Long lost interview with thruoutin
A friend recently sent me an interview he did with Beijing's, thruoutin ages ago for his website, The Kolkhoz but he's since shut the website down and I don't think this interview ever got shown to anyone. So here it is if you want to learn a bit more about thruoutin and his take on pink light brothels.
Interview with thruoutin
Intercultural influence in China manifests itself in various forms when it comes to music. More often than not it’s a sad mixture of different elements that add up to a gimmicky stage performance and a sound that’s way too ambitious, but lacks real quality.
When I saw Brad Seippel aka Thruoutin at YYT in 2010 serenely strumming on a pipa with a MacBook in front of him, I immediately turned on my skepticism. I’d seen people incorporate Chinese traditional instruments into their music before and usually it’s a total failure. A few minutes into the show, however, I was completely sold on the idea that pipa and electronic music are more peanut butter and jelly than oil and water. Quirky pipa riffs over haunting techno, laced with detached vocals and the kind of lyrics your college roommate would come up with after a bong hit or two add up to a hell of a performance.
After the show Brad and I talked about defecating into boxes as futuristic approach to music creation and Brad’s fondness of Suzhou gardens.
A year later I saw Thruoutin at the last Dudettes show, again at YYT, which began a month long email correspondence, excerpts of which I’m proud to present as part of The Kolkhoz interview series.
KXZ: What’s your approach to experimentation?
Brad: I'm all for experimentation and especially if you get some fresh sounds out of it. My approach to experimenting usually starts by listening to what other artists are doing. Not ripping them off, but using a preexisting idea to make something new. I then take some of those aspects and combine them with something that wouldn't normally go together. When I started playing pipa I didn't have any plans to use it with my electronic stuff, but I began to experiment with the idea of playing it over some songs I had already written. Eventually, I got to a point where I was comfortable enough with it to incorporate it into my live sets.
K: Are you following the traditional pipa-playing techniques, or doing your own thing?
B: I very much do my own thing when it comes to playing pipa. It's an unusual instrument to strum because it entails an outward roll or circular strumming technique that's really beautiful if you can do it right. Most traditional artists wear picks on their fingers to get a clearer sound. However, as a bassist I started playing it like [a bass]. So I guess I play it somewhere in the middle. That might make some shudder but it's just where I am at the moment with the pipa.
K: Do you think it’s possible for a foreigner to become a pipa master? I don’t want to put limits on human capabilities, but it’s just that Chinese traditional music in general is so alien to me. Not in a sense that I don’t enjoy it, I do, but as I listen to it, I realize that I have no clue what’s going on. What’s your take on that?
B: It might be a bit less likely for a foreigner to become a pipa master over a Chinese kid who has been pushed his whole life to study an instrument. That's all up to the person, but it is still possible. I'm sure there are some laowai's out there who can totally shred on the pipa like Min Xiao-Fen; I just haven't met many so far.
Chinese traditional music has a super long history and covers a lot of ground. My knowledge of it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. Right now becoming a pipa master (or any type of master for that matter) isn't my biggest concern. I just want to have fun and perhaps at some point I'll understand more.
K: I’d love to hear more about your China experience? What has been your ultimate highlight of being in China?
B: Well, I've been in China since just after the 2008 olympics. I spent my first year living in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province and would often take the bus to Shanghai on my days off. One of the biggest highlights would have to be playing at Shelter in Shanghai for the first time. It was in 2009 and my friend Michael who does the Antidote parties found my music on myspace of all places and brought me out to Shanghai to play. It was a fun party.
The China experience has been extremely rewarding in a lot of ways. Traveling within China is easy, the food's great (sometimes) and the people are generally nice to you. I moved to Beijing a year and a half ago and I still absolutely love it. It's dirty, dusty and gritty and that appeals to me for some reason.
K: For my next question, I’ll give you three laowai stereotypes:
One is the going native, Da Shan-type of guy, who is more Chinese than the Chinese themselves. Two is the socially awkward English teacher, who is perceived as strange in his native environment, but enjoys celebrit-ish status in China. Three is the Lonely Planet contributor guy, who’s been everywhere and tried monkey brains and has like three of those moleskine notebooks.
How would you describe yourself?
B: First off Da Shan boils my blood. The guy is too good. Personally I see myself as the creepy businessman/sex-tourist in his late 50's with a huge beer belly standing next to his 17 year old girlfriend. That'll always be the dream, but if I had to pick from the three foreigners you mentioned i'd have to go with Mr. Monkey Brains himself. Mainly because as the old saying goes; “吃哪儿补哪儿“ or the part of the animal you eat is good for that part of your body. Basically I want the added intelligence of a chimp and I want to write about it in my notebook.
K: Obviously China has a great influence on your music: the pipa, Chinglish in song titles, to name a couple of things. What are some of your other influences?
B: My other influences would come from some of the music I listen to. Sappy emo bands from the early 2000's like Cursive and Desaparacidos have influenced me when writing lyrics as well as Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. Musically, I've always been influenced by Boards or Canada, The Books and more recently Mount Kimbie. The song "Travels Above" would be the best example of combining all that.
K: What have you been working on lately?
B: Recently I've been working on recording, mixing and editing a new album. My friend Michael Winkler, drummer of Yan Tiao has been helping me out loads with the whole process. We spend a lot of time in his den staring at wave files and drinking tea. I haven't decided on a name yet, but it's going to be around 6 songs. Maybe I'll call it "Can I Borrow a Feeling" and put a picture of me with a bushy mustache and thick glasses on the front cover. Maybe and most likely I wont. We're shooting for a digital release sometime this winter. When it's all done I'll send a pigeon over to Shanghai to deliver a copy to you.
Besides that, I've been writing a couple new songs and focusing on my live sets.
[At some point in our correspondence, Brad mentioned that he had “dancing gigs” at a club in Beijing]
K: And, what do you mean, "dancing gigs"? Like do you DJ or actually dance?
B: The dancing gigs are simply that. I put on some baggy pants, a sports jersey and a Yankee's cap then dance up on the stage to Taio Cruz for a couple hours
K: Oh, wow, how do you feel about people watching you dance? Do they appreciate the aesthetics of it, or is it simply sufficient that you're a laowai?
B: No one can stop me when the dance pop songs start. I'm a madman out there and I think the clientele feel that power I give off. It just blows them away and doesn't matter where I come from at that point.
K: What do you know about Nigerian drug dealers in China?
B: I know next to nothing about them, but I find their choice to come here and work baffling. Why China, you know? I also wonder about how long they stay here for and where they live. They almost always say hello to me so I can only assume they're probably nice guys. They seem to always want my number as well. I have a buddy who always asks them for LSD; which I find comical every time. Once I got a business card that read "24 Hour African Food". I never called the number. I'd like to know more but at the moment I'm not going out of my way.
K: Thank you very much for doing this interview. I've got one last question for you:
What do you think girls in pink light brothels think about all day as they wait for customers?
B: Those pink light brothels are so blatant sometimes. Even at ten in the morning you can see girls sitting on some musky sofa in front of a space heater rolling her index fingers at you as you walk by; At that point it's obvious what they're thinking. However, there has to be a time of the day where there aren't too many customers. I bet then they're thinking about which flavour of instant noodle they're want to eat that day or possibly how to improve Guinea-Bissau's GDP per capita for the upcoming year.
