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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=82654 Printed Date: December 23 2024 at 08:44 Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: ST 37Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: ST 37
Date Posted: November 10 2011 at 12:42
By frequent tours and a dazzling variety of compilations with lots of artists, the psychedelia of ST 37 could be polished brilliantly. The band was formed in 1987 as a merger of two Austin cult bands, TULUM and THE ELEGANT DOORMATS. S.L. Telles, a bassist and a founding member of ST 37, has been active as a punker in early 80s, and called 'The bizarre side of Austin'.
I got in touch with the band here are their story.
Your
biography has been covered in your ProgArchives profile so let's
bypass the biography details. But which bands were you influenced by
and why did you choose that name ?
SL
Telles – When I was a teenager my first big musical influences were
all progressive rock…Gabriel-era Genesis was my absolute favorite,
with bands like King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator, Eno, Roxy
Music, Pink Floyd etc. also playing heavily into the mix…when I saw
the Sex Pistols on the “Weekend” TV show in 1978, I was
intrigued, bought their record (for which I was ridiculed by the
hippie clerks at Evolution Records in Houston!) and started listening
to a lot of punk and new wave…interestingly, one of the first
inroads was that made for me was that a radio DJ told me that Iggy
Pop was a lot like Peter Hammill…!! So I figured he had to be cool!
In hindsight, what an absurd comparison! But it worked for me I loved
“New Values” as much as I loved “The Future Now”!! ST 37
actually started out as an attempt to meld the space rock of Hawkwind
with the punk energy and the cut-up/new wave aesthetic of Chrome.
We’re named after a Chrome song from “Alien Soundtracks”, which
we later found out was a throat antiseptic product…!
Lisa
Cameron - We have so many influences that the list could go on for
miles. Hawkwind, Chrome, 13th Floor Elevators, Funkedelic, Can,
Roxy Music, Spacemen 3, The Stooges, DJ Screw, Joy Division,
Captain Beefheart, Neu, Black Flag, VU are
but a few.
This
is an archive based interview also intended for the fans you get well
after both you and I have passed away so let's go straight to your
albums. Please give us your views/some words on your albums, starting
with.......
your
cassette EP from 1987
Joel
Crutcher- The first cassette EP was Billygoat Nothinghead. Four
track cassette LSD spew at its finest.
SL
Telles
– Recorded by our then-keyboardist Jon Torn and his
partner-in-crime in Thanatopsis Throne, Bob Bechtol, who later also
played with us for a while. Our first two cassettes have been
reissued as “Vicarious Billygoat” and are currently available
from us at http://www.st37.com/" rel="nofollow - .
This first EP was a bridge between Carlton and Joel’s old band
Tulum, myself and John Foxworth’s old band the Elegant Doormats,
and the mutant hybrid of both that was to become ST 37.
Joel
Crutcher - In 1987 the main two bands we had in common were The
Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Chrome. The name ST 37 comes from a
song on Chrome's Alien Soundtracks album. Of course we
immediately began burning cassettes for each other. Luckily I
was introduced to a ton of bands previously unknown to me...Hawkwind,
Can, Amon Duul II, Faust, along with way more underground obscure
stuff.
The
Invisible College from 1992
Joel
Crutcher - Invisible College was the first record we did where we had
guitar tuners...Loop used them so we figured it was OK.
Spaceage
from 1997
Joel
Crutcher - Spaceage was the tail-end of
recording ourselves on 16 track. Not as focused as Glare, but
still pretty good. Doing it in our own studio space allowed for
crafting the project in a beautifully indulgent way.
Lisa
Cameron -
I joined the band in 96, along with Mark Stone on guitar, for the New
Era of the band. I replaced Cisco Ryder G., (whose grandfather wrote
the famous song from The Jungle Book, "Wanna Be Like You"),
who is on several cuts. We covered Amon Duul on it, at the request
of the Italians who released it on BlackWidow. On that record we also
cover Can, Hawkwind, Chrome and the Hates, a Houston punk band. There
is a song about a J.G. Ballard novel, a favorite writer of the whole
band, "Concrete Island", and "Heather Catherine
Tallchief", which has the essential "ST 37" sound .
I
Love to Talk, If There's Anything to Talk About from 1999
Bobby
Baker
- This was the first ST 37 CD I bought. I totally fell in love with
them. It reminded me of the music that me and my friends were sort of
doing as well. It was good to hear music that felt familiar. I was
living in Florida
and told my buddy Glenn, who was living in Austin,
to check them out. He went to a show and was blown away! He became
friends with them and when I came to visit Austin in the summer of
1999 my band Baby Robots played an in-store at the now defunct 33
Degrees and Carlton Crutcher sat in with us. At this point I bought
all of their records to date. Must have spent $100 plus bucks at 33
Degrees buying their back catalog! I considered myself a top ten fan
instantly.
SL
Telles – ILTTITATTA was the last record we did entirely by
ourselves on Carlton’s (Crutcher, see below) half-inch 16 track
Fostex tape machine and Studiomaster board. It was also the last full
album to feature Carlton as a contributor to the whole. It came out
pretty durn good, as we – Joel especially – had gotten a fair
amount of experience working this setup by that time. It contains one
bona-fide ST 37 classic in “Discorporate” and several other songs
that we still pull out from time to time.
Down
On Us from 2002
Joel
Crutcher
- Down on Us was done mostly at http://www.sweatboxstudio.com/index.html" rel="nofollow -
by Bryan Nelson. Craig Stewart put it out on his http://www.emperorjones.com/" rel="nofollow -
and helped make sure it sounded great. Around this time ST 37
co-founder (and my brother) Carlton Crutcher was bowing out of the
band. Working with Bryan at the board was easy, pleasant, and
relaxed...just the opposite of the band chemistry at the time. The
friction between us helped me see the joy of playing music and
ultimately made these two records shine.
SL
Telles – Down On Us is the ST 37 record to buy if you’re just
gonna get one, I think. It is certainly the record that is the most
accessible to the average listener, IMHO.
Bobby
Baker - I heard that Carlton left the band and I was
horrified. How can they go on without him?! I thought for sure that
they would suffer losing a long time member/singer. I popped this
record on and was pleasantly surprised. There would be life post-
Carlton after all. This would become my favorite ST 37 record. And
it still is.
The
Insect Hospital from 2004
SL
Telles – Insect Hospital is perhaps the weirdest, most disjointed
“proper” album in our oeuvre. It was actually supposed to come
out before Down On Us but due to much tardiness on http://www.blackwidow.it/" rel="nofollow -
part (and much speediness on Emperor Jones’s part!) it was not
released until afterwards. It does contain a huge chunk of our score
for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, probably the highest-profile and most
successful string of shows that we’ve done, and it does have
“Solaris” another track we still play occasionally…it’s a bit
of a hybrid.
Future
Memories from 2005
SL
Telles – Future Memories started out as the fourth volume of the
“John Deere Isolation Tank” series of improvisation compilations
(JDIT, the first version, is still available as a 100 minute
cassette; Frantic Search for Zero, the second volume, is out of print
but is currently available for download on our http://www.st37.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - ;
Nunavut, the third volume, is still available on our main website as
a double handmade CDR) but quickly turned into something altogether
different when we had some label interest. We decided that it would
be a good idea to have our first two 7”s available again, as they
had been long sold out (Look at yr Chair b/w Pumpkinface and Taboo
Down Under b/w (I Don’t Need No ) Hoodoo Woman) and then we went
from there, adding select long out of print early compilation
appearances and B-sides as well as completely unreleased material
that we felt deserved to see the light of day. It provides a pretty
unique perspective on the band’s career from 1988 to 2003,
maintaining a focus on our more experimental material but with choice
rock hits blended in – we think it came out pretty well and we’re
quite proud of it. The lovely packaging by my friend and ex-bandmate
(in the Elegant Doormats and the Mind Splinters) Larry Goode was
actually nominated for an award by a group of Austin designers. The
label actually went out of business, so if you mention this
interview, we’ll probably give you one for free….! For freeeeeee!
And
Then What from 2007
SL
Telles – We had such a good experience with Bryan Nelson at
Sweatbox we decided to go back, and we did several more tracks there,
which we combined with another session we did with Jerry Page (Crust;
Helios Creed) at his studio (Joel was really enjoying the chance to
be out from behind the board and just focus on playing guitar and
singing), and we discovered, much to our surprise, that not only did
we have a really good record but that it was actually short enough to
fit on to a single vinyl LP! This never happens! So that was the
focus when we finished it and shopped it around – and – lo and
behold, our old friend Jim Gibson from Noiseville Records, who had
released our second single – Taboo/Hoodoo – decided to give us
another shot. So we did a lovely limited hand-silkscreened run of 500
LPs, and they’re still available. It really got very little press
because we simply did not have the promotional budget at the time to
mail out a whole bunch of 12” vinyls – so a lot of people still
don’t know about it. http://www.reverbworship.com/" rel="nofollow -
also issued it as a limited run handmade CDR but alas, those are long
gone as well. There’s more emphasis here on film scores – “First
Light” is from our score to another Fritz Lang classic, “Destiny
(Der Mude Tod)” and “Invocation of My Demon Brother” was
commissioned for a celebration of the work of Kenneth Anger. We
decided to duet along with the original score of the Anger IOMDB
film, which is a Mick Jagger synthesizer solo piece, so…voila!
Rolling Stone guest appearance!
Bobby
Baker - At this point, 2006 actually I had weaseled my way
into the band. My other bands, Baby Robots and Rubble had played
numerous shows with ST37. ST guitarist Mark Stone had left and they
were doing shows as a 3 piece. I sat in a few times and they asked me
to join full time...which I said, "Hell Yeah!". "And
Then What" was the first record I didn't have to buy! Plus, it
was the first bunch of songs that I started learning. I love those
songs. Wish I was on the record to be honest. Mark did a great job
for sure...but my licks are hot!
Lisa
Cameron - This is my personal favorite so far, and is a good road map
of the twisted roads that we regularly travel, and occasionally get
stuck in. It is guitarist Mark Stone's swan song, and he and Joel
Crutcher do a fantastic job of holding things together in the most
wobbly way possible. And anchoring it all down are Scott and I, but
we are barely able to contain the gale forces at work.
For some
reason the production stands out to me as being able to hold
all of our ideas in a listenable way, but also is gritty enough
to really rock hard. "Thirst" is
quntessential Texas Space
Rock done with all the fixin's- covering it all from the Elevators
to Linus
Pauling Quartet. "First Light" is Ash Ra Tempel meets the
Stooges' "We Will Fall", and I wrote it (very proud of that
one)."I Let It Slip Away" begins as a classic Elevators-ish
stomp, and mutates into Voi Vod/King Crimson territory. "Birds'd
Crash" is by Roky Erickson, and we give it a royal anthemic
quality, as befitting royalty such as Roky… "Invocation Of My
Demon Brother" is "a flaming wall of pigf**kery" as
Mark would say… this piece was originally to be included on a
star-studded comp tribute to Kenneth Anger, which never happened, but
this track is the perfect companion to the film. You are
escorted to the crossroads of ecstatic communion and chaotic fever
dreams akin to ingestion of belladonna or Jimson weed, which we *did
not* do. It sounds a little like Fush*tsusha or Albert Ayler.
"Watch the Bile Come Out" is our spirited punk raspberry to
"W" and his reading
of
"Little Pet Goat" , and "Future Memories" is our
salute to H-Town Doomsters
Rusted Shut, and closes out the record in a miasma of sludge
and infection, almost like an audio version of a J.G. Ballard novel.
High
and Inside from 2010
Lisa
Cameron - Bobby
did a great job pulling this record together, and we did a great deal
of extra-terrestrial "research" for this one.
Joel
Crutcher - High
and Inside was an experiment in recording specific altered states.
The details are fairly libelous. I love the results.
Nice places to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Bobby
Baker
- This is my baby. Aside from the songs that Doug recorded,
obviously. I relished the moment to record the great ST 37. For them
to trust me as a member... and now for them to trust me as a
producer, I certainly wasn't gonna f**k this one up. I brought a more
experimental side to the band. Mark seemed to me, more as a rock
guitar guy. My noisy guitar playing goes back to the early 1990's
Miami
noise scene, with Scraping Teeth (Laundry Room Squelchers) and Harry
Pussy. Don't get me wrong. I can rock. But I can un-rock too. Not
everybody can do that! So I wanted to bring that vibe to these batch
of recordings. This is definitely the most experimental ST37 record
so far. Love it or hate it. This record is weird...the way we like
it. It came out exactly how we wanted it to.
SL
Telles – Yeah, not too many people “get” this record.
Not every listener can handle a band that can veer from the extremes
of something like “Borg9” to the dark but ineffable sweetness of
“Just You”.
How
is the creative processes in your band from coming up with an idea to
it's being recorded ?
Joel
Crutcher - The
creative process for us is pretty organic. Sometimes a song
will start out as a part of a jam that is refined into a more
organized piece. We also all bring in songs more or less
complete and bat it around to see if it will live. For me,
songs can sometimes gestate for months before playing them with
everyone. I love a good pop song, but the goal to me is to find
a way to reach psychedelic bliss, or horror, depending on the moment.
For
those of us unfamiliar with your music; how would you describe you
music and which bands would you compare yourself with ?
Bobby
Baker
- Bardo
Pond, Rubble, Acid Mothers Temple, Brother JT & Rusted Shut.
Space rock...drug rock...Awkwardelic Music!
Joel
Crutcher
– ST 37 is a psychic spaceship. Intuitive, sturdy,
occasionally off the rails. A fun thing to share and an
interesting way to live.
High
and Inside was released last year. What have you been up to since
last year, what is your current status and what is your plans for the
rest of this year and next year ?
SL
Telles – Well, we were really psyched (ahem) to finally get to play
the Austin Psych Fest in May along with one of our longtime idols,
Roky Erickson, as well as other great psych acts like Spectrum, the
Black Angels, Cold Sun, White Hills, etc. so that was fun – also at
SXSW this year we got to play with Psychic TV, which was a big
milestone for all of us, especially Lisa. We have been working on
three projects – an extended piece called “KBDP” which was just
released on http://kendrasteinereditions.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow -
in a limited edition of 113 numbered 3” CDs; a live album called
“Awkward Moments” from our 2009 tour which will be out before the
end of the year on Reverb Worship in another limited edition; and we
have most of the tracking done for our as-yet-untitled new studio
album. We just put a horn section – our first, yay! – on one song
last week. So we’ve been keeping pretty busy. We continue to play
live because we love it, despite the indifference of the jaded and
cynical Austin scene…!
Bobby
Baker - We are finishing up songs we recorded earlier this
year. More “song” songs this time. Our last record was too
"weird" so we are throwing a bone to the people who can't
handle those 10 minute freak outs we had on "High and Inside".
Hopefully a release in Spring of 2012?
Lisa
Cameron - Our
newest batch coming up will be the best yet I think.
To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview ?
SL
Telles – We’re really proud of the selection we have on our
Bandcamp site – if you want to support our music, consider the
pay-what-you-like download options we have for one of the numerous
albums (including the art) that we have available there at
http://www.st37/bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow - .
Check it out! Also, please sign up for our infrequent non-spam http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ST37/" rel="nofollow - ,
if you’d like to keep updated.
Bobby
Baker - Don't be scared. Fentanyl lollipops aren't as bad as
they are made out to be.
Thank you to the band for this interview
Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4722" rel="nofollow - and their homepage is http://st37.com/" rel="nofollow -
Replies: Posted By: memowakeman
Date Posted: November 12 2011 at 10:43
Great answers, they have been making music for some time. Nice band!