steampunk underground

I have the intense pleasure of presenting to you an inside look at the minds of the people in the band “Unextraordinary Gentlemen”. I have mentioned their music briefly in an earlier post, but I now have been able to contact them through Myspace to obtain answers to some questions to get an idea of where they come from, where the inspirations of their music and lyrics are and who they are. If you are unfamiliar with the band whose sound is described as being Victorian Synth-punk, I welcome you take a look at their web site or their myspace to discover their “extraodinary” melodic musings, whose influences include David Bowie, Peter Murphy, Skinny Puppy and Jules Verene to name a few.

I am pleased to introduce you to Malcom Schreeck (the vocalist and lyricist), “Professor” Richard Mangrove (Bassist, programmer and keyboardist) and J. Frances Pomerantz (violinist) (not to forget the assitance of the “Indifference Machine”) who  make the band Unextraordinary Gentlemen.

-THE INTERVIEW-

- What are each of your favorite authors? Favorite books?
MALCOM: All the William S. Burroughs I’ve read, which is admittedly only two of his early works (Queer, Junky) and Naked Lunch. I used to really enjoy the Elric saga by Moorcock. Alan Moore, natch. I would like to read more Philip K. Dick, Hunter S. Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk. Oh! The Prestige was quite nice, wasn’t it?

J.FRANCES: Currently I’m reading Gormenghast which has already become a favorite of mine. Another favorite is Neil Gaiman.

RICHARD: J.R.R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Hunter S. Thompson, Nick Hornby, Alan Moore, Mike Mignola, Anne Rice, Hideyuki Kikuchi, R.A. Salvatore, Joss Whedon…. The Hobbit, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, War of the Worlds, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, High Fidelity, The Prestige….that’s all I can think of right now.

- Which of all the songs you have all made is your favorite to perform and/or listen to? Are any of them more poignant to each of you?

MALCOM: Well, we try not to create works that we don’t all believe in so that’s a hard question. I can tell you “Ever After” is a great one when we nail it because it’s actually hopeful! Sort of. “Black Iron Road” has stood the test of time. I personally like “The Skeleton Goes to Town” because I can still sing it if my voice craps out. (laughs)

J.FRANCES: “Open Arms, Empty Air” is special to me since that was the first song Richard and Malcom had me listen to when they asked if I would join the band. I was almost in tears and so excited when I heard it. I wanted to be a part of it right away.

RICHARD: “Black Iron Road” & “Mr. Soot’s Little Black Book” because those two epitomized (at least at the beginning) the band’s sound. I like playing “Ever After” live because it has such a bombastic ending.

-Whose idea was it to wear the costumes you do? (fantastic idea, by the way)

MALCOM: What do you mean costumes? No, actually I’m sure that one belongs to the Professor. Richard? Yes? Yes. I’m sure of it.

RICHARD: It just made sense to dress up and be part of what we were going on about in our songs, especially when you are dealing with theatrical elements. I don’t think it would work if we dressed up in jeans and T-shirts anyway. Also I like bands that have something visually going on when you see them live anyway, whether it’s costumes, props, backing video, etc.

- Although you have characters established for yourselves, are there any fictional persons each of you identifies with? How about historical figures?

MALCOM: No one in particular. I once tried a past-life regression technique which resulted in visions of me as an apple peddler in some Renaissance courtyard or some such. Although the apples looked very good (especially, I’m sure, for the time), I didn’t seem to be doing very well at selling them. I think mine is one of the most honest past life fantasies on record. I kind of like my “bad apple peddler” guy.

J.FRANCES: I have always connected with a peasant/gypsy that I must have been in a past life. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe and I think about it often. I don’t identify with anyone famous or infamous.

RICHARD: Growing up, I really identified with the medieval time period in particular, but also alternate histories and fantasy worlds. I don’t identify with anybody in particular, but I do have a thing for misunderstood loner-types who follow their own code and/or generally try to do good, like Vampire Hunter D, Solomon Kane, Van Helsing, Captain Nemo, Hellboy, Lone Wolf and Cub, any one of The X-Men, etc.

- Besides “Unextraordinary Gentlemen,” what are the musical backgrounds of each of you?

MALCOM: Besides drama and choir in high school, I have been in a handful of short-lived bands, mostly based in the Portland, Oregon area. They include the party-punk-metal insanity that was Permanent Houseguest, the one-shot Cure-inflected Garden Of Souls, the Americans-pretending-to-be Britpop brilliance of Suprechrome (UK), the infectiously poppy Also Known As 47, and the dark and moody electric piano and vocal project (also a one-off) called 1ne Winters Night. Oh, and I host Ground Control karaoke Monday nights here in Los Angeles.

J.FRANCES: I started with violin lessons in 3rd grade and then quit after high school. I sang in a couple of cover bands in high school. Years later I picked up my violin again when a friend asked me to work on some music with him. That didn’t go too far so I started Demonika and the Darklings with my dear friend Demonika so I could keep playing. Then the Gentlemen asked me to be a part of their project so now I do both bands which keep me very busy and very happy!

RICHARD: I played trumpet in Band class back in Junior High, but I didn’t really get immersed in music until I graduated high school and got a CD player and started working at music stores for about 5 years. I also took a few Music Theory classes in community college and a lot of private lessons on bass guitar. I was in a few garage bands (on bass) that never went anywhere and then it all went dormant for about 5-6 years.

I then had a musical reawakening n 2000, I was asked to join a surf/garage/70’s glam band called Sex with Lurch. At first it was just to play “Lurch” onstage as some kind of performance artist, but eventually I got to play keyboard and theremin for them.

When that ended in 2004, I played some keyboard in a band called MANTLE that had a few ex-SwL members, but I became disinterested in playing for other people’s bands and left. And I wanted to play bass guitar again and do my own thing, but I didn’t know quite how to go about it yet.

Also in 2004, I met Eric at a local karaoke bar that he hosts, and wanted to do a band with him. We began slow work on Time Bandits (which became Unextraordinary Gentlemen), but also I got involved with a recording project called The Myriad Form in 2005 on keyboards/bass guitar with some friends. After that was finished, I came back to Unextraordinary Gentlemen and got it off the ground finally in early 2007. So far, so good.

- Of all the places you have performed at, which was your favorite between setting and accommodation?

MALCOM: the best-suited atmospheres and stage backdrops are the California Institute of Performing Arts, the Bordello Bar and of course, last year’s San Francisco Edwardian Ball. Playing the Eccentrik Festival in North Carolina was a pleasure from start to finish.

J.FRANCES: I’ve enjoyed so many of our shows but my favorite recent one was at the Grove in Anaheim for Bats Day. The energy from the crowd was wonderful and we all performed at our best that night. Plus we got to play outside, under the stars, with absolutely perfect weather. It was a magical night.

RICHARD: Setting… probably The Great American Music Hall in S.F. (Edwardian Ball), but based on accommodations that would be the Eccentrik Festival in Chapel Hill, NC as they provided everything we needed in order to get out there and perform.

- (Malcom) Is this an ongoing collaboration you have set up with Vernian Process?

MALCOM: Not officially but I wouldn’t rule anything out.

- Are there any key people among your friends and family that have been particularly supportive?

MALCOM: Penance, usually our Executive Producer and Photographer, has also worn many other hats as well and has continued to be our “5th member”, if you include the Indifference Engine, which I do. I also have a friend named Jonni who turned her entire family on to us! Her husband, daughter, son. She tends to buy our merchandise in bulk. I must mention Howard Hallis as well, a very cool artist who doesn’t get near the attention he deserves. He’s included Unextraordinary Gentlemen in his “Picture Of Everything, Part II.”

J.FRANCES: Penance and his wife Becci have gone beyond the call of duty for us. Plus they are fun to have at all of our shows! Gator does our recording/engineering and is a good friend who has been very kind and patient with us. Stephen Elkin helped us make our traveling Indifference Engine which we are ever so grateful for. Bree Wardlow has been making some of our clothes for us and doing alterations at our beck and call. Plus she sometimes does burlesque at our shows.

RICHARD: The very, very top would be…. Penance, our photographer and a kind of “5th Beatle”… Gator, who engineered our recordings so far…. Bree, who does costuming my costuming, at least the stuff I can’t buy off-the-rack. Also all our fans since, if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be progressing upward and onward.

- How are your present projects going? Without giving anything away, are there any new inspirations?

MALCOM: There are countless new inspirations coming in at any time. The trick is to pull a few out of the aether and focus our particular talents upon them. I can tell you that we have a batch of new songs we’re working on during our practice nights and that I should have some artwork available soon, in some capacity. We hope to have another, almost full-length (right now, we’re talking nine songs but who knows) record out there by the end of this year. We’re still doing this all on our own so please come out to the shows and support us directly. Thanks!

J.FRANCES: Oh! These new songs we’re working on are really coming together and continue telling the tales of the going ons in God-Only-Knows!

RICHARD: We are working on some new songs, some of them have an American Old West vibe to them, which is probably natural since we are in California and we dig dark & gritty Western movies. I mean they aren’t about cowboys, Native Americans and gunfights or anything; the subject matter is still very much along the same lines of what we’ve already been doing. And, hey, it’s same time period, just on a different continent!

Also, we are starting to collaborate with other musicians, which is pretty exciting for me. I can’t say what that is about yet, and I don’t have an ETA on when it’ll be done. When writing songs, we bounce back and forth with each of them, swayed be whichever one is inspiring us at the time. They all get finished eventually.

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I would like to personally thank Malcom, Richard and J. Frances for taking the time to answer my questions, and I welcome anyone interested in learning more about these musicians to look them up on there pages I poseted up above, veiw them on YouTube, or better yet, attend a show, the next being 9pm on February 7th at the California Institute of Abnormal Arts at $10 a ticket. There are show listings posted on their myspace page which is frequently updated and linked to several other “steampunk” music sources, or pages made to please the anachronistic eye….

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