The bake-off: The Go Bots & 20th Century

This week, Abby Person had the opportunity to speak with the members of Marcie and the Go Bots, including Marcie herself. Though the interview didn't take place in a real kitchen, the Review's galleys are close enough.

Marcie Schwartz: Yeah. There's this three-legged squirrel outside my dorm. He moves really fast.

Patrick Coleman: You know what Ed is backwards?

All: Yeah: Dead.

Abby Person: Well, I hate to interrupt. But we ought to get the interview started. Nima, I notice you wearing a shirt called Ed. That seems to be a trend these days, and I find in kind of confusing. Could you explain.

Nima Shirazi: It's a very humiliating tale of intrigue and suspense.

Marcie is dancing

NS: The story of Ed is the story of me joining the band.

Scott Remley: Did you ever see Spinal Tap?

NS: The first drummer was named Ed.

MS: Maybe you should let us work this out before you write the story.

NS: I quit.

AP: Keep going.

NS: When I joined the band - and I'm very grateful to Scott that I did...

MS: Scott?

NS: By Scott I mean Marcie. So when I joined, the three other members couldn't grasp how to properly pronounce my name even though it is perfectly phonetic. So that is why I own this shirt and wear it every day.

SR: The story you told her makes no sense.

MS: It's because he bowls.

NS: It's because I bowl.

AP: I think I'll stay out of this conversation. Do you mind... Someone lead the way.

SR: Do I know how you got together yet?

MS: The three of us have been together for a year.

PC: It's a long story.

AP: I don't want to know.

PC: I'm going to publish it and Fabio's going to be on the cover.

MS: We play 80s music.

AP: New Wave?

SR: Not exclusively. A lot of dance music. We're definitely a high energy show.

NS: We're anywhere from early Cyndi Lauper to late Cyndi Lauper.

AP: Marcie, sing for me.

MS: Why?

MS:(in song) Well I see him every night in his tight blue jeans.

AP: Stop.

MS: We do have amplifiers. And you can hear more at the 'Sco on Thursday, March 4. We're opening for the Seagulls.

All: It's just Seagull.

PC: Flock of Seagull. Jonathin Livingston Seagull. No Seagull.

MS: Maybe it is just Seagull. They're from Japan. We're opening for Moonlight Drive at The Flying Machine in Lorain. They're a Doors cover band.

AP: Do you like The Doors?

SR: NO! You know those posters: Jim Morrison-American Poet. He is NOT. Want a poet, try Gary Snyder.

AP: What are your infulences, Nima?

NS: Led Zeppelin.

SR: The police. And specifically in the police, I'd say Stuart Copeland.

PC: You didn't get the joke. We were all supposed to say the same thing.

SR: Okay, then. Led Zeppelin.

PC: Led Zeppelin.

MS: I guess Barbara Streisand. No. Led Zeppelin. No I kind of liked everything before I joined the band.

NS: I listen to tons of Led Zepplin.

AP: End this for me.

SR: So in conclusion, thus, et cetera.

MS: If you haven't come to see us, you're really missing out. But you've got three more chances to see us in the next week.

The Go Bots perform tonight at the Red Star Cafe in Cleveland. They will make an appearance in the 'Sco, March 4 at 10:45 and at the Flying Machine in Lorain, March 6 at 9:45.

MS: The Go Bots were from the 80s. They're like the transformers.

PC: Like the transformers, but they broke easier.

NS: Which is really a metaphor for the band.

This week, Brian Gresko spent quality time with The 20th Century Amusements in the Asia House kitchen. With Mandy Fischer on accordion, Aaron Bennett on guitar, and Gillian Russom on drums, The 20th Century Amusements are a little known (and never before seen) treasure among the Oberlin music community.

Brian Gresko: I've heard that The 20th Century Amusements has an interesting morphology; that you've played together in many different forms over the past few years. Could you briefly flesh out your history for me?

Mandy Fischer: First, there was Circle of Def, with me and Sonia Brenner.

Aaron Bennett: My first Oberlin band ever. I saw them at Keep and it changed my world.

MF: That was 1996.

AB: 1996?

BG: Yeah, we've been in school a long time.

MF: That's when me and Brian lived in Keep.

BG: Yeah.

AB: Which was the year after Brian and I lived in Keep.

MF: So anyway, after Circle of Def, Gillian and Sonia started Priority One.

AB: Though before Priority One, me and Sonia and Jake Freeman played together and eventually became the 8AM Lazers.

MF: Okay, the 8AM Lazers had me, Aaron, Sonia Brenner, Fery, and Jacob Ciocci. Then this year Aaron and I were in The Hollow Log Family Band with our house mates, Ben Coleman, Jacob, and Jake.

Gillian Russom: Yeah, maybe you caught them at the Cat!

AB: Gillian, you played at the Cat too, with Bikerphone, with me, you, Jacob, Ginger, and Mandy.

MF: The band with the dumbest name.

AB: (Laughs) Except for The 20th Century Amusements! And we're leaving bands out of this. Maybe I should draw a diagram.

BG: Yeah, good idea. Let's try and ground this in something concrete. How often do you practice and play?

AB: We've practiced a number of times and we're playing this weekend at a birthday party.

BG: Are there specific influences you find have particularly shaped your music?

MF: Yeah, I really like the Four Seasons.

AB: I think the accordion sound, which isn't actually a band; its the sound of the accordion itself.

GR: Word.

MF: Aaron, aren't you influenced by some bands?

AB: Um... parlor music.

MF: Yeah, like of ancient times.

BG: What inspires your music making?

AB: I think that because we eat before we play, it drains the angst from the music.

MF: That and also that I play the accordion. I mean, give me a break.

GR: Word up.

BG: What aspirations do you have, both as individuals and as a band? Where do you think you're going?

MF: Nowhere fast.

AB: Yeah, I don't think about the future. This is music of the moment.

GR: Definitely.

BG: How would you label yourselves in terms of musical style?

(Silence)

AB: Um... pleasant? (Silence)

BG: Is it upbeat? I need to be able to describe it somehow!

MF: It's like parlor music... Oh, duh! It's amusement park music.

BG: In a culture which increasingly bases part of a band's worth on the image which that band projects, what kind of style or fashion do you ascribe to or wish to typify?

MF: I like to wear uni-color outfits, like pajamas, either pink with slippers or All Stars, but still with slippers, even though they're pink.

BG: So kind of a comfy look?

AB: Yeah, kind of avant comfy. (Laughs)

MF: That's so gross!

BG: What would your ideal or target audience be?

MF: PoMos.

GR: And maybe little kids.

BG: I'm getting the impression that your music has a pleasant feel to it. What kind of reactions do you wish to obtain from your music?

AB: Like in the audience?

BG: Yeah, what feeling would you like the audience to get from your music?

MF: Amused?

AB: Not amused. I would say it's closer to "inspired."

MF: Oh wow, you're so cocky.

AB: I'm not saying that's what it does, I'm saying that's what I would like it to do.

BG: Can you dance to your music?

AB: You can waltz.

MF: Not only waltz!

GR: But one of our songs is a waltz.

AB: What's that song called? "A Brilliant Scheme?"

BG: What is your musical philosophy? Is it to make inspiring music?

AB: No, definitely not. That's all I have to say. What about your musical philosophy, Mandy? Mandy has a stronger musical philosophy than me.

MF: I have a stronger musical philosophy?

AB: Yeah, short but sweet. That's your musical philosophy.

GR: Yeah it is.

BG: Would you feel that you project, embody, or articulate particular post-modern beliefs and ideas, and if so, what are those ideas?

MF: It's more about the millennium for us.

AB: Yeah it is.

BG: Then what is millennial music?

MF: It's hot.

BG: Well... what is the significance of the millennium?

AB: Of the millennium itself? (Pauses) ...It's the end?

MF: Yeah, that's our freakin' motto over at 6-Deuce.

GR: 6-Deuce.

BG: What's 6-Deuce?

AB: That's where Mandy and I live. It's our house.

GR: Not my house!

BG: What do you feel the cultural position of the millennial musical artist should be?

AB: Inspiration.

BG: That's good. You have a theme.

MF: That and "Its the end."

BG: What position do you feel you play in Oberlin culture? ...If any.

MF: I have no idea.

AB: (Laughing) I'm not gonna say that! I'm not gonna say anything.

BG: Do you feel that Oberlin students' expectations and tendencies to label types of music has led to your music being niched as PoMo music? Has this hurt your exposure or your feelings?

MF: No.

AB: I'd like to play a show.

BG: Is there anything you wish to say which we haven't covered?

GR: Word.

More than meets the eye: Stepping in where T-Money and the Change left off, 80s cover band Marcie and the Go Bots parade the hits. (photo by Jake Schlesinger)