#clinco

[spilladabalia]

Marriages - Less Than

[dec0mposing]

Very excited for the new release from Drab Majesty.

The 12 string on this track is intoxicating and the harmonies of Deb Demure and Rachel Goswell are hauntingly beautiful.

[cetaceous]

One of Hundreds of Wells used to extract Methane Gas Polesine, The Po River Delta, Italy image credit: Marta Clinco/The Guardian

[jazznoisehere]

Drab Majesty: An Object In Motion (Dais Records, 2023)

Artwork Andrew Clinco, Design Nathaniel Young.

[lagroupie]

Interview: VR Sex, “Rough Dimension”

VR Sex performing at La Makhno, through my Nikon.

I’ve been following and listening to Andrew Clinco’s (aka Noel Skum) project VR Sex for a while, so I was very happy to hear about their show at La Makhno in Geneva on January 25th. I think that industrial and dark venue fit VR Sex’s sound perfectly; the show was a lot of fun and the band got everyone dancing. It seemed as if we had time-travelled back to 1981, in a good way.

Before the show, I met with Andrew backstage for an interview about VR Sex’s latest record Rough Dimension. He also tells me about his life in L.A. and the delusion of the American dream, especially in Hollywood.

Many thanks to Andrew and Matt from Roosevelt Records for making this possible!

What’s a regular day like in your life when you’re not touring?

Andrew Clinco: A regular day typically involves waking up fairly early. It depends on the time of the year, but when it’s warm outside in Los Angeles I like to go for a run. I have a membership at the pool as well. I love swimming, it’s my new favorite thing. So I do that in the morning and throughout the day I’m either dealing with band things or business stuff, until 3 or 4 p.m. I have a little home studio and I am always trying to record or write something. And if I can’t do that, I’m just obsessively cleaning my house because if my place is not clean, I can’t really work. I’m OCD about that kind of shit. I’m very grateful I can pretty much get by through music now.

I’m so happy for you! And besides the OCD part, your life sounds pretty healthy.

Thank you. I’m equal parts healthy and unhealthy. I do both healthy and unhealthy things. I dont’ know if it’s a good balance, but it’s a balance.

Let’s talk a bit about your new record Rough Dimension. Before I even listened to it, the cover art struck me. It’s very dark and I think it matches the tone of the album perfectly. Was it your idea?

Absolutely! Initially the idea was to have two middle-aged men in business suits having this horrible moment where they’re consoling each other. So I hired these two male models but the shots didn’t work out, it actually looked like the band had two people in it. […] So I worked with my friend Nedda Afsari, who goes by MutedFawn on Instagram. She has done a lot of record covers, she’s a very talented photographer. We walked around in grimy locations in Los Angeles with these two subjects. We had the guy walk underneath this highway bridge. I liked the way the walls met in different dimensional angles. And then I had him stand in this fixed position. Do you know what a dunce cap is? If you got in trouble at school, they would put a hat on you and make you stand in a corner. So the idea was that this white American business man was being punished.

The cover art for the album Rough Dimension.

About the dimensional angles - Rough dimension is also a play on words because if you say for example ‘build me a shelf’, I will reply “Can you give me the rough dimensions of the shelf?” Meaning the rough measurments. So that photo ended up describing the album more than anything else. It was shot on film.

I wanted to talk about the song and the music video for Walk of fame as well. There are two characters, Jesse Christmas aka Clark Nova and Angelyne, who was a popular singer, model and actress in Los Angeles during the 1980’s. I thought the music video really fit the lyrics of the song. Is it conveying the ‘dark side’ of Los Angeles?

The person dressed as Jesus and a rock guy wanted to be featured in the video as a rock and roll guy, because it’s a video and he has a rock project too. He walks around Hollywood Boulevard as a Jesus impersonator and I thought he was really interesting. But he wanted to be filmed under one condition : to be filmed as a rock star. It was perfect, because the song is about people who come to this part of Los Angeles thinking that they have this calling to be a celebrity or a star. But then it just doesn’t happen.

The American dream, smashed into pieces.

Yeah. And the song is called Walk of fame because it’s about the crushed fantasy of being a celebrity. Whether or not he understood that, it didn’t matter because it was not about saying ‘this guy is crazy’. This is what you see when you go there. There’s all sorts of these characters on the Boulevard. And then Angelyne, who is actually quite successful – she’s amazing.

She owns a beautiful pink car! It’s shown in the video.

It’s a pink Chevrolet! Chevy has been giving her these cars since the 80s. They sponsor her. I’ve known her for a long time. We’re actually friends now, but we were not a the time we filmed the video. We negociated a fee through some contacts we had. She appears in the video, but it’s more of a cameo.

Anyway, it’s a sad part of L.A. A lot of people have been there since the 1970s and the 1980s and still think they can possibly get their big break. Or they think they are a star because they live in Hollywood. Actually, a lot of people from Europe come to L.A. to live in Hollywood. They think that because of their close proximity to this industry, they themselves are famous. It’s not true, but it’s interesting because it’s very elusive. This part of town makes people feel important.

It’s like a mix between real life and VR! As if you created your own reality.

Yes, you do create your own reality. It’s also a delusional reality.

Taking ‘fake it until you make it’ to the extreme.

More like ‘fake it until you die’.

My favorite song from the album – for now – is Live in a deam. Could you tell me more about it?

That song is an extension of the idea that you live in your own dream world. It’s also about this character, this guy who goes to these bars, talks to people, has cool tattoos and does drugs. He just lives in his own fantasy. «You’ve seen this guy before, down a dozen, maybe more. He’ll bounce around the town, his name is rich, his heart is poor.» Actually, of all the songs – because I wrote the whole record in a flat in Marseilles – that song is the only one that was written in Paris. I had my guitar and a little recording set up in the hotel room.

I find it interesting that you wrote the majority of the album in France, because it’s about Los Angeles.

I thought about this before. When I am living in L.A., I don’t really have a perspective on this community. When I was in Marseilles, I was totally by myself for two weeks. It was the end of the tour and I just decided to stay longer. While I was there, I thought about home and compared it to Europe to see where America is fucked up and vice-versa. But for the most part – and I am being completely real about this, I think Europe has a lot better ways in life, better policies and better ways to treat their people. There’s mental illness in America that I have never seen here. It’s a different kind of diseased brain that happens over there, especially in Los Angeles. The entertainment industry really creates confused and conflicted people. It’s not natural. It’s a big race to be famous.

What can we expect from V.R. Sex in the future?

This is the first show of this tour, so we have 12 more shows after this. Then we’re going to go home and hopefully write a new record in April with the new band. I played basically every instrument on Rough Dimension. It was just me and Ben Greenberg, the guy who recorded it, played bass. The band is turning more into a punk band now! There’s almost no synths anymore, it’s going much harder.

https://vrsex.bandcamp.com/album/rough-dimension

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbIdmE_J0-m/

[cannibalpool]

look, the loss of Drab's iconic darkwave deliciousness has not gone unnoticed or unmourned but it's so hard to sit here and be angry at yield to force because my god. andrew clinco, you beast.

[dustedmagazine]

VR Sex — Hard Copy (Dais)

Listeners and readers of a certain age (ahem) will remember Hard Copy, the tabloid-style entertainment news show that made its bones on broadcasting salacious, titillating and graphically violent images through the 1990s. VR Sex, a post-punk outfit from LA, trades in related semiotics, at least on the surface of this new record — and Hard Copy was nothing but surface. Does VR Sex have greater depth? The jury is out on that one, and the band will likely welcome the deferred verdict. They seem to like toeing the lines of morbidly libidinal transgressions, pushing various hot buttons, provoking the squares. See the partially deflated sex doll on the album’s cover, or song titles like “Hush Money Millionaire” and “Space Invasion,” enjoying the ironies of which may require at least minimal critical activity on the part of the consumer. Sure. But “Hard Copy” is a rock record, so maybe we should be asking: Is the music any good?

It is — but it’s also complicated by the formal ironies that have marked (or plagued) postpunk music from the jump. See “Inanimate Love” for a relevant example. The tune’s opening minute channels the dissonance of Sonic Youth, c. 1986. The signature riff and melody kick in, and you are projected toward the UK, especially the Jesus and Mary Chain in their Darklands-period of struggle with sudden fame. When Andrew Clinco (whose name some will recognize from his high-concept work as Drab Majesty) starts to sing, things get decidedly more louche. A particular strain of West Hollywood freak — hairdo as important as guitar tone, sunglasses worn on stage — creeps toward the music’s center, ghosts of Christian Death and Tomata du Plenty flit in and out like punk rock poltergeists. The song has come home.

None of those names is particularly problematic, but their combination and the sense that the band wants you to summon at least some of them are less straightforward matters. It’s an old saw, the extent to which anything post- is necessarily pastiche, and the resulting arguments that used to feel intrinsically political are all but exhausted. Or maybe we are just too tired. If that second supposition is correct, then songs like “Jenny Killer Glue” and “In Great Detail” seem poised for our pleasure. Flashy and cool, cynical and sexy, they have that rock’n’roll quality of cultural noise that is calculated and dangerous in equal measure.

Here’s another way of putting that: How do you reinvest a half-deflated sex doll with erotic energy? Pay attention to the terms there: they assume that the sex doll was full of erotic investments in the first place. And of course it was. The fact that the commodity form exists (the doll in its original packaging, behind the counter of the porn shop, or these days available on Amazon, for your convenience) means that culture has already distributed the investment, whatever your intent or surface-level interest might be.

So, listen to VR Sex’s “Real Doll Time.” The song’s upbeat energies evoke Wire in a sassy mood, but the vocals are pure West Hollywood. The tune sweeps you along, danceable and rockin. Dig it. But what’s “real doll time,” and what’s a real doll? Mostly: what’s “real” here? Think too hard about those questions and you’ll miss the gag: Clinco’s repeated enunciations of the title phrase become indistinguishable from a different read. It starts to sound like “real dull time.” That’s funny—the gag is on us, always has been. But meanwhile the song churns away, and it closes with 90 seconds of a terrific, slightly mournful and sorta sweet new melody, expertly clad in postpunk textures. Another band would have made a whole song out of it. VR Sex poses it as a throwaway, and it’s exactly the right gesture. Like a smoke, lit, dragged on once or twice, and tossed from the stage. Did you get burned? Good. At least you felt something.

Jonathan Shaw

[thoughtswordsaction]

VR SEX Released New Album "Hard Copy"; Shared Music Video For “In Great Detail”

Photo by Anders Larsson VR SEX, originally the project of Noel Skum – aka Andrew Clinco of Drab Majesty who made the radical leap of expanding his psychedelic post-punk vehicle into a fully collaborative five-piece band, are releasing their new album ‘Hard Copy‘ via Dais Records.  Made up of 10 new tracks of sneering psychedelic punk streaked with Chrome-damaged freak-outs and snotty power pop…

[theindietribune]

VR SEX - Real Doll Time

VR SEX releases “Real Doll Time” ahead of their upcoming LP “Hard Copy” which is slated to be released March 22, 2024 via. Dais Records.

If you’re a fan of Death Rock, Post-Punk, and/or ethereal soundscapes, “VR SEX” is the band for you. Comprised of 5 members, they have become the poster child of audio/visual provocateurs. Following the release of their 2022 sophomore effort “Rough Dimension”, the band is back and ready to further their message within the space. However, “Hard Copy” will be the initial debut as a collaborative 5-piece project, though prior “VR SEX” was a psychedelic post-punk vehicle for Drab Majesty’s “Andrew Clinco”. Nonetheless, their latest single “Real Doll Time” is a sample of what’s to come as it merges Hardcore Punk, Goth, and snotty power pop harmonies. This track is the embodiment of psychedelic post-punk alongside a varied twist only “VR SEX” can execute.

Author: James Lopez

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Drab Majesty Shares Shimmering and Cinematic "Cape Perpetua"

New Video: Drab Majesty Shares Shimmering and Cinematic "Cape Perpetua" @DrabMajesty @daisrecords @another__side__

Initially known for his work drumming in Marriages, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Clinco founded  Drab Majesty back in 2011 as a way to create music as a solo project, with him recording every instrument himself. Clinco created the androgynous character Deb Demure for himself, as the face of the project. Alex Nicolaou, a.k.a. Mona D (keys, vocals) joined on…

[0idril0]

May I request based on the reblog about ‘new normal’ you just did a much later Nico & Clint, maybe Nico trying to do art again or school or cook or something and struggling ??

Nico’s head was pounding as he laid the last lines on the paper in front of him, teeth grinding as he forced his eyes to focus. For just a few more minutes.

Please.

“F-Fuckin’ finally...” he slammed the color pencil down, scrubbing his aching hand against his eyes until colors swirled behind the lids. The drawing was already imprinted in his head, a wolf head that he hoped resembled Clint’s, surrounded by a multitude of wild flowers. It was more frilly than what he usually did, he tended to gravitate towards reds and blacks and more forgiving mediums, working around the continued seizures and poor eyesight. But it felt important for what he was trying to portray.

His mate surrounded by softness and love in the form that Clint said looked beastly and terrifying.

He didn’t know when Clint had started to think of his wolf form that way, but he hoped it was before they had ever met. Clint had let slip more than a month before that he was scared of being around Sorina and Evans new baby, worried he might slip a little and scar the baby for life.

Nico had immediately told him that it was a ridiculous thought, but the doubt and hesitancy that colored his face when he’d turned back towards the the group of people gathered around the new bundle was enough to send a lance through Nico’s heart.

And the worst part was he didn’t know what to say. He’d never been good with words, and now with the brain damage, he was even worse. And there was only so many ways to kiss sense into a stubborn werewolf.

But maybe he could show him. Clint’s wolf had always been a source of comfort for him, his beautiful russet fur the softest pillow, the warmth he emitted a constant comfort when he’d been too emaciated to regulate his own body heat. A gentle crutch when Nico needed help but couldn’t tolerate human touch.

And the man himself had the biggest and kindest heart of anyone he’d ever met. The fact that Clint thought any part of him could be a danger to his niece was horrifying.

“Uuuuugh....” Nico scrubbed at his eyes again before scratching at his short beard, an attempt at hiding the scars that still spotted his cheeks from deep ulcers that had had difficulty healing. “It’s g-gonna have to do...”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, like it was going to help him focus at all, he scrutinized his work. Before Martin he would have said it was still a work in progress..... but now? It was one of the better things he’d done in a while. He’d moved away from realism when he’d been able to pick up a pencil again, the migraines hadn’t been worth the fight, and paint was more forgiving.

The color pencil was smudged at the corners, the lines shaky in areas where a crisp finish would have made the piece stand out, but the wolfs face was Clint’s, highlighted with yellows like he was basking in the sun, a delicate blue butterfly contrasting with his red fur and half lidded green eyes beautifully.

It was his mate. A giant, gentle, protector of a man that hadn’t moved for 20 minutes when that stupid butterfly had landed on him at last years Fourth of July party.

He felt his mouth twitch at the memory, pulling at some of the scars on his mouth and cheek. His Mate was ridiculous.

Nico could hear Clint’s rumbling snore from his drafting table, the wolf had been running in the woods for hours today and had returned a few hours ago soaking wet and panting. When he’d returned he’d stuck his head into the sunroom where Nico was, lupine grin smug as he’d tried to sneak around to see the drawing Nico had kept from him for over a month now.

Nico hadn’t been able to help his snicker when he’d shoved at his over sized head, scratching in the spot Clint loved as he did so, “Go dry-dry off, I’ll s-show you when I’m done.” Clint’s tail has wagged so hard Nico had been able to hear the thump through the cabin walls, but his wine was truly pitiful when he’d slunked out and flopped onto the porch to bask in the sunlight. The sunny happiness Nico could feel through their bond betrayed Clint’s attempt to guilt him into a sneak peak, and Nico hoped it would be worth it now.

Daniel’s cane was propped up against his desk and Nico rubbed a thumb over the silver handle as he picked it up, using the object just like Daniel had for years before he’d died. Nico had found it tucked in the back of the shop when he’d finally been able to return and had swapped for the heirloom as soon as he was able to ditch the walker.

The initial thunk against the hardwood has Clint’s ears twitching as he comes out, a high pitched yawn following it as Nico shuffled further onto the porch.

“H-h-hey Honeyb-b-bear....”

Clint rolled onto his back at Nico’s greeting, legs and paws stretching to full effect as Clint yawned loudly and rumbled his own wolfy greeting back, squinted eyes finding Nico as his tail swished against the hard wood. “Sugar..” Nico heard the echo in his head, and snickered around a grin at the nearly 300 lbs wolf at his feet. Clint’s tongue rolled out of his mouth in a lupine laugh and Nico couldn’t keep his own smile down, even as broken and ugly as he thought it was now.

“Come-onnn, y—ou goof, you wannned to see -this right?” Nico shook the paper in his hand, backing up like he was going to go inside.

Clint’s jaw snapped shut as his head whipped towards Nico, eyes wide in question now. Really??? Nico could read the question clear as day on his face and grinned. “I c-could change my mind...”

He made to take a step back and Clint whined, stretching, this time muscles and bones popping as he morphed back into his human form. Where there’d been a ridiculously large wolf now lay an extremely large, naked man, toned muscles stretched to full effect as he reached for Nico, making grabby hands as he whined again with his human throat.

“Babbbbbyyyyy.... come back??? Show me here??”

Clint’s teasing grin and wink did nothing to help the burning blush that was creeping across his face and neck, headache forgotten as he swallowed heavily at the sight in front of him.

“Fine-“ His voice came out a squeak, and he cleared his throat, scowling at Clint’s snort of laughter. “-Fine, you’ll have—help me s-stand up...”

Clint’s grumbling turned deeper as he turned towards Nico, grin mischievous, “Like I would pass up the opportunity to get my hands on you...”

Nico grinned at Clint’s joke, knowing the wolf wouldn’t touch him without his permission, skin heating at the thought of Clint’s hands against him today. He loved Clints hands, long solid fingers and thick padded palms that had sooth so much and given him so much pleasure in the past few years.

He groaned as he slid down to the porch, using the bannister and accepting Clint’s hand against the small of his back as support, knowing the werewolf’s strength would be more than enough to catch him even from the awkward angle. His hip protested bending and Clint’s thumb rubbed small circles into his back when he settled heavily on the porch.

“Fuuuuck....” he groaned loudly, careful to keep the drawing turned away from Clint’s prying eyes as he flopped dramatically onto Clint’s bare chest.

Clint grunted around a laugh as Nico landed, sun warmed arms wrapping around him as he maneuvered Nico closer. “Hi Sugar....” Clint nibbled on Nico’s neck and snuggled closer. “You finished that drawin’ you’ve been teasin’ me with??”

Nico smiled as he felt the nerves that had been fluttering in his stomach settle in Clint’s calm presence, and he brought his scarred hand up to tangle in Clint’s hair.

“T-told you, surprise.....” He leaned into the kiss in his cheek, grinning. “Hardly- surprise-you get to s-see it...”

Clint chuffed, and Nico could feel the grin spread across his mates face. “I know but I’m about to explode over here, lemme seeeeee-“ he squeezed Nico and rocked him, the fingers pressed into Nico’s skin vibrating with excitement.

Nico took a deep breath, turning to press a gentle kiss to Clint’s curved mouth. The wolf melted, kissing Nico back gently until he pulled away, his green, dilated eyes following Nico’s as he backed up.

“Love you.” Nico turned more, scratching at Clint’s scalp until the low rumble vibrated the chest he leaned on. “Wa-wha-wanted you to see, h-how....” Nico growled, words stuck in his throat, and Clint kissed against his jaw, mimicking a deep breath, and Nico followed suit, unclenching his jaw to continue. “S-so, I-I drew it.”

Nico flipped back, holding the drawing above them, against the blue sky, puffy clouds the perfect backdrop to the tranquil drawing. He heard Clint’s breath catch; rumble stilling as the wolf froze.

Slowly Clint lifted one of his hands from Nico’s stomach, the other keeping Nico pressed firmly against him. “Darlin’, what... what is this??”

Nico could hear the wetness in Clint’s voice, the thin wobble that meant the wolf was getting emotional.

“You-been strugglinn-since Elena was born, scared you’ll hurt her...” Nico swallowed, “but this.... Love, you wouldn’t budge... you’re gentle, an kind..... hate for y-you,-for fear to keep—y-you, from holding her, only t-thing I’ve gotten from being held—by you is love.”

Clint was trembling behind him and Nico bit his lip, doubt working its way back into his mind until Clint started to sit up, Clint’s body doing the work so Nico stayed glued to his chest, arm pulling Nico’s hips flush against his as he re maneuvered their legs. Clint had reburied his face into Nico’s hair, and he heard the wet snuffle as Clint took in his scent, his mates thick arms holding him close. “Darlin’.... I don’t..... I love you...thank you....”

Nico leaned back against Clint, setting the drawing aside so he could catch hold of one of Clint’s hands, the other tangled in the blonde hair as he rubbed a thumb along a delicate ear. “Love you t-too, Honeybear....”

Nico brought Clint’s hand up and kissed along the long digits, heart full as Clint wrapped him further into his arms. Knowing his mate had understood him.

[nofatclips]

Dystopian Boy by Sólveig Matthildur (featuring Deb DeMure) from the Artoffact Records 2019 sampler

[loo-nuh-tik]

VR SEX

[portinfinite]