Hey everybody! In December 2000 PopCanon won the 30 Second Pitch on MP3TV at NOW.com: this is what the PopCanon pages on the NOW website looked like (except they looked even uglier, if you can imagine that):
PopCanon - this week's knuckle dusters
NoisePop / Avant Punk six-piece from Florida, USA |
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Pitch 1: Hi there, we're PopCanon...
The guys and gal of PopCanon, which was formed in 1995, describe their band as, "noisepop, avantpunk, idiotrock and... a cross between XTC, TMBG and X, but with more vowels". Critics have called them smart, funny, chaotic, odd, witty, complex and surprising - the label 'boring' has never popped up.
Having grown into a much larger beast of creativity in recent years, PopCanon's latest album d'art has been hailed as "a tour de force of postmodern delights [with] muscular pop rhythms, bizarre time signatures and clever college-radio hooks" - A Ruch. One recent reviewer has even expressed the hope that they manage to put a dent into today's pop framework.
PopCanon consider
themselves as constantly following their own stubborn and personal muse, and see
this as the main reason why they have never been wildly successful.
This doesn't get them down however, since they always seem to be popular
with other musicians, and have loads of fun putting out CDs, playing shows
and gigging in bizarre venues like pizza parlors and art galleries.
They can play in 5/4 time and sing about postmodern writers - do you
think PopCanon are truly the masters of pop and chaos, or should they stick
to pizza for now? Give them a go to see whether their witty attitudes,
clever lyrics and powerful tunes get you bopping, popping, punking or rocking...
"It seems to us that most bands want to sound like each other. PopCanon has never
been like that. We just try and sound like ourselves, to approach each song and
ask 'How can we twist this?' It's not for everyone, and we like it that way. But
if you like music that's novel, interesting and unusual, vote for PopCanon - we'll
be glad you did. As our own David Hornbuckle says: 'How many things do you come
across in life that are truly unique?'"
Pitch 2: 'The things about which
we quarrel...'
"Things About Which is a tongue-in-cheek song about relationships, language and the culture of the American South. It has a more linear narrative structure than many of our songs, so it lent itself easily to a visual interpretation. We were inspired to make the video after Dave discovered he could use his computer to do simple animations and export them to video. In promotional posters for our newest album, d'art, we had used Playmobil dolls that were altered to look like members of the band. It felt natural to continue the Playmobil theme through the pitches and the video. Plus, it didn't cost anything (as is probably evident from the video!) and stays within our strict do-it-yourself ethic. We're a fiercely independent band, and for that reason, we'll never be too popular. But that's OK."
what's
the first single you ever bought?
Ned: Calling Dr Love by Kiss
David: Another One Bites The Dust by Queen
reveal some of your best lyrics?
Ned: "I and I we don't see eye to eye. I can't deny that all your sick
and twisted lies are always lost on me."
- From The Reason
Dave: "After all this time, you'd think that I would be over it. But every
morning I wake up, and I rediscover it."
- From Lights
Out
what's your favorite single & album
Ned and Dave's favorite single: Dear God by XTC
Ned's favorite album: Monk/Trane by Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane
Dave's favorite album: Rubber Soul by The Beatles
share some of your best chords
A11 - Bbmaj7 - B9 - C7+(sus4, b9)
- from Arthole
you can sing a duet with anyone - who?
Ned: Andy Partridge from XTC, "for he is a demented pixie genius".
Dave: "Willie Nelson. Everyone else has."
whose music video deserves respect?
Ned: "Everything by Bjork, because she is also a demented pixie genius."
Dave: REM - Losing My Religion. "I like the subtle ways they use metaphoric
images in the video, and the fact the video stands on its own as a piece of
art. It isn't just something thrown together to advertise the song.
tick tock tick tock - PopCanon finale the attitude
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history
PopCanon say they are not into history, "we're more of a literature,
philosophy and math band. But Ned does have a degree in history". In terms
of the actual band history, PopCanon were formed in 1995, have brought
out four CDs, played numerous shows throughout the southeastern United
States, once acted as the backing band for a University production of the
musical Jesus Christ Superstar, and have gigged in some non-run-of-the-mill
locations like an art gallery and a pizza palace.
highs and lows
When the band were mastering their first album with Mark Pinske, who was Frank
Zappa's recording engineer for about twenty years, he floored them by saying
"Frank would have liked this". That was high praise for PopCanon indeed. "We
all have enormous and abiding respect for Zappa's eclectic musical brilliance
and fervent iconoclasm." Other highs have been receiving radio play in Japan,
Germany, Serbia and New Zealand, and being something of a house band for a brilliant
website (The Modern Word)
devoted to the works of James Joyce, Umberto Eco, Franz Kafka, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez and others.
On the low side, PopCanon has once been likened to "funkless art dross", and
a certain Canadian critic said they should "either be entertaining children,
or have a sh**ty comedy show on public television". Yet despite the odd lousy
review, the band retains a refreshing sense of humor and urges their critics
to at least be clever with their deprecating comments. PopCanon post all their
bad reviews on their website. "We often engage the writers in debate, which
is quite fun. We make music for ourselves, and when anyone else likes it that's
great, but that's not why we do it".
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mp3 song other songs |
band blend
PopCanon describe their sound as noisepop, avantpunk, and idiotrock.
"Pop music with hooks and barbs. The music of tomorrow - one day early.
A six-piece band with horns, attitude and a Master's in English."
muse
XTC, They Might Be Giants and Frank Zappa.
secret
According to PopCanon, you can have a lot of fun with nine chords and
finding a rhyme for Nietzsche.
the message
"PopCanon - we're really good. No, really. We're better than we sound."
- PopCanon
