Vertigo Zine
Vertigo Zine
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Vertigo

ISSUE #3

COVER / GIRLS VS BOYS / I'M BEING GOOD / JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION /

I'M BEING GOOD

Local noiseniks I'm Being Good and their pals must just about make up the noisiest scene in the South. Mostly working through tape labels and sporadic bursts of gigs, there are a whole bunch of bands whose names you should know so that you won't miss 'em when they play. I'm Being Good are Dave (Guitar), Jase (Bass), Andru Guitar/Vocals) and Simon (Drums). All except Jase are in Ballast, Small Things and Button King, the latter with Dale from Blood Sausage. This scary bunch then go on to play in Bald Mermaid with Nitro Puppy's Dan from the newly formed and unnamed Band No.1 (featuring Jase) and the infamous Prick Decay, which is Dylan and Lisa who do the Chocolate Monk tape label as featured in Issue 2. It's a complicated, messy explosion of noise so pore yer eyes over the adjoining map (adapted from Andru's original) to find out more!

I'm Being Good are the only ones seriously gigging at the moment, although Bald Mermaid should be off soon and Small Things have already started. Band No.1 I think may have a name now 'cos I saw a flyer recently for an ex-Nitro Puppy band altho' I couldn't make the gig so who knows?! The first thing you notice when you see I'm Being Good is that they make one heck of a racket, and one damn good racket at that. It seems to be a controlled squall of fragmented noise, totally distorted and very impressive if you like that kind of thing. You're either gonna love it or hate it basically.

"It's kind of a loose thing. I just switch on the tape recorder and play the guitar, whatever comes into my head, and then I'll put some drums and a bass and stuff on, whatever I've got and then that becomes a song. I'm Being Good's just the one where I write the songs. The direction it goes in just tends to be whatever sort of a mood I'm in when I write the song, and what I'm listening to at the time. What I usually do at the moment is do whatever I want then put it into a category later on. So if I do a really noisy, droney thing I just sort of go, 'Well, that can be a Bald Mermaid song', and if I do something nice 'n harmonic, I go, 'Well, that can be a Small Things song'. The things vaguely in between become I'm Being Good.

The rest of I'm Being Good all have their sideline projects which are on Andru's map. Jase lives in Eastbourne, the lucky thing, and just comes to Brighton to gig or practice, Dave's doin' a degree and Simon's "just off on his weird subterranean movements around the globe". Their first gig was as support to Truman's Water in the Madeira Hotel last year, which was one hell of a night. But since then the comparisons between the two have rocketed.

"They sounded like what we wanted to sound like and we thought Wow!! They're doing it, and they're doing it better than we ever could so we just got really into them. We're getting into other things; we've done that and you can't help but just veer off slightly in other directions." Expect to hear more from IBG.

The tape labels involved in all this are Andru's own, which is Graphic Death, Dylan and Lisa's Chocolate Monk, Oska and another one that's about to happen (or may already have!) with about six releases lined up. Robin and Dan from Band No.1 are behind this latest one. They should also be organising another Racehill extravaganza like the Chocolate Monk Festival last year, so keep a look out! Most of these bands should play!