Thursday, December 18, 2008

Stunt Rock

Stunt Rock

Stunt Rock is an electronic musician and publisher with about ten releases and a zine to his credit. After spending some time reading through some of his Betamax blog, I can also say that in addition to making music, he's a talented and insightful writer as well.

Here's a quote from his myspace page, about himself, which may put his work (and response) into perspective:


My name is William Flegal. I am a musician/performer/f***ing joke. My stage name is/was Stunt Rock. For a while I was also a stand-up comic and prominent illustrator. Most of all though, I am a failure and a worthless human being. I put pointless creative endeavors ahead of familial and financial obligations and used these endeavors to make mockeries of my relationships. As a result I have totally f***ed my life up. There was a time when I believed in what I was doing, I thought that in the end it would all pay off because I would be able to prove to my loved ones (family and women) that I was worth something. Unfortunately, the creative endeavors I ventured on were childish acts of selfishness.

That's just a segment. Check out his myspace page to read more.

Most artists have probably had more than their fair share of dark days, and while most people just struggle privately, Stunt Rock has chosen to incorporate these feelings more directly into his art. Read on to learn more about how one artist is mastering the art of self righteous, self loathing...

By the way, his sound collages are pretty good too!


Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with the very talented... Stunt Rock...


*Name: Stunt Rock

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: REGRET™ Instruction Manual, although that's not really a moniker or name, it's more of a parallel project I work on that sometimes seems to garner a little bit more of an audience. I'm almost thinking I should delete my reply here and move it to the question above. Technically, I guess I would call the whole project Stunt Rock and REGRET™ Instruction Manual. Perhaps I should move this reply to another section altogether. It seems to me the very nature of a fill-in-the-blank interview would pose problems for many people/artists, especially when your primary focus is less traditional forms of expression. I guess I'm losing focus. I make music under the Stunt Rock name. I also produce a very sporadic book called REGRET™ Instruction Manual, of which I am way more proud. Both of these projects are very near and dear to my heart and I'm not good at explaining them to people.

*Do you use a pseudonym? Sometimes I use my real name in the hopes someone would attempt to destroy my credit report, but so far this hasn't proven effective.

*Members: I more recently have begun working with a few friends, but "Stunt Rock" is me for the most part. And it's just me that does the book, except for my proofreader/editor who is also my guitarist when I need it… Hey, I get it! This is neat! It's like those emails my aunt sends around in which people answer by-the-numbers questions to tell you things you didn't know about them. Do you need to know my social security number, as well? That guy from that bank in Nigeria needed it and when I gave it back to him I never heard anything back. William Flegal is me, but I'm kind of in a predicament here because in the previous answer I clearly indicated I have some friends with whom I occasionally work, but I don't really want to list them and give them too much credit, you know?

*Founding Members: Getting back to me, it's seriously really just me. I'm starting to think maybe I should skip this question or delete it, but I don't know if there's some type of strict format I am supposed to be following. Like, does this go into a PHP style sheet, or is it just CSS? I'll assume I need to reply. I, William Flegal, am the founding member, but I wouldn't say I really set out to start some type of band, or anything. Initially I wanted to embarrass my family and spurn people I didn't like. That's not really a "founding," though. Man, can I change the question a little to suit my answer better? I really wish I was more popular/mediocre so I could qualify for a telephone interview like DJ Spooky.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Uh … something to do with me, my Betamax, my drinking problem(s), isolation. That's not really a term, though. You're looking for buzzwords, I can tell. This question is probably only here so you can try to coin new music terms before anyone else. Can I just go with "Betamax?" Sounds like: Betamax. I always thought the term "ear-rape" was funny, but I realize a majority of the people into obscure electronic music usually have some type of issue with rape, stemming from either guilt about being involved in some type of unmentioned sexual encounter with a questionably coherent partner, or as a victim of something similar at the hands of "that uncle I haven't seen since I was child." Regardless, I try to steer away from such things.

*Another genre descriptor: I was seriously just going to copy and paste replies from your website into each of these questions and see if you noticed. Get it? That would be like Plunderphonics! Instead of typing my own replies, I Mash-Up other artist replies! I f***ing hate my life. More than that I hate people trying to justify their s****y music with artistic words they make up.

*Why you use this descriptor: I really have never even tried to articulate what it is I am making. In fact, I can't even really stand when people try to do this, let alone have a four question section trying to get me to come up with something. I hate it even more, though, when people call it "art." I just thought of a new question idea: Ask people how they came up with their name. I don't have an interesting story about that, but I just thought of it and maybe it would be good. You don't even have to give me credit, which is a common thing amongst artists making obscure electronic music.

*Location: Zion, Illinois.

*Original Location: I'm from unfulfilled promises, disappoinment, and resentment.

*What is your creative/artistic background: Did not complete 2-year degree in art.

*History: Mother's basement to present, so, approximately 10 years, but I only lived in my mom's basement for half that time.

*Born: Late 1970s. Zion.

*Motivations: I drink alone a lot. I don't actually like many of my friends and my dislike of those with whom I surround myself motivates my music. Also, fear of dying, and fear of being suffocated by debt. I guess that's what motivates me to go to my real job. I have no motivation when I make art. I used the word "art!" Hypocrite! For five minutes in 1998 I thought I might get a blow job out of it, so that was very motivating, but I almost instantly realized that wouldn't be happening. Sometimes, once in a great while, I get motivated knowing something I create might make the vast majority of my music peers jealous because they don't have enough talent to do something themselves. Usually they just steal (sorry, Plunderfy™) the idea and dumb it down for audiences that live in Europe or on either coast of the US. Then they get a PR person and go on tour and act like what they are doing is really profound.

*Philosophy: I ensure I can create and recreate all my music while in an alcohol black-out. I wish I could make popular music that got reviewed on blogs, but it just isn't going to happen. I wish I was a spoiled trust fund kid from Rhode Island who makes "noise," and stupid s*** like that. Then I could act like every system sound my computer makes is something important. I once saw these "noise acts" from Rhode Island and it just sounded like they were running spell check in Microsoft Word, coupled with some lame-ass drone behind it. These guys make money! I wish I lived on either coast where the standards for entertainment are so f***ing low you could make drone music or mashups or some combination therein and be well-regarded, but unfortunately I live in the Midwest, where people require a little extra effort out of their music because they are f***ing stupid and like Staind. This has doomed me to obscurity. Also, I live on peanut butter sandwiches; I just don't f***ing care.

*How would you like to be remembered: LIVE FAST DIE. I totally just ran out of Scotch. What the f*** is my problem? And for christ's sake, it's a Tuesday.

*Web address: Please tell people to buy my new album here: http://www.dowiepartners.com/regret
and also make sure they visit my Betamax blog here:
http://www.dowiepartners.com/betablog


www.some-assembly-required.net

2 Comments:

Blogger RAINBO VIDEO said...

Yes, Stunt Rock! I did a post about him last year and he thought it was quite accurate:

http://rainbovideo.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-stunt-rock-release.html

10:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, I just found out about this guy and thought his music was ok... but what an asshole.
Just... wow.

10:34 AM  

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