An Interview with Silver Tongues' Simon Arthur

Silver Tongues follows Gerry and Joan, a couple driving across America, who regularly assume different identities for their own amusement. Their manipulative encounters with the other characters are both disturbing and enigmatic. It stars veteran character actor Lee Tergesen, best known for Oz and Generation Kill, and Broadway actress Enid Graham, featured in Margot at The Wedding and Boardwalk Empire. Both excel in these roles, with Graham balancing callousness with a certain fragility, whilst Tergesen exudes a bullying, perverse masculinity.



It has been almost exactly a year since it premiered at Slamdance festival, where it won the audience award, and it's finally coming home, showing at the Glasgow Film Festival on the 18th and 19th of February. There are also screenings at festivals in Vilnius, Dublin and Belgrade in the coming months.

I caught up with the film's writer-director Simon Arthur, and asked him about the ideas which helped the gestation of his debut feature:

“The idea came from a research project: I was working as a screenwriter and had felt that I didn't understand enough about people and society, so when I started a script which involved some prison scenes I also began working as a prison guard for about 3 months. I learned a lot from the experience in terms of dialogue and character. The next year I worked in a brothel for three months, and a couple of years after that I lived homeless in parks and construction sites around London for a month. I had to exaggerate parts of my personality in order to fit into those worlds, but I felt that the people I met were also changing theirs and wearing different masks in order to survive in different situations. Prostitutes have fake names and personalities in order to draw clients in, but also in order to separate themselves from the job; convicts create various identities for different prison situations. I became very interested in the idea that people could change their identities, becoming a different person each day, and what would motivate them to do it. How much would they have to hate their lives in order to do that?”

“What Gerry and Joan do is very abnormal, but anyone could do it - they are essentially ruining people's lives within the confines of the law, employing the tactics of con-artists, and letting the other characters hang themselves with their own failings and prejudices. Our lives are often about performance - whether speaking to bosses, children, lovers or friends we assume the mask that best fits the situation.”

The film itself has shifted identities, conceived in Scotland and completed in America:

“I originally shot the nursing home sequence in Dalkeith in Scotland, hoping to get funding to shoot the whole film in Scotland, but I was unsuccessful in securing funding and couldn't get a proper producer on board. I ended up going to The Screen Academy of Scotland (where he shot the short, Rebel Song). When I moved to the US in 2007 and got together with my producer Jared we decided it was the most financially feasible of my scripts to develop as a debut feature. So we shot the whole thing again in New York.”

Another British filmmaker who has left the UK's industry for the wider possibilities offered by its American counterpart, Arthur laments the lack of investment opportunities available for British filmmakers, especially after the demise of the UK Film Council:

“I was very sad to see that happen: unlike some other regional screen bodies they had been doing a decent job and making very good films. Steve McQueen's Hunger is a perfect example of a film that couldn't have been made in the US, the sort of film that needs arts funding. I think it's one of the best British films to be made in a while. They were turning a profit and it was a political decision by the Tories to shut it down as a precursor to cuts in health and education. Arts had to best the first to feel the axe, it didn't matter if they were successful or not. The filmmaking and theatrical traditions in the UK will mean that there will always be films produced, it's just a question of whether they'll be properly funded and whether they'll get proper distribution. The films will get made one way or another, and I think the New York independent scene - where people go out and shoot no-budget films - is something that the British film industry could learn from. Sacrifice the budget but not the story - it has never been easier to make a film on-the-cheap. One of my inspirations to move to New York was a film about an arranged marriage in an Brooklyn orthodox jewish community called Arranged. It was made for $100 000, a figure which would have put it under the radar of many of the UK funding bodies. It was a good film that played at a lot of festivals and helped the filmmakers go on to bigger things. Of the films that I've played with recently at festivals, Martha Marcy May Marlene is a good example of a low budget movies that's played at a lot of festivals like Cannes, San Sebastian, Sundance, and has done really well. There's a whole slew of American indie films that are made on much smaller budgets than UK funding bodies would consider.”

The Film Festival circuit has introduced Arthur to many other indie filmmakers:

“It's always good to meet people who are going through the same shit, almost surreal. It becomes a smaller community, you often meet the same filmmakers because you start at the same point and do a lot of the same festivals together. I've been sending script ideas back and forth with my friend Hossein Keshavarz, an Iranian filmmaker who made a film called Dogsweat, and also with Clay Liford who made a film called Wuss.”

He's full of admiration for newly emerging indie talent, including
Glasgow-based filmmaker, Zam Salim whose Up There also screens at
Glasgow Film Festival on February 24th. ‘Prairie Love’, ‘Stranger
Things’, ‘Fanny Annie and Danny’, ‘Without’, ‘Everyday Sunshine’ and
‘Natural Selection’ also get honourable mentions.

Film festivals also connected Arthur with composer Enis Rotthoff, who created the score for Silver Tongues:

“We met at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007. He sent me
his portfolio, we talked a lot about music and kept in touch. Working
on the score was difficult given our different locations (Rotthoff is
Berlin-based). He had a budget for the score, but he wasn't really
getting paid - he put everything in to hiring some good musicians and
making the best score possible. I'm very happy with it, it's probably
the thing people talk about the most, after the performances (it is a
very actor-heavy film), so for people to talk about the score is a
great thing. For me it's like the characters, elusive, ambiguous and
dark. You never know where it's going and it's often surprising. Enis
and I have a great relationship- we pushed each other very hard, and
are both very proud of the work.”

Despite the relief of completing a project which has taken around 5
years to come to fruition, selling a dark and ambiguous film like
Silver Tongues has been a challenge:

“How do you make money in independent cinema? The short answer is: you
don't. The back end doesn't produce much money at all, although we had
some tax credit from New York State. Most filmmakers supplement their
income with commercials, industrial video work, writing for the
studios or TV. It's very difficult and is becoming more so. In terms
of distribution, Virgil films (Restrepo, Supersize Me) are handling
Silver Tongues for DVD and Video On Demand, so it will be available on
iTunes and Netflix, and K5 are selling it internationally for
theatrical release. They're taking it to the Berlin Film Market in
February, so we'll know then if it will attain a theatrical release in
Europe.”

Arthur is also developing 4 scripts for future production:

“One is based on interviews I made around Cairo and Tahir Square during the Egyptian revolution during its less-dangerous phase, but it's hard to get something like that funded, unfortunately. Another is about white trash homeless teens hopping trains across the US - it's a recession movie which sees them travel against a backdrop of foreclosed and abandoned towns. The third centres on a badly bullied school kid who decides to try infiltrate the 'cool crowd', and turn them against each other: destroy them from the inside-out - A Fistful of Dollars if it had been set at an American high school. The last is a domestic drama about an American soldier trapped in a house with an Iraqi family. I can't give away too many plot details there, it would spoil it“

For more information check out the interview Arthur and Tergesen gave at Silver Tongue's premiere:

Silver Tongues at Slamdance Film Festival:

"Dubstep is awful right now, truly terrible"

Red Bull Music Academy - great work, great ideas, world's shittest sponsor.

Lecture: Scuba (Madrid 2011) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Seriously, Red Bull is mind-bogglingly awful and a massive pet hate of mine, yet the RMBA actually has a pretty cool thing going on. I like this video with Scuba, which, despite the weird German breakfast tv setup, has a nice bit of narrative and some very interesting chat. Nice seeing Scuba opening up so much.

Interviewer: "and what did it become?"
Scuba: "A really terrible music scene"

Brilliant.

Excellent Grant Morrison interview

Over at the Mindless Ones comics blog there's a brand new, exclusive interview with Grant Morrison, ahead of the release of his first proper book Supergods (enough of this comics shite now, eh, leave that to the kiddies). In it Grant talks about being a fake gay, the arrival of superhumans in 20 years, the upcoming reprint of Flex Mentallo, ending his beef with Alan Moore (aww!) and much more. It's most definitely worth a listen - here.

Metatron interview on Weaponizer

Weaponizer have just published an interview with the Niallist (as Metatron) in which he talks about making music, religion, Little Rock, and the differences between Manchester and Glasgow. Read it here. You can download the two Metatron EPs from Black Lantern Music here and here, but if you'd like to listen first, here's a wee playlist:

S-Type Interview

We recently interviewed the rather awesome new EP from S-Type on Phuturelabs, describing it, for those who can't be bothered to click through as "sounds like Rustie at the top of his game. That's Jagz the Smak or Cafe De Phresh Rustie, not pixellated bleep-wankery Rustie. Yeah, that good."
Following the release of the EP, with a suitably banging session at Mixed Bizness in the Art School, Shallowrave tracked down S-Type to grill him about taste, 'net audio and scottish hip-hop. We haven't asked how he plays a keyboard with those great big hands.

You obviously come from a broad musical background, tell us a bit about your career so far?

I've been making beats for about 10 years now. I put out a 12" single called Soul For Your Stereo, featuring Finale, from Detroit. That was back when I was 18; I put it out on my brother's label Surface Pressure. Since then I've worked with a lot of rappers from all over the UK and US. Obviously I've just released the Medusa EP, which is a slight change of direction for me, as it's all instrumental and more synth based.

What does your studio set-up look like? Do you favour MPCs, fruityloops, ableton or analogue?

I used to use an MPC 2000 with Cubase for years, but I found it too limiting. Now I'm strictly Logic for Mac. I've got a few plug-ins and a midi controller. That's about all I need right now, it means I can make beats wherever I go. I like to work on the move, on train journeys and that. The great thing about having such a portable setup is I can sketch ideas when I come up with them. If I'm lying in bed and I think of a melody or something, I can just reach for the laptop and play it in and not forget about it.

Tell us about some of the rappers you’ve collaborated with, and some of the people you’ll be crafting beats for in the coming months?

Some names people might know are Tek (Smif n Wessun), Sheek Louch (D. Block/LOX), Prince Po (Organized Konfusion), Reks, Laws, Jay Rock and Emilio Rojas. I've recently sent some beats to my favourite rappers in the world, which is a crazy feeling. I'm still waiting to hear back on that. Fingers crossed! My manager is constantly sending beats to vocalists for me and my boy Jaisu (amazing producer, type his name into youtube and you'll see what I mean). But right now I'm trying to concentrate on my solo projects. Doing beats for rappers' mixtapes and albums is good but I don't really feel it's helping push my career forward as much as I'd like. It's time for me to try and make a proper name for myself now.

Do you have specific criteria about which rappers you work with?

Not really. They don't have to be particularly well known or from anywhere specific, as long as I like what they do. I've worked with both known and relatively unknown rappers from all over the world.

You fuse a great number of styles on Medusa; from crunk, footwork and hip-hop to dubstep and garage. How would you categorize or define this very broad style?

Well I wasn't really thinking about genres when I made the beats for the EP, and I still wouldn't really like to try and categorise them. That's for the listeners to do. When I was working on the EP, I was listening to a lot more club and synth based music. I still think it's somewhat hip hop, but more club orientated. The next project I do will definitely be hip hop, but for the club.

Will you be releasing another solo EP any time soon? Do you have solo plans in general?

Yes, I've been asked to do an EP for a label who I very much admire, and are getting a lot of attention right now. I don't know if I can really talk about this too much yet, but the project should be out before summer 2011. I'm very excited about it.

So, why Phuturelabs?

I've known the Phuturelabs lads (Phuturelads) for a while now. They approached me last year to do a digital EP for their new label. They put in a lot of hard work and have some great contacts so it made so much sense for me to do the project with them. They just want to push good music and help people like me get more recognition, and that's exactly what they've done. Can't thank them enough, great guys.

You’ve fairly strong ties with American MCs, what’s your opinion of Scottish hip-hop, grime etc?

It's the same as any genre from any country, there's good and bad. I'm good friends with some of the best rappers and producers from Scotland, and I'm not just saying that because I know them. Look out for The Being MCs. Gasp and Depths made it to the Don't Flop battle final this year, you can watch that via this link. As for Scottish Grime, can't say I've heard much to be honest.

Medusa is available as a free download from Phuturelabs now. More S-Type coming soon.

PL003 - S-Type - Medusa EP (WAVS) by Phuturelabs

Chris Morris on Dangerous Minds

The notoriously press shy Chris Morris has been doing a lot of promotion for his film Four Lions, which has just been released in America to pretty favourable reviews. Here's a great interview with a man I consider to be one of the few living geniuses, from the always reliable Dangerous Minds:

Chris Morris on 'Four Lions' from DANGEROUS MINDS on Vimeo.

Age Of Consent Minterview

Only two days ago I mentioned Age Of Consent and their free download of "The Beach (Valis Remix)". In the short space of time since then I have managed to bag a minterview with Joe from the band. Read on:



Who?

AGE OF CONSENT! Joe and Darren from the band, formerly known as Shitdisco.

When?

Right now, the future and in the memories you're about to have or the
dreams you had already, but never realised.

Why?

Because, at the point you do realise you're on your own and there's
no-one above or below you, we're here to help guide you forward.

What?

"What?" is the name of the movie that international creep, Roman
Polanski directed immediately before Chinatown. because of it, he
nearly never made Chinatown, the best movie ever made. he directed it under the illusion that it was going be a massive hit by fusing sexual-psychedelic dream sequences with running around italian side streets looking over people's shoulders.

How much have you got?

We've got at least one-dream a night for each of us for the last 28
years, so there's plenty of source material for our songs. I usually
don't really know how I feel about anything emotional in the present
tense, so I look to my subconscious to untangle it all. Not always a
successful method.

And if you've got together if so how often?
Which do you choose the hard or soft option?

Hard and fast interspersed with slow, deep and melodic.

How hard can it be?

Come and see for yourself; we play live in Scotland for the first time
in November 2010.
27th Nov - Sneaky Pete's (part of Sneakyfest)
28th Nov - Captain's Rest / with Slayur (Errors / Konx-om-Pax) and Hahaha
it's going to be a reunion, of sorts.

Can you forgive her?

Revenge is so much sweeter.

What have I done to deserve this?

Well, "What have You Done For me Lately?" - such an amazing song - Jam & Lewis at their peak, Janet Jackson would never be better.



Age of Consent on Soundcloud
Age of Consent on Facebook
Age of Consent on Twitter

Shunda K Interview

Shunda K is one half of the awesome Yo! Majesty, who have been making some serious waves the last couple of years with their outspoken, openly gay, dancefloor-dominating hip-hop. This week sees the release of "I'm Da Best", the second single to be taken from Shunda's upcoming solo album, due out in January next year. I was asked to interview Shunda for the Lock Up Your Daughters fanzine (it appears in issue 5 which has just been released and is highly recommended), and they've let me reprint it here for all you Shallow Ravers. Dat's Wassup!



Where are you right now and how is it?

I live in Brandon, FL and the weather has been pretty wishy washy, sunshine in between the rain.

When is your album coming out?

My album, "The Most Wanted", will drop 1/11/11 and will have every genre from Rock to Pop, Electronic, R&B, and Hip Hop.

The album features over 11 collaborations with artist from all over the world including my wifey Ms. Tedra, Lady Lash, Tanisjah Matthews, SNAX, WeHaveLove, Raspberry Cocaine, B Coney (my lil cuz), The Real Fiasco & Flyy Git (a couple of my artists), and, of course, Cindy Wonderful of Scream Club and Shon B of Yo! Majesty.

With this album comes knowledge and wisdom about life, from the church to the club and everything else in between. It is a record that will encourage and inspire, raise questions and debates, and explain to the world who I be: The Most Wanted, The Best To Eva Came Grande Dame, Shunda K!

Who's producing on that?

Producers include Raspberry Cocaine, B Coney, Tha Pumpsta, DJ Flore, Tori Fixx, Les Gourmets, Chrissy, ElectroSexual, B.A.T.S., Deekline, PureSX, Sick Rick, SNAX, DJ Keshkoon, and Robots Are The Future aka Nerdz With Gunz.

When are you next coming to Europe?

Ill be back over to the UK headlining London's Lady Fest 2010 November 12th, so make sure to come out and witness nothing but the truth!

What are your main musical influences?

My life is my influence, the things I witness and go through and a daily basis. I have a lot to talk about.

Yo Majesty had such a distinct sound and vibe it makes me wonder what the music scene like in Tampa? Is it different from other parts of the States?

The music scene here is like the music scenes every where else. I've always stayed within my realm, doing me because being gay and bragging and boasting about it really didn't go over well in the late 90's early 2000's (as I started writing in '97). It's been a pretty lonely road I must say.

How did Yo Majesty come together?

I formed Yo! Majesty as a solo artist in 1998. I met Shon B in 2000 and we met Jwl B in 2001.

After meeting Shon and feeling what she brung to the table, we agreed that Yo! Majesty should be the group name.

And if you don't mind me asking, how did it come to an end?

I walked away because everybody deserves respect and I wasn't getting that, even though I was the one carrying everything in many cases. And so moving right along, if I cant do what I love with others and be happy doing it, it's not worth doing it with 'em. So, Im keepin it movin!!!

At a time when the gay rights movement is having big clashes with the religious right in the US, it's very fresh and surprising to hear an openly gay AND religious performer. Do you have any trouble squaring off those two sides to your persona?

God is love and with that knowledge, I move forward with my head held high. The word of God says, to "study to show yourselves approved." It doesn't say that to encourage us jus to study for the book smarts alone, but we need to study the word of God so we can get an understanding of how God deals with His people, where we can apply these same principles to our lives. The word also says that "whoever believes and confesses the name of Jesus Christ will be saved." God says that everything He made is good and very good, so its all good.

My mission is to spread the truth about who God is and what His purpose is for us all. And so, because another human tells me that I'm not worthy to do that, I'm suppose to stop? Hell naw, the devil is a liar. I have peace with my maker and that's what we all need to be doing, making peace with Jesus so we can live our lives in the fullness and be happy. God loves each and everyone of us, so don't you let nobody else tell you He doesn't. Stop em right in their tracks.

Get to know the Lord for yourself and stop relying on pastor and this one and that one to lay hands on you to be healed. Believe and lay hands on yourselves. Pray for yourselves. Get up out of that pit you in. All excuses was nailed to the cross, so I cant use the excuse, because people don't agree with my life style, I can't be what I want to be. I'm free to do me, through the grace and mercy of God. We all are!!!

How is the whole Homo-Hop scene going over there?

I can only answer for myself and as far as I'm concerned, I'm doing dis!

Any fresh young talent you'd like to give shout outs to?

Stay tuned for some new artist coming up out of the GMEQCA camp. That's my label which is an acronym that stand for God's & Man's Eternal Quest to Conquer All. They include Blaque Pop, Fly Gitt, The Real Fiasco, and Ghetto C.

"I'm Da Best" is out now. You can buy it on iTunes, and you can hear it right now:

Shunda K I'm Da Best (Album Version) by 1-2-hear

And as an extra bonus, here's two remixes of "I'm Da Best" by me, The Niallist. Peace!

SHUNDA K ft SHON B I'm Da Best (Niallist DUH Mixx) by theniallist

SHUNDA K ft SHON B I'm Da Best (Niallist DUHBB) by theniallist

Blood Of The Bull Minterview

We have featured Blood Of The Bull on both the FUCKNO album and EP, and talked about their debut EP on Winning Sperm Party before. Information on the band has been scarce though, so we've got chief Bull Hillary to answer some questions picked from our random generator.

Who or what is BotB?

Blood of the Bull is me and my very good pal Rory McIntyre. I play guitar and things with keys. Rory plays drums and guitar sometimes. 

"Blood Of The Bull" - explain your name...

I can't do that. I'd have to kill you. 

Do you wear leather shoes?

I have 1 pair. I bought them in France because they looked like something Scott Walker would have had in 1966. Other than that, not really. And they so didn't make me look like Scott Walker.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Elliott Smith (we liked him way before he was deceased) I 'spose, Mary Timony/Helium; I really love Broadcast as well. And the person I mentioned in the previous question.

Any releases in the pipeline?

Wait for Early 2011. We're both putting a lot of time into other bands at the moment. When it happens it'll very likely be on the winning sperm party site...

How's Divorce going?

Good, good. They were all here in the room with me about 45 minutes ago. I'm not shitting you. We're on tour in September. We're all still as ugly and unwashed as you remember us. 

How does BotB differ from your other bands?

Well, none of them share the same members.  Phat Trophies is carnival/funeral music, Divorce sounds like a divorce. If BotB sounded like a divorce at a funeral that would be really exciting but I don't think we do...

If you could be in any band in the history of music, who would it be?

I would be in Scott Walker. 

Have you seen "Matador"?

Is that a film? *

Have you ever thought of joining PETA?

I dunno. What would Scott Walker do?

[* Ed's Note: Matador is 1986 film by Spanish auteur Pedro Almodover, a pitch black comedy about people who find death sexy, and who fight bulls for a living. It's fucked up and awesome.]

Plus d'awesome

More awesomeness featuring Genesis P-Orridge - this time it's an hour long Infinity Factory 3-way interview between Genesis, host Richard Metsger and the MOST awesome Robert Anton WIlson! This guy co-wrote the Illuminatus Trilogy and has a lot of great and interesting things to say (and a great New York drawl in which to say it). They talk a lot about conspiracies, magick and Alastair Crowley.



If you like this kind of thing I heartily recommend checking out some of Richard Matzger's other work, like Disinformation and the Dangerous Minds blog.