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Runnin' With The Devil

This interview was conducted by Cleofus Williams for gogorilla. com

In 1998 a group of aural saboteurs gathered in the Bay Area to shake the foundations with massive bass rumbling as they conjured forth the demons from Hell. Under the name Ben Wa, Dr. Ware and Butthouse along with conjurings from Kentucky fried mutant guitar maestro Buckethead, Invisibl Skratch Pickl DJ Disk, Primus�s Brain, .M.I.R.V. from the Limbomaniacs, and Dow W. Patten created Devil Dub, an album coated in dub magic and resin from the darkside. GoGoAgent Cleofus Williams made contact with the one called Butthouse to perform an exorcism and interrogation. Butthouse was all too willing. This is what was determined.

Cleofus Williams: For starters, what is the core line up of Ben Wa and how did you hook up with the others that appear on Devil Dub?

Butthouse: Damn, that first question is a big one. This requires some fairly involved historical ruminations, but I'll do my best to set it all straight. Just sit back, put on your smoking jacket, light a pipe, and read on:

Dr. Ware and Myself, Butthouse, are Ben Wa. I met the good Doctor a few years back when we were both slaving away under the cool fluorescent bulbs of a multimedia sweat shop. The good Dr. had grown up with a guy called Pete Scaturro, who looked like a nose on a stick. Back in the late 80's and early 90's I was in a band with The Nose On A Stick, Brain and Mirv called The Limbomaniacs, which after many years of jamming Zappa, Reggae, Ska, Afro-beat, Township Jive, Surf Music and Hip Hop, congealed into a punk-funk-rap sort of m�lange. One fine day sometime around 1989 a friend brought Buckethead over to the Mission District flat where the Limbo's all lived. He walked in, picked up the guitar and played for an hour straight while we sat there with our mouths agape. (Incidentally, shortly after that we went to New York to record our album "Stinky Grooves" with Bill Laswell as producer. We gave Bill a videotape of Bucket and Maximum Bob from the Deli Creeps doing an insane routine of riffing and capping on the Letterman band, amongst other things. It was kind of like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre crossed with one of those guitar instructional videos. That "demo" videotape led to Buckethead going to New York to work with Bill and Bootsy). Anyways, a rival band at the time was called MCM and the Monster (http://www.mp3.com/mcm), who were the first live band I ever saw or heard of that had a dj. All of their songs were about drinking beer, and a nasty aura of violence followed them to every gig. When The Limbomaniacs called it quits a couple years later, Brain played drums in The Monster, The Nose produced their record "Collective Emotional Problems", and Buckethead made a cameo appearance on it. A year or two after that Brain and the bass player left, whereupon the original Primus drummer known as Curveball and myself took over those posts respectively (as you probably know, Brain is currently the drummer for Primus. I told you this was complicated!) When Pause, MCM's dj had had enough, we got word of a group of turntablists called The Invisbl Scratch Piklz. We called them up and they sent Disk over, which I think was around 1994 (DJ Disk and I still play with MCM and the Monster from time to time). Finally, I've known Adrian, my favorite percussion player, since the Limbo days when we all played in a Miles Davis cover band together. So THAT is how we all met. James Burke could write a whole new "Connections" based on this shit!

Cleofus: What was it like in the studio with all these cats?

Butthouse: The way Devil Dub was created never placed us all in the studio together at the same time, if that's what you mean. Each person came in for a day or two and we recorded them improvising. First we had Brain play to some click tracks in a studio and then sampled him back in our laboratory. Armed with these beats Dr. Ware and I created the grooves, and asked everyone else to come in as their schedules permitted. We then sampled or otherwise arranged these bits and pieces. Conceptually it's kinda funny Isuppose- Brain never knew what the music sounded like until I played him the cd. It's like acting in a Science Fiction film that incorporates computer generated effects- the actors know there WILL be a giant animated monster in front of them, but they have to wait for a screening to see what the hell it looks like!

Cleofus: How did you come about hooking up with Laswell and what's that experience like?

Butthouse: The Limbomaniacs had a very short list of "dream" producers. Around '84 Brain, Mirv and I started getting into the convergence of technology and live musicianship, so we were jamming stuff like Grandmaster Flash, Black Uhuru, the Horn/McClaren album "Duck Rock" and particularly Laswell's projects with Herbie Hancock and Foday Musa Soso ("Mandingo"). We never thought Bill would actually agree to produce our record a few years later-we were shocked. And I think after we showed up in New York he might have been too. We were complete goofballs at the time.

Cleofus: How has the response to Devil Dub been? Has it been picked up for distribution yet?

Butthouse: It's been really good as far as I can tell, and it has been distributed fairly widely. A friend in Japan walked into a Tokyo record store a few months back where it was on display with posters and all. I was thinking "Damn! How'd it get there? Must be a bootleg!" It's sold out in a lot of places but it's always available from Amazon.com (obvious cheap sales plug).

Cleofus: How did you first get introduced to dub and what artists have influenced you?

Butthouse: College radio first hipped me to dub. There's a local dj named Spliff Skankin' whose show I remember taping back in the 80's. He's actually still on the air. I dug all the classic cats like Scientist, Mad Professor, Lee Perry and King Tubby. Black Uhuru was particularly interesting because they had an Electro element to their sound, and also when they played they hardly ever smiled. They dressed in black and had a different attitude than other Reggae bands at the time. But I should point out that Dr. Ware and I don't think of ourselves as a dub band in the classic sense. We think of dub as an approach instead of a genre. It's really about considering the mixing board and effects as instruments. Our list of musical influences is too long to include here, but let's just say it begins and ends with, of course, Ted Nugent.

Cleofus: Who are some current artists you are impressed with?

Butthouse: Right now I'm into a cd called "Bitwise Operators" by Otaku. They're on the same label that's putting out our next ep (Malvado). My favorite record of the last few years is probably Mezzanine by Massive Attack. I also dig stuff by the latest wave of turntable crews. I've been listening to the last couple records by Thievery Corporation lately too.

Cleofus: How do you describe the sound of Malvado?

Butthouse: Malavado is an upcoming label based in the East Bay. They've put out records by DJ Rise. They're putting out our new vinyl ep called "Elektro-Krazy". It's an uptempo thing with a bit of old school electro, breaks, and techno synth gurglings.

Cleofus: I've been really digging alot of the current turntablist myself. Billy Jam from Hip Hop Slam sent me over a package with some excellent shit (DJ Marz, Live Human, Pirate Fuckin Radio). I've also really been into Eddie Def's stuff, the Hemp Lords stuff and his new DMT project. DJ Faust's new cd is really good. Who are some turntablist you think are really blowing some minds?

Butthouse: Eddie Def I think is great, he's got a very cool production style. Quest from Live Human is smooth- he's really great at working within a band. I heard Flare is working on some recordings which I'm looking forward to checking out. And of course there�s Disk, who's a psychopath always ready to try something new. I was lucky enough to be at a couple of those Shiggerfragger shows- that was pretty mind blowing.

Cleofus: What are your plans for the future?

Butthouse: Just to get all these damn records out! We are finishing up a new full length cd kind of similar to Devil Dub. We are also redesigning our website where we post info about when new stuff is being released and what it sounds like. In fact, we are posting the Devil Dub Live show there for those interested. The address is www.sirius.com/\~beale

Cleofus:Any chance of going out on the road to do some shows?

Butthouse: Well our fog machine is in the shop, and Dr. Ware split his silver leotard up the back at our last gig doing the running man, so we are layed up for a while. But after we get "Elektro-Krazy" and the new cd out we hope to spray our scent wide and far. We'll see (and smell) you there.

Devil Dub can be obtained at finer record stores, Amazon.com, or from the Ben Wa Website. Also look for their new release "Elektro-Krazy" on Malvado. If your looking to dig up some other shit check the Ben Wa track on the Reanimator compilation. Butthouse also adds "Just for the record, we also collaberated with Brain and Xtrakd on a track for Laswell's compilation Tetragramaton Submerge, and currently we have a new track on a cd that has just been released called "Black Diamond" on Three Sixty/Arcade. Also, I got word yesterday that a track from our upcoming cd will appear on a compilation called "Docking Sequence" on BSI." Trainspotters might recognize Butthouse as one of the Bastardos from Primus's classic Sailing the Seas of Cheese.