Interview
by Jim Testa
Jason Glastetter is Poingly, a self-described
“laptop rock” artist who jumps,
twists, dances, writhes, and screams along
to pre-recorded tracks. Back around the turn
of the 21st Century, when the Trash Bar was
still Luxx and the Charleston Bar still had
the best light show in the city, hipsters
called this kind of thing “electro clash.”
But as Poingly demonstrates, labels come and
go, and inevitably mean very little; what
counts is the music and the commitment of
the artist. Of course, some people think Poingly
should be committed, especially after experiencing
live performances that typically involve a
lot of sweat, silly costumes, a fair amount
of audience participation, semi-nudity, and
a lot of shrieking.
Poingly has just released its second full-length
album, So Sue Me, another collection of insane
cacophony and inspired psychosis, which inspired
us to ask these questions:
Q: Please discuss the origins of
Poingly. When and why did you start doing
this? Were you ever in more traditional "rock"
bands or any other previous show business
type ventures? Is Poingly a noun, an adjective,
or an adverb?
Poingly is a band...So I guess that makes
it a noun; a proper noun. There was a time
when Poingly was a proper band. Maybe it should
be again. I like the idea of moving it in
different directions. It's amorphous; there
is no why. I could give you any number of
dates that could be considered the "start"
of Poingly: 1980, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2003,
2006. Take your pick.
Q: Your new release is called "So
Sue Me." I'm assuming this is because
most if not every song contains samples, which
I am also assuming are unlicensed. Correct
me if I'm wrong. But also please discuss your
philosophy of intellectual property: Is unlicensed
sampling theft, art, or simply irrelevant?
Have you ever had any legal challenges to
your use of samples?
Do you know what the purpose of copyright
law is? Most people don't. Most people say
"to protect an artist" or some other
bullshit. Actually, that's a RESULT of copyright
law, an effect. The purpose is to promote
and foster the arts and creativity. I don't
think copyright law is serving this function
right now. I have never been sued. I sort
of want to be sued. I actually want to lose
the case too. The prosecutor would have to
argue that I'm not creative, that I'm not
progressing art. I want a government document
saying that. If I made some sort of artist's
statement or bullshit like that, I'd say the
goal is to have a government record saying
that I don't make art, because every time
the government decides a copyright case on
sampling, they are saying what is and what
isn't art. I'm not sure they have the right
to do that.
Q: Back at the turn of the 21st Century,
your style of music would have been called
"electroclash." Is that term still
meaningful? And if not, how would you describe
what you do?
I think Electro Clash is two words (though
I spell it as one). Larry T would be upset
with both of us. I think we can split genres
as much as we want. It's sort of stupid. Inside
Poingly beats the heart of punk rock. What
strikes me odd is how long it took punk rock
to get to the point of embracing the laptop.
I feel like when I first started doing screaming
stuff over backing tracks, it wasn't very
popular. I guess the idea started with They
Might Be Giants (who used to use taped backing
tracks), and of course this influenced people
like Atom & His Package, The Show Is The
Rainbow, and myself. Now, you have all these
acts (Best Fwends, Abstract Artimus, Captain
Ahab… to name a few, the list goes on
forever), we all do the same thing. We all
set up a laptop and scream or sing or whatever
over it. I call it "laptop rock."
Q: Your new album includes a track
that samples Sen. Ted Stevens' infamous speech
in which he called the Internet "a series
of tubes." Which raises the question:
Do you think anyone in the government understands
anything about new-media technology or the
importance of net neutrality?
The government doesn't even understand hip-hop.
A genre that has been around over 30 years
and still the government just doesn't get
it. How old ARE these people? Then again,
when McCain starts talking about the League
of Nations and shit, what do you expect? The
Internet (at least in terms of pop-culture)
has been around like 10 or 15 years, do you
really expect anyone in the government who
can't get hip-hop to understand the Internet?
Though, I have to say, Ted Stevens fucking
rules.
Q: Williamsburg: Artistic beachhead
or hipster wasteland? Discuss, with specific
attention to how it's changed since 2000.
Williamsburg is great. I moved there in 2002
(though now I reside in the slightly cheaper
Bushwick). I don't mean to get all political
in all these answers, but this is where shit
comes up again. I think the best thing to
happen in Williamsburg lately has been the
McCarren Park Pool shows that JellyNYC puts
on, and now
the
local government wants to shut them down
and replace it with swimming. Are you fucking
kidding me? Swimming? They have this "study"
(which was super biased AGAINST concerts,
mind you; I remember taking it) that says
people support reopening the pool as a pool,
but if you look at their own bar graphs from
the survey, the bar graph for concerts/films
is way higher than swimming. I mean, seriously,
what crack are they smoking over there? They
don't know how to read a fucking bar graph?
Q: How do you typically go about
constructing a song? How much of what we hear
is sampled from other sources, how much do
you generate on your own, what instruments
and devices do you use?
Ninety percent of the time the lyrics come
first. I often feel that if I don't have something
interesting to say before I start working
on the music, I probably never will. I use
a lot of software: Impulse Tracker (MS-DOS
roolz!), Reason, CoolEditPro. I have a few
pedals which I have bought over the years,
and a guitar. I don't think I used the guitar
on "So Sue Me." at all, but for
the next album I am working on, I think I
want to make it very rock/guitar oriented.
Q: Your typical live performance
starts out with you in some kind of costume
(like a leotard or body stocking,) then ripping
most of that outfit off so you're wearing
next to nothing, plus a lot of screaming and
writhing. Does this process represent your
id emerging from behind the societal mask
of your superego, or do you just enjoy making
a spectacle of yourself?
The costume started as something that was
a mockery of other bands (I would dress up
as Andre 3000 from Outkast or Avril Lavigne),
and it quickly became an identifying characteristic.
Taking the clothes off is simply because I
get warm. The moving, jumping about, whatever
is pure showmanship. If I just sang in front
of a laptop, wouldn't that be the most boring
show ever? Who would want to see a band DO
that? I think a lot of the "laptop"
bands have the same philosophy, it's like,
you don't have a full band playing instruments
to be entertaining, so you got to put all
this weird energy into the performance.
Photo:
www.seancarnage.com
Q: There is an element of your live
performance that is interactive, bordering
on confrontational. Have you ever had your
ass kicked? What is the appropriate behavior
at a Poingly performance?
I don't think there is such a thing as appropriate
behavior at a Poingly show. Though a general
rule is "Don't be a bigot." I performed
in Seattle where a guy was shouting "fag"
at me throughout the entire set, and I've
heard similar stories from other bands about
Seattle. Another good rule is "Try not
to hurt people." I may get up close and
personal with folks at a show, but I am never
violent. Violence pisses me off.
Q: Name the last five artists whose
releases you either purchased or downloaded
that you think everybody reading this needs
to hear (and why.)
I really don't buy music anymore....who does?
But let me just try to name five bands you
need to know: AIDS Wolf, Captain Ahab, Ear
Pwr, Fiasco, and Anavan. Why? Because I said
so, that's why.
Q: How can people contact you and
what can they buy from you?
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/poingly
My website: www.poingly.com
Email: poingly@gmail.com
The only thing I have "for sale"
is the "I Suck." album from 2006
(I got like 800 of these left). So Sue
Me is available for free online at http://www.poingly.com/sosueme
but if you want to donate, please do!
