Road Report w/h Oakland, CA’s No Babies
Friday, June 25th, 2010
I rode my $90 Huffy way out on Killingsworth on a school night to see these kids play a free show at some shady bar for a bucket of doughnuts. They played well and broke a bunch of shit. It was tight. After their set I got to exchange some words with the two members from Kailua, Yacob (guitar / clarinet) and Kim (vocals). Here are some of the things they had to say.
Why are you guys against babies? Sure, they are expensive, but they look so darn cute. C’mon…
Y: Our name is not anti-baby. It is pro menstruation.
K: The name stems from a deeply rooted conversation pertaining to an “inside joke”. I’m afraid no one would understand. I am not even sure if I do. Sure, babies are cute from afar, but have you ever heard one cry?!
Not to be a downer, but do you guys have health insurance? Do you think Obama-Care is good for unemployed touring bands?
Y: I have my parent’s health insurance for the time-being since I am still in school. I’m pursuing a music degree! It really is essential since I’m diabetic. I think that all healthcare should be unequivocally free. Sure we are stupid and injure ourselves seriously frequently at shows. At our last show in LA a week ago our band mate swelled his foot up to the size of a purple dinosaur. I deep-throated a clarinet that got shoved down my gullet and was spitting up blood afterward, but I think it should never be a question of money whether or not you should get the care you need. It is so difficult for people to get the basic things that allow them to survive. It is one of the things that I feel the most angry about everyday. Obamacare is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t enough. These teabagger people need to stop with their fascism and theocracy.
K: I do not have health insurance at the moment. Obama-Care is cool and all, but socialized healthcare is the only way I can appreciate it. Hospitals are banking off of people with diabetes, heart disease, emphysema, and obesity. These are all preventable diseases, yet millions of people die prematurely every year. Fast foods line the interstates, cigarette packs are in every gas station and driving a car instead of walking is the norm. America is in a state of confusion. People are putting themselves in the hospital and spending all their money doing it. Preventive Health Care should be free and available to everyone. I think as individuals we need to educate ourselves and others about personal health and it’s importance against the establishment.
Any new recordings on the horizon? EP? Full length perhaps?
Y: Everyone has been travelling so much, but we are finally writing new material, ripping off ideas from Ligeti, Reich, Schoenberg, our friends’ bands, etc. We have a full length finished that we recorded in January with Steve (xbxrx), with the six piece, that we will be releasing on the incredible Upset the Rhythm Records from the UK. We will record an acoustic album of rearranged songs as a septet with trumpets, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, pitched percussion that will come out as a tape on Zum, ideally. We also will have a split 5 inch record with Whitman. It has a bass clarinet song on it coming out on Folktale Records soon. Basically if a few months go by and No Babies hasn’t put out anything it means one of our side projects has put out a record. We all try to stay ridiculously busy creatively, especially since we kind of don’t do anything else in our free time and mostly only hang out with each other.
And lastly, it’s a challenge for local bands from Hawaii to get to the mainland for tour and exposure. You guys seemed to get it right. How much of it is attributed to luck, and how much is attributed to hard work and persistence?
Y: One thing I learned growing up in Alabama , that I applied to making music in Hawaii, is to not try to emulate what you think other people think is cool or hip, try to operate in the creative vacuum and pull as many new ideas from yourself as you can. People in the mainland like that whole exoticism that your day-to-day experiences must be so different from theirs and seeing what ways that could affect your music. I also think I naturally have a reactionary methodology, I will try to be as different as I can from what’s surrounding me just to be obstinate, but also I find that bands that are like that tend to be more interesting and worthwhile, because it is coming from a very personal place rather than just desiring some sort of imagined status that being in a band will give you. I have been touring for 5 years which I guess isn’t that long, but the longer you do it, the more contacts you build up and the stronger you become as a band if you are able to deliver your unique message and create the kind of experience you want in so many different environments. Touring is also so much easier the more people you know, each subsequent tour has gotten easier, though what I really desire is to be able to play in every little town we haven’t heard of. Getting in touch with bands in towns tends to be a better route than trying to contact venues first, cause they will know what places, supporting bands, or promoters to recommend.
Basically, don’t feel like anything will limit you, have confidence in what you are doing and if you believe strongly enough in the merit of it other people will grow to see that too. I get more and more excited the easier it gets for us to get our music to the kind of people who would want to hear it.
K: I have seen a few Hawaii bands tour the US it is totally possible. I think it is all about hard work for sure, the luck just comes with it. Music has to evolve and so if it is not reactionary then you have to try something new. Following a typical blues chord is not interesting but warping that blues chord might be. People don’t want to hear what they have heard a thousand times before. Also super long sets are shitty and talking to people after shows and making friends and connections is key. It’s all about having awesome friends who want to help you out!
