Musician Spotlight: [The Viennagram:]
[The Viennagram:] are a punk rock cabaret psychedelic band from New Bedford. I chatted up carnival barker A.V Vienna about the group.
When did it start? How did you come up with the name?
I would say the first performance of [The Viennagram:] occurred in the first week of my first year in school. An ambitious kindergartner, I somehow talked my music teacher, Mrs. Correia, into allowing me a “commercial break” in class. I would improvise songs, select volunteers from the audience, and devise bizarre games; anything to amuse and confuse my classmates. Striving to constantly top myself, my eager imagination was set in motion. Clearly, sharing my insanity with the world was my true calling!
As for the name, [The Viennagram:] it was delivered through me by the divine cosmic wind of madness. With a fever of 103, I managed to scrawl a tome of shivering words, ending with the curious tag “END [VIENNAGRAM:].” Days later, upon finding the weird note, I realized it was the first [VIENNAGRAM:]. Long live the great muse! Cure the world through IRRATIONAL SOLUTIONS!
How are the songs written? What are they about?
Writing songs is another way to explore a visual idea. Intrinsic lyrics sometimes found backwards. Songs write themselves through a Ouija Board called “You.” When you force a song, it will haunt you forever. A song will surely outlive you. Run with scissors. Choose your own adventure.
Do you have any recordings available? If so, with who?
#1)[DEATH TO THE CLASSICS:]2006
The “Love is Dead” collection. Featuring the original teaming of A.V. Vienna/Scott Peloquin. Partially through the album, Scott freaked out and locked himself in his Mirror Mansion, vowing never to return. Left with an unfinished epic, I ventured into psychic resonance and strange synth. The outcome is a tender terror hell-ride dreamscape captured in a basement. What joy there is to be found in the sound of the unknown!
#2 [FUTURE IZ DEAD MAGIC:] 2008
One day it will be considered a masterpiece. An uncompromising prediction of impending imagination rot. Phil Spector with rabies vs. Brian Wilson’s LSD Horror Space Sideshow. Made from Popsicle sticks and digital distortion. Recorded in places we weren’t supposed to be in. Surrealist sounds cape through Rock n’ Roll Graveyards. A collage menagerie of samples from Citizen Kane to Adam Ant.
#3 [MADNESS IZ AND MORE/RELEASE THE BEAST-EYES:]
COMING SOON! OUT ON 10-10-10! FREE DOWNLOAD
Behold! The most musically mutated mixtape! A buffet of audio oddities! From failed experiments, outtakes, and demos, to dubs and things I forgot we even recorded! Close your eyes, open your mind. Your mind is open, now look inside…
[NOTE: I recently had a dream wherein Taylor Swift ascended from the sea, surrounded by searing orbs. Sphinx like, she then revealed a panorama of fragmented shapes and repeated the phrase, “RELEASE THE BEAST EYES.” Which, Irrational Solutions applied, could only mean, “Release the B-sides.”]
#4 [LEARN 2 TAME THE PATTERNS:]
We will supposedly begin work on this album in November with acclaimed producer Dave Auchenbach. This will include the highly anticipated version of “Long Way Back to Paradise,” amongst many other Post-Apocalyptic pop anthems. I can’t wait to get these ideas out of my head! It’s starting to really hurt.
Have you done any touring? Any plans to in the future?
We can’t wait to tour but we lost our keys somewhere!
What are your favorite things about the New Bedford area?
The greatest feature of the “Belly of the Whale” would have to be the dilapidated ruins of Lincoln Park. A magical and haunted maze boasting the death of fun. One fateful July 4th, while inside it’s chain-linked bones, Native American spirits communicated with me explaining how that particular plot of land was at an energy convex. They peeled back the layers of time to show many terrible things which have happened there, as it was the site of eternal strife and home of many restless spirits. Later, a figure of a woman in white guided me through the remains of the park and pointed down to a bottomless pit located near the rollercoaster. We filmed part of a video there! It’s a great place to have a scavenger hunt or a first date! We also really love No Problemo!
What are some of the main influences on the band?
Our influences include: THC, Looney Tunes, The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall, UFO lore, supernatural occurrence, black lights, Lucky Strikes, Strange & Amazing facts, Spike Jones & his City Slickers, RC Cola, Nina Hagen, Tom Waits, Caligula, Salvador Dali, William S. Burroughs, Halloween decorations, Outkast, Screaming Lord Sutch, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Ventures, eating glass, Brian Eno, Tarot divination, The Joker, Lon Chaney, Astrology, copy machines, Please Kill Me, Psychic power, The Secret Destination of America by Manly P. Hall, and Tuna melts!
What’s in the near and far future for the (Viennagram)?
Near Future:
HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR TRILOGY:
10/29 NEW BEDFORD,MA@GALLERY X
10/30 PROVIDENCE, RI@FIREHOUSE 13-
10/31 NEW YORK City @ Cosmic CAVERN
Far Future:
Upon releasing [LEARN TO TAME THE PATTERNS:], the world will open its heart to the sights and sounds of THE [VIENNAGRAM:] or we will be understood and appreciated only after we are dead. Stay tuned!