Polkadot Cadaver: "Purgatory Dance Party", Dog Fashion Disco & co

Avec l'interview de Polkadot Cadaver, Thrasho innove et vous propose sa première interview par iPhone. C'est en effet par ce biais que Todd, tête pensante du groupe, nous a fait récemment parvenir ses réponses, quelques poignées de mois après l'envoi des questions. Mais ne dit-on pas "plus l'attente est longue, plus confortables sont les tongs" ? Non ? C'est con, ça rimait ...

Hi Todd ! I know it's a shame, but I have just discovered “Purgatory Dance Party”- two years after its official release ! -, together with the existence of both Polkadot Cadaver and Dog Fashion Disco. Given that I haven't read any explanation about the band's name, could you please tell me about this oddly
coloured cadaver ? Did you choose such a name only because it sounds nicely freaky, or is there a reference to something / a hidden meaning that I'm not aware of ?

NO THERE IS NO REAL DEEP HIDDEN MEANING, IT JUST SOUNDS COOL IN MY OPINION. I WISH I HAD A BETTER STORY BUT I REALLY DONT. ONE DAY AS I RECALL, I WAS SITTING IN TRAFFIC AND IT POPPED INTO MY HEAD.


From the very first listens I gave to the album, I've immediately notice a strong link to Mike Patton's work, be it late Mr Bungle or late Faith No More. Looking through Wikipedia pages, I've learned that “California” (Mr Bungle's last album) was a major DFD's influence, and that Polkadot Cadaver was still following this path style-wise. But now, 7 albums later, do you still feel comfortable with people drawing comparisons between what you & Mr Patton are doing, or would you like people to stop referring to him ?

PATTON IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A HUGE INFLUENCE ON ME AND I WOULD BE A LIAR IF I DENIED THAT AND THERE IS NO REASON TOO DENY IT. PATTON IS IN MY OPINION ONE OF THE GREATEST MUSICIAN/SINGERS-SONGWRITERS EVER!!! WITH THAT BEING SAID, YOU CAN CALL ME A BITER OR A COPYCAT BUT PATTON HAS TIMES WHEN HE SOUNDS LIKE HIS INFLUENCES AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. HALF THE FUN OF BEING A YOUNG BEGINNER MUSICIAN IS TRYING TO MIMIC YOUR IDOLS AND EVENTUALLY YOU FIND YOUR OWN VOICE WHICH IS STILL COMPRISED OF ARTISTS WHO MAKE AN IMPACT ON YOU.


A last reference to General Patton: it's incredible how close you sound to Mike sometimes. Is this really your natural way of singing, or do you consciously force yourself a little bit to achieve the perfect impersonation?

I FORCE MYSELF TO DO ANYTHING BESIDES BEING A LAZY DRUNK, AND IT'S A FULL TIME JOB!


As I mentioned in the first question, Polkadot Cadaver and Dog Fashion Disco are “brand new bands” to me. Could you please tell me why DFD finally stopped after 6 releases, especially when it led to the creation of Polkadot Cadaver which seems to be very close to its predecessor stylistically? I guess DFD's members didn't got along with each other in the end?

DFD MEMBERS AT TIMES DIDN'T GET ALONG BUT THAT WASN'T THE REASON FOR THE SPLIT. AT THE END, WE WERE ALL THE BEST OF FRIENDS SO THAT WAS A NON ISSUE. SADLY AT THE END OF THE DAY IT ALL COMES DOWN TO MONEY FOR ME PERSONALLY. AT THE END OF THE ADULTERY TOUR WITH TUB RING, I FOUND MYSELF 30 YEARS OLD JUST GETTING HOME FROM A 2+ MONTH TOUR WITH 700$ TO MY NAME AND I WAS JUST FED UP WITH BEING POOR. WHAT WAS THE POINT? TO PLAY TO HOPEFULLY 50-100 KIDS A NIGHT. DFD WAS PLAGUED WITH A SUB-PAR RECORD LABEL, MANAGEMENT AND BOOKING AGENT- BOTTOM LINE! WE COULDN'T GET A DECENT TOUR TO GROW OUR FANBASE AND THE INDUSTRY HAD GIVEN UP ON US. POLKADOT IS AN OUTLET FOR OUR CREATIVITY. I'M NOT HOLDING OUT ANY EXPECTATIONS FOR POLKADOT TO BE A SUCCESS FOR THE SAME EXACT REASONS AS THE DFD SPLIT.


After 7 releases, how do you see your musical evolution? “Purgatory Dance Party” and “Long Strange Trip To Paradise” make me think that there might be more industrial / electro / new wave musical bits in future Polkadot Cadaver releases ... Right ?

THERE ARE NO CLUES IN THE POLKADOT RECORD TO SAY WE ARE GOING IN ANY PARTICULAR DIRECTION. WE WRITE WHAT WE WRITE NO MATTER WHAT STYLE IT IS. IF ALL OF THE SUDDEN I HAD COMPLETE WRITERS BLOCK AND COULD ONLY WRITE COUNTRY AND WESTERN SONGS, THEN THAT WOULD BE THE NEXT RECORD I PUT OUT.


Speaking about “Long Strange Trip To Paradise”: it immediately reminded me of Mindless Self Indulgence (hum, sorry: one more comparison !). Since then I've read that you did a tour with them. Is this song a kind of homage, or is it more of an unconscious influence that happened to have you write this song?

I'M NOT PAYING ANY HOMAGE TO MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE TRUST ME. I RESPECT THEM AND THEIR ABILITY TO PACK VENUES ANYWHERE THEY PLAY AND THEY ALL WERE VERY NICE PEOPLE ON THE ROAD. THE ONLY REASON WE WERE ON THAT TOUR WAS BECAUSE WE BOUGHT ONTO IT.


In « Bring me the Head of Andy Warhol », especially at the beginning of the song, I hear some 80s music, with some nice Prince-like moments. Was it the kind of feeling that you precisely wanted to create there, or is it just my ear that needs a doctor?

IT'S ALL JUST TRIAL AND ERROR... NO PRECONCEIVED HARD-ON TO SOUND LIKE PRINCE..


Let's take a step back in time: Dog Fashion Disco released 6 albums, toured a lot and seemed to gain a quite consequent following of fans. I must admit that I've loved "Purgatory Dance Party" so much that I've already (almost) blindly ordered two albums from DFD back catalogue, "Adultery" and "Committed
to a Bright Future". Are they good albums to start with DFD ? What other albums would you recommend me to check after these ones (all of them obviously !!?!!) ?

AWESOME THANK FOR ORDERING THOSE AND BEING INTO IT. I WOULD ALSO GRAB THE DFD RECORD "ANARCHISTS OF GOOD TASTE" AND MY SOLO RECORD EL-CREEPO! (SHAMELESS PLUG FOR ONLY ME MUAH HA HA HA)


Now let's do a U-turn and jump into the near future: I've heard about a second album called "Shitting Bricks While Performing Handstands" with a release date in 2009 (but it's only a Wikipedia statement, so it might be pure bullshit ...). Is that right ? What should we expect from it ? When is itsupposed to hit our CD players ?

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? SHITTING BRICKS WUH.... HA HA THATS A GODAMM FANTASTIC ALBUM TITLE THOUGH.... (cglaume: and now Wikipedia reports about an album called « Stop fucking with my mind » … What a great and reliable data source it is !!)


“Purgatory Dance Party” has 3 of its songs that have been graced with a video clip. That's quite a lot and that's a great thing! It seems that you not only want Polkadot Cadaver to have a strong musical identity, but also want to work a lot on the band's visual aspect, right ?

UM NO, ROTTEN RECORDS WAS WILLING TO PAY FOR TWO OF THE VIDEOS (WHICH IS A SHOCK), SO WE JUST WENT TO JASAN'S CHILDHOOD FRIENDS HOUSE IN MAINE AND DID THEM BOTH IN HIS BASEMENT. THE THIRD FOR ANDY WARHOL WAS A FANMADE VIDEO. HE SENT US A VIDEO CAMERA IN THE MAIL FOR ME TO SHOOT THE FOOTAGE OF ME IN THE TUB AND I MAILED IT BACK. I WISH I KNEW HIS NAME BUT UHHHH...................


When I've watched « Bring me the Head of Andy Warhol » video clip, I couldn't help but think that it must be really uncomfortable to have to stay in a bath during the whole shooting of a clip, with the water becoming cooler and colder. I guess it resulted in a flu, right :) ? Have you got any anecdote to tell us about the shooting of one of these clips ?

I NEVER GET SICK EVER AND I CAN ONLY ATTRIBUTE THAT TO GARLIC, WHISKEY AND MEXICAN AND ITALIAN FOOD :)


Even if this is still no big commercially successful style, “Weird & avant-garde metal” is becoming more and more popular, with bands like you, Unexpect, Estradasphere, Secret Chiefs 3, Vladimir Bozar, Carnival in Coal, Pinup Went Down, Stolen Babies, Akphaezya ... Do you know some of these bands? Do you know / like / recommend some others in the same niche ?

I'VE HEARD OF 2 OF THOSE BANDS AND DONT LISTEN TO THEM AT ALL TO BE HONEST. SLEEPYTIME GUERILLA MUSEUM IS ALSO IN THIS NICHE RIGHT? (cglaume : right. It was actually included in the three dots...) I DON'T KNOW I DON'T REALLY LISTEN TO MUSIC ANYMORE....


I don't know if you have already toured Europe and especially France ... But will you ? Any date, or project to tell us about ?

I WOULD LOVE TOO! OVERSEAS I'VE ONLY PLAYED IN ENGALND AND SCOTLAND. I'M SOLEY FOCUSED ON MY NEW HEAVIER BAND WITH THE GUYS FROM POLKADOT AND NOTHINGFACE CALLED KNIVES-OUT!! CHECK IT OUT AT HTTP://www.myspace.com/knivesout1


I could go on and on asking you questions for hours, but I'm not sure you would like spending days answering them, so let's say we stop here for now. As usual, this last question is entirely yours. Feel free to make whatever you wish of it ! Thanx a lot for the interview.

I WANT TO SINCERELY APOLOGIZE THAT IT'S TAKEN ME 6 MONTHS TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AND YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST PATIENT PEOPLE ON THE PLANET. THANK YOU FOR THAT AND THANKS FOR INTERVIEW :)