Interview by Chris Bradbury, Dan Bremmer, Mr. Lumpy and K!Z!K
Yeah, sure, there's a government Emergency Broadcast Network, whose sole function back in the seventies seemed to be placing hyperserious advertisements with a strange sound on during Saturday morning cartoons. But the Emergency Broadcast Network we're concerned about here comes from the Bay Area and consists of Josh Pierson, Gardner Post, and recent arrival Greg DeCampo.
While the threesome only recently released a debut album, Telecommunication Breakdown, EBN has gained an international reputation over the past few years, due to its masterful manipulation of TV broadcast video to at-times extremely warped ends. Part art project, part information overload, the work of EBN has been featured everywhere from Nike commercials to U2 stadium shows.
EBN played the Southern California area Dec. 1, 1995. Before their well-received show, the members of EBN sat down with the crack KUCI interviewing team of Chris Bradbury, Dan Bremmer, Mr. Lumpy and K!Z!K
Bremmer: Tell us a little bit about the process with which you make your work, multimedia, whatever you want to call it ....
Pierson: It starts with the watching and recording of cable television broadcasting. We have a library of over 500 hours of cable TV recorded onto 2-hour videotapes.
Post: All hand-cataloged.
Pierson: Once the videotape is recorded, it's passed on to the reference department, at which point someone sits down with the tape and carefully hand-catalogs every scene on the tape into a file. The files are then entered into the database, at which point we cross- reference things.
Bremmer: What do you use for a database?
Pierson: Uh, we use 8 1/2" by 11" paper!
Bradbury: Do you guys have any preference in terms of programming that you like to watch, or catalog, rather?
Post: We try to be democratic about it. We look at every aspect of television and try to incorporate it into what we do, from advertising to various shows.
K!Z!K: Do you ever take submissions for a source that you may want to use?
Pierson: The advertising department now has some proposals that they're putting forward to us which involve creating nationwide campaigns to have people send us their favorite random recorded television bit, at which point we'll be able to work it into a track.
Bremmer: You talk about departments. Are you set up as a multimedia company?
Pierson: (laughs, then in a pseudo-serious voice) Actually, we are a company, not a band. We cover many bases, from digital video production to metal fabrication, the design and construction of mechanical devices, like the telepodium, and ballistics and rocketry.
Post: Me and Josh are from the creative department, the art department.
Bremmer: I've got to ask, then, about the company car.
Pierson: We've had three, actually. One was a Chevy Caprice wagon -- this was at the height of the Cold War, just when the Stealth bomber was coming out, so we wanted to have the same Stealth qualities. So we rigged the wagon with radar-reflective black mesh. (laughter) That unit was retired from service, at which point we got another Caprice wagon. The Chevy wagon was a good vehicle for us. The second wagon was covered with ... we wanted to go for rustproofing on the second version, so we actually covered the entire body of the car with fiberglass, fabric and coating, to increase the structural strength of the vehicle. We also created a fiberglass cap, which was built to contain eight color televisions mounted to the roof of the vehicle.
Bradbury: That's the one featured in the video, right?
Pierson: Right, and that's the one featured in the 1991 Lollapalooza tour.
Post: The latest vehicle that we have now, though, is a GMC Suburban, which is ready for off-road use. (laughter) The Suburban also has the satellite projection system that mounts to the roof, which has a 20-foot truss with an 8-foot satellite dish at one end and a video projector at the other. The whole thing is mounted to a rotating motor, and can spin around for maximum coverage for larger audiences. The telepodium, the centerpiece of our stage show, also mounts on a trailer and can be taken off-road as well.
Bradbury: Do you guys ever use the car to go to the grocery store or something?
Post: It's how I get around...
K!Z!K: I wanted to ask about the latest CD. Telecommunication Breakdown is actually a hybrid CD, not just an audio CD. How difficult was it to get that manufactured?
Pierson: It was difficult, because the whole enhanced CD thing just happened this year. Before that, there was that problem of putting the CD in your player and having it play the data track and having an awful noise come out of your speakers! It was an unbelievable hassle, actually, because we had these various production companies that had different techniques of getting around the problem.
K!Z!K: I knew there were a lot of CD-ROMs that had audio tracks as bonuses, but I think it's the first time that a hybrid CD like that was released in the audio market.
Pierson: Yeah, instead of the software market.
Bremmer: It's a lot less expensive, too.
Post: That's what's so great about it, it's low-cost ....
Bremmer: I take it you're going to stick with this hybrid CD process?
Pierson: It's a convenient way for getting video onto the same piece of plastic that record companies are already in the business of selling. It was a frustrating thing for us when we were faced with putting out an audio-only release, because it defeats a lot of the work that went into the production of the album. So the enhanced CD was a great compromise, since there wasn't a simultaneous video release for this album. We don't even say that CD-ROM is our preferred medium or anything. VHS tape is actually a much better storage medium, really -- two hours on a $3 tape.
Bremmer: This is probably a question that's been asked a lot, but I'm honestly curious. What was your original inspiration for starting?
Pierson: We began doing multimedia installations together, and the inspiration was being able to work as two people instead of individual artists. We were able to create larger environments than either of us would have probably been able to conceive of.
Post: We went to art school and approached all this with ... a filmmaking point of view, more than a musician's point of view. I was a sculptor, and I build the big props and everything. We wanted to incorporate aspects of performance art with sculpture and music and video and just try and create this really effective presentation system.
Pierson: And we were also very inspired by cable television! When we first got cable in 1984, 85, that was really revolutionary! We were able to get crystal-clear sound and picture and all those channels.
K!Z!K: Any religious stations on your local cable network?
Pierson: We get a variety of them. One of them we've incorporated into our show, a preacher who's featured on the "Super Zen State" song.
Bremmer: I've seen a lot of people who have been traditionally seen as multimedia artists just now doing CD-ROM multimedia, like Laurie Anderson's CD-ROM that just came out. What do you guys think of that?
Pierson: Well, Anderson's been doing multimedia for a long time, live performance, video projection, her music, her voice. It's inevitable, you know, people are going to do it. She's a huge influence on us, actually. I saw her show several years ago, and was blown away by the excellent mixture of sound and picture.
Bremmer: What would somebody expect to see live from you?
Pierson: We use three liquid-crystal display video projectors, a semi- wraparound screen for easier viewing angles ....
Post: The live show is similar to a live television show, with us as the hosts, and we try to make the audience feel as though they are a part of a live studio audience for a TV show. We don't have any live cameras at the moment. In the future we hope to be broadcasting live from the stage, and using the Internet, perhaps.
Bradbury: Do you guys have a Web site?
DeCampo: We have an address. The site's not completely operational, but the URL is http//www.tvtrecords.com. Go there and you can work your way to the EBN site. You can currently download a network version of the video sampler for the Mac and for Windows.
Bremmer: I was going to ask you. I was watching TV late one night, and there was a U2 special on. And I was curious about the George Bush sample of "We will rock you".
Pierson: We sold that to them. They saw a tape that we had put out there, and before we knew it, they wanted to buy it.
Post: They also hired us to do some work for the Zooropa tour as well. We ended up also doing a video remix for the track "Numb," and going to Dublin and hanging out. We hooked up with Brian Eno through them, actually. We just used them to get to Brian Eno! (laughter)
K!Z!K: I have an interest in that, since I interviewed Negativland earlier that year.
Pierson: I can't help but feel that they became such big fans of us, hired us and helped us out ... that it was almost a form of retribution for screwing around with Negativland!
Bremmer Have you guys had any problems with copyright?
Post: Never.
DeCampo: (mock-incredulously) Copyright?
Pierson: You'll have to refer that question to our legal department!
Pleasant Tasting Syrup, hosted by Chris Bradbury, airs every Friday from 700 PM - 900 PM. Space Disco for Fish Tacos, hosted by Dan Bremmer, can be heard every Wednesday from 800 PM - 1000 PM. Multicolored Mothballs, hosted by Mr. Lumpy, airs every Thursday from 700 PM - 900 PM. And K!Z!K pops up all over the place, so stay tuned.