Atarimatt Interviews The Ex-Optimists *

Who are you and what do you do in the band?
Wonko: I’m Wonko and I suck in the band. I’m also the official amp banger and Nixon impersonator.
Kelly: I am Kelly and I write songs and sing them somewhat tunefully while playing electric guitar.
Jessica: I am Jessica and I play the drums with my Jedi mind powers and booze.

What is your favorite video game?
Wonko: Anything with Mario or Zelda in it. I love the shit out of those games. Need proof? I bought the Wii just for Mario and Zelda, despite the fact that there’s absolutely no other good games for it.
Kelly: If it’s arcade games it’s gonna be Tiger Road or Black Dragon. Otherwise I’m an old school NES kinda guy.
Jessica: Right now it is Zelda Spirit Tracks then Duck Hunt.

Why all the drum smashing? what did they ever do to you?
Wonko: Little known fact, drums are actually socialist plants put on Earth by the government to make everyone a pinko commie rat. Also, it makes an awesome noise when you smash them. Badump tsh!
Jessica: The drum smashing comes when the crowd loses interest. The make my knuckles bleed all the time.

If the Ex-Ops could be represented by one rap dance song, which one would it be?
Wonko: That song about giant butts by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Lord knows Kelly eats that shit up witha spoon.Big butts that is. With a spoon. More of a ladle, really. They are massive asses, after all.
Kelly: “The Butt” or maybe “Rump Shaker”. Or do y’all remember “The Peewee Herman”? That shit was dope too.
Jessica: I would have to say the Stanky Leg.

#1 or #2? please explain.
Wonko: #7. If you haven’t tried it, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s the latest crazy all the kids are into. Donkey, donkey, donkey, donkey.
Kelly: #2 is usually painful since I’ve got Large Shit Syndrome, so I’ll go with #1. I can nearly swoon taking a much-needed piss after a night of drinking.
Jess: #2. It feels so much better to release the brown brick of ecstasy than to bring forth the golden showers.

So you guys don’t have a bass player. whats up with that?
Wonko: I take offense to that.
Kelly: For two reasons. Finding a person who can play bass like I want them to around here is near impossible. I want someone who knows who Bridget Cross, Lou Barlow and Peter Hook are and can approximate their styles while being completely cool as fuck as a person. That person doesn’t exist. The other reason is because Atarimatt’s tiny bass is otherwise occupied by leaning against the wall at home when it could’ve been held in his capable and tattooed hands with us.
Jessica: We couldn’t find a guy fat enough.

Word on the street is that one of you can eat a shitload of hotdogs?
Wonko: That would be me and I stole the trophy to prove it. I just love Atari Matt’s Big Atari Wieners! Though, in reality, Jess is the biggest consumer of wieners. She loves putting wieners in her mouth.
Jessica: Only if they are smothered in sauerkraut and mustard. That why they come out just as easy as they go in.

Why are you guys no longer optimistic?
Wonko: The name is a bit of a misnomer. We were never optimistic. We were less pessimistic at one point, but the currently-everything-is-pretty-alrights doesn’t really flow well as a band name.
Kelly: Too much shit going down in the world right now to feel completely depressed about.
Jessica: We looked at our retirement plans.

What is your favorite top 10 single from 1983?
Wonko: “Commuter” by Atari mat. That shit was huge in Mongolia!
Kelly: Mr. Roboto (#3, bro)
Jessica: Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye

Whats the new album called and when does it drop?
Wonko: “How to Ruin Your Ear Drums Permanently, Raw Power Style Presented by The Ex-Optimists and Mutual of Omaha”, Whenever the hell Matt finishes it.
Kelly: Soaking Up The Cathode Rays. Early February.
Jessica: Beats me nobody tells me nothin

What is your least favorite top 10 single from 1983?
Wonko: “Komuter” by Soviet-Era Arcade Machine Mat. Lousy communist rip-off.
Kelly: Taco “Puttin’ On the Ritz”. Gee, let’s take a shit song from the golden age of shit movie musicals and “modernize” it with a roomful of synthesizers and drum machines.
Jessica: Fall in Love with Me by Earth, Wind and Fire

If you were Flynn from the movie TRON would you have wasted all that energy trying to shut down the MCP or would you have just sat at that pool of energy juice with RAM and got shitfaced and said fuck it, lets go bowling?
Wonko: Shit faced and bowling, of course donkey donkey. On a side note, someone should really spin records as MC Program. That would totally rule.
Kelly: You know that dude’s got a fucking country music movie out right now? The music is cool and all but completely does not fit the character. No way you’d catch Merle Haggard down and out playing dives sounding like he’s produced by T-Bone Burnett. Naw, they needed to get some fucker like David Allen Coe to star in that movie. Leave the Dude out of it.
So where was I? Oh yeah. Fuck it RAM Dude, let’s go lazer bowling.
Jessica: Bowling

Jersey Shore is the greatest show on TV in a long time. why do you agree?
Wonko: Because.. *FIST PUMP* purple monkey dishwasher.
Kelly: When I was in college I was a resident assistant in the freshman all-male dorm and we had these cousins from up that way on our floor. Brooklyn Johnny and Philly Dan, oh and Heavy from out in Queens was there too on the other side of the dorm. Jersey Shore is like a time warp back to listening to the bullshit those residents of mine used to talk.
Oh yeah, and I’ve got the Jones Crusher for Snooki something bad.
Jessica: I plea the 5th.

Some of the lyrics on the new record are pretty heavy and make big social statements. I thought you guys were a party band?
Wonko: I think you misinterpreted the lyrics. Whenever it seems like the song is about something important, it’s actually about Jagermeister and Daisy Rock guitars. Actually, those are really important things. This record should make you want to buy more of them, if our producer can get the subliminal messages mixed correctly. *cough* Matt *cough* super karate monkey death car.
Kelly: Communist party band. No really. For the most part I consider politically charged music to be lame. I grew up with the shadow of the ’60s hanging over me, about how music meant something when all that talk about the revolution amounted to nothing. And then U2, who I happen to like quite a bit, really beat the activism message into my head. Amnesty International, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, anti-apartheid, pro-abortion, etc. I thought it was gay as shit. But so much completely awful shit has happened in the last ten years in the world either to America directly or at the behest of America that you can’t help but pay attention. I sing “this is the season of unease” in Disciples of the Sun and that’s pretty much how I feel about things right now. A general queasiness. Kinda goes back to being an Ex-Optimist. Unemployment, the post-9/11 secret government, mortgage crisis, bailing the shit out of douchebag auto manufacturers and banks,
universal healthcare, ineffective stage presidents, teabaggers…I felt coming out of college 15 years ago that the world was mine for the taking. I don’t see how anyone coming out of college now can feel that way.
Jessica: If you are listening to the lyrics then you are listening too hard.

What celebrities have you met in your lifetime?
Wonko: I hang out with the biggest celebrity of all on a daily basis. We have a close, personal relationship that pretty much fulfills my every need. You may have heard of Him. His name is Jesus. Let me tell you more about Him…
Kelly: Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, Eddie Vedder, Rip Torn, Monica Lewinsky, Gene Simmons…etc. I used to produce morning radio in Seattle and I got to meet a lot of different people as we shuffled them in and out of the studio.
Jessica: Stone Cold Steve Austin at the airport, Garth Brooks at Sea World, Muhammad Ali at the National FFA Convention, Don Vito at the air port. Some chick that was in porn.

Fill in the blanks:
Wonko: This one time I had a raging case of _asteroids_ and went to the _McDonald’s_. On the way there I had to _stop, collaborate, and listen_ and almost got in a _tilt-a-whirl_, only to find out I was really _an ass_ and not _a donkey_.
Kelly: This one time I had a raging case of _Akuma No Uta_ and went to the _vibrator_. On the way there I had to _smile_ and almost got in a _cold sweat_, only to find out I was really _burning up_ and not _just a drunk machine_.
Jessica: This one time I had a raging case of _honey bees_ and went to the _button factory_. On the way there I had to _shake my money maker_ and almost got in a _semi-truck_, only to find out I was really _naked_ and not _on the bathroom floor_.

My favorite ex-ops song is Do No Harm. What is yours?
Wonko: MOTHER FUCKER GONE COLD! Just cause it says “Mother Fucker Gone Cold” a whole lot. Actually though, my favorite song is probably Fireboy. Because I believe in Fireboy, and know he’ll come to my rescue one day.
Kelly: Right now it’s “Burn Bright”. I love how that song feels, plus it lets me exorcise some of my issues with cash chuckers.
Jessica: Tear down the walls

Bro-Core or Dude Metal?
Wonko: Mother fucker gone stoner metal. I’m not all into that whole metal thing, really. Too much work with all those notes. Can’t they just pick one and stick with it for awhile?
Kelly: Stoner metal. Black Sabbath is my favorite band forever.
Jessica: Metal medicine.

*this interview was not run through a Japanese translator and back, so it is slightly less funny, but still just as interesting.  For the more hilarious Donkey Donkey Karate version,  check one of the many super rad local dirtbag friendly establishments that let us put our print version out for public consumption.

http://www.theeagle.com/local/Pump-up-the-volume2009-05-20T22-06-44

Reprinted without permission from The Eagle, the Bryan-College Station local newspaper:

It doesn’t take a lot of money or living in a big city to make an awesome music festival happen, local musician Kelly Minnis said.

“You don’t have to have a certain stature or live in Houston or Austin to be part of a scene. If there’s not one, you can make your own,” Minnis said, adding that he wants local teens to be encouraged “not just to be part of the culture or partake in the culture, but to be someone who actually goes out and organizes and helps present it to other people.”

Minnis, with friends and fellow musicians Niki and Matt Shea, has done just that.

Drawing on their contacts among local musicians, the three have brought together 20 punk, rock and metal bands — including longtime local favorites Street Pizza and out-of-towners such as The Valentine Failures — who will play beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday in downtown Bryan.

For $5, people can see the bands at Stafford Main Street and Revolution Cafe & Bar.

Niki Shea said LOUD!Fest is a less commercial and more local alternative to the Northgate Music Festival.

“We’re just as organized, but nobody’s getting anything out of this,” she said. “We’re doing it because we love music and because it’s fun.”

The three friends started Loud!Fest last year to raise support for local teens who were petitioning city leaders to build a skate park in College Station.

The event at Zapatos last year was free and much smaller.

But Niki Shea said it went so well, they wanted to do it again.

Minnis and the Sheas have created Loud!Fest in true do-it-yourself spirit through months of hard work.

The three designed screen-printed LOUD!Fest T-shirts, made compilation CDs and printed posters in a makeshift shop in a garage.

Niki Shea said the group went door to door asking local businesses to support their efforts.

“They were all really sweet and did,” she said.

More information about the festival, including a list of bands with links to their Web sites, can be found at www.myspace.com/bcsloudfest.

Tickets are available at www.myspace.com/sinkholetexas. Minnis said people who buy tickets in advance will receive a special signed copy of the event poster and a two-disc compilation CD.

The Sheas and Minnis hope Loud!Fest will become an annual event that grows larger each year.

“We plan on doing it every year until we just can’t do it anymore,” Niki Shea said. “It’s a lot of fun putting it together, and it’s a lot of fun seeing it come together.”

Magic Girl, otherwise known as Mary-Charlotte Young, is easily the Brazos Valley’s most innovative and charismatic female singer-songwriter.  Magic Girl creates picture portraits of characters from Fly-Over Country to song, the downtrodden and the triumphant. The music follows in the folk and classic country tradition of the 1960’s but with a modern lyricism. And the voice…tough as the oil fields, supple as willow and sexy as Saturday at 2 AM.  Tonight Magic Girl will debut songs from her new EP.  To celebrate the occasion, we got all MySpace on Magic Girl and asked her 10 (ir)relevant questions about her life and music.

979Represent: Why sing so much about Texas since you ain’t from here?
MG: I have been profoundly affected by the fact that my true love is from texas. When I want to write songs about him, sometimes it slips in there(that’s what she said). Also, not to be harsh, Texans are a self-important bunch who like to hear songs about themselves. In a way, I am sticking to my style but giving some of the folks something they can identify with more.

Couldn’t you have found a better backing band than the SHTI House Players? They fucking suck!
No. I love my band.

When is that new EP of yours Poor Man’s Queen FINALLY gonna come out?
Feb 26th at Revolution.

What’s your favorite song right now?
I’ve been listening to alot of slobberbone and steve earle lately. . . one song is hard for me to pick.

Who has the best Mexican food in B/CS?
Los Cucos.

Didn’t you watch Friends in the ’90s? You just look like someone who might’ve. Or were you more of a Seinfeld girl?
Fuck Friends. Seinfeld is funny but I was never into it either.

Who’s more punk rock: Lady Gaga or Niki Pistols?
Niki could totally kick the shit out of lady gaga—I go with Niki Pistols.

Have you ever “sexted” anybody?
To be honest, i just had to look up what it actually means to “sext” someone. Plus, I just got a cell phone a couple of months ago and I can barely keep up with the thing let alone sext. besides–it’s probably as exciting as sex with steven hawking.

Will Jay pummel me for asking you that question?
Maybe.

Why should someone come to see your show tonight?
Because it will be fucking awesome. if you don’t like it, at least you can get drunk or shoot pool or both. . .

And there ya go.  Magic Girl & Band will set it off at Revolution Cafe & Bar tonight, with Thee Chexican and Dillon Chevalier opening.

Borrowed without permission from today’s Battalion, A&M’s student newspaper.

Magical melodies

Matt Shea mixes an old-school gaming system and music

By: Stephen Shepperd

Posted: 10/3/08

Pong and Frogger. These two games are synonymous with the Atari gaming system that debuted in the mid-70s. For Matt Shea, a husband and father of two, the 30-year-old gaming system is just another outlet for creating music.

Under the moniker Atarimatt, Shea takes beats and sound effects derived from Atari games to create a unique style of electronic music. When asked about the classification of his own music, the 36-year-old gave credit where it was due.

“My friend came up with the description of  ‘Arcade Punk,’” he said. “The music is pretty punk rock. It doesn’t necessarily sound punk rock, but it is.”

Shea grew up in Bryan, listening to metal and punk rock music. Although the punk and electronic music styles differ greatly, Shea believes he has found a solid medium between the two.

“When I write my songs, I write a drum part, a bass part and a guitar part like I would a punk rock song,” Shea said.

A self-proclaimed “metal-head” growing up, no one is more surprised by Atarimatt’s style of music than Shea himself. When asked if he would listen to his music, he said, “I honestly can’t say that I would. I actually don’t like electronic music at all.”

Shea said he prefers to play shows with rock bands rather than electronic acts like himself.

“I never really wanted to play with other electronic bands,” he said. “They are usually more competitive. All that electronic stuff ends up sounding the same. I always stuck out more whenever I played with metal bands and punk rock bands. I’m that weird guy.”

During live shows, Shea adds another element to the beats produced by the Atari. He sets up two televisions on top of each other, each displaying different combinations of lines and colors corresponding to sound effects being played on the Atari.

“I went in and kind of changed the colors [to] make it do different stuff,” Shea said. “I think I can work with it a little more, though.”

Although Atarimatt’s music is easy to dance to, fans seem to be more mesmerized by what is happening on the television screens.

“I’d actually prefer the crowd to do stuff that is cool,” Shea said. In the middle of his set at the Northgate Music Festival, a group of fans stood up in a crowd that was primarily sitting down and proceeded to dance wildly to Atarimatt’s music.

“That’s never happened before,” Shea said. “I was like, ‘Where have you guys been all the other times?’ That probably was the most fun show I’ve ever played.”

Aside from Atarimatt, Matt Shea is part of a punk rock band called the Hangouts in which his wife of 14 years, Niki, is the lead singer. Together they have two children, Mia and Brodie, and live in College Station.

If you haven’t gone to see BONNIEblue yet, you really should.  These dudes are good. And these dudes are fucking LOUD!

BONNIEblue @ LOUD!FEST upstaging the infamous penis painting (photo-Atarimatt?)

 

Between projects at work I had some time to shoot some intimate, pulitzer prize winning questions at BONNIEblue’s rockin’ as all hell bassplayer Nathan.  Read on bitches!

 

1.  Who’s who?  And what do they do?

Marty – Vocals, Toler – Guitar/Vocals, Carp – Guitar/Vocals, Nathan – Bass, Taylor – Drums

2.  Seems like today there are 10,000 different sub-genres of music.  How would you classify your sound?

We’re just a metal band from the good ole South.  So i guess we’re southern metal.

3.  Anybody been in any other cool bands before this one?

Carp used to be a guitarist for “Todays Last Dawn” 

Marty played bass for “The Vegas”

4.  Going with the southern metal tag, I’m assuming that the band name has something to do with the flag, right?

Yeah, actually we named the band after the flag, because thats where the Texas flag came from.

5.  Is there any significance to the BONNIE being in all caps?

The only reason its all caps in BONNIE is just because it stands out more. Gotta catch as much attention as possible ya know.

6.  So you guys have an EP in the works. Are you self-releasing it or is someone putting it out for you?

7.  When can we expect it to hit the streets?

We just finished recording all the tracks for the EP, we’re not exactly sure when we’ll be releasing it. What we’re doing right now is making any changes we want, and waiting on them to be mastered. You can probably expect to see it out late 2008. But dont quote me on that haha.
We’re also planning a Winter Tour, not sure exactly when we’ll start and finish as of right now. But we have a rough idea planned out on our show dates. We’re just trying to get in contact with bands, people, and venues all along the East Coast as of right now.

8.  What do you think of The Stafford? Its nice to have a big sound venue in town that is down with non-blues/old folks music.

Haha, well who doesnt like the blues? But yeah, actually this is our first time to play at The Stafford. I’ve been to a show there and i do like the setup. Plus the drinks are cheap so thats a plus for the venue for sure.

9.  When you guys hit the bigtime will you still say you are from College Station?
If the day comes, and we’re all still living here in CS, then i dont see why not.

10.  What place in town makes the best hamburgers?
Chicken Oil Company, no doubt about that one.

If you know what’s best for you, you will get your ass to The Stafford on Friday night to check out BONNIEblue along with Myth & Legend, Floorbound, Novista, Skyscrapers Walk Among Us and Legacy Fails.

Show starts at 7pm and is $7. 

If you can’t make it then check them out at http://www.myspace.com/thebonnieblue and crank those shitty computer speakers up to 11!