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iron mitchell · #1

here are a list of some of my little oddball musical side-projects that tend to last one or two shows and/or one or two recording sessions before i move onto something else...
please share to this thread. i'd like to see what is rolling around in other people's heads.

body cabinet: i took a goodwill-purchased pinstripe business suit and sewed 8 small speakers (various sizes and brands) into it, as well as running cords, hot mics, and a few small effects pedals (the mini danelectro distortion and overdrive pedals) through the suit. i basically am able to just move around and create really neat feedback and shit. lots of semi-scripted shit kinda like emil beaulieau, but way more self-destructive and crowd-destructive. played two shows. no recordings.

new odor: i have these two coolers. one is halfway filled with pga punch from my 20th birthday (i'm getting pretty close to 24 now) and the other is filled with swamp water, v8, urine, and other random stinky shit. we place waterproofed contact mics into both of these coolers and then freeze them. then we take them to the show and place them between us and the audience(?) with the lids shut and fans blowing what smell does come out towards us, and allow the sound of them being thawed to be looped into something resembling a dance beat. we'll add thumping bass and blah-blah-blah until we have us a nice groove going... whoa! some people stand up and start paying attention! add my friend playing some nice, brainless bass grooves and my girlfriend lays down some generic 80's synth... check it out! the kids with nice haircuts are digging it! so when i think the time is right, i open up the coolers, turn the fans on the audience, and push them over towards them. cleared house! awesomeness. one performance (don't come back!). no recordings.

formica linnaeus: i use an antfarm i bought from a yardsale for $1 that i have rigged with five piezo contact mics. when the ants run over the mics it creates a crackling rain kind of sound. i have to fill the antfarm pretty full, and sometimes also drop food in for them in order to get enough activity to really keep it very interesting, but i also use plenty of echo and loop pedal effects to prevent too much silence. i tend to use about 10 different effects pedals when trying to pull this off. i also have a pretty rad ant costume that i painted a swirly neon green color to wear for live shows. i've recorded one tape for this project and performed one show.

ghosts 'n goblins: started out as hepatitus g, we broke out of the "hepatitus youth mold" and integrated actual music from the ghosts 'n goblins nintendo game. so you basically get video game loops run through a big muff and a rat pedal and two guys and two girls (or an extra girl and two extra guys when japanese karaoke afterlife experiment and unicorn hard-on are in town) in brown ghost sheets and latex elvis suits wrestling over the fog machine and the strobe light. both shows have ended in broken bones and busted heads. two shows. one cdr recording split with chainsaw paws.

i've also taken a bit of a part in a few other projects, but these are all pretty much my doing with a bit of help from others (and i need to get back to work on burning cdr's for next week with my "real" bands). i'll maybe list more later.

Dole · #2

I play drums in a pop group

Mockery · #3

I don't have a band.

Black Flag · #4

i used to have a band that all of our songs were about nfl teams and the only lyrics to the songs were the names of said nfl teams

we were torn apart by internal strife!

iron mitchell · #5

hey mock,
i just remembered you live in richmond! i'm most likely moving to hampton in a month or so! i'm moving into this really rad apartment building basically run by art/noise kids called the ratward! we'll start a band and get boys pregnant! i want to start a band where we play nothing but those "rape alarms". those things are smaller than a calculator, but louder than a nuclear warhead! let's do it!

Dole · #6

Mitchell's Mom or Grandma or someone: 'Thats nice Jeffrey, but why cant you play something we can hum along too like Joan Baez?'

bigtimecow · #7

mitchell, i wanna hear any recordings you have of any of that stuff.

iron mitchell · #8

i usually have the shit on soulseek, but my computer is currently down. i will hopefully get it fixed week after next (i'll be on tour all of next week) and be back in business with that. my soulseek name is stumblerunfall2.
or you can go to http://www.alamagator.com for ordering info on actual cdr's and tapes. cool handmade packaging is worth a few dollars, right?
the "ant thing" is out of print. it was put out by a local record label a year ago when i didn't have alamagator yet. sorry.
p.s. i'm putting the finishing touches on my new cdr as catheter stretch called "shorts". i stole your drum file from earlier this week and wreaked havoc on it for an addition to the cdr's 50+ tracks. nyuck nyuck!

bigtimecow · #9

you bastard! thank you

bigtimecow · #10

and you say all this stuff is what they call, "noise"? cause thats essentially what it is right?

bigtimecow · #11

also, considering im on there, I SHOULD GET A FREE COPY!

please?

iron mitchell · #12

1. i'm not gonna go deep into what noise is... it went from being the simplest genre of music to define and understand and just sit back and enjoy to being the complete opposite... thanks a lot, pitchforkmedia.com!
honestly, i think that anyone who appreciates noise enough to really check into it and buy some records and check out some shows and talk to the others there will be able to spot a noise-head a mile away!
some people say noise = lack of melody. i just say noise is everything between merzbow, sun city girls, no neck blues band, harry pussy, extreme animals, aube, unicorn hard-on, orthrelm, and more shit happening right now that we just don't know about yet!

2. i can probably arrange that free copy. i would send way more shit out for free, but i'm currently unemployeed and postage costs money. give me a few weeks to get some shit straightened and i'll send you a package with some alamagator shit in it. in the meantime, download the new leaked wolf eyes album... it's called "burned mind" and it physically forced me to call my girlfriend's step-dad and buy an ounce of weed from him just so i could properly listen to this album! holy shit!