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Dufus began life began life in 1995 with a revolving
door ethos of members. Mainstay is Seth Quankmeyer Faergoalzia,
multi instrumentalist and sonic architect.The band which
have at various times included Kimya from "The Modly
Peaches" and one "Imani Coppola" (remember the excellent
Beckish single "Legend Of a Cowgirl"?) Dufus released
their exciting and spontaneous album"Neuborns" in the
summer of 2000. Concurrently with recording, Seth has
extended his artistic arms out and embraced the somtimes
frosty, inconsistent arm that is 'musical theatre'.
His toweringingly fun folk rock opera "Fun Wearing Underwear"is
but one example. .
We talked to the Seth as the band had just returned
from a tour of Japan about NYC, music, method and madness.....
CRUD: How was touring Japan compared to America
and Europe?.
SETH: I love japan. people are super kind. Unlike
New York, it seems like people there actually want to
talk, have a genuine conversation, not just to say what
needs to get said then move on to the next transaction.
New York conversations quite often feel like business,
though i'm not blaming New Yorkers or calling them heartless
by any means, it's just that no one has any time in
the day. Playing shows in Japan was weird because most
of the people listening didn't understand the words,
so it took a while to figure out what they liked to
hear; mostly they seemed to wanna hear the weirder sounding
music as opposed to the stuff that's more focused on
words (for obvious reasons). Their culture is very pop
oriented, but they love new and creative things..
CRUD: Tell us about the making of "Neuborns".
 SETH:
Ay, the making a "Neuborns", huh? I had a mental image
of music with different environments clashing, sorta
like 3D movies. You know how in 3D stuff you'll see
one environment maybe a field, and then all of a sudden
an insect will come flying out at you and scare you
cuz it comes right up to your face? That's what I was
going for sometimes, but I didn't want to make it so
extreme that people would get bothered by listening
to it. The songs were mostly written while I was living
in the basement of this building in the lower east side
illegally, it was being rented to us by this 55 year
old cokeheaddrunk who would come into the place every
night all fukked up and make us feel weird. During that
time, I was also falling deeply in love with a girl
named 'Bug', who is one of our singers and who did the
cover artwork to the album you recieved. So I dunno,
that stuff plus other life-stuff went into the making
of the album..
CRUD: With "Neuborns" I hear a lot of Frank Zappa.
Do you feel an affinity with him,at least in terms of
his seemingly endless musical search? Or his lyrical
social commentary?.
SETH: I really like Zappa's album, "Apostrophe",
it's beautiful. A lot of his more political stuff I
could do without, but appreciate nonetheless. I definitely
appreciate that he kept moving through all his days,
constantly trying to do more with the gift he was given,
not wasting his time on what he knew he could do easily,
but working very hard to make something new for people
to hear and learn from. I'm flattered that you relate
Dufus to him..
CRUD: "We're having a party, and we're happy
to invite you" (from " A Having Party" on "Neuborns")
does this describe the ethos of Dufus' rotating members
system?.
SETH: It does. What I want the band to feel like
is a group of friends having a good time together, but
not the kind of good time that makes others feel alienated,
but a welcoming and inviting time..
CRUD: You call the Moldy Peaches your brother
and sister band, what's the connection?
SETH: We are friends. Kimya was an actor in my
musikjal, 'Fun Wearing Underwear', and both her and
Adam would play during the intermission sometimes. They've
also helped Dufus get some notice around Europe and
just helped us out in general. They're doing exactly
what a band should do when they start to get noticed,
bringing their friends along with them.
CRUD: One of your personal quotes is;"Dufus Was
made in hope, burning hope to the death of monotony",
what "monotony" are you talking about?
SETH: People have gotten so plain. All the problems
in the world have been diluted by beurocracy and people
dont even know they're being made plain. It's like,
I feel excited about living, but often feel pretty close
to alone in that excitement. I go to a party and people
are like, hello, how are you, i'm fine, what do you
do for a living, oh really, that's so exciting. But
all the time it's just plain, I want people to scream
in my face, kick me in the balls, speak absolute nonesense
and not feel as if they are unacceptable. Does that
make sense? There are a lot of crazy people out there
and I love em, but they're so hard to find.
CRUD: Do you set boundaries for yourself or do
you have faith in the direction the muse guide you?
SETH: Most of what I create is done stream of
conciousness. If I was writing music only for myself
there would probably be a lot less repetition and more
poetic movement, so the boundaries are set my myself
in a hope to reach others.
CRUD: Also, how important is improvisation in
your performance/songwriting?
SETH: Improvisation is key. To live in the moment
and not just repeat the same song exactly as it is written.
The Dufus of the past from around the revolution album
was a group that improvised really well, recently it
has lost a lot of that, but changes are on their way.
The band is being rewritten once again. CRUD: In your
press release you talk about the "abstract realm of
art" and creativity as a "key" to life. I agree, but
also feel that artists are not given enough validation
or respect, at least not in the UK. Is it the same in
New York and do you feel artists in the modern world
are sidelined in favour of the business side of things?
SETH: Definitely, you are definitely right, and
it's the same everywhere, well, I can't say everywhere
cuz I haven't been there yet. We've had producers and
label people interested in Dufus in the past and they
would say they loved what we were doing, that it had
so much to offer to the world, but they couldnt do anything
for the music. And it's weird cuz i'm no businessman,
but because of the nature of what I create, the only
way it's gonna get noticed is if someone takes a chance
on me or if I become a businessman, but if I become
a businessman I have to accept a certain amount of the
world I reject and will lose what I feel is pure and
untouched mostly. Does that make sense? it's like, if
you want to share what you have with the world, you
have to let yourself be destroyed by the world in the
process.
CRUD: Tell us about "Fun Wearing Underwear" and
how does theatre fit into place with your music? Is
the relationship symbiotic or can they sit separately
from each other?
SETH: "Fun Wearing Underwear" is musikjal
theater I wrote about 4 years ago. The script was meant
to be written as simple nonsense between five characters.
Over the 3 months of performing it in New York and the
other scattered performances we did, I rewrote and edited
it a number of times, so it got weaved into social things
going on between me and the characters and I also took
things from the improvisation and put it into the script,
so it got really messed up and woven into our lives.
There was a point in the history of the show where it
almost felt like a cult, some weird things happened.
I can't really describe the show too well because it
has never had the same feeling between two shows, but
people really liked it.
CRUD: How does living in New York inform your
work?
SETH: New York is the most culturally diverse
place I have found to live, the races are mixed together
so beautifully. The energy feeds and strengthens you
but the city itself can make you a slave. New York is
a great place to live and create art, the best I have
been able to find so far.
Band
website - www.dufus.tv
Interview conducted by Priya Elangasinghe for
Crud Music Magazine©
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