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Editor: Trevor Melanson | E-mail: culture@ubyssey.ca
October 3, 2008 | Page A few moments of anti-punk with Horrorpops!
by Ken Dodge
Culture Writer
Raised in Denmark, based in
LA, lead singer of Horrorpops
Patricia Day has been beautiful
and bizarre for years, blazing
across the country with a tour
that often includes Go-Go dancers and ornate double-bass
guitars. We were shocked to
find a band that subverts punk,
while being part of it, all without preaching. Coming to Vancouver to promote their latest
album Kiss Kiss Kill Kill, Day
spoke with us about the trial
and error of rock and roll.
U: You never outright talk
about politics, culture or current
events. Why does your song-writing style veer away from these
topics that other rock artists
embrace?
PD: Seriously, you gotta understand…the Horrorpops started in the 1990s, back in 1996,
as a reaction to all the boring
shit in the entertainment industry. We’re talking the heyday of
bands like Nirvana. Bands that
went on stage, looking like they
crawled out of the gutter. Bands
that didn’t put on a show, and
just stood there with their eyes
fucking closed. So we just tried
to do something that actually
entertains people.
U: What do you think about
other artists who might rant off
on politics or religion? NOFX, for
Horrorpops are all about fun. Reacting to a plethora of political punk, the band takes pride in being anything but serious. courtesy of the horrorpops
example.
PD: Personally, I won’t do it.
Starting out in the mid-90s there
was another band that was very
popular called Rage Against the
Machine. Now talk about a band
that stuffs political opinions
down your fucking throat. But
you know, growing up in Scandinavia…the things that kids are
just starting to discover, I was
taught in grade two.
U: Do you think being a punk
rocker is considered rebellious
anymore at all by society?
PD: Not anymore. The only
thing that’s possible is to inspire
the Midwest! In my world, you
can’t really be controversial
anymore.
U: How do you feel playing
the Warped Tour, which many
would criticize for being the definition of corporate domination
in punk music?
PD: You know, because of
the tour’s commercialization, it
means that kids can pay $15 and
see 60 bands. Can you be against
that? I can’t be against that!
U: What would you say was the
best crowd you ever played to?
PD: Canadians!
U: Don’t give me that bullshit!
PD: *laughs* No, it’s true!
They’ve got a great combina-
tion of the US and Europe, in
the sense that in the US you’re
playing for a bunch of kids on
crazy hormones. When you’re in
Europe you’re playing to a bunch
of adults where there’s alcohol.
But when you go into Canada
you have alcohol and hormones,
so it’s a perfect mix! U
The Horrorpops play Richards on Richards this Sunday,
October 5.
Falling Woman is a sexy struggle Mobile concert suffers
from low attendance
The falling woman will never stop falling—she is imprisoned by your gaze. courtesy of christine d’onofrio
by Trevor Melanson
Culture Editor
In a local art gallery atop three
flights of stairs there is a falling woman—her dress billows
higher than Monroe’s and covers her face. Left behind are
her legs, kicking wildly, and
her nakedness. She is Christine
D’Onofrio’s “Falling Woman.”
D’Onofrio realizes “that the
piece can be quite uncomfortable
for some viewers, exciting for
others, and even all too familiar
for a few.” This is intentional; the
piece deals with contradictions.
They are emotional contradictions felt by you, the viewer.
The first details I noticed were
her struggling and her exceptionally sexy legs. Should I have
felt guilty or turned on?
The piece is projected on a 16foot-wide screen, and yet it’s still
difficult to find one flaw on the
woman’s immaculate lower body.
Maybe this shouldn’t matter. It’s
easy to imagine D’Onofrio’s video
riding on an ocean of feminist
waves, and certainly it is, but
there’s also something atypical
being shown—a perfect body.
And we’re expected to stare.
“I do not wish to control the
gaze,” said D’Onofrio. “It’s primal instinct.” She wants us to be
attracted to the body, not empathetic toward it. She’s proving
a point: a woman’s submission
can be sexually appealing—for
him and for her.
This raises questions that
consider how a woman might
dominate her own submission.
Or if she even can.
Of course, don’t take my
word for it. “Falling Woman” is
showing until October 18 at the
Republic Gallery on Richards
Street. U
Mobile rocked a pretty modest crowd at MacInnes field on Wednesday. Attendance was low, unless you count the people who passed
by on their way to the bus loop. If you do count those people, it was
a resounding success! The people who took in the whole show did
so mostly sitting down (with the exception of a single topless man
in canvas pants, who was wonderful) until that last song, “Message
in a Bottle” by The Police. I, for one, can’t figure out why the band
wasn’t received more enthusiastically—Wednesday at 4pm is the
ideal time for a rock concert.
eegan bursaw photo/the ubyssey
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