New World Order: Punk rockers and children

For an activist and rebellious musician like Efrim Menuck, one of the hardest parts of touring these days is finding a good playground. Or a museum, or someplace else to go during days on the road. Not exactly for him, though — Menuck and his partner, Silver Mt. Zion violinist Jessica Moss, have a son, Ezra Steamtrain Moss Menuck, who will be 4 years old this summer.

“It’s exhausting! It’s tiring having a kid out on the road with you, but he’s having a good time. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, but it works for us,” the elder Menuck says. “But it’s hard to come up with activities some days.”

What does Ezra like to do? “What doesn’t he like to do? Lots of arts and crafts, lots of running around — he’s got a push scooter, he likes to roll around on that. Mostly, he just likes hanging out with the band.”

One might think that a 43-year-old with a young child would be carrying around less rage about injustice. Such a person doesn’t know Efrim Menuck well yet.

“I feel more angry since my son was born than I did before he was born,” he says. “It’s a lot harder to just resign yourself to things with this innocent little creature that’s pure of love and hope and innocence and light … and you know you’re hoisting him into a world that’s gonna do its darndest to beat the shit out of him. That’s a horrible state of affairs to try to grapple with.”

“I feel like things have gotten a lot worse in my lifetime — and they didn’t start out that great,” he adds. “It’s not like we were born into a glorious, hopeful age. But it seems to get heavier year after year after year.”

Surely things must be getting better now, years beyond Bush and Cheney?

“It doesn’t seem like that, right? I guess viscerally, not seeing those ass clowns on TV every night, but functionally, things seem a lot worse. I mean, in Canada — I can’t pretend to speak for the United States.”

In the U.S., some Louisville music has inspired Menuck through the years — Will Oldham, The Sonora Pine and “Slint, obviously,” he says. “For sure, a good town for bands.”

A discussion of Slint leads Menuck to address the notion of “post-rock,” the genre some label his bands as falling into. “The ‘post-rock’ thing is pretty lazy, because there’s not a lot of commonality with a lot of the bands (that get lumped into the genre tag). There’s some generic, like, ‘win-the-race’ kind of music that’s uplifting in that way, but in Godspeed and Mt. Zion, we’ve rejected that term.”

The guitarist/pianist/vocalist, also known for his groundbreaking work with fellow Montreal band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, still identifies as a punk rocker. “We’re coming out of rock, we’re coming from a rock place, and we make no bones about it. But we came of age in a time where we’re familiar with the limitations of rock music, but we’re still able to love it.”

The latest Mt. Zion album, Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything, their seventh full-length, was released in January. (A new remix EP, Hang On To Each Other, will be in stores on April 29, and possibly for sale at shows.) It’s arguably their rockist work to date. If there’s a theme to it, it speaks to the troubles of raising a child in today’s world.

In the past, Menuck says, they’ve usually worked songs out live before going to record them in a studio. This time was different, as the band went to the studio without much written or honed. “We had a couple songs we’d been playing live; the rest, we wrote a couple weeks before we went in the studio,” he says. “Definitely, this time there was more freedom to come up with a thesis and write the songs to fit the general thesis.”

One thing Menuck can’t do is intentionally try to make a hit to pay for Ezra’s expenses. “I don’t know if we could write a popular song if we tried.” Though life on the road is different now, “Whatever impact (having a child) had has been more existential.”

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra with Amen Dunes
Thursday, April 17
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
headlinerslouisville.com
$12-$15; 9 p.m.

Photo by Yannick Grandmont

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c. 2014 LEO Weekly

Mystical pizza

Brooklyn’s Phantom Family Halo includes some notable Louisvillians, and we caught up with one, bandleader Dom, to discuss their new album. Catch them live Friday at the New Vintage.

LEO: The Halo line-up has changed again. Why?

Dominic Cippola: The changes have really only been minor. The line-up of myself, David Lackner, Ben Lord and Christian Lee has been pretty solid for almost two years now. We have some auxiliary folks from time to time if the live set calls for it. We are bringing a couple guests with us especially for Louisville. This often helps us by adding a fresh approach to what we might be trying to do.

LEO: How hard — or easy — is it for you to conjure mystical atmospheric vibes in your music?

DC: Easy, maybe? Not sure.

LEO: For this album (Raven Town Witch), the band’s made an almost 10-minute video for one song. Do you feel it represents your vision in the same way the music does?

DC: Alice Millar and Gabriel Mueller are the excellent people behind that. Gab is Lackner’s wife, as well. They had used some music of ours in some past projects, so it was a very natural collaboration. I feel that video perfectly accompanies the uncomfortable theme present throughout the song.

LEO: You’ve toured with and/or opened for some older icons. What have you learned from them?

DC: Bodies need rest. We all need our rest.

There are also two collaboration records coming out this year: The Funeral Party with Lydia Lunch, and Straight Starlight with Kawabatta Makoto. We are trying to carve out time to record the next record with Martin Bisi in the next few months. I’m also playing drums in a project with Martin Bisi called FANGS that we hope to bring through Louisville at some point this year.

LEO: Seems like New York’s been pretty good for the Phantom Family Halo. But you miss Louisville, yes?

DC: I love New York very much; I also love Louisville very much. It’s easy to miss Louisville.

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c. 2014 LEO Weekly

Lady of the night: Legendary drag queen Plays in Louisville

The Lady Bunny grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn., in the ’60s and ’70s with very supportive parents. The Lady, raised as Jon Ingle, was always open about his sexuality and wore long hair. When a teacher threatened to cut it, his dad marched down to the school threatening legal action “if she touched a hair on my head.”

“It was interesting growing up as the child of the town’s lefty liberal,” Bunny says. “I didn’t always understand it and hated missing ‘The Brady Bunch’ so my dad could watch Watergate footage, but looking back, I think he taught me the right values.”

Upon graduation, Ingle moved to Atlanta — and it was burning. “It was the first big city I lived in,” he says, “and as youth will do, I went wild with booze, drugs, nightclubs, sex and colorful friends like RuPaul.” He went there to attend Georgia State, but got an education in nightclubs instead.

Moving to New York in 1984, Bunny organized the annual Wigstock festival, which helped launch her profile nationally. Today she tours, DJs, acts, writes and continues to use her personality to pay the bills. Off the road, she hosts a regular show with Bianca Del Rio, currently seen on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” About her friend Bianca, Bunny says, “She’s obviously hilarious but also a sweet person and very talented … But if she wins, they might have to change the show’s name to ‘RuPaul’s Dog Race.’ She’ll kill me for that one!”

LEO: Why didn’t you become a judge on the original “RuPaul’s Drag Race”?
The Lady Bunny: I was never asked. There’s a bizarre Internet rumor that I turned down the offer, which isn’t true. I was asked to do (spin-off) “Drag U” and was a judge on (it) for all three years. So I certainly wouldn’t turn down a role on Ru’s more popular show!

LEO: What’s most important for a queen — the look or the personality?
TLB: I think all kinds of queens should be able to shine — there isn’t one path to success. Is Dame Edna pretty? No, but she’s incredibly funny and a huge star. A lot of “Drag Race” fans are constantly weighing in on whether the show should be based on comedy queens or prettier, more polished, pageant-looking queens. Well, get your own show and you can feature what you want on that one — don’t tell RuPaul and (producers) World of Wonder how to run their hit show because of your pre-conceived notions of what drag should be. RuPaul feels it’s his job to showcase every type of queen, from club kid to beauty. He’s from a club kid background, and I know he’s fought the network to include nuttier queens like Tammie Brown.

LEO: Can I start a new Wigstock here?
TLB: Well, there is a licensing fee involved, since it’s trademarked. So if you’d like to pay that, by all means, let’s do it. We’ve had Wigstock events in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. But we worked very hard to create that name and have to protect it. That said, there is something magical about a wig festival. In New York, we’d see dogs in wigs, body builders, straights and known queens prancing around. Wigs transform you and push your adrenaline button — and really can bring a community together!

The Lady Bunny
Friday, April 18
Play Dance Bar
1101 E. Washington St.
playdancebar.com
$TBA; 10 p.m.

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c. 2014 LEO Weekly