck in a rut with recording that way all the time.

UA: Ever shot heroin with Sonic Boom?

SJ: Ever shot my wad in Sonic's bum? Pardon? What kind of a
sleazeball do you think I am?

UA: Do you people have jobs? Or do you live in the woods and eat
Jabberwockys?

SJ: Some do. I don't. Matthew now lives in the Lake District and
is having to do shit work to survive. Stuart works at a
screen printers. Can't remember exactly what Gary does,
civil service or the post office or something... I run a
fucking film festival and Shock Records, also edit Shock
Xpress mag, do some odd bits of writing, fuck knows what
else. Ain't had a proper job for some time, to be honest.

UA: Ever been to Stonehenge?

SJ: Once. It was horrible. I ate loads of hash and wandered
around amongst nude hippies until I freaked out and returned
to the truck we'd gone in. Hitched home the next day
completely stoned and got off on the wrong bit of motorway.
Never again (this was about '79).

UA: Do you see Skullflower making a trip to America?

SJ: Highly unlikely. Where's the fuckin' filthy clams?

UA: Will your records be released in the U.S.?

SJ: Released by whom? Some clown whose name I won't mention
(actually Ernie at Circuit) tried to get me to license the
7", the new LP, and CD to him for a price I wouldn't offer to
a wino in the street. I think stuff's getting over there
slowly on import. Xaman will be out sometime in September.
There's also a 7" out from Majora, who put out the Sun City
Girls' (one of my absolute favorite groups) last couple of
releases. Also looks fairly certain to be a Forced Exposure
single before too long. Both will obviously be reasonably
easily available in the U.S. There'll hopefully be a CD of
Xaman, too, with a couple of extra things. The LP has three
tracks on side one, one on side two. There's some stuff we
couldn't fit onto the album -- Majora have got one of those
tracks for their 7" -- and an old number we did at the very
first recording session which I got back from RRRecords who
didn't use it. It's one of our faves, so that'll be on the
CD.

UA: How many copies of the first EP, Form Destroyer, the 7", and
the CD were printed up? Will there be more printed for those
hopping on the bandwagon too late?

SJ: First EP: 500. Form Destroyer: approx. 600. "Bottomless Pit"
7": 500 plus a not-for-sale edition of 75. CD: 1,000, though
hopefully it will stay in print. I consider that to be the
definitive edition of Form Destroyer, which I hated the mix
of on vinyl. Likewise the last EP. The 7" will be available
on a CD compilation of the first five Shock singles, which'll
also have an extra track by each group. The new LP I guess
will be 1,000. The EP will hopefully remain out of print.
Fuck the Form Destroyer LP anyway. Matthew repressed 300 or
so of that, I think, so it's probably still available. There
was supposed to be an info sheet I prepared for that. Never
went in. Idiots requiring copies will only get them for two
IRCs.

UA: What are your plans for Shock?

SJ: Plenty. Maybe a new Strangulated Beatoffs 7". There's no
shortage of material. I'm going to do some recording with
Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus for a 7". A 7" from a new band
called Spasm, sort of a h/ c Hawkwind meets the Buttholes,
which'll be produced by Steve Stapleton (Nurse With Wound).
Possibly a new Current 93 7". I'd like to look further afield
to more avant-garde territory -- the Lol Coxhill LP is a step
in the direction I'd like to take, both for the label and the
shit I do myself. I'm supposed to do some gtr on the next
Nurse With Wound recording -- a 30 minute track of some sort.
Main problem is that producing avant-fuck noise means slow
sales means less records coming out. It's sort of frustrating
to be sitting on stuff you want to put out but haven't got
the money.

Shit I'd like to do (may, if all works out) is some
Borbetomagus junk on CD and a compilation of material by the
incredible Null/A.N.P. axis (monstrous Jap noise of the
highest calibre).

Anyway, what the fuck. Shock Xpress mag should mutate into
book form early next year. Every year I say I'll stop doing
the film festival but continue on... Things get out of hand
with what you want to do, what you should do, and what you
have to do... But fuck, everything essentially sucks anyway,
the world's a pit full of rancid horse piss and most people's
lives need to be terminated real soon... End of
transmission...

thanks for that!

np

tl;dr fun fact: matt bower played drums on "elephant's graveyard"

I noticed that!

We've also had a mutant called JFK on bass on the two above tracks. The stuff he played was real good but he's not the kind of person you really want to have to look at or converse with

jfk rfi

JFK was an alias of anthony difranco, he was the bassist on IIIrd gatekeeper

lot of shots fired in that interview lol

Thanks for pulling out the other interview.

He has a mixed relationship w/publicity. Wantng Skullflower as a group to be known a bit more, gain a visibility - at fanzine level, rather than getting to the mainstream music press - but then after splitting away not ever having a web presence at all, and he is fairly hostile to anything web (eBay etc.)

For a group that sounded quite improvised its surprising how far between their live appearances were. And its a bit of an untold tale how he got to acquire 'notes'. His work with Ascension etc isn't texturey at all. Look at Jason Pierce's attempts at imrpov by comparison. SJ really absorbed the free stuff he was listening to.

Shame that Borbetomagus comp never came to be. The Dead C comp issued on Shock is one of my favourites in a very underrated calatogue.

lot of shots fired in that interview lol

Yeah, kinda fashionable at the time to take pops at Mike McG iirc, which always seemed like some bullshit to me.

I never dug the Ascension stuff as much as Skullflower, but SJ did an awesome interview in Marc Master's Crank Automotive zine that was big reading for me in college. Same issue had an equally epic Richard Youngs interview.

Stefan used to be a regular punter at the bookshop where I worked, and was always a really sociable dude (I'm not sure the humour behind a lot of his opinions comes across that well in these interviews.) One day he came in while I was playing 'Copy Shoot Cop' by Spiritualised. Stefan asked me what it was, and when I told him it was Spiritualised, he was REALLY disgusted (w/ me, w/ himself, w/humanity)

Copy Shop Cop

http://jpburnett.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/skullflower252b252biii.png

V good interview w/this guy in the wire. Repeats his hostility to vinyl.

Also pleased he had a not so favourable reaction to Funhouse.

Also lol @plans for a Derek Bailey solo alb to called One More Solo Album

Sad sad that never came out.

Playing tonight: http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/voice-and-guitar-beyond-tradition.shtm

kvetch #1: o great reissuers of skullflower, you serve a worthy and honored purpose, but why o why do you place bonus tracks at the beginning? that must be some pretty righteous shit if you think I need to hear any of it before "elephant's graveyard".

actually…

Last Shot At Heaven! up at Bandcamp with bonus track
https://skullflower.bandcamp.com/album/last-shot-at-heaven

I don't think I've heard any Skullflower since 2008. Am I missing anything?

The KIno series of remasters?
I think I gave up on them after that . I think I have Argon somewhere and could never get into it.
Had the IIIrd Gatekeeper in its original cd form which I got in Dublin in the mid 90s and like muchly. Also really like Ramlegh's Homeless for some of the same reasons.
mauy prefer Loop for better groove.
BUt have got into the KIno volumes I bought recently. Mainly IV though.

despite it's questionable title, Homeless features one of my favorite songs from either group...Fagenders.

fwiw a fag end is a cigarette butt in the UK

hah. I feel better about it now.

not like Ramleh never toyed around with some questionable stuff of course.

Ramleh's Circular Time 2cd from a few years back is well worth checking out... massive grooves, kinda noisy but earth-moving.

I actually just got all of the Kino CDs (I had Form Destroyer and Xaman on vinyl already but bonus traxx)! Was kind of wondering if he had gotten out of his uninteresting, headache-inducing black metal inspired phase 'cause I liked og Skullflower. I liked the weird, Krauty stuff he did in the later Sunroof! era and the first revival of Skullflower. I loved the weird, acoustic drone stuff he did for a while. But that shrieky shit makes me check out fast.

https://skullflower.bandcamp.com/

I was hoping someone else had already spent weeks trawling through the Bandcamp but anyway

http://skullflower.bandcamp.com/album/the-wisdom-of-venom

Pretty listenable excepting some moments of high pitched feedback, but the last song is really cool... twisty organ loop into some epic guitar fuzz arching into the blastosphere. Kinda Sunroof! or Total vibes.

oh cool, sunroof! still one of my all time favorites even though i haven't kept up

though imo his peak is youngsbower

Yeah Youngsbower was amazing. Sigh. Why no Youngsbower 2?

That period where like Boredoms VCN and Super AE vibes and also Krautronic burbling melodies were influencing Bower was primo

I was hoping someone else had already spent weeks trawling through the Bandcamp but anyway
― The Man Who Saw The Midwife (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, August 20, 2017 4:46 AM

haha it is a lot to go thru. no tinkling synths yet but the more recent stuff under the "yllustrous forger of dreams" moniker is reaching back to the calm era. will prob buy the newest one - https://skullflower.bandcamp.com/album/the-108
https://skullflower.bandcamp.com/track/burning-swamp-of-pitch

this one is also nice owing to the psaltery playing - https://skullflower.bandcamp.com/track/melek-taus

also:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3931828151_10.jpg

Thanks! "Dove Grey Lagoons" on the 108 is great!