As
seen on stage, television and screen, he's the multi-talented
wizard of the New Orleans, Louisiana, 9th Ward. A crazed
purveyor of wild organ dance sounds, squalid R&B static,
and spine-shivering wails. Mr. Quintron is also taking
over mass media with his Drum Buddy operation -- selling
his invention via
the internet and through his television infomercial
"The Drum Buddy Show." Quintron will be appearing
this Saturday, July 17 at Ralph's
Corner with his companion, Miss Pussycat. As usual,
the duo will be performing their music and puppet show.
Quintron was kind enough to send in some answers to some
e-mailed questions. There were some questions for Miss
Pussycat as well, but they were not available at press
time. If she has anything to add, I'll update this article.
Without further ado... Here is Mr. Quintron.
What
initially drew you to playing the organ?
The sound of the electric organ is what drew me to it.
I started out on a Hammond S-6 which is a really eerie
round sounding tube organ with an accordian style button
grid for the left hand and two foot pedals which play
the root and the 5th of what ever button note you are
pressing. Basically, anyone can sound good on this thing
in about one week. I don't know, just something about
the way they used to design electric organs with so much
characteristic tone and personality. I just started buying
organs and I would literally get addicted to the sound
of one of them and I would find one little sequence that
suited the sound of that organ and play it over and over
again just to hear the sound. I always record myself the
very first time I touch a new organ or keyboard. Most
old electric organs have at least one thing that they
do good. One groove or one weird special sound that you
can only make with that organ. What makes a really great
organ is a larger pallette of special sounds. I resisted
Hammond tone-wheel organs for a long time because everyone
played them on crappy Saturday Night Live band type of
R&B, but then I started listening to gospel players who
were making them sound like God was coming out of the
Mississippi on a roller coaster... Wild animal sounds...
Everything. Then my old Gulbransen broke down in Miami
and I lucked into a Hammond model D with a Leslie right
off the beach. It really is a special organ and I know
that nobody plays it like me. My drawbar settings are
secret.
Do
you assist Miss Pussycat with the puppet show?
Yes I do. I am her slave in puppetry. Whatever she tells
me to do, I am bound by honor to do it.
I've
noticed that Miss Pussycat's role has grown more prominent.
Especially so on the latest album. MC Tracheotomy seems
to be more involved in your projects as well. Is Quintron
becoming a more collaborative project?
No. Quintron is my name. It is not a band and it is not
a collaboration. Just as Miss P is the sole vision behind
all of the puppet shows and her puppet films, the last
word on the music is mine. We do not collaborate on anything.
We allow one another to do what comes naturally and then
we edit. Democratic collaboration just leads to compromise
and medeocrity. Twin Napoleon style is how we do it.
It
seems like "Are you ready for an organ solo"
is inspired more by funk, dance music and electronica
than previous albums. Is there any explanation for the
change?
I have been playing dance music my entire life in my mind.
It is just now coming to the surface in a way that normal
people can understand.
How
can we see the horror movie "Mudbugs"? And what
can you tell us about your experience with Diamond Rex? Editors Note: The liner
notes for "Are You Ready For An Organ Solo"
state that song #2, Mudbugs, is the title song for a horror
film of the same name, and rips off a "Bats"
by "the immortal LA group Diamond rex."
Well.....the film "MUDBUGS" Is still being worked on by
San Diego filmaker Brett Bartmeuller. I actually have
a role in the film as the drunken Mardi Gras tourist from
Texas. I am onscreen for a good 10 minutes before being
brutally murdered by a gigantic mutant crawfish. As for
Diamond Rex... I made a mistake in my liner notes. They
were actually from Chicago. I don't know them personally
at all. I just have one really amazing record by them.
The song was originally called "BATS" and I think its
about being on Heroin, but my version is about something
far more threatening and powerful than a mere pleasure
drug.
How
did the drum buddy come to be? Can you tell me a little
bit about the other instruments you have invented?
My first invention was probably some type of door alarm
system to see if Santa Claus was for real or not. My first
REAL invention was an instrument called the DISCO LIGHT
MACHINE. This was a system of pick-ups that you would
attach to a drum kit and the sound of the drums would
light up a light inside a darkened box and this light
would activate electronic sounds to go along with the
drums - the harder you played the drums, the brighter
the light and the louder the electronic sounds... no wait
a minute! Actually before that there was the SPIT MACHINE.
That was a good one - a little hand organ that used your
own spit as a tuning conductor. You had to spit on a stick,
like a paint stir stick, and you had two metal leads that
you would touch to either end of the line of spit and
then you would move the leads closer together - higher
pitch - and farther apart - lower pitch. The weird thing
is that, the way I built the oscillator, spit was the
only thing that I could use as a conducter. Lemon juice
was too conductive, water not enough, etc. You actually
had a lot of controll over the pitch with spit - it wasn’t
too sensitive - and could really play it in tune like
a real organ. There was also some resistive quality to
human spit that gave the oscillator some wierd overtones
too. Very simple, but a pretty cool little thing. This
early stuff was all just leading up to the DRUM BUDDY.
Do
you plan to market your other inventions like you did
with the Drum Buddy?
I have not worked on anything serious since the Drum Buddy
and I am actually sitll improving it. I think that the
basis of that idea is solid enough that I could go on
developing it for a long time before I move on to something
completely new.
Did
the infomercial actually air on television? Did you broadcast
it on cable access or purchase airtime?
No. I never purchased airtime and I don't need to. Lets
face it. Everyone does NOT need a Drum Buddy. this is
for a very niche audience who appreciates art and subtlety.
I can stay happily undergroud and trick mass media into
giving me exactly what I want. The Drum Buddy Infomercial
is basically a real advertisement disguised as an arty
“parody film”. Not only has the Drum Buddy Infomercial
played on dozens of TV stations internationally (at no
charge to me), but it has also been accepted into major
FILM FESTIVALS! I am being paid to show a TV commercial
to hundreds of seated, quiet audience members, many of
whom are then going to my website and purchasing DRUM
BUDDIES! Basically, I am receiving massive advertisement
for free and I don’t have to deal with any giant media
conglomerates or be a part of that whole deal in New York
or L.A. People want to put the DRUM BUDDY on television.
I can do an interview with you in this publication and
it won’t effect my ability to get away with such things.
Your publication is too small. You do not have enough
money to force your tastes on the general public. Mass
media is really a living, independent thing out of our
control - like “The Force” in STAR WARS. I am aware that
this interview is a game and I can step outside of this
page to see it for what it is. You know, I may never say
what I have just said in another interview ever. I can
be inconsistent, unreliable, contradictory... like electricity
or plumbing.
I
heard that you once appeared on the Jenny Jones show.
What happened on the show? Did you meet Ms. Jones?
Of course I met her... it was the Jenny Jones show. She
was amazing actually. So together and sensible. She really
seemed concerned about my happiness at the end of it.
I tried writing her several letters after my appearance
on the show, just to maintain our relationship but she
never wrote me back. BITCH!
The
Oblivians collaboration that you did years ago turned
out really great. Have you ever recorded with any other
bands? Do you think you'll ever play support another band
on record?
I just played organ on a single by this new garage band
out of New Orleans called the Detonations. If you are
into the retro garagey stuff you will love it! Same drummer
from that band the DRAGS from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
You
seem very tightly linked to New Orleans' 9th Ward. Do
you think you could ever relocate?
Not unless Jenny Jones bought me a condo on South Beach.
What
would you do if New Orleans were swallowed by the gulf,
as some people say could happen?
If the big one comes? - (The big one, by the way would
be if a category 5 Hurricane came up the mouth of the
Mississippi river and into metropoitan New Orleans. This
would basically decimate the city as we know it. "Georges"
actually came very close to hitting the mouth just 3 or
4 years ago!). Hmmm... I really think I would stay and
die with the city. We stayed for Georges. It was very
weird. There was a Marshall law and a mandatory evacuation.
I think that would be one of the best ways to go actually...
in the eye of a Hurricane on Bourbon Street.
