1. Growing Up
AL:Growing up I was very inspired by the song of the hummingbird, which moved swiftly onto the hardcore rap music of convicted felon DMX. Then when I discovered Mr. Bungle I didn’t know what to do with myself, as it presented a broad array of musical options…
JB:My parents forced me to listen to Elvis B-sides until I felt sick every night before bed.
2.Inspirations
AL:My favourite musicians are Frank Zappa, Prince, Mr. Laneous, King Buzzo and Roger Troutman. A decadent Middle Eastern feast inspires me.
JB: Paul Bley. As the great composer/saxophonist Tim Berne once said about him, “The man is a con artist.” This may or may not be a real quote (it is). I also love Herbie Hancock, for so many reasons, but mainly because of his 1978 release Sunlight. This is the greatest album to have ever been made.
3.Your Band
AL:Our band is Sex On Toast. We like to play with ourselves and others, we like producing ourselves and subsequently drinking sambuca alone when the rest of the band has gone home. Many of us met in a street luge race. James Bowers likes listening to high-def audio recordings of hacky sack competitions. I do not.
JB: I met Angus in a breakdancing competition in 2006. He actually beat me, although I ended up getting a dance contract with JT as a result of my performance there, which prevented me from joining Sex On Toast for a few years. We mostly disagree on matters of tempo. Gary-T wants all our songs to be fast, Louis King wants all our songs to be slow.
4.The Music You Make
AL:We sound like a 1980s funk powerhouse with a touch of no-wave insanity. Our latest album is self-titled and filled with forlorn slow jams, party bangers and a final track that drives you off into the horizon in your dad’s car. Upon arriving at our shows expect to be caressed, adored and later ejected from the venue when it reaches closing time.
JB: We recorded wherever we could, trying to make the best sounding record we could. I think we did OK, all things considered. A lot of learning as we went. I think the real turning point came when we all decided to stop calling our drummer by ‘Gareth’ and switched to ‘Gary-T’.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
AL:I think today’s music scene is much like a sex scene in an erotic European film. It’s filled with coarse voices, fine wines and of course naked chicks. Hiatus Kaiyote, Laneous and Mandek Penha inspire me on the local scene.
JB:The best thing about the local scene is Hiatus Kaiyote.
See Sex On Toast withThe Tango Saloon and Beaten Bodies atThe Vanguard onWednesday April 9.
Sex On Toastout now.
