FLAVOUR OF THE WEEK

TIEMEN DEPRESSION!!!

In celebration of the Sheglank’d Shoulders reunion mini-tour this upcoming weekend, I got the opportunity to chat with the one and only Tiemen Kuipers AKA Tiemen Depression, creator of Teenage Depression zine/DJ night and member of the Sheglank’d Shoulders and the Suicide Wrists.  This guy has incredible taste in music and you can always trust his recommendations.  You might be disappointed though, when you rave to him about your favourite new band and then he tells you that it sucks.  But he really does know!  Anyways, check out the interview, the cool pics of this Flavour the Week, and come to the shows this Friday and Saturday Nights!

Kait Kucy (KK):So you are pretty much be-all-end-all of music knowledge and authority, how did you become the king of everything?

Tiemen Depression (TD): King of everything?  More like the king of shit. I started buying used punk records in 1985, and never stopped. If a record was cheap and the band looked cool, I’d pick it up.  If I’m an authority on anything, it’s garbage records that nobody else likes.  I dunno…I love music, and I buy as much as I can afford (which ain’t much when you don’t have a job!).  I’m really good at listening to record and talking about music I like and don’t like…past that, I’ve got nothing.

KK:  Tell me about the zines you have produced over the years.

TD: I started my first zines in Junior High in Edmonton…but none ever got past the first Issue.  In 1995 I started Dragsville zine in Edmonton.  I did three issues there before moving to Calgary where I did tho more Issues vefore calling it a day in 1999 or so.  I started doing a radio show on CJSW with Pissed-Off Paul in 2002, called Teenage Depression.  We published a Newsletter by the same name which became a stand alone zine after we got kicked off the air, and started peddaling are shit-rock at The Castle with a weekly DJ night (aslo called Teenage Depression), which lasted until I moved to Victoria in the summer of 2007.  I’ve published a couple one-off zines in the past couple years and I”m looking to start something regular up again this summer.

KK:  What was your favourite interview of all time?

TD:  Fave interview?  I just like writing about my favorite bands.  Over the years I’ve been able to talk to alot of great people…Spaceshits, Graham Day, No-Talents, Drags, Dead Moon, Tyrades, Metal Mike, Supercharger, Untamed Youth, Muffs, Okmoniks, Exploding Hearts, Marked Men, Splash 4…good bands = good interviews!

KK:  Who is your favourite band of all time?

TD:  That answers been the same for at least the past 15 year…I awls say the top 3 are The Cramps (up to and including Stay Sick!), Angry Samoans and The Rezillos.  Shit, the Cramps introduced me to all my fave 50′s and 60′s stuff, and got me looking past the 80′s hardcore I was hooked on in the mid to late 80′s…so if I hafta list one definite fave, they’d be it.  Scratch that…I coulda saved alot of room by simply aswering this question with thre simple letters…V-O-M. VOM = Punk-rock…all ya need is VOM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jt3TkSH_M8

KK:  Name your top 3 upcoming bands.

TD:  Uhhhh…I like whatever band of young kids/old men that can barely play their instruments in whatever town…bashing out crappy punk/shitty hardcore/primitive rock’n'roll/inept noise.  I like ugly people playing ugly guitars…that insane guy who wants to start a Rockabilly band but the only instrument he owns is a value village keyboard…any band that ignores what people are telling them is cool, picks up whatever instruments they can afford (even if they are garbage) and tries to make music that they wanna hear.  I will buy any record made by men who play in grey sweatpants and rubber boots.

KK:  You were part of the scene in Calgary for years, how was it integrating into the scene in Victoria?

TD:  Integrating into the scene in Victoria was pretty much the same as doing it in Calgary.  When I moved to Calgary in 1997 there was alot of decent bands…by 2000 there was nothing I was interested in…so I started doing thing myself.  I pissed people off by telling them their scene sucked, and if I wanted to see something I liked, I did it myself.  Victoria has been the same deal.  I’ve pissed alot of people off complaining about a lack of diversity in the music scene here, and calling local bands shit.  Like Calgary 10 years ago, I realized that if I wanted to see anything I liked happen, I’d have to do it myself…so I started booking bands here, doing a DJ night, writing about bands, etc.  If you can’t integrate into what’s already happening…start your own thing.

KK:  Are you hosting any DJ nights out there?

TD:  Yeah…right now I’m doing a monthly night called Talk’s Cheap…last Wednesday of every month at Logan’s Pub.  Same thing as I was doing with Teenage Depression in Calgary…punk-rock, powerpop, garage-rock, pub rock, post punk,new wave, pre punk, 80′s hardcore…tons of hits pulled outa the worst record collection ever.  It’s been great so far…90 people drinking cheap booze, dancing to my crap music and buying some records.  What more could you ask for in the middle of the week?

KK:  What about bands – start any new projects?

TD:  Victoria is a small town…I’ve been trying to find people to play in a band with for 2 and half years.  Most people here aren’t interested in playing the kinda stuff I want to play, aand those who are aren’t interested in playing with a tone deaf guiatrist who can’t play guitar or sing a single note.  I play the occasional solo show as The New Krime…and I’m working on an unamed 80′s punk/hardcore project with two kids half my age (literally!).

KK:  What prompted the Sheglank’d Shoulders reunion tour this January?

TD:  We try to play a couple shows a year either in Calgary or Victoria…and it’s a helluva alot cheaper to fly one guy to Calgary than it is to fly 3 guys to Victoria.  Playing shows with the Shoulders is shitload of fun…it’s hard to turn on opportunity to play a Shoulder gig down…even when we can’t skate because there’s snow everywhere in Calgary in late January!

KK:  You are playing at Broken City, Tubby Dog, and a secret house show?What kind of friendly bands will be accompanying you on the gigs?

TD:  As far as I know right now, we’ll only be doing the Broken City and Tubby Dog gigs this time around.  We were supposed to play a house show on the 30th, but it got relocated to Tubby Dog.  There is talk of an afterparty post Tubby Dog…so if we show up with instruments in hand, we COULD arrange a “Secret Show”…but no guarantees.  We’re doing the Broken City show with our faves, The Throwaways (this will be three years in a row playing with them!) and oooold buddies, Rum Runner (featuring first Shoulders Bassist, Oil Can Al!)  The Tubby Dog show is with two bands made up of old pals… Tension Slips (who I have yet to see) and The Bloody Hells.  I’ll be opening both shows with a brief New Krime set.

KK:  Can you tell me the location of the secret Sheglank’d Shoulders house show?

TD:  Unless there is something I don’t know (the guys like to keep me outa the loop)…there is no secret house show set up anymore, and the show is now at Tubby Dog.  However, I hear that Damien Inbred is having an afterparty…I’m all for crashing the party and playing a set…really loud!