bco

Interview by Qa’taari, June 1996

THE BIG SEIT OHR_KÄSTRA has always been, and will probably always be, the most unique, obscure and mind-challenging orchestra for my 1000 selves. I came across the group around 1989 when there were only tapes of them existing, and these tape releases were difficult to get, at least in good ol’ fuckin GerMoney. The only possibility to buy them, if you weren’t deeply involved in the international cassette-network, was via the Artware mail order at that time. So I did. I was wondering when I first listened to the orchestra’s sound. They sounded mostly abstract and surreal, but always with a special flowing note. Noize’s were built as if someone was trying to create a big acoustical building or so.. loop after loop, sounds towering higher and higher... strange kind of voices.. humouros even. You felt as it was a totally other dimension, a very special dimension of their own. A dimension of noizes and strangeness(es). This kind of music was someting new to me, and so I tried to collect more and more tapes. A deep love began...
Soon someone told me that BCO had already released a few dozen of tapes, maybe even more than hundred, and it would simply be impossible to get them all. I was truly impressed, because all the tapes I got were excellent. I wondered why they still hadn’t released any vinyl or CD’s at that time. There was so many shit being pressed on CD/vinyl, so why didn’t anyone pick them for a release??? So, I collected and enjoyed every new tape I could gather from BCO in the following... until...
Yeah, until I got the chance to be the first one to press a 7" vinyl single of them in 1994! BCO had changed their actual style at that time (and they still do), less surrealistic flowing soundscapes, more crazy and humouros, radio-play-like... this was even stranger, but still so mind-challenging and extraordinary I couldn’t even think of rejecting the material they sent. Still I don’t understand a group can be so creative and strange... Now thay they have some CD’s out they seem to become a little bit more well-known and get the well-deserved attention. It get’s harder and harder to find the older tapes from the 80’s. I can only advise the conscient (we know how you are) TDR-reader: if you can get a BCO-tape anywhere, you shouldn’t hesitate!
I’m almost sure BCO will stay one of the most creative groups of the so-called ‘non-academical’ experimental scene (therefor, they are illuminated!) in the next few years. I believe, to confront yourselves with the BCO-sound/concept/whatever will only have a positive effect on your brain....

Baraka[H], April 1996

Following is an interview with Das and Robo, the two core members of the orchestre, on the yummy subject of....

BCO breathes the spirit of futurism, dada and the fluxus movement. When did you become interested in these movements? To what extent do you still share their thoughts and ideals?
Das: "I was first introduced to these charming and odd art movements by two charming and odd women around 1992. They kept saying what you’re doing is just like "whoever" did back in "blah blah blah". So, I started looking into it all a bit. Alisa had several great Kurt Schwitters books (I find out ub=:merz... kind of). Lawrence worked at Anacapa, which is a very known dealer of rare art books, I’d go and visit, ask too many questions and actually found a few things I could afford (like the Charles Ives biography by Henry Cowell)."
"I’ve taken quite a lot of art courses in college, but never any history, just the use of tools, basically being afraid of being influenced, pretty damn dumb... since we just regurgitate what we know. I’ve since learned the wider the diet the brighter the pallet. In the interim I’ve inhaled quite a bit, and now have a fairly extensive library of books and recordings, (and looking for more) dealing with dada/futurist/surrealist. If anyone sees any John Heartfield... send it to me. There are of course all those other eccentrics, that were separate of movements; Tinquey, Jarry, Schoenberg, Barron Storey, Gysin, Roussel, Pierre Louys, etc."
"BCO has always been a bit iconoclastic, not quite fitting in anywhere. The press will jump on a particular project, making it a part of their hype machine. I just wanted to drift and bob along on the tides."

If I said that the irrationality of BCO is its major feat, would you feel offended?
Das: "Yes, but it’s true. What do you mean ‘irrationality’? This is just the way that I’m evolving. Actually, the major feat for me has been the fact that since 1979, I’ve been able to entertain myself pretty well."
I meant that I feel any attempt to intellectually grasp BCO to be a big waste of time, but I assume that is exactly how you like BCO to be?
Das: "Trying to grasp anything that is not ones self is a waste of time. We do put a lot of thought into our projects. They are also usually very convolutted and riddled with inside jokes. We’re not trying to be difficult, we just are, again doing what strikes us an approachable learning and spiritual experience."

You wrote me that no work of BCO can be seen as representative. You seem to move from one project to another, faster than the speed of light, as if you wanted to break with your own past over and over again. Personally this reminds me a bit of Picabia who did not want to remember what he had done, said or made the night before. Do you consider this process of constant self-denial to be a prerequisite for your own evolution?
Das: "Actually I said no one work can be seen as representative. They are all capsules of our interest at the time. It might seem that we move from one idea to another, but the reality of it is that we consistently working on 1-30 different things at once, each at a different stage of completion. There is a wall in my office that is covered with rows of clipboards, on each is a different project in progress. Let’s see, right now we have; the pure CD for RRRecords, ‘Hi-fi stereo test record for pets’ for Robot Records, ‘Salty sea shanties for young pirates’ EP for Commercial Failure, the ‘Instructional Cassette’, Tryst Nine, ub books on tape, the live box set of 20 cassettes and 30 page booklet for Shutt and Asche, the split 7" with Dolphium, the Fire Radio program, ‘Replayer’, several compilations/collaborations, (this should fulfill our cheap plugs for this article)."
"Pieces forever being turned in, we just get on with what is due, and laugh when old articles finally show up in the mail. I’ve wondered lately what I have spent on postage doing all this, about $10-$30 a week, since 1979."
"As far as making a break with our past, it’s not conclusive, we do not have the time to dwell over old projects. One of the main joys of any endeavour is the completion, and turning it in to whoever requisitioned it. After that point I usually have lost interest. Since we are dealing in small press runs, our material takes quite some time to filter out and about, therefore they will be ‘new’ for a longer period then a big release that makes a big splash on its inception."
"We do not considering our blundering ahead with something new that excites us as a ‘constant self denial’. The whole piece of releasing a piece stops its particular evolution and freezes in time. We can always look back and see where we were."

It is my impression that BCO is constantly hoping to be contradicted. Do you get a lot of reactions to your provocations? Do these reactions sometimes result in violence too?
Das: "We persistently are plying contradictions. Lying works really well as a subplot... sometime. Be like the devil, and tell just enough of the truth to reel in a soul. Usually when people come in contact with our ‘brand of humour’ we get to see a new side of them."
"Sometimes the reaction has been violent. A few of our shows have been stopped. I am banned from several radio stations and have been written up by the fcc. The charming evening comes to mind where an audience member didn’t think he was getting enough attention and tried to hang himself... Nothing like trying to perform with paramedics and police dragging a body out of the emergency exit. In another show our vocalist was almost beaten to death with his own microphone. Of course, we had to stop playing until the culprit was arrested. I try to place others as the front man. They can handle the slings and arrows, I will hide and make sure the sound is there."

Whether it’s violence or something else, shouldn’t an art/music performance always lead to some kind of reaction from the audience? Is a reaction synomnist with understanding? If not, do you give a damn?
Das: "What about soundtracks? Sometimes it’s nice to play in a venue where people are comfortable and willing to sit, perhaps close their eyes and just listen. No expectations, no insights, just a good audible experience?"
OK, but don’t you like it when people come to you after a show to tell you that they had a good time listening to your music?
Das: "I find that artists that one works with will be of varying opinions about this; as in how to react to compliments on shows. It can be quite satisfying when people appreciate the more difficult and challenging shows, that require a bit more endurance and treshold of pain."

What do for instance Kate Bush, Robert Wyatt and XTC have in common that you ‘honor’ them with a yummy BCO interpretation?
Das: "What about the Beatles, we certainly took a pot shot at them too, and many others. More spitting out of the culture around us. Recycling. Things they have in common? Well, they’re all British pop musicians, besides that each of them filled a musical goal at the time. Wyatt and XTC both doing songs of brutal attention entitled GRASS, was just to pure an idea and let go of."

As you’ve mentioned earlier, you’re currently - among other things - working on ‘Replayer’, a CD of progressive rock covers. How did the idea for this symphony occur?
Robo: "We’ve often composed sound projects around specific , direct concepts. Certain players in BCO have expressed interest over the years in working on songs by particular sort-of-arty bands. Das had a very nice cover idea, which can be quite inspiring. The whole thing was suggested by a radio contest winner’s winning BCO Plot Idea contest entry."
Humour is an important characteristic of your music. One could see humour as a means to relativize, to put things in perspective, but also a way to criticise. How should we look at your humouros approach?
Das: "Just being the cantankerous surly people that we are. There should or possibly is an old adage that people’s minds are more open when they are laughing. I conclusively am real bored by doom and gloom posing."
Are humour and non-entertainment complementary? Hasn’t art in general grown far too serious and boring?
Das: "No and nothing new. The next generation, or at least a few visionaries, are always rebeling against the status quo. Not that I include myself, I’m just looking around."

What’s your opinion about ‘art for money’? What do you think makes some pieces of art more valuable then others?
Das: "Well, some art is better then others, and I’d be delighted to play judge/jury/executioner. Paying the rent is a good thing, but I prefer working part time elsewhere to pay bills. Similar to Duchamp I find myself playing librarian."
Some people, though, believe that art becomes better when its price at an auction increases.
Das: "If you believe that, then art is no different from any item on a commodities market. I should hope that art has a purpose. That when a piece of art is made there is a proper function and place for same. That’s why, when a piece of art (or music) is displaced, it can become real annoying; primitive art in your dentist’s office, disco coming from a boombox on the bus, anything hung in the new s.f. museum of modern art (I have to make a dig at this commercial/sterile abomination)."

BCO INTERVIEW PART 2

BCO breathes the spirit of futurism, dada and the fluxus movement. When did you become interested in these movements? To what extent do you still share their thoughts and ideals? Das: "I was first introduced to these charming and odd art movements by two charming and odd women around 1992. They kept saying what you’re doing is just like "whoever" did back in "blah blah blah". So, I started looking into it all a bit. Alisa had several great Kurt Schwitters books (I find out ub=:merz... kind of). Lawrence worked at Anacapa, which is a very known dealer of rare art books, I’d go and visit, ask too many questions and actually found a few things I could afford (like the Charles Ives biography by Henry Cowell)." "I’ve taken quite a lot of art courses in college, but never any history, just the use of tools, basically being afraid of being influenced, pretty damn dumb... since we just regurgitate what we know. I’ve since learned the wider the diet the brighter the pallet. In the interim I’ve inhaled quite a bit, and now have a fairly extensive library of books and recordings, (and looking for more) dealing with dada/futurist/surrealist. If anyone sees any John Heartfield... send it to me. There are of course all those other eccentrics, that were separate of movements; Tinquey, Jarry, Schoenberg, Barron Storey, Gysin, Roussel, Pierre Louys, etc." "BCO has always been a bit iconoclastic, not quite fitting in anywhere. The press will jump on a particular project, making it a part of their hype machine. I just wanted to drift and bob along on the tides."
	If I said that the irrationality of BCO is its major feat, would you feel offended? Das: "Yes, but it’s true. What do you mean ‘irrationality’? This is just the way that I’m evolving. Actually, the major feat for me has been the fact that since 1979, I’ve been able to entertain myself pretty well." I meant that I feel any attempt to intellectually grasp BCO to be a big waste of time, but I assume that is exactly how you like BCO to be? Das: "Trying to grasp anything that is not ones self is a waste of time. We do put a lot of thought into our projects. They are also usually very convolutted and riddled with inside jokes. We’re not trying to be difficult, we just are, again doing what strikes us an approachable learning and spiritual experience."
You wrote me that no work of BCO can be seen as representative. You seem to move from one project to another, faster than the speed of light, as if you wanted to break with your own past over and over again. Personally this reminds me a bit of Picabia who did not want to remember what he had done, said or made the night before. Do you consider this process of constant self-denial to be a prerequisite for your own evolution? Das: "Actually I said no one work can be seen as representative. They are all capsules of our interest at the time. It might seem that we move from one idea to another, but the reality of it is that we consistently working on 1-30 different things at once, each at a different stage of completion. There is a wall in my office that is covered with rows of clipboards, on each is a different project in progress. Let’s see, right now we have; the pure CD for RRRecords, ‘Hi-fi stereo test record for pets’ for Robot Records, ‘Salty sea shanties for young pirates’ EP for Commercial Failure, the ‘Instructional Cassette’, Tryst Nine, ub books on tape, the live box set of 20 cassettes and 30 page booklet for Shutt and Asche, the split 7" with Dolphium, the Fire Radio program, ‘Replayer’, several compilations/collaborations, (this should fulfill our cheap plugs for this article)." "Pieces forever being turned in, we just get on with what is due, and laugh when old articles finally show up in the mail. I’ve wondered lately what I have spent on postage doing all this, about $10-$30 a week, since 1979." "As far as making a break with our past, it’s not conclusive, we do not have the time to dwell over old projects. One of the main joys of any endeavour is the completion, and turning it in to whoever requisitioned it. After that point I usually have lost interest. Since we are dealing in small press runs, our material takes quite some time to filter out and about, therefore they will be ‘new’ for a longer period then a big release that makes a big splash on its inception." "We do not considering our blundering ahead with something new that excites us as a ‘constant self denial’. The whole piece of releasing a piece stops its particular evolution and freezes in time. We can always look back and see where we were."
	It is my impression that BCO is constantly hoping to be contradicted. Do you get a lot of reactions to your provocations? Do these reactions sometimes result in violence too? Das: "We persistently are plying contradictions. Lying works really well as a subplot... sometime. Be like the devil, and tell just enough of the truth to reel in a soul. Usually when people come in contact with our ‘brand of humour’ we get to see a new side of them." "Sometimes the reaction has been violent. A few of our shows have been stopped. I am banned from several radio stations and have been written up by the fcc. The charming evening comes to mind where an audience member didn’t think he was getting enough attention and tried to hang himself... Nothing like trying to perform with paramedics and police dragging a body out of the emergency exit. In another show our vocalist was almost beaten to death with his own microphone. Of course, we had to stop playing until the culprit was arrested. I try to place others as the front man. They can handle the slings and arrows, I will hide and make sure the sound is there." Whether it’s violence or something else, shouldn’t an art/music performance always lead to some kind of reaction from the audience? Is a reaction synomnist with understanding? If not, do you give a damn? Das: "What about soundtracks? Sometimes it’s nice to play in a venue where people are comfortable and willing to sit, perhaps close their eyes and just listen. No expectations, no insights, just a good audible experience?" OK, but don’t you like it when people come to you after a show to tell you that they had a good time listening to your music? Das: "I find that artists that one works with will be of varying opinions about this; as in how to react to compliments on shows. It can be quite satisfying when people appreciate the more difficult and challenging shows, that require a bit more endurance and treshold of pain."
What do for instance Kate Bush, Robert Wyatt and XTC have in common that you ‘honor’ them with a yummy BCO interpretation? Das: "What about the Beatles, we certainly took a pot shot at them too, and many others. More spitting out of the culture around us. Recycling. Things they have in common? Well, they’re all British pop musicians, besides that each of them filled a musical goal at the time. Wyatt and XTC both doing songs of brutal attention entitled GRASS, was just to pure an idea and let go of."
	As you’ve mentioned earlier, you’re currently - among other things - working on ‘Replayer’, a CD of progressive rock covers. How did the idea for this symphony occur? Robo: "We’ve often composed sound projects around specific , direct concepts. Certain players in BCO have expressed interest over the years in working on songs by particular sort-of-arty bands. Das had a very nice cover idea, which can be quite inspiring. The whole thing was suggested by a radio contest winner’s winning BCO Plot Idea contest entry." Humour is an important characteristic of your music. One could see humour as a means to relativize, to put things in perspective, but also a way to criticise. How should we look at your humouros approach? Das: "Just being the cantankerous surly people that we are. There should or possibly is an old adage that people’s minds are more open when they are laughing. I conclusively am real bored by doom and gloom posing." Are humour and non-entertainment complementary? Hasn’t art in general grown far too serious and boring? Das: "No and nothing new. The next generation, or at least a few visionaries, are always rebeling against the status quo. Not that I include myself, I’m just looking around."
What’s your opinion about ‘art for money’? What do you think makes some pieces of art more valuable then others? Das: "Well, some art is better then others, and I’d be delighted to play judge/jury/executioner. Paying the rent is a good thing, but I prefer working part time elsewhere to pay bills. Similar to Duchamp I find myself playing librarian." Some people, though, believe that art becomes better when its price at an auction increases. Das: "If you believe that, then art is no different from any item on a commodities market. I should hope that art has a purpose. That when a piece of art is made there is a proper function and place for same. That’s why, when a piece of art (or music) is displaced, it can become real annoying; primitive art in your dentist’s office, disco coming from a boombox on the bus, anything hung in the new s.f. museum of modern art (I have to make a dig at this commercial/sterile abomination)."
	BCO INTERVIEW PART 2