Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 2004)
BY MELISSA BEARNS DJ Wicked Diablos/ Downtown Lounge Wednesday, Nov. 24, 9 pm Behind the Wicked Image Breakfast with Oregon’s top hip-hop DJ D So where’d the name come from? Actually it’s an old graffiti name I used to use. It kind of stuck with me when I started DJ’ing. Tell me about Got Milf? It’s kind of differ- ent from what you usually do. I really went out there with that one. It’s got all these songs from the ’80s and ’90s. It’s the first time I did a project where I strayed away from hip-hop. The way I put it together is the way DJs put hip-hop music together, with the scratching, but it’s not hip-hop. What was it like growing up in Portland? To me it feels like a small town. I feel like it’s still behind as far as the music scene goes. [In San Francisco] I met a lot of people that really inspired me. After being down there for a couple of years, I came back to Portland and that’s when I really starting pushing, started gigging out a lot. What’s kept you in it, passionate about it? Just the music itself — It’s so much a part of my everyday life. The whole thing, espe- cially with turntablism, being able to create music as opposed to just play stuff other peo- ple have done. What does the term turntablism mean to you in your music? That’s probably the hardest thing to explain to people. It’s just manipulating records to create new sounds. Like on Got Milf?, there’s a hidden track at the end that’s entirely turntablism. It’s its own music, using records to create a song. How have people reacted to Got Milf? It’s kind of playful and funny. espite the fact that he’d been up most of the night spinning at the Domino Room (in Bend) and said he was really tired, DJ Wicked ordered not coffee but vitamin-filled orange juice when we met for breakfast over the summer. That morning he was wearing a D.C. baseball hat and T-shirt with Portland across the front, both black. It had been a late night and an early morning. He had faint circles under his eyes — par for the course for someone who spends most of his nights in clubs until the wee hours. Meeting him in person, I was struck by the disparity between the friendly, kind of quiet, almost shy guy in front of me and the image. Easily Oregon’s top hip-hop DJ, the stuff DJ Wicked puts together is incredibly creative. His mix tapes are always full of cool, weird stuff. And he plays the part. If you look at his recorded stuff, he comes across as super-hyped, with that image of a party ani- mal. Actually, DJ Wicked doesn’t even drink. Growing up in northeast Portland, he started spinning in 1992. Two years later he moved to San Francisco, at the time when spinning, or turntablism, was just taking off. He made his way back to Portland and now opens for almost every major hip-hop show that comes to Oregon, including Eminem a few years back. Six months ago, he quit his day job to DJ full-time and just released a new CD, Got Milf?, a play on the “Got Milk” commercials, milk mustache picture and everything. W i n t e R Bravo! I’ve already caught a lot of flack for it. Like what?(At that point he grinned and looked away) Um, I’d really rather not say. The CD is so silly. I just wanted to have a good time with it. All those songs are old enough that people in their 30s would know them. The whole thing is all good fun. What’s in your CD player right now? DJ D Styles. He’s really dark and techni- cal, a scratch DJ. Do you have anyone you really admire, any idols? BY MELISSA BEARNS Coming at You No Cash Value leads the punk rock pack. I t’s taken four years, but Bend-based No Cash Value is finally gaining some well- deserved recognition. Let’s start with one basic element many punk bands miss: These guys can actually play their instruments. Really well. Bass player Owen Evans is the oldest member, downright geriatric at 29 compared to lead singer and guitarist Andrew McCumber, 25, and drummer Alan Burmeister, 21. McCumber and Burmeister grew up in John Day and had been playing together for five years before Evans joined them after sitting in on a practice at a friend’s garage. Watching them together is like watching the love/hate relationship of three brothers who are also best friends. (“Sometimes you’ve gotta get on them because they’re like lit- tle brothers,” said Evans about McCumber and Burmeister. “You’re going to let that Nazi control freak speak for us?” said McCumber. “Oh great.”) Listening to them, all that comes across is clean, hard, So-Cal punk rock in the tradi- tion of Bad Religion, Rancid, Offspring and Agent Orange. These guys have a sense of humor too; a “We’re gonna play whatever we want even if it is James Taylor because that’s a really good song and if you don’t like it go outside and smoke a cigarette” attitude. Yeah, they do cover “Fire and Rain” and also an almost soulful, gritty, rau- cous version of Sam the Sham’s “Little Red Riding Hood.” But “Motherfucker” is by far their best song, a song Evans wrote about getting the crap kicked out of him by a bunch of Nazi skinheads while he was down in Mexico. It’s just pure, angry, hard, biting punk rock. And that’s how you could describe most of their stuff. “I was sitting trying to write some No Cash Value songs and I was being way too technical,” w/ Monkee Torture, said Evans with a laugh. “I was trying all PB Army, The these rhythm changes and alternate chord Anxieties and The progressions. And then I was just like, Perverts. you know, this is stupid. Punk rock isn’t The Wetlands all operatic and changey. Punk rock needs Saturday, 9pm. to just come right at you.” ew LANE COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH FREE or low cost exams Birth control supplies for men and women Pregnancy counseling and testing January 6, 2005 List your events. Place your ads. HIV counseling and testing Immunizations DANCE WIC • MUSIC • THEATER Contact your Account Executive soon! 484-0519 Eugene 682-4361 WIC 682-4202 STD exams and treatment C O V E R I N G J A N UA RY 6 - S E P T E M B E R 2 2 EDITORIAL DEADLINE for listings: 12/23/04 • ADVERTISING DEADLINE: 12/31/04 A few. Mr. Dibbs, MixMaster Mike. Who else … there’s so many people. D Styles, Q Bert. Do you have any crazy stories, like nights when something’s just gone totally wrong? (Laughing) Oh man, so many nights. One night this girl came up and flipped my whole table over. That was pretty disastrous. You’re pretty successful at this point in an industry where there’s a lot of competition. Did you ever get a big break? No. I’m still waiting for it. ew Confidential Services – Se habla español NOVEMBER 24, 2004 2 3
