Episode 36: "WEENCORE COMMUNITY SYMPOSIUM" feat. More Eaze *PREVIEW — FULL EP ON PATREON*

You are listening to the free version of CloudForm. For the full episode, send to Pat Rayon. Swear down, boss. Lash. Mid-Ev Nut Guzzler is an incredible title. And a beautiful name for a girl. It's that or chode mode. The Mid-Ev Nut Guzzler. Yeah. I've not done the dick with it yet. This is the one that changed basically everything. You should follow at Gormsell on Instagram. The reason this podcast exists. Yeah, I mean, we got Chode Mode here. What's your favorite flavor, Twix? Man, when are we going to get the Future featuring Mr. Bean track? You must really like music. It's like there are people who truly care. Are you teaching, like, violin or something? Like, I love weenreddit. r slash ween, yeah. Is that how you end up opening for multiple songs? Do you think it's good? I didn't even fucking sing on that record. None of that is me. Like, yeah. Wait, do you think Diplo's heard mad feelings? Swear down, lads. Nah, fuck that. Like, King of Beers, Miller Lite. I was trying to ask experimental scene I was trying to ask about experimental music from Texas because I have a very limited understanding of it beyond people like yourselves and Nudo oh man Nudo is like the best band in the fucking world they owe me a t-shirt I need all of their t-shirts they were like right before I left austin that was like the shining glimmer of hope right for music for me it was like seeing nudo live okay um yeah it's a really interesting because there are a lot of experimental musicians that come out of texas and there's like most certainly like a pretty huge scene there that has happened like over years uh i've been reading this book called partners which is about um this uh composer uh jerry hunt who like he was

throwing crazy experimental music concerts in texas in like the 50s and 60s um and living as a queer man which is just sort of like uh crazy like at the time that that that was able to happen and i think it puts a lot of things like in perspective in terms of would that be he was out or uh in the community or it's like he he was knowing like right his partner like live together it was i mean i don't think it was like super safe to be like completely out at that time but i think that that was you know it was widely acknowledged and in the book they talk about how his parents kind of tried to like send him to like a conversion therapy thing is like that's right and the therapist was just like Yeah, he just knows that he's gay and he has no remorse for it, and so you can't really do anything about this situation. And he's an experimental musician. And he's an experimental musician, so it's like fucking three strikes. That's the worst one, yeah. But yeah, there's a huge history of, especially a lot of older musicians, and the label Table of the Elements was based out of there too for a while. it it's very weird because a lot of it just sort of depends on who stays and who doesn't and a lot of times people who stay or like who were involved in releasing things or doing stuff for a number of years aren't necessarily super active in the scene anymore um austin's especially kind of unusual with that because there are a lot of experimental musicians and some really good ones that live there and there's like a weekly experimental music series called me mermo which like is great and brings a lot of people out and kind of facilitates a lot of collaboration that wouldn't happen otherwise. But it's just really hard to get funding for anything, obviously. And part of that is just the state of Texas itself. But also in those scenes, like in the Austin music scene too, so many of the concerts and performances you... wind up being invited to take part in all happen in bars. And the bar community in... The bar community. I think you mean the drunks? Yeah. The bars in Texas, and especially in Austin, are much more geared towards being like kind of tourist things. Right. And not necessarily...

a space for like listening it's like you're very much relegated to kind of being background music and so trying to do anything that kind of falls outside of the mold of like being a conventional rock band is just very hard to make happen on a consistent basis it's like you have the experimental music night and then if you're doing something that's like really loud and abrasive maybe you can get away with doing it at a bar but it's a little bit risky at times but it's yeah I mean there's always people doing stuff And in Austin in particular, but it's like a very, it can be, it changes a lot because people just move away and some people just get burnt out and stop performing or doing it. When I first moved there, there was like just the most insane, unhinged, very active, harsh noise community that I like would play a lot of shows with, which was really funny because like. I mean, there'd be guys, like, doing sets that were all, like, cable buzz and plugging cables, like, into their assholes on stage. And then I would get on stage and be like, yeah, here's a set of, like, kind of glitchy, like, laptop music. Yeah. And, but, I don't know, they liked me and put me on a lot of gigs. Nice. Yeah. So the, when people think of keeping Austin weird. Is that more weird in like a Rick and Morty way than a like experimental music way? Yeah, that's definitely the implication of that is it's like, I mean, it's such a like fucking loaded term because I think it's like supposed to be like, oh, we're so quirky and fun, but it's in this very sort of safe. Random source way. What's that? Random source way. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's very much like random sauce, like millennial sort of quirked up shit. And it's just like, it's all like the implications that are all like very, very white and very like straight millennial culture and stuff, even though that's been going on for a while. And when I was in high school, this friend of mine who was a little bit older made this whole sticker campaign in San Antonio where I'm from. And I think I still have one of the stickers on my violin case. They're really resilient. Shout out Justin Parr. But so Justin Parr and his friends made this.

campaign that was Keep San Antonio Lame. Okay. Which was, I feel like, a great response. Right, right, right. Because, I mean, San Antonio is lame, but in this, like, amazing kind of weird Wallace way. Do you know, do you have any, have you had any accounts with Barrett, Barrett Avner? With who? Barrett Avner. I don't think so. Did you remember that? No, uh-uh. I think he, am I mistaken? He's kind of between Oscar and Al. Oh, huh. What's his project? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I know that project. No, we've never interacted, I don't think. Yeah. Well, he's played a bunch of shows in the world. I think he's on a personal level. And he's very actively involved in keeping Austin lame, I would say. Hell yeah. You're like based on what he does. Yeah, I know Contain a little bit. I got to look deeper into that. Nudo are also just one of my favorite bands. Yeah, I would say there's nothing more exciting happening in Texas than that band. I really do want to see them live. They're impeccable live. It's like the first time I saw them, I think it was at a WorkOS after party. he was, and, and, uh, Nudo were doing these crazy things where it's like usually, um, Brian or, um, I forget their names is Brian. And, uh, Oh my God. Why am I blanking on the other guy's name? Anyways. Uh, the two of them. were performing and one of them usually will have like a bunch of cdjs that they're like kind of capturing and looping things with on the spot sometimes with like acoustic instruments as well and then usually someone else has like samplers and like uh synths that they're like playing with and working off of and so in this particular like set I remember it was just, like, chaos. And then at some point, they just, like, were leaping somebody saying the word dinosaur over and over again while playing, like, this just, like, very sad, like, DX7. Right, okay. Like, chords on top of it. And it, like, fucked me up. Yeah. Like, I was, like, so wrecked emotionally by it. Wait, and that wasn't trash? What? I mean, it's my kind of trash, you know? It sounds like it probably was saying. In the hands of Mito, I have no doubt.

Yeah, it's great. I think that their record's amazing, too. My partner and I got really into it, and we're also both huge fans of the band Ween, and I feel like there's something very distinctively Ween about Nudo. Interesting. I would never draw that parallel. I've never really followed them in those terms. There's this sort of sense of experimentation, and I think just a sense of humor about how they're approaching stuff, but also in this way that's very sort of devastating. I feel like really, like, there's sort of this bizarre overlap with that and, like, early ween. Yeah. Yeah, because I don't really, well, I guess I'm necessarily alive. Like, Mibble always struck me as being a lot more kind of, like, serious and dark than a lot of the ween stuff is. But maybe a part of that is just a function. Yeah. I think that there's definitely like, I mean, there's definitely like seriousness and darkness to it, but there's just, there is. Yeah. I mean, it's like the pot is funny, but man, that's a fucking sad album. You, I mean, I was spoken here before you came and white pepper was one of the albums you listened to most last year. Yeah. I, uh, so white pepper when I was in like, middle school and high school which was when i was like kind of in the first great ween phase of my life um for some reason i always kind of skipped over white pepper and just went like straight to quebec um because quebec is just like yeah yeah yeah a great song uh yeah quebec is just like a little bit more like kind of fucked up and experimental and just like a really weird amazing record and um i feel like for whatever reason at the time i was just like ah white pepper is just like whatever and now i now that i'm older i feel like it's just like a great like top to bottom pop album it's just like every single song is like a pop gem it's god to your songwriting absolutely that last song on there she's your baby yeah that's like the fucking saddest song i've ever heard we were listening to that we were listening to that before you oh no way oh i love that man you guys are really prepared for this interview i mean that was kind of like the extent of what we did

That and looking at pictures of your dog. Oh, I mean, honestly, if there are two big things you need to know about me, it's one, I love Ween, and my dog is named Keith. And his Ween is actually visible. Yeah, dude, his Ween is probably getting a lot of airtime right now. We call him a senior dickhole a lot at the house, yeah. That sounds like a Ween song, yeah. Yeah, we actually have a... We have some like very weencore. My partner and I have some kind of weencore songs about Keith. One is called Chode Mode. And then there's also just a song that is like Keith the Clam, which is a name we called him after he rolled in a bunch of dead shellfish at the beach one day and smelled worse than anything I've ever smelt in my entire life. Hey, he's doing the work destigmatizing Chode status. Yeah. It's time. Also, we've now got the episode title. Somebody's gotta do it. Like, Justice for Chodes, you know? Well, between you and your partner, who's Gene and who's Dean? This is the conversation we have a lot. So, I think that I tend to be more of the Gene-er of the group in a lot of ways. First of all, Gene Wien and I are both Pisces. So, big connection there. Your birthday recently? What's that? Was it your birthday recently? It was, yeah, last week. Or actually this last weekend. Whoa. You say salute. Yeah. Cheers. But yeah, I think I'm definitely more of the gene. I tend to write a lot of the like sadder songs and do like, like kind of be more interested in, in like, I would say sensitive music. Which is something they talk about. I read the, like, Ween Chocolate and Cheese book, and there's, like, a very funny thing about how Diener was, like, only into punk rock. And then Gene was just like, well, I really like Prince and Laurie Anderson. And I'm like, I really, I see myself way too much in that. And then, yeah, my partner, Wendy Eisenberg, who's also an amazing musician, they are definitely Dean. They are guitar god shredder, really into rock music. Straight out punk. Yeah, exactly, yeah. I was thinking about white, but my girlfriend is, like, incredibly, like...

normie status, well-adjusted, just like regular human being non-freakazoid. Yeah. She lied to the song. The song's amazing. It's beautiful. It's like a perfect love song. Yeah. I love that song. I love Even If You Don't. I think that both of those songs are like, like Wendy and I have talked about this a lot too, where it's like those songs are like basically people trying to write like like ween trying to write like the beatles but it sounding nothing like the beatles really um and i think that that's like a genre it's like one of the kind of modes they have that i really love yeah well i mean that well just like the existence and the existence and success of spongebob you need to prove that like being uncompromising weird it's like worth it oh totally i mean that's just crazy too because it's like old like the whole success of Spongebob and creation of Spongebob is all based on the mollusk. Yeah, exactly. Which is like amazing. And I feel like I was, I go really deep on Ween Reddit too. And there's like, there was like this whole thing where it's like, man, which also Ween Reddit is like, definitely like the best like reddit community because there's just a bunch of people who are clearly all super plays like just being like dude isn't ween so great and like one of the things about like the spongebob malls connection is and i i think that this is really true they're like man all the voices of the characters right there in the first few tracks like like you got spongebob like on dancing in the show tonight and then like mr krabs on the blarney stone and then like even patrick's on polka and I'm like damn like it's fucking true though like I love ween reddit r slash ween yeah shout out do you yeah shout out would you aspire to writing a concept album that you know has a runoff hit hit cartoon show oh man who wouldn't aspire to that like I'd be a fool if I said no I would love to like write something that is uh that successful yeah and that makes someone create a like a lasting masterpiece of a cartoon too

Does Texas still come up and like your music a lot? Yeah, to some degree, I think it. Well, yeah, I mean, I think it does a lot of like, I feel like what I've been interested in is sort of like wrestling with the fact that a lot of my my background was in Texas and especially playing like folk music and country music like growing up and being really sort of like inundated in that world. And so. I think that like it's something I'm always sort of thinking about in terms of of how I'm writing. And it's also just those things are so kind of baked into my musical DNA that it's like hard for them to leave. And it's been something I've actually kind of since moving here really embraced a little bit more because I just feel like there's a lot more. There's a lot to be explored there and I feel a little bit more comfortable doing it removed from the environment and where I grew up doing it. So, growing up and playing all these country open mics, is that how you ended up opening for Monk for the Sun? Whoa! Whoa, amazing! Amazing segue! Kind of, in a roundabout way. Wait, you want to give us credit for knowing that? Yeah, amazing. How did you get such incredible research, guys? You must have had to dive really deep in that. Yeah, that is kind of true. I was... I did a lot of shows for this radio station, um, at one of the colleges in San Antonio, um, KRTU, which were like put on a bunch of different shows. And one year they had this like South by Southwest party and they asked my band to play, um, which was like at the time, pretty like crunchy, uh, early aughts, like, uh, twee pop type of shit. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty, pretty painful stuff. Um, and, and we, we got asked to play this show. And it was like all of these British bands, like first show in America. And two of the artists were Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons. Oh, nice. And this was at a, this just, it was in the middle of South by Southwest. And it was at this just kind of like pretty nondescript pizza restaurant. And so we opened the show and came off stage afterwards. And the Mumford and Sons guys were all there and were like.

that was great. Like amazing. And we, we decided we were going to like stick around. He's like, man, these guys are, these British guys are really nice. And we, we stuck around and watch their set. And my friends and I at the time, I think we got halfway through and we're like, man, it's kind of boring. Let's get out of here. And so we just like left and then flash forward like a year and a half later. And I was like, at this like girl i was i was seeing at the times dorm and her roommate was was playing bumfrey and sons and i was i think i literally was like what is this bullshit and and she was like oh it's bumfrey and sons my like roommates obsessed with it And I was like, no fucking way. I was like, the band from the pizza place? And then I was just out of the loop and I had no idea that they were winning all these Grammys and massively successful. And so it was a very surreal feeling. But they were really nice guys, I will say. No, no, no, no. I'm messing with that shit. I mean, it's all falling apart since. I think we're fine. Wait, what? Oh, one of them's like a fucking neo-Nazi, right? I think maybe that's a bit too extreme, but like... Oh, okay. No, but he was advocating for pretty right-wing writers online and was like... I think his dad also owns Unheard. Oh, really? I think so. Okay, right. So yeah, I mean, probably not a neo-Nazi, but definitely further right than a British conservative. Wow, yeah. The rise of Mumford and the Suns is really strange because even in England, being like 15 and obsessively reading the British music press... you never you really never saw it coming the like the scale that they achieved is insane it was kind of like oh here's this like kind of cool tub thumping british folk band and then within within the space of a week they were like went to number one and for some reason translated really really well in the states yeah in a way that like that's kind of the biggest story is the fact that and i have no idea how or why that happened it's so crazy i mean i think that they like kind of tapped into this like they were like this watered down

version of like the arcade fire or like yeah these other bands that were like really kind of doing the same like big grand like kind of steampunk aesthetic shit yeah exactly um but yeah it was it really blew my mind uh that that i had played the show with this band and that then all of a sudden they were massively famous um well the biggest story is that our Rob, you definitely don't remember this, but our first ever online interaction was Bumpet and Stones related. Wait, really? Was this like a Roy Binge interaction? It was, yeah. No, what was it? Well, I was tweeting under the, which is still alive, feel free to follow. I really liked it, inactive. And it was associated with Majestic Azure. It was maybe in the first two years of doing it. And I tweeted something kind of like Unrange. while I was like in London at the time and while as DJ Fitch responded dude who is this and I said I said I responded saying Mumford and Sons and then you didn't respond that's a beautiful story yeah I have no I love just zero memory it still stinks had I met you in person? I don't think so you are listening to the free version of CloudForn for the full episode sent to Pat Ryan fake niggas They do it all for the clout. Always running their mouth. But they've never been about. I splashed niggas. In and out. In and out. Clout is killing our people. They do it for U-K-L. Clout is killing our people. They do it for U-D-N. Clout is killing our people. They move like the groupies, them. Sending shots or snap, but in real life don't use their skank.