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 GC: Hey, since this is the first Dental Work interview on Grave Concerns E-zine, can you give us some background information about Dental Work and who you are?
DW: "Well, my name is Jay Watson. I am a 23 year old oddball from Traverse City, MI, and I own and operate the DIY experimental music label "Placenta Recordings". I make extreme psychedelic noise as "Dental Work" and I have released a ton of albums and splits with some of today’s most cutting musicians and artists. I have been performing live since August of 2008, and I have currently done 1 U.S. tour and I am planning my 2nd. I enjoy creating sound and art with as many different mediums as (in)humanly possible!" GC: I know that soon you will be releasing next CD called: Xrin Arms + Dental Work - "Full Circles", can you tell me why this is so important to you? DW: "Anthony (Xrin Arms) has become a great friend over the last year. We started hanging out because we were getting booked for a lot of the same shows, and we just clicked! He is an amazing artist and very well respected, so naturally I am really excited to do an album with him. I love his music and poetry. It will actually be released in 2 different versions, a physical release on Placenta Recordings and a digital version on Immigrant Breast Nest out of NYC.” GC: With the new release, “Xrin Arms + Dental Work - "Full Circles"”, what did you want to express musically? DW: "I know that Anthony wanted to represent the death of his "cyber-grind" chapter on this album along with the birth of his new psychedelic soul nostalgia sound. Me personally, I wanted the listener to go from XA's side into this weird possessed AM radio feel, a very introspective hallucination/realization/teleport to the past and future if you will." GC: I was reading about your influences, and how does these influence you to create the songs you do? Can any of these influences be heard in the new release? GC: Self Mutilation - DW: "When I was a kid, to let out inner frustration I used to cut myself as a release. Very unhealthy both mentally and physically. I started making the sounds that I do and realized this was much healthier way of expression!" GC: Medical Devices - DW: "My girlfriend and I both work in the medical field; I have a certain curiosity for machines and devices, especially those that are crucial in surgery and life or death scenarios. The sounds that some of those things make are so obscure to me, and it is like music." GC: Nintendo - DW: "Of course as a child of the last 80's and early 90's I LOVED NINTENDO (and Sega). The images and sounds from games like Super Mario 3, Super Mario World, and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 take me right back to my old living room, and make me feel great.....I remember coming home sick from school to find my parents addicted to the new Super NES they had picked up for um, me.” GC: Serial Killers - DW: "The Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers" has always been an interesting read for me.....I have had a fascination with these kinds of things ever since I found a copy of "Death Can Be Beautiful" by Alfred Hitchcock in my Aunt's old barn when I was maybe 8 years old. My grandma would rent me movies like "Childs Play", "Friday The 13th", and "Nightmare On Elm St." and then I saw Charles Manson on Axl Rose's T-Shirt and I think that is the combination of my (vicarious) bloodlust." GC: Society's Flaws - DW: "My views are a bit much to post on the internet. People make me sick. Animals rule. Stop Snitching!" GC: I noticed in the past you have worked with many collaborators, did you work with anyone on this new release or was it just you? DW: Well, I just did a collaboration with Kawabata Makoto and Acid Mothers Temple from Japan....That is my newest release/collab...I can’t believe they agreed to do an album with me...Those guys are idols of mine for sure! I have also done a million splits with great artists from all over the world, including Yatagarasu, Mochipet, Scissor Shock, RedSK, Endometrium Cuntplow, Eyes, Tropical Painforest, Hujiko Pro, and so many more! GC: Define Noise? DW: "Noise is anything and everything!" GC: If this was my first time hearing Dental Work and this type of music, how would you convince me to keep listening before I turned if off and said, what is this noise?? DW: "I would say "Step out of the box yo, this isn’t Miley Cyrus". Joking, I actually enjoy it when people turn it off because it is "too much"." GC: How you get into this type of music? DW: "Ok. Life Story time! I started listening to old cassettes from my parents. I found my grandmas old dusty piano. I scratched a James Brown record on my grandma’s turntable. I composed music on Mario Paint for Super NES. I got a talkboy, a yakbak, and a karaoke machine/tape recorder and started sample-ing and making fake radio talk shows. My mom bought me hip hop mix tapes at the local gas stations. I found out about Eazy E and NWA. I took acoustic guitar lessons with my mom. I broke my acoustic guitar. I started messing with keyboards! I did lots of psychedelic drugs and smoked a ton of herb. I started using Napster. I bought a program called HipHop EJay 2 in Detroit. Mom got me an Electric Bass Guitar/Amp and Dad got me a distortion pedal. I started going to local hardcore/punk shows in Traverse City and world music festivals throughout Michigan. I started going to experimental/electronica shows in Detroit, MI. My interest in music has continuously skyrocketed in all departments. I bought a program called Magix 10. I started making trip hop as "Jehova Wrinkle". My lifetime of musical styles constantly merging combined with the internet is a nice little package. I started Placenta Recordings, to release my own work. I started Dental Work making noise/digital hardcore in 2006 as a result of anxiety and boredom with todays music "scenes". Its been a long run already, and it just started!" GC: What type of videogames do you enjoy and how has video game music influenced your sound? DW: "I use a lot of tweaked/destroyed/glitched video game samples in some of my music, I have also recently started using a program called "Famitracker" to compose original VGM/Chip Destruction/Data Rape. Some of the best games ever include: All of the Mario games, all of the Sonic The Hedgehog, and then you got Guerrilla War, Bayou Billy, Toejam & Earl, Streetfighter II, Kirby, Ecco The Dolphin, Grand Theft Auto 1 & 2, Parappa The Rapper, Wave Race, Pilot Wings, Tetris, Bart Vs. The World, Bart Vs. The World, Duck Hunt, Jet Moto 2, Jungle Hunt, Resdient Evil, Wolfenstein, and so many more!" GC: When growing up, what 80’s toys did you like, and how have you incorporated them into your songs? DW: "Utilizing old video game systems such as NES/Super NES/GameBoy, sound effects key chains, Ouija boards, I make a lot of home-made instruments now and they are decorated with old Frankenstein toys and other weird shit from my childhood! I am open to use anything to make sound!" GC: Do you find this type of music easier to perform live or harder to perform live? DW: "I have noticed that my live performance and my studio albums are two completely different things......It was hard to pull of when I first started doing shows, but I have found my niche. My first tour really opened my eyes to all kinds of ways to make performance art/noise." GC: Do you have a favorite sound that you like to experiment with? DW: "My favorite pedal is a Boss Digital Delay DD-3. I (ab)use it on everything. I like to hook up turntables to delay/distortion pedals and cut the records with strange items such as knives, hatchets, my face, and fruit. I also have the signature "Hatchet Bass Rape" that I do from time to time, playing a distorted bass as a violin with animal bones and hatchets. I also like Booty Bass from Germany, and Norwegian Funk records." GC: When you go about coming up with rhythms, what is the process like? DW: "Magix 15 and Magix 10 are awesome programs....I use virtual drum machines to program every click, clap, and bass line you hear in my rhythmic material. It’s pretty random; I condone improvisation with everything, even in the digital realm! I have also used sounds from my Boss DR-3 drum machine." GC: What makes Dental Works sound different then other bands in this genre? DW: "Pigeon-holding Dental Work is impossible. I have a little Russian gypsy blood in me and I guess it shows in my sound. I learn from so many styles that I love; I merge all of these styles: Experimental, Noise, Psychedelic, Avant-Garde, Musique Concrete, Digital Hardcore, Breakcore, Drum N Bass, 8-Bit, Cyber-Grind, Art Punk, Ambient, Drone, Industrial, Sound Collage, Ghettotech, Speedcore, Gabber, DADA, Spoken Word, IDM, Glitch, Free Jazz, and turntable-ism. Im sure you can call me pretty much anything but mainstream." GC: How do you promote your music? DW: "Myspace has helped me SO much! I have met so many people and got almost all of my shows from ye olde myspace. Word of mouth, and great friends and family! I also enjoy hitting up every business in town with flyers for shows." GC: Can you tell us more about Placenta Recordings? DW: "Placenta Recordings is a small DIY experimental label located and operated out of Traverse City, MI by yours truly. I started the label in 2005 to put out my self released "Jehova Wrinkle" albums. After getting online I realized there were a ton of really weird music acts out there and I wanted to show that to the world. Since 2005 PR has grown tremendously. I have put out over 70 releases, we have a one of a kind line-up of artists on our roster now, and the lst keeps growing! PR has hosted a ton of noise shows, and released some really outstanding compilations. My goal is to represent the most obscure forms of art and music through Placenta Recordings. 2010 will mark our first vinyl release, a 12" LP by Chicago's William Sides Atari Party. We are constantly growing!" GC: I see you have a ton of shows lined-up for the Spring and Fall, can you tell us more about your live performance and this tour? DW: "The shows are coming in like crazy. My live show consists of something different each time. The formula is similar, but there is always a new element/aspect of performance art thrown in. Instrument wise, my setup is usually: Turntables, Mixer, Pedals, AM Radios, Micro-Cassette Player, Knives, Drugs, Grizelda (home-made theramin type do-hicky), CPU, Toys, gloves, fruit, etc. I have a bunch of sweet shows coming up in spring and summer, including shows w/ Bubblegum Octopus, Cock ESP, Yatagarasu, Xrin Arms, Power Pill Fist, Mall Security, Flaming Lotus, and many more I am also setting up shows for my upcoming U.S. tour in October, I will be venturing west to California, playing at Norcal Noisefest October 1st-2nd in Sacramento, then I have shows lined up around that event in Oakland, San Fran, LA, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit. I am super thrilled! I am going to be doing shows on that tour with Rubber O Cement, Caroliner, BrutalSFX, Al Qaeda, Nerbau, Cerebral Roil, Sharkiface, Botched Facelfit, Endometrium Cuntplow, Actuary, +DOG+, Sissisters, Marlo Eggplant, Dogwater, The Kremlin, Tooth Eye, Nyarlahotep, RedSK and so many more! Get in touch it will be a sick tour, and if you want to set something up give me a shout!" GC: Is there anything else you would like to let Grave Concerns E-zine readers know about Dental Work? DW: "Thanks so much for your support/time/interest in DW. Remember kids - Be Yourself and enjoy your life, it will be over soon." Check out Dental Work- http://www.myspace.com/placentarecordings
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