|
MVRemix: How did you get the deal with LTM Records to re-release 'Rotund For Success'?
Tom Ellard: James Nice wrote to me one day and said that I was a fat sh*t. He actually said, 'So you hate record companies do you?' I got all embarrassed and felt I should really be more cooperative with somebody who took the time to crack my shell. I think it's simply part of his charter, as we were loosely associated with Factory Australia, back I the day. LTM does Factory's mopping up, and so we are appropriate to include.
MVRemix: Originally, you were on Nettwerk Records. How did this deal come into fruition? Why did it end?
Tom Ellard: To get Skinny Puppy on Ink Records in the UK, Nettwerk had to take one of Ink's bands. Actually, Ink wanted Moev, whether Nettwerk really wanted us is another matter. I guess we were okay until Nettwerk finally came out of the closet and admitted they were a frock rock label. I look bad in a frock. Nettwerk's tastes are easily defined by money, and frock rock beats cookie monster any day.
MVRemix: You were in a side project called Co Kla Coma. How did this start? Will there be any more albums?
Tom Ellard: Co Kla Coma was simply a collaboration between me and two performance guys from Oklahoma. They pretty much just wanted a mention on the records, although I'd get samples mailed down, guitar riffs, Christian speeches, all kinds of odd bits. Co Kla Coma had a stage patter about sonic weaponry, a coma tone that induced sleep. We have a film half finished. Later on, one of them moved to Santa Cruz and we could collaborate a bit more. The other guy is now a full time nutter.
MVRemix: Do you believe in God? Do you believe in a certain religion?
Tom Ellard: Well, I allow metaphysical ideas. There are patterns in life that are not logical yet often described. I can believe in things, but more in line with Jung than the Pope. There's a big difference between religion, which is social, and belief which is personal. As for God, if you define it, you limit it. Seeing as the definition is that it's unlimited, God is a paradox.
MVRemix: You also earn a living besides music. What else do you do?
Tom Ellard: I say, 'yes' really fast and before you know it, I'm already raking the leaves and cleaning the gutters. I do a lot of part time jobs, at one point this year I had 7. I'm an arts & education workaholic. Books also earn more than music.
MVRemix: What do you think of rave culture? Has rave culture embraced Severed Heads?
Tom Ellard: No, we looked suspiciously at each other. I didn't like their neo-hippy Mandelbrot bullsh*t. They didn't like our lack of BPM. For a so called liberating movement, they sure had a lot of rules. Rave culture was too confining for Severed Heads.
MVRemix: What are the three best things about living in Australia?
Tom Ellard: When the bombing starts, we'll die second last, before New Zealand. It's still possible to occasionally find something here that wasn't designed in America, although that's getting rare. Sometimes, the most interesting people to meet are the ones who don't want to live in the center.
MVRemix: What are the three worst things about living in Australia?
Tom Ellard: It's an island with a small town mentality, a world suburb. The people with fire in their belly leave here. Then, come back when they run out of ideas. Many good things are too far away, too expensive and too hard to get.
MVRemix: What LPs have you been listening to during the last couple of days?
Tom Ellard: Magma's 'Mëkanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh' because a friend said that I should hear some Magma. A lot of Residents stuff, old and new, trying to work out just where I started to dislike it. A recording of Kraftwerk, playing live as a guitar rock band in 1971, which reminds me a bit of Popol Vuh, which I like.
MVRemix: What is your favorite part of your live show?
Tom Ellard: When, it's thankfully over and I did not make a complete fool of myself.
MVRemix: How has your live show evolved?
Tom Ellard: It all fits in tiny little boxes that are easy to carry. It can draw upon a lot of history. It's more likely to be at a gallery than a hall. It's now going back to one off shows, like the very early ones, than hits and memories rock gigs. The idea of a live show becomes perhaps a misnomer.
MVRemix: Abortion. Pro-choice or pro-life?
Tom Ellard: I think that moles and bunions have a right to life as do all sundry lumps of flesh and will picket the nearest shoe shop to stop this dreadful flesh trade.
MVRemix: Euthanasia. For or against?
Tom Ellard: I think we should keep people on endless palliative care even after they die. I mean, it's selfish that corpses should not offer the opportunity for moral righteousness. I hope that soon we can dig up old bodies and give them the care they deserve. Of course, we should still kill felons. The State has to exercise power in both directions.
MVRemix: Severed Heads does not have a MySpace page. What is your opinion on MySpace?
Tom Ellard: There was a Severed Heads page, but after some trouble, I got it removed. Frankly, I don't like crap, even if it's popular. I don't like information Nazis, like News Corporation pretending to be hip. Also, I don't like having friends, which I have never met. And if that cuts my sales, well bite me.
MVRemix: Word association. When I say a name, you say the first word that pops into your head. So, if I said, 'The Beatles', you may say 'Revolution' or 'John Lennon'. Okay?
Tom Ellard: Fish.
MVRemix: Television Personalities.
Tom Ellard: This Has Been A Reg Grundy Production.
MVRemix: Boxcar.
Tom Ellard: Zippy The Pinhead.
MVRemix: Happy Mondays.
Tom Ellard: Baggy Trousers.
MVRemix: Kool Keith.
Tom Ellard: L. Ron Hubbard.
MVRemix: Felt.
Tom Ellard: Fat and wolves.
>> continued...
| 
