Vinyl Theatre

VT Feature Artist: The Micronite Filters

Life in many ways is a series of fairly random choices and decisions that swirl around in some great void until eventually two compatible unknown pieces come together and cause a reaction. We here at Vinyl Theatre recently had the opportunity to interview indie band the Micronite Filters off the Get Bent record label. How did we get so lucky, well, truth be told it was through a series of capricious moments in life that led us to their doorstep, at which point we were welcomed in graciously. After a few back and forth exchanges an interview become necessary based solely on the realization that the MF's along with the good folks over at Get Bent are doing everything themselves DIY. When we say everything we mean everything from, writing the songs and performing them to handling a record label all with the idea that everyone can help everyone succeed. Here's a somewhat brief introduction to the Micronite Filters and Get Bent records. You will also be fortunate enough to hear a track off their new album in an upcoming show in November.  Enjoy:

VT - How long have you been together?

MF's - About 4 years

VT - Who plays what?

MF's - Abel “Mr. Bent” Renton: guitar and vocals, Dan “reefer” Reiff: drums, Cam “ace submarine” Clark: guitar, Angel V.: bass

VT - Who are you musical influences?

MF's - Neil Young, Robert Johnson, Led Zeppelin, The Blues Explosion, Howlin Rain, Bob Dylan, Big Sugar, The Constantines and more - as well as barns, trees, stars, creeks, and sometimes peace & quiet.

-On the new album was there something specific you we trying to obtain or did you just want to make a solid record?

MF's - This was our first time as a 4-piece and I think we we’re ready to make a solid album, where the previous record was more a combination of different elements.

VT - What made you start your label?

MF's - Being surrounded by friends that make music we enjoy, we decided to create a place where the music could come together. Where the artists can share resources and work together towards promoting each other and the whole project, essentially it’s a collective.

VT - Is it a hard road doing things DIY (do it yourself)?

MF's - Ya it can be a lot of work, but this depends on your goals, and your perspective. If you want to be a big band touring the world, then there’s a lot of work ahead, a very steep climb. You need to get out there and be in people’s faces. But if you start small, within your own community, and build slowly, your audience will eventually find you – especially in the digital age - and you’ll build a stronger, longer-lasting relationship with them.

VT - Any upcoming live shows?

MF's - We’re working on it… getting the new bass player up to speed at the moment.

VT - Best live show you ever saw?

MF's - Page & Plant at the Molson Amphitheatre, Constantines @ Lees Palace

VT - Blond, brunette, or redhead?

MF's - Redhead, blond… it’s a close call

VT - Beer or wine?

MF's - wine with dinner, beer at the bar

VT - The new record is "Rocket From Infinity" if you had to put it in words (which you do) describe your sound?

MF's - Our Myspace says freestyle/psychedelic/roots, but mostly its noise that thinks…

VT - Is there a website where people can visit you to love you more?

www.themicronitefilters.com
www.themicronitefilters.com
www.getbentrecords.com

VT Feature Artist: Stefan Glerum

We here at the Vinyl Theatre like to consider ourselves as being artsy individuals. As such, we'd like to use this site at a forum to help promote artists that fit within the context of what we are doing. We were gassed to discover the work of Stefan Glerum who has put together an excellent series of illustrations titled "Crate Digging, Don't Do It", which in a humorous way details the side effects from the obsessive behavior of collecting Vinyl Records - a la our very own Matt Joudrey! We were instant fans and just had to feature this artist on Vinyl Theatre! We were very fortunate to get an interview with Stefan and we strongly encourage everyone to check out more of this series from his site at:

http://stefanglerum.blogspot.com/

VT - Were you educated in the arts or graphic design and if so, whereabouts?

Stefan - I just graduated from the St. Joost Academy of Arts in Breda. That’s a tiny city in
the south of the Netherlands. I majored in Illustration and minored in Animation.

VT - Where are you currently living?

Stefan - Currently I’m living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

VT - What prompted you to this produce this set of art pieces?

Stefan - Well, it was part of my graduation project. First I wanted to bring an ode to the
flea market in Breda, the city I lived in, but I found it very difficult to get a grip visually on what I wanted to tell. It’s really uninteresting to adulate something I guess, or to give an interesting form to your admiration for something. Also, my teachers tried to push me to produce a project that actually could be used as promotion for the flea market in Breda. I then started to think that I really didn’t want to make any promotion at all for something as valuable as my favorite flea market, cause that would only result in more competition during crate digging. So the idea for the ‘Crate Digging, Don’t Do It’ series was born. 13 record sleeves with anti promotion for one of my favorite hobbies.

VT -  Are these critical pieces or satire?

Stefan - Of course it’s satire. I enjoy crate digging very much. And I’m not really an obsessive digger. Also I’m not really a record collector. I mainly try to find interesting records for the sake of sampling.

VT - How long does it take for you do a finished piece like one of these?

Stefan - Well, a drawing takes me a day, but for this project I made a lot I discarded. The typography, I did that later on on tracing paper. Some cropping and retouching etc. in Photoshop...Well, let’s say a day and a half. Also drawing is something I just recently started doing more and more. I just used to steal images from old books and use Photoshop tricks to make slick nonsense.

VT - What is the vinyl collecting scene like there?

Stefan - In Breda there’s this one guy who’s got a big collection of mainly sixties and
psychedelic stuff. From all over the world. He makes his own compilations. I’m always on the
lookout for him when he goes digging, cause he’s got the ability to find the fattest shit
between the 45’s you’ve just discarded. In Amsterdam I just don’t go record shopping, cause
nice records over there are to expensive. And it’s that I’m just used nowadays to the charm of record shopping in small cities.

VT - Who are some of your most important artistic influences?

Stefan - I’m definitely influenced by stuff from the beginning of the twentieth century. May
it be avant garde, like futurism or constructivism or more applied arts. Also I’m very interested in Kurt Schwitters. Chris Ware and Joost Swarte are heroes of mine. Nowadays I’m always blown away by the artists from Kramers Ergot, like Souther Salazar, Fabio Viscogliosi and off course Jeff Ladouceur, whom I borrowed some ideas from, thanks by the way.

VT - Who are some of you favourite music bands / artists?

Stefan - I grew up with 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul. The Avalanches made a deep inpact in my way of thinking about music. MF Doom, Madlib, Cut Chemist and Edan are other favorites. It’s mainly from these kind of artists that my interest in old music grew. So I started looking for the breaks, the originals etc. Then, I started looking for sixties and seventies music I could use for my own copy-and-paste-music. I’m charmed now by Marc Aryan.

VT - Is there a cool music scene out there where you are?

Stefan - In Breda definitely not. In Amsterdam there’s a lot happening, but the nicest thing
probably is ‘Glerum Omnibus vs. Truly Pheasant’ at the Bimhuis september the 27th! I would
advise everybody to come!

We just love this photo of Stefan! The good folks here at Vinyl Theatre wish you all the best and encourage everyone to get out to The Bimhuis on September 27th to see ‘Glerum Omnibus vs. Truly Pheasant’. There's so much more to Amsterdam than the Red Light District - although most North Americans would say otherwise.

BTW - Matt has a copy of De La Soul's 3 Feet high and Rising, William has it on CD and Phil, well Phil has an original copy of the Knight Rider Soundtrack on CD.

Click Here to See More From Stefan Glerum!