Death Sentence: Panda! It’s an appropriately provocative and exclamatory name for these three diminutive monsters of rock from San Francisco. Flying in the face of today’s grandiose, guitar-driven Rock Bands, Death Sentence: Panda! does more with less. On paper, their band-geek lineup is flute, clarinet, and drums, but what you hear is a savage, unholy racket of otherworldly zounds. Paul Cousturos’s clarinet, apart from the occasional telltale woody egginess, sounds nothing like a clarinet. He runs it—and any of several snake-charmer reed instruments—through a pedal or combination of pedals that warps it like a voice filter does to a silhouetted interviewee who would like to remain anonymous. His simple lines are contorted into skittering, streaky smears and menacing underwater rumbles, often so low and murky that the actual notes are almost beside the point. Drummer Chris Dixon socks it to you in both the sternum and the cerebellum. A dynamic whacker tempering wallop with wisdom, Chris simultaneously leads and supports with beats that are nimble, brutal, melodic, architectural, explosive, and partyable. Up in the crow’s nest, high above the ballast of these two, is Kim West, whose flute, xylophone, singing, and yelping are the glow-in-the-dark filament protruding from the forehead of this strange and beautiful angler fish-ish band. At the release of their latest long-player, Spectral Arms, this three-headed beast of fangs, fur, and polarized tonality took time to answer a few of our burning questions.
Base: Deerstuff. Bearparts. Wolfwhatnot. What’s up with all the band-imal names out there?
Paul: It all started with the father of all animal band names, The Animals. Then followed a slew of crap bands like Fleet Foxes, Arctic Monkeys, and Metallica.
Chris: I like the Monkees.
Kim: Animals are more interesting than plants or minerals.
Base: What do you think of the word band-imal? Do you like it? I made it up. Would it be better in quotes?
Paul: That whole question should have been in quotes. I like that that word you made up made me read it slowly. I like sentences that have “that that” in them as well.
Chris: Do not hyphenate the word; it’s sneakier.
Kim: I like it. May I suggest critter-core, pet-punk, or blastbeasts.
Base: What will you be wearing to the apocalypse later this year?
Paul: Probably my “Street Blasting” T-shirt and a double Asahi tall-can beer hat.
Chris: A towel and some flipflops and maybe some oversized sunglasses a la Elton John 1978.
Kim: A futurist-like unitard and wizard’s staff a la Betty Davis.
Base: Do you remember in Back to the Future where Michael J. Fox started disappearing and playing guitar badly because his parents almost didn’t hook up? If you could go back in time and eliminate one band from history in this fashion, taking out all their progeny with them, which band would that be?
Paul: Metallica playing their first show after the Napster uproar.
Chris: Metallica before Cliff Burton died and they turned into baby music.
Kim: I think I would save Eric Clapton’s kid from falling. Because I would actually be doing two good things.
Base: What company would you happily license one of your songs to, or, if not happily, begrudgingly?
Paul: We all like Japanese beer and Japanese commercials! Either that or some brand of rolly suitcases.
Chris: Malts is a very delicious variety of beer from Japan. I would happily endorse them if they would have me. Other than that, I can’t condone any kind of corporate sponsorship. I think “Exit Villager” would make an excellent Japanese beer commercial song though.
Kim: I like Japanese beer but I don’t think I would want our music to be in a beer commercial. I don’t think I would do a corporate sponsorship but I may agree to do a political endorsement. I know. . . boring!
Base: People like different things for different reasons. What are some different reasons you like different things?
Paul: Because they are subtle. Or things that have silent B’s in them.
Chris: I refuse to answer this question; I find it racist and aggressive.
Kim: I usually like things based on how they smell or taste.
Base: If I were to ask you what are three things that kick tons of ass, what are the first three things that don’t come to mind at all?
Paul: Ethiopian cuisine. Laser sounds in rap or dancehall songs. Street blasting.
Chris: Wait, don’t kick ass? Paul, I think that you think that the things you have listed super-kick ass. I think they kick ass too… Is it supposed to be “most people wouldn’t think kick ass”? Well then, I think mustard kicks ass, long drives down the coast on warm summer days kick ass, and the Dadaism kicks ass.
Kim: Things that DON’T kick ass: monotony, raisins, and giving up. Things that DO kick ass: baby animals, food (except raisins), and the idea of America.
Base: What’s an example of how you roll?
Paul: Pretty much a street blasting-type dude.
Chris: I roll the way Henry Rollins did in the video he made where he rolls like Travis Bickle. Except, I don’t roll with guns cuz gats is whack.
Kim: I roll high and deep.
Base: What is a band or musician you don’t like or listen to but respect?
Paul: River of Shit.
Chris: I listen to tons of people that I don’t respect.
Kim: People are going to hate me for this but Bob Marley and Elvis.
Base: Describe a sandwich that best embodies the sound of Death Sentence: Panda!.
Paul: Godzilla Sandwich. Not one made of his flesh, but one he eats. So it probably has humans, trees, and power lines in it.
Chris: What he said. Or a “club” sandwich.
Kim: Yes, what they said but with an extra pickle.
Base: If one of your albums were to (coincidentally…?) sync up with a movie a la Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz, which movie and album would that be, and would there be any noteworthy moments of synchronicity?
Paul: Either the Saragossa Manuscript or Animal House, or maybe both played backwards with three episodes of “Small Wonder” playing forwards and a confetti cannon pointed at your face the whole time.
Chris: Any movie starring Sting. Except for maybe Dune because our songs aren’t long enough to make it through the whole movie.
Kim: Clash of the Titans—just when the Kraken is about to destroy Argus, you can see one of the actor’s toga fly up, and get a glimpse of some nice vintage Adidas shorts. It syncs up perfectly with “Exit Villager.” Did you know they’re redoing this film? What’s the point?
Base: Which power trios do you look to for inspiration?
Paul: Newton/Seale/Cleaver (66–68), Curse of the Birthmark, The Three Amigos, The Lowdown, the three guys from Bottle Rocket, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Numbers, Wood/Tripper/Snow, Wolf Eyes, Big Techno Werewolves, Cromagnon, The Fugs, Harry Pussy, Friends Forever.
Chris: The classics: The 3 Sounds, the Kingston Trio, the Three Wise Men, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and the Beastie Boys.
Kim: TLC, Carter Family, and the Marx Brothers.
Base: Let’s face it: Partying isn’t what it used to be. Where do you think this field is headed? Will it soon be all about pre-partying?
Paul: Street Blasting and 1983–1985 Garden Grove Vietnamese New Wave.
Chris: I like partying.
Kim: I plan on trying to bring it back.
Base: What is the most profound lyric in the canon of rock?
Paul: “Just cake, just cake. Dropout, dropout.”
Chris: “Life is short, filled with stuff.”
Kim: “I came into this world like a puzzled panther.”
Base: What is the worst album each of you owns at present?
Paul: River of Shit’s All Hail King Arthur
Chris: My record collection is a finely honed cornucopia of perfection, taste, and style. OK, I own a Moody Blues record that’s kind of cheesy.
Base: If DS:P! were to write a rock opera, what might it be about?
Paul: Satan Drugs Sex Murder Demons Possession Exorcism Rocks Street Blasting Being Poor Hollow Earth and Sucker MC’s.
Chris: A group of teens living in a small, conservative, Midwest town where public dancing is essentially illegal and forbidden by the town elders, a race of druids from Scotland. Or, Genghis Khan and how much he loved to dance.
Kim: A small family moves to watch over a big hotel during the winter. They have no idea the hotel is haunted, as the husband slowly deteriorates into a murdering mess. Blood starts flooding the entire place, making a huge mess. His young son has special mind powers and finally saves his mom as well as himself from his ax-wielding dad.
Base: For all the readers too lazy, boring, old, and stupid not to investigate what Death Sentence: Panda! sounds like, how would you describe your band in a word?
Paul: ER?
Chris: Da Funk.
Kim: Friends.
If you’d like to hear more of Death Sentence: Panda!’s music, click here.
Loading ...
No comments