Weird Party is holding down the tasty grooves here in Victoria, BC. Wherever you see their name pop up you’re guaranteed to find some rump shakin’ delights. The quintet’s Mellow Funk Vol.1 has been on my headphones pretty regularly this summer (Even though it’s a year old…I was late to the Weird Party! Sorry!) and is required listening for anyone who likes feeling good because of the music they put into their ears. Getting five people together for an interview is a tall order, one that was not going to be conquered here, so I threw out a call and got ahold of saxophonist Anand Greenwell for this installment of the 5 Questions.
Check out Mellow Funk Vol.1 and other Weird Party albums on their soundcloud. And while we’re here, listen to this tasty jam from the album whilst you read this little chat!
Also, keep abreast of all the Weird Party goings-on on their Facebook page.
And, if you're reading this before October 2, check them out as part of the Garden City Groove festival going on in Victoria Oct 1-3. Get all the details here.
1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?
Anand Greenwell: Yep! Def Leppard Pyromania. I collected empties until I had $10 saved up, then I went to the store and got the record. Haven't listened to it in a while, but I still have the vinyl. My favourite song initially was "Stagefright", but later on I liked "Die Hard the Hunter" the best.
2. When is the last time you did something for the first time?
Western Canadian Music Awards the other night, first time going to one of those shows as a nominee. That was a lot of fun!
3. If you could spend a day with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
Frank Zappa. Would have been interesting to see his creative process.
4. Can you think of a movie that had an effect on the way you saw the world? What was it about that film that got you?
Office Space! Ever since I watched Office Space, I never forget to put the cover sheets on my TPS reports. Thank you Mike Judge!
5. Do you think technology contains within it the ability to set us free to a sci-fi techno utopia?
I heard a piece on CBC a couple months ago about a robot chef from Moley Robotics that's in the development stage, which will eventually be able to take care of much of the prep that's involved in cooking a meal. There's a lot of work left for them to do before it's a viable product, but the idea is, for people who otherwise wouldn't have enough time to cook, this will give them the ability to prepare a healthy meal instead of filling up on fast food. We probably do have enough ingenuity and creativity that we could advance technology to a level where it's really working for us and freeing up a lot of our time, if we wanted to. Whether or not things go in that direction though, I guess will come down to human nature. And I'm not sure that it's in human nature to create utopias, not on a large scale at least. Of course there could come a day where it's no longer our call: if technology ever advances to the point where it can "think" for itself, then all bets are off.
6. The Guest Question is from the great Hawksley Workman! It is simply... What about the past?
A lot of great music was recorded in the past!
Weird Party has a sideproject called Astrocolor! Same dudes, different thing.