[scarabic] Little Fyodor has been declared the New Manson. His songs speak to us on levels that all sociopathic nerds must struggle to deal with. The worshipful and maniacal frenzies he inspired while playing live at Death Equinox '97 were what caused him to become the Audial Terror GoH for '98. His releases (musical) have included Dance of the Salted Slug and Idiots are Closer to God. Previous bands included Walls of Genius. He has also been doing a radio show called Under the Floorboards for over a decade, exposing public radio station KGNU's listeners to self-produced oddness, and recently ripped off his own title for an article about the same in Cyber-Psychos AOD #8.
[Fyodor] Even my mechanic listens to Under the Floorboards!
[scarabic] In all realms he performs under the name Little Fyodor and is assisted, on-stage and in recording, by his lovely and feral second half: Babushka. ...
[Fyodor] Babushka, the sex symbol of the band.
*scarabic formally gestures the buttinsky up to the podium. ;)
[scarabic] Ok, do you wish to add any details to that intro? Besides the fact that you were cruel enough to salt slugs when you were young? (The confessed slug murderer.)
[Fyodor] Little Fyodor, the Cheeseball who bites back! Walls of Genius released 30 tapes in 3 years. I was one of two primary primarily crazed vocalists. I didn't do much guitar though, cause the other guys could actually play.
(SNIP through playing toys, Farfisa organs, non-standard influences, and the injection of experience into stage personas.)
[helleroin] I take it that you derive a lot from Real-Life(tm) experiences in your music. I relate to it in large part due to my own. :)
[Fyodor] Real life. Sometimes it's too real, and then again it's not real enough! You could say the Fyodor experience is a particular take on a particular angle of reality. It doesn't cover all of reality, but it focuses pretty intensely on one corner. Of course there's an infinite # of points between any two points, so who's to say that any one corner isn't really everything? Am I contradicting myself clearly enough? Hey, Babushka's here now! Any ?'s for Babushka?
[scarabic] How do you put up with Little Fyodor? ;)
[Fyodor] Babushka says: I put up with Little Fyodor because I'm so duty bound as a result of my Olde Worlde upbringing, from before the days of civilized confusion. Pain only adds to my character.
(SNIP through many elated cheers and Dostoevskian revelations about Babushka.)
[scarabic] What caused the revelations that you are Little Fyodor and Babushka?
[Fyodor] Babushka blushes at all the attention (but I think she really likes it!). What didn't cause the revelations? Sometimes you just have no choice in the matter! Babushka says it was in the family; Grandma was a Babushka too!
[scarabic] You know I always demand that you play I Am Insane. It's my theme... So what thoughts were you trying to break out of your head with a crow bar while you wrote that 'un?
[Fyodor] Yes there are strange things in my brain! I don't know if anyone else has complete control -- or even close -- of their brains, but I sure don't. I started writing that while walking home from work, with strange things in my brain. Just like the song says! I forget what particular strange things they were. I just didn't want 'em there!
[scarabic] What types of things do you consider strange?
[Fyodor] It felt very physical, like the strange things were there of their own accord. They were separate from me. I Am Insane is a dialogue between intended consciousness and unintended consciousness! Strange is as strange does!
[scarabic] Do you prefer people who wear their insanity labels on their lapels, or people who act sane (like out in the burbs)?
[Fyodor] Depends on whether the lapels have flowers which squirt me in the eyes! I've always said that there's two kinds of people: those who are strange and know it, and those who have no idea how strange they are! I can probably only relate to people who have at least some degree of awareness of their strangeness, but that doesn't mean I necessarily like people who I relate to!!!! People who relate to me are especially tough! People who I relate to are kinda the best and the worst, at the extremes!
[genexs] Well, I must say I'm jonesing... It's been too long since I've seen Little Fyodor & Babushka! Are you working on anything new, what is in the works?
[Fyodor] You'll get your chance at Death Equinox!!! We got a new record out! A collaboration with GX Jupitter-Larsen. Little Fyodor & The Haters!!! I sing GX's words, and it's way cool! A 45 rpm vinyl record with 12 seconds on each side!
[scarabic] Cool, how'd that come about? And does this mean we get to smash things at Little Fyodor shows now? ;)
[Fyodor] Well, y'know, GX and us go way back. I think we met him through Blackhumour, which was through Paul Dickerson having me open for Blackhumour the very second time I played as Little Fyodor after the breakup of Walls of Genius. Blackhumour loved it and invited me on the spot to play in Vancouver where GX also lived at the time. Y'know, Little Fyodor & Babushka met in the alley after a Haters show in Denver. It was love at first Hate!
(SNIP through the Haters, running people over with shopping carts, and the Haters vs. Hater controversy.)
[Fyodor] Hate cuts many ways! Hate is a virus and a life support!
[scarabic] What are your general thoughts on big labels/bands screwing the little folks who can't buy good legal results? Haters, Negativland, etc.
[Fyodor] Big fish, little fish, independent fish. Predatory behavior is too normal to like it or be surprised by it. But the predator can be anywhere, even in the mirror!!! Am I disillusioning anyone with my caustic apolicality?
(SNIP through passing the buck, toe-nibbling grasshoppers, arachnids, detestation vs. fascination, and cruelty to animals.)
[helleroin] So how did you come up with the Dance of the Salted Slug? (Yeah, I know, old question.)
[Fyodor] Is it catharsis, or is it Memorex? Oh, Salted Slug -- the dance -- well... It gave me a chance to do what I'd always done with Walls of Genius, when I didn't have to carry the music so I got to dance around a lot. But doing Little Fyodor by myself, I gotta play guitar and sing so I wanted a chance to just do some pure expression.
[scarabic] And what are you expressing with it?
[Fyodor] One of my songs is called Nothing to Say. It's an instrumental!
[helleroin] Beauty.
[Fyodor] What am I expressing? If I could put it into words, I would sister, I would! Oh, yeah, beauty, that's it! Well, it's a beautiful world we live in... Well, let's see, I'm expressing inner conflict or a visual summary of my life or... Or the feeling when you come out of your mother's cunt and you wanna climb back in!
(SNIP through challenges and drugs.)
[helleroin] No, really, I think your work makes people think about their insecure side and is actually kind of a barometer to detect the completely fucked in a way. ;)
[Fyodor] Too bad you have to be near them to use such a detector! I'd rather not be splattered by my own labrats!!!
[scarabic] Of course it seems to be the folks who have a rough time not thinking about their neuroses who like you the most.
[Fyodor] Freud said defense mechanisms were good because they prevented neuroses! Put that in your trash smasher and light a bonfire!
[helleroin] I've found that your audiences are actually among the more secure since the weenies can't take the heat. ;)
[Fyodor] Only the strong like pain. Only the neurotic have no choice. Embrace the ax handle!
[helleroin] Hey, I could bring "the" axe. When's your next show?
[Fyodor] I'm hoping to get something going at the Burning Man Festival in early September, on the Disturbia stage. The local Disturbites had not heard of Little Fyodor & Babushka, to my surprise and dismay, so I went to one of their parties and put on my video. No one would admit to liking it, but they all agreed it would be right for Disturbia! Disturbia will be a village within Black Rock City, a city which physically exists only for the Burning Man Festival. Unfortunately, however unique and interesting the event is, many attendees are surprisingly narrow-minded about music. There'll be a lot of techno types; some of whom are as open-minded as anyone, but others who gotta have their thumpa thump or it ain't shit. I've been accused of hating techno for such rants, but I don't. I'm just wary of playing for people who'd rather be dancing than challenged!!!! So we might have a chance to freak people out at the freakiest scene going! We'll see... So, yeah, Little Fyodor & Babushka are gonna be part of Disturbia. Although we're more into metaphoric disturbance than physically real disturbance, which could be a real possibility, so we'll see if we stay there! But we are scheduled to play on the Disturbia stage at some point. The next gig scheduled is Death Equinox '98. Babushka's been demanding a lot of money to get a new shopping cart, so the gigs have been spare lately... (Not really.)
[scarabic] Were you happy about the raving reaction you got at Death Equinox '97?
[Fyodor] Yes, I do enjoy... communicating... with people! Little Fyodor is very much an outgrowth of my inability to communicate. It is an attempt to make up for that. The Dance of the Salted Slug is especially an attempt at that, not using words cause they so often fail me!
[scarabic] Were you expecting to go over as well as you did?
[Fyodor] I'm a pessimist. I never expect to go over well. But I always dream of great things -- I'm never totally satisfied till the audience runs around in a crazed, dazed, delirium. A classic case of schizo-frantic inferiority complex!
[helleroin] Well, you have Death Equinox '98. ;)
[Fyodor] Another chance to unleash my disease!
[scarabic] What was your overall impression of Death Equinox ('97)?
[Fyodor] A great audience! As psychotic as me! Introduced S/M to me like it was on Sesame Street! And big hairy spiders!
(SNIP through Sesame Street's Professor Television and Woody Allen.)
[scarabic] What else did you enjoy at DE?
[Fyodor] Big hairy spiders! What's not to like? Oh! And it was very nice to see Ray Dennis Steckler's Rat Phink A Boo-Boo!!! That's one of my very favorite flicks!!! And that was only the second time I saw it! And the theatre was plush, which was good for Babushka's rump! Rest that rump! Pass the rum!
(SNIP through absinthe, elevators, spleens, downers, and barfing and fainting interview moderators.)
[helleroin] Speak words of wisdom!
[Fyodor] Little Fyodor uber alles! Little Fyodor kills brain cells! You need Little Fyodor! More! More! Fyodor!!!! Little Fyodor kills brain cells on contact!
(SNIP through imploding from repression and parting words.)
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