OUR THING #1
A Creative Community
It's clear that in Philly, a lot can be traced back to Space 1026, including Pink Skull. Pink Skull began in 2003 as a DJ and production collective made up of Justin Geller, Julian Grefe, and Ian Kelly, but has since expanded into a band that includes Mike Hammel, Sam Murphy and Jeremy Gerwertz. Its members (either individually or as a group) have played with The Cure, The Faint, The Rapture, and many bands whose names do not begin with "the." Pink Skull's first EP was Blast Yr Akk, and this year, they followed up with their first full-length, an album with the bold title of Zeppelin 3.
myspace.com/pinkskulltheband
space1026.com
ZingZong from Zeppelin 3 | buy this album (insound)
Gonzo's Cointreau from Zeppelin 3 | buy this album (insound)
What's your name sir?
Julian S Process, nee Julian Alexander Grefe
Are you originally from the lovely city of Philadelphia?
I was born here and then relocated for a while to the Pine Barrens, a stretch of rather desolate and strange protected lands in South Jersey. I then bounced between Philly proper and New Jersey for a number of years, finally settling down here in 1997, I think. The Pines are a bit surreal... creepy and dark even in their close proximity to the shoretowns. Lots of swamps and bogs; the Jersey Devil was legend to inhabit the woods not to far from my family's compound. And most of my town was related, if that gives you a good picture of what it was like. Justin (of Pink Skull) grew up about 15 minutes away. I got in some trouble with the cops in Jersey in early '97. Had to split. Everything has been on the upswing since.
How long have you been making music? Can you walk us through a timeline of bands and projects you've been involved with over the years?
Jeez, there's quite a bit of stuff. I've been playing music since I was six or so... cello for many years, some brass, bass, guitar, etc... but the more important might be The Transmegetti (on Gern Blandsten records) on and off from 1996 till 2001; S PRCSS (French Kiss records) from 1999 till 2003ish; Pathfinders (Plastic City Records) in 1998; and now Pink Skull since 2005. All the while, I've been involved in producing and DJing parties here in Philly since about 1998. And, frankly, the parties that Dave P and I DJ'ed (with Ian St. Laurent, Foreman, JDH, Sparkles, etc.) were landmark for Philly. They were the beginning of Philadelphia's indie dance scene, which has really blossomed over the years.
How did Pink Skull come about?
Well, Justin and Ian and I were on a serious bender for a couple of years and we had been asked by Dave and Matt to commit our DJing to a CD for their fledgling RVNG label (RVNG Mix 1B). So, we got together and put together a rapid fire mix which ranged from rock to techno to hip hop and predated (thankfully) the whole mash-up phenomena... later glorified by other local acts. It was a nice little encapsulation of what all of us had been doing for the preceding couple of years. But, from that time in the studio, we developed a desire to make some original music together. Eventually that transformed into the Blast Yr Akk ep. I wanted to make something interesting and not at all "electroclash-y," which was still in vogue at the time, and culled from pieces from my record collection near and dear to my heart. A little record store nerdy at times, but something fun and weird.
There wasn't really a lot of smart and fun music going around at the time... those two things seemed to be mutually exclusive. Still kinda are for the most part.
Can you give me a Pink Skull roll call? Who's in the band?
Julian S Process - synths, programing, trap kit
Justin Geller - laptop, programming, visuals
Jeremy Gewertz - drums
Mike Hammel - bass
Sam Murphy - guitar
What are some of Pink Skull's musical inspirations?
Orb, Amon Duul, Neu, Ash Ra Tempel, Plastikman, Chemical Brothers, Hawkwind, Atlantis, hot dogs, mushrooms, acid, champagne, Eno
What is the overall sentiment of your latest album Zeppelin 3? What were you trying to accomplish musically with it?
Overall sentiment? Well, I wasn't really making it as a reactionary statement, as some people might make it out. I was trying to make a logical next step from Blast Yr Akk. Something a little brasher with more dynamics-even some actual songs thrown in. And, where Blast Yr Akk was a minimal electronica record culling from libraries of minimal techno and krautrock, Zeppelin 3 very much is a psychedlic techno/kraut/electronica/whatever record. I wanted to make an album, not a couple of singles with some half attended-to bits in between. BANGERBANGERBANGER-f**king BORING!!!! Those beings who have been introduced to electronic music via the club need to be exposed to music made on those same machines that can elicit a wide spectrum of emotions, not just "F**k yeah! Where's the Sparks? Take a picture of my grill!" It's kinda sad sometimes.
And also, calling your album Zeppelin 3 requires some balls and a great sense of humor. "Immigrant Song" makes me want to purchase a handgun and go over to Iraq and sort this whole war nonsense out and "Tangerine" makes me want to make sweet love to my baby by a freshwater creek in rural Georgia. What's your favorite song on that album the actual Led Zeppelin's album 3?
Hard to say... Every one of them is phenomenal. If only "No Quarter" had appeared on that record-there would have been no contest as to it being the greatest of all Zeppelin's catalogue. I guess it's a toss up between "Celebration Day" and "Tangerine" (which, by the way, has the best guitar tone of any Zep solo. It sounds like God himself squeezing balloons out of all of his orifices).
How much can you bench press? I'm only asking because you look like you can knock someone out real proper like.
Kinda a silly question, man... but last time I checked, about 220.
How long have you been DJing and how did you start?
For 10 years more or less. I got into it because I couldn't find one party (which played electronic dance music) that I wanted to go to, where I found all of the music compelling. In time, I met a couple of other kindred souls and poof! Dave P and I started [click.] in 2001. Still going strong.
Dude, you've been going to parties since like forever, since like when kids in Philly who go to parties nowadays were in grade school learning about photosynthesis. How have parties changed here in Philadelphia over the years?
There was a few years there when it was tough to get kids to dance to straight techno. You had to trick them into it by book-ending it with some hip-hop acapella whatnot and a dancy rock song ot two. As time went on, those tricks weren't necessary anymore and the crowd became more open. The lightning fast ADD style of mixing was definitely a hard one to break people of. Hundreds of quick mixes in a set. 2 Many Dj's were the gateway for a lot of the younger set as far as dance music. Many people emulated their style—but, it's a tough line to walk gracefully, and the advent of Serato and Final Scratch made it much easy for inexperienced and amateur DJs to abuse their audience's attention spans (and ears). It just gets exhausting after a while. I think things have slowed down a bit, and the DJ set as a journey is making a comeback. I hope.
Due to the proliferation of music software technology many folks who don't have a history of making music are now producing songs, thus adding to the canon of contemporary dance music. You've had a long relationship with dance music, where do you think it's future is headed?
Man, I keep answering these questions half way before you ask them... Remember the scene in Animal House when John Belushi's character smashes the folk singing schmuck's guitar against the wall? Serato is the new acoustic guitar of the music world. See where I'm going with this?
—Interview conducted by Jayson Musson.